moreover, if there had been, we did not wish to depart so abruptly from this part of the country. One of the principal traders, however, at Detroit, to whom we had carried letters, soon accommodated matters to our satisfaction, by promising to give orders to the master of one of the lake vessels, of which he was in part owner, to land us at that place. The vessel was to sail in a fortnight; we immediately therefore secured a passage in her, and having settled with the master that he should call for us at Malden, we set off once more for that place in our little boat, and in a few hours, from the time we quitted Detroit, arrived there. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ _LETTER _ XXXIV. _Presents delivered to the Indians on the Part of the British Government.—Mode of distributing them.—Reasons why given.—What is the best Method of conciliating the good Will of the Indians.—Little pains taken by the Americans to keep up a good Understanding with the Indians.—Consequences thereof.—War between the Americans and Indians.—A brief Account of it.—Peace concluded by General Wayne.—Not likely to remain permanent.—Why.—Indian Manner of making Peace described._ Malden, October. [Sidenote: PRESENTS.] ADJOINING to our friend’s house at Malden stands an extensive range of storehouses, for the reception of the presents yearly made by government to the Indians in this part of the country, in which several clerks are kept constantly employed. Before we had been long at Malden we had an opportunity of seeing some of the presents delivered out. A number of chiefs of different tribes had previously come to our friend, who is at the head of the department in this quarter, and had given to him, each, a bundle of little bits of cedar wood, about the thickness of a small pocket book pencil, to remind him of the exact number of individuals in each tribe that expected to share the bounty of their great father. The sticks in these bundles were of different lengths, the longed denoted the number of warriors in the tribe, the next in size the number of women, and the smallest the number of children. Our friend on receiving them handed them over to his clerks, who made a memorandum in their books of the contents of each bundle, and of the persons that gave them, in order to prepare the presents accordingly. The day fixed upon for the delivery of the presents was bright and fair, and being in every respect favourable for the purpose, the clerks began to make the necessary arrangements accordingly.