of a successful prosecution of the study of our geology, are candidly appreciated. Mr. Schoolcraft has given a geological section, of the rocks comprised in the lead mine district, embracing the granitical tract of St. Michael. To this he has added a clear and lucid map, exhibiting the geographical distribution of the rocks over the same region. He has, as we think, distinctly pointed out the sources, from whence are derived the immense angular masses of granite, distributed so numerously over the country. He has also accurately defined and determined the character of the inferior rock, and clearly shown it to be a metalliferous limestone. We are the more particular in adverting to these facts, as a recent traveller,* without having visited the country in question, has boldly decided, that no granite is to be found in this place that the limestone is secondary, containing petrefactions, and disposed in horizontal strata, and of course cannot be metalliferous,-and that the red marle, in which the lead ore is so abundantly found, is nothing more than an alluvial detritus, derived from distant regions. Non nobis lantas componere lites, but we cannot help thinking with Mr. Schoolcraft, that to say these mineral repositories are out of place, is to declare that the whole mine district, nay, that the whole Missouri country, is out of place, merely because precisely such a formation has not been discovered in France, or Bohemia, or New England.

After visiting Potosi and its environs, Mr. Schoolcraft returned to St. Louis, on the first of August, and left it again on the third, Governor Cass taking for a time a different direction. At Portage des Sioux, a number of the Fox Indians, resembling in their dress and general appearance the Sacs and Pottowattomies, had temporarily encamped along the shore.

The following trait of a gentleness of feeling, not generally ascribed to them, we take pleasure in extracting.

"We here observed an instance of parental tenderness, which, if commonly felt by the aborigines, is suppressed by their stoical feelings, or in consequence of the presence of white men. An Indian sitting in his tent, held in his arms an infant son, who, as is usual at this season, when not bound in the cradle, was perfectly naked. With a fan of feathers, he drove the mosquetoes and flies from the infant's body, frequently suspending this watchful labour, to press the child to his lips; and evincing, by his countenance, a tender care mixed with high gratification-a scene altogether at variance with the received opinions of the world on the subject of Indian sensibility and social affections."-p. 299.

*Keating. Narrative of the Expedition to the Sources of St. Peter's River. Philadelphia, 1824.

It would give us pleasure to accompany the party up the IIlinois, but our limited space obliges us to pass over this part of the journey, and meet our travellers again at the ford of the Desplaines, not far from the place of the proposed council.

"On crossing the Desplaines, we found the opposite shore thronged with Indians, whose loud and obtrusive salutations caused us to make a few minutes' halt. From this point, we were scarcely ever out of sight of straggling parties, all proceeding to the same place. Most commonly they were mounted on horses, and apparelled in their best manner, and decorated with medals, silver bands, and feathers. The gaudy and showy dresses of these troops of Indians, with the jingling caused by the striking of their ornaments, and their spirited manner of riding, created a scene as novel as it was interesting. Proceeding from all parts of a very extensive circle of country, like rays converging to a focus, the nearer we approached, the more compact and concentrated the body became, and we found our cavalcade rapidly augmented, and consequently the dust, confusion, and noise increased at every by-path which intersected our way. After crossing the south fork of the Chicago, and emerging from the forest that skirts it, nearly the whole number of those who had preceded us appeared on the extensive and level plain that stretches along the shore of the lake, while the refreshing and noble spectacle of the lake itself, with vast and sullen swell,' appeared beyond. We found, on reaching the post, that between two and three thousand Indians were assembled-chiefly Pottowattomies, Ottowas, and Chippewas. Many arrived on the two following days. Provisions were daily issued by the Indian Department, during the treaty, to about three thousand.”—pp. 335, 336.

