"Forty winters have past. I am poor and old, and cannot go about any more. Look at me. I want a house and a shelter. Tell me, shall I have it?" [71]
[71] In the treaty of 28th March, 1836, a dormitory was provided for the Indians visiting the post of Mackinack. Chusco was granted an annuity in coin.
2d. Having, on the 19th of April, called the attention of Mrs. La Fromboise, an aged Metif lady, to the former state of things here, she says that the post of Chicago was first established under English rule, by a negro man named Pointe aux Sables, who was a respectable man.
The etymology of Chicago appears to be this:--
| Chi-cag, | Animal of the Leek or Wild Onion. |
| Chi-cag-o-wunz, | The Wild Leek or Pole-cat Plant. |
| Chi-ca-go, | Place of the Wild Leek. |
She also says that Captain Robinson, while commanding at Mackinack, discharged a negro servant named Bonga, who afterwards, with his wife, purchased the house and lot in which Mr. Wendell now lives (the old red house next Dousman's, south), where he kept a tavern, and maintained a respectable character. He afterwards sold out and went to Detroit, and lived with Mr. Meldrum.
She adds: "The son of this Bonga was the late Bonga, who died as a comme, at Lake Winnepec, of the Fond du Lac Department. The present Stephen Bonga of Folleavoine, a trustworthy trader, is the grandson of this Bonga--Robinson's freed slave. His connections are Chippewas, and all speak the Chippewa language fluently."
Having seen and known this Bonga, the grandson, I was led to remark that climate and intermarriage have had little or no appreciable effect on the color of the skin.
The traditions of Mr. Viancourt, one of the oldest French residents of Point St. Ignace, who visited the office (24th April), relate that he was born the year Montreal was taken, 1759. That Mackinack (the island) was first occupied four years after.
He further says that Gov. Sinclair built a small fort on Black River, and that he gave his name to that part of the straits which have since been called St. Clair.[72] Says he has been on the island forty-seven years, consequently came in 1788.