Original - North Central Michigan College Library

ecreation after returning from the chase; formy companions in the lodge were unaccustomedto pass the time in conversation. Among theIndians the topics of conversation are but few,and limited for the most part to the transactionsof the day, the number of animals whichthey have killed, and of those which haveescaped their pursuit; and other incidents ofthe chase. Indeed, the causes of taciturnityamong the Indians may be easily understoodif we consider how many occasions of speech,which present themselves to us, are utterlyunknown to them; the records of history, thepursuits of science, the disquisitions of philosophy,the systems of politics, the businessand the amusements of the day, and the transactionsof the four corners of the world.Eight days had passed in tranquillity whenthere arrived a band of Indians from the Bayof Saguenaum. 65 They had assisted at thesiege of Detroit, and came to muster as manyrecruits for that service as they could. Formy own part, I was soon informed that as Iwas the only Englishman in the place theyproposed to kill me in order to give theirfriends a mess of English broth to raise theircourage.This intelligence was not of the most agraeablekind; and in consequence of receiving it,I requested my friend to carry me to the Saultde Ste. Marie, at which place I knew the66Modern Saginaw Bay. Editor.150