"The Indians say they had dreamed of seeing some monster of the deep the night before, which frightened them very much. It appears they did not discover the boat until it had got into the mouth of the St. Peter's, below Mr. Sibley's. They stood and gazed with astonishment at what they saw approaching, taking the boat to be some angry god of the water, coughing and spouting water upwards, sideways and forward. They had not courage enough to stand until the boat came near them. The women and children took to the woods, with their hair floating behind them in the breeze, from the speed they were going, in running from supposed danger. Some of the men had a little more courage, and only moved off to a short distance from the shore, and the boat passed along and landed. Everything being quiet for a moment, the Indians came up to the boat again, and stood looking at the monster of the deep. All at once the boat began to blow off steam, and the bravest warriors could not stand this awful roaring, but took to the woods, men, women and children, with their blankets flying in the wind; some tumbling in the brush which entangled their feet as they ran away--some hallooing, some crying, to the great amusement of the people on board the steamboat."--Quoted in the _Minnesota Historical Collections_, Vol. III, p. 104, note 1. [441] Beltrami's _A Pilgrimage in Europe and America_, Vol. II, p. 199. [442] _Minnesota Historical Collections_, Vol. II, pp. 191-193. [443] Beltrami published an account of his travels in French in New Orleans in 1824. The English version is entitled _A Pilgrimage in Europe and America, leading to the Discovery of the Sources of the Mississippi and Bloody River_, and was published in London in two volumes in 1828. It is composed of twenty-two letters addressed to "My Dear Countess" and dedicated "to the Fair Sex". [444] _Minnesota Historical Collections_, Vol. VI, p. 101. [445] The story of this exploration was published under the title of _Narrative of an Expedition to the Source of St. Peter's River, Lake Winnepeek, Lake of the Woods, Etc. performed in the year 1823, by order of the Hon. J. C. Calhoun, Secretary of War, under the command of Stephen H. Long, U. S. T. E._ It was written by Professor Keating from the notes of the party. An English edition appeared in London in 1825. The references given are to this publication. [446] J. C. Calhoun to Major Long.--_Taliaferro Letters_, Vol. I, No. 41. [447] Keating's _Narrative of an Expedition to the Source of St. Peter's River_, Vol. I, p. 324, Vol. II, p. 112. [448] Keating's _Narrative of an Expedition to the Source of St. Peter's River_, Vol. I, pp. 306-310. [449] Keating's _Narrative of an Expedition to the Source of St. Peter's River_, Vol. I, p. 356. [450] _Auto-biography of Maj. Lawrence Taliaferro_ in the _Minnesota Historical Collections_, Vol. VI, p. 241. [451] Beltrami's _A Pilgrimage in Europe and America_, Vol. II, p. 414.