of a wide region. The Indians
were oppressed and insulted to the last point of forbearance, and a
small but restless band, regarded as insubordinate and troublesome
even by their own nation, seized upon the occasion to rush to war.

It is wonderful to look back upon this eventful history. The
country over which Black Hawk, with a handful of followers, badly
armed, and destitute of stores or munitions of war, roamed for
hundreds of miles, driving off the scattered inhabitants, is now
covered with flourishing settlements, with substantial houses, and
large farms--not with the cabins and clearings of bordermen--but
with the comfortable dwellings and the well-tilled fields of
independent farmers. Organized counties and all the subordination
of social life are there; and there are the noisy school-house, the
decent church, the mill, the country store, the fat ox, and the
sleek plough-horse. The yankee is there with his notions and his
patent-rights, and the travelling agent with his subscription book;
there are merchandise from India and from England, and, in short,
all the luxuries of life, from Bulwer's last novel down to
Brandreth's pills. And all this has been done in six years--in less
than half the time of Jacob's courtship. In 1832 the Saukie
warriors ranged over that fertile region, which is now (1838)
covered with an industrious population; while the Territories of
Wisconsin and Iowa, and vast settlements in Missouri, have since
grown up, beyond the region which was then the frontier and the
seat of war.

APPENDIX.

SKETCHES OF THE SIOUX.

The Sioux or Dacotas, are a numerous, powerful and warlike nation of
Indians, who have been appropriately called the Arabs of the west.
Between them and the Sacs and Foxes, there has existed, from the
settlement of the two latter tribes on the waters of the Mississippi, a
hostility of feeling that has kept them embroiled in a constant warfare.
The efforts of government to break down their prejudices and make peace
between them, have failed in accomplishing that benevolent end. It is
not, however, against the Sacs and Foxes alone, that their arms are
turned. From time immemorial they have been at war with the Chippeways,
and are also constantly making hostile incursions upon other neighboring
tribes. They usually fight on horseback, and being ve