We found an
immense number of Indians assembled. The Potawattomies, in their gay
dresses and on horseback, gave the scene an air of Eastern magnificence.
Here we were joined by Judge Solomon Sibley, the other commissioner from
Detroit, whence he had crossed the peninsula on horseback, and we
remained in negotiation with the Indians during fifteen consecutive
days. A treaty was finally signed by them on the 24th of August, by
which, for a valuable consideration in annuities and goods, they ceded
to the United States about five millions of acres of choice lands.
Before this negotiation was finished, I was seized with bilious fever,
and consequently did not sign the treaty. It was of the worst bilious
type, and acute in its character. I did not, indeed, ever expect to make
another entry in a human journal. But a vigorous constitution at length
prevailed, and weeks after all the party had left the ground, I was
permitted to embark in a vessel called the Decatur on the 23d of
September for Detroit.
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