He
has, however, been partly lame for the last two years, from the effects,
it is thought, of early exposure in his explorations in the west, where
he used frequently to lie down in the swamps to sleep, with no pillow
save clumps of bog, and no covering but a traveling Indian blanket,
which sometimes when he awoke was cased in snow. This local impediment,
however, being entirely without neuralgic or rheumatic symptoms, has had
no effect whatever upon his mental activity, as every moment of his time
is still consecrated to literary pursuits.

In 1841 he removed his residence from Michilimackinack to the city of
New York, where he was instrumental, with Mr. John R. Bartlett, Mr. H.
C. Murphy, Mr. Folsom and other ethnologists, in forming the American
Ethnological Society--which, under the auspices of the late Mr. Albert
Gallatin, has produced efficient labors. In 1842 he visited England and
the Continent. He attended the twelfth meeting of the British
Association for the Advancement of Science at Manchester. He then
visited France, Germany, Prussia, Belgium, and Holland. On returning to
New York he took an active interest in the deliberations of the New York
Historical Society, made an antiquarian tour to Western Virginia, Ohio,
and the Canadas, and published in numbers the first volume of an Indian
miscellany under the title of "Oneota, or the Indian in his Wigwam."

In 1845 the Legislature of New York authorized him to take a census, and
collect the statistics of the Iroquois, or Six Nations, which were
published, together with materials illustrating their history and
character, in a volume entitled, NOTES ON THE IROQUOIS.

This work was highly approved by the Legislature, and copies eagerly
sought by persons taking an interest in the fortunes of this celebrated
tribe. Contrary to expectation, their numbers were found to be
considerable, and their advance in agriculture and civilization of a
highly encouraging character; and the State has since made liberal
appropriations for their education.

In 1846 he brought the subject of the American aborigines to the notice
of the members of Congress, expressing the opinion, and enforcing it by
facts drawn from many years' experience and residence on the frontiers,
that it was misunderstood, that the authentic published materials from
which the Indians were to be judged were fragmentary and scanty, and
that the public policy respecting them, and the mode of applying their
fun