the treaty of Butte des Morts (Wisconsin).  That he had preserved the words which had been uttered in council by his American fathers, and was happy that all cause of difference with their neighbors, the Winnebagoes and Menomonies had been taken away by fixing the lines of their lands, &c.  He presented four stands of wampum to confirm his professions of good will.  His companion also got up, and spoke for several minutes, and concluded by requesting “that his father would not overlook him, in distributing any presents he intended to make them.”  He presented a pipe.  After he was seated, I asked, as I was penning these minutes, the signification of his name, Mukwakwut, as the meaning did not appear obvious.  He smiled and replied “that in former times his ancestors had seen devils playing ball in the air, and that his name was in allusion to the ball.”

16th.  Visited by Tems Couvert (the Lowering or Dark Cloud), a noted war chief of Leech Lake, upper Mississippi.  He states that Mr. Oaks took from him, two years ago, nine plus,[50] and has not yet paid him, together with a medal, which last was not returned to him until his arrival at Fond du Lac this spring.  He also states that Mr. Warren took from him, while he was at La Pointe on his way out, a pack of thirty obiminicqua [51] (equal to thirty full-sized, seasonable beavers), and has not, as yet, offered him anything in payment.

[Footnote 50:  Plus, Fr. A skin’s worth.]

[Footnote 51:  Obiminicqua, Alg.  The value of a full beaver skin.]

Shingabowossin (the Image Stone), Shewabeketon (the Jingling Metals), and Wayishkee (the First-born Son), the three principal chiefs of the Home Band, with seventy-one men, women and children, visited me to congratulate me on my safe return from Detroit.  The old chief inquired if there was any news, and whether all remains quiet between us and the English.

Guelle Plat, or Ashkebuggecoash (the Flat Mouth), of Leech Lake, upper Mississippi, announced his arrival, with sixty persons, chiefly warriors and hunters.  He brought a letter from one of the principal traders in that quarter, backed by the Sub-agent of La Pointe, recommending him as “the most respectable man in the Chippewa nation.”  He is said by general consent to be the most influential man in the large and powerful band of Leech Lake, comprising, by my latest accounts, seventeen hundred souls.  His authority is, however, that of a village or civil chief, his coadjutor, the Lowering Cloud, having long had the principal sway with the warriors.

Being his first visit to this agency, although he had sent me his pipe in 1822, and, as he said, the first time he had been so far from his native place in a south-easterly course, I offered him the attentions due to his rank, and his visit being an introductory one, was commenced and ended by the customary ceremonies of the pipe.