hese visits were often
protracted for several weeks without trouble. "Chippeways--a number of
these people also at the agency--some have been here for nearly 30
days--fishing & liveing better & more independently than the
Sioux."[336] On the 29th and 30th of June, 1831, Chippewas to the number
of one hundred and fifty met five villages of Sioux.[337]

Efforts to combat the evil were made in council with the Indians. "Your
wars with the Chippeways can never be of service to anyone", reasoned
their "Father", "for as fast as you destroy one--two or three more young
men are ready to take the track of their deceased friends--The old
people among you ought to know this--after the long wars between
you".[338] Most of the encounters took place either when the warriors
were emboldened by liquor, or when the rival hunting parties met on the
plains. The strict enforcement of the law of 1832 prohibiting the
introduction of spirits had a tranquilizing effect in the country of the
Chippewas. Indeed, the principal object of all efforts to suppress the
liquor traffic was the prevention of inter-tribal wars.[339]

Constant watching of the hunting parties and admonition as to their
conduct were among the duties of the agent. "Sent my interpreter up the
Mississippi among the Indians", he writes, "to see how they are
progressing in their hunts and as to the present hunting grounds of the
Chippeways." Eight days later record is made of the fact that
"the Rum River Chippeways left for their camp this morning--Sent word to
their people to hunt on their own Lands & not by any Means to intrude
upon the Soil of the Sioux." When the interpreter returned he reported
that everything was quiet between the two tribes.[340] The sending of
"runners" to the camps was a frequent occurrence during the winter of
1831, the region covered being eighty miles to the east and two hundred
miles to the north.[341]

In the treaty of Prairie du Chien of 1825 a dividing line between the
two tribes, beyond which neither should pass, was agreed upon.[342] But
this provision was for many years a dead letter. As long as the line was
unsurveyed the natives could urge indefiniteness of territory as an
excuse for murder and depredations--claiming that the other party was
the trespasser. When Schoolcraft met the chiefs of the Chippewas in
council at Leech Lake in 1832, the latter complained that the provisions
of the treaty had not been carried out. "The words of the Lon