Mr. Melody and I visited the Indians in their apartments that evening after their exhibition was over, and taking a beefsteak and a cup of coffee with them, we found them still in high glee, and in good humour for gossip, which ran chiefly upon the immense looking-glasses they had seen (and "forgot to measure"), and the _chickabobboo_, which they pronounced to be first-rate for a grand _feast_, which it would be their duty to get up in a few days to thank the Great Spirit for leading them all safe over the ocean, and to ensure their safe return when they should be ready to go. I then told them of the kind of _chickabobboo_ that the Ojibbeways liked very much, and of which I had allowed each one glass every day at his dinner, and also at night after their dances were done, and which the physicians thought would be much better for them than the strong coffee they were in the habit of drinking; that I had talked with Mr. Melody on the subject, and he was quite willing, with me, that they should have it in the same way, provided they liked it. "_How, how, how!_" they all responded; and while the servant was gone for a jug of ale, I explained to them that we did not consider that this was breaking their solemn promise made to us, "_not to drink spirituous liquors_." I stated to them, also, that it was possible to get drunk by drinking _chickabobboo_; and if any of them drank so much of it as to produce that effect, we should consider it the same as if they had got drunk by drinking whiskey. The ale came in foaming, and being passed round, they all decided that "it was good, but not quite so good as that the kind lady gave us at the _feast_ to-day." These evening gossips with these good-natured fellows in their own rooms, after their day's work and excitements were over, became extremely pleasing to me; so completely reviving the by-gone pleasures I had felt in whiling away the long evenings in their hospitable wigwams, when I was a guest in their remote country, amused with their never-ending fund of anecdotes and stories. On the next morning, or the day after, at an early hour, Daniel announced to the Indians that there was a reverend gentleman in the sitting-room who wished to see them a little while, and to have some talk with them if possible. Daniel had taken this liberty, as he had heard Mr. Melody and myself say that we should feel disposed to promote, as far as we could, all such efforts. The Indians had not yet had their breakfasts, which were nearly ready, and felt a little annoyed; the War-chief observing "that they had had a long council with some clergymen, and had said to them all they had to say, and thought this gentleman had better go and see and talk with them; and another thing, as he believed that _Chippehola_[16] had written in a book all that he and the clergymen had said, he thought he might learn it all by going to him." [16] The author.