ple laid
down by the American Government. The Indians replied; and the agent
then said, that they had not sufficient troops to defend the fort, and,
therefore, could not send out a party; an admission very unwise to make,
although strictly true. The Indians again replied; and then the agent
said wait a little till we hear from Washington, and then, if you have
no redress, you are brave men, you have arms in your hands, and your
enemies are before you. This was worse than all, for it implied the
inability or the indifference of the American Government to do them
justice, and told them, after that government had distinctly declared
that they should fight no longer, but receive redress from it, that they
now might do what the government had forbidden them to do, and that they
had no other chance of redress. The result of this council was very
unsatisfactory. The Indian chiefs declared that they were ashamed to
look their people in the lace, and walked solemnly away.

To make this matter still worse, after I left St Peters, I read in the
St Louis Gazette a report of some Chippeways having come down, and
that, in consequence of the advice given by the Indian agent, the Sioux
had taken the law into their own hands and murdered some of the
Chippeways; and that although they had never received redress for the
murder of their own people, some of the Sioux were again taken and
executed.

The arms of the Sioux are the rifle, tomahawk, and bow; they carry
spears more for parade than use. Their bows are not more than three
feet long, but their execution with them is surprising. A Sioux, when
on horseback chasing the buffalo, will drive his arrow which is about
eighteen inches long, with such force that the barb shall appear on the
opposite side of the animal. And one of their greatest chiefs,
_Wanataw_, has been known to kill two buffaloes with one arrow, it
having passed through the first of the animals, and mortally wounded the
second on the other side of it. I was about two hundred yards from the
fort, and asked a Sioux if he could send his arrow into one of the
apertures for air, which were near the foundation, and about three
inches wide. It appeared more like a thread from where we stood. He
took his bow, and apparently with a most careless aim he threw the arrow
right into it.

The men are tall and straight, and very finely made, with the exception
of their arms, which are too small. The arms of the squaws, who