Mr. Wm. Johnston, who was at Leech Lake, on the sources of the Mississippi, describes the changing phenomena as wonderful.  “The weather,” he says (13th Nov.), “is still very pleasant, with very little frost at night.  About two or three o’clock in the morning one of the men came and awoke me.  ‘Come and see a strange sight,’ he said.  We went to the door, where we saw, every now and then, stars shooting or falling.  The centre from whence they first appeared to the eye was, to us, nearly in a direct line above our heads—­from whence they went in all directions, to all points of the compass.  Most all our village people were looking at them with fearful astonishment, and they were making their remarks as their feelings caused them.  We went in the house, and each smoked his pipe, and we could not say much about the cause of what we had seen, but only expressed our astonishment to each other.

“Before going to bed, we thought we would take another look at the heavens.  What a sight it was!  The whole heaven appeared to be lit with the falling stars, and we could now more plainly see, as it were, the centre from whence they would shoot.  The night was calm, the air clear; nothing to disturb the stillness, but the hushed breathings of the men.  The stars were accompanied with a rustling noise, and, though they appeared to fall as fast and as thick as hail, above them, now and then, we could see some of the fixed stars, shining as bright as ever.  But these (falling stars) appeared to be far below them.  I can compare it to nothing more comprehensive than a hail storm.  The sight was grand beyond description.  Yet I must confess that my feelings were awed into a perfect silence.  We stood and gazed, till we saw the bright streaks of day appearing, and the stars began gradually to be less in number, till the light of the sun caused them to disappear.”

28th.  I resumed the old traditions.  Mrs. Michael Dousman observes that her father (McDonnel) came to the island, with the troops, in 1782.  That the government house, so called, was then built, and a few other buildings, but nothing as yet had been done towards the present fort on the cliff.  Gov.  Sinclair, so called, was then in command.  He was relieved that year by Captain Robinson.

She thinks the removal from old Mackinack must have taken place about 1778 or 1779, under Sinclair.  The inhabitants transferred their residences gradually, bringing over the sashes and doors of their old houses and setting them up here.

After the massacre, the troops remained some time.  The Indians had not burned the fort.

Says that Wawetum, the Indian chief, became blind, and was burned, accidentally, in his lodge at the point (Ottawa Point).  I had been inquiring about Henry’s account of him.

The Indians at Mackinack, she says, opposed its occupancy.  Things came to such a height in 1782 that Gov.  Sinclair sent to Detroit for cannon.  It was a remarkable fact that the brig Dunmore, sent down on this occasion, was absent from the island but eight day, during which she went to and returned from Detroit, bringing the expected supply.  She entered Mackinack harbor on the eighth day, on the same hour she had left it, and fired a salute.