The adventures, perils, and anecdotes of this period, he loved in his after days to recite; and I have sometimes purposed to record them, in connection with his name; but the prospect of my doing so, while still blessed with an excellent memory, becomes fainter and fainter.

8th.  Otwin (vide ante) writes from La Pointe, in Lake Superior, in the following terms:—­

“I often look back to the happy days I spent in your family, and feel grateful in view of them.  A thousand blessings rest on your head, my dear friend, and that of your wife, for all your kindness to me, when first a stranger in a distant land.  I cannot reward you, but know that you will be rewarded at the resurrection of the just.”

9th.  “I know of no good reason,” says a correspondent, “why a man should not, at all times, stand ready to sustain the truth.”  This is a maxim worthy Dr. Johnson; but the experience of life shows that such high moral independence is rare.  Most men will speak out, and even vindicate the truth, sometimes.  But the worldling will stand mute, or evade its declaration, whenever his interests are to be unfavorably affected by it.

I reached Washington on public business during the heats of June, and, coming from northern latitudes, felt their oppressiveness severely.

27th.  Mr. Bancroft, the historian, pursues exactly the course he should, to ferret out all facts, new and old.  He does not hold himself too dignified to pick up information, or investigate facts, whenever and wherever he can find them.  In what he has to say about the Indians, a subject that lies as a superstratum under his work, he is anxious to hear all that can be said.  “Let me hear from you,” he adds in a letter of this date, “before you go back.  I want to consult you on my chapter about the Indians, and for that end should like to send you a copy of it.”

The chief, Eshquagonaby, of Grand Traverse Bay, Lake Michigan, relates the following traditions:  When Gezha Manido (the Good Spirit) created this island (continent), it was a perfect plain, without trees or shrubs.  He then created an Indian man and woman.  When they had multiplied so as to number ten persons, death happened.  At this the man lamented, and went to and fro over the earth, complaining.  Why, he exclaimed, did the Good Spirit create me to know death and misery so soon?  The Good Spirit heard this, and, after assembling his angels to counsel, said to them, What shall we do to better the condition of man?  I have created him frail and weak.  They answered, O, Good Spirit, thou hast created us, and thou art everlasting, and knowest all things; thou alone knowest what is best.

Six days were given to this consultation.  During this time not a breath of wind blew to disturb the waters.  This is now called unwatin (a calm).  On the seventh day not a cloud was seen; the sky was blue and serene.  This is called nageezhik (excellent day) by the Indians.