alth than I have been for many months. Still I have but
imperfectly achieved the object of my journey; and I feel that, though I
seized on my return every opportunity of seeing and visiting the Indian
lodges, I know but too little of them, of the women particularly. If
only I had been able to talk a little more to my dear Neengay! how often
I think of her with regret, and of you all! But it is in vain to repine.
I must be thankful for what I have gained, what I have seen and done! I
have written to Mrs. McMurray, and troubled her with several questions
relative to the women. I remark generally, that the propinquity of the
white man is destruction to the red man; and the farther the Indians are
removed from us, the better for them. In their own woods, they are a
noble race; brought near to us, a degraded and stupid race. We are
destroying them off the face of the earth. May God forgive us our
tyranny, our avarice, our ignorance, for it is very terrible to
think of!"

_21st_. Judge McDonnel, of Detroit, reached the island with Captain
Clark of St. Clair, these gentlemen having been engaged since spring, in
a careful and elaborate appraisement of the Indian improvements, under
the 8th article of the treaty of 28th March, 1836. They commenced their
labor in the Grand River Valley, and continued it along the entire
eastern coast of Lake Michigan, to Michilimackinack, not omitting
anything which could, by the most liberal construction, be considered
"as giving value to the lands ceded." Not an apple tree, not a house, or
log wigwam, and not an acre, once in cultivation, though now waste,
was omitted.

They report the whole number of villages in this district at twenty-two,
the whole number of improvements at 485, and the gross population at
3,257 souls. This population live in log and bark dwellings of every
grade, cultivate 2477 acres of land, on which there are 3,212 apple
trees; besides old fields, the aggregate value of which is put at
$74,998. They add that these appraisements have been deemed everywhere
fully satisfactory to the Indians.

_23d_. A poor decrepit Indian woman, who was abandoned on the beach by
her relatives some ten days ago, applied for relief. It is found that
she has been indebted for food in the interim to the benevolence of Mrs.
Lafromboise.

_23d_. "I take the liberty," says A. W. Buel, Esq., of Detroit, "of
addressing you concerning the little book in my possession, touching the
early history