The Kettle chief's village is situated fifteen miles below the entrance of the Little Makokety River, consisting of nineteen lodges, built in two rows, pretty compact, and having a population of two hundred and fifty souls. There is a large island in the Mississippi, directly opposite this village, which is occupied by traders. I first landed there to get an interpreter of the Fox language, and obtain some necessary information respecting the location of the mines, and the best means of accomplishing my object. Meantime the rain had ceased. I then proceeded across the Mississippi to the Kettle chief's lodge, to solicit his permission to visit the mines, and obtain Indian guides. I succeeded in getting Mr. Gates, as interpreter; and was accompanied by Dr. S. Muir, a trader, who politely offered to go with me. On entering the lodge of Aquoqua, the chief, I found him suffering under a severe attack of bilious fever. As I approached him, he sat upon his pallet, being unable to stand, and bid me welcome; but soon became exhausted by the labor of conversation, and was obliged to resume his former position. He appeared to be a man of eighty years of age, had a venerable look, but was reduced to the last stage of physical debility. Yet he retained his faculties of sight and hearing unimpaired, together with his mental powers. He spoke to me of his death with calm resignation, as a thing to be desired. On stating the object of my visit, some objections were made by the chiefs who surrounded him, and they required further time to consider the proposition. In the mean time, I learned from another source, that since the death of Dubuque, to whom the Indians had formerly granted the privilege of working the mines, they had manifested great jealousy of the whites, were afraid they would encroach on their rights, denied all former grants, and did not make it a practice even to allow strangers to view their diggings. Apprehending some difficulties of this kind, I had provided myself with some presents, and concluding this to be the time, because of the reluctance manifested, directed one of my voyageurs to bring in a present of tobacco and whiskey; and in a few moments I received their assent, and two guides were furnished. One of these was a minor chief, called Scabass, or the Yelling Wolf; the other, Wa-ba-say-ah, or the White Foxskin. They led me up the cliff, where I understood the Indian woman, Peosta, first found lead ore; after reaching the level of the river bluffs, we pursued a path over undulating hills, exhibiting a half prairie, and quite picturesque rural aspect. On reaching the diggings, the most striking part of them, but not all of them, exhibited excavations such as the Indians only do not seem persevering enough in labor to have made.