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HISTORIC
MACRINAC
EDWIN-O WOOD
Presented to the
LIBRARY of the
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
by
Ontario
Legislative Library
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
NEW YORK BOSTON CHICAGO DALLAS
ATLANTA SAN FRANCISCO
MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED
LONDON BOMBAY CALCUTTA
MELBOURNE
THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTO.
TORONTO
HISTORIC MACKINAC
^
THE HISTORICAL, PICTURESQUE AND *
LEGENDARY FEATURES OF THE
MACKINAC COUNTRY
ILLUSTRATED FROM SKETCHES, DRAWINGS, MAPS AND
PHOTOGRAPHS, WITH AN ORIGINAL MAP OF MACKINAC
ISLAND, MADE ESPECIALLY FOR THIS WORK
A" 1 **
&.,
BY
EDWIN 0. WOOD, LL.D.
Formerly President Michigan Historical Commission, Vice-president of the
Mackinac Island State Park Commission, Trustee of the Michigan
Pioneer and Historical Society, Life Member of the American His-
torical Association, the American Irish Historical Society, the
New York Historical Society, the New York State Histori-
cal Association, Life Fellow of the American Geo-
graphical Society, Member of the Mississippi
Valley Historical Society, and of the State
Historical Societies of Michigan,
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin
and Minnesota
IN TWO VOLUMES
VOLUME II
NEW YORK
COMPANY
1918
0* ,/
COPYRIGHT, 1918
BY THE MACMILI/AN COMPANY
Set up and printed. Published, March, 1918
FOREWORD
Volume I of Historic Mackinac is made up largely of
data pertaining to the early history of the Mackinac coun-
try. The charms of Mackinac Island, with its old Fort,
its beautiful scenery, pure and healthful air, the delights
of its Indian trails, and the romantic legends interwoven
with fascinating stories of the fairies, have attracted to its
shores many of the most noted authors of their day. They
have written of Mackinac, and have brought both fiction
and fact into their productions, adding much to America's
best literature through the inspiration given them by the
richness of Mackinac's store of historical, legendary
and picturesque resources. Meredith Nicholson, Charles
Major, Edward Everett Hale, Constance Fenimore Wool-
son, and many other well-known writers, have found here
a perfect environment and setting in which to weave their
stories of life and of love. The aim has been to bring
together and preserve for the reader of today and in years
to come, some of the graphic descriptions given by cele-
brated travellers who visited the Island many years ago.
To this end, Volume II is largely a collection of extracts
from books long since out of print, all of which will ever
hold an important place in the story of the "Fairy Isle."
TABLE OF CONTENTS
VOLUME I
CHAPTER
I FRENCH EXPLORATION IN THE MACKINAC
COUNTRY Pages 1- 21
II FATHER MARQUETTE AT MICHILIMACKI-
NAC " 22-47
III LA SALLE AND THE GRIFFIN .... ** 48- 59
IV THE COUREURS DE Bois AND THE FUR
TRADE " 60-76
V REMOVAL OF FORT AND MISSION TO OLD
MACKINAW 77-89
VI THE PARISH REGISTER AT MICHILIMACKI-
NAC " 90-121
VII THE FRENCH AND THE ENGLISH ..." 122-133
VIII THE ENGLISH AND THE INDIANS ..." 134-156
IX PONTIAC " 157-168
X MlNAVAVANA AND WAWATAM .... " 169-180
XI HENRY'S ACCOUNT OF THE MASSACRE:
His ESCAPE AND ADVENTURES ..." 181-209
XII OLD MACKINAW AFTER THE MASSACRE;
MAJOR ROBERT ROGERS .... 210-236
XIII REMOVAL OF THE FORT TO MACKINAC
ISLAND 237-266
XIV THE ENGLISH FUR TRADE .... " 267-283
XV THE WAR OF 1812 " 284-318
XVI THE AMERICAN FUR TRADE; ASTOR,
CROOKS AND STUART " 319-339
XVII DR. WILLIAM BEAUMONT AND ALEXIS ST.
MARTIN 340-361
XVIII MACKINAC AND THE MORMONS OF BEAVER
ISLAND " 362-378
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
XIX CHURCHES OF MACKINAC ISLAND . . Pages 379-429
XX THE LOST PRINCE " 430-462
XXI FORT MACKINAC, 1815-1918 ..." 463-485
XXII MACKINAC NATIONAL PARK; MACKINAC
ISLAND STATE PARK " 486-506
XXIII DESCRIPTIVE NOTES ON NAMES AND
PLACES AT MACKINAC ISLAND ..." 507-606
APPENDIX " 607-679
CHRONOLOGY " 681-697
VOLUME II
I THE INDIANS OF THE MACKINAC COUNTRY Pages 1- 49
II MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC . . " 50-113
III EARLY DAYS ON MACKINAC ISLAND,
1814-1821 .;..:..." 114-134
IV SCHOOLCRAFT'S VISIT TO THE ISLAND IN
1820 ..." 135-146
V McKENNEY's Sketches of a Tour to the
Lakes, 1826 " 147-160
VI MRS. KINZIE VISITS MACKINAC, 1830 . " 161-168
VII MACKINAC IN WINTER 1834 ..." 169-185
VIII DR. OILMAN'S Life on the Lakes 1835 " 186-214
IX SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFT'S DIARY
AT MACKINAC 1835-1841 ..." 215-254
X HARRIET MARTINEAU 1836 ..." 255-269
XI MRS. JAMESON 1837 " 270-299
XII THE INDIANS AT MACKINAC 1837 . . " 300-333
XIII A CANOE VOYAGE FROM MACKINAC TO
THE " Soo " IN 1837 " 334-360
XIV MARGARET FULLER'S Summer on the
Lakes 1843 " 361-376
XV WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT'S Letters of a
Traveller 1846 377-402
XVI BAYARD TAYLOR 1855 . " 403^06
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
XVII " FAIRY ISLAND " AS SEEN BY CONSTANCE
FENIMORE WOOLSON 1870 . . . Pages 407-417
XVIII MACKINAC IN STORY " 418-484
XIX JEAN NICOLET " 485-506
XX LEWIS CASS " 507-548
XXI TSHUSICK . . .' " 549-561
XXII MISCELLANEOUS SELECTIONS . . . . " 562-623
XXIII INDIAN NAMES IN THE MACKINAC COUN-
TRY " 624-640
XXIV THE FLOWERING PLANTS, FERNS AND
THEIR ALLIES OF MACKINAC ISLAND . " 641-678
BIBLIOGRAPHY " 679-740
INDEX " 741
ILLUSTRATIONS
VOLUME II
Dwightwood Spring .... Frontispiece Facing Title Page
Fort Mackinac, 1856 Facing Page 22
Group of Lake Superior Indians ** 23
Indian Wigwams Page 49
Marquette Monument, St. Ignace, Michigan . Facing Page 64
Indians at the Kitchen and Sister Rocks, Mack-
inac Island 65
Stone Officers' Quarters, Fort Mackinac . . Page 113
View of Mackinac from Straits off Round Is-
land Facing Page 122
View of Moran Bay, St. Ignace . . . . " " 122
British Landing, Mackinac Island .... 123
Scene at Old Fort Mackinac Page 134
Mackinac Island Harhor, following Annual
Yacht Race, Chicago to Mackinac . . . Facing Page 140
Baby Manitou " "141
Fine View of St. Anne's Church, and Harbor . " " 154
Homes and Grounds of Mackinac Island's Sum-
mer Residents ** " 155
Mackinac Island View, showing Mission Point 164
Mackinac Island View, 1917 " "165
The Old Mitchell House, Market Street, Mack-
inac Island " 178
Scene at Unveiling of Marquette Statue . . " 179
Steep Pathway to Fort Mackinac .... Page 185
Grand Hotel, Mackinac Island Facing Page 194
View of Harbor from Cass Cliff, Mackinac Is-
land " "195
Marquette Statue, Marquette Park ..." " 228
View of Fort Mackinac and Marquette Park . " " 229
View of Straits of Mackinac from the Island by
Moonlight " "260
ILLUSTRATIONS
One of Mackinac Island's Interesting Forma-
tions Facing Page 261
Devil's Kitchen " "290
Robinson's Folly " "291
View of Marquette Park from Fort Mackinac ** " 316
Gitchi Manitou " "317
Trinity Episcopal Church, Mackinac Island . " " 344
Mission House and School at Mackinac Island " " 345
Missionary and Explorer " " 368
Death of Father Marquette " "369
A Relic of the Early Days at Mackinac Island " " 390
Old View of a Mackinac Island Street ..." "390
James Lasley, Pioneer Postmaster at Mackinac
Island " "391
South Sally Port, Fort Mackinac .... Page 402
Market Street, Mackinac Island Facing Page 404
The Cadotte Homes, Old Bark Houses at Biddle
Point " "405
Typical Street in the Old Days at Mackinac
Island " "405
Mackinac Harbor, showing Old Agency . . " " 412
Arch Rock. From an early print " " 413
One of the old Block Houses, Fort Mackinac . Page 417
Two Interesting Formations at Mackinac Island Facing Page 460
View of the Dock at Mackinac Island ..." " 461
Rev. Thomas J. Campbell, SJ " "490
John Nicolet Memorial Tablet " "491
North Sally Port, Fort Mackinac .... Page 506
Fort Mackinac. From an early sketch . . " 508
Lewis Cass Facing Page 526
Lewis Cass Memorial Tablet " "527
Statue of Father Jogues " "554
Father Edward Jacker " "555
Steps leading to Fort Mackinac .... Page 561
An American Indian " 567
Major Robert Rogers Facing Page 572
Michael Dousman " "572
Observation Tower, Fort Holmes " " 573
ILLUSTRATIONS
Scene at Mackinac Island's old Post Office . Facing Page 573
An old Picture of the Fort Page 594
Sugar Loaf Rock. From an old print . . Facing Page 610
The Business Street of Mackinac Island . 611
An Indian Cradle Page 618
Sally Port, Fort Mackinac "623
Conflict of Ojibwas, Sacs and Foxes on Lake
Superior Facing Page 626
Martyrdom of the Missionaries ....** " 627
Edwin 0. Wood, LL.D., Author of Historic
Mackinac " "636
Bird's Eye View of Mackinac Island ..." " 637
Old Block House, Fort Mackinac .... Page 640
One of Mackinac Island's points of interest;
rich in legendary lore Facing Page 650
Mackinac Island Summer Home of the Author
of Historic Mackinac " " 651
Distance Guide to Mackinac Island (Double
page) " "678
"Beauteous Isle! I sing to thee,
Mackinac, my Mackinac;
Thy lake-bound shores I love to see,
Mackinac, my Mackinac.
From Arch Rock's height and shelving steep
To western cliffs and Lover's Leap,
Where memories of the lost one sleep,
Mackinac, my Mackinac.
"Thy northern shore trod British foe,
Mackinac, my Mackinac,
That day saw gallant Holmes laid low,
Mackinac, my Mackinac.
Now Freedom's flag above thee waves,
And guards the rest of fallen braves,
Their requiem sung by Huron's waves,
Mackinac, my Mackinac."
HISTORIC MACKINAC
VOLUME II
HISTORIC MACKINAC
i
CHAPTER I
THE INDIANS OF THE MACKINAC COUNTRY
Now they are gone gone as thy setting blaze
Goes down the west, while night is pressing on,
And with them the old tale of better days,
And trophies of remembered power are gone.
BRYANT.
"TNDIAN tradition," says Schoolcraft, 1 "makes the Chip-
pewas one of the chief, certainly by far the most nu-
merous and widely spread, of the Algonquin stock
proper. It represents them to have migrated from the East
to the West. On reaching the vicinity of Michilimackinac,
they separated at a comparatively modern era into three
tribes, calling themselves, respectively, Odjibwas, Odawas,
and Podawadumees. What their name was before this era,
is not known. It is manifest that the term Odjibwa is not a
very ancient one, for it does not occur in the earliest
authors. They were probably of the Nipercinean or true
Algonquin stock, and had taken the route of the Utawas
river, from the St. Lawrence Valley into Lake Huron. The
term itself is clearly from Bwa, a voice; and its prefix,
Odji, was probably designed to mark a peculiar intonation
which the muscles are, as it were, gathered up to denote."
1 The Indian in His Wigwam, p. 136.
2 HISTORIC MACKINAC
Mr. William W. Warren, author of the History of the
Ojibway Nation? commenting on Schoolcraft's derivation
of the name, says:
"From this, the writer, through his knowledge of the
language, is constrained to differ, though acknowledging
that so far as the mere word may be regarded, Mr. School-
craft has given what, in a measure may be considered a
natural definition; it is, however, improbable, for the
reason that there is not the slightest perceivable pucker
or 'drawing up,' in their manner of utterance, as the word
0-jib would indicate. The word ojib or Ojibwa, means
literally 'puckered, or drawn up.' The answer of their
old men when questioned respecting the derivation of their
tribal name, is generally evasive; when hard pressed, and
surmises given them to go by, they assent in the conclusion
that the name is derived from a peculiarity in the make or
fashion of their moccasin, which has a puckered seam
lengthways over the foot, and which is termed amongst
themselves, and in other tribes, the 0-jib-wa moccasin.
"There is, however, another definition which the writer is
disposed to consider the true one, and which has been cor-
roborated to him by several of their most reliable old men.
"The word is composed of 0-jib, 'pucker up,' and ub-
way, 'to roast,' and it means, 'To roast till puckered up.'
"It is well authenticated by their traditions, and by the
writings of their early white discoverers, that before they
became acquainted with, and made use of the fire arm and
other European deadly weapons of war, instead of their
primitive bow and arrow and war-club, their wars with
other tribes were less deadly, and they were more accus-
tomed to secure captives, whom under the uncontrolled
2 Minn. Hist. Colls., pp. 35-37.
INDIANS OF THE MACKINAC COUNTRY 3
feeling incited by aggravated wrong, and revenge for sim-
ilar injuries, they tortured by fire in various ways.
"The name Ab-boin-ug (roasters), which the Ojibways
have given to the Dahcotas or Sioux, originated in their
roasting their captives, and it is as likely that the word
Ojibwa (to roast till puckered up), originated in the same
manner.
"They have a tradition which will be given under the
head of their wars with the Foxes, which is told by their
old men as giving the origin of the practice of torturing by
fire, and which will fully illustrate the meaning of their
tribal name. The writer is even of the opinion that the
name is derived from a circumstance which forms part of
the tradition. 8
"The name does not date far back. As a race or dis-
tinct people they denominate themselves A-wish-in-aub-ay.
"The name of the tribe has been most commonly spelt,
Chippeway, and is thus laid down in our different treaties
with them, and officially used by our Government.
"Mr. Schoolcraft presents it as Od-jib-wa, which is
nearer the name as pronounced by themselves. The writer,
however, makes use of 0- jib-way as being simpler spelled,
and embodying the truest pronunciation; where it is ended
with wa, as in Schoolcraft's spelling, the reader would
naturally mispronounce it in the plural, which by adding
the s would spell was, whereas by ending the word with y
preserves its true pronunciation both in singular and
plural."
The same author gives the following interesting sug-
gestion as to the probable migrations of this people: 4
* For other views as to the meaning of Ojibway, see Ibid., pp. 82, 107.
4 Schoolcraft, Archives of Aboriginal Knowledge, II, 135.
4 HISTORIC MACKINAC
"Through a close acquaintance with their religious rites
and beliefs, I have formed an opinion which I will offer
at this time, leaving it to those who have studied the Red
race, their rites and traditions, much more closely than
myself, either to reject or more fully carry out the idea.
The Ojibwa believes that his soul or shadow, after the death
of the body, follows a wide beaten path which leads towards
the West, and that it goes to a country abounding in every-
thing that the Indian covets on earth game in abundance,
dancing, and rejoicing. The soul enters a long lodge, in
which all his relatives, for generations past, are congre-
gated, and they welcome him with gladness. To reach this
land of joy and bliss, he crosses a deep and rapid water,
&c. From this universal belief I am led to think, that
formerly, ages past, these Indians lived in a land of
plenty 'a land flowing with milk and honey' towards the
West; that they have, by coercion or otherwise, emigrated
east, till the broad Atlantic arrested their further progress,
and the white man has turned the faces of tribes and rem-
nants of tribes again in the direction whence they originally
came. It is natural that this event in their ancient history
should, in the course of ages, have merged into the present
belief of a western home of spirits."
In the charming volume, Twenty Years Among our Hos-
tile Indians, Mr. J. Lee Humfreville, late Captain United
States Cavalry, writes of the "Chippewas": 8
"The hunting ground of the Chippewas extended from
the Great Lakes as far west as the Blackfoot country. At
one time they were estimated to number from fifteen thou-
sand to twenty thousand, and were divided into many
small tribes, which were scattered over the large territory
6 PP. 275-278. Hunter & Co., N. Y.
INDIANS OF THE MACKINAC COUNTRY 5
they claimed as their hunting ground. They lived prin-
cipally by hunting and fishing, and were expert in both.
They also gathered wild rice, which grew in abundance in
the lakes and marshes; it was threshed by digging holes
in the ground into which the dried heads of the plant, in-
closed in a skin, were placed. Tl^e men then treaded on the
bags until the grain separated from the stalk.
"The Chippewas resolutely resisted encroachments on
their hunting grounds; often proving their courage and
ability as warriors. They were the first of the Indians to
come into contact with the white man; securing muskets,
knives, and steel tomahawks long before the tribes farther
west They made the best snow shoes of any Indians, and
could travel with them as rapidly over the deep, soft, snow,
as over bare ground in summer when lightly shod. They
also made the best birch canoes of any of the tribes of all
this region; not even the white man could make an improve-
ment on them. . . .
"They were exceedingly superstitious. In the treatment
of the sick the medicine men were at all times ready to go
through mysterious performances for the recovery of the
patient, by placating the spirit that had inflicted disease.
When a Chippewa was ill it was the custom to erect in
front of his lodge a pole stripped of its bark, with various
ornaments and trinkets attached to the top. This pole was
painted in various colors, and made as gaudy as possible,
in order to please the Great Spirit, believing that in so
doing it would induce him to withdraw his displeasure.
These poles were regarded with great reverence, and no
Chippewa disturbed them until the patient either recovered
or died.
"A peculiar custom prevailed among them in relation
6 HISTORIC MACKINAC
to the burial of the dead. Fires were built on the grave in
the early evening, and kept burning far into the night.
This was continued invariably for four successive nights,
and often longer when the deceased was a. favorite rela-
tive, or a noted warrior. On the death of an infant, the
mother carried about with her for months a rude wooden
image in the same cradle or frame in which she had car-
ried her child. When a husband died it was the custom
for the widow to select her best wearing apparel, wrap
it in a skin or blanket, attach to it the ornaments her
husband had worn during life, and then lay the bundle
away until after the period of mourning; she appearing
for a time, generally two or three months, clad in her
poorest garb. When a sufficient period had elapsed, the
nearest relative of the deceased presented her with articles
of apparel as a mark of regard for her fidelity to the
memory of her husband. This was an intimation to the
widow that she was at liberty to dress as she chose, and free
to become the wife of another member of the tribe.
"They believed in a multitude of minor deities or spirits,
some of which exercised good, others evil influences. Su-
perstitious rites were performed in the worship of both.
They believed that spirits lived in the vicinity of water
and watercourses, that they could hear every word spoken,
and were cognizant of the doings of every individual of the
tribe; but in winter when the streams were frozen the spirits
lapsed into a torpid state like the frogs and snakes, and
were unconscious of existence. During this period the
Indians would sit around the fires in camp or lodge at
night, relating the tales and legends of the tribe, as they
could then speak with the fullest freedom with no spirit
near to overhear them. But at the earliest return of
INDIANS OF THE MACKINAC COUNTRY 7
spring, which in this particular relation was supposed to
be indicated by the croak of a frog, all story telling of this
nature abruptly ceased until the spirits had again gone
to sleep with the coming of winter.
"A widow was sometimes regarded as a seer or prophet-
ess, exercising greater influence with the tribe than the
medicine men. When answering questions propounded to
her the prophetess occupied a peculiarly constructed lodge,
where she was supposed to be under the direct influence of
the spirits.
"The Chippewas enjoyed the distinction of being able
to compute numbers, something which the average Indian
was generally incapable of doing. They counted as many
as a thousand, doing so by the decimal process; taking ten,
the number of fingers, as the basis or unit, then counting
ten for each finger, which made a hundred, repeating the
process until they had counted a thousand. The value of
a dollar was at first a puzzle to them when trading, but
by taking the exchange standard of a dollar in skins they
could by their method of computation deal with the white
man without giving him much opportunity to swindle them.
Thus, if a dollar was worth so many racoon skins, they
computed from that basis how much they should receive
for so many beaver, otter, wolf or other skins.
"The Chippewas did not practice polygamy to any great
extent. They rarely had more than two wives, and fre-
quently only one. This may be accounted for partly by
the fact that they were not constantly at war like many other
Indians, consequently the women did not greatly outnumber
the men. The men had some regard for their wives; in
this respect, they frequently excelled the white man with
whom they were brought in contact. When traders arrived
8 HISTORIC MACKINAC
among them, the Chippewas often secreted their women un-
til the white men had departed a proceeding that was not
very complimentary to the white men in that country at
the time.
"Every year, at the approach of winter, when the first
heavy snow fell, they celebrated the event with a snow
shoe dance, a practice peculiar to the Chippewas alone.
Its object was to manifest their gratitude to the Great Crea-
tor for sending the snow, which enabled them to chase and
secure game with greater facility. The ceremony did not
differ from the ordinary Indian dance, save that it lacked
the savagery and ferocity that characterized Indian dances
in general. The men jumped around in a circle, dancing,
uttering whoops and yells, and waving their weapons of the
chase to the rattle of their tom-toms.
"A custom commonly practiced by them was that known
as striking the post. On these occasions a large number
of the tribe, both men and women, assembled. The war-
riors circled around the pole, uttering fierce cries, dancing
to the unceasing beat of the tom-toms, and wildly brandish-
ing their war weapons. Then all suddenly stopped, when
one, usually a chief or noted warrior, rushed madly at the
post, striking it with his tomahawk. Amid the silence that
followed, the brave recounted one or more of his exploits
to the multitude. His story generally described some des-
perate encounter in battle, how he met his foe in single com-
bat and scalped him; or perhaps a successful contest with an
infuriated bear, wolf, or other fierce animal. These stories
were very graphically told, and invariably highly exag-
gerated in the Indian's usual manner; although it was not
uncommon to see a brave bearing on his body unmistakable
scars of encounters with both man and beast. Most of the
INDIANS OF THE MACKINAC COUNTRY 9
warriors present took their turn at story-telling; at times
some of the old men, carried away by the enthusiasm of
the moment, would suddenly rise from the circle, where
they sat apart, and rushing to the pole narrated wonderful
exploits they had performed in their youth, quite outdoing
in boastfulness all who had preceded them."
A favourite game of the jib ways, in common with
many tribes, was a species of ball playing, which was
made use of as a stratagem to gain entrance to the fort at the
time of the massacre at Old Mackinaw. It has been often
described, but nowhere better than by George Copway, a
Christianized chief of the Ojibways: 8
"One of the most popular games," he says, "is that of
ball-playing, which oftentimes engages an entire village.
Parties are formed of from ten to several hundred. Be-
fore they commence, those who are to take part in the play
must provide each his share of staking, or things which
are set apart, and one leader for each party. Each leader
then appoints one of each company to be stake-holder.
"Each man and each woman (women sometimes engage
in the sport) is armed with a stick, one end of which bends
somewhat like a small hoop, about four inches in circum-
ference, to which is attached a net-work of rawhide, two
inches deep, just large enough to admit the ball which is
to be used on the occasion. Two poles are driven in the
ground at a distance of four hundred paces from each
other, which serve as goals for the two parties. It is the
endeavor of each to take the ball to his pole. The party
which carries the ball and strikes its pole wins the game.
"The warriors, very scantily attired, young and brave,
fantastically painted and women, decorated with feathers,
8 The Republic, Nov., 1851, p. 221.
10 HISTORIC MACKINAC
assemble around their commanders, who are generally men
swift on the race. They are to take the ball either by
running with it or throwing it in the air. As the ball falls
in the crowd the excitement begins. The clubs swing and
roll from side to side, the players run and shout, fall upon
and tread upon each other, and in the struggle some get
rather rough treatment.
"When the ball is thrown to some distance on each side,
the party standing near, instantly picks it up, and runs at
full speed with three or four after him at full speed. The
others send their shouts of encouragement to their own
party. 'Ha! ha! yah!' 'A-ne-gook!' and these shouts are
heard, even from the distant lodges, for children and all
are interested in the exciting scene. The spoils are not
all on which their interest is fixed, but it is directed to the
falling and rolling of the crowds over and under each
other. The loud and merry shouts of the spectators, who
crowd the doors of the wigwams, go forth in one continued
peal, and testify to their happy state of feeling.
"The players are clothed in fur. They receive blows
whose marks are plainly visible after the scuffle. The
hands and feet are unincumbered, and they exercise them
to the extent of their power; and with such dexterity do they
strike the ball, that it is sent out of sight. Another strikes
it on its descent, and for ten minutes at a time the play
is so adroitly managed that the ball does not touch the
ground.
"No one is heard to complain, though he be bruised
severely, or his nose come in close communion with a
club. If the last mentioned catastrophe befall him, he
is up in a trice, and sends his laugh forth as loud as the
rest though it be floated at first on a tide of blood.
INDIANS OF THE MACKINAC COUNTRY 11
"It is very seldom, if ever, that one is seen to be angry
because he has been hurt. If he should get so, they would
call him a 'coward' which proves a sufficient check to many
evils which might result from many seemingly intended
injuries."
Mr. Copway gives an account of a game played in
1836, at the ancient seat of the tribe of La Pointe on Lake
Superior: T
"While I was in La-point, Lake Superior, in the summer
of 1836, when the interior band of Chippeways, with those
of Sandy Lake, Lac Counterville, Lac De Frambou, en-
camped on the island, the interior bands proposed to play
against the Lake Indians. As it would be thought a cow-
ardly act to refuse, the Lake Indians were ready at an
early hour the next day, when about two hundred and
fifty of the best and swiftest feet assembled on a level
green, opposite the mansion-house of the Rev. Mr. Hall.
"On our side was a thicket of thorns; on the other, the
lake shore, with a sandy beach of half a mile. Every kind
of business was suspended, not only by the Indians, but by
the whites of all classes.
"There were but two rivals in this group of players.
One of these was a small man from Cedar Lake, on the
Chippeway River, whose name was 'Nai-nah'aun-gaib,'
(adjusted feathers) who admitted no rival in bravery, dar-
ing, or adventure, making the contest more interesting.
"The name of the other competitor was 'Mah-koonce'
(young bear) of the shore-bands.
"The first, as I said before, was a small man. His body
was a model for sculpture; well proportioned. His hands
and feet tapered with all the grace and delicacy of a lady's.
T /6u/., p. 221.
12 HISTORIC MACKINAC
His long black hair flowed carelessly upon his shoulders.
On the top of his raven locks, waved in profusion, seventeen
signals (with their pointed fingers) of the feathers of that
rare bird, the western Eagle, being the number of the
enemy he had taken with his own hand. He had a Roman
nose with a classic lip, which wore at all times a pleasing
smile. Such was Nai-nah-aun-gaib. That day he had not
the appearance of having used paint of any kind. Before
and after the play I counted five bullet marks around his
breast. Three had passed through; two were yet in his
body. Besides these, there were innumerable marks of
small shot upon his shoulders, and the graze of a bullet on
his temple.
"His rival on the occasion was a tall muscular man.
His person was formed with perfect symmetry. He walked
with ease and grace. On his arms were bracelets com-
posed of the claws of grizzly bears. He had been in the
field of battle but five times; yet on his head were three
signals of trophies.
"The parties passed to the field; a beautiful green, as
even as a floor. Here they exhibited all the agility and
graceful motions. The one was as stately as the proud
Elk of the plains; while the other possessed all the grace-
fulness of the Antelope of the western mountains.
"Shout after shout arose from each party, and from the
crowd of spectators. 'Yah-hah yah-hah,' were all the
words that could be distinguished. After a short contest
the Antelope struck the post, and at that moment the
applause was absolutely deafening. Thus ending the first
day of the play, which was continued for some length of
time."
Whether this game is indigenous to the Indians or was
INDIANS OF THE MACKINAC COUNTRY 13
brought here by the French, has been much discussed.
Dr. Thwaites, in a note to the Jesuit Relations, says: 8
"Lafitau (Moeurs des Sauvages, part 2, p. 356) quotes
Pollux to show that crosse is precisely the same as the
Greek game of episkyros; Tailhan thinks it resembles the
pal lean of the Chilean aborigines; and Chapin (Diet.
Canad.-Fran.) says that it is almost the same as the soule
of the Ardennes mountaineers in France, and in the opinion
of many, is but a modification of the latter game as
brought hither by the first French colonists of America.
"Crosse (in modern phrase, *lacrosse') has been the na-
tional game of Canada since 1859 adopted from the In-
dian game, with modifications and improvements which
have rendered it less dangerous and more scientific."
According to Parkman, of all the Indians of the Mack-
inac country, the Ojibways have yielded the least readily
to civilization. "In their mode of life," he says,* "they
were far more crude than the Iroquois, or even the southern
Algonquin tribes. The totemic system is found among
them in its most imperfect state. The original clans have
become broken into fragments, and indefinitely multiplied ;
and many of the ancient customs of the institution are
but loosely regarded. Agriculture is little known, and,
through summer and winter, they range the wilderness
with restless wandering, now gorged to repletion, and now
perishing with want. In the calm days of summer, the
Ojibwa fisherman pushes out his birch canoe upon the great
inland ocean of the north; and, as he gazes down into the
pellucid depths, he seems like one balanced between earth
and sky. The watchful fish-hawk circles above his head;
8 X, 327. The Burrows Brothers Company, Cleveland, 0.
9 Parkman, Conspiracy of Pontiac, I, 38-40. Little, Brown & Co., Boston.
14 HISTORIC MACKINAC
and below, farther than his line will reach, he sees the trout
glide shadowy and silent over the glimmering pebbles.
The little islands on the verge of the horizon seem now start-
ing into spires, now melting from the sight, now shaping
themselves into a thousand fantastic forms, with the
strange mirage of the waters; and he fancies that the
evil spirits of the lake lie basking their serpent forms
in those unhallowed shores. Again, he explores the watery
labyrinths where the stream sweeps among pine-tufted
islands, or runs, black and deep, beneath the shadows of
moss-bearded firs; or he drags his canoe upon the sandy
beach, and, while his camp-fire crackles on the grass-plat,
reclines beneath the trees, and smokes and laughs away the
sultry hours in a lazy luxury of enjoyment.
"But when winter descends upon the north, sealing
up the fountains, fettering the streams, and turning
the green-robed forests to shivering nakedness, then,
bearing their frail dwellings on their backs, the Ojibway
family wander forth into the wilderness, cheered only
on their dreary track by the whistling of the north wind
and the hungry howl of wolves. By the banks of some
frozen stream, women and children, men and dogs, lie
crouched together around the fire. They spread their
benumbed fingers over the embers, while the wind shrieks
through the fir-trees like the gale through the rigging of a
frigate, and the narrow concave of the wigwam sparkles
with the frostwork of their congealed breath. In vain they
beat the magic drum, and call upon their guardian mani-
toes; the wary moose keeps aloof, the bear lies close in his
hollow tree, and famine stares them in the face. And now
the hunter can fight no more against the nipping cold and
blinding sleet. Stiff and stark, with haggard cheek and
INDIANS OF THE MACKINAC COUNTRY 15
shrivelled lip, he lies among the snow-drifts; till, with
tooth and claw, the famished wild-cat strives in vain to
pierce the frigid marble of his limbs. Such harsh school-
ing is thrown away on the incorrigible mind of the northern
Algonquin. He lives in misery, as his fathers lived before
him. Still, in the brief hour of plenty he forgets the
season of want; and still the sleet and the snow descend
upon his houseless head." 10
Typical of the chiefs of the Ojibways was Wabojeeg, who
lived in the early days of the French fur trade in the
Mackinac country, and whose daughter became the wife of
the well-known English trader, Mr. Johnston, of Sault Ste.
Marie. From his early years, Wabojeeg was marked out
by his tribe as destined to be a great warrior. A typical
incident of Indian life connecting Wabojeeg with the chief
Ma Mongazida is thus related by Mr. Schoolcraft: 1:
"Ma Mongazida generally went to make his fall hunts
on the middle grounds towards the Sioux territory, taking
with him all his near relatives, amounting usually to twenty
persons, exclusive of children. Early one morning while
the young men were preparing for the chase, they were
startled by the report of several shots, directed towards the
lodge. As they had thought themselves in security, the first
emotion was surprise, and they had scarcely time to fly
to their arms, when another volley was fired, which wounded
one man in the thigh, and killed a dog. Ma Mongazida
immediately sallied out with his young men, and pro-
nouncing his name aloud in the Sioux language, demanded
10 "See Tanner, Long, and Henry. A comparison of Tanner with the
accounts of the Jesuit Le Jeune will show that Algonquin life in Lower
Canada, two hundred years ago, was essentially the same with Algonquin
life on the Upper Lakes within the last half -century." Parkman.
" The Indian in His Wigwam, p. 138.
16 HISTORIC MACKINAC
if Wabasha or his brother, were among the assailants.
The firing instantly ceased a pause ensued, when a tall
figure, in a war dress, with a profusion of feathers upon
his head, stepped forward and presented his hand. It
was the elder Wabasha, his half brother. The Sioux
peaceably followed their leader into the lodge, upon which
they had, the moment before, directed their shots. At the
instant the Sioux chief entered, it was necessary to stoop
a little, in passing the door. In the act of stooping, he
received a blow from a war-club wielded by a small boy,
who had posted himself there for the purpose. It was the
young Wabojeeg. Wabasha, pleased with this early indi-
cation of courage, took the little lad in his arms, caressed
him, and pronounced that he would become a brave man,
and prove an inveterate enemy of the Sioux."
It was not long before Wabojeeg had a chance to prove
his prowess: "The border warfare in which the father of
the infant warrior was constantly engaged, early initiated
him in the arts and ceremonies pertaining to war. With
the eager interest and love of novelty of the young, he lis-
tened to their war songs and war stories, and longed for the
time when he would be old enough to join these parties,
and also make himself a name among warriors. While
quite a youth he volunteered to go out with a party, and
soon gave convincing proofs of his courage. He also early
learned the arts of hunting the deer, the bear, the moose,
and all the smaller animals common to the country; and in
these pursuits, he took the ordinary lessons of Indian young
men, in abstinence, suffering, danger and endurance of
fatigue. In this manner his nerves were knit and formed
for activity, and his mind stored with those lessons of cau-
tion which are the result of local experience in the forest.
INDIANS OF THE MACKINAC COUNTRY 17
He possessed a tall and commanding person, with a full
black piercing eye, and the usual features of his country-
men. He had a clear and full toned voice, and spoke his
native language with grace and fluency. To these attrac-
tions he united an early reputation for bravery and skill
in the chase, and at the age of twenty-two, he was already
a war leader."
Seven times he led his people against the Sioux and the
Outagamies. The incident of the last of these is thus
given by Schoolcraft: 12 "The place of rendezvous was La
Pointe Chagoimegon, or as it is called in modern days, La
Pointe of Lake Superior. The scene of the conflict, which
was a long and bloody one, was the falls of the St. Croix.
The two places are distant about two hundred and fifty
miles, by the most direct route. This area embraces the
summit land between Lake Superior and the upper Missis-
sippi. The streams flowing each way interlock, which
enables the natives to ascend them in their light canoes, and
after carrying the latter over the portages, to descend on the
opposite side.
"On this occasion, Wabojeeg and his partizan army as-
cended the muskigo, or Mauvais River, to its connecting
portage with the Namakagon branch of the St. Croix. On
crossing the summit, they embarked in their small and
light war canoes on their descent westward. This por-
tion of the route was passed with the utmost caution.
They were now rapidly approaching the enemy's borders,
and every sign was regarded with deep attention. They
were seven days from the time they first reached the waters
of the St. Croix, until they found the enemy. They went
but a short distance each day, and encamped. On the even-
Ibid., p. 140.
18 HISTORIC MACKINAC
ing of the seventh day, the scouts discovered a large body of
Sioux and Outagamies encamped on the lower side of the
portage of the great falls of the St. Croix. The discovery
was a surprise on both sides. The advance of the Chippe-
was had landed at the upper end of the portage, intending
to encamp there. The Sioux and their allies had just pre-
ceded them, from the lower part of the stream with the
same object. The Foxes or Outagamies immediately fired,
and a battle ensued. It is a spot indeed, from which a re-
treat either way is impracticable, in the face of an enemy.
It is a mere neck of rugged rock. The river forces a pas-
sage through this dark and solid barrier. It is equally
rapid and dangerous for canoes above and below. It can-
not be crossed direct.
"After the firing began Wabojeeg landed and brought
up his men. He directed a part of them to extend them-
selves in the wood around the small neck, or peninsula,
of the portage, whence alone escape was possible. Both
parties fought with bravery; the Foxes with desperation.
But they were outnumbered, overpowered, and defeated.
Some attempted to descend the rapids, and were lost. A
few only escaped. But the Chippewas paid dearly for
their victory. Wabojeeg was slightly wounded in the
breast: his brother was killed. Many brave warriors
fell. It was a most sanguinary scene. The tradition of
this battle is one of the most prominent and wide spread
of the events of their modern history. I have conversed
with more than one chief, who dated his first mili-
tary honours in youth, to this scene. It put an end to their
feud with the Foxes, who retired from the intermediate
rice lakes, and fled down the Wisconsin. It raised the
name of the Chippewa leader, to the acme of his renown
INDIANS OF THE MACKINAC COUNTRY 19
among his people: but Wabojeeg, as humane as he was
brave, grieved over the loss of his people who had fallen in
action. This feeling was expressed touchingly and charac-
teristically in a war song, which he uttered after his victory,
which has been preserved by the late Mr. Johnston of St.
Mary's, in the following stanzas:
"On that day when our heroes lay low lay low,
On that day when our heroes lay low,
I fought by their side, and thought ere I died,
Just vengeance to take on the foe,
Just vengeance to take on the foe.
"On that day, when our chieftains lay dead lay dead,
On that day when our chieftains lay dead,
I fought hand to hand, at the head of my band,
And here, on my breast, have I bled,
And here, on my breast, have I bled.
"Our chiefs shall return no more no more,
Our chiefs shall return no more,
Nor their brothers of war, who can show scar for scar,
Like women their fates shall deplore deplore,
Like women their fate shall deplore.
"Five winters in hunting we'll spend we'll spend,
Five winters in hunting we'll spend,
Till our youth, grown to men, we'll to war lead again,
And our days, like our fathers, we'll end,
And our days, like our fathers, we'll end."
Wabojeeg was an expert hunter. "On one occasion,"
says Schoolcraft, 13 "he had a singular contest with a moose.
" Ibid., p. 143.
20 HISTORIC MACKINAC
He had gone out, one morning early, to set martin traps.
He had set about forty, and was returning to his lodge, when
he unexpectedly encountered a large moose, in his path,
which manifested a disposition to attack him. Being un-
armed, and having nothing but a knife and small hatchet,
which he had carried to make his traps, he tried to avoid it.
But the animal came towards him in a furious manner.
He took shelter behind a tree, shifting his position from tree
to tree, retreating. At length, as he fled, he picked up a
pole, and quickly untying his moccasin strings, he bound
his knife to the end of the pole. He then placed himself in
a favourable position, and when the moose came up, stabbed
him several times in the throat and breast. At last,
the animal, exhausted with the loss of blood, fell. He
then dispatched him, and cut out his tongue to carry home
to his lodge as a trophy of victory. When they went back
to the spot, for the carcass, they found the snow trampled
down in a wide circle, and copiously sprinkled with blood,
which gave it the appearance of a battle-field. It proved
to be a male of uncommon size."
"The skill of Waub-Ojeeg as a hunter and trapper,"
writes Mrs. Jameson in her Sketches in Canada, 14 brought
him into friendly communication with a fur-trader named
Johnston, who had succeeded the enterprising Henry in
exploring Lake Superior. This young man, of good Irish
family, came out to Canada with such strong letters of rec-
ommendation to Lord Dorchester, that he was invited to
reside in the government house till a vacancy occurred in
his favour in one of the official departments; meantime,
being of an active and adventurous turn, he joined a party
" P. 246.
INDIANS OF THE MACKINAC COUNTRY 21
of traders going up the lakes, merely as an excursion, but
became so enamoured of that wild life, as to adopt it in
earnest. On one of his expeditions, when encamped at
Che,goi,me,gon, and trafficking with Waub-Ojeeg, he saw the
eldest daughter of the chief, and 'no sooner looked than
he sighed, no sooner sighed than he asked himself the rea-
son,' and ended by asking his friend to give him his beau-
tiful daughter. 'White man!' said the chief with dignity,
'your customs are not our customs! you white men desire
our women, you marry them, and when they cease to please
your eye, you say they are not your wives, and you forsake
them. Return, young friend, with your load of skins, to
Montreal; and if there the women of the pale faces do not
put my child out of your mind, return hither in the spring
and we will talk farther; she is young, and can wait.' The
young Irishman, ardently in love, and impatient and im-
petuous, after the manner of his countrymen, tried argu-
ments, entreaties, presents, in vain he was obliged to sub-
mit. He went down to Montreal, and the following spring
returned and claimed his bride. The chief, after making
him swear that he would take her as his wife according to
the law of the white man, till death, gave him his daughter,
with a long speech of advice to both.
"Mrs. Johnston relates, that previous to her marriage,
she fasted, according to the universal Indian custom, for a
guardian spirit; to perform this ceremony, she went away to
the summit of an eminence, and built herself a little lodge
of cedar boughs, painted herself black, and began her fast
in solitude. She dreamed continually of a white man, who
approached her with a cup in his hand, saying, 'Poor thing!
why are you punishing yourself: why do you fast? here
is food for you!' He was always accompanied by a dog,
22 HISTORIC MACKINAC
which looked up in her face as though he knew her. Also
she dreamed of being on a high hill, which was surrounded
by water, and from which she beheld many canoes full of In-
dians, coming to her and paying her homage ; after this, she
felt as if she were carried up into the heavens, and as she
looked down upon the earth, she perceived it was on fire,
and said to herself, *A11 my relations will be burned!' but
a voice answered and said, 'No, they will not be destroyed,
they will be saved;' and she knew it was a spirit, because
the voice was not human. She fasted for ten days, during
which time her grandmother brought her at intervals some
water. When satisfied that she had obtained a guardian
spirit in the white stranger who haunted her dreams, she
returned to her father's lodge, carrying green cedar boughs,
which she threw on the ground, stepping on them as she
went. When she entered the lodge, she threw some more
down upon her usual place (next her mother), and took
her seat. During the ten succeeding days she was not per-
mitted to eat any meat, nor anything but a little corn
boiled with a bitter herb. For ten days more she ate meat
smoked in a particular manner, and she then partook of the
usual food of her family.
"Notwithstanding that her future husband and future
greatness were so clearly prefigured in this dream, the
pretty 0,shah,gush,ko,da,na,qua, having always regarded
a white man with awe, and as a being of quite another
species (perhaps the more so in consequence of her dream),
seems to have felt nothing throughout the whole negotia-
tion for her hand but reluctance, terror, and aversion. On
being carried with the usual ceremonies to her husband's
lodge, she fled into a dark corner, rolled herself up in her
blanket, and would not be comforted nor even looked upon.
c
-
H
>
-
7-
INDIANS OF THE MACKINAC COUNTRY 23
It is to the honour of Johnston, that he took no cruel advan-
tage of their mutual position, and that she remained in his
lodge ten days, during which he treated her with the utmost
tenderness and respect, and sought by every gentle means
to overcome her fear and gain her affection; and it was
touching to see how tenderly and gratefully this was remem-
bered by his wife after a lapse of thirty-six years. On the
tenth day, however, she ran away from him in a paroxysm
of terror, and after fasting in the woods for four days,
reached her grandfather's wigwam. Meantime, her father,
Waub-Ojeeg, who was far off in his hunting camp, dreamed
that his daughter had not conducted herself according to his
advice, with proper wife-like docility, and he returned in
haste two days' journey to see after her; and finding all
things according to his dream, he gave her a good beating
with a stick, and threatened to cut off both her ears. He
then took her back to her husband, with a propitiatory pres-
ent of furs and Indian corn, and many apologies and excul-
pations of his own honour. Johnston succeeded at length
in taming this shy wild fawn, and took her to his house at
the Sault-Sainte-Marie. When she had been there some
time, she was seized with a longing once more to behold her
mother's face, and revisit her people. Her husband had
lately purchased a small schooner to trade upon the lake;
this he fitted out, and sent her, with a retinue of his clerks
and retainers, and in such state as became the wife of the
'great Englishman,' to her home at La Pointe, loaded with
magnificent presents for all her family. He did not go
with her himself, apparently from motives of delicacy, and
that he might be no constraint upon her feelings or move-
ments. A few months' residence amid comparative splen-
dour and luxury, with a man who treated her with respect
24 HISTORIC MACKINAC
and tenderness, enabled the fair 0,shah,gush,ko,da,na,qua
to contrast her former with her present home. She soon
returned to her husband and we do not hear of any more
languishing after her father's wigwam. She lived most
happily with Johnston for thirty-six years, till his death,
which occurred in 1828, and is the mother of eight chil-
dren, four boys and four girls.
"She showed me her husband's picture, which he brought
to her from Montreal; the features are very gentlemanlike.
He has been described to me by some of my Canadian
friends, who knew him well, as a very clever, lively, and
eccentric man, and a little of the bon vivant. Owing to
his independent fortune, his talents, his long acquaintance
with the country, and his connexion by marriage with the
native blood, he had much influence in the country."
In his introduction to the collection of nursery and cradle
songs of the forest, Schoolcraft gives us a glimpse into the
life of the Indian mother and child: 15
"The tickenagun, or Indian cradle, is an object of
great pride with an Indian mother. She gets the finest kind
of broadcloth she possibly can to make an outer swathing
band for it, and spares no pains in ornamenting it with
beads and ribbons, worked in various figures. In the
lodges of those who can afford it, there is no article more
showy and pretty than the full bound cradle. The frame
of the cradle itself is a curiosity. It consists of three
pieces. The vertebral board, which supports the back, the
hoop or footboard, which extends tapering up each side,
and the arch or bow, which springs from each side, and
protects the face and head. These are tied together with
The Indian in His Wigwam, p. 390 ff.
INDIANS OF THE MACKINAC COUNTRY 25
deer's sinews or pegged. The whole structure is very light,
and is carved with a knife by the men, out of the linden or
maple tree.
"Moss constitutes the bed of the infant, and is also put
up between the child's feet to keep them apart and adjust
the shape of them, according to custom. A one-point
blanket of the trade, is the general and immediate wrapper
of the infant, within the hoop, and the ornamented swathing
band is wound around the whole, and gives it no little re-
semblance to the case of a small mummy. As the bow
passes directly above the face and eyes, trinkets are often
hung upon this, to amuse it, and the child gets its first ideas
of ornament from these. The hands are generally bound
down with the body, and only let out occasionally, the head
and neck being the only part which is actually free. So
bound and laced, hooped and bowed, the little fabric, with
its inmate, is capable of being swung on its mother's back,
and carried through the thickest forest without injury.
Should it even fall, no injury can happen. The bow pro-
tects the only exposed part of the frame. And when she
stops to rest, or enters the lodge, it can be set aside like
any other household article, or hung up by the cradle strap
on a peg. Nothing, indeed, could be better adapted to the
exigencies of the forest life. And in such tiny fabrics, so
cramped and bound, and bedecked and trinketed, their
famous Pontiacs and King Philips, and other prime war-
riors, were once carried, notwithstanding the skill they af-
terwards acquired in wielding the lance and war club.
"The Indian child, in truth, takes its first lesson, in the
art of endurance, in the cradle. When it cries it need not
be unbound to nurse it. If the mother be young, she must
put it to sleep herself. If she have younger sisters or
26 HISTORIC MACKINAC
daughters they share this care with her. If the lodge be
roomy and high, as lodges sometimes are, the cradle is sus-
pended to the top poles to be swung. If not, or the weather
be fine, it is tied to the limb of a tree, with small cords made
from the inner bark of the linden, and a vibratory motion
given to it from head to foot by the mother or some attend-
ant. The motion thus communicated, is that of the pendu-
lum or common swing, and may be supposed to be the eas-
iest and most agreeable possible to the child. It is from
this motion that the leading idea of the cradle song is taken."
The following song, full of a mother's love and content-
ment, is sung in a slow monotone: 16
"Swinging, swinging, lul la by,
Sleep, little daughter, sleep,
'Tis your mother watching by,
Swinging, swinging she will keep,
Little daughter, lul la by.
"'Tis your mother loves you, dearest,
Sleep, sleep, daughter, sleep,
Swinging, swinging, ever nearest,
Baby, baby, do not weep;
Little daughter, lul la by.
"Swinging, swinging, lul la by,
Sleep, sleep, little one,
And thy mother will be nigh,
Swing, swing, not alone
Little daughter, lul la by."
" Ibid., p. 392.
INDIANS OF THE MACKINAC COUNTRY 27
Here is the story of the Hare and the Lynx, very like Red
Riding Hood. The mother partly speaks and partly sings,
imitating alternately the tones of the Hare and of its enemy,
the Lynx: "
"There was once," she says, "a little Hare living in the
lodge with its grandmother, who was about to send it back
to its native land. When it had gone but a little way, a
Lynx appeared in the path, and began to sing,
" 'Where pretty white one?
Where little white one,
Where do you go?'
" 'Tshwee! tshwee! tshwee! tshwee!' cried the Hare, and
ran back to its grandmother. *See, grandmother,' said the
timid little creature, 'what the Lynx is saying to me,' and
she repeated the song. 'Ho! Nosis,' that is to say, 'cour-
age, my grandchild ; run along, and tell you are going home
to your native land' ; so the Hare went back and began to
sing,
" 'To the point of land I roam,
For there is the white one's home,
Whither I go.'
"Then the Lynx looked at the trembling Hare, and began
to sing,
" 'Little white one, tell me why
Like to leather, thin and dry,
Are your pretty ears?'
" Tshwee! tshwee! tshwee! tshwee!' cried the Hare, and
" Ibid., pp. 393-394.
28 HISTORIC MACKINAC
she ran back to her grandmother, and repeated the words.
'Go, Nosis, and tell him your uncles fixed them so, when
they came from the south.' So the Hare ran back and sang,
* 'From the south my uncles came,
And they fixed my ears the same,
Fixed my slender ears.'
and then the Hare laid her pink ears upon her shoulders,
and was about to go on, but the Lynx began to sing again,
' 'Why, why do you go away?
Pretty white one, can't you stay?
Tell me why your little feet
Are made so dry and very fleet?'
" 'Tshwee! tshwee! tshwee! tshwee!' said the poor little
Hare and she ran back again to the lodge to ask again.
'Ho! Nosis!' said the grandmother, who was old and
tired, 'do not mind him, nor listen to him, nor answer him,
but run on.'
"The Hare obeyed, and ran as fast as she could. When
she came to the spot where the Lynx had been, she looked
round, but there was no one there, and she ran on. But
the Lynx had found out all about the little Hare, and knew
she was going across to the neck of land ; and he had nothing
to do but reach it first, and waylay her; which he did; and
when the innocent creature came to the place, and had got
almost home, the Lynx sprang out of the thicket and ate
her up."
A mother sings to her sick child: 18
18 Schoolcraft, The Myth of Hiawatha, p. 341.
INDIANS OF THE MACKINAC COUNTRY 29
"Abbinochi, baby dear,
Leave me not ah, leave me not;
I have nursed with love sincere,
Nursed thee in my forest cot
Tied thee in thy cradle trim
Kind adjusting every limb;
With the fairest beads and bands
Deck'd thy cradle with my hands,
And with sweetest corn panad
From my little kettle fed,
Oft with miscodeed roots shred,
Fed thee in thy baby bed.
"Abbinochi, droop not so,
Leave me not away to go
To strange lands thy little feet
Are not grown the path to greet
Or find out, with none to show
Where the flowers of grave-land grow.
Stay, my dear one, stay till grown,
I will lead thee to that zone
Where the stars like silver shine,
And the scenes are all divine,
And the happy, happy stray,
And, like Abbinochi, play."
"In the hot summer evenings," writes Schoolcraft, 1 * "the
children of the Chippewa Algonquins, along the shores of
the upper lakes, and in the northern latitudes, frequently
assemble before their parents' lodges, and amuse them-
selves by little chants of various kinds, with shouts and wild
19 The Indian in His Wigwam, p. 230.
30 HISTORIC MACKINAC
dancing. Attracted by such shouts of merriment and gam-
bols, I walked out one evening, to a green lawn skirting the
edge of the St. Mary's river, with the fall in full view, to
get hold of the meaning of some of these chants. The air
and the plain were literally sparkling with the phosphor-
escent light of the fire-fly."
By carefully attending the words he made out the chant
which the children were addressing to the fire-fly, which,
translated, would read:
"Fire-fly, fire-fly! bright little thing,
Light me to bed, and my song I will sing.
Give me your light, as you fly o'er my head,
That I may merrily go to my bed.
Give me your light o'er the grass as you creep,
That I may joyfully go to my sleep.
Come, little fire-fly come, little beast
Come! and I'll make you to-morrow a feast.
Come, little candle that flies as I sing,
Bright little fairy -bug night's little king;
Come, and I'll dance as you guide me along,
Come, and I'll pay you, my bug, with a song."
Not without a certain wild beauty is the literal transla-
tion:
"Flitting- white-fire-insect! waving- white-fire-bug! give
me light before I go to bed! Give me light before I go
to sleep! Come, little dancing-white-fire-bug. Come,
little flitting-white-fire-beast! Light me with your bright
white-flame-instrument your little candle."
"If you look at some half thousand of our most fashion-
able and admired Italian songs," says Mrs. Jameson, 20
a Op. cit., p. 253.
INDIANS OF THE MACKINAC COUNTRY 31
"the Notturni of Blangini, for instance, you will find
them very like this Chippewa canzonetta, in the no-meaning
and perpetual repetition of certain words and phrases; at
the same time, I doubt if it be always necessary for a song
to have a meaning it is enough if it have a sentiment."
Note the iteration in the following love song:
" Tis now two days, two long days,
Since last I tasted food;
'Tis for you, for you, my love,
That I grieve, that I grieve,
'Tis for you, for you that I grieve!
"The waters flow deep and wide,
On which, love, you have sailed;
Dividing you far from me.
'Tis for you, for you, my love,
'Tis for you, for you that I grieve!"
The following jib way love song reflects an appealing
sentiment: 21
"They tell me, the men with a white-white face
Belong to a purer, nobler race;
But why, if they do, and it may be so,
Do their tongues cry, 'Yes' and their actions, 'No'?
"They tell me, that white is a heavenly hue,
And it may be so, but the sky is blue;
And the first of men as our old men say,
Had earth-brown skins, and were made of clay.
21 Schoolcraft, Myth of Hiawatha, p. 307.
32 HISTORIC MACKINAC
"But throughout my life, I've heard it said,
There's nothing surpasses a tint of red;
Oh, the white man's cheeks look pale and sad,
Compared to my beautiful Indian lad.
"Then let them talk of their race divine,
Their glittering domes, and sparkling wine;
Give me a lodge, like my fathers had,
And my tall, straight, beautiful Indian lad."
Quite another aspect of the jib way muse is presented
by Schoolcraft in his introduction to the traditionary war
songs of the jib ways: 22
"Whoever has heard an Odjibwa war song," he says,
"and witnessed an Indian war dance, must be satisfied that
the occasion wakes up all the fire and energy of the Indian's
soul. His flashing eye his muscular energy, as he begins
the dance his violent gesticulation as he raises his war-
cry the whole frame and expression of the man, demon-
strate this. And long before it comes to his turn to utter his
stave, or portion of the chant, his mind has been worked
up to the most intense point of excitement: his imagination
has pictured the enemy the ambush and the onset the
victory and the bleeding victim, writhing under his prow-
ess: in imagination he has already stamped him under foot,
and torn off his reeking scalp : he has seen the eagles hover-
ing in the air, ready to pounce on the dead carcass, as soon
as the combatants quit the field.
"It would require strong and graphic language to give
descriptive utterance, in the shape of song, to all he has
fancied, and seen and feels on the subject. He himself,
22 The Indian in His Wigwam, p. 410.
INDIANS OF THE MACKINAC COUNTRY 33
makes no such effort. Physical excitement has absorbed
his energies. He is in no mood for calm and connected
descriptions of battle scenes. He has no stores of meas-
ured rhymes to fall back on. All he can do is to utter
brief, and often highly symbolic expressions of courage
of defiance of indomitable rage. His feet stamp the
ground, as if he would shake it to its centre. The inspiring
drum and mystic rattle communicate new energy to every
step, while they serve, by the observance of the most exact
time, to concentrate his energy. His very looks depict
the spirit of rage, and his yells, uttered quick, sharp,
and cut off by the application of the hand to the mouth, are
startling and horrific."
The following war-song is translated by C. F. Hoffman,
from the Algonquin of Schoolcraft: 23
"Hear ye not their shrill-piping
screams on the air?
Up! Braves for the conflict
prepare ye prepare!
Aroused from the canebrake,
far south by your drum,
With beaks whet from carnage,
the Battle Birds come.
"Oh, God of my Fathers,
as swiftly as they,
I ask but to swoop
from the hills on my prey:
Give this frame to the winds,
on the Prairie below,
* Ibid^ p. 412.
34 HISTORIC MACKINAC
But my soul like thy bolt
I would hurl on the foe!
"On the forehead of Earth
strikes the Sun in his might,
Oh, gift me with glances
as searching as light.
In the front of the onslaught,
to single each crest,
Till my hatchet grows red
on their bravest and best.
"Why stand ye back idly,
ye Sons of the Lakes?
Who boast of the scalp-locks,
ye tremble to take.
Fear-dreamers may linger,
my skies are all bright
Charge charge on the War-Path,
FOR GOD AND THE RIGHT."
From the same source is this translation of the war-song
of Wabojeeg, chanted on the eve of battle: 24
"Where are my foes? say, warriors, where? No forest
is so black,
That it can hide from my quick eye, the vestige of their
track:
There is no lake so boundless, no path where man can go,
Can shield them from my sharp pursuit, or save them from
my blow.
z< Ibid., p. 416.
INDIANS OF THE MACKINAC COUNTRY 35
The winds that whisper in the trees, the clouds that spot
the sky,
Impart a soft intelligence, to show me where they lie,
The very birds that sail the air, and scream as on they go,
Give me a clue my course to tread, and lead me to the
foe.
"The sun, at dawn, lifts up his head, to guide me on my way,
The moon, at night, looks softly down, and cheers me with
her ray.
The war-crowned stars, those beaming lights, my spirit casts
at night,
Direct me as I thread the maze, and lead me to the fight.
In sacred dreams within my lodge, while resting on the land,
Bright omens of success arise, and nerve my warlike hand.
Where'er I turn, where'er I go, there is a whispering sound,
That tells me I shall crush the foe, and drive him from my
ground.
"The beaming West invites me on, with smiles of vermil
hue,
And clouds of promise fill the sky, and deck its heavenly
blue,
There is no breeze there is no sign, in ocean, earth or sky,
That does not swell my breast with hope, or animate my eye.
If to the stormy beach I go, where heavy tempests play,
They tell me but, how warriors brave, should conquer in
the fray.
All nature fills my heart with fires, that prompt me on to go,
To rush with rage, and lifted spear, upon my country's foe-"
Schoolcraft gives the following excellent resume of the
36 HISTORIC MACKINAC
traditions, mythology, superstitions and religion of these
people: 25
"Their traditions and belief, on the origin of the globe,
and the existence of a Supreme Being, are quite accordant
with some things in our own history and theory. They
believe that the Great Spirit created material matter, and
that he made the earth and heavens, by the power of his
will. He afterwards made animals and men, out of the
earth, and he filled space with subordinate spirits, having
something of his own nature, to whom he gave a part of his
own power. He made one great and master spirit of evil,
to whom he also gave assimilated and subordinate evil
spirits, to execute his will. Two antagonist powers, they
believe, were thus placed in the world who are continually
striving for the mastery, and who have power to affect the
fortunes and lives of men. This constitutes the ground-
work of their religion, sacrifices and worship.
"They believe that animals were created before men, and
that they originally had rule on the earth. By the power
of necromancy, some of these animals were transformed
to men, who, as soon as they assumed this new form, began
to hunt the animals, and make war against them. It is
expected that these animals will resume their human shapes,
in a future state, and hence their hunters feign some clumsy
excuses, for their present policy of killing them. They
believe that all animals, and birds and reptiles, and even
insects, possess reasoning faculties, and have souls. It is
in these opinions, that we detect the ancient doctrine of
transmigration.
Ibid., pp. 203-206, 212-217.
INDIANS OF THE MACKINAC COUNTRY 37
"Their most intelligent priests tell us, that their fore-
fathers worshipped the sun ; this luminary was regarded by
them, as one of their Medas told me, as the symbol of divine
intelligence, and the figure of it is drawn in their system of
picture writing, to denote the Great Spirit. This symbol
very often occurs in their pictures of the medicine dance,
and the wabeno dance, and other sacred forms of their
rude inscriptions.
"They believe, at least to some extent, in a duality of
souls, one of which is fleshly, or corporeal; the other is in-
corporeal or mental. The fleshly soul goes immediately, at
death, to the land of spirits, or future bliss. The mental
soul abides with the body, and hovers round the place of
sepulture. A future state is regarded by them, as a state
of rewards, and not of punishments. They expect to in-
habit a paradise, filled with pleasures for the eye, and the
ear, and the taste. A strong and universal belief in divine
mercies absorbs every other attribute of the Great Spirit,
except his power and ubiquity; and they believe, so far as
we can gather it, that this mercy will be shown to all.
There is not, in general, a very discriminating sense of
moral distinctions and responsibilities, and the faint out-
shadowings, which we sometimes hear among them, of a
deep and sombre stream to be crossed by the adventurous
soul, in its way to the land of bliss, does not exercise such a
practical influence over their lives, as to interfere with the
belief of universal acceptance after death. So firm is this
belief, that their proper and most reverent term for the
Great Spirit, is Gezha Monedo, that is to say, Merciful
Spirit. Gitchy Monedo, which is also employed, is often
an equivocal phrase. The term Wazheaud, or Maker, is
38 HISTORIC MACKINAC
used to designate the Creator, when speaking of his ani-
mated works. The compound phrase Wasosemigoyan, or
universal Father, is also heard.
"The great spirit of evil, called Mudje Monedo, and
Matche Monito, is regarded as a created, and not a pre-ex-
isting being. Subordinate spirits of evil are denoted by
using the derogative form of the word, in sh by which
Moneto is rendered Monetosh. The exceeding flexibility
of the language is well calculated to enable them to ex-
press distinction of this nature.
"The tribe has a general tradition of a deluge, in which
the earth was covered with water, reaching above the high-
est hills, or mountains, but not above a tree which grew on
the latter, by climbing which a man was saved. This man
was the demi-god of their fictions, who is called Manabozho,
by whose means the waters were stayed and the earth re-
created. He employed for this purpose various animals
who were sent to dive down for some of the primordial
earth, of which a little was, at length, brought up by the
beaver, and this formed the germ or nucleus of the new, or
rather rescued planet. What particular allegories are hid
under this story, is not certain; but it is known that this, and
other tribes, are much in the habit of employing allegories,
and symbols, under which we may suspect, they have con-
cealed parts of their historical traditions and beliefs. This
deluge of the Algonquin tribes was produced, as their leg-
ends tell, by the agency of the chief of the evil spirits, sym-
bolized by a great serpent, who is placed, throughout the
tale, in an antagonistical position to the demi-god Mana-
bozho, is the same, it is thought, with the Abou, and the
Michabou, or the Great Hare of elder writers. . . .
"One of the most curious opinions of this people is their
INDIANS OF THE MACKINAC COUNTRY 39
belief in the mysterious and sacred character of fire. They
obtain sacred fire, for all national and ecclesiastical pur-
poses, from the flint. Their national pipes are lighted with
this fire. It is symbolical of purity. Their notions of the
boundary between life and death, which is also symbolically
the limit of the material verge between this and a future
state, are revealed in connection with the exhibition of
flames of fire. They also make sacrifices by fire of some
part of the first fruits of the chase. These traits are to be
viewed, perhaps, in relation to their ancient worship of the
sun, above noticed, of which the traditions and belief, are
still generally preserved. The existence among them of the
numerous classes of Jossakeeds, or mutterers (the word
is from the utterance of sounds low on the earth), is a
trait that will remind the reader of a similar class of men,
in early ages, in the eastern hemisphere. These persons
constitute, indeed, the Magi of our western forests. In the
exhibition of their art, and of the peculiar notions they pro-
mulgate on the subject of a sacred fire, and the doctrine of
transmigration, they would seem to have their affiliation
of descent rather with the disciples of Zoroaster and the
fruitful Persian stock, than with the less mentally refined
Mongolian hordes. . . .
"To give some idea of the Indian mythology as above
denoted, it is necessary to conceive every department of the
universe to be filled with invisible spirits. These spirits
hold in their belief nearly the same relation to matter that
the soul does to the body; they pervade it. They believe
not only that every man, but also that every animal has a
soul; and as might be expected under this belief, they make
no distinction between instinct and reason. Every animal
is supposed to be endowed with a reasoning faculty. The
40 HISTORIC MACKINAC
movements of birds and other animals are deemed to be
the result, not of mere instinctive animal powers implanted
and limited by the creation, without inherent power to ex-
ceed or enlarge them, but of a process of ratiocination.
They go a step farther, and believe that animals, particu-
larly birds, can look into, and are familiar with the vast
operations of the world above. Hence the great respect
they pay to birds as agents of omen, and also to some ani-
mals, whose souls they expect to encounter in another life.
Nay, it is the settled belief among the northern Algonquins,
that animals will fare better in another world, in the precise
ratio that their lives and enjoyments have been curtailed in
this life.
"Dreams are considered by them as a means of direct
communication with the spiritual world; and hence the
great influence which dreams exert over the Indian mind
and conduct. They are generally regarded as friendly
warnings of their personal manitos. No labor or enter-
prise is undertaken against their indications. A whole
army is turned back if the dreams of an officiating priest
are unfavorable. A family lodge has been known to be
deserted by all its inmates at midnight, leaving the fixtures
behind, because one of the family had dreamt of an attack,
and been frightened with the impression of blood and
tomahawks. To give more solemnity to his office the priest
or leading meta exhibits a sack containing the carved or
stuffed images of animals, with medicines and bones con-
stituting the sacred charms. These are never exhibited
to the common gaze, but, on a march, the sack is hung up in
plain view. To profane the medicine sack would be
equivalent to violating the altar. Dreams are carefully
sought by every Indian, whatever be their rank, at certain
INDIANS OF THE MACKINAC COUNTRY 41
periods of youth, with fasting. These fasts are sometimes
continued a great number of days, until the devotee be-
comes pale and emaciated. The animals that appear pro-
pitiously to the mind during these dreams, are fixed on and
selected as personal manitos, and are ever after viewed as
guardians. This period of fasting and dreaming is deemed
as essential by them as any religious rite whatever em-
ployed by Christians. The initial fast of a young man or
girl holds the relative importance of baptism, with this pe-
culiarity, that it is a free-will, or self-dedicatory rite.
"The naming of children has an intimate connection
with the system of mythological agency. Names are
usually bestowed by some aged person, most commonly
under the supposed guidance of a particular spirit. They
are often derived from the mystic scenes presented in a
dream, and refer to aerial phenomena. Yellow Thunder,
Bright Sky, Big Cloud, Spirit Sky, Spot in the Sky, are
common names for males. Females are more commonly
named from the vernal or autumnal landscape, as Woman
of the Valley, Woman of the Rock, &c. Females are not
excluded from participation in the prophetical office or
jugglership. Instances of their having assumed this func-
tion are known to have occurred, although it is commonly
confined to males. In every other department of life they
are apparently regarded as inferior or inclusive beings.
Names bestowed with ceremony in childhood are deemed
sacred, and are seldom pronounced, out of respect, it
would seem, to the spirit under whose favor they are sup-
posed to have been selected. Children are usually called
in the family by some name which can be familiarly used.
A male child is frequently called by the mother, a bird, or
young one, or old man, as terms of endearment, or bad boy,
42 HISTORIC MACKINAC
evil-doer, &c., in the way of light reproach; and these names
often adhere to the individual through life. Parents avoid
the true name often by saying, my son, my younger, or my
elder son, or my younger or my elder daughter, for which
the language has separate words. This subject of a reluc-
tance to tell their names is very curious and deserving of
investigation.
"The Indian 'art and mystery' of hunting is a tissue of
necromantic or mythological reliances. The personal
spirits of the hunter are invoked to give success in the chase.
Images of the animals sought for are sometimes carved in
wood, or drawn by the metas on tabular pieces of wood.
By applying their mystic medicines to these, the animals
are supposed to be drawn into the hunter's path; and when
animals have been killed, the Indian feels, that although
they are an authorized and lawful prey, yet there is some-
thing like accountability to the animal's suppositional soul.
An Indian has been known to ask the pardon of an animal,
which he had just killed. Drumming, shaking the rattle,
and dancing and singing, are the common accompaniments
of all these superstitious observances, and are not peculiar
to one class alone. In the wabeno dance, which is esteemed
by the Indians as the most latitudinarian co-fraternity, love
songs are introduced. They are never heard in the medi-
cine dances. They would subject one to utter contempt in
the war dance.
"The system of Manito worship has another peculiarity,
which is illustrative of Indian character. During the fasts
and ceremonial dances by which a warrior prepares himself
to come up to the duties of war, everything that savors of
effeminacy is put aside. The spirits which preside over
bravery and war are alone relied on, and these are supposed
INDIANS OF THE MACKINAC COUNTRY 43
to be offended by the votary's paying attention to objects
less stern and manly than themselves. Venus and Mars
cannot be worshipped at the same time. It would be con-
sidered a complete desecration for a warrior, while engaged
in war, to entangle himself by another, or more tender
sentiment. We think this opinion should be duly estimated
in the general award which history gives to the chastity of
warriors. We would record the fact to their praise, as
fully as it has been done; but we would subtract something
from the motive, in view of his paramount obligations of
a sacred character, and also the fear of the ridicule of his
co-warriors.
"In these leading doctrines of an oral and mystic school
of wild philosophy may be perceived the ground-work of
their mythology, and the general motive for selecting
familiar spirits. Manito, or as the Chippewas pronounce
it, monedo, signifies simply a spirit, and there is neither a
good nor a bad meaning attached to it, when not under
the government of some adjective or qualifying particle.
We think, however, that so far as there is a meaning dis-
tinct from an invisible existence, the tendency is to a bad
meaning. A bad meaning is, however, distinctly con-
veyed by the inflection, osh or ish. The particle wee,
added in the same relation, indicates a witch. Like nu-
merous other nouns, it has its diminutive in os, its plural
in wug, and its local form in ing. To add 'great/ as the
Jesuit writers did, is far from deciding the moral character
of the spirit, and hence modern translators prefix gezha,
signifying merciful. Yet we doubt whether the word God
should not be carried boldly into translations of the scrip-
tures. In the conference and prayer-room, the native
teachers use the inclusive pronominal form of Father,
44 HISTORIC MACKINAC
altogether. Truth breaks slowly on the mind, sunk in so
profound a darkness as the Indians are, and there is danger
in retaining the use of words like those which they have
so long employed in a problematical, if not a derogative
sense.
"The love for mystery and magic which pervades the
native ceremonies, has affected the forms of their lan-
guage. They have given it a power to impart life to dead
masses. Vitality in their forms of utterance is deeply
implanted in all these dialects, which have been examined ;
they provide, by the process of inflection, for keeping a
perpetual distinction between the animate and inanimate
kingdoms. But when vitality and spirituality are so
blended as we see them in their doctrine of animal souls,
the inevitable result must be, either to exalt the principle
of life, in all the classes of nature, into immortality, or to
sink the latter to the level of mere organic life. Indian
word-workers have taken the former dilemma, and peopled
their paradise not only with the souls of men, but with the
souls of every imaginable kind of beasts. Spirituality is
thus clogged with sensual accidents. The human soul hun-
gers, and it must have food deposited upon the grave. It
suffers from cold, and the body must be wrapped about
with cloths. It is in darkness, and a light must be
kindled at the head of the grave. It wanders through
plains and across streams, subject to the providences of
this life, in quest of its place of enjoyment, and when it
reaches it, it finds every species of sensual trial, which
renders the place not indeed a heaven of rest, but another
experimental world very much like this. Of punish-
ments, we hear nothing; rewards are looked for abundantly,
and the idea that the Master of life, or the merciful Spirit,
INDIANS OF THE MACKINAC COUNTRY 45
will be alike merciful to all, irrespective of the acts of this
life, or the degree of moral turpitude, appears to leave for
their theology a belief in restorations or universalism.
There is nothing to refer them to a Saviour; that idea
was beyond their conception, and of course there was no
occasion for the offices of the Holy Ghost. Darker and
more chilling views to a theologian, it would be impossible
to present. Yet it may be asked, what more benign result
could have been, or can now be, anticipated in the hearts of
an ignorant, uninstructed and wandering people, exposed
to sore vicissitudes in their lives and fortunes, and without
the guidance of the light of Revelation?
"Of their mythology proper, we have space only to make
a few remarks. Some of the mythologic existences of the
Indians admit of poetic uses. Manabozho may be consid-
ered as a sort of terrene Jove, who could perform all
things whatever, but lived some time on earth, and excelled
particularly in feats of strength and manual dexterity.
All the animals were subject to him. He also survived a
deluge, which the traditions mention, having climbed a
tree on an extreme elevation during the prevalence of the
waters, and sent down various animals for some earth, out
of which he re-created the globe. The four cardinal points
are so many demi-gods, of whom the West, called KA-
BEUN, has priority of age. The East, North and South
are deemed to be his sons, by a maid who incautiously
exposed herself to the west wind. IAGOO (lagoo) is
the god of the marvellous, and many most extravagant
tales of forest and domestic adventure are heaped upon
him. KWASIND is a sort of Samson, who threw a huge
mass of rock such as the Cyclops cast at Mentor. WEENG
is the god of sleep, who is represented to have numerous
46 HISTORIC MACKINAC
small emissaries at his service, reminding us of Pope's
creation of gnomes. These minute emissaries climb up
the forehead, and wielding a tiny club, knock individuals
to sleep. PAUGUK is death, in his symbolic attitude.
He is armed with a bow and arrows. It would be easy
to extend this enumeration.
"The mental powers of the Indian constitutes a topic
which we do not design to discuss. But it must be manifest
that some of their peculiarities are brought out by their
system of mythology and spirit-craft. War, public policy,
hunting, abstinence, endurance, and courageous adventure,
form the leading topics of their mental efforts. These are
deemed the appropriate themes of men, sages and war-
riors. But their intellectual essays have also a domestic
theatre of exhibition. It is here that the Indian mind un-
bends itself and reveals some of its less obvious traits.
Their public speakers cultivate a particular branch of
oratory. They are careful in the use of words, and are
regarded as standards of purity in the language. They
appear to have an accurate ear for sounds, and delight in
rounding off a period, for which the languages afford great
facilities, by their long and stately words, and multiform
inflexions. A drift of thought an elevation of style, is
observable in their public speaking which is dropt in private
conversation. Voice, attitude and motion, are deemed of
the highest consequence. Much of the meaning of their
expressions is varied by the vehement, subdued, or pro-
longed tone in which they are uttered. In private con-
versation, on the contrary, all is altered. There is an
equanimity of tone, an easy vein of narration or dia-
logue, in which the power of mimicry is most strikingly
brought out. The very voice and words of the supposed
INDIANS OF THE MACKINAC COUNTRY 47
speakers, in their fictitious legends, are assumed. Fear,
supplication, timidity or boasting, are exactly depicted,
and the deepest interest excited. All is ease and freedom
from restraint. There is nothing of the coldness or severe
formality of the council. The pipe is put to its ordinary
use, and all its symbolic sanctity is laid aside with the
wampum belt and the often reiterated state epithets, 'Nosa*
and 'Kosinan,' i.e., my father and our father.
"Another striking trait of the race is found in their leg-
ends and tales. Those of the aboriginal race who excel
in private conversation, become to their tribes oral chron-
iclers, and are relied on for historical traditions as well as
tales. It is necessary, in listening to them, to distinguish
between the gossip and the historian, the narrator of real
events, and of nursery tales. For they gather together
everything from the fabulous feats of Manabozho and
Mishosha, to the hair-breadth escapes of a Pontiac, or a
Black Hawk. These narrators are generally men of a
good memory and a certain degree of humor, who have
experienced vicissitudes, and are cast into the vale of tears.
In the rehearsal of their tales, transformations and trans-
migrations are a part of the machinery relied on; and
some of them are as accurately adapted to the purposes of
amusement or instruction, as if Zoroaster or Ovid himself
had been consulted in their production. Many objects in
the inanimate creation, according to these tales, were orig-
inally men and women. And numerous animals had other
forms in their first stages of existence, which they, as well
as human beings, forfeited, by the power of necromancy
and transmigration. The evening star, it is fabled, was
formerly a woman. An ambitious boy became one of the
planets. Three brothers, traveling in a canoe, were trans-
48 HISTORIC MACKINAG
lated into a group of stars. The fox, the lynx, hare, robin,
eagle and numerous other species, retain places in the
Indian system of astronomy. The mouse obtained celes-
tial elevation by creeping up the rainbow, which Indian
story makes a flossy mass of bright threads, and by the
power of gnawing them, he relieved a captive in the sky.
It is a coincidence, which we note, that ursa major is called
by them the bear.
"These legends are not confined to the sky alone. The
earth also is a fruitful theatre of transformations. The
wolf was formerly a boy, who, being neglected by his
parents, was transformed into this animal. A shell, lying
on the shore, was transformed to the racoon. The brains
of an adultress were converted into the addikumaig, or
white fish.
"The power of transformation was variously exercised.
It most commonly existed in magicians, of whom Abo,
Manabosh or Manabozho, and Mishosha, retain much celeb-
rity. The latter possessed a magic canoe which would rush
forward through the water on the utterance of a charm,
with a speed that would outstrip the wind. Hundreds of
miles were performed in as many minutes. The charm
which he uttered, consisted of a monosyllable, containing
one consonant, which does not belong to the language; and
this word has no definable meaning. So that the language
of magic and demonology has one feature in common in
all ages and with every nation.
"Man, in his common shape, is not alone the subject of
their legends. The intellectual creations of the Indians
admit of the agency of giants and fairies. Anak and his
progeny could not have created more alarm in the minds
of the ten faithless spies, than do the race of fabulous Ween-
INDIANS OF THE MACKINAC COUNTRY 49
digos to the Indian tribes. These giants are represented
as cannibals, who ate up men, women and children. In-
dian fairies are of two classes, distinguished as the place
of their revels is either the land or water. Land-fairies
are imagined to choose their residences about promontories,
water-falls and solemn groves. . The water, besides its
appropriate class of aquatic fairies, is supposed to be the
residence of a race of beings called Nibanaba which have
their analogy, except as to sex, in the mermaid. The In-
dian word indicates a male. Ghosts are the ordinary ma-
chinery in their tales of terror and mystery. There is,
perhaps, a glimmering of the idea of retributive justice in
the belief that ghosts and spirits are capable of existing
in fire."
CHAPTER II
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC
Huron's wave there stands an isle, 1
Which lifts on high its tower-like pile,
Guarding the strait, whose promont sides
Press into union various tides,
From broad Superior rushing down,
Chilled with the arctic winter's frown,
Or coming up from milder skies,
Where Michigania's sources rise.
This isle by wild tradition long
Made theme of forest tale and song
In ev'ry age has caught the eye
Of Indian, as he wanders by,
Who sees it rise, like giant mound,
O'erlooking all the region round,
The clust'ring islands, sever'd main,
And straits drawn out, like liquid chain;
And as his light canoe draws near,
He stays awhile its fleet career,
That, ofFring up a simple prayer,
And leaving simple tribute there,
The Manitou, whom fancy sees
Enshrouded 'mong the rocks and trees,
May send him on his course with fav'ring breeze."
1 Henry Whiting, Sannillac, p. 3.
50
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 51
"Sugar Loaf, on Mackinac," writes Mr. Stanley Newton, 2
"is easily the best example of Manito worship in the North
country. This rock has been the object of superstitious
reverence by thousands of Chippewas, Hurons, Ottawas,
Potawatomies and Sioux for hundreds of years; and even
the hot-blooded Mohawks and Senecas are said to have laid
down their arms and knelt in fear before its peculiar forma-
tion. It was considered the abode of the one Great Spirit.
Here he dwelt in impenetrable dignity and majesty; and
received at the foot of his dwelling the offerings of his red
children. So sacred was the ground that it is only in com-
paratively modern times that we read of its being inhab-
ited; tradition tells us that formerly it was left to Manito
alone. His devotees brought their sacrifices from the
mainland ; stepped ashore with awe and trembling, and car-
ried their votive offerings to the Rock; and after a short
supplication to the deity lost no time in leaving a place of
such dread solemnity. The bones of the greatest of the
chiefs, their wives and children, were deposited on the
Island, to rest forever under the immediate protection of the
Keeper of Souls."
"Indeed," he continues, 3 "for aught poor mortals can
tell, it was he who called the Island into being for his
special purpose. Do we not know that the Chippewas
once fished over its very site? And that once upon a
time a blinding fog hung upon the Straits for the space
of three suns, and that when it arose, there loomed the
Island, full-panoplied and beautiful, with all its trees and
flowers in bloom? Surely it was then the Great Spirit
came. For a long time the Indians durst not venture near,
* Mackinac Island and Sault Ste. Marie, by Stanley Newton, p. 26.
P. 66.
52 HISTORIC MACKINAC
but at last they came timidly, with canoes filled with
wampum and offerings to propitiate the god, and honor
his new home. And he was gracious unto them, and filled
their waters with fish, and their hunting grounds with
game; he tipped the tongues of their chiefs with silver,
and made their warriors unconquerable in battle. Truly
it was a golden age, until the white man came.
"Be it known to all pale-faces that Gitchi Manito cannot
abide the white men. Their scoffings and scornings, their
contempt for his ancient rites, their ways of living, their
fire-water, these things are not acceptable in his sight.
So, with the coming of the Europeans, he left his sacred
shrine in sorrow and anger, and flew to the distant regions
of the North, where he dwells for a space in the flaming
tongues of the Aurora Borealis.
"But think not that the whites will finally prevail. As
the god took flight from his Island temple, he stamped his
foot on the high plateau, and caused a great seam to open
in the limestone, extending down to an unmeasured depth,
and known to the Islanders and tourists of our day as 'The
Crack.' When the Great Spirit has completed his mighty
spells the crack will widen and deepen as the days go by,
and finally, at his command, a great storm will come, and
the Island will split and fall apart, sinking once more,
and forever, beneath the waters of the Straits."
Says Mr. Charles Ellis: 4 "Mackinac Island, a rock-
walled piece of land in Lake Huron, is the most interesting
spot in all our Great Lakes, having been the home of the
first man and the first woman who ever trod upon the globe.
Here it was, according to the ancient Indian legend of
creation, that Michi Manitou, the Great Spirit, dwelt when
* The American Magazine, March, 1888, pp. 515-517.
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 53
on earth; and here he placed the red Adam and Eve to
have the care of his island home.
"Schoolcraft says the modern meaning of the name Mis-
silimackinac among the Indians is 'the place of dancing
spirits.' Sheldon thought the name meant 'great turtle/
and that its origin was the resemblance of the Island to that
animal. Charlevoix, who was among the Indians of the
lake country about 1720-1, found a tradition that Michi-
bou was Manitou, or God of Waters that is, of the lakes;
that he was born on this Island; that he created the lakes
and the beaver for the red people; and that they made sac-
rifices to him for his providence. Such offerings were also
made at that time to Lake Superior, as having been es-
pecially created for the purpose of raising beaver. If the
Indians made proper sacrifices, they would catch many
beaver, and at death would be admitted to the celestial
regions away to the West, beyond the mountains. If they
failed to make the right offerings, they would lose beaver,
and at death be compelled to wander up and down about
the lakes and woods, with no wigwams, under the watchful-
ness of sleepless giants or monsters, sixty feet high.
"These giants or monsters were tall, conical rocks, which
still exist, and they explain the long name. The word
Michi is 'great.' The French spelled it Missi. It is the
first part of the name of the great river of the West. In
another form, it was the first name of Lake Superior, the
greatest of lakes. It is in the name of Michigan the Land
of Great Waters.
"One of these monsters stands on Mackinac Island, an-
other in the village of St. Ignace, and still others are to be
found in the lower parts of the upper peninsula of Michi-
gan. That on the Island is about ninety feet high, and
54 HISTORIC MACKINAC
it is as much of a curiosity to the average white man as it
was centuries ago to the ordinary red. From the legend
of the creation to which I have referred, and whose ex-
istence it was my good fortune to discover, we learn that
this rocky cone was made by Manitou to be his home. A
cave in the rock is pointed out as proof of this. The
Indians probably reasoned about these objects in some
such way as this: If Manitou made this stone wigwam for
himself, he made all the Michi Mackinack, that is, all the
great monsters, for some special purpose of his own. If
Manitou himself lived in one of these on the Island, other
spirits live in those about the shores and forests. In time
they concluded that these spirits were there to see that the
red people paid Manitou for his beaver. In time, also,
the name of these objects became the name of the land,
and hence all this region was Michilimackinack.
"The conception of 'dancing spirits' as the meaning of
the name, sprang from the old legendary belief that when
the original father and mother of the race died, they
became spirits, and continued thus to watch over the Island
home of Manitou. The other conception that it meant
'great turtle,' grew out of the same legend of creation,
which says that Manitou made a turtle out of a drop of his
own sweat and sent it to the bottom of the lake; that it
brought up a mouthful of mud, from which Manitou cre-
ated the Island, and then as a reward to the turtle for his
part in the act, placed him upon the Island to sleep and
dream forever in the summer sun of paradise. It is not
surprising that in the course of ages the ancient legend has
become somewhat frayed, or even that torn bits of it have
served to start new ones. All of them however, come to-
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 55
gether beautifully in the grand legend of the red Adam
and Eve."
This legend, curiously like that of the Hebraic Adam and
Eve, is the story of Atoacan and Atahensic: 5
"Michabou, or the Great Hare, sat upon the face of the
waters he, and his creatures, which were all four-legged.
The form of this being was unlike that of anything ever
seen on the earth, before or since. He had four legs, or
rather two legs and two arms, but he used them as if they
were legs, and he used the two arms for purposes for which
legs could not be used to advantage. So he had four legs
and two arms, and yet there were but four in all. Each of
his creatures was unlike the others; all were known and
distinguished by something which did not belong to another.
Some had but one leg, some had twenty ; some had no legs,
but many arms; and some had neither legs nor arms. The
same diversity prevailed with regard to the eyes, and
mouth, and nose, and ears. Indeed, they were a strange
crowd of creatures, and not the least strange of all was
Michabou himself, the head chief, or rather great father
of all the creatures which moved over the face of the mighty
waters.
"Michabou was married to a woman quite as odd and
deformed as himself, who bore him many children of
strange and various shapes. When the time had come for
her to bring forth her one-thousandth child, she had a
strange dream. She dreamed that the child within her
refused to see the light, till he had something firm and
stable to stand upon something which would permit him
to enjoy rest undisturbed by motion. She told this dream
8 Jones, Traditions of the North American Indians, II, 43-48.
56 HISTORIC MACKINAC
to her husband, whom it puzzled very much. At length
he made out that he was to create a world. He knew be-
fore, that the bottom of the ocean was covered with sand.
So he dived down, and brought up from thence a glittering
grain to serve as the germ of the world.
"Having taken this grain of glittering sand into the
hollow of his hand, Michabou blew upon it until it so
expanded, that it became a little earth. He then set it
afloat upon the waters, where it continued increasing in
magnitude, until it was large enough to sustain, without
sinking, the child which the wife of the great chief, after
bearing about her for forty seasons, brought forth to the
light of day. This child, upon being born, had the form
of a man, and was placed upon the earth thus created.
He was the first being which had ever borne the form of a
man, and the first occupier of the earth. They gave him
the name of Atoacan, which signifies the 'great father, or
beginner of a race.' When he was born, he was larger in
stature than any man that has been born since, and he
increased in size, until his head towered above the tallest
woods.
"But Atoacan was alone, and life soon became a burthen
to him. He was solitary and sad, and found no pleasure
in the beautiful things which were daily, hourly, springing
up on the earth. He saw the flowers bloom, and scent the
air, but they afforded no pleasure to his eyes, no refresh-
ment to his soul. Sweet fruits were bending the bushes to
the earth, or clustering on the boughs, but they were taste-
less; for it was in his nature to enjoy nothing, prize nothing,
unless participated in by another the counterpart of him-
self. So he put clay upon his head, and cried loud to
his father, the Great Hare, for a companion. Michabou,
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 57
perceiving that he and his strange-shaped creatures would
be supplanted in power by the son whom he had begotten,
the new creature man, had ascended to the heavens: he
heard the prayer of his son, and listened to it.
"There was among the people of the skies a beautiful
maiden, whose name was Atahensic. She was fairest of
all the daughters of the air, beautiful as the sun, mild
as the moon, and sportive as the stars.* Michabou asked
her if she would descend to earth, and become the com-
panion and wife of his son; and she, delighted as women
always are, at the prospect of a journey, no matter whither,
consented. So Michabou made a long string of the sinews
and tendons of the various land animals, and by this string
he lowered Atahensic into the arms of his delighted son.
"The man, no longer solitary, but furnished with the
being, intended by the constitution of nature and the Great
Master of all for the companion and comfort of his life,
set about appropriating to his use the various things he
saw. He was no longer solitary, but met the difficulties
which spring up in the path of human life, and the labours
which he is compelled to bestow upon the procuring of food,
with cheerfulness and alacrity. He now went in the morn-
ing to the forest glade to hunt the red deer, and his toils
were not thought of, because, when they were ended, when
the woods, made dark by the coming shades of night,
rang shrill with the lay of the fire-bird, and his shafts
were all spent, he could bear home the spoils they had
won, and be rejoiced by the smiles of his companion and
wife.
"Atahensic bore her husband two children, a son and a
daughter. These two married and built themselves a lodge
far from their parents. They had many children, but
58 HISTORIC MACKINAC
Michabou, who came down now and then, to see how things
were going on, observing the slow rate at which the world
was peopling, determined to adopt another plan. So he
told Atoacan that, upon the death of every animal, he
must skin it. He must burn the skin, drop a drop of his
own blood upon the carcass, and cover it up carefully with
dry leaves from the forest trees. Upon the fourth day
after he had covered it with leaves, if he would remove
the leaves, he would find beneath them a sleeping infant,
which, upon waking, would utter a cry of surprise, at
finding itself no longer a beast but a human being. Each
of these beings would possess the power to assist in the
like multiplication of the species, but be denied other
power of procreation. Having thus left directions for the
speedy peopling of the world, Michabou again ascended
to the heavens, which he has not left since.
"Atoacan and his son carefully obeyed the commands
which had been laid upon them, and of every beast or four-
footed creature that died he formed a human being. These
human beings were gifted with the qualities and passions
which belonged to them in life; these they have retained,
and thence it is that, at this day, the dispositions of men
are so various. We see one crafty and subtle he has
the blood of the fox; another cruel, malicious, blood-thirsty
he is descended from the wolf. The red skin is courag-
eous the horse was his father; the white man is a coward
his mother was a sheep. One is full of sprightliness
and agility he is of the blood of the mountain-cat; another
is clumsy the musk-ox was his father. Strange and vari-
ous are the dispositions which the men have cunning,
subtle, sly, wise, brave, prudent, careless, cowardly, peace-
able, blood-thirsty. These are qualities derived from the
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 59
beasts which died as beasts, and became men and the
ancestors of the tribes living on the earth."
According to Schoolcraft, the name of the Island was
called "Mish-i-nim-auk-in-ong" by the Indians. "The
term mishi" he says, "as heard in mishipishiu, panther,
and mishigenabik, a gigantic serpent of fabled notoriety,
signifies great; nim, appears to be derived from nimi, to
dance, and auk from autig, tree or standing object; ong
is the common termination for locality, the vowels i (second
and fifth syllable) being brought into the compound word
as connectives. In a language which separates all matter,
the whole creation, in fact, into two classes of nouns
deemed animates and inanimates the distinctions of gen-
der are lost, so far as the laws of syntax are involved. It
is necessary only to speak of objects as possessing and
wanting vitality, to communicate to them the property
named, whether it in reality possesses it in nature or not.
For this purpose words which lack it in their penultimate
syllables, take the consonant n to make their plurals for
inanimates, and g for animates. By this simple method,
the whole inanimate creation woods, trees, rocks, clouds,
waters, &c. is clothed at will with life, or the opposite
class of objects are shorn of it, which enables the speaker,
whose mind is imbued with his peculiar mythology and
necromancy, to create a spiritual world around him. In
this creation it is well known to all who have investigated
the subject, that the Indian mind has exercised its in-
genuity, by creating classes and species of spirits, of all
imaginable kinds, which, to his fancied eye, fill all sur-
rounding space. If he be skilled in the magic rites of the
sacred meda, or jesukewin, it is but to call on these spirits,
8 Personal Memoirs, p. 443-444.
60 HISTORIC MACKINAC
and his necromantic behest is at its highest point of energy.
"In reference to this spiritual creation, the word mish
signifies great, or rather big, but as adjectives are, like
substantives, transitive, the term requires a transitive objec-
tive sign, to mark the thing or person that is big, hence the
term Michi signifies big spirit, or 'fairy' for it is a kind of
pukwudjininne, and not of monetoes that are described.
The terms nim and auk, dance and tree, and the local
ong, are introduced to describe the particular locality and
circumstances of the mythologic dances. The true mean-
ing of the phrase, therefore, appears to be, Place of the
Dancing Spirits. The popular etymology that derives the
word from Big Turtle is still farther back in the chain
of etymology, and is founded on the fact that the michi
are turtle spirits. This is the result of my inquiries with
the best interpreters of the language. The French, to
whom we owe the original orthography, used ch for sh,
interchanged n for / in the third syllable, and modified
the syllables auk and ong into the sounds of ack which
are, I believe, general rules founded on the organs of
utterance, in their adoption by that nation of Indian words.
Hence Michilimackinack. The word has, in Indian, a
plural inflective in oag, which the French threw away. The
Iroquois, who extended their incursions here, called it
Ti-e-don-de-ro-ga."
A still different origin is given by Andrew J. Blackbird,
son of an Ottawa chief, who finds a historical definition : 7
"Again, most every historian, or annalist so-called, who
writes about the Island of Mackinac and the Straits and
vicinity, tells us that the definition or the meaning of the
word 'Michilimackinac' in the Ottawa and Chippewa Ian-
1 History of the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, pp. 19-20.
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 61
guage, is 'large turtle,' derived from the word Mi-she-mi-
ki-nock in the Chippewa language. That is, 'Mi-she' as
one of the adnominals or adjectives in the Ottawa and
Chippewa languages, which would signify tremendous in
size; and 'Mikinock' is the name of mud turtle meaning,
therefore, 'monstrous large turtle,' as the historians would
have it. But we consider this to be a clear error. Wher-
ever those annalists, or those who write about the Island
of Mackinac, obtain their information as to the definition
of the word Michilimackinac, I don't know, when our tra-
dition is so direct and so clear with regard to the historical
definition of that word, and is far from being derived from
the word 'Michimikinock,' as the historians have told us.
Our tradition says that when the Island was first discovered
by the Ottawas, which was some time before America was
known as an existing country by the white man, there was
a small independent tribe, a remnant race of Indians who
occupied this Island, who became confederated with the
Ottawas when the Ottawas were living at Manitoulin, for-
merly called Ottawa Island, which is situated north of Lake
Huron. The Ottawas thought a good deal of this unfortu-
nate race of people, as they were a kind of interesting sort
of people; but, unfortunately, they had most powerful ene-
mies, who every now and then would come among them
to make war with them. Their enemies were of the Iro-
quois of New York. Therefore, once in the dead of the
winter while the Ottawas were having a great jubilee and
war dances at their island, now Manitoulin, on account of
the great conquest over the We-ne-be-goes of Wisconsin, of
which I will speak more fully in subsequent chapter?,
during which time the Senecas of New York, of the Iroquois
family of Indians, came upon the remnant race and
62 HISTORIC MACKINAC
fought them, and almost entirely annihilated them. But
two escaped to tell the story, who affected their escape by
flight and by hiding in one of the natural caves at the Island,
and therefore that was the end of this race. And according
to our understanding and traditions the tribal name of
those disastrous people was 'Mi-shi-ne-macki-naw-go,'
which is still existing to this day as a monument of their
former existence; for the Ottawas and Chippewas named
this little Island 'Mi-shi-ne-macki-nong' for memorial sake
of those their former confederates, which word is the
locative case of the Indian noun 'Michinemackinawgo.*
Therefore, we contend, this is properly where the name
Michilimackinac is originated."
The legend of Osseo, or Son of the Evening Star, is in
accord with the generally accepted derivation of the Island's
name as advanced by Schoolcraft. It is as follows: 8
"There once lived an Indian in the north, who had ten
daughters, all of whom grew up to womanhood. They
were noted for their beauty, but especially Oweenee, the
youngest, who was very independent in her way of thinking.
She was a great admirer of romantic places, and paid very
little attention to the numerous young men who came to her
father's lodge for the purpose of seeing her. Her elder
sisters were all solicited in marriage from their parents,
and one after another, went off to dwell in the lodges of
their husbands, or mothers-in-law, but she would listen to
no proposals of the kind. At last she married an old man
called Osseo, who was scarcely able to walk, and was too
poor to have things like others. They jeered and laughed
at her, on all sides, but she seemed to be quite happy, and
said to them, 'It is my choice, and you will see in the end,
8 Schoolcraft, Algic Researches, pp. 152-159.
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 63
who has acted the wisest.' Soon after, the sisters and
their husbands and their parents were all invited to a feast,
and as they walked along the path, they could not help
pitying their young and handsome sister, who had such
an unsuitable mate. Osseo often stopped and gazed up-
wards, but they could perceive nothing in the direction he
looked, unless it was the faint glimmering of the evening
star. They heard him muttering to himself as they went
along, and one of the elder sisters caught the words, 'Sho-
wain-ne-me-shin-nosa.' ' 'Poor old man,' said she, 'he is
talking to his father, what a pity it is, that he would not
fall and break his neck, that our sister might have a
handsome young husband.' Presently they passed a large
hollow log, lying with one end toward the path. The
moment Osseo, who was of the turtle totem, came to it, he
stopped short, uttered a loud and peculiar yell, and then
dashing into one end of the log, he came out at the other,
a most beautiful young man, and springing back to the road,
he led off the party with steps as light as the reindeer.
But on turning round to look for his wife, behold, she had
been changed into an old, decrepit woman, who was bent
almost double, and walked with a cane. The husband,
however, treated her very kindly, as she had treated him
during the time of his enchantment, and constantly ad-
dressed her by the term of ne-ne-moosh-a, or *my sweet-
heart.'
"When they came to the hunter's lodge with whom they
were to feast, they found the feast ready prepared, and
as soon as their entertainer had finished his harangue,
(in which he told them his feasting was in honour of the
Evening, or Woman's Star), they began to partake of the
[Notes 9-10 are Schoolcraft's.]
"Pity me, my father."
64 HISTORIC MACKINAC
portion dealt out, according to age and character, to each
one. The food was very delicious, and they were all happy
but Osseo, who looked at his wife and then gazed upward,
as if he were looking into the substance of the sky.
Sounds were soon heard, as if from far-off voices in the
air, and they became plainer and plainer, till he could
clearly distinguish some of the words.
" 'My son my son,' said the voice, 'I have seen your
afflictions and pity your wants. I come to call you away
from a scene that is stained with blood and tears. The
earth is full of sorrows. Giants and sorcerers, the ene-
mies of mankind, walk abroad in it, and are scattered
throughout its length. Every night they are lifting their
voices to the Power of Evil, and every day they make
themselves busy in casting evil in the hunter's path. You
have long been their victim, but shall be their victim no
more. The spell you were under is broken. Your evil
genius is overcome. I have cast him down by my superior
strength, and it is this strength I now exert for your hap-
piness. Ascend, my son ascend into the skies, and par-
take of the feast I have prepared for you in the stars,
and bring with you those you love.
' 'The food set before you is enchanted and blessed.
Fear not to partake of it. It is endowed with magic power
to give immortality to mortals, and to change men to spirits.
Your bowls and kettles shall be no longer wood and
earth. The one shall become silver, and the other
wampum. They shall shine like fire, and glisten like the
most beautiful scarlet. Every female shall also change her
state and looks, and no longer be doomed to laborious
tasks. She shall put on the beauty of the starlight, and
become a shining bird of the air, clothed with shining
INDIANS AT THE KITCHEN, AND SISTER ROCKS,
MACKINAC ISLAND
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 65
feathers. She shall dance and not work she shall sing
and not cry.'
" 'My beams/ continued the voice, 'shine faintly on
your lodge, but they have a power to transform it into the
lightness of the skies, and decorate it with the colours of
the clouds. Come, Osseo, my son, and dwell no longer on
earth. Think strongly on my words, and look steadfastly
at my beams. My power is now at its height. Doubt not
delay not. It is the voice of the Spirit of the stars that
calls you away to happiness and celestial rest.'
"The words were intelligible to Osseo, but his compan-
ions thought them some far-off sounds of music, or birds
singing in the woods. Very soon the lodge began to shake
and tremble, and they felt it rising into the air. It was too
late to run out, for they were already as high as the tops of
the trees. Osseo looked around him as the lodge passed
through the topmost boughs, and behold! their wooden
dishes were changed into shells of a scarlet colour, the poles
of the lodge to glittering wires of silver, and the bark that
covered them into the gorgeous wings of insects. A mo-
ment more, and his brothers and sisters, and their parents
and friends, were transformed into birds of various plum-
age. Some were jays, some partridges and pigeons, and
others gay singing birds, who hopped about displaying their
glittering feathers, and singing their songs. But Oweenee
still kept her earthly garb, and exhibited all the indications
of extreme age. He again cast his eyes in the direction of
the clouds and uttered that peculiar yell, which had given
him the victory of the hollow log. In a moment the youth
and beauty of his wife returned; her dingy garments as-
sumed the shining appearance of green silk, and her cane
was changed into a silver feather. The lodge again shook
66 HISTORIC MACKINAC
and trembled, for they were now passing through the upper-
most clouds, and they immediately after found themselves
in the Evening Star, the residence of Osseo's father.
" 'My son,' said the old man, 'hang that cage of birds,
which you have brought along in your hands, at the door,
and I will inform you why you and your wife have been
sent for.' Osseo obeyed the directions, and then took his
seat in the lodge. 'Pity was shown to you,' resumed the
king of the star, 'on account of the contempt of your wife's
sister, who laughed at her ill fortune, and ridiculed you
while you were uncfer the power of that wicked spirit, whom
you overcame at the log. That spirit lives in the next
lodge, being a small star you see on the left of mine, and
he has always felt envious of my family, because we had
greater power than he had, and especially on account of
our having had the care committed to us of the female
world. He failed in several attempts to destroy your
brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, but succeeded at last in
transforming yourself and your wife into decrepit old per-
sons. You must be careful and not let the light of his
beams fall on you, while you are here, for therein is the
power of his enchantment; a ray of light is the bow and
arrow he uses.'
"Osseo lived happy and contented in the parental lodge,
and in due time his wife presented him with a son, who
grew up rapidly, and was the image of his father. He
was very quick and ready in learning everything that was
done in his grandfather's dominions, but he wished also to
learn the art of hunting, for he had heard that this was a
favorite pursuit below. To gratify him his father made
him a bow and arrows, and he then let the birds out of the
cage that he might practice in shooting. He soon became
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 67
expert, and the very first day brought down a bird, but
when he went to pick it up, to his amazement, it was a beau-
tiful young woman with the arrow sticking in her breast.
It was one of his younger aunts. The moment her blood
fell upon the surface of that pure and spotless planet, the
charm was dissolved. The boy immediately found himself
sinking, but was partly upheld, by something like wings,
till he pass'ed through the lower clouds, and he then sud-
denly dropped upon a high, romantic island in a large
lake. He was pleased on looking up, to see all his aunts
and uncles following him in the form of birds, and he soon
discovered the silver lodge, with his father and mother, de-
scending with its waving barks looking like so many in-
sects' gilded wings. It rested on the highest cliffs of the
Island, and here they fixed their residence. They all re-
sumed their natural shapes, but were diminished to the size
of fairies, and as a mark of homage to the King of the
Evening Star, they never failed, on every pleasant evening,
during the summer season, to join hands, and dance upon
the top of the rocks. These rocks were quickly observed by
the Indians to be covered, in moonlight evenings, with a
larger sort of Puk Wudj Ininees, or little men, and were
called Mish-in-e-mok-in-ok-ong, or turtle spirits, and the
Island is named from them to this day. 10 Their shining
lodge can be seen in the summer evenings when the moon
shines strongly on the pinnacles of the rocks, and the fish-
ermen, who go near those high cliffs at night, have even
heard the voices of the happy little dancers."
There are legends connected with most of the natural cu-
10 "Michilimackinac, the term alluded to, is the original French orthog-
raphy of MISH EN I MOK IN ONG, the local form (sing, and plu.) of
Turtle Spirits."
68
riosities of the Island. A few of these may be of interest
to the reader.
LEGEND OF ARCH ROCK "
"After the Gitchi Manitou had called into existence the
beautiful Island of Mackinac and given it into the care of
the kindred spirits of the earth, air, and water, and had told
them it was only to be the abode of peace and quiet, it was
so pleasant in his own eyes that he thought, 'Here will I
also come to dwell, this shall be my abode and my children
may come and worship me here. Here in the depths of the
beautiful forest they shall come.'
"Then calling his messengers, he bade them fly to all
lands of heat and noise and troublous insects, and tell the
suffering ones of every race and clime that in these north-
ern waters was a place prepared where they could come
and rest, leaving all care behind.
"In the straits of Mackinac
In the clear, pellucid wave,
Sitting like an emerald gem,
Is the rock-girt Fairy Isle.
"Round its bold and craggy shore
Sweep the billows far and wide,
With a gentle sinuous swell,
And the moan of distant seas.
"Blue its waters, blue the sky,
Soft the west wind from afar
Moving o'er the scented grass,
And the many myriad flowers.
11 Kelton, Annals of Fort Mackinac, p. 67.
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 69
" 'The cool invigorating breezes shall bring health and
elasticity to the weak and weary. Here diseases shall not
dare invade the pleasant glens or beautiful hilltops. Here
let them come and receive my blessing.
" 'Ye shall also tell the stranger friends, who may come
to seek me, that my royal landing is on the eastern shore;
there shall they draw up the canoes upon the pebbly beach
under the shadow of the Arched Gateway. Under the Arch
which they can see from afar, let them come with songs of
rejoicing neither night nor day shall it be closed to any
one who may seek me. Let them land before it and pass
through it and ascend to my dwelling, and worship before
me.'
"When the Great Spirit made known his wish to dwell
with men, all nature seemed to rejoice and to make prepara-
tions for his abode.
"The tallest trees claimed the privilege of being the
poles of his wigwam, and sweet balsam firs laid themselves
at his feet for use.
"The birch trees unsheathed themselves and sent their
bark in all its soft creamy whiteness to form the outside of
the covering.
"The trees of the forest vied with each other in seeking
a place in the future home of the Gitchi Manitou.
"Scarcely had the poles fitted themselves into their places
and the birch bark unrolled itself and arranged its clinging
sheets in orderly rows upon the outside, when the noise of
distant paddles was heard from the lake swiftly and gaily
they drew near, guided by the spirits of earth, air and wa-
ter. Never had such a sight been witnessed on this earth.
"The Gitchi Manitou went to meet them, and stood upon
the Arch and upheld his hands in blessing.
70 HISTORIC MACKINAC
"As his children unloaded their offerings of beaver,
white bear and other skins, they marched in procession up
to the gateway and fell upon their knees and offered their
thanks to the Great Spirit for the happy privilege of con-
tributing to the comforts of his earthly home.
" 'Yes, my children dear, my loved ones,
I am here in joy and gladness.
Here to live in peace among you.
I have come to teach you wisdom
In the arts of love and living.
I accept your native offerings,
These white bear, and fox skins silvery,
Shall a couch of warmth and comfort
Make for me when around my fire,
I am resting from my labors.
Of the beaver skins and otters
They shall line the wigwam smoothly,
So Ka-bi-bo-nok-ka, the north wind,
Ne'er shall peep or whistle through them.