Mr. Schoolcraft has given the several speeches that were delivered by the chiefs on this occasion, as well as the replies and explanations of Governor Cass. These are interesting in many points of view. Besides being curious specimens of aboriginal oratory, they are remarkable, as showing the caution and deliberation with which the Indians assented to the proposition of the commissioners. It is generally supposed, that the chiefs can easily be persuaded to part with any extent of territory, upon almost any terms; but a reference to the several steps of this negotiation, will satisfy every one, that the Indians are perfectly capable of comprehending the value of their lands to themselves, and are by no means willing to part with them, without receiving what they regard as a just and fair equivalent. In the first place, they reply to Governor Cass's opening proposition, with all the brevity and indefiniteness of experienced diplomatists. They then retire and consult for two days, and finally declare, that they have come to the determination not to sell their territory. Another application is made to them. They again retire, and after two or

three days' deliberation, they return, not with an acceptance of the offer, but with various complaints of the non-fulfilment of certain stipulations in former treaties ;-first, that they had not yet received all the money for the St. Mary's purchase; secondly, that what they had received slipped under the table as fast as it was put upon the top ;* and thirdly, that Governor Cass had, the day preceding, unfeelingly refused to give their young men a half a gill of whiskey a-piece. These allegations being answered to the satisfaction of the Ottowas, they yield their assent to the proposed terms. Various difficulties are next started by the Chippewa and Pottowattomie chiefs, which are gradually removed, and the treaty is at last, after twelve days of discussion, definitively settled with the consent and good understanding of all parties. "From the first to the last, the Indians," says Mr. Schoolcraft, " evinced considerable dexterity, in settling the preliminaries and reservations, and manifested a determination to secure the best possible terms."—p. 369.

Mr. Schoolcraft's remarks on the disposition of English writers, to animadvert upon the manner in which the Indian lands are purchased by the government of the United States, constitute, we think, an unanswerable reply to these pretended sentimentalists. We scarcely know whether the delirious rhapsodies, into which the rancour of national jealousy has betrayed them, partake most of the ludicrous or of the loathsome. In almost every number of the Quarterly Review, (which, it seems, is still suffered to unfold its frantic pages in this country,) our lungs and spleen are moved alternately, to see a furious diatribe against the United States slave laws, side by side with a defence of the West Indian negro-system, or a woful jeremiad about American encroachments upon Indian territory, in unconscious contact with a flaming panegyric on the valor of the East India Company, which has achieved such 'brilliant conquests,' over chieftains whose disasters do not merit 'the false sympathy, which was once felt in their behalf.'‡ We extract Mr. Schoolcraft's very sensible remarks, for the

* Meaning that the money they received soon disappeared, they scarcely could tell how.

It is much to the honor of Governor Cass, that throughout the whole of the negotiation, he steadily withheld from the Indians, in spite of their foolish and clamorous importunities, the pernicious liquor, which would have betrayed them into a rash surrender of their rights.

Vide, for example, the articles on-Faux's Memorable days,— Central India, and the West India Policy, in the fifty-eighth number of the Quarterly Review.

benefit of those who are yet to learn, that if America has not done all that might be asked, for the red man or the black, England should be the last to reproach her for the fault.

"The result of this treaty was hardly announced in our public journals, before it was published in England, with some severe animadversions. 'The United States,' observed the editor of the London Times, ‘have driven another bargain, and a hard bargain it is, with the miserable Indians. For thirty-five thousand dollars in merchandise, a little more than five thousand pounds in money, as valued by those who furnished it, and an annuity of less than two thousand pounds per annum, Governor Cass, whose diplomatic talents appear on this occasion to have been highly applauded by his countrymen, has prevailed upon the helpless aborigines to surrender five millions of fertile acres, to the westward of the lakes, and equal in surface to about one-fourth of Ireland. Verily, Governor Cass may be said to understand his business.'

