nal affiliation, or even
intercourse, to remark that this sacred manito tree was a very large
species of the Scottish rowan or mountain ash.

[Footnote 18: _Wudijoo_, a mountain--_ong_ denotes locality.]

_16th_. I this day left the mess-table of my kind friends, the officers
of the second infantry, and went to the hospitable domicil of Mr.
Johnston, who has the warm-hearted frankness of the Irish character, and
offers the civilities of life with the air and manner of a prince. I
flatter myself with the opportunity of profiting greatly while under his
roof, in the polished circle of his household, and in his ripe
experience and knowledge of the Indian character, manners, and customs,
and in the curious philosophical traits of the Indian language. It is
refreshing to find a person who, in reference to this language, knows
the difference between the conjugation of a verb and the declension of a
noun. There is a prospect, at least, of getting at the grammatical
principles, by which they conjoin and build up words. It has been
intolerable to me to converse with Indian traders and interpreters here,
who have, for half their lives, been using a language without being able
to identify with precision person, mood, tense, or any of the first laws
of grammatical utterance.

_17th_. It is customary with the Chippewas at this place, when an
inmate of the lodge is sick, to procure a thin sapling some twenty to
thirty feet long, from which, after it has been trimmed, the bark is
peeled. Native paints are then smeared over it as caprice dictates. To
the slender top are then tied bits of scarlet, blue cloth, beads, or
some other objects which are deemed acceptable to the manito or spirit,
who has, it is believed, sent sickness to the lodge as a mark of his
displeasure. The pole is then raised in front of the lodge and firmly
adjusted in the ground. The sight of these manito poles gives quite a
peculiar air to an Indian encampment. Not knowing, however, the value
attached to them, one of the officers, a few days after our arrival,
having occasion for tent poles, sent one of his men for one of these
poles of sacrifice; but its loss was soon observed by the Indians, who
promptly reclaimed it, and restored it to the exact position which it
occupied before. There is, in fact, such a subtle and universal belief
in the doctrine and agency of minor spirits of malign or benignant
influence among the Indians who surround the cantonment, or vis