MEDAL OF THE THIRD PRESIDENT.—­During the assemblages at Rice Lake, I observed a lad called Ogeima Geezhick, or Chief Day, having a Jefferson medal around his neck.  I called him and his father, and, while inquiring its history, put a new ribbon to it.  It was probably given by the late Col.  Bolvin, Indian agent at Prairie du Chien, to the chief called Peesh-a-Peevely, of Ottawa Lake.  The latter died at his village, an old man, last winter.  He gave it to a young man who was killed by the Sioux.  His brother having a boy named after him, namely, Ogeima Geezhick, gave it to him.

WAR-DANCE.—­This ceremony, together with what is called striking the post, was performed during our stay.  The warriors, arrayed for war, danced in a circle to the music of their drum and rattles.  After making a fixed number of revolutions, they stopped simultaneously and uttered the sharp war yell.  A man then stepped out, and, raising his club and striking a pole in the centre, related a personal exploit in war.  The dance was then resumed, and terminated in like manner by yells, when another warrior related his exploits.  This was repeated as long as there were exploits to tell.  One of the warriors had seven feathers in his head, denoting that he had marched seven times against the enemy.  Another had two.  One of the young men asked for Lieut.  Clary’s sword, and danced with it in the circle.

An old woman, sitting in a ring of women on the left, when the dancing and drumming had reached its height, could not restrain her feelings.  She rose up, and, seizing a war-club which one of the young men gallantly offered, joined the dance.  As soon as they paused, and gave the war-whoop, she stepped forward and shook her club towards the Sioux lines, and related that a war party of Chippewas had gone to the Warwater River, and killed a Sioux, and when they returned they threw the scalp at her feet.  A very old, deaf, and gray-headed man, tottering with age, also stepped out to tell the exploits of his youth, on the war path.

Among the dancers, I noticed a man with a British medal.  It was the medal of the late Chief Peesh-a-Peevely, and had probably been given him while the British held the supremacy in the country.  I explained to him that it, was a symbol of nationality, which it was now improper to display as such.  That I would recognize the personal authority of it, by exchanging for it an American silver medal of equal size.

ORNITHOLOGY.—­While at Rice Lake, I heard, for the first time, the meadow-lark, and should judge it a favorite place for birds obtaining their food.  The thirteen striped squirrel is also common.  A quantity of the fresh-water shells of the lake were, at my request, brought in by the Indian girls.  There was very little variety.  Most of them were unios of a small size.

I found the entire population to be one hundred and forty-two souls, of whom eleven were absent.