Enter in my gateway proudly,
And ascend my staircase slowly,
And see the home of the Great Spirit,
Where he dwells among his children.'
"They did as he commanded, and when they were about
to return he thus addressed them:
"Now, my children, as you leave me,
Forth to go upon your journey ings,
Tell to all who know and love me,
That whenever a chieftain
Woos and weds a dark-eyed maiden,
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAG 71
He shall bring her here before me,
Gay with garlands, sweet with roses.
With the sound of music fleeting
Far and near from every islet
That lies sleeping in these waters.
Sweetest strains of music blending
Shall salute them, as the billows
Of the mighty lake of wonders
Bears them onward to the portals,
Where my blessing will await them,
And as long as they thus serve me
I will dwell upon this island,
Henceforth blessing youth and maiden
Joined in closest bonds of wedlock.
But if in the coming seasons,
Some foul spirit roams among you,
And destroys my loving children,
This fair home that I have built
Shall become a rocky fastness,
Where they all may fly for shelter
And be safe in my protection."
"Many, many years have passed. The wigwam of the
Great Spirit has been transmuted into stone, and is now
known as the Pyramid. (Sugar Loaf.)
"The Arched Gateway can still be seen as in ancient
times, with its portals guarded by tall green sentinels."
Referring to the mythological significance of the Arch
as the "bridge," by which Gitchi Manitou was enabled to
ascend to his wigwam, the following reminiscent lines were
written in 1874 by a resident of Ann Arbor: 12
12 Disturnell, Island of Mackinac, p. 27.
72 HISTORIC MACKINAC
"After long years, again the Rock I view,
Far seen, far famed, and wonder of the Isle.
The sunlit clouds look down with quiet smile,
And roar of winds and waters coming through
The mighty Arch, too suddenly renew
The days of Long Ago! vanished years!
That were, but are not now! How can I mourn,
As mourn I should, the hopes that changed to fears,
The friends, 'departed, never to return!'
The purposes of life that missed their aim!
The faithless vows that were not made to last!
The Arch for triumph is and loud acclaim;
I like the Indian as the better name, 13
'The Bridge!' between the present and the Past."
DEVIL'S KITCHEN
"Aikie-wai-sie was blind and very old; 14 and when his
people took down their wigwams and fire poles, unearthed
their sacred things, and removed with all their possessions
to the distant hunting grounds, leaving him behind to die
of starvation, he thought it very hard. By accident, his
grand-daughter, Willow-Wand, had been left also; and the
fact that he had a young and delicate girl dependent on him
but added to his unhappiness.
"Willow-Wand was angry when she was told that they
were prisoners, unable to escape from the Island, because
the boats had been taken away; but she was not afraid, and
thought that, if signalled to, the fishermen, who often came
to set their nets in the deep and sheltered waters of the
13 "The real Indian name is To-quah-nah Siper,' i.e., the perforated
rocks, referring to the two arches."
14 Kane, Myths and Legends of the Mackinacs, pp. 38-49.
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 73
bay, would take them off. With the old man's help, she
hung a red blanket against the side of the white cliff, in a
way that the fishermen would be sure to be attracted when
they came again.
"Willow-Wand was loved by a young man by the name
of Kewe-naw; he had thrown a white doe at the door of her
lodge, in token that he desired her for his wife ; it had been
accepted, and he soon after left the Island. Aikie-wai-sie
hoped that, when Kewe-naw heard of their desertion, he
would come to rescue them; for well the young man knew
the dangers to which they were exposed; but Kewe-naw was
at the fishing grounds, and might not hear of their plight for
months.
"This thought caused the old man much anxiety. He
was anxious to see his grand-daughter wedded to the young
man, for he had seen 'the glance of love' exchanged be-
tween them, and believed that the union would be a happy
one.
tt
After satisfying herself that the red signal had been
properly placed, by her grand-father's direction Willow-
Wand led the way to a hidden ledge in the side of the cliff,
where they might watch for the fishermen without being
seen themselves. Aikie-wai-sie's fear was that some of
the hungry men of his tribe might return to make a feast off
him, and drag Willow-Wand away to a more cruel fate.
The ledge they sought was near the cave of the Red Geebis,
who fed on nothing but human flesh; and on this account the
old man believed they would be secure from any human
devils who might look for them. Old and blind as he was,
Aikie-wai-sie was ready to fight the whole demon popula-
tion in defense of his child; but as he feared flesh and
blood, he hid from it. A great she-bear slept on the ledge
74 HISTORIC MACKINAC
behind them; and Willow- Wand, thinking this a fine oppor-
tunity to provide themselves with food, offered to kill it,
but the old man forbade.
" 'There is room for all,' he said. 'Mockway (bear)
offers us no harm. We are not yet in need of food. Let
her sleep.'
"The girl obeyed, and threw herself upon a heap of
leaves, which had lately been the bed of the bear, and en-
deavored to forget her hunger. Their early meal had
been but a handful of dried maize and some pounded
pemmican; and though the old man had not felt the need
of anything more, the girl was suffering for food. The
provision in the old man's pouch was scanty, and he hated
to draw upon it unnecessarily, so he told her to go to sleep,
and, to quiet her, repeated wonderful tales of the turtle-
shaped god, whose robes of state were of brightest green,
and whose medicine was always good; of the caves where
the souls of giant fairies dwelt until the time when they
should be called to perform the last dance; of toadstools
which once grew to such great size that the giants used them
for lodges; and of how he had once been under the spell of
witchcraft himself, and compelled to assume the shape of
a reindeer; of how he had shed his horns many times with
others of his kind; and how it was only by consenting to
entire blindness that he has been permitted to resume his
natural shape. He spoke of the beauty of her mother,
Whispering Birch; of her wedding with The Willow, a
man brave as he was wise, and who early followed his
young bride down the misty paths of the dead. Under the
soothing influence of his voice the hungry girl fell into a
deep sleep.
"The sun went down, and though Aikie-wai-sie's sightless
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 75
eyes beheld it not, he knew that night was falling by the
chilliness of the air. In the darkest night he could tell the
direction of the prevailing winds, and the names of the
forest trees by passing his hands over their leaves, or by
feeling of their bark. Impossible to deceive him. He
feared not death, having faced it daily in his life among
wild beasts and wilder men; but he feared the evil ones of
the cave, not because he was old, but because of his blind-
ness, which prevented his seeing and warning his child
when danger assailed them.
"There was no moon and no stars in the sky, but a flam-
ing red light from the Devil's Cave streamed over the snowy
head of the blind man, and upon the flushed face of the
sleeping girl, whose parched lips, even in her dreams, de-
manded 'Water! Water!' to relieve her thirst. The anguish
of Aikie-wai-sie was almost as great as that of Willow-
Wand; for with the 'Big Water' lying so near them, it
seemed cruel that he could not provide her with drink.
"At the girl's feverish mutterings his memory went back
to the last hours of her mother, who with her latest breath
had confided to him the secret of a magical gift possessed by
her child a gift inherited from her father, The Willow
which, if carefully used, would add great power and many
honors to her womanhood. At her command springs of
pure water would show themselves, and flow in whatever
place or quantity she desired. "This power,' said the dy-
ing woman, 'will bring her great fame as a prophetess and
healer, but the knowledge of it must not be revealed to her
until she becomes a woman.'
"The old man wondered if this was not the moment to di-
vulge the secret. All things had turned out as Whispering
Birch had wished. Her daughter was good and pure and
76 HISTORIC MACKINAC
wise beyond her years; she had cared for and provided for
all his needs, so that the loss of his old wife had not been
unendurable. But no; he dared not risk it until she had
undergone the fast which should prepare her for a woman's
privileges, though he hated to think of the suffering she
must endure in the performance of it.
"For seven days and nights Willow- Wand endured the
pangs of hunger and of thirst; and Aikie-wai-sie, fearing
that she would die, and in spite of the danger of being
caught by the red devils which infested the place, made his
way to the lake to procure the water she so constantly called
for. He moistened the poor girl's parched lips and cooled
her burning cheeks, but not a drop could he force her to
swallow, though 'Water! Water!' was ever her delirious cry.
" 'Nature is working in the child to confirm her mother's
words,' was the old one's thought; when suddenly in Wil-
low-Wand's breast the 'power' rose like a wave, and, leaping
to her feet, she struck the outward curving rock, and de-
manded once more, 'Water!'
"The old man invoked the aid of the Spirit, and soon
heard the musical sound of the tiny stream which ran
through the fingers of the surprised girl with a wonderful
healing power. Instantly her pains fled, her health re-
turned, and she felt stronger and braver than ever. Re-
membering her grand-father's need, she quickly gave him
of the water, and drank herself until she could drink no
more.
"When Willow- Wand had broken her fast, she was told
the story of her wonderful gift. A long line of wise women
had owned the same power, her grand-father said; but, as
she valued her life, she must use it discreetly and reverently
and never abuse it. He enumerated the many blessings she
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 77
would be able to bestow and enjoy; and as he spoke she
thought she heard another voice warning her of approach-
ing danger. * Watch!' it said; and as Aikie-wai-sie, worn
out with his long vigils, fell into a deep slumber, she con-
cluded to give heed to the warning, and seated herself be-
side him to *watch' while he slept.
"Night came, and she could see the flaming fires of the
Devil's Cave, hear the shrieks of the men whom the Geebis
were torturing, and the sounds of suffering which she was
powerless to alleviate filled her tender heart with pain.
The bear crowded near to her side, and seemed so sensible
of their dangerous situation, and showed such real sorrow
for the poor creatures in the cave, that Willow- Wand felt
sure that the shaggy-haired animal was one of those unfor-
tunates who had been bewitched by the Evil One, and was
glad to have so human a thing to keep her company.
"The storm increased as the night advanced; black and
ragged clouds whirled across the sky; birds of evil omen
circled overhead; and creeping things scurried into the
crevices of the rocks to escape its fury. 'Yen-ad-diz-zee,
the crazy gambler, is playing for high stakes to-night,' was
the girl's thought as she watched the winds striving against
each other in the game whose score was marked by lightning
strokes or washed away by the rain.
"Her heart ached for the unhappy ones who awaited
their doom in the fiery pit, and she was wondering if she
could not use her magical power in their behalf, when to
her horror and dismay she saw Kewe-naw led into the cave
and placed near the central fire.
"Willow-Wand's shrieks awakened her grand-father, and
his grief was great when she told him what had happened.
His fears for his own safety and that of his child were in-
78 HISTORIC MACKINAC
creased tenfold, until the bear whispered in his ear, 'Watch,
but fear not*
" "The spirit of thy mother lives in this she-bear,' he
whispered. *Have no fear. Where the spirits of the good
abide, no harm can come. Let us obey her commands.
Watch!'
"The girl controlled her grief as well as she could, and
threw herself upon the bear's neck to gather comfort from
the mother spirit which dwelt within the creature's shaggy
breast, while her eyes remained fixed upon the horrors
which demons were perpetrating in obedience to the orders
of their chief. Young men, whom her people had long
given up as dead, were brought in and offered, one after
another, in sacrifice to the wicked Manitous, who were ever
ready to assist in evil doings, and nightly fed on human
flesh as reward for their services.
"Terrified lest the next to be cast into the pit should be
Kewe-naw, Willow- Wand leapt to her feet with the deter-
mination to attempt his rescue. Her movements were no-
ticed by the devils, who recognized her as the 'Wand of
Power' which their chief desired to possess, and who or-
dered the infernal ceremonies stopped until he should cap-
ture and return with the prize.
"In the confusion which followed, it happened that Kewe-
naw was left standing near the entrance of the cave, from
which place he could see Willow-Wand and her grand-
father, in company with the bear, standing on the ledge,
while near by, the chief devil of the pit made his prepara-
tions to capture the girl, to whom Kewe-naw was betrothed.
Behind him, in the cave, he could distinctly hear the jab-
berings and demoniac laughter of the loathsome demons,
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 79
who were finishing up the feast of smoking human flesh
which had been interrupted.
"The bear, pleased at the unselfishness which had
prompted Willow-Wand's act, told Aikie-wai-sie to leave
her alone, as all would be well if she were left to follow
the promptings of her nature; and when the girl's light and
scornful laughter, at the sight of the hideous Geebi endeav-
oring to make up as a man for her conquest, pealed with a
thousand musical echoes among the rocks and hills around
them, the bear quietly slipped down the steep side of the
cliff and disappeared from sight, confident that all would
go well with the child and those whom she desired to pro-
tect and defend.
"The aged man was troubled by the bear's disappear-
ance, but Willow-Wand had no misgivings. Tear not, my
grand-father,' she said; 'my mother's spirit mingles with
my own! Kewe-naw shall be rescued, and to-morrow's
sun will look upon our happiness.'
"The devil had disguised as a warrior whom Aikie-wai-
sie and his people feared as one particularly treacherous
and bloodthirsty. He thought to terrify the old man into
accepting him for his son-in-law, and thought not that Wil-
low-Wand's magical power would be used against him.
Well contrived as was his disguise, the girl recognized the
devil under it, and scornfully bade him 'Begone!' She
defied him; and the infuriated monster, forgetting his role,
leapt from the projecting rocks to seize the girl, whose
power, could he but secure it, would be of inestimable value
to him. But Willow- Wand saw him leaping over the crags
above her; and as he sprang from the wall, a single blow
of her small hand upon its blistered side brought forth such
80 HISTORIC MACKINAC
a gush of water as flung him shrieking into the whirling
eddies of the Dead Hole. The fires of the cave were
drenched with it, and Kewe-naw began to hope that his life
would be saved, even though the Okies and Red Spirits
declared that they would rekindle the flames when they had
stopped up the holes through which the water poured, and
make the roasting pit hotter than ever. Kewe-naw did not
believe that they would accomplish this, for he felt that the
Spirit of Good was answering his prayers. He looked
around for some means of escape; and Willow- Wand, see-
ing his need, waved a bridge of rainbow mists toward him,
by which he safely reached the ledge, to find the girl whom
he loved reclining upon the shoulder of her sleeping grand-
father, apparently as if nothing unusual had happened.
"The eastern sky showed streaks of red as Kewe-naw
seated himself beside the old man to await his awakening.
With a knife taken from her grand-father's belt, Willow-
Wand cut the thongs which bound his arms, prepared a
pipe for his smoking, and left him.
"No word of welcome or joyful greeting was uttered by
these grave lovers; no trembling of his hand, no glance of
her eye, spoke the happiness they felt.
"All day the grand-father slept, all day the lover smoked,
and all day the maiden worked to clear the cave of its re-
maining horrors. She flung the howling demons into the
lake; and quenched the smouldering fires of the pit, that
they might do no further harm; and it was late when she
returned to the ledge to share her lover's vigil.
"Evening came. Aikie-wai-sie woke to find the desire
of his heart fulfilled. The lovers embraced ; he gave them
his blessing, and joined their hands in marriage.
"Kewe-naw told the story of his adventures. He had
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 81
been under an evil spell. The fishing season being over,
he set sail for the Island to join his people before they left
for the winter; his boat, capsized by a sudden squall, went
to the bottom as if made of iron, and he was thinking that
he must soon have to follow it, because impossible to swim
long in such a storm, when he saw a pair of moccasins
floating before him on the crests of the waves. He put
his feet into them, only to find them shod with lightning,
which bore him in a flash to the cave from which he had just
escaped.
"Willow- Wand then related to him something of the gift
of which she had become possessed; and of how she had
driven the devils from the cave and made the bridge by
which he had escaped. Then she told him of the day spent
in making the cave habitable, and that with his help she
hoped to make a comfortable home there.
"The red blanket had not brought the fishermen as soon
as expected, but when they did come Kewe-naw purchased
one of their boats, and with their assistance soon conveyed
to his cave the store of provisions which he had prepared
for winter use. Pemmican, dried venison and bears' meat,
and fruits which he had found time to collect and dry be-
tween the 'setting' and 'taking* of the nets, were among the
good things of their larder; and with rush mats for the
floors, sacks of leaves and pine needles for couches, and
warm furs for clothing and coverings, they looked forward
to the winter without fear.
"The Devil's fuel, for once, was put to good use, enough
being found in the recesses of the cave to last them a life-
time; with it the new home was made warm and comfort-
able; and here the young couple passed the first happy
months of their married life.
82 HISTORIC MACKINAC
The Indians returned in the spring to find Aikie-wai-sie
living contentedly amid the comforts which his children
provided; and when they were told that Willow- Wand
had worked all the changes by a powerful magic which she
possessed, they easily believed it, and said that 'nothing
but magic could banish evil spirits and make a happy
home out of what was once a place of torment'; but when
the young couple showed them the whirling pool which lay
between the 'Island of the Round Game' and their own,
and they saw the bodies of the demons rise to the surface of
the water in proof of what Willow-Wand had done, they
were at once accepted as prophets whose 'medicine was
good.'
"The Cave of the Red Geebis is marked in the guide
books as Devil's Kitchen, from the fact that Indians were
known to have roasted and feasted upon human flesh there."
THE CRACK IN THE ISLAND
STORY OF THE GIANT'S FINGERS
"Mackinac Island was once the home of a band of red-
skinned giants, of whom Hiawatha was the chief. 15 When
these giants passed from the earth, they became 'waiting
spirits' or 'wandering demons,' according to the judgment
of the Master of Souls ; if the former, they took the shape of
conical rocks, pinnacles or boulders; and if the latter, they
were given the forms of men of the most heartless and un-
feeling disposition and nature. Many stories are told
concerning them.
"Near Wacheo' a part of Hubbard's Annex is a field
Ibid., p. 67.
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 83
of several acres belonging to the Government; and splitting
its level ground from end to end is a deep and mysterious
chasm, put down in the guide books as the 'Crack.' A
frightful place, full of dark shadows and mournful echo-
ings, which no man ever penetrated successfully, its steep
sides offering no foothold; and of the unwary ones who
have stumbled headlong into the 'Crack/ none have re-
turned to tell its mysteries.
"Indians, or half-breed hunters or trappers, are super-
stitious in regard to taking game from this locality; they
avoid the place, and would refuse to eat of food procured
there, if starving.
"The tradition is that this crack is haunted by a giant
demon, who was so foolish as to wish to penetrate the Under
Land where the Spirits of the Dead held sway. This, of
course, was not permitted, and the Giant's Fingers were
never released from the fissure in the rock where he clung,
and from which those who have good eyes declare he may
still be seen hanging above the abyss.
"Five immense fingers, the knuckles, back of the hand,
and wrist are still distinctly visible beneath the scales of
limestone with which the ages have covered them. It is
believed that the curse of the Giant falls upon those who
by accident or design tread upon his clinging digits. Sick-
ness, blindness, loss of wealth, misfortune in love affairs
being among the dire calamities brought by contact with
the demon, who, though a prisoner undergoing punishment,
has still a malignant power which he does not hesitate to
use."
[Note: This story of the Crack in the Island is of course extravagant
and fiction of the most exaggerated type. The facts are that the vicinity
of the crack is one of the most delightful places on the entire Island.]
84
HISTORIC MACKINAC
GIANT FAIRIES
"Long years before the white man came into these re-
gions, many fairies lived here, rollicking fairies, who
laughed and danced and sung their lives away. 16
"Every flower and bush and tree, every rock and hill
and glen, was thickly peopled with these canny folk, and on
moonlight nights all the Indians in their wigwams sat in
breathless attention
"Then they hear, now sweet and low,
Sounds as of a distant lyre,
Touched by fairy hands so light
That the trembling tones scarce are heard.
"What the music none can tell,
So unearthly and so pure,
But it seems as if the notes
Loosened all the magic sounds
Held within the tinkling grass,
In the mosses and the ferns,
In the vines which climb and creep,
In the flowers of every hue,
In the heavy-folded rose,
In the violets at its feet,
In the lily's gentle swing.
"Sweeping o'er the lonely streams,
Through the sands on deserts low,
Through the snows on mountains high,
Through the flowers on the plains,
Through the sylvan shady bowers,
Through the forests dark and hoar,
"Kelton, op. cit., p. 77.
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 85
Through the lofty oaks and rims,
Through the leaves of tulip trees,
Through catalpas, white with bloom,
Through magnolias kingly crowned,
Through the poplars, amber sweet,
Through the towering cypresses,
Pendant with the gray old mosses,
Patriarchs of the lowlier tribes.
With the sound of laughing brooks,
And the notes of singing birds;
Softened by the cooing dove,
By the plover's gentle dip,
By the lonely, limpid rills,
By the silence, deep, profound,
Resting o'er the wilderness.
"With the thunder's distant roar,
Rolling, rumbling through the sky,
Over mountains, hills, and plains,
Over rivers, lakes and seas;
Chiming with the overture
In its massive undertones,
Mellowing, melting all its chords
Into dulcet harmonies;
Into dirge-like requiems;
Into rhythmic symphonies;
Gathering all the breath of song
In its weird and wayward moods;
In its plaintive, touching strains;
In its playful, laughing trills;
In its wild and fearful tones;
Trancing all the insect tribes,
86 HISTORIC MACKINAC
Hid in thicket, bush, and grove;
Butterflies of every hue,
Bees, of wondrous skill and lore;
Beetles, puzzled, lost, and wild;
Mites and emmets, flies and gnats,
Maddened, ravished, filled with joy,
Frenzied with the flush of song.
Birds, in forest, tree, and copse,
In the jungle, in the grass,
Near the lonely stream and lake,
On the wing in winding flocks,
Wildered with the rapturous sounds,
Pause to listen, still and mute,
Till the tempest rushes past,
f TV.
! j
"0, the music! 0, the sweet!
Breathing fragrance, breathing song,
Mingling all of earth and air,
That can charm the wakened sense.
Thus with odors rich and rare,
Music lent its magic power,
Dirge and requiem, ditty, lay,
Fugue and march, and waltz and hymn
Silver-toned, euphonious, grave;
Chimes of measured step and grace,
Dulcet strains of sweetest rhythm,
Overtures of matchless sweep,
All that fills the hungry air,
All that wakes the sleeping sense,
Blending with the virgin soil;
With the creeping juniper,
With the cedar and the pine,
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 87
With the rich magnolia's bloom,
With the jasmine and the grape,
With the scent of early fruits;
Such the music, such the air,
Sweeping westward o'er the lakes,
Such, the Isle of Mackinac."
ROBINSON'S FOLLY
THE FATE OF WINTEMOYEH
"It is well known, that, although the French, on their
first landing in Canada, waged many and bloody wars with
the Indians, yet it was not long ere a feeling of kindness
took the place of hostility. 17 There is something in the
character of Frenchmen, which peculiarly fits them for
friendly intercourse with foreign nations. This feature
has been of especial advantage to them in their communica-
tions with the Indians. The French traders penetrate every
part of the Indian country, they live with the Aborigines,
adopt many of their customs, quarrel with none of their
prejudices; in fact, they are willing to become, for the time
of their sojourn in the woods, Indians in everything.
"From the universal prevalence of friendly feeling to-
wards the French, it resulted, of course, that when Canada
was invaded by the English, the Red Men took an active
part in the war, as the zealous, and very often efficient, al-
lies of France.
"When the war was ended, and Canada yielded to the
English, the feeling of enmity against them was not soon
extinguished in the breasts of the Indian tribes. The
new comers were everywhere received, if not with open
" Life on the Lakes, I, 119-157.
88 HISTORIC MACKINAC
hostility, with lowering discontent or hollow professions of
friendship.
"These feelings were, no doubt, fomented by the French
traders who resided in the Indian country. Having en-
joyed for a long time a monopoly of the very lucrative fur
trade, they were naturally unwilling to resign even a share
of it to their hereditary enemies, now presenting themselves
in the still more invidious character of conquerors.
"That they did absolutely intend to bring about open war
has never been fully proved ; but that they were anxious the
display of hostile feeling, on the part of the Indians, should
be sufficient to deter any English traders from penetrating
their country, is past all doubt.
"Hostilities did, however, result; and under Pontiac,
the war was prosecuted for years with the avowed intent
of driving the Sagaunash out of the country. Mackina fell
into his hands, and Detroit was only saved by the friend-
ship of one of the Ottawa women, who informed Major
Gladwin, the commandant, of the plot by which Pontiac
meditated to gain possession of the fort.
"Of the war of Pontiac, how boldly he prosecuted it,
how he was at every step hindered by the stupidity or be-
trayed by the treachery of his associates, till he finally fell
a victim to the jealous fury of a nameless wanderer, we do
not now need to speak. Our business is with one of the
subordinate characters in the great drama.
"Peezhicki, or Le Boeuf, as the Canadians called him,
was the chief of the St. Mary's band of the Chippewas, the
children of Tarhe, the Crane, which was their totem. He
joined heart and hand in the schemes of Pontiac, was fore-
most in the assault of Mackina, and assisted at the siege of
Detroit. When, however, Pontiac was compelled to retire,
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 89
the Buffalo was returned, with the few warriors that re-
mained of his band, to his home by the falls of St. Marie.
"Peace soon prevailed throughout the Indian country,
and many of the chiefs became attached to the English.
Peezhicki was not of the number. He had loved Pontiac,
he had hated the Sagaunash; and as he had been, so he
was, the deadly foe of these white men.
"Years rolled on. The war with the Americans broke
out, but Peezhicki took no part in it; he hated all white
men but the French, the friends of Pontiac; and he rejoiced
in the hope that the English, and their children, the Ameri-
cans, would destroy each other.
"The War of the Revolution had just terminated, when,
in the spring of 1783, the Indian country was ravaged by
that fell destroyer, the small pox. The band of Peezhicki,
which had increased to forty lodges, was nearly cut off; his
three sons, his wife, and one daughter, all fell its victims;
and, in the lodge of the Buffalo, Wintemoyeh, his youngest
daughter only remained.
"On her he centered all his hopes and lavished all his
affection; and his sole remaining cares were to prevent
the small remnant of his band from associating with the
hated Sagaunash, and provide a suitable match for his
beloved daughter.
"In the hope of escaping the dreadful malady, he re-
moved his band from St. Marie to a small island fifteen
miles distant, at the entrance of the Great Lake, called Isle
des Iroquois. He had been there but a short time when
his heart was made glad by a message from Waab-ojeeg, the
White Fisher, the son of Mongozid, the great Mudjekiwis or
head chief of the Chippewas, who ruled the Rein-Deer band
at Chegoimegon, now called La Pointe, the place of the an-
90 HISTORIC MACKINAC
cient council fire of the nation. The messenger of the
great Waab-ojeeg came not empty handed; he brought rich
presents for the Buffalo and his warriors furs, moccasins,
and skins, a peace pipe superbly ornamented with feathers
and porcupine work, a robe of Buffalo skin, and many other
valuable gifts. He brought, too, wampum, to speak his
friendship, and among the rest, an ancient belt which Mon-
gozid had received many years before from the father of
Peezhicki. This was shown, that the friendship of their
fathers might not be forgotten.
"When the messenger had presented his gifts, and been
requested to make known the thoughts of the White Fisher,
he said, that Waab-ojeeg had grieved with his brothers at
the loss of so many of his young men; that he now sent his
messenger to ask that the daughter of Peezhicki might be
given in marriage to Aissibun or the Raccoon, the cousin of
Waab-ojeeg, and one of the bravest of his warriors. This
proposal could not but be agreeable to Peezhicki, and as
soon as propriety would admit, he sent an acceptance of
the offer of Waab-ojeeg, and charged the messenger, in de-
livering it, to make such presents as should convince the
chief that his friend was not insensible to his kindness.
Blankets of the finest quality green, scarlet, and white
two rifles, and such other articles as his vicinity to the trad-
ing post enabled him to procure, and which would be most
acceptable at a point so distant as Chegoimegon.
"It was not till after the departure of this messenger that
Peezhicki thought it necessary to communicate to Winte-
moyeh the tidings in which she was so deeply concerned.
When he did so, all his sense of his own dignity and im-
portance could not conceal, even from the inexperienced
eye of his daughter, that the Buffalo was greatly elated at
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 91
the proposed match. The strong conviction that such an
alliance must, of course, be as acceptable to his daughter
as to himself, prevented Peezhicki from reading, in the elo-
quent looks of Wintemoyeh, her disgust at the proposal.
"The Indian custom, of which Peezhicki obliged all his
tribe to be very strict observers, would not allow that a
young girl on such an occasion should express openly any
feeling of preference or aversion. Wintemoyeh, of course,
said nothing, and her feelings remained unknown to her
father. She remembered to have heard Ayahwindib, her
aunt, speak of the Raccoon ; true, he was a brave, had taken
many scalps from the Sioux, the hereditary enemies of the
Chippewas, and from the Foxes, the foes of Waab-ojeeg;
but Aissibun was a giant in size, hideously ugly, and nearly
as old as her father. Above all, the Chippewa maiden re-
membered that Aissibun had already two wives of his own
age ; so that, should she be united with him, she must always
have a mistress and probably not a very kind one, in her
husband's lodge. Such were the objections to an union
with the friend of Waab-ojeeg, which Wintemoyeh ac-
knowledged to herself; but in her secret soul there lurked
another, which was of more power than all the rest beside.
"She had seen a young white warrior; and his noble
form, his fine expressive face, his soft and flattering words,
had won for him an interest in her heart, of the strength of
which she was herself still unconscious. Had Wintemoyeh
been told that she loved the white man, the destroyer of
her race, the detested enemies of her father, she would have
scorned the word. But it was true. Months had passed
since their first accidental meeting; yet that one, that short
interview, was scarce ever absent from her thoughts. It
was soon after their removal to the island that Wintemoyeh
92 HISTORIC MACKINAC
one day passed over, in her light canoe, to the Canadian
shore; she landed, and rambled about the woods. Sud-
denly her quick ear caught the sound of martial music, and
through a long vista of trees she saw the glitter of arms
and of scarlet dresses; and she knew that the Englishmen
were there.
"Wintemoyeh had rarely seen an Englishman, and never
an English soldier; her father's detestation of the whole
race was so strong, that he kept his children perfectly se-
cluded, and no white man but the French trader ever entered
his lodge. Was it very extraordinary that she should seek,
now that accident had brought her so near their tents, to
catch a glance at these warriors of whom she had heard so
much? Creeping cautiously and slowly through the woods,
she gained at last a small elevation whence she could com-
mand a perfect view of the camp in the open valley below.
"Two tents were pitched, and around them lounged sev-
eral officers and soldiers, chatting over the adventures of
the morning's hunt, or laying new plans for the sport of
to-morrow.
"Wintemoyeh gazed upon the novel and beautiful sight
with girlish pleasure, when suddenly a crackling among the
branches behind her gave warning of approaching foot-
steps, and ere she could do more than rise from her in-
cumbent posture, a white warrior stood before her.
"The Chippewa maid gazed like one entranced on the
gallant figure; his whole mien, his glittering arms, his
brilliant scarlet dress. The soldier, too, was evidently
struck with the beauty of the young savage; perhaps the
admiration which beamed in her sparkling eye and flushed
her dusky cheek, gave her added charms. He soon ap-
proached, and uttered a few broken and imperfect phrases
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 93
in her own language. She was too much confused to reply,
or even fully to understand his meaning; but the low mu-
sic of his voice fell upon her heart like honey to the lip.
She could not fly, still less could she utter the words of
anger, defiance, and scorn, which she well knew Peezhicki
would wish and expect his daughter to return to words of
peace coming from the treacherous white man. No she
listened with a charmed ear; and when the sweet melody
of that voice was hushed, the daughter of the war chief of
St. Marie replied in a few not unfriendly words.
"Robinson, for that was the white man's name, soon dis-
covered to whom he was speaking; and communicated, in
return, his own name, and his rank as Governor of Mackina.
"Professions of love, such as man in every clime and in
every age has poisoned woman's ear withal and turned her
brain, were added ; and they parted not till he had placed on
the finger of Wintemoyeh a sparkling gem, the pledge of
his love, and of the truth of those promises by which he
bound himself soon to return, and demand, even from
Peezhicki, the Englishman's enemy, his daughter as a bride.
"With such pledges, rashly made on one hand and scarce
understood on the other, they parted.
"Months had now passed away; the green leaves of the
maple assumed their red autumnal hue, and the appointed
time for the return of the white warrior drew near. Winte-
moyeh knew not whether she most desired or dreaded his
coming; so strongly did old habitual prejudices contend
with new and vehement feelings that had sprung up in her
heart.
"In the meantime the messenger who had been sent to
Waab-ojeeg returned, and informed Peezhicki that the
White Fisher, Aissibun, and many more of the warriors
94 HISTORIC MACKINAC
from Chegoimegon, were on their way to Isle des Iroquois
to visit him, and celebrate the nuptial feast of his daughter.
"Wintemoyeh was not present when this message was
delivered, but she soon heard though she scarcely heeded its
import. Ayahwindib had that very day given her a love
token from Robinson, and a message entreating her to meet
him at midnight at Gros Cap, the scene of their former
interview. The fears which might have prevented a daugh-
ter of the white man from keeping such a tryst were un-
known to the Chippewa girl. But she thought of her fa-
ther, his kindness, his care, his love; should she visit his
enemy? Then she thought of that enemy, so mild, so
gentle, so different from the cruel, the exacting Sagaunash
which had been described to her; then the idea of Aissibun
crossed her mind, the giant, the hideous, the old of his
wives, and she the third, the lowest in rank it was
enough; she resolved to go to see that white man, to hear
the music of his voice, to gladden her heart by the sound of
his protestations of love and admiration.
"At their midnight interview the Chippewa maiden com-
municated to her lover the new difficulties which beset her;
he urged her to escape from them all, by flying with him to
distant Mackinac. But against this the gentle, and yet
dutiful heart of Wintemoyeh revolted. She could not leave
her father; she could not desert him in his old age to live
with his hated enemy. The utmost influence of Robinson
could no further prevail than to extort from her a promise to
meet her again in a few days. Then they parted. Winte-
moyeh returned to her lodge and Robinson to St. Marie.
"Next day her father requested Wintemoyeh to cross to
Gros Cap and catch a few trout, which abounded there.
She prepared her small canoe, and left the island. In go-
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 95
ing to the fishing ground, she paused for a long time oppo-
site the landing where she had met Robinson; she recalled
his every word and look; and drank, from the cup of mem-
ory, poisonous draughts of love. At last she was about
to tear herself away, when, looking across to the opposite
shore, she saw six large canoes emerge from behind Point
Iroquois, and bear for the Island. Just as they rounded
the point, the canoes ranged in line, an<3 the warriors gave
a loud shout; not the cheerful hurra with which the return-
ing white man hails his home, but a rapid succession of
screams or yells, which, to a stranger's ear might seem to
express either rage or sorrow, joy or despair.
"Wintemoyeh, however, understood every modulation
of these sounds. She knew that it was the band of Waab-
ojeeg, who thus expressed their joy at the completion of
their voyage, and the near prospect of the union of the brav-
est of their warriors with the fairest maiden among the
children of Tarhe, the daughter of Peezhicki, the great
chief, the friend of Pontiac.
"Wintemoyeh watched the canoes till they approached
the landing-place near her father's lodge. She saw the
chiefs land, and advance in proud array to greet Peezhicki,
who stood in front of his lodge, surrounded by the few
warriors who yet remained of his once powerful band.
She could not hear their greetings, but had no doubt they
were cordial and sincere.
"Willingly would Wintemoyeh have delayed her own re-
turn, but she feared to excite suspicion in her father's mind
by her too long absence at such a time. She hurried back,
not to the landing place, but to a distant cave, whence she
could return to her lodge as if from a stroll round the
island.
96
HISTORIC MACKINAC
"She was soon summoned to assist in preparing the splen-
did feast with which her father had resolved to welcome his
friend Waab-ojeeg. A white dog, which had for many
days been kept in the lodge of Peezhicki for this occasion,
was killed, and the aged Ayahwindib made a savory stew
of his flesh. This was the principal dish, the dish of cere-
mony; a beaver's tail, that richest and most succulent of
Indian dainties, was also prepared; some pork, a rare and
choice luxury, had been supplied by La Grange, the French
trader; then there was the flesh of the deer, the bear, and
the buffalo; ducks, pigeons, and other birds; fish of every
kind, corn, and to crown all, the Ishkodaiwabo, the fire
drink of the white man, flowed freely as the water of the
lake. When all was prepared, the large dish of stewed dog
was given to Wintemoyeh, and she entered the lodge. In-
dian ideas of decorum would not admit of her being pre-
sented to, or in any way noticed by, the warriors; but as she
placed the dish on the mat before the White Fisher, she did
not fail to cast an eager glance at the features of the war-
rior who sat by his side, and whom she rightly supposed
was the far-famed Raccoon. One look was sufficient to
assure her that all, and more than all, she had heard from
Ayahwindib of his ugliness was true.
"Aissibun was about six feet six, and, for an Indian, re-
markably stout. His low wide forehead was wrinkled
with the furrows of age, but age had taken nothing from
the savage fierceness of his eye or the terror of his scowling
brow. A huge scar occupied the whole of one cheek, the
mark of a blow received many years before, from the toma-
hawk of a warrior among the Foxes. The face was painted
of one glowing fiery red, only around the eyes a wide streak
of white gave a ten-fold power to their glaring ferocity.
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 97
On either side of his face his hair hung in long lank masses;
on his head he wore a sort of coronet of feathers, of all col-
ours and sizes. Around his neck, suspended by a string of
wampum, hung a gold medal, which he had received in his
early youth from Montcalm, when he accompanied Mongo-
zid, the father of Waab-ojeeg, to Quebec, to assist the
French against their enemies. Such was Aissibun, the
appointed husband of the young, the gentle Wintemoyeh.
"The hurried glance she took at his face was enough to
add disgust to the feelings of dislike with which Winte-
moyeh had formerly regarded the Racoon. It was no time
to indulge such feelings. The feast was duly prepared,
and the two chiefs, and their warriors, to the number of
perhaps a score, sat down to provisions which would have
furnished an ample meal to a hundred white men. Yet
Indian politeness does not allow that any portion of the
food which a host prepares for his guests should be left
uneaten; and accordingly this enormous quantity of flesh,
fish, and fowl was duly devoured by the Buffalo and his
friends.
"Then came the Ishkodaiwabo; it was swallowed by the
gallons.
"The feast was protracted to a late hour in the night, and
when Wintemoyeh next morning entered her father's lodge,
she found him still sleeping, a deep but feverish sleep.
She roused him, though with some difficulty; but his lan-
guage was wild and wandering. At first she thought it was
only the effect of the yesterday's feast; but she was soon
convinced from the appearance and manner of Peezhicki
that he was sick.
"Fortunately among the warriors of Waab-ojeeg came
Mainotagooz, or the handsome speaker; a noted Miskeke-
98
HISTORIC MACKINAC
winini or medicine man. He was summoned without de-
lay, and after examining his patient, declared that he was
very sick, and that unless the Wabeno was celebrated imme-
diately, and the spirit of the air propitiated by many and
great gifts, the chief of the Crane band would pass to the
great village, the country of souls. All was now hurry
and confusion. Mainotagooz returned to his lodge to pre-
pare his medicine bag, his dress of ceremony, his drum and
his rattle; while the warriors erected beside the lodge of
Peezhicki a huge pole, and each in his turn suspended a
gift to Gitchee Monedo. First, Waab-ojeeg advanced, and
attached to the pole a valuable rifle. Aissibun came next;
his offering was a huge war club and the scalp of a Sioux
warrior, whom he had slain with that redoubtable weapon.
"Pipes, knives, blankets, wampum belts, moccasins, and
many other choice articles were brought forward by the
other warriors, all of whom were desirous to show, by the
magnitude of their gifts, the sincerity of their regard for
the Buffalo.
"The last warrior had made his offering, and now Win-
temoyeh advanced. She raised her hand and touched
the pole; but if she made any offering, it was so small that
no eye could see it. She did, however, make an offering,
and one which her own heart told her was most likely to
appease the angry Monedo; angry, she had too much reason
to believe, with her, for her love of the white man. She
hung up the ring which Robinson had given her: * 'Tis my
Best gift,' thought she; 'by it will Gitchee Monedo know
how ardently I desire my father's recovery, since I offer
that which is nearest and dearest to my heart.'
"Mainotagooz now drew near to begin the Wabeno, and
the warriors who were to assist at the important ceremony
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 99
were just about to follow, when suddenly the Miskekewinini
sprang backward and rushed from the tent, crying 'Small
Pox! Small Pox!' At the cry of that terrible plague the
warriors all fled from the tent; some even ran into the woods
to escape a danger, the more terrible to their superstitious
minds because they knew nothing of its nature.
"Npt so the brave Waab-ojeeg. He chided the fright-
ened medicine man, and, commanding him to return to his
patient, himself set the example of courage by fearlessly
stepping into the tainted lodge. The trembling Mainota-
gooz followed, and behind him came Aissibun ; but none of
the other warriors could be induced, even by the example
and authority of the White Fisher, to come near.
"A few hours had made a terrible change in the appear-
ance of Peezhicki. It is probable that the disease had been
long latent in his system, and the last night's feasting had
kindled it into a flame of fever. The spots were already
appearing on his face and neck, his eyes were nearly closed
by the swelling lids; and his voice, hoarse and croaking,
showed that the eruption was spreading into his throat.
When he recognized Waab-ojeeg, he spoke to him with
great earnestness, though he enunciated with extreme diffi-
culty: 'My brother, I am going; the Great Spirit calls
and I must follow his voice; but before I go I will speak
to you a few words; the son of Mongozid, my father's
friend, will not let my words be forgotten. I go to the
great village at the setting sun, and the name of Peezhicki
will be no more among the children of the Crane; let my
child, let Wintemoyeh be made this night the wife of the
brave Aissibun; so shall the spirit of Peezhicki rejoice in
the thought that his child has a home among the children
of the Rein Deer at Chegoimegon, and under the eye of
100
HISTORIC MACKINAC
Waab-ojeeg, the Mudjikiwis of the jib ways, her father's
friend.'
"The White Fisher gave a ready assent to the request
of Peezhicki; and then, at the urgent entreaties of some of
his warriors who stood without the lodge, seconded by
those of Peezhicki, he withdrew.
"A few old women entered at the same time, and Winte-
moyeh would have followed them, but her father forbade it;
and she was forced to retire by the friendly violence of
Waab-ojeeg.
"Under the direction of Mainotagooz, whom a scowling
look from the White Fisher had warned not to again desert
his patient, the old women proceeded to put in practice
the means usually adopted by the Chippewas for the cure
of the small pox.
"The fire in the lodge was extinguished; then the lodge
itself was made perfectly tight, every crack or crevice by
which air could enter being stopped; a fire was kindled
without, in it they placed a number of large stones, which,
when red hot, they pushed into the lodge; water was then
thrown upon them till it was filled with hot steam.
"In the meantime, Waab-ojeeg had communicated the
wishes of Peezhicki to his warriors, and the preparations
for the marriage feast were made under his superintendence
and at his own lodge.
"When Wintemoyeh heard that a few hours were to seal
her fate, and unite her for ever to the abhorred Aissibun,
she gave herself up to despair. Even her father's sick-
ness was forgotten; her whole soul was filled with horror
at the thought of wedding that savage giant, whose look,
even of fondness, made her tremble.
"There was little danger of her secret thoughts being
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 101
discovered. Every one was too fully occupied, either in
making preparations for the marriage feast, or in continu-
ing the treatment of the sick man.
"At the setting of the sun the steaming was suspended,
and Waab-ojeeg entered the lodge to announce to the Buf-
falo that all was now ready for the bridal feast.
" 'Twas long before the sick man could be made to com-
prehend him, so rapidly had the disease prostrated his
mental as well as bodily powers. When, however, he at
last understood the words of Waab-ojeeg, he expressed an
ardent desire that the feast should be celebrated imme-
diately.
"The White Fisher passed out of the lodge seeing Winte-
moyeh near; he told her the resolution of her father, and
bade her prepare immediately for the bridal. The soul
of the maiden died within her. Was there no escape? no
deliverance? no hope, even of delay?
"While these thoughts were chasing each other wildly
through her brain, Ayahwindib touched her arm, and
placed in her hand a small golden trinket, which she well
remembered to have seen Robinson wear; at the same
moment the old woman whispered, *He is there'; indicating
by a slight gesture, the little cove on the opposite side of
the island.
"Wintemoyeh started she trembled she made a few
steps towards the cove, then paused she looked towards
that closed lodge where her dying father lay; and as she
thought of that father and his boundless love, she returned
towards the lodge with a firm purpose never to leave him.
She stood still, with eyes fixed on the ground; some one
approached her; she raised her eyes, 'twas Aissibun,
looking more hideous, more disgusting, than ever. She
102 HISTORIC MACKINAC
thought no more, but gave one bound into the woods and
fled, with the swiftness of a deer, towards the cove. She
reached the landing-place; Robinson was there; breathless,
and almost senseless, she threw herself into his arms, and
in a moment was borne into his canoe. The voyagers ply
their paddles, and before Wintemoyeh is fully conscious
of the rash and wicked act she has committed, she is
landed among the white warriors at St. Marie, and conveyed
to the tent of Robinson.
*'
"Captain Robinson had returned to Mackina with his
Chippewa bride, when one day, about a fortnight after his
arrival, as he was seated at his desk in the fort, Sergeant
MacWhorter, an old and favourite subaltern of his com-
pany, entered; and, in his usual brief official tone, said,
touching his cap, 'Captain Robinson, the Buffalo of St.
Marie, or Peezhicki as he calls himself, has come to
Mackina.'
"Robinson sprang to his feet: 'Come to Mackina! Le
Boeuf come to Mackina!' Then collecting his thoughts a
little, he continued in a calmer tone, 'Impossible, Mac; it
can't be, Le Boeuf is dead. Who told you this foolish
story?' 'I saw him myself.' 'Saw him? and here? God
forbid; but pho! I am as great a fool as you are. I tell
you again Le Boeuf is dead; he died at Isle Iroquois two
weeks ago. La Grange, who was on the island at the time,
says he was dead before Wintemoyeh left the lodge.'
'Well, Captain,' replied MacWhorter, 'if you say the Buf-
falo died at Isle Iroquois two weeks ago, 'tis not for me
to contradict you. The Buffalo may have died half a
dozen times for aught that I know; all I have to say is, he is
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 103
now on the Island of Mackina, I saw him with my own eyes.'
*Nonsense, Mac; I tell you 'tis all nonsense! You have
taken some other savage for Le Boeuf.' 'Under favour,
Captain, I am not likely to mistake one Indian for another,
I have seen too many of them; and as for this Peezhicki, any
body that has seen him fight, as I did when the old fort
was taken, will never mistake any other man for him to the
longest day they have to live. Again I tell you he is on the
Island, I saw him go into the Skull Rock not half an hour
ago.' 'Are you quite sure that you have not mistaken
your man?' 'Sure, Captain,' replied the Sergeant; after
a short pause, during which Robinson seemed buried in
deep thought, MacWhorter continued, 'I thought I would
tell you, Captain, because if you wish it done, I can take
half a dozen of the boys down to the rock, and either shoot
him down or smoke him to death in the hole where he is;
they say his tribe did that favour to some Hurons long ago
in the very same spot.' 'Never, Mac, never! I will not
permit it.' 'Bless you, Captain,' replied the Sergeant, 'I
don't want to shoot the savage; if you say let him live,
'tis all one to Sandy MacWhorter; Peezhicki never did me
any harm, and even now he has not come to Mackina for my
squaw, not to mention that he would be welcome to her if he
had. But I saw the old fellow at the Skull Rock, and I
told your Honour; he had on all his war paint and feathers,
and there is mischief in him, or I do not know when mis-
chief lurks in an Indian eye.'
"Robinson made no reply. He was at a loss what to
think, he could not believe that the old chief was really in
bodily presence on the Island, that could not be; some
superstitious fears darted athwart his mind, but he would
104
HISTORIC MACKINAC
not for an instant entertain them. Could MacWhorter,
clear-sighted as he was, be mistaken? 'twas certainly most
probable.
"MacWhorter saw that the Captain was perplexed, and
he again kindly interfered; 'I can make him safe with only
the help of Alick; or, if your Honour is particular about
not having it known that we did for the old fellow, as 'tis
likely you may be,' and he nodded towards the inner room
now tenanted by Wintemoyeh, 'I would not mind under-
taking it myself. I fear no man that ever trod on Indian
shanks, and this Peezhicki is a good half-score of years
older than I am; so I can put him out of your way easily.'
" 'Silence, Mac,' interrupted the Captain, 'and don't
name that name; she may hear you. This is all nonsense;
your eyes have deceived you, say no more about it, but get
everything ready for our party at the Rock; it never shall
be said that Jammie Robinson stayed away from good
beef and brandy for any savage of them all, dead or alive.'
"Thus in defiance of the fears he could not help feeling,
Robinson determined to disregard the intelligence of his
subaltern yet that intelligence was true.
"Grief, or rather rage, which sometimes kills, had in
this instance restored the dying to life.
"When the flight of Wintemoyeh was first discovered,
the warriors and the women filled the air with their shouts
and execrations. The sounds awoke Peezhicki from the
death-like trance into which he had sunk. In a faint husky
voice, he demanded the cause; no one was found hardy
enough to communicate the fatal tidings till they sent for
Waab-ojeeg. He entered the lodge of his brother to tell
the sad story of his child's unworthiness. 'Twas long be-
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 105
fore Peezhicki could hear or understand. At last the
whole truth flashed upon his mind. One furious bound
he made, and sprang from the lodge. * Where is she?*
*where is she?' he cried.
"The figure of the naked chief, his body quite covered
with scabs, his face so swollen that not a single feature
could be distinguished, while with his arms of skeleton
thinness, he groped about in darkness, seeking his child,
was too much even for Indian self-command. The war-
riors and the women fled together. Even Waab-ojeeg could
scarce bear to approach the frightful figure. He did at
length address Peezhicki; but no answer could he obtain
but, 'My child! where is she?' Then the father groped
forward, calling for his canoe and his warriors to chase
the white man who had stolen his child. Maddened to fury
by the neglect of those he called, the Buffalo now rushed
forward, blind as he was, to the landing-place. Waab-
ojeeg followed, but before he could overtake him Peezhicki
reached the margin of the lake, stumbled over the side of
the canoe and fell into the water. Waab-ojeeg drew him
out, and bore him nearly senseless to his lodge. In a few
hours the Buffalo was relieved of all the violent symptoms
of the disease. The fever left his mind ; he spoke with his
usual calm, cold dignity; never, however, alluding to his
child.
"Next day, he rose from his mat, though still scabbed
all over, and very feeble. He bade his friend, Waab-ojeeg,
farewell; and taking a small canoe, pulled slowly from
the landing place, singing his death-song as he went.
Waab-ojeeg and his warriors stood by; they saw the de-
parture of Peezhicki without any attempt to hinder or
106
HISTORIC MACKINAC
delay his purpose. They watched his canoe till it dis-
appeared round Gros Cap; then, turning away, they pre-
pared for their own departure to their distant home.
"At two hours past noon, of the day on which Captain
Robinson had held the conversation with MacWhorter,
which we have detailed above, the preparations for the
party at the rock, now called Robinson's Folly, were com-
pleted.
"In the center of the small cleared spot, and so near
the verge of the rock as to command a full view of the
lake, was erected a rustic bower or lodge. The posts were
four small untrimmed cedar trees, planted at the corners;
from their bushy tops, long festoons of evergreens hung;
on these again were laid branches, small and large, till
the whole together formed a beautiful verdant roof.
"Within this lodge was placed a table, long enough to
accommodate twenty or thirty guests. At the head was a
large double chair, on each side of which were placed
flagstaffs. The folds of these banners were first put be-
hind the chair, and then gathered overhead into a sort of
canopy. Here, canopied by his country's flag, sat the
young commandant of the Island and his Indian bride.
Wintemoyeh, for the first time, sat at a public table
surrounded by white men.
"At first the scene was too new and strange to be enjoyed
but gradually, as she became more accustomed to its splen-
dour, she could not refuse to partake of the gayety around
her. The songs, the laughter, the music (for the small
band of the garrison was there) gradually raised her spirits,
and she was happy. Hours flew by, and the sun had sunk
into the bosom of the lake, when MacWhorter, who, as a
great favourite of his commander, was allowed to sit at
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 107
the foot of the table, sprang from his seat, and in attempt-
ing to leap over the table, threw table, dishes, bottles, and
not a few of the scarce sober guests, upon the grass. "There
he is there he is! I see him! I see him!' shouted the
subaltern. He had cleared the table, and advanced a step
towards the canopied seat, when the sharp crack of a rifle
rang through the wood. MacWhorter bounded into the air,
and fell upon the grass a dead man. The ball of Peez-
hicki, aimed at Robinson, had found a mark in the bold
breast of his subaltern, who, at the moment when the savage
pulled the trigger, had crossed the range of his gun. At
the instant Peezhicki sprang forward, and beating down
with his clubbed rifle a soldier who stood in his way, seized
his daughter, and was about to bear her away, when Robin-
son, recovering from the first stupor of surprise, sprang
from his seat and seized him by the throat. Peezhicki
felt that escape from the white man was impossible, bur-
dened as he was by the weight of his nearly senseless daugh-
ter; he hurled her with fury to the ground, then, by a
moment's struggle, freed himself from the grasp of Robin-
son, drew forth his tomahawk, and made one backward
step that he might give full force to the meditated blow.
But that backward step brought him to the very edge of
the rock; the treacherous stone gives way beneath his foot;
he falls; but, by a strong effort, he caught at a pine which
hung over the precipice; the branch bends, as his whole
weight bears upon it, but the wood is tough; it holds, and
though the first sway carried his figure quite out of sight,
yet the bent trunk rises, and with it the form of Peezhicki
appears, his features convulsed, his eyes absolutely blaz-
ing with rage. There he swung off the sheer descent, his
feet resting on the edge of the rock, his body now rising, so
108 HISTORIC MACKINAC
that it would seem to have required but a slight effort to
regain his footing, then sinking down till he was nearly
hid from view. For a moment the horrid spectacle seemed
to have frozen every heart and stiffened every limb. 'Twas
but for a moment; the next, Wintemoyeh, raised by the arm
of Robinson from the ground where her angry father had
cast her, sees her father hanging as it were by a thread, so
small does that branch appear to her frightened eye, over
the cliff. With one wild scream she sprang forward, and
ere Robinson was aware of her purpose, she stood on the
very verge of the precipice, her foot close beside her
father's and her arms extended towards him. The chief
saw her, and a gleam of savage triumph shot athwart his
dark features. By a vigorous exertion of the arms, he
raised himself up to near the level where his daughter
stood; then quitting his hold of the pine branch, he darts
upon her, he seizes her wrist, he clutches her fast ; then
springs from the cliff. The figure of the triumphant savage
and his child gleamed for a moment like a meteor in the
air; then they sank behind the precipice, and though the
whole wood rang with the exulting war-whoop of Peez-
hicki, yet clear above it, in its piercing shrillness, was
heard the shriek of despair with which his beautiful daugh-
ter met her fate."
LOVER'S LEAP
"Long before the pale faces profaned this Island home of
the Genii, a young Ojibwa girl, just maturing into woman-
hood, often wandered there, and gazed into its dizzy heights
and witnessed the receding canoes of the large war parties
of the combined bands of the Ojibwas and Ottawas speed-
ing south, seeking for fame and scalps.
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 109
"It was there she often sat, mused and hummed the
songs Ge-niw-e-gwon loved; this spot was endeared to her,
for it was there that she and Ge-niw-e-gwon first met and
exchanged words of love, and found an affinity of souls
existing between them. It was there she often sat and sang
the Ojibwa love song
"A loon, I thought, was looming,
A loon, I thought, was looming:
Why! it is he, my lover;
Why! it is he, my lover;
His paddle in the waters gleaming.
His paddle in the waters gleaming.
"From this bluff she often watched and listened for the
return of the war parties, for amongst them she knew was
Ge-niw-e-gwon; his head decorated with war-eagle plumes,
which none but a brave could sport. The west wind often
wafted far in advance the shouts of victory and death, as
they shouted and sang upon leaving Pe-quod-e-nong (Old
Mackinaw) to make the traverse to the Spirit, or Fairy
Island.
"One season, when the war party returned, she could not
distinguish his familiar and loving war shout. Her spirit
told her that he had gone to the Spirit-Land of the West.
It was so: an enemy's arrow had pierced his breast, and
after his body was placed leaning against a tree, his face
fronting his enemies, he died; but ere he died he wished
the mourning warriors to remember him to the sweet maid
of his heart. Thus he died far away from home and the
friends he loved.
"Me-she-ne-mock-e-nong-o-qua's heart hushed its beat-
ings, and all the warm emotions of that heart were chilled
and dead. The moving, living spirit of the beloved Ge-
110
HISTORIC MACKINAC
niw-e-gwon, she witnessed continually beckoning her to fol-
low him to the happy hunting grounds of spirits in the
West he appeared to her in human shape, but was in-
visible to others of his tribe.
"One morning her body was found mangled at the foot
of the bluff. The soul had thrown aside its covering of
earth, and had gone to join the spirit of her beloved Ge-
niw-e-gwon, to travel together to the land of spirits."
Quoting again from Mr. Ellis, 18 who sketches the ex-
planation of Lover's Leap given in the ancient Creation
myth: "The red Adam was driven from the Island by an
evil-minded angel who was enamored of the red Eve. and
she, having denounced the angel as 'devil,' with whom she
could not be compelled to remain longer than to express
her hate of him, 'fled like the wind as it wantons down from
far Waugoshance' and leaped from the cliff. Her ban-
ished mate, who was paddling sorrowfully along the shore
and saw her fall, urged his canoe forward and saved her
life; and Manitou restored them to the Island and banished
the angel from Heaven. He fell to the underworld of bad
spirits and there became a great leader and the father
of the white race of beings called men, who, filled with
the hatred of their father towards the red Eve, have never
ceased to work for the ruin of her descendants. This re-
markable legend of Creation has made 'the Island' a holy
land to me, and shows more plausibly than anything I have
ever found, a relationship between the North American
Indians and the ancient inhabitants of the eastern hemi-
sphere; while Lover's Leap stands as pre-historic evidence
that love is as old as the human heart.
"Let us pass," he continues, "from the cloud-land of
18 Op. cit., p. 522 ff.
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 111
legend to the solid world of fact. What is the origin of
these great rock cones that the ancient reds conceived to
be giants watching the interests of Gitchi Manitou? They
are just what is left of the strata of rock that once covered
all the land up here, probably to a depth of several hundred
feet, certainly to a depth that more than equaled the present
height of the cones. That mass of brittle limestone, sand
stone and what not, was broken, torn, ground and pulver-
ized by glacial action, and spread out over the country to
the south. Here and there were spots hard enough to resist
the action of the ice, and these remained and long ages
subsequently became the stone giants of Manitou to Indian
imagination. At one time there were two such cones on
Mackinac Island. Looking at our illustration of Fort
Hill you will observe that, at the right of the picture, under-
lying the old British wall, and forming a natural breast-
work, is a portion of the cliff. On either side of it the
rock has crumbled away, leaving this standing in the debris.
That bit of exposed cliff has been carefully examined by
geologists, who pronounce it a cone that once stood on the
brow of the Island, and add that the lower rock gradually
rotted and fell from beneath the cone until it toppled over
and lodged, probably, in a crevasse, the outer wall of which
has since rotted away. In proof of this it may be said that
the material of this exposed cliff is the same as of Manitou's
Wigwam, and is wholly unlike that of the Island stratum
immediately beneath the layer of which these cones were a
part. There is, however, no indication to be found in the
legendary lore of the Island that the Indians ever knew of
more than one of the stone wigwams here. It has always
been to them substantially as it is now: the Turtle on its
summit, the Landing, and the Gateway, the Wigwam and
112 HISTORIC MACKINAC
Mother Eve's Pinnacle were fixed in their minds in the
long ago; and they remain the same to-day, saving only
where the action of the elements little by little has crumbled
them away.
"Taking it all in all, I must write again that the Island is
to me sacred, with its beautiful story of the Indian's con
ception of Creation, and the love of Manitou for his first
born, or first-made, children. Drinking deep of the sweet
water that laves the Island shores; breathing the balmy air
that fans its leafy crown; sleeping myself to strength and
health through its dreamless nights; looking back in imag-
ination through the light of its restful summer days upon
those pre-historic ages when peaceful red men and women
(far superior to any we can ever meet after 250 years of
contact with the vices of civilization), conceived a Heavenly
Father so much like our own highest conception that I am
continually astonished at the close resemblance: I love
the old Island as a spot too sacred to be polluted as it has
been by drunkenness, avarice, vice, and the ruin of so many
of the helpless forest children through the wild greed of
our heartless whites!
"The old bluffs are enticing places to lie prone, and
rest and weave the colors of hope into the web of imagina-
tion. Reclining upon the heights at Lover's Leap on a sum-
mer day, and looking down upon the silken sheen of the
charming sweet-water sea, and away across to the wooded
mainland south and west that stretches like a dark belt of
night around the waist of the world, or upon the fair wind-
ing shore where St. Ignace sits in peace upon the strand, or
upon the noble proportions of McGulpin's Head, and the
long, tapering finger of far Waugoshance, or upon the
graceful lines of Little Island Rond and low-lying 'Bobbels,'
MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF MACKINAC 113
and quaffing freely of the health-giving air that falls gently
through the blue from polar zone, you will not wonder that
the Indians of the elder time held this as a sacred shrine.
Indeed, I think it will be strange if you do not feel some
feeble indications, at least, of a pure, unselfish worship
struggling upwards in the depths of your own soul."
WISHING SPRING
The legends connected with the "Wishing Spring," are
many and most beautiful in sentiment. All convey the
thought that whoever makes a wish before drinking of the
water from this famous spring, will have it fulfilled in large
measure, provided the nature of the wish is not divulged.
CHAPTER III
EARLY DAYS ON MACKINAC ISLAND, 1814-182]
AMONG the reminiscences of early days at Mackinac
few are more interesting and instructive than thos
written by Elizabeth Therese Baird for the
consin Historical Collections? Her father was an er
ploye of the American Fur Company in its palmy days
following the War of 1812. Her mother was the daughtei
of Kewinaquot, a Chief of the Ottawas. A large part oi
Therese's youth was spent on Mackinac Island, where si
was married in 1824 when only fourteen years old t<
Henry S. Baird, a young lawyer of Green Bay. A gc
education, a wide acquaintance, much travel, and a
tentive memory, fitted her, in a special way, to gather
record the experiences of her life at Mackinac. Followii
are some selections from her reminiscences:
"I was particularly fond of the Island of Mackinac in
winter, with its ice-bound shore. In some seasons, ice
mountains loomed up, picturesque and color-enticing, in
every direction. At other occasions, the ice would be as
smooth as one could wish. There was then hardly any win-
ter communication with the outer world; for about eight
months in the year, the Island lay dormant. A mail would
come across the ice from the mainland, once a month, tc
disturb the peace of the inhabitants; its arrival was a mattei
of profound and agitating interest.
"The dwellers on the Island were mostly Roman Catho
XIV, 17 ff.
114
EARLY DAYS ON MACKINAC ISLAND 115
lies. There was, however, no priest stationed here at that
early day; but occasionally one would come, and keep
alive the little spark, kindled so many years before by the
devoted Jesuit missionaries. . . .
"The Catholic faith prevailing, it followed as a matter
of course that the special holidays of the church were al-
ways observed in a memorable, pleasant manner, in one's
own family, in which some friends and neighbors would
participate. Some weeks before Christmas, the denizens
of the Island met in turn at each other's homes, and read
the prayers, chanted psalms, and unfailingly repeated the
litany of the Saints. On Christmas eve, both sexes would
read and sing, the service lasting till midnight. After this,
a reveillon (midnight treat) would be partaken of by all.
The last meeting of this sort which I attended, was at our
own home, in 1823. This affair was considered the high
feast of the season, and no pains were spared to make the
accompanying meal as good as the Island afforded. The
cooking was done at an open fire. I wish I could remem-
ber in full the bill of fare; however, I will give all that
I recall. We will begin with the roast pig; roast goose;
chicken pie; round of beef, a la mode; pattes d'ours (bear's
paws, called so from the shape, and made of chopped meat
in crust, corresponding to rissoles) ; sausage; head-cheese;
souse; small-fruit preserves; small cakes. Such was the
array. No one was expected to take of every dish, unless
he chose. Christmas was observed as a holy-day. The
children were kept at home, and from play, until nearly
night-time, when they would be allowed to run out and bid
their friends a 'Merry Christmas,' spending the evening,
however, at home with the family, the service of prayer
and song being observed as before mentioned. All would
116 HISTORIC MACKINAC
sing; there was no particular master, it was the sentiment,
that was so pleasing to us; the music we did not care so
much for.
"As soon as la fete de Noel, or Christmas-tide, had
passed, all the young people were set at work to prepare for
New Year's. Christmas was not the day to give and re-
ceive presents; this was reserved for New Year's. On the
eve of that day, great preparations were made by a certain
class of elderly men, usually fishermen, who went from
house to house in grotesque dress, singing and dancing.
Following this they would receive gifts. Their song was
often quite terrifying to little girls, as the gift asked for
in the song was la fille alnee, the eldest daughter. 2 The
song ran thus:
"Bon jour, le Maitre et la Maitresse,
Et tout le monde du loger.
Si vous voulez nous rien donner, dites-le nous ;
Nous vous demandons seulement la fille ainee!
"As they were always expected, every one was prepared
to receive them. This ended the last day of the year.
After evening prayer in the family, the children would re-
tire early. At the dawn of the New Year, each child would
go to the bedside of its parents to receive their benediction
a most beautiful custom. My sympathies always went
out to children who had no parents near. . . .
"Reminiscences of childhood at Mackinac hold much
The following notes are taken from the JPis. Hist. Colls.
2 The lines here given are but one of many versions of the Guignolee
a song, and also a custom, brought to Canada by its first French colonists;
and a more or less Christianized survival of Druidic times. This name
(also appearing as La Ignolee, Guillonee, etc.) is a corruption of the cry,
An gui Fan neuf! "To the mistletoe, this new year!" See account of this
custom, with the words and music of the song. Gagnon's Chansons Popu-
laires du Canada (Quebec, 1894), pp. 238-253.
EARLY DAYS ON MACKINAC ISLAND 117
that to-day would be novel to many, if not of interest to all.
A description of my carriole, or dog-sledge, holds a pleas-
ant place in memory. It was handsome in shape, with a
high back, and sides sloping gracefully to the front. The
outside color was a dark green, the inside a cream color,
and the runners black. It was drawn by two large dogs,
harnessed tandem one perfectly white, the other black.
The white was an old dog which had seen much service;
his name was 'Caribou'; the black responded to the name
of 'Nero.' The young man who drove them was Francois
Lacroix. This rig he owned from the time I was about
seven years old until I reached ten, possibly later. The
name of my carriole was 'la Boudeuse* (pouter) ; why, I
cannot imagine. Dogs cannot be broken or trained to the
harness in the manner that horses are; they will not be
driven with bridle or rein. A person must run along be-
side them to keep them in order. In a long journey the
traveler takes the risk of a continuous trip. His team
may pursue its way steadily for a while, doing so as long
as nothing appears in the way to excite them; but let a
bird or a rabbit or any other game cross their vision and
away they will go, the dog-sledge, passenger and all, as
there is no way of stopping them. One may have a merry
ride, if the way be smooth, before they give up the chase.
"How well I remember my out-door gear in winter; a
long circular cloak, of snuff -brown broadcloth; over this a
large cape of the same material, braided all round in
Roman border. Let me say here that machine-made braid
was not to be purchased in this part of the world; this was
plaited, of black worsted. My cap was of plucked beaver,
and my mittens were of buckskin, fur-lined. Moccasins
were, of course, indispensable.
118 HISTORIC MACKINAC
"A snow storm occurred at Mackinac in my childhood,
which is always recalled each season, as it was the snow
storm that surpassed all others. It began after the man-
ner of all such storms, but its ending proved something
more formidable. As hour after hour feathery flakes fol
lowed each other down, no one paid much attention
them, save the weather-wise fisherman who went often
his door to study the clouds. Many were the anxious
thoughts he gave to his nets on the lake, which he knew his
dogs could not reach in the newly-fallen snow. All day it
snowed, and during the night the storm increased in vio
lence, yet no one was apprehensive. But the next mo
ing revealed a buried town only the fort and a few ho
on the hill side showing at all through the white ma
People had to dig themselves out of this 'beautiful snow';
or, as in most cases, wait to be dug out. The com-
manding officer of the fort, Benjamin K. Pierce, (a brother
of the President), sent a detachment of soldiers to the
rescue. The place looked novel indeed, with only narrow,
high-walled paths from house to house. As the storm
came from the northeast, our home was sheltered in such
a way as to be among the few not out of sight. This snow
storm afforded rare sport for the boys, who made other
thoroughfares by tunnelling paths from house to house.
I do not remember that this storm was in any sense disas-
trous, for as the wind blew strongly towards the Island
it left the ice clear of snow and the fishermen were able
to get to their nets; thus no suffering was entailed upon the
little town. . . .
"A visit to the sugar camp was a great treat to the young
folks as well as to the old. In the days I write of, sugar
was a scarce article, save in the Northwest, where maple-
EARLY DAYS ON MACKINAC ISLAND 119
sugar was largely manufactured. All who were able,
possessed a sugar camp. My grandmother had one on
Bois Blanc Island, about five miles east of Mackinac.
About the first of March, nearly half of the inhabitants of
our town, as well as many from the garrison, would move
to Bois Blanc to prepare for the work. Our camp was
delightfully situated in the midst of a forest of maple, or a
maple grove. A thousand or more trees claimed our care,
and three men and two women were employed to do the
work.
"The trip to Bois Blanc I made on my dog-sled. Fran-
cjois Lacroix (the son of a slave), whom my grandmother
reared, was my companion. The ride over the ice, across
the lake, was a delightful one; and the drive through the
woods (which were notably clear of underbrush), to the
camp, about a mile from the shore, was equally charming.
"The pleasures of the camp were varied. In out-of-
door amusement, I found delight in playing about great
trees that had been uprooted in some wind storm. Fre-
quently, each season, near the close of sugar-making,
parties of ladies and gentlemen would come over from
Mackinac, bent on a merry time, which they never failed
to secure.
"One time, a party of five ladies and five gentlemen
were invited to the camp. Each lady brought a frying-
pan in which to cook and turn les crepes or pancakes, which
was to be the special feature and fun of the occasion. All
due preparation was made for using the frying-pan. We
were notified that no girl was fitted to be married until
she could turn a crepe. Naturally, all were desirous to
try their skill in that direction, whether matrimonally in-
120 HISTORIC MACKINAC
clined or not. The gentlemen of the party tried their
hand at it, as well as the ladies. It may not be amiss
here to explain what to turn the crepe meant; when the
cake was cooked on one side, it was dexterously tossed in
the air and expected to land, the other side up, back in
the pan. Never did I see objects miss so widely the mark
aimed at. It seemed indeed that the crepes were influ-
enced by the glee of the party ; they turned and flew every-
where, but where wanted. Many fell into the fire, as if
the turner had so intended. Some went to the ground, and
one even found its way to the platform, over the head of the
turner. One gentleman (Henry S. Baird) came up to
Mrs. John Dousman, and holding out his nice fur cap,
said, 'Now turn your cake, and I will catch it.' Mrs.
Dousman was an adept at turning, and before the chal-
lenger had time to withdraw his cap, with a toss she deftly
turned the cake and landed it fairly into the cap. You
may imagine the sport all this afforded. In due time, a
nice dinner was prepared. We had partridges roasted on
sticks before the fire; rabbit and stuffed squirrel, cooked
French fashion ; and finally had as many crepes, with syrup,
as we desired. Every one departed with a bark of wa
and sugar cakes. . . .
"In the early days of which these articles treat, th
society at Mackinac was very small in the winter,
people were mostly French, with the habits of France, b
not with the frivolities of Paris instead, good, sensibl
people. There were a few families on the Island of Scotch
descent, and several of mixed blood. Although small, the
society was aristocratic in tendency. The fort was gar-
risoned by American officers, some of whom had French
EARLY DAYS ON MACKINAC ISLAND 121
wives; among them may be mentioned Captain Brooks,
whose wife was a French lady from Detroit, whose sister,
Miss Mai, made her home with them. Then there was
Mrs. Whistler, wife of Major Whistler; she was of Scotch
and French descent.
"One interesting and wealthy family was that of Dr.
David Mitchell, 3 which consisted of his wife (of mixed
blood), and a number of sons and daughters. The daugh-
ters at the time now mentioned had returned from Europe,
where they had received the education which at that day
was given young ladies. The sons were sent to Montreal
for their education. This family were, of course, all
British subjects. When the Island was ceded to the United
States, Dr. Mitchell would not remain there but followed
the troops to Drummond's Island, where he made himself
a home, and where the remainder of his days were spent.
His wife retained her old home at Mackinac, with the
daughters and two sons. Mrs. Mitchell and her sons con-
tinued in the fur trade and added much to an already large
fortune, for the trade made all rich. The mother and
daughters would, in turn, visit Dr. Mitchell during the sum-
mer, but would not take the risk of a winter's visit. Two
of the sons, however, remained with their father.
"The old homestead, which was built while Mackinac
was under British rule, is still standing. It was the largest
dwelling house ever erected on the Island. It is two stories
high, with a high attic, this having dormer windows. The
grounds surrounding it were considered large, running
through from one street to another. The three daughters
Mitchell was a surgeon in the British army, who married an Ottawa
woman. He had been Surgeon at Old Mackinaw, but soon after the Pon-
tiac massacre moved to the Island.
122 HISTORIC MACKINAC
were handsome, attractive, and entertaining ladies. Win-
ter being long and dull, these young ladies would invite a
lady friend or two to spend it with them. In the winter
of 1808-9, Miss Marianne Lasaliere (my mother) visited
them. The July following, one of the daughters was mar-
ried and went to Europe to make her home there. My
mother was also married in the same month, and she went
to make her home at Prairie du Chien. The two young
ladies remaining now felt more lonely than ever, and de-
sired greatly the presence of some of their young lady
friends to shorten the otherwise dreary winter days. In the
winter of 1816-17, Miss Josette Laframboise visited them,
and it was on this visit that she made the acquaintance of
Capt. Benjamin K. Pierce, commander of Fort Mackinac,
whom she afterwards married.
"In addition to this home, Mrs. David Mitchell owned
and cultivated a large farm on the southwest side of the
Island. It might be called a hay farm, as hay was the
principal, and always a large crop. Hay was a very ex-
pensive article at Mackinac, at that time. It was customary
for men to go to the surrounding islands, mow what grass
they could among the bushes, remain there until the hay
was cured, then return for boats to convey it to Mackinac.
Potatoes were also largely cultivated by Mrs. Mitchell, and
'Mackinac potatoes' were regarded as the choicest in this
part of the country. Oats and corn were also raised. An
attempt was made to raise fruit trees, but with small suc-
cess; these did better in town. The farm house was com-
fortable-looking, one story in height, painted white, with
green blinds; a long porch ran across the front. This
house stood in about the center of the farm, far back from
the road. The farm was noted also for its fine springs.
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EARLY DAYS ON MACKINAC ISLAND 123
Then there was Mrs. Mitchell's garden, which lay between
the bluff, or hill, and the lake; on one side lay the govern-
ment garden, and on the other was 'the point.' It was a
large plot, two or three acres in extent, and was entirely
enclosed by cedar pickets five feet high, whitewashed, as
were all enclosures at Mackinac. All vegetables that
would grow in so cold a climate were cultivated. It was
an every-day occurrence to see Mrs. Mitchell coming to
inspect her garden, riding in her calash, a two-wheeled
vehicle, being her own driver. When the old lady arrived
the men would hasten to open the gate, then she would
drive in ; and there, in the large space in front of the garden
beds, in the shade, the man would fasten the horse, while
'my lady' would walk all over the grounds giving her or-
ders. The refuse of this garden, the rakings, etc., were
carried to the shore and made a conspicuous dark spot,
like an island on the white beach, which in later years
grew into a considerable point and was covered with
verdure.
"Her speech was peculiar. English she could not speak
at all, but would mix the French with her own language,
which was neither Ottawa nor Chippewa. There were not
many who could understand her; there was, however, one
old man who had lived for a great many years with the
family, who was a natural interpreter and seemed per-
fectly to comprehend her. And yet, she got along ad-
mirably in company. She had many signs that were ex-
pressive, and managed to make her wishes clear to the
ladies. When her daughters were at home, her linguistic
troubles vanished. She was quite large, tall, and heavy.
Her dress was as peculiar as her conversation. She always
wore black, usually her dresses were of black silk, which
124
HISTORIC MACKINAC
were always made in the same manner. A full skirt was
gathered and attached to a plain waist. There were two
large pockets on the skirt, and she always stood with her
hands in these. About her neck was a black neckerchief;
on her head she wore a black beaver hat, with a modest
plume at one side. There were ties, but nowhere else on
the bonnet was ribbon used. This bonnet she wore day
and night. I do not think she slept in it, but never did I
know of any one who had ever seen her without it She
was an intelligent woman, with exceptional business facul-
ties, although devoid of book-learning. Her skill in read-
ing character was considerable. Such was the *Mistress
of the manse.'
"The home became greatly changed, after the daughters
were all married and had taken up their abode elsewhere,
but on the arrival of the younger son from school, social
life again awakened, and the former gayety of the house
was revived. He gave many parties of all kinds, including
card parties, which his mother particularly enjoyed, as she
was an experienced whist player. He frequently gave
dancing parties, which one of his lady neighbors the wife
of John K. Pierce, a brother of the President, managed
for him, his mother never assuming any care in regard
to them. Yet she was fond of social gatherings, and at-
tended all that were given. When there was no card-
playing, she sat by and watched the dancing, and was
always surrounded by a group of ladies and gentlemen.
She must have been more attractive than my youthful eyes
could perceive, for she received much attention. She kept
many servants, who were in the charge of a house-keeper.
It was said she knew not the use of a needle. Her young-
est son was a gentleman of the world, though not at all
EARLY DAYS ON MACKINAC ISLAND 125
wild. He spent as much money as he could, on the dear
Island home. The first winter after his return home, in
1823, he had two handsome horses, one black and the
other white, which he drove tandem; it was an attractive
turnout. He died poor.
"Joseph Laframboise, a Frenchman, father of Josette
Laframboise, dealt largely with the Indians. He was a
firm, determined man, and moreover was especially devout,
adhering to all the rights and usages of the Catholic Church.
He was especially particular as to the observance of the
Angelas. Out in the Indian country, timed by his watch,
he was as faithful in this discharge of duty as elsewhere.
Whenever in any town where the bells of his church rang
out three times three, he and his family paid reverent
heed to it. Madame Laframboise, his widow, maintained
this custom as long as she lived, and it was very impressive.
The moment the Angelas sounded, she would drop her work,
make the sign of the cross, and with bowed head and
crossed hands would say the short prayers, which did not
last much longer than the solemn ringing of the bells.
"In 1809, Laframboise left Mackinac with his wife and
baby boy (the daughter being at Montreal, at school) for
his usual wintering-place on the upper part of the Grand
River, in Michigan. They traveled in Mackinaw boats, or
bateaux. There were two boats, with a crew of six men
to each. They were also accompanied by their servants,
old Angelique, a slave, and her son, Louizon, all of whom
made a large party. At the last encampment, before reach-
ing Grand River, Laframboise, while kneeling in his tent
one night saying his prayers, was shot dead by an Indian,
who had previously asked for liquor and had been refused.
The widowed wife, knowing that she was nearer Grand
126
HISTORIC MACKINAC
River than her own home, journeyed on, taking the remai
of her husband with her, and had them buried at the or
town in that vicinity, which was near the entrance of
river the present Grand Haven, Mich. Now was deve
oped the unselfish devotion of her servant, Angelique, whc
faithfulness was displayed in many ways through the d(
affliction which had fallen upon her mistress. She greatl]
endeared herself to Madame Laframboise, and was ever
after her constant companion in all journeyings, Madame
becoming in time very dependent upon her; the tie that
bound them together remained unbroken until the death
of the mistress.
"After Madame Laframboise had laid away her hus-
band, she proceeded to her place of business. Here she
remained, until spring, trading with the Indians. Then
she returned to Mackinac and procured a license as a trader,
and added much to her already large fortune. In the
course of that winter the Indians captured the murderer of
Laframboise, and, bringing him to her, desired that she
should decide his fate, whether he should be shot or
burned. Madame addressed them eloquently, referrii
in words profoundly touching, to her dead husband,
piety, and his good deeds. Then displaying in her forgii
ing spirit a most Christ-like quality, she continued: *I
do as I know he would do, could he now speak to you; I
forgive him, and leave him to the Great Spirit. He
do what is right.' She never again saw that man.
"Madame Laframboise would in June return with h(
furs to Mackinac. The servants whom she left in care of
her home there, would have it in readiness upon her arrivs
and here she would keep house for about three months
then go back to her work. Among these servants was or
EARLY DAYS ON MACKINAC ISLAND 127
notably faithful, Genevieve Maranda, who remained with
her until her death.
"Madame Laframboise was a remarkable woman in
many ways. As long as her father, Jean Baptiste Marcotte,
lived, his children, when old enough, were sent to Montreal
to be educated. But she and her sister, Grandmother
Schindler, did not share these advantages, they being the
youngest of the family, and the father dying when Madame
Laframboise was but three months old. Her mother was
of chiefly blood, being the daughter of Ke-wi-na-quot (Re-
turning Cloud), one of the most powerful chiefs of the
Ottawa tribe. She had no book-lore, but many might be
proud of her attainments. She spoke French easily, hav-
ing learned it from her husband. All conversation in that
day was as a rule held in French. Robert Stuart, a Scotch-
man, who was educated in Paris, used to say that her dic-
tion was as pure as that of a Parisian. She was a graceful
and refined person, and remarkably entertaining. She al-
ways wore the full Indian costume, and there was at that
time no better fur trader than she. She had both the love
and respect of the Indians that her husband had had before
her. She, indeed, had no fear of the Indians, no matter
what their condition; she was always able to control them.
"Now to return to Josette Laframboise's marriage to
Captain Benjamin K. Pierce, commandant at Fort Mack-
inac (and brother of the President). This marriage took
place at the home of a great friend of the young lady.
An officer's widow, in writing her husband's military life,
speaks of his being ordered to the command of Captain
Pierce, at Fort Mackinac, in 1816, and says that the captain
there met a half-breed girl whom he addressed and married.
This 'half breed girl' was a highly educated and cultivated
128 HISTORIC MACKINAC
woman. Her graceful demeanor was a charm. She was
small in person, a clear brunette with black eyes and ve
black, wavy hair. She was both handsome and agreeable.
What wonder was it, that a young man should be won by so
winsome a maiden?
"In May, 1817, Madame Laframboise arrived at Mack
inac by bateau with her furs. She then hired a birch-bark
canoe and Indian crew to take her to Montreal, where
went to place her boy in school. Her daughter was to be
married that summer, but had to await her mother's return.
As soon as the mother did return, the wedding took place.
As Madame could not have time to open her house and
make preparations at that late date, the home of Mrs. Mil
chell, previously mentioned, was insisted upon, by her whole
family, as being the place for the wedding. The friend-
ship between the families was sincere, and in this horn* .
famed for its handsome weddings, another was added to
the list. To this wedding, none but the officers and families
of the garrison, and only two families of the town, were
invited. The mother and aunt (Madame Schindler) were
present in full Indian costume.
"After the marriage, the captain took his wife to the Fort,
and Madame Laframboise departed to resume her winter's
work. Mrs. Pierce did not live long. She died in 1821,
leaving two children. The son did not long survive his
mother. Captain Pierce was ordered from Mackinac that
winter. The following spring he came for his daughter,
Harriet. From that date, Madame Laframboise clo?d
her business with the American Fur Company, and re-
mained at home. She at this time left her old house and
went into that which Captain Pierce had, with her means,
built for her. Both houses are yet standing. I have stat
EARLY DAYS ON MACKINAC ISLAND 129
that Madame Laframboise was a remarkable woman.
When she was between forty and fifty years of age, she
taught herself to read. It was no indifferent piece of work
either, as she became able to read any French book she
could obtain. She was a devoted Catholic, and worked for
the Church as long as she lived, greatly to the satisfaction
of the poor, for whom she did much. It had been her prac-
tice to take girls, or any young woman who had had no op-
portunity to receive instruction in Church matters, and have
them taught by persons whom she herself hired. In this
way she began to teach herself. It was not long before she
could instruct children in their catechism. It was through
her, mainly, that the priest was supported. Among her
gifts to the Church at Mackinac was the lot on which the
church now stands, and she and her daughter lie buried be-
neath that edifice. 4
"The former home of Madame Laframboise was within
a few rods of the home of her sister, Madame Schindler.
The pleasures of that home, for the few weeks she remained
there, are vividly recalled ; yet they were pleasures that one
can hardly understand at the present time. The pleasures
of past times cannot readily be made real in the minds of
the younger generation. There being no children at Ma-
dame's home, and being fond of her sister's grandchild, 5
she begged that the little girl might stay with her while at
Mackinac, to which they all agreed. But as she was an
only and spoiled child, it turned out that she had more than
one home during that summer. The child was a precocious
one, and afforded much amusement to her grand-aunt.
4 See sketch of Madame Madeline Laframboise in Vis. Hist. Colls., xi,
pp. 373, 374.
8 Mrs. Baird here refers to herself.
130
HISTORIC MACKINAC
Old Angelique petted the little one greatly, and yet essaye
to teach her some of the kinds of work in which she w*
proficient. Among the lessons imparted was that of wz
ing and polishing furniture. No one could tell who was
prouder, teacher or pupil. Angelique lived to see
play with the children of this petted and only child. SI
was an excellent housekeeper; she died at the residence
her son, Francois Lacroix, who had married and moved
Cross Village, 6 where his descendants now live. When
became of age, Madame Schindler gave him his freedor
His younger brother, Louizon, married, and with his fami
left Mackinac in a schooner in 1834, to go to Grand Rive
The vessel was wrecked on the way and all on board wt
lost. Angelique's daughter, Catishe, lived to be an
woman. She was the nurse of the spoiled child.
"Madame Laframboise lived in her new home for
eral years. It was there that I and my children were
happy in after years. To visit at that home, also, car
Madame' s grand-daughter, Miss Harriet Pierce, who after-
wards married an army officer. She, too, died young.
Her daughter, who is still living, is the wife of an officer
in the army. The son, who was placed at school at Me
real, came home in due time and became a fur trat
married out in the Western country, and died there abot
1854, leaving a large family. Madame Laframboise die
April 4, 1846, aged 66 years.
At the same early period in which occurred the foi
going events, there lived at Mackinac Joseph Bailly,
Frenchman and a fur trader, of course, who was livii
with his second family. Belonging to a distinguished fam-
ily at Montreal, he had been well educated, yet his nat
6 L'arbre Croche ; now Harbor Springs, Mich.
EARLY DAYS ON MACKINAC ISLAND 131
remained unchanged. He was not gentle, not coarse, but
noisy. One was never at a loss to locate him, no matter
what part of the Island might contain him. His loud
laughter and speech always betrayed his whereabouts. He
was an exceptionally good-natured man, fond of entertain-
ing his friends.
"At one time he had an Indian wife and two children, a
son and a daughter. After a time he left this family and
took another Indian wife; a widow with one daughter, the
latter's father being an Indian. Bailly had, by the second
wife, four daughters, besides the step-daughter. All of
these children he had had educated except the step-daugh-
ter. The daughter of the first wife, and two of those be-
longing to the second wife, attended the school which my
mother opened for the children of the fur-traders. Bailly's
son was sent to Montreal to school, and returned a few
years later a pompous man and a great dandy. He entered
the American Fur Company's employ as a clerk, and lived
at Prairie du Chien. He afterwards married a Miss Fari-
bault, of a prominent family in Minnesota. All the chil-
dren of the elder Bailly turned out well, and in the course
of time he was legally married to the second wife An In-
dian of unalloyed blood, who had been very little among
the white people, she was a good woman, and possessed the
gift so much prized among her people that of a good
story-teller. Her stories quite surpassed the "Arabian
Nights" in interest; one could have listened to her all day
I and never tired. They were told in the Ottawa language;
perhaps they might not have been so interesting in any
other.
"But it is of the step-daughter I have the most to tell.
She developed into a superior woman, and was pretty.
132 HISTORIC MACKINAC
She retained her mother's style of dress. The step-fa
was kind to her, yet it never seemed to occur to him to gi
her the education that was bestowed upon the others. S
was fair-complexioned for an Indian, although her e
were very black, and her hair equally so and of the thick
and longest. She was about seven years of age when
mother married Bailly, and when she began to know peo
other than her own, Madame Laframboise converted her
the Catholic faith. In the course of time there came to
Island of Mackinac, a young man from the East, who
of an old and honoured family of Philadelphia. He
a brother of Nicholas Diddle, president of the United Stat
Bank during the administration of Andrew Jackson, an
relative of Commodore Biddle.
"Edward Biddle became very much attached to this In-
dian girl. The attachment warmed into a sincere love on
both sides. He did not know her language, neither did she
understand his; but love needed no tongue. In 1819 they
were married at her step-father's home. The ceremony
was performed by the Notary Public, Samuel Abbott, who
for years, was the only functionary there invested with
necessary authority for that purpose.
"Would that my pen might do justice to this wedding!
It was the most picturesque, yet no one can fully understand
its attractiveness and novelty without some description of
the style of dress worn by the bride and others of the
women: a double skirt made of fine narrow broadcloth,
with but one pleat on each side; no fullness in front nor in
the back. The skirt reached about half way between the
ankle and the knee, and was elaborately embroidered with
ribbon and beads on both the lower and upper edges. On
the
EARLY DAYS ON MACKINAC ISLAND 133
the lower, the width of the trimming was six inches, and on
the upper, five inches. The same trimming extended up
the overlapping edge of the skirt. Above this horizontal
trimming were rows upon rows of ribbon, four or five
inches wide, placed so near together that only a narrow strip
of the cloth showed, like a narrow cord. Accompanying
this was worn a pair of leggins made of broadcloth.
When the skirt is black, the leggins are of scarlet broad-
cloth, the embroidery about three inches from the side edge.
Around the bottom the trimming is between four and five
inches in width. The moccasins, also, were embroidered
with ribbon and beads. Then we come to the blanket, as
it is called, which is of fine broadcloth, either black or red,
with most elaborate work of ribbon; no beads, however, are
used on it. This is worn somewhat as the Spanish women
wear their mantles. The waist, or sacque, is a sort of loose-
fitting garment made of silk for extra occasions, but usually
of calico. It is made plain, without either embroidery of
ribbon or beads. The sleeves snugly fit the arm and wrist,
and the neck has only a binding to finish it. Beads enough
are worn around the neck to fill in and come down in front.
Silver brooches are worn according to taste. The hair is
worn plain, parted in the middle, braided down the back
and tied up again, making a double queue. At this wed-
ding, four such dresses appeared those of the bride, her
mother, Madame Laframboise, and Madame Schindler.
"Bailly himself was more noisy than ever, over this
marriage. He was a vain man, and proud of his step-
daughter; such a marriage and connection was more than
he could bear quietly. Not long after he removed from
the Island, but made occasional visits there.
134
HISTORIC MACKINAC
"The newly married pair settled at Mackinac. They
occupied one house for a few months, then moved into that
which was their home for about fifty years, and where
they both died."
CHAPTER IV
SCHOOLCRAFTS VISIT TO THE ISLAND IN 1820
HENRY ROWE SCHOOLCRAFT, pioneer in the
study of the Indian tribes of the Old Northwest,
author of many treatises on the Indians of North
America, and for eight years a resident on Mackinac Is-
land, was in his day probably more widely known than any
other citizen of Michigan. 1 He was born in Albany, New
York, in 1793, and educated at Middlebury College, Ver-
mont. Later, he travelled in the West, and in 1820 was ap-
pointed geologist to accompany an expedition with Gov-
ernor Lewis Cass. In 1820 he was appointed Indian Agent
with headquarters at Sault Ste. Marie, and later on Mack-
inac Island. At the Sault, he married, in 1823, Miss Jane
Johnston, a grand-daughter of the Ojibway chief, Wabo-
jeeg. He was a charter member of the Michigan Histori-
cal Society, for the study of the manners, customs, habits
and language of the Algonquin Indians. From 1828 to
1832, he was a member of the Michigan territorial legisla-
ture. After 1832 he engaged in various exploring expedi-
tions and travels, including a trip to Europe. Beginning
with 1847, under authority of Congress, he entered upon a
labour for which he was so eminently prepared, the collec-
ing and editing of all the information obtainable about the
Indians of North America. Besides this monumental
work, he produced in all, some thirty important works on
1 The materials for this biographical sketch of Schoolcraft are taken
from Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography, D. D. Appleton & Co.,
N. Y., Vol. 5.
135
136
HISTORIC MACKINAC
his travels and Indian researches, some of which were writ-
ten by the aid of others after he had lost, by paralysis, the
use of his hands. Schoolcraft was married a second time,
to Mary Howard, a Southern woman, in 1847, five years
after the death of his first wife.
"Earnest, ready, diligent, sagacious, original, and mod-
est" in all his richly varied endeavours, he was in addition
a charming writer, as shown by the selections here given
from his Summary Narrative of an Expedition to the
Sources of the Mississippi River, in 1820. 2 This enter-
prise was under the auspices of the national government,
and was made in company with Governor Lewis Cass and
others. Schoolcraft was secretary of the expedition.
At the beginning of our narrative, their canoes, following
the Michigan shores of Lake Huron from Detroit had ar-
rived within a short distance of Mackinac Island :
"Another day along the Huron coast. It was now the 6th
of June. The voyageurs began now to manifest a great
anxiety to reach Michilimackinac, and had their canoes in
the water at a very early hour. We all participated in this
feeling, and saw with pleasure the long lines of sandy
shores, strewn with boulders and pebbles, that were swiftly
passed. We had traced about forty miles of the coast,
when we reached the foot of 'Bois Blanc Island, and pushed
over the intervening arm of the lake to get its south or lee
shore. This was a labor of hazard, as the wind was di-
rectly ahead, and drove the waves into the canoes. When
accomplished, we had the shelter of this island for twelve
miles, till reaching its southwest part. We then passed,
due north, between it and Isle Ronde, which brought the
wind again ahead. But the men had not kept this course
2 Edition, 1855, pp. 57 ff.
SCHOOLCRAFTS VISIT TO THE ISLAND 137
long, when Michilimackinac, with its picturesque and im-
posing features, burst upon our view. Nothing can present
a more refreshing and inspiring landscape. From that mo-
ment the voyageurs appeared to disregard the wind. Strik-
ing into the water with bolder paddles, and opening one of
their animating boat-songs, all thought of past toils was
forgotten, and, urged forward with a new impetus, we
entered the handsome little crescent-shaped harbor at four
o'clock. The expedition was received with a salute from
the fort, in command of Captain B. K. Pierce, U. S. A., in
compliment to the Governor of the Territory, and we landed
amid the congratulations of the citizens, who pressed for-
ward to welcome us. ...
"Nothing can exceed the beauty of this Island. It is a
mass of calcareous rock, rising from the bed of Lake Hu-
ron, and reaching an elevation of more than three hundred
feet above the water. The waters around are purity itself.
Some of its cliffs shoot up perpendicularly, and tower in
pinnacles like ruinous Gothic steeples. It is cavernous in
some places; and in these caverns, the ancient Indians, like
those of India, have placed their dead. Portions of the
beach are level, and adapted to landing from boats and
canoes. The harbor, at its south end, is a little gem. Ves-
sels anchor in it, and find good holding. The little old-
fashioned French town nestles around it in a very primi-
tive style. The Fort frowns above it, like another Alham-
bra, its white walls gleaming in the sun. The whole area
of the Island is one labyrinth of curious little glens and val-
leys. Old green fields appear, in some spots, which have
been formerly cultivated by the Indians. In some of these
there are circles of gathered-up stones, as if the Druids
138 HISTORIC MACKINAC
themselves had dwelt here. The soil, though rough, is
fertile, being the comminuted materials of broken-down
limestones. The Island was formerly covered with a dense
growth of rock-maples, oaks, ironwood, and other hard-
wood species, and there are still parts of this ancient forest
left, but all the southern limits of it exhibit a young growth.
There are walks and winding paths among its little hills,
and precipices of the most romantic character. And when-
ever the visitor gets on eminences overlooking the lake, he
is transported with sublime views of a most illimitable and
magnificent water prospect. If the poetic muses are ever
to have a new Parnassus in America, they should inevitably
fix on Michilimackinac. Hygeia, too, should place her
temple here, for it has one of the purest, driest, clearest,
and most healthful atmospheres.
"We remained encamped upon this lovely Island six
days, while awaiting the arrival of supplies and provisions
for the journey, or their being prepared for transportation
by hand over the northern portages. Meats, bread, Indian
corn, and flour, had to be put in kegs, or stout linen bags.
"The traders and old citizens said so much about the dif-
ficulties and toils of these northern portages that we die
not know but what we, ourselves, were to be put in bags;
but we escaped that process. This delay gave us the oppor-
tunity of more closely examining the Island. It is aboi
three and a half miles long, two in its greatest width, and
nine in circumference. The site of Fort Holmes, the apex,
is three hundred and twelve feet above the lake. The east-
ern margin consists of precipitous cliffs, which, in many
places, overhang the water, and furnish a picturesque,
rocky fringe, as it were, to the elevated plain. The whole
rock foundation is calcareous. It exhibits the effects of a
SCHOOLCRAFTS VISIT TO THE ISLAND 139
powerful diluvial action at early periods, as well as the
continued influence of elemental action, still at work.
Large portions of the cliffs have been precipitated upon the
beach, where the process of degradation has been carried
on by the waves. A most striking instance of such precipi-
tations is to be witnessed at the eastern cliff, called Rob-
inson's Folly, which fell, by its own gravitation, within the
period of tradition. The formation, at this point, formerly
overhung the beach, commanding a fine view of the lake
and islands in all directions, in consequence of which it was
occupied with a summer-house, by the officers of the British
garrison, after the abandonment of the old peninsular fort,
about 1780.
"The mineralogical features of the Island are not without
interest. I examined the large fragments of debris, which
are still prominent, and which exhibit comparatively fresh
fractures. The rock contains a portion of sparry matter,
which is arranged in reticulae, filled with white carbonate
of lime, in such a state of loose disintegration that the
weather soon converts it to the condition of agaric mineral.
These reticulae are commonly in the shape of calcspar,
crystallized in minute crystals. The stratum on which this
loose formation rests is compact and firm, and agrees in
structure with the encrinal limestone of Drummond Island
and the Manitoulin chain. But the vesicular stratum,
which may be one hundred and ten or twenty feet thick, has
been deposited in such a condition that it has not had, in
some localities, firmness enough permanently to sustain
itself. The consequence is, that the table-land has caved
in, and exhibits singular depressions, or grass-covered, cup-
shaped cavities, which have no visible outlet for the rain-
water that falls in them, unless it percolates through the
140 HISTORIC MACKINAC
shelly strata. Portions of it, subject to this structure, have
been pressed off, during changing seasons, by frosts, and
carried away by rains, creating that castellated appearance
of pinnacles, which gives so much peculiarity to the rocky
outlines of the Island.
"The Arched Rock is an isolated mass of self-sustaining
rock, on the eastern facade of cliffs; it offers one of those
coincidences of geological degradation in which the firmer
texture of the silicious and calcareous portions of it have,
thus far, resisted decomposition. Its explanation, is, how-
ever, simple: The apex of this geological monument is on a
level, or nearly so, with the Fort Holmes summit. While
the diluvial action, of which the whole Island gives striking
proofs, carried away the rest of the reticulated or magne-
sian limestone, this singular point, having a firmer texture,
resisted its power, and remains to tell the visitor who gazes
at it, that waters have once held dominion over the highest
part of the Island.
"Before dismissing the subject of the geological phenom-
ena of this Island, it may be observed that it is covered wit
the erratic block or drift stratum. Primitive, or crystallii
pebbles and boulders are found, but not plentifully, on the
surface. They are observed, however, on the highest sum-
mit, and upon the lower plain; one of the best localities of
these boulders, exists on the depressed ground, leading
north, in the approach to Dousman's Farm, where there is
a remarkable accumulation of blocks of granite and he
blende drift boulders. The principal drift of the Islar
consists of smooth, small, calcareous pebbles, and, at deeper
positions, angular fragments of limestone. Sandstone
boulders are not rare. Over the plain leading from the
fort north by way of the Skull Rock, are spread extensive
SCHOOLCRAFTS VISIT TO THE ISLAND 141
beds of finely comminuted calcareous gravel, the particles
of which often not exceeding the size of a buck-shot, which
makes one of the most solid and compact natural macadam-
ized roads of which it is possible to conceive. Carriage
wheels run upon it as smoothly, but far more solid, than
they could over a plank floor. This formation appears
to be the diluvial residuum or ultimate wash, which ar-
ranged itself agreeable to the laws of its own gravitation,
on the recession of the watery element, to which its com-
minution is clearly due. It would be worth transportation,
in boxes, for gravelling ornamental garden-walks. The
soil of the Island is highly charged with the calcareous
element, and, however barren in appearance, is favorable
to vegetation. Potatoes have been known to be raised in
pure beds of small limestone pebbles, where the seed pota-
toes have been merely covered in a slight way, to shield
them from the sun, until they had taken root. . . .
"The present town is pleasantly situated around a little
bay that affords good clay anchorage and a protection from
west and north winds. It has a very antique and foreign
look, and most of the inhabitants are, indeed, of the Cana-
dian type of the French. The French language is chiefly
spoken. It consists of about one hundred and fifty houses
and some four hundred and fifty permanent inhabitants.
"It is the seat of justice for the most northerly county of
Michigan. According to the observation of Lieut. Eve-
lith, the Island lies in north latitude 45 54', which is only
twenty-three minutes north of Montreal, as stated by Prof.
Silliman. It is in west longitude 7 10' from Washing-
ton. . . .
"Fort *Mackina* is eligibly situated on a cliff overlooking
142 HISTORIC MACKINAC
the town and harbor, and is garrisoned by a company of ar-
tillery. The ruin of Fort Holmes, formerly Fort George,
occupies the apex of the Island, and has been dismantled
since the British evacuated it in 1815 . . .
"To observe the structure and character of the Island of
Michilimackinac, I determined to walk entirely around it,
following the beach at the foot of the cliffs. This, al-
though a difficult task, from brush and debris, became a
practicable one, except on the north and northwest borders,
where there was, for limited spaces, no margin of debris,
at which points it became necessary to wade in the water
at the base of the low precipitous rocks. In addition to
the reticulated masses of limestone covered with calcspar
from the fallen cliffs, the search disclosed small tubular
pieces of minutely crystallized quartz and angular masses of
a kind of striped hornstone, gray and lead colored, which
had been liberated from similar positions on the cliffs.
On passing the west margin of the Island, I observed a bed
of a species of light-blue clay, which is stated to part with
its coloring matter in baking it, becoming white.
"While the British possessed the Island, they attempted
to procure water by digging two wells at the site of Fort
George (now Holmes), but were induced to relinquish the
work without success, at the depth of about one hundred
feet. Among the fragments of rock thrown out, are im-
pressions of bivalve and univalve shells, with an impression
resembling the head of a trilobite. These are generally
in the condition of chalcedony, covered with very minute
crystals of quartz. I also discovered a drift specimen of
brown oxide of iron, on the north quarter. This sketch em-
braces all that is important in its mineralogical character.
I
SCHOOLCRAFT'S VISIT TO THE ISLAND 143
"This Island appears to have been occupied by the In-
dians from an early period. Human bones have been dis-
covered at more than one point, in the cavernous structure
of the Island ; but no place has been so much celebrated for
disclosure of this kind, as the Skull Cave. This cave has
a prominent entrance, shaded by a few trees, and appears
to have been once devoted to the offices of a charnel-house
by the Indians. It is not mentioned at all, however, by
writers, until 1763, in the month of June, of which year the
Fort of Old Mackinaw on the peninsula, was treacherously
taken by the Sac and Chippewa Indians. . . .
"Society at Michilimackinac consists of so many diverse
elements, which impart their hue to it, that it is not easy
for a passing traveller to form any just estimate of it. The
Indian, with his plumes, and gay and easy costume, always
imparts an oriental air to it. To this, the Canadian, gay,
thoughtless, ever bent on the present, and caring nothing for
tomorrow, adds another phase. The trader, or interior
clerk, who takes his outfit of goods to the Indians, and
spends eleven months of the year in toil, and want, and
petty traffic, appears to dissipate his means with a sailor-
like improvidence in a few weeks, and then returns to his
forest wanderings; and boiled corn, pork, and wild rice
again supply his wants. There is in these periodical re-
sorts to the central quarters of the Fur Company, much to
remind one of the old feudal manners, in which there is
proud hospitality and a show of lordliness on the one side,
and gay obsequiousness and cringing dependence on the
other, at least till the annual bargains for the trade are
closed.
"We were informed that there is neither school, preach-
ing, a physician (other than at the garrison), nor an attor-
144 HISTORIC MACKINAC
ney, in the place. There are, however, courts of law, a
post-office, and a jail, and one or more justices of the peace.
"There is a fish market every morning, where may be had
the trout two species and the white fish, the former of
which are caught with hooks in deep water, and the latter
in gill nets. Occasionally other species appear, but the
trout and white fish, which are highly esteemed, are staples,
and may be relied on in the shore market daily; whole
canoe loads of them are brought in.
"The name of this Island is said to signify a great turtle,
to which it has a fancied resemblance, when viewed from
a distance. Mikenok, and not Mackenok, is, however, the
name for a tortoise. The term, as pronounced by the
Indians, is Michinemockinokong, signifying a place of the
Great Michinamockinocks, or rock-spirits. Of this word,
Mich is from Michau (adjective-animate), great. The
term mackinok, in the Algonquin mythology, denotes in
the singular, a species of spirits, called turtle spirits, or
large fairies, who are thought to frequent its mysterious
cliffs and glens. The plural of this word, which is an in-
animate plural, is ong, which is the ordinary form of all
nouns ending in the vowel o. When the French came to
write this, they cast away the Indian local in ong, changed
the sound of n to /, and gave the force mack and nack, to
mok and nok. The vowel e, after the first syllable, is
merely a connective in the Indian, and which is represented
in the French orthography in this word by i. The ordinary
interpretation of great turtle is, therefore, not widely amiss;
but in its true meaning, the term enters more deeply into
the Indian mythology than is conjectured. The Island was
deemed, in a peculiar sense, the residence of spirits during
all its earlier ages. Its cliffs, and dense and dark groves
SCHOOLCRAFTS VISIT TO THE ISLAND 145
of maples, beech, and iron-wood, cast fearful shadows; and
it was landed on by them in fearfulness, and regarded far
and near as the Sacred Island. Its apex is, indeed, the true
Indian Olympus of the tribes, whose superstitions and myth-
ology peopled it by gods, or monitos.
"Since our arrival here, there has been a great number
of Indians of the Chippewa and Ottawa tribes encamped
near the town. The beach of the lake has been constantly
lined with Indian wigwams and bark canoes. These tribes
are generally well dressed in their own costume, which is
light and artistic, and exhibit physiognomies with more
regularity of features and mildness of expression than it is
common to find among them. This is probably attrib-
utable to a greater intermixture of blood in this vicinity.
They resort to the Island, at this season, for the purpose of
exchanging their furs, maple-sugar, mats, and small manu-
factures. Among the latter are various articles of orna-
ment, made by the females, from the fine white deer skin,
or yellow birch bark, embroidered with colored porcupine
quills. The floor mats, made from rushes, are generally
more or less figured. Mockasins, miniature sugar-boxes,
called mo-cocks, shot-pouches, and a kind of pin and
needle-holders, or housewives, are elaborately beaded.
But nothing exceeds in value the largest mercantile mock-
ocks of sugar, which are brought in for sale. They receive
for this article six cents per pound, in merchandise, and the
amount made in a season, by a single family, is sometimes
fifteen hundred pounds. The Ottawas of L'Arbre Croche
are estimated at one thousand souls, which, divided by five,
would give two hundred families; and by admitting each
family to manufacture but two hundred pounds per annum,
would give a total of forty thousand pounds ; and there are
146 HISTORIC MACKINAC
probably as many Chippewas within the basins of Lakes
Huron and Michigan. This item alone shows the impor-
tance of the Indian trade, distinct from the question of furs.
"During the time we remained on this Island, the atmos-
phere denoted a mean temperature of 55 Fahrenheit.
The changes are often sudden and great. The Island is
subject to be enveloped in fogs, which frequently rise rap-
idly. These fogs are sometimes so dense, as to obscure
completely objects at but a short distance. I visited Round
Island one day with Lieut. Mackay, and we were both en-
gaged in taking views of the Fort and town of Michilimack-
inac when one of these dense fogs came on, and spread it-
self with such rapidity, that we were compelled to relin-
quish our designs unfinished, and it was not without diffi-
culty that we could make our way across the narrow chan-
nel, and return to the Island. This fact enabled me to
realize what the old travellers of the region have affirmed
on this topic.
