language, and reduced its grammar to a philosophical system. "It is
really surprising," says Gen. Cass, in a letter, in 1824, in view of
these researches, "that so little valuable information has been given to
the world on these subjects."

Mr. Duponceau, President of the American Philosophical Society,
translated two of Mr. Schoolcraft's lectures before the Algic Society,
on the grammatical structure of the Indian language, into French, for
the National Institute of France, where the prize for the best essay on
Algonquin language was awarded to him. He writes to Dr. James, in 1834,
in reference to these lectures: "His description of the composition of
words in the Chippewa language, is the most elegant I have yet seen. He
is an able and most perspicuous writer, and treats his subject
philosophically."

Approbation from these high sources had only the effect to lead him to
renewed diligence and deeper exertions to further the interests of
natural science, geography, and ethnology; and, while engaged in the
active duties of an important government office, he maintained an
extensive correspondence with men of science, learning, and enterprise
throughout the Union.

The American Philosophical, Geological, and Antiquarian Societies, with
numerous state and local institutions, admitted him to membership. The
Royal Geographical Society of London, the Royal Society of Northern
Antiquaries at Copenhagen, and the Ethnological Society of Paris,
inscribed his name among their foreign members. In 1846, the College of
Geneva conferred on him the degree of LL.D.

While the interests of learning and science thus occupied his private
hours, the state of Indian affairs on the western frontiers called for
continued exertions, and journeys, and expeditions through remote
regions. The introduction of a fast accumulating population into the
Mississippi Valley, and the great lake basins, continually subjected the
Indian tribes to causes of uneasiness, and to a species of reflection,
of which they had had no examples in the long centuries of their
hunter state.

In 1825, 1826, and 1827, he attended convocations of the tribes at very
remote points, which imposed the necessity of passing through forests,
wildernesses, and wild portages, where none but the healthy, the robust,
the fearless, and the enterprising can go.

In 1831, circumstances inclined the tribes on the Upper Mississippi to
hostilities and extensive combinations. He was di