e had two boxes of minerals which
he had received from Mr. Schoolcraft, and that if he (E.) would label
them, he (E.) might take what he wished to retain for his trouble. He
said, also, that he was about to establish a school at Lockport, but,
knowing nothing of mineralogy, he wished to get the specimens labeled.
Mr. Edgerton unpacked the boxes, took a few for himself, labeled and
repacked the rest, and returned them to the stranger.

"The box of shells was left at the tavern of Levi Cozzens, in Utica,
where they remained two years, waiting for some one to claim them; about
this time Mr. C., closing up his concern, opened the box and gave the
shells to his children for playthings, and sent the _mocock_ of sugar
(which had your name on or about it) to his mother. If the person who
had the minerals still remains at Lockport, perhaps they may be
recovered, but the shells are all destroyed."

The minerals referred to consisted of choice and large specimens of the
colored and crystaline fluates of lime from Illinois, and the attractive
species and varieties of sulphates of barytes, sulphurets of lead,
radiated quartz, &c. &c., from Missouri, which I had revisited in 1821.
They were fine cabinet specimens, but contained no new species or
varieties. Not so with the fresh-water shells. They embraced all the
species of the Wabash River, whose entire length I had traversed that
year, from its primary forks to its entrance into the Ohio. Among them
were some new things, which would, at that time, have proved a treat to
my conchological friends.

_8th_. Mukonsewyan, or the Little Bear Skin, visited the office, with a
retinue. He asked whether any Indians from the Fond du Lac, or Upper
Mississippi, had visited the office this season. I stated to him the
renewal of hostilities between the Sioux and Chippewas, as a probable
reason why they had not. He entered freely into conversation on the
history of the Sioux, and spoke of their perfidy to the Chippewas. I
asked him if they were as treacherous to the Americans as they had been
to the British--several of whose traders they had in former days killed.
He said he had seen the Sioux offenders of that day, encamped at
Mackinack, while the British held it, under the guns of the fort, and
all the Indians expected that they would have been seized. But they were
suffered to retire unmolested.

_14th_. I went to Round Island with Mr. Featherstonehaugh and Lieut.
Mather. Examined the ancien