y's journey towards the land of the rising
sun, there dwelt a people, with whom the Ottawas had always been at
peace. They were a set of very awkwardly-shaped beings, of a stature
not exceeding the stubborn little beast's which our white brother rode
hither, with four legs, and a beard upon the neck as long as that worn
by the people one sees at the City of the Rock. Their heads were very
long, their muzzles very thick, their nostrils very wide, and each
wore upon his head, even before he was married, a pair of long and
wide-spreading horns. They were covered with long hair, the colour of
which was a mixture of light gray, and dark red. Though they were
apparently a very heavy, clumsy, unwieldy people, the Ottawas, when
they joined them on hunting expeditions, or assisted them in their
wars against their enemies, found it no small labour to keep at their
side, so long and steady was their trot. It was only when there had
been a deep snow, which, melting somewhat, and being afterwards
frozen, would not bear their weight, that our people proved a match
for them in speed of travelling. For the foot of the strange people,
being forked, broke through the crust which the frost had formed on
the surface of the snow, and they went plunging and plunging with
little progress till their strength was exhausted.

The Elks--for this was the name of these odd neighbours of the
Ottawas--were upon the whole a very good-tempered, friendly people.
But, when they were once angered, it was a great deal best to keep out
of their way till they had cooled--a course one should pursue at all
times with passionate folks. Whenever an Elk was enraged with an
Ottawa, the latter hid himself till he had become pleased again. So
upon the whole the two nations rubbed their noses together with more
sincerity than any two nations of the wilds. It was not for the
interest of either people to throw down the hatchet; they were of
great and frequent service to each other. Whenever an Ottawa woman was
hard to do with the pains of travail[A], she sent for a wise Old Elk,
who speedily delivered her; and, when the Carcajous picked quarrels,
as they were always doing with their pacific neighbours, the Ottawas
became either mediators, or the allies of the Elks. There could be no
doubt that but for our Braves, the Carcajous and the Foxes, who always
make war in company(3), would have destroyed the Elks from the face of
the Great Island. But the Ottawas joined the we