ed in every direction proceeding to the rendezvous.
Never within the memory of the Indian had there been so full a council.
There were plenipotentiaries from many of the New England tribes, from
some who lived far down the Mississippi, and others who hunted in the
shade of the Rocky Mountains--to say nothing of those who came from the
regions of Polar ice. Their lodges covered a thousand acres. The spot
selected for their encampment was a _prairie_ of almost boundless
extent, having on one side a forest impervious save to an Indian hunter.
This forest abounded with game, and vast herds of buffaloes were
feeding on the skirts of the _prairie_. It may be observed in passing,
that sites for the temporary sojourn of the Savages are always chosen
with reference to facilities for the prosecution of the chace, and for
obtaining water and fuel. That, selected in this case, afforded each of
these in abundance, and to our traveller a prospect as replete with
natural beauty as it was with novelty. He beheld, stretched out before
him, a green meadow extending farther than the eye could reach, diversified
only by groupes of Indian bark huts, and parties of hunters going to
or returning from the chace--of women employed in the various duties
imposed upon them in savage life, and children playing at the simple
games of savage childhood. There, was a hunter, stately and tall, his
eye like the eagle's, and his foot like the antelope's, cautiously
approaching an angle of the grove, where his wary eye detected a deer;
here, a proud chief, his crest surmounted by an eagle's feather,
haranguing the warriors of his tribe with far more dignity and grace
than Alexander displayed in giving audience to the Scythian
ambassadors, or Hannibal in his address to his army before the battle
of Cannae. It was a novel scene to M. Verdier, and he enjoyed it with
all the zest of a profound and philosophic observer of human
character.

When the nations were all assembled, Shongo Tongo, or the Big Horse, a
chief of the Ottoes, rose, and said:--

"Father, you see before you the warriors of many nations. All
the red men of the land are gathered together in the great
plain where no trees grow. They have come at your bidding, and
at your bidding have buried their war-clubs. They forget that
they have been enemies. They smoke in the calumet of peace,
and are friends because you wish them to be so. Is it well?

"My father, you