lofty dignity. But to lessen the mortification of so public a humiliation, he convoked a council of the elders, in which it was resolved that by reason of a sort of general apostasy of the community, a flagellation of all hands was necessary. A day was set, and every man, woman and child belonging to the sect received the allotted portion of blows upon their backs.
The Potawatomies are divided into two tribes; those of the forests, among whom are a great number of Catholics, and those of the prairies, who have never had priests among them. These last form a mixed nation, composed of Potawatomies,Winnebagoes, Foxes, Chippewas, Sauks,Ottawas, Menominees and Kickapoos ; there are more than 3,000 of them. They separated from their brothers of the forests at the beginning of the war for the independence of the United States; one part took the side of the English, the other that of the Republic. The Potawatomies sold their lands in the States of Illinois and Indiana in 1836, receiving from the Government 5,000,000 acres in exchange upon the Missouri, at Council Bluffs, toward the forty-first and fortysecond degrees of north latitude. The ^limate of the country is extremely variable, and thunder storms are very frequent in the months of June and July. The winter is not so long as in Belgium, but the cold is much more intense; on the other hand the heat is much greater in summer. The country in general is composed of fair plains and forests interspersed, and watered throughout by the Missouri. Three other rivers, the Nishnabotna, the Mosquito and the Boyer, traverse it. The Potawatomies are very gentle and tractable by nature; they do not lack spirit and never appear timid; no rank or dignity is known among them; their chief has no other revenue than what his lance, arrows and carbine bring him; his throne is his steed. He promulgates the law, and when he can he executes it. He must be more courageous than his subjects, and never receives any more than each of them in the