mily--A locality of
necromancers--Ancient Chippewa capital--Eating of animals.
_1822. July 7th_. We left our pallets at the sound of the reveille, and
partook of a rich cup of coffee, with cream, which smoked on the camp
breakfast-board of our kind entertainer, Captain Thompson.[15] The ladies
and children came up from the steamer, under due escorts, during the
day, and were variously accommodated with temporary quarters. Dr.
Wheaton and lady, Captain Brant, quartermaster, and myself, were
received eventually at the table of Mr. Johnston. Captain Brant and
myself hired a small room hard by for an office to be used between us.
This room was a small log tenement, which had been occupied by one of
Mr. J.'s hands. It was about twelve by fourteen feet, with a small
window in front and in rear, and a very rural fire-place in one corner.
It is astonishing how much comfort can be enjoyed in a crowded and
ill-fitted place on a pinch. We felicitated ourselves at even this. We
really felt that we were quite fortunate in getting such a locality to
hail from. Captain N.S. Clark got an adjoining tenement, of similar
construction and use, but much larger, for his numerous family. Some of
the ladies took shelter at the domicil of an intelligent American family
(Mr. E.B. Allen's) who had preceded us a short time with an adventure of
merchandise. One or two of the ladies abode temporarily in the tents of
their husbands. The unmarried officers looked for nothing better than
life in camp. I accepted an invitation at the mess-table of the
officers. Besides this sudden influx of population, there were followers
and hucksters of various hues who hoped to make their profits from the
soldiery. There was not a nook in the scraggy-looking little antique
village but what was sought for with avidity and thronged with
occupants. Whoever has seen a flock of hungry pigeons, in the spring,
alight on the leaf-covered ground, beneath a forest, and apply the busy
powers of claw and beak to obtain a share of the hidden acorns that may
be scratched up from beneath, may form some just notion of the pressing
hurry and bustle that marked life in this place. The enhanced price that
everything bore was one of the results of this sudden influx of
consumers and occupants.
[Footnote 15: This officer fell at the battle of Ochechubby, in Florida,
as colonel of the sixth infantry, gallantly leading his men to battle.]
_8th_. I went to rest last night with the hea
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