of Indian caution and suspicion of white men.
I knew but little of the man then, and had seen him but once or twice.
He evidently "played shy," and was determined the Anglo-Saxon race
should get no facts from him that might ever be told to the disadvantage
of the Indians who had once, under the lead of a noted chief (Pontiac),
been led, under the deception of a ball-play, to fall on the unprepared
ranks of a British garrison, and stain their history with a horrible
tale of blood. Henry's travels preserve the most vivid account of this
massacre, for he was himself an eye witness of some of its atrocities,
and was spared, by a remarkable Providence, from being one of
its victims.

It was not credible that seventy years should have left so little of
Indian tradition of that sanguinary event.

It is reported that letters written by Longlade, Indian interpreter at
old Mackinack, at and during the era of the massacre of the English
garrison, are in the possession of the Greenough family, at Green Bay.
They would, perhaps, throw some light on a transaction which is by far
the most tragic event of this _transition_ period of our Indian history.
By transition, I mean the era of the change from French to English
supremacy.

CHAPTER XLVIII.

Anniversary of the Algic Society--Traditions of Chusco and Mukudapenais
respecting Gen. Wayne's treaty--Saliferous column in American
geology--Fact in lake commerce--Traditions of Mrs. Dousman and Mr.
Abbott respecting the first occupation of the Island of
Michilimackinack--Question of the substantive verb in the Chippewa
language--Meteoric phenomena during the month of December--Historical
fact--Minor incidents.

1833. _Oct. 12th_. Business called me to Detroit, where I had a work in
the press, early in October. The Algic Society held its first
anniversary this day, in the Session Room of the Presbyterian Church.
The Secretary read a report of its proceedings, and submitted a body of
the vital statistics of the tribes of the Upper Lakes, which elicited an
animated discussion. Mr. Lathrop called attention to the singular fact,
that of the mothers reported in the tables, the rate of reproduction in
the hunter tribes did not exceed an average of over two children per
female. Mr. Sheldon thought the causes of their depopulation, since we
have been their neighbors, were rather seated in their extraordinary
attachment to the use of ardent spirits, than in the effects of wars,
internal o