Having, while at Sandy Lake, summoned the Indians to meet me in council at the mouth of the _L'aile de Corbeau_, or Crow-Wing River, on the 20th of July, no time was to be lost in proceeding to that place. The 15th, being the Sabbath, was spent at the island, where the Rev. Mr. Boutwell addressed the Indians. The next day, I met the Cass Lake band in council, and, having finished that business, rewarded the Indians for their services and canoes on the trip to Itasca Lake, distributed the presents designed for them, replied to a message from Nezhopenais of Red Lake, and invested Ozawindib with the President's largest silver medal and a flag, and was ready by 10 o'clock A. M. to embark. Dr. Houghton employed the time to complete his vaccinations. I rewarded Mr. Default for taking charge of my camp during the journey to Itasca Lake. As well to shorten the line of travel as to visit an entirely unexplored section of the country, I resolved to pursue the Indian trail and line of interior portages from Cass to Leech Lake, and from the latter to the source of the great Crow-Wing fork. Passing southwardly across the lake, between Red Cedar and Garden Islands, we have a prolonged bay running deep into the land, toward the south. This bay is in the direct line to Leech Lake; and as it had been crossed on the ice in January, 1806, by Lieutenant Pike, in his adventurous and meritorious journey of exploration, I called it Pike's Bay. It was twelve o'clock, meridian, when we debarked at its head. The portage commenced on the edge of an open pine forest, interspersed with scrub oak. The path is deeply worn, in the sand-plain, and looks as if it had been trod by the Indians for centuries. I observed, as we passed along, the alum root, hyacinthus, and sweet fern, with the ledum latifolium, vaccinium dumosum, and more common species of pine plains. The pinus resinosa assumes here a larger size, and the Indians pointed out to me markings and pictographs drawn with charcoal, and covered with the resin of the tree, which were made by the Indian tribe who preceded them in the occupancy of the sources of the Mississippi. This must have been, if I rightly apprehend their history, prior to A. D. 1600. That such markings should be preserved by the pitch, which sheds the rain, is, however, probable. They were of the totemic character, _i.e._ relating to the exploits or achievements of groups of families, in which the individual actor sinks his specific in the generic family or clan name. Antiquities of this character are certainly a new feature in Indian history. Letters have perfectly preserved the landing of Cartier at the mouth of the St. Lawrence in 1534. Pictography here records, that certain clans had killed bears and taken human scalps before that time. And the fact is deeply important in shedding light on Indian history and character; for the killing of deers and bears, and the taking of human