Men in all; the rest of the
garrison have been ordered to the Mexican frontier, and it is necessary
that somebody should remain to guard the public property." The call for
troops has since been transferred to the garrison at Mackinaw, from which
they will be sent.
I learned afterward from an intelligent lady of the half-caste at the
Sault, that letters had arrived, from which it appeared that more than
four thousand Indians were already assembled at La Pointe, and that their
stock of provisions was exhausted.
"They expected," said the lady, "to be paid off on the 15th of August, but
the government has changed the time to nearly a month later. This is
unfortunate for the Indians, for now is the time of their harvest, the
season for gathering wild rice in the marshes, and they must, in
consequence, not only suffer with hunger now, but in the winter also."
In a stroll which we made through the Indian village, situated close to
the rapids, we fell in with a half-breed, a sensible-looking man, living
in a log cabin, whose boys, the offspring of a squaw of the pure Indian
race, were practicing with their bows and arrows.
