r external. Mr. Clark believed the Indian youth were capable
of being brought under the power of moral and religious instruction. Mr.
Schoolcraft depicted the adverse circumstances under which the masses
had heretofore labored, in coming under plans of instruction and
Christianity, owing to their poverty; their dispersion over large areas
of country for large parts of the year; the impracticability of their
finding subsistence in large bodies at one place; and the deleterious
influence of the commerce in furs and peltries, on their moral and
mental character. He submitted a report of the proceedings of the St.
Mary's committee, showing, in detail, operations within the year. With
the limited sum of $151 10, they had been able to furnish elder John
Sunday an outfit for Keweena Bay in Lake Superior, and given two other
native converts, namely, John Otanchey and John Cabeach, the means of
pursuing their labors amongst the Chippewas during the winter of 1833.
They had sent an express, during the month of February, to the mission
of the American Board at La Pointe, in Lake Superior. Their minutes of
monthly meetings denoted that a valuable body of information had been
collected, respecting the population and statistics of the Chippewa
nation, and the grammatical structure of their language, &c.

The occasion being coincident with the meeting of the Synod of the
Western Reserve, at Detroit, many gentlemen of learning, benevolence,
and piety, were brought together, and a high degree of interest excited
respecting the condition and prospects of the tribes.

In accordance with a resolution passed the year previous, I recited a
poetic address on the character of the race, which was received with
approbation, and directed to be printed. This had been, in fact,
sketched in a time of leisure in the wilderness some years before.

I returned to Mackinack near the close of October, when I resumed my
traditionary inquiries. It was sought, as a mere matter of tradition, to
obtain from the Indians a recognition of the cession of this island, &c.
made by them to the United States through the instrumentality of Gen.
Wayne, at Greenville, in Ohio, in 1793.

Chusco [67] (muskrat), the old prophet or jossakeed of the Ottawa nation,
had told me of his presence at Greenville, at the treaty, while a young
man, al[67]with others of his tribe. He was a man who would attract
attention, naturally, from the peculiarities of his person and
character