peace, raised heavenward by the hand of a savage, presenting it to the Master of Life, imploring his pity on all his children on earth and begging him to confirm the good resolutions which they had made.
Notwithstanding the scarcity of provisions felt in the camp before the wagons came, the feasts were numerous and well attended. No epoch in Indian annals, probably, shows
a greater massacre of the canine race. Among the Indians the flesh of the dog is the most honorable and esteemed of all viands, especially in the absence of buffalo and other ani mals. On the present occasion it was a last resource. The carnage then may be conceived. I was invited to several of these banquets; a great chief, in particular, wished to give me a special mark of his friendship and respect for me. He had filled his great kettle with little fat dogs, skins and all. He presented me, on a wooden platter, the fattest, well boiled. I found the meat really delicate, and I can vouch that it is preferable to sucking-pig, which it nearly resembles in taste.
The Indians regaled me several times with a dish highly esteemed among them. It consists of plums, dried in the sun, and afterward prepared with pieces of meat, like a stew.
I must own that I found it quite palatable. But hear what I learned subsequently, as to their manner of preparing it. When an Indian woman wishes to preserve the plums, which grow in profusion here, she collects a great quantity, and then invites her neighbors to her lodge to pass an agreeable afternoon. Their whole occupation then consists in chatting and sucking the stones from the plums, for they keep only the skins, which, after being sun-dried, are kept for grand occasions.
The wagons containing the presents destined by the Government to the Indians, reached here on the loth of September. The safe arrival of this convoy was an occasion of general joy. IN-Tany were in absolute destitution. The next day the wagons were unloaded and the presents suitabiv arranged. The flag of the United States floated from a tall