"We were received during our visit there in the most
hospitable manner, as well as with official courtesy, by Capt.
B. K. Pierce, the commanding officer, Major Pothuff, the
Indian agent, and by the active and intelligent agents of
Mr. John Jacob Astor, the great fiscal head of the Fur trade
in this quarter."
CHAPTER V
McKENNEY'S SKETCHES OF A TOUR TO THE
LAKES, 1826
THOMAS L. McKENNEY, a native of Maryland,
and educated at Washington College, was a mer-
chant in Georgetown, D. C., when in 1816 he was ap-
pointed by President Madison to be Superintendent of
Indian affairs. His successful experience in this position
led to his appointment, in 1826, as joint Commissioner with
Governor Lewis Cass to negotiate a treaty with the Ojibways
at Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin, then in the Territory of Michi-
gan. On his way thither he stopped at Mackinac Island,
and in the following year published an interesting account
of his observations, in a volume with the above title. He is
also the author, in conjunction with James Hall, of the
well-known McKenney and Hall's History of the Indian
Tribes. It is said, "his personal appearance was so im-
posing that the famous artist, Charles Loring Elliott, re-
quested him to sit for his picture, when was produced one
of the most superb portraits ever painted in this country." *
The book here noticed is written in the form of letters to a
friend. At the point where we begin he has just left Sault
Ste. Marie, having spent some days with the Schoolcrafts.
He is describing the canoe that is bearing his party towards
Mackinac: 2
1 Lanman. Red Book of Michigan, p. 467.
1 P. 38S-397.
147
148 HISTORIC MACKINAC
"Around the sides, and upon a white ground, is a festoon
of green and red paint. The rim is alternate green, red,
and white. On each side of the bow, on a white ground, is
the bust of an Indian chief, smoking, even larger than life.
The awning is bordered with green, and red, and white ; in
the stern our flag flies, and in the bow is an enormous
wooden pipe. The canoe is thirty-six feet long, and five
wide, across the centre, and is paddled by ten men. This
is the canoe that was made at Fond du Lac; and on both
sides, and against the swell of the middle, is painted in
large letters, FOND DU LAC. That in which I voyaged
up and down the lake, I have parted from, and forever
by leaving it with its owner, Mr. Schoolcraft. In this, be-
sides our voyageurs, are the Governor, myself, and Mr.
Brush. The remainder of our company is in barges. Mr.
Holliday keeps company in his canoe, and has with him Mr.
Agnew, Mr. Porter, and Mr. Lewis and these, sitting face
to face, between the central bars of the canoe, look as close
packed as (Cowper once said his summer house would be
under certain circumstances) 'wax figures in an old fashion
picture frame.'
"At one o'clock we were off the mouth of the St. Mary's;
and at half past four, opposite Drummond's Island. En-
camped six miles beyond the Detour. Wind north-west,
and cold. We are now thirty-six miles from Michilimack-
inac.
"Sunday, Aug. 27th.
"Embarked at half past five, wind north, and blowing
fresh. At half past seven saw the Island of Michilimack-
inac, looking to be about four hundred yards in diameter.
Landed on an island to breakfast from thence made the
traverse to Goose Island, before a fresh breeze, and over a
McKENNEY'S SKETCHES 149
high and rugged swell. I saw the voyageurs were alarmed.
Ran around the southwest side of the island, and landed at
eleven o'clock. Found some Indians here, who told us it
was not safe to proceed. A cloud rose in the south, and
looked threatening. Some thunder. It passed over, and
there was an appearance of calmer weather; but the waves
were running high. One of the voyageurs refused to pro-
ceed, and said we knew nothing of the danger. In an hour
we all thought we might venture across distant to Michili-
mackinac, nine miles in a straight line. Put out. The
lake (Huron) boisterous beyond what we had expected.
Arrived at Michilimackinac, preceded by the barges, which,
having ventured well out in the lake, took the wind from
the cloud, and were fortunately blown in. Arrived at
Mackinac at half past two o'clock in a heavy shower of
rain, which levelled the waves of the lake, and made the
water comparatively smooth.
"We were met at the landing by several gentlemen, and
politely invited by Mr. R. Stuart, principal of the American
Fur Company, to take up our quarters with him, which
invitation was accepted.
"Dined, and visited, in company with Mr. Stuart, the
missionary establishment in charge of Mr. Ferry. Found
the whole family at supper; after which, we joined them in
their prayers, which are offered up after this meal, and be-
fore the children disperse. After an introduction to the
members, we returned and took tea with Mrs. Stuart, an
interesting lady, of accomplished manners and fine intelli-
gence, and who has additional interest in my eyes on ac-
count of her warm attachment to the missionary establish-
ment.
"Heard that the Ghent, in which we came to Drummond's
150 HISTORIC MACKINAC
Island, had returned to Detroit, was condemned, and sunk!
Her bottom was entirely decayed, so much so as to yield to
the slightest pressure! She went from the Detour, after
we parted from her, to Michilimackinac, took in part of a
cargo, returned to Detroit, and while in the act of receiving
her return cargo, sunk! Our escape was indeed narrow!
"Monday, Aug. 28th.
"Weather unpleasant, too wet to examine the Island.
Received a visit from the officers of the garrison. After
dinner returned the compliment, under a salute from the
Fort. There is only one company here, of forty-seven men,
including officers. The place is impregnable if well for-
tified.
"I inclose a sketch of the Island, reduced from a drawing
by Lieut. Eveleth, who was drowned some years ago in Lake
Michigan. The drawing represents the Island as it is ap-
proached from the south-east, and is an excellent repre-
sentation of it, judging from what I have seen. Interesting
historical events crowd in upon my mind in regard to this
Island; and old Mackinac (you see I write the name some-
times in extenso, and sometimes as now abbreviated) to
some of which I will refer in the course of my correspond-
ence from here; and as I intend travelling all over the Is-
land, I may have some descriptive notes to give. But these,
like the rest of my efforts to gratify you, will be sketches,
and rapid ones only.
"Island Michilimackinac, Aug. 29, 1826.
"Mv DEAR
"All the world knows that the name of this Island is In-
dian, and means Great Turtle. Some have thought it came
McKENNEY'S SKETCHES 151
from Imakinakos, from the belief that an Indian spirit once
inhabited the Island. The figure of the Island, its top
resembling the shell of a turtle, would confirm the suppo-
sition that its name is derived from its form.
"The morning was clear, and was ushered in by a salute
of thirteen guns from the Fort, and these were the tokens
of those mingled feelings of sorrow and joy which are going
the rounds of our country, for the loss of the two great men
whose spirits, on the fourth of July last, joined in their
ascent to their great reward, and to run together from the
same starting place, the rounds of the same eternity. The
tidings of their deaths have just been received here.
"At seven o'clock the sky was suddenly blackened over
with clouds from the north, and a heavy rain fell, accom-
panied with lightning and thunder. Minute guns were
fired, after the salute, through the day, and I could but re-
mark, that often their flash was followed by one more bril-
liant from the clouds; and their roar with a peal of thunder.
It seemed like reflection and echo. Minute guns, you
know, are fired every half hour; and I believe I counted
four distinct echoes of this sort, which followed imme-
diately, though with louder sounds, the discharges of the
artillery. The Revenue Cutter displayed her flag at half
mast, and thus the emblems of mourning have been exhib-
ited at this post, and fifty-six days after our venerable fa-
thers, to whose memories these honours have been awarded,
had fallen asleep. And further on yet are these honours
destined to be shewn. At the Sault, and up the Mississippi ;
nor will they cease until every spot, on which the power of
the country rests, or floats, shall have assisted in circulating
the funeral dirge, and proclaiming that two great men have
fallen in our Israel. We met the tidings, as I have already
152 HISTORIC MACKINAC
written you, at the Sault; and first witnessed these mournful
honours here. Col. Laurence was waiting for the arrival
of the official despatch. The newspapers had outrun it;
but on their annunciation he thought it best not to act. . . .
"Dr. S e politely offered to accompany me over the
Island, and to furnish me with a pony. After dinner we
set out. We commenced our ramble by riding round the
south-eastern shore of the Island, along by the ruins of
Robertson's Folly, and thence on to the celebrated Arch
Rock. After surveying this wonderful formation for some
time, we dismounted, tied our horses, and commenced a
steep ascent by a way which led through an immense arch,
just beyond which we took our stations to gaze on the arch
above us, about one-third of the way to which we had clam-
bered. I wish I had a drawing of this wonderful forma-
tion. I find some difficulty in describing it. You will,
however, imagine a shore of about fifty yards in width,
washed by the waters of an immense lake, covered with
huge fragments of rock, and grown up with cedars; and
then precipitous and irregular and broken elevations, which
look as if the elements from the north-east had been at
war upon them since the creation, and varying from one
hundred and fifty to two hundred feet high. From these, at
this place, a rocky projection stands out in a northerly di-
rection, in the side of which an arch-like opening has been
made, through which you ascend about fifty feet, when over
your head you behold the Giant's arch, with a perfect, but
rugged outline, one base resting on this rocky projection,
and the other on the hill. The span of the arch I estimate
at fifty feet, and its centre, from shore to shore, one hun-
dred and fifty feet. You would, on seeing the white clouds
McKENNEY'S SKETCHES 153
and the blue sky through this opening, be led to fancy it a
drawing against the heavens. But this arch is crumbling,
and a few years will deprive the Island of Michilimackinac
of a curiosity which it is worth visiting to see, even if this
were the only inducement. Where it rests on the rocky
projection, and the main land, the span is thicker and
firmer, but as it approaches the centre, it decreases in di-
mensions, and does not appear to be more than four feet
through, with a breadth across of not more than three feet.
A few shrubs grow out of the top. I was told by Dr. S
that not long ago a young gentleman had the temerity to
walk over this span from the main to the rocky projection!
"After gazing for some time at this immense and tower-
ing arch, and being deeply impressed with the rocky gran-
deur of the scene, we descended to the shore, mounted our
horses, and returned by the route we had come, and just
beyond Robertson's Folly, which is about a mile north-east
from the village, and ascended a precipitous and narrow
pathway to a summit of about thirty feet, and of most ir-
regular ascent. Here we dismounted, and taking our
bridle reins in our hands, the Doctor leading the way, we
clambered up another pathway, just wide enough, and
hardly so, for the horses feet, and fifty feet above our rest-
ing place, where we paused to rest, and to survey the gulfy
way by which we had reached our present elevation. I
never was so completely exhausted in my life. The horses
pressed on us, nor was it possible for them to stop with any
kind of safety whilst the narrowness of the way, and its
angles, across which the horses had sometimes to step, made
it necessary for us to ascend at such a pace as to insure to
these animals a freedom in placing their feet in such way
154 HISTORIC MACKINAC
as to secure them from a false step one of which, it ap-
peared to me, would have lost them their balance, and their
lives!
"Having rested ourselves, we mounted, and pursued our
way to the Giant's arch, to take a look at it from above.
The view is appalling from this giddy height, but sublime
from below. Thence we proceeded to the pyramid, or Sug-
ar-loaf rock. I should judge this rock to be about eighty
feet high; at the top, about ten feet through, and at its base,
thirty. It is irregular in its form, and broken in cracks, or
fissures, and out of these grow little cedars. It rises out of
nearly a level plain, and is north-easterly from Fort
Holmes, which is the apex of the Island, and which cannot
be much short, if any, of three hundred and fifty feet from
the water of the lake.
"From this we proceeded to Skull Rock. This rock is
due north from the fort, and about four hundred yards from
it. Its form is very irregular, and rises out of a level sur-
face, but by the abrasion of the rock, a mound is raised
round it of about ten feet, and which is level with the floor
of the opening which looks south; and which opening is
about four feet high, and ten wide, and shell-shaped. It
is irregular and broken about the mouth. This rock is
famed as having been the hiding-place selected by the In-
dian at the massacre of old Michilimackinac, in 1763, for
the preservation of Henry. I cannot describe my feelings
as I sat at the mouth of this rock, and looked in upon the
very ground on which this adventurous traveller had spent
hours of suspense, and amidst circumstances the most dis-
astrous and appalling.
"All this was in my recollection. I had read the account,
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McKENNEY'S SKETCHES 155
but had hardly ventured to anticipate that I should ever
see a place made thus famous. After surveying the open-
ing for some time, I entered it, and found it to be, in a gen-
eral way, just as Henry had described it. I sat down upon
the spot on which, doubtless, he had slept on the branches
of the trees, and saw around me pieces of the same bones
that he had seen, and perhaps handled. "The further aper-
ture' is to the left of the entrance, and is yet 'too small to be
explored.' I got into it to the distance of five feet, but no
further; and by the light that passed my body, saw its ter-
mination, which was not over ten feet further. With my
cane, I drew out several bones from its extreme end, and
shall take them home with me, as relics of a place so re-
markable and so interesting. The depth of the opening,
with its 'further end rounded like an oven,' is not more than
six or eight feet; and in circumference, I should judge,
about thirty feet.
"It appears, from Henry, that Wawatam had no knowl-
edge that bones were in this rock; and on returning, and
mentioning it to the rest of the Indians, they all flocked to
see the place, and were all ignorant, until now, of its char-
acter. . . .
"For myself, I have no opinion to give in regard to the
subject, but incline to Henry's. One thing is certain, and
that is, the time has gone by when anything certain can be
known in regard to the matter.
"From Skull Rock, we ascended the crown of the Island,
that highest part as seen in the drawing, which is just back,
and north of the rock, and on which are the remains of the
works thrown up by the British in the late war, and called
by them Fort George, but known now by the title of Fort
156 HISTORIC MACKINAC
Holmes, and so called in honour of the gallant officer who
fell in the late war in an unsuccessful attack upon the Island
by Colonel Croghan.
"It is not possible to give you, my dear , even the
slightest conception of the grandeur of the view from this
vast elevation! The lake, Huron, spreads out before you
in the east as far as the eye can see; its islands, green and
ornamental, varying and beautifying the scene Round
Island Bois Blanc, and others; and then the main to the
west and north-west the Rabbits' Back, and the opening
into Lake Michigan, with the scenery of Michilimackinac
itself, with its fort and beautifully varied surface, make al-
together the most commanding display which the lake
makes anywhere of its vastness and variety, and grandeur.
I wish you could see it all.
"Fort Holmes is nearly a parallelogram, and though now
in ruins, except some of its nearly horizonal pickets, which
incline out over the trenches, and the breastwork out of
which they rise, and the interior of a store room, enough
remains to demonstrate the strength of the design, and its
superiority over the old Fort, which this completely com-
mands. For offensive operations, however, against an
attack by water, its position would be of little avail, as
ships may lie under the bluffs and out of range of the shot.
Under such circumstances a garrison could be starved into
a surrender. There is one way to it also, that from the
north-west, by which a siege, regularly carried on, might
succeed ; but not without a great expense both of blood and
treasure.
"From Fort Holmes we visited Croghan's battle-ground,
and the place of his landing, which is on the north-western
side of the Island, in nearly a direct line from the Fort, as
McKENNEY'S SKETCHES 157
seen in the drawing, and about three miles from it. The
Island is about nine miles in circumference. We had the
place pointed out to us where it is said Holmes fell. It is a
double rocky mound, just back of Dousman's stables. Col.
Croghan, I understand, says he fell on the field half a mile
west of this spot.
"It is never an ungrateful task to speak of the attachment
and fidelity of even a slave. It was to the faithfulness of
one of this class of people, that the feelings of Croghan's
army were spared the pain of believing that Holmes, like
many other gallant fellows, had been the subject of savage
ferocity. When he fell, pierced as he was by two balls,
this domestic, a black man, took him in his arms and hur-
ried the body away into the woods bordering the battle
ground, and there covered it carefully with brush and
leaves, and then hastening to the landing, conveyed to the
commanding officer the gratifying information that the body
was safe. A flag of truce was sent, which was accompanied
by this faithful domestic, who piloted the officer to the spot
where the body was found just as the faithful negro had
left it. It now lies at Fort Gratiot, in the rest and retire-
ment of a warrior's grave, instead of having been stripped,
and scalped, and mangled by the savage allies of the enemy,
and his bones left to bleach on the battle-field where he fell.
"From this landing we rode around the western and
southern shores of the Island, and saw the chimney rock,
which is pretty much like the one at Harper's Ferry of the
same name, and stands like that on the side of a hill. It
is like that also, a body of stones, which happened to have
been supported by resting one on another in the hill, which
once embosomed them, but the earth and looser particles
having been washed away, these now stand out exposed to
158 HISTORIC MACKINAC
the view. I suppose this chimney rock to be about fifty
feet high. Further on we came to a huge rock fronting the
south-west, which projects out of the hill, and is in height
about seventy feet, in which is a cavern, into which we rode
our ponies. This we called the Manitoulin rock. It is
full of openings for twenty feet above our heads, and is, no
doubt, a place at which the Indians have often listened in
dismay to the echoes of the surge on the lake shore, not
knowing whence they came, and attributing them to the
voice of a manito!
"Still keeping the shore of the lake, as indeed we were
obliged to do, from the rocky and towering elevations which
bind it we arrived opposite an Indian burying-ground,
near which, and along the beach, were several lodges; and
Indian women engaged in weaving mats; and, as usual, any
quantity of their half -wild dogs, with their pointed noses
and fox ears. About half a mile further on, is the village
cif Mackinac.
"I will not venture upon the history of those regions, the
most famous periods of which are those of Pontiac's war,
and of our late contest with England. For the incidents
connected with the former, I refer you to Henry; those
which relate to the latter need not be repeated here.
"This Island is bold and rugged, as seen in the approach
to it, and on all sides, except the north-west, there the hills
incline gradually down to the shore. There are the most
decided marks of the action of water for two hundred feet
above the level of the lake, indeed up to Fort Holmes.
This forms the first mound; the next is that on which the
fortress is built, which is just on the edge of an almost per-
pendicular descent of an hundred and fifty feet; against a
large portion of this hill a stone wall has been built, by the
McKENNEY'S SKETCHES 159
side of which the way leads, by means of steps, into the
gateway of the Fort. Below this is another terrace, of
about four hundred yards deep, of nearly level ground,
and just under the hill on which the Fort stands. On this
the town is built, and the gardens are cultivated, in which
are about fifty trees. This terrace stretches, varying in
width, from the southern point of the Island to the mission-
ary buildings, which are near its north-eastern extremity.
The village occupies a place which is about fifteen feet
above the water of the lake from it to the water is another
gradual descent. All these appear to me to mark a period-
ical recession of the waters. Indeed, I was shewn the
stump of a cedar tree, which is near the gateway of the Fort,
and to the right of the steps, as you ascend them, and which
is not much short of eighty feet above the level of the lake,
to which an Indian, who was known by persons now living
on the Island, has been often heard to say his father, in his
time, used to fasten his canoe.
"The houses are, with the exception of those owned by
the American Fur Company, all of logs, and small; most
of them are covered with bark, and nearly all are going to
decay. The Fur Company's buildings are extremely val-
uable, and well adapted to the purposes for which they were
built.
"Mackinac is really worth seeing. I think it by no
means improbable, especially should the steamboats extend
their route to it, that it will become a place of fashionable
resort for the summer. There is no finer summer climate
in the world. The purest, sweetest air lake scenery in all
its aged and grand magnificence, and the purest water;
white fish in perfection, the very best fish, I believe, in the
world, and trout, weighing from five to fifty pounds. No
160
HISTORIC MACKINAC
flies and no mosquitoes, nothing to annoy, but every va-
riety for the eye, the taste, and the imagination, with all that
earth, and water, and sky can furnish, (except good fresh
meat, and where such fish are plenty, this can be dispensed
with) to make it agreeable and delightful. There are no
bilious fevers here; and temperate people may, with some-
thing like certainty, if not organically diseased, spin out
life's thread to its utmost tenuity. But in winter I would
prefer not to be here; and that would form an exception, as
to temperature, of at least seven months out of the twelve.
"We shall leave Michilimackinac in the morning.
"Ever yours."
CHAPTER VI
MRS. KINZIE VISITS MACKINAC, 1830
ONE of the best known writers associated with early
Mackinac is Mrs. Juliette A. Kinzie, whose husband,
John Harris Kinzie, was a clerk for Robert Stuart,
in the Mackinac fur trade, and one of the sons of the re-
puted "Father of Chicago." l In 1856, Mrs. Kinzie pub-
lished Wau-Bun, the "Early Day" in the Northwest, which
includes a charming impression of Mackinac Island as it
was in 1830. In September of that year she set out with
a party from Detroit, on board the steamer Henry Clay,
and after some exciting experiences in a storm off Thunder
Bay, arrived safe at Mackinac, where she was received
affectionately by her friends, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Stuart.
Following are her impressions of the Fairy Isle: 2
"MICHILIMACKINAC! that gem of the Lakes! How
bright and beautiful it looked as we walked abroad on the
following morning. The rain had passed away, but had
left all things glittering in the light of the sun as it rose up
over the waters of Lake Huron, far away to the East. Be-
fore us was the lovely bay, scarcely yet tranquil after the
storm, but dotted with canoes and the boats of the fishermen
already getting out their nets for the trout and whitefish,
those treasures of the deep. Along the beach were scat-
tered the wigwams or lodges of the Ottawas who had come
Wis. Hist. Colls.. XX. 315, note.
2 Vau-Bun, pp. 18-26.
161
162 HISTORIC MACKINAC
to the Island to trade. The inmates came forth to gaze
upon us. A shout of welcome was sent forth, as they rec-
ognized Shaw-nee-aw-kee, who from a seven years' resi-
dence among them, was well-known to each individual.
"A shake of the hand, and an emphatic 'Bon-jour bon-
jour,' is the customary salutation between the Indian and
the white man.
" 'Do the Indians speak French?' I inquired of my hus-
band. 'No; this is a fashion they have learned of the
French traders during many years of intercourse.'
"Not less hearty was the greeting of each Canadian
engage, as he trotted forward to pay his respects to 'Mon-
sieur John,' and to utter a long string of felicitations, in a
most incomprehensible patois. I wac> forced to take for
granted all the good wishes showered upon 'Madame John,'
of which I could comprehend nothing but the hope that I
should be happy and contented in my 'vie sauvage.'
"The object of our early walk was to visit the Mission-
house and school which had been some few years previous
established at this place, by the Presbyterian Board of
Missions. It was an object of especial interest to Mr. and
Mrs. Stuart, and its flourishing condition at this period,
and the prospects of extensive future usefulness it held
out, might well gladden their philanthropic hearts. They
had lived many years on the Island, and had witnessed its
transformation, through God's blessing on Christian efforts,
from a worldly community to one of which it might almost
be said, 'Religion was every man's business.' This mis-
sion establishment was the beloved child and the common
centre of interest of the few Protestant families clustered
around it. Through the zeal and good management of
Mr. and Mrs. Ferry, and the fostering encouragement of
MRS. KINZIE VISITS MACKINAC, 1830 163
the congregation, the school was in great repute, and it
was pleasant to observe the effect of mental and religious
culture in subduing the mischievous, tricky propensities of
the half-breed, and rousing the stolid apathy of the genu-
ine Indian.
"These were the palmy days of M ackinac. As the head-
quarters of the American Fur Company, and the entrepot
of the whole Northwest, all the trade in supplies and
goods on the one hand, and in furs and products of the
Indian country on the other, was in the hands of the parent
establishment or its numerous outposts scattered along
Lakes Superior and Michigan, the Mississippi, or through
still more distant regions.
"Probably few are ignorant of the fact, that all the
Indian tribes, with the exception of the Miamis and the
Wyandots, had, since the transfer of the old French posses-
sions to the British Crown, maintained a firm alliance with
the latter. The independence achieved by the United
States did not alter the policy of the natives, nor did our
government succeed in winning or purchasing their friend-
ship. Great Britain, it is true, bid high to retain them.
Every year, the leading men of the Chippewas, Ottawas,
Pottowattamies, Menomonees, Winnebagoes, Sauks and
Foxes, and even the still more remote tribes, journeyed
from their distant homes to Fort Maiden in Upper Canada,
to receive their annual amount of presents from their
Great Father across the water. It was a master-policy
thus to keep them in pay, and had enabled those who prac-
tised it to do fearful execution through the aid of such
allies in the last war between the two countries.
"The presents they thus received were of considerable
value, consisting of blankets, broadcloths or strouding,
164 HISTORIC MACKINAC
calicoes, guns, kettles, traps, silver-works (comprising arm-
bands, bracelets, brooches, and ear-bobs), looking-glasses,
combs, and various other trinkets distributed with no nig-
gardly hand.
"The magazines and store-houses of the Fur Company
were the resort of all the upper tribes for the sale of their
commodities, and the purchase of all such articles as they
had need of, including those above enumerated, and also
ammunition, which, as well as money and liquor, their
British friends very commendably omitted to furnish them.
"Besides their furs, various in kind and often of great
value beaver, otter, marten, mink, silver-gray and red
fox, wolf, bear, and wild cat, musk-rat, and smoked deer-
skins the Indians brought for trade maple-sugar in
abundance, considerable quantities of both Indian corn and
petit-ble, 3 beans and the folles avoines* or wild rice, while
the squaws added to their quota of merchandise a contri-
bution in the form of moccasins, hunting-pouches, mococks,
or little boxes of birch-bark embroidered with porcupine
quills and filled with maple-sugar, mats of a neat and
durable fabric, and toy-models of Indian cradles, snow
shoes, canoes, &c., &c.
"It was no unusual thing, at this period, to see a hundred
or more canoes of Indians at once approaching the Island,
laden with their articles of traffic; and if to these we add
the squadrons of large Mackinaw boats constantly arriving
from the outposts, with the furs, peltries, and buffalo-robes
collected by the distant traders, some idea may be formed
of the extensive operations and important position of the
The following notes are Mrs. Kinzie's.
3 Corn which has been parboiled, shelled from the cob, and dried in
the sun.
4 Literally, crazy oats. It is the French name for the Menomoneea.
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MRS. KINZIE VISITS MACKINAC, 1830 165
American Fur Company, as well as of the vast circle of
human beings either immediately or remotely connected
with it.
"It is no wonder that the philanthropic mind, surveying
these races of uncultivated heathen, should stretch forward
to the time when, by an unwearied devotion to the white
man's energies, and an untiring sacrifice of self and for-
tune, his red brethren might rise in the scale of social
civilization when Education and Christianity should go
hand in hand to make *the wilderness blossom as the rose.'
"Little did the noble souls at this day rejoicing in the
success of their labors at Mackinac, anticipate that in less
than a quarter of a century there would remain of all these
numerous tribes but a few scattered bands, squalid, de-
graded, with scarce a vestige remaining of their former
lofty character their lands cajoled or wrested from them
the graves of their fathers turned up by the ploughshare
themselves chased farther and farther towards the set-
ting sun, until they were literally grudged a resting place
on the face of the earth!
"Our visit to the Mission school was of short duration,
for the Henry Clay was to leave at two o'clock, and in the
meantime we were to see what we could of the village and
its environs, and after that, dine with Mr. Mitchell, an old
friend of my husband. As we walked leisurely along
over the white gravelly road, many of the residences of
the old inhabitants were pointed out to me. There was
the dwelling of Madame Laframboise, an Ottawa woman,
whose husband had taught her to read and write, and who
had ever after continued to use the knowledge she had
acquired for the instruction and improvement of the youth
among her own people. It was her custom to receive a
166 HISTORIC MACKINAC
class of young pupils daily at her house, that she might
give them lessons in the branches mentioned, and also in
the principles of the Roman Catholic religion, to which she
was deeply devoted. She was a woman of a vast deal of
energy and enterprise of a tall and commanding figure,
and most dignified deportment. After the death of her
husband, who was killed while away at his trading-post
by a Winnebago named White Ox, she was accustomed
to visit herself the trading-posts, superintend the clerks and
engages, and satisfy herself that the business was carried on
in a regular and profitable manner.
"The Agency-house, with its usual luxuries of piazza and
gardens, was situated at the foot of the hill on which the
Fort was built. It was a lovely spot, notwithstanding the
stunted and dwarfish appearance of all cultivated vegeta-
tion in this cold northern latitude.
"The collection of rickety, primitive-looking buildings,
occupied by the officials of the Fur Company, reflected no
great credit on the architectural skill of my husband, who
had superintended their construction, he told me, when
little more than a boy.
"There were, besides these, the residences of the Dous-
mans, the Abbotts, the Biddies, the Drews, and the Lashleys,
stretching away along the base of the beautiful hill,
crowned with the white walls and buildings of the Fort,
the ascent to which was so steep, that on the precipitous
face nearest the beach staircases were built by which to
mount from below.
"My head ached intensely, the effect of the motion of
the boat on the previous day, but I did not like to give up
to it; so after I had been shown all that could be seen
MRS. KINZIE VISITS MACKINAC, 1830 167
of the little settlement in the short time allowed us, we
repaired to Mr. Mitchell's.
"We were received by Mrs. M., an extremely pretty,
delicate woman, part French and part Sioux, whose early
life had been passed at Prairie du Chien, on the Mississippi.
She had been a great belle among the young officers at Fort
Crawford; so much so, indeed, that the suicide of the post-
surgeon was attributed to an unsuccessful attachment he
had conceived for her. I was greatly struck with her
soft and gentle manners, and the musical intonation of
her voice, which I soon learned was a distinguishing pecul-
iarity of those women in whom are united the French and
native blood.
"A lady, then upon a visit to the Mission, was of the
company. She insisted on my lying down upon the sofa,
and ministered most kindly to my suffering head. As she
sat by my side, and expatiated upon the new sphere open-
ing before me, she inquired :
4 'Do you not realize very strongly the entire depriva-
tion of religious privileges you will be obliged to suffer
in your distant home?'
"The deprivation,' said I, "will doubtless be great, but
not entire; for I shall have my Prayer-Book, and though
destitute of a church, we need not be without a mode of
worship.'
"How often afterwards, when cheered by the consolations
of this precious book in the midst of the lonely wilder-
ness, did I remember this conversation, and bless God
that I could never, while retaining it, be without 'religious
privileges.'
"We had not yet left the dinner-table, when the bell of
168
HISTORIC MACKINAC
the little steamer sounded to summon us on board, and we
bade a hurried farewell to all our kind friends, bearing
with us their hearty wishes for a safe and prosperous
voyage.
"A finer sight can scarcely be imagined than Mackinac,
from the water. As we steamed away from the shore, the
view came full upon us the sloping beach with the scat-
tered wigwams, and canoes drawn up here and there the
irregular, quaint-looking houses the white walls of the
Fort, and beyond one eminence still more lofty, crowned
with the remains of old Fort Holmes. The whole picture
completed, showed the perfect outline that had given the
Island its original Indian name, Mich-i-li-mack-i-nock, the
Big Turtle.
"Then those pure, living waters, in whose depths the fish
might be seen gliding and darting to and fro, whose clear-
ness is such that an object dropped to the bottom may be
discerned at the depth of fifty or sixty feet, a dollar lying
far down on its green bed, looking no larger than a half
dime. I could hardly wonder at the enthusiastic lady who
exclaimed: 'Oh! I could wish to be drowned in these
pure, beautiful waters!' '
CHAPTER VII
MACKINAC IN WINTER 1834
SINCE Schoolcraft's visit to Mackinac in 1820 he had
been appointed an agent of Indian affairs for the
United States at Sault Ste. Marie. This was in 1822.
In 1823 he married Miss Jane Johnston, a young woman
of education and culture, a grand-daughter of the jib way
chief Wabo-jeeg. Her father was Mr. John Johnston, an
Irish fur-trader of wealth and social distinction. Jane had
been sent in early life to Europe for her education, in
care of Mr. Johnston's relatives. Schoolcraft's marriage
to a woman equally well versed in English and Algonquin
was a great aid to his researches, which he carried on with
her intelligent assistance at the Sault and at Mackinac.
She accompanied him to his new scene of labour at Mack-
inac in 1833.
It may be of interest to give Schoolcraft's own words on
the occasion of his transfer to the Island, which reveal
something of the man and his family as well as of the busy
life of the Island at that time. 1
"I had been," he says, "a member of the first exploring
expedition which the U. S. Government sent into that
region in 1820. Troops landed here to occupy it in 1822,
on which occasion I was entrusted by the President, with
the management of Indian affairs. I had now lived almost
eleven years at this ancient and remote point of settlement,
1 Personal Memoirs, pp. 441-442.
169
170 HISTORIC MACKINAC
which is at the foot of the geological basin of Lake Supe-
rior a period which, aside from official duties, was, in
truth, devoted to the study of the history, customs, and
languages of the Indians. These years are consecrated in
my memory as a period of intellectual enjoyment, and
of profound and pleasing seclusion from the world. It
was not without deep regret that I quitted long cherished
scenes, abounding in the wild magnificence of nature, and
went back one step into the area of the noisy world, for
it was impressed on my mind, that I should never find a
theatre of equal repose, and one so well adapted to my
simple and domestic taste and habits. For I left here
in the precincts of Elmwood, a beautiful seat, which I
had adorned with trees of my own planting, which abounded
in every convenience and comfort, and commanded one of
the most magnificent prospects in the world.
"The change seemed, however, to flow naturally from
the development of events. The decision once made, I
only waited the entrance into the straits of a first class
schooner, which could be chartered to take my collections
in natural history, books, and furniture all which were
embarked, with my family, on board the schooner Mariner
the last week in May. Captain Fowle (who met a melan-
choly fate many years afterwards, while a Lieutenant-Col-
onel on board the steamer Moselle on the Ohio) had been
relieved, as commanding officer of the post, at the same
time, and embarked on board the same vessel with his
family. We had a pleasant voyage out of the river and
up the lake, until reaching the harbor of Mackinac, which
we entered early on the morning of the 27th of May.
Coming in with an easterly wind, which blows directly
into it, the vessel pitched badly at anchor, causing sea-
MACKINAC IN WINTER 1834 171
sickness, and the rain falling at the same time. As soon
as it could be done, I took Mrs. S. and the children and
servants in the ship's yawl, and we stood on terra-firma,
and found ourselves at ease in the rural and picturesque
grounds and domicile of the U. S. Agency, overhung, as it
is, by impending cliffs, and commanding one of the most
pleasing and captivating views of lake scenery. Here the
great whirl of lake commerce, from Buffalo to Chicago,
continually passed. The picturesque canoe of the Indian
was constantly gliding, and the footsteps of visitors were
frequently seen to tread in haste the 'Sacred Island,' render-
ing it a point of continual contact with the busy world.
Emigrants of every class, agog for new El Dorados in
the West, eager merchants prudently looking to their in-
terests in the great area of migration, domestic and foreign
visitors, with note-book in hand, and some valetudinarians,
hoping in the benefits of a pure air and 'white-fish' these
continually filled the harbor, and constituted the ever-
moving panorama of our enlarged landscape."
It was a habit of Schoolcraft's, in common with many
men of that leisurely day, to keep a journal of events. In
1851, Schoolcraft published his journal under the title,
Personal Memoirs of a Residence of Thirty Years with
the Indian Tribes on the American Frontiers: with Brief
Notices of Passing Events, Facts, and Opinions, A. D. 1812
to A. D. 1842. During his first visit at Mackinac he kept a
very complete diary, 2 the reason for which he explains
in his entry for New Year's Day:
"1834, Jan. 1st. My journal for this winter will be
almost purely domestic. It is intended to exhibit a picture
2 Ibid., pp. 458^184.
172 HISTORIC MACKINAC
of men and things, immediately surrounding a person iso-
lated from the world, on an island in the wide area of Lake
Huron, at the point where the current, driven by the winds,
rushes furiously through the straits connected with Lake
Michigan. Where the ice in the winter freezes and breaks
up continually, where the temperature fluctuates greatly
with every wind, and where the tempests of snow, rain
and hail create a perpetual scene of changing phenomena.
"Society here is scarcely less a subject of remark. It is
based on the old French element of the fur trade that is,
a commonalty who are the descendants of French or Cana-
dian boatmen, and clerks and interpreters who have in-
variably married Indian women. The English, who suc-
ceeded to power after the fall of Quebec, chiefly withdrew,
but have also left another element in the mixture of Anglo-
Saxons, Irishmen or Celts, and Gauls, founded also upon
intermarriages with the natives. Under the American rule,
the society received an accession of a few females of vari-
ous European or American lineage, from educated and
refined circles. In the modern accession, since about
1800, are included the chief factors of the fur trade, and
the persons charged by benevolent societies with the duties
of education and of missionaries; and, more than all, with
the families of the officers of the military and civil service
of the government.
"In such a mass of diverse elements the French lan-
guage, the Algonquin, in several dialects, and the English,
are employed. And among the uneducated, no small mix-
ture of all are brought into vogue in the existing vocabu-
lary. To fouchet, and to chejnai, were here quite com-
mon expressions. . . .
"[3rd]. The atmosphere has been severely cold. A
MACKINAC IN WINTER 1834 173
hard frost last night. I killed an ox for winter beef, and
packed it, when cut into pieces, in snow. There has been
floating ice, for the first time, in the harbor. The severe
weather prevented the St. Ignace Indians from returning.
"One of the St. Ignace Indians, referring to the meteoric
phenomenon of the morning of the 13th of November, said
that the stars shot over in the form of a bow, and seemed
to drop into the lake. Such a display, he added, was
never before seen. He says that the Chippewa Indians
called the Wolverine 'Gween-guh-auga,' which means under-
ground drummer. This animal is a great digger or bur-
rower. . . .
"9th. Maternal Association meets at my house, which,
Mrs. S. reports, is well attended. In the evening, Mr. H.,
Mr. J., Miss McF., and Miss S. . . .
"13th. Deep snow drifts, stormy cold. Very diffi-
cult, in consequence of the drifts, to reach the teacher's
concert, in the evening, which met at the Court House.
Meeting between Mr. D. and Mr. Ferry at my house, to
try the effects of conciliation. . . .
" [ 14f h~\ . Mrs. Kingsbury passed the day with us. The
church session on examination accepts her, and Mr. D.
Stuart, the gentleman named in Irving's Astoria. . . .
"16th. Took Mr. D. in my cariole to Mr. Ferry's, to
further the object of a reconciliation of the matters in
difference between them. It commenced raining, soon
after we got there, and continued steadily all evening.
Got a complete wetting in coming home, and in driving
to the fort Mrs. Kingsbury, whom I found there. . . .
"25th. A strong easterly wind broke up the ice, which
was solid, as far as the Light-House, about ten miles, and
again exposed the limpid bosom of the lake in that direc-
174 HISTORIC MACKINAC
tion; but it did not disturb the straits west My son John
began, this day, to pronounce words having the sound of r,
for which, agreeably to a natural organic law recognized
by philologists, he has heretofore substituted the sound
of/.
"26th. S. A sermon on the efficacy of the prayer of
faith without submission to God's better wisdom. I was
this day set apart as an elder. . . .
"29th. The temperature still rises, and is mild for the
season. Gave each of my children a new copy of the Scrip-
tures. If these truths are important, as is acknowledged,
they cannot too early know them. I visited Mr. Mitch-
ell. ...
"[31s*]. This being Mrs. Schoolcraft's birth-day, I
presented her a Bible.
"[Feb.] 3rd. Devoted to newspaper reading. In the
evening attended the monthly concert.
"4^. A small party at dinner, namely, Major Whistler,
Lieut. Kingsbury, Mr. Agnew, Mr. Stuart the elder, Mr.
Abbott, Mr. Dousman, and Mr. Johnston. The weather
continues mild, clear, and calm. In the evening I prepared
my mail matter for the Sault, intending to dispatch it by
a private express tomorrow. . . .
"24>th. The third express from Detroit came in at an
early hour, and my letters and papers were brought in be-
fore breakfast. During breakfast I opened a letter, an-
nouncing the death of my sister Catherine, on the 9th of
January, at Vernon, N. Y. . . .
"[March] 5th. Snow has melted so much, in conse-
quence of the change of temperature, that I am compelled
to stop my team from drawing wood. The ice is so bad
that it is dangerous to cross. The lake has been open
MACKINAC IN WINTER 1834 175
from the point of the village to the light-house, since the
tempest of the 26th ultimo. The broad lake below the
latter point has been open all winter. The lake west has
been, in fact, fast and solidly frozen, so as to be crossed
with trains, but twelve days! . . .
"6th. The evidences of the approach of spring con-
tinue. The sun shines with a clear power, unobstructed
by clouds. Snow and ice melt rapidly. Visited the Mis-
sion's house in the evening. . . .
"8th. The wind drives away the broken and floating ice
from the harbor, and leaves all clear between it and Round
Island. It became cold and freezing in the afternoon.
Conference and prayer meetings at my house. . . .
"I4fth. About eight o'clock this morning, a vessel from
Detroit dropped anchor in the harbor, causing all hearts to
be gay at the termination of our wintry exclusion from the
world. It proved to be the Commodore Lawrence, of
Huron, Ohio, on a trip to Green Bay. Our last vessel
left the harbor on the 18th of December, making the period
of our incarceration just eighty-five days, or but two and a
half months. Visited by Lieut, and Mrs. Lavenworth. . . .
"17th. Very mild and pleasant day. The snow is rap-
idly disappearing under the influence of the sun. Mack-
inac stands on a horse-shoe bay, on a narrow southern
slope of land, having cliff's and high lands immediately
back of it, some three hundred feet maximum height. It
is, therefore, exposed to the earliest influences of spring,
and they develop themselves rapidly. Mr. Hulbert arrived
from the Sault in the morning, bringing letters from Rev.
Mr. Clark, Mr. Audrain, my sub-agent at that point,
&c. . . .
"19th. The weather is quite spring-like. Prune cherry
176
HISTORIC MACKINAC
trees and currant bushes. Transplant plum tree sprouts.
Messrs. Biddle and Drew finish preparing their vessel, and
anchor her out. . . .
"21 st. The snow, which has continued falling all night,
is twelve to fourteen inches deep in the morning; being the
heaviest fall of snow, at one time, all winter. Some ice
is formed. . . .
"28th. Weather mild; snow melts; wind S. W.; some
rain.
"With this evening's setting sun,
Years I number forty-one.
"Visited the officers in the Fort. Rode out in my carriage
in the evening, with Mrs. Schoolcraft, to see Mr. and Mrs.
Mitchell, and Mr. and Mrs. Ferry.
"29th. Moderate temperature continues.
"[April] 1st. Satisfied of the excellency of the mis-
sion school, I sent my children to it this morning. The
Rev. Mr. Ferry, Rev. Mr. Barber, Mr. Mitchell, Mr. D.
Stuart, and Mr. Chapman dine with me. In the evening,
Capt. and Mrs. Barnum, and Lieut. Kingsbury make a
visit. . . .
"4>th. The season is visibly advancing in its warmth am
mildness. Began to prepare hot-beds. Set boxes for flow-
ers and tubs for roots.
"5th. The mission schooner Supply leaves the harbor
on her first trip to Detroit, with a fine west wind, carrying
our recent guests from St. Mary's. Transplant flowering
shrubs. Miss McFarland passes the day with Mrs. School-
craft at the Agency. . . .
"8th. Superintending the construction of a small orna-
mental mound and side wall to the piazza, for shrubbei
and flowers. Books are now thrown by for the excitem(
MACKINAC IN WINTER 1834 177
of horticulture. Some Indians visit the office. It is re-
markable what straits and sufferings these people undergo
every winter for a bare existence. They struggle against
cold and hunger, and are very grateful for the least relief.
Kitte-mau-giz-ze Sho-wain-e-min, is their common expres-
sion to an agent I am poor, show me pity, (or rather)
charity me; for they use their substantives for verbs.
"9th. The schooner White Pigeon, (the name of an In-
dian chief), enters the harbor, with a mail from Detroit.
*A mail! a mail!' is the cry. Old Saganosh and five Indian
families come in. The Indians start up from their winter-
ing places, as if from a cemetery. They seem almost as
lean and hungry as their dogs for an Indian always has
dogs and, if they fare poor, the dogs fare poorer.
"Resumed my preparations at the garden hot-beds.
"The mail brought me letters from Washington, speaking
of political excitements. The project for an Indian acad-
emy is bluffed off, by saying it should come through the
Delegate. Major Whiting writes that he is authorized
to have a road surveyed from Saginaw to Mackinac.
"10th. Engaged at my horticultural mound. The
weather continues mild.
"11 th. Transplanting cherry trees.
"12th. Complete hot-bed, and sow it in part.
"14th. The calmness and mildness of the last few days
are continued. Spring advances rapidly.
"15th. Mild, strong wind from the West, but falls at
evening. Write to Washington respecting an Indian acad-
emy.
"Walking with the Rev. Wm. M. Ferry through the
second street of the village (M.), leading south, as we came
near the corner, turning to Ottawa Point, he pointed out to
178 HISTORIC MACKINAC
me, on the right hand, half of a large door, painted red,
arched and filled with nails, which tradition asserts was
the half of the door of the Roman Catholic Church at
Old Mackinaw. The fixtures of the church, as of other
buildings, were removed and set up on this spot. I after-
wards saw the other half of the door standing against an
adjoining house.
"16th. Wind westerly. Begin to enlarge piazza to the
Agency. A party of Beaver Island Indians come in, and
report the water of the Straits as clear of ice, and the navi-
gation for some days open.
"The schooner President, from Detroit, dropped anchor
in the evening.
"17th. The schooners Lawrence, White Pigeon, and
President, left the harbor this morning, on their way to
various ports on Lake Michigan, and we are once more
united to the commercial world, on the great chain of lakes
above and below us. The Lawrence, it will be remem
bered, entered the harbor on the 14th of March, and has
waited thirty-two days for the Straits to open. . .
"21st. The schooner Nancy Dousman arrived in the
morning from below. A change of weather superven
Wind N. E., with snow. The ground is covered with
to the depth of one or two inches. Water frozen, giving
a sad check to vegetation.
"22nd. This morning develops a north-east storm, dur-
ing which the Nancy Dousman is wrecked, but all the cargo
saved; a proof that the harbor is no refuge from a no
caster. The wind abates in the evening. . . .
"26th. The weather recovers its warm tone, giving
calm sky and clear sunshine. The snow of the 21st rapidly
disappears, and by noon is quite gone, and the weather i
aigu
>rth-
ig a
MACKINAC IN WINTER 1834 179
quite pleasant. The vessels in the harbor continue their
voyages. . . .
"29th. The atmosphere has regained its equilibrium
fully. It is mild throughout the day. Indians begin to
come in freely from the adjacent shores. Sow radishes
and early seeds.
"30th. The schooner Napoleon, and the Eliza, from
Lake Ontario, come in. The Indian world, also seems to
have waked from its winter repose. Pabaumitabi visits
the office with a large retinue of Ottawas. Shabowawa with
his band appear from the Chenoes. Vessels and canoes
now again cross each other's track in the harbor.
"May 1st. At last 'the winter is gone and past,' and the
voice of the robin, if not of the 'turtle' begins to be heard
in the land. The whole day is mild, clear, and pleasant,
notwithstanding a moderate wind from the East. The
schooner Huron comes in without a mail a sad disappoint-
ment, as we have been a long time without one.
"I strolled up over the cliffs with my children, after their
return from school at noon, to gather wild flowers, it being
May-day. We came in with the spring beauty, called
miscodeed by the Indians, the adder's tongue, and some wild
violets.
"The day being fine and the lake calm, I visited the Isle
Rond the locality of an old and long abandoned village.
On landing on the south side, discovered the site of an an-
cient Indian town an open area of several acres with
graves and boulder grave stones. Deep paths had been
worn to the water. The graves had inclosures, more or less
decayed, of cedar and birch bark, and the whole had the
appearance of having been last occupied about seventy
years ago. Yet the graves were, as usual, east and west.
180 HISTORIC MACKINAC
I discovered near this site remains of more ancient occu-
pancy, in a deposit of human bones laid in a trench north
and south. This had all the appearance of one of the
antique ossuaries, constructed by an elder race, who col-
lected the bones of their dead periodically. The Indians
call this island Min-nis-ais, Little Island. Speaking of it,
the local termination ing is added.
"During the day the old Indian prophet Chusco came in,
having passed the winter at Chingossamo's village on the
Cheboigan River, accompanied by an Indian of that village,
who calls himself Yon, which is probably a corruption of
John, for he says that his father was an Englishman, and
his mother a Chippewa of St. Mary's.
"Chusco and Yon concur in stating that the old town on
Round Island was Chi Naigow's, where he and Aishquonai-
bee's 3 father ruled. It was a large village, occupied still
while the British held Old Mackinaw, and not finally aban-
doned until after the occupancy of the Island post. It con-
sisted of Chippewas. Chi Naigow afterwards went to a
bay of Boisblanc, where the public wharf now is, where
cultivated land and died. 4
"These Indians also state, that at the existence of
town on Round Island, a large Indian village was seat
around the present harbor of Mackinac, and the Indians
cultivated gardens there. Yon says, that at that time there
was a stratum of black earth over the gravel, and that it
was not bare gravel as it is now. 5 (He is speaking of the
shores of the harbour.) . . .
"2/id. Having, on the 19th of April, called the attention
Notes 3-5 are Mr. Schoolcrajfs.
8 A Chief of the Grand Traverse.
4 His daughter, who was most likely to know, says he died at Manista.
6 At Mackinac, they, in some places, raise potatoes in clean gravel.
MACKINAC IN WINTER 1834 181
of Mrs. La Fromboise, an aged Metif lady, to the former
state of things here, she says that the post of Chicago was
first established under English rule, by a negro man named
Pointe aux Sables, who was a respectable man.
"The etymology of Chicago appears to be this:
Chi-cag, Animal of the Leek or Wild Onion.
Chi-ca-go-wunz, The Wild Leek or Pole-cat Plant.
Chi-ca-go, Place of the Wild Leek.
"3rd. Seed the borders around the garden lots with
clover and timothy, united with oats. Continue to plant
in hot-beds, and in the ornamental mound. The Huron de-
parts up the lake, the Austerlitz returns.
"Drove out in my carriage with Mrs. Schoolcraft and
children, round the Island. I found no traces of snow or
ice. . . .
"8th. The same weather in every respect, with light
snow flurries. The last four or five days have been most
disheartening weather for this season, and retarded garden-
ing. The leaves of the pie plant have been partially
nipped by the frost.
"9th. Clear and pleasant wind west. Drove out with
Mrs. Schoolcraft and children to see the arched rock, the
sugar-loaf rock, Henry's cave, and other prominent curios-
ities of the Island. There are extensive old fields on the
eastern part of the Island, to which the French apply the
term of Grands Jardins. No resident pretends to know
their origin. Whether due to the labors of the Hurons or
the Wyandots, who are known to have been driven by the
Iroquois to this Island from the St. Lawrence valley, early
in the 17th century; or to a still earlier period, when the
ancient bones were deposited in the cave, is not known. It
182 HISTORIC MACKINAC
is certain that the extent of the fields evince an agricultural
industry which is not characteristic of the present Algon-
quin race. The stones have been carefully gathered into
heaps, as in the little valley near the arched rock, to facili-
tate cultivation. These heaps of stones, in various places
might be mistaken for Celtic cairns. . . .
"16^. Young Robert Gravereat first came to the office
in the capacity of interpreter. It is a calm and mild day;
the sun shines out. The thermometer stands at 50 at
8 o'clock, A. M., and the weather appears to be settled for the
season. Miss Louisa Johnston comes to pass the summer.
"I5th. Ploughed potato land, the backward state of the
season having rendered it useless earlier. Even now the
soil is cold, and requires to lay some time after being
ploughed up. . . .
"2Qth. I may now advert to what the busy world has
been about, while we have been watching the fields of float-
ing ice, and battling it with the elements through an entire
season. A letter from E. A. Brush, Esq., Washington,
March 13th says: 'Nothing is talked about here, as I may
well presume you know from the papers, but the deposits
and their removal, and their restoration; and that frightful
mother of all mischief, the money maker (U. S. Bank).
Every morning (the morning begins here at twelve, merid-
ian) the Senate chamber is thronged with ladies and feath-
ers, and their obsequious satellites, to hear the sparring.
Every morning a speech is made upon presentation of some
petition representing that the country is overwhelmed with
ruin and disasters, and that the fact is notorious and pal-
pable; or, that the country is highly prosperous and flour-
ishing, and that everybody knows it. One, that its only
safety lies in the continuance of the Bank; and the other,
MACKINAC IN WINTER 1834 183
that our liberties will be prostrated if it is re-chartered.
Of course, the well in which poor truth has taken refuge, in
this exigency, is very deep.
" 'But the Senate is, at this moment, an extraordinary
constellation of talent. There is Mr. Webster, and Mr.
Clay, Mr. Calhoun, and a no-way inferior, Mr. Preston, the
famous debater in the South Carolina troubles, and Mr.
Benjamin Watkins Leigh, the equally celebrated ambas-
sador near the government of South Carolina. All are
ranged on one side, and it is a phalanx as formidable, in
point of moral force, as the twenty-four can produce. Mr.
Forsyth is the atlas upon whose shoulders are made to rest
all the sins of the administration. Every shaft flies at him,
or rather is intended for others through him; and his Ajax
shield of seven bullhides is more than once pierced, in the
course of the frequent encounters to which he is invited,
and from which they will not permit him to secede. But
it is all talk. They will do nothing. A constitutional ma-
jority in the Senate (two-thirds) is very doubtful, and a
bare one in the House, still more problematical. Of
course, you are aware that the executive has expressed its
unyielding determination not to sign a bill for the re-char-
ter, or to permit a restoration of the deposits.
' 'Houses are cracking in the cities, as if in the midst of
an earthquake, and there is hardly a man engaged in mer-
cantile operations (I might say not one) who will not feel
the "pressure." "
"Major W. Whiting writes from Detroit, March 28th:
'I spoke of the project of a road to Mackinac, which you
wished me to bear in mind. The Secretary approved the
project, and the Quarter-Master General said it might be
done without a special appropriation. I was authorized to
184
HISTORIC MACKINAC
have the survey made as soon as the season will permit,
and an officer has reported to me for that purpose. He will
start from Saginaw some time in the next month, to make
a reconnoissance of the country, and will appear at the
head of the peninsula when perhaps you little expect such
a visitor.
" 'As soon as the survey shall be completed, the cutting
out will be put under contract. When this road shall be
completed, you will feel more neighborly to us. The ex-
press will be able to perform the journey in half the time,
and, of course, the trips can be multiplied.'
"June 4>th. Reuben Smith, a Mission scholar of the Al-
gonquin lineage, determines to leave his temporary employ-
ment at the Agency, and complete his education at the east-
ward. . . .
"7th. Cherry trees in full bloom. The steamer Uncle
Sam enters the harbor, being the first of a line established
to Chicago.
"9th. Apple and plum trees pretty full in flower.
"Wth. Mrs. Robert Stuart makes a handsome present
of conchological species from the foreign localities to be
added to my cabinet.
"15th. Major Whistler interdicts preaching in the Fort.
Mr. R. Stuart, having returned recently from the East, re-
sumes the superintendence of the Sabbath School at the
Mission, from which I had relieved him in the autumn.
"I have written these sketches for my own satisfaction
and the refreshment of my memory, in the leading scenes
and events of my first winter on the Island, giving promi-
nence to the state and changes of the weather, the occur-
rences among the natives, and the moral, social, and domes-
tic events around me. But the curtain of the world's great
MACKINAC IN WINTER 1834
185
drama is now fully raised, by our free commercial and
postal union with the region below us; new scenes and
topics daily occur, which it would be impossible to note if
I tried, and which would be useless if possible. Hereafter
my notices must be of isolated things, and may be 'few and
far between.' "
CHAPTER VIII
DR. OILMAN'S LIFE ON THE LAKES 1835
IN 1836, during Schoolcraft's residence on the Island,
there appeared from a New York house, two little vol-
umes entitled Life on the Lakes: being Tales and
Sketches Collected during a Trip to the Pictured Rocks of
Lake Superior. It contains no preface and purports to be
written "By the author of Legends of a Log Cabin" There
is internal evidence that the work was written by a physi-
cian. 1
Under date of October 27, 1835, Schoolcraft's diary
enters a visit from Dr. C. R. Oilman, of New York, and
notice of a letter received from him after returning to the
city. Schoolcraft comments: "Life on the Lakes 2 was cer-
tainly a widely different affair to Life in New York. Dr.
Oilman was probably the author."
There is a freshness about these volumes, like a breeze
off the lakes. They are full of the joy of abounding en-
ergy, and the author had a keen sense of humour. There
is not a dry line between their covers. They are written in
the form of letters, and "Letter X," dated Friday, Sept. 4,
begins with the approach to Mackinac : 3
"We had a pleasant run up Huron yesterday, passing
Presque Isle, false Presque Isle, Forty Mile Point (so called
from its distance from Mackina). Next we doubled one
of the points of a large crescent-shaped island, called by the
1 See especially letters XX and XXVI of Volume IL
2 The title of Dr. Oilman's book.
Pp. 88-119, 158-164, 170-181.
186
DR. OILMAN'S LIFE ON THE LAKES 1835 187
French, Bois Blanc, and by the Americans 'Bob lank/
'Bob low,' or 'Bobby loo'; for I have heard all three of these
elegant synonyms. The sun was just sinking beneath the
horizon, casting long streams of light athwart the ruffled
waves, when the Captain called me forward to take the first
look at Mackina.
"The first glance of a long looked for object almost al-
ways disappoints, but it was not so now; and as I gazed on
the distant Island, its steep cliffs rising, as they seemed to
do, right out of the water, and towering high in air, their
dark outline marked so boldly on the yet glowing West, and,
even at the distance we were, the white chalky craigs shining
like little pearl spots in the dark face of the Island, my ut-
most expectations were more than realized.
"The deepening twilight soon made every object indis-
tinct, and I was just resigning myself to the idea of seeing
no more of the Island till morning, when from the eastern
sky the darkness fled, a faint streak of reddish light heralds
the rising moon, it kindles with a ruddier glow, and then
from the bosom of the waters, which seem to burn all
around her, the moon arose; and soon the whole scene
around us was bathed in her bright beams. Far to the
North and East we see the shores of the main land, one or
two islands standing forward and breaking the regular
sweep of the coast; to the Southeast lays the wide expanse
of Huron, now all ablaze with moonlight.
"Further to the South, Bois Blanc stretches her horns,
spanning in a capacious and well-sheltered bay. To the
West, and right over our larboard bow, lays Round Island;
round in shape as in name. Its dark tree tops mark almost
a perfect arch upon the sky, so regularly does the land rise
from every side towards the centre, and so completely is it
188
HISTORIC MACKINAC
clothed with an unbroken forest. Now let us pass over to
the starboard bow, and we have a full and perfect view of
'the Island* of Mackina. We had advanced so rapidly, that
it was now in plain sight to the East. It is well wooded,
though very precipitous, rising nearly perpendicularly to
the height of three to four hundred feet. Further to the left
stands a cliff, called Robinson's Folly, which is bare of fo-
liage, and now shines in the bright moon.
"From the base of Robinson's Folly the flat land begins
to stretch out; and in the space thus formed is situated the
town of Mackina, now only to be distinguished by the lights
which glance from house to house, so deep and dark is the
shadow cast over the town, and far out into the little bay,
by the over-hanging cliffs. On its summit, and just back
of the town, stands the Fort; its white walls circling the
brow of the hill like a silver crown ; a wide carriage-way as-
cends from the town below, slanting along the face of the
bluff to the Fort.
"This scene was enchanting. The tall white cliff, the
whiter Fort, the winding yet still precipitous pathway, the
village below buried in a deep gloomy shade, the little bay,
where two or three small half-rigged sloops lay asleep upon
the dark water; would that I could make you know, would
that I could make you feel, its beauties. It recalled to my
mind some of the descriptions I have read of Spanish scen-
ery, where the white walls of some Moorish castle crown
the brow of the lofty Sierra. Oh, for the pen of Hoffman!
Oh, for the pencil of Cole! But I have neither, so may as
well content myself by saying, in my own quiet way: 'The
schooner entered the little bay, then lay to; the boat is
hauled alongside; trunks, bags, &c., are thrown in; the Cap-
tain takes his stand at the stern, tiller in hand ; we exchange
DR. OILMAN'S LIFE ON THE LAKES 1835 189
a hasty word of parting with our fellow-passengers, descend
to the boat, shove off, give way! We have parted for the
last time from the White Pigeon; a few moments' rowing,
we near the wharf. Some figures are already distinguish-
able in the darkness; we are alongside; a few moments of
hurry and bustle, and two half-breeds are bearing our lug-
gage to the tavern. We bade a cordial farewell to our
excellent friend Captain N and followed our porters
through the darkness. They stop
* *Halloa! what is here? You are taking us into a stable
yard.' *Tavern, sir,' was the abrupt and broken reply of
one to whom the speaking of English was evidently a la-
bour. We enter through a wide gateway into the yard,
cross it, and pass through a smaller wicket gate; then as-
cending one step, we enter a sort of shed, and finally, into
a low, wide hall. All is yet dark. 'Where is the land-
lord?' To-bed.' 'The servants?' 'None.' 'Well, let us
at least arrange our luggage.'
"Before this was well done, a gentleman entered, and
eagerly inquired for the news from New- York. The voice
is certainly familiar. Under his guidance we find our way
into the parlour, where a light is still burning. We ap-
proach the light together. 'Ah! H !' 'Why, Doctor!'
'George, can this be you?' We are warmly welcomed by
an old friend from New- York. Our greetings over (and
they were loud and long) G found time to introduce us
to Mr. , a young lawyer, who had been standing by, a
quiet, though apparently very much amused, observer of
our mutual transports. He promised to interest himself in
getting us accommodations, and we left him engaged in the
charitable effort; while, under the guidance of George, went
over to the Company's house. Here we had the pleasure
190
HISTORIC MACKINAC
-, and being
, the Com-
of meeting another New-Yorker, Mr. H
cordially welcomed to Mackina by Mr. A-
pany's agent.
"We spent a delightful hour with them, giving and re-
ceiving news. Mr. A produced a bottle of old wine,
which made good his honest boast that they did not drink
bad wine in the Island of Mackina. It was superlative;
mild, yet with sufficient body, delicate, yet high flavoured.
In short, 'twas what the judge (for that is Mr. A 's title)
called it, 'Good Old Madeira.'
"The clock striking ten warned us to bid good night; at
the same time we were obliged to bid farewell to George,
who was to sail at the dawn of day. We returned to our
tavern. It is indeed a primitive structure, but one story
high, built of hewn logs and roofed with cedar bark; yet
the white-wash with which every part is covered, and which
was clearly visible in the bright moon-light, gives a particu-
larly clean appearance to the exterior, which is not belied
by the looks of everything within. The ceiling, or rather
the garret floor (for there is no ceiling properly so called)
is so low, that where the beams cross the room I cannot
stand erect. By the kindness of our friend, the lawyer, we
were accommodated with beds in different rooms; they were
clean and nice, though to a very fastidious person the cir-
cumstance that there were two beds in the Major's room and
three in mine, might be an objection. This we cared not
for; we came here to see the country and its inhabitants (as
they are), not to sleep in elegant chambers and lie on soft
beds.
"This morning I waked very early. At dawn heard the
morning gun from the Fort, and soon after a clattering
DR. OILMAN'S LIFE ON THE LAKES 1835 191
about the house; and the noise of cow-bells under the win-
dows gave us notice that the world was astir.
"N. B. There are more cows in Mackina than in any
other place of its size in the known world; and every cow
wears at least one bell.
"Warned by this matin music, I arose, and dressed in
time for our very early breakfast We had a broiled white
fish at each end of the table; this is the first time we have
seen them, they look like shad, but the taste is more that of
black fish. Our friends all say that the one at our end of
the table was by no means a fair specimen of the fish, of
which every North-western epicure speaks in raptures. It
will therefore be the most prudent to reserve our opinions
on their merits. After breakfast the Major and I took a
stroll along the shore and through the town. The Island of
Mackina consists of two very distinct and widely different
portions; one a high mass of secondary limestone rock, ris-
ing from four to five hundred feet above the level of the
lake, covered for the most part with a deep soil of decayed
vegetable matter. This is the original Island, but around
this the constant action of the waves has thrown up a shoal
which is gradually stretching out into the water. This
lower shelf or terrace is now covered with a thin sandy soil,
and on it the town of Mackina is built. It varies very much
in width; in some places the water approaches within a few
feet of the base of the limestone rock, at others the terrace
runs out for near a mile. The town of Mackina is com-
posed entirely of one-story log-houses, roofed with cedar
bark; it has a very dilapidated appearance, and is, in fact,
fast going to decay.
"Its prosperity was entirely dependent on the fur trade,
192
HISTORIC MACKINAC
of which it was for very many years the centre. Here the
Company had their depot, from which all the traders were
supplied with their annual outfit; but now the trade centers
on Lake Superior. The Company have their depot at La
Pointe, and Mackina depends for its existence on its very
trifling fisheries, and on the military post.
"We passed through a half-desolate street to the beach;
the wind was high, and the surf came tumbling in with a
furious roar. The beach is entirely composed of pebbles.
In walking half a mile along it, I did not see a single stone
as large as my hat, nor a peck of sand; it was all pebbles,
varying in size from an almond to an orange.
"On this beach, close to the roaring surf, we saw two
Indian lodges, the first we had ever seen. I need not tell
you that I examined them with great interest. The first was
made by tying six or eight long poles together at one end,
and then spreading them out at the other, as muskets are
stacked; round these some Indian matting, made from a
species of tall rush, which abounds all through the North-
west, is wound, beginning at the top of the poles, and wind-
ing diagonally downwards to the ground; thus inclosing a
space nearly circular, and about six or eight feet, varying
with the length of the poles, in diameter. At the termina-
tion of the fold of matting a small triangular opening is
left, barely large enough to allow a man to creep in and
out; this is the door. Such is the external appearance of
the Red Man's home.
"I stooped at the entrance to gain a view of the interior.
A small fire was burning in the centre, the smoke from
which, after filling the lodge, curls out at the top, where the
projecting ends of the poles leave a small aperture.
DR. OILMAN'S LIFE ON THE LAKES 1835 193
Around the fire lay four or five Indians wrapped in their
blankets, and apparently half asleep; a squaw stood in the
centre cooking some corn in a small kettle; and a half -naked
boy and a quite naked infant completed the family group.
"The next lodge differed from this only in the poles be-
ing in part covered with an old ragged sail. From the
top of one of the tent poles hung several white fish heads,
strung, as the good folks of Connecticut do apples to dry.
Within this lodge I saw an infant bound to a board. This
board is by no means the simple affair I had supposed; it
is about eighteen inches wide; near the top a cross piece is
fastened edgewise, so as to form a sort of projecting shelf
above the infant's head; at each side are handles, by which
it is strapped on to the shoulders of the mother. A small
hoop is bent from side to side, in front of the infant's face,
to prevent its being struck by branches when the mother is
walking through the woods, and also to protect it in case of
a fall. Leaving these two lodges, we passed along the
beach, and soon came to a new, and really very pretty birch
bark canoe. As I expect to make a long voyage in one, I
examined this with some care. The Indian canoe has been
often described, and I dare say you have seen, or at any rate
you can see, one in the Museum. Here, near their native
element, I looked rather to its safety than to its beauty;
though they are beyond doubt very pretty little affairs. It
is very light, must be buoyant as a cork on the water, and
feels tolerably firm; but I should think the high bow and
stem would give the wind great power over her, and make
it very difficult to steer her in rough weather. But why
should I stop to calculate the chances, and reason a priori.
Thousands of men have travelled thousands of miles in
194 HISTORIC MACKINAC
them, and I will go on without fear. Aye, but hundreds,
if not thousands, have been lost in them so much the worse
for them.
"Following the line of the beach, we came to a knot
Indian lodges; several like the one I first saw, but so
much more wretched. One poor fellow, not having ma
enough to form a lodge, had turned his canoe on its side,
her bottom windward; stuck his poles in front, and cover-
ing them with mat, made between the two his narrow and
confined lodge. Another had placed his canoe in the same
way, and merely stretched an old sail on two sticks, planted
at stem and stern, and lay down in the space thus half shel-
tered. Another depended on his upturned canoe, entirely
without appliances or means to boot; and even he was not
very badly off. The canoe, when turned on its side, as
they always place them here, rests on one gunwale and the
high bow and stern; and thus it forms a shelter, under
which half a dozen men can be very comfortable; that i
comfortable 'fagon du nord.'
"While we were loitering round among these lodges, a
fishing boat came in sight. All the idlers along the sho
we among the rest, ran down to the water's edge to see
luck the fishermen had had. Their draught had been ve
good ; with two nets they had taken half a dozen large tro
and near a hundred white fish. One of the trout was
large we were induced to have him weighed. He weigh
forty-seven pounds. As some one opened his huge mou
I saw in his throat the tail of a white fish. I pointed it o
to the Indians, or rather half-breeds, for such the fisherm
were, and immediately one of them went to work to pull
out. He tugged a long time in vain, and was at last oblig<
o
z:
fn
DR. OILMAN'S LIFE ON THE LAKES 1835 195
to cut the mouth a good deal before he could get it. Out it
came at last, a white fish of twenty inches long. I was
amused to see the coolness with which the half-breed threw
this fish among the others; for by this time the whole cargo
was ashore, and the women busy cleaning them. He an-
swered an objection which I ventured, by an assurance that
the half -swallowed white fish was 'tout aussi bon que les
autres.' At the fish-boat our friend H joined us, and
proposed a ramble over the Island. We ascended the hill
on which the Fort stands, and passing behind it through an
open space where the soldiers have a ninepin alley and a
shooting ground 'pour passer le temps* we entered a wood
of scrubby oak and dwarf maple ; the ground gradually ris-
ing as we approach the centre of the Island. At the very
highest point are the ruins of the Fort, which was built by
the English. They called it Fort George, I believe; but it
is now only known by the name of the gallant Holmes who
fell in the unsuccessful attack made on it by Croghan.
The general outline of the Fort can still be very distinctly
traced ; the sodded walls have lost but little of their height,
the embrasures where the cannon were placed, the reser-
voir for water, and the bakehouse, were each pointed out by
our friend.
"From the ramparts of Fort Holmes we could look over
nearly the whole Island ; almost immediately before, and a
little below us, stands the present Fort; the palisades that
surround it, the quarters of the officers and men, all white
and clean as possible; beyond, and so far below that it is
but partially in sight, lays the town, its old blackened and
dilapidated buildings contrasting sadly enough with the
bright newness of everything about the Fort.
"To the West was an expanse of well-wooded land, rising
196
HISTORIC MACKINAC
into moderate eminences or falling away into valley
though both hill and valley are far below where we stanc
Further to the right, that is North-west from Fort Holme
the land rises to near the level of the Fort, and of course
view in that direction is very limited. Turning still
wards the right, we find that the land soon sinks, and give
us a view of the shore of Mackina and the strait which sej
arates it from the main land. In this strait are seven
islands the two St. Martins, greater and less, and sor
smaller ones, which are yet, I believe, nameless; beyoi
St. Martins, and nearly due east from where we stood, lie
Goose Island. Behind it, yet still in plain sight, at a dh
tance of twelve miles, lays the main land, very irregul*
and as it stretches to the East, cut up into many islands, ii
dented with bays, till finally only its general outline can
seen, and soon even that blue line is lost in the distance, 01
mingles with the blue clouds or bluer waters. To
South-east nothing is seen but the wide waste of waters; bi
south, we find the horns of Bois Blanc, and the woody si
mil of Round Island completes the magnificent circle
view.
"When we had sated our eyes with the prospect, our kii
friend conducted us to the North-eastern part of the Islam
We passed directly through a growth of small trees (thei
are no large trees on Mackina), and then came to an oj
space of half a dozen acres, covered with a rich sward, dot
ted here and there of a deeper green by the low wide-spre*
juniper bushes.
"Advancing a few steps, we found ourselves at the ed
of a rocky bluff more than two hundred feet high, and
nearly perpendicular that the least spring would have
cleared it. Below was an expanse of thickly-wooded lane
DR. OILMAN'S LIFE ON THE LAKES 1835 197
perhaps half a mile wide. The trees stood so closely to-
gether that we could not see the ground in any part, their
tops formed an unbroken green carpet the whole distance
from the water's edge to the base of the cliff. Did I say
unbroken? Not so; in the very midst of this thick wood
rises the Sugar Loaf rock; a huge conical mass of limestone.
It is, I think, about eighty feet high, perhaps one hundred
and fifty in circumference at the base, and not more than
two or three yards across at the summit. It is so steep that
the ascent is extremely difficult, yet now and then men do
attempt it, and some succeed.
"It is a bare rock for the most part, yet in the clefts and
crannies a few pines and cedars have found root, and now
in part obscure the view of the rocks, yet rather adding to,
than diminishing, its beauty.
"We lounged about the edge of the bluff for a long time,
gazing on the scene below. There was wind enough to keep
the tree tops in the plain constantly in motion, and they rose
and sank in long sweeping waves, as if in mimicry of the
lake beyond.
"At length we turned away, and following a winding and
irregular path towards the center of the Island, we came to
the Skull Rock. It is of limestone, about thirty feet high.
At the base there is a small opening, some four feet wide
and perhaps three high. This is the entrance of a cave,
which was formerly used by the Indians as a place of sepul-
ture; indeed, bones are still found in it hence its name.
"Here it was that poor Henry was concealed by his
adopted Indian brother, after the terrible massacre at Old
Mackina in 1763. Here he remained three or four days.
"I can scarce imagine a situation more terrible. The
single circumstance of being shut up in a dark and narrow
198
HISTORIC MACKINAC
cave, surrounded on all sides by the mouldering remains of
mortality, seems almost too horrible for endurance. You
remember Juliet's anticipations of the terrors of such a
scene:
" 'Shall I not then be stifled in the vault,
To whose foul mouth no healthful air breathes in,
And there die strangled?
Or, if I live, is it not very like
The horrible concert of death and night,
Together with the terror of the place,
As in a vault an ancient receptacle,
Where, for these many hundred years, the bones
lie pack'd? I shall be destraught.'
"But these, the natural and necessary horrors of the
place, were, we may suppose, as nothing to Henry's mind,
haunted as it must have been by the recollection of the
savage butcheries he had the day before witnessed, and har-
assed by the apprehension that his place of retreat (which
at the thought must have grown even dear to him) might be
discovered, and his life, so often and so strangely preserved,
be lost at last. It was a situation to try the heart of man;
and that Henry came out of it without being as poor Juliet
says, *destraught,' is proof that his was a stout one.
"The cave has fallen in very much, and, though both the
Major and myself entered it, yet, after advancing a few
feet, finding a place through which we could only pass by
crawling flat on the ground, our discretion got the better of
our curiosity, and we came out.
"H tells us that, a short time ago, a gentleman pene-
trated some distance, though with great difficulty, the pas-
sage being so low that he could only creep, and not wide
DR. OILMAN'S LIFE ON THE LAKES 1835 199
enough at any part to allow him to turn round, so that he
was obliged to make his way out feet foremost.
"Leaving the Skull Rock, from which I broke off some
pieces as mementos of the place, and cut a branch of a beau-
tiful mountain ash which grew just above the entrance, too
beautiful to be even in thought connected with such a spot
of gloom leaving the Skull Rock, we rambled through the
woods, till at length we passed near the burying-ground of
the garrison.
"There are about a dozen graves, enclosed in a neat
picket fence. This fence, by the way, was put up by an of-
ficer formerly in command of Mackina, at his own expense ;
before his time the graves had been entirely unprotected,
as well as unhonoured. The deed does him credit. I wish
I knew his name.
"But two of the graves have head-stones, or rather head-
boards. They are erected, as the inscriptions painted in
black letters on them tell, over the graves of two privates
of the garrison, one of whom was drowned in Mackina har-
bour last year.
"From hence we returned to the Fort, and entering it,
were introduced to the officers. They received us with the
perfect courtesy which distinguishes the gentlemen of the
army, and of which, as well as of their high literary and
professional attainments, our country may be proud.
"The physician of this post escorted us to his quarters,
where we had some pleasant chat. I have already, I be-
lieve, told you that the Fort is built on the very edge of the
bluff; from the rear of the Doctor's quarters we could have
tossed a biscuit into the garden several hundred feet below.
East of the garden, and on the same level, stands the very
200
HISTORIC MACKINAC
pretty cottage ornee of Mr. Schoolcraft the geologist; it is
a charming spot, surrounded by grounds laid out with great
taste, with several forest trees, and two splendid mountain
ash. The bluff, which towers up at a short distance behind
the house, must shelter it from the North and North-west
winds very perfectly.
"Leaving the doctor's quarters, we descended by the
broad way which passes diagonally in front of the rock,
and which forms so striking a feature in the view from the
water to the town.
"Certainly I have never seen a place which presented as
many picturesque objects as Mackina; not only in the scenes
I have tried to describe, but in a thousand others. The old
half-decayed town, the dilapidated houses, some of un-
barked, others of squared logs, others again coated with
cedar bark, as they lay on shingles with us. The roofs are
of cedar bark, laid on in the same manner as on the sides,
and kept down by long narrow strips of wood extending
from one side of the building to the other along the middle
of the pieces of bark. The doors are low, the windows
small, and sometimes, though this is now rare, have shutters
of cedar bark.
"Many of the houses are dreary enough; roofs full of
holes, doors broken down, sashes driven in, shutters torn
away or only hanging by loose leather thongs. In these
wretched hovels you will sometimes find large families
of squalid looking Indians, or more commonly half-
breeds.
"Yet the half-breed population is by no means always in
a condition so miserable; many of them are very comfort-
ably situated, and I have seen several neatly dressed chil-
dren that were extremely pretty."
DR. OILMAN'S LIFE ON THE LAKES 1835 201
Mackinac, Sept. 5th.
"This morning took another stroll through the Island to
visit the arched rock. On our way out of town we passed a
house, now partly in decay, which was built of piles driven
into the ground close together as they make fences here.
These were all of the same height, and formed the walls of
the house. On them a light frame was erected, and then
the gable ends and roof, completed with cedar bark. Next
we passed some Indian lodges. With the 'bo jou,' the uni-
versal salutation in this country, I went into one of them.
An old cross-looking man lay wrapped in a blanket, smok-
ing; a woman sat on a low stool busied in stripping the
husks off some green corn; two half -grown girls were loung-
ing about. At the woman's feet sat a boy of three or four
years, perfectly naked; and beside him stood the carrying-
board, tipped over so as to rest on one end and one handle.
On this an infant of six or eight months was strapped, with
folds of some kind of Indian cloth ornamented with porcu-
pine quills.
"The little fellow did not seem to be very uncomfortable,
but smiled when I chucked him under the chin. The
mother, too, smiled, pleased, apparently, with the notice
taken of her child. A mother is a mother still, even among
the Mackina Indians.
"Near another lodge I saw an Indian girl pounding corn.
Her mortar was made of a log two or three feet long, hol-
lowed out for two thirds its length. In this huge mortar
she had three or four pints of corn, which she pounded with
a pestle of proportionate size; at a little distance, I had
supposed, from the size of the mortar and pestle, she was
churning. The girl worked as all Indians about here and
everywhere else I believe do, very lazily; striking five or six
202
HISTORIC MACKINAC
blows a minute, she would be half a day probably preparing
meal enough for one small loaf of bread. After this you
will not wonder that the Indians are poor.
"Near another lodge a group of women were engaged
cleaning fish, and a large pile of fish heads lay behind the
lodge drying and putrefying in the sun.
"The Indians rarely eat the fish heads (which I believe I
told you is their perquisite for cleaning the fish) till it
is more than half putrid. On this wretched stuff they live,
for every cent of money they can get is sure to go for rum,
to which they are slaves. Indeed, a large proportion of
these poor half-breeds are literally slaves; they sell them-
selves to the grog-shop keepers, in whose debt they always
are; and all they earn, whether in the service of their im-
mediate master or of any other person, goes to pay for the
rum they have drank or are drinking. This wretched man-
ner of life, however, soon makes an end of them; they
rarely reach, and scarce ever live beyond, middle age.
"Leaving the lodges, we ascend to the Fort, and passing
behind it, we followed the line of the coast, sometimes
striking a short distance inward to avoid impediments.
When in this way we had advanced a mile from the Fort
through the woods, we came to one of the cleared spots
which are common all over the Island, and which probably
mark the sites of Indian villages. 4 This one was small,
however, and extends only a few rods back from the edge
of the precipitous rock called Robinson's Folly. We ap-
proach the edge of the cliff; it is almost perpendicular, and
stands on the margin of the lake, there being in this spot
[The following notes are Dr. Oilman's)
4 Here we found a number of wild gooseberry bushes, which I am told,
I think by Mr. Schoolcraft, are not found except at the sites of Indian
villages.
DR. OILMAN'S LIFE ON THE LAKES 1835 203
none of that low land which at almost every other point sur-
rounds Mackina. Below, at a sheer descent of more than
two hundred feet, lay large masses of rock, which had
fallen from the cliff above. The place has its name from
having been chosen by a former commandant of Mackina
as the scene of his revels; it was also the scene of a great
crime. The legend may amuse you, and I will give it you,
instead of a letter, tomorrow.
r "We left Robinson's Folly, and continued a mile further,
following the coast till we came to the Arched Rock. I do
not know that I can give you a clearer idea of this very
curious object than by describing it as a place where the
solid limestone rock, of which I have so often spoken as
forming the basis of Mackina, is hollowed out into an ir-
regular crater, a hundred feet deep and about one hundred
wide at the top. This crater is situated close to the edge
of the cliff, which at this place, as at Robinson's Folly,
overhangs the lake. Now imagine the side of the crater,
such as I have described it, nearest the lake, to be broken
through below while it remains whole above, and you have
the arched rock of Mackina.
"As we stood on the inner side of the crater, we could
look upon the arch which bridged over the opening on the
other side right into the lake.
"This bridge is very narrow in one place, I think not
more than a foot or eighteen inches wide, and five or six
feet through. It is a common exploit of the over-courag-
eous to pass over the arch of the bridge; but the falling of
the stone renders the passage more and more difficult and
dangerous every year.
"To the right of the main arch, and near the bottom of the
crater, is a small opening, six or eight feet high and per-
204
HISTORIC MACKINAC
haps ten wide, which leads by a winding passage to the
beach below. The Major and Mr. descended the
crater, passed through the lower arch, and returned. It is
a work of some labour, at least the ascent, and not accom-
plished without the certainty of soiling and the probability
of tearing the nether garments; both of which adverse acci-
dents occurred to our companions.
"A few yards beyond the Arched Rock, the bluff rises
considerably, and from its top we had an enchanting view of
the lake, Mackina, the main land, studded with small green
islands, the hundred little capes and bays, which indent the
shore; and to the East and South the clear bright waters of
the lake, smooth and glassy, shining in the sun-beams like a
vast mirror. But I fear I weary you with my descriptions
of scenery. Adieu!"
"September 6th.
"After our return from the Arched Rock yesterday, we
called on Mr. Schoolcraft. He has a fine collection of
minerals, among the rest a large piece of the Copper Rock
as it is called. This rock, as you have doubtless heard, is
at the Ontenaugan river, up Lake Superior. It is nearly
pure copper; I understood Mr. S to say it was in his
opinion ninety-eight per cent, copper. Here, too, we saw
the skin of a Wolverine, an animal partaking about equally
of the nature of fox and wolf, from which the people of
Michigan get their soubriquet of Wolverines. Mr. S
has a large number of Indian curiosities, and is possessed
of more information on the subject of the Indian tribes of
the North-west than any man now living. He has been for
many years a diligent collector of facts, not a spinner out of
DR. OILMAN'S LIFE ON THE LAKES 1835 205
theories; and much, I think, may yet be expected from his
vast and daily increasing stores.
"He is making a collection of the moral tales of the
Chippewas, and will, I hope, soon publish them; he gave me
permission to copy one, and I will give it to you as it was
taken down by Mrs. S verbatim, from the lips of an old
Chippewa woman. Mrs. S tells me she has since been
assured by very many of the oldest and most intelligent of
the tribe that the story of the 'Origin of the Robin-red-
breast* has been current in the tribe from their earliest rec-
ollections. I know you will agree with me in thinking it
a most beautiful fable. In Mr. Schoolcraft's garden we
ate some cherries and currants. Cherries and currants in
September! something late in the season. There is a tame
deer browsing round.
"In the evening we had several visitors, among the rest
Mr. B. , the store-keeper; he is an old voyageur, and
talks very familiarly of being out of provisions, and
obliged, as he expressed it, to browse round the woods for
a few days, eating leaves and buds, and the inner bark of
the cedar, (a very common substitute for food among the
Indians.) B was compelled, a few years ago, to live
in this way about a week; he amused us very much by a
detail of his adventures on the occasion.
"He did not seem to value himself at all for his fortitude
and courage, but spoke with great satisfaction of his having
scared a gallant officer of the army, who was his companion,
(they were cast away on Lake Superior) by threatening to
eat him, when other means of sustenance failed him.
"B was very anxious that I should order some high
wines for a poor old vagabond voyageur opposite, who is
dying of the dropsy, and whom I visited to-day with my
206 HISTORIC MACKINAC
friend Dr. Turner. He had two reasons for his prescrip-
tion one moral, the other medical. First, the moral the
man is dying, he will certainly die in a few days: why, then,
argued B not make him comfortable and happy while
he does live, by giving him some high wines. Finding
this argument fail, B brought forward his medical
reason: *Doctor,' says he, 'you don't understand the cli-
mate. You can't conceive how cold it is here. Why, sir,
you may rest assured the water will freeze in that man's
belly unless you warm it with high wines.' This, I confess,
was new to me; and I craved time to consider of it. This
morning I found that I should not be required to decide
upon the merit of B 's practice, as my poor patient
was dead.
"It is terribly cold here, as you will suppose, and it is
astonishing how the half -breeds and Frenchmen bear it.
One very remarkable instance of their endurance was men-
tioned last night.
"A half-breed of St. Marie, named C , carried the
mail between that place and Saginaw Bay four trips last
winter. He went all the way on snow-shoes, carrying the
mail bag and his provisions, weighing together near one
hundred pounds, strapped to his shoulders, and fastened,
in the Indian manner, by a strap round his forehead. The
distance is over two hundred miles, and he was obliged to
camp out every night (the trip took him ten days) except
one spent at Mackina. This terrible labour he performed
for twenty-five dollars the trip; that is, twenty-five dollars
for more than four hundred miles travel.
"So little did C make of these trips, that on one
occasion, when he arrived at Mackina from Saginaw in the
afternoon, and heard that there was to be a ball there
DR. OILMAN'S LIFE ON THE LAKES 1835 207
among his friends, he danced all night, and started off next
morning, having had hardly an hour's sleep.
"On his last trip, however, he suffered very severely
from the Mai de Rachette, an inflammation of the synovial
membrane of the ankle joint, caused by the weight of the
snow-shoes.
*This morning we went to church. The building is neat
and commodious, but I was sorry to see the congregation
so small. They have no protestant clergyman at Mackina.
Mr. Schoolcraft read a very good sermon and conducted
the service. The singing I was delighted with; one voice
in particular, a rich pure treble. A sergeant from the Fort
was the leader of the choir, and two other singers were in
the uniform of private soldiers. This had a strange look,
but the whole appearance of the congregation was strik-
ing. Officers and soldiers in uniform were mingled, in
the body of the church, with well-dressed gentlemen and
ladies; behind them were a few persons in more common
dresses, with here and there an Indian, either in blue or
white blanket coats; towards the door two or three, in the
ordinary savage dress, stared round in utter unconcern at
the worship. Many of the half-breeds, however, were very
devout, and Mr. S. tells me that some of them give satis-
factory evidence that they have embraced religion with the
heart and affections.
"A settled clergyman is very much wanted at Mackina.
Mr. S. does all that an individual who has many other
duties can do; but they want some one who will devote
his whole time and talents to the propagation of the truth.
I was surprised to hear from Mr. S. that they could not
induce a Missionary to come here; the situation was ob-
jected to, I do not know why. To me, it seems to present
208 HISTORIC MACKINAC
all the attractions which a Mission station can or should
have, except, perhaps, the eclat of having one's name
bruited about as going to foreign and barbarous lands.
"The Catholics are unwearied in their efforts to extend
the influence of their religion, and almost all the working
classes, who are under any religious influence at all, are
Catholics. They have a large mission settlement at L'Ar-
bre Croche, about fifty miles from Mackina; where they
have, I am informed, been very successful in weaning
the Indians from the hunter's life and accustoming them
to labour. This is a great point, and if it is indeed gained,
the labour and the lives it has cost that Church have not
been spent in vain."
"Monday, Sept. 7th.
"This morning we rose at peep of day to urge on the
preparations for our trip to Lake Superior. As we have
to camp out all the way, except one night, which we expect
to spend at Saulte. St. Marie, we are obliged to take a good
deal of equipage with us. The first thing to be done was
to secure a good canoe. Mr. Schoolcraft very kindly of-
fered us his, but we finally selected one belonging to the
American Fur Company. It is rather large; twenty-eight
or thirty feet long, and five feet wide, very strong and firm.
"The next point was to secure good men. This is not
in general difficult; there are usually at Mackina great num-
bers of half-breeds, who are by turns fishermen or voy-
ageurs; the only thing is to select good ones, and particu-
larly a good guide, for on him will depend much of our
comfort, and perhaps safety, during the trip. His duty
is to steer the canoe, select the landing places, take charge
of the luggage and command of the men or monde, as
DR. OILMAN'S LIFE ON THE LAKES 1835 209
they call it; and in general to direct, under the orders of
the bourgeois, the whole expedition.
"To fill this important station we have been fortunate
enough to secure Charles Cloutier, an old half-breed,
who has been five and thirty years a voyageur on the lake.
"I like his looks very much; a short, rather small but
very compact figure, a good open face, bright eye, and
high though wrinkled forehead. He speaks French, or
rather the miserable jargon which, among the voyageurs,
goes by that name; and Indian, of course, but no English.
A very fair share of confidence in himself may also be
numbered among Cloutier's good qualities.
"He laughed very heartily when I asked him if there
was no danger of being drowned in crossing the lake. 'Oh
non, Monsieur, pas de danger avec moi.' It was impos-
sible not in some degree to partake of the confidence so
heartily and honestly expressed. The emphasis with which
Cloutier pronounced his 'avec moi,' reminded me of the
great Roman and his 'Caesarem vehis.'
"After all, I can't but think the old half-breed's confi-
dence has the more rational foundation.
"Next to Cloutier comes a young half-breed named Pel-
leau, about twenty; a tall slightly made fellow, with a
very wild cast of countenance, particularly the eye, which
is *sauvage pure" as they say at the North; his face, when
in repose, has the peculiar stolid look which characterizes
the Indian physiognomy; but when it kindles up, there is a
something in the look that * likes me not'; perhaps it may be
in part owing to the long straight hair which covers his
head, and is all the while falling over his face; good or
bad, however, he is engaged our compagnion de voyage for
the next ten days.
210 HISTORIC MACKINAC
"The next, Robert Chinlier, the same age as Pelleau,
shorter, stouter, with a broad good-humoured face, full of
laughter and fun, a regularly merry devil.
"Le Tour, the fourth man, is a full, or, as they call it
here, a pure Canadian; but he looks so exactly like an
Irishman that I can never hear French coming out of his
wide mouth without a sense of ridiculous incongruity.
He has a fair skin, though tanned by exposure; light grey
eyes, sandy or dirt coloured hair, a low forehead, and a
mouth and chin true Milesian. He too, has a merry look,
and, what I always like in a man, an honest hearty laugh.
This test of men, by the way, I have great confidence in;
*a man may smile, and smile again, and be a villain,' that
I admit; but to laugh loudly, heartily, 'tis the Shibboleth
of honesty; your rogue hath no part nor lot in the matter.
"Le Tour completed our original number; but at the
last moment we were persuaded to take a young Indian
'sauvage pure.' He is not more than eighteen, and looks
like a poor shiftless creature; but our friend, the lawyer,
recommended him to us as a sober, good fellow; besides,
he can speak English, which none of the others do ; and as
my French is none of the best, and the Major's worse still,
an interpreter will not be amiss even though he come in
the shape of this miserable, whom, by the way, they call,
'the Doctor.' He bears the soubriquet very willingly, as it
prevents the necessity of telling his own name. This un-
willingness to tell their own names is a singular peculiarity
of the Indians. I believe it is universal. Certainly among
the Chippewas it is impossible to induce an Indian to tell
his own name; even the traders, when they advance goods
to an Indian, if they do not know his name, can never per-
suade him to tell it; he will sooner deny himself the goods.
DR. OILMAN'S LIFE ON THE LAKES 1835 211
The difficulty is, however, very easily gotten over, as they
have no scruple about telling the name of another person;
so you have only to ask A for B's name, and B for A's.
"The Doctor completes our muster roll. These men are
hired at seventy-five cents per day and voyageurs rations.
For this they engage to go with us into the lake as far as
we choose. 5
"The men having been engaged, we next look for the
equipage. Our kind friend, Mr. A , furnished us
with a tent and its oil-cloth bag, eight large heavy Mackina
blankets and an oil-cloth to spread on the ground at night,
lest the damp should strike through to the bedding. In
this same oil-cloth the bedding is wrapped up during the
day to keep it dry. Our good hostess, Mrs. L , added
two pillows, an unwonted luxury among voyageurs, but one
which was conceded to the presumed nicety of citizens
like us.
"Next in importance is the travelling basket; for this
also we were indebted to Mr. A . It resembles, both
in shape and size, a large oval clothes basket; has a cover
fastened on with hinges, a hasp, staple, and a padlock to
secure the contents.
"This basket is divided inside into one large and six
small compartments. In it are carried our cooking and
table apparatus, neither very extensive, viz. a frying-pan,
some tin cups, plates, knives and forks, spoons, a teapot,
and two small pewter cans. In the basket we also put part
of our viands, 'creature comforts,' as the dear old Puritans
called them, viz. a ham boiled, two bottles of wine, two ditto
5 The men sometimes demand a ration of whiskey ; it should never be
allowed them. Independent of all moral considerations, and having regard
only to the comfort of the trip, they should not be allowed a drop; they do
a great deal better without it
212
HISTORIC MACKINAC
of whiskey (which we ought not to have taken), salt an<
pepper, sugar, tea, biscuit, &c. &c.
"The stores for the men are laid in separately. We
allowed ours a pound of pork, a pound of biscuit, (ship
bread) and a pint of hulled corn per day per man. This
is a very large ration; these stores we gave in charge to
Cloutier.
"The men had but one cooking utensil, a large kettle,
which, when not in use, is put into a basket made to fit it.
We had a tea-kettle also in its wicker basket. Just be-
fore starting we added to our stores a bushel of potatoes;
in the cooking of which vegetable, even my modesty d(
not prevent my confessing that I excel.
"While we were busy engaging and collecting togethei
those various articles, Cloutier and his men took the canoe
from the lofts of the Company's store, where she had been
snugly stowed away, and brought her down to the water
side, where the old man, himself a canoe maker of no
mean fame, made a survey to ascertain her condition.
After due examination he reported favorably; she was in
good order, except that one of the thwarts had been broker
in getting her down from the loft; this, however, could
mended at any time, and for the present, she only neede
gumming.
"To this he now devoted himself.
"A piece of the resin of the Canada pine (it looks like
burgundy pitch, and is of the same nature, but here the
call it gum) is put into a frying-pan to melt; a small bit
of tallow is added, and when it is all melted and thoroughly
incorporated together, it is laid on the seams of the cam
with a flat stick. As it cannot be put on very smoothl}
in this way, they take a couple of brands in one hanc
DR. OILMAN'S LIFE ON THE LAKES 1835 213
and blowing to increase the heat, hold them near enough
to the seams to melt the gum; then wet the fingers with
spittle (your true voyageur is never a very cleanly animal)
press the gum down, and rub it smooth; spitting on it and
rubbing till it has a fine polish.
"In this way every seam in the canoe must be gone
over. This labour was at last completed, and Cloutier
went round the canoe to see if any spot wanted retouching;
nothing was imperfect. 'Bain, bain,' 6 said the old man to
himself; then shouted to his monde, *a Veau a I'eau.'
The men have no difficulty in lifting the canoe, and placing
her in the water. To be sure, they were compelled to wade
in half-leg deep, but this they seem not at all to regard.
It is all important that the canoe should never touch the
ground, as a stick or stone may tear a hole in her. Now
began the lading.
"First of all some long poles, a spare oar or two, and
two to three paddles are laid along the bottom. This
gives strength and stiffness, and enables the canoe to resist
the beating of the waves in going over rough seas. Next, a
frame, or rather a stout lattice-work, is laid on in the centre,
where the 'bourgeois' as the Canadians call the passengers,
are to sit. Something of the same sort is then put in the
stern of the canoe for the guide to stand upon. Now to
stow in the luggage. But first, I must tell you, that in all
cases the two center spaces between the thwarts are re-
served for the bourgeois. In this, then, the lattice-work
having been previously covered with an Indian mat by way
of a carpet, is laid our bedding, which, being rolled up in
the oil-cloth to the shape of a large pillow and placed
athwart the canoe, serves very well for a seat. The basket,
Meaning bien.
214
HISTORIC MACKINAC
a box filled with bread, our cloaks, &c. &c. are put into the
other space. The lading of the canoe finished, the voya-
geurs were dispatched for their bedding. They returned
after a little space, each carrying a little bundle wrapped up
in a mat, and tightly corded. These are placed in the for-
ward or after part of the canoe, due regard being had to
the trim of the boat; and now all is ready. With many
cordial shakes of the hand, and many kind wishes, we bid
our friends adieu, and step into our canoe. Here, however,
I committed a blunder, which had nearly proved the cause
of further delay. I stepped on one of the thwarts; the
slight thing bent under my weight, but fortunately did
not break. I seated myself on the bedding, the Major
sprang in and took his place beside me. Cloutier flour-
ishing his paddle over his head, brought it down into the
water with an air: 'Hoh! Hoh!' cried he, 'en avant.'
The voyageurs ply their light oars with short, quick strokes;
and Robert, whom Cloutier has already christened 'Le
Diable,' struck up a Chanson a rames, in the burthen of
which 'en partant, on dont chanter,' the men join keep-
ing time with their oars. And thus we part for the Pictured
Rocks."
CHAPTER IX
SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFTS DIARY AT
MACKINAC 1835-1841
AS announced by Schoolcraft, in the closing June
entry given in a previous chapter, his notices for
the years following are "few and far between," and
yet they make a voluminous collection. Those given in
this chapter are only a small part. 1 Their charm lies in
Schoolcraft's wide interest in human affairs, and in his
penetration. They embrace social events, boat arrivals,
visits from noted men and women, bits of correspondence,
notes on the climate, reflections on current events, the wild
life of the Island, Indian affairs, and many others. The
first entry given is dated April 21, 1835, motivated by a
letter recently received expressing doubts about the health-
fulness of the Island.
"The truth is, in relation to this position, the climate is
generally dry, and has no causes of disease in it. The air
is a perfect restorative to invalids, and never fails to
provoke appetite and health. It is already a partial resort
for persons out of health, and cannot fail to be appreciated
as a watering place in the summer months as the country
increases in population. To Chicago, St. Louis, Natchez,
and New Orleans, as well as Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati,
and Buffalo, I should presume it to be a perfect Montpelier
in the summer season.
1 Ibid., pp. 512-703.
215
216 HISTORIC MACKINAC
"May 6th. In the scenes of domestic and social and
moral significancy, which have rendered the Island a place
of delight to many persons during the seclusion of the
winter, no one has entered with a more pleasing zeal into
the area than a young man whose birth, I think, was not far
from the Rock of Plymouth. I shall call him Otwin. I
invited him to pass the winter as a guest in my house, where
his conversation, manners, and deep enthusiastic and poetic
feeling, and just determination of the moral obligation
in men, rendered him an agreeable inmate. He had a say-
ing and a text for almost everybody, but uttered all he
said in such a pleasing spirit as to give offence to none. He
was ever in the midst of those who came together to sing
and pray, and was quite a favorite with the soldiers of the
garrison. . . .
"July 2nd. The weather, for the entire month of June,
was most delightful and charming. On one of the latter
days of the month the fine and large steamer Michigan
came into the harbor, with a brilliant throng of visitors,
among the number the Secretary of War (Gen. Cass) and
his daughter. The arrival put joy and animation into
every countenance. The Secretary reviewed the troops,
and visited the Agency, and the workshops for the benefit
of the Indians. He, and the gay and brilliant throng,
visited whatever was curious and interesting, and embarked
on their return to Detroit, after receiving the warm con-
gratulations of the citizens. I took the occasion to accom-
pany the party to Detroit. . . .
"14j/i. I went to Round Island with Mr. Featherstone-
haugh and Lieut. Mather. Examined the ancient ossuaries
and the scenery on that island. Mr. F. is on his way to
the Upper Mississippi as a geologist in the service of the
SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFT'S DIARY 217
Topographical Bureau. He took a good deal of interest in
examining my cabinet, and proposed I should exchange the
Lake Superior minerals for the gold ores of Virginia, &c.
He showed me his idea of the geological column, and drew
it out. I accompanied him around the island, to view its
reticulated and agaric filled limestone cliffs; but derived
no certain information from him of the position of the
geological scale of this very striking stratum. It is, mani-
festly, the magnesian limestone of Conybeare and Phil-
lips, or muschelkalk of the Germans.
"Lieut. Mather brought me a letter from Major Whit-
ing, from which I learn that he has been professor of
mineralogy in the Military Academy at West Point. I
found him to be animated with a zeal for scientific dis-
covery, united with accurate and discriminating powers of
observation.
"Among my visitors about this time, none impressed me
more pleasingly than a young gentleman from Cincinnati
a graduate of Lane Seminary a Mr. Hastings, who
brought me a letter from a friend at Detroit. He appeared
to be imbued with the true spirit of piety, to be learned in
his vocation without ostentation, and discriminating with-
out ultraism. And he left me, after a brief stay, with an
impression that he was destined to enter the field of moral
instruction usefully to his fellow-men, believing that it is
far better to undertake to persuade than to drive men by
assault, as with cannon, from their strongholds of opinion.
"1835. August. The rage for investment in lands was
now manifest in every visitor that came from the East to
the West. Everybody, more or less, yielded to it. I saw
that friends, in whose prudence and judgment I had con-
fided for years, were engaged in it. I doubted the sound-
218
HISTORIC MACKINAC
ness of the ultra predictions which were based on every sort
of investment of this kind, whether of town property or
farming land, and held quite conservative opinions on the
subject, but yielded partially, and in a moderate way, to
the general impulse, by making some investments in Wis-
consin. Among other plans, an opinion arose that Michili-
mackinack must become a favorite watering place, or
refuge for the opulent and invalids during the summer;
and lots were eagerly bought up from Detroit and Chi-
cago. . . .
"29th. Dr. Julius, of Prussia, visited me, being on his
return from Chicago. He evinced a deep interest in the
history of the Indian race. He remarked the strong re-
semblance they bore in features and manners to the Asiatics.
He had remarked that the Pottawottomies seem like dogs,
which he observed was also the custom of the Tartars; but
that the eyes of the latter were set diagonally, whereas the
American Indians had theirs parallel. In other respects,
he saw great resemblances. He expressed himself as
greatly interested in the discovery of an oral literature
among the Indians, in the form of imaginative legends.
"Gen. Robert Patterson, of Philadelphia, with his daugh-
ter and niece, make a brief visit, on their way from Chicago
and the West, and view the curiosities of the Island. These
visits of gentlemen of wealth, to the great area of the upper
lakes, may be noticed as commencing with this year.
People seem to have suddenly waked up in the East, and
are just becoming aware that there is a West to which they
hie, in a measure, as one who hunts for a pleasant land
fancied in dreams. But the great Mississippi Valley is a
waking reality. Fifty years will tell her story on the popu-
lation and resources of the world.
SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFT'S DIARY 219
"[Sept.] 15th. The Great Lakes can no longer be re-
garded as solitary seas, where the Indian war-whoop has
alone for so many uncounted centuries startled its echoes.
The Eastern World seems to be alive, and roused up to the
value of the West. Every vessel, every steamboat, brings
up persons of all classes, whose countenances the desire
of acquisition, or some other motive, has rendered sharp,
or imparted a fresh glow of hope to their eyes. More per-
sons, of some note or distinction, natives or foreigners,
have visited me, and brought me letters of introduction
this season, than during years before. Sitting on my
piazza, in front of which the great stream of ships and
commerce passes, it is a spectacle at once novel, and cal-
culated to inspire high anticipations in the future glory of
the Mississippi Valley. . . .
"27th. Dr. C. R. Oilman, of New York, having, with
Major M. Hoffman, of Wall Street, paid me a visit and
made a picturesque 'trip to the Pictured Rocks of Lake
Superior,' writes me after his safe return to the city,
piquing himself on that adventure, after having exchanged
congratulations with his less enterprising city-loving
friends. It was certainly an event to be booked, that two
civilians so soldered down to the habits of city life in
different lines as the Doctor and the Major, should have
extended their summer excursion as far as Michilimack-
inack. But it was a farther evidence of enterprise, and
the love of the picturesque, that they should have taken an
Indian canoe, and a crew of engagees, at that point, and
ventured to visit the Pictured Rocks in Lake Superior.
Life on the Lakes (the title of Dr. G.'s book) was certainly
a widely different affair to Life in New York. . . .
"1836. July 5th. Dr. Follen and lady, of Cambridge,
220 HISTORIC MACKINAC
Mass., accompanied by Miss Martineau, of England, vis-
ited me in the morning, having landed in the ship Milwau-
kee. They had, previously, visited the chief curiosities
and sights on the Island. Miss Martineau expressed her
gratification in having visited the upper lakes and the Is-
land. She said she had, from early childhood, felt an
interest in them. I remarked, that I supposed she had
seen enough of America and the Americans, to have formed
a definite opinion, and asked her what she thought of
them? She said she had not asked herself that question.
She had hardly made up an opinion, and did not know what
it might be, on getting back to England. She thought
society hardly formed here, that it was rather early to
express opinions; but she thought favorably of the elements
of such a mixed society, as suited to lead to the most liberal
traits. She spoke highly of Cincinnati, and some other
places, and expressed an enthusiastic admiration for the
natural beauties of Michilimackinack. She said she had
been nearly two years in America, and was now going to
the seaboard to embark on her return to England. . . .
"27th. A friend writes from Detroit: 'Lord Selkirk,
from Scotland, is on his route to Lake Superior, and, as
he passes through Mackinac, I write to introduce him to
you, as a gentleman with whom you would be pleased to
have more than a transient association. The name of his
father is connected with many north-western events of much
interest and notoriety, and a most agreeable recollection
of his mother, Lady Selkirk, has recommended him strongly
to our kindness. I feel assured you will befriend him, in
the way of information, as to the best means of getting on
to the Sault St. Marie.'
> SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFTS DIARY 221
"I found the bearer an easy, quiet, young gentleman,
with not the least air of pretence or superciliousness, and
one of those men to whom attentions ever become a pleas-
ure. . . .
"29th. Baron de Behr, Minister of Belgium, presented
himself at my office. He was cordially received, although
bringing me no letter to apprize me of his official standing
at Washington. He had been to the Sault Ste. Marie, and
visited the entrance into Lake Superior. He presented me
a petrification picked up on Drummond Island, and looked
at my cabinet with interest. . . .
"Oct. Ylth. Old friends from Middlebury, Vermont,
came up in a steamer bound to Green Bay, among whom I
was happy to recognize Mrs. Henshaw, mother of the
Bishop of that name of Rhode Island.
"18th. Alfred Schoolcraft, who had commenced the
study of ornithology with decided ability, hands me the fol-
lowing list of birds, which have been observed to extend
their visits to this Island and the basin of Lake Huron:
"Brown Thrush, Cedar Bird, Canada Jay, Crow, House
Wren, Blue Jay, Raven, Snow Bird, Sing Cicily, Robin,
Red Winged Starling, Goldfinch, Little Owl, Sparrow
Hawk, Golden Plover, Woodcock, Green Winged Teal,
Wood Duck, Golden Eyed Duck, Hopping Crane, King-
fisher, Loon, Partridge.
"1837 [March] 8th. The American Board of Commis-
sioners for Foreign Missions decline $6000 for the aban-
doned missionary house at Mackinac, offered under the
view of its being converted into a dormitory for receiving
Indian visitors at that point under the provisions of the
treaty of 1836. . . .
222 HISTORIC MACKINAC
"May 26th. Received a letter of introduction from
Governor Mason, by Mr. Massingberd, of England, an in-
telligent and estimable traveler in America.
"27th. Dr. Edward Spring, son of the Rev. Gardiner
Spring, of New York, visits the Island with the view of a
temporary practice. . . .
