ed down the leg. The winter moccasins
are of dressed buffalo skin, the hair being worn inward, and soled with
thick elk-skin parchment; those for summer are of deer or elk-skin,
dressed without the hair, and with soles of elk-skin. On great
occasions, or whenever they are in full dress, the young men drag after
them the entire skin of a polecat fixed to the heel of the moccasin.
Another skin of the same animal, either tucked into the girdle or
carried in the hand, serves as a pouch for their tobacco, or what the
French traders call bois roule.(1) This is the inner bark of a species
of red willow, which, being dried in the sun or over the fire, is,
rubbed between the hands and broken into small pieces, and used alone or
mixed with tobacco. The pipe is generally of red earth, the stem made of
ash, about three or four feet long, and highly decorated with feathers,
hair, and porcupine-quills. . . .

(1) This is bois roule, or "rolled wood," a poor kind of
tobacco rolled with various kinds of leaves, such as the
sumach and dogwood. The Indian name is kinnikinick.

"While on shore to-day we witnessed a quarrel between two squaws, which
appeared to be growing every moment more boisterous, when a man came
forward, at whose approach every one seemed terrified and ran. He took
the squaws and without any ceremony whipped them severely. On inquiring
into the nature of such summary justice, we learned that this man was
an officer well known to this and many other tribes. His duty is to keep
the peace, and the whole interior police of the village is confided to
two or three of these officers, who are named by the chief and remain in
power some days, at least till the chief appoints a successor. They
seem to be a sort of constable or sentinel, since they are always on
the watch to keep tranquillity during the day and guard the camp in the
night. The short duration of the office is compensated by its authority.
His power is supreme, and in the suppression of any riot or disturbance
no resistance to him is suffered; his person is sacred, and if in the
execution of his duty he strikes even a chief of the second class,
he cannot be punished for this salutary insolence. In general he
accompanies the person of the chief, and when ordered to any duty,
however dangerous, it is a point of honor rather to die than to refuse
obedience. Thus, when they attempted to stop us yesterday, the chief
ordered one of these men to take