It is interesting to observe the dawning of the gospel at a spot, which has been long noted as the scene of Indian trade, and the rallying point of Indian war parties. It is at this place, the Chegoimegon of early writers, that tradition places the ancient council fire of the Chippewa nation. And here resided the presiding chief, called Mudjikiwis, or Waishki, who exercised the sovereign power over a rude confederation of local tribes, whose dissolution, or separation into independent fragments, may be traced to the right of each chieftain of declaring a negative to any decision, and silently withdrawing his aid, for the time being. Personal influence and authority may be supposed to have counteracted this defect, while the tribe was small, as tradition represents it to have been when it first migrated from _the east_, to this lake; but its increase and spread over the adjacent country, would naturally destroy so feeble a tie of political power, and must soon have left each local band as it now remains, independent and sovereign in its acts. Yet the voice of tradition refers to this era of the reign of the Mudjikiwis as one of comparative splendor. Although republican in all that is left of their institutions, the succession of the Mudjikiwis is said to have been hereditary among the Chippewas, and the descendants of this magistrate, who yet exist at Chegoimegon, evince a pride of ancestry which we should only look for, among feudal or despotic nations. The last person who may be said to have exercised this office was Mongazid, (or Mamongazida,) who was in high favor with the French. He is represented to have visited Quebec in the time of Montcalm, and to have been an actor in the final battle in which that distinguished commander fell. His son Wahbojeeg, or the White Fisher, succeeded him as the ruling chieftain of the band, and eminently distinguished himself as a war leader. He died in 1793, after having been greatly instrumental in driving his cousins-german, the Foxes, from the Chippewa country. The present chieftain, Chi Waishki, alias Pizhickee, or the Buffalo, is the representative of this line. He said to the Indian Agent, who, by direction of the commissioners at the treaty of Fond du Lac, in 1826, invested him with a silver medal, “What need I of this! It is known whence I am descended.”