"July 26th. Mrs. Jameson embarks in an open boat for
Sault Ste. Marie, accompanied by Mrs. Schoolcraft, after
having spent a short time as a most intelligent and agree-
able inmate under our roof. This lady, respecting whom
I had received letters from my brother-in-law Mr. McMur-
ray, a clergyman of Canada West, evinced a most familiar
knowledge of artistic life and society in England and Ger-
many. Her acquaintance with Goethe, and other distin-
guished writers, gave a life and piquancy to her conversa-
tion and anecdotes, which made us cherish her society the
more. She is, herself, an eminent landscape painter, or
rather sketcher in crayon, and had her portfolio ever in
hand. She did not hesitate freely to walk out to promi-
nent points, of which the Island has many, to complete her
sketches. This freedom from restraint in her motions,
was an agreeable trait in a person of her literary tastes
and abilities. She took a very lively interest in the Indian
race, and their manners and customs, doubtless with views
of benevolence for them as a peculiar race of man, but
also as a fine subject of artistic observation. Notwith-
standing her strong author-like traits and peculiarities, we
thought her a woman of hearty and warm affections and
attachments; the want of which, in her friends, we think she
would exquisitely feel.
"Mrs. Jameson several times came into the office and
heard the Indians speaking. She also stepped out on the
SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFTS DIARY 223
piazza and saw the wild Indians dancing; she evidently
looked on with the eye of a Claude Lorraine or Michael
Angelo. . . .
"Aug. 2nd. Capt. Marry att came up in the steamer of
last night. A friend writes: *He is one of Smollett's sea
captains much more of the Trunnion than one would
have expected to find in a literary man. Stick Mackinac
into him, with all its rock-osities. He is not much dis-
posed to the admirari without the nil affects little en-
thusiasm about anything, and perhaps feels as little." He
turned out here a perfect sea-urchin, ugly, rough, ill-man-
nered, and conceited beyond all bounds. Solomon says,
'answer not a fool according to his folly,' so I paid him
all attention, drove him over the Island in my carriage, and
rigged him out with my canoe-elege to go to St. Mary's.
"3rd. George Tucker, Professor in the University of
Virginia, came up in the last steamer. I hasted, while he
stayed, to drive him out and show off the curiosities of the
Island to the best advantage.
"5th. Mrs. Schoolcraft writes from the Sault, that Mrs.
Jameson and the children suffered much on the trip to
that place from mosquitoes, but by dint of a douceur of
five dollars extra to the men, which Mrs. Jameson made
to the crew, they rowed all night, from Sailor's encamp-
ment, and reached the Sault at 6 o'clock in the morning.
*I feel delighted,' she says, *at my having come with Mrs.
Jameson, as I found that she did not know how to get
along at all, at all. Mr. McMurray and family and Mrs.
Jameson started off on Tuesday morning for Manitouline
with a fair wind and fair day, and I think they have had a
fine voyage down. Poor Mrs. Jameson cried heartily when
she parted with me and my children; she is indeed a woman
.--- .'
ft
224 HISTORIC MACKINAC
in a thousand. While here, George came down the rapids
with her in fine style and spirits. She insisted on being
baptized and named in Indian, after her sail down the falls.
We named her Was-sa-je-wun-e-qua (Woman of the Bright
Stream) with which she was mightily pleased."
"[9th~\. Mr. Ord, recently appointed a sub-agent in
this superintendency, reaches the Island. He is the second
person I have known who has made the names of his chil-
dren an object of singularity. Mr. Stickney, who figured
prominently in the Toledo War, called his male children
One, Two, &c. Mr. Ord has not evidently differed in
this respect from general custom, for the same reason,
namely, an objection to Christian prejudice for John and
James, or Aaron and Moses. He has simply given them
Latin nominatives, from the mere love he has apparently
for that tongue. I believe he was formerly a Georgetown
professor.
"Capt. Marryatt embarked on board the steamer Michi-
gan, on his return from the Island, after having spent sev-
eral days in a social visit, including a trip to the Sault, in
company with Mr. Lay, of Batavia. While here, I saw a
good deal of the novelist. His manner and style of con-
versation appeared to be those of a sailor, and such as we
should look for in his own Peter Simple. Temperance
and religion, if not morality, were to him mere cant words,
and whether he was observed, either before dinner or after
dinner in the parlor or out of it his words and manners
were anything but those of a quiet, modest, English gentle-
man.
"I drove Mr. Lay and himself out one day after dinner
to see the curiosities of the Island. He would insist walk-
ing over the arched rock. 'It is a fearful and dizzy height.'
SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFTS DIARY 225
When on the top he stumbled. My heart was in my throat ;
I thought he would have been hurled to the rocks below
and dashed to a thousand pieces; but, like a true sailor,
he crouched down, as if on a yard-arm, and again arose
and completed his perilous walk.
"We spoke of railroads. He said they were not built
permanently in this country, and attributed the fault to
our excessive go-aheadiveness. Mr. Lay: 'True; but if
we expended the sums you do in such works, they could
not be built at all. They answer a present purpose, and
we can afford to renew them in a few years from their own
profits.'
"The captain's knowledge of natural history was not
precise. He aimed to be knowing when it was difficult to
conceal ignorance. He called some well-characterized
species of septaria in my cabinet pudding-stone, beautiful
specimens of limpid hexagonal crystals of quartz, common
quartz, &c.
"Mr. George P. Marsh, of Vermont, brings me a letter
of introduction. This gentleman has the quiet easy air of
a man who has seen the world. His fine taste and acquire-
ments have procured him a wide reputation. His transla-
tion of Rusk's Icelandic Grammar is a scholar-like per-
formance, and every way indicative of the propensities of
his mind for philological studies. . . .
"13f/L Early one morning I was agreeably surprised
by the arrival of Mrs. Jameson, whom I had previously
expected to spend some time with me, and found her a most
agreeable, refined and intelligent guest, with none of the
supercilious and conceited airs, which I had noticed in
some of her traveling countrywomen of the class of
authors.
226 HISTORIC MACKINAC
"1837. Aug. 16th. A Mr. Nathan, an English traveler,
of quiet and pleasing manners, was introduced. He had
been to St. Mary's Falls, and to the magnificent entrance
into Lake Superior, of whose fine scenery he spoke in terms
of admiration. It seems to me that Englishmen and Eng-
lishwomen, for I have had a good many of both sexes to
visit me recently, look on America very much as one does
when he peeps through a magnifying glass on pictures of
foreign scenes, and the picturesque ruins of old cities, and
the like. They are really very fine, but it is difficult to
realize that such things are. It is all an optical deception.
"It was clearly so with Marryatt, a very superficial ob-
server; Miss Martineau, who was in search of something
ultra and elementary, and even Mrs. Jameson, who had the
most accurate and artistic eye of all, but who, with the
exception of some bits of womanly heart, appeared to re-
gard our vast woods, and wilds, and lakes, as a magnificent
panorama, a painting in oil. It does not appear to occur
to them, that here are the very descendants of that old Saxa-
Gothic race who sacked Rome, who banished the Stuarts
from the English throne, and who have ever, in all positions,
used all their might to battle tyranny and oppression, who
hate taxations as they hate snakes, and whose day and
night dreams have ever been of liberty, that dear cry of
Freiheit, whichever [has] made 'Germania' ring. It has
appeared to me to be very much the same with the Austrian
and Italian functionaries who have wandered as far as
Michilimackinack within a few years, but who are yet more
slow to appreciate our institutions than the English. The
whole problem of our system, one would judge, seems to
them like 'apples of ashes,' instead of the golden fruits of
Hesperides. They alike mistake realities for fancies; real
SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFT'S DIARY 227
states of flesh and blood, bone and muscle, for cosmoramic
pictures on a wall. They do not appear to dream how fast
our millions reduplicate, what triumphs the plow, and the
engine, and loom, are making, how the principles of a well
guarded representative system are spreading over the world,
and what indomitable moral, and sound inductive principles
lie at the bottom of the whole fabric.
"2Qth. Mrs. Jameson writes to Mrs. Schoolcraft, from
Toronto: 4 If I were to begin by expressing all the pain it
gave me to part from you, I should not know when or
where to end. I do sometimes thank God, that in many
different countries I possess friends worthy that name; kind
hearts that feel with and for me; hearts upon which my own
could be satisfied to rest; but then that parting, that forced,
and often hopeless separation which too often follows such
a meeting, makes me repine. I will not say, pettishly,
that I could wish never to have known or seen a treasure
I cannot possess: no! how can I think of you and feel
regret that I have known you? As long as I live, the
impression of your kindness, and of your character alto-
gether, remains with me; your image will often come back
to me, and I dare to hope that you will not forget me
quite. I am not so unreasonable as to ask you to write
to me; I know too well how entirely your time is occupied
to presume to claim even a few moments of it, and it is
a pity, for *we do not live by bread alone,* and every
faculty and affection implanted in us by the good God of
nature, craves the food which he has prepared for it, even
in this world; so that I do wish you had a little leisure
from eating and drinking, cares and household matters,
to bestow on less important things, on me for instance! poor
little me, at the other side of the world.
228 HISTORIC MACKINAC
"Mrs. McMurray has told you the incidents of our voy-
age to the Manitouline Island, from thence to Toronto; it
was all delightful; the most extraordinary scenery I ever
beheld, the wildest! I recall it as a dream. I arrived at
my own house at three o'clock on the morning of the 13th,
tired and much eaten by those abominable mosquitoes, but
otherwise better in health than I have been for many
months. Still I have but imperfectly achieved the object
of my journey; and I feel that, though I seized on my
return every opportunity of seeing and visiting the Indian
lodges, I know but too little of them, of the women particu-
larly. If only I had been able to talk a little more to my
dear Neengay! how often I think of her with regret, and
of you all! But it is in vain to repine. I must be thankful
for what I have gained, what I have seen and done! I
have written to Mrs. McMurray, and troubled her with
several questions relative to the women. I remark gen-
erally, that the propiniquity of the white man is destruc-
tive to the red man; and the farther the Indians are removed
from us, the better for them. In their own woods, they are
a noble race; brought near to us, a degraded and stupid
race. We are destroying them off" the face of the earth.
May God forgive us our tyranny, our avarice, our ignor-
ance, for it is very terrible to think of!' . . .
"23rd. A poor decrepit Indian woman, who was aban-
doned on the beach by her relatives some ten days ago,
applied for relief. It is found that she has been indebted
for food in the interim to the benevolence of Mrs. Lafrom-
boise. . . .
"Sept. 15th. The payments are finished, and the Indians
begin to disperse. I invested Kabay Noden with his fath-
er's medal, and his uncle, Muckadaywuckwut, with a flag;
IfARQUETTE STATLE, MARQl ETTE PARK
Mackinac Island
u:
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SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFT'S DIARY 229
recommending at the same time the division of the St.
Mary's Chippewas into three bands, agreeably to fixed
geographical boundaries.
"23rd. The Indians Akukojeesh and Akawoway
brought a case of salvage for my action. They had found
a new carriage body, and harness; a box of 7 by 9 glass,
and 18 chairs, floating on the lake (Huron), N. E. of the
Island. They supposed the articles had been thrown over-
board in a recent storm, or by a vessel aground on the point
of Goose Island, called Nekuhmenis. The Nekuh is a
brant.
"30th. Chusco dies.
"Completed and transmitted the returns and abstracts
of the year's proceedings and expenditures.
"Oct. 1st. Sent the interpreter and farmers of the
Department to perform the funeral rites for Chusco, the
Ottawa jossakeed, who died yesterday at the house erected
for him on Round Island. He was about 70 years of age;
a small man, of light frame, and walked a little bent. He
had an expression of cunning and knowingness, which
induced his people, when young, to think he resembled the
muskrat, just rising from the water after a dive. This trait
was implied by his name. For many years he had acted
as a jossakeed, or seer, for his tribe. In this business he
told me that the powers he relied on, were the spirits of
the tortoise, crow, swan, and woodpecker. These he con-
sidered his familiar spirits, who received their miraculous
power to aid him directly from Mudjee Moneto, or the
Great Evil Spirit. After the establishment of the Mission
at Mackinac, his wife embraced Christianity. This made
him mad. At length his mind ran so much on the theme,
that he fell into doubts and glooms when thinking it over,
230 HISTORIC MACKINAC
and finally embraced Christianity himself; and he was
admitted, after a probation of a year or two, to church
membership. I asked him, after this period, how he had
deceived his people by the art of powwowing, or jug-
glery. He said that he had accomplished it by the direct
influence of Satan. He had addressed him, on these occa-
sions and sung his songs to him, beating the drum or
shaking the rattle. He adhered firmly to this opinion.
He appeared to have great faith in the atonement of
Christ, and relied with extraordinary simplicity upon it.
He gave a striking proof of this, the autumn after his
conversion, when he went with his wife, according to cus-
tom, to dig his potatoes on a neighboring island. The
wife immediately began to dig. 'Stop,' said he, 'let us
first kneel and return thanks for their growth.' He was
aware of his former weakness on the subject of strong
drink, and would not indulge in it after he became a church
member. . . .
"27th. The first snow falls for the season. . . .
"Nov. llth. Embarked at Mackinac on board the
steamer Madison, for the lower country.
"13th. Arrived at Detroit, and resumed the duties of
the superintendency at that point. . . .
"Dec. 1st. Mr. Hamill, of Lawrenceville, N. J., re-
sponds to my inquiry for a suitable school for my son
a matter respecting which I am just now very solicit-
ous. . . .
"[1838 Jan.] 16th. Received the first winter express
from Mackinac, transmitting reports from the various
persons in official employ there. They report a great
storm at that place on the 8th and 9th of December, 1837,
in the course of which the light-house on Boisblanc was
SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFTS DIARY 231
blown down, and other damage done by the rise of
water. . . .
"26th. Completed the revision of a body of Indian oral
legends, collected during many years with labor. These
oral tales show up the Indian in a new light. Their chief
value consists in their exhibition of aboriginal opinions.
But, if published, incredulity will start up critics to call
their authenticity in question. There are so many Indian
tales fancied, by writers, that it will hardly be admitted
that there exist any real legends, If there be any literary
labor which has cost me more than usual pains, it is this.
I have weeded out many vulgarisms. I have endeavored to
restore the simplicity of the original style. In this I have
not always fully succeeded, and it has been sometimes
found necessary to avoid incongruity, to break a legend
in two, or cut it short off. . . .
"30th. Transmit to Washington a plan and estimates
for building a dormitory at Mackinac, under the pro-
vision of the treaty of March, 1836. Such a building has
been long called for at that point, where the Indians are
often sojourners, without a place to sleep, or cook the pro-
visions furnished them. . . .
"[April] 2lst. Having passed the winter at Detroit,
I left the Superintendency office in charge of Mr. Lee, an
efficient clerk, and embraced the sailing of one of the
earliest vessels for the Upper Lakes, to return to Michili-
mackinac. Winter still showed some of its aspects there,
although gardening at Detroit had been commenced for
weeks. . . .
"June 2nd. I proceeded, during the latter part of May,
to visit the Ottawas of the southern part of Michigan, to
inquire about their schools under the treaty of '36, and to
232 HISTORIC MACKINAC
learn, personally, their condition during the state of the
rapid settlements pressing around them. I went to Chicago
by steamboat, and there found a schooner for Grand River.
Here I was pleased to meet our old pastor, Mr. Ferry, as
a proprietor and pastor of the newly-planned town of
Grand Haven. I had to wait here, some days, for a con-
veyance to the Grand Rapids, which gave me time to ram-
ble, with my little son, about the sandy eminences of the
neighborhood, and to pluck the early spring flowers in the
valley. The Washtenong, a small steamer with a stern-
wheel, in due time carried us up. Among the passengers
was an emigrant English family from Canada, who landed
at a log house in the woods. I was invited, at the Rapids,
to take lodgings with Mr. Lewis Campeau, the proprietor
of the village. The fall of Grand River here creates an
ample water power. The surrounding country is one of
the most beautiful and fertile imaginable, and its rise to
wealth and populousness must be a mere question of time,
and that time hurried on by a speed that is astonishing.
This generation will hardly be in their graves before it will
have the growth and improvements which, in other coun-
tries, are the results of centuries. . . .
"18th. The plethora of success which has animated
every department of life and business, puffing them up like
gas in a balloon, since about '35 has departed and left the
fiscal system perfectly flaccid and lifeless. The rage for
speculation in real estate has absorbed all loose cash, and
the country is now groaning for its fast-locked circulating
medium. A friend at Detroit writes: 'With fifty thou-
sand dollars of productive real estate in the city, and as
much more in stocks and mortgages, I am absolutely in
want of small sums to pay my current expenses, and to
. SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFTS DIARY 233
rid myself of the mortification produced by this feeling I
am prepared to make almost any sacrifice.'
"July 23d. Public business calling me to Washington,
I left Mackinac late in June, and, pushing day and night,
reached that city on the 9th of July. The day of my arrival
was a hot one, and, during our temporary stop in the cars
between the Relay House and Bladensburg, some pick-
pockets eased me of my pocket-book, containing a treasury-
note for $50, about $60 in bills, and sundry papers. The
man must have been a genteel and well-dressed fellow, for
I conversed with none other, and very adroit at his busi-
ness. I did not discover my loss till reaching the hotel, and
all inquiry was then fruitless. After four days I again
set out for the North in an immense train of cars, having
half of Congress aboard, as they had just adjourned, and
reached Mackinac about the tenth day's travel. This
was a toilsome trip, the whole journey to the seat of gov-
ernment and back, say 2,000 miles, being made in some
twenty-five days, all stops inclusive.
"31sJ. I set out this day from Mackinac in a boat for
Lake Superior and the Straits of St. Mary, for the purpose
of estimating the value of the Indian improvements North,
under the 8th Art. of the treaty of March 28th. The
weather being fine, and anticipating no high winds at this
season, I determined, as a means of health and recreation,
to take Mrs. S. and her niece, Julia, a maid, and the chil-
dren along, having tents and every camping apparatus to
make the trip a pleasant one. My boat was one of the
largest and best of those usually employed in the trade,
manned with seven rowers and provided with a mast and
sails. An awning was prepared to cover the centre-bar,
which was furnished with seats made of our rolled-up
234 HISTORIC MACKINAC
beds. Magazines, a spy-glass, &c., &c., served to while
away the time, and a well-furnished mess-basket served to
make us quite easy in that department. At Sault St. Marie
I took on board Mr. Placidus Ord to keep the record of
appraisements.
"While here, the notorious John Tanner, who had been
on very ill terms with the civilized world for many years
for no reason, it seems, but that it would not support
him in idleness this man, whose thoughts were bitter and
suspicious of every one, followed me one day unperceived
into a canoe-house, where I had gone alone to inspect a
newly-made canoe. He began to talk after his manner,
when, lifting my eyes to meet his glance, I saw mischief
evidently, in their cold, malicious, bandit air, and, looking
him determinedly in the eyes, instantly raised my heavy
walking-cane, confronted him with the declaration of his
secret purpose with a degree of decision of tone and manner
which caused him to step back out of the open door and
leave the premises. I was perfectly surprised at his das-
tardly movement, for I had supposed him before to be a
brave man, and I heard or saw no more of him while
there. 2
"Tanner was stolen by old Kishkako, the Saginaw, from
Kentucky, when he was a boy of about nine years old. He
is now a gray-headed, hard-featured old man, whose feel-
ings are at war with every one on earth, white and red.
Every attempt to meliorate his manners and Indian notions,
has failed. He has invariably misapprehended them, and
is more suspicious, revengeful, and bad tempered than any
Indian I ever knew. Dr. James, who made, by the way, a
2 Eight years afterwards, namely, in July, 1846, this lawless vagabond
waylaid and shot my brother James, having concealed himself in a cedar
thicket.
SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFTS DIARY 235
mere pack-horse of Indian opinions of him, did not suspect
his fidelity, and put many things in his narrative which
made the whites about St. Mary's call him an old liar.
This enraged him against the Doctor, whom he threatened
to kill. He had served me awhile as an interpreter, and,
while thus employed, he went to Detroit, and was pleased
with a country girl, who was a chamber-maid at old Ben.
Woodworth's hotel. He married her, but, after having one
child, and living with him a year, she was glad to escape
with life, and, under the plea of a visit, made some arrange-
ment with the ladies of Fort Brady to slip off on board of a
vessel, and so eluded him. The Legislature afterwards
granted her a divorce. He blamed me for the escape,
though I was entirely ignorant of its execution, and knew
nothing of it, till it had transpired.
"In this trip to the North, I called on the Indians to
show me their old fields and gardens at every point.
"It was found that there were eight geographical bands,
consisting of separate villages, living on the ceded tract.
The whole population of these did not exceed, by a close
count, 569 souls. The population had evidently deterior-
ated from the days of the French and British rule, when
game was abundant. This was the tradition they gave, and
was proved by the comparatively large old fields, not now
in cultivation, particularly at Portagunisee, at various
points on the Straits of St. Mary's, and at Grand Island and
its coasts on Lake Superior.
"They cultivate chiefly, the potato, and retire in the
spring to certain points, where the Acer saccharinum
abounds, and all rely on the quantity of maple sugar made.
This is eaten by all, and appears to have a fattening effect,
particularly on the children. The season of sugar-making
236 HISTORIC MACKINAC
is indeed a sort of carnival, at which there is general joy
and hilarity. The whole number of acres found in cul-
tivation by individuals, was 125% acres; and by bands,
and in common, 100% acres, which would give an average
of a little over % of an acre per soul. Even this is
thought high. There were 1459 acres of old fields, partly
run up in brush. There were also 3162 acres of abandoned
village sites, where not a soul lived. I counted 27 dwell-
ings which had a fixity, and nineteen apple trees in the
forest. In proportion as they had little, they set a high
value on it, and insisted on showing everything, and they
gave me a good deal of information. The whole sum
appraised to individuals was $3,428.25; and to collective
bands, $11,173.50.
"While off the mural coast of the Pictured Rocks, the
lake was perfectly calm, and the wind hushed. I directed
the men to row in to the cave or opening of the part where
the water has made the most striking inroad upon the solid
coast. This coast is a coarse sandstone, easily disinte-
grated. I doubted if the oarsmen could enter without pull-
ing in their oars. But nothing seemed easier when we
attempted it. They, in fact, rowed us, in a few moments,
masts standing, into a most extraordinary and gigantic
cave, under the loftiest part of the coast. I thought of the
rotunda in the Capitol at Washington, as giving some idea of
its vastness, but nothing of its dark and sombre appearance,
its vast side arches, and the singular influence of the light
beaming in from the open lake. I took out my note-book
and drew a sketch of this very unique view.
"The next day the calmness continued on the lake, and I
took advantage of it to visit the dimly seen island in the
lake, off Presque Isle and Granite Point, called Nabikwon
SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFT'S DIARY 237
by the Indians, from the effects of mirage. Its deep vol-
canic chasms, and upheaved rocks, tell a story of mighty
elemental conflicts in the season of storms; but it did not
reward me with much in the way of natural history, except
in geological specimens. . . .
Aug. 25th. Returned to Michilimackinac, at a quarter
past one o'clock, A. M., from my trip to the north, for the
appraisal of the Indian improvements. . . .
"Sept. 20th. Count Castleneau, a French gentleman on
his travels in America, brings me a note of introduction
from a friend. I was impressed with his suavity of man-
ners, and the interest he manifested in natural history, and
furnished him some of our characteristic northern speci-
mens in mineralogy. I understood him to say, in some
familiar conversation, that he was the descendant of a child
saved accidentally at the memorable massacre of St. Bar-
tholomew's. . . .
"Oct. 1st. The steamer Madison arrived with a crowd
of emigrants for the west, one of whom had died on the
passage from Detroit. It proved to be a young man named
Jesse Cummings, from Groton, N. H., a member of the
Congregational Church of that place. Having no pastor,
I conducted the religious observance of the funeral, and
selected a spot for his burial, in a high part of the Presby-
terian burial ground, towards the N. E., where a few loose
stones were gathered to mark the place. . . .
"3rd. Mrs. Therese Schindler, a daughter of a former
factor of the N. W. Company at Mackinac, visited the
office. I inquired her age. She replied 63, which would
give the year 1775 as her birth. Having lived through a
historical era of much interest, on this Island, and possess-
ing her faculties unimpaired, I obtained the following facts
238 HISTORIC MACKINAC
from her. The British commanding officers remembered
by her were Sinclair, Robinson, and Doyle. The inter-
preters acting under them, extending to a later period, were
Charles Gothier, Lamott, Charles Chabollier, and John
Askin. The first interpreter here was Hans, a half-breed,
and father to the present chief Ance, of Point St. Ignace.
His father had been a Hollander, as the name implies.
Langlade was the interpreter at old Fort Michilimackinac,
on the main, at the massacre. She says she recollects the
transference of the post to the Island. If so, that event
could not have happened, so as to be recollected by her, till
about 1780. Askin went along with the British troops on
the final surrender of the Island to the Americans in 1796,
and returned in the surprise and taking of the Island in
1812. . . .
"8th. The Rev. Mr. Fleming and the Rev. Mr. Dough-
erty arrived as missionaries under the Presbyterian Board
at New York. . . .
"llth. First frost at Mackinac for the season. . . .
"I3th. Finished grading and planting trees in front of
the dormitory. . . .
"29th. I reached Detroit this day, with my family, in
the new steamer Illinois, having had a pleasant passage for
the season, from Mackinac. The style of the lake steam-
boats is greatly improved within the last few years, and one
of the first-class boats bears no slight resemblance to a
floating parlor, where every attention and comfort is
promptly provided. He must be fastidious, indeed, who is
not pleased. . . .
"Nov. 14>th. I embarked in a steamer, with my family,
for New York, having the double object of placing my
SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFTS DIARY 239
children at eligible boarding-schools, and seeking the reno-
vation of Mrs. S 's health. . . .
" 'Hurry,' was the word on all parts of our route; but,
after reaching the Hudson, we felt more at ease, and we
reached New York and got into lodgings, on the evening of
the 24th (Nov.). The next day was celebrated, to the joy
of the children, as *Evacuation Day,' by brilliant display
of the military, our windows overlooking the Park, which
was the focus of this turnout. . . .
"Dec. 6th. I visited Mr. Gallatin at his house in
Bleecker Street, and spent the entire morning in listening
to his instructive conversation, in the course of which he
spoke of early education, geometric arithmetic, the prin-
ciples of languages and history, American and Euro-
pean. . . .
"22^. I left New York on the 12th, in the cars, with
Mrs. Schoolcraft and the children, for Washington, stop-
ping at the Princeton depot, and taking a carriage for
Princeton. I determined to leave my son at the Round
Hill School, in charge of Mr. Hart, and the next day went
to Philadelphia, where I accepted the invitation of Gen.
Robert Patterson to spend a few days at his tasteful man-
sion in Locust Street. I visited the Academy of Natural
Sciences, and examined Dr. Samuel George Morton's exten-
sive collection of Indian crania. While here, I placed my
daughter in the private school of the Misses Guild, South
Fourth Street. I attended one of the 'Wistar parties' of
the season, on the 15th, at Mr. Lea's, the distinguished book-
seller and conchologist, and reached the city of Washing-
ton on the 21st, taking lodgings at my excellent friends, the
Miss Polks.
240 HISTORIC MACKINAC
"27th. Visited Mr. Paulding (Secretary of the Navy)
in the evening. Found him a rather aged bald-headed
man, of striking physiognomy, prominent intellectual devel-
opments, and easy dignified manners. It was pleasing to
recognize one of the prominent authors of Salmagundi,
which I had read in my schoolboy days, and never even
hoped to see that author of this bit of fun in our incipient
literature. For it is upon this, and the still higher effort
of Irving's facetious History of New York, that we must
base our imaginative literature. They first taught us that
we had a right to laugh. We were going on, on so very stiff
a model, that, without the Knickerbocker, we should not
have found it out.
"28fA. I prepared a list of queries for the department,
designed to elicit a more precise and reliable account of the
Indian tribes than has yet appeared. It is astonishing how
much gross error exists in the popular mind respecting their
true character.
"Talk of an Indian why the very stare
Says, plain as language, Sir, have you been there?
Do tell me, has a Pottowottomie a soul,
And have the tribes a language? Now that's droll
They tell me some have tails like wolves, and others claws,
Those Winnebagoes, and Piankashaws.
"1839. Jan. 1st. I called, amid the throng, on the
President. His manners were bland and conciliatory. . . .
"IQth. Attended a general and crowded party at Gen.
Macomb's, in the evening, with Mrs. Schoolcraft. The
General has always appeared to me a perfect amateur in
military science, although he has distinguished himself in
the field. He is a most polished and easy man in all posi-
tions in society, and there is an air and manner by which he
SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFTS DIARY, 241
constantly reveals his French blood. He has a keen per-
ception of the ridiculous, and a nice appreciation of the
mock gravity of the heroic in character, and related to me
a very effective scene of this latter kind, which occurred
at Mr. John Johnston's, at St. Mary's Falls, on the close of
the late war. . . .
"llth. Left Washington, with my family, in the cars for
Baltimore, where we lodged; reached Philadelphia the
next day, at four P. M.; remained the 13th and 14th, and
reached New York on the 16th, at 4 o'clock P. M.
"14fA. Mrs. Schoolcraft, having left her children at
school, at Philadelphia and Princeton, remained pensive,
and wrote the following lines in the Indian tongue, on part-
ing from them, which I thought so just that I made a trans-
lation of them.
Ah ! when thought reverts to my country so dear,
My heart fills with pleasure, and throbs with a fear:
My country, my country, my own native land,
So lovely in aspect, in feature so grand,
Far, far in the West, What are cities to me,
Oh! land of my mother, compared unto thee?
Fair land of the lakes! thou art blest to my sight,
With thy beaming bright waters, and landscapes of light;
The breeze and the murmur, the dash and the roar,
That summer and autumn cast over the shore,
They spring to my thoughts, like the lullaby tongue,
That soothed me to slumber when youthful and young.
One feeling more strongly still binds me to thee,
There roved my forefathers, in liberty free
There shook they the war lance, and sported the plume,
Ere Europe had cast o'er this country a gloom;
Nor thought they that kingdoms more happy could be,
While lords of a land so resplendant and free.
242 HISTORIC MACKINAC
Yet it is not alone that my country is fair,
And my home and my friends are inviting me there ;
While they beckon me onward, my heart is still here,
With my sweet lovely daughter, and bonny boy dear:
And oh! what's the joy that a home can impart,
Removed from the dear ones who cling to my heart.
It is learning that calls them; but tell me, can schools
Repay for my love, or give nature new rules?
They may teach them the lore of the wit and the sage,
To be grave in their youth, and be gay in their age;
But ah ! my poor heart, what are schools to thy view,
While severed from children thou lovest so true!
I return to my country, I haste on my way,
For duty commands me, and duty must sway;
Yet I leave the bright land where my little ones dwell,
With a sober regret, and a bitter farewell;
For there I must leave the dear jewels I love,
The dearest of gifts from my Master above.
"NEW YORK, March 18th, 1839.
"18th. 1 received instructions from Washington, to
form a treaty with the Saginaws, for the cession of a tract of
ground on which to build a light-house on Saginaw Bay.
"The next letter I opened was from Mrs. Jameson, of
London, who writes that her plan of publication is, to divide
the profits with her publishers, and, as these are honest men
and gentlemen, she has found that the best way. She ad-
vises me to adopt the same course with respect to my Indian
legends. 3
" 'I published,' she says, 'in my little journal, one or two
legends which Mrs. Schoolcraft gave me, and they have ex-
8 I followed this advice, but fell into the hands of the Philistines.
SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFT'S DIARY 243
cited very general interest. The more exactly you can (in
translation) adhere to the style of the language of the In-
dian nations, instead of emulating a fine or correct English
style the more characteristic in all respects the more
original the more interesting your work will be.' . . .
"24-J/i. Called on Mr. Ramsey Crooks, president of the
American Fur Company, at his counting-house, in Ann
street. He gave me an interesting sketch of his late tour
from La Pointe, Lake Superior, to the Mississippi. . . .
"Feb. 4j/i. Mr. James H. Lanman writes respecting the
prospects of his publishing a history of Michigan a sub-
ject which I gave him every encouragement to go forward
in, while he lived in that State.
"21sf. Mr. Bancroft writes me, giving every encour-
agement to bring forward before the public my collections
and researches on Indian history and language, and ex-
pressing his opinion of success, unless I should be 'cursed
with a bad publisher.*
' 'Father Duponceau,' he says, 'won his prize out of your
books, and Gallatin owes much to you. Go on; persevere;
build a monument to yourself and the unhappy Algonquin
race.'
"Making every allowance for Mr. Bancroft's enthusiastic
way of speaking, it yet appears to me that I should en-
deavor to publish the results of investigations of Indian
subjects. My connection with the Johnston family has
thrown open to me the whole arcanum of the Indian's
thoughts. . . .
"1839. April 19th. A singular denouement is made
this morning, which appeals strongly to my feelings. On
getting in the stage at Vernon, in Western New York, a
gentleman of easy manners, good figure, and polite ad-
244 HISTORIC MACKINAC
dress, whom we will call Theodoric, kindly made way for
me and my family, which led us to notice him, and we trav-
eled together quite to Detroit, and put up at the same hotel.
This morning a note from him reveals him to be a young
Virginian, seeking his fortune west, and out of funds, and
makes precisely such an appeal as it is hard, and wrong
in fact, to resist. I told Theodoric to take his trunk and go,
by the next steamer, to my house at Mackinac, and I
should be up in a short time, and furnish him employment
in the Indian department. . . .
"June 4fth. Mr. Johnstone, of Aloor, near Edinburgh,
Scotland, brings me a note of introduction from Gen. James
Talmadge, of New York. Mr. J is a highly respected
man at home, and is traveling in America to gratify a laud-
able curiosity.
"1th. Reached Mackinac, on board the steamer Great
Western, Capt. Walker.
"10th. The Albany Evening Journal has a short edi-
torial under the head of Algic Researches: 'Such is the
title of a work from our countryman Schoolcraft, which the
Harpers have just published, in two volumes. It consists
of Tales and Legends, which the Author has gleaned in the
course of his long and familiar intercourse with the children
of the Forest, illustrating the mental powers and character-
istics of the North American Indians.
" 'Mr. Schoolcraft has traveled far into the western
wilds. He has lived much with the Indians, and has stud-
ied their character thoroughly. He is withal a scholar and
a gentleman, whose name is a sufficient guarantee of the
excellence of all he writes.' . . .
"13th. The Albany papers continue to publish no-
tices of Algic Researches. The Argus of the 13th June,
SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFT'S DIARY 245
says: . . . *A residence at Mackinac is of itself calculated
to beget, as it is to gratify, a taste for the prosecution of
these inquiries. It is described by Miss Martineau as "the
wildest and tenderest piece of beauty that she had yet seen
on God's earth." It is indeed a spot of rare attractiveness.
Standing upon the promontory, in the rear of the Fort and
town, the view embraces to the north the head waters of
the Huron and the far-off isles of St. Martin, to the west
Green Isle and the straits of Mackinac, and to the east and
south Bois Blanc and the Great Lake. It is a delightful
summer retreat, and many are the legends and reminis-
cences of the scenes of enjoyment passed here in absolute,
and we are assured happy, exclusion from the outward
world, during the winter months. It has been regarded, at
no distant day, as important not only as the rendezvous of
the Fur Companies' agents and employers and the Indian
traders, but as a government military post. It is still a
great resort of the northern Indians. Often their lodges
and their bark canoes, of beautiful construction, line the
pebbly shore; and the aboriginal habits and mental charac-
teristics may be studied on the spot. . . .'
"1839. June 26th. Mrs. Morris brings a letter from
Hon. A. E. Wing, of Monroe. She contemplates spending
the summer on the Island on account of impaired health.
The pure air and fine summer climate of Mackinac begin
to be appreciated within a year or two by valetudinarians.
It is a perfect Montpelier to them. The inhaling of its
pure and dry atmosphere in midsummer is found to act
very favorably on the digestive organs. No process of
health-making gymnastics is prescribed by physicians.
They merely direct persons to walk about and enjoy the
sights and scenes about them, to saunter along its winding
246 HISTORIC MACKINAC
paths, or go fishing or gunning. Its woods are delightful,
and its cliffs command the sublimest views. One would
think that if the muses are ever routed from the bare hills
of Olympus and the springs of Helicon, they would take
shelter in the glens of Michilimackinac, where the Indian
pukwees, or fairies, danced of old. . . .
"29^. Gen. Scott arrives at this post, on a general tour
of inspection of the northern posts, and proceeds the same
day to Sault St. Marie, accompanied by Maj. Whiting. . . .
"[July] 3d. 1 received a letter introducing Mr. and
Mrs. Kane, of Albany. We love an agreeable surprise.
I recognized in Mrs. K the daughter of an old friend
a most lady-like, agreeable, and talented woman; and
deemed my time agreeably devoted in showing my visitors
the curiosities of the Island. . . .
"Aug. 1st. Visited by the Baron Mareschal, Austrian
Minister at Washington, and Count de Colobiano, Minister
of the kingdom of Sardinia. These gentlemen both im-
pressed me with their quiet, easy manner, and perfect free-
dom from all pretence. I went out with them, to show them
the Arched Rock, the Sugar-loaf Rock, and other natural
curiosities. At the Sugar-loaf Rock they got out of the
carriage and strolled about. The baron and count at last
seated themselves on the grass. The former was a tall,
rather grave man, with blue eyes, well advanced in years,
and a German air; the latter, three or four inches shorter
of stature, with black eyes, an animated look, and many
years the junior.
"4>th. My children arrived at Mackinac this evening,
from their respective schools at Brooklyn and Philadelphia,
on their summer vacation, and have, on examination, made
good progress.
SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFT'S DIARY, 247
"1th. Albert Gallup, Esq., of Albany, lands on his way
to Green Bay as a U. S. commissioner to treat with the
Stockbridges. This gentleman brought me official dis-
patches relative to his mission and the expenditures of it,
and, by his ready and prompt mode of acting and speaking,
led me to call to mind another class of visitors, who seem to
aim by extreme formality and circumlocution to strive tp
hide want of capacity and narrow-mindedness. Mr. Gal-
lup mentioned a passage of Scripture, which is generally
quoted wrong 'he who reads may run' which set me to
hunting for it. The passage is 'that he may run that read-
eth it.' Habakkuk ii. 2. ...
"Sept. 3d. A remarkable and most magnificent display
of the Aurora Borealis occurred in the evening. It began
a quarter before eight, as I was sitting on the piazza in front
of my house, which commands a view of the lake in front,
and the whole southern hemisphere. From the zenith
points of light flared down the southern hemisphere. The
north had none. For five minutes the appearance was most
magnificent. Streaks of blue and crimson red light ap-
peared in several parts. At ten minutes to eight, long
lines began to form on the east, then west, and varying to
north-west, very bright, silvery and phosphorescent. Before
nine, the rays shot up from the horizon north-east, and
finally north the southern hemisphere, at the same time,
losing its brilliance. This light continued in full activity
of effulgence to ten, and, after retiring from my piazza, its
gleams were visible through the windows the greater part
of the night, till two o'clock or later. . . .
"[Oct.] 10th. Two plum trees, standing in front of the
Agency, which had attained their full growth, and borne
fruit plentifully, for some few years, began to droop, and
248 HISTORIC MACKINAC
finally died during the autumn. I found, by examination,
that their roots had extended into cold underground springs
of water, which have their issue under the high cliff imme-
diately behind the Agency. They had originally been set
out as wall fruit, within a few feet of the front wall of the
house, on its southern side. The one was the common
blue plum, the other an egg plum. . . .
"26th. Mackinac has again assumed its winter phase.
We are shut in from the tumult of the world, and must rely
for our sources of intellectual sustenance and diversion on
books, or researches, such as may present themselves. . . .
"1840. Jan. 1st. Having determined to pass another
winter (some ten weeks of which are past) at Mackinac, I
have found my best and pleasantest employment in my old
resource, the investigation of the Indian character and his-
tory. The subject is exhaustless in every branch of in-
quiry, but the more it is turned over and sifted, the more
cause there is to see that there is error to be encountered
at almost every step. Travelers have been chiefly intent on
the picturesque, and have given themselves but little trouble
to investigate. The historian has had his mind full of
prepossessions derived from ancient reading, and has, gen-
erally, been seated three thousand miles across the water,
where the work of personal comparison was impossible.
Left to the repose of himself, mentally and physically, with-
out being placed in the crucible of war, without being made
the tool of selfishness, or driven to a state of half idiocy by
the use of liquor, the Indian is a man of naturally good feel-
ings and affections, and of a sense of justice, and, although
destitute of an inductive mind, is led to appreciate truth and
virtue as he apprehends them. But he is subject to be
swayed by every breath of opinion, has little fixity of pur-
SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFT'S DIARY 249
pose, and, from a defect of business capacity, is often led
to pursue just those means which are least calculated to ad-
vance his permanent interests, and his mind is driven to
and fro like a feather in the winds. . . .
"1th. The season of New-year has been as usual a holi-
day, that is to say, a time of hilarity and good wishes, with
the Indians in this vicinity, numbers of which have visited
the office. . . .
"22d. Theodoric (vide ante, April 19th) writes me
from Detroit in terms of the kindest appreciation for my
kindness to him. On his arrival at Mackinac he most ac-
ceptably executed several trusts writing a good hand, be-
ing of gentlemanly manners and deportment, and an oblig-
ing disposition, and withal a high moral tone of character
as the winter drew on, I judged he would make a good rep-
resentative for the county in the legislature, and started him
in political life. He received the popular vote, and pro-
ceeded to the Capitol accordingly. . . .
"31sf. The fiscal crisis that was now impending over
Michigan, it was evident was in the process of advance;
but it was not possible to tell when it would fall, nor with
what severity. All had been over-speculating over-trad-
ing over-banking, overdoing everything, in short, that
prudence should dictate. But the public were in for it, and
could not, it seems, back out, and every one hoped for the
best. My best friends, the most cautious guides of my
youth, had entered into the speculating mania, and there
appeared to be, in fact, nobody of means or standing, who
had been proof against the temptation of getting rich soon.
I 'immured' myself far away from the scene of turmoil and
strife, and was happy so long as I kept my eyes on my books
and manuscripts. . . .
250 HISTORIC MACKINAC
"March 1th. While politicians, financiers, speculators
in real estate, anxious holders of bank stock, and mission-
aries careful of the Indian tribes are thus busy each class
animated by a separate hope it is refreshing to see that
my little daughter (Jane) who writes under this date from
her school at Philadelphia, is striving after p's and g's. 'I
am getting along in my studies very well. I love music as
much as ever. I like my French studies much. I have got
all p's for my lessons, but one g. G is for good, and p for
perfect.' What a pity that all classes of adult men were not
pursuing their g's and p's with equal simplicity of emula-
tion and purity of purpose.
"1(M. Prof. L. Fasquelle, of Livingston, transmits to
me a translation of the so-called Tontiac manuscript.'
This document consists of an ancient French journal, of
daily events during the siege of the fort of Detroit by that
redoubtable chief and his confederates in 1763. It was
found in the garret of one of the French habitants, thrust
away between the plate and the roof; partly torn, and much
soiled by rains and the effects of time.
"13^. The Chippewa Indians say that the woods and
shores, bays and islands, are inhabited by innumerable
spirits, who are ever wakeful and quick to hear everything
during the summer season, but during the winter, after the
snow falls, these spirits appear to exist in a torpid state, or
find their abodes in inanimate bodies. The tellers of leg-
ends and oral tales among them are, therefore, permitted
to exercise their fancies and functions to amuse their listen-
ers during the winter season, for the spirits are then in a
state of inactivity, and cannot hear. But their vocation as
story tellers is ended the moment the spring opens. The
shrill piping of the frog, waking from his wintry repose, is
the signal for the termination of their story craft, and I
have in vain endeavored to get any of them to relate this
species of imaginary lore at any other time. It is evaded
by some easy and indifferent remark. But the true reason
is given above. Young and old adhere to this superstition.
It is said that, if they violate the custom, the snakes, toads,
and other reptiles, which are believed to be under the in-
fluence of the spirits, will punish them. . . .
"April 30th. The new farming station and mission for
the Chippewas of Grand Traverse Bay is successfully es-
tablished. The Rev. Mr. Dougherty reports that a school
for Indian children has been well attended since November.
A blacksmith's shop is in successful operation. The U. S.
Farmer reports that he has just completed ploughing the
Indian fields. He has put in several acres of oats, and the
corn is about six inches above the ground. The Indians
generally are making large fields, and have planted more
corn than usual, and manifest a disposition to become in-
dustrious, and to avail themselves of the double advantage
that is furnished them by the Department of Indian affairs
and by the Mission Board which has taken them in hand.
"Sept. \\th. Joanna Baillie, the celebrated authoress,
who has spent a long life in the most honorable and deeply
characteristic literary labors, writes from her residence at
Hampstead (Eng.), as if with undiminished vigor of hope,
expressing her interest in the progress of historical letters
in this (to her) remote part of the world. How much
closer bonds these literary sympathies are in drawing two
nations of a kindred blood together, than dry and formal
diplomatics, in which it is the object, as Talleyrand says, of
human language to conceal thought! . . .
"Nov. 1st. Having concluded the Indian business in
252 HISTORIC MACKINAC
the Upper Lakes for the season, I returned with my family
to Detroit, and employed my leisure in literary investiga-
tions. . . .
"Dec. 31st. 'We were in hopes,' says James L. School-
craft, in a letter from Mackinac, 'of seeing a steamboat
up during the fine weather in the latter part of November.
It is now, however, since 14th inst., cold. Theodoric has
undertaken to conduct a weekly paper, the Pic Nic, which,
thus far, goes off well. Lieut. Pemberton, in the Fort, is
engaged in getting up a private theatre. Thus, you see, we
endeavor to ward off winter and solitude in various ways.
The rats are playing the devil with your house. I have re-
moved all the bedding. They have injured some of your
books.' . . .
"1841. May 22nd. Landed at Mackinac after having
passed the winter at Detroit. It appears from Golden that
the Iroquois called this island Teiodondoraghie. What an
amount of word-craft is here what a poetic description
thrown into the form of a compound phrase! The local
term doraghie is apparently the same heard in Ticonderoga
the imprecision of writing Indian making the difference.
Ti is the Iroquois particle for water, as in Tioga, &c. On is,
in like manner, the clipped or coalescent particle for hill or
mountain, as heard in Onondaga. The vowels z, o, carry
the same meaning, evidently, that they do in Ontario and
Ohio, where they are an exclamatory description for beau-
tiful scenery. What a philosophy of language is here! . . .
"Aug. 1st. During the number of years I have passed in
the country of the upper lakes, I have noticed the mocking
bird, T. polyglottis, but once or twice as far north as the
Island of Michilimackinac. I have listened to its varied
notes, during the spring season, with delight. It is not an
SKETCHES FROM SCHOOLCRAFTS DIARY 253
ordinary inhabitant, nor have I ever noticed it on the St.
Mary's Straits, or on the shores of Lake Huron north of this
Island. This Island may, I think, be referred to as its ex-
treme northern and occasional limit.
"Wth. I determined to remove from Michilimackinac
to the city of New York. More than thirty years of my
life have been spent in Western scenes, in various situations,
in Western New York, the Mississippi Valley, and the
basins of the Great Lakes. The position is one which, how-
ever suitable it is for observation on several topics, is by no
means favorable to the publication of them, while the sea-
board cities possess numerous advantages of residence,
particularly for the education of the young. So much of
my time had been given to certain topics of natural his-
tory, and to the languages and history, antiquities, man-
ners, and customs of the Indian tribes, that I felt a desire
to preserve the record of it, and, in fact, to study my own
materials in a position more favorable to the object than
the shores, however pleasing, of these vast inland seas.
The health of Mrs. Schoolcraft having been impaired for
several years, furnished another motive for a change of
residence. However great was the geographical area to
be traversed, the change could be readily effected, and
promised many of the highest concomitants of civilization.
Beyond all, it was a return to my native State after long
years of travel and wandering, adventure, and residence,
which would bear, I thought, to be looked at and reflected
on through the mellowed medium of reminiscence and
study.
"The journey was easily performed by steamers and
railroads, which occupy every foot of the way, and it was
accomplished without any but agreeable incidents. I left
254 HISTORIC MACKINAC
the Island, which is the object of so many pleasant recollec-
tions, about the middle of August, and reached the city of
New York during that month, in season, after some weeks
agreeably passed at a hotel, to take a private dwelling-
house in the upper part of it (Chelsea, 19th street) early in
September. I now cast myself about to publish the results
of my observation on the Red Race, whom I had found, in
many traits, a subject of deep interest; in some things
wholly misunderstood and misrepresented; and altogether
an object of the highest humanitarian interest. But our
booksellers, or rather book-publishers, were not yet pre-
pared in their views to undertake anything corresponding
to my ideas. The next year I executed my long-deferred
purpose of visiting England and the continent with this plan
in view, and was highly gratified with the means of com-
parison which these finished countries afforded with the
rough scenes of Western America. France, Belgium,
Prussia, Germany and Holland were embraced in this tour.
"This visit was one of high intellectual gratification, and
carried me into scenes and situations for which the reading
of books had but poorly prepared me. I kept a journal
to refresh my memory of things seen and heard, approved
and disapproved.
"The Western World, they tell me, turns too fast,
By European optics scanned and glassed;
But when we look at Europe, although fair,
They must have had new Joshuas working there;
For, be our eagerness just what it will,
She, spell-bound, seems to stand profoundly still."
CHAPTER X
HARRIET MARTINEAU 1836
HARRIET MARTINEAU, the English author, visited
Mackinac in 1836, where she met Schoolcraft.
"Miss Martineau," he says, 1 "expressed her grati-
fication in having visited the upper lakes and the Island.
She said she had from early childhood felt an interest in
them." On her return to England, in that year, she em-
bodied her observations in the first of her three volumes,
Society in America, published in 1837.
Born in 1802, Miss Martineau came of a family of
French Huguenots, who settled in Norwich, England, only a
little while before. Her father, a manufacturer, who died
early, left in poor circumstances a family of eight children,
and Harriet was obliged to provide for herself. Her uncle,
a surgeon of some prominence, personally supervised her
education, under whom she developed unusual literary
ability, and determined to attempt a livelihood with her
pen. Her travels in America in 1834-1836 gave her the
experience for one of her best known works. Considering
the literary quality of this work, together with the date of
her visit to Mackinac, at the beginning of Michigan's state-
hood, it may be of interest to include in this sketch her ac-
count of the trip to Mackinac from Chicago. The trip was
made in the last days of June and the first days of July: 2
"While we were in Detroit," she says, "we were most
1 Personal Memoirs, p. 541.
Society in America, (Paris, 1837), I. 187-197.
255
256 HISTORIC MACKINAC
strongly urged to return thither by the Lakes, instead of by
either of the Michigan roads. From place to place in my
previous travelling, I had been told of the charms of the
Lakes, and especially of the Island of Mackinac. Every
officer's lady who has been in garrison there, is eloquent
upon the delights of Mackinac. As our whole party, how-
ever, could not spare time to make so wide a circuit, we had
not intended to indulge ourselves with a further variation
in our travels than to take the upper road back to Detroit;
having left it by the lower. On Sunday, June 27th, news
arrived at Chicago, that this upper road had been rendered
impassable by the rains. A sailing vessel, the only one on
the lakes, and now on her first trip, was to leave Chicago
for Detroit and Buffalo, the next day. The case was clear;
the party must divide. Those who were obliged to hasten
home must return by the road we came; the rest must pro-
ceed by water. On Charley's account, the change of plan
was desirable; as the heats were beginning to be so op-
pressive as to render travelling in open wagons unsafe for a
child. It was painful to break up our party at the extreme
point of our journey; but it was clearly right. So Mr. and
Mrs. L took their chance by land, and the rest of us
went on board the Milwaukee, at two o'clock on the after-
noon of the 28th.
"Mrs. F and I were the only ladies on board; and
there was no stewardess. The steward was obliging, and
the ladies' cabin was clean and capacious ; and we took pos-
session of it with a feeling of comfort. Our pleasant im-
pressions, however, were not of long duration. The vessel
was crowded with persons who had come to the land sales at
Chicago, and were taking their passage back to Milwaukee;
a settlement on the western shore of the lake, about eighty
HARRIET MARTINEAU 1836 257
miles from Chicago. Till we should reach Milwaukee, we
could have the ladies' cabin only during a part of the day.
I say a part of the day, because some of the gentry did not
leave our cabin till near nine in the morning; and others
chose to come down and go to bed, as early as seven in the
evening, without troubling themselves to give us five min-
utes' notice, or to wait till we could put up our needles, or
wipe our pens. This ship was the only place in America
where I saw a prevalence of bad manners. It was the
place of all others to select for the study of such; and no
reasonable person would look for anything better among
land speculators, and settlers in regions so new as to be al-
most without women. None of us had ever before seen, in
America, a disregard of women. The swearing was inces-
sant; and the spitting such as to amaze my American com-
panions as much as myself.
"Supper was announced presently after we had sailed;
and when we came to the table, it was full, and no one of-
fered to stir, to make room for us. The captain, who was
very careful of our comfort, arranged that we should be
better served henceforth; and no difficulty afterwards oc-
curred. At dinner the next day, we had a specimen of how
such personages as we had on board are managed on an
emergency. The captain gave notice, from the head of
the table, that he did not choose our party to be intruded
on in the cabin; and that any one who did not behave with
civility at table should be turned out. He spoke with de-
cision and good humour; and the effect was remarkable.
Everything on the table was handed to us; and no more of
the gentry came down into our cabin to smoke, or throw
themselves on the cushions to sleep, while we sat at work.
"Our fare was what might be expected on Lake Michigan.
258 HISTORIC MACKINAC
Salt beef and pork, and sea-biscuit; tea without milk, bread,
and potatoes. Charley throve upon potatoes and bread;
and we all had the best results of food health and strength.
"A little schooner which left Chicago at the same time
with ourselves, and reached Milwaukee first, was a pretty
object. On the 29th, we were only twenty-five miles from
the settlement; but the wind was so unfavourable that it was
doubtful whether we should reach it that day. Some of the
passengers amused themselves by gaming, down in the
hold ; others by parodying a Methodist sermon, and singing
a mock hymn. We did not get rid of them till noon on the
30th, when we had the pleasure of seeing our ship disgorge
twenty-five into one boat and two into another. The atmos-
phere was so transparent as to make the whole scene appear
as if viewed through an opera glass; the still, green waters,
the dark boats with their busy oars, the moving passengers,
and the struggles of one to recover his hat, which had fallen
overboard. We were yet five miles from Milwaukee; but
we could see the bright, wooded coast, with a few white dots
of houses.
"While Dr. F went on shore, to see what was to be
seen, we had the cabin cleaned out, and took, once more,
complete possession of it, for both day and night. As soon
as this was done, seven young women came down the com-
panionway, seated themselves round the cabin, and began
to question us. They were the total female population of
Milwaukee; which settlement now contains four hundred
souls. We were glad to see these ladies; for it was natural
enough that the seven women should wish to behold two
more, when such a chance offered. A gentleman of the
place, who came on board this afternoon, told me that a
printing-press had arrived a few hours before; and that a
HARRIET MARTINEAU 1836 259
newspaper would speedily appear. He was kind enough to
forward the first number to me a few weeks afterwards; and
I was amused to see how pathetic an appeal to the ladies of
more thickly-settled districts it contained, imploring them to
cast a favourable eye on Milwaukee, and its hundreds of
bachelors.
"Milwaukee had been settled since the preceding No-
vember. It had good stores; (to judge by the nature and
quantity of goods sent ashore from our ship) ; it had a print-
ing press and newspaper, before the settlers had had time
to get wives; I heard these new settlements sometimes called
'patriarchal'; but what would the patriarchs have said
to such an order of affairs?
"Dr. F returned from the town, with apple-pies,
cheese, and ale, wherewith to vary our ship diet. With
him arrived such a number of towns-people, that the stew-
ard wanted to turn us out of our cabin once more; but we
were sturdy, appealed to the captain, and were confirmed
in possession. From this time, began the delights of our
voyage. The moon, with her long train of glory, was mag-
nificent to-night; the vast body of waters on which she shone
being as calm as if the winds were dead.
"The navigation of these lakes is, at present, a mystery.
They have not yet been properly surveyed. Our Captain
had gone to and fro on Lake Huron, but had never before
been on Lake Michigan; and this was rather an anxious
voyage to him. We had got aground on the sand bar
before Milwaukee harbour; and on the 1st of July, all
hands were busy in unshipping the cargo, to lighten the ves-
sel, instead of carrying her up to the town. An elegant
little schooner was riding at anchor near us; and we were
well amused in admiring her, and in watching the bustle on
260 HISTORIC MACKINAC
deck, till some New England youths, and our Milwaukee
acquaintance, brought us, from the shore, two newspapers,
some pebbles, flowers, and a pitcher of fine strawberries.
"As soon as we were off" the bar, the vessel hove round,
and we cast anchor in deeper water. Charley was called
to see the sailors work the windlass, and to have a ride
thereon. The sailors were very kind to the boy. They
dressed up their dog for him in sheep-skins and a man's
hat; a sight to make older people than Charley laugh.
They took him down into the forecastle to show him prints
that were pasted up there. They asked him to drink rum
and water with them: to which Charley answered that he
should be happy to drink water with them, but had rather
not have any rum. While we were watching the red
sunset over the leaden waters, betokening a change of
weather, the steamer New York came ploughing the bay,
three weeks after her time; such is the uncertainty in the
navigation of these stormy lakes. She got aground on the
sand-bank, as we had done; and boats were going from her
to the shore and back, as long as we could see.
"The next day there was rain and some wind. The cap-
tain and steward went off to make final purchases: but the
fresh meat which had been bespoken for us had been bought
up by somebody else; and no milk was to be had; only two
cows being visible in all the place. Ale was the only lux-
ury we could obtain. When the captain returned, he
brought with him a stout gentleman, one of the proprietors
of the vessel, who must have a berth in our cabin as far as
Mackinac; those elsewhere being too small for him. Un-
der the circumstances, we had no right to complain ; so we
helped the steward to partition off a portion of the cabin
with a counterpane, fastened with four forks. This gentle-
ONE OF MACKINAC ISLAND'S INTERESTING FORMATIONS
HARRIET MARTINEAU 1836 261
man, Mr. D , was engaged in the fur trade at Mack-
inac, and had a farm there, to which he kindly invited us.
"On Sunday, the 3rd, there was much speculation as to
whether we should be at Mackinac in time to witness the
celebration of the great day. All desired it; but I was
afraid of missing the Manitou Isles in the dark. There was
much fog; the wind was nearly fair; the question was
whether it would last. Towards evening, the fog thick-
ened, and the wind freshened. The mate would not believe
we were in the middle of the lake, as every one else sup-
posed. He said the fog was too warm not to come from
near land. Charley caught something of the spirit of un-
certainty, and came to me in high, joyous excitement, to
drag me to the side of the ship, that I might see how fast we
cut through the waves, and how steadily we leaned over the
water, till Charley almost thought he could touch it. He
burst out about the 'kind of feeling' that it was 'not to see
a bit of land,' and not to know where we were; and to think
'if we should upset!' and that we never did upset: it was
'a good and a bad feeling at once;' and he should never be
able to tell people at home what it was like. The boy had
no fear; he was roused, as the brave man loves to be. Just
as the dim light of the sunset was fading from the fog, it
opened, and disclosed to us, just at hand, the high, sandy
shore of Michigan. It was well that this happened before
dark. The captain hastened up to the mast-head, and
reported that we were off Cape Sable, forty miles from the
Manitou Isles.
"Three bats and several butter-flies were seen to-day,
clinging to the mainsail, blown over from the shore. The
sailors set their dog at a bat, of which it was evidently
afraid. A flock of pretty pigeons flew round over the ship;
262 ' HISTORIC MACKINAC
of which six were shot. Four fell into the water; and the
other two were reserved for the mate's breakfast; he being
an invalid.
"We were up before five, on the morning of the 4th of
July to see the Manitou Isles, which were then just coming
in sight. They are the Sacred Isles of the Indians, to whom
they belong. Manitou is the name of their Great Spirit,
and of everything sacred. It is said that they believe these
islands to be the resort of the spirits of the departed. They
are two: sandy and precipitous at the south end; and clothed
with wood, from the crest of the cliffs to the north extremity,
which slopes down gradually to the water. It was a cool,
sunny morning, and these dark islands lay still, and appar-
ently deserted, on the bright green waters. Far behind, to
the south, were two glittering white sails, on the horizon.
They remained in sight all day, and lessened the feeling
of loneliness which the navigators of these vast lakes can-
not but have, while careering among the solemn islands and
shores. On our right lay the Michigan shore, high and
sandy, with the dark eminence, called the Sleeping Bear,
conspicuous on the ridge. No land speculators have set
foot here yet. A few Indian dwellings, with evergreen
woods and sandy cliffs, are all. Just here, Mr. D
pointed out to us a schooner of his which was wrecked, in a
snow storm, the preceding November. She looked pretty
and forlorn, lying on her side in that desolate place, seem-
ing a mere plaything thrown in among the cliffs. 'Ah!'
said her owner, 'she was a lovely creature, and as stiff as a
church.' Two lives were lost. Two young Germans, stout
lads, could not comprehend the orders given them to put on
all their clothing, and keep themselves warm. They only
half dressed themselves: *the cold took them,' and they
HARRIET MARTINEAU 1836 263
died. The rest tried to make fire by friction of wood ; but
got only smoke. Someone found traces of a dog in the
snow. These were followed for three miles, and ended at
an Indian lodge, where the sailors were warmed and kindly
treated.
"During the bright morning of this day we passed the
Fox and Beaver Islands. The captain was in fine spirits,
though there was no longer any prospect of reaching Mack-
inac in time for the festivities of the day. This Island is
chiefly known as a principal station of the great north-
western fur trade. Others know it as the seat of an Indian
mission. Others, again, as a frontier garrison. It is
known to me as the wildest and tenderest little piece of
beauty that I have yet seen on God's earth. It is a small
Island, nine miles in circumference, being in the strait be-
tween the Lakes Michigan and Huron, and between the
coasts of Michigan and Wisconsin.
"Towards evening the Wisconsin coast came into view,
the strait suddenly narrowed, and we were about to bid
farewell to the great Lake whose length we had traversed,
after sweeping round its southern extremity. The ugly
light-ship, which looked heavy enough, came into view
about six o'clock; the first token of our approach to Mack-
inac. The office of the light-ship is to tow vessels in the
dark through the strait. We were too early for this; but
perhaps it performed that office for the two schooners whose
white specks of sails had been on our southern horizon all
day. Next day we saw a white speck before us; it was the
barracks of Mackinac, stretching along the side of its
green hills, and clearly visible before the town came into
view.
"The Island looked enchanting as we approached, as I
264 HISTORIC MACKINAC
think it always must, though we had the advantage of seeing
it first steeped in the most golden sunshine that ever hal-
lowed lake or shore. The colours were up on all the little
vessels in the harbour. The national flag streamed from
the garrison. The soldiers thronged the walls of the bar-
racks; half -breed boys were paddling about in their little
canoes, in the transparent waters; the half -French, half-
Indian population of the place were all abroad in their best.
An Indian lodge was on the shore, and a picturesque dark
group stood beside it. The cows were coming down the
steep green slopes to the milking. Nothing could be more
bright and joyous.
"The houses of the old French village are shabby-look-
ing, dusky, and roofed with bark. There are some neat yel-
low houses, with red shutters, which have a foreign air, with
their porches and flights of steps. The better houses stand
on the first of the three terraces which are distinctly marked.
Behind them are swelling green knolls; before them gar-
dens sloping down to the narrow slip of white beach, so that
the grass seems to grow almost into the clear rippling waves.
The gardens were rich with mountain ash, roses, stocks,
currant bushes, springing corn, and a great variety of
kitchen vegetables. There were two small piers with little
barks alongside, and piles of wood for the steam-boats.
Some way to the right stood the quadrangle of missionary
buildings, and the white mission church. Still further to
the right was a shrubby precipice down to the lake; and
beyond, the blue waters. While we were gazing at all this,
a pretty schooner sailed into the harbour after us, in fine
style, sweeping round our bows so suddenly as nearly to
swamp a little fleet of canoes, each with its pair of half-
breed boys.
HARRIET MARTINEAU 1836 265
"We had been alarmed by a declaration from the cap-
tain that he should stay only three hours at the Island. He
seemed to have no intention of taking us ashore this eve-
ning. The dreadful idea occurred to us that we might be
carried away from this paradise, without having set foot
in it. We looked at each other in dismay. Mr. D
stood our friend. He had some furs on board which were
to be landed. He said this should not be done till the
morning; and he would take care his people did it with
the utmost possible slowness. He thought he could gain
us an additional hour in this way. Meantime, thunder-
clouds were coming up rapidly from the west, and the sun
was near its setting. After much consultation, and an as-
surance having been obtained from the captain that we
might command the boat at any hour in the morning, we
decided that Dr. F and Charley should go ashore, and
deliver our letters, and accept any arrangements that might
be offered for our seeing the best of the scenery in the
morning.
"Scarcely any one was left in the ship but Mrs. F
and myself. We sat on deck, and gazed as if this were to
be the last use we were ever to have of our eyes. There
was growling thunder now, and the church bell, and
Charley's clear voice from afar: the waters were so still.
The Indians lighted a fire before their lodge; and we saw
their shining red forms as they bent over the blaze; we
watched Dr. F and Charley mounting to the garrison;
we saw them descend again with the commanding officer,
and go to the house of the Indian agent. Then we traced
them along the shore, and into the Indian lodge; then to
the church; then the parting with the commandant on the
shore, and lastly, the passage of the dark boat to our ship's
266 HISTORIC MACKINAC
side. They brought news that the commandant and his
family would be on the watch for us before five in the morn-
ing, and be our guides to as much of the Island as the cap-
tain would allow us time to see.
"Some pretty purchases of Indian manufactures were
brought on board this evening; light matting of various
colours, and small baskets of birch-bark, embroidered with
porcupine quills, and filled with maple sugar.
"The next morning all was bright. At five o'clock we
descended the ship's side, and from the boat could see the
commandant and his dog hastening down from the garrison
to the landing-place. We returned with him up the hill,
through the barrack-yard; and were joined by three mem-
bers of his family on the velvet green slope behind the gar-
rison. No words can give an idea of the charms of this
morning walk. We wound about in a vast shrubbery, with
ripe straw-berries under foot, wild flowers all around, and
scattered knolls and opening vistas tempting curiosity in
every direction. 'Now run up,' said the commandant, as
we arrived at the foot of one of these knolls. I did so, and
was almost struck backwards by what I saw. Below me
was the Natural Bridge of Mackinac, of which I had heard
frequent mention. It is a limestone arch, about one hun-
dred and fifty feet high in the center, with a span of fifty
feet; one pillar resting on a rocky projection in the lake, the
other on the hill. We viewed it from above, so that the
horizon of the lake fell behind the bridge, and the blue ex-
panse of waters filled the entire arch. Birch and ash grew
around the bases of the pillars, and shrubbery tufted the
sides and dangled from the bridge. The soft rich hues in
which the whole was dressed seemed borrowed from the
autumn sky.
HARRIET MARTINEAU 1836 267
"But even this scene was nothing to the one we saw from
the Fort, on the crown of the Island; old Fort Holmes,
called Fort George when in possession of the British. I can
compare it to nothing but to what Noah might have seen, the
first bright morning after the deluge. Such a cluster of
little paradises rising out of such a congregation of waters,
I can hardly fancy to have been seen elsewhere. The ca-
pacity of the human eye seems here suddenly enlarged, as
if it could see to the verge of the watery creation. Blue,
level waters appear to expand for thousands of miles in
every direction; wholly unlike any aspect of the sea.
Cloud shadows, and specks of white vessels, at rare inter-
vals, alone diversify it. Bowery islands rise out of it;
bowery promontories stretch down into it; while at one's
feet lies the melting beauty which one almost fears will
vanish in its softness before one's eyes; the beauty of the
shadowy dells and sunny mounds, with browsing cattle, and
springing fruit and flowers. Thus, and no otherwise,
would I fain think did the world emerge from the flood.
I was never before so unwilling to have objects named.
The essential unity of the scene seemed to be marred
by any distinction of its parts. But this feeling, to me
new, did not alter the state of the case; that it was Lake
Huron that we saw stretching to the eastward; Lake
Michigan opening to the west; the Island of Bois Blanc,
green to the brink in front; and Round Island and others
interspersed. I stood now at the confluence of those
great northern lakes, the very names of which awed my
childhood; calling up, as they did, images of the fearful
red man of the deep pine-forest, and the music of the
moaning winds, imprisoned beneath the ice of winter.
How different from the scene, as actually beheld,
268 HISTORIC MACKINAC
dressed in verdure, flowers, and the sunshine of a summer's
morning!
"It was breakfast-time when we descended to the bar-
racks; and we despatched a messenger to the captain to
know whether we might breakfast with the commandant; we
sat in the piazza, and overlooked the village, the harbour,
the straits, and the white beach, where there were now four
Indian lodges. The Island is so healthy that, according
to the commandant, people who want to die must go some-
where else. I saw only three tombstones in the cemetery.
The commandant has lost but one man since he has been
stationed at Mackinac ; and that was by drowning. I asked
about the climate; the answer was, 'We have nine months
winter, and three months cold weather.'
"It would have been a pity to have missed the breakfast
at the garrison, which afforded a strong contrast with any
we had seen for a week. We concealed, as well as we
could, our glee at the appearance of the rich cream, the new
bread and butter, fresh lake trout, and pile of snow-white
eggs.
"The Indians have been proved, by the success of the
French among them, to be capable of civilization. Near
Little Traverse, in the north-west part of Michigan, within
easy reach of Mackinac, there is an Indian village, full of
orderly and industrious inhabitants, employed chiefly in
agriculture. The English and Americans have never suc-
ceeded with the aborigines so well as the French.
"It was with great regret that we parted with the com-
mandant and his large young family, and stepped into the
boat to return to the ship. The captain looked a little grave
upon the delay which all his passengers had helped to
achieve. We sailed about nine. We were in great delight
HARRIET MARTINEAU 1836
269
at having seen Mackinac, at having the possession of its
singular imagery for life: but this delight was at present
dashed with the sorrow of leaving it. I could not have
believed how deeply it is possible to regret a place, after so
brief an acquaintance with it. We watched the Island as
we rapidly receded, trying to catch the aspect of it which
had given it its name the Great Turtle. Its flag first van-
ished ; then its green terraces and slopes, its white barracks,
and dark promontories faded, till the whole disappeared
behind a headland and lighthouse of the Michigan shore."
CHAPTER XI
MRS. JAMESON 1837
IN the year in which Michigan was admitted to the Union,
Mrs. Jameson, a charming English writer living at
Toronto, Canada, visited among other places, Mack-
inac, and later brought out an English edition of her
travels entitled Winter Studies and Summer Rambles.
There was much that was merely transient and personal in
these volumes, and this was eliminated in 1852, in a new
edition entitled Sketches in Canada and Rambles among
the Red Men. Among the portions considered of perma-
nent value and retained, is her account of the trip to
Mackinac. This is here reproduced, beginning with her
departure from Detroit. 1
"July 18.
"This evening the Thomas Jefferson arrived in the river
from Buffalo, and starts early to-morrow morning for
Chicago. I hastened to secure a passage as far as the
Island of Mackinac; when once there, I must trust to Prov-
idence for some opportunity of going up Lake Huron to
the Sault Ste. Marie to visit my friends the MacMurrays;
or down the lake to the Great Manitoulin Island, where
the annual distribution of presents to the Indians is to
take place under the auspices of the Governor. If both
these plans wild plans they are, I am told should fail,
I have only to retrace my way and come down the lake,
*Pp. 163-187; 190-191; 219.
270
MRS. JAMESON 1837 271
as I went up, in a steamer; but this were horribly tedious
and prosaic, and I hope better things. So evviva la sper-
anza! and Westward Ho!
"On board the Jefferson,
"River St. Glair, July 19.
"This morning I came down early to the steam-boat, at-
tended by a cortege of amiable people, who had heard of
my sojourn at Detroit too late to be of any solace or service
to me, but had seized this last and only opportunity of
showing politeness and good-will. The sister of the Gov-
ernor, two other ladies, and a gentleman, came on board
with me at that early hour, and remained on deck till the
paddles were in motion. The talk was so pleasant, I could
not but regret that I had not seen some of these kind
people earlier, or might hope to see more of them; but it
was too late. Time and steam wait neither for man nor
woman; all expressions of hope and regret on both sides
were cut short by the parting signal, which the great bell
swung out from on high; all compliments and questions
"fumbled up into a loose adieu"; and these new friendly
faces seen but for a moment, then to be lost, yet not
quite forgotten were soon left far behind.
"The morning was most lovely and auspicious; blazing
hot, though, and scarce a breath of air; and the magnifi-
cent machine, admirably appointed in all respects, gaily
painted and gilt, with flags waving, glided over the daz-
zling waters with an easy, stately motion.
"I had suffered so much at Detroit, that as it disappeared
and melted away in the bright southern haze like a vision,
I turned from it with a sense of relief, put the past out of
272 HISTORIC MACKINAC
my mind, and resigned myself to the present like a wise
woman or wiser child.
"The captain told me that last season he had never gone
up the lakes wth less than four or five hundred passengers.
This year, fortunately for my individual comfort, the case
is greatly altered : we have not more than one hundred and
eighty passengers, consequently an abundance of accommo-
dation, and air, and space inestimable blessings in this
sultry weather, and in the enjoyment of which I did not
sympathize in the lamentations of the good-natured cap-
tain as much as I ought to have done.
"We passed a large and beautifully green island, for-
merly called Snake Island, from the immense number of
rattle snakes which infested it. These were destroyed
by turning large herds of swine upon it, and it is now,
in compliment to its last conquerors and possessors, the
swinish multitude, called Hog Island. This was the scene
of some most horrid Indian atrocities during the Pontiac
war. A large party of British prisoners, surprised while
they were coming up to relieve Detroit, were brought over
here, and, almost within sight of their friends in the Fort,
put to death with all the unutterable accompaniments of
savage ferocity.
(Note: Now known as Belle Isle, in the Detroit River.)
"I have been told that since this war the custom of tor-
turing persons to death has fallen gradually into disuse
among the Indian tribes of these regions, and even along
the whole frontier of the States an instance has not been
known within these forty years.
"Leaving the channel of the river, and the cluster of is-
lands at its entrance, we stretched northward across Lake
St. Glair. This beautiful lake, though three times the size
MRS. JAMESON 1837 273
of the Lake of Geneva, is a mere pond compared with the
enormous seas in its neighborhood. About one o'clock
we entered the river St. Clair, (which, like the Detroit, is
rather a strait or channel than a river) forming the com-
munication between Lake St. Clair and Lake Huron. As-
cending this beautiful river, we had, on the right, part of
the western district of Upper Canada, and on the left the
Michigan territory. The shores on either side, though low
and bounded always by the line of forest, were broken into
bays and little promontories, or diversified by islands,
richly wooded, and of every variety of form. The bateaux
of the Canadians, or the canoes of the Indians, were per-
petually seen gliding among these winding channels, or
shooting across the river from side to side, as if playing
at hide-and-seek among the leafy recesses. Now and then
a beautiful schooner, with white sails, relieved against the
green masses of foliage, passed us, gracefully courtesying
and sidling along. Innumerable flocks of wild fowl were
disporting among the reedy islets, and here and there the
great black loon was seen diving and dipping, or skim-
ming over the waters. As usual, the British coast is here
the most beautiful and fertile, and the American coast the
best settled and cleared. Along the former I see a few
isolated log-shanties, and groups of Indian lodges; along
the latter, several extensive clearings, and some hamlets
and rising villages. The facility afforded by the American
steam-boats for the transport of goods and sale of produce,
&c., is one reason of this. There is a boat, for instance,
which leaves Detroit every morning for Fort Gratiot, stop-
ping at the intermediate 'landings.' We are now moored
at a place called Talmer's Landing,' for the purpose of
taking in wood for the voyage. This process has already
274 HISTORIC MACKINAC
occupied two hours, and is to detain us two more, though
there are fourteen men employed in flinging logs into the
wood-hold. Meantime I have been sketching and lounging
about the little hamlet, where there is a good grocery store,
a sawing-mill worked by steam, and about twenty houses.
"I was amused at Detroit to find the phraseology of the
people imbued with metaphors taken from the most familiar
mode of locomotion. 'Will you take in wood?' signifies,
will you take refreshment? 'Is your steam up?' means,
are you ready? The common phrase, 'go ahead* has, I
suppose, the same derivation. A witty friend of mine
once wrote to me not to be lightly alarmed at the political
and social ferments in America, nor mistake the whizzing
of the safety-valves for the bursting of the boilers!
"But all this time I have not yet introduced you to my
companions on board; and one of these great American
steamers is really a little world, a little social system in
itself, where a near observer of faces and manners may
find endless subjects of observation, amusement and inter-
est. At the other end of the vessel we have about one
hundred emigrants on their way to the Illinois and the
settlements to the west of Lake Michigan. Among them I
find a large party of Germans and Norwegians, with their
wives and families, a very respectable, orderly community,
consisting of some farmers and some artisans, having with
them a large quantity of stock and utensils just the sort
of people best calculated to improve and enrich their
adopted country, wherever that may be. Then we have
twenty or thirty poor ragged Irish emigrants, with good-
natured faces, and strong arms and willing hearts. Men
are smoking, women nursing, washing, sewing; children
squalling and rolling about.
MRS. JAMESON 1837 275
"The ladies' saloon and upper deck exhibit a very differ-
ent scene; there are about twenty ladies and children in
the cabin and state-rooms, which are beautifully furnished
and carpeted with draperies of blue silk, &c. On the upper
deck, shaded by an awning, we have sofas, rocking-chairs,
and people lounging up and down; some reading, some
chattering, some sleeping; there are missionaries and mis-
sionaries' wives, and officers on their way to the garrisons
on the Indian frontier; and settlers, and traders, and some
few nondescripts like myself.
"Also among the passengers I find the Bishop of Michi-
gan. The Governor's sister, Miss Mason, introduced us
at starting, and bespoke his good offices for me. His con-
versation has been a great resource and interest for me
during the long day. He is still a young man, who began
life as a lawyer, and afterwards from a real vocation
adopted his present profession; his talents and popularity
have placed him in the rank he now holds. He is on his
way to visit the missions and churches in the back settle-
ments, and at Green Bay.
"At Detroit I had purchased Miss Sedgwick's tale of
*The Rich Poor Man and the Poor Rich Man,' and this
sent away two hours delightfully, as we were gliding over
the expanse of Lake St. Glair. Those who glanced on my
book while I was reading always smiled a significant
sympathizing smile, very expressive of that unenvious,
affectionate homage and admiration which this genuine
American writer inspires among her countrymen. I do not
think I ever mentioned her name to any of them, that the
countenance did not light up with pleasure and gratified
pride. I have also a sensible little book, called 'Three
Experiments in Living,' written by Mrs. Lee, of Boston: it
276 HISTORIC MACKINAC
must be popular, and true to life and nature, for the edition
I bought is the tenth. I have also another book to which
I must introduce you more particularly The Travels and
Adventures of Alexander Henry. Did you ever hear of
such a man? No. Listen then, and perpend.
"This Mr. Henry was a fur-trader who journeyed over
these lake regions about seventy years ago, and is quoted
as first-rate authority in more recent books of travels.
His book, which was lent to me at Toronto, struck me so
much as to have had some influence in directing the course
of my present tour. Plain, unaffected, telling what he has
to tell in few and simple words, and without comment
the internal evidence of truth the natural sensibiltiy and
power of fancy, betrayed rather than displayed render
not only the narrative, but the man himself, his personal
character, unspeakably interesting. Wild as are the tales
of his hairbreadth escapes, I never heard the slightest im-
peachment of his veracity. He was living at Montreal so
late as 1810 or 1811, when a friend of mine saw him, and
described him to me as a very old man past eighty, with
white hair, and still hale-looking and cheerful, so that his
hard and adventurous life, and the horrors he had wit-
nessed and suffered, had in no respect impaired his spirits
or his constitution. His book has been long out of print.
I had the greatest difficulty in procuring the loan of a
copy, after sending to Montreal, Quebec, and New York, in
vain. Mr. Henry is to be my travelling companion. I
do not know how he might have figured as a squire of
dames when living, but I assure you that being dead he
makes a very respectable hero of epic or romance. He
is the Ulysses of these parts; and to cruise among the
shores, rocks, and islands of Lake Huron without Henry's
MRS. JAMESON 1837 277
Travels, were like coasting Calabria and Sicily without the
Odyssey in your head or hand only here you have the
Island of Mackinac instead of the Island of Circe; the
land of the Ottawas instead of the shores of the Lotophagi ;
cannibal Chippewas, instead of man-eating Laestrigons.
Pontiac figures as Polypheme; and Wa, wa, tarn plays the
part of good king Alcinous. I can find no type for the
women, as Henry does not tell us his adventures among
the squaws; but no doubt he might have found both Calyp-
sos and Nausicaas, and even a Penelope, among them.
"June 20.
"Before I went down to my rest yesterday evening, I
beheld a strange and beautiful scene. The night was com-
ing on; the moon had risen round and full, like an enor-
mous globe of fire; we were still in the channel of the
river, when, to the right, I saw a crowd of Indians on a
projecting point of land. They were encamping for the
night, some hauling up their canoes, some building up their
wigwams: there were numerous fires blazing amid the
thick foliage, and the dusky figures of the Indians were
seen glancing to and fro; and I heard loud laughs and
shouts as our huge steamer swept past them. In another
moment we turned a point, and all was dark: the whole land
had vanished like a scene in a melodrama. I rubbed my
eyes, and began to think I was already dreaming.
"At the entrance of the River St. Clair, the Americans
have a fort and garrison (Fort Gratiot), and a light-house,
which we passed in the night. On the opposite side we
have no station; so that, in case of any misunderstanding
between the two nations, it would be in the power of the
Americans to shut the entrance of Lake Huron upon us.
278 HISTORIC MACKINAC
"At seven this morning, when I went on deck, we had
advanced about one hundred miles into Lake Huron. We
were coasting along the south shore, about four miles from
the land, while, on the other side, we had about two hundred
miles of open sea, and the same expanse before us. Soon
after, we had to pass the entrance of Saginaw Bay. Here
we lost sight of land for the first time. Saginaw Bay, I
should suppose, is as large as the Gulf of Genoa; it runs
seventy or eighty miles up into the land, and is as famous
for storms as the Bay of Biscay. Here, if there be a cap-
ful of wind, or a cupful of sea, one is sure to have the
benefit of it; even in the finest weather there is a con-
siderable swell. We were about three hours crossing from
the Pointe Aux Barques to Cape Thunder; and during this
time a number of my companions were put hors de combat.
"All this part of Michigan is unsettled, and is said to
be sandy and barren. Along the whole horizon was noth-
ing visible but the dark omnipresent pine-forest. The
Saginaw Indians, whose hunting-grounds extend along the
shore, are, I believe, a tribe of Ottawas. I should add,
that the Americans have built a lighthouse on a little island
near Thunder Bay. A situation more terrific in its solitude
you cannot imagine than that of the keeper of this lonely
tower, among rocks, tempests, and savages. All their pro-
visions come from a distance of at least one hundred miles,
and a long course of stormy weather, which sometimes
occurs, would place them in danger of starvation."
THE ISLAND OF MACKINAC
Doth the bright sun from the high arch of heaven,
In all his beauteous robes of flecker'd clouds,
And ruddy vapours, and deep glowing flames,
MRS. JAMESON 1837 279
And softly varied shades, look gloriously?
Do the green woods dance to the wind? the lakes
Cast up their sparkling waters to the light?
JOANNA BAILLIE.
"The next morning at earliest dawn, I was awakened by
an unusual noise and movement on board, and putting out
my head to inquire the cause, was informed that we were
arrived at the Island of Mackinac, and that the captain
being most anxious to proceed on his voyage, only half an
hour was allowed to make all arrangements, take out my
luggage, and so forth. I dressed in all haste and ran
up to the deck, and there a scene burst at once on my en-
chanted gaze, such as I never had imagined, such as I wish
I could place before you in words but I despair, unless
words were of light, and lustrous hues, and breathing music.
However, here is the picture, as well as I can paint it. We
were lying in a tiny bay, crescent-shaped, of which the
two horns or extremities were formed by long narrow prom-
ontories projecting into the lake. On the east the whole
sky was flushed with a deep amber glow, fleckered with
softest shades of rose-colour the same intense splendour
being reflected in the lake; and upon the extremity of the
point, between the glory above and the glory below, stood
the little Mission church, its light spire and belfry de-
fined against the sky. On the opposite side of the heavens
hung the moon, waxing paler and paler, and melting away,
as it seemed, before the splendour of the rising day. Im-
mediately in front rose the abrupt and picturesque heights
of the Island, robed in richest foliage, and crowned by the
lines of the little fortress, snow-white, and gleaming in
the morning light. At the base of these cliffs, all along the
shore, immediately on the edge of the lake, which, trans-
280 HISTORIC MACKINAC
parent and unruffled, reflected every form as in a mirror,
an encampment of Indian lodges extended as far as my eye
could reach on either side. Even while I looked, the in-
mates were beginning to bestir themselves, and dusky fig-
ures were seen emerging into sight from their picturesque
dormitories, and stood gazing on us with folded arms, or
were busied about their canoes, of which some hundreds
lay along the beach.
"There was not a breath of air: and while heaven and
earth were glowing with light, and colour, and life, an
elysian stillness, a delicious balmy serenity wrapt and
interfused the whole. how passing lovely it was! how
wondrously beautiful and strange! I cannot tell how long
I may have stood, lost absolutely lost, and fearing even
to wink my eyes, lest the spell should dissolve, and all
should vanish away like some air-wrought phantasy, some
dream out of fairy land, when the good Bishop of Michi-
gan came up to me, and with a smiling benevolence waked
me out of my ecstatic trance; and reminding me that I had
but two minutes left, seized upon some of my packages
himself, and hurried me on to the little wooden pier just in
time. We were then conducted to a little inn, or boarding-
house, kept by a very fat half-caste Indian woman, who
spoke Indian, bad French, and worse English, and who was
addressed as Madame. Here I was able to arrange my
hasty toilette, and we sat down to an excellent breakfast of
white-fish, eggs, tea and coffee, for which the charge was
twice what I should have given at the first hotel in the
United States, and yet not unreasonable, considering that
European luxuries were placed before us in this remote
spot. By the time breakfast was finished it was past six
o'clock, and taking my sketch book in my hand, I sauntered
MRS. JAMESON 1837 281
forth alone to the beach till it should be a fitting hour to
present myself at the door of the American agent, Mr.
Schoolcraft, whose wife was the sister of Mrs. MacMurray.
"The first object which caught my eye was the immense
steamer gliding swiftly away towards the Straits of Michili-
mackinac, already far, far to the West. Suddenly the
thought of my extreme loneliness came over me a momen-
tary wonder and alarm to find myself so far from any
human being who took the least interest about my fate. I
had no letter to Mr. Schoolcraft; and if Mr. and Mrs. Mac-
Murray had not passed this way, or had forgotten to men-
tion me, what would be my reception? what should I do?
Here I must stay for some days at least. All the accommo-
dation that could be afforded by the half French, half In-
dian 'Madame had been already secured, and, without
turning out the Bishop, there was not even a room for me.
These thoughts and many others, some natural doubts, and
fears, came across my mind, but I cannot say that they re-
mained there long, or that they had the effect of rendering
me uneasy and anxious for more than half a minute. With
a sense of enjoyment keen and unanticipative as that of a
child looking neither before nor after I soon abandoned
myself to the present, and all its delicious exciting novelty,
leaving the future to take care of itself, which I am more
and more convinced is the truest wisdom, the most real
philosophy after all.
"The sun had now risen in cloudless glory all was life
and movement. I strayed and loitered for full three hours
along the shore, I hardly knew whither, sitting down occa-
sionally under the shadow of a cliff or cedar fence to rest,
and watching the operations of the Indian families. It
were endless to tell you of each individual group or picture
282 HISTORIC MACKINAC
as successively presented before me. But there were some
general features of the scene which struck me at once.
There were more than one hundred lodges, and round each
of these lurked several ill-looking, half-starved, yelping
dogs. The women were busied about their children, or
making fires and cooking, or pounding Indian corn, in a
primitive sort of mortar, formed of part of a tree hollowed
out, with a heavy rude pestle which they moved up and
down, as if churning. The dress of the men was very vari-
ous the cotton shirt, blue or scarlet leggings, and deer-skin
moccasins and blanket coat, were most general; but many
had no shirt nor vest, merely the cloth leggings, and a
blanket thrown round them as drapery; the faces of several
being most grotesquely painted. The dress of the women
was more uniform, a cotton shirt, and cloth leggings and
moccasins, and a dark blue blanket. Necklaces, silver
armlets, silver ear-rings, and circular plates of silver fas-
tened on the breast, were the usual ornaments of both sexes.
There may be a general equality of rank among the In-
dians; but there is evidently all that inequality of condition
which difference of character and intellect might naturally
produce; there were rich wigwams and poor wigwams;
whole families ragged, meagre, and squalid, and others gay
with dress and ornaments, fat and well-favoured: on the
whole, these were beings quite distinct from any Indians I
had yet seen, and realized all my ideas of the wild and
lordly savage. I remember I came upon a family group,
consisting of a fine tall young man and two squaws; one
had a child swaddled in one of their curious bark cradles,
which she composedly hung up against the side of the wig-
wam. They were then busied launching a canoe, and in a
moment it was dancing upon the rippling waves: one woman
MRS. JAMESON 1837 283
guided the canoe, the other paddled: the young man stood
in the prow in a striking and graceful attitude, poising his
fish-spear in his hand. When they were about one hundred
yards from the shore, suddenly I saw the fish-spear darted
into the water, and disappear beneath it; as it sprang up
again to the surface, it was rapidly seized, and a large fish
was sticking to the prongs; the same process was repeated
with unerring success, and then the canoe was paddled back
to the land. The young man flung his spear into the bottom
of the canoe, and lounged away without troubling himself
farther; the women drew up the canoe, kindled a fire, and
suspended the fish over it, to be cooked a la mode Indienne.
"There was another group which amused me exceed-
ingly: it was a large family, and, compared with some
others, they were certainly people of distinction and sub-
stance, rich in beads, blankets, and brass kettles, with 'all
things handsome about them' ; they had two lodges and two
canoes. But I must begin by making you understand the
construction of an Indian lodge, such, at least, as those
which now crowded the shore.
"Eight or twelve long poles are stuck in the ground in a
circle, meeting at a point at the top, where they are all fas-
tened together. The skeleton thus erected is covered over,
thatched in some sort with mats, or large pieces of birch
bark, beginning at the bottom, and leaving an opening at the
top for the emission of smoke; there is a door about four
feet high, before which a skin or blanket is suspended ; and
as it is summer time, they do not seem particular about
closing the chinks and apertures. 2 As to the canoes, they
[The following notes are Mrs. Jameson's.]
2 1 learned subsequently, that the cone-like form of the wigwam is
proper to the Ottawas and Pottowottomies, and that the oblong form, in
which the branches or poles are bent over at top in an arch, is proper to
the Chippewa tribe. But as this latter is more troublesome to erect, the
284 HISTORIC MACKINAC
are uniformly of birch bark, exceedingly light, flat-bot-
tomed, and most elegant in shape, varying in size from
eighteen to thirty-six feet in length, and from a foot and
a half to four feet in width. The family I have mentioned
were preparing to embark, and were dismantling their wig-
wams and packing up their goods, not at all discomposed
by my vicinity, as I sat on a bank watching the whole
process with no little interest. The most striking personage
in this group was a very old man, seated on a log of wood,
close upon the edge of the water; his head was quite bald,
excepting a few gray hairs which were gathered in a tuft
at the top, and decorated with a single feather I think an
eagle's feather; his blanket of scarlet cloth was so arranged
as to fall around his limbs in graceful folds, leaving his
chest and shoulders exposed ; he held a green umbrella over
his head, (a gift or purchase from some white trader) and
in the other hand a long pipe and he smoked away, never
stirring, nor taking the slightest interest in anything which
was going on. Then there were two fine young men, and
three women, one old and hideous, with matted grizzled
hair, the youngest really a beautiful girl about fifteen.
There were also three children; the eldest had on a cotton
shirt, the breast of which was covered with silver ornaments.
The men were examining the canoes, and preparing to
launch them ; the women were taking down their wigwams,
and as they uncovered them, I had an opportunity of ob-
serving the whole interior of their dwellings.
"The ground was spread over with mats, two or three
deep, and skins and blankets, so as to form a general
couch: then all around the internal circle of the wigwam
former construction is usually adopted by the Chippewas also in their
temporary encampments.
MRS. JAMESON 1837 285
were ranged their goods and chattels in very tidy order:
I observed wooden chests, of European make, bags of woven
grass, baskets and cases of birch bark (called mokkuks)
also brass kettles, pans, and to my surprise, a large coffee-
pot of queen's metal.
"When all was arranged, and the canoes afloat, the poles
of the wigwams were first placed at the bottom, then the
mats and bundles, which served apparently to sit on, and
the kettles and chests were stowed in the middle; the old
man was assisted by the others into the largest canoe;
women, children, and dogs followed; the young men stood
in the stern with their paddles as steersmen; the women
and boys squatted down, each with a paddle; with all this
weight, the elegant buoyant little canoes scarcely sank an
inch deeper in the water and in this guise away they
guided with surprising swiftness over the sparkling waves,
directing their course eastwards for the Manitoulin Islands,
where I hope to see them again. The whole process of
preparation and embarkation did not occupy an hour.
"About ten o'clock I ventured to call on Mr. Schoolcraft,
and was received by him with grave and quiet politeness.
They were prepared, he said, for my arrival, and then he
apologized for whatever might be deficient in my reception,
and for the absence of his wife, by informing me that she
was ill, and had not left her room for some days.
"Much was I discomposed and shocked to find myself
an intruder under such circumstances! I said so, and
begged that they would not think of me that I could easily
provide for myself and so I could and would. I would
have laid myself down in one of the Indian lodges rather
than have been de trap. But Mr. Schoolcraft said, with
286 HISTORIC MACKINAC
much kindness, that they knew already of my arrival by one
of my fellow-passengers that a room was prepared for me,
a servant already sent down for my goods, and Mrs. School-
craft, who was a little better that morning, hoped to see me.
Here, I am installed for the next few days and I know
not how many more so completely am I at the mercy of
*fates, destinies, and such branches of learning!'
"I am charmed with Mrs. Schoolcraft. When able
to appear, she received me with true lady-like simplicity.
The damp, tremulous hand, the soft, plaintive voice, the
touching expression of her countenance, told too plainly of
resigned and habitual suffering. Mrs. Schoolcraft's fea-
tures are more decidedly Indian than those of her sister,
Mrs. MacMurray. Her accent is slightly foreign her
choice of language pure and remarkably elegant. In the
course of an hour's talk, all my sympathies were enlisted
in her behalf, and I thought that she, on her part, was in-
clined to return those benignant feelings. I promised my-
self to repay her hospitality by all the attention and grati-
tude in my power. I am here a lonely stranger, thrown
upon her sufferance; but she is good, gentle, and in most
delicate health, and there are a thousand quiet ways in
which woman may be kind and useful to her sister woman.
Then she has two sweet children about eight and nine years
old no fear, you see, but that we shall soon be the best
friends in the world!
"This day, however, I took care not to be a charge, so I
ran about along the lovely shore, and among the Indians,
inexpressibly amused, and occupied, and excited by all I
saw and heard. At last I returned so wearied out
so spent in body and mind! I was fain to go to rest soon
after sunset. A nice little room had been prepared for me,
MRS. JAMESON 1837 287
and a wide comfortable bed, into which I sank with such a
feeling of peace, security, and thankfulness, as could only
be conceived by one who had been living in comfortless
inns and close steam-boats for the last fortnight."
"On a little platform, not quite half way up the wooded
height which overlooks the bay, embowered in foliage, and
sheltered from the tyrannous breathing of the north by the
precipitous cliff, rising almost perpendicularly behind,
stands the house in which I find myself at present a grateful
and contented inmate. The ground in front sloping down
to the shore, is laid out in a garden, with an avenue of fruit
trees, the gate at the end opening on the very edge of the
lake. From the porch I look down upon the scene I have
endeavoured how inadequately! to describe to you: the
little crescent bay; the village of Mackinac; the beach
thickly studded with Indian lodges; canoes fishing, or dart-
ing hither and thither, light and buoyant as sea-birds: a tall,
graceful schooner swinging at anchor. Opposite rises the
Island of Bois-blanc, with its tufted and most luxuriant
foliage. To the east we see the open lake, and in the far
western distance the promontory of Michilimackinac, and
the strait of that name, the portal of Lake Michigan. The
exceeding beauty of this little paradise of an island, the at-
tention which has been excited by its enchanting scenery,
and the salubrity of its summer climate, the facility of com-
munication lately afforded by the lake steamers, and its
situation half way between Detroit and the newly settled re-
gions of the west, are likely to render Mackinac a sort of
watering-place for the Michigan and Wisconsin fashion-
ables, or, as the Bishop expressed it, the 'Rockaway of the
west'; so at least it is anticipated. How far such an acces-
288 HISTORIC MACKINAC
sion of fashion and reputation may be desirable, I know
not; I am only glad it has not yet taken place, and that I
have beheld this lovely Island in all its wild beauty.
"When I left my room this morning, I remained for
some time in the parlour, looking over the Wisconsin Ga-
zette, a good sized, well printed newspaper, published on
the west shore of Lake Michigan. I was reading a most pa-
thetic and serious address from the new settlers in Wiscon-
sin to the down-east girls (i.e. the women of the eastern
states) who are invited to the relief of these hapless hard-
working bachelors in the backwoods. They are promised
affluence and love the 'picking and choosing among a set
of the finest young fellows in the world,' who are ready to
fall at their feet, and make the most adoring and most obe-
dient of husbands! Can you fancy what a pretty thing a
Wisconsin pastoral might be? Only imagine one of these
despairing backwoodsmen inditing an Ovidian epistle to his
unknown mistress 'down east, 9 wooing her to come and
be wooed! Well, I was enjoying this comical effusion, and
thinking that women must certainly be at a premium in
these parts, when suddenly the windows were darkened,
and looking up, I beheld a crowd of faces, dusky, wild,
grotesque with flashing eyes and white teeth, staring in
upon me. I quickly threw down the paper and hastened
out. The porch, the little lawn, the garden walks, were
crowded with Indians, the elder chiefs and warriors sitting
on the ground, or leaning silently against the pillars; the
young men, women, and boys lounging and peeping about,
with eager and animated looks, but all perfectly well con-
ducted, and their voices low and pleasing to the ear. They
were chiefly Ottawas and Pottowottomies, two tribes which
'call brother,' that is, claim relationship, and are usually in
MRS. JAMESON 1837 289
alliance, but widely different. The Ottawas are the most
civilized, the Pottowottomies the least so of all the lake
tribes. The Ottawa I soon distinguished by the decency of
his dress, and the handkerchief knotted round the head a
custom borrowed from the early French settlers, with whom
they have had much intercourse: the Pottowottomie by the
more savage finery of his costume, his tall figure, and a sort
of swagger in his gait. The dandyism of some of these
Pottowottomie warriors is inexpressibly amusing and gro-
tesque: I defy all Regent Street and Bond Street to go be-
yond them in the exhibition of self -decoration and self-com-
placency. One of these exquisites, whom I called Beau
Brummel, was not indeed much indebted to the tailor, seeing
he had neither a coat nor anything else that gentlemen are
accustomed to wear; but then his face was most artistically
painted, the upper half of it being vermilion, with a black
circle round one eye, and a white circle round the other;
the lower half of a bright green, except the tip of his nose,
which was also vermilion. His leggings of scarlet cloth
were embroidered down the sides, and decorated with
tufts of hair. The band, or garter, which confines the leg-
gings, is always an especial bit of finery; and his were gor-
geous, all embroidered with gay beads, and strings and
tassels of the liveliest colours hanging down to his ankle.
His moccasins were also beautifully worked with porcupine
quills; he had armlets and bracelets of silver: and round
his head a silver band stuck with tufts of moosehair dyed
blue and red ; and, conspicuous above all, the eagle feather
in his hair, showing he was a warrior, and had taken a scalp
i.e. killed his man. Over his shoulders hung a blanket
of scarlet cloth, very long and ample, which he had thrown
back a little, so as to display his chest, on which a large
290 HISTORIC MACKINAC
outspread hand was painted in white. It is impossible to
describe the air of perfect self-complacency with which this
youth strutted about. Seeing my attention fixed upon him
he came up and shook hands with me, repeating 'bojou!
bojou!' 3 Others immediately pressed forward also to
shake hands, or rather take my hand, for they do not shake
it; and I was soon in the midst of a crowd of perhaps thirty
or forty Indians, all holding out their hands to me, or
snatching mine, and repeating 'bojou with every expres-
sion of delight and good-humour.
"This must suffice in the way of description, for I cannot
further particularize dresses; they were very various, and
few so fine as that of my young Pottowottomie. I remem-
ber another young man, who had a common black beaver
hat, all round which, in several silver bands, he had stuck a
profusion of feathers, and long tufts of dyed hair, so that
it formed a most gorgeous helmet. Some wore their hair
hanging loose and wild in elf-locks, but others again had
combed and arranged it with much care and pains.
"The men seemed to engross the finery; none of the
women that I saw were painted. Their blankets were
mostly dark blue; some had strings of beads round their
necks, and silver armlets. The hair of some of the young
women was very prettily arranged, being parted smooth
upon the forehead and twisted in a knot behind, very much
a la Grecque. There is, I imagine, a very general and
hearty aversion to cold water."
"This morning, there was a 'talk' held in the commis-
sioner's office, and he kindly invited me to witness the pro-
ceedings. About twenty of their principal men, including
* This universal Indian salutation is merely a corruption of bon jour.
DEVIL'S KITCHEN
West Shore Boulevard
MRS. JAMESON 1837 291
a venerable old chief, were present; the rest stood outside,
crowding the doors and windows, but never attempting to
enter, nor causing the slightest interruption. The old chief
wore a quantity of wampum, but was otherwise undistin-
guished, except by his fine head and acute features. His
gray hair was drawn back, and tied on the top of his head
with a single feather. All, as they entered, took me by the
hand with a quiet smile and a *6o/ou,' to which I replied
as I had been instructed, 'bojou, neeje!' (good day,
friend). They then sat down upon the floor, all round
the room. Mr. Johnston, Mrs. Schoolcraft's brother, acted
as interpreter, and the business proceeded with the utmost
gravity.
"After some whispering among themselves, an orator of
the party addressed the commissioner with great emphasis.
Extending his hand and raising his voice, he began: 'Father,
I am come to tell you a piece of my mind.' But when he
had uttered a few sentences, Mr. Schoolcraft desired the
interpreter to tell him that it was useless to speak further
on that subject, (I understood it to relate to some land-
payments). The orator stopped immediately, and then,
after a pause, he went up and took Mr. Schoolcraft's hand
with a friendly air, as if to show he was not offended. An-
other orator then arose, and proceeded to the object of the
visit, which was to ask an allowance of corn, salt, and to-
bacco, while they remained on the Island, a request, which
I presume was granted, as they departed with much appar-
ent satisfaction.
"There was not a figure among them that was not a study
for a painter; and how I wished that my hand had been
readier with the pencil to snatch some of those picturesque
heads and attitudes. But it was all so new. I was so lost
292 HISTORIC MACKINAC
in gazing, listening, observing, and trying to comprehend,
that I could not make a single sketch, except the above, in
most poor and inadequate words."
"The Indians here and fresh parties are constantly ar-
riving are chiefly Ottawas, from Arbre Croche, on the
east of Lake Michigan; Potto wottomies; and Winnebagos
from the west of the lake; a few Menomonies and Chippe-
was from the shores north-west of us; the occasion of this
assemblage being the same with all. They are on the way
to the Manitoulin Islands, to receive the presents annually
distributed by the British government to all those Indian
tribes who were friendly to us during the wars with Amer-
ica, and call themselves our allies and our children, though
living within the bounds of another state. Some of them
make a voyage of five hundred miles to receive a few blan-
kets and kettles; coasting along the shores, encamping at
night, and paddling all day from sunrise to sunset, living
on the fish or game they may meet, and the little provision
they can carry with them, which consists chiefly of parched
Indian corn and bear's fat. Some are out on this excursion
during six weeks, or more, every year; returning to their
hunting grounds by the end of September, when the great
hunting season begins, which continues through October and
November; they then return to their villages and wintering
grounds. This applies generally to the tribes I find here,
except the Ottawas of Arbre Croche, who have a good deal
of land in cultivation, and are more stationary and civilized
than the other Lake Indians. They have been for nearly a
century under the care of the Jesuit missions; but do not
seem to have made much advance since Henry's time, and
the days when they were organized under Pontiac; they
MRS. JAMESON 1837 293
were even then considered superior in humanity and intel-
ligence to the Chippewas and Pottowotomies, and more in-
clined to agriculture.
"After some most sultry weather, we have had a grand
storm. The wind shifted to the north-east, and rose to a
hurricane. I was then sitting with my Irish friend in the
mission-house; and while the little bay lay almost tranquil,
gleam and shadow floating over its bosom, the expanse of the
main lake was like the ocean lashed to a fury. On the east
side of the Island, the billows came 'rolling with might,*
flinging themselves in wrath and foam far up the land. It
was a magnificent spectacle. Returning home, I was anx-
ious to see how the Indian establishment had stood out the
storm, and was surprised to find that little or no damage had
been done. I peeped into several, with a nod and a bojou,
and found the inmates very snug. Here and there a mat
was blown away, but none of the poles were displaced or
blown down, which I had firmly expected.
"Though all these lodges seem nearly alike to a casual
observer, I was soon aware of differences and gradations in
the particular arrangements, which are amusingly charac-
teristic of the various inhabitants. There is one lodge, a
little to the east of us, which I call the Chateau. It is ra-
ther larger and loftier than the others; the mats which cover
it are whiter and of a neater texture than usual. The blan-
ket which hangs before the opening is new and clean. The
inmates, ten in number, are well and handsomely dressed;
even the women and children have abundance of orna-
ments; and as for the gay cradle of the baby, I quite covet
it it is so gorgeously elegant. I supposed at first that this
must be the lodge of a chief; but I have since understood
that the chief is seldom either so well lodged or so well
294 HISTORIC MACKINAC
dressed as the others, it being a part of his policy to avoid
everything like ostentation, or rather to be ostentatiously
poor and plain in his apparel and possessions. This wig-
wam belongs to an Ottawa, remarkable for his skill in hunt-
ing, and for his habitual abstinence from the 'fire-water.'
He is a baptized Roman Catholic belonging to the mission
of Arbre Croche, and is reputed a rich man.
"Not far from this, and almost immediately in front of
our house, stands another wigwam, a most wretched con-
cern. The owners have not mats enough to screen them
from the weather; and the bare poles are exposed on every
side. The woman, with her long neglected hair, is always
seen cowering despondingly over the embers of her fire, as
if lost in sad reveries. Two naked children are scrambling
among the pebbles on the shore. The man wrapt in a dirty
ragged blanket, without a single ornament, looks the image
of savage inebriety and ferocity. Observe that these are
two extremes, and that between them are many gradations
of comfort, order and respectability. An Indian is respec-
table in his own community, in proportion as his wife and
children look fat and well fed; this being a proof of his
prowess and success as a hunter, and his consequent riches.
"I was loitering by the garden gate this evening, about
sunset, looking at the beautiful effects which the storm of
the morning had left in the sky and on the lake. I heard
the sound of the Indian drum, mingled with the shouts and
yells and shrieks of the intoxicated savages, who were
drinking in front of the village whiskey store; when at this
moment a man came slowly up, whom I recognized as one
of the Ottawa chiefs, who had often attracted my attention.
His name is Kim,e,wun, which signifies the Rain, or rather,
'it rains.' He now stood before me, one of the noblest fig-
MRS. JAMESON 1837 295
ures I ever beheld, above six feet high, erect as a forest
pine. A red and green handkerchief was twined round his
head with much elegance, and knotted in front, with the two
ends projecting; his black hair fell from beneath it, and his
small black piercing eyes glittered from among its masses,
like stars glancing through the thunder clouds. His ample
blanket was thrown over his left shoulder, and brought un-
der his right arm, so as to leave it free and exposed ; and a
sculptor might have envied the disposition of the whole
drapery it was so felicitous, so richly graceful. He stood
in a contemplative attitude evidently undecided whether he
should join his drunken companions in their night revel, or
return, like a wise man, to his lodge and his mat. He ad-
vanced a few steps, then turned, then paused and listened
then turned back again. I retired a little within the
gate, to watch, unseen the issue of the conflict. Alas! it was
soon decided the fatal temptation prevailed over better
thoughts. He suddenly drew his blanket round him, and
strided onwards in the direction of the village, treading the
earth with an air of defiance, and a step which would have
become a prince.
"On returning home, I mentioned this scene to Mr. and
Mrs. Schoolcraft, as I do everything which strikes me, that
I may profit by their remarks and explanation. Mr. S
told me a laughable anecdote.
