The above letter was spontaneous on their part, and written in the hand of Maun-gua-daus, the chief, who spoke and wrote the English language very correctly.
I was much shocked and distressed to hear of the death of Say-say-gon, the War-chief, for he was a remarkably fine Indian, and had become much attached to me. His life, as a warrior and a hunter, had been one of an extraordinary nature, and the principal incidents of it, particularly in the hunting department, he had been for some weeks engaged, just before their disastrous sickness, in illustrating by a series of designs in his rude way, presenting me a portfolio of them, with the story of each, which I wrote down from his own lips as he narrated them.
This most amusing and original keepsake, which I shall treasure up as long as I live, and which I regret that the dimensions of this work did not allow me the space to insert, can at all times be seen by the curious of my friends who desire to see it.
For the amusement of the reader, however, I have made room for a couple of his drawings, which will convey some idea of their general character, and of the decided cleverness of this good fellow at story-telling and design. The woodcuts are traced from the originals, and are therefore as near fac-similes as I could make them. [Plate No. 23] represents Pane-way-ee-tung, the brother-in-law of Say-say-gon, crossing the river Thomas in a bark canoe, who had the following curious and amusing encounter with a bear which he met swimming in the middle of the river. Though the Indian had no other weapon than a paddle, he pursued the bear, and, overtaking it, struck it a blow, upon which it made an effort to climb into the canoe, by which the canoe was upset and the Indian sank under it. He arose to the surface, however, just behind the canoe, which in its progress had passed over him, and, being bottom upwards, the bear had climbed upon it, as seen in the sketch, and, having seen the man sink under it, was feeling under the canoe with his paws in hopes of getting hold of him. The bear, having made no calculation for the progress of the canoe, had not thought of looking behind it for his enemy, but balanced himself with difficulty without being able to look back; and whilst he was thus engaged feeling for his enemy under the canoe the Indian silently swam behind it, and, cautiously pushing it forward with his hand, succeeded in moving it near the shore, where he discovered his friend Say-say-gon hunting with his rifle, who was in waiting for it, and when near enough shot it in the head.
[Plate No. 24] is his illustration of the first interview between white men and the Ojibbeway Indians; his description of it is as follows:—
“Gitch-ee-gaw-ga-osh (the point that remains for ever), who died many snows since, and who was so old that he had smoked with three generations, said that his grandfather, On-daig, met the first white man who ever entered an Ojibbeway’s wigwam. That white man was a great chief, who wore a red coat. He had many warriors with him, who all came in sight of the village of On-daig (the crow), and, leaving his warriors behind, he walked towards the wigwam of On-daig, who came out, with his pipe of peace in one hand, and his war-club in the other. On-daig offered his pipe to the white chief to smoke, who put his sword behind him in one hand, and raised his hat with the other. On-daig never had seen a white man’s hat before, and, thinking the white chief was going to strike him with it, drew his war-club. They soon, however, understood each other, and smoked the pipe together.”
No. 23.