ion of the lands until it is actually required for settlement.
The compensation, for all objects, was about two millions of dollars. It
had been arranged to close and sign the treaty on the 26th of March, but
some objections were made by the Ottawas to a matter of detail, which
led to a renewed discussion, and it was not until the 28th that the
treaty was signed. It did not occur to me, till afterwards, that this
was my birth-day. The Senate who, at the same time, had the important
Cherokee treaty of New Echota before them, did not give it their assent
till the 20th of May, and then ratified it with some essential
modifications, which have not had a wholly propitious tendency.

Liberal provisions were made for their education and instruction in
agriculture and the arts. Their outstanding debts to the merchants were
provided for, and such aid given them in the initial labor of subsisting
themselves, as were required by a gradual change from the life of
hunters to that of husbandmen. About twelve and a half cents per acre
was given for the entire area, which includes some secondary lands and
portions of muskeegs and waste grounds about the lakes--which it was,
however, thought ought, in justice to the Indians, to be included in the
cession. The whole area could not be certainly told, but was estimated
at about sixteen millions of acres.

About the beginning of May a delegation of Saginaws arrived, for the
purpose of ceding to the government the reservations in Michigan, made
under the treaty of 1819. This delegation was referred to me, with
instructions to form a treaty with them. The terms of it were agreed on
in several interviews, and the treaty was signed on the 20th of
May, 1836.

A third delegation of Chippewas, from Michigan, having separate interest
in the regions of Swan Creek and Black River, presented themselves, with
the view of ceding the reservations made to them by a treaty concluded
by Gen. Hull, Nov. 17th, 1807. They were also referred to me to adjust
the terms of a sale of these reservations. The treaty was signed by
their chiefs on the 9th of May, 1836.

As soon as these several treaties were acted on by the Senate, I left
the city on my return. It was one of the last days of May when I left
Washington. A new era had now dawned in the upper lake country, and joy
and gladness sat in every face I met. The Indians rejoiced, because they
had accomplished their end and provided for their wants. The class