"A distinguished Pottowottomie warrior presented him-
self to the Indian agent at Chicago, and observing that he
was a very good man, very good indeed and a good friend
to the Longknives (the Americans) requested a dram of
whisky. The agent replied, that he never gave whisky
to good men good men never asked for whisky ; and never
drank it. It was only bad Indians who asked for whisky,
296 HISTORIC MACKINAC
or liked to drink it. 'Then,' replied the Indian quickly in
his broken English, 'me damn rascal!' '
"The revel continued far through the night, for I heard
the wild yelling and whooping of the savages long after I
had gone to rest. I can now conceive what it must be to
hear that shrill prolonged cry (unlike any sound I ever
heard in my life before), in the solitude of the forest, and
when it is the certain harbinger of death.
"It is surprising to me, considering the number of sav-
ages congregated together, and the excess of drunkenness,
that no mischief is done; that there has been no fighting, no
robberies committed, and that there is a feeling of perfect
security around me. The women, they tell me, have taken
away their husbands' knives and tomahawks, and hidden
them wisely enough. At this time there are about twelve
hundred Indians here. The Fort is empty the garrison
having been withdrawn as useless; and perhaps there are
not a hundred white men in the Island, rather unequal
odds! And then that fearful Michilimackinac in full
view, with all its horrid, murderous associations! 4 But do
not for a moment imagine that I feel fear, or the slightest
doubt of security; only a sort of thrill which enhances the
enjoyment I have in these wild scenes a thrill such as one
feels in the presence of danger when most safe from it
such as I felt when bending over the rapids of Niagara.
"The Indians, apparently, have no idea of correcting or
restraining their children; personal chastisement is unheard
4 Michilimackinac was one of the forts surprised by the Indians at the
breaking out of the Pontiac war, when seventy British soldiers and their
officers were murdered and scalped. Henry gives a most vivid description
of this scene of horror in few words. He was present, and escaped, through
the friendship of an Indian (Wa, wa, tarn) who, in consequence of a
dream in early youth, had adopted him as his brother.
MRS. JAMESON 1837 297
of. They say that before a child has any understanding
there is no use in correcting it; and when old enough to
understand, no one has a right to correct it. Thus the fixed,
inherent sentiment of personal independence grows up with
the Indians from earliest infancy. The will of an Indian
child is not forced ; he has nothing to learn but what he sees
done around him, and he learns by imitation. I hear no
scolding, no tones of command or reproof; but I see no evil
results from this mild system, for the general reverence and
affection of children for parents is delightful ; where there
is no obedience exacted, there can be no rebellion; they
dream not of either, and all live in peace in the same lodge.
"I observe, while loitering among them, that they seldom
raise their voices, and they pronounce several words much
more softly than we write them. Wigwam, a house, they
pronounce wee-ga-waum; moccasin, a shoe, muck-a-zeen;
manito, spirit, mo-nee-do lengthening the vowels, and soft-
ening the aspirates. Chippewa is properly 0' jib-way;
ab,bin,no,jee is a little child. The accent of the women is
particularly soft, with a sort of plaintive modulation, re-
minding me of recitative. Their low laugh is quite musi-
cal, and has something infantine in it. I sometimes hear
them sing, and the strain is generally in a minor key; but I
cannot succeed in detecting or retaining an entire or distinct
tune."
"We have taken several delicious drives over this lovely
little Island, and traversed it in different directions. It is
not more than three miles in length, and wonderfully beau-
tiful. There is no large or lofty timber upon it, but a per-
petual succession of low, rich groves, 'alleys green, din-
gles, and bosky dells.' There is on the eastern coast a nat-
298 HISTORIC MACKINAC
ural arch or bridge, where the waters of the lake have un-
dermined the rock, and left a fragment thrown across a
chasm two hundred feet high. Strawberries, raspberries,
whortleberries, and cherries, were growing everywhere
wild, and in abundance. The whole Island, when seen
from a distance, has the form of a turtle sleeping on the
water: hence its Indian appellation, Michilimackinac, which
signifies the great turtle. The same name is given to a
spirit of great power and might, *a spirit who never lies,'
whom the Indians invoke and consult before undertaking
any important or dangerous enterprise; 5 and this Island, as
I apprehend, has been peculiarly dedicated to him; at all
events, it has been from time immemorial a place of note
and sanctity among the Indians. Its history, as far as the
Europeans are connected with it, may be told in a few
words.
"After the destruction of the Fort at Michilimackinac,
and the massacre of the garrison in 1763, the English re-
moved the fort and the trading post to this Island, and it
continued for a long time a station of great importance. In
1796 it was ceded, with the whole of the Michigan territory,
to the United States. The Fort was then strengthened, and
garrisoned by a detachment of General Wayne's army.
"In the War of 1812 it was taken and garrisoned by the
British, who added to the strength of the fortifications.
The Americans were so sensible of its importance, that
they fitted out an expensive expedition in 1814 for the pur-
pose of retaking it, but were repulsed with the loss of one of
their bravest commanders and a great number of men, and
forced to retreat to their vessels. After this, Michilimack-
8 See Henry's Travels, Bain's Edition, George N. Morang & Co., To-
ronto, p. 117.
MRS. JAMESON 1837 299
inac remained in possession of the British, till at the peace
it was again quietly ceded, one hardly knows why, to the
Americans, and in their possession it now remains. The
garrison, not being required in time of profound peace, has
been withdrawn. The pretty little fort remains."
"Mackinac, as seen from hence, has exactly the form its
name implies, that of a large turtle sleeping on the water.
I believe Mackinac is merely the abbreviation of Michili-
mackinac, the great turtle. It was a mass of purple shad-
ow; and just at one extremity the sun plunged into the lake,
leaving its reflection on the water, like the skirts of a robe
of fire, floating. This too vanished, and we returned in
the soft calm twilight, singing as we went."
M 1
CHAPTER XII
THE INDIANS AT MACKINAC 1837
"RS. JAMESON gives the following very sympa-
thetic and appreciative account of the Indians
about her on the Island, mainly Ojibways, her in-
terest deriving something, doubtless, from her fondness for
Mrs. Schoolcraft.
"The most delightful as well as most profitable hours I
spent here," l she says, "are those passed in the society of
Mrs. Schoolcraft. Her genuine refinement and simplicity,
and native taste for literature, are charming; and the ex-
ceeding delicacy of her health, and the trials to which it is
exposed, interest all my womanly sympathies. While in
conversation with her, new ideas of the Indian character
suggest themselves; new sources of information are opened
to me, such as are granted to few, and such as I gratefully
appreciate. She is proud of her Indian origin; she takes
an enthusiastic and enlightened interest in the welfare of
her people, and in their conversion to Christianity, being
herself most unaffectedly pious. But there is a melancholy
and pity in her voice, when speaking of them, as if she did
indeed consider them a doomed race. We were conversing
to-day of her grand-father, Waub-ojeeg, (the White Fisher),
a distinguished Chippewa chief and warrior, of whose life
and exploits she has promised to give me some connected
particulars. Of her mother, 0,shah,gush,ko,da,wa,qua, she
1 Mrs. Jameson's Sketches in Canada, pp. 191-219.
300
THE INDIANS AT MACKINAC 1837 301
speaks with fond and even longing affection, as if the very
sight of this beloved mother would be sufficient to restore
her to health and strength. *I should be well if I could see
my mother,' seems the predominant feeling. Nowhere is
the instinctive affection between parent and child so strong,
so deep, so sacred, as among these people.
"Celibacy in either sex is almost unknown among the In-
dians; equally rare is all profligate excess. One instance
I heard of a woman who had remained unmarried from
choice, not from accident or necessity. In consequence of
a dream in early youth (the Indians are great dreamers),
she not only regarded the sun as her manito or tutelary
spirit (this had been a common case), but considered her-
self especially dedicated, or in fact, married, to the lumin-
ary. She lived alone; she had built a wigwam for herself,
which was remarkably neat and commodious; she could use
a rifle, hunt, and provide herself with food and clothing.
She had carved a rude image of the sun, and set it up in her
lodge; the husband's place, the best mat, and a portion of
food, were always appropriated to this image. She lived
to a great age, and no one ever interfered with her mode
of life, for that would have been contrary to all their ideas
of individual freedom. Suppose that, according to our
most approved European notions, the poor woman had been
burnt at the stake, corporeally or metaphorically, or hunted
beyond the pale of the village, for deviating from the law
of custom, no doubt there would have been directly a new
female sect in the nation of the Chippewas, an order of
wives of the sun, and Chippewa vestal virgins; but these
wise people trusted to nature and common sense. The vo-
cation apparently was not generally admired, and found no
imitators.
302 HISTORIC MACKINAC
"Their laws, or rather their customs, command certain
virtues and practices, as truth, abstinence, courage, hos-
pitality; but they have no prohibitory laws whatever that
I could hear of. In this respect their moral code has some-
thing of the spirit of Christianity, as contrasted with the
Hebrew dispensation. Polygamy is allowed, but it is not
common; the second wife is considered as subject to the
first, who remains mistress of the household, even though
the younger wife should be the favourite. Jealousy, how-
ever, is a strong passion among them. Not only has a man
been known to murder a woman whose fidelity he suspected,
but Mr. Schoolcraft mentioned to me an instance of a
woman, who, in a transport of jealousy, had stabbed her
husband. But these extremes are very rare.
"Some time ago, a young Chippewa girl conceived a vio-
lent passion for a hunter of a different tribe, and followed
him from his winter hunting-ground to his own village.
He was already married, and the wife, not being inclined to
admit the rival, drove this love-sick damsel away, and
treated her with the utmost indignity. The girl, in desper-
ation, offered herself as a slave to the wife, to carry wood
and water, and lie at her feet anything to be admitted
within the same lodge and only look upon the object of her
affection. She prevailed at length. Now, the mere cir-
cumstance of her residing within the same lodge made her
also the wife of the man, according to the Indian custom;
but apparently she was content to forego all the privileges
and honours of a wife. She endured, for several months,
with uncomplaining resignation, every species of ill usage
and cruelty on the part of the first wife, till at length this
woman, unable any longer to suffer even the presence of a
rival, watched an opportunity as the other entered the wig-
THE INDIANS AT MACKINAC 1837 303
warn with a load of fire-wood, and cleft her skull with the
husband's tomahawk.
" 'And did the man permit all this?' was the natural
question.
"The answer was remarkable. *What could he do? he
could not help it: a woman is always absolute mistress in
her own wigwam!'
"In the end, the murder was not punished. The poor
victim having fled from a distant tribe, there were no rela-
tives to take vengeance, or do justice, and it concerned no
one else. She lies buried at a short distance from the
Sault-Ste-Marie, where the murderess and her husband yet
live.
"Women sometimes perish of grief for the loss of a hus-
band or a child, and men have been known to starve them-
selves on the grave of a beloved wife. Men have also been
known to give up their wives to the traders for goods and
whiskey; but this, though forbidden by no law, is consid-
ered disreputable, or, as my informant expressed it, *only
bad Indians do so.'
"I should doubt, from all I see and hear, that the Indian
squaw is that absolute slave, drudge, and nonentity in the
community, which she has been described. She is des-
potic in her lodge, and every thing it contains is hers; even
the game her husband kills, she has the uncontrolled dis-
posal. If her husband does not please her, she scolds,
and even cuffs him; and it is in the highest degree unmanly
to answer or strike her. I have seen here a woman scold-
ing and quarreling with her husband, seize him by the hair,
in a style that might have become civilized Billingsgate, or
Christian St. Giles's, and the next day I have beheld the
same couple sit lovingly together on the sunny side of the
304 . HISTORIC MACKINAC
wigwam, she kneeling behind him, and combing and ar-
ranging the hair she had been pulling from his head the
day before; just such a group as I remember to have seen
about Naples, or the Campagna di Roma, with very little
obvious difference either in costume or complexion.
"There is no law against marrying near relations; but it
is always avoided; it is contrary to their customs: even
first cousins do not marry. The tie of blood seems consid-
ered as stronger than that of marriage. A woman con-
siders that she belongs more to her own relatives than to
her husband or his relatives; yet, notwithstanding this and
the facility of divorce, separations between husband and
wife are very rare. A couple will go on 'squabbling and
making it up' all their lives, without having recourse to
this expedient. If from displeasure, satiety, or any other
cause, a man sends his wife away, she goes back to her rela-
tions, and invariably takes her children with her. The
indefeasible right of the mother to her offspring is Indian
law, or rather, the contrary notion does not seem to have
entered their minds. A widow remains subject to her
husband's relations for two years after his death; this is
the decent period of mourning. At the end of two years,
she returns some of the presents made to her by her late
husband, goes back to her own relatives, and may marry
again.
"These particulars, and others which may follow, apply
to the Chippewas and Ottawas around me; other tribes have
other customs. I speak merely of those things which are
brought under my own immediate observation and atten-
tion.
"During the last American War of 1812, the young
widow of a chief who had been killed in battle, assumed his
THE INDIANS AT MACKINAC 1837 305
arms, ornaments, wampum, medal, and went out with sev-
eral war parties, in which she distinguished herself by her
exploits. Mrs. Schoolcraft, when a girl of eleven or twelve
years old, saw this woman, who was brought into the Fort at
Mackinac and introduced to the commanding officer; and
retains a lively recollection of her appearance, and the in-
terest and curiosity she excited. She was rather below the
middle size, slight and delicate in figure, like most of the
squaws: covered with rich ornaments, silver armlets, with
the scalping-knife, pouch, medals, tomahawk all the in-
signia, in short, of an Indian warrior, except the war-paint
and feathers. In the room hung a large mirror, in which
she surveyed herself with evident admiration and delight,
turning round and round before it, and laughing trium-
phantly. She was invited to dine at the officers' mess, per-
haps as a joke, but conducted herself with so much intuitive
propriety and decorum, that she was dismissed with all
honour and respect, and with handsome presents. I could
not learn what became of her afterwards.
"Heroic women are not rare among the Indians, women
who can bravely suffer bravely die; but Amazonian
women, female amateur warriors, are very extraordinary; I
never heard but of this one instance. Generally, the
squaws around me give me the impression of exceeding
feminine delicacy and modesty, and of the most submissive
gentleness. Female chiefs, however, are not unknown in
Indian history. There was a famous Squaw Sachem, or
chief, in the time of the early settlers. The present head
chief of the Ottawas, a very fine old man, succeeded a fe-
male, who, it is further said, abdicated in his favor.
"Even the standing rule or custom that women are never
admitted to councils has been evaded. At the treaty of
306 HISTORIC MACKINAC
Butte des Morts, in 1827, an old Chippewa woman, the
wife of a superannuated chief, appeared in place of her
husband, wearing his medal, and to all intents and purposes
representing him. The American commissioners treated
her with studied respect and distinction, and made her rich
presents in cloth, ornaments, tobacco, &c. On her return
to her own village, she was waylaid and murdered by a
party of Menomonies. The next year two Menomonie
women were taken and put to death by the Chippewas ; such
is the Indian law of retaliation.
"The language spoken around me is the Chippewa
tongue, which, with little variation, is spoken also by the
Ottawas, Pottowottomies and Missasaguas, and diffused all
over the country of the lakes, and through a population of
about seventy thousand. It is in these countries what the
French is in Europe, the language of trade and diplomacy,
understood and spoken by those tribes, with whom it is not
vernacular. In this language Mrs. Schoolcraft generally
speaks to her children and Indian domestics. It is not only
very sweet and musical to the ear, with its soft inflections
and lengthened vowels, but very complex and artificial in
its construction, and subject to strict grammatical rules;
this, for an unwritten language for they have no alphabet
appears to me very curious. The particulars which fol-
low I have from Mr. Schoolcraft, who has deeply studied
the Chippewa language, and what he terms, not without
reason, the philosophy of its syntax.
"The great division of all words, and the pervading prin-
ciple of the language, is the distinction into animate and in-
animate objects; not only nouns, but adjectives, verbs, pro-
nouns, are inflected in accordance with this principle. The
THE INDIANS AT MACKINAC 1837 307
distinction, however, seems as arbitrary as that between
masculine and feminine nouns in some European languages.
Trees, for instance, are of the animate gender. The sun,
moon, thunder and lightning, a canoe, a pipe, a water-fall,
are all animate. The verb is not only modified to agree
with the subject, it must be farther modified to agree with
the subject spoken of, whether animate or inanimate: an
Indian cannot say simply, I love, I eat; the word must
express by its inflection what he loves or eats, whether it
belong to the animate or inanimate gender.
"What is curious enough is, that the noun or name can
be conjugated like a verb; the word man, for instance, can
be inflected to express, I am a man, thou art a man, he is
a man, I was a man, I will be a man, and so forth; and the
word husband can be so inflected as to signify by a change
of syllables, / have a husband, and / have not a husband.
"They have three numbers, like the Greek, but of differ-
ent signification; they have the singular, and two plurals,
one indefinite and general like ours, and one including the
persons or things present, and excluding those which are
absent; and distinct inflections are required for these two
plurals.
"There are distinct words to express certain distinctions
of sex, as with us; for instance, man, woman, father,
mother, sister, brother, are distinct words, but more com-
monly sex is distinguished by a masculine or feminine
syllable or termination. The word equay, a woman, is
thus used as a feminine termination where persons are con-
cerned. Ogima, is a chief, and Ogimquay a female chief.
"There are certain words and expressions which are in a
manner masculine and feminine by some prescriptive right,
and cannot be used indifferently by the two sexes. Thus,
308 HISTORIC MACKINAC
one man addressing another says, 'nichi,' or 'neejee,' my
friend. One woman addressing another woman says, 'Nin,-
dong,quay' (as nearly as I can imitate the sound), my
friend, or rather, I believe, female relation; and it would
be indelicacy in one sex, and arrogance in the other, to ex-
change these terms between man and woman. When a
woman is surprised at anything she sees or hears, she ex-
claims, 'N'ya!' When a man is surprised he exclaims,
T'ya!' and it would be contrary to all Indian notions of
propriety and decorum, if a man condescended to say
'N'ya!' or if a woman presumed to use the masculine inter-
jection 'T'ya!' I could give you other curious instances
of the same kind. They have different words for eldest
brother, eldest sister, and for brother and sister in general.
Brother is a common expression of kindness, father of re-
spect, and grand-father is a title of very great respect.
"They have no form of imprecation or swearing. Clos-
ing the hand, then throwing it forth and opening it suddenly
with a jerk, is the strongest gesture of contempt, and the
words 'bad dog' the strongest expression of abuse and vitu-
peration; both are unpardonable insults, and used spar-
ingly.
"A mother's term of endearment to her child is 'My bird
my young one,' and sometimes playfully, 'My old man.'
When I asked what words were used of reproach or menace,
I was told that Indian children were never scolded never
menaced.
"The form of salutation in common use between the In-
dians and the whites is the bo-jou, borrowed from the early
French settlers, the first Europeans with whom the North-
west Indians were brought in contact. Among themselves
there is no set form of salutation; when two friends meet
THE INDIANS AT MACKINAC 1837 309
after a long absence, they take hands, and exclaim, 'We see
each other!'
"I have been 'working like a beaver,' to borrow an Indian
phrase. This has been a rich and busy day. What with
listening, learning, scribbling, transcribing, my wits as well
as my pen are well nigh worn to a stump. But I am not
going to tell here of well-known Indian customs, and repeat
anecdotes to be found in all the popular books of travel.
With the general characteristics of Indian life and manners
I suppose the reader already familiar, from the works of
Cooper, Washington Irving, Charles Hoffman, and others.
I can add nothing to these sources of information; only
bear testimony to the vigour, and liveliness and truth of the
pictures they have drawn. I am amused at every moment
by the coincidence between what I see and what I have read ;
but I must confess I never read anything like the Indian
fictions I have just been transcribing from the first and
highest authority.
"We can easily understand that among a people whose
objects in life are few and simple, society cannot be very
brilliant, nor conversation very amusing. The taciturnity
of the Indians does not arise from any ideas of gravity,
decorum, or personal dignity, but rather from the dearth of
ideas and of subjects of interest. Henry mentions the dul-
ness of the long winters, when he was residing in the wig-
wam of his brother, Wa,wa,tam, whose family were yet
benevolent and intelligent. He had nothing to do but to
smoke. Among the Indians, he says, the topics of conver-
sation are few, and are limited to the transactions of the
day and the incidents of the chase. The want of all variety
in their lives, of all intellectual amusement, is one cause of
310 HISTORIC MACKINAC
their passion for gambling and for ardent spirits. The
chase is to them a severe toil, not a recreation the means
of existence, not the means of excitement. They have, how-
ever, an amusement which I do not remember to have seen
noticed anywhere. Like the Arabians, they have among
them story-tellers by profession, persons who go about
from lodge to lodge, amusing the inmates with traditional
tales, histories of the wars and exploits of their ancestors,
or inventions of their own, which are sometimes in the form
of allegories or parables, and are either intended to teach
them some moral lesson, or are extravagant inventions, hav-
ing no other aim or purpose but to excite wonder or amuse-
ment. The story-tellers are estimated according to their
eloquence and powers of invention, and are always wel-
come, sure of the best place in the lodge, and the choicest
mess of food wherever they go. Some individuals, not
story-tellers by profession, possess and exercise these gifts
of memory and invention. Mrs. Schoolcraft mentioned
an Indian living at the Sault-Ste-Marie, who in this manner
amuses and instructs his family almost every night before
they go to rest. Her own mother is also celebrated for her
stock of traditional lore, and her poetical and inventive fac-
ulties, which she inherited from her father, Waub-ojeeg,
who was the greatest poet and story-teller, as well as the
greatest warrior of his tribe.
"The stories I give you from Mrs. Schoolcraft's transla-
tion have at least the merit of being genuine. Their very
wildness and childishness, and dissimilarity to all other
fictions, will recommend them. The first story was evi-
dently intended to inculcate domestic union and brotherly
love.
THE INDIANS AT MACKINAC 1837 311
THE FORSAKEN BROTHER
"It was a fine summer evening; the sun was scarcely an hour
high, its departing rays shone through the leaves of the tall elms
that skirted a little green knoll, whereon stood a solitary Indian
lodge. The deep, deep silence that reigned around seemed to the
dwellers in that lonely hut like the long sleep of death which was
now about to close the eyes of the chief of this poor family; his
low breathing was answered by the sighs and sobs of his wife and
three children; two of the children were almost grown up, one was
yet a mere child. These were the only human beings near the
dying man : the door of the lodge 2 was thrown aside to admit the
refreshing breeze of the lake on the banks of which it stood, and
when the cool air visited the brow of the poor man, he felt a mo-
mentary return of strength. Raising himself a little, he thus ad-
dressed his weeping family:
"'I leave ye I leave ye! thou who hast been my partner in
life, thou wilt not stay long behind me, thou wilt soon join me
in the pleasant land of spirits; therefore thou hast not long to
suffer in this world. But my children, my poor children, you
have just commenced life, and unkindness, and ingratitude, and
all wickedness, is in the scene before you. I have contented my-
self with the company of your mother and yourselves for many
years, and you will find that my motive for separating myself
from other men has been to preserve you from evil example. But
I die content, if you, my children, promise me to love each other,
and on no account to forsake your youngest brother. Of him I
give you both particular charge love him and cherish him.'
"The father then became exhausted, and taking a hand of each
of his elder children, he continued 'My daughter, never for-
sake your little brother! my son, never forsake your little brother!
'Never! never!' they both exclaimed: 'Never! never!' repeated
the father, and expired.
"The poor man died happy, because he thought that his com-
[The following notes are Mrs. Jameson's.]
2 The skin or blanket suspended before the opening.
312 , HISTORIC MACKINAC
mands would be obeyed; the sun sank down behind the trees and
left a golden sky, which the family were wont to behold with
pleasure; but now no one heeded it. The lodge, so still an hour
before, was now filled with loud cries and lamentations.
'Time wore heavily away. Five long moons had passed, and
the sixth was nearly full, when the mother also died. In her last
moments, she pressed upon her children the fulfillment of their
promise to their departed father. They readily renewed this
promise, because they were as yet free from any selfish motives
to break it The winter passed away and spring came. The
girl being the eldest, directed her brothers and seemed to feel a
more tender and sisterly affection for the youngest, who was sickly
and delicate. The other boy soon showed signs of selfishness,
and thus addressed his sister:
" 'My sister, are we always to live as if there were no other
human beings in the world? Must I be deprived of the pleasure
of associating with men? I go to seek the villages of my brothers
and my tribe. I have resolved, and you prevent me.'
"The girl replied: 'My brother, I do not say no to what you
desire. We were not forbidden to associate with men, but we were
commanded to cherish and never forsake each other if we sep-
arate to follow our own selfish desire, will it not oblige us to for-
sake him, our brother, who we are both bound to support?'
"The young man made no answer to this remonstrance, but
taking up his bow and arrows, he left the wigwam and returned
no more.
"Many moons had come and gone after the young man's de-
parture, and still the girl ministered kindly and constantly to the
wants of her little brother. At length, however, she too began to
weary of solitude and her charge. Years added to her strength
and her power of providing for the household wants, but also
brought the desire of society, and made her solitude more and
more irksome. At last she became quite impatient; she thought
only of herself, and cruelly resolved to abandon her little brother,
as her elder brother had done before.
"One day, after having collected all the provisions she had
set apart for emergencies, and brought a quantity of wood to the
THE INDIANS AT MACKINAC 1837 313
door, she said to her little brother, 'My brother, you must not
stray far from the lodge. I am going to seek our brother, I shall
soon be back.' Then taking her bundle, she set off in search of
the habitations of men. She soon found them, and became so
much occupied with the pleasures of her new life, that all affec-
tion and remembrance of her brother were by degrees effaced from
her heart. At last she was married, and after that she never
more thought of her poor helpless little brother, whom she had
abandoned in the woods.
"In the mean time the eldest brother had also settled on the
shores of the same lake, near which reposed the bones of his pa-
rents, and the abode of his forsaken brother.
" 'Now, as soon as the little boy had eaten all the provisions left
by his sister, he was obliged to pick berries and dig up roots for
food. Winter came on, and the poor child was exposed to all its
rigor; the snow covered the earth; he was forced to quit the lodge
in search of food, and strayed about without shelter or home;
sometimes he passed the night in the clefts of old trees, and ate
the fragments left by the wolves. Soon he had no other resource;
and in seeking for food he became so fearless of these animals,
that he would sit close to them while they devoured their prey,
and the fierce, hungry wolves themselves seemed to pity his condi-
tion, and would always leave something for him. Thus he lived
on the bounty of the wolves till the spring. As soon as the lake
was free from ice, he followed his new friends and companions
to the shore. Now it happened that his brother was fishing in
his canoe, out far on the lake, when he thought he heard a cry as
of a child, and wondered how any one could exist on the bleak
shore. He listened again more attentively, and heard the cry re-
peated, and he paddled towards the shore as quickly as possible,
and there he beheld his little brother, whom he heard singing in a
plaintive voice:
"Neesya, neesya, shyegwich gushuh!
Ween, ne myeeguniwh!"
That is, 'My brother, my brother, I am now turning into a wolf,
I am turning into a wolf.' At the end of his song he howled like
314 . HISTORIC MACKINAC
a wolf, and his brother approaching was dismayed to find him
half a wolf and half a human being. He, however, leaped to the
shore, strove to catch him in his arms, and said, soothingly, 'My
brother, my brother, come to me!' But the boy eluded his grasp
and fled, still singing as he fled, 'I am turning into a wolf! I am
turning into a wolf!' and howled frightfully at the end of his
song.
"His elder brother, conscious-struck, and feeling all his love
return, exclaimed in anguish, 'My brother, my brother, come
to me!' but the nearer he approached the child the more rapidly
the transformation proceeded. Still he sung, and howling called
upon his brother and sister alternately in his song, till the change
was complete, and he fled towards the wood a perfect wolf. At
last he cried, 'I am a wolf!' and bounded out of sight.
"The young man felt the bitterness of remorse all his days; and
the sister when she heard the fate of her little brother whom she
had promised to protect and cherish, wept many tears, and never
ceased to mourn him till she died.
"The next story seems intended to admonish parental
ambition and inculcate filial obedience. The bird here
called the robin is three times as large as the English robin
redbreast, but in its form and habits very similar.
THE ORIGIN OF THE ROBIN
"An old man had an only son, a fine promising lad, who had
arrived at that age when the Chippewas thought it proper to make
the long and final fast which is to secure through life a guardian
spirit, on whom future prosperity or adversity are to depend, and
who forms the character to great and noble deeds. 3
8 This custom is universal among the Chippewas and their kindred
tribes. At a certain age, about twelve or fourteen, the youth or girl is
shut up in a separate lodge to fast and dream. The usual term is from
three to five or six days, or even longer. The object which during this
time is most frequently presented in sleep the disturbed feverish sleep of
an exhausted frame and excited imagination is the tutelary spirit or
manito of the future life: it is the sun or moon or evening star; an eagle,
a moose, deer, a crane, a bat, &c. Wawatam, the Indian friend of Henry
THE INDIANS AT MACKINAC 1837 315
'This old man was ambitious that his son should surpass all
others in whatever was deemed most wise and great among his
tribe ; and to this effect he thought it necessary that his son should
fast a much longer time than any of those persons celebrated for
their uncommon power or wisdom, and whose fame he envied.
"He therefore directed his son to prepare with great ceremony
for the important event; after he had been in the bath several
times, he ordered him to lie down on a clean mat in a little lodge,
expressly prepared for him, telling him at the same time to bear
himself like a man, and that at the expiration of twelve days he
should receive food and his father's blessing.
"The youth carefully observed these injunctions, lying with his
face covered, with perfect composure, awaiting those spiritual vis-
itations which were to seal his good or evil fortune. His father
visited him every morning regularly to encourage him to perse-
verance, expatiating on the renown and honour which would
attend him through life, if he accomplished the full term pre-
scribed. To these exhortations the boy never replied, but lay
still without a murmur till the ninth day, when he thus addressed
his father 'My father, my dreams are ominous of evil. May I
break my fast now, and at a more propitious time make a new
fast?'
"The father answered 'My son, you know not what you ask;
if you rise now, all your glory will depart. Wait patiently a little
longer, you have but three days yet to accomplish what I desire:
You know it is for your own good.'
"The son assented, and covering himself up close, he lay till
the eleventh day, when he repeated his request to his father.
But the same answer was given by the old man, who, however,
added that the next day he would himself prepare his first meal,
and bring it to him. The boy remained silent, and lay like
death. No one could have known he was living, but by the
gentle heaving of his breast.
"The next morning, the father, elate at having gained his ob-
the traveller, had dreamed of a white man, whom the Great Spirit brought
to him in his hand and presented as his brother. This dream saved
Henry's life.
316 HISTORIC MACKINAC
ject, prepared a repast for his son, and hastened to set it before
him. On coming to the door, he was surprised to hear his son
talking to himself; he stooped to listen, and looking through a
small aperture, he was more astonished when he saw his son
painted with vermilion on his breast, and in the act of finishing
his work by laying the paint as far as his hand could reach on his
shoulders, saying at the same time, 'My father has destroyed me
as a man he would not listen to my request he will now be the
loser, while I shall be forever happy in my new state, since I
have been obedient to my parent. He alone will be a sufferer, for
the Spirit is a just one, though not propitious to me. He has
shown me pity, and now I must go!'
"At that moment the father, in despair, burst into the lodge,
exclaiming, 'My son, my son, do not leave me!' But his son, with
the quickness of a bird, had flown up to the top of the lodge, and
perched upon the highest pole, a beautiful Robin Redbreast. He
looked down on his father with pity beaming in his eyes, and told
him he should always love to be near man's dwellings that he
should always be seen happy and contented by the constant
sprightliness and joy he would display and that he would ever
strive to cheer his father by his songs, which would be some
consolation to him for the loss of the glory he had expected and
that although no longer a man, he would ever be the harbinger of
peace and joy to the human race.
"It is a mistake to suppose that these Indians are idol-
aters; heathens and pagans you may call them if you will;
but the belief in one Great Spirit, who created all things,
and is paramount to all things, and the belief in the dis-
tinction between body and soul, and the immortality of the
latter these two sublime principles pervade their wildest
superstitions; but though none doubt of a future state, they
have no distinct or universal tenets with regard to the condi-
tion of the soul after death. Each individual seems to have
his own thoughts on the subject, and some doubtless never
&
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THE INDIANS AT MACKINAC 1837 317
think about it at all. In general, however, their idea of a
paradise, (the land of spirits) is some far off country to-
wards the south-west, abounding in sun-shine, and placid
lakes, and rivers full of fish, and forest full of game,
whither they are transported by the Great Spirit, and where
those who are separated on earth meet again in happiness,
and part no more.
"Not only man, but everything animate, is spirit, and des-
tined to immortality. According to the Indians, (and Sir
Humphry Davy) nothing dies, nothing is destroyed; what
we look upon as death and destruction is only transition and
change. The ancients, it is said for I cannot speak from
my own knowledge without telescopes or logarithms, di-
vined the grandest principles of astronomy, and calculated
the revolutions of the planets; and so these Indians, who
never heard of philosophy or chemistry, have contrived
to hit upon some of the profoundest truths in physics and
metaphysics; but they seem content, like Jaques, *to praise
God, and make no boast of it.'
"In some things, it is true, they are as far as possible
from orthodox. Their idea of a hell seems altogether
vague and negative. It consists in a temporary rejection
from the land of good spirits, in a separation from lost
relatives, and friends, in being doomed to wander up and
down desolately, having no fixed abode, weary, restless,
and melancholy. To how many is the Indian hell al-
ready realized on this earth? Physical pain, or any pain
which calls for the exercise of courage, and which it is
manliness to meet and endure, does not apparently enter
into their notions of punishment. They believe in evil
spirits, but the idea of the Evil Spirit, a permitted agency
of evil and mischief who divides with the Great Spirit the
318 HISTORIC MACKINAC
empire of the universe who contradicts or renders nuga-
tory His will, and takes especially in hand the province
of tormenting sinners of the devil, in short, they cer-
tainly had not an idea, till it was introduced by Euro-
peans. Those Indians whose politeness will not allow
them to contradict this article of the white man's faith, still
insist that the place of eternal torment was never intended
for the Red-skins, the especial favourites of the Great Spirit,
but for white men only.
"Formerly it was customary with Chippewas to bury
many articles with the dead, such as would be useful on
their journey to the land of spirits.
"Henry describes in a touching manner the interment
of a young girl, with an axe, snow-shoes, a small kettle,
several pairs of moccasins, her own ornaments, and strings
of beads ; and, because it was a female destined, it seems,
to toil and carry burthens in the other world as well as
this the carrying-belt and the paddle. The last act before
the burial, performed by the poor mother, crying over the
dead body of the child, was that of taking from it a lock
of hair for a memorial. 'While she did this,' says Henry,
*I endeavored to console her by offering the usual argu-
ments, that the child was happy in being released from the
miseries of this life, and that she should forbear to grieve,
because it would be restored to her in another world, happy
and everlasting. She answered, that she knew it well, and
that by the lock of hair she would know her daughter in
the other world, for she would take it with her alluding
to the time when this relic, with the carrying-belt and axe,
would be placed in her own grave.
"This custom of burying property with the dead was
formerly carried to excess from the piety and generosity
THE INDIANS AT MACKINAC 1837 319
of surviving friends, until a chief greatly respected and
admired among them for his bravery and talents, took an
ingenious method of giving his people a lesson. He was
seized with a fit of illness, and after a few days expired,
or seemed to expire. But after lying in this death-trance
for some hours, he came to life again, and recovering his
voice and senses, he informed his friends, that he had been
half-way to the land of spirits; that he found the road
thither crowded with the souls of the dead, all so heavily
laden with the guns, kettles, axes, blankets, and other arti-
cles buried with them, that their journey was retarded,
and they complained grievously of the burthens which the
love of their friends had laid on them. *I will tell you,*
said Gitchee Gauzinee, for that was his name, 'our fathers
have been wrong; they have buried too many things with
the dead. It is too burthensome to them, and they have
complained to me bitterly. There are many who, by
reason of the heavy loads they bear, have not yet reached
the land of spirits. Clothing will be very acceptable to
the dead, also his moccasins to travel in, and his pipe
to refresh him on the way; but let his other possessions be
divided among his relatives and friends.'
"This sensible hint was taken in good part. The cus-
tom of kindling a fire on the grave, to light the departed
spirit on its road to the land of the dead, is very general,
and will remind you of the oriental customs.
"A Chippewa chief, heading his war party against the
Sioux, received an arrow in his breast, and fell. No war-
rior, thus slain, is ever buried. According to ancient cus-
tom, he was placed in a sitting posture, with his back
against a tree, his face towards his flying enemies; his
head-dress, ornaments, and all his war-equipments, were
320 HISTORIC MACKINAC
arranged, with care, and thus he was left. But the chief
was not dead; though he could neither move nor speak,
he was sensible to all that passed. When he found him-
self abandoned by his friends as one dead, he was seized
with a paroxysm of rage and anguish. When they took
leave of him, lamenting, he rose up and followed them, but
they saw him not. He pursued their track, and whereso-
ever they went, he went ; when they ran, he ran ; when they
camped and slept, he did the like; but he could not eat
with them, and when he spoke they heard him not. 'Is it
possible,' he cried, exalting his voice, 'that my brothers do
not see me do not hear me? Will you suffer me to bleed
to death without stanching my wounds? will you let me
starve in the midst of food? have my fellow- warriors al-
ready forgotten me? is there none who will recollect my
face, or offer me a morsel of flesh?' Thus he lamented
and upbraided, but the sound of his voice reached them
not. If they heard it at all they mistook it for that of the
summer wind rustling among the leaves.
"The war party returned to the village; the women and
children came out to welcome them. The chief heard the
inquiries for himself, and the lamentations of his friends
and relatives over his death. 'It is not true!' he shrieked
with a loud voice, 'I am not dead, I was not left on the
field: I am here! I live! I move! see me! touch me!
I shall again raise my spear in the battle, and sound my
drum at the feast!' But no one heeded him; they mistook
his voice for the wind rising and whistling among the
boughs. He walked to his wigwam, and found his wife
tearing her hair, and weeping for his death. He tried to
comfort her, but she seemed insensible to his presence.
He besought her to bind up his wounds she moved not.
THE INDIANS AT MACKINAC 1837 321
He put his mouth close to her ear, and shouted, 'I am hun-
gry, give me food!' She thought she heard a mosquito
buzzing in her ear. The chief, enraged past endurance,
now summoned all his strength, and struck her a violent
blow on the temple; on which she raised her hand to her
head, and remarked, 'I feel a slight aching here!'
"When the chief beheld these things, he began to reflect
that possibly his body might have remained on the field of
battle, while only his spirit was among his friends; so he
determined to go back and seek his body. It was four
days' journey thither, and on the last day, just as he was
approaching the spot, he saw a flame in the path before
him; he endeavored to step aside and pass it, but was still
opposed; whichever way he turned, still it was before him.
"Thou spirit,' he exclaimed in anger, *why dost thou oppose
me? knowest thou not that I too am a spirit, and seek only
to re-enter my body? thinkest thou to make me turn back?
Know that I was never conquered by the enemies of my
nation, and will not be conquered by thee!' So saying,
he made an effort, and leapt through the opposing flame.
He found himself seated under a tree on the field of battle,
in all his warlike array, his bow and arrows at his side,
just as he had been left by his friends, and looking up,
beheld a great war-eagle seated on the boughs; it was the
manitou of whom he had dreamed in his youth, his tutelary
spirit who had kept watch over his body for eight days, and
prevented the ravenous beasts and carrion birds from de-
vouring it. In the end, he bound up his wounds and sus-
tained himself by his bow and arrows, until he reached his
village; there he was received with transport by his wife
and friends, and concluded his account of his adventures
by telling them that it is four days' journey to the land of
322 HISTORIC MACKINAC
spirits, and that the spirit stood in need of a fire every
night; therefore the friends and relatives should build the
funeral fire for four nights upon the grave, otherwise the
spirit would be obliged to build and tend the fire himself,
a task which is always considered slavish and irksome.
"Such is the tradition by which the Chippewas account
for the custom of lighting the funeral fire.
"The Indians have a very fanciful mythology, which
would make exquisite machinery for poetry. It is quite
distinct from the polytheism of the Greeks. The Greek
mythology personified all nature, and materialized all ab-
stractions: the Indians spiritualize all nature. They do not
indeed place dryads and fauns in their woods, nor naiads
in their streams; but every tree has a spirit, every rock,
every river, every star that glistens, every wind that
breathes, has a spirit; every thing they cannot comprehend
is a spirit: this is the ready solution of every mystery, or
rather makes every thing around them a mystery as great
as the blending of soul and body in humanity. A watch,
a compass, a gun, have each their spirit. The thunder is
an angry spirit; the aurora borealis, dancing and rejoicing
spirits. Birds, perhaps from their aerial movements, they
consider as in some way particularly connected with the
invisible world of spirits. Not only all animals have souls,
but it is the settled belief of the Chippewa Indians that
their souls will fare the better in another world, in the
precise ratio that their lives and enjoyments are curtailed
in this: hence, they have no remorse in hunting; but when
they have killed a bear or rattle-snake, they solemnly beg
his pardon, and excuse themselves on the plea of necessity.
"Besides the general spiritualization of the whole uni-
verse, which to an Indian is all spirit in diversity of forms
THE INDIANS AT MACKINAC 1837 323
(how delighted Bishop Berkeley would have been with
them!), they have certain mythologic existences. Mana-
bozho is a being very analogous to the Seeva of the Hindoo
mythology. The four cardinal points are spirits, the West
being the oldest and the father of the others, by a beautiful
girl, who, one day, while bathing, suffered the west wind
to blow upon her. Weeng is the spirit of sleep, with nu-
merous little subordinate spirits, his emissaries, whose em-
ployment is to close the eyes of mortals, and by tapping
their foreheads knock them to sleep. Then they have
Weendigos great giants and cannibals, like the Ascaparts
and Morgantes of the old romances; and little tiny spirits
or fairies, which haunt the woods and cataracts. The Nib-
anaba, half human half fish, dwell in the waters of Lake
Superior. Ghosts are plentiful, and so are transforma-
tions, as you have seen. The raccoon was once a shell
lying on the lake shore, and vivified by the sun-beams: the
Indian name of the raccoon, aisebun, is literally, he was a
shell. The brains of a wicked adultress, whose skull was
beaten to pieces against the rocks, as it tumbled down a
cataract, became the white fish. As to the belief in sorcery,
spells, talismans, incantations, all which go by the general
name of medicine, it is unbounded. Henry mentions, that
among the goods which some traders took up the country
to exchange for furs, they had a large collection of the little
rude prints, published for children, at a halfpenny a piece
I recollect such when I was a child. They sold these at
a high price, for medicines (i.e talismans), and found them
a very profitable and popular article of commerce. One
of these, a little print of a sailor kissing his sweetheart, was
an esteemed medicine among the young, and eagerly pur-
chased for a love spell. A soldier presenting his gun, or
324 HISTORIC MACKINAC
brandishing his sabre, was a medicine to promote warlike
courage and so on.
"The medicines and manitos of the Indians will remind
you of the fetishes of the negroes.
"With regard to the belief in omens and incantations, I
should like to see it ascertained how far we civilized Chris-
tians, with all our schools, our pastors, and our masters,
are in advance of these (so-called) savages? 4
" 'Who would believe that with a smile, whose blessing
Would, like the patriarch's, soothe a dying hour;
With voice as low, as gentle, as caressing.
As e'er won maiden's lip in moonlit bower;
With look, like patient Job's, eschewing evil;
With motions graceful as a bird's in air;
Thou art, in sober truth, the veriest devil,
That e'er clench 'd fingers in captive's hair!'
HALLECK.
"Mr. Johnston tells me, what pleases me much, that the
Indians like me, and are gratified by my presence, and the
interest I express for them, and that I am the subject of
much conversation and speculation. Being in manners
and complexion unlike the European women they have been
accustomed to see, they have given me, he says, a name
among themselves expressive of the most obvious charac-
4 One of the most distinguished men of the age, who has left a reputa-
tion which will be as lasting as it is great, was, when a boy, in constant
care of a very able but unmerciful schoolmaster, and in the state of mind
which that constant fear produced, he fixed upon a great spider for his
fetish (or manito), and used every day to pray to it that he might not be
flogged. The Doctor, vol. V.
When a child, I was myself taken to a witch (or medicine woman) to
be cured of an accidental burn by charms and incantations. I was then
about six years old, and have a very distinct recollection of the whole
scene, which left a strong and frightful impression on my childish fancy.
THE INDIANS AT MACKINAC 1837 325
teristics in my appearance, and call me the white or fair
English chieftainess (Ogima-quay). I go among them
quite familiarly, and am always received with smiling
good humour. With the assistance of a few words, as
ninni. a man; minno, good; mudjee, bad; mee gwedge,
thank you; maja, good-bye; with nods, signs, smiles, and
friendly hand-shaking, we hold most eloquent conversa-
tions. Even the little babies smile at me out of their comi-
cal cradles, slung at their mothers' backs, and with the help
of beads and lolly-pops from the village store, I get on
amazingly well; only when asked for some 'English milk*
(rum or whisky), I frown as much as I can, and cry
Mudjee! Mudjee! bad! bad! then they laugh, and we are
friends again.
"The scenes I at first described are of constant reitera-
tion. Every morning when I leave my room and come
out into the porch, I have to exchange bo-jou! and shake
hands with some twenty or thirty of my dingy, dusky,
greasy, painted, blanketed smiling friends: but today we
have had some new scenes.
"First, however, I forgot to tell you that yesterday after-
noon there came in a numerous fleet of canoes, thirty or
forty at least; and the wind blowing fresh from the West,
each with its square blanket sail came scudding over the
waters with astonishing velocity; it was a beautiful sight.
Then there was the usual bustle, and wigwam building, fire-
lighting and cooking, all along the shore, which is now ex-
cessively crowded; and yelling, shouting, drinking and
dancing at the whisky store. But all this I have formerly
described to you.
"I presume it was in consequence of these new arrivals
326 HISTORIC MACKINAC
that we had a grand talk or council after breakfast this
morning, at which I was permitted to be present, or, as the
French say, to assist.
"There were fifty-four of their chiefs, or rather chief
men, present, and not less than two hundred Indians round
the house, their dark eager faces filling up the windows and
door- ways; but they were silent, quiet, and none but those
first admitted attempted to enter. All as they came up took
my hand: some I had seen before, and some were entire
strangers, but there was no look of surprise, and all was
ease and grave self-possession: a set of more perfect gentle-
men, in manner, I never met with.
"The council was convened to ask them if they would
consent to receive goods instead of dollars in payment of
the pensions due to them on the sale of their lands, and
which, by the conditions of sale, were to be paid in money.
So completely do the white men reckon on having every-
thing their own way with the poor Indians, that a trader had
contracted with the government to supply the goods which
the Indians had not yet consented to receive, and was ac-
tually now on the Island, having come with me in the
steamer.
"As the chiefs entered, they sat down on the floor. The
principal person was a venerable old man with a bald
head, who did not speak. The orator of the party wore a
long, gray, blanket coat, crimson sash, and black neck-cloth,
with leggings and moccasins. There was also a well-look-
ing young man dressed in the European fashion, and in
black; he was of mixed blood, French and Indian; he had
been carried early to Europe by the Catholic priests, had
been educated in the Propaganda College at Rome, and
was lately come out to settle as a teacher and interpreter
THE INDIANS AT MACKINAC 1837 327
among his people. He was the only person besides Mr.
Schoolcraft who was seated on a chair, and he watched
the proceedings with great attention. On examining one
by one the assembled chiefs, I remarked five or six who had
good heads well developed, intellectual, and benevolent.
The old chief, and my friend the Rain, were conspicuous
among them, and also an old man with a fine square head
and lofty brow, like the picture of Red-jacket, and a young
man with a pleasing countenance, and two scalps hung as
ornaments to his belt. Some faces were mild and vacant,
some were stupid and coarse, but in none was there a trace
of insolence or ferocity, or of that vile expression I have
seen in a depraved European of the lower class. The worst
physiognomy was that of a famous medicine-man it was
mean and cunning. Not only the countenances, but the
features differed; even the distinct characteristics of the
Indian, the small deep-set eye, breadth of face and high
cheek-bones, were not universal: there were among them
regular features, oval faces, aquiline noses. One chief
had a head and face which reminded me strongly of the
Marquis Wellesley. All looked dirty, grave, and pic-
turesque, and most of them, on taking their seats on the
ground, pulled out their tobacco-pouches and lighted their
wooden pipes.
"The proposition made to them was evidently displeas-
5 The picture by Weir, in the possession of Samuel Ward, Esq., of
New York, which see or rather see the beautiful lines of Halleck:
" 'If he were with me, King of Tuscarora !
Gazing as I upon thy portrait now.
In all its medalled, fring'd, and beaded glory,
Its eyes' dark beauty and its tranquil brow
Its brow, half martial, and half diplomatic,
Its eye, upsoaring like an eagle's wings
Well might he boast that we, the democratic,
Outrival Europe, even in our kings!"*
328 HISTORIC MACKINAC
ing. The orator, after whispering with the chief, made a
long and vehement speech in a loud, emphatic voice, and at
every pause the auditors exclaimed, 'Hah!' in sign of appro-
bation. I remarked that he sometimes made a jest which
called forth a general smile, even from the interpreter and
Mr. Schoolcraft. Only a few sentences were translated:
from which I understood that they all considered this offer
as a violation of the treaty which their great father at Wash-
ington, the President, had made with them. They did not
want goods they wanted the stipulated dollars. Many of
their young men had procured goods from the traders on
credit, and depended on the money due to them to discharge
their debts; and, in short, the refusal was distinct and
decided. I am afraid, however, it will not avail them
much. 6 The mean petty-trader style in which the Ameri-
can officials make (and break) their treaties with the
Indians is shameful. I met with none who attempted to
deny it or excuse it. Mr. Schoolcraft told me that during
the time he had been Indian agent (five-and-twenty years)
he had never known the Indians to violate a treaty or break
a promise. He could not say the same of his government,
and the present business appeared most distasteful to him;
but he was obliged to obey the order from the head of his
department.
"The Indians make witty jests on the bad faith of the
'Big Knives!' 7 'My father!' said a distinguished Pottowot-
8 Since my return to England I found the following passage in the
Morning Chronicle, extracted from the American papers: The Indians of
Michigan have committed several shocking murders, in consequence of the
payments due to them on land-treaties being made in goods instead of
money. Serious alarm on that subject prevails in the State.
The wretched individuals murdered were probably settlers, quite inno-
cent in this business, probably women and children; but such is the well-
known Indian law of retaliation.
7 The Indians gave the name of Cheemokomaun (Long Knives, or
THE INDIANS AT MACKINAC 1837 329
tomie chief at the treaty of Chicago 'my father, you have
made several promises to your red children, and you have
put the money down upon the table; but as fast as you put
it upon the top, it has slipped away to the bottom, in a man-
ner that is incomprehensible to us. We do not know what
becomes of it. When we get together, and divide it among
ourselves, it is nothing! and we remain as poor as ever.
My father, I only explain to you the words of my brethren.
We can only see what is before our eyes, and are unable to
comprehend all things.' Then pointing to a newspaper
which lay on the table 'you see that paper on the table
before you it is double. You can see what is upon the
upper sheet, but you cannot see what is below. We cannot
tell how our money goes!'
"On the present occasion, two orators spoke, and the
council lasted above two hours; but I left the room long
before the proceedings were over. I must needs confess
it to you I cannot overcome one disagreeable obstacle to
a near communion with these people. The genuine Indian
has a very peculiar odour, unlike anything of the kind that
ever annoyed my fastidious senses. One ought to get over
these things; and after all it is not so offensive as it is
peculiar. You have probably heard that horses brought
up in the white settlements can smell an Indian at a great
distance, and show evident signs of perturbation and terror
whenever they snuff an Indian in the air. For myself, on
passing over the place on which a lodge has stood, and
whence it has been removed several hours, though it was
the hard pebbly beach on the water edge, I could scent the
Indian in the atmosphere. You can imagine, therefore,
Big Knives) to the Americans at the time they were defeated by General
Wayne, near the Miami River, in 1795, and suffered to severely from the
sabres of the cavalry.
330 HISTORIC MACKINAC
that fifty of them in one room, added to the smell of their
tobacco, which is detestable, and the smoking and all its
unmentionable consequences, drove me from the spot.
The truth is, that a woman of very delicate and fastidious
habits must learn to endure some very disagreeable things,
or she had best stay at home.
"In the afternoon, Mr. Johnston informed me that the
Indians were preparing to dance, for my particular amuse-
ment. I was, of course, most thankful and delighted.
Almost in the same moment, I heard their yells and shrieks
resounding along the shore, mingled with the measured
monotonous drum. We had taken our place on an elevated
platform behind the house a kind of little lawn on the
hill-side: the precipitous rocks, clothed with trees and
bushes, rose high like a wall above us; the glorious sun-
shine of a cloudless summer's day was over our heads
the dazzling blue lake and its islands at our feet. Soft
and elysian in its beauty was all around. And when these
wild and more than half -naked figures came up, leaping,
whooping, drumming, shrieking, hideously painted, and
flourishing clubs, tomahawks, javelins, it was like a masque
of fiends breaking into paradise! The rabble of Comus
might have boasted themselves comely in comparison, even
though no self -deluding potion had bleared their eyes and
intellect. It was a grotesque and horrible phantasmagoria.
Of their style of clothing, I say nothing for, as it is wisely
said, nothing can come of nothing: only if 'all symbols be
clothes,' according to a great modern philosopher my
Indian friends were as little symbolical as you can dare to
imagine: passons par Id. If the blankets and leggings
were thrown aside, all the resources of the Indian toilette,
all their store of feathers, and bears' claws, hawks' bells,
THE INDIANS AT MACKINAC 1837 331
vermilion, soot, and verdigris, were brought into requisition
as decoration: and no two were alike. One man wore three
or four heads of hair, composed of the manes and tails of
animals; another wore a pair of deers* horns; another was
coiffe with the skins and feathers of a crane or some such
bird its long bill projecting from his forehead; another
had the shell of a small turtle suspended from his back, and
dangling behind ; another used the skin of a polecat for the
same purpose. One had painted his right leg with red
bars, and his left leg with green lines; parti-coloured eyes
and faces, green noses, and blue chins, or vice versa, were
general. I observed that in this grotesque deformity, in
the care with which every thing like symmetry or harmony
in form or colours was avoided, there was something evi-
dently studied and artistical. The orchestra was composed
of two drums and two rattles, and a chorus of voices. The
song was without melody a perpetual repetition of three
or four notes, melancholy, harsh, and monotonous. A flag
was stuck in the ground, and round this they began their
dance if dance it could be called, the movements con-
sisting of the alternate raising of one foot, then the other,
and swinging the body to and fro. Every now and then they
paused, and set forth that dreadful, prolonged, tremulous
yell, which re-echoed from the cliffs, and pierced my ears
and thrilled along my nerves. The whole exhibition was of
that finished barbarism, that it was at least complete in its
way, and for a time I looked on with curiosity and interest.
But that innate loathing which dwells within me for all that
is discordant and deformed, rendered it anything but pleas-
ant to witness. It grated horribly upon all my perceptions.
In the midst, one of those odd and unaccountable transi-
tions of thought caused by some mental or physical reaction
332 HISTORIC MACKINAC
the law which brings extremes in contrast together
came across me. I was reminded that even on this very
day last year I was seated in a box at the opera, looking at
Carlotta Grisi and Perrot dancing, or rather flying through
the galoppe in 'Benyowsky.' The oddity of this sudden
association made me laugh, which being interpreted into
the expression of my highest approbation, they became
every moment more horribly ferocious and animated; re-
doubled the vigour of their detestably awkward movements
and the shrillness of their savage yells, till I began invol-
untarily to look about for some means of escape but this
would have been absolutely rude, and I restrained myself.
"I should not forget to mention that the figures of most
of the men were superb ; more agile and elegant, however,
than muscular, more fitted for the chase than for labour,
with small and well-formed hands and feet. When the
dance was ended, a young warrior, leaving the group, sat
himself down on a little knoll to rest. His spear lay across
his knees, and he reposed his head upon his hand. He was
not painted, except with a little vermilion on his chest, and
on his head he wore only the wing of the osprey. He sat
there, a model for a sculptor. The perfection of his form,
the graceful abandonment of his attitude, reminded me of
a young Mercury, or of Thorwaldsen's 'Shepherd Boy.' I
went up to speak to him, and thanked him for his exertions
in the dance, which indeed had been conspicuous; and
then, for want of something else to say, I asked him if he
had a wife and children? The whole expression of his
face suddenly changed, and with an air as tenderly coy as
that of a young girl listening to the first whisper of a lover,
he looked down and answered softly, 'Kah-ween!' No,
indeed! Feeling that I had for the first time embarrassed
THE INDIANS AT MACKINAC 1837 333
an Indian, I withdrew, really as much out of countenance
as the youth himself. I did not ask him his name, for that
were a violation of the Indian form of good breeding, but
I learn that he is called the Pouncing Hawk. West's com-
parison of the Apollo Belvedere to a young Mohawk war-
rior has more of likelihood and reasonableness than I ever
believed or acknowledged before.
"A keg of tobacco and a barrel of flour were given to
them, and they dispersed as they came, drumming, and
yelling and leaping, and flourishing their clubs and war
hatchets."
CHAPTER XIII
A CANOE VOYAGE FROM MACKINAC TO
THE "SOO" IN 1837
THIS delightful sketch is a continuation of Mrs. Jame-
son's account of her visit to the North. 1 It is dated
July 29:
"Where was I? Where did I leave off four days ago?
at Mackinac! that Fairy Island, which I shall never see
again, and which I should have dearly liked to filch from
the Americans, and carry home to you in my dressing box,
or, perdie, in my tooth-pick case; but, good lack, to see the
ups and downs of this (new) world. I take up my tale a
hundred miles from it; but before I tell you where I am
now, I must take you over the ground, or rather over the
water, in a proper and journal-like style.
"I was sitting last Friday, at sultry noon-tide, under the
shadow of a schooner which had just anchored alongside
the little pier sketching and dreaming when up came
a messenger, breathless, to say that a boat was going off for
the Sault-Sainte-Marie, in which I could be accommodated
with a passage. Now this was precisely what I had been
wishing and waiting for, and yet I heard the information
with an emotion of regret. I had become every day more
attached to the society of Mrs. Schoolcraft, more interested
about her; and the idea of parting, and parting suddenly,
took me by surprise, and was anything but agreeable. On
Jameson's Sketches in Canada, pp. 219-242; 262-263
334
A CANOE VOYAGE IN 1837 335
reaching the house, I found all in movement, and learned,
to my inexpressible delight, that my friend would take the
opportunity of paying a visit to her mother and family,
and, with her children, was to accompany me on my voyage.
"We had but one hour to prepare packages, provisions,
everything, and in one hour all was ready.
"This voyage of two days was to be made in a little Cana-
dian bateau, rowed by five voyageurs from the Sault. The
boat might have carried fifteen persons, hardly more, and
was rather clumsy in form. The two ends were appro-
priated to the rowers, baggage, and provisions; in the
centre there was a clear space, with a locker on each side,
on which we sat or reclined, having stowed away in them
our small and more valuable packages. This was the
internal arrangement.
"The distance to the Sault, or as the Americans call it,
the Soo, is not more than thirty miles overland as the bird
flies; but the whole region being one mass of tangled forest
and swamp, infested with bears and mosquitoes, it is seldom
crossed but in winter, and in snow-shoes. The usual route
by water is ninety-four miles.
"At three o'clock in the afternoon, with a favourable
breeze, we launched forth on the lake, and having rowed
about a mile from the shore, the little square sail was
hoisted, and away we went merrily over the blue waters.
"For a detailed account of the voyageurs, or Canadian
boatmen, their peculiar condition and mode of life, I refer
you to Washington living's Astoria. What he describes
them to have been, and what Henry represents them in his
time, they are even now, in these regions of the upper lakes.
But the voyageurs in our boat were not favourable speci-
mens of their very amusing and peculiar class. They were
336 HISTORIC MACKINAC
fatigued with rowing for three days previous, and had only
two helpless women to deal with. As soon, therefore, as
the sail was hoisted, two began to play cards on the top of
a keg, the other two went to sleep. The youngest and most
intelligent of the set, a lively half-breed boy of eighteen,
took the helm. He told us with great self-complacency that
he was captain, and that it was already the third time that
he had been elected by his comrades to this dignity; but I
cannot say he had a very obedient crew.
"About seven o'clock we landed to cook our supper
on an island which is commemorated by Henry as the Isle
des Outardes, and is now Goose Island. Mrs. Schoolcraft
undertook the general management with all the alertness
of one accustomed to these impromptu arrangements, and I
did my best in my new vocation dragged one or two
blasted boughs to the fire, the least of them twice as big as
myself, and laid the cloth upon the pebbly beach. The
enormous fire was to keep off the mosquitoes, in which we
succeeded pretty well, swallowing, however, as much smoke
as would have dried us externally into hams or red her-
rings. We then returned to the boat, spread a bed for
the children (who were my delight) in the bottom of it
with mats and blankets, and disposed our own, on the
lockers on each side, with buffalo skins, blankets, shawls,
cloaks, and whatever was available, with my writing case
for a pillow.
"After sunset, the breeze fell; the men were urged to
row, but pleaded fatigue, and that they were hired for the
day and not for the night (which is the custom). One by
one they sulkily abandoned their oars, and sunk to sleep
under their blankets, all but our young captain: like Ulysses
when steering away from Calypso
A CANOE VOYAGE IN 1837 337
" 'Placed at the helm, he sat, and watched the skies,
Nor closed in sleep his ever-watchful eyes.'
"He kept himself awake by singing hymns, in which Mrs.
Schoolcraft joined him. I lay still, looking up at the
stars and listening: when there was a pause in the singing,
we kept up the conversation, fearing lest sleep should over-
come our only pilot and guardian. Thus we floated on
beneath that divine canopy 'which love had spread to cur-
tain the sleeping world': it was a most lovely and blessed
night, bright and calm and warm, and we made some little
way, for both wind and current were in our favour.
"As we were coasting a little shadowy island, our captain
mentioned a strange circumstance, very illustrative of In-
dian life and character. A short time ago a young Chip-
pewa hunter, whom he knew, was shooting squirrels on this
spot, when by some chance a blighted pine fell upon him,
knocking him down and crushing his leg, which was frac-
tured in two places. He could not rise, he could not
remove the tree which was lying across his broken leg.
He was in a little uninhabited island, without the slightest
probability of passing aid; and to lie there and starve in
agonies, seemed all that was left to him. In this dilemma,
with all the fortitude and promptitude of resource of a
thorough-bred Indian, he took out his knife, cut off his own
leg, bound it up, dragged himself along the ground to his
hunting canoe, and paddled himself home to his wigwam
on a distant island, where the cure of his wound was com-
pleted. The man is still alive.
"Perhaps this story appears incredible. I believe it
firmly. At the time, and since then, I heard other instances
of Indian fortitude, and of their courage and skill in per-
forming some of the boldest and most critical operations in
338 HISTORIC MACKINAC
surgery, which I really cannot venture to set down. But I
will mention two of the least marvellous. There was a
young chief, and famous hunter, whose arm was shattered
by the bursting of his rifle. No one would venture the
amputation, and it was bound up with certain herbs and
dressings, accompanied with many magical ceremonies.
The young man, who seemed aware of the inefficacy of such
expedients, waited till the moment when he should be left
alone. He had meantime, with pain and difficulty, hacked
one of his knives into a saw; with this he completed the
amputation of his own arm; and when his relations ap-
peared they found the arm lying at one end of the wigwam,
and the patient sitting at the other, with his wound bound
up, and smoking with great tranquility.
"We remained in conversation till long after midnight;
then the boat was moored to a tree, but kept off shore, for
fear of the mosquitoes, and we addressed ourselves to
sleep. I remember lying awake for some minutes, looking
up at the quiet stars, and around upon the dark weltering
waters, and at the faint waning moon, just suspended on
the very edge of the horizon. I saw it sink sink into the
bosom of the lake as if to rest, and then with a thought of
far-off friends, and a most fervent thanksgiving, I dropped
to sleep. It is odd that I did not think of praying for pro-
tection, and that no sense of fear came over me; it seemed
as if the eye of God himself looked down upon me; that I
was protected. I do not say I thought this any more than
the unweaned child in its cradle; but I had some such feel-
ing of unconscious trust and love, now I recall those mo-
ments.
"I slept, however, uneasily, not being yet accustomed to
A CANOE VOYAGE IN 1837 339
a board and a blanket; qa viendra avec le temps. About
dawn I awoke in a sort of stupor, but after bathing my
face and hands over the boat side, I felt refreshed. The
voyageurs, after a good night's rest, were in better humour,
and took manfully to their oars. Soon after sunrise, we
passed round that very conspicuous cape, famous in the
history of north-west adventure, called the 'Grand Detour,'
half-way between Mackinac and the Sault. Now, if you
look at the map you will see that our course was henceforth
quite altered; we had been running down the coast of the
mainland towards the east; we had now to turn short round
the point, and steer almost due west; hence its most fitting
name, the Grand Detour. The wind, hitherto favourable,
was now dead against us. This part of Lake Huron is
studded with little islands, which, as well as the neighbor-
ing mainland, are all uninhabited, yet clothed with the
richest, loveliest, most fantastic vegetation, and no doubt
swarming with animal life.
"I cannot, I dare not, attempt to describe to you the
strange sensation one has, thus thrown for a time beyond
the bounds of civilized humanity, or, indeed, any humanity ;
nor the wild yet solemn reveries which come over one in the
midst of this wilderness of woods and waters. All was so
solitary, so grand in its solitude, as if nature unviolated
sufficed to herself. Two days and nights the solitude was
unbroken ; not a trace of social life, not a human being, not
a canoe, not even a deserted wigwam, met our view. Our
little boat held on its way over the placid lake, and among
green tufted islands; and we its inmates, two women, dif-
fering in clime, nation, complexion, strangers to each other
but a few days ago, might have fancied ourselves alone in
a new-born world.
340 HISTORIC MACKINAC
"We landed to boil our kettle, and breakfast on a point
of the island of St. Joseph's. This most beautiful island
is between thirty and forty miles in length, and nearly a
hundred miles in circumference, and towards the centre the
land is high and picturesque. They tell me that on the
other side of the island there is a settlement of whites and
Indians. Another large island, Drummond's Isle, was for
a short time in view. We had also a settlement here, but
it was unaccountably surrendered to the Americans. If
now you look at the map, you will wonder, as I did, that in
retaining St. Joseph's and the Manitoulin Islands, we gave
up Drummond's Island. Both these islands had forts and
garrisons during the war.
"By the time breakfast was over, the children had gath-
ered some fine strawberries; the heat had now become al-
most intolerable, and unluckily we had no awning. The
men rowed languidly, and we made but little way; we
coasted along the south shore of St. Joseph's, through fields
of rushes, miles in extent, across Lake George, and Muddy
Lake (the name, I thought, must be a libel, for it was as
clear as crystal and as blue as heaven; but they say that,
like a sulky temper, the least ruffle of wind turns it as
black as ditchwater, and it does not subside again in a
hurry), and then came a succession of openings spotted with
lovely islands, all solitary. The sky was without a cloud,
a speck except when the great fish-eagle was descried
sailing over its blue depths the water without a wave.
We were too hot and too languid to converse. Nothing dis-
turbed the deep noon-tide stillness, but the dip of the oars,
or the spring and splash of a sturgeon as he leapt from the
surface of the lake, leaving a circle of little wavelets
spreading around. All the islands we passed were so
A CANOE VOYAGE IN 1837 341
woody, and so infested with mosquitoes, that we could not
land and light our fire, till we reached the entrance of St.
Mary's River, between Neebish Island and the mainland.
"Here was a well-known spot, a sort of little opening
on a flat shore, called the Encampment, because a party
of boatmen coming down from Lake Superior, and camp-
ing here for the night, were surprised by the frost, and
obliged to remain the whole winter till the opening of the
ice, in the spring. After rowing all this hot day till seven
o'clock against the wind (what there was of it), and against
the current coming rapidly and strongly down from Lake
Superior, we did at length reach this promised harbour of
rest and refreshment.
"I offered an extra gratuity to the men, if they would
keep to their oars without interruption; and then, fairly
exhausted, lay down on my locker and blanket. But when-
ever I woke from uneasy, restless slumbers, there was Mrs,
Schoolcraft, bending over her sleeping children, singing
all the time a low, melancholy Indian song; while the north-
ern lights were streaming and dancing in the sky, and the
fitful moaning of the wind, the gathering clouds, and chilly
atmosphere foretold a change of weather. This would
have been the comble de malheur. When daylight came,
we passed Sugar Island, where immense quantities of maple
sugar are made every spring, and just as the rain began
to fall in earnest we arrived at the Sault-Sainte-Marie. On
one side of the river, Mrs. Schoolcraft was welcomed by her
mother; and on the other, my friends, the MacMurrays,
received me with delighted and delightful hospitality. I
went to bed oh! the luxury! and slept for six hours.
"Enough of solemn reveries on star-lit lakes enough
342 HISTORIC MACKINAC
too much of self and self-communings; I turn over a new
leaf, and this shall be a chapter of geography, and topogra-
phy, natural philosophy, and such wise-like things. Draw
the curtain first, for if I look out any longer on those surg-
ing rapids, I shall certainly turn giddy forget all the
memoranda I have been collecting for you, lose my reckon-
ing, and become unintelligible to you and myself too.
"This River of St. Mary is, like the Detroit and the St.
Clair, already described, properly a strait, the channel of
communication between Lake Superior and Lake Huron.
About ten miles higher up, the great ocean-lake narrows to
a point; then, forcing a channel through the high lands,
comes rushing along till it meets with a downward ledge, or
cliff, over which it throws itself in foam and fury, tearing
a path for its billows through the rocks. The descent is
about twenty-seven feet in three quarters of a mile, but the
rush begins above, and the tumult continues below the fall,
so that, on the whole, the eye embraces an expanse of white
foam measuring about a mile each way, the effect being
exactly that of the ocean breaking on a rocky shore: not so
terrific, nor on so large a scale, as the rapids of Niagara,
but quite as beautiful quite as animated.
"What the French call a saut (leap), we term a fall;
the Sault-Sainte-Marie is translated into the falls of St.
Mary. By this name the rapids are often mentioned, but
the village on their shore still retains its old name, and is
called the Sault. I do not know why the beautiful river
and its glorious cataracts should have been placed under
the peculiar patronage of the Blessed Virgin; perhaps from
the union of exceeding loveliness with irresistible power;
or, more probably, because the first adventurers reached the
spot on some day hallowed in the calendar.
A CANOE VOYAGE IN 1837 343
"The French, ever active and enterprising, were the first
who penetrated to this wild region. They had an important
trading post here early in the last century, and also a small
fort. They were ceded, with the rest of the country, lo
Great Britain, in 1762. 2 I wonder whether, at that time,
the young king or any of his ministers had the least concep-
tion of the value and immensity of the magnificent country
thrown into our possession, or gave a thought to the respon-
sibilities it brought with it! to be sure they made good
haste, both king and ministers, to get rid of most of the
responsibility. The American war began, and at its con-
clusion the south shore of St. Mary's, and the fort, were
surrendered to the Americans.
"The rapids of Niagara, as I once told you, reminded me
of a monstrous tiger at play, and threw me into a sort of
ecstatic terror; but these rapids of St. Mary suggest quite
another idea: as they come fretting and fuming down,
curling up their light foam, and wreathing their glancing
billows round the opposing rocks, with a sort of passionate
self-will, they remind me of an exquisitely beautiful woman
in a fit of rage, or of Walter Scott's simile *one of the
Graces possessed by a Fury;' there is no terror in their
anger, only the sense of excitement and loveliness; when it
has spent this sudden, transient fit of impatience, the
beautiful river resumes all its placid dignity, and holds
on its course, deep and wide enough to float a squadron
of seventy-fours, and rapid and pellucid as a mountain
trout-stream.
"Here, as everywhere else, I am struck by the difference
[The following notes are Mrs. Jameson's.]
2 The first British commandant of the fort was Lieutenant Jemette, who
was scalped at the massacre at Michilimackinac.
344 HISTORIC MACKINAC
between the two shores. On the American side there is a
settlement of whites, as well as a large village of Chip-
pewas; there is also a mission (I believe of the Methodists),
for the conversion of the Indians. The fort, which has
been lately strengthened, is merely a strong and high en-
closure, surrounded with pickets of cedar-wood; within
the stockade are the barracks, and the principal trading
store. This fortress is called Fort Brady, after that gallant
officer whom I have already mentioned to you. The gar-
rison may be very effective for aught I know, but I never
beheld such an unmilitary-looking set. When I was there
to-day, the sentinels were lounging up and down in their
flannel jackets and shirt sleeves, with muskets thrown over
their shoulders just for all the world like ploughboys
going to shoot sparrows; however, they are in keeping with
the fortress of cedar-posts, and no doubt both answer their
purpose very well. The village is increasing into a town,
and the commercial advantages of its situation must raise
it ere long to a place of importance.
"On the Canada side we have not even these demonstra-
tions of power or prosperity. Nearly opposite to the
American fort there is a small factory belonging to the
North-west Fur Company; below this, a few miserable log
huts, occupied by some French Canadians and voyageurs in
the service of the company, a set of lawless mauvais sujets,
from all I can learn. Lower down stands the house of Mr.
and Mrs. MacMurray, with the Chippewa village under
their care and tuition; but most of the wigwams and their
inhabitants are now on their way down the lake, to join
the congress at the Manitoulin Islands. A lofty eminence,
partly cleared and partly clothed with forest, rises behind
the house, on which stand the little mission church and
A CANOE VOYAGE IN 1837 345
school-house for the use of the Indian converts. From
the summit of this hill you look over the traverse into Lake
Superior, and the two giant capes which guard its entrance.
One of these capes is called Gros-Cap, from its bold and
lofty cliffs, the yet unviolated haunt of the eagle. The op-
posite cape is more accessible, and bears an Indian name,
which I cannot pretend to spell, but which signifies 'the
place of the Iroquois' bones' : it was the scene of a wild and
terrific tradition. At the time that the Iroquois (or Six
Nations) were driven before the French and Hurons up to
the western lakes, they endeavored to possess themselves of
the hunting-grounds of the Chippewas, and hence a bitter
and lasting feud between the two nations. The Iroquois,
after defeating the Chippewas, encamped, a thousand
strong, upon this point, where, thinking themselves secure,
they made a war feast to torture and devour their prisoners.
The Chippewas, from the opposite shore, beheld the suffer-
ings and humiliation of their friends, and, roused to sud-
den fury by the sight, collected their warriors, only three
hundred in all, crossed the channel, and at break of day
fell upon the Iroquois, now sleeping after their horrible
excesses, and massacred every one of them, men, women
and children. Of their own party they lost but one warrior,
who was stabbed with an awl by an old woman who was
sitting at the entrance of her wigwam, stitching moccasins:
thus runs the tale. The bodies were left to bleach on the
shore, and they say that bones and skulls are still found
there.
"Here, at the foot of the rapids, the celebrated white-fish
of the lakes is caught in its highest perfection. The people
down below, 3 who boast of the excellence of the white-fish,
That is, in the neighborhood of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie.
346 HISTORIC MACKINAC
really know nothing of the matter. There is no more com-
parison between St. Mary's than between plaice and turbot,
or between a clam and a Sandwich oyster. I ought to be
a judge, who have eaten them fresh out of the water four
times a day, and I declare to you that I never tasted any-
thing of the fish kind half so exquisite. If the Roman
Apicius had lived in these latter days, he would certainly
have made a voyage up Lake Huron to breakfast on the
white-fish of St. Mary's river, and would not have returned
in dudgeon, as he did, from the coast of Africa. But the
epicures of our degenerate times have nothing of that
gastronomical enthusiasm which inspired their ancient
models, else we should have them all coming here to eat
white-fish at the Sault, and scorning cockney white-bait.
Henry declares that the flavour of the white-fish is 'beyond
any comparison whatever' and I add my testimony thereto
probatum est!
"I have eaten tunny in the gulf of Genoa, anchovies fresh
out of the bay of Naples, and trout of the Salz-kammergut,
and divers other fishy dainties rich and rare but the
exquisite, the refined white-fish exceeds them all; con-
cerning those cannibal fish (mullets were they, or lam-
preys?) which Lucullus fed in his fish-ponds, I cannot
speak, never having tasted them; but even if they could be
resuscitated, I would not degrade the refined, the delicate
white-fish by a comparison with any such barbarian luxury.
"But seriously, and badinage apart, it is really the most
luxurious delicacy that swims the waters. It is said that
people never tire of them. Mr. MacMurray tells me
that he has eaten them every day of his life for seven years,
and that his relish for them is undiminished. The enor-
mous quantities caught here, and in the bays and creeks
A CANOE VOYAGE IN 1837 347
round Lake Superior, remind me of herrings in the lochs
of Scotland; besides subsisting the inhabitants, whites and
Indians, during a great part of the year, vast quantities
are cured and barrelled every fall, and sent down to the
eastern states. Not less than eight thousand barrels were
shipped last year.
"These enterprising Yankees have seized upon another
profitable speculation here; there is a fish found in great
quantities in the upper part of Lake Superior, called the
skevat, 4 so exceedingly rich, luscious, and oily, when fresh,
as to be quite uneatable. A gentleman here told me that
he had tried it, and though not very squeamish at any time,
and then very hungry, he could not get beyond the first two
or three mouthfuls; but it has been lately discovered that
this fish makes a most luxurious pickle. It is very excel-
lent, but so rich even in this state, that, like tunny marinee,
it is necessary either to taste abstemiously, or die heroically
of indigestion. This fish is becoming a fashionable lux-
ury, and in one of the stores here I saw three hundred bar-
rels ready for embarkation. The Americans have several
schooners on the lakes employed in these fisheries; we
have not one. They have besides planned a ship canal
through the portage here, which will open a communication
for large vessels between Lake Huron and Lake Superior,
as our Welland Canal has united Lake Erie and Lake On-
tario. The ground has already been surveyed for this
purpose. When this canal is completed, a vessel may load
in the Thames, and discharge her burthen at the upper end
of Lake Superior. I hope you have a map before you,
that you may take in at a glance this wonderful extent of
inland navigation. Ought a country possessing it, and all
4 1 spell the word as pronounced, never having seen it written.
348 HISTORIC MACKINAC
the means of life beside, to remain poor, oppressed, uncul-
tivated, unknown?
"But to return to my beautiful river and glorious rapids,
which are to be treated, you see, as a man treats a beautiful
passionate beauty he does not oppose her, for that were
madness but he gets round her. Well, on the American
side, further down the river, is the house of Tanner, the
Indian interpreter, of whose story you may have heard
for, as I remember, it excited some attention in England.
He is a European, of unmixed blood, with the language,
manners, habits of a Red-skin. He had been kidnapped
somewhere on the American frontiers when a mere boy, and
brought up among the Chippewas. He afterwards returned
to civilized life, and having re-learned his own language,
drew up a very entertaining and valuable account of his
adopted tribe. He is now in the American service here,
having an Indian wife, and is still attached to his Indian
mode of life.
"Just above the fort is the ancient burial-place of the
Chippewas. I need not tell you of the profound veneration
with which all the Indian tribes regard the places of their
dead. In all their treaties for the cession of their lands,
they stipulate with the white man for the inviolability of
their sepulchres. They did the same with regard to this
place, but I am sorry to say that it has not been attended
to, for in enlarging one side of the fort, they have consid-
erably encroached on the cemetery. The outrage excited
both the sorrow and indignation of some of my friends
here, but there is no redress. Perhaps it was this circum-
stance that gave rise to the allusion of the Indian chief here,
when in speaking of the French he said, "They never mo-
lested the places of our dead!'
A CANOE VOYAGE IN 1837 349
"The view of the rapids from this spot is inexpressibly
beautiful, and it has besides another attraction, which
makes it to me a frequent lounge whenever I cross the river;
but of this by-and-bye. To complete my sketch of the
localities, I will only add, that the whole country around is
in its primitive state, covered with the interminable swamp
and forest, where the bear and the moose-deer roam and
lakes and living streams where the beaver builds his hut. 5
The cariboo, or rein-deer, is still found on the northern
shores.
"The hunting-grounds of the Chippewas are in the imme-
diate neighborhood and extended all round Lake Superior.
Beyond these, on the north, are the Chippewyans; and on
the south, the Sioux, Ottagamis, and Pottowottomies.
"I might here multiply facts and details, but I have been
obliged to throw these particulars together in haste, just to
give you an idea of my present situation. Time presses,
and my sojourn in this remote and interesting spot is like
to be of short duration.
"One of the gratifications I had anticipated in coming
hither my strongest inducement perhaps was an intro-
duction to the mother of my two friends, of whom her chil-
dren so delighted to speak, and of whom I had heard much
from other sources. A woman of pure Indian blood,
of a race celebrated in these regions as warriors and
chiefs from generation to generation, who had never re-
8 The beaver is, however, becoming rare in these regions. It is a
curious fact connected with the physiology and psychology of instinct, that
the beaver is found to change its instincts and modes of life, as it has been
more and more persecuted, and, instead of being a gregarious, it is now a
solitary animal. The beavers, which are found living in solitary holes
instead of communities and villages, the Indian call by a name which
signifies Old Bachelor.
350 HISTORIC MACKINAC
sided within the pale of what we call civilized life, whose
habits and manners were those of a genuine Indian squaw,
and whose talents and domestic virtues commanded the
highest respect, was, as you may suppose, an object of the
deepest interest to me. I observed that not only her own
children, but her two sons-in-law, Mr. MacMurray and Mr.
Schoolcraft, both educated in good society, the one a clergy-
man and the other a man of science and literature, looked
up to this remarkable woman with sentiments of affection
and veneration.
"As soon, then, as I was a little refreshed after my two
nights on the lake, and my battles with the mosquitoes,
we paddled over the river to dine with Mrs. Johnston; she
resides in a large log-house close upon the shore; there
is a little portico in front with seats, and the interior is
most comfortable. The old lady herself is rather large
in person, with the strongest marked Indian features, a
countenance open, benevolent, and intelligent, and a man-
ner perfectly easy simple, yet with something of motherly
dignity, becoming the head of her large family. She re-
ceived me most affectionately, and we entered into conver-
sation Mrs. Schoolcraft, who looked all animation and
happiness, acting as interpreter. Mrs. Johnston speaks
no English, but can understand it a little, and the Cana-
dian French still better; but in her own language she is
eloquent, and her voice, like that of her people, low and
musical; many kind words were exchanged, and when I
said anything that pleased her, she laughed softly like a
child. I was not well and much fevered, and I remember
she took me in her arms, laid me down on a couch, and
began to rub my feet, soothing and caressing me. She
called me Nindannis, daughter, and I called her Neengai,
A CANOE VOYAGE IN 1837 351
mother (though how different from my own fair mother,
I thought, as I looked up gratefully in her dark Indian
face!). She set before us the best dressed and best served
dinner I had seen since I left Toronto, and presided at
her table, and did the honours of her house with unem-
barrassed, unaffected propriety. My attempts to speak
Indian caused, of course, considerable amusement; if I
do not make progress, it will not be for want of teaching and
teachers.
"After dinner we took a walk to visit Mrs. Johnston's
brother, Wayish,ky, whose wigwam is at a little distance,
on the verge of the burial-ground. The lodge is of the
genuine Chippewa form, like an egg cut in half lengthways.
It is formed of poles stuck in the ground, and bent over
at top, strengthened with a few wattles and boards; the
whole is covered over with mats, birch-bark, and skins; a
large blanket formed the door or curtain, which was not
ungracefully looped aside. Wayish,ky, being a great man,
has also a smaller lodge hard by, which serves as a store
house and kitchen.
"Rude as was the exterior of Wayish,ky's hut, the interior
presented every appearance of comfort, and even elegance,
according to the Indian notions of both. It formed a good-
sized room: a raised couch ran all round like a Turkish
divan, serving both for seats and beds, and covered with
very soft and beautiful matting of various colours and
patterns. The chests and baskets of birch-bark, containing
the family ward-robe and property; the rifles, the hunting
and fishing tackle, were stowed away all round very tidily;
I observed a coffee-mill nailed up to one of the posts or
stakes; the floor was trodden down hard and perfectly clean,
and there was a place for a fire in the middle: there was no
352 HISTORIC MACKINAC
window, but quite sufficient light and air were admitted
through the door, and through an aperture in the roof.
There was no disagreeable smell, and everything looked
neat and clean. We found Wayish,ky and his wife and
three of their children seated in the lodge, and as it was
Sunday, and they are all Christians, no work was going
forward. They received me with genuine and simple po-
liteness, each taking my hand with a gentle inclination of
the head, and some words of welcome murmured in their
own soft language. We then sat down.
"The conversation became very lively; and, if I might
judge from looks and tones, very affectionate. I sported
my last new words and phrases with great effect, and when
I had exhausted my vocabulary which was very soon I
amused myself with looking and listening.
"Mrs. Wayish,ky (I forgot her proper name) must have
been a very beautiful woman. Though now no longer
young, and the mother of twelve children, she is one of the
handsomest Indian women I have yet seen. The number
of her children is remarkable, for in general there are few
large families among the Indians. Her daughter, Zah,-
gah,see,ga,quay (the sunbeams breaking through a cloud)
is a very beautiful girl, with eyes that are a warrant for
her poetical name she is about sixteen. Wayish,ky him-
self is a grave, dignified man about fifty. He told me that
his eldest son had gone down to the Manitoulin Island to
represent his family, and receive his quota of presents.
His youngest son he had sent to a college in the United
States, to be educated in the learning of the white men.
Mrs. Schoolcraft whispered me that this poor boy is now
dying of consumption, owing to the confinement and change
of living, and that the parents knew it. Wayish,ky seemed
A CANOE VOYAGE IN 1837 353
aware that we were alluding to his son, for his eye at that
moment rested on me, and such an expression of keen pain
came suddenly over his fine countenance, it was as if a
knife had struck him, and I really felt it in my heart, and
see it still before me that look of misery.
"After about an hour we left this good and interesting
family. I lingered for a while on the burial-ground, look-
ing over the rapids, and watching with a mixture of admira-
tion and terror several little canoes which were fishing in
the midst of the boiling surge, dancing and popping about
like corks. The canoe used for fishing is very small and
light; one man, (or woman more commonly) sits in the
stern, and steers with a paddle; the fisher places himself
upright on the prow, balancing a long pole with both hands,
at the end of which is a scoop-net. This he every minute
dips into the water, bringing up at each dip a fish, and
sometimes two. I used to admire the fishermen on the
Arno, and those on the Lagune, and above all the Neapol-
itan fishermen, hauling in their nets, or diving like ducks,
but I never saw anything like these Indians. The manner
in which they keep their position upon a footing of a few
inches, is to me as incomprehensible as the beauty of
their forms and attitudes, swayed by every movement and
turn of their dancing, fragile barks, is admirable.
"George Johnston, on whose arm I was leaning (and I
had much ado to reach it), gave me such a vivid idea of
the delight of coming down the cataract in a canoe, that
I am half resolved to attempt it. Terrific as it appears,
yet in a good canoe, and with experienced guides, there is
no absolute danger, and it must be a glorious sensation.
"Mr. Johnston had spent the last fall and winter in the
regions beyond Lake Superior, towards the forks of the
354 HISTORIC MACKINAC
Mississippi, where he had been employed as American
agent to arrange the boundary line between the country of
the Chippewas and that of their neighbours and implacable
enemies, the Sioux. His mediation appeared successful
for the time, and he smoked the pipe of peace with both
tribes; but during the spring this ferocious war has again
broken out, and he seems to think that nothing but the
annihilation of either one nation or the other will entirely
put an end to their conflicts; 'for there is no point at which
the law of retaliation stops, short of the extermination of
one of the parties.'
"I asked him how it is that in their wars the Indians make
no distinction between the warriors opposed to them and
helpless women and children? how could it be with a
brave and manly people, that the scalps taken from the
weak, the helpless, the unresisting, were as honourable as
those torn from the warrior's skull? And I described to
him the horror which this custom inspired this, which of
all their customs, most justifies the name of savage!
"He said it was inseparable from their principles of war
and their mode of warfare; the first consists of inflicting the
greatest possible insult and injury on their foe with the least
possible risk to themselves. This truly savage law of hon-
our we might call cowardly, but that, being associated with
the bravest contempt of danger and pain, it seems nearer to
the natural law. With regard to the mode of warfare, they
have rarely pitched battles, but skirmishes, surprises, am-
buscades, and sudden forays into each other's hunting-
grounds and villages. The usual practice is to creep
stealthily on the enemy's village or hunting-encampment,
and wait till just after the dawn; then, at the moment the
sleepers in the lodges are rising, the ambushed warriors
A CANOE VOYAGE IN 1837 355
stoop and level their pieces about two feet from the ground,
which thus slaughter indiscriminately. If they find one
of the enemy's lodges undefended they murder its inmates,
that when the owner returns he may find his hearth deso-
late; for this is exquisite vengeance! But outrage against
the chastity of women is absolutely unknown under any
degree whatever of furious excitement. 6
"This respect for female honour will remind you of the
ancient Germans, as described by Julius Caesar; he con-
trasts in some surprise their forbearance with the very
opposite conduct of the Romans; and even down to this
present day, if I recollect rightly, the history of our Euro-
pean wars and sieges will bear out this early and character-
istic distinction between the Latin and the Teutonic nations.
Am I right, or am I not?
"To return to the Indians. After telling me some other
particulars, which gave me a clearer view of their notions
and feelings on these points than I ever had before, my
informant mildly added, 'It is a constant and favourite
subject of reproach against the Indians this barbarism
of their desultory warfare; but I should think more women
and children had perished in one of your civilized sieges,
and that in late times, than during the whole war between
the Chippewas and Sioux, and that has lasted a century.'
"I was silent, for there is a sensible proverb about taking
care of our own glass windows; I wonder if any of the
recorded atrocities of Indian warfare or Indian vengeance,
or all of them together, ever exceeded Massena's retreat
* "The whole history of Indian warfare," says Mr. Schoolcraft, "might be
challenged in vain for a solitary instance of this kind. The Indians be-
lieve that to take a dishonourable advantage of their female prisoners
would destroy their luck in hunting; it would be considered as effeminate
and degrading in a warrior, and render him unfit for, and unworthy of,
all manly achievement"
356 HISTORIC MACKINAC
from Portugal and the French call themselves civilized.
A war party of Indians, perhaps two or three hundred (and
that is a very large number), dance their war dance, go out
and burn a village, and bring back twenty or thirty scalps.
They are savages and heathens. We Europeans fight a bat-
tle, leave fifty thousand dead or dying by inches on the
field, and a hundred thousand to mourn them, desolate;
but we are civilized and Christians. Then only look into
the motives and causes of our bloodiest European wars as
revealed in the private history of courts: the miserable,
puerile, degrading intrigues which set man against man
so horribly disproportioned to the horrid result! and then
see the Indian take up his war-hatchet in vengeance for
some personal injury, or from motives that rouse all the
natural feelings of the natural man within him ! Really I
do not see that an Indian warrior, flourishing his toma-
hawk, and smeared with his enemy's blood, is so very much
a greater savage than the pipe-clayed, padded, embroid-
ered personage, who, without cause or motive, has sold
himself to slay or be slain: one scalps his enemy, the other
rips him open with a sabre; one smashes his brains with a
tomahawk, and the other blows him to atoms with a cannon-
ball: and to me, femininely speaking, there is not a needle's
point difference between the one and the other. If war be
unchristian and barbarous, then war as a science is more
absurd, unnatural, unchristian than war as a passion.
"This, perhaps, is putting it all too strongly, and a little
exaggerated
"God forbid that I should think to disparage the bless-
ings of civilization! I am a woman, and to the progress
of civilization alone can we women look for release from
many pains and penalties and liabilities, which now lie
A CANOE VOYAGE IN 1837 357
heavily upon us. Neither am I greatly in love with savage
life, with all its picturesque accompaniments and lofty
virtues. I see no reason why these virtues should be neces-
sarily connected with dirt, ignorance, and barbarism. I
am thankful to live in a land of literature and steam-
engines. Chatsworth is better than a wigwam, and a
seventy-four is a finer thing than a bark canoe. I do not
positively assert that Taglioni dances more gracefully than
the Little-Pure tobacco-smoker, nor that soap and water are
preferable cosmetics to tallow and charcoal; for these are
matters of taste, and mine may be disputed. But I do say,
that if our advantages of intellect and refinement are not
to lead on to farther moral superiority, I prefer the Indians
on the score of consistency; they are what they profess to be.
They profess to be warriors and hunters, and are so; we
profess to be Christians and civilized are we so?
"Then as to the mere point of cruelty: there is some-
thing to be said on this point too. Ferocity, when the
hot blood is up, and all the demon in man is roused by
every conceivable excitement, I can understand better than
the Indian can comprehend the tender mercies of our law.
Owyawatta, better known by his English name, Red-Jacket,
was once seen hurrying from the town of Buffalo, with
rapid strides, and every mark of disgust and consternation
on his face. Three malefactors were to be hung that morn-
ing, and the Indian warrior had not nerve to face the
horrid spectacle, although
' 'In sober truth the veriest devil
That ere clinched fingers in a captive's hair.'
"The more I looked upon those glancing, dancing rapids,
the more resolute I grew to venture myself in the midst of
358 HISTORIC MACKINAC
them. George Johnston went to seek a fit canoe and a
dexterous steersman, and meantime I strolled away to pay
a visit to Wayish,ky's family, and make a sketch of their
lodge, while pretty Zah,gah,see,gah,qua, held the umbrella
to shade me.
"The canoe being ready, I went up to the top of the
portage, and we launched into the river. It was a small
fishing canoe about ten feet long, quite new, and light
and elegant and buoyant as a bird on the waters. I re-
clined on a mat at the bottom, Indian fashion (there are
no seats in a genuine Indian canoe) ; in a minute we were
within the verge of the rapids, and down we went, with
a whirl and a splash! the white surge leaping around me
over me. The Indian with astonishing dexterity kept the
head of the canoe to the breakers, and somehow or other
we danced through them. I could see, as I looked over
the edge of the canoe, that the passage between the rocks
was sometimes not more than two feet in width, and we
had to turn sharp angles a touch of which would have
sent us to destruction all this I could see through the trans-
parent eddying waters, but I can truly say, I had not even
a momentary sensation of fear, but rather of giddy, breath-
less, delicious excitement. I could even admire the beau-
tiful attitude of a fisher, past whom we swept as we came to
the bottom. The whole affair, from the moment I entered
the canoe till I reached the landing place, occupied seven
minutes, and the distance is about three-quarters of a
mile. 7
7 "The total descent of the Fall of St. Mary's has been ascertained to be
twenty-two and a half perpendicular feet. It has been found impracticable
to ascend the rapid; but canoes have ventured down, though the experi-
ment is extremely nervous and hazardous, and avoided by a portage, two
miles long, which connects the navigable parts of the strait." Bouchette's
Canada.
A CANOE VOYAGE IN 1837 359
"My Indians were enchanted, and when I reached home,
my good friends were not less delighted at my exploit:
they told me I was the first European female who had ever
performed it, and assuredly I shall not be the last. I
recommended it as an exercise before breakfast. As for
my Neengai, she laughed, clapped her hands, and embraced
me several times. I was declared duly initiated, and
adopted into the family by the name of Wah, sah, ge, wah,
no, qua. They had already called me among themselves,
in reference to my complexion and my travelling propensi-
ties, 0, daw, yaun, gee, the fair changing moon, or rather,
the fair moon which changes her place: but now, in com-
pliment to my successful achievement, Mrs. Johnston be-
stowed this new appellation, which I much prefer. It signi-
fies the bright foam, or more properly, with the feminine
adjunct, qua, the woman of the bright foam; and by this
name I am henceforth to be known among the Chippewas.
"July 31.
"This last evening of my so-journ at the Sault-Sainte-
Marie, is very melancholy we have been all very sad.
Mr. and Mrs. MacMurray are to accompany me on my
voyage down the lake to the Manitoulin Islands, having
some business to transact with the Governor: so you see
Providence does take care of me! how I could have got there
alone, I cannot tell, but I must have tried. At first we had
arranged to go in a bark canoe; the very canoe which be-
longed to Captain Back, and which is now lying in Mr.
MacMurray's court-yard: but our party will be large, and
we shall be encumbered with much baggage and provisions
not having yet learned to live on the portable maize and
fat: our voyage is likely to take three days and a half, even
360 HISTORIC MACKINAC
if the weather continues favourable, and if it do not, why
we shall be obliged to put up into some creek or harbour,
and pitch our tent, gipsy fashion, for a day or two. There
is not a settlement nor a habitation on our route, nothing
but lake and forest. The distance is about one hundred
and seventy miles, rather more than less; Mr. MacMurray
therefore advises a bateau, in which, if we do not get on so
quickly, we shall have more space and comfort and thus
it is to be.
"I am sorry to leave these kind, excellent people, but
most I regret Mrs. Schoolcraft. 8
"August 1.
"The morning of our departure rose bright and beauti-
ful, and the loading and arranging our little boat was a
scene of great animation. I thought I had said all my
adieus the night before, but at early dawn my good
Neengai came paddling across the river with various kind
offerings for her daughter, Wa,sah,ge,wo,no,qua, which
she thought might be pleasant or useful, and more last affec-
tionate words from Mrs. Schoolcraft. We then exchanged
a long farewell embrace, and she turned away with tears,
got into her little canoe, which could scarcely contain two
persons, and handling her paddle with singular grace and
dexterity, shot over the blue water, without venturing once
to look back! I leaned over the side of our boat, and
strained my eyes to catch a glimpse of the white spray
of the rapids, and her little canoe skimming over the ex-
panse between, like a black dot: and this was the last I
saw of my dear good Chippewa mamma!"
8 This amiable and interesting woman died a few years ago.
CHAPTER XIV
MARGARET FULLER'S SUMMER ON THE LAKES
1843
M
"ARGARET FULLER, born in 1810, was the eldest
of eight children. "She derived her first teaching
from her father, studied Latin at the age of six,
and injured her health by over-application." l
She began the study of Greek at thirteen. When her
father died, "Margaret vowed that she would do her whole
duty toward her brothers and sisters, and she faithfully
kept the vow, teaching school in Boston and Providence,
and afterward taking private pupils, for whom she was paid
at the rate of two dollars an hour." She was an intimate
friend of Emerson, Hawthorne, and Channing, "in the com-
pany of whom she was very brilliant, meeting them as
equals." She conducted the philosophical magazine known
as the Dial, translated works from the German, and served
as literary critic for the New York Tribune, then under the
management of Horace Greeley, in whose home she lived
for a time. "While in New York she visited the prisons,
penitentiaries, asylums, theatres, opera-houses, music halls,
picture galleries, and lecture-rooms, writing about every-
thing in the Tribune, and doing much to move the level of
thought on philanthropic, literary and artistic matters."
When by unremitting labours she had saved enough
money, she went to Europe, where she met the foremost
people in every phase of life, and travelled, especially
1 Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography, II, 561, from which the
biographical sketch is taken. D. Appleton & Co., New York.
361
362 HISTORIC MACKINAC
in Switzerland and Italy, establishing herself in Rome.
There she married, in 1847, the Marquis Ossoli, "was a
mother in 1848, and entered with zeal into the Italian
struggle for independence in 1849. Her conduct during
the siege of the city by the French was of the most heroic,
disinterested, humane, and tender kind. Her service in
the hospitals won the heartiest praise." On the capture
of Rome, she escaped with her family, and later took pas-
sage for America on the merchant vessel Elizabeth. In
a storm the vessel was wrecked off Fire Island, and all on
board were lost. The lifeless body of the little son was
cast on the beach, but neither mother nor father was
heard of more.
In the summer of 1843, three years before sailing for
Europe, she visited the Great Lakes, and the little volume,
Summer on the Lakes, is the pleasing memorial of these
travels and reflections.
"Late at night," she says, 2 "we reached this Island, so
famous for its beauty, and to which I proposed a visit
of some length. It was the last week in August, when a
large representation from the Chippewa and Ottawa tribes
were here to receive their annual payments from the Ameri-
can government. As their habits make travelling easy and
inexpensive to them, neither being obliged to wait for
steamboats, or write to see whether hotels are full, they
come hither by thousands, and those thousands in families,
secure of accommodation on the beach, and food from the
lake, to make a long holiday out of the occasion. There
were near two thousand encamped on the Island already,
and more arriving every day.
2 Pp. 169-176.
SUMMER ON THE LAKES 1843 363
"As our boat came in, the captain had some rockets let
off. This greatly excited the Indians, and their yells and
wild cries resounded along the shore. Except for the mo-
mentary flash of the rockets, it was perfectly dark, and my
sensations as I walked with a stranger to a strange hotel,
through the midst of these shrieking savages, and heard the
pants and snorts of the departing steamer, which carried
away all my companions, were somewhat of the dismal
sort; though it was pleasant, too, in the way that everything
strange is; everything that breaks in upon the routine that
so easily incrusts us.
"I had reason to expect a room to myself at the hotel, but
found none, and was obliged to take up my rest in the
common parlor and eating-room, a circumstance which
insured my being an early riser.
"With the first rosy streak, I was out among my Indian
neighbors, whose lodges honey-combed the beautiful beach,
that curved away in long, fair outline on either side the
house. They were already on the alert, the children creep-
ing out from beneath the blanket door of the lodge; the
women pounding corn in their rude mortars, the young men
playing on their pipes. I had been much amused, when
the strain proper to the Winnebago courting flute was played
to me on another instrument, at any one fancying it a
melody; but now, when I heard the notes in their true tone
and time, I thought it not unworthy comparison, in its
graceful sequence, and the light flourish, at the close, with
the sweetest bird-songs; and this, like the bird-song, is only
practised to allure a mate. The Indian, become a citizen
and a husband, no more thinks of playing the flute than
one of the *settled down' members of our society would
364 HISTORIC MACKINAC
of choosing the 'purple light of love' as dye-stuff for a
surtout.
"Mackinac has been fully described by able pens, and
I can only add my tribute to the exceeding beauty of the
spot and its position. It is charming to be on an island
so small that you can sail round it in an afternoon, yet large
enough to admit of long secluded walks through its gentle
groves. You can go round it in your boat; or, on foot, you
can tread its narrow beach, resting at times, beneath the
lofty walls of stone, richly wooded, which rise from it in
various architectural forms. In this stone, caves are con-
tinually forming, from the action of the atmosphere; one
of these is quite deep, and with a fragment left at its
mouth, wreathed with little creeping plants, that looks, as
you sit within, like a ruined pillar.
"The arched rock surprised me, much as I had heard of
it, from the perfection of the arch. It is perfect, whether
you look up through it from the lake, or down through it
to the transparent waters. We both ascended and de-
scended, no very easy matter, the steep and crumbling path,
and rested at the summit, beneath the trees, and at the
foot, upon the cool mossy stones beside the lapping wave.
Nature has carefully decorated all this architecture with
shrubs that take root within the crevices, and small creep-
ing vines. These natural ruins may vie for beautiful effect
with the remains of European grandeur, and have, beside,
a charm as of a playful mood in nature.
"The Sugar Loaf rock is a fragment of the same kind as
the pine rock we saw in Illinois. It has the same air of a
helmet, as seen from an eminence at the side, which you
descend by a long and steep path. The rock itself may
be ascended by the bold and agile. Half way up is a
SUMMER ON THE LAKES 1843 365
niche, to which those, who are neither, can climb by a lad-
der. A very handsome young officer and lady who were
with us did so, and then, facing round, stood there side
by side, looking in the niche, if not like saints or angels
wrought by pious hands in stone, as romantically, if not
as holily, worthy the gazer's eye.
"The woods which adorn the central ridge of the Island
are very full in foliage, and, in August, showed the tender
green and pliant leaf of June elsewhere. They are rich in
beautiful mosses and the wild raspberry.
"From Fort Holmes, the old fort, we had the most
commanding view of the lake and straits, opposite shores,
and fair islets. Mackinac, itself, is best seen from the
water. Its peculiar shape is supposed to have been the
origin of its name, Michilimackinac, which means the Great
Turtle. One person whom I saw, wished to establish
another etymology, which he fancied to be more refined;
but, I doubt not, this is the true one, both because the shape
might suggest such a name, and that the existence of an
island in this commanding position, which did so, would
seem a significant fact to the Indians. For Henry gives
the details of peculiar worship paid to the Great Turtle,
and the oracles received from this extraordinary Apollo
of the Indian Delphos.
"It is crowned most picturesquely, by the white Fort,
with its gay flag. From this, on one side, stretches the
town. How pleasing a sight, after the raw, crude, staring
assemblage of houses, everywhere else to be met in this
country, an old French town, mellow in its coloring, and
with the harmonious effect of a slow growth, which assimi-
lates, naturally, with objects round it. The people in its
streets, Indian, French, half -breeds, and others, walked
366 HISTORIC MACKINAC
with a leisure step, as of those who live a life of taste and
inclination, rather than of the hard press of business, as
in American towns elsewhere.
"On the other side, along the fair, curving beach, below
the white houses scattered on the declivity, clustered the
Indian lodges, with their amber brown matting, so soft,
and bright of hue, in the late afternoon sun. The first
afternoon I was there, looking down from a near height, I
felt that I never wished to see a more fascinating picture.
It was an hour of the deepest serenity ; bright blue and gold,
rich shadows. Every moment the sunlight fell more mel-
low. The Indians were grouped and scattered among the
lodges; the women preparing food, in the kettle or frying
pan, over the many small fires; the children, half-naked,
wild as little goblins, were playing both in and out of the
water. Here and there lounged a young girl, with a baby
at her back, whose bright eyes glanced, as if born into a
world of courage and of joy, instead of ignominious servi-
tude and slow decay. Some girls were cutting wood, a
little way from me, talking and laughing, in the low musical
tone, so charming in the Indian women. Many bark canoes
were upturned upon the beach, and, by that light, of almost
the same amber as the lodges. Others, coming in, their
square sails set, and with almost arrowy speed, though
heavily laden with dusky forms, and all the apparatus
of their household. Here and there a sail-boat glided by,
with a different, but scarce less pleasing motion.
"It was a scene of ideal loveliness, and these wild forms
adorned it, as looking so at home in it. All seemed happy,
and they were happy that day, for they had no fire-water
to madden them, as it was Sunday, and the shops were shut.
"From my window, at the boarding-house, my eye was
SUMMER ON THE LAKES 1843 367
constantly attracted by these picturesque groups. I was
never tired of seeing the canoes come in, and the new arriv-
als set up their temporary dwellings. The women ran to
set up the tentpoles, and spread the mats on the ground.
The men brought the chests, kettles, &c. ; the mats were then
laid on the outside, the cedar boughs strewed on the ground,
the blanket hung up for a door, and all was completed in
less than twenty minutes. Then they began to prepare the
night meal, and to learn of their neighbors the news of the
day.
"The habit of preparing food out of doors gave all the
gipsy charm and variety to their conduct. Continually I
wanted Sir Walter Scott to have been there. If such ro-
mantic sketches were suggested to him, by the sight of a
few gipsies, not a group near one of these fires but would
have furnished him material for a separate canvas. I
was so taken up with the spirit of the scene, that I could
not follow out the stories suggested by these weather-beaten,
sullen, but eloquent figures.
"They talked a great deal, and with much variety of ges-
ture, so that I often had a good guess at the meaning of
their discourse. I saw that, whatever the Indian may be
among the whites, he is anything but taciturn with his own
people. And he often would declaim, or narrate at length,
as indeed it is obvious, that these tribes possess a great
power that way, if only from the fables taken from their
stores, by Mr. Schoolcraft.
"I liked very much to walk or sit among them. With
the women I held much communication by signs. They are
almost invariably coarse and ugly, with the exception of
their eyes, with a peculiarly awkward gait, and forms bent
by burthens. This gait, so different from the steady and
368 HISTORIC MACKINAC
noble step of the men, marks the inferior position they
occupy. I had heard much contradiction of this. Mrs.
Schoolcraft had maintained to a friend, that they were in
fact as nearly on a par with their husbands as the white
woman with hers. 'Although,' said she, 'on account of
inevitable causes, the Indian woman is subjected to many
hardships of a peculiar nature, yet her position, compared
with that of the man, is higher and freer than that of the
white woman.' Why will people look only on one side?
They either exalt the Red man into a Demigod or degrade
him into a beast. They say that he compels his wife to do
all the drudgery, while he does nothing but hunt and
amuse himself; forgetting that, upon his activity and power
of endurance as a hunter, depends the support of his fam-
ily; that this is labor of the most fatiguing kind, and that
it is absolutely necessary that he should keep his frame
unbent by burdens and unworn by toil, that he may be able
to obtain the means of subsistence. I have witnessed scenes
of conjugal and parental love in the Indian's wigwam from
which I have often, often thought the educated white man,
proud of his superior civilization, might learn an useful
lesson. When he returns from hunting, worn out with fa-
tigue, having tasted nothing since dawn, his wife, if she
is a good wife, will take off his moccasins and replace
them with dry ones, and will prepare his game for their
repast, while his children will climb upon him, and he will
caress them with all the tenderness of a woman; and in
the evening the Indian wigwam is the scene of the purest
domestic pleasures. The father will relate for the amuse-
ment of the wife, and for the instruction of the children,
all the events of the day's hunt, while they will treasure
w
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SUMMER ON THE LAKES 1843 , 369
up every word that falls, and thus learn the theory of the
art, whose practice is to be the occupation of their lives.
