East of the St. Croix is Chippewa River, flowing in the same general direction, but aside from being a pretty stream it has nothing to specially interest tourists, for the banks gently shelve, and where stone appears it is in thin layers, and the shore-line never rises to the dignity of bluffs. But the Chippewa Indians, though now small in numbers, still retain their ancient homes in the vicinity of the stream, which, because of its shallowness, is not used as extensively as the St. Croix for shooting logs to the Mississippi. Though surrounded by a vigorous civilization, these Indians, if we except their clothing, exhibit little change from their original customs and manners of living, subsisting by hunting, fishing, and gathering berries for the neighboring markets. They still make birch-bark canoes, like their forefathers, and in a way, too, that white men do not appear to be able to imitate. Specimens of their deft work are on sale in all the towns of Wisconsin, from which source they derive no little profit. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: MINNEHAHA FALLS IN WINTER.—If Minnehaha is beautiful in the spring and summer, dressed in its flowing drapery of white, it is sublime when folded in the crystal arms of winter, a frozen cascade of puffs and snowballs, hibernating after its season of festivity, awaiting the return of bird, flower and lover. Not many visitors go there in winter-time, for the north wind is biting cold; but those who do go are rewarded with a vision of loveliness unsurpassed in the realms of romance or fact. Beneath the winter sun it becomes a fairy palace, turreted with columns of alabaster, studded with diamonds and pearls, that sparkle and glow with the iridescent hues of the rainbow. ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: CLEOPATRA’S NEEDLE, DEVIL’S LAKE.] In the eastern part of the State, in Howano county, lives a small tribe called the Menomines, who are in what may be called the transition period, for their manner of living is a composite of modern ways and ancient usage and belief. Some of the Menomines appear to be thoroughly civilized, at least so far as outward indications show, while the patriarchs of the tribe remain steadfast in the faith of their fathers. They have lost none of their confidence in the Medicine Man, whose counsel in political affairs is as important as their influence over diseases of the body is pronounced. [Illustration: HORNET’S NEST, DELLS OF THE WISCONSIN.] A Medicine Man being questioned as to how the power which he claimed was conferred, answered thus: