They had
absolutely no baggage in the canoe. When the warrior leaped out, it was
seen to be a mere elongated and ribbed dish of the white birch bark, and
a man with one hand could easily lift it. Such a display of the Indian
manners and customs on a war party, it is not one in a thousand even of
those on the frontiers is ever so fortunate as to see.
They still landed under some trepidation, but I took each personally by
the hand as they came up to my flag, and the ceremony was united in by
Lieut. Clary, and continued by them until every gentleman of my party
had been taken by the hand. The Indians understood this ceremony as a
committal of friendship. I directed tobacco to be distributed to them,
and immediately gathered them in council. They stated that the war party
had encountered signs of Sioux outnumbering them on the lower part of
the Chippewa River, and footsteps of strange persons coming. This inroad
of an apparently new combination against them had alarmed the moose,
which had fled before them; and that six of the party had been sent in
advance while the main body lay back to await the news.
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