"More 8 weariness than anguish, no douht, falls to the
lot of most of these women. They inherit submission, and
the minds of the generality accommodate themselves more
or less to any posture. Perhaps they suffer less than their
white sisters, who have more aspiration and refinement,
with little power of self-sustenance. But their place is
certainly lower, and their share of the human inheritance
less.
"Their decorum and delicacy are striking, and show
that when these are native to the mind, no habits of life
make any difference. Their whole gesture is timid, yet
self-possessed. They used to crowd round me, to inspect
little things I had to show them, but never press near; on
the contrary, would reprove and keep off the children.
Anything they took from my hand was held with care,
then shut or folded, and returned with an air of lady-like
precision. They would not stare, however curious they
might be, but cast side-long glances.
"A locket that I wore, was an object of untiring interest;
they seemed to regard it as a talisman. My little sun-
shade was still more fascinating to them; apparently they
had never before seen one. For an umbrella they entertain
profound regard, probably looking upon it as the most
luxurious superfluity a person can possess, and therefore a
badge of great wealth. I used to see an old squaw, whose
sullied skin and coarse, tanned locks, told that she had
braved sun and storm, without a doubt or care, for sixty
Pp. 179-181.
370 HISTORIC MACKINAC
years at the least, sitting gravely at the door of her lodge,
with an old green umbrella over her head, happy for hours
together in the dignified shade. For her happiness pomp
came not, as it often does, too late; she received it with
grateful enjoyment.
"One day, as I was seated on one of the canoes, a woman
came and sat beside me, with her baby in its cradle set up
at her feet. She asked me by a gesture, to let her take my
sun-shade, and then to show her how to open it. Then she
put it into her baby's hand, and held it over its head, looking
at me the while with a sweet, mischievous laugh, as much
as to say, 'you carry a thing that is only fit for a baby':
her pantomime was very pretty. She, like the other
women, had a glance, and shy, sweet expression in the
eye; the men have a steady gaze.
"Nine 4 days I passed alone at Mackinac, except for
occasional visits from kind and agreeable residents at the
Fort, and Mr. and Mrs. A. Mr. A., long engaged in the
fur trade, is gratefully remembered by many travelers.
From Mrs. A., also, I received kind attentions, paid in
the vivacious and graceful manner of her nation.
"The society of the boarding-house entertained, being
of a kind entirely new to me. There were many traders
from the remote stations, such as La Pointe, Arbre Croche,
men who had become half wild and wholly rude, by
living in the wild; but good-humored, observing, and with
a store of knowledge to impart, of the kind proper to their
place.
"There were two little girls here, that were pleasant com-
panions for me. One gay, frank, impetuous, but sweet
Pp. 237-238.
SUMMER ON THE LAKES 1843 371
and winning. She was an American, fair, and with bright
brown hair. The other, a little French Canadian, used
to join me in my walks, silently take my hand, and sit at
my feet when I stopped in beautiful places. She seemed
to understand without a word; and I never shall forget her
little figure, with its light, but pensive motion, and her
delicate, grave features, with the pale, clear complexion
and soft eye. She was motherless, and much left alone by
her father and brothers, who were boatmen. The two little
girls were as pretty representatives of Allegro and Pense-
roso, as one would wish to see.
"I had been wishing that a boat would come in to take
me to Sault Ste. Marie, and several times started to the
window at night in hopes that the pant and dusky-red
light crossing the waters belonged to such an one ; but they
were always boats for Chicago or Buffalo, till, on the 28th
of August, Allegro, who shared my plans and wishes, rushed
in to tell me that the General Scott had come, and, in this
little steamer, accordingly, I set out the next morning. . . .
"Our voyage back was all pleasure. 5 It was the fairest
day. I saw the river, the islands, the clouds to the greatest
advantage.
"On board was an old man, an Illinois farmer, whom I
found a most agreeable companion. He had just been
with his son, and eleven other young men, on an exploring
expedition to the shores of Lake Superior. He was the
only man of the party, but he had enjoyed, most of any,
the journey. He had been the counsellor and playmate,
too, of the young ones. He was one of those parents,
why so rare? who understand and live a new life in that
Pp. 247-252.
372 HISTORIC MACKINAC
of their children, instead of wasting time and young happi-
ness in trying to make them conform to an object and
standard of their own. The character and history of each
child may be a new and poetic experience to the parent,
if he will let it. Our farmer was domestic, judicious, solid;
the son, inventive, enterprising, superficial, full of follies,
full of resources, always liable to failure, sure to rise
above it. The father conformed to, and learnt from, a
character he could not change, and won the sweet from the
bitter.
"His account of his life at home, and of his late ad-
ventures among the Indians, was very amusing, but I want
talent to write it down. I have not heard the slang of these
people intimately enough. There is a good book about
Indiana, called the New Purchase, written by a person who
knows the people of the country well enough to describe
them in their own way. It is not witty, but penetrating, val-
uable for its practical wisdom and good-humored fun.
"There are many sportsman stories told, too, by those
from Illinois and Wisconsin. I do not retain any of these
well enough, nor any that I heard earlier, to write them
down, though they always interested me from bringing
wild, natural scenes before the mind. It is pleasant for
the sportsman to be in countries so alive with game; yet
it is so plenty that one would think shooting pigeons or
grouse would seem more like slaughter, than the excitement
of skill to a good sportsman. Hunting the deer is full of
adventure, and needs only a Scrope to describe it to invest
the western woods with historic associations.
"How pleasant it was to sit and hear rough men tell
pieces out of their own common lives, in place of the frip-
pery talk of some fine circle with its conventional sentiment,
SUMMER ON THE LAKES 1843 373
and timid, second-hand criticism. Free blew the wind, and
boldly flowed the stream, named for Mary, mother mild.
"A fine thunder shower came on in the afternoon. It
cleared at sunset, just as we came in sight of beautiful
Mackinac, over which a rainbow bent in promise of peace.
"I have always wondered, in reading travels, at the
childish joy travellers felt at meeting people they knew,
and their sense of loneliness when they did not, in places
where there was everything new to occupy the attention.
So childish, I thought, always to be longing for the new
in the old, and the old in the new. Yet just such sadness
I felt, when I looked on the Island, glittering in the sunset,
canopied by the rainbow, and thought no friend would wel-
come me there; just such childish joy I felt, to see unex-
pectedly on the landing, the face of one whom I called
friend.
"The remaining two or three days were delightfully
spent, in walking or boating, or sitting at the window to see
the Indians go. This was not quite so pleasant as their
coming in, though accomplished with the same rapidity; a
family not taking half an hour to prepare for departure,
and the departing canoe a beautiful object. But they left
behind, on all the shore, the blemishes of their stay old
rags, dried boughs, fragments of food, the marks of their
fires. Nature likes to cover up and gloss over spots and
scars, but it would take her some time to restore that beach
to the state it was in before they came.
"S. and I had a mind for a canoe excursion, and we
asked one of the traders to engage us two good Indians,
that would not only take us out, but be sure and bring
us back, as we could not hold converse with them. Two
others offered their aid, beside the chiefs son, a fine looking
374 HISTORIC MACKINAC
youth of about sixteen, richly dressed in blue broad-cloth,
scarlet sash and leggins, with a scarf of brighter red than
the rest, tied around his head, its ends falling gracefully
on one shoulder. They thought it, apparently, fine amuse-
ment to be attending two white women; they carried us into
the path of the steamboat, which was going out, and paddled
with all their force, rather too fast, indeed, for there was
something of a swell on the lake, and they sometimes threw
water into the canoe. However, it flew over the waves,
light as a sea-gull. They would say, Tull away,' and 'Ver'
warm,' and, after these words, would laugh gaily. They
enjoye^ the hour, I believe, as much as we.
"The house where we lived belonged to the widow of
a French trader, an Indian by birth, and wearing the dress
of her country. She spoke French fluently, and was very
ladylike in her manners. She is a great character among
them. They were all the time coming to pay her homage,
or to get her aid and advice; for she is, I am told, a shrewd
woman of business. My companion carried about her
sketch-book with her, and the Indians were interested when
they saw her using her pencil, though less so than about the
sun-shade. This lady of the tribe wanted to borrow the
sketches of the beach, with its lodges and wild groups, 'to
show to the savages? she said.
"Of the practical ability of the Indian women, a good
specimen is given by McKenney, in an amusing story of
one who went to Washington, and acted her part there in
the 'first circles,' with a tact and sustained dissimulation
worthy of Cagliostro. She seemed to have a thorough love
of intrigue for its own sake, and much dramatic talent.
Like the chiefs of her nation, when on an expedition among
the foe, whether for revenge or profit, no impulses of van-
SUMMER ON THE LAKES 1843 375
ity or wayside seductions had power to turn her aside from
carrying out her plan as she had originally projected it.
"Although I have little to tell, I feel that I have learnt a
great deal of the Indians, from observing them even in this
broken and degraded condition. There is a language of
eye and motion which cannot be put into words, and which
teaches what words never can. I feel acquainted with the
soul of this race; I read its nobler thought in their defaced
figures. There was a greatness, unique and precious,
which he who does not feel will never duly appreciate the
majesty of nature in this American continent.
"I have mentioned that the Indian orator, who addressed
the agents on this occasion, said, the difference between
the white man and the red man is this: 'The white man
no sooner came here, than he thought of preparing the way
for his posterity ; the red man never thought of this.' I was
assured this was exactly his phrase; and it defines the true
difference. We get the better because we do
" 'Look before and after.'
"But, from the same cause, we
" Tine for what is not.'
The red man, when happy, was thoroughly happy; when
good, was simply good. He needed the medal, to let him
know that he was good.
"These evenings we were happy, looking over the old-
fashioned gardens over the beach, over the waters and
pretty island opposite, beneath the growing moon; and we
did not stay to see it full at Mackinac. At two o'clock,
one night, or rather morning, the Great Western came snort-
376 HISTORIC MACKINAC
ing in, and we must go; and Mackinac, and all the north-
west summer, is now to me no more than picture and
dream :
" 'A dream within a dream.'
These last days at Mackinac have been pleasanter than the
'lonesome' nine, for I have recovered the companion with
whom I set out from the East, one who sees all, prizes all,
enjoys much, interrupts never."
CHAPTER XV
WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANTS LETTERS OF A
TRAVELLER 1846
BORN at Cummington, Massachusetts, in 1794, Wil-
liam Cullen Bryant came of a line of illustrious
antecedents. On his mother's side he was a direct
descendant of John Alden and Priscilla, and his life and
works reflect all that was best in Puritan New England.
He was as a boy unusually precocious, writing at thirteen a
satirical poem, The Embargo, on Jefferson's policy of re-
stricting New England commerce, which was published
and well received. At sixteen he entered Williams Col-
lege, at seventeen he wrote Thanatopsis, and at eighteen
he began the study of law. In Thanatopsis Bryant struck
a note of deep religious feeling and love of nature that was
characteristic of the man. The young poet had found
himself. In quick succession followed The Yellow Violet,
the Inscription for the Entrance to a Wood, and the ex-
quisite lines, To a Waterfowl, whose concluding lesson
sinks deep into the heart:
"He who, from zone to zone,
Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,
In the long way that I must tread alone,
Will lead my steps aright."
Another element in Bryant's thought and feeling is re-
vealed in The Indian GirVs Lament, An Indian Story, An
Indian at the Burial Place of his Fathers.
377
378 HISTORIC MACKINAC
The impression that the great West was making on his
mind is seen in the series of poem pictures entitled The
Prairies. In the meantime he had forsaken the "dregs
of men," as he called his clients at the bar, for the more
congenial work of journalism, becoming editor of the New
York Evening Post. Ere long, the growing desire to travel
led him to Europe and to the Great Lakes, and the readers
of the Evening Post enjoyed the letters which he wrote home
for its columns. In 1850 some of these letters, collected
into a volume, were published as The Letters of a Traveller.
This volume contains the account of his trip to Mackinac, in
July, 1846. In the beginning of the portion here given,
the steamer is well on its way up from Detroit. The day
has been rainy, but gives promise of a fair close. 1
"In fact, the sun soon melted away the clouds, and before
ten o'clock I was shown, to the north of us, the dim shore
of the Great Manitoulin Island, with the faintly descried
opening called the West Strait, through which a throng of
speculators in copper mines are this summer constantly
passing to the Sault de Ste. Marie. On the other side was
the sandy isle of Bois Blanc, the name of which is com-
monly corrupted into Bob Low Island, thickly covered
with pines, and showing a tall light-house on the point near-
est us. Beyond another point lay like a cloud the Island
of Mackinac. I had seen it once before, but now the hazy
atmosphere magnified it into a lofty mountain; its lime-
stone cliffs impending over the water seemed larger; the
white Fort white as snow built from the quarries of the
Island, looked more commanding, and the rocky crest above
it seemed almost to rise to the clouds. There was a good
1 Letters of a Traveller, pp. 253-255.
LETTERS OF A TRAVELLER 1846 379
deal of illusion in all this, as we were convinced as we
came nearer, but Mackinac with its rocks rising from the
most transparent waters that the earth pours out from her
springs, is a stately object in any condition of the atmos-
phere. The captain of our steamer allowed us but a mo-
ment at Mackinac; a moment to gaze into the clear waters,
and count the fish as they played about without fear twenty
or thirty feet below our steamer, as plainly as if they lay
in the air; a moment to look at the Fort on the heights,
dazzling the eyes with its new whiteness; a moment to ob-
serve the inhabitants of the ancient village, some of which
show you roofs and walls of red-cedar bark confined by
horizontal strips of wood, a kind of architecture between
the wigwam and the settler's cabin. A few baskets of fish
were lifted on board, in which I saw trout of enormous size,
trout a yard in length, and white-fish smaller, but held per-
haps in higher esteem, and we turned our course to the
straits which lead into Lake Michigan.
"I remember hearing a lady say she was tired of im-
provements, and only wanted to find a place that was fin-
ished, where she might live in peace. I think I shall
recommend Mackinac to her. I saw no change in the
place since my visit to it five years ago. It is so lucky as
to have no back-country, it offers no advantages to specula-
tion of any sort; it produces, it is true, the finest potatoes
in the world, but none for exportation. It may, however,
on account of its very cool summer climate, become a
fashionable watering-place, in which case it must yield to
the common fate of American villages and improve, as the
phrase is."
This was not the end of Bryant's visit to Mackinac in
this year. He had stopped here on his way to the Illinois
380 HISTORIC MACKINAC
country, and was back in August. The trip down Lake
Michigan has many points of interest.
"Soon after leaving the Island of Mackinac," 2 he
writes, "we entered the straits and passed into Lake Michi-
gan. The odor of burnt leaves continued to accompany
us, and from the western shore of the lake, thickly cov-
ered with wood, we saw large columns of smoke, several
miles apart, rising into the hazy sky. The steamer turned
towards the eastern shore, and about an hour before sun-
set stopped to take in wood at the upper Maneto Island,
where we landed and strolled into the forest. Part of the
island is high, but this, where we went on shore, consists
of hillocks and hollows of sand, like the waves of the
lake in one of its storms, and looking as if successive storms
had swept them up from the bottom. They were covered
with an enormous growth of trees which must have stood
for centuries. We admired the astonishing transparency
of the water on this shore, the clean sands without any in-
termixture of mud, the pebbles of almost chalky whiteness,
and the stones in the edge of the lake, to which adhered no
slime, nor green moss, nor aquatic weed. In the light-
green depths, far down, but distinctly seen, shoals of fish,
some of them of large size, came quietly playing about
the huge hull of our steamer.
"On the shore were two log-houses inhabited by wood-
men, one of whom drew a pail of water for the refresh-
ment of some of the passengers, from a well dug in the
sand by his door. *It is not so good as the lake water,'
said I, for I saw it was not so clear. 'It is colder, though,'
answered the man; 'but I must say that there is no purer
or sweeter water in the world than that of our lake.'
2 Pp. 256-260.
LETTERS OF A TRAVELLER 1846 381
"Next morning we were coasting the western shore of
Lake Michigan, a high bank presenting a long line of for-
est. This was broken by the little town of Sheboygan, with
its light-house among the shrubs of the bank, its cluster of
houses just built, among which were two hotels, and its
little schooner lying at the mouth of a river. You prob-
ably never heard of Sheboygan before; it has just sprung
up in the forests of Wisconsin ; the leaves have hardly with-
ered on the trees that were felled to make room for its
houses; but it will make a noise in the world yet. *It is
the prettiest place on the lake,' said a passenger, whom
we left there, with three chubby and healthy children, a
lady who had already lived long enough at Sheboygan to
be proud of it.
"Further on we came to Milwaukee, which is rapidly
becoming one of the great cities of the West. It lies within
a semicircle of green pastoral declivities sprinkled with
scattered trees, where future streets are to be built. We
landed at a kind of wharf, formed by a long platform of
planks laid on piles, under which the water flows, and ex-
tending to some distance into the lake, and along which
a car, running on a railway, took the passengers and their
baggage, and a part of the freight of the steamer to the
shore.
1 'Will you go up to town, sir?' was the question with
which I was saluted by the drivers of a throng of vehicles
of all sorts, as soon as I reached the land. They were
ranged along a firm sandy beach between the lake and the
river of Milwaukee. On one side the light-green waters
of the lake, of crystalline clearness, came rolling in before
the wind, and on the other the dark, thick waters of the
river lay still and stagnant in the sun. We did not get up
382 HISTORIC MACKINAC
to the town but we could see that it was compactly built,
and in one quarter nobly. A year or two since that quar-
ter had been destroyed by fire, and on the spot several
large and lofty ware-houses had been erected, with an hotel
of the largest class. They were of a fine, light-brown color,
and when I learned that they were of brick, I inquired of
a by-stander if that was the natural color of the material.
'They are Milwaukee brick,' he answered, 'and neither
painted nor stained; and are better brick besides than are
made at the eastward.' Milwaukee is said to contain, at
present, about ten thousand inhabitants. Here the belt of
the forest that borders the lake stretches back for several
miles to the prairies of Wisconsin. 'The Germans,' said
a passenger, 'are already in the woods hacking at the trees
and will soon open the country to the prairies.'
"We made a short stop at Racine, prettily situated on
the bank among the scattered trees of an oak opening, and
another at Southport, a rival town eleven miles further
south. It is surprising how many persons travel, as way-
passengers, from place to place on the shores of these lakes.
Five years ago the number was very few, now they com-
prise, at least, half the number on board a steam-boat ply-
ing between Buffalo and Chicago. When all who travel
from Chicago to Buffalo shall cross the peninsula of Michi-
gan by the more expeditious route of the railway, the Chi-
cago and Buffalo line of steamers, which its owners claim
to be the finest line in the world, will still be crowded with
people taken up or to be set down at some of the inter-
mediate towns.
"When we awoke the next morning our steamer was at
Chicago. Any one who had seen this place, as I had done
five years ago, when it contained less than five thousand
LETTERS OF A TRAVELLER 1846 383
people, would find some difficulty in recognizing it now
when its population is more than fifteen thousand. It has
its long row of ware-houses and shops, its bustling streets;
its huge steamers, and crowds of lake-craft, lying at the
wharves; its villas embowered with trees; and its suburbs,
consisting of the cottages of German and Irish laborers,
stretching northward along the lake, and westward into
the prairies, and widening every day. The slovenly and
raw appearance of a new settlement begins in many parts
to disappear. The Germans have already a garden in a
little grove for their holidays, as in their towns in the old
country, and the Roman Catholics have just finished a col-
lege for the education of those who are to labor in the West.
"The day was extremely hot, and at sunset we took a
little drive along the belt of firm sand which forms the
border of the lake. Light-green waves came to the shore
in long lines, with a crest of foam, like a miniature surf,
rolling in from that inland ocean, and as they dashed
against the legs of the horses, and the wheels of our car-
riage, the air that played over them was exceedingly re-
freshing."
After a short visit to northern Illinois, Bryant was again
on Lake Michigan, headed for Mackinac and the Sault.
"It was a hot August morning, 3 as the steamer Wiscon-
sin, an unwieldy bulk, dipping and bobbing upon the small
waves, and trembling at every stroke of the engine, swept
out into the lake. The southwest wind during the warmer
portion of the summer months is a sort of Sirocco in Illi-
nois. It blows with a considerable strength, but passing
over an immense extent of heated plains it brings no cool-
ness. It was such an air that accompanied us on our way
Pp. 270-271.
384 HISTORIC MACKINAC
north from Chicago; and as the passengers huddled into
the shady places outside of the state-rooms on the upper
deck, I thought of the flocks of quails I had seen gasping in
the shadow of the rail-fences on the prairies.
"People here expose themselves to a draught of air with
much less scruple than they do in the Atlantic states. 'We
do not take cold by it,' they said to me, when I saw them
sitting in a current of wind, after perspiring freely. If
they do not take cold, it is odds that they take something
else, a fever perhaps, or what is called a bilious attack.
The vicissitudes of climate at Chicago and its neighbor-
hood are more sudden and extreme than with us, but the
inhabitants say that they are not often the cause of catarrh,
as in the Atlantic States. Whatever may be the cause, I
have met with no person since I came to the West, who
appeared to have a catarrh. From this region perhaps
will hereafter proceed singers with the clearest pipes.
"Some forty miles beyond Chicago we stopped for half
an hour at Little Fort, one of those flourishing little towns
which are springing up on the lake shore, to besiege fu-
ture Congresses for money to build their harbors. This
settlement has started up in the woods within the last three
or four years, and its cluster of roofs, two of the broadest
of which cover respectable-looking hotels, already makes
a considerable figure when viewed from the lake. We
passed to the shore over a long platform of planks framed
upon two rows of posts or piles planted in the sandy shal-
lows. 'We make a port in this manner on any part of the
western shore of the lake,' said a passenger, *and conveni-
ent ports they are, except in very high winds. On the
eastern shore, the coast of Michigan, they have not this
advantage; the ice and the northwest winds would rend such
LETTERS OF A TRAVELLER 1846 385
a wharf as this in pieces. On this side, too, the water of
the lake, except when an east wind blows, is smoother than
on the Michigan coast, and the steamers therefore keep un-
der the shelter of this bank/ . . .
"It was not 4 till about one o'clock of the second night
after leaving Chicago, that we landed at Mackinac, and
after an infinite deal of trouble in getting our baggage to-
gether, and keeping it together, we were driven to the Mis-
sion House, a plain, comfortable old wooden house, built
thirty or forty years since, by a missionary society, and
now turned into an hotel. Beside the road, close to the
water's edge, stood several wigwams of the Pottowottomies,
pyramids of poles wrapped around with rush matting, each
containing a family asleep. The place was crowded with
people on their way to the mining region of Lake Superior,
or returning from it, and we were obliged to content our-
selves with narrow accommodations for the night.
"At half-past seven the next morning we were on our
way to the Sault Ste. Marie, in the little steamer General
Scott. The wind was blowing fresh, and a score of per-
sons who had intended to visit the Sault were withheld by
fear of seasickness, so that half a dozen of us had the
steamer to ourselves. In three or four hours we found
ourselves gliding out of the lake, through smooth water,
between two low points of land covered with firs and pines
into the west strait. We passed Drummond's Island, and
then coasted St. Joseph's Island, on the woody shore of
which I was shown a solitary house. There I was told
lives a long-nosed Englishman, a half-pay officer, with two
wives, sisters, each the mother of a numerous off -spring.
This English polygamist has been more successful in seek-
Pp. 273-286.
386 HISTORIC MACKINAC
ing solitude than in avoiding notoriety. The very loneli-
ness of his habitation on the shore causes it to be remarked,
and there is not a passenger who makes the voyage to the
Sault, to whom his house is not pointed out, and his story
related. It was hinted to me that he had a third wife in
Toronto, but I have my private doubts of this part of the
story, and suspect that it was thrown in to increase my
wonder.
"Beyond the island of St. Joseph we passed several islets
of rock with fir-trees frowning from the clefts. Here, in
summer, I was told, the Indians often set up their wigwams,
and subsist by fishing. There were none in sight as we
passed, but we frequently saw on either shore the skele-
tons of the Chippewa habitations. These consist, not like
those of the Pottowottomies, of a circle of sticks placed in
the form of a cone, but of slender poles bent into circles, so
as to make an almost regular hemisphere, over which,
while it serves as a dwelling, birch-bark and mats of bul-
rushes are thrown.
"On the western side of the passage, opposite to St.
Joseph's Island, stretches the long coast of Sugar Island,
luxuriant with an extensive forest of the sugar-maple.
Here the Indians manufacture maple-sugar in the spring.
I inquired concerning their agriculture.
' 'They plant no corn nor squashes,' said a passenger,
who had resided for some time at the Sault; 'they will not
ripen in this climate; but they plant potatoes in the sugar-
bush, and dig them when the spring comes. They have no
other agriculture; they plant no beans as I believe the In-
dians do elsewhere.'
"A violent squall of wind and rain fell upon the water
just as we entered that broad part of the passage which
LETTERS OF A TRAVELLER 1846 387
bears the name of Muddy Lake. In ordinary weather the
waters here are perfectly pure and translucent, but now
their agitation brought up the loose earth from the shal-
low bottom, and made them as turbid as the Missouri, with
the exception of a narrow channel in the midst where the
current runs deep. Rocky hills now begin to show them-
selves to the east of us; we passed the sheet of water known
by the name of Lake George, and came to a little river
which appeared to have its source at the foot of a precipi-
tous ridge on the British side. It is called Garden River,
and a little beyond it, on the same side, lies Garden Vil-
lage, inhabited by the Indians. It was now deserted, the
Indians having gone to attend a great assemblage of their
race, held on one of the Manitoulin Islands, where they
are to receive their annual payments from the British gov-
ernment. Here were log-houses, and skeletons of wig-
wams, from which the coverings had been taken. An
Indian, when he travels, takes with him his family and his
furniture, the matting for his wigwam, his implements for
hunting and fishing, his dogs and cats, and finds a home
wherever he finds poles for a dwelling. A tornado had
recently passed over the Garden Village. The numerous
girdled-trees which stood on its little clearing, had been
twisted off midway or near the ground by the wind, and the
roofs had, in some instances, been lifted from the cabins.
"At length, after a winding voyage of sixty miles, be-
tween wild banks of forest, in some places smoking with
fires, in some looking as if never violated either by fire or
steel, with huge carcasses of trees mouldering on the
ground, and venerable trees standing over them, bearded
with streaming moss, we came in sight of the white rapids
of the Sault Sainte Marie. We passed the humble cabins
388 HISTORIC MACKINAC
of the half-breeds on either shore, with here and there a
round wigwam near the water; we glided by a white chim-
ney standing behind a screen of fir-trees, which, we were
told, had belonged to the dwelling of Tanner, who himself
set fire to his house the other day, before murdering Mr.
Schoolcraft, and in a few minutes were at the wharf of
this remotest settlement of the Northwest.
"A crowd had assembled on the wharf of the American
village at the Sault Sainte Marie, popularly called the
Soo, to witness our landing; men of all ages and com-
plexions, in hats and caps of every form and fashion, with
beards of every length and color, among which I discov-
ered two or three pairs of mustaches. It was a party of
copper-mine speculators, just flitting from Copper Harbor
and Eagle River, mixed with a few Indian and half-breed
inhabitants of the place. Among them I saw a face or
two quite familiar in Wall-street.
"I had a conversation with an intelligent geologist, who
had just returned from an examination of the copper mines
of Lake Superior. He had pitched his tent in the fields
near the village, choosing to pass the night in this manner,
as he had done for several weeks past, rather than in a
crowded inn. In regard to the mines, he told me that the
external tokens, the surface indications, as he called them,
were more favorable than those of any copper mines in the
world. They are still, however, mere surface indications;
the veins had not been worked to that depth which was
necessary to determine their value with any certainty.
The mixture of silver with the copper he regarded as not
giving any additional value to the mines, inasmuch as it
is only occasional and rare. Sometimes, he told me, a
mass of metal would be discovered of the size of a man's
LETTERS OF A TRAVELLER 1846 389
fist, or smaller, composed of copper and silver, both metals
closely united, yet both perfectly pure and unalloyed with
each other. The masses of virgin copper found in beds of
gravel are, however, the most remarkable feature of these
mines. One of them which has been discovered this sum-
mer, but which has not been raised, is estimated to weigh
twenty tons. I saw in the propeller Independence, by
which this party from the copper mines was brought down
to the Sau It. one of these masses, weighing seventeen hun-
hundred and fifty pounds, with the appearance of having
once been fluid with heat. It was so pure that it might
have been cut in pieces by cold steel and stamped at once
into coin.
"Two or three years ago this settlement of the Sault
de Ste. Marie was but a military post of the United States,
in the midst of a village of Indians and half-breeds.
There were, perhaps, a dozen white residents in the place,
including the family of the Baptist Missionary and the
Agent of the American Fur Company, which had removed
its station hither from Mackinac, and built its warehouse
on this river. But since the world has begun to talk of the
copper mines of Lake Superior, settlers flock into the place ;
carpenters are busy in knocking up houses with all haste
on the government lands, and large warehouses have been
built upon piles driven into the shallows of the St. Mary.
Five years hence, the primitive character of the place will
be altogether lost, and it will have become a bustling
Yankee town, resembling the other new settlements of the
West.
"Here the navigation from lake to lake is interrupted
by the falls or rapids of the river St. Mary, from which
the place receives its name. The crystalline waters of
390 HISTORIC MACKINAC
Lake Superior on their way through the channel of this
river to Lake Huron, here rush, and foam, and roar, for
about three quarters of a mile, over rocks and large stones.
"Close to the rapids, with birchen-canoes moored in
little inlets, is a village of the Indians, consisting of log-
cabins and round wigwams, on a shrubby level, reserved
to them by the government. The morning after our ar-
rival, we went through this village in search of a canoe
and a couple of Indians, to make the descent of the rapids,
which is one of the first things that a visitor to the Sault
must think of. In the first wigwam that we entered were
three men and two women as drunk as men and women
could be. The squaws were speechless and motionless,
too far gone, as it seemed, to raise either hand or foot;
the men though apparently unable to rise were noisy, and
one of them, who called himself a half-breed and spoke
a few words of English, seemed disposed to quarrel.
Before the next door was a woman busy in washing, who
spoke a little English. 'The old man out there,' she said,
in answer to our question, 'can paddle canoe, but he is
very drunk, he can not do it to-day."
" 'Is there anybody else,' we asked, 'who will take us
down the falls?'
" 'I don't know; the Indians all drunk to-day.'
' 'Why is that? why are they all drunk to-day?'
" 'Oh, the whisky,' answered the woman, giving us to
understand, that when an Indian could get whisky, he got
drunk as a matter of course.
"By this time the man had come up, and after address-
ing us with the customary 'bon jour* manifested a curi-
osity to know the nature of our errand. The woman ex-
plained it to him in English.
OLD VIEW OF A MACKINAC ISLAND STREET
A RELIC OF THE EARLY DAYS AT MACKINAC ISLAND
On the road to British Landing, on the Early Farm
JAMES LASLEY, PIONEER POSTMASTER AT MACKINAC ISLAND
LETTERS OF A TRAVELLER 1846 391
* 'Oh, messieurs, je vous servirai,' said he, for he spoke
Canadian French; 'I go, I go.'
"We told him that we doubted whether he was quite
sober enough.
* 'Oh, messieurs, je suis parfaitement capable first
rate, first rate.'
"We shook him off as soon as we could, but not till after
he had time to propose that we should wait till the next day,
and to utter the maxim, 'Whisky, good too much whisky,
no good.'
"In a log-cabin, which some half-breeds were engaged
in building, we found two men who were easily persuaded
to leave their work and pilot us over to the rapids. They
took one of the canoes which lay in a little inlet close at
hand, and entering it, pushed it with their long poles up
the stream in the edge of the rapids. Arriving at the head
of the rapids, they took in our party, which consisted of
five, and we began the descent. At each end of the canoe
sat a half-breed, with a paddle, to guide it while the cur-
rent drew us rapidly down among the agitated waters.
It was surprising with what dexterity they kept us
in the smoothest part of the water, seeming to know
the way down as well as if it had been a beaten path in
the fields.
"At one time we would seem to be directly approaching
a rock against which the waves were dashing, at another
to be descending into a hollow of the waters in which our
canoe would be inevitably filled, but a single stroke of
the paddle given by the man at the prow put us safely by
the seeming danger. So rapid was the descent, that al-
most as soon as we descried the apparent peril, it was
passed. In less than ten minutes, as it seemed to me, we
392 HISTORIC MACKINAC
had left the roar of the rapids behind us, and were gliding
over the smooth water at their feet.
"In the afternoon we engaged a half-breed and his
brother to take us over to the Canadian shore. His wife,
a slender young woman with a lively physiognomy, not
easily to be distinguished from a French woman of her
class, accompanied us in the canoe with her little boy.
The birch-bark canoe of the savage seems to me one of
the most beautiful and perfect things of the kind con-
structed by human art. We were in one of the finest that
float on St. Mary's river, and when I looked at its delicate
ribs, mere shavings of white cedar, yet firm enough for the
purpose the thin broad laths of the same wood with
which these are enclosed, and the broad sheets of birch-
bark, impervious to water, which sheathed the outside, all
firmly sewed together by the tough slender roots of the
fir-tree, and when I considered its extreme lightness and
the grace of its form, I could not but wonder at the in-
genuity of those who had invented so beautiful a combina-
tion of ship-building and basket-work. 'It cost me twenty
dollars,' said the half-breed, 'and I would not take thirty
for it.'
"We were ferried over the waves where they dance at
the foot of the rapids. At this place large quantities of
white-fish, one of the most delicate kinds known on our
continent, are caught by the Indians, in their season, with
scoop-nets. The whites are about to interfere with this
occupation of the Indians, and I saw the other day a seine
of prodigious length constructing, with which it is intended
to sweep nearly half the river at once. 'They will take a
hundred barrels a day,' said an inhabitant of the place.
"On the British side, the rapids divide themselves into
LETTERS OF A TRAVELLER 1846 393
half a dozen noisy brooks, which roar round little islands,
and in the boiling pools of which the speckled trout is
caught with the rod and line. We landed at the ware-
houses of the Hudson's Bay Company, where the goods in-
tended for the Indian trade are deposited, and the furs
brought from the northwest are collected. They are sur-
rounded by a massive stockade, within which lives the
agent of the Company, the walks are graveled and well-
kept, and the whole bears the marks of British solidity
and precision. A quantity of furs had been brought in
the day before, but they were locked up in the warehouse,
and all was now quiet and silent. The agent was absent;
a half-breed nurse stood at the door with his child, and a
Scotch servant, apparently with nothing to do, was loung-
ing in the court inclosed by the stockade; in short, there
was less bustle about this centre of one of the most powerful
trading-companies in the world, than about one of our
farm-houses.
"Crossing the bay, at the bottom of which these build-
ings stand, we landed at a Canadian village of half-breeds.
Here were one or two wigwams and a score of log-cabins,
some of which we entered. In one of them we were re-
ceived with great appearance of deference by a woman of
decidedly Indian features, but light-complexioned, bare-
foot, with blue embroidered leggings falling over her
ankles and sweeping the floor, the only peculiarity of In-
dian costume about her. The house was as clean as scour-
ing could make it, and her two little children, with little
French physiognomies, were fairer than many children of
the European race. These people are descended from the
French voyageurs and settlers on one side; they speak
Canadian French more or less, but generally employ the
394 HISTORIC MACKINAC
Chippewa language in their intercourse with each other.
"Near at hand was a burial ground, with graves of the
Indians and half-breeds, which we entered. Some of the
graves were covered with a low roof of cedar-bark, others
with a wooden box; over others were placed a little house
like a dog-kennel, except that it had no door, others were
covered with little log-cabins. One of these was of such a
size that a small Indian family would have found it amply
large for their accommodation. It is a practice among the
savages to protect the graves of the dead from the wolves,
by stakes driven into the ground and meeting at the top like
the rafters of a roof; and perhaps when the Indian or half-
breed exchanged his wigwam for a log-cabin, his respect
for the dead led him to make the same improvement in the
architecture of their narrow houses. At the head of most
of these monuments stood wooden crosses, for the popula-
tion here is principally Roman Catholic, some of them
inscribed with the names of the dead, and always accu-
rately spelled.
"Not far from the church stands a building, regarded
by the half-breeds as a wonder of architecture, the stone
house, la maison de pierre, as they call it, a large mansion
built of stone by a former agent of the Northwest or Hud-
son's Bay Company, who lived here in a kind of grand man-
orial style, with his servants and horses and hounds, and
gave hospitable dinners in those days when it was the fash-
ion for the host to do his best to drink his guests under the
table. The old splendor of the place has departed, its
gardens are overgrown with grass, the barn has been blown
down, the kitchen in which so many grand dinners were
cooked consumed by fire, and the mansion, with its broken
LETTERS OF A TRAVELLER 1846 395
and patched windows, is now occupied by a Scotch farmer
of the name of Wilson.
"We climbed a ridge of hills back of the house to the
church of the Episcopal Mission, built a few years ago as
a place of worship for the Chippewas, who have since been
removed by the government. It stands remote from any
habitation, with three or four Indian graves near it, and
we found it filled with hay. The view from its door is
uncommonly beautiful; the broad St. Mary lying below
with its bordering villages and woody valley, its white
rapids and its rocky islands, picturesque with the pointed
summits of the fir-tree. To the northwest the sight fol-
lowed the river to the horizon, where it issued from Lake
Superior, and I was told that in clear weather one might
discover, from the spot on which I stood, the promontory
of Gros Cap, which guards the outlet of that mighty lake.
"The country around was smoking in a dozen places with
fires in the woods. When I returned I asked who kindled
them. *It is old Tanner,' said one, 'the man who murdered
Schoolcraft." There is great fear here of Tanner, who is
thought to be lurking yet in the neighborhood. I was go-
ing the other day to look at a view of the place from an
eminence, reached by a road passing through a swamp,
full of larches and firs. *Are you not afraid of Tanner?'
I was asked. Mrs. Schoolcraft, since the assassination of
her husband, has come to live in the fort, which consists
of barracks protected by a high stockade. It is rumored
that Tanner has been skulking about within a day or two,
and yesterday a place was discovered which is supposed
to have served for his retreat. It was a hollow, thickly
surrounded by shrubs, which some person had evidently
396 HISTORIC MACKINAC
made his habitation for a considerable time. There is
a dispute whether this man is insane or not, but there is
no dispute as to his malignity. He has threatened to take
the life of Mr. Bingham, the venerable Baptist missionary
at this place, and as long as it is not certain that he has
left the neighborhood a feeling of insecurity prevails.
Nevertheless, as I know no reason why this man should take
it into his head to shoot me, I go whither I list, without the
fear of Tanner before my eyes. . . .
"On Monday we left the Falls of St. Mary, 5 in the
Steamer General Scott, on our return to Mackinac. There
were about forty passengers on board, men in search of cop-
per mines, and men in search of health, and travellers from
curiosity, Virginians, New Yorkers, wanderers from Illi-
nois, Indiana, Massachusetts, and I believe several other
states. On reaching Mackinac in the evening, our party
took quarters in the Mission House, the obliging host of
which stretched his means to the utmost for our accommo-
dation. Mackinac is at the present moment crowded with
strangers; attracted by the cool, healthful climate and the
extreme beauty of the place. We were packed for the
night almost as closely as the Pottowottomies, whose lodges
were on the beach before us. Parlors and garrets were
turned into sleeping-rooms; beds were made on the floors
and in the passages, and double-bedded rooms were made
to receive four beds. It is no difficult feat to sleep at
Mackinac, even in an August night, and we soon forgot, in
a refreshing slumber, the narrowness of our quarters."
On August 20, on board the steamer St. Louis, Lake
5 Pp. 294-295.
LETTERS OF A TRAVELLER 1846 397
Huron, he writes reminiscently of the two days spent on
the Island. 9
"Yesterday evening we left the beautiful Island of
Mackinac, after a visit of two days delightfully passed.
We had climbed its cliffs, rambled on its shores, threaded
the walks among the thickets, driven out in the roads that
wind through its woods roads paved by nature with lime-
stone pebbles, a sort of natural macadamization, and the
time of our departure seemed to arrive several days too
soon.
"The Fort which crowns the heights near the shore com-
mands an extensive prospect, but a still wider one is to
be seen from the old fort, Fort Holmes, as it is called,
among whose ruined intrenchments the half-breed boys and
girls now gather goose-berries. It stands on the very crest
of the Island, overlooking all the rest. The air, when we
ascended it, was loaded with the smoke of burning forests,
but from this spot, in clear weather, I was told a magnifi-
cent view might be had of the Straits of Mackinac, the
wooded islands, and the shores and capes of the great
mainland, places known to history for the past two cen-
turies. For when you are at Mackinac you are at no new
settlement.
"In looking for samples of Indian embroidery with por-
cupine quills, we found ourselves one day in the ware-
house of the American Fur Company, at Mackinac. Here
on the shelves, were piles of blankets, white and blue, red
scarfs, and white boots; snow-shoes were hanging on the
walls, and wolf-traps, rifles, and hatchets, were slung to
the ceiling an assortment of goods destined for the In-
dians and half-breeds of the northwest. The person who
Pp. 296-302.
398 HISTORIC MACKINAC
attended at the counter spoke English with a foreign ac-
cent. I asked him how long he had been in the north-
western country.
" 'To say the truth,' he answered, 'I have been here sixty
years and some days.'
" *You were born here, then.'
" 'I am a native of Mackinac, French by the mother's
side; my father was an Englishman.'
" 'Was the place as considerable sixty years ago as it
now is?'
" 'More so. There was more trade here, and quite as
many inhabitants. All the houses, or nearly all, were
then built; two or three only have been put up since."
"I could easily imagine that Mackinac must have been
a place of consequence when here was the centre of the
fur trade, now removed further up the country. I was
shown the large house in which the heads of the companies
of voyageurs engaged in the trade were lodged, and the bar-
racks, a long, low building, in which the voyageurs them-
selves, seven hundred in number, made their quarters from
the end of June till the beginning of October, when they
went out again on their journeys. This interval of three
months was a merry time with those light-hearted French-
men. When a boat made its appearance approaching
Mackinac, they fell to conjecturing to what company of
voyageurs it belonged; as the dispute grew warm the con-
jectures became bets, till finally, unable to restrain their
impatience, the boldest of them dashed into the waters,
swam out to the boat, and climbing on board, shook hands
with their brethren, amidst the shouts of those who stood on
the beach.
"They talk, on the New England coast, of Chebacco
LETTERS OF A TRAVELLER 1846 399
boats, built after a peculiar pattern, and called after Che-
bacco, an ancient settlement of sea-faring men, who have
foolishly changed the old Indian name of their place to
Ipswich. The Mackinac navigators have also given their
name to a boat of peculiar form, sharp at both ends, swelled
at the sides, and flat-bottomed, an excellent sea-boat, it
is said, as it must be to live in the wild storms that surprise
the mariner on Lake Superior.
"We took yesterday a drive to the western shore. The
road twined through a wood of over-arching beeches and
maples, interspersed with the white-cedar and fir. The
driver stopped before a cliff sprouting with beeches and
cedars, with a small cavity at the foot. This he told us
was the Skull Cave. It is only remarkable on account of
human bones having been found in it. Further on a white
paling gleamed through the trees; it enclosed the solitary
burial ground of the garrison, with half a dozen graves.
"There are few buried here,' said a gentleman of our
party; 'the soldiers who come to Mackinac sick get well
soon.'
"The road we travelled was cut through the woods by
Captain Scott, who commanded at the Fort a few years
since. He is the marksman whose aim was so sure that
the western people say of him, that a raccoon on a tree
once offered to come down and surrender without giving
him the trouble to fire.
"We passed a farm surrounded with beautiful groves.
In one of its meadows was fought the Battle of Mackinac
Island in the War of 1812. Three luxuriant beeches stand
in the edge of the wood, north of the meadow; one of them
is the monument of Major Holmes. Another quarter of a
mile led us to a little bay on the solitary shore of the lake
400 HISTORIC MACKINAC
looking to the northwest. It is called the British Land-
ing, because the British troops landed here in the late war
to take possession of the Island.
"We wandered about a little, and then sat down upon
the embankment of pebbles which the waves of the lake,
heaving for centuries, have heaped around the shore of
the Island pebbles so clean that they would no more soil
a lady's white muslin gown than if they had been of newly
polished alabaster. The water at our feet was as trans-
parent as the air around us. On the main-land opposite
stood a church with its spire, and several roofs were visible,
with a background of woods behind them.
" 'There,' said one of our party, 'is the old Mission
Church. It was built by the Catholics in 1680, and has
been a place of worship ever since. The name of the spot
is Point St. Ignace, and there lives an Indian of the full
caste, who was sent to Rome and educated to be a priest,
but he preferred the life of a layman, and there he lives
on that wild shore, with a library in his lodge, a learned
savage, occupied with reading and study.'
"You may well suppose that I felt a strong desire to see
Point St. Ignace, its venerable Mission Church, its Indian
village, so long under the care of Catholic pastors, and its
learned savage who talks Italian, but the time of my depar-
ture was already fixed. My companions were pointing
out on that shore, the mouth of Carp River, which comes
down through the forest roaring over rocks, and in any
of the pools of which you have only to throw a line, with
any sort of bait, to be sure of a trout, when the driver of
our vehicle called out, 'Your boat is coming.' We looked
and saw the steamer St. Louis, not one of the largest, but
one of the finest boats in the line between Buffalo and
LETTERS OF A TRAVELLER 1846 401
Chicago, making rapidly for the Island, with a train of
black smoke hanging in the air behind her. We hastened
to return through the woods, and in an hour and a half
we were in our clean and comfortable quarters in this well-
ordered little steamer.
"But I should mention that before leaving Mackinac,
we did not fail to visit the principal curiosities of the place,
the Sugar Loaf Rock, a remarkable rock in the middle of
the Island, of a sharp conical form, rising above the trees
by which it is surrounded, and lifting the stunted birches
on its shoulders higher than they, like a tall fellow hold-
ing up a little boy to overlook a crowd of men and the
Arched Rock on the shore. The atmosphere was thick with
smoke, and through the opening spanned by the arch of
the rock I saw the long waves, rolled up by a fresh wind,
come one after another out of the obscurity, and break
with roaring on the beach.
"The path along the brow of the precipice and among
the evergreens, by which this rock is reached, is singu-
larly wild, but another which leads to it along the shore
is no less picturesque passing under impending cliffs and
overshadowing cedars, and between huge blocks and pin-
nacles of rock.
"I spoke in one of my former letters of the manifest
fate of Mackinac, which is to be a watering-place. I can
not see how it is to escape this destiny. People already
begin to repair to it for health and refreshment from the
southern borders of Lake Michigan. Its climate during
the summer months is delightful; there is no air more
pure and elastic, and the winds of the south and south-
east, which are so hot on the prairies, arrive here tem-
pered to a grateful coolness by the waters over which they
402
HISTORIC MACKINAC
have swept. The nights are always, in the hottest season,
agreeably cool, and the health of the place is proverbial.
The world has not many islands so beautiful as Mackinac,
as you may judge from the description I have already
given of parts of it. The surface is singularly irregular,
with summits of rock and pleasant hollows, open glades of
pasturage and shady nooks. To some, the savage visitors,
who occasionally set up their lodges on its beach, as well as
on that of the surrounding islands, and paddle their ca-
noes in its waters, will be an additional attraction. I can
not but think with a kind of regret on the time which, I
suppose is near at hand, when its wild and lonely woods
will be intersected with highways, and filled with cottages
and boarding houses."
CHAPTER XVI
BAYARD TAYLOR 1855
BAYARD TAYLOR was born in 1825, in Kenneth
Square, Pennsylvania. In mature life, he is thus
described :
"In person he was of a handsome and commanding
figure, with an oriental yet frank countenance, a rich voice,
and engaging smile and manner."
His boyhood was spent on a farm near his birth-place.
When twelve years old, he began to write "poems, novels,
historical essays, but chiefly poems." About this time he
began the study of Latin, French, and Spanish. Before
twenty he sailed for Europe, making his way for two years
by writing letters on his travels, for Horace Greeley's
Tribune.
In 184950, the Tribune sent him to California as a cor-
respondent, and in 1851, to the Holy Land and to Egypt.
Shortly afterward he joined Commodore Perry's expedi-
tion to Japan, and on his return to America, he was in great
demand as a lecturer. Meantime a number of volumes
were published, of letters of travel, gathered from the
Tribune and elsewhere. In 1856, he edited a Cyclopedia
of Modern Travel.
In 1855 Bayard Taylor, most widely known by his ex-
tensive travels, came to Mackinac; and in 1860 he pub-
1 Appleton's Cyclopedia of Biography, VI, from which the substance of
this biographical sketch is taken. D. Applet on & Co., New York.
403
404 HISTORIC MACKINAC
lished the record of this short excursion in the volume,
At Home and Abroad; a Sketch Book of Life, Scenery,
and Men. He approached Mackinac from Chicago: 2
"In the morning we were opposite Beaver Island, where
a branch of the Mormon sect is colonized. So far as I
could learn, they are not polygamists, and are independent
of the Salt Lake organization. The Michigan shores soon
afterwards came into sight, and a lighthouse far ahead
announced our approach to Mackinac Straits. The coun-
try on both sides is densely covered with woods, which in
some places were on fire, sending thick volumes of smoke
into the air. I noticed several steam saw-mills, and some
new frame houses standing in cleared spots, but the greater
part of the coast is yet uninvaded by settlers. Passing
the promontory of St. Ignace, on the northern shore, we
entered Lake Huron, heading for Mackinac Island, which
is about twenty miles distant. The long island of Bois
Blanc lay to the southward. The surface of the lake was
scarcely ruffled by the sweet western wind; the sky was of
a pale, transparent blue, and the shores and islands were
as sharply and clearly defined as if carved on a crystal
tablet. It was a genuine Northern realm we had entered
no warmth, no depth of color, no undulating grace of out-
line, but bold, abrupt, positive form, cold, pure brilliancy
of atmosphere, and an expression of vigor and reality which
would make dreams impossible. If there is any air in
which action is the very charm and flavor of life, and not
its curse, it is in the air of Mackinac.
"We ran rapidly up to the town, which is built at the
foot of the bluffs, on the southern side. A fort, adapted
2 Pp. 232-234.
THE CADOTTE HOMES
Old bark houses at Biddle Point, Mackinac Island, showing early style of
building. Made of logs covered with cedar bark
TYPICAL STREET IN THE OLD DAYS AT MACKINAC ISLAND
Formerly known as Mahoney Avenue
BAYARD TAYLOR 1855 405
for times of peace and with a small garrison, overlooks it.
The houses are mostly of wood, scattered along the shore,
with few trees and fewer gardens interspersed. The ap-
pearance of the place is nevertheless very picturesque, with
the wooded centre of the Island rising in the rear, and the
precipitous cliffs of gray rock flanking it on both sides.
The associations of two centuries linger about those cliffs,
and the names of Hennepin, La Salle, Marquette, and other
pioneers of Western civilization make them classic ground
to the reader of American history.
"We remained five hours in order to take on some coal,
which two schooners were discharging at the pier. I made
use of the time to stroll over the Island and visit its two
lions the Sugar Loaf and the Arched Rock. The road,
after we hid passed through the Fort, led through woods
of budding birch, and the fragrant arbor-vitae (thuya occi-
dentalis], which turned the air into a resinous wine, as
grateful to the lungs as Falernian to the palate. We
passed around the foot of the central hill, three hundred
feet high, whereon are the remains of the old fortifica-
tions. On a terrace between it and the eastern cliffs stands
the Sugar Loaf a pointed, isolated rock seventy feet high.
The rock, which appeared to be secondary limestone, is
honeycombed by the weather, and reminded me very strik-
ingly of 'Banner Rock,* in the interior of the Island of Loo-
Choo. The structure is precisely similar, and the height
very nearly the same. We now struck across the woods,
which abounded with anemones and white trilliums in blos-
som, to the edge of the cliffs, which we followed for some
distance, catching occasional glimpses through the thick
clumps of arbor-vitae of the transparent lake below and the
Northern shore, stretching away to Sault Ste. Marie and
406 HISTORIC MACKINAC
Lake Superior. The forests in that direction were burning,
and the dense volumes of white smoke, carried southward
by the wind, blotted out the Eastern horizon for a space
of thirty or forty miles.
"The Arched Rock stands a little apart from the line of
the cliffs, with which it is connected by a narrow ledge.
It is one hundred and fifty feet high, forming a rude
natural portal, through which you can look out upon the
lake. The arch is ten feet thick, and in the centre not
more than eighteen inches wide. I climbed out to the
keystone, but the rock was so loose and disintegrated that
I did not venture to cross the remaining portion. On our
return to the boat I visited some Chippewa families, who
were encamped upon the beach, but as they knew neither
English nor French, the conservation was limited. The
water of the lake is clear as crystal and cold as ice, and I
had an opportunity to verify the reports of its marvelous
transparency. The bottom is distinctly visible at the
depth of from fifty to sixty feet."
CHAPTER XVII
"FAIRY ISLAND" AS SEEN BY
CONSTANCE FENIMORE WOOLSON.
"T~\ IGHT through the far eastern gateway rises the
|\ sun at dawn; first the lighthouse gleams white in
the distance, then the dim water is gilded, and
gradually the green hues of the woods on either side are
lighted up, until all the eastern passage stands out dis-
tinctly in the clear air, and 'Fairy Island' itself basks in the
full glory of the noon-day sun. All the morning the west-
ern passage lies hazy and dark, and the vessels coming up
from the west look dusky and spectral, until 'Fairy Island'
is reached, when suddenly the sunshine strikes them, the
white sails gleam, the graceful, raking masts stand out
clearly amid a network of ropes, and the glorified vessel
sails gayly on towards the east, passing the green woods,
the white lighthouse, and disappearing finally through the
distant gateway into Lake Huron.
"In the afternoon the tide of glory turns, when the sun
goes down to the west, gilding the little church of St. Igna-
tius, and touching the sunset passage with splendor; the
narrow rocky walls on either side of it stand out clearly
1 Constance Fenimore Woolson, in Putnam's Magazine for July, 1870.
Miss Woolson is well known as the author of Anne and several other pieces
of fiction about the Island. Her mother was a niece of the novelist James
Fenimore Cooper. A beautiful memorial to Miss Woolson was erected in
1916, at Woolson Rampart in Sinclair Grove, adjoining Cass Cliff, on the
east bluff at Mackinac Island. Anne is published by Harper & Brother*,
N. Y., and many editions have been printed.
407
408 HISTORIC MACKINAC
in the purple air, and between them sinks the red orb into
the glittering water, leaving a pathway of crimson and gold
behind him. To any one living on 'Fairy Island,' it seems
as though the god of day had no other occupation than to
make his shining transit across the Straits of Mackinac;
and the simple Indians showed only a natural reverence,
when they gave to the beautiful Island the name of Michili-
Mackinac, or the 'Home of the Giant Fairies.'
"Life is long on *Fairy Island,' and life is free and care-
less; a full century of years is given to every mortal, and
sometimes one sees mummy-like old Indians, who, from
their appearance, might well have witnessed the creation
of the world. Strangers who come here gradually lose
their identity, and become like a throng of gay children
roaming through the woods, sailing over the deep waters,
or basking in the sunshine on some bald-faced rock, breath-
ing the golden air in long breaths of delight. Everywhere
in the forest we hear the gay laugh, then a song, borne up-
wards by bands of merry pilgrims thrown together here by
chance from all quarters of the world, and soon to part,
perhaps never to meet again this side of heaven. Some
daring spirits are standing on the dizzy height of 'Arch
Rock,' looking down one hundred and fifty feet into the
water below; the giant fairies threw this narrow bridge,
sixty feet in mid-air, from cliff to cliff, and on moonlight
nights they used to chase each other back and forth with
peals of merry laughter, and then, adjourning to the 'Sugar-
Loaf,' and swinging themselves up its steep gray sides,
they would crowd together on the summit, and send a wild
fairy chorus echoing over the Island, until the devil trem-
bled in his gloomy 'Kitchen' on the western shore, and all
the mysterious bones in 'Skull Cave' rattled together.
"FAIRY ISLAND" 409
"The younger pilgrims usually wandered off to 'Lover's
Leap,' and many a pale-face has here asked his ladye-love
if she too would throw herself from the precipice for his
sake, as did the lovely 'Meshenemockenungoqua' for the
valiant *Genigegonzerrog!' Coming home, they pass
through grass-grown 'Cupid's Pathway' into shady 'Lover's
Lane,' which, gradually widening into 'Proposal Glade,'
leads them, alas! down rough, stony 'Matrimony Hill,' into
the prosaic village and every-day life again. The elderly
pilgrims usually climb the steep sides of 'Robinson's Folly,'
and, with a triumphant sense of duty fulfilled, sit breath-
lessly down, to wonder at their own temerity as they see the
distant hotel beneath them. The ladies placidly discuss
the myth of Robinson and his Folly-House, decide just
where it stood, and that he was in it at the time, 'drinking
probably, my dear; for those old-fashioned officers, you
know, were much addicted to the bottle.' The gentlemen
wander aimlessly about, until they discover that the soft
arbor-vitae can be worked into excellent canes; with joy
they produce their pocket-knives and spend hours in shap-
ing the white wood into curious forms, which they display
in the evening with an exultation curious to witness in any
other place than 'Fairy Island.'
"Over the waters, in all directions, are seen the famous
'Mackinaw' boats, gliding gracefully enough with a fair
wind, but only displaying their peculiar qualities when,
with a gale behind them, and their great white sails tilting
far to one side, they skim the white caps. In gay flotillas
we visit Round Island, where lived and died the famous In-
dian spiritualist, Wachusco. His old lodge is still. to be
seen, where the strange lights appeared, and where the
whistling wind swept over the circle of silent Indians, sitting
410 HISTORIC MACKINAC
with bowed heads to receive the manifestations of the spirit.
We circle 'Fairy Island/ and leave our offerings of vine-
wreaths at 'Magic Spring/ where, in primitive days, the
dusky maidens offered up their choicest ornaments for the
safety of their braves; we pass the British Landing, where
the English soldiers marched up to surprise our little gar-
rison at Fort Holmes; we sail in sight of the distant St. Mar-
tin's Islands, and the mysterious region called the 'Che-
neaux,' or 'Snows,' as the Island dialect has it; but, in all
our numerous pilgrimages to 'Fairy Island,' we never suc-
ceeded in finding a person who had visited that hazy coun-
try, or could tell us what or where were the 'Cheneaux.'
Whether channels or mountains, land or water, no one
knew; but in answer to our inquiries, they would vaguely
point to the northward, and say, 'Oh, it's just the Snows,
that's all!'
"Many a time, also, have we set out for the distant gates
of the sunrise and the sunset. We have manned our boats
with enterprising souls, provisioned them with ample stores
of meat and wine, and boldly steered towards the enchanted
regions; but we could never reach them, though we sailed
all day ; they fled before us, hour by hour, until, impatient
and discouraged, we turned our prows homeward; but as
soon as we reached 'Fairy Island' again, there they were
in the distance, one mysteriously dim, the other vividly
clear, as the sun travelled over the straits down to his
watery bed in the West. . . .
"The village of Mackinac is a relic of the past. The
houses on the beach are venerable and moss-grown, while
behind them stand the deserted warehouses of the fur-trad-
ers, once so filled with life and activity. The Island was
long the principal depot of the North-western Fur Company;
"FAIRY ISLAND" 411
and here the trappers received their outfits for their peri-
lous journeys over the Mississippi, and out to the head-
waters of the Missouri; here came the merry voyageurs,
singing their gay French songs as they paddled the loaded
canoe, and here, at evening, they danced on the beach to the
sound of the violin with the copper-colored belles, whose
features we may even now detect under the French names
of many of the old families of 'Fairy Island.' These were
gay days for Mackinac; but, with the death of John Jacob
Astor, the master-spirit of the Northwestern Company, the
fur-trade languished, and finally retreated before advanc-
ing civilization into the fastnesses of the Rocky Mountains.
"We wandered through the dingy ware-houses, and tried
to imagine the dusty shelves filled with furs and supplies,
and the grave Indians mingling in silence with the noisy
French voyageurs, while stolid Dutch clerks from New York
kept the balance straight. We visited the old Indian
Agency with its heavy stockade fence pierced with loop-
holes, from which to shoot unruly red-skins; we inspected
the mysterious carved door in the kitchen, said to have been
brought from France for Pere Marquette's chapel; and then
we strolled up to the deserted Mission Church looking over
the beautiful Straits, and we felt that the early fathers must
indeed have loved their little home on 'Fairy Island.' We
were quartered in the Mission House itself, and through
those narrow halls, where once the grave teachers paced
slowly, now resounded the song and laugh of the gay pil-
grims from the burning, dusty cities.
"A strange, quiet race are the inhabitants of 'Fairy Is-
land.' A full-blooded Indian grand-mother clad in blanket
and moccasins, a funny little French grand-father full of
gay songs and jokes, a dusky half -breed mother, and a
412 HISTORIC MACKINAC
sturdy Dutch father, must necessarily produce peculiar
children many features, many-hued, and many-charac-
tered. A pretty young girl, her face sparkling with the
vivacious intelligence peculiar to the French is accom-
panied by a silent brother, whose features and form are
Indian pur et simple. Playing on the beach are confused
groups of mongrel children, and so bewildered are we by
the unexpected admixtures of features and complexions,
that we almost expect to discover that some of them are
half-squirrel or half-loon, descendants of the original in-
habitants of 'Fairy Island.' Basking against an old boat in
the brilliant sunshine, we discovered, one morning, one of
those dried-up old grandperes, and entered into conversa-
tion with him. He told us merry tales of the fur-traders,
their wild adventures in the far west, and their gay meet-
ings at Mackinac twice a-year, when from all directions
assembled the loaded bateaux, and the canoes freighted
with the spoils of the wilderness. In his little piping voice,
and French patois, he sang for us one of the boating-songs,
which we have endeavored to translate, as follows:
"Row, row, brothers, row,
Down to the west;
On, on, on we go,
Pause not for rest.
"The sun shines bright,
The boat rows light,
As we the long oar gayly draw,
But soon the night
Will veil from sight
The distant heights of Mackinac.
Farewell, farewell,
Ma belle, ma belle,
ARCH ROCK
From an early print, before the shore drive was made
"FAIRY ISLAND" 413
The brightest eyes the world e'er saw;
How long 'twill be
E'er we shall see
The distant heights of Mackinac!
Afar we go,
Towards ice and snow,
With wolf and bison must we war,
But smiling Spring
Again will bring
The distant heights of Mackinac.
"Row, row, brothers, row,
Down to the west;
On, on, on we go,
Pause not for rest."
"Crowning the bold cliff over the harbor of 'Fairy Is-
land,' stands Fort Mackinac, its white limestone walls glis-
tening in the sun, and the Stars and Stripes waving gayly
above. Solemn sentinels pace the ancient walls and rusty
cannon frown sullenly from the battlements ; but, in spite of
mounted guard and severe military etiquette, we fear it
must be acknowledged that one gun-boat could easily level
Fort Mackinac to its limestone foundations. Once there
was a beautiful little chapel attached to the Fort, where, for
more than twenty years, the Rev. John O'Brien, a clergyman
of the Episcopal Church, officiated. On Sunday morning
the bugle-call, echoing from the height, called the villagers
to the chapel, and soon the entire population, excepting the
Roman Catholics, were seen ascending the steep, gravelled
pathway to the garrison. At a second flourish on the bugle,
the soldiers marched into the chapel, preceded by the com-
mandant in full uniform, and the services began with full
responses, both musical and spoken, from hundreds of deep
414 HISTORIC MACKINAC
bass voices. Solemn and impressive was the worship of
God in this little military chapel on the heights of Mack-
inac; but, alas! the good old chaplain has been gathered to
his fathers, the quaint house of prayer has been turned
into a drill-room, and many of the officers who have been
stationed on the rocky Island are lying in the crowded ceme-
teries near the battle-fields of the Rebellion. Among these
may be mentioned the gallant General Williams, who was
killed at Baton Rouge; the tall young Virginian, Captain
Terrell, who was shot while leading a charge in one of the
early battles in West Virginia; the brilliant engineer, Gen-
eral Sill, and two lieutenants, Baily and Benson, whom we
remember as light-hearted boys. These all died for their
country. May they rest in peace, and may the sore hearts
left behind be comforted.
"The summer guests at 'Fairy Island' begin to take their
departure as soon as the harvest moon has waned ; they fear
the treacherous waves, and sail away home over a summer
sea, before the first autumn wind comes blowing from the
West. Once, in the face of dire prognostications of evil,
we dared to remain long enough to witness the September
gales, and the glowing Indian summer, so brilliant in the
clear air and sharp frosts of the lake-country. About the
fifteenth of the month, a light wind came puffing from the
West, ruffling the Straits in dark lines, and curling up little
waves with edges of spray. The weather-wise Islanders,
who read the heavens like an open book, came skimming
from all directions in their tilting 'Mackinaw' boats; and
the Indians who were loitering around the village, hastened
to load their canoes with squaw and papoose, and paddle
away rapidly to their homes on the mainland. All night
the wind blew fiercely, and in the morning when we rose,
"FAIRY ISLAND" 415
the Straits were a sheet of foam, and the trees on Round
Island were bowing like reeds. A large schooner that, with
infinite trouble, had been anchored in supposed safety the
previous evening, was rocking and pitching furiously,
when, even as we watched, leaving our breakfast untasted
on the table, she broke loose from her anchorage and went
driving down before the gale, to be dashed to pieces on
the rocks of Bois Blanc. All on board were lost, to the
number of sixteen souls. Later in the day, a barque and
a three-master drove by our cottage. The first was a shape-
less hulk, on which the storm had wreaked its fury the pre-
ceding night, sweeping all human life into the seething
waters; but our hearts burned within us, as, clinging to the
masts of the other vessel, we saw five human beings waiting
for death, which came to them soon in the shape of a
hidden rock; and before our eyes, almost within sound
of our voices, they went down. During the three days'
storm, sixteen wrecks occurred on Mackinac Island itself;
while between the eastern and western gates of the Straits
no less than forty-five staunch vessels were lost, with all
on board.
"On the morning of the third day, the large side-wheel
steamer Queen City, from Chicago to Collingwood, came in
sight, swarming with passengers to the number of two hun-
dred and fifty, and laboring heavily on the sea. The cap-
tain made an effort to reach the docks, but the force of the
gale careened the steamer so fearfully, that her smoke-
stacks almost touched the water, and all on shore thought she
had foundered. Recovering her balance with an effort, the
Queen City put back under the shelter of Round Island,
where, all day long, she labored heavily backwards and for-
wards, watched with intense anxiety by all on shore. More
416 HISTORIC MACKINAC
and more fiercely blew the gale, more and more angrily
raged the sea, as night came on. Then, as the fuel was
nearly exhausted, the captain, knowing well that the boat
could not outlive another twelve hours of storm, determined
to make a desperate effort to reach the docks. We saw the
hurried preparations made on board, and, our faces pressed
against the glass, we breathlessly watched the heavily
loaded steamer, as slowly her course was turned towards
the harbor, and the full force of the gale struck her from
the west. She missed the usual landing-place, and swayed
towards the broken posts of the old pier; her upturned keel
rights itself for an instant, when a huge wave sent her bow
against the end of the wharf. A hundred hands caught the
great ropes thrown from the deck, and, in a moment, the
plunging, foundering steamer was secured by her bows to
the end of the wharf, while the terror-stricken passengers
fairly threw themselves down into the arms of the Islanders
below. As the cables were strained to the utmost by the
force of the sea, the women and childen were quickly low-
ered, and, before the night had settled down on the Island,
the three hundred persons who had given themselves over
to death were landed safely on 'Fairy Island.' The cap-
tain, a sailor from boyhood, was so shattered by the terrible
responsibility of those three hundred lives, that he changed
his profession and abandoned the water forever.
"After those trying days came the glowing beauty of
the Indian summer, when the deep-blue sky, the purple haze
in the air, the shining water, and the gorgeous autumn tints
on the trees, made up a picture of rich coloring unknown
to any other portion of the world.
"We climbed to old Fort Holmes, and saw the whole of
*Fairy Island' clad in maple, orange and scarlet, green pine
'FAIRY ISLAND"
417
and russet oak; we noted Round Island and Bois Blanc,
like gay bouquets in the still water; we breathed the hazy
air, all filled with gold-dust. Descending from the heights,
we wandered through the painted woods, and brought home
glowing branches to deck our cottage walls. But day by
day the bright leaves fell, and day by day we piled the
logs higher and higher upon our hearthstone, until, at last,
we could no longer deny that
"The seasons come and go
Scarce apprehended;
Though bright have been its flowers,
Summer is ended."
CHAPTER XVIII
MACKINAC IN STORY
THE OLD AGENCY l
"The buildings of the United States Indian Agency on the
Island of Mackinac were destroyed by fire December 31, at mid-
night." Western Newspaper Item.
HE old house is gone then! But it shall not depart
into oblivion unchronicled. One who has sat un-
der its roof -tree, one who remembers well its ram-
bling rooms and wild garden, will take the pen to write
down a page of its story. It is only an episode, one of
many; but the others are fading away, or already buried
in dead memories under the sod. It was a quaint, pic-
turesque old place, stretching back from the white lime-
stone road that bordered the little port, its overgrown gar-
den surrounded by an ancient stockade ten feet in height,
with a massive, slow-swinging gate in front, defended by
loopholes. This stockade bulged out in some places and
leaned in at others; but the veteran posts, each a tree sharp-
ened to a point, did not break their ranks, in spite of de-
crepitude; and the Indian warriors, could they have re-
turned from their happy hunting-grounds, would have
found the brave old fence of the Agency a sturdy barrier
still. But the Indian warriors could not return. The
United States Agent had long ago moved to Lake Superior,
and the deserted residence, having only a mythical owner,
iWoolson, Castle Nowhere: Lake Country Sketches, pp. 176-207.
418
MACKINAC IN STORY 419
left without repairs year after year, and under a cloud of
confusion as regarded taxes, titles, and boundaries, became
a sort of flotsam property, used by various persons, but be-
longing legally to no one. Some tenant, tired of swinging
the great gate back and forth, had made a little sally-port
alongside, but otherwise the place remained unaltered; a
broad garden with a central avenue of cherry-trees, on each
side dilapidated arbors, overgrown paths, and heart-shaped
beds, where the first agents had tried to cultivate flowers,
and behind the limestone cliffs crowned with cedars. The
house was large on the ground, with wings and various
additions built out as if at random; on each side and be-
hind were rough outside chimneys clamped to the wall; in
the roof over the central part dormer-windows showed a low
second story; and here and there at irregular intervals were
outside doors, in some cases opening out into space, since
the high steps which once led up to them had fallen down,
and remained as they fell, heaps of stones on the ground
below. Within were suites of rooms, large and small,
showing traces of workmanship elaborate for such a remote
locality; the ceilings, patched with rough mortar, had been
originally decorated with moulding, the doors were orna-
mented with scroll-work, and the two large apartments on
each side of the entrance hall possessed chimney-pieces
and central hooks for chandeliers. Beyond and behind
stretched out the wings; coming to what appeared to be the
end of the house on the west, there unexpectedly began a
new series of rooms turning toward the north, each with its
outside door; looking for a corresponding labyrinth on the
eastern side, there was nothing but a blank wall. The blind
stairway went up in a kind of dark well, and once up it was
a difficult matter to get down without a plunge from top to
420 HISTORIC MACKINAC
bottom, since the undefended opening was just where no
one would expect to find it. Sometimes an angle was so
arbitrarily walled up that you felt sure there must be a
secret chamber there, and furtively rapped on the wall to
catch the hollow echo within. Then again you opened a
door, expecting to step out into the wilderness of a garden,
and found yourself in a set of little rooms running off on a
tangent, one after the other, and ending in a windowless
closet and an open cistern. But the Agency gloried in its
irregularities, and defied criticism. The original idea of
its architect if there was any had vanished ; but his work
remained, a not unpleasing variety to summer visitors accus-
tomed to city houses, all built with a definite purpose, and
one front door.
"After some years of wandering in foreign lands, I re-
turned to my own country, and took up the burden of old
associations whose sadness time had mercifully softened.
The summer was over, but there came to me a great wish to
see Mackinac once more; to look again upon the little
white Fort where had lived my soldier nephew, killed at
Shiloh. The steamer took me safely across Erie, up the
brimming Detroit River, through the enchanted region of
the St. Glair flats, and out into broad Lake Huron; there,
off Thunder Bay, a gale met us, and for hours we swayed
between life and death. The season for pleasure travelling
was over; my fellow-passengers, with one exception, were
of that class of Americans who, dressed in cheap imitations
of fine clothes, are forever travelling, travelling, taking
the steamer not from preference, but because they are less
costly than an all-rail route. The thin, listless men, in ill-
fitting black clothes and shining tall hats, sat on the deck
in tilted chairs, hour after hour, silent and dreary; the thin,
MACKINAC IN STORY 421
listless women, clad in raiment of many colors, remained
upon the fixed sofas in the cabin hour after hour, silent and
weary. At meals they ate indiscriminately everything
within range, but continued the same, a weary, dreary,
silent band. The one exception was an old man, tall and
majestic, with silvery hair and bright, dark eyes, dressed
in the garb of a Roman Catholic priest, albeit slightly
tinged with frontier innovations. He came on board at De-
troit, and as soon as we were under way he exchanged his
hat for a cloth cap embroidered with Indian bead-work;
and when the cold air, precursor of the gale, struck us on
Huron, he wrapped himself in a large capote made of skins,
with the fur inward.
"In times of danger, formality drops from us. During
these long hours, when the next moment might have brought
death, this old man and I were together; and when at last
the cold dawn came, and the disabled steamer slowly
ploughed through the angry water around the point, and
showed us Mackinac in the distance, we discovered that
the Island was a mutual friend, and that we knew each
other, at least by name; for the silver-haired priest was
Father Piret, the hermit of the Cheneaux. In the old days,
when I was living at the little white Fort, I had known
Father Piret by reputation, and he had heard of me from
the French half-breeds around the point. We landed.
The summer hotels were closed, and I was directed to the
old Agency, where occasionally a boarder was received by
the family then in possession. The air was chilly, and
the fine rain was falling, the afterpiece of the equinoctial;
the wet storm-flag hung heavily down over the Fort on the
height, and the waves came in sullenly. All was in sad
accordance with my feelings as I thought of the past and its
422 HISTORIC MACKINAC
dead, while the slow tears of age moistened my eyes. But
the next morning Mackinac awoke, robed in autumn splen-
dor; the sunshine poured down, the straits sparkled back,
the forest glowed in scarlet, the larches waved their wild,
green hands, the fair-weather flag floated over the little Fort,
and all was as joyous as though no one had ever died ; and
indeed it is in glorious days like these that we best realize
immortality.
"I wandered abroad through the gay forest to the Arch,
the Lovers' Leap, and old Fort Holmes, whose British walls
had been battered down for pastime, so that only a caved-in
British cellar remained to mark the spot. Returning to the
Agency, I learned that Father Piret had called to see me.
" 'I am sorry that I missed him,' I said; 'he is a re-
markable old man.' . . .
"My hostess, a gentle little woman, stole away in the late
afternoon, and sought me in my room, or rather series of
rooms, since there were five opening one out of the other,
the last three unfurnished, and all the doorless doorways
staring at me like so many fixed eyes, until, oppressed by
their silent watchfulness, I hung a shawl over the first open-
ing and shut out the whole gazing suite.
; 'We all love and respect the dear old man as a Father.'
; 'When I was living at the fort, fifteen years ago, I
heard occasionally of Father Piret,' I said, 'but he seemed
to be almost a mythic personage. What is his history?'
' 'No one knows. He came here fifty years ago, and af-
ter officiating on the Island a few years, he retired to a little
Indian farm in the Cheneaux, where he has lived ever since.
Occasionally he holds a service for the half-breeds at
Point St. Ignace, but the parish of Mackinac proper has its
regular priest, and Father Piret apparently does not hold
MACKINAC IN STORY 423
even the appointment of missionary. Why he remains
here a man educated, refined, and even aristocratic is a
mystery. He seems to be well provided with money; his
little house in the Cheneaux contains foreign books and
pictures, and he is very charitable to the poor Indians. But
he keeps himself aloof, and seems to desire no intercourse
with the world beyond his letters and papers, which come
regularly, some of them from France. He seldom leaves
the Straits; he never speaks of himself; always he appears
as you saw him, carefully dressed and stately. Each sum-
mer when he is seen on the street, there is more or less
curiosity about him among the summer visitors, for he is
quite unlike the rest of us Mackinac people. But no one
can discover anything more than I have told you, and those
who have persisted so far as to sail over to the Cheneaux
either lose their way among the channels, or if they find
the house, they never find him ; the door is locked, and no
one answers."
* 'Singular,' I said. 'He has nothing of the hermit
about him. He has what I should call a courtly manner.'
' 'That is it,' replied my hostess, taking up the word;
'some say he came from the French court, a nobleman
exiled for political offences; others think he is a priest un-
der the ban; and there is still a third story, to the effect that
he is a French count, who, owing to a disappointment in
love, took orders and came to this far-away Island, so that
he might seclude himself forever from the world.'
' 'But no one really knows?'
' 'Absolutely nothing. He is beloved by all the real
old Island families, whether they are of his faith or not;
and when he dies the whole Strait, from Bois Blanc light
to far Waugoschance, will mourn for him.'
424 HISTORIC MACKINAC
"At sunset the Father came again to see me; the front
door of my room was open, and we seated ourselves on the
piazza outside. The roof of bark thatch had fallen away,
leaving the bare beams overhead twined with brier-roses;
the floor and house side were frescoed with those lichen-
colored spots which show that the gray planks have lacked
paint for many long years; the windows had wooden shut-
ters fastened back with irons shaped like the letter S, and
on the central door was a brass knocker, and a plate bearing
the word, 'United States Agency.'
" 'When I first came to the Island,' said Father Piret,
'this was the residence par excellence. The old house was
brave with green and white paint then; it had candelabra
on its high mantels, brass andirons on its many hearthstones,
curtains for all its little windows, and carpets for all its
uneven floors. Much cooking went on, and smoke curled
up from all these outside chimneys. Those were the days
of the fur trade, and Mackinac was a central mart. Hither
twice a year came the bateaux from the Northwest, loaded
with furs; and in those old, decaying warehouses on the
back street of the village were stored the goods sent out
from New York, with which the bateaux were loaded again,
and after a few days of revelry, during which the improvi-
dent voyageurs squandered all their hard-earned gains, the
train returned westward into "the countries," as they called
the wilderness beyond the lakes, for another six months of
toil. The officers of the little Fort on the height, the chief
factors of the fur company, and the United States Indian
agent, formed the feudal aristocracy of the Island; but the
agent had the most imposing mansion, and often have I
seen the old house shining with lights across its whole
broadside of windows, and gay with the sound of a dozen
MACKINAC IN STORY 425
French violins. The garden, now a wilderness, was the
pride of the Island. Its prim arbors, its spring and spring-
house, its flower-beds, where, with infinite pains, a few
hardy plants were induced to blossom; its cherry-tree ave-
nue, whose early red fruit the short summer could scarcely
ripen; its annual attempts at vegetables, which never came
to maturity, formed topics for conversation in court cir-
cles. Potatoes then as now were left to the mainland Indi-
ans, who came over with their canoes heaped with the fine,
large, thin-jacketed fellows, bartering them all for a loaf or
two of bread and a little whiskey.
" 'The stockade which surrounds the place was at that
day a not unnecessary defence. At the time of the pay-
ments the Island swarmed with Indians, who came from
Lake Superior and the Northwest, to receive the government
pittance. Camped on the beach as far as the eye could
reach, these wild warriors, dressed in their savage finery,
watched the Agency with greedy eyes, as they waited for
their turn. The great gate was barred, and sentinels stood
at the loop-holes with loaded muskets; one by one the chiefs
were admitted, stalked up to the office, that wing on the
right, received the allotted sum, silently selected some-
thing from the displayed goods, and as silently departed,
watched by quick eyes, until the great gate closed behind
him. The guns of the Fort were placed so as to command
the Agency during payment time; and when, after several
anxious, watchful days and nights, the last brave had re-
ceived his portion, and the last canoe started away toward
the north, leaving only the comparatively peaceful main-
land Indians behind, the Island drew a long breath of re-
lief.'
" *Was there any real danger?' I asked.
426 HISTORIC MACKINAC
" 'The Indians are ever treacherous,' replied the Father.
Then he was silent, and seemed lost in reverie. The pure,
ever-present breeze of Mackinac played in his long silvery
hair, and his bright eyes roved along the wall of the old
house; he had a broad forehead, noble features, and com-
manding presence, and as he sat there recluse as he was
aged, alone, without a history, with scarcely a name or a
place in the world, he looked, in the power of his native-
born dignity, worthy of a royal coronet.
" 'I was thinking of old Jacques,' he said, after a long
pause. 'He once lived in these rooms of yours, and died
on that bench at the end of the piazza, sitting in the sun-
shine, with his staff in his hand.'
" 'Who was he?' I asked. 'Tell me the story, Father.'
" 'There is not much to tell, madame; but in my mind
he is so associated with this old house, that I always think
of him when I come here, and fancy I see him on that
bench.
" 'When the United States agent removed to the Apostle
Islands, at the western end of Lake Superior, this place
remained for some time uninhabited. But one winter morn-
ing smoke was seen coming out of the great chimney on the
side; and in the course of the day several curious persons
endeavored to open the main gate, at that time the only
entrance. But the gate was barred within, and as the
high stockade was slippery with ice, for some days the
mystery remained unsolved. The Islanders, always slow,
grow torpid in the winter like bears; they watched the smoke
in the daytime and the little twinkling light by night; they
talked of spirits both French and Indian as they went
their rounds, but they were too indolent to do more. At
length the Fort commandant heard of the smoke, and saw
MACKINAC IN STORY 427
the light from his quarters on the height. As government
property he considered the Agency under his charge, and
he was preparing to send a detail of men to examine the
deserted mansion in its ice-bound garden, when its myste-
rious occupant appeared in the village; it was an old man,
silent, gentle, apparently French. He carried a canvas
bag, and bought a few supplies of the coarsest description,
as though he was very poor. Unconscious of observation,
he made his purchases and returned slowly homeward,
barring the great gate behind him. Who was he? No one
knew. Whence and when came he? No one could tell.
" 'The detail of soldiers from the Fort battered at the
gate, and when the silent old man opened it they followed
him through the garden, where his feet had made a lonely
trail over the deep snow, round to the side door. They en-
tered, and found some blankets on the floor, a fire of old
knots on the hearth, a long narrow box tied with a rope; his
poor little supplies stood in one corner, bread, salted fish,
and a few potatoes, and over the fire hung a rusty tea-
kettle, its many holes carefully plugged with bits of rag.
It was a desolate scene; the old man in the great rambling
empty house in the heart of an arctic winter. He said little,
and the soldiers could not understand his language; but they
left him unmolested, and going back to the Fort, they told
what they had seen. Then the Major went in person to the
Agency, and gathered from the stranger's words that he had
come to the Island over the ice in the track of the mail-
carrier; that he was an emigrant from France on his way
to the Red River of the North, but his strength failing, ow-
ing to the intense cold, he had stopped at the Island, and
seeing the uninhabited house, he had crept into it, as he had
not enough money to pay for a lodging elsewhere. He
428 HISTORIC MACKINAC
seemed a quiet, inoffensive old man, and after all the
Islanders had had a good long slow stare at him, he was
left in peace, with his little curling smoke by day and
his little twinkling light by night, although no one thought
of assisting him; there is a strange coldness of heart in these
northern latitudes.
' 'I was then living at the Cheneaux; there was a German
priest on the Island; I sent over two half-breeds every ten
days for the mail, and through them I heard of the stranger
at the Agency. He was French, they said, and it was
rumored in the saloons along the frozen docks that he had
seen Paris. This warmed my heart; for, madame, I spent
my youth in Paris, the dear, the beautiful city! So I
came over to the Island in my dog-sledge; a little thing is
an event in our long, long winter. I reached the village
in the afternoon twilight, and made my way alone to the
Agency ; the old man no longer barred his gate, and swing-
ing it open with difficulty, I followed the trail through the
snowy silent garden round to the side of this wing, the
wing you occupy. I knocked; he opened; I greeted him,
and entered. He had tried to furnish his little room with
the broken relics of the deserted dwelling; a mended chair,
a stool, a propped-up table, a shelf with two or three bat-
tered tin dishes, and some straw in one corner comprised
the whole equipment, but the floor was clean, the old dishes
polished, and the blankets neatly spread over the straw
which formed the bed. On the table the supplies were
ranged in order; there was a careful pile of knots on one
side of the hearth, and the fire was evidently husbanded to
last as long as possible. He gave me the mended chair,
lighted a candle-end stuck in a bottle, and then seating him-
self on the stool, he gazed at me in his silent way until I felt
MACKINAC IN STORY 429
like an uncourteous intruder. I spoke to him in French,
offered my services; in short, I did my best to break down
the barrier of his reserve; there was something pathetic in
the little room and its lonely occupant, and, besides, I knew
by his accent that we were both from the banks of the Seine.
" 'Well, I heard his story, not then, but afterward ; it
came out gradually during the eleven months of our ac-
quaintance; for he became my friend, almost the only
friend of fifty years. I am an isolated man, madame. It
must be so. God's will be done!'
"The Father paused, and looked off over the darkening
water; he did not sigh, neither was his calm brow clouded,
but there was in his face what seemed to me a noble resigna-
tion, and I have ever since felt sure that the secret of his
exile held in it a self-sacrifice; for only self-sacrifice can
produce that divine expression.
"Out in the straits shone the low-down green light of
a schooner; beyond glimmered the mast-head star of a
steamer, with the line of cabin lights below, and away on
the point of Bois Blanc gleamed the steady radiance of the
lighthouse showing the way into Lake Huron; the broad
overgrown garden cut us off from the village, but above on
the height we could see the lighted windows of the Fort,
although still the evening sky retained that clear hue that
seems so much like daylight when one looks aloft, although
the earth lies in dark shadows below. The Agency was
growing indistinct even to our near eyes; its white chimneys
loomed up like ghosts, the shutters sighed in the breeze,
and the planks of the piazza creaked causelessly. The old
house was full of the spirits of memories, and at twilight
they came abroad and bewailed themselves. *The place is
haunted,' I said, as a distant door groaned drearily.
430 HISTORIC MACKINAC
" 'Yes,' replied Father Piret, coming out of his abstrac-
tion, 'and this wing is haunted by my old French friend.
As time passed and the spring came, he fitted up in his
fashion the whole suite of five rooms. He had his parlor,
sleeping-room, kitchen, and store-room, the whole furnished
only with the articles I have already described, save that
the bed was of fresh green boughs instead of straw.
Jacques occupied all the rooms with ceremonious exactness ;
he sat in the parlor, and I too must sit there when I came;
in the second room he slept and made his careful toilet, with
his shabby old clothes; the third was his kitchen and dining-
room ; and the fourth, that little closet on the right, was his
store-room. His one indulgence was coffee; coffee he must
and would have, though he slept on straw and went without
meat. But he cooked to perfection, in his odd way, and I
have often eaten a dainty meal in that little kitchen, sitting
at the propped-up table, using the battered tin dishes, and
the clumsy wooden spoons fashioned with a jack-knife.
After we had become friends, Jacques would accept occa-
sional aid from me, and it gave me a warm pleasure to
think that .1 had added something to his comfort, were it
only a little sugar, butter, or a pint of milk. No one dis-
turbed the old man; no orders came from Washington re-
specting the Agency property, and the Major had not the
heart to order him away. There were more than houses
enough for the scanty population of the Island, and only a
magnate could furnish these large rambling rooms. So the
soldiers were sent down to pick the red cherries for the use
of the garrison, but otherwise old Jacques had the whole
place to himself, with all its wings, outbuildings, arbors,
and garden beds.
" 'But I have not told you all. The fifth apartment in
MACKINAC IN STORY 431
the suite the square room with four windows and an out-
side door was the old man's sanctuary; here were his
precious relics, and here he offered up his devotions, half
Christian, half pagan, with never-failing ardor. From the
long narrow box which the Fort soldiers had noticed came
an old sabre, a worn and faded uniform of the French gren-
adiers, a little dried sprig, its two withered leaves tied in
their places with thread, and a coarse woodcut of the great
Napoleon; for Jacques was a soldier of the Empire. The
uniform hung on the wall, carefully arranged on pegs as
a man would wear it, and the sabre was brandished from
the empty sleeve as though a hand held it; the woodcut
framed in green, renewed from day to day, pine in the
winter, maple in the summer, occupied the opposite side,
and under it was fastened the tiny withered sprig, while on
the floor below was a fragment of the buffalo-skin which
served the soldier for a stool when he knelt in prayer. And
did he pray to Napoleon, you ask? I hardly know.
He had a few of the Church's prayers by heart, but his mind
was full of the Emperor as he repeated them, and his eyes
were fixed upon the pictures as though it was the face of a
saint. Discovering this, I labored hard to bring him to a
clearer understanding of the faith; but all in vain. He
listened to me patiently, even reverently, although I was
much the younger; at intervals he replied, "Oui, mon pere"
and the next day he said his prayers to the dead Emperor
as usual. And this was not the worst; in place of an amen,
there came a fierce imprecation against the whole English
nation. After some months I succeeded in persuading him
to abandon this termination ; but I always suspected that it
was but a verbal abandonment, and that, mentally, the curse
was as strong as ever.
432 HISTORIC MACKINAC
* 'Jacques had been a soldier of the Empire, as it is
called, a grenadier under Napoleon; he had loved his
General and Emperor in life, and adored him in death with
the affectionate pertinacity of a faithful dog. One hot day
during the German campaign, Napoleon, engaged in con-
ference with some of his Generals, was disturbed by the
uneasy movements of his horse; looking around for some-
one to brush away the flies, he saw Jacques, who stood at a
short distance watching his Emperor with admiring eyes.
Always quick to recognize the personal affection he in-
spired, Napoleon signed to the grenadier to approach.
"Here, mon brave," he said, smiling; "get a branch and
keep the flies from my horse a few moments." The proud
soldier obeyed; he heard the conversation of the Emperor;
he kept the flies from his horse. As he talked Napoleon
idly plucked a little sprig from the branch as it came near
his hand, and played with it; and when, the conference
over, with a nod of thanks to Jacques, he rode away, the
grenadier stooped, picked up the sprig fresh from the
Emperor's hand, and placed it carefully in his breast-
pocket. The Emperor had noticed him ; the Emperor had
called him a "mon brave"; the Emperor had smiled upon
him. This was the glory of Jacques' life. How many
times have I listened to the story, told always in the same
words, with the same gestures in the same places! He
remembered every sentence of the conversation he had
heard, and repeated them with automatic fidelity, under-
standing nothing of their meaning; even when I explained
their probable connection with the campaign, my words
made no impression upon him, and I could see that they
conveyed no idea to his mind. He was made for a soldier;
brave and calm, he reasoned not, but simply obeyed, and to
MACKINAC IN STORY 433
this blind obedience there was added a heart full of affec-
tion which, when concentrated upon the Emperor, amounted
to idolatry. Napoleon possessed a singular personal
power over his soldiers; they all loved him, but Jacques
adored him.
" 'It was an odd, affectionate animal,' said Father
Piret, dropping unconsciously into a French idiom to ex-
press his meaning. 'The little sprig had been kept as a
talisman, and no saintly relic was ever more honored; the
Emperor had touched it!
* 'Grenadier Jacques made one of the ill-fated Russian
army, and, although wounded and suffering, he still en-
dured until the capture of Paris. Then, when Napoleon
retired to Elba, he fell sick from grief, nor did he recover
until the Emperor returned, when, with thousands of other
soldiers, our Jacques hastened to his standard, and the
hundred days began. Then came Waterloo. Then came
St. Helena. But the grenadier lived on in hope, year after
year, until the Emperor died, died in exile, in the hands
of the hated English. Broken-hearted, weary of the sight
of his native land, he packed his few possessions, and fled
away over the ocean, with a vague idea of joining a French
settlement on the Red River; I have always supposed it must
be the Red River of the South; there are French there. But
the poor soldier was very ignorant; some one directed him
to these frozen regions, and he set out; all places were
alike to him now that the Emperor had gone from earth.
Wandering as far as Mackinac on his blind pilgrimage,
Jacques found his strength failing, and crept into this de-
serted house to die. Recovering, he made for himself a
habitation from a kind of instinct, as a beaver might have
done. He gathered together the wrecks of furniture, he
434 HISTORIC MACKINAC
hung up his treasures, he had his habits for every hour of
the day; soldier-like, everything was done by rule. At a
particular hour it was his custom to sit on that bench in the
sunshine, wrapped in his blankets in the winter, in summer
in his shirt-sleeves with his one old coat carefully hung on
that peg; I can see him before me now. On certain days
he would wash his few poor clothes, and hang them out on
the bushes to dry; then he would patiently mend them with
his great brass thimble and coarse thread. Poor old gar-
ments! they were covered with awkward patches.
' 'At noon he would prepare his one meal; for his break-
fast and supper were but a cup of coffee. Slowly and with
the greatest care the materials were prepared and the cook-
ing watched. There was a savor of the camp, a savor of
the Paris cafe, and a savor of originality; and often, wear-
ied with the dishes prepared by my half-breeds, I have come
over to the Island to dine with Jacques, for the old soldier
was proud of his skill, and liked an appreciative guest.
And I But it is not my story I tell."
" 'Oh, Father Piret, if you could but"
' 'Thanks, madame. To others I say, "What would
you? I have been here since youth; you know my life."
But to you I say, there was a past; brief, full, crowded into
a few years; but I cannot tell it; my lips are sealed!
Again, thanks for your sympathy, madame. And now I
will go back to Jacques.
' 'We were comrades, he and I ; he would not come over
to the Cheneaux; he was unhappy if the routine of his day
was disturbed, but I often stayed a day with him at the
Agency, for I too liked the silent house. It has its relics,
by the way. Have you noticed a carved door in the back
part of the main building? That was brought from the
MACKINAC IN STORY 435
old chapel on the mainland, built as early as 1700. The
whole of this locality is sacred ground in the history of our
Church. It was first visited by our missionaries in 1670,
and over at Point St. Ignace the dust which was once the
mortal body of Father Marquette lies buried. The exact
site of the grave is lost; but we know that in 1677 his In-
dian converts brought back his body, wrapped in birch-
bark, from the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, where he
died, to his beloved mission of St. Ignace. There he was
buried in a vault under the little log-church. Some years
later the spot was abandoned, and the resident priests re-
turned to Montreal. We have another little Indian church
there now, and the point is forever consecrated by its un-
known grave. At various times I told Jacques the history
of this strait, its islands, and points; but he evinced little
interest. He listened with some attention to my account of
the battle which took place on Dousman's farm, not far
from the British Landing; but when he found that the Eng-
lish were victorious, he muttered a great oath and refused
to hear more. To him the English were fiends incarnate.
Had they not slowly murdered his Emperor on their barren
rock in the sea?
4 'Only once did I succeed in interesting the old soldier.
Then, as now, I received twice each year a package of for-
eign pamphlets and papers; among them came, that sum-
mer, a German ballad, written by that strange being, Henri
Heine. I give it to you in a later English translation:
THE GRENADIERS
'To the land of France went two grenadiers,
From a Russian prison returning;
But they hung down their heads on the German frontiers,
The news from the fatherland learning.
436 HISTORIC MACKINAC
"For there they both heard the sorrowful tale,
That France was by fortune forsaken :
That her mighty army was scattered like hail,
And the Emperor, the Emperor taken.
"Then there wept together the grenadiers,
The sorrowful story learning;
And one said, '0 woe!' as the news he hears,
'How I feel my old wound burning!'
"The other said, 'The song is sung,
And I wish that we both were dying!
But at home I've a wife and a child, they're young,
On me, and me only, relying.'
" *0, what is a wife or a child to me?
Deeper wants all my spirit have shaken:
Let them beg, let them beg, should they hungry be !
My Emperor, my Emperor taken !
" 'But I beg you, brother, if by chance
You soon shall see me dying,
Then take my corpse with you back to France:
Let it ever in France be lying.
" 'The cross of honor with crimson band
Shall rest on my heart as it bound me:
Give me my musket in my hand,
And buckle my sword around me.
" 'And there I will lie and listen still,
In my sentry coffin staying,
Till I feel the thundering cannon's thrill,
And horses tramping and neighing.
" Then my Emperor will ride well over my grave,
'Mid sabres' bright slashing and fighting,
And I'll rise all weaponed up out of my grave,
For the Emperor, the Emperor fighting!'
MACKINAC IN STORY 437
" "This simple ballad went straight to the heart of old
Jacques; tears rolled down his cheeks as I read, and he
would have it over and over again. "Ah! that comrade
was happy," he said. "He died when the Emperor was
only taken. I too would have gone to my grave smiling,
could I have thought that my Emperor would come riding
over it with all his army around him again! But he is
dead, my Emperor is dead! Ah! that comrade was a
happy man; he died! He did not have to stand by while
the English may they be forever cursed! slowly, slowly,
murdered him, murdered the great Napoleon! No; that
comrade died. Perhaps he is with the Emperor now,
that comrade-grenadier."
1 'To be with his Emperor was Jacques' idea of heaven.
* 'From that moment, each time I visited the Agency I
must repeat the verses again and again; they became a sort
of hymn. Jacques had not the capacity to learn the ballad,
although he so often listened to it, but the seventh verse
he managed to repeat after a fashion of his own, setting it
to a nondescript tune, and crooning it about the house as he
came and went on his little rounds. Gradually he altered
the words, but I could not make out the new phrases as he
muttered them over to himself, as if trying them.
"What is it you are saying, Jacques?" I asked.
" 'But he would not tell me. After a time I discovered
that he had added the altered verse to his prayers; for al-
ways when I was at the Agency I went with him to his
sanctuary, if for no other purpose than to prevent the
uttered imprecation that served as amen for the whole.
The verse, whatever it was, came in before this.
' 'So the summer passed. The vague intention of going
on to the Red River of the North had faded away, and
438 HISTORIC MACKINAC
Jacques lived along on the Island as though he had never
lived anywhere else. He grew wonted to the Agency, like
some old family cat, until he seemed to belong in the house,
and all thought of disturbing him was forgotten. "There
is Jacques out washing his clothes," "There is Jacques going
to buy his coffee," "There is Jacques sitting on the piazza,"
said the Islanders; the old man served them instead of a
clock.
" 'One dark autumn day I came over from the Cheneaux
to get the mail. The water was rough, and my boat, tilted
far over on one side, skimmed the crests of the waves in the
daring fashion peculiar to Mackinac craft; the mail-steamer
had not come in, owing to the storm outside, and I went on
to the Agency to see Jacques. He seemed as usual, and we
had dinner over the little fire, for the day was chilly; the
meal over, my host put everything in order again in his
methodical way, and then retired to his sanctuary for
prayers. I followed, and stood in the doorway while he
knelt. The room was dusky, and the uniform with its out-
stretched sabre looked like a dead soldier leaning against
the wall; the face of Napoleon opposite seemed to gaze
down on Jacques as he knelt, as though listening. Jacques
muttered his prayers, and I responded, Amen! then, after a
silence, came the altered verse; then, with a quick glance
toward me, another silence, which I felt sure contained the
unspoken curse. Gravely, he led the way back to the
kitchen for, owing to the cold, he allowed me to dispense
with the parlor, and there we spent the afternoon together,
talking, and watching for the mail-boat. "Jacques," I said,
"what is that verse you have added to your prayers?
Come, my friend, why should you keep it from me?"
" ' "It is nothing, mon pere, nothing," he replied. But
MACKINAC IN STORY 439
again I urged him to tell me; more to pass away the time
than from any real interest. "Come," I said, "it may be
your last chance. Who knows but that I may be drowned
on my way back to the Cheneaux?"
"'"True," replied the soldier calmly. "Well, then,
here it is, mon pere: my death-wish. Voila!"
" * "Something you wish to have done after death?"
" ' "Yes."
" * "And who is to do it?"
" * "My Emperor."
"But, Jacques, the Emperor is dead."
" * "He will have it done all the same, mon pere."
" 'In vain I argued; Jacques was calmly obstinate. He
had mixed up his Emperor with the stories of the Saints;
why should not Napoleon do what they had done?
" * "What is the verse, any way?" I said at last.
* "It is my death-wish, as I said before, mon pere."
And he repeated the following. He said it in French, for
I had given him a French translation, as he knew nothing
of German; but I will give you the English, as he had
altered it:
* *The Emperor's face with its green leaf band
Shall rest on my heart that loved him so.
Give me the sprig in my dead hand,
My uniform and sabre around me.
Amen."
" 'So prays Grenadier Jacques.
'The old soldier had sacrificed the smooth metre, but
I understood what he meant.
' 'The storm increased, and I spent the night at the
Agency, lying on the bed of boughs, covered with a blanket.
The house shook in the gale, the shutters rattled, and all
440 HISTORIC MACKINAC
the floors near and far creaked as though feet were walking
over them. I was wakeful and restless, but Jacques slept
quietly, and did not stir until daylight broke over the
stormy water, showing the ships scudding by under bare
poles, and the distant mail-boat laboring up toward the
Island through the heavy sea. My host made his toilet,
washing and shaving himself carefully, and putting on his
old clothes as though going on parade. Then came break-
fast, with a stew added in honor of my presence ; and as by
this time the steamer was not far from Round Island, I
started down toward the little post-office, anxious to receive
some expected letters. The steamer came in slowly, the
mail was distributed slowly, and I stopped to read my
letters before returning. I had a picture-paper for
Jacques, and as I looked out across the straits, I saw that
the storm was over, and decided to return to the Cheneaux
in the afternoon, leaving word with my half-breeds to have
the sail-boat in readiness at three o'clock. The sun was
throwing out a watery gleam as, after the lapse of an hour
or two, I walked up the limestone road and entered the
great gate of the Agency. As I came through the garden
along the cherry-tree avenue I saw Jacques sitting on that
bench in the sun, for this was his hour for sun-shine; his
staff was in his hand, and he was leaning back against the
side of the house with his eyes closed, as if in reverie.
"Jacques, here is a picture-paper for you," I said, laying
my hand on his shoulder. He did not answer. He was
dead.
* 'Alone, sitting in the sunshine, apparently without a
struggle or a pang, the soul of the old soldier had departed.
Whither? We know not. But smile if you will, ma-
dame I trust he is with his Emperor.'
MACKINAC IN STORY 441
"I did not smile; my eyes were too full of tears.
" 'I buried him, as he wished,' continued Father Piret,
*in his old uniform, with the picture of Napoleon laid on
his breast, the sabre by his side, and the withered sprig in
his lifeless hand. He lies in our little cemetery on the
height, near the shadow of the great cross; the low white
board tablet at the head of the mound once bore the words
"Grenadier Jacques," but the rains and the snows have
washed away the painted letters. It is as well.'
"The priest paused, and we both looked toward the
empty bench, as though we saw a figure seated there, staff
in hand. After a time my little hostess came out on the
piazza, and we all talked together of the Island and its past.
'My boat is waiting,' said Father Piret at length; 'the wind
is fair, and I must return to the Cheneaux tonight. This
near departure is my excuse for coming twice in one day
to see you, madame.'
" 'Stay over, my dear sir,' I urged. 'I too shall leave
in another day. We may not meet again.'
' 'Not on earth; but in another world we may,' answered
the priest, rising as he spoke.
" 'Father, your blessing,' said the little hostess in a low
tone, after a quick glance toward the many windows. . . .
But all was dark, both without and within, and the
Father gave his blessing to both of us, fervently, but with an
apostolic simplicity. Then he left us, and I watched his
tall form, crowned with silvery hair, as he passed down the
cherry-tree avenue. Later in the evening the moon came
out, and I saw a Mackinaw boat skimming by the house, its
white sails swelling full in the fresh breeze.
" 'That is Father Piret's boat,' said my hostess. 'The
wind is fair; he will reach the Cheneaux before midnight.'
442 HISTORIC MACKINAC
"A day later, and I too sailed away. As the steamer
bore me southward, I looked back toward the Island with a
sigh. Half hidden in its wild green garden I saw the old
Agency; first I could distinguish its whole rambling length;
then I lost the roofless piazza, then the dormer-windows,
and finally I could only discern the white chimneys, with
their crumbling crooked tops. The sun sank into the
Strait off Waugoschance, the evening gun flashed from the
little Fort on the height, the shadows grew dark and darker,
the Island turned into green foliage, then a blue outline,
and finally there was nothing but the dusky water."
THE STORY OF LEONIE a
"The main street of old Mackinac follows the beautiful
curve of the shore between the lake and the cedar-crowned
bluff from which the Fort looks down in picturesque ugli-
ness that even its perennial white-washing cannot seriously
mar. Old-fashioned houses, with terraced yards, where
thickets of lilac, and snow-ball, and cinnamon-roses stand
knee-deep in the tall grass, range themselves along the street
until, toward the eastern end, they drop off into longer
distances, and a ruined church ends the procession.
"Beyond is a common where buttercups and daisies
gossip sociably, where sweet-brier grows rampant in the
hollows, its perfumed green set thick with the exquisite pink
of the morning bloom among the paler roses of yesterday,
and, nearer the shore, rank upon rank of wild flag, so
luxuriant in its purple bloom, so lovely in its deep coloring
that one sees it day after day with a new fascination.
Winding here and there as if on errands of their own go
narrow, straggling foot-paths to the irregular white build-
2 By Emily Huntington Miller, in Chautauqua, Sept., 1906.
MACKINAC IN STORY 443
ings of the old Mission House, to the battlements of rock
that sentinel the east point, or, most enticing of all, climb-
ing slowly toward the bluff, among the quaint cabins of the
industrious population to whom the summer visitor with
her lavish array is a reliable source of income the cheer-
ful and patient 'Madonna of the Tubs.'
"Strolling at the beck of such a loiterer, I came one
morning to the very doorway of a whitewashed log cabin.
The house was long and low, with a chimney of irregular
stones at each end. The roof had settled into comfortable
curves, the threshold was worn into hollows, and just within
the door my smiling old laundress was busy with the ruffles
of a dainty white gown that looked as if it might have blos-
somed out under no clumsier touches than the dew and the
sunshine.
"Marie came forward with a beaming face, pushing aside
the grand-children that swarmed over the floor as contented
as so many puppies, and hastened to install me in a tall
carved chair whose seat had been replaced by a deerskin.
* *Madame will pardon,' she said, going back to her
work; 'it would be a thousand pities the dress should dry.
Lise will wear it at first communion.'
"I nodded approval and sat upon my throne, taking in
every detail of the quaint interior, that was like a Flemish
picture: the low black beams overhead, the sunken hearth,
the faint glow in the depths of the chimney, the clumsy fur-
niture, the crockery in its black cup-board, and the ruddy,
white-capped figure in the strong light of the doorway.
The enticements of the cupboard drew me nearer to inspect
a prayer-book with brass-bound covers, and there it was
that I saw, under a glass case, a carved ivory crucifix on
which was laid an old-fashioned miniature in an oval set-
444 HISTORIC MACKINAC
ting, with a slender gold chain dropped about it, and read
upon a black-edged card, these words:
" 'LEONIE.
" Tray for her repose in heaven.'
"The miniature was in my hand, the delicately tinted
face, with its sensitive mouth and soft appealing eyes, look-
ing up at me like an embodied prayer, as Marie finished
her work and seated herself with her youngest grandchild
in her comfortable arms to tell the story.
" 'The story of Leonie? but yes, if Madame wishes, only
it is not a story; just something that came in a girl's life.
Many such things come, but only the good God knows them.
I suppose it is that it would make us too sad if we knew all,
even of what goes on right about us, and sometimes I used
to wonder how the good God himself could be happy in his
heaven while such things were on earth. This is what I said
one day to Father Xavier, when Jean Crevier died and left
seven hungry mouths without a morsel of bread, and Father
Xavier shook his head and said sorrowfully. "There's a
deal in this world we can never understand, Marie, any
more than David did in his day."
' 'And so I left off to wonder, because if Father Xavier
and David cannot understand what call has a foolish body
like me to know? One must leave it to the good God to
take care of His own business.
' 'Madame knows of the great family Legardeur? Not?
well, it was long ago. There was once a Commandant
Legardeur, before your American people came to the Fort,
and always they were very grand people.
