use contains two or three old fireplaces and has been
built for about a century. It stands on a high bluff facing the
Vermilion river, and the view is very picturesque. In making recent
excavations for gravel along the roadway to the west of the buildings,
an Indian skeleton was unearthed. It was in a fair state of preservation
and the teeth in the skull were still perfect. There were also several
Indian arrowheads, remains of a leathern pouch with a draw-string, and
parts of a grass-woven blanket. By the side of the skeleton of the
savage were the bones of a dog, and also a small copper bell, which was
probably worn about the dog's neck. The Kickapoos held the dog in
especial veneration and at the time of the burial of the warrior, fully
equipped with arms and tobacco for the happy hunting ground, the dog was
probably slain to accompany his master.

No tribe of savages along the Wabash was more irreconcilable than the
Kickapoos. "They were," says Beckwith, "pre-eminent in predatory
warfare. Small parties, consisting of from five to twenty or more, were
the usual number comprising their war parties. These would push out
hundreds of miles from their villages, and swoop down upon a feeble
settlement, or an isolated pioneer cabin, and burn the property, kill
the cattle, steal the horses, capture the women and children and be off
again before the alarm could be given." They were always strongly on the
British side, and numbers of them fought against the Americans at
Tippecanoe.

Gamelin at once encountered opposition. The Kickapoos first found fault
with his speech and said that it contained a threat of war. Upon his
eliminating the objectionable words, they said he could go farther up
the river, but that they could not give a definite answer because some
of their warriors were absent, and they had first to consult the Weas,
who were the owners of their lands. They next found fault with Gamelin
for coming among them empty-handed. They said that they expected "a
draught of milk from the great chief, and the commanding officer of the
post, for to put the old people in good humor; also some powder and ball
for the young men for hunting, and to get some good broth for their
women and children." They promised to keep their young men from
stealing, and to send speeches to their nations in the prairies to
prevent them from making expeditions.

On the fourteenth of April, Gamelin held a council with the Weas and
Kickapoos at Oui