"This long-enduring prejudice and habitual propensity to vilify our country and our institutions, seem to be confined to no particular political sect in Great Britain, nor to exempt from its operation any particular measure which, by the power of association, is calculated to call up our original sin of thinking, and acting, and judging for ourselves. With a power to expel the Indians from a territory, which, during all our wars with Great Britain they have only occupied as a convenient avenue to make inroads upon our frontiers, we draw them into annicable treaty on the restoration of peace, and pay them what they acknowledge an ample equivalent for their title. We introduce into all our treaties provisions for bettering their condition, and enlightening and improving their minds. We furnish them with blacksmiths and teachers, implements of husbandry and stock. We pay them large annuities; we pass laws to protect them from the cupidity of traders; and we employ agents to reside among them, to insure the punctual payment of these annuities, and the faithful observance of these laws, and to attend to their numerous wants, and complaints, and distresses. If it be asked what amount of moneys we pay them, what laws we have enacted to protect their territorial rights and to preserve their morals, let our statute books furnish the reply. If it be asked what injuries we have redressed, what distresses we have relieved, let the monthly, and quarterly, and annual returns of our Indian, and of our subsistence department, be examined. And yet, because we have not done all that an enlightened, virtuous, humane, and opulent nation could, might, or, perhaps, ought to do, all this is to pass as nothing, or, if we would believe the vituperative prints of England, is to be put down to the score of ingratitude, neglect, and national depravity.

"Our English neighbours, in the Canadas, manage these matters in a different way. When they covet a piece of Indian territory, they boldly take possession of it, in the name of the king. There is no consulting with the chiefs and head men of the tribe, no long and expensive treaty, no recognition of their title to the soil which is so unceremoniously taken away, and no annuities paid out with punctilious formality. The thing is cut short by his majesty's command.' This single line has cancelled more Indian title in America, than the government of the United States ever have, or probably ever will purchase, with all their accumulated and accumulating wants and means. But let us, for a moment, cast our eyes

upon Hindostan, and behold the unholy wars, the murders, and abominations which, like a burning sirocco, have swept away the native institutions of that devoted country, and drenched it with the blood of its simple, unoffending inhabitants. It is truly becoming, in those who have despoiled the rich inheritance of about ninety millions of Hindoos, to reproach us for paying a few scattered bands of hunters for portions of territory, which they do not want, cannot improve, and are willing to part with." pp. 371-973.

The day after the conclusion of the treaty, Governor Cass and Mr. Sibley set out on horseback for Detroit, following the Indian track, which leads across the peninsula of Michigan. Mr. Schoolcraft returned by water, having been absent about three months. With regard to the value and fertility of the soil ceded by the treaty, as well as of that nearer to Detroit, (a part of our territory, to which, at this moment, the tide of emigration has been very properly directed,) much valuable information is contained in a letter, dated Detroit, March 5, 1823, and written by Gen. John R. Williams, a gentleman whose general intelligence, and long residence in the territory, entitle him to the fullest confidence of the inquirer. The tract of country we refer to, lies between latitudes 40° 41′ and 43°. The winters are rather milder than the winters of Connecticut. The prairies afford the finest grazing, and the expense of the transportation of wool to New-York, would be inconsiderable after the completion of the canal.* "I never," says General Williams, "travelled over a more excellent tract of country, than that which lies between this place and lake Michigan. In a south and westerly course from the Huron to the St. Joseph, is, certainly, one of the most beautiful districts, considering its natural state, to be seen, I believe, in America. The country is undulating, the prairies dry and evidently salubrious, interspersed with beautiful lakes of excellent water, and bordered with fine forests, at intervals, resembling oak orchards, and groves, planted by the hand of man. The lakes contain abundance of fish, are of various dimensions, from one to six miles in circumference, with fine outlets, which meander

* The woollen manufacturers, we understand, mean to insist, in the next congress, that the farmers shall give up the duty on foreign wool. We desire to be informed on what principle of equal rights are all the interests of this country to be sacrificed to the clamorous and insatiable rapacity of this overfed and overfavored class? On what principle of equal justice, are we to have an ESTABLISHED INDUSTRY in a country, which justly deems an ESTABLIshed religion inimical to its liberties? More of this hereafter.