' 'My graruFmere was a poor girl, doing service for
the Sisters at St. Agnes in Quebec, and with no thought but
MACKINAC IN STORY 445
to go on in that way always. But one day there was much
stir in the convent because Mademoiselle Sophie Legardeur
had been sent for to come to the Island and marry her
cousin to whom she was betrothed, and she chose my
grand'mere for her maid. When she knew she was to
go with Mademoiselle Sophie it was all one as if heaven
had opened before her, and indeed much better. For a
young girl with no vocation for religion is more drawn
to earth than heaven, which must be the way the good
God meant it, else we should all be saints.
" 'There were gay times at the Fort in spite of the Indians
and the British, and the lady was very happy with her
young husband, but she was a delicate thing for such a life,
and when her baby was only a few months old she died.
* *It was just before she went that she and my grand'mere
made each a little cut in the arm and mixed their blood,
as the Indians do to take one from another tribe, and then
whatever happened my grand'mere was bound to care for
the baby like her own blood. And that is what she did,
for very soon Monsieur Legardeur was called home to
France because of someone who died, and there was con-
soled and married again. Men are that way, Madame
sees; where one woman goes out always the door is open
for another to come in, and that is well, since it pleased the
good God to make men too stupid to care for themselves.
' 'My grand'mere married also with Pierrot, who was
chief of the coureurs de bois, and the little Heloise was not
long without companions. My mother, who was oldest,
was her foster sister, and when the little Mademoiselle was
to be sent to St. Agnes to learn what a lady must know, my
mother went also, for that was ordered by Monsieur Le-
gardeur. They were most miserable at St. Agnes, those
446 HISTORIC MACKINAC
two. When the spirit of the forest is born in one's blood
always it draws, and draws, and will not let you rest, shut
in from the sky and the wind and the water.
" 'Mademoiselle was so unhappy that she fell sick with
a slow wasting, and one day she heard the Sisters saying
they had sent for her father. Then what did they, those
foolish ones? Madame sees the little Heloise did not know
her father, and she was terrified to be taken away to a
strange country. All she loved was here upon the Island,
and when one of my grandpere's coureurs was sent to bring
word of them they persuaded him that he should take them
home with him, and so he did.
" 'My mother planned it that they stole away, and made
all the long journey safely and came to the Island, ragged
and brown, but quite well. Sometimes when I am about
my work many thoughts come to me of how it would be if
they had not run away, those two. If Monsieur Legardeur
had taken his daughter to France, and my mother also with
her, then what would have been for me? There might not
have been any Marie at all, and where wouldst thou have
been, Pierre, thou rascal, with no grand' mere to tend thee?
* w lt all ended that Monsieur took his daughter home
the next spring, but he would have none of my mother,
lest she might again run away. After that they only once
heard from a trader that Mademoiselle Heloise had mar-
ried a British man, and was cast off of all her family, but
my mother was herself married long before the news came
and had plenty to keep her thoughts busy without troubling
about the years that were done with. She lived to hold her
grandchildren as I am holding mine, and when she lay
dying, just at dusk of a Lady Day, she gave me the little
picture Madame sees the poor, pretty, young thing that
MACKINAC IN STORY 447
had to go away and leave her baby to another. Does
Madame think a mother can do that and not be homesick in
heaven? Because here in this world one never forgets the
warm little mouth at your breast, and the head pressing
in the hollow of your arm, downy, like a young bird. My
man made me put the picture away lest it should bring us
bad luck, but I often used to go and look at it and say, "Are
you glad or sorry now that you went so soon?"
" 'It was one day when I stood like that, thinking my
foolish thoughts, that there came a rap at the door, and as
I turned about my heart gave a big jump, and then was
like to stop altogether, for there stood a gentleman, holding
a young girl by the hand, and it was all one as if St. Joseph
himself had come down from heaven and brought the poor
sweet lady to answer me. I came near to drop on my
knees, for the gentleman had a grave, sad face and he was
wrapped in a long gray cloak exactly like St. Joseph in the
altarpiece, but the young girl said in the sweetest way.
" * "I am sure this is Marie, grandfather," and so I
made out to bring back my senses and bid them in.
" *That was Leonie Sinclair, and she was the great-
granddaughter of that Sophie Legardeur who left her pic-
ture for her little Heloise that they might not be strangers
when they met one day in heaven. They must have met long
ago Leonie also, and her mother, who was not thought of
in that day, and I suppose they are all at peace, even those
who hated each other in this world. They had come to the
Island, those two, because Leonie was ailing and the grand-
pere who had only this one left in all the world, fancied she
would grow strong in the air her grand' mere loved so much.
" *That was before the Agency House was burned, and
they had taken some rooms there, but they had no servant,
448 HISTORIC MACKINAC
and one could see they were poor, and she coughed, this
dear Leonie even then the saints were making a place
for her.
"She wanted to see her great-grandmother's picture; the
grand'mere had told her of it, and how she had left it that
my grand'mere might show it to Our Lady and pray that she
would send back the child of this one that was with the good
God and must be well known to her.
" ' "She was no older than I," she said, holding the pic-
ture in her thin little hand, "and to think of all the years
she has been in heaven."
' 'I wanted to give her the picture but she would not
take it. She said she would come every day to see it,
and that she did. Many days also they climbed up the
hill, those two, to see the grave in the old cemetery where
was buried Sophie Legardeur. And by and by when the
air grew sharper, because the ice was making beyond the
strait, they stopped climbing the hill and walked along in
the sunshine under the bluff.
" 'Always when I asked for Leonie the old grandpere
would say,
" ' "She is gaining, my good Marie; one can see how red
her cheeks grow; in the spring she will be quite strong
again."
" 'But I think in his heart he knew.
" 'That was a hard winter for poor folk. The cold was
fearful, and many fell sick on the Island. Partly it was
the fever, and partly that they had not much to eat. Al-
most every day some one died, here and at St. Ignace.
Father Xavier was sore tried with it all, and having to let
his bees starve, because he said it was not right to feed
MACKINAC IN STORY 449
them when there were children who needed all and more.
The old grandpere was a heretic but he always went to
church with Leonie, and once when Father Xavier spoke
of the true church he said,
" * "The true church, father only the good God knows
who belong to that for He alone keeps the keys."
* 'Leonie looked troubled, but Father Xavier only smiled
and said,
"That is quite true, but since He knows, we may all
love each other and leave it to Him."
" *Things grew always worse with them, one could see
that, and no letters came. The old grandpere began to
take his walks alone, and sometimes he would come in and
sit where Madame sits now, and look quite dazed and help-
less. It was late when the straits opened and there was
much danger, but a steamer ventured out for supplies, and
the grandpere would go with her to bring back the doctor
from Sault Ste. Marie.
' *Two of Father Xavier's men brought Leonie to stay
with me while he should be gone, and it breaks my heart
now to think of the gray old man, kneeling before her
chair, with his darling's arms around his neck and her
white face against his, and both of them trying to part
bravely. I went to the window with my baby, not to see
them, till I heard the door shut and saw the grandpere go
down the path holding his cloak close about him and
never once looking back. When I turned away my Leonie
had fainted in her chair; her pretty head hung like a flower
with the stem broken, and my little Franchise was patting
and kissing her hand. It was not long to wait till she was
smiling again, though I saw her shiver when she heard
450 HISTORIC MACKINAC
the wind, for a storm was getting up, and even so far
away one could hear the big waves tumble and roar along
the beach.
" 'Madame knows of the steamer that was wrecked
and burned off Charlevoix? This was she. Not one of
those most unhappy came back, but up in the cemetery
Madame may see where their names are kept. Many
times in the gray of the evening, I have thought I saw the
old grandpere coming slowly up the road as he went away,
his head bent and his cloak up around his face.
" *We kept it long from Leonie, but at last we had to
tell her he was dead, though she never knew of the wreck
and the fire. After that she used to sit with the picture,
and the blessed crucifix that she had made the grandpere
kiss at parting, and her face came to look as if she was
already in heaven. And one day she said,
" * "Marie, by the grave of this one is a small corner;
I shall ask Father Xavier that they may put me there so I
need not be lonesome, and people may know I belong
to somebody who was good and dear. And I should like
to have a little stone, Marie, a very little one, not to cost
much, that would say for me what I have written on the
card. Will you tell Father Xavier, in case I should go
before he gets back from St. Ignace?"
" 'And of course I said I would, though I could not speak
much for crying, and little thinking it would come true.
* 'For the good God took her that very night, and Father
Xavier only came in just as her soul was passing. It was
too late for absolution, but Father Xavier took the crucifix
from her fingers and said,
"The good God has absolved her; they were speaking
together when she went."
MACKINAC IN STORY 451
" 'She was buried as she wished, in the small little cor-
ner by the grand tomb of Sophie Legardeur, but Father
Xavier himself died soon, and the stone was never brought.
" 'I was always thinking to do it myself; but there
Madame knows when there is much care for the living one
must leave the dead to the saints. My father was ill
pleased that so much money was wasted because my mother
would have me taught in the convent, so he gave me no
portion with the rest, and now so many years have gone,
and all must be with Leonie as the good God wills. Does
Madame think that up in heaven she still cares for the little
stone?' "
"In the red glow of the sunset I climbed to the old ceme-
tery and found, in its tangle of wild shrubs and untrimmed
grass, the stone, grand for its day, that commemorated the
brief life of Sophie, wife of Louis Legardeur. One could
still read the inscription
"To recall her to the memory of the faithful, who may devoutly
visit this cemetery, and that they may pray for her
repose in heaven, her family, sorrowing,
have erected this stone"
"The rain and the wind and the winter snows had quite
leveled the mound in the 'small little corner/ but a creeping
garden plant, set, no doubt, by Marie's faithful hands, had
covered it with a close broidery of pale green leaves and
small yellow stars. A little brown bird dropped down
upon a branch that swung above it, and poured out his
ecstatic song to his mate in some haunt of the thicket, setting
all the woods athrob to the music of his love. And so I left
them the palpitating dust that held the mystery of life
and love exulting above the dust from which both had fled.
452 HISTORIC MACKINAC
"Had they all found repose in heaven the young wife,
so long forgotten, this Leonie whom no stone recalled 'to
the memory of the faithful,' and the gray old man who
found such stormy burial?
"Was the story of this life forgotten, or was it a part
of that? and did they remember the sorrows and the losses
of earth only to smile at them, as one smiles in maturer
years at the grief and the gladness of childhood? Who
could tell?
"One can only say with Marie, 'They are with the good
God, and it must be with them as He wills.' '
JEANNETTE
"Before the war for the Union, in the times of the old
army, there had been peace throughout the country for thir-
teen years. Regiments existed in their officers, but the
ranks were thin the more so the better, since the United
States possessed few forts and seemed in chronic embar-
rassment over her military children, owing to the flying
foot-ball of public opinion, now 'standing army pro,' now
'standing army con,' with more or less allusion to the much-
enduring Caesar and his legions, the ever-present ghost of
the political arena.
"In those days the few forts were full and much state
was kept up ; the officers were all graduates of West Point,
and their wives graduates of the first families. They
prided themselves upon their antecedents; and if there
was any aristocracy in the country, it was in the circles of
army life.
8 Castle Nowhere: Lake Country Sketches, pp. 136-175, Woolson.
MACKINAC IN STORY 453
"Those were pleasant days pleasant for the old soldiers
who were resting after Mexico, pleasant for the young sol-
diers destined to die on the plains of Gettysburg or the
cloudy heights of Lookout Mountain. There was an esprit
de corps in the little band, a dignity of bearing, and a cere-
monious state, lost in the great struggle which came after-
ward. The great struggle now lies ten years back; yet,
to-day, when the silver-haired veterans meet, they pass it
over as a thing of the present, and go back to the times of
the 'old army.'
"Up in the northern straits, between blue Lake Huron,
with its clear air, and gray Lake Michigan, with its silver
fogs, lies the bold Island of Mackinac. Clustered along
the beach, which runs around its half -moon harbor, are the
houses of the old French village, nestling at the foot of the
cliff rising behind, crowned with the little white Fort, the
Stars and Stripes floating above it against the deep blue sky.
Beyond, on all sides, the forest stretches away, cliffs finish-
ing it abruptly, save one slope at the far end of the Island,
three miles distant, where the British landed in 1812.
That is the whole of Mackinac.
"The Island has a strange sufficiency of its own; it satis-
fies; all who have lived there feel it. The Island has a
wild beauty of its own; it fascinates; all who have lived
there love it. Among its aromatic cedars, along the aisles
of its pine-trees, in the gay company of its maples, there is
companionship. On its bald northern cliffs, bathed in
sunshine and swept by the pure breeze, there is exhilaration.
Many there are, bearing the burden and heat of the day,
who look back to the Island with the tears that rise but do
not fall, the sudden longing despondency that comes occa-
454 HISTORIC MACKINAC
sionally to all, when the tired heart cries out, '0, to escape,
to flee away, far, far away, and be at rest!'
"In 1856 Fort Mackinac held a major, a captain, three
lieutenants, a chaplain, and a surgeon, besides those sub-
ordinate officers who wear stripes on their sleeves, and
whose rank and duties are mysterious to the uninitiated.
The force of this array of commanders was small,
less than a company; but what it lacked in quantity it
made up in quality, owing to the continual drilling it
received.
"The days were long at Fort Mackinac; happy thought!
drill the men. So when the major had finished, the cap-
tain began, and each lieutenant was watching his chance.
Much state was kept up also. Whenever the major ap-
peared 'commanding officers; guard, present arms,' was
called down the line of men on duty, and the guard has-
tened to obey, the major acknowledging the salute with
stiff precision. By day and by night sentinels paced the
walls. True, the walls were crumbling, and the whole
force was constantly engaged in propping them up, but none
the less did the sentinels pace with dignity. What was it
to be captain if, while he sternly inspected the muskets
in the block-house, the lieutenant, with a detail of men,
was hard at work strengthening its underpinning? None
the less did he inspect. The sally-port, mended but im-
posing; the flagstaff, with its fair-weather and storm flags;
the frowning iron grating; the sidling white causeway, con-
stantly falling down and as constantly repaired, which led
up to the main entrance; the well-preserved old cannon
all showed a strict military rule. When the men were not
drilling they were propping up the Fort, and when they
were not propping up the Fort they were drilling. In the
MACKINAC IN STORY 455
early days, the days of the first American commanders, mil-
itary roads had been made through the forest, roads even
now smooth and solid, although trees of a second growth
meet overhead. But that was when the Fort was young and
stood firmly on its legs. In 1856 there was no time for
road-making, for when military duty was over there was
always more or less mending to keep the whole fortification
from sliding down hill into the lake.
"On Sunday there was service in the little chapel, an
upper room overlooking the inside parade-ground. Here
the kindly Episcopal chaplain read the chapters about
Balaam and Balak, and always made the same impressive
pause after 'Let me die the death of the righteous, and let
my last end be like his.' (Dear old man! he had gone.
Would that our last end might indeed be like his.) Not
that the chaplain confined his reading to the Book of Num-
bers; but as those chapters are appointed for the August
Sundays, and as it was in August that the summer visitors
came to Mackinac, the little chapel is in many minds asso-
ciated with the patient Balak, his seven altars, and his seven
rams.
"There was a state and discipline in the Fort even on
Sundays; bugle-playing marshalled the congregation in;
bugle-playing marshalled them out. If the sermon was
not finished, so much the worse for the sermon, but it made
no difference to the bugle; at a given moment it sounded,
and out marched all the soldiers, drowning the poor chap-
lain's hurrying voice with their tramp down the stairs.
The officers attended service in full uniform, sitting erect
and dignified in the front seats. We used to smile at the
grand air they had, from the stately gray-haired major
down to the youngest lieutenant fresh from West Point.
456 HISTORIC MACKINAC
But brave hearts were beating under those fine uniforms;
and when the great struggle came, one and all died on the
field in the front of the battle. Over the grave of the com-
manding officer is inscribed 'Major-General' over the Cap-
tain's is 'Brigadier,' and over each young lieutenant is
'Colonel.' They gained their promotion in death.
"I spent many months at Fort Mackinac with Archie;
Archie was my nephew, a young lieutenant. In the short,
bright summer came the visitors from below ; all the world
outside is 'below' in Island vernacular. In the long winter
the little white Fort looked out over unbroken ice-fields,
and watched for the moving black dot of the dog-train bring-
ing the mails from the mainland. One January day I had
been out walking on the snow-crust, breathing the cold,
still air, and, returning within the walls to our quarters, I
found my little parlor already occupied. Jeannette was
there, petite Jeannette, the fisherman's daughter. Strange
beauty sometimes results from a mixed descent, and this
girl had French, English, and Indian blood in her veins,
the three races mixing and intermixing among her ancestors,
according to the custom of the Northwestern border. A
bold profile, delicately finished, heavy blue-black hair,
light blue eyes looking out unexpectedly from under black
lashes and brown; a fair white skin, neither the rose- white
of the blonde, nor the cream-white of the Oriental brunette;
a rounded form with small hands and feet showed the
mixed beauties of three nationalities. Yes, there could be
no doubt but that Jeannette was singularly lovely albeit
ignorant utterly. Her dress was as much of a melange as
her ancestry; a short skirt of military blue, Indian leggings
and moccasins, a red jacket and little red cap embroidered
with beads. The thick braids of her hair hung down her
MACKINAC IN STORY 457
back, and on the lounge lay a large blanket-mantle lined
with fox-skins and ornamented with the plumage of birds.
She had come to teach me bead-work; I had already taken
several lessons to while away the time, but found myself
an awkward scholar.
" 'Bonjou,' madame? she said in her patois of broken
English and degenerate French. 'Pretty here.'
"My little parlor had a square of carpet, a hearth-fire
of great logs, turkey-red curtains, a lounge and arm-chair
covered with chintz, several prints on the cracked wall, and
a number of books the whole well used and worn, worth
perhaps twenty dollars in any town below, but ten times
twenty in icy Mackinac. I began the bead-work, and Jean-
nette was laughing at my mistakes, when the door opened,
and our surgeon came in to warm his hands before going up
to his little room in the attic. A taciturn man was our
surgeon, Rodney Prescott, not popular in the merry garri-
son circle, but a favorite of mine; the Puritan, the New-
Englander, the Bostonian, were as plainly written upon his
face as the French and Indian were written upon Jeannette.
' 'Sit down, Doctor,' I said.
"He took a seat, and watched us carelessly, now and then
smiling at Jeannette's chatter as a giant might smile upon a
pygmy. I could see that the child was putting on all her
little airs to attract his attention; now the long lashes swept
the cheeks, now they were raised suddenly, disclosing the
unexpected blue eyes; the little moccasined feet must be
warmed on the fender, the braids must be swept back with
an impatient movement of the hand and shoulder, and now
and then there was a coquettish arch of the red lips, less
than a pout, what she herself would have called 'une p'tite
moue.' Our surgeon watched this pantomime unmoved.
458 HISTORIC MACKINAC
" 'Isn't she beautiful?' I said, when, at the expiration of
the hour, Jeannette disappeared, wrapped in her mantle.
" 'No; not to my eyes.'
" 'Why, what more can you require, Doctor? Look at
her rich coloring, her hair '
" 'There is no mind in her face, Mrs. Corlyne.'
" 'But she is still a child.'
" 'She will always be a child; she will never mature,'
answered our surgeon, going up the steep stairs to his room
above.
"Jeannette came regularly, and one morning, tired of
the bead-work, I proposed teaching her to read. She con-
sented, although not without an incentive in the form of
shillings; but, however gained, my scholar gave to the
long winter a new interest. She learned readily; but, as
there was no foundation, I was obliged to commence with
A, B, C.
" 'Why not teach her to cook?' suggested the major's fair
young wife, whose life was spent in hopeless labors with
Indian servants, who, sooner or later, ran away in the
night with spoons and the family apparel.
" 'Why not teach her to sew?' said Madame Captain,
wearily raising her eyes from the pile of small garments
before her.
" 'Why not have her up for one of our sociables?' haz-
arded our most dashing lieutenant, twirling his mustache.
" 'Frederick!' exclaimed his wife, in a tone of horror;
she was aristocratic, but sharp in outlines.
" 'Why not bring her into the church? Those French
half -breeds are little better than heathen,' said the chaplain.
"Thus the high authorities disapproved of my educa-
tional efforts. I related their comments to Archie, and
MACKINAC IN STORY 459
added, "The surgeon is the only one who has said nothing
against it.'
" Trescott? 0, he's too high and mighty to notice any-
body, much less a half-breed girl. I never saw such a stiff,
silent fellow; he looks as though he had swallowed all his
straightlaced Puritan ancestors. I wish he'd exchange.'
" 'Gently, Archie'
* '0, yes, without doubt; certainly, and amen! I know
you like him, Aunt Sarah,' said my handsome boy-soldier,
laughing.
"The lessons went on. We often saw the surgeon dur-
ing study hours, as the stairway leading to his room opened
out of the little parlor. Sometimes he would stop awhile
and listen to Jeannette slowly read, 'The good boy likes
his red top'; 'The good girl can sew a seam'; or watched
her awkward attempts to write her name, or add a one and
a two. It was slow work, but I persevered, if from no
other motive than obstinacy. Had they not all prophesied
a failure? When wearied with the dull routine, I gave
an oral lesson in poetry. If the rhymes were of the chim-
ing, rythmic kind, Jeannette learned rapidly, catching the
verses as one catches a tune, and repeating them with a
spirit and dramatic gesture all her own. Her favorite was
Macaulay's 'Ivry.' Beautiful she looked, as, standing in
the centre of the room, she rolled out the sonorous lines, her
French accent giving a charming foreign coloring to the
well-known verses:
" 'Now by the lips of those ye love, fair gentlemen of France,
Charge for the golden lilies upon them with the lance!
A thousand spurs are striking deep, a thousand spears in rest,
A thousand knights are pressing close behind the snow-white
crest;
460 HISTORIC MACKINAC
And in they burst, and on they rushed while, like a guiding star,
Amidst the thickest carnage blazed the helmet of Navarre.'
"And yet, after all my explanations, she only half under-
stood it; the 'Knights' were always 'nights' in her mind, and
the 'thickest carnage' was always the 'thickest carriage.'
"One March day she came at the appointed hour, soon
after our noon dinner. The usual clear winter sky was
clouded, and a wind blew the snow from the trees where it
had lain quietly month after month. 'Spring is coming,'
said the old sergeant that morning, as he hoisted the storm-
flag; 'it's getting wild-like.'
"Jeannette and I went through the lessons, but toward
three o'clock a north wind came sweeping over the Straits
and enveloped the Island in a whirling snow-storm, partly
eddies of white splinters torn from the icebound forest,
and partly a new fall of round snow pellets careering along
on the gale, quite unlike the soft, feathery flakes of early
winter. 'You cannot go home now, Jeannette,' I said,
looking out through the little west window; our cottage
stood back on the hill, and from this side window we could
see the Straits, going down toward far Waugoschance ; the
steep fort-hill outside the wall; the long meadow, once an
Indian burial-place, below; and beyond on the beach the
row of cabins inhabited by the French fishermen, one of
them the home of my pupil. The girl seldom went round
the point into the village; its one street and a-half seemed
distasteful to her. She climbed the stone-wall on the ridge
behind her cabin, took an Indian trail through the grass
in summer, or struck across on the snow-crust in winter,
ran up the steep side of the fort-hill like a wild chamois,
and came into the garrison enclosure with a careless nod to
TWO INTERESTING FORMATIONS AT MACK1NAC ISLAND
(Tne upper picture is of Fairy Arch)
MACKINAC IN STORY 461
the admiring sentinel, as she passed under the rear entrance.
These French half-breeds, like the gypsies, were not with-
out a pride of their own. They held themselves aloof from
the Irish of Shanty-town, the floating sailor population
of the summer, and the common soldiers of the garrison.
They intermarried among themselves, and held their own
revels in their beach-cabins during the winter, with music
from their old violins, dancing and songs, French ballads
with a chorus after every two lines, quaint chansons handed
down from voyageur ancestors. Small respect had they
for the little Roman Catholic church beyond the old Agency
garden; its German priest they refused to honor; but, when
stately old Father Piret came over to the Island from his
hermitage in the Cheneaux, they ran to meet him, young
and old, and paid him reverence with affectionate respect.
Father Piret was a Parisian, and a gentleman ; nothing less
would suit these far-away sheep in the wilderness.
"Jeannette Leblanc had all the pride of her class; the
Irish saloon-keeper with his shining tall hat, the loud-
talking mate of the lake-schooner, the trim sentinel pacing
the Fort walls, were nothing to her, and this somewhat
incongruous hauteur gave her the air of a little princess.
"On this stormy afternoon the captain's wife was in my
parlor preparing to return to her own quarters with some
coffee she had borrowed. Hearing my remark she said,
'0, the snow won't hurt the child, Mrs. Corlyne; she must
be storm-proof, living down there on the beach! Duncan
can take her home.'
"Duncan was the orderly, a factotum in the garrison.
' Won,' said Jeannette, tossing her head proudly as the
door closed behind the lady, *I wish not of Duncan; I go
alone.'
462 HISTORIC MACKINAC
"It happened that Archie, my nephew, had gone over to
the cottage of the commanding officer to decorate the parlor
for the military sociable; I knew he would not return, and
the evening stretched out before me in all its long loneli-
ness. 'Stay, Jeannette,' I said. 'We will have tea to-
gether here, and when the wind goes down, old Antoine shall
go back with you.' Antoine was a French wood-cutter,
whose cabin clung half-way down the fort-hill like a swal-
low's nest.
"Jeannette's eyes sparkled; I had never invited her be-
fore; in an instant she had turned the day into a high fes-
tival. *Braid hair?' she asked, glancing toward the mirror;
f faut que je m fosse belle.' And the long hair came out
of its close braids, enveloping her in its glossy dark waves,
while she carefully smoothed out the bits of red ribbon
that served as fastenings. At this moment the door opened,
and the surgeon, the wind, and a puff of snow came in
together. Jeannette looked up, smiling and blushing; the
falling hair gave a new softness to her face, and her eyes
were as shy as the eyes of a wild fawn.
"Only the previous day I had noticed that Rodney Pres-
cott listened with marked attention to the captain's cousin,
a Virginia lady, as she advanced a theory that Jeannette
had negro blood in her veins. 'These quadroon girls often
have a certain kind of plebeian beauty like this pet of yours,
Mrs. Corlyne,' she said, with a slight sniff of her high-bred,
pointed nose. In vain I exclaimed, in vain I argued; the
garrison ladies were all against me, and, in their presence,
not a man dared to come to my aid; and the surgeon even
added, 'I wish I could be sure of it.'
4 'Sure of the negro blood?' I said, indignantly.
" 'Yes.'
MACKINAC IN STORY 463
" 'But Jeannette does not look in the least like an quad-
roon.'
" 'Some of the quadroon girls are very handsome, Mrs.
Corlyne,' answered the surgeon, coldly.
" '0, yes!' said the high-bred Virginia lady. 'My
brother has a number of them about his place, but we do
not teach them to read, I assure you. It spoils them.'
"As I looked at Jeannette's beautiful face, her delicate
eagle profile, her fair skin and light blue eyes, I recalled
this conversation with vivid indignation. The surgeon, at
least, should be convinced of his mistake. Jeannette had
never looked more brilliant; probably the man had never
really scanned her features, he was such a cold, unseeing
creature; but to-night he should have a fair opportunity,
so I invited him to join our storm-bound tea-party. He
hesitated.
' 'Ah, do, Monsieur Rodenai,' said Jeannette, springing
forward. 'I sing for you; I dance; but, no, you not like
that. Bien, I tell your fortune then.' The young girl
loved company. A party of three, no matter who the third,
was to her infinitely better than two.
"The surgeon stayed.
"A merry evening we had before the hearth-fire. The
wind howled around the block-house and rattled the flag-
staff, and the snow pellets sounded on the window-panes,
giving that sense of warm comfort within that comes only
with the storm. Our servant had been drafted into service
for the military sociable, and I was to prepare the evening
meal myself.
" 'Not tea,' said Jeannette, with a wry face; 'tea, c'est
medecine!' She had arranged her hair in fanciful braids,
and now followed me to the kitchen, enjoying the novelty
464 HISTORIC MACKINAC
like a child. 'Ca/e. ? ' she said. '0, please, madame! /
make it.'
"The little shed kitchen was cold and dreary, each plank
of its thin walls rattling in the gale with a dismal creak; the
wind blew the smoke down the chimney, and finally it ended
in our bringing everything into the cozy parlor, and using
the hearth fire, where Jeannette made coffee and baked little
cakes over the coals.
"The meal over, Jeannette sang her songs, sitting on the
rug before the fire, Le Beau Voyageur, Les Neiges de la
Cloche, ballads in Canadian patios sung to minor airs
brought over from France two hundred years before.
"The surgeon sat in the shade of the chimney-piece, his
face shaded by his hand, and I could not discover whether
he saw anything to admire in my protegee, until, standing
in the center of the room, she gave us 'Ivry' in glorious
style. Beautiful she looked as she rolled out the lines:
" 'And if my standard-bearer fall, as fall full well he may,
For never saw I promise yet of such a bloody fray,
Press where ye see my white plume shine amidst the ranks of
war,
And be your oriflamme to-day the helmet of Navarre.'
"Rodney sat in the full light now, and I secretly tri-
umphed in his rapt attention.
" 'Something else, Jeannette,' I said, in the pride of my
heart. Instead of repeating anything I had taught her, she
began in French:
" ' "Marie, enfin quitte Vouvrage,
Void Uetoile du berger,"
"Ma mere, un enfant du village
Languit captif chez Vetranger;
MACKINAC IN STORY 465
Pris sur mer, loin de sa patrie,
II s'est rendu, mats le dernier"
File, file, pauvre Marie
Pour secourir le prisonnier;
File, file, pauvre Marie,
File, file, pour le prisonnier.
" ' "Pour lui je filerais moi-meme
Mon enfant, niais fai tant vieilli!"
"Envoyez a celui que faime
Tout le gain par moi recueilli.
Rose a sa noce en vain me prie;
Dieu! j'entends le memetrier!"
File, file, pauvre Marie,
Pour secourir le prisonnier;
File, file, pauvre Marie,
File, file, pour le prisonnier.
' "Plus pres du feu file, ma chere ;
La nuit vient refroidir le temps."
"Adrien, m'a-t-on dit, ma mere,
Gemit dans des cachots flottants.
On repousse la main fletrie
Qu'il etend vers un pain grassier."
File, file, pauvre Marie,
Pour secourir le prisonnier;
File, file, pauvre Marie,
File, file, pour le prisonnier." ' 4
"Jeannette repeated these lines with a pathos so real that
I felt a moisture rising in my eyes.
' 'Where did you learn that, child?' I asked.
* 'Father Piret, madame.'
" 'What is it?'
" 7e n* *ws.'
4 "Le Priaonnier de Guerre" Ber anger.
466 HISTORIC MACKINAC
" 'It is Beranger, "The Prisoner of War," ' said Rod-
ney Prescott. 'But you omitted the last verse, mademoi-
selle; may I ask why?'
" 'More sad so,' answered Jeannette. 'Marie she die
now.'
" 'You wish her to die?'
" l Mais out; she die for love; c'est beau!*
"And there flashed a glance from the girl's eyes that
thrilled through me, I scarcely knew why. I looked to-
ward Rodney, but he was back in the shadow again.
"The hours passed. 'I must go,' said Jeannette, drawing
aside the curtain. Clouds were still driving across the sky,
but the snow had ceased falling, and at intervals the moon
shone out over the cold white scene; the March wind con-
tinued on its wild career toward the south.
" 'I will send for Antoine,' I said, rising, as Jeannette
took up her fur mantle.
" 'The old man is sick to-day,' said Rodney. 'It would
not be safe for him to leave the fire to-night. I will accom-
pany mademoiselle.'
"Pretty Jeannette shrugged her shoulders. 'Afais, mon-
sieur' she answered, 'I go over the hill.'
" 'No, child ; not to-night,' I said decidedly. 'The wind
is violent, and the cliff doubly slippery after this ice-storm.
Go round through the village.'
" 'Of course we shall go through the village,' said our
surgeon, in his calm, authoritative way. They started.
But in another minute I saw Jeannette fly by the west win-
dow, over the wall, and across the snowy road, like a spirit,
disappearing down the steep bank, now slippery with glare
ice. Another minute, and Rodney Prescott followed in her
track.
MACKINAC IN STORY 467
"With bated breath I watched for the reappearance of
the two figures on the white plain, one hundred and fifty
feet below; the cliff was difficult at any time, and now in
this ice! The moments seemed very long, and, alarmed,
I was on the point of arousing the garrison, when I spied
the two dark figures on the snowy plain below, now clear
in the moonlight, now lost in the shadow. I watched them
for some distance; then a cloud came, and I lost them en-
tirely.
"Rodney did not return, although I sat late before the
dying fire. Thinking over the evening, the idea came to me
that perhaps, after all, he did admire my protegee, and
being a romantic old woman, I did not repel the fancy;
it might go a certain distance without harm, and an idyl
is always charming, doubly so to people cast away on a
desert island. One falls into the habit of studying persons
very closely in the limited circle of garrison life.
"But, the next morning, the Major's wife gave me an
account of the sociable. *It was very pleasant,' she said.
'Toward the last Dr. Prescott came in, quite unexpectedly.
I had no idea he could be so agreeable. Augusta can tell
you how charming he was!'
"Augusta, a young lady cousin, of pale blond complex-
ion, neutral opinions, and irreproachable manners, smiled
primly. My idyl was crushed!
"The days passed. The winds, the snows, and the high-
up Fort remained the same. Jeannette came and went, and
the hour lengthened into two or three; not that we Tead
much, but we talked more. Our surgeon did not again pass
through the parlor; he had ordered a rickety stairway on
the outside wall to be repaired, and we could hear him
going up and down its icy steps as we sat by the hearth-fire.
468 HISTORIC MACKINAC
One day I said to him, 'My protegee is improving wonder-
fully. If she could have a complete education, she might
take her place with the best in the land.'
" 'Do not deceive yourself, Mrs. Corlyne,' he answered.
'It is only the shallow French quickness/
" 'Why do you always judge the child so harshly, Doc-
tor?'
" 'Do you take her part, Aunt Sarah?' (For sometimes
he used the title which Archie had made so familiar.)
" 'Of course, I do, Rodney. A poor, unfriended girl
living in this remote place, against a United States surgeon
with the best of Boston behind him.'
" 'I wish you would tell me that every day, Aunt Sarah,'
was the reply I received. It set me musing, but I could
make nothing of it. Troubled without knowing why, I sug-
gested to Archie that he should endeavor to interest our
surgeon in the Fort gayety; there was something for every
night in the merry little circle, games, suppers, tableaux,
music, theatricals, readings, and the like.
" 'Why, he's in the thick of it, already, Aunt Sarah,'
said my nephew. 'He's devoting himself to Miss Augusta ;
she sings "The Harp that once " to him every night.'
"('The Harp that once through Tara's Halls' was Miss
Augusta's dress-parade song. The Major's quarters not be-
ing as large as the halls aforesaid, the melody was some-
what over-powering.)
" '0, does she?' I thought, not without a shade of vexa-
tion. But the vague anxiety vanished.
"The real spring came at last, the rapid, vivid spring
of Mackinac. Almost in a day the ice moved out, the
snows melted, and the northern wild flowers appeared in
the sheltered glens. Lessons were at an end, for my
MACKINAC IN STORY 469
scholar was away in the green woods. Sometimes she
brought me a bunch of flowers; but I seldom saw her; my
wild bird had flown back to the forest. When the ground
was dry and the pine droppings warmed by the sun, I, too,
ventured abroad. One day, wandering as far as the Arched
Rock, I found the surgeon there, and together we sat down
to rest under the trees, looking off over the blue water
flecked with white caps. The Arch is a natural bridge over
a chasm one hundred and fifty feet above the lake, a fis-
sure in the cliff which has fallen away in a hollow, leaving
the bridge by itself far out over the water. This bridge
springs up in the shape of an arch; it is fifty feet long,
and its width is in some places two feet, in others only a few
inches, a narrow, dizzy pathway hanging between sky
and water.
' 'People have crossed it,' I said.
' 'Only fools,' answered our surgeon, who despised
foolhardiness. 'Has a man nothing better to do with
his life than risk it for the sake of a silly feat like that?
I would not so much as raise my eyes to see any one
cross."
" '0, yes, you would, Monsieur Rodenai,' cried a voice
behind us. We both turned and caught a glimpse of Jean-
nette as she bounded through the bushes and out to the very
centre of the Arch, where she stood balancing herself and
laughing gayly. Her form was outlined against the sky;
the breeze swayed her skirt; she seemed hovering over the
chasm. I watched her, mute with fear; a word might
cause her to lose her balance ; but I could not turn my eyes
away, I was fascinated with the sight. I was not aware that
Rodney had left me until he, too appeared on the Arch,
slowly finding a foot-hold for himself and advancing to-
470 HISTORIC MACKINAC
wards the centre. A fragment of the rock broke off under
his foot and fell into the abyss below.
" *Go back, Monsieur Rodenai,' cried Jeannette, seeing
his danger.
" 'Will you come back, too, Jeannette?'
" 'Moi? C'est out" chose, 9 answered the girl, gayly toss-
ing her pretty head.
" 'Then I shall come out and carry you back, wilful
child,' said the surgeon.
"A peal of laughter broke from Jeannette as he spoke,
and then she began to dance on her point of rock, swinging
herself from side to side, marking the time with a song.
I held my breath; her dance seemed unearthly; it was as
though she belonged to the Prince of the Powers of the Air.
"At length the surgeon reached the centre and caught
the mocking creature in his arms; neither spoke, but I could
see the flash of their eyes as they stood for an instant mo-
tionless. Then they struggled on the narrow foothold and
swayed over so far that I buried my face in my trembling
hands, unable to look at the dreadful end. When I opened
my eyes again, all was still; the Arch was tenantless, and
no sound came from below. Were they, then, so soon
dead? Without a cry? I forced myself to the brink to
look down over the precipice; but while I stood there, fear-
ing to look, I heard a sound behind me in the woods. It
was Jeannette singing a gay French song. I called to her
to stop. 'How could you?' I said severely, for I was still
trembling with agitation.
' 'Ce n'est rien, madame. I cross TArche when I had
five year. Mais, Monsieur Rodenai le Grand, he raise his
eye to look this time, I think,' said Jeannette, laughing
triumphantly.
MACKINAC IN STORY 471
"'Where is he?'
" 'On the far side, gone to Scott's pic' (Peak) . 'feroce,
feroce, comme un loupgarou! Ah! cest joli, cal y And,
overflowing with the wildest glee, the girl danced along
through the woods in front of me, now pausing to look at
something in her hand, now laughing, now shouting like a
wild creature, until I lost sight of her. I went back to the
Fort alone.
"For several days I saw nothing of Rodney. When at
last we met, I said, 'That was a wild freak of Jeannette's
at the Arch.'
" 'Planned, to get a few shillings out of us.'
' '0, Doctor! I do not think she had any such motive,'
1 replied, looking up deprecatingly into his cold, scornful
eyes.
* 'Are you not a little sentimental over that ignorant,
half-wild creature, Aunt Sarah?'
" 'Well,' I said to myself, 'perhaps I am!'
"The summer came, sails whitened the blue straits again,
steamers stopped for an hour or two at the Island docks,
and the summer travellers rushed ashore to buy 'Indian
curiosities,' made by the nuns in Montreal, or to climb
breathlessly up the steep fort-hill to see the pride and pan-
oply of war. Proud was the little white Fort in those sum-
mer days; the sentinels held themselves stiffly erect, the
officers gave up lying on the parapet half asleep, the best
flag was hoisted daily, and there was much bugle-playing
and ceremony connected with the evening gun, fired from
the ramparts at sun-set; the hotels were full, the boarding-
house keepers were in their annual state of wonder over the
singular taste of these people from 'below,' who actually
preferred a miserable white-fish to the best of beef brought
472 HISTORIC MACKINAC
up on ice all the way from Buffalo! There were picnics
and walks, and much confusion of historical dates respect-
ing Father Marquette and the irrepressible, omnipresent
Pontiac. The Fort officers did much escort duty; their but-
tons gilded every scene. Our quiet surgeon was foremost
in everything.
" 'I am surprised! I had no idea Dr. Prescott was so
gay,' said the major's wife.
" 'I should not think of calling him gay,' I answered.
" 'Why, my dear Mrs. Corlyne! He is going all the
time. Just ask Augusta.'
"Augusta thereupon remarked that society, to a certain
extent, was beneficial; that she considered Dr. Prescott
much improved; really, he was now very 'nice.'
"I silently protested against the word. But then I was
not a Bostonian.
"One bright afternoon I went through the village, round
the point into the French quarter, in search of a laundress.
The fishermen's cottages faced the west; they were low and
wide, not unlike scows drifted ashore and moored on the
beach for houses. The little windows had gay curtains flut-
tering in the breeze, and the rooms within looked clean and
cheery; the rough walls were adorned with the spoils of the
fresh-water seas, shells, green stones, agates, spar, and curi-
ously shaped pebbles; occasionally there was a stuffed
water-bird, or a bright-colored print, and always a violin.
Black-eyed children played in the water which bordered
their narrow beach-gardens; and slender women, with shin-
ing black hair, stood in their door-ways knitting. I found
my laundress, and then went on to Jeannette's home, the
last house in the row. From the mother, a Chippewa
MACKINAC IN STORY 473
woman, I learned that Jeannette was with her French father
at the fishing-grounds off Drummond's Island.
" 'How long has she been away?' I asked.
" 'Veeks four,' replied the mother whose knowledge of
English was confined to the price-list of white-fish and blue-
berries, the two articles of her traffic with the boarding-
house keepers.
" 'When will she return?'
" 7e n'sais."
"She knitted on, sitting in the sunshine on her little door-
step, looking out over the western water with tranquil con-
tent in her beautiful, gentle eyes. As I walked up the
beach I glanced back several times to see if she had the
curiosity to watch me; but no, she still looked out over the
western water. What was I to her? Less than nothing.
A white-fish was more.
"A week or two later I strolled out to the Giant's Stair-
way and sat down in the little rock chapel. There was a
picnic at the Lovers' Leap, and I had that side of the Island
to myself. I was leaning back, half asleep, in the deep
shadow, when the sound of voices roused me; a birch-bark
canoe was passing close in shore, and two were in it,
Jeanette and our surgeon. I could not hear their words,
but I noticed Rodney's expression as he leaned forward.
Jeannette was paddling slowly; her cheeks were flushed,
and her eyes brilliant. Another moment, and a point hid
them from my view. I went home troubled.
* 'Did you enjoy the picnic, Miss Augusta?' I said, with
assumed carelessness, that evening. 'Dr. Prescott was
there, as usual, I suppose?'
" 'He was not present, but the picnic was highly enjoy-
474 HISTORIC MACKINAC
able,' replied Augusta, in her even voice and impartial
manner.
" The Doctor has not been with us for some days,' said
the major's wife, archly; 'I suspect he does not like Mr.
Piper.'
"Mr. Piper was a portly widower, of sanguine com-
plexion, a Chicago produce-dealer, who was supposed to
admire Miss Augusta, and was now going through a course
of 'The Harp that once.'
"The last days of summer flew swiftly by; the surgeon
himself held aloof; we scarcely saw him in the garrison
circles, and I no longer met him in my rambles.
" *Jealousy!' said the major's wife.
"September came. The summer visitors fled away
homeward; the remaining 'Indian curiosities' were stored
away for another season; the hotels were closed, and the
forests deserted; the blue-bells swung unmolested on their
heights, and the plump Indian-pipes grew in peace in their
dark corners. The little white Fort, too, began to assume
its winter manners; the storm-flag was hoisted; there were
evening fires upon the broad hearth-stones; the chaplain,
having finished everything about Balak, his seven altars,
and seven rams, was ready for chess-problems; books and
papers were ordered; stores laid in, and anxious inquiries
made as to the 'habits' of the new mail-carrier, for the
mail-carrier was the hero of the winter, and if his 'habits'
led him to whiskey, there was danger that our precious
letters might be dropped all along the northern curve of
Lake Huron.
"Upon this quiet matter-of-course preparation, suddenly,
like a thunderbolt from a clear sky, came orders to leave.
MACKINAC IN STORY 475
The whole garison, officers and men, were ordered to
Florida.
"In a moment all was desolation. It was like being
ordered into the Valley of the Shadow of Death. Dense
everglades, swamp-fevers, malaria in the air, poisonous
underbrush, and venomous reptiles and insects, and now
and then a wily unseen foe picking off the men, one by
one, as they painfully cut out roads through the thickets,
these were the features of military life in Florida at that
period. Men who would have marched boldly to the can-
non's mouth, officers who would have headed a forlorn
hope, shrank from the deadly swamps.
"Families must be broken up also; no women, no chil-
dren, could go to Florida. There were tears and the sound
of sobbing in the little white Fort, as the poor wives, all
young mothers, hastily packed their few possessions to
go back to their fathers' houses, fortunate if they had
fathers to receive them. The husbands went about in
silence, too sad for words. Archie kept up the best
courage; but he was young, and had no one to leave save
me.
"The evening of the fatal day for the orders had come
in the early dawn I was alone in my little parlor, already
bare and desolate with packing-cases. The wind had been
rising since morning, and now blew furiously from the
west. Suddenly the door burst open and the surgeon en-
tered. I was shocked at his appearance, as, pale, haggard,
with disordered hair and clothing, he sank into a chair,
and looked at me in silence.
" 'Rodney, what is it?' I said.
"He did not answer, but still looked at me with that
strange gaze. Alarmed, I rose and went towards him, lay-
476 HISTORIC MACKINAC
ing my hand on his shoulder with a motherly touch. I
loved the quiet, gray-eyed youth next after Archie.
" *What is it, my poor boy? Can I help you?'
" *0, Aunt Sarah, perhaps you can, for you know her.'
" 'Her?' I repeated, with sinking heart.
" 'Yes. Jeannette.'
"I sat down and folded my hands; trouble had come, but
it was not what I had apprehended, the old story of mili-
tary life, love, and desertion; the ever-present ballad of the
'gay young knight who loves and rides away.' This was
something different.
" 'I love her, I love her madly, in spite of myself,'
said Rodney, pouring forth his words with feverish rapidity.
'I know it is an infatuation, I know it is utterly unreason-
able, and yet I love her. I have striven against it, I have
fought with myself, I have written out elaborate arguments
wherein I have clearly demonstrated the folly of such an
affection, and I have compelled myself to read them over
slowly, word for word, when alone in my own room, and
yet I love her! Ignorant! I know she would shame me;
shallow, I know she could not satisfy me; as a wife she
would inevitably drag me down to misery, and yet I love
her! I had not been on the Island a week before I saw her,
and marked her beauty. Months before you invited her
to the Fort I had become infatuated with her singular loveli-
ness; but, in some respects, a race of the blood-royal could
not be prouder than these French fishermen. They will
not accept your money, they will cheat you, they will tell
you lies for an extra shilling; but make one step toward a
simple acquaintance, and the door will be shut in your face.
They will bow down before you as a customer, but they will
not have you for a friend. Thus I found it impossible to
MACKINAC IN STORY 477
reach Jeannette. I do not say that I tried, for all the time
I was fighting myself; but I went far enough to see the bar-
riers. It seemed a fatality that you should take a fancy
to her, have her here, and ask me to admire her, admire
the face that haunted me by day and by night, driving me
mad with its beauty.
** *I realized my danger, and called to my aid all the pride
of my race. I said to my heart, "You shall not love this
ignorant half-breed girl to your ruin." I reasoned with
myself, and said, "It is only because you are isolated on
this far-away Island. Could you present this girl to your
mother? Could she be a companion for your sisters?" I
was beginning to gain a firmer control over myself, in spite
of her presence, when you unfolded your plan of education.
Fatality again. Instantly a crowd of hopes surged up.
The education you began, could I not finish? She was
but young; a few years of careful teaching might work won-
ders. Could I not train this forest flower so that it could
take its place in the garden? But, when I actually saw this
full-grown woman unable to add the simplest sum or write
her name correctly, I was again ashamed of my infatuation.
It is one thing to talk of ignorance, it is another to come face
to face with it. Thus I wavered, at one moment ready to
give up all for pride, at another to give up all for love.
; 'Then came the malicious suggestion of negro blood.
Could it be proved, I was free; that taint I could not par-
don.' (And here, even as the surgeon spoke, I noticed this
as the peculiarity of the New England Abolitionist. Theo-
retically he believed in the equality of the enslaved race,
and stood ready to maintain the belief with his life, but
practically he held himself entirely aloof from them; the
Southern creed and practice were the exact reverse.) *I
478 HISTORIC MACKINAC
made inquiries of Father Piret, who knows the mixed
genealogy of the little French colony as far back as the first
voyageurs of the fur trade, and found, as I, shall I say
hoped or feared? that the insinuation was utterly false.
Thus I was thrown back into the old tumult.
" 'Then came the evening in this parlor when Jeannette
made the coffee and baked little cakes over the coals. Do
you remember the pathos with which she chanted, "File,
file, pauvre Marie; File, file, pour le prisonnier"? Do
you remember how she looked when she repeated "Ivry"?
Did that tender pity, that ringing inspiration, come from
a dull mind and shallow heart? I was avenged of my
enforced disdain, my love gave itself up to delicious hope.
She was capable of education, and then ! I made a
pretext of old Antoine's cough in order to gain an oppor-
tunity of speaking to her alone; but she was like a thing
possessed, she broke from me and sprang over the icy cliff,
her laugh coming back on the wind as I followed her down
the dangerous slope. On she rushed, jumping from rock
to rock, waving her hand in wild glee when the moon shone
out, singing and shouting with merry scorn at my desperate
efforts to reach her. It was a mad chase, but only on the
plain below could I come up with her. There, breathless
and eager, I unfolded to her my plan of education. I only
went so far as this: I was willing to send her to school,
to give her opportunities of seeing the world, to provide for
her whole future. I left the story of my love to come af-
terward. She laughed me to scorn. As well talk of edu-
cation to the bird of the wilderness! She rejected my
offers, picked up snow to throw in my face, covered me
with her French sarcasms, danced around me in circles, and
mocked, until I was at a loss to know whether she was hu-
MACKINAC IN STORY 479
man. Finally, as a shadow darkened the moon, she fled
away; and when it passed she was gone, and I was alone
on the snowy plain.
" 'Angry, fierce, filled with scorn for myself, I deter-
mined to crush out my senseless infatuation. I threw my-
self into such society as we had; I assumed an interest in
that inane Miss Augusta; I read and studied far into the
night; I walked until sheer fatigue gave me tranquility;
but all I gained was lost in that encounter on the Arch; you
remember it? When I saw her on that narrow bridge, my
love burst its bonds again, and, senseless as ever, rushed to
save her, to save her, poised on her native rocks, where
every inch was familiar from childhood! To save her,
sure-footed and light as a bird! I caught her. She strug-
gled in my arms angrily, as an imprisoned animal might
struggle, but so beautiful! The impulse came to me to
spring with her into the gulf below, and so end the contest
forever. I might have done it, I cannot tell, but, sud-
denly she wrenched herself out of my arms and fled over
the Arch, to the farther side. I followed, trembling,
blinded, with the violence of my emotion. At that moment
I was ready to give up my life, my soul, into her hands.
' 'In the woods beyond she paused, glanced over her
shoulder toward me, then turned eagerly. "Foi/a," she
said, pointing. I looked down and saw several silver
pieces that had dropped from my pocket, and, with an im-
patient gesture, I thrust them aside with my foot.
'Won," she cried, turning toward me and stooping
eagerly, "so much! 0, so much! See! four shillings!"
Her eyes glistened with longing as she held the money in
her hand and fingered each piece lovingly.
" *The sudden revulsion of feeling produced by her
480 HISTORIC MACKINAC
words and gesture filled me with fury. "Keep it, and buy
yourself a soul if you can!" I cried; and turning away, I
left her with her gains.
" ' "Merci, monsieur," she answered gayly, all unmind-
ful of my scorn; and off she ran, holding her treasure tightly
clasped in both hands. I could hear her singing far down
the path.
" 'It is a bitter thing to feel a scorn for yourself! Did
I love this girl who stooped to gather a few shillings from
under my feet? Was it, then, impossible for me to con-
quer this ignoble passion? No; it could not and it should
not be! I plunged again into all the gayety; I left myself
not one free moment; if sleep came not, I forced it to come
with opiates; Jeannette had gone to the fishing-grounds, the
weeks passed, I did not see her. I had made the hardest
struggle of all, and was beginning to recover myself when,
one day, I met her in the woods with some children; she
had returned to gather blueberries. I looked at her. She
was more gentle than usual, and smiled. Suddenly, as an
embankment which has withstood the storms of many win-
ters gives way at last in a calm summer night, I yielded.
Without one outward sign, I laid down my arms. Myself
knew that the contest was over, and my other self rushed
to her feet.
" 'Since then, I have often seen her; I have made plan
after plan to meet her; I have, 0, degrading thought!
paid her to take me out in her canoe, under the pretense of
fishing. I no longer looked forward; I lived only in the
present, and thought only of when and where I could see
her. Thus it has been until this morning, when the orders
came. Now, I am brought face to face with reality; I must
go; can I leave her behind? For hours I have been wan-
MACKINAC IN STORY 481
dering in the woods. Aunt Sarah, it is of no use, I
cannot live without her; I must marry her.'
" 'Marry Jeannette!' I exclaimed.
" 'Even so.'
" 'An ignorant half -breed?'
" 'As you say, an ignorant half-breed.'
" 'You are mad, Rodney.'
" 'I know it.'
"I will not repeat all I said; but, at last, silenced, if not
convinced, by the power of this great love, I started with
him out into the wild night to seek Jeannette. We went
through the village and round the point, where the wind
met us, and the waves broke at our feet with a roar. Pass-
ing the row of cabins, and their twinkling lights, we reached
the home of Jeanette and knocked at the low door. The In-
dian mother opened it. I entered, without a word, and took
a seat near the hearth, where a drift-wood fire was burning.
Jeannette came forward with a surprised look. 'You little
think what good fortune is coming to you, child,' I thought,
as I noted her coarse dress and the poor furniture of the
little room.
"Rodney burst at once into his subject.
' 'Jeannette,' he said, going toward her, 'I have come to
take you away with me. You need not go to school ; I have
given up that idea, I accept you as you are. You shall
have silk dresses and ribbons, like the ladies at the Mission-
House this summer. You shall see all the great cities,
you shall hear beautiful music. You shall have every-
thing you want, money, bright shillings, as many as you
wish. See! Mrs. Corlyne has come with me to show you
that it is true. This morning we had orders to leave Mack-
inac; in a few days we must go. But listen, Jeannette;
482 HISTORIC MACKINAC
I will marry you. You shall be my wife. Do not look so
startled. I mean it; it is really true.'
" 'Quest-ce-que-c'est?' said the girl, bewildered by the
rapid, eager words.
" *Dr. Prescott wishes to marry you, child,' I explained,
somewhat sadly, for never had the disparity between them
seemed so great. The presence of the Indian mother, the
common room, were like silent protests.
" 'Marry!' ejaculated Jeannette.
" *Yes, love,' said the surgeon, ardently. 'It is quite
true; you shall be my wife. Father Piret shall marry us.
I will exchange into another regiment, or, if necessary, I
will resign. Do you understand what I am saying, Jean-
nette? See! I give you my hand, in token that it is true.'
"But, with a quick bound, the girl was across the room.
'What!' she cried. 'You think I marry you? Have you
not heard of Baptiste? Know, then, that I love one finger
of him more than all you, ten times, hundred times.'
" 'Baptiste?' repeated Rodney.
' 'Oui, mon cousin, Baptiste, the fisherman. We marry
soon tenez la fete de Saint Andre'
"Rodney looked bewildered a moment, then his face
cleared. 'Oh! a child engagement? That is one of your
customs, I know. But never fear; Father Piret will absolve
you from all that. Baptiste shall have a fine new boat; he
will let you off for a handful of silver-pieces. Do not think
of that, Jeannette, but come to me '
' Ve vous abhorre; je vous deteste,' cried the girl with
fury as he approached. 'Baptiste not love me? He love
me more than boat and silver dollar, more than all the
world! And I love him; I die for him! Allez-vous-en,
traitre!'
MACKINAC IN STORY 483
"Rodney had grown white; he stood before her, motion-
less, with fixed eyes.
" 'Jeannette,' I said in French, 'perhaps you do not un-
derstand. Dr. Prescott asks you to marry him; Father
Piret shall marry you, and all your friends shall come.
Dr. Prescott will take you away from this hard life; he will
make you rich; he will support your father and mother in
comfort. My child, it is wonderful good fortune. He is
an educated gentleman, and loves you truly.'
" 'What is that to me?' replied Jeannette, proudly. 'Let
him go, I care not.' She paused a moment. Then, with
flashing eyes, she cried, 'Let him go with his fine new boat
and silver dollars! He does not believe me? See, then,
how I despise him!' And, rushing forward, she struck him
on the cheek.
"Rodney did not stir, but stood gazing at her while the
red mark glowed on his white face.
" 'You know not what love is,' said Jeannette, with inde-
scribable scorn. 'You! You! Ah, mon Baptiste, ou es-
tu? But thou wilt kill him, kill him for his boats and
silver dollars!'
" 'Child!' I said, startled at her fury.
' 'I am not a child. Je suis femme, moi!' replied Jean-
nette, folding her arms with haughty grace. "Allez!" she
said, pointing toward the door. We were dismissed. A
queen could not have made a more royal gesture.
"Throughout the scene the Indian mother had not stopped
her knitting.
"In four days we were afloat, and the little white Fort was
deserted. It was a dark afternoon, and we sat clustered
on the stern of the steamer, watching the flag come slowly
484, HISTORIC MACKINAC
down from its staff in token of the departure of the com-
manding officer. 'Isle of Beauty, fare thee well,' sang the
major's fair young wife, with the sound of tears in her
sweet voice.
" 'We shall return,' said the officers. But not one of
them ever saw the beautiful Island again.
"Rodney Prescott served a month or two in Florida, 'tac-
iturn and stiff as ever,' Archie wrote. Then he resigned
suddenly and went abroad. He has never returned, and I
have lost all trace of him, so that I cannot say, from any
knowledge of my own, how long the feeling lived, the
feeling that swept me along in its train down to the beach-
cottage that wild night.
"Each man who reads this can decide for himself.
"Each woman has decided already."
"Last year I met an Islander on the cars, going eastward.
It was the first time he had ever been 'below'; but he saw
nothing to admire, that dignified citizen of Mackinac!
" 'What has become of Jeannette Leblanc?' I asked.
" 'Jeannette? 0, she married that Baptiste, a lazy,
good-for-nothing fellow! They live in the same little cabin
round the point, and pick up a living most anyhow for their
tribe of young ones.'
" 'Are they happy?'
" 'Happy?' repeated my Islander, with a slow stare.
'Well, I suppose they are, after their fashion; I don't know
much about them."
M
CHAPTER XIX
JEAN NICOLET 1
ACKINAC ISLAND, the most romantic spot of the
northern lakes, the 'Fairy Isle' of poetry, has long
been famous as a place of historic interest; the
interest of the people of the state has grown steadily in the
Island especially since the United States ceded it to the state
of Michigan for the purpose of a state park. In 1895 the
Mackinac Island State Park Commission was established
to care for it, and among other measures they have adopted
to beautify the storied rocks and cliffs of the Island, the
Commission has given to each an appropriate name, prin-
cipally from the annals of Michigan's history; from time to
time the Commission will erect appropriate tablets com-
memorating the lives of those who have rendered distin-
guished service to Michigan, to the region of the Great
Lakes and to the nation.
"It is appropriate that the first of these memorial tablets
should be dedicated to John (Jean) Nicolet, the first man of
the white race to pass through the Straits of Mackinac and
to set foot upon the soil of what is now Michigan. It is
placed at one of the best viewpoints of the Island, above
Arch Rock, overlooking the Straits and commanding one of
the finest marine views in America.
1 The material in this chapter of Historic Mackinac is taken from Bulle-
tin No. 6, of the Michigan Historical Commission, entitled Nicolet Day on
Mackinac Island.
485
486 HISTORIC MACKINAC
"The ceremonies at the dedication of the tablet took place
on Mackinac Island, July 13, 1915. The arrangements for
the occasion were made by Hon. Edwin 0. Wood, a member
both of the Mackinac Island State Park Commission and of
the Michigan Historical Commission, under the auspices of
which organizations the exercises were conducted.
"Mr. John F. Hogan, of Detroit, editor of 'The Gateway,'
acted as chairman. Among the speakers, besides the chair-
man, were Mr. Wood, representing the Mackinac Island
State Park Commission; the Rev. Thomas J. Campbell, S. J.,
of New York, author and historian; and the Rt. Rev. Mon-
signor Frank A. O'Brien, LL. D., of Kalamazoo, President
of the Michigan Historical Commission, and Lawton T.
Hemans, chairman of the Michigan Railroad Commission.
"Among those present were: Mr. William L. Jenks, of
Port Huron; Professor Claude H. Van Tyne, head of the
department of History in the University of Michigan and
member of the Michigan Historical Commission; Mr. Wal-
ter 0. Briggs, member of the Mackinac Island State Park
Commission, and Mrs. Briggs; Mr. William H. Hughes, of
Detroit, editor of The Michigan Catholic; the Rev. P. A.
Mullins and Rev. J. L. McGeary, of Loyola University,
Chicago; Rev. R. Champion, of Ecorse; Hon. George W.
Weaver, treasurer of Charlevoix County; Mr. James H.
Began, Dr. and Mrs. Robert H. Harvey, Mr. E. Puttkam-
mer, Mr. George B. Chambers, Mr. W. A. Amberg, State
Senator James C. Wood, of Manistique, and J. J. Cleary, of
Escanaba. Representative citizens were present from St.
Ignace, Mackinaw City, Cheboygan and every part of Mich-
igan. More than twenty-five states were represented by
those in attendance on this occasion.
"Among the letters of regret received were the following:
JEAN NICOLET 467
"UNITED STATES SENATOR WILLIAM ALDEN SMITH. *I
have received the invitation to be present at the unveiling of
the bronze tablet to the memory of John Nicolet, whose
deeds of valor and knightly heroism challenge the admira-
tion of his countrymen. I express the sincere hope that
nothing may occur to mar the ceremony which you have
planned and that a revival of interest in this truly great man
may prove an inspiration to us all.'
"PROF. A. C. MCLAUGHLIN, University of Chicago. *I
congratulate the Historical Commission on the worthy work
it has undertaken.'
"RT. REV. M. J. HOBAN, D. D., Bishop of Scranton, Pa.
The Michigan Historical Commission deserves great credit
for their zeal in commemorating the achievements of the
famous pioneers of the Northwest'
"FORMER VICE-PRESIDENT CHARLES W. FAIRBANKS. *I
am just in receipt of an invitation to attend the unveiling of
a bronze tablet in honor of John Nicolet. Of course I am
denied the privilege of being present; nevertheless I want
to congratulate you upon the event.'
"RT. REV. JAMES McGoLRiCK, D.D., Bishop of Duluth.
'In honoring this early hero of the Northwest the Michigan
Historical Commission does honor to itself and to all those
connected with its work.'
"MOST REV. JOHN IRELAND, D. D., Archbishop of St.
Paul. 'I heartily congratulate the Michigan Historical
Commission on the good work it is doing by perpetuating the
names of the early discoverers of the Northwest. We owe
to them a debt of gratitude which we should take every op-
portunity to repay. Among them John Nicolet stands out
very prominently and it is well that his memory receive due
honor.'
488 HISTORIC MACKINAC
EXERCISES ON NICOLET DAY
"July 13, 1915, was a beautiful day, such as Jean
Nicolet may have enjoyed on his journey through the Straits
of Mackinac in the Summer of 1634. The Island was at
its best. The air was still, so that every syllable uttered
could be distinctly heard. The speaker's platform was
placed just above Arch Rock, overlooking the Straits, from
whence the birch-bark canoe of Nicolet, paddled by his
Indian guides, could have been clearly seen on that summer
day long ago.
"The exercises were appropriately introduced by the
ADDRESS OF MR. JOHN F. HOGAN, CHAIRMAN
" 'Members of the Michigan Historical Commission, the
Mackinac Island State Park Commission, Reverend Gentle-
men, Ladies and Gentlemen:
" 'The question has been asked over and over again, Why
does not Michigan pay deserved tribute to those explorers
and missionaries who came here several hundred years ago
and opened the way to civilization? Why has not our state
preserved, in tangible form, the names and records of their
early achievements so that future generations may know
and understand the lessons of their early sacrifices and thus
appreciate all the more, the invaluable heritage they left
us?
" 'Happily, this question need no longer be asked. The
Michigan Historical Commission, created in 1913 by act
of the legislature, is now officially charged with the task of
collecting historical relics and compiling historical data for
Michigan's history. The six members of the Commission,
recognized throughout the country as distinguished authors
JEAN NICOLET 489
and historians, eminently qualified for the difficult position
they occupy, have given their services freely and gladly
to this noble and enduring work. To them has been as-
signed the task of delving into the early records of discov-
erers, of collecting, analyzing and compiling the many
thousands of pamphlets so that an accurate, complete ac-
count of the early history of Michigan may be preserved
for future generations. When it is stated that more than
two hundred names of explorers, missionaries, statesmen,
authors, and military officers have been accepted as
entitled to enter the Michigan Hall of Fame, the task of the
Commission may be dimly understood.
' *In carrying out its purposes, the Commission agreed
that the names and discoveries of these early explorers and
missionaries should be commemorated by placing memor-
ial tablets throughout the state park, so that we of today
and tomorrow may understand to whom we owe our present
civilization. The assistance, therefore, of the Mackinac
Island State Park Commission was solicited, and the plans
for the Nicolet Day celebration were prepared under their
joint auspices. These exercises here today are the result.
' 'When the list of speakers for to-day's celebration was
being prepared, Rt. Rev. Chas. D. Williams, the distin-
guished head of the Episcopal Diocese of Detroit, was se-
lected to deliver the invocation. An unexpected summons,
however, called him to New York; the committee was in a
quandary; who could acceptably fill the position?
" 'At this most trying time, Hon. A. T. Hert of Louisville,
whose extensive estate is one of the most beautiful attrac-
tions on the Island, came to the rescue by suggesting that
one of his guests, a former resident of Detroit, might be in-
duced to undertake the task. The suggestion was gladly
490 HISTORIC MACKINAC
received and accepted and Mr. Hert was empowered to
make such arrangements. That he has fulfilled his mission
most completely, you will all presently agree.'
"The Chairman then introduced the Rt. Rev. C. D. Wood-
cock, Episcopal Bishop of Kentucky.
"The address of welcome was made by Hon. William P.
Preston, Mayor of Mackinac Island, which was responded
to by Hon. Edwin 0. Wood, vice-president of the Mackinac
Island State Park Commission, as follows:
" 'MR. CHAIRMAN : I would not mar this program by
extended remarks. I will only say that it is a pleasant
privilege to respond to this greeting and welcome given us
by my friend Mayor Preston. My first interest in Mackinac
came through the knowledge of its beauties and historic
setting, imparted to me by Colonel Preston.
" *I congratulate you upon this splendid gathering,
brought together to honor a noble character, whose activities
in the work of Christianizing the Indians should give him
an enduring place in American history.
" *In my mind there is associated a sacred and religious
sentiment in connection with Mackinac Island and the
Mackinac country. Here, those self-sacrificing martyrs
and heroes, the Jesuit missionaries, labored and suffered, to
teach the savages the story of the Cross; and we are fortu-
nate today, not only in the eminence and eloquence of those
who are to address us, but especially in the presence of a
noted scholar and historian, who has honored this occasion
by journeying from New York to tell us of Jean Nicolet
We are indebted to the President of the Michigan Historical
Commission, Rt. Rev. Monsignor Frank A. O'Brien, LL.D.,
for the bringing of Father Campbell here, and one and all,
we wish to make grateful acknowledgment.
REV. THOMAS J. CAMPBELL. SJ.
The well known author and scholar
JOHN NICOLET MEMORIAL TABLET, MACKINAC ISLAND
JEAN NICOLET 491
" *Mayor Preston, we thank you for the warm and gen-
erous welcome you have accorded to us. You are Mayor
of the most beautiful city in the world, and you number
among your population summer residents from every part
of the Union. That this event may stimulate and foster
the study of the history of Michigan and the Old Northwest
is my earnest hope.*
"The speaker of the day was the Rev. Thomas J. Camp-
bell, S. J., author of Pioneer Priests of America, and Pion-
eer Laymen of America. His address follows:
'The memorial tablet of Jean Nicolet which has been
affixed to the rocks of the Island of Mackinac, is not only
the record of a notable historical event, but is also the dec-
laration of a doctrine. It is a protest against a philosoph-
ical theory prevalent at the present day, which makes man
the creature as well as the victim of his environment a
theory which assails the dignity of human nature, by rob-
bing it of its freedom of will, and connotes a mental atti-
tude despised even by the old pagans themselves. "The just
man," sings the famous Roman poet, "will persist in his
purpose; and even if the whole world were to crash about
his head, he will stand amid the ruins undismayed." The
Christian view is not content even with this, and proclaims
that he alone is the true hero who makes disaster itself con-
tribute to his glory.
" *Jean Nicolet was not a great explorer, like Champlain ;
he was not a picturesque Governor, like Frontenac; not a
daring fighter, like Iberville; not even a successful dis-
coverer, like Marquette; nor a martyr, like his friends
Brebeuf, Jogues, Daniel, Gamier, and Garreau. He oc-
cupied no conspicuous position in the official world ; he was
492 HISTORIC MACKINAC
not entrusted with the building or moulding or modifying
of a commonwealth or a colony ; he was simply an employe
in a trading post; an Indian interpreter, who passed the
longest and most ambitious period of his life amid sur-
roundings that were calculated to tear out of his heart not
only every noble aspiration, but every recollection of Chris-
tianity and civilization. Yet he was a man who was not
only not influenced or harmed by them, but who made them
minister to his advancement in the noblest qualities that
adorn humanity.
" 'In being such, Nicolet achieved a greater glory than
the one which this tablet specifically commemorates:
namely, his entrance into a new and unknown territory.
Being so concealed from the public gaze, and engaged in
work that usually escapes recognition, it is a remarkable
tribute to his work, that after almost three hundred years,
he should be selected by a great Commonwealth as particu-
larly worthy of honor. He is not only the first white man
who appeared in what is now the state of Michigan, but he
is a man whose virtues may be proposed to the youth of the
country as an example and an inspiration.
' 'Nicolet was a mere lad when he stepped ashore at
Quebec in 1618; and the conditions that prevailed there, at
that time, must have filled him with consternation and dis-
may. For ten years the heroic Champlain had been strug-
gling with adversity, and each year only brought him nearer
to the brink of destruction and despair. He was in the
relentless grip of a Fur Company that not only owned the
colony, but had determined to defeat the magnificent proj-
ect of making it a mighty appanage of the crown of France,
and of increasing the glory and power of the mother country
in the New World. For the traders, it was to be merely a
JEAN NICOLET 493
post for the making of money. The establishment of a
colony of Europeans, and the conversion and civilization
of the savages, or the higher considerations of patriotism,
did not enter into their calculations; and Champlain was
thwarted at every step.
" 'The result was, that while the English colony of James-
town in Virginia had, about that time, four thousand set-
tlers, who owned their own lands and made their own laws,
Quebec had no more than forty or fifty people, even includ-
ing the employes of the Company and the missionaries, and
they were all dependent on the heartless corporation even
for bread to eat. The fort was in a state of dilapidation
and decay; no assistance could be obtained even to repair
its walls, and the countless journeys of Champlain across
the ocean to plead for his wretched colony only met with
apathy and unconcern, or with promises that were never
kept. In spite of it all, however, he kept up the unequal
fight. Though beaten and beaten again, he persevered, in
spite of accumulated disasters which would have crushed
any ordinary man, until at last, after more than a quarter
of a century, he won the glory of being classed among the
greatest men in the history of the Western World.
' 'It must have been the contemplation of Champlain's
splendid personality that inspired young Nicolet to live in
like manner in the humble career in which Providence had
placed him. Around him were a number of young repro-
bates whose names are infamous in Canadian history:
Vignau, who endeavored to murder Champlain; Brule,
whose morals were so depraved that he was killed by the
savages; and Marsollet, who, though not so base as the
others, proved a traitor when Quebec succumbed to the
English. Not only with these and their similars did Nico-
494 HISTORIC MACKINAC
let have nothing to do, but he, by his example, uncon-
sciously no doubt, but truly nevertheless, inaugurated that
long line of youthful Canadian heroes whose equals it
would be difficult to find in the history of any other country.
There was, for example, young Francois Marguerie, the
idol of the colony, a splendid Indian fighter, of whom it is
recorded that once when he stood with his sword at the
throat of a savage, he dropped it, saying: "If I kill him I
shall be killed instantly. If I am tortured to death I shall
have more time to prepare," and he surrendered. There
was his companion, Normanville, who would travel hun-
dreds of miles, in mid-winter, to get a priest for a sick In-
dian, and who, after a life of adventures ending in the
valiant defense of Three Rivers, was burned at the stake on
the Mohawk ; there was Charles Le Moyne, the defender of
Montreal when he was only a stripling, who, besides the
memory of his countless exploits, left as a heritage to New
France a remarkable family of heroes such as Iberville,
Longueuil, Sainte-Helene, Bienville, Chateaugay and the
rest, and omitting a throng of others like Goupil, Cou-
ture, Lalande and the wonderful Christian Indian boy, Ar-
mand Jean, who reflected honor on the great Cardinal Riche-
lieu after whom he was named it will be sufficient to recall
the memory of the glorious sixteen under Daulac or Dol-
lard (only one of whom was above thirty) who, in spite of
their youth and inexperience, withstood eight hundred Iro-
quois, and by the sacrifice of their lives, for every one fell,
saved New France from utter destruction. Jean Nicolet
was the first leader of this glorious line.
" 'The first test to which he was put was his appointment
as interpreter on Allumette Island, far up the Ottawa. No
doubt, like any other healthy boy, he was fascinated by the
JEAN NICOLET 495
wild beauty of the region through which he passed on his
first journey into the depths of the country. He had never
seen anything equal to the Rideau as it dropped curtain-like
into the mighty river beneath; nothing so terrible as the
Chaudiere where the Indians, descending or ascending the
stream, performed their incantations, to propitiate the evil
spirits that dwelt in the boiling waters; nothing so startling
as the angry leap of the waters over the rocks of the Calu-
met, where today stands, under the pines, the gleaming
marble shaft, a la memoire de Cadieux, who in his days,
was to be another Nicolet. All this doubtless amazed and
delighted him; but the poetry of the life was soon dissipated
when he found himself in the grossness and squalor and
filth, both physical and moral, of the Algonquin wigwams.
The aborigines were far from being the noble creatures de-
picted by Fenimore Cooper and other romancers, but were
steeped in the foulest vices. Again and again the mission-
aries protested against leaving young and unprotected boys
in such surroundings, without any religious assistance to
keep them from becoming as bad as the savages themselves;
but the traders, whose employee Nicolet was, considered
moral disasters of very little importance if the storehouses
at Quebec were filled with furs.
4 *In that place, young Nicolet remained for two years,
completely mastering the various Algonquin dialects, and
exercising such an influence over his Indian friends that he
was able to lead four hundred of their braves down to the
Mohawk to make a treaty of peace with the terrible Iro-
quois.
* 'Of course this embassy was due, in large measure at
least, to Champlain; and it goes far to exculpate him from
the charge, so frequently urged against him, that the long
496 HISTORIC MACKINAC
series of Iroquois wars was the result of his indiscretion.
As a matter of fact, the battles of Lake Champlain and Cap
au Massacre were unavoidable; for the Iroquois were ac-
tually invading the country and had to be repelled, if an
indiscriminate massacre of red and white men alike was to
be averted. To have made a treaty of peace so soon after
the battle of Oneida, clearly shows the falsity of the accusa-
tion that the Iroquois nourished an implacable hatred of the
French. After Nicolet's visit to them, the incursions
ceased, and were renewed only when the incompetency and
blundering of some of Champlain's successors prompted the
Indians to dig up the hatchet and renew their depredations.
" 'Nicolet remained for two years on Allumette Island,
and was then transferred to the Nippisirien country which
the missionaries called the land of the sorcerers, because,
day and night, the drum of the medicine-men was heard on
the lake or in the forests conjuring the evil spirits. Evi-
dently a great change had been wrought in the disposition of
the Indians of those regions, and it was most likely the re-
sult of Nicolet's skill in managing them. Only a few years
before, Champlain was warned that it was as much as his
life was worth to venture among them; but young Nicolet
not only established a trading post among them, but was
adopted by the tribe, became one of their great chiefs,
with a voice in their most solemn councils, and participated
in all their hunting and warlike expeditions. In this place
he lived nine consecutive years, undergoing all the hard-
ships of the savages; we hear of him frequently passing two
or three days without a morsel to eat, and on one occasion
supporting life for five or six weeks by gnawing the bark of
the forest trees. Of these adventures he kept a record and
JEAN NICOLET 497
gave it to the Jesuit Fathers, but we have been unable to
lay hands upon it
" 'It was during this period that an overwhelming dis-
aster befell the colony, in the capture of what was supposed
to be the stronghold of Quebec. In 1628, while Champlain
was anxiously waiting for supplies from Europe, to stave
off starvation from the garrison and the colony, an English
ship under the famous Kirke, appeared in the river and de-
manded the surrender of the fort. The garrison had abso-
lutely no food at the time, and there were but fifty pounds
of powder in the magazine; but Champlain defied the en-
emy to make the assault. Astounded by the answer, Kirke
actually lifted anchor, and sailed down the river; but the
next year three ships appeared, the French flag was hauled
down from the citadel, and the banner of England floated
in its place.
" *It was on this occasion that the dastardly character of
young Brule and Marsollet displayed itself. They had
revealed the helpless condition of the garrison to the enemy,
and were on the very ships that had come to demand the
surrender of the city. Absolutely unlike them was Jean
Nicolet. He remained at his post among the Nippisiriens,
and waited for better times.
* 'In 1632, Champlain came back again, no longer in the
fetters of the trading company, but as the Lieutenant of
Richelieu and the first governor of New France. After a
fight of twenty-four years, he had triumphed, and only then
did the colony on the St. Lawrence begin to live. Nicolet
was recalled from the interior and given charge of the
trading post at Three Rivers.
" 'It was during this period that Nicolet was commis-
sioned by Champlain to discover the great river that was
498 HISTORIC MACKINAC
supposed to empty into the Western Sea. He was thus
about to realize the dream that had haunted the imagina-
tion of Europe for centuries about the passage to China or
Cathay. The delusion had assumed a new form after the
St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes had been explored. The
sapient geographers of the world judged that as there was
a mighty river flowing east from the center of the continent,
these must be a corresponding one flowing west, to preserve
the equilibrium. To find it, Nicolet set out from Three
Rivers, and this was the reason why his wanderings led him
to the Island of Mackinac. He came dressed as a Chinese
mandarin, in a gorgeous robe of damask which was richly
embroidered with figures of birds and flowers, in the hope
of awakening some long-buried atavistic memories in the
minds of the savages who were supposed by the learned men
of the times to be of Asiatic origin.
" 'On the other hand, it is difficult to conceive that either
Champlain or Nicolet shared in this delusion. They both
knew the Indians too well. Champlain had passed a whole
winter among the Hurons, and his account of the habits and
character of those savages is, today, a classic for the ethno-
logical student. Nicolet had lived eleven years among the
Algonquins and Nippisiriens, and he also was perfectly
well aware that, apart from some mythological nonsense
about their origin, there was no tradition of anything what-
ever connecting them with the Chinese. Indeed, it is quite
possible that it was merely to satisfy some theorist in France
or Quebec that the masquerade was adopted.
'The report of Nicolet's coming, however, as the great
representative of the white men, to arrange for a treaty of
peace was, of course, rapidly spread among the tribes and,
somewhere on the shores of Lake Michigan, four or five
JEAN NICOLET 499
thousand Indians assembled to meet him. It was an amaz-
ing spectacle for them. The distinguished envoy whom
doubtless many of them had known at Allumette and Lake
Nippising, was no longer in his usual attire of a hunter, but
in a splendid robe such as they had never seen before. On
either side of him great poles were erected on which num-
berless presents were displayed. In his hands he held
two ponderous horse-pistols, and after haranguing the In-
dians in their own language and expatiating on the desir-
ability of a lasting and universal peace with the supreme
chief at Quebec, he lifted up his instruments of war to-
wards the sky. A terrible explosion followed, and the
squaws, and perhaps many of the braves, scampered away
in terror from the mighty man who held the thunders of
heaven in his hands. They soon recovered their senses,
however, and as no one was injured, they returned to ex-
press their satisfaction with the proposals of peace and the
presents which he had come to offer. But from none of
them could Nicolet learn anything of China, nor did he find
the great river that flowed into the Pacific, though he re-
ported on his return to Quebec, that a few days' journey
would have carried him thither. It is somewhat surprising
that he did not continue his search, but possibly it was be-
cause the river they spoke of took a southerly, and not a
westerly course, and could not therefore be the one he was
sent out to find. Had he continued, he would have antici-
pated Marquette by nearly forty years.
" *This was in 1634. On Christmas day, 1635, the
great Champlain, worn out by his life of hardships and per-
haps by the worry to which he had been subjected from the
first day he built his miserable hut at the rock of Quebec, at
last went to his well-merited reward. He was succeeded by
500 HISTORIC MACKINAC
Montmagny, whose name, Onontio, an Indian translation of
Great Mountain, remained as the descriptive designation
of all subsequent governors of Quebec. Montmagny was
a worthy successor of Champlain, whom he took for a
model, and during his long tenure of office did efficient work
in building up the colony, in spite of the apathy of the
home government wihch left him almost without resources.
Louis XIV was too busy with his European enemies to find
time enough to learn of the importance of his colonial pos-
sessions.
" 'At last, some one stirred up the Iroquois; and then
Canada entered upon the bloody epoch of her history.
Three Rivers, where Nicolet was living, was the central
point of attack, and the St. Lawrence was swarming with
Iroquois in war paint. Brebeuf had come down from the
upper country, and had narrowly escaped with his life on
his way down to Quebec. The war, however, was not pre-
cisely against the whites. It was an attack on the old foes
of the Iroquois, the Algonquins, but the French of course
were involved. It was at this juncture that young Mar-
guerie returned from captivity as an Iroquois envoy
and was sent to the French fort to arrange a treaty of
peace.
" 'But in spite of it all, warlike preparations were soon
made; forts were built on the other side of the St. Lawrence;
Montmagny came up from Quebec to direct the fight if it
should assume large proportions; there were raids and cap-
tures here and there, and in the melee we see the figure of
Nicolet constantly appearing. He and Father Ragueneau
are crossing and recrossing the St. Lawrence again and
again, entering the forts of the Iroquois, at the risk of their
lives, to plead for a reconciliation, until finally, after some
JEAN NICOLET 501
show of fight on the part of the invaders, a temporary calm
resulted. This was in the year 1641.
" 'Soon afterwards Nicolet was summoned to Quebec to
take the place of his brother-in-law, Le Tardif, as chief offi-
cial of the trading company. He was hardly there a month,
when news came down from Three Rivers that a Sokoki In-
dian was about to be put to death by the Algonquins. This
meant a renewal of hostilities, for the Sokokis of Maine
were allies of the Iroquois and the execution of the captive
had to be stopped at all hazards. It was then October 27;
the ice was forming in the river, the night was coming on,
but without a moment's hesitation Nicolet leaped aboard a
shallop that was making for Sillery. While rounding the
point a squall struck the boat, and in a moment the crew
were struggling with icy waters. One by one they dis-
appeared in the dark river, though only a short distance
from shore. Nicolet and De Chavigny were soon the only
ones left. At last, chilled by the bitter cold, and feeling
his strength completely exhausted, Nicolet called out to
his friend, "Make for the shore, De Chavigny, you can
swim. Bid good-bye to my wife and children; I am going
to God." The waves closed over him, and he was never
seen again. De Chavigny succeeded in reaching the shore,
and more dead than alive, staggered into the Jesuit house at
Sillery, where he told the dreadful occurrence to Father de
Brebeuf.
" 'The news spread consternation in the colony. The
Indians especially were alarmed, for they had lost a friend,
a protector, and a father, and they ran like crazy people up
and down the bank of the river, crying 'Achirra! Achirra!
Shall we never see thee more?' The whites too had reason
to fear. No one exercised such an influence over the na-
502 HISTORIC MACKINAC
tives as Nicolet. He bent them without difficulty to his
will, at any moment and for all kinds of enterprises.
" *As a Christian, the missionaries bear testimony that the
virtues of Nicolet were those of the apostolic times, and that
even the most devoted priest might take him as a model of
piety and self-sacrifice. Perhaps the best description of
his character, in this respect, may be found in the list of
books contained in his little library at Quebec. It con-
sisted of: The Metamorphosis of Ovid; The Relation of
1637; Portuguese Discoveries in the West Indies; Collec-
tion of Gazettes from 1634; The Art of Fencing, Inventory
of Science; History of St. Ursula; Meditations on the Life
of Christ; The Secretary of the Court; The Clock of Devo-
tion; The Way to Live for God; Elements of Logic; The
Holy Duties of a Devout Life; History of Portugal; Missal;
Life of the Redeemer of the World; History of the West
Indies; The Lives of the Saints in folio.
" 'Such was Jean Nicolet; a man who occupied a very
humble place, even in the miserable colony of Quebec,
but who, by the force of his own irreproachable character
exercised a most extraordinary influence for good, both
among the colonists and the natives. From the very begin-
ning of his career, though thrown into surroundings which
had wrecked the lives of many of his compatriots and had
changed them from the representatives of most excellent
families into wild and depraved coureurs de bois, he had
kept his own virtue untarnished. He was entrusted by his
superiors with the most important missions, and was ad-
mired and loved by such men as De Brebeuf, Ragueneau,
Jogues, and indeed by all the missionaries. In brief, he
was a man of the world who at every stage of his short
career would have been able to utter the same words that
JEAN NICOLET 503
left his lips when the waters of the St. Lawrence were
closing over him: "I am going to God."
" 'Michigan may well be proud of the first white man
who set foot upon her soil.'
"THE CHAIRMAN : "There is an old saying that comes to
us from antiquity, "The noblest motive is the public good."
This thought is exemplified in the work of Mackinac Island
State Park Commission, as well as in that of the Michigan
Historical Commission.
" *About twenty-five years ago, a just congress ceded to
the state of Michigan, for state park purposes, this part of
Mackinac Island. To take charge of this park, the legis-
lature created a commission, known as the Mackinac Island
State Park Commission, giving it full authority and a small
annual appropriation for its maintenance.
" 'It was therefore eminently fitting that the Michigan
Historical Commission, charged by the legislature with the
task of preserving Michigan history, should cooperate with
the Mackinac Island State Park Commission in placing
memorial tablets in honor of early explorers and mission-
aries in this state park. It is also becoming that the pre-
sentation of this tablet today, to the state of Michigan,
should be made by the President of the Michigan Histori-
cal Commission.
4 *Monsignor O'Brien is so well known in the State, so
beloved by all, that he needs no introduction by me. His
ripe scholarship, his analytical mind, his reputation as a
critic of history, as well as his recognized ability as an his-
torian of Michigan and the Old Northwest, eminently qual-
ifies him for the exalted position which he occupies. Rt.
Rev. Monsignor Frank A. O'Brien, I.L.I)., of Kalamazoo,
504 HISTORIC MACKINAC
President of the Michigan Historical Commission, will now
present the tablet of John Nicolet.'
ADDRESS OF RT. REV. MONSIGNOR O'BRIEN
" 'We have heard from the lips of one of the world's most
noted historians, the graphically told story of the hero of
the day. Little did John Nicolet think when he was at-
tempting such wonders, that his memory would be cher-
ished, that a bronze tablet would be erected to honor him,
two hundred years after he had passed away.
" 'Nature had endowed Nicolet with wondrous gifts.
Grace had supernaturalized his ambition into a burning
fidelity to God and country. Others were blessed with
great loyalty; others enjoyed a greater rank, but none pos-
sessed a nobler nature, a stronger arm, or a more devoted
heart. He had the soldier's aspirations, without the sol-
dier's love of greed. He had the love of victory, without
the love of honors which it gave. He yearned for something
great, yet he felt that the Old World would give him little
to do; France had not been able to call his greatness into
action. He sought other fields to increase his country's
glory by discovery; he sought to spread God's Kingdom.
" 'Under the banner of the Cross he went forward. He
led his chosen bands through wilds unknown. Swift as
the lightning to resolve, he was as firm as a rock in execu-
tion. Where others hesitated, he quailed not. He was
majestic, animated, resistless, and persistent.
' 'Nicolet did better than he knew; today he receives
honors, which he won.'
"At this point Monsignor O'Brien unveiled the tablet.
JEAN NICOLET 505
"THE CHAIRMAN : "The absence of Judge Steere, of the
Supreme Court of Michigan, necessitated the selection of
some other well known man of Michigan to accept the
tablet on behalf of the State. Fortunately, Honorable Law-
ton T. Hemans, although not in the best of health, was
prevailed upon to represent the State in this capacity.
A better choice for this honor could not have been
made.
* *I have had the pleasure and it has been a great pleas-
ure to know Mr. Hemans for years. As a public repre-
sentative in Lansing, and later, as candidate for Governor
of Michigan, he endeared himself to all by his lovable and
enduring qualities of heart and mind. His deep learning,
his high character and his knowledge of the state of Michi-
gan, both in the early times as well as today, gives him a
standing possessed by few, and excelled by none. As a
historian of Michigan, his books have received much de-
served praise; as a man, his lovableness, his simplicity,
his sterling character and broadmindedness, are known
and appreciated; as a public official, his reputation is
without stain/
' 'It gives me great pleasure to introduce Honorable
Lawton T. Hemans, Chairman of the Michigan Railroad
Commission, and a member of the Michigan Historical
Commission, who will accept the tablet on behalf of the
State.'
"In felicitous and extremely appropriate words, Mr. He-
mans accepted the tablet on behalf of the state of Michigan.
"THE CHAIRMAN: 'We will now close the exercises of
the day by the audience rising and singing our national
506
HISTORIC MACKINAC
anthem, "My Country, Tis of Thee, Sweet Land of Liberty,
of Thee I Sing." ' "
Note. Mayor Preston and Lawton T. Hemans, who took part in
the program for the Nicolet Day exercises, were each called to
their reward within less than two years.
CHAPTER XX
LEWIS CASS DAY ON MACKINAC ISLAND
UNVEILING A MEMORIAL TABLET UNDER THE JOINT
AUSPICES OF THE MICHIGAN HISTORICAL COM-
MISSION AND THE MACKINAC ISLAND
STATE PARK COMMISSION
ON Saturday, August 28, 1915, the Mackinac Island
State Park Commission and the Michigan Historical
Commission, acting jointly for the people of Michi-
gan, with appropriate ceremonies unveiled a bronze tablet
marking "Cass Cliff," the bluff beyond and to the east of
historic Fort Mackinac, in memory of Lewis Cass. This
is the second tablet erected under similar auspices, to beau-
tify the State Park and to commemorate the memory of men
connected with the history of Michigan and the Old North-
west. The first tablet was dedicated to John (Jean) Nico-
let, July 13, 1915; an account of the exercises on that
occasion was published in the Michigan Historical Com-
mission's Bulletin No. 6.
Hon. Edwin 0. Wood, a member both of the Mackinac
Island State Park Commission and of the Michigan His-
torical Commission, was appointed chairman for Lewis
Cass Day exercises.
The speaker of the day was Hon. Edwin Henderson, a
student of American history and especially of the life and
services of General Cass; among the speakers were also
Col. William P. Preston, Mayor of Mackinac Island; Rev.
Seth Reed, of Flint, a friend and former neighbour of Gov-
607
508
HISTORIC MACKINAC
ernor Cass; United States Senator Atlee Pomerene, of Ohio;
Rt. Rev. Monsignor Frank A. O'Brien, LL.D., of Kalama-
zoo, President of the Michigan Historical Commission; and
Hon. Woodbridge N. Ferris, Governor of Michigan.
Among others present were Mrs. Ferris, and Mr. Justice
FORT MACKINAC
From an early sketch
William R. Day, of the United States Supreme Court; men
prominent in all walks of life were gathered there from
nearly every State in the Union.
The tablet was provided by popular subscription. The
committee in charge was Governor Woodbridge N. Ferris,
chairman; Judge William F. Connolly, secretary; Col. Wil-
liam P. Preston, treasurer.
The scene on Mackinac Island at the celebration of Lewis
LEWIS CASS 509
Cass Day was deeply impressive. A procession formed at
noon, and a band swung into march from its place near
the waters of the harbor; with the roll of drums there came
behind it the crew of jackies from the U. S. revenue cutter
Morrill; behind them marched the Michigan National
Guard from Cheboygan, as an escort to Governor Ferris;
and after the militia came the carriages, with many dis-
tinguished guests from all parts of the country, winding
on and up the steep road to historic old Fort Mackinac.
They reached at length the old portiers where, enclosed by
the stone walls, the tablet was unveiled. The permanent
location of the tablet is to be at Cass Cliff, the east bluff
adjoining Sinclair Grove on the east.
The white buildings, the green of summer, seen in
glimpses above the roofs; the sparkling blue of the sky
overhead, where the eye was caught by the fluttering of the
flag front the tall shaft; below it, the age-green cannon;
the mingling glare of color where the soldiers and sailors
stood against the green carpet in the enclosure; the gay
summer attire of the resorters; the beautiful children as
they ran in and about the edge of the crowd all made a fit
setting for exercises to honor Lewis Cass, who throughout
two decades of his young manhood gave his great energies
that Michigan might enjoy the fruits of peace and pros-
perity. - ; -ytt!
Upon opening the exercises the chairman called upon
the Rev. Dr. C. H. Hanks, chaplain of the tenth regiment of
Ohio during the Spanish war, and later chaplain of the
thirty-first regiment of the Michigan National Guard, who
delivered the invocation.
At the close of the invocation, the chairman, after a word
of greeting to the assembled guests, presented Col. William
510 HISTORIC MACKINAC
P. Preston, as "the chief executive of the City of Mackinac
Island, who has in years gone by for seventeen or eighteen
years been either the president or the mayor; first, when it
was a village, and later, as a city, and this year named by
his neighbors and friends, without opposition, to be the
mayor of this city; the man, more than any one else, to
whom we are indebted, in the hazardous and perilous and
narrow channel in the Straits of Mackinac, for the splendid
life-saving, or coast-guard station, which is now being
erected. It is a privilege and an honor to present Mayor
Preston, who will now address you."
COL. WILLIAM P. PRESTON: "Governor Ferris, Mr.
Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, and our guests: I do
not know whether this is a Biblical saying or not, or
whether it is something that originated with our church
people, but they say that an open confession is good for the
soul; and I want to make that confession here today. Now,
I had thought of a nice little historical speech that I ex-
pected to deliver here; but since we have the eloquent
speakers that we have with us, I do not feel that I should
take your time.
"A short time ago, my friends, we dedicated a tablet on
this Island to John Nicolet, who, as history tells us, was
the first white man that passed through the Straits of Mack-
inac. At the time of the unveiling of that tablet I said that
it is not very often that even the chief executive of so small
a city as ours, has the opportunity, and the honor, of ex-
tending a welcome to such a distinguished assemblage as
we had with us on that day.
"But it seems that honors are sometimes like our
troubles; they do not come singly. So today, I again have
LEWIS CASS 511
the privilege and the honor of extending a welcome to you
who are here, to pay tribute to one of Michigan's greatest
statesmen in fact one of the greatest statesmen of our
country, in his time. It is not my purpose to speak of the
life, the character and the services of General Cass. I will
leave that to men who are more able to do so than myself.
"It is impossible for an old soldier to get away from
some sentiment, when he has an opportunity of expressing
himself. You are here today in one of the most historic
places in our country. You are on a spot where, with a
very short interruption, the flag of our country has flown for
a century and a quarter. You are here where these stone
quarters have sheltered and harbored some of the most dis-
tinguished officers that served in the Mexican War, and in
the Civil War, on both sides. Just one instance: General
Pemberton, who surrendered to General Grant at Vicksburg
in 1863, in one of the pivotal battles of the War, served
at this Post; and I might go on and name many officers who
gained distinction in that war, who were here at that time.
"And so I have a feeling of sentiment for this old Post;
seven years of my life were spent in the army, two years
and a half of it in this Post; so that I really have a sentiment
for it in greater degree perhaps than would possibly exist
with many others.
"If I should start in on our love of country, and our pa-
triotism, and loyalty to our flag, I would not know where to
stop, because with us old fellows who responded to the call
of President Lincoln in 1861, we feel that love of country,
and patriotism, and loyalty to our flag, is like that old, old
story that we have heard so often, that we love so well, at
Christmas time. We believe that that story and the love
of country go hand in hand ; because we are taught by our
512 HISTORIC MACKINAC
ritual of the Grand Army of the Republic: our God first,
our country next.
"Now, in the name of our city, in the name of our beauti-
ful Island, to you, Governor, and to Mrs. Ferris, Mr. Chair-
man, and ladies and gentlemen, and to all of our guests,
we extend a sincere and cordial welcome."
The following messages of regret were read :
PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON : "It is a matter of most sin-
cere and unaffected regret on my part that I cannot be
present at the unveiling of the Cass Memorial at Mack-
inac on August 28, but I should not really be doing honor
to a great statesman if I were to neglect my duties here
in order to pay him my tribute of respect.
"All thoughtful students of American history must
join you in thought and sympathy, as you render your
tribute to a man who sought to serve the great nation
which we love, and who has written his name with such
honorable distinction upon its annals."
UNITED STATES SENATOR WILLIAM ALDEN SMITH: "I re-
gret beyond expression that I am unable to reach Mack-
inac Island for the program in honor of Lewis Cass, who
honored Michigan by his wonderful character, ability
and service during his years of public usefulness."
THE CHAIRMAN: "It has been a rule in my life not to
announce upon any program one who cannot appear; and
it had been my hope that the one who, more than any other,
unless it be Mayor Preston, or the Governor, has worked
for the success of this project, should either be the chair-
man or one of the speakers. I refer to one of Michigan's
LEWIS CASS 513
foremost men ; I am glad on every occasion to pay tribute to
the character, to the ability, to the public-spirited work, of
Judge William F. Connolly, of Detroit.
"Judge Connolly has taken twenty-five hundred boys and
young men, fathers and sons, who have for the first time
committed an offense, through mistakes we all might make,
and Judge Connolly has said, 'No, not the prison life for
you ; go home, and I will help you make men of yourselves*
twenty-five hundred men and boys in the city of Detroit,
and ninety-five percent of them making good.
"Judge Connolly ought to be on this platform, as the
Chairman of the day; but, with the modesty that he prac-
tices in everything, he said, 'No.' However, we have been
permitted to draft his little son, Jack, four years old, and
Walter Owen Briggs, four years old the son of Walter 0.
Briggs, Secretary of the Mackinac Island State Park Com-
mission who will now unveil this beautful tablet."
At this point the tablet was unveiled.
THE CHAIRMAN: "I am going to honor this occasion by
presenting to you my friend and neighbor from Flint, who
was a neighbor, more than fifty years ago in Detroit, of
General Lewis Cass. He is ninety-two years old. It is an
honor, as it is a privilege, to present to you the Rev. Seth
Reed, of Flint
REV. SETH REED: "Mr. Chairman, and friends of one
whom we meet to honor today. I will not take your time
to tell you how glad I am of the privilege of meeting
friends in the name of a man whom I admire Lewis Cass.
I rejoice to think of him as a friend and a neighbor. I
will not speak of his public acts, or sterling qualities; others
514 HISTORIC MACKINAC
will do that; I will allude simply to his urbanity. He was
a genial neighbor; he was a delightful companion in con-
versation. He did not dwell upon his own qualities, or his
own performances, but upon themes that were interesting,
and of a personal value to those with whom he conversed.
"For three or four years his home was near mine in De-
troit; one year, especially, there were but few doors be-
tween ours. I would pass his house almost daily; and
when the weather was pleasant, I would see him sitting on
his veranda, ready to give a word of cheer, and a pleasant
bow and smile to his neighbors as they passed by.
"One little incident occurs to me which I will mention.
My parishioners at that time gave me a public donation
gathering. It was held in the auditorium of my church,
and among the neighbors who called at that time, was Gen-
eral Cass ; another caller was an aged priest, Father Mason
an Irishman. The two persons seemed to come together
and affiliate very promptly; we had them sit on the plat-
form. General Cass was feeble, and he found it difficult
to get up the stairs, and he turned and said to Father Mason:
*Father Mason, when you are as old as I am, I hope you
will be smarter than I am.' *Indade,' said Father Mason,
'General, when you are as old as I am, I hope you will be
as smart as I am/
"It caused pleasant laughter among the people; and I
know not how many remembered it, but it pleased us all.
It was a good specimen of his geniality.
"Friends, if in fifty or seventy-five years from now, any
of you shall meet on an occasion similar to this, in memory
of our noble Governor, who is a successor of General Cass
as he was once Governor of Michigan if you meet, in
memory of either of them, on an occasion like this, and you
LEWIS CASS 515
shall say the pleasant things of them which I hear you
saying of General Cass, I will be there, if I am around in
this part of the country, in order to say, Amen.
THE CHAIRMAN: "When we were looking for a speaker,
whose words should become permanent in the records of
the historical collections of this state, we desired a student
of the life and services of General Cass; we wanted a man
whose ability, and whose experience was known to all.
We sought a lawyer, because General Cass was a lawyer;
we preferred a man from Detroit, because General Cass'
activities during a long period of years, were there. It is
an honor to present to you one of the foremost citizens of
Detroit and of* Michigan, the Honorable Edwin Hender-
son."
Long applause greeted the name of Mr. Henderson. As
the speaker stepped to the edge of the low platform and
looked down into the upturned faces, he seemed to feel the
spell of the past. His tones sank into the monotone of emo-
tion, as he led the silent multitude back into bygone days
when General Cass was here, and gave them a glimpse of
the land that lay as quiet about them today as it was in
that far day of beginnings.
ADDRESS OF HON. EDWIN HENDERSON
"GOVERNOR FERRIS, MR. CHAIRMAN, LADIES AND GEN-
TLEMEN: We are assembled today, within these historic
walls, to do honor to the memory of Lewis Cass. This
place and time seem eminently fitting to this day's deed.
"The shadows of these venerable walls irresistibly lead
memory back to that early day when this Post stood solitary
sentinel over the empire of the Northwest against the in-
vasion of a foreign foe. In truth, a hallowed place! Hal-
516 HISTORIC MACKINAC
lowed by the deeds and sacrifices, the tears and blood of the
patriots who here unfurled the flag of the republic to the
breeze of the frontier horizon.
"Fort Michilimackinac! Grim guardian of the north-
ern gate of the republic! What American can stand
within your sacred precincts without inspiring an exaltation
of spirit from the very air of patriotism that here so richly
abides? More than a century of storm and sunshine has
mellowed the stern menace of your visage; and yet, across
that waste of years we seem to hear the steady tramp of men
and the blare of martial music: it is the immortal pioneers,
the men of America springing up at their mother's call to
defend her far-flung frontier against foreign guile and
greed, and force and Indian savagery.
"This far north bulwark of American liberty is a pecul-
iarly proper stage from which to speak the fame of Lewis
Cass at this hour of our history. Those who had the task
of preparing the text for this tablet might well have been
content to inscribe upon it but these few words:
" 'In Memory of
LEWIS CASS,
An American.'
"This simple tribute would have met his own conception
of his claim to distinction, for when he spoke a message to
the United States or the world in any other name than his
own, the nom-de-plume he chose was the simple title An
American.
"Why do I say that this instant hour is a peculiarly
timely one to do honor to Lewis Cass, American? Because
the need of this hour is for the Americanism of Lewis Cass;
an Americanism that is all American ; a hyphenless Ameri-
LEWIS CASS 517
canism; an Americanism that has a heart for but one land
and one flag; that land, the American republic; that flag,
the Stars and Stripes.
"The inspiration of Lewis Cass in all his career was his
burning love of the American republic, and its institutions.
It was this love of his country that inspired him to leave his
comfortable home in the Ohio Valley, his lucrative busi-
ness, his family and his friends, and march at the head
of his regiment through hundreds of miles of trackless
swamp and forest to the defense of the frontier post of
Detroit. It was this love of country that impelled him to
fight the first battle of the War of 1812; this love of his
country compelled him to rejoin his regiment, after being
exchanged as a prisoner of war, and serve with conspicuous
gallantry at the battle of the Thames; this love of his
country constrained him to resign his post as Minister to
France because his government had negotiated a treaty
with Great Britain which did not include an express dis-
avowal of Great Britain's claimed right to search American
ships; this love of country led him in a birch canoe from
Fort Detroit to the very spot where now we stand, and then
on and on through the Ste. Mary's River, across the
waters of Lake Superior; across a trackless wilderness
today included in the commonwealths of Wisconsin, Min-
nesota, the Dakotas and Iowa winning an empire from
savagery, to place it as a sparkling jewel in Columbia's
diadem.
"It was this love of his country that constrained him to
return with dignified disdain to Buchanan the premier-
ship of the nation, when he declined to fortify the
port of Charleston against threatened secession and re-
bellion. This love of country impelled him to stand by
518 HISTORIC MACKINAC
the Union in the troubled days of 1861, and with his voice
and substance, rally the Northwest to the call of Abraham
Lincoln. His learning, his enterprise, his military fame,
his statesmanship, all were rooted in his love of the Ameri-
can republic. All found nurture, vitality and growth in
the fact that he was, above all and before all, an American.
"For the quick, therefore, I speak the fame of the mighty
dead; I speak it as I think he would wish it to be spoken;
as though out of the dim vista of that bygone day he strode
forth to this place, and here, a majestic shade, voiced his
message of American patriotism to the children of his
mighty empire.
"Lewis Cass was born at Exeter, New Hampshire, on
October 9th, 1782. His father, Jonathan Cass, was the
village blacksmith; but when the echoes of the battle of
Lexington rolled into the New Hampshire hills, forthwith he
closed his forge, cast away his sledge, and snatching his
rifle, hurried to join the patriot hosts. He fought at Bunker
Hill, at Princeton, at Trenton, and at Monmouth; he was
no ninety-day volunteer. From the day after Lexington
until the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, he followed
the flag of his country through defeat and disaster to tri-
umph and liberty. Of such stuff was the father of Lewis
Cass.
"The boyhood of Lewis Cass fell in the troubled times of
the Confederation. The very desperation of those trying
days burned into his very soul an abiding love of the Union,
and of its Constitution.
" 'You remember, young man,' he said to James A. Gar-
field in 1861, 'that the Constitution did not take effect until
nine States had ratified it. My native State was the ninth.
It hung a long time in the doubtful scale whether nine would
LEWIS CASS 519
agree, but when at last New Hampshire ratified the Consti-
tution, it was a day of great rejoicing. My mother held
me, a little boy of six years, in her arms at a window, and
pointed me to the bonfires that were blazing in the streets
of Exeter, and told me that the people were celebrating
the adoption of the Constitution; so I saw the Constitution
born/
"The early education of General Cass was received in the
Academy at Exeter. There he remained seven years, whilst
his father fought in the army of Anthony Wayne, on the
western frontier. The Cass family moved from Exeter to
Fort Hamilton, of which post Major Jonathan Cass was
in command. When Lewis Cass passed out of the academic
environment of Exeter, he journeyed to Wilmington, Dela-
ware, and there assumed the duties of schoolmaster. But
the call of the West was ever ringing in his ears; the vision
of the mighty empire beyond the Alleghanies, the land of
dangers and hardships, yet also of freedom and oppor-
tunity, was ever before his eyes; and so at the age of
eighteen, he swung his meager pack upon his back and
walked across the Alleghany Mountains into the wilderness
of the Northwest.
"Contemplate, my friends, the adventurous boy; self-
reliant, fearless, thrilling with hope and ambition as he cast
off the trammels of eastern refinement and civilization to
wrest an honorable career from the forest primeval, in
whose depths the warwhoop of the savage still sullenly re-
sounded.
"At Marietta, Ohio, he took up the study of law, and re-
ceived, in 1802, the first certificate of admission to the bar
issued by the state of Ohio under its new constitution. His
career as a lawyer began at Zanesville. In 1804, being
520 HISTORIC MACKINAC
twenty-two years old, he was elected prosecuting attorney of
Muskingum county, of which Zanesville was the county seat
In 1806, although only twenty-four years of age, and ineli-
gible to membership, he was elected to the state legislature.
"Those were stirring days in Ohio. The brilliant but
unscrupulous Burr, working on the guileless Blennerhasset,
was busily plotting to establish a new western empire, and
strip the Union of the vast reaches of territory west of the
Great Lakes. Lewis Cass was too good an American to
palter with treason or rebellion. Although the youngest
member of the legislature, he drafted a bill authorizing
the governor to use the military forces of the state to
suppress the treasonable operations of Burr and his agents.
