Original - North Central Michigan College Library

anfcof their voices exceeded whatever I had heardbefore.This entertainment -lasted upward of anhour; and when it was finished a dance commenced.The men formed themselves into arow on one side, and the women on the other,and each moved sidewise, firstup and thendown the room. The sound of bells and otherjingling materials attached to the women'sdresses enabled them to keep tune. The songsand dances were continued alternatelytillnear midnight, when all our visitors departed.These amusements were given to us complimentarilyby the chief. He took no partin the performances himself, but sat smokingwhile they proceeded.It had been my wish to go farther on thePlains, till I should have reached the mountains,at the feet of which, as I have already observed,they lie; but the chief informed me thatthe latter were still at the distance of many days'journey, and that the intervening country wasa tract destitute of the least appearance ofwood. In the winter, as he asserted, this tractcannot be crossed at all, and in the summer thetraveler is in great danger of perishing forwant of water; and the only fuel to be met withis the dung of the wild ox. It is intersected bya large river, which runs to the sun's rising,and which has its sources in the mountains.With regard to the country of the Osinipoilleshe said that it lay between the head of the287