[50] Plus, Fr. A skin's worth.
[51] Obiminicqua, Alg. The value of a full beaver skin.
Shingabowossin (the Image Stone), Shewabeketon (the Jingling Metals), and Wayishkee (the First-born Son), the three principal chiefs of the Home Band, with seventy-one men, women and children, visited me to congratulate me on my safe return from Detroit. The old chief inquired if there was any news, and whether all remains quiet between us and the English.
Guelle Plat, or Ashkebuggecoash (the Flat Mouth), of Leech Lake, upper Mississippi, announced his arrival, with sixty persons, chiefly warriors and hunters. He brought a letter from one of the principal traders in that quarter, backed by the Sub-agent of La Pointe, recommending him as "the most respectable man in the Chippewa nation." He is said by general consent to be the most influential man in the large and powerful band of Leech Lake, comprising, by my latest accounts, seventeen hundred souls. His authority is, however, that of a village or civil chief, his coadjutor, the Lowering Cloud, having long had the principal sway with the warriors.
Being his first visit to this agency, although he had sent me his pipe in 1822, and, as he said, the first time he had been so far from his native place in a south-easterly course, I offered him the attentions due to his rank, and his visit being an introductory one, was commenced and ended by the customary ceremonies of the pipe.
The chief, Grosse Guelle (Big Throat), together with Majegábowe, and the Breche's son, all of Sandy Lake, arrived this day, accompanied by four other persons, and were received with the customary respect and attention. Having come a long distance, their first and most pressing want was food. It is indeed astonishing that the desire of showing themselves off as men of consequence in their nation, the expectation of any presents or gratifications, or the hope of any notice or preferment whatever should induce these people to undertake such long and hazardous journeys with such totally inadequate means.
17th. The Grosse Guelle repeated his visit, saying that his family had been so long without a meal of hearty food that the issue of yesterday had not sufficed to satisfy them.
Magisaunikwa (Wampum-hair) applied for provisions for himself and family, to enable them to return to his usual place of dwelling. This man's case has been previously noticed. He happened to be sitting in front of his lodge last spring, in a copse of woods near the banks of Muddy Lake, at the instant when the Inspector of Customs of St. Mary's (Mr. Agnew) had broken through the ice with his dog-train, and had exhausted himself in vain efforts to extricate himself. A cry reached the ever-open ear of the Indian, who hastened to the shore, and, after much exertion and hazard, aided by his father and family, was the means of preserving Mr. A.'s life. After getting the body out of the water, they drew it upon a small train to his lodge; where they applied dry clothing, prepared a kind of tea, and were unremitting in their attentions. When sufficiently restored, they conducted him safely to St. Mary's.
I invested him with a medal of the first class for this noble act, wishing by this mark of respect, and the presents of clothing and food accompanying it, to forcibly impress his mind with the high respect and admiration such deeds excite among civilized people, and in the further hope that it might prove a stimulus to the lukewarm benevolence of others, if, indeed, any of the natives can be justly accused of lukewarmness in this respect. On visiting Fort Brady, Lt. C. F. Morton, of N.Y., presented him a sword-knot, belt, &c. Some other presents were, I believe, made him, in addition to those given him by Mr. Agnew himself.
18th. Miscomonetoes (the Red Insect, or Red Devil; the term may mean both), and family and followers, twelve persons in all, visited the office. His personal appearance, and that of his family, bespoke wretchedness, and appeared to give force to his strong complaints against the traders who visit Ottowa Lake and the headwaters of Chippewa River of the Mississippi. He observed that the prices they are compelled to pay are extortionate, that their lands are quite destitute of the larger animals, and that the beaver is nearly destroyed.