Under the forceful leadership of young Cass, action fol-
lowed on the heels of decision. Burr's conspiracy was
nipped in the bud; his boats and his recruits were seized,
and Burr himself sought safety in flight into the southern
wilderness.
"President Jefferson, casting his keen eye over the vast
reaches of the Northwest, where brave men were building
a mighty empire, discerned from afar the bold figure and
brilliant promise of young Cass; and so, in 1807, Jefferson
tendered the post of United States Marshal for the territory
of Ohio, to Lewis Cass. He was only in his twenty-fifth
year, yet so successful had been his career as a lawyer,
that he hesitated to accept the unsolicited distinction of the
President's commission. But he recognized that the ap-
pointment, coming as it did, was a token of the President's
confidence and gratitude, so he yielded his personal ad-
vantage to the public need, and held the office until the
outbreak of the War of 1812.
"The prospect of war between the United States and
LEWIS CASS 521
Great Britain induced congress, when it met in 1812, to
call on the governors of the states for militia volunteers.
This action was taken in the face of opposition from critics
of the President; from the Tories, the secret sympathizers
with foreign powers, from the peace-at-any-price men of
the day.
"It was obvious that in the event of war, the frontier bor-
dering on the British possessions would be first attacked.
The attack would undoubtedly be supplemented by the deni-
zens of the forests, the resident allies of the foreign foe.
Subsidized by the money of the enemies of America, the
Indians might be ( counted upon, with tomahawk and scalp-
ing knife, to inflict upon the border population the un-
speakable atrocities of savage warfare. Secret emissaries
in the pay of King George had stealthily fomented opposi-
tion to due preparation on the part of the United States.
By the use of foreign gold, an apparent public sentiment
had been promoted which decried the possibility of war
as a bugbear, a chimera, and urged the pure motives of the
hostile Indians.
"With that clearness of vision which characterized Lewis
Cass throughout his life, he saw the danger which threat-
ened the republic. He discerned the hypocrisy of those
who declared it impious to resort to arms; and with all the
fervent patriotism of a descendant of the Puritans, he de-
manded a swift vindication of the country's rights. When,
therefore, Governor Meigs of Ohio, in 1812, called for
volunteers, Cass closed his law offices, abandoned his prac-
tice, resigned his marshalship, and volunteered in the
militia of Ohio. He assisted in raising three regiments,
one of which unanimously selected him as its colonel.
"In June, 1812, he started with his regiment for the mili-
522 HISTORIC MACKINAC
tary post of Detroit. It was a journey undertaken out of
pure patriotism, and one which was fraught with destiny
both for him and for the frontier wilderness through
which he journeyed. Through the trackless forests,
through swamp and morass, enduring countless dangers
and privations, these dauntless frontiersmen toiled their
way to the struggling little military post which today is
the metropolis of this state.
"The conduct of Lewis Cass through the War of 1812,
through the vicissitudes of defeat and ultimate victory
stamps him as a wise, sagacious and daring leader; as an
inspired patriot. In council, he was for action; in action,
he was the leader. His was the first foot to land on enemy
soil. He counseled and led the expedition against Fort
Maiden, which would have succeeded had the troops under
his command not been recalled by the misguided action
of Hull. Forced with the rest of the garrison to surrender
by Hull's capitulation, he broke his sword rather than de-
liver it to the enemy, and during the period of his parole
he zealously sought his exchange. Finally succeeding in
his efforts, he hastened to rejoin his comrades in arms, and
at the battle of the Thames he won new glory. By his sub-
sequent bravery and devotion, he was successively pro-
moted until he became brigadier-general in the United
States Army. His distinguished services under General
Harrison in reducing that part of the British provinces bor-
dering on the Detroit River led to his being placed in com-
mand of the military operations in the territory of Michi-
gan, with headquarters at Fort Detroit
"While stationed at Detroit, and in the performance of
his military duties, he was surprised to receive notice of
his appointment as Governor of the Territory of Michigan.
LEWIS CASS 523
The tender of this appointment came to him without solici-
tation, and his decision caused him much concern. He
had. as he supposed, established himself permanently in
Ohio, where he had expected to return upon the ending of
the war, there to resume the lucrative practice of his profes-
sion, and the enjoyment of his family and the comforts
and security of private life. To accept the post offered
him meant that he must abandon his residence and law
practice in Ohio, and move his family into a wilderness,
fraught with danger from hostile Indians, and with little,
if any, prospect of substantial gain. Eighteen years later
he thus stated the condition of the territory at the time he
was asked to assume the office of Governor:
" *The territory had just been rescued from the grasp
of an enemy; its population was small; its resources ex-
hausted ; its prospects cheerless. The operations of the war
had pressed heavily upon it, and scenes of suffering and
oppression had been exhibited to which, in the annals of
modern warfare, we may vainly seek a parallel.'
"As in all the other important events of his life, his
decision to accept the burdensome and uninviting post
thus offered him was inspired by love of his country. It
required that he tear up his life by the roots out of the con-
genial soil wherein he had planted it, and transplant it to
a new and strange home in the frontier wilderness; yet,
patriot that he was, he responded to his country's call. He
remained with us for eighteen years; laboring to establish
civilization in the wilderness which surrounded him, and
to found a city and a state upon those principles of true
democracy which he believed essential to human happiness.
"During all these years he stood before the vast region
of the Northwest as the sole representative of the federal
524 HISTORIC MACKINAC
government. To the whites he was the law-giver and de-
fender. To the Indians he was the strong right arm of
the Great Father at Washington. On the one hand, he
had to protect the settlers from Indian ravages; on the
other hand, he had to safe-guard his Indian wards against
the unscrupulous cupidity of lawless whites. To all, he
accorded firm but courteous hearing, and impartial justice.
"Rebuild, in your minds, if you can, the Detroit of 1813,
the Detroit that Cass took over as Governor. Rebuild, if
you can, the Territory of Michigan of that period. Do you
know the area of country in the Michigan Territory that
was possessed by the American nation free from Indian
claims? Only the territory east of a line running north
from the River Raisin to Lake St. Clair at a remove six
miles from the Detroit River and the shore of Lake Erie.
Out of this handful of soil he began the stupendous task of
building the territory of the Northwest. Through his ef-
forts, over 300,000 square miles were freed for settlement,
a region with a population today of more than ten millions.
"You who have journeyed hither by some one of the
palatial steamships of our Great Lakes, go back in memory
with me to the morning of the twenty-fourth day of May
in the year 1820. The place is Detroit a huddle of build-
ings flung haphazard on the marshy shore of the strait.
Upon the placid waters of the river lightly glides a small
flotilla of birch canoes. Cass and his comrades are set-
ting forth on their historic journey to the head waters of the
Mississippi. Amid the enthusiastic tumult of the citizenry,
the fleet gets under way. Voyageurs and Indian guides
bend to their paddles, to the rhythm of jolly chants. Up
through the St. Clair River, then cautiously skirting the
shore of Lake Huron, they come to this place where now
LEWIS CASS 525
we stand. Across the years I can almost hear the salute
of the guns from this venerable Fort in greeting of the
bold voyagers upon their safe arrival, after fourteen days
buffeting by wind and rain in their frail birch canoes.
For eight days Cass and his comrades abide within these
friendly walls, recuperating their strength and replenishing
their supplies against the long journey before them. Then
they press forward in their canoes to Drummond Island, and
thence by the River Ste. Mary to Sault Ste. Marie.
"Here occurred an incident which well exemplifies the
indomitable courage and burning patriotism of Cass. On
the shore of the Ste. Mary's rapids he pitched his tent and
summoned the Indians to a council. After earnest parley,
the Indians summarily withdrew from the council tent to
their own lodges. The Indian encampment was situated
on a small hill, a few hundred yards west of Governor Cass'
marquee, with a small ravine between. The Indians raised
the British flag as soon as they reached their encampment.
The Governor instantly ordered the expedition under arms,
and calling his interpreter, proceeded with him, single-
handed and alone, to the lodge of the Indians on the hill.
On reaching the lodge he, with his own hands, tore down the
British flag, and trod it under foot, and bursting into the
lodge, told the chief that the hoisting of a foreign flag was
an indignity which would not be tolerated on American soil;
that the flag was the emblem of national power, and that
two national flags could not fly in friendship on the same
territory; that the red man must not raise any but the Amer-
ican flag, and if they again did it, he, for the American
government, would set a strong foot upon their necks and
crush them to the earth. He then stalked forth trailing
the offensive flag in the dirt, to his own quarters. The very
526 HISTORIC MACKINAC
audacity of his conduct awed the hostile warriors. They
resumed their parley, and finally struck a treaty of peace
whereby the American government secured a strip of terri-
tory four miles wide bordering the River Ste. Mary, for a
military post.
"On the next day, the 17th of June, the canoes were
launched, and the bold explorers entered the vast waters of
Lake Superior. On the 25th of June they passed from
Lake Superior into the Portage River; after a boisterous
passage and rainy weather, and after passing from one
portage to another, they reached the Fond du Lac; then
ascending the St. Louis River to one of its sources, they
descended a tributary stream of Sandy Lake to the Missis-
sippi River; thence ascended to the Upper Red Cedar Lake,
the principal tributary of the Mississippi; thence they de-
scended the Mississippi to Prairie du Chien; they then navi-
gated the Wisconsin River to Portage, and entering the Fox
River, descended it to Green Bay. Thence Governor Cass
proceeded up Lake Michigan to Chicago, and returned
thither on horseback to Detroit. He arrived home on the
tenth of September, after a journey by canoe or on horse-
back of four thousand miles. His four months' sojourn in
the wilderness was devoted not alone to exploration and
topographical survey, but to fair and generous treaty-
making with the Indian tribes.
"I have dwelt upon this phase of Cass' career because
therefrom shines forth the thorough Americanism of his
character. What cared he for the dangers and hardships
of the vast wastes of water and primeval wilderness? Was
he not building an American commonwealth in this
region, to which, with far-seeing vision, he could see
countless thousands of Americans coming to rear homes for
LEWIS CASS
LEWIS CASS MEMORIAL TABLET
Cass Cliff, Mackinac Island
LEWIS CASS 527
themselves and for their children and their children's chil-
dren after them? In vision, in purpose, in achievement,
he typified the masterful genius of American character; in
political thought he reflected the essential democracy of the
nation.
"As he was inspired, when he enlisted in his country's
cause, by his love for democracy, and by his jealous re-
gard for the territory and dominions of the republic, so in
his office of Governor, he was inspired by the sentiments
expressed in the Declaration of Independence that all just
powers of government are derived from the consent of the
governed. From the very first, he exercised his influence,
not to extend the almost despotic power which was vested
in him by the act of Congress governing the territory under
his charge, but rather to transfer to the citizens of the city
and state that equal voice in the municipal and state gov-
ernments which is enjoined by that splendid Declaration.
To him home rule was a natural and necessary method of
conducting local affairs.
"He initiated our public school system. He helped to
found the University of Michigan. He was the moving
spirit in the formation of the first Michigan historical
society. He designed the great seal of the State of Michi-
gan, boldly writing thereon : TUEBOR' *I will defend/
to express the idea that his frontier domain stood ever ready
to bulwark the nation against foreign invasion.
"Unlike most men he did not need to die to be ap-
preciated. His mental and moral eminence was recognized
by his neighbors. They gathered to bid him farewell when,
in 1831, he was called by President Jackson to the post of
Secretary of War. Major Biddle, speaking for the com-
monwealth over which he had so wisely ruled, thus reviewed
528 HISTORIC MACKINAC
his conduct and services while in the office of Governor of
the Territory of Michigan:
" 'Many of us have witnessed your administration of the
affairs of this Territory for a series of years, which embrace
a large portion of the active period of life. The situation
is one of the most difficult to which an American citizen
can be called. The public officer who is delegated, without
the sanction of their suffrages, over the affairs of a people
elsewhere accustomed to exercise, in its fullest extent, the
right of self-government, is regarded with no indulgent
feelings. The relation is truly colonial, and the history of
territories, like other colonial history, has been too often a
mere chronicle of the feuds of the governing and the gov-
erned, exhibiting a domineering and arbitrary temper on
the one side, met by a blind and intemperate opposition on
the other.
" 'From the evils of such a state of things we have been
happily exempted. You have preserved harmony by
wisely conceding to public opinion that weight to which it is
entitled under every government, whatever may be its
forms; thus giving to your measures the support of the only
authority to which the habits of American citizens will allow
them cheerfully to submit. The executive powers of the
Territory have been administered in the spirit of republi-
can habits and principles, too firmly fixed to yield to tem-
porary circumstances, leaving the people nothing to desire
but an occasion to manifest their approbation, by bestow-
ing themselves an authority so satisfactorily exercised.'
"His long experience in negotiating treaties with the In-
dians, and the intimate knowledge which he obtained of the
Indian character and of the history of the tribes, enabled
him, as Secretary of War, to take the foremost place in the
LEWIS CASS 529
government in settling the vexed questions relating to the
occupancy of Indian territory by white settlers, and the
ever-existing feuds and strifes between the Indian tribes.
His conduct of the office of Secretary of War was charac-
terized by wisdom, courage and a diplomacy that never
tired. So assiduous was his devotion to his official duties
that his health was impaired. He determined to seek re-
laxation and restored health in foreign travel. The Pres-
ident, being unwilling to lose entirely the valued services of
General Cass at a critical time in the history of the country,
appointed him Minister to France.
"But even this moiety of repose was not to be his. In a
strange land, in the court of Kings, he still remained Lewis
Cass, an American. Yea, his very absence from the land
of liberty intensified his love of liberty, and made him even
more resentful of any stain upon her honor. Because Sec-
retary of State Webster negotiated a maritime treaty with
Great Britain which did not express a specific disavowal
of Great Britain's claimed right to stop and search Ameri-
can ships, General Cass indignantly tendered his commis-
sion back to the President. His return home was greeted
with the enthusiastic approval of his countrymen; and the
commonwealth of Michigan, whose early fortunes he had
so efficiently guarded and advanced, selected him to sit in
the senate of the United States.
"He entered upon his senatorial duties in a time when
the nation was deeply stirred by the pretensions of England
to Oregon territory. With Cass there was no hint of com-
promise or concession in this controversy. He stood pre-
pared to appeal to the God of battles in defense of Ameri-
can rights. He stood for '54^-40, or fight/ and all that it
implied. I invite the pacifists, the peace-at-any-price men
530 HISTORIC MACKINAC
of our day, to hearken to these sturdy words of this great
American:
" 'During the progress of this discussion, the blessings of
peace and the horrors of war have been frequently pre-
sented to us with the force of truth, and sometimes with the
fervency of an excited imagination. I have listened atten-
tively to all this, though much of it I remember to have
heard thirty-five years ago. But I beg honorable senators
to recollect that upon this side of the chamber we have inter-
ests, and families, and homes, and a country, as well as
they have, and that we are as little disposed to bring war
upon our native land unnecessarily as they can be; that
some of us know by experience, all of us by reading and
reflection, the calamities, moral and physical that war
brings in its train ; that we appreciate the blessings of peace
with a conviction as deep and as steadfast; and no one
desires its continuance more earnestly than I do. But all
this leaves untouched the only real subject of inquiry.
That is not whether peace is a blessing and war is a curse,
but whether peace can be preserved and war avoided, con-
sistently with the honor and interest of the country. That
question may come up for solution; and, if it does, it must
be met by each one of us, with a full sense of its abiding
importance, and of his own responsibility.
" 'I suppose there is not a gentleman in this body who
will not say that cases may occur, even in this stage of the
world, which may drive this country to the extreme remedy
of war, rather than she should submit to arrogant and un-
reasonable demands, or to direct attacks upon our rights
and independence like impressment, or the search of our
ships, or various other acts, by which power is procured
and maintained over the timid and the weak. The true,
LEWIS CASS 531
practical question for a nation is not the cost of war,
whether measured by dollars, or by dangers, or by dis-
asters, but whether war can be honorably avoided; and that
question each person having the power of determination,
must determine for himself when the case is presented.
Good men may indulge in day-dreams upon the subject,
but he who looks upon the world as it has been, as it is,
and as it is likely to be, must see that the moral constitu-
tion of men has undergone little change, and that interests
and passions operate not less upon communities than they
did when the law of public might was the law of public
right, more openly avowed than now.
* 'Certainly a healthful public opinion exerts a stronger
influence over the world than at any former period of its
history. Governments are more or less restrained by it,
and all feel the effects of it. Mistresses and favorites and
minions no longer drive nations to war; nor are mere ques-
tions of etiquette among the avowed causes of hostilities
. . . Humanity has gained something; let us hope it will
gain more. Questions of war are passing from cabinets
to the people. If they are discussed in secret, they are
also discussed before the world, for there is not a govern-
ment in Christendom which would dare to rush into a war
unless that measure were sanctioned by the state of public
feeling.
" 'Still, let us not deceive ourselves. Let us not yet con-
vert our swords into plowshares, nor our spears into prun-
ing hooks, nor neglect the maritime and military defenses
of the country, lulled by the siren song of peace! peace!
when there may be no peace. I am afraid we have not
grown so much wiser and better than our fathers, as many
good people suppose. I do not discern upon the horizon of
532 HISTORIC MACKINAC
the future the first dawn of the millennium. The eagle
and the lion will not always lie down in peace together.
Nations are yet subject to human passions, and are too
often their victims. The government which should say,
4 I will not defend myself by force,' would soon have noth-
ing to defend.
" 'To attempt to purchase safety by concessions is to
build a bridge of gold, not for a retreating, but for an
advancing enemy. Nations are like the daughters of the
horse leech; they cry, "give," "give," "give." It is idle,
sir, to array ourselves against the powerful instincts of
human nature; and he who is dead to their influence will
find as little sympathy in this age of the world as he would
have found had he lived in the ages that are passed. If
we suffer ourselves to be trodden upon, to be degraded, to
be despoiled of our good name and of our rights, under
the pretext that war is unworthy of us or our times, we shall
find ourselves in the decrepitude of age before we have
passed the period of manhood.'
"Not only was Lewis Cass jealous of the liberty of his
own country and of the preservation of her sacred honor,
but his heart went out in sympathetic approbation to every
struggle for freedom the world over. He hoped for the
ultimate universal democracy of man. He believed that
to his own country was given the divine mission of proselyt-
ing the world to that democracy. He looked to see the
pollen from the flowers upon the tree of American liberty
wafted by the winds and tides of time to every clime; that
thereby the incipient buds of liberty might be quickened
into living luxurious bloom.
"His conception of the duty of America to extend sym-
LEWIS CASS 533
pathy and aid to those struggling for liberty led him to
introduce a resolution in the senate instructing the com-
mittee on foreign relations to look into the expediency of
suspending diplomatic relations with Austria, when, in
1849, the gallant freemen of oppressed Hungary rose
against the tyranny of the House of Hapsburg. He sup-
ported his resolution in a speech fired with manly patriot-
ism. In the course of his remarks, he said:
" 'But, sir, while I maintain that the cessation of diplo-
matic intercourse with Austria would give the government
of that country no just cause of offense, I do not seek to
deny or conceal that the motives for the adoption of this
measure will be unacceptable and peculiarly obnoxious to
the feelings of a power proverbially haughty in the days of
its prosperity, and rendered more susceptible by recent
events, which have destroyed much of its ancient prestige,
and compelled it to call for Russian aid in the perilous
circumstances where the noble efforts of Hungary to assert
her just rights had placed the oppressor. On the contrary,
the course I propose would lose half its value were any
doubts to rest upon the motives that dictate it.
" *And certainly, were they not open to the day, I should
not look for that cordial approbation which I now anticipate
from the American people for this first effort to rebuke, by
public opinion expressed through an established govern-
ment, in the name of a great republic, atrocious acts of des-
potism, by which human liberty and life have been sacri-
ficed under circumstances of audacious contempt for the
rights of mankind and the sentiments of the civilized world,
without a parallel even in this age of warfare between the
oppressors and the oppressed. I say this first effort, for,
though the principles of public disapprobation in situations
534 HISTORIC MACKINAC
not very dissimilar may be traced in the proceedings of at
least one of the representative bodies of Europe, I do not
recollect that any formal act has been adopted rendering
the censure more signal and enduring. If we take the first
step in this noble cause, where physical force, with its
flagitious abuse, if not conquered, may be ultimately re-
strained by moral considerations, we shall add to the value
of the lesson of 1776, already so important to the world,
and destined to become far more so by furnishing one guar-
antee the more for the preservation of human rights where
they exist, and for their recovery where they are lost.
" 'Mr. President, I do not mistake the true position of
my country, nor do I seek to exaggerate her importance by
these suggestions. I am perfectly aware that whatever we
may do or say, the immediate march of Austria will be
onward in the course of despotism, with a step feebler or
firmer as resistance may appear near or remote, till she is
stayed by one of those upheavings of the people, which is
as sure to come as that man longs for freedom and longs
to strike the blow which shall make it his.
" 'Pride is blind, and power tenacious; and Austrian
pride and power, though they may quail before the signs
of the times, will hold out in their citadel till the last ex-
tremity. But many old things are passing away; and
Austrian despotism will pass away in its turn. Its bul-
warks will be shaken by the rushing of mighty winds by
the voice of the world, wherever its indignant expression is
not restrained by the kindred sympathies of arbitrary
power.
" 'Here is an empire of freemen, separated by the broad
Atlantic from the contests of force and oppression, which
seem to succeed each other like the waves of the ocean in
LEWIS CASS 535
the mighty changes going on in Europe twenty millions
of people enjoying a measure of prosperity which God, in
His providence, has granted to no other nation of the earth.
With no interest to warp their judgment; with neither preju-
dice nor animosity to excite them ; and with a public opinion
as free as the air they breathe, they can survey these events
as dispassionately as is compatible with that natural sym-
pathy for the oppressed which is implanted in the human
breast. Think you not, sir, that their voice, sent from
these distant shores, would cheer the unfortunate onward
in their work would encourage them while bearing their
evils to bear them bravely as men who hope and when
driven to resist by a pressure no longer to be borne, to exert
themselves as men who peril all upon the effort?
' 'But where no demonstration of interest on the part of
a government is called for by circumstances, a sound public
opinion is ready to proclaim its sentiments, and no reserve
is imposed upon their expression. It is common to this
country, and to every country where liberal institutions
prevail; and it is as powerful, and as powerfully exerted,
in France and in England as in the United States. Its
effects may not be immediate or immediately visible; but
they are sure to come, and to come in power. Its voice
is louder than the booming of cannon; and it is heard on
the very confines of civilization. Our Declaration of In-
dependence has laid the foundation of mightier changes
in the world than any event since the spirit of the Crusades
precipitated Europe upon Asia.
"The inspiration which these noble words gave to the
struggling freemen of Hungary may be measured in the
words of the patriot Kossuth:
" *Your powerful speech was not only the inspiration
536 HISTORIC MACKINAC
of sympathy for unmerited misfortune, so natural to noble
feeling hearts; it was the revelation of the justice of God
it was a leaf from the book of Fate, unveiled to the world.
On that day, General, you were sitting, in the name of man-
kind, in tribunal, passing judgment on despotism and the
despots of the world; and as sure as the God of justice lives,
your verdict will be accomplished.'
"To the mind of Cass, our flag became an emblem of
shame instead of honor, if we sat by tamely and silently,
while the homes of freemen anywhere were destroyed,
their cities razed by fire and sword, their women outraged,
their country laid waste and running red with the blood
alike of helpless age and helpless infancy solely to gratify
the power-lust of a despot. With keen discernment, he
recognized that there was an irreconcilable conflict between
democracy and despotism; and, with prophetic vision, he
saw that, sooner or later, the world would be wrapped as
in a cloak of fire in the mighty final struggle between these
two natural and necessary foes. Against the day when the
divine right of kings would make its last desperate stand
to stem the onward-rushing forces of human democracy,
he warned his countrymen to make ready in season; not to
sit like unmanly sluggards amidst their flesh-pots but to
keep their swords ground sharp, their powder dry, and
their guns near at hand so that they might do their proper
share in that decisive clash. To him, the cause of human
liberty anywhere was the cause of America ; the foe of hu-
man liberty anywhere was the foe of America. He took the
broad ground that American liberty could never be secure
beyond all peradventure of peril until the last despot, near-
despot or would-be world ruler, should be smitten hip and
thigh to his doom.
LEWIS CASS 537
"And who will say, in the white light of recent history,
but that the God of his fathers had taken Lewis Cass up
to the mountain tops of vision and impelled him, with fire-
touched lips of inspiration, to shout down the tidings of
these days that are upon us.
"In 1848 the Democracy of the nation chose General
Cass as its standard bearer. Unfortunately the defection
of Martin Van Buren, who had received the highest honors
from his party in state and nation, disrupted the Demo-
cratic army and encompassed the defeat of General Cass.
He accepted this reverse with the even-minded philosophy
which marked his whole life, and continued to serve with
honor as Michigan's representative in the senate until 1856,
when President Buchanan tendered him the premiership of
his cabinet. In his seventy-fourth year he took up the
arduous labors of this perplexing station. Meanwhile, the
cloud of threatened secession and rebellion grew apace
on the southern sky. Cass stood staunchly for the Union.
In his old age he was as hostile to the treason of the Nulli-
fiers as in his young manhood he had been to the treason of
Aaron Burr.
"When President Buchanan, in 1860, harkened to the
traitors in his cabinet and refused to reinforce the Charles-
ton forts, Cass resigned the portfolio of Secretary of State
and returned to private life in Detroit. The outbreak of
the Civil War found him bent with years yet still inspired
by indomitable Americanism rallying his beloved North-
west to the standard of the Union. All through those dark
days when the fields of the Southland were drenched in
fratricidal blood, his voice and his substance were given
to the perpetuation of the republic of his love. At an im-
mense Union meeting held in Detroit April 24th, 1861,
538 HISTORIC MACKINAC
he was made chairman, and delivered, in a few words, an
eloquent address. Cheer followed cheer as the old Gen-
eral, stalwart and indomitable of soul, despite his almost
eighty years, with dramatic effect, thanked God that the
American flag still floated over his home and his friends.
" *No American,' said he, *can see its fold spreading out
to the breeze without feeling a thrill of pride in his heart,
and without recalling the splendid deeds it has witnessed.
. . . You need no one to tell you what are the dangers of
your country, nor what are your duties to meet and avert
them. There is but one path for every true man to travel,
and that is broad and plain. It will conduct us, not indeed
without trials and sufferings, to peace and to the restoration
of the Union. He who is not for his country, is against her.
There is no neutral position to be occupied. It is the duty
of all zealously to support the government in its efforts to
bring this unhappy Civil War to a speedy and satisfactory
conclusion, by the restoration, in its integrity, of that great
charter of freedom bequeathed to us by Washington and
his compatriots.'
"The very last public speech of General Cass was de-
livered at Hillsdale, Michigan, August 13th, 1862, at a
'war meeting' called for the purpose of arousing enthusi-
asm and raising volunteers for the service. In part, he
said:
" *I am sufficiently warned by the advance of age that I
can have but little participation in public affairs, but if time
has diminished my power to be useful to my country, it has
left undiminished the deep interest I feel in her destiny, and
my love and reverence for our glorious Constitution which
we owe to the kindness of Providence and to the wisdom of
our fathers.'
LEWIS CASS 539
"With pride he spoke of the energy of his own state, and
of its efforts in defense of the Union.
" *I have lived,* said he, *to see it rivalling its sister states
in the sacred work of defending the Constitution. And
now the course of events has rendered it necessary for the
government to appeal again to the people. Additional
troops are required for the speedy suppression of the re-
bellion. Patriotism and policy equally dictate that our
force should be such as to enable us to act with vigor and
efficiency against our enemies, and promptly to reduce
them to unconditional submission to the laws.'
"He lived to see the clouds of battle lift and the black
night of rebellion fade into the glorious dawn of triumphant
peace for the Union; and then, rich in years, in achieve-
ment and in the love of his friends and fellow-citizens, he
passed peacefully into the Great Beyond. His death oc-
curred at the Detroit of his heart's love, on the 17th day
of June, 1866, in the eighty-fourth year of his age.
"Almost half a century of time, as men measure it, has
rolled by since the passing of Lewis Cass. The genera-
tion which knew and loved him are nearly all gathered to
his side 'in the tongueless silence of the dreamless dust.'
Today, we, their children, who knew him not save by his
mighty deeds, gather to speak his fame. In the very
heart of the domain which he gave to the nation, we pay
his memory reverent and loving honor. Not as a ruthless
conqueror nor an imperious empire builder, do we know
him. Not so much as a statesman, or an orator, or daunt-
less explorer do we pay him tribute of grateful memory,
but for what he was and was proud to be
"LEWIS CASS,
An American.
540 HISTORIC MACKINAC
"Let those who read the lines upon the tablet admire, if
they will, the versatility of his genius, the variety of his at-
tainments, the vastness of his achievements. But beneath
these surface manifestations let them discern the noble soul
of the patriot. Whether we see him at Fort Detroit, wrath-
fully breaking his sword in protest against Hull's
surrender; or leading his men at the battle of the Thames;
or boldly fronting England's shrewdest diplomats and
baffling their intrigues in the court of Louis Philippe; or
raising his voice in ringing defense of America's rights in
Oregon; or flinging back the highest office of the nation,
save the Presidency, rather than give countenance to
treason; whether we regard his career as a soldier, or ex-
plorer, or treaty-maker, or empire builder, or diplomat or
statesman, through it all, and in all, we find, like a thread
of purest gold, sturdy love of his native land; sturdy hate
of her enemies; sturdy resolve to do or to die for her honor.
"We, the children of America, send greetings to you,
Lewis Cass, 'in that mysterious bourne whence no traveler
returns.' Father of the Northwest, indomitable American,
we, the children of America, with loving memory, salute
you!"
THE CHAIRMAN: "If I were asked to name the two or
three men who have accomplished the most for permanent
good in Michigan, I would name among them the next
speaker, the man placed at the head of the Historical Com-
mission of this state, who has determined that the material
for the first one hundred and fifty years of the history of
this region and this state, which came to us through the
noble and heroic missionaries, as well as its later history,
shall be brought together, and that there shall be fostered
and stimulated in every community an earnest spirit of
LEWIS CASS 541
historical interest and study. I was recently honored by
being invited to Kalamazoo, to the investiture of my friend
the Rt. Rev. Monsignor O'Brien, LL.D., and there I found
represented not only those of his own Church, laymen, high
prelates and dignitaries, but also the officials of the city
and state represented; and I found his friends and neigh-
bors of Kalamazoo; I cannot recount for you all that he has
done for humanity in that city. My friends, we are most
highly honored by having with us today the President of the
Michigan Historical Commission, the Right Reverend Mon-
signor Frank A. O'Brien, LL.D., who will now, on behalf
of the committee, as well as the individual donors, and
acting for the Michigan Historical Commission and the
Mackinac Island State Park Commission, present this tablet
to the State of Michigan."
ADDRESS OF RT. REV. MONSIGNOR O'BRIEN
GOVERNOR: "To you is given the privilege of witness-
ing some of the results of your efforts in the cause of up-
lifting mankind; it may be a comfort, and in a way make
up for disappointments. The Mackinac Island State Park
Commission was in existence when you entered office, but
you enthused its members with activity and your spirit of
progress, so that it has accomplished more during the past
three years than it had from its inception. Mackinac Is-
land State Park has been made more beautiful each year,
and great plans have been outlined for the future.
"It is said in Europe, 'See Naples and die;' for when
one had seen the beauty of the Adriatic, it was thought that
he had seen enough for a life time. Will not a similar ex-
pression regarding Mackinac be the watchword of Ameri-
cans, and this Island become a real Mecca? The more the
542 HISTORIC MACKINAC
Wolverines see it, the more proud they are of having it in
their possession.
"The Historical Commission is of your own making. It
is true it succeeded to a part of the work of the Pioneer
Society, which accomplished much in a limited sphere, and
we have benefited and will profit by its experiences. Now
that the Historical Commission is a regular department of
the state, more can be accomplished. We assure you, that
it appreciates all that you have done for it from its organi-
zation.
"Your constant presence, kindly interest, and coopera-
tion have proven that your heart and soul are in the cause
of this department. The members of the Commission re-
member your advice at its opening session. You then said,
you expected great things from it, in gathering whatever
might be left of the history of the Northwest, which it was
their duty to conserve and give to posterity. They were to
honor the memory of the great men who made the history of
this part of our country so prominent, 'that one who runs
may read.' We were to conserve and hand down the story
of what our forefathers accomplished for our civilization
and comfort.
"We know your attitude towards every department of
the state, that you want no tired men on your boards. As
you are active, they must be; and as soon as one feels that
he cannot fulfill the duties of his charge, he had better
resign. Your motto, The state demands the best service,
or none at all,' has brought Michigan to a position in this
country that it has never occupied before.
"We believe that every member of this Commission has
done his best to promote the realization of the ideals you
LEWIS CASS 543
had in view. Today we feel that you must be gratified in
seeing the crowning event of the year brought to such a fit-
ting consummation. Only a few days ago, we placed on
this Island, so dear to you, a tablet to the memory of a ne-
glected Frenchman. We know this happy incident has
accomplished much towards the study of the history of the
state. The story of Nicolet has been brought to the atten-
tion of the world in a way that it never would have been
otherwise. Today we fittingly honor our own whose mem-
ory is one of our richest legacies.
"You have heard much of the 'pride of our state,' of the
great and good General Cass, who might be likened in many
ways to our present ruling executive. He was one who
loved righteousness and hated iniquity. He had the moral
courage to defend the weak against the strong, against
great odds. Constant, beautiful and advantageous, the
holiest aim of humanity, is that which is upheld by justice.
Wisdom, moderation, and conciliation, all were his virtues.
He realized that nothing is more detrimental to a nation's
development than self-deception and self-laudation. He
knew that faith is the best guardian of Freedom. He nobly
breasted the storm at its highest fury. He would tell the
truth in the face of angry tribes, with the threat of ruin
and death staring him in the face. No bribe, menace, or
insult could drive him from what he thought was right.
He was an honest man, a valiant conqueror.
"It is but meet and just that we honor this man who al-
ways stood for the right, who ever remained the faithful
soldier, under the banner of Truth at a time when many
abandoned it altogether, or by their silence, or still worse
by their opposition, encouraged error and falsehood. He
544 HISTORIC MACKINAC
detested a lie. His honesty of intention and earnestness of
purpose brought to us the happy results which have made
Michigan a great State of the Union.
"In the name of the Governor Cass Memorial Committee
and on behalf of the donors representing every county in
the state, in the name of the Mackinac Island State Park
Commission, and in the name of the Michigan Historical
Commission, we herewith present to the State of Michigan,
and to you, Governor, its head and representative, this mag-
nificent tribute to a noble man, one after your own heart, as
an incentive to the youth of these times, and succeeding
generations to imitate. We know it will be well guarded.
We believe this day of its presentation will be long remem-
bered, that its participants will have a story to recount of
all that has occurred which will be an inspiration for future
citizens, an encouragement to the youth, and a comfort to
old age.
THE CHAIRMAN: "I now have the pleasure and the
honor of presenting to you Michigan's distinguished Gov-
ernor, Woodbridge N. Ferris, who will address you."
GOVERNOR FERRIS: "Mr. Chairman, and fellow-citi-
zens: I can add nothing to the magnificent oration you
have heard; it must needs cover my subject, *Lewis Cass,
Governor of Michigan Territory.'
"Human greatness, which has always commanded the
admiration of the world, is in origin more or less shrouded
in mystery. Washington, in his youth, gave no special
promise of greatness; but his achievements in mature man-
hood, under gigantic difficulties, placed him in the front
rank of the world's greatest statesmen. Lincoln's closest
boyhood friends never so much as dreamed of his possible
*'
LEWIS CASS 545
future; his mature life was fraught with responsibilities
which would have crushed any but the greatest of men, and
his life continues to be the study of all lovers of humanity.
The more I study the life of Lewis Cass, the more I am re-
minded of Washington and Lincoln. During his service
for eighteen years as Governor of Michigan Territory, he
was confronted with problems of government that would
have taxed the diplomacy and statesmanship of a Wash-
ington or a Lincoln.
"In 1813, Lewis Cass found Michigan Territory devas-
tated, poverty stricken and honeycombed with anarchy.
The total number of white inhabitants was approximately
six thousand. The estimated number of Indians was forty
thousand. The whites lived in constant terror of the In-
dians, who were aided and abetted by the British.
"In the fall of 1814, General Cass organized 'a little
company,' and led a successful attack on the Indians. This
encouraged the white people to assert their rights, and
compelled the savages to exercise a wholesome fear in rela-
tion to the Governor. His unremitting vigilance and ener-
getic conduct saved our people from many of the horrors
of war. General Cass possessed the courage that conquers.
He had an accurate knowledge of Indian traits and of
Indian character. During his governorship he made many
important treaties with the Indians; he was scrupulously
honest in all of his dealings with them. Furthermore, he
attempted to advise and encourage them in all matters re-
lating to their own highest welfare. The injustice and per-
versity of England not only made the solution of the Indian
problem very difficult, but hindered him in his efforts to
Americanize Michigan Territory.
"By an act of congress passed at the beginning of the
546 HISTORIC MACKINAC
war, two million acres of land were to be selected in Michi-
gan to be given as bounty lands to volunteers. Cass desired
that these surveys should be quickly made, in order that at
least a few settlers might make their homes in the Territory
and introduce a larger American element on which, and
with which, to work. This resulted disastrously. The
President, assured by the commissioner of the land office
that scarcely one acre in a thousand was fit for cultivation,
advised congress in February, 1816, that the quota of
bounty lands might better be located in other parts of the
Northwest; in other words, the lands of Michigan in the
southern peninsula were declared to be a barren waste.
This adverse report was a serious handicap to the develop-
ment of Michigan for many years.
"General Cass was an undaunted pioneer and explorer.
He traveled thousands of miles in a birch bark canoe and
on horseback visiting Indian tribes, and at the same time
discovered for himself the vast riches of this great unde-
veloped Territory. Before 1830 the alleged barren waste,
Michigan, was actually exporting flour to the East, and
there was an air of comfort on her borders and an appear-
ance of thrift along her inland roads which spoke of the
success of Governor Cass's efforts to attract eastern knowl-
edge and energy. By the third census of the century,
Michigan was shown to have over thirty thousand people
and to have just claims for speedy admittance as a state.
"General Cass was thoroughly democratic, both in theory
and practice. He was a Jeffersonian. He did not arro-
gate to himself the functions of an autocrat, nor of a mon-
arch. As rapidly as possible, he organized the Territory
for self-government; like Lincoln, he wished the people to
govern. He was an enthusiastic advocate of good roads.
LEWIS CASS 547
He encouraged education through the agency of schools
and the newspaper. On Nov. 6, 1826, Lewis Cass said in
a speech at Detroit: 'Whenever education is diffused among
the people generally, they will appreciate the value of free
institutions, and as they have the power, so must they have
the will to maintain them. It appears to me that a plan
may be devised that will not press too heavily upon the
means of the country and which will ensure a competent
portion of education to all the youth in the Territory; and
I recommend the subject to your serious consideration.'
"Lewis Cass had extraordinary opportunities for study-
ing the conduct of the civilized and the uncivilized. He
was a lawyer and sociologist, and with his practical knowl-
edge of human nature, exhibited what bordered on a pro-
phetic vision of how coming civilization would treat crime.
The following statement made by him in his message to the
territorial council January 5, 1831, is profoundly signifi-
cant:
" 'In fact, the opinion gains ground through the civilized
world, that human life has been too often sacrificed to un-
just laws, which seek the death of the offender rather than
his reformation. Governments have found it easy to put
an end to the transgression of offenders by putting an end
to their lives; while the difficult problem, whose solution is
equally required by policy and humanity, of uniting refor-
mation, example and security, has been neglected as unim-
portant or unttainable. The period is probably not far dis-
tant when it will be universally acknowledged that all the
just objects of human laws may be fully answered without
the infliction of capital punishment.'
"Lewis Cass was a natural born leader of men. He
never asked any man to do what he was afraid or unwilling
548 HISTORIC MACKINAC
to do himself. He co-operated with the federal government
in all movements for progress and self-defense. He was a
profound statesman and diplomat. In this age of steam,
electricity and iron we find it difficult to appreciate the
heroic and constructive work of Lewis Cass.
"The life of Lewis Cass is worthy of careful study. We
gain inspiration and enthusiasm from knowing what great
Americans have accomplished under the most adverse cir-
cumstances. Public men and citizens will find in the expe-
rience of this sturdy pioneer many of the concrete examples
of the regenerating power of democracy. This so-called
progressive age has not overshadowed Lewis Cass. I com-
mend to economists, lawyers, teachers and political stu-
dents the careful examination of this remarkable man's
achievements. I feel so deeply the importance of this sug-
gestion that my highest aspiration is to be guided by the
ideals of this great man."
[Lifting his eyes to the audience and to the tablet, Gov-
ernor Ferris said:] "In behalf of this great common-
wealth, I, Woodbridge N. Ferris, Governor of Michigan,
accept this memorial tablet as a historical mark of love
and esteem for one of our greatest constructive government
builders. It is fitting that this tablet be placed upon Mack-
inac Island, one of Nature's choicest creations, an island
whose historic associations are sacred, an island visited an-
nually by people from every state in the union and by
tourists from all parts of the world. May those who in
the years to come pause to read the inscription on this tab-
let, be inspired with the patriotism that has led America
to recognize and maintain the inalienable rights of all men
'to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.' '
CHAPTER XXI
TSHUSICK
INTERESTING STORY OF A REMARKABLE
INDIAN WOMAN
u A PORTION only of the history of this extraordi-
f-\ nary woman has reached us. Of her early life
we know nothing; but the fragment which we are
enabled to present, is sufficiently indicative of her strongly
marked character, while it illustrates with singular felicity
the energy of the race to which she belongs. In tracing the
peculiar traits of the Indian character, as developed in.
many of the wild adventures related of them, we are most
forcibly struck with the boldness, the subtlety, the single-
ness of purpose, with which individuals of that race plan
and execute any design in which they may be deeply inter-
ested.
"The youth of ancient Persia were taught to speak the
truth. The lesson of infancy, inculcated with equal care
upon the American savage, is, to keep his own counsel, and
he learns with the earliest dawnings of reason the caution
which teaches him alike to deceive his foe, and to guard
against the imprudence of his friend. The story of Tshu-
sick shows that she possessed those savage qualities, quick-
ened and adorned by a refinement seldom found in any of
her race; and we give it as it was communicated to the
writer by the gentleman who was best acquainted with all
the facts.
549
550 HISTORIC MACKINAC
"In the winter of 1826-27, on a cold night, when the
snow was lying on the ground, a wretched, ill-clad, way-
worn female knocked at the door of our colleague, Col-
onel McKenney, then Commissioner of Indian Affairs, at
the City of Washington. She was attended by a boy, who
explained the manner in which she had been directed to
the residence of Colonel McKenney. It seems that, while
wandering through the streets of Georgetown, in search of a
shelter from the inclemency of the weather, she was allured
by the blaze of a furnace in the shop of Mr. Haller, a tin-
worker. She entered, and eagerly approached the fire.
On being asked who she was, she replied that she was an
Indian, that she was cold and starving, and knew not where
to go. Mr. Haller, supposing that Colonel McKenney, as
Commissioner of Indian Affairs, was bound to provide for
all of that race who came to the seat of government, directed
her to him, and sent his boy to conduct her. On this repre-
sentation the Colonel invited her into his house, led her to
a fire, and saw before him a young woman, with a ragged
blanket about her shoulders, a pair of man's boots on her
feet, a pack on her back, and the whole of her meagre and
filthy attire announcing the extreme of want. She de-
scribed herself to be, what her complexion and features
sufficiently indicated, an Indian, and stated that she had
travelled alone, and on foot, from Detroit. In reply to
questions which were put to her, for the purpose of testing
the truth of her story, she named several gentlemen who
resided at that place, described their houses and men-
tioned circumstances in reference to their families which
were known to be correct. She then proceeded, with a self-
possession of manner, and an ease and fluency of language
that surprised those who heard her, to narrate the cause of
TSHUSICK 551
her solitary journey. She said she had recently lost her
husband, to whom she was much attached, and that she at-
tributed his death to the anger of the Great Spirit, whom she
had always venerated, but who was no doubt offended with
her, for having neglected to worship Him in the manner
which she knew to be right. She knew that the red people
did not worship the Great Spirit in an acceptable mode,
and that the only true religion was that of the white men.
Upon the decease of her husband, therefore, she had knelt
down, and vowed that she would immediately proceed to
Washington, to the sister of Mrs. Boyd, who, being the wife
of the great father of the white people, would, she hoped,
protect her until she should be properly instructed and bap-
tized.
"In conformity with this pious resolution, she had im-
mediately .set out, and had travelled after the Indian fash-
ion, not by any road, but across the country, pursuing the
course which she supposed would lead her to the capital.
She had begged her food at the farmhouses she chanced to
pass, and had slept in the woods. On being asked if she
had not been afraid when passing the night alone in the for-
est, she replied, that she had never been alarmed, for that
she knew the Great Spirit would protect her.
"This simple, though remarkable recital, confirmed as it
was by its apparent consistency, and the correctness of the
references to well-known individuals, both at Detroit and
Mackinac, carried conviction to the minds of all who heard
it. The Mrs. Boyd alluded to, was the wife of a highly
respectable gentleman, the agent of the United States for
Indian affairs, residing at Mackinac, and she was the sis-
ter of the lady of Mr. Adams, then President of the United
States. It seemed natural that a native female, capable of
552 HISTORIC MACKINAC
acting as this courageous individual had acted, should seek
the protection of a lady who held the highest rank in her
nation, and whose near relative she knew and respected.
There was something of dignity, and much of romance, in
the idea of a savage convert seeking, at the mansion of the
chief magistrate, the pure fountain of the religion which
she proposed to espouse, as if unwilling to receive it from
any source meaner than the most elevated.
"Colonel McKenney recognized in the stranger a person
entitled alike to the sympathies of the liberal, and the pro-
tection of the government, and, in the exercise of his official
duty towards one of a race over whom he had been consti-
tuted a sort of guardian, immediately received his visitor
under his protection, and conducted her to a neighboring
hotel, secured her a comfortable apartment, and placed
her under the especial care of the hostess, a kind and excel-
lent woman, who promised to pay her every requisite at-
tention.
"On the following morning, the first care of the commis-
sioner was to provide suitable attire for the stranger, and,
having purchased a quantity of blue and scarlet clothes,
feathers, beads, and other finery, he presented them to her;
and Tshusick, declining all assistance, set to work with
alacrity, and continued to labor without ceasing, until she
had completed the entire costume, except the moccasins and
hat, which were purchased. There she was, an Indian
belle, decorated by her own hands, according to her own
taste, and smiling in the consciousness that a person to
whom nature had not been niggard, had received the most
splendid embellishments of which art was capable.
"Tshusick was now introduced in due form to the presi-
dential mansion, where she was received with great kind-
TSHUSICK 553
ness; the families of the secretary of war, and of other gen-
tlemen, invited and caressed her as an interesting and de-
serving stranger. No other Indian female, except the
Eagle of Delight, was ever so great a favorite at Washing-
ton, nor has any lady of that race ever presented higher
claims to admiration. She was, as the faithful pencil of
King has portrayed her, a beautiful woman. Her manners
had the unstudied grace, and her conversation the easy
fluency, of high refinement. There was nothing about her
that was coarse or commonplace. Sprightly, intelligent,
and quick, there was also a womanly decorum in all her
actions, a purity and delicacy in her whole air and con-
duct, that pleased and attracted all who saw her. So agree-
able a savage has seldom, if ever, adorned the fashionable
circles of civilized life.
"The success of this lady at her first appearance on a
scene entirely new to her, is not surprising. Youth and
beauty are in themselves always attractive, and she was
just then in the full bloom of womanhood. Her age might
have been twenty-eight, but she seemed much younger.
Her dress, though somewhat gaudy, was picturesque, and
well calculated to excite attention by its singularity, while
its adaption to her own style of beauty, and to the aboriginal
character, rendered it appropriate. Neat in her person,
she arranged her costume with taste, and, accustomed from
infancy to active exercise, her limbs had a freedom and
grace of action too seldom seen among ladies who are dif-
ferently educated. Like all handsome women, be their
color or nation what it may, she knew her power, and used
it to the greatest advantage.
"But that part of Tshusick's story which is yet to be re-
lated is, to our mind, the most remarkable. Having at-
554 HISTORIC MACKINAC
tended to her personal comforts, and introduced her to
those whose patronage might be most serviceable, Colonel
McKenney's next care was to secure for her the means of
gratifying her wish to embrace the Christian religion. She
professed her readiness to act immediately on the subject,
and proposed that the Colonel should administer the rite of
baptism he being a great chief, the father of the Indians,
and the most proper person to perform this parental and
sacerdotal office. He of course declined, and addressed a
note to the Reverend Mr. Gray, Rector of Christ Church, in
Georgetown, who immediately called to see Tshusick. On
being introduced to him, she inquired whether he spoke
French, and desired that their conversation might be held
in that language, in order that the other persons who were
present might not understand it, alleging, as her reason for
the request, the sacredness of the subject, and the delicacy
she felt in speaking of her religious sentiments. A long
and interesting conversation ensued, at the conclusion of
which Mr. Gray expressed his astonishment at the extent of
her knowledge, and the clearness of her views, in relation
to the whole Christian scheme. He was surprised to hear
a savage, reared among her own wild race, in the distant
regions of the northern lakes, who could neither read nor
write, speak with fluency and precision in a foreign tongue,
on the great doctrine of sin, repentance, and the atonement.
He pronounced her a fit subject for baptism; and accord-
ingly that rite was administered, a few days afterwards,
agreeably to the form of the Episcopalian Church, in the
presence of a large company. When the name to be given
to the new convert was asked by Mr. Gray, it appeared that
none had been agreed on; those of the wife and daughter
of the then secretary of war were suggested on the emer-
STATUE OF FATHER JOGLES
FATHER EDWARD JACKER
Who with Mr. Murray discovered Father Marquette's grave
at St. Ignace, Michigan
TSHUSICK 555
gency, and were used. Throughout this trying ceremony,
she conducted herself with great propriety. Her deport-
ment was calm and self-possessed, yet characterized by a
sensibility which seemed to be the result of genuine feeling.
"Another anecdote shows the remarkable tact and talent
of this singular woman. On an occasion when Colonel Mc-
Kenney introduced her to a large party of his friends, there
was present a son of the celebrated Theobald Wolf Tone, a
young Frenchman of uncommon genius and attainment.
This young gentleman no sooner heard Tshusick converse
in his native tongue, than he laughed heartily, insisted that
the whole affair was a deception, that Colonel McKenney
had dressed up a smart youth of the engineer corps, and had
gotten up an ingenious scenic representation for the amuse-
ment of his guests because he considered it utterly im-
possible that an Indian could speak the French language
with such purity and elegance. He declared that her dia-
lect was that of a well educated Parisian. We do not think
it surprising that a purer French should be spoken on our
frontier, than in the province of France. The language
was introduced among the Indians by the priests and mili-
tary officers, who were educated at Paris, and were per-
sons of refinement, and it has remained there without
change. The same state of facts may exist there which we
know to be true with regard to the United States. The
first emigrants to our country were educated persons,
who introduced a pure tongue, and the English language
is spoken by Americans with greater correctness, than in
any of the provincial parts of Great Britain.
"We shall not only add to this part of our strange event-
ful history, that all who saw Tshusick at Washington, were
alike impressed with the invariable propriety of her deport-
556 HISTORIC MACKINAC
ment; her hostess especially, who had the opportunity of
noticing her behavior more closely than others, expressed
the most unqualified approbation of her conduct. She was
neat, methodical, and pure in all her habits and conversa-
tion. She spoke with fluency on a variety of subjects, and
was, in short, a most graceful and interesting woman. Yet
she was a savage, who had strolled on foot from the bor-
ders of Lake Superior to the American capital.
"When the time arrived for Tshusick to take her depart-
ure, she was not allowed to go empty handed. Her kind
friends at Washington loaded her with presents. Mrs.
Adams, the lady of the President, besides the valuable gifts
which she gave her, intrusted to her care a variety of articles
for her young relatives, the children of Mr. Boyd, at Mack-
inac. It being arranged that she should travel by the stage
coaches as far as practicable, her baggage was carefully
packed in a large trunk; but as part of her journey would
be through the wilderness, where she must ride on horse-
back, she was supplied with the means of buying a horse;
and a large sack, contrived by herself, and to be hung like
panniers across the horse, was made, into which all her
property was to be stowed. Her money was placed in a
belt to be worn round her waist; and a distinguished officer
of the army, of high rank, with the gallantry which forms so
conspicuous a part of his character, fastened with his own
hand this rich cestus upon the person of the lovely tourist.
"Thus pleasantly did the days of Tshusick pass at the
capital of the United States, and she departed burdened
with the favors and good wishes of those who were highest
in station and most worthy in character. On her arrival
at Barnum's hotel in Baltimore, a favorable reception was
secured for her by a letter of introduction. Mrs. Barnum
TSHUSICK 557
took her into her private apartments, detained her several
days as her guest, and showed her the curiosities of that
beautiful city. She then departed in the western stage for
Frederick; the proprietors of the stages declined receiving
any pay from her, either for her journey to Baltimore, or
thence west, so far as she was heard of.
"Having thus with the fidelity of an impartial historian,
described the halcyon days of Tshusick, as the story was
told us by those who saw her dandled on the knee of hospi-
tality, or fluttering with child-like joy upon the wing of
pleasure, it is with pain that we are obliged to reverse the
picture. But beauties, like other conquerors, have their
hours of glory and of gloom. The brilliant career of
Tshusick was destined to close as suddenly as that of the
conqueror of Europe at the field of Waterloo.
"On the arrival of the fair Ojibway at Washington, Col-
onel McKenney had written to Governor Cass, at Detroit,
describing in glowing language, the bright stranger who
was the delight of the higher circles at the metropolis, and
desiring to know of the Governor of Michigan her charac-
ter and history. The reply to this prudent inquiry was re-
ceived a few days after the departure of the subject of it.
The Governor, highly amused at the success of the lady's
adventure, congratulated his numerous friends at Wash-
ington, on the acquisition which had been gained to their
social circle, and, in compliance with the request of his
friend, stated what he knew of her. She was the wife of a
short squat Frenchman, who officiated as a scullion in the
household of Mr. Boyd, the Indian agent at Mackinac, and
who, so far from having been spirited away from his af-
flicted wife, was supporting her absence without leave with
the utmost resignation. It was not the first liberty of this
558 HISTORIC MACKINAC
kind she had taken. Her love of adventure had more than
once induced her to separate for a season the conjugal tie,
and to throw herself upon the cold charity of a world that
has been called heartless, but which had not proved so for
her. She was a sort of female swindler, who practised
upon the unsophisticated natures of her fellow men, by an
aboriginal method of her own invention. Whenever stern
necessity, or her own pleasure, rendered it expedient to re-
plenish her exhausted coffers, her custom had been to wan-
der off into the settlements of the whites, and, under a dis-
guise of extreme wretchedness, to recite some tale of dis-
tress; that she had been crossed in love; or was the sole sur-
vivor of a dreadful massacre; or was disposed to embrace
the Christian religion.; and such was the effect of her beauty
and address, that she seldom failed to return with a rich
booty. She had wandered through the whole length of the
Canadas to Montreal and Quebec; had traced the dreary
solitudes of the northern lakes, to the most remote trading
stations; had ascended the Mississippi to the Falls of St.
Anthony, and had followed the meanders of that river
down to St. Louis, comprising, within the range of her
travels, the whole vast extent of the northern and northwest-
ern frontier, and many places in the interior. Her last
and boldest attempt was a masterpiece of daring and suc-
cessful enterprise, and will compare well with the most
finished efforts of the ablest imposters of modern times.
"It will be seen that Tshusick had ample opportunities
for obtaining the information which she used so dexter-
ously, and for beholding the manners of refined life, which
she imitated with such success. She had been a servant in
the families of gentlemen holding official rank on the fron-
TSHUSICK 559
tier, and, in her wanderings, been entertained at the dwell-
ings of English, French and Americans, of every grade.
Her religious knowledge was picked up at the missionary
stations at Mackinac, and from the priests at Montreal;
and her excellent French resulted partly from hearing that
language well spoken by genteel persons, and partly from
an admirable perception and fluency of speech that are
natural to a gifted few, and more frequently found in
women than in men. Although an imposter and vagrant,
she was a remarkable person, possessing beauty, tact, spirit,
and address, which the highest born and loveliest might
envy, and the perversion of which to purposes of deception
and vice affords the most melancholy evidence of the de-
pravity of our nature.
"Tshusick left Washington in February, 1827, and in the
month of June following, Colonel McKenney's official duties
required him to visit the north-western frontier. On his
arrival at Detroit he naturally felt some curiosity to see the
singular being who had practiced so adroitly on the credul-
ity of himself and his friends, and the more especially, as
he learned that the presents with which she had been
charged by the latter, had not been delivered. On inquiry,
he was told she had just gone to Mackinac. Proceeding on
his tour, he learned at Mackinac that she had left for Green
Bay; from the latter place she preceded him to Prairie du
Chien; and when he arrived at Prairie du Chien, she had
just departed for St. Peters. It was evident that she had
heard of his coming, and was unwilling to meet him; she
had fled before him, from place to place, probably alone,
and certainly with but slender means of subsistence, for
more than a thousand miles, giving thus a new proof of
560 HISTORIC MACKINAC
the vigilance and fearlessness that marked her character.
"In reciting this singular adventure, we have not been
able to avoid entirely the mention of names connected with
it, but we have confined ourselves to those of persons in
public life, whose stations subject them, without impro-
priety, to this kind of notice. The whole affair affords a
remarkable instance of the benignant character of our gov-
ernment, and of the facility with which the highest func-
tionaries may be approached by any who have even a
shadow of claim on their protection. Power does not
assume, with us, the repulsive shape which keeps the
humble at a distance, nor are the doors of our rulers
guarded by tedious official forms, that delay the petitions
of those who claim either mercy or justice.
"The beautiful stories of Elizabeth, by Madame Cottin,
and of Jeanne Deans, by Scott, are both founded on real
events, which are considered as affording delightful illus-
trations of the heroic self-devotion of the female heart; of
the courage and enthusiasm with which a woman will en-
counter danger for a beloved object. Had the journey of
Tshusick been undertaken, like those alluded to, to save a
parent or a sister, or even been induced by the circum-
stances which she alleged, it would have formed a touching
incident in the history of woman, little inferior to any
which have ever been related. She came far, and endured
much ; emerging from the lowest rank in society, she found
favor in the highest, and achieved, for the base purpose of
plunder, the success which would have immortalized her
name, had it been obtained in a virtuous cause.
"This remarkable woman is still living, and though
broken by years, exhibits the same active and intriguing
spirit which distinguished her youth. She is well known on
TSHUSICK
561
the frontier; but, when we last heard of her, passed under
a different name from that which we have recorded." Mc-
Kenney and Hall, History of the Indian Tribes of North
America [etc.] I, 119-129.
CHAPTER XXII
MISCELLANEOUS SELECTIONS
F
LEGEND OF THE GREAT HARE
ATHER ALLOUEZ relates the following Indian leg-
end connected with Michilimackinac:
"They say that it is the native Country of one of their
gods, named Michabous that is to say, 'the great Hare,'
Ouisaketchak, who is the one that created the Earth; and
that it was in these Islands that he invented nets for catch-
ing fish, after he had attentively considered the spider while
she was working at her web in order to catch flies in it.
They believe that Lake Superior is a Pond made by Bea-
vers, and that its Dam was double, the first being at the
place called by us the Sault, and the second five leagues
below. In ascending the River, they say, this same god
found that second Dam first and broke it down completely;
and that is why there is no waterfall or whirlpools in that
rapid. As to the first Dam, being in haste, he only walked
on it to tread it down; and, for that reason, there still re-
main great falls and whirlpools there.
"This god, they add, while chasing a Beaver in Lake
Superior, crossed with a single stride a bay of eight leagues
in width. In view of so mighty an enemy, the Beavers
changed their location, and withdrew to another Lake, Alim-
ibegoung (Nipigon), whence they afterward, by means of
the Rivers flowing from it, arrived at the North Sea, with
the intention of crossing over to France; but, finding the
562
MISCELLANEOUS SELECTIONS 563
water bitter, they lost heart, and spread throughout the
Rivers and Lakes of this entire Country. And that is the
reason why there are no Beavers in France, and the French
come to get them here. The people believe that it is this
god who is the master of our lives, and that he grants life
only to those to whom he has appeared in sleep. This is a
part of the legends with which the Savages very often enter-
tain us." Jesuit Relations, LIV, 201.
MICHILIMACKINAC APPLICATION OF NAME
"MICHILIMACKINAC (Mishinima'kinung, 'place of
the big wounded person,' or 'place of the big lame person.'
W. J.). A name applied at various times to Mackinac
Island in Mackinac County, Mich.; to the village on this
Island; to the village and fort at Point St. Ignace on the
opposite mainland, and at an early period to a considerable
extent of territory in the upper part of the lower peninsula
of Michigan. It is derived from the name of a supposed
extinct Algonquin tribe, the Mishimaki or Mishinimakin-
agog." Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin No. 30,
Part 1, p. 857.
VARIOUS SPELLINGS OF "MICHILIMACKINAC"
"MACHILIMACHINACK. Watts (1763) in Mass. Hist.
Soc. Colls., 4th s., IX, 483, 1871. MACHILLIMAKINA
Bouquet (1760), I bid., 345. MACKANAW. Drake, Bk.
Inds., bk. 5, 134, 1848. MACKELIMAKANAC. Campbell
(1760) in Mass. Hist. Soc. Colls., 4th s., IX, 358, 1871.
MACKILEMACKINAC. Ibid., 383. MACKINAC. Jefferson,
(1808) in Am. St. Pap., Ind. Aff., I, 746, 1832. MACK-
INAW. Hall, N. W. States, 131, 1849. MACKINANG.
564 HISTORIC MACKINAC
Baraga, Eng.-Otch. Diet., 165, 1878 (Chippewa form, ab-
breviated). MASSILIMACINAC. Map of 1755 in Howe,
Hist. Coll., 35, 1851. MESH E NE MAH KE NONG. Jones,
Ojebway Inds., 45, 1861 (Chippewa name). MESILI-
MAKINAC. Hennepin, New Discov., map, 1698. MICH-
ELIMAKINA. Writer of 1756 in N. Y. Doc. Col. Hist., X,
482, 1858. MICHELIMAKINAC. Campbell (1761) in
Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., 4th s., IX, 417, 1871. MICHIH :
MAQUINAC. Homann Heirs Map U. S., 1784 (misprint).
MICHILEMACKINAH. Campbell (1761) in Mass. Hist. Soc.
Coll., 4th s., IX, 426, 1871. MICHILIMACKINAC. Johnson
(1763) in N. Y. Doc. Col. Hist., VII, 533, 1856. MICH-
ILIMACQUINA. Doc. of 1691, Ibid., IX, 511, 1855. MICH-
ILIMAKENAC. Albany conf. (1726) Ibid., V, 791, 1855.
MICHILIMAKINA. Vaudreuil (1710), Ibid., IX, 843, 1855.
MICHILIMAKINAC. Du Chesneau (1681), Ibid., 153.
MICHILIMAKINAIS. Jeffreys, French Doms., pt. 1, 19-20,
1761 (tribe). MICHILIMAKINONG. Marquette (ca. 1673)
in Kelton, Annals Ft. Mackinac, 121, 1884. MICHILI-
MAQUINA. Denonville (1686) in N. Y. Doc. Col. Hist., Ill,
461, 1853. MICHILIMICANACK. Bradstreet (ca. 1765),
Ibid., VII, 690, 1856. MICHILIMICKINAC. Peters (1760)
in Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., 4th s., IX, 318, 1871.
MICHILLEMACKINACK. Amherst (1760), Ibid., 348.
MICHILLEMAKINACK. Malartic (1758) in N. Y. Doc. Col.
Hist., X, 853, 1858. MICHILLIMACINAC. Johnstown conf.
(1774), Ibid., VIII, 505, 1857. MICHILLIMACKINACKS.
-Lords of Trade (1721), Ibid., V. 622, 1855 (used as
synonymous with Ottawas). MiCHiLLiMAKENAC. Bou-
quet (1761) in Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., 4th s., IX, 392, 1871.
MICHILLIMAKINAK. Cadillac (1703) in Minn. Hist. Soc.
Coll., V., 407, 1885. MICHILLIMAQUINA. Denonville
MISCELLANEOUS SELECTIONS 565
( 1687) in N. Y. Doc. Col. Hist., IX, 336, 1855. MICHILL-
MIACKINOCK. Domenech, Deserts, II, 452, 1860. Micm
MACKINA. Brown, West. Gaz., 161, 1817 (Indian
form). MICHIMMAKINA. M'Lean, Hudson Bay, I, 51,
1849. MICHINIMACKINAC. Henry, Travels, 107, 1809
(Chippewa form). MICHLIMACKINAK. Montreal conf.,
(1700) in N. Y. Doc. Col. Hist., IX, 709, 1855. MICILI-
MAQUINAY. Joutel (ca. 1690) in Kelton, Annals Ft. Mack-
inac, 121, 1884. MICINIMAKINUNK. Wm. Jones, infn.,
1906 (proper form). MIKINAC. La Chesnaye (1697) in
Margry, Dec., VI, 6, 1886 (same?; mentioned with Ojib-
was, Ottawa Sinagos, etc., as then at Shaugawaumikong on
L. Superior). MISCELEMACKENA. Croghan (1764) in
N. Y. Doc. Col. Hist., VII, 603, 1856. MISCLIMAKINACK.
Colden (1727), Ibid., Ill, 489, note, 1853. MISHINI-
MAKI. Kelton, Annals Ft. Mackinac, 9, 10, 1884 (tribe).
MISHINIMAKINA. Ibid., 151 (correct Indian name).
MISHINIMAKINAGO. Baraga, Otchipwe-Eng. Diet., 248,
1880 (Chippewa name of the mythic (?) tribe, whence
comes Michilimackinac; the plural takes g). MISHINI-
MAKINAK. Kelton, Annals Ft. Mackinac, 135, 1884.
MISHINIMAKINANG. Baraga, Eng.-Otch. Diet., 165, 1878
( Chippewa form ) . MISHINIMAKINANK. Gatschet, j ibwa
MS., B. A. E., 1882. MISILIMAKENAK. Burnet (1723) in
N. Y. Doc. Col. Hist., V, 684, 1855. MISILLIMAKINAC.
Vaudreuil conf. (1703), Ibid., IX, 751, 1855. MISLI-
MAKINAC. Memoir of 1687, Ibid., 319. MISSELEMACH-
INACK. Croghan (1760) in Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., 4th s.,
IX, 377, 1871. MISSELEMAKINACH. Ibid. MISSELE-
MAKNACH. Ibid., 372. MISSILIKINAC. Hennephi, New
Discov., 308, 1698. MISSILIMACHINAC. Hennepin (1683)
in Harris, Voy. and Trav., II, 918, 1705. MISSILIMACK-
566 HISTORIC MACKINAC
INAK. De La Barre (1687) in Minn. Hist. Soc. Coll., V,
418, 1885. MISSILIMAKENAK. Golden (ca. 1723) in N.
Y. Doc. Col. Hist., V, 687, 1855. MISSILIMAKINAC. Jes.
Rel., 1671, 37, 1858. MISSILIMAKINAK. Cadillac (1694)
in N. Y. Doc. Col. Hist., IX, 587, 1855. MISSILIMAQUINA.
-Denonville ( 1687) , Ibid., Ill, 466, 1853. MISSILINAOK-
INAK. Hennepin, New Discov., 316, 1698. MISSILINIA-
NAC. Mt. Johnson conf. (1755) in N. Y. Doc. Col. Hist.,
VI, 975, 1855. MISSILLIMACKINAC. Johnson (1763),
Ibid., VII, 573, 1856. MISSILLIMAKINA. Denonville
(1686), Ibid., IX, 287, 1855. MISSILMAKINA Denon-
ville (1687), Ibid., 325. MITCHINIMACKENUCKS. Lind-
sey (1749), Ibid., VI, 538, 1855 (here intended for the
Ottawa). MONSIEMAKENACK. Albany conf. (1723),
Ibid., V, 693, 1855. ST. FRANCIS BORGIA. Shea, Cath.
Miss., 370, 1855 (Ottawa mission on Mackinaw id. in
1677). TEIJAONDORAGHI. Albany conf. (1726) in N.
Y., Doc. Col. Hist., V, 791, 1855 (Iroquois name.)" Bu-
reau of American Ethnology, Bulletin No. 30, p. 857.
MISHINIMAKI, OR MISHINIMAKINAGOG, EARLY INDIAN
TRIBE ON MACKINAC ISLAND
"According to Indian tradition and the Jesuit Rela-
tions, the Mishinimaki formerly had their headquarters at
Mackinac Island and occupied all the adjacent territory in
Michigan. They are said to have been at one time numer-
ous and to have had 30 villages, but in retaliation for
an invasion of the Mohawk country they were destroyed by
the Iroquois. This must have occurred previous to the oc-
cupancy of the country by the Chippewa on their first ap-
pearance in this region. A few were still there in 1671,
MISCELLANEOUS SELECTIONS
567
but in Charlevoix's time (1744) none of them remained.
When the Chippewa appeared in this section they made
Michilimackinac Island one of their chief centers, and it re-
AN AMERICAN INDIAN
tained its importance for a long period. In 1761 their
village was said to contain 100 warriors. In 1827 the
Catholic part of the inhabitants, to the number of 150, sep-
arated from the others and formed a new village near the
568 HISTORIC MACKINAC
old one. When the Hurons were driven west by the Iro-
quois they settled on Mackinac Island, where they built a
village some time after 1650. Soon thereafter they re-
moved to the Noquet Islands in Green Bay, but returned
about 1670 and settled in a new village on the adjacent
mainland, where the Jesuits had just established the mission
of St. Ignace. After this the Hurons settled near the mis-
sion; the fugitive Ottawa also settled in a village on the
island where Nouvel established the mission of St. Francis
Borgia among them in 1677, and when the Hurons removed
to Detroit, about 1702, the Ottawa and Chippewa continued
to live at Michilimackinac." Bureau of American Eth-
nology, Bulletin No. 30, Part I. p. 857.
THE MICHILLIMACKINACS, AN EARLY TRIBE OF
INDIANS ON MACKINAC ISLAND
"Mackinac Island," says Charlevoix (1721), is "one
of the most celebrated places in all Canada, and has been
a long time according to some ancient traditions among the
Indians, the chief residence of a nation of the same name,
and whereof they reckoned as they say to the number of
thirty towns, which were dispersed up and down in the
neighborhood of the Island. It is pretended they were
destroyed by the Iroquois, but it is not said at what time
nor on what occasion; what is certain is, that no village of
them now remains (1721). I have somewhere read that
our ancient missionaries have lately discovered some relics
of them." Charlevoix, Journal, II, 46.
MACKINAC, THE TURTLE, AND INDIAN CHIEF
"Pontiac, exhorting his French followers, said in a
speech in 1763: 'Remember the war with the Foxes, and
MISCELLANEOUS SELECTIONS 569
the part which I took in it. It is now seventeen years since
the Ojibwas of Michillimackinac, combined with the Sacs
and Foxes, came down to destroy you. Who then defended
you? Was it not I and my young men? Mackinac, a
great chief of all these nations said in council that he
would carry to his village the head of your commandant
[at Detroit] that he would eat his heart and drink his
blood. Did I not take your part? Did I not go to his
camp, and say to him, that if he wished to kill the French,
he must first kill me and my warriors? Did I not assist
you in routing them, and driving them away?' '
"Dr. Lyman Copeland Draper, commenting on this pas-
sage, cites a vague allusion, made by Gen. Smith (Hist.
If" is. I, 343), to *a war under "Mackinac the Turtle"
against the French, in 1746.' The war apparently took
place in the region of Detroit." Wis. Hist. Colls., V. 104
note.
NAME OF MICHILLIMACKINAC
"The name of Michillimackinac," says Charlevoix, "sig-
nifies a great quantity of turtles, but I have never heard
that more of them are found here at this day than else-
where." Charlevoix, Journal, II, 46.
THE HURONS TAKE REFUGE ON MACKINAC ISLAND, 1650
"The Hurons of the Tobacco Nation, known as the Tion-
nontates," says Father Dablon, "being expelled years ago
from their country by the Iroquois, took refuge in that
Island so noted for its fisheries, named Missilimakinac.
Here, however, they were suffered to remain but a few
years, that same foe compelling them to leave so advantag-
570 HISTORIC MACKINAC
ecus a position. They therefore withdrew farther to some
Islands, which still bear their name, situated at the entrance
to the bay des Puans; but, not finding themselves even there
sufficiently secure, they retired far into the depths of the
woods; and thence finally sought out, as a last abode, at the
very end of Lake Superior, a spot that has received the
name of point St. Esprit. There they were far enough from
the Iroquois not to fear them, but too near the Nadouessi,
who are the Iroquois, so to speak, of those Northern
regions, being the most powerful and warlike people of
that country." Jesuit Relations, LVI, 115.
FATHER MAREST'S DESCRIPTION OF MICHILLI-
MACKINAC (1712)
"Michillimackinac is situated between two large lakes,
into which other lakes and many rivers empty. For this
reason this village is the general resort of the Frenchmen
and of the Savages; and it is the center of nearly all the fur
trade of the country. The soil here is far from being as
good as in the land of our Illinois. During the greater
part of the year, fish is our only food. The water, which
constitutes the charm of the place in summer, renders a
sojourn here during the winter very dreary and very monot-
onous. The ground is covered with snow from All Saints'
until the month of May.
"The character of these Savages bears the impress of the
climate in which they live; it is harsh and indocile. Re-
ligion does not take so deep root in them as we could wish;
and there are only a few souls who, from time to time,
give themselves truly to God, and console the Missionary
for all his labors." Jesuit Relations, LXVI, 283.
MISCELLANEOUS SELECTIONS 571
SOLILOQUY OF AN INDIAN CHIEF AT DUSK FROM THE
DECK OF A DEPARTING STEAMER, WITH THE DEEP
BLUE OUTLINES OF MACKINAC ISLAND
DIMLY SEEN IN THE DISTANCE
"Moc-che-ne-mock-e-nug-gonge, thou Isle of the clear,
deep-water Lake, how soothing it is from amidst the curling
smoke of my opawgun (pipe), to trace thy deep blue out-
lines in the distance; to call from memory's tablets the tra-
ditions and stories connected with thy sacred and mystic
character, how sacred the regard, with which thou hast been
once clothed by our Indian seers of gone-by days; how
pleasant in imagination for the mind to picture and view, as
if now present, the time when the Great Spirit allowed a
peaceful stillness to dwell around thee, when only light
and balmy winds were permitted to pass over thee, hardly
ruffling the mirror surface of the waters that surrounded
thee. Nothing then disturbed thy quiet and deep solitude,
but the chippering of birds, and the rustling of the leaves
of the silver-barked birch; or to hear, by evening twilight
the sound of the Giant Fairies as they with rapid step, and
giddy whirl, dance their mystic dance on thy limestone bat-
tlements." Strickland, Old Mackinaw, p. 96.
AN EARLY DESCRIPTION OF MACKINAC ISLAND
Mr. George Heriot, the Canadian statesman and travel-
ler, who passed through the Straits of Mackinac about
1807, says of Mackinac Island, in his Travels through the
Canadas, published in that year:
"Michilimakinac is a small Island, situated at the north-
west angle of lake Huron, towards the entrance of the
channel which forms the communication with Lake Michi-
gan, in latitude forty-five degrees, forty-eight minutes,
572 HISTORIC MACKINAC
thirty-four seconds, and upwards of a thousand miles from
Quebec. It is of a round form, irregularly elevated, and
of a barren soil; the Fort occupies the highest ground, and
consists of four wooden block-houses forming the angles,
the spaces between them being filled up with cedar pickets.
On the shore below the Fort, there are several store-houses
and dwellings. The neighbouring part of the continent,
which separates Lake Superior from Lake Huron, derives
its name from this Island. In 1671, Father Marquette
came thither with a party of Hurons, whom he prevailed
on to form a settlement; a Fort was constructed, and it
afterwards became an important post. It was the place
of general assemblage for all the French who went to traffic
with the distant nations. It was the asylum of all savages
who came to exchange their furs for merchandise. When
individuals belonging to tribes at war with each other, came
thither and met on commercial adventure, their animosities
were suspended. . . .
"Their tradition concerning the name of this little barren
Island is curious. They say that Michapous, the chief of
spirits, sojourned long in that vicinity. They believed that
a mountain on the border of the lake was the place of his
abode, and they called it by his name. It was here, say
they, that he first instructed man to fabricate nets for taking
fish, and where he has collected the greatest quantity of
these finny inhabitants of the waters. On the Island he
left spirits, named Imakinakos, and from these aerial
possessors it has received the appellation of Michilimak-
inac. This place came into possession of the American
government in 1796, the period of delivering over all the
other forts within its boundaries." Heriot, Travels
through the Canadas, p. 185.
SCENE AT MACKINAC ISLAND'S OLD POST OFFICE
OBSERVATION TOWER AT FORT HOLMES, MACKINAC ISLAND
(Dismantled following a fatal accident to a tourist)
MISCELLANEOUS SELECTIONS 573
CHARLEVOIX'S DESCRIPTION OF MACKINAC ISLAND
"When Michabou formed Lake Superior he dwelt at
Michillimackinac the place of his birth: this name properly
belongs to an Island almost round and very high, situated at
the extremity of Lake Huron, though has extended it to all
the country round about. This Island may be about three
or four miles in circumference and is seen at the distance
of twelve leagues. There are two other islands to the
south; the most distant of which is five or six leagues long;
the other is very small and quite round; both of them are
well wooded and the soil excellent, whereas that of Michil-
limackinac is only a barren rock, being scarce so much as
covered with moss or herbage." Charlevoix, Journal II,
45-46.
PICTURESQUE MACKINAC COUNTRY
There are few spots in our country that afford so many
beautiful places within a short radius of a few miles than
does the Lake region environing Mackinac Island. The
following are noted in Strickland's Old Mackinaw:
"Hoi- Blanc Island, at the head of Lake Huron, stretches
in the form of a crescent between the Island of Mackinac
and the lower peninsula of Michigan. It is from ten to
twelve miles in length by three to four in breadth. The
lower part of this island is sandy, but the larger portion
of it is covered with a fertile soil bearing a forest of elm,
maple, oak, ash, white-wood and beech. It has been sur-
veyed and a government light-house stands on its eastern
point
"In the northern part of Lake Michigan are located
574 HISTORIC MACKINAC
Beaver Islands. There are five or six of this group bear-
ing different names. Big Beaver is the most considerable,
and contains perhaps forty square miles. These islands
all lie in the vicinity of each other, and within a few miles
northwest of Grand and Little Traverse Bays in Lake Michi-
gan. The Big Beaver was, up to July, 1856, in posses-
sion of the Mormons, who claimed it as a gift from the
Lord.
"Another interesting locality is Drummond's Island, be-
tween the Detour and the False Detour. It was taken pos-
session of by the British troops when they surrendered Fort
Mackinac in 1814. On this island they built a fort and
formed quite a settlement. Upon an examination of the
boundary line between the United States and Great Britain,
it was ascertained that this island was within the jurisdic-
tion of the former, and it was accordingly evacuated by
the British in 1828. The British subjects living on the
island followed the troops, and the place was soon deserted
and became a desolation.
"St. Helena Island is a small island near the Straits of
Mackinac, not far from the shore of the northern peninsula,
containing a few acres over a section of land. It is a great
fishing station, and enjoys a good harbor protected from
westerly winds. Its owner, who has exiled himself a la
Napoleon, spends his time in fishing, and other pursuits
adapted to his mind.
"In addition to the numerous islands constituting the sur-
roundings of Mackinac there are a number of interesting
localities denominated 'Points,' that we must not omit to
mention. The first, because the most important, and one
which is connected with many historic associations which
we shall direct attention to, is the 'Iroquois Woman's Point,'
MISCELLANEOUS SELECTIONS 575
the Indian name for Point St. Ignatius on the opposite side
of the straits of Mackinac, distant between three and four
miles, about the same as from the Battery at New York to
Staten Island. The original inhabitants with their descend-
ants have long since passed away. Its present occupants
are principally Canadians. It has a Catholic chapel.
"Point La Barbe, opposite to Green Island Shoals and
Mackinac, is a projection of the upper peninsula into the
straits. It is four miles distant from Gross Cape, and
derives its name from a custom which prevailed among the
Indian traders in olden time on their annual return to
Mackinac of stopping here and putting on their best ap-
parel before making their appearance among the people of
that place.
"About half way between Mackinac and Cheboye-gun,
a projection from the lower peninsula into the straits, is
Point aux Sable. Point St. Vital is a cape projecting into
Lake Huron from the southeastern extremity of the upper
peninsula. There is a reef of rocks off this point where the
steamer Queen City was wrecked. On a clear day this
point may be seen from Fort Holmes, and it presents an
enchanting view. The St. Martin's Islands are also in full
view from this point.
"In the southwestern part of the straits, about twenty
miles distant from Mackinac, is Fox Point. A light-house
has been erected on a shoal extending out two miles into the
lake. Moneto-pa-maw is a high bluff still further west,
on the shore of Michigan, where there are fine fisheries,
and is a place of considerable resort. Further west, near
the mouth of the Mille au Coquin River which empties into
Michigan, there are also excellent fisheries, and to those
who are fond of this kind of sport apart from the profit con-
576 HISTORIC MACKINAC
nected with it, there is no place in the world possessing
half the attractions as Mackinac and its surroundings,
while the 'Mackinaw trout,' with the 'Mackinaw boat,' and
the 'Mackinaw blanket,' are famous over the world."
BOIS BLANC
"The term 601*5 blanc (white wood) is still in use among
the French-Canadians, to designate various trees, 'the wood
of which is whitish, and not very compact, such as poplar,
aspen, etc.' " Clapin's Diet. Canad.-Fran. cited in Jesuit
Relations, XLVII, 315.
MACKINAC ISLAND IN 1815
The following interesting extract from a letter written by
an officer at Fort Mackinac, Nov. 17, 1815, is printed in the
supplement of Niles' Weekly Register for February 24,
1816:
"The situation of this Island is most beautiful and inter-
esting, affording a very extensive prospect uninterrupted on
the expansive lake in one direction, and enlivened on the
other by the main, on the right and left, with beautfiul
islands, scattered around. This is the most elevated island
on the lakes; its highest ground is several hundred feet
above the lake, and resembles a naked ridge terminating
abruptly at its extremities of about one mile in length.
Below, and half a mile nearer the margin of the lake, is
situated fort Makina, which, although more than an hun-
dred feet lower than the elevation first mentioned, is yet
upwards of 100 feet above the lake. The British, when
last in possession of this Island, erected a small work on
the summit of this ridge, and at that extremity nearest the
MISCELLANEOUS SELECTIONS 577
fort, consisting of a blockhouse surrounded by a circular
parapet of earth, but left it unfinished. It is, however, in-
tended to be completed, with some improvements, and
occupied by a guard. Its distance from water, and im-
practicability of obtaining any by digging, prevented the
main fortifications being erected on this position, which is
capable of being rendered impregnable, from whence, with
a few pieces of ordnance, the Fort, with any garrison, is
entirely untenable.
"I have examined the ground where Croghan landed,
and the lamented Holmes fell. The retreat must have been
most timely and fortunate, or his command would inevit-
ably have been destroyed; fifty men could have prevented
his force ever reaching the Fort. The land intervening
being covered with a small growth of wood impenetrably
thick. There are many individual advantages attending a
residence on this Island, from the healthiness of its climate,
which I doubt not is equal to any known, the air and water,
both of the springs and lake, being as pure as can exist.
The military forces here exceed, and the sick report
seldom exceeds one to a company. A variety of the finest
fish I ever saw, can be procured in tolerable abundance
every season of the year, and the vegetables of the Island
are superior in size and nutriment, although the soil which
produced them is gravelly."
WISHING SPRING
Constance Fenimore Woolson, tells in Harper's, for Sep-
tember, 1872, the following story of a moonlight visit to
Wishing Spring:
"It was eleven o'clock as the Columbia passed Bois Blanc
light, and we all sat watching the approach of the beautiful
578 HISTORIC MACKINAC
Island of Mackinac. It rose before us in the moonlight, its
high cliffs, and bold, dark outlines looking far more ro-
mantic and wild than anything we had seen on the fresh-
water seas. The little Fort on the height and the little vil-
lage on the beach seemed fast asleep; but the Columbia s
whistle woke them, and a crowd stood on the dock as we
came along-side.
"Oh, I must, I must go ashore!' said Persis. 'It is a
Fairy Island, I am sure.'
" 'It is too late, child ; it is almost midnight. You had
better come in and go to bed.'
" 'The captain tells me the boat will lie here two hours,
Mrs. Varick,' said Major Archer, coming toward us. 'I
know all about the Island, as I was once stationed at the
Fort. I have a boat engaged, and I should like to row you
around to the Fairy Spring.'
"Now, I am a sensible, middle-aged woman, but some-
thing in the moonlight bewitched me, and I consented, much
to the delight of my niece. In a few moments we were
gliding over the silvery water, round the point, and under
the dark cliffs crowned with evergreens.
" 'I do not wish to alarm you, Mrs. Varick, but this is
the Devil's Kitchen,' said Major Archer, as we landed on
the beach near a rocky cave.
" 'Never mind : it is after twelve now,' said Morris, look-
ing at his watch.
"We reached the little spring gushing out just above the
beach, and stood in a circle around it.
" 'Now you must each make an offering to the fairy,
drink three times from the fountain, and wish,' said the
Major gravely.
"Persis threw in some bluebells, I gave a knot of ribbon,
MISCELLANEOUS SELECTIONS 579
and Morris pinned a ten-cent scrip to an over-hanging
branch.
1 'Well, Major, what do you give?' he said, after we had
performed the rites in silence.
' 'I made my wish some years ago; the fairy never listens
twice,' he answered, leading the way back to the boat.
' 'I vote we all tell our wishes; exact truth,' said Morris,
when we were once more on the silvery water.
"After some banter Persis consented. She had wished
for a trip to Europe, I had wished for health during the
year, and Morris for a million dollars.
" 'Come, Major, what did you wish for years ago?' asked
Morris.
"But the officer was silent. He would not disclose his
wish."
A LETTER FROM CONSTANCE FENIMORE WOOLSON
FROM ITALY [1884?]
"Florence, Italy,
"Dec. 27th.
"Lieut. D. H. Kelton,
"Dear Sir:-
"I have recently had far away here in Italy a most
pleasant hour of recollections and old associations,
revived by your 'Annals of Fort Mackinac' for which
please accept my best thanks. Years have passed since
I last saw Mackinac, and I have been in many coun-
tries, and seen many world-famed things; but nothing has
in the least changed my old affection for the Island, nor
made me think it anything less than the most beautiful in
the world. Last winter, at Naples, the best compliment I
could give Capri, was that it looked at sunset, something
580 HISTORIC MACKINAC
like Mackinac. 'But where is Mackinac?' said my English
friends. I tried to tell them (English ideas of American
geography are vague) ; but I asked myself at the time
whether it would not be truer to answer, 'It is in my affec-
tion and imagination. But I do not really think so; I am
sure, that when I see it again, it will be quite as beautiful
as ever. Your book seems to me an excellent one. I have
read it with great interest. The map of the Island I was
glad to see, as I have never known where the new National
Park was laid out. The illustrations, too, take me back
to the happy days I spent there.
"On my wall here, I have the illustrations brought out
in 'Harper's Weekly,' this last summer.
"I address this to Mackinac, though, of course, I know
that you may not be there; but I shall hope that the post-
master will forward it. Should you be still on the Island,
and there be any of my old acquaintances there who remem-
ber me, will you be so good as to give them my regards,
and tell them that I shall certainly come back some day.
"Very truly yours,
"C. F. Woolson."
EARLY IMPORTANCE OF MACKINAC ISLAND
"It was, until the day of railroads, the central point for
all travel on the upper Great Lakes, and for a vast extent
of wilderness and half -settled country beyond. As we have
seen (vol. xi, note 16), it was in 1641 that Jesuits first vis-
ited that region; but their missionary labors were not begun
on the lakes until nearly twenty years later. Not until
1670 is Mackinac (Michillimackinac) mentioned in the
Relations, although Menard and Allouez must have seen
MISCELLANEOUS SELECTIONS 581
it in their early voyages. The reason for this is suggested
in our text; the tribes who had dwelt there had been, long
before, driven thence by the fierce Iroquois, and that region
was practically deserted until 1670 when the Hurons on
Superior, in fear of the Sioux, retreated to the shore north
of Mackinac Island. Here Marquette continued his mis-
sionary labors with them, at the site of the present St.
Ignace. This had long been the location of a French trad-
ing post; Denonville's memoir of 1688 claims (N. Y.
Colon. Docs., vol. ix, p. 383) that the French had inhabited
that place for more than forty years. A small French gar-
rison was sent thither at some time between 1679 and
1683. The name of Michillimackinac (later abbreviated
to Mackinac) was applied generally to the entire vicinity,
as well as specifically to the post at St. Ignace and, later,
to the fort and mission established on the south side of the
Strait of Mackinac." Jesuit Relations, LV, 319. The
Burrows Brothers Company, Cleveland, Ohio.
DRUMMOND ISLAND
In his charming brochure on Drummond Island, Mr.
Samuel F. Cook writes:
"Lying across the northern end of Lake Huron, and sep-
arated from the main land of the upper peninsula of Michi-
gan by the strait of the Detour, is an island, twenty by
thirteen miles in extreme length and breadth, and com-
prising an area of about one hundred and eighteen square
miles. Its shores are lined with beautiful harbor bays,
which are thickly studded with small islands whose high
lying surfaces are decked with a dense covering of peren-
nial green. Streams and small woodland lakes abound on
582 HISTORIC MACKINAC
the island, which is densely wooded with both the larger
and smaller growths native to that northern clime.
"What may be called the southwestern corner of this
island, is a long point of high rocky formation, averaging
less than a mile in width, the sunny southeastern slope of
which looks out on a bay in which are numerous islands,
and affords both land and waterscape views of no ordinary
beauty. On the west side of this point is the Detour strait
the pathway of the immense commerce passing through
the St. Mary's river. On the eastern side of the point, in a
locality which seems to have been chosen more on account
of its beauty than for its value for military strategy, the
British flag floated and the red coats performed garrison
duty, during a period of thirteen years, in defiance of the
treaty of Ghent, the award of the boundary commissioners
thereunder, and the comity of nations." Cook, Drummond
Island, pp. 5-6.
REMINISCENCES OF MACKINAC IN THE TWENTIES AND
EARLIER
From the Wisconsin Historical Collections is taken the
following reminiscences of early Mackinac, by Mrs. Eliza-
beth Therese Baird:
"My earliest recollections of Mackinac, which date back
to 1814, are perfectly delightful. All about the Island was
so fresh and fair. True, the houses were quaint and old;
however, they were but few, not enough to mar the beauty,
but rather to add to the charms of the little crescent-shaped
village.
"How vividly I still see the clear, shining broad beach of
white pebbles and stones, and clear blue water of the
'Basin.' The houses were of one story, roofed with cedar
MISCELLANEOUS SELECTIONS 583
bark. Some of the fishermen's residences were entirely
covered with bark in the place of clap-boards. Every
house had its garden enclosed with cedar pickets, about five
feet in height, making a close enclosure. This was white-
washed, as were also the dwelling-houses, and the Fort as
well, giving the entire place more the appearance of a
fortress than an ordinary village.
"One street, if it may be called so, ran from one point
of the crescent to the other, and as near the water's edge
as the beach would permit, the pebbles forming a border
between the water and the road. The other street, for
there are but two, is a short one, which runs back of the
front street. A foot-path in the middle of the street was
all that was needed. Weeds grew luxuriantly on each side
of the trail; those next to the enclosures were almost as
high as the pickets. There were no vehicles of any descrip-
tion on the Island in those early days, except dog-trains or
sleds in the winter. Hence, the weeds had it all their own
way.
"The natural curiosities of the Island seemed more won-
derful in those days, because reached with so much diffi-
culty. The surroundings were wild, and no carriage road
led up to them. A visit to the Arched Rock, and the Sugar
Loaf, made a high holiday. Ascending the hills in the
outset, to get the fine view from above; we then followed
a rough path which led through a thick growth of pines,
cedar and juniper, the view that rewarded our exertions
was grand, but it needed a good guide to reach and enjoy
it. In returning, we descended by way of *Robinson's
Folly,' and so on down, reaching home by the beach. The
whole Island is a rock, covered with grass, cedar, juniper,
and some pines. Among our favorite walks, was one to
584 HISTORIC MACKINAC
Fort Holmes, which is on the highest hill of the Island.
"Small fruits, such as the wild straw-berry, raspberry,
and gooseberry were abundant on the Island; and the sur-
rounding islands abounded in huckleberries, blackberries,
and sand cherries. These were the sole varieties of fruit
known to the writer in childhood.
"Mackinac is a true summer home, but I loved it in the
winter, with its mountains of ice. The isolation of the
place was great eight months of the year were passed in
seclusion from the outside world; communication with it
was impossible. But the other four months of the year
made up for it all. About the middle of October naviga-
tion closed. How well I remember the quiet of the place.
Once a month the mail came, when it didn't miss.
"The religion of the inhabitants was Roman Catholic.
There was no regular priest stationed there, but one came
occasionally. We had no schools, and no amusements ex-
cept private parties, and these were principally card
parties. All ladies played whist and piquet. The other
set had their balls. The children were happy in making
houses in the snow-drifts, and in sliding down hill, or
coasting, as it is now called. In the autumn of 1823, the
ice made very early, but owing to high winds and a strong
current in the Straits, the ice would break up over and over
again, and was tossed to and fro, until it became piled up
in clear, towering, blue masses. These immense blocks ex-
tended from island to island, block piled upon block to a
great height, so that all that met the eye were beautiful
mountains of ice, with gorges of exquisite light and shade.
A beautiful sight, indeed, on a sunny day. As soon as the
mass became sufficiently solid, the soldiers for Mackinac
- \
MISCELLANEOUS SELECTIONS 585
had been a military post for years, held in turn by the
French, British and Americans and the fishermen turned
out and cut a road through the ice from one island to the
other. This was necessary, as fire-wood had to be procured
from the opposite island. The fishermen also had to cut
places for their nets.
"A sleigh-ride through that road-way was novel and
grand ; and in a dog-sled it was at times in a degree terrify-
ing. On each side a high wall of ice, nothing to be seen
but the sky above; the road so winding that one seemed
hemmed in by the high masses of ice, until a sharp turn
brought him into the road again. With horse and cutter,
which at a late date had been introduced on the Island, it
was a charming drive-way.
"Some seasons the lakes and basins would be clear of ice,
except as great cakes of it would fill the shore; it was
piled up so high at times, as to exclude all sight of the
water, except through occasional glacial openings. Other
seasons the ice would be as smooth as possible. Spring
always came late at Mackinac, and it used to be the custom
to plant a May-pole on the frozen surface. Quoting from
a friend's diary, we find: '1837, May 1st, May-pole put
on the ice to-day. Monday, May 8th, May-pole renewed,
and flags added to it. Ice in basin good/
"Mackinac, or as the Indians formerly named it,
Machilimackinac, 'The Great Turtle,' was, in those days,
called the emporium of the West, a town of extensive com-
merce. All the fur-traders went there to sell their furs,
and buy their goods. Prior to the establishment of the
American Fur Company by John Jacob Astor, the Hudson's
Bay Company occupied the Island in the same manner, as
586 HISTORIC MACKINAC
a depot. All the goods for this large trade came from
Montreal in birch bark canoes, by way of Niagara Falls.
All goods and canoes were carried past the rapids on the
backs of the Indians. It made most exciting times when
Le Caneau du Nord came, arriving sometimes as early as
June, and bringing from Montreal merchants, and merchan-
dise. As the canoes neared the town, there would come
floating on the air, the far-famed Canadian boat-song.
How plainly I hear it now! Then the voyageur came in
with furs, and then the Indians, and the little Island seemed
to overflow with human beings. These exciting, busy times
would last from six weeks to two months, then would
follow the quiet, uneventful, and to some, dreary days, yet
to most, days that passed happily." Wis. Hist. Colls., IX,
316-319.
MACKINAC ISLAND IN 1830
In the year 1830, Mackinac was visited by the Rev.
Calvin Colton, a native of Longmeadow, Massachusetts,
whose interest in the cause of the Red Man led him to make
an extensive tour through the wild and romantic region
of the Old Northwest. The following is taken from the
account of his observations given in his Tour of the Ameri-
can Lakes and among the Indians of the North-west Ter-
ritory in 1830:
"At break of day, on Sunday morning, the 8th of August,
after sailing all night upon the bosom of Lake Huron, and
from the entrance of the straits of St. Mary, the Island of
Mackinac, the snow-white Fort upon its rocky summit, and
the beautiful town below, adorned with a Christian church,
lifting up its steeple, opened upon us with a fine and
most welcome display: and at sunrise we lay still in
MISCELLANEOUS SELECTIONS 587
the clear waters of its crescent harbour, directly under the
guns of the Fort.
"If Quebec is the Gibraltar of North America, Mackinac
is only second in its physical character, and in its suscepti-
bilities of improvement, as a military post. It is also a
most important position for the facilities it affords, in the
fur-trade, between New York and the North- West. From
this point, the bateaux of the traders, boats of fifteen tons,
go annually in the autumn to the most distant shores of
Lake Superior, in one direction; and to the upper regions
of the Mississippi in another, laden with provisions, blan-
kets and ammunition, and other articles of merchandise, to
give the Indians in exchange for furs: and return to
Mackinac in the spring, where these furs are shipped for
New York, by way of Buffalo. Mackinac is used merely,
as a frontier garrison, and a trading post; and has a popula-
tion of 600 to 700. It is a beautiful Island, or great rock,
planted in the strait of the same name, which forms the
connection between Lakes Huron and Michigan. The
meaning of the Indian name Michillimackinack is a
great turtle. The Island is crowned with a cap 300 feet
above the surrounding waters, on the top of which is a
fortification, but not in keeping. The principal Fort, and
the one kept in order and garrisoned, rests upon the brow
of the rocky summit, 150 feet below the crown, or cap,
and the same number of feet above the water; and in such
relation to the semicircular harbour, as to command it per-
fectly, together with the opposite strait The harbour
forms an exact crescent, the tips of its horns being about one
mile asunder. The town itself, for the most part, lies
immediately on the crescent, near the water's edge, and
under the towering rock, which sustains the Fort above.
588 HISTORIC MACKINAC
The harbour, town, and Fort look with open and cheerful
aspect towards the Huron waters, south-east, inviting or
frowning, according as they are approached by friend or
foe. The Island of Mackinac is nearly all covered with
forests of slender growth. The shores and beach are com-
posed of small pebbles and gravel, without a single par-
ticle of pulverized substance to cloud the transparent wa-
ters, which dash upon them. So clear are the waters of
these Lakes, that a white napkin, tied to a lead, and sunk
thirty fathoms beneath a smooth surface, may be seen as
distinctly, as when immersed three feet. The fish may be
seen, playing in the waters, over the sides of the various
craft, lying in the harbours.
"There are two objects of natural curiosity at Mackinac,
worthy of notice: the Arched Rock and Sugar-loaf. The
latter is a cone of solid rock (and when seen from one di-
rection, it has the exact form of the loaf, after which it is
named) lifting itself about 100 feet above the plain, in the
heart, and on the summit of the Island, with a base of
fifty feet. Some trees and shrubbery shoot out from its
sides and crevices, in defiance of the lack of soil.
"As to the arched rock: suppose a perpendicular shore
of rock, 250 feet high, on the margin of the sea from the
brow of which, in retreat, lies a romantic broken ground,
and an almost impervious thicket. Then suppose a notch
were scalloped out of the edge, extending back about thirty
feet, and down the precipice about one hundred, measuring
across the supposed broken edge, fifty feet. Suppose, how-
ever, a string of the rocky edge, three feet in diameter, still
to remain, stretching across this chasm, in the form of an
arch, smallest in the centre, and increasing somewhat in its
dimensions towards either of its natural abutments: and
MISCELLANEOUS SELECTIONS 589
this is the picture of the Arched Rock of Mackinac. From
the giddy summit above, the spectator looks down upon
the lake beneath the arch, which has the appearance of an
immense gate-way, erected from the delineations of art.
Or, from the bosom of the waters below, he looks up, as
to the gate of heaven, inviting him to the celestial regions;
and it is even possible for him to get up; and then to get
down again, beneath the arch; but it is a giddy task.
And it is a still more perilous piece of sport to walk across
the arch itself and yet it has been done, not only by men
of nerve, but by boys in their play. In descending near
the base of this arch on the right, is a natural tunnel, six
feet in diameter, running down some rods through the solid
rock, letting out the passengers on the shore below, or by
which they may ascend, if they prefer it, to the broad high-
way under the arch. But in ascending or descending this
grand and perilous steep, the adventurer must hug the
pointed rocks with the most tenacious adherence, or be
precipitated and dashed in pieces at the bottom. These
two objects are interesting and magnificent specimens of
nature's masonry." Colton, Tour of the American Lakes,
I, 91-95.
MACKINAC IN 1831 AS SEEN BY AN ENGLISH
TRAVELLER
This pleasing description is characteristic of a robust
type of visitors to Mackinac, who, as this author did, came
with "note-book, sketch-book, gun, and fishing rod alone,
unbewifed and unbevehicled, as a man ought to travel, and
with the determination of being, as far as an Englishman
can be, unprejudiced." The writer is Godfrey T. Vigne,
Esq., of Lincoln Inn, London, Barrister at Law:
590 HISTORIC MACKINAC
"The next morning we approached the Island of Michili-
mackinac, signifying in the Indian language, the Great Tur-
tle; and so called from its outline bearing a supposed re-
semblance to that animal when lying upon the water, though
I cannot say that I could discover so flattering a likeness.
When within a short distance it appeared to be diamond-
shaped, with an angle projecting towards us, and the sides
regularly scarped by the hand of nature. Apparently
about the centre of the Island rises what in America is
called a *blufF ; a word which is provoking from its absurd-
ity, and constant recurrence in American descriptions of
scenery. What is a bluff? I asked, and so would any
other Englishman: *A bluff, sir! don't you know what a
bluff is? A bluff, sir, is a piece of rising ground, partly
rock, not all of it, with one side steep, but yet not very
steep, the other side sloping away, yet not too suddenly;
the whole of it, except the steep side, covered with wood ; in
short, sir, a bluff is a bluff!' The word, I think, may do
well enough to express a rough rocky hill, but sometimes
it happens that a bluff is highly picturesque, and then to
talk of a most beautiful bluff, is something like talking of
*Beauty and the Beast.' As a substantive, and, in the
sense in which it is used in America, the word is exclusively
their own, and it really would not be fair to call it English.
Nevertheless, there is, and shall be a *a bluff in the midst
of the Island of Michilimackinac, rising to the height of
more than three hundred feet above the waters of the lake,
which have been ascertained to be about six hundred feet
above the level of the Atlantic. On the left side of the
Island is the town, and above it appeared the Fort. In the
bay were several trading sloops, smaller craft, and Indian
canoes; and the sun shone brilliantly on the whole of this
MISCELLANEOUS SELECTIONS 591
enlivening scene, which we saw to the best advantage. The
town may contain about eight hundred inhabitants, ex-
clusive of the garrison. The Indians are sometimes to
be seen in great numbers, even to the amount of one thou-
sand or one thousand five hundred, who live in wigwams
close to the water's edge. A wigwam, or Indian village, is
a collection of small tents constructed of matting and birch
bark. The day before, we had met twenty-two canoes in
the open lake, each containing seven or eight Indians, who
were going from Mackinac to our settlement at Pen-y-
tang-y-shen, on Lake Huron, to receive their annual pres-
ents from the British government.
"Mackinac is the rendezvous of the North-West Ameri-
can missionary establishment. It contained six mission-
aries; of whom four were Presbyterian, one a Catholic,
and one of the Church of England, and a large establish-
ment for the instruction of one hundred children, of what-
ever persuasion.
"A very curious and regularly shaped natural Gothic
arch, on the top of a rock at the northeastern side, elevated
about two hundred feet above the level of the lake ; a huge
isolated calcareous rock; and a small cave called Skull
Cave, are the natural curiosities of the Island.
"The principal trade is the fur trade, which is carried
on there to a great extent, chiefly through the medium of
Canadian voyageurs. The Fort, which is kept in admirable
order, commands the whole town, but is itself commanded
by another eminence in the woods behind it. During the
late war a strong party of British and Indians pushed across
from Drummond's Island, with eleven pieces of cannon,
and being favoured by the darkness of the night, con-
trived to gain this eminence, distant half-a-mile, without
592 HISTORIC MACKINAC
being perceived by the Americans in the Fort, who had not
received notice of the war having broken out. They beat
the 'reveillee' as usual in the morning, and were exceed-
ingly astonished to hear it immediately answered by the
British, who were above them. Resistance would have
been useless, and the Fort surrendered. The remains of
the old British fortification are still to be seen upon the
hill: it is called Fort Holmes, after Major Holmes, a gal-
lant American officer, who was advancing to retake it, and
met his fate at the head of the attacking column. Mack-
inac was given up to the Americans by the Treaty of Ghent,
in 1814. There was originally a French fort and settle-
ment on the main land of the Michigan territory. The
first British garrison who occupied it were murdered by
the Indians, and the Fort and settlement were afterwards
removed by the British to the Island.
"I amused myself with shooting pigeons, which are to
Be found on the Island in great numbers. I was quite sur-
prised at the extraordinary facility and quickness of eye,
with which my guide, half Indian and half Canadian, dis-
covered them sitting in the thickest foliage ; his sight seemed
to me to be far keener than that of an English sportsman
when looking for a hare. The woods with which the Island
is covered, are principally composed of hazel and maple;
I could have fancied myself in a Kentish preserve, but that
wild raspberries were in great abundance in the open
spaces.
"In the evening I went to see the Indians spear fish by
torch light. A lighted roll of birch bark, emitting a most
vivid flame, was held over the head of the boat, where
the Indians were stationed with their spears. The water
was excessively clear, and the fish were attracted by the
MISCELLANEOUS SELECTIONS 593
light, and several of them were instantly pinned to the
ground at the depth of four or five feet.
"About ten miles north-east of Mackinac are the St.
Martin's Islands; one of them abounds in gypsum. At
about the same distance from Mackinac and on the main
land, I was informed that there was a remarkably fine
trout stream that would amply repay the fly-fisher for his
trouble in going there. There is no fly-fishing at Mack-
inac, but very fine fish are to be taken with a bait: they have
pike, bass, white-fish, and what are called salmon-trout,
in great perfection. As to these last, I very much question
whether they are of the salmo genus at all; as they never
rise at a fly. They certainly are not what are called sal-
mon-trout by English sportsmen, nor are they the large butt-
trout of the English lakes. I saw a boat-load containing a
dozen that had been caught in one night, weighing from
fifteen to twenty pounds each; they more resembled in
every respect the fish called the salmon in Lake Wenner in
Sweden, and which I have seen taken of an enormous size
below the falls of Trollhatta. The meat at this season
(August) was white, but well flavoured. I was informed
that it becomes of a reddish colour in October or Novem-
ber." Vigne, Six Months in America, II, 109-117.
MRS. STEELE'S VISIT TO MACKINAC IN 1840
Mrs. Steele, in A Summer Journey in the West, 1840,
writes entertainingly of people and scenes on the Island:
"0 Mackinac, thou lonely Island, how shall I describe
thy various beauties! certainly for situation, history, and
native loveliness, it is the most interesting Island in our
States. We approach it through an avenue of islands,
Drummond and Manitoulin, dimly seen on our east, and
594
MISCELLANEOUS SELECTIONS 595
Boisblanc and Round, on our western side. Stretching
across our path, far away in front of us, is Mackinac,
painted against the clear blue sky. The Island of Michili-
mackinac, or Mackinac, as it is commonly spelt and pro-
nounced, is a high and bold bluff of limestone about three
hundred feet above the water, covered with verdure.
Its name signifies in the Indian tongue, great turtle,
as it is something of the figure of this animal. At the foot
of the bluff are strewed the buildings of the town. Among
the most conspicuous of these are, the Agency house and
gardens, residence of Mr. Schoolcraft, Indian Agent and
the church and mission house. Along the beach were sev-
eral Indian wigwams, while numerous pretty bark canoes
were going and coming, as this is the Indian stopping
place. A very beautiful and conspicuous object was the
United States Fort, presenting at a distance the appearance
of a long white line of buildings inserted, into 
