ll cleared the light-house,
when the wind increased to a gale. We soon went on furiously. Sails were
reefed, and every preparation made to keep on our way, but the wind did
not admit of it. The captain made every effort to hug the shore, and
finally came to anchor in great peril, under the highlands of Sauble.
Here we pitched terribly, and were momently in peril of being cast on
shore. In the effort to work the ship, one of the men fell from the
bowsprit, and passed under the vessel, and was lost. It was thought that
our poor little craft must go to the bottom; it seemed like a chip on
the ocean contending against the powers of the Almighty. It seemed as
if, agreeably to Indian fable, Ishkwondameka himself was raising a
tempest mountain high for some sinister purposes of his own. But, owing
to the skill of the old lake mariner, we eventually triumphed. He never
faltered in the darkest exigency. For a day and night he struggled
against the elements, and finally entered the straits at Fort Gratiot,
and he brought us safely into the port of our destination.

On reaching Detroit, the lateness of the season admonished me to lose no
time in making my way over the stormy Erie to Buffalo, whence I pursued
my journey to New York. I reached the latter city the day prior to the
great fire, in December. I took lodgings at the Atlantic Hotel, which is
near the foot of Broadway, and immediately west of the great scene of
conflagration. The cold was so bitter while the fire raged that I could
not long endure the open air, which seemed to be surcharged with oxygen.
I reached Philadelphia the 19th, and Washington a day or two after.

CHAPTER LVI.

Florida war--Startling news of the Massacre of Dade--Peoria on the
Illinois--Abanaki language--Oregon--Things shaping for a territorial
claim--Responsibility of claim in an enemy's country--A true
soldier--Southern Literary Messenger--Missionary cause--Resources of
Missouri--Indian portfolio of Lewis--Literary gossip--Sir Francis
Head--The Crane and Addik totem--Treaty of March 28th, 1836, with the
Ottawas and Chippewas--Treaty with the Saginaws of May 20th--Treaty with
the Swan Creek and Black River Chippewas of May 9th--Return to
Michilimackinack--Death of Charlotte, the daughter of Songageezhig.

1836. The year opened with the portentous news of Indian hostilities.
The massacre of Major Dade and his entire command on the waters of the
Wythlacootche River in Florida, and the prospect