to witness the gathering. San-ge-man and his warriors appeared in
council, dressed in richest furs, their heads decorated with eagle
feathers, and tufts of hair of many colors. Among all the chiefs there
assembled, for proud and noble bearing none excelled the Ottawa. A fur
robe covered with scalp-locks hung carelessly over his left shoulder
leaving his right arm free while speaking. As the result of these
deliberations the bands became united and thus the territory of the
Ottawa chief was enlarged.

It was from this point that he sallied forth every summer in war
excursions toward the south, conquering the country along the eastern
shore of Lake Michigan, extending his conquests to Grand River, and
overrunning the country about the present site of Chicago. It was here
that he received reinforcements from his old allies the Ojibwas, and
extended his conquests down the Illinois River until he reached the
"father of waters."

From this place he went forth to the slaughter of the Iroquois at the
Detour, and expelled them from the Island of Mackinaw and Point St.
Ignatius. From hence he went armed to wage an unnatural war against
his relatives the Ojibwas, and was slain by the noble chief
Kau-be-man, and it was to this place that the sad news came back of
his fate. Thus much for the Indian history of Old Mackinaw.

Equally romantic is the history of the early missionaries and voyagers
to this great centre of the Indian tribes. On the far-off shores of
the northwestern lakes the Jesuit Missionaries planted the cross,
erected their chapels, repeated their _pater nosters_ and _ave
marias_, and sung their _Te Deums_, before the cavaliers landed at
Jamestown or the Puritans at Plymouth. Among the Ottawas of Saut St.
Marie and the Ojibwas and Hurons of Old Mackinaw, these devoted
self-sacrificing followers of Ignatius Loyola commenced their
ministrations upwards of two hundred years ago. They were not only the
first missionaries among the savages of this northwestern wilderness,
but they were the first discoverers and explorers of the mighty lakes
and rivers of that region. In advance of civilization they penetrated
the dense unbroken wilderness, and launched their canoes upon unknown
rivers, breaking the silence of their shores with their vesper hymns
and matin prayers. The first to visit the ancient seats of heathenism
in the old world, they were the first to preach the Gospel among the
heathen of the new.

CHAPTER