sion he visited the tent or hut of an Indian chief, whom he
found sitting amidst his children, and grand-children, ten in number.
The hut was constructed of rushes, platted into mats.

In the month of December, Mr. Pike and some of his men proceeded, in
sledges, up the Mississippi. On the twenty-fourth, they reached _Corbeau
river_; which, at its mouth, was nearly as wide as the Mississippi. For
a considerable distance, the Mississippi was interrupted by a continued
succession of rapids, shoals, and falls. One of the latter, called the
_Falls of the Painted Rock_, formed the third important obstacle to the
navigation of the river, which Mr. Pike had encountered. Most of the
timber, now observed near the banks, consisted of pine-trees.

On the thirty-first, Mr. Pike passed _Pine river_. For many miles, the
Mississippi had been much narrower, and more free from islands, than in
the lower parts of the stream. The shores, in general, presented a
dreary prospect of high barren knobs, covered with dead and fallen
pine-timber; and most of the adjacent country was interspersed with
small lakes. Deer of various kinds, were plentiful; but no buffaloes,
nor elks, had been seen.

Near the mouth of the Pine river, an encampment of _Chippeway Indians_
was observed. This had been occupied in the summer, but it was now
vacant. By certain marks which had been left, the voyagers understood
that these Indians had marched a party of fifty warriors against the
Sioux, and had killed four men and four women, who were here represented
by figures carved in wood. The figures of the men were painted, and put
into the ground, to the middle; and, by their sides, were four painted
poles, sharpened at the end, to represent the women. Near this spot were
poles with deer-skins, plumes, silk-handkerchiefs, &c. and a circular
hoop of cedar, with something attached to it which resembled a scalp.

Beyond this place, Mr. Pike observed, on the bank of the river, six
elegant bark-canoes, which had been laid up by the Chippeways, and a
camp, which appeared to have been evacuated about ten days before. After
having endured considerable hardship and much fatigue for some weeks
longer, he accomplished the object of his expedition, by arriving, on
the 1st of February, at _Leech Lake_, from which issues the main source
of the Mississippi. He crossed this lake, (about twelve miles in width,)
to an English fort, an establishment belonging to the North West
Company