them now was, how much they had got.  They wished to sell the certificate to a trader, and there were five claimants.  They sat down and counted off as many racoon skins.  They then made thirty equal heaps, substituting symbols for skins.  Taking the store price of a racoon at five skins to the dollar, they then found they had received the equivalent of one hundred and fifty racoons, and at this price they sold the order or certificate.

26th.  Death of Sassaba,[22] or the Count.—­This chief, who has from the day of our first landing here, rendered himself noted for his sentiments of opposition to the Americans, met with a melancholy fate yesterday.  He was in the habit of using ardent spirits, and frequently rose from a debauch of this kind of two or three days’ continuance.  Latterly he has exhibited a singular figure, walking through the village, being divested of every particle of clothing except a large gray wolf’s skin, which he had drawn over his body in such a manner as to let its tail dangle down behind.  It was in this unique costume that I last saw him, and as he was a tall man, with rather prominent features, the spectacle was the more striking.  From this freak of dress he has been commonly called, for some time, My-een-gun, or the Wolf.  He had been drinking at Point aux Pins, six miles above the rapids, with Odabit and some other boon companions, and in this predicament embarked in his canoe, to come to the head of the portage.  Before reaching it, and while still in the strong tide or suck of the current, he rose in his canoe for some purpose connected with the sail, and tipped it over.  Odabit succeeded in making land, but the Count, his wife and child, and Odabit’s wife, went over the rapids, which was the last ever seen of them.  Sassaba appeared to me to be a man of strong feelings and an independent mind, not regarding consequences.  He had taken a deep prejudice against the Americans, from his brother having been shot by his side in the battle under Tecumseh on the Thames.  This appeared to be the burden of his complaints.  He was fond of European dress, and articles of furniture.  It was found that he had in his tent, which was of duck, a set of silver tea and tablespoons, knives, forks, cups and saucers, and a tea tray.  Besides his military coat, sword, and epaulets, and sash, which were presented to him, he had some ruffled linen shirts, gloves, shoes and stockings, and an umbrella, all of which were kept, however, in the spirit of a virtuoso, and he took a pride in displaying these articles to visitors.

[Footnote 22:  The word means finery.]

Many a more worthless man than Sassaba has had his epitaph, or elegiac wreath, which may serve as an apology for the following lines:—­