and the local _ong_, are introduced to describe the particular
locality and circumstances of the mythologic dances. The true meaning of
the phrase, therefore, appears to be, Place of the Dancing Spirits. The
popular etymology that derives the word from Big Turtle, is still
farther back in the chain of etymology, and is founded on the fact that
the _michi_ are turtle spirits. This is the result of my inquiries with
the best interpreters of the language. The French, to whom we owe the
original orthography, used _ch_ for _sh_, interchanged _n_ for _l_ in
the third syllable, and modified the syllables _auk_ and _ong_ into the
sounds of _ack_--which are, I believe, general rules founded on the
organs of utterance, in their adoption by that nation of Indian words.
Hence Michilimackinack. The word has, in Indian, a plural inflective in
_oag_, which the French threw away. The Iroquois, who extended their
incursions here, called it Ti-e-don-de-ro-ga.

_Aug. 1st_. While at Detroit (July 24th) Mr. Arthur Bronson, the money
capitalist, and Mr. Charles Butler, from New York, came to that place
with a large sum for investment in lands. This appeared to be the first
unmistakeable sign in this quarter, of that rage for investment in
western lands, which the country experienced for several years, and
which, acting universally, produced in 1836 a surplus revenue to the U.
S. treasury of fifty millions of dollars.

_15th_. Saganosh, an Ottawa chief of St. Martin's Island, visited the
office with eleven followers. I asked him if any of the relatives of
Gitche Naigow, of whom tradition spoke, yet lived. He pointed to his
wife, and said she was a daughter of Gitche Naigow. I asked her her age.
She did not know (probably fifty-five to sixty). She said her father
died and was buried at the Manistee River (North), that he was very old,
and died of old age--probably ninety. She said he was so old and feeble,
that the last spring before his death, when they came out from their
sugar camp to the open lake shore, she carried him on her back.

He had not, she said, been at the massacre of old Mackinack (described
by Henry), being then at _L'Arbre Croche_, but he came to the spot soon
afterwards. She had heard him speak of it. Says she was a little girl
when the British, in removing the post from the main land, first brought
over their cattle, and began to take possession of the present island of
Mackinack.

The old fort on the peninsula was calle