Cairo, the Pyramids, Memphis, and, I
hope, the Red Sea, we shall proceed to Palestine, look at Jerusalem, see
the Dead Sea, and other interesting places of Holy Writ, pass by and
touch at Tyre and Sidon, land at Beyrout, and visit Damascus and
Baalbec, and probably Palmyra; touch at Smyrna, proceed to
Constantinople and the Black Sea, and then to Greece, &c.; after that to
the islands of the Archipelago, then up the Adriatic to Venice and
Trieste, and thence return to this place. So, you see, here is the
programme of a pretty good expedition, certainly a very
interesting one."

_April 6th_. By letters received from Albany, a singular chapter of the
inscrutable course and awards of Providence for parental disobedience
and youthful deception is revealed. Alfredus, who departed from my
office in Detroit early in March last, to receive a warrant as a cadet
at West Point, has not appeared among his friends. He was a young man of
good mind, figure, and address, and would doubtless have justified the
judgment of his friends in giving him a military education. His father
had been one of the patriots of 1776, and served on the memorable field
of Saratoga. But the young man was smitten with the romance of going to
Texas and joining the ranks of that country, striving for a rank among
nations. This secret wish he carefully concealed from me, and, setting
out with the view of returning to his father's roof, and solacing his
age by entering the military academy, he secretly took the stage to
Columbus, Ohio. Thence he pushed his way to New Orleans and Galveston.
The next intelligence received of him, was a careful measurement of his
length, by unknown hands, and the statement that, in ascending the
Brazos, he had taken the fever and died.

_10th_. Issued notice to claimants for Indian debts, under the 5th
article of the treaty of March 28th, 1886; that additional claims would
be considered, and that such claims, with the evidence in support of
them, must be produced previous to the first of June next.

_26th_. Received notice of my election as a corresponding member of the
Hartford Natural History Society, Connecticut.

I have filled the pauses of official duty, during the season, by
preparing for the press the oral legends which have been gleaned from
the Indians since my residence at Sault St. Marie, in the basin of Lake
Superior, and at Michilimackinack, under the name of _Algic
Researches_, vol. i.

_10th_. By the treaty o