Wau-bun | Page 4

that gem of the Lakes! How bright and beautiful it
looked as we walked abroad on the following morning! The rain had
passed away, but had left all things glittering in the light of the sun as it
rose up over the waters of Lake Huron, far away to the east. Before us
was the lovely bay, scarcely yet tranquil after the storm, but dotted with
canoes and the boats of the fishermen already getting out their nets for
the trout and whitefish, those treasures of the deep. Along the beach
were scattered the wigwams or lodges of the Ottawas who had come to
the island to trade. The inmates came forth to gaze upon us. A shout of
welcome was sent forth, as they recognized _Shaw-nee-aw-kee,_ who,
from a seven years' residence among them, was well known to each
individual.
A shake of the hand, and an emphatic "_Bon-jour_--_bon-jour_," is the
customary salutation between the Indian and the white man.
"Do the Indians speak French?" I inquired of my husband.
"No; this is a fashion they have learned of the French traders during
many years of intercourse."
Not less hearty was the greeting of each Canadian _engagé_, as he
trotted forward to pay his respects to "Monsieur John," and to utter a
long string of felicitations, in a most incomprehensible patois. I was

forced to take for granted all the good wishes showered upon "Madame
John," of which I could comprehend nothing but the hope that I should
be happy and contented in my "vie sauvage."
The object of our early walk was to visit the Mission-house and school
which had been some few years previously established at this place by
the Presbyterian Board of Missions. It was an object of especial interest
to Mr. and Mrs. Stuart, and its flourishing condition at this period, and
the prospects of extensive future usefulness it held out, might well
gladden their philanthropic hearts. They had lived many years on the
island, and had witnessed its transformation, through God's blessing on
Christian efforts, from a worldly, dissipated community to one of
which it might almost be said, "Religion was every man's business."
This mission establishment was the beloved child and the common
centre of interest of the few Protestant families clustered around it.
Through the zeal and good management of Mr. and Mrs. Ferry, and the
fostering encouragement of the congregation, the school was in great
repute, and it was pleasant to observe the effect of mental and religious
culture in subduing the mischievous, tricky propensities of the
half-breed, and rousing the stolid apathy of the genuine Indian.
These were the palmy days of Mackinac. As the head-quarters of the
American Fur Company, and the entrepôt of the whole Northwest, all
the trade in supplies and goods on the one hand, and in furs and
products of the Indian country on the other, was in the hands of the
parent establishment or its numerous outposts scattered along Lakes
Superior and Michigan, the Mississippi, or through still more distant
regions.
Probably few are ignorant of the fact, that all the Indian tribes, with the
exception of the Miamis and the Wyandots, had, since the transfer of
the old French possessions to the British Crown, maintained a firm
alliance with the latter. The independence achieved by the United
States did not alter the policy of the natives, nor did our Government
succeed in winning or purchasing their friendship. Great Britain, it is
true, bid high to retain them. Every year the leading men of the
Chippewas, Ottawas, Pottowattamies, Menomonees, Winnebagoes,

Sauks, and Foxes, and even still more remote tribes, journeyed from
their distant homes to Fort Malden in Upper Canada, to receive their
annual amount of presents from their Great Father across the water. It
was a master-policy thus to keep them in pay, and had enabled those
who practised it to do fearful execution through the aid of such allies in
the last war between the two countries.
The presents they thus received were of considerable value, consisting
of blankets, broadcloths or strouding, calicoes, guns, kettles, traps,
silver-works (comprising arm-bands, bracelets, brooches; and ear-bobs),
looking-glasses, combs, and various other trinkets distributed with no
niggardly hand.
The magazines and store-houses of the Fur Company at Mackinac were
the resort of all the upper tribes for the sale of their commodities, and
the purchase of all such articles as they had need of, including those
above enumerated, and also ammunition, which, as well as money and
liquor, their British friends very commendably omitted to furnish them.
Besides their furs, various in kind and often of great value--beaver,
otter, marten, mink, silver-gray and red fox, wolf, bear, and wild-cat,
musk-rat, and smoked deer-skins--the Indians brought for trade
maple-sugar in abundance, considerable quantities of both Indian corn
and _petit-blé_,[1]