Page:History of the Ojibway Nation.djvu/223

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ALEX. HENRY'S TRIBUTE TO CADOTTE.
213

which they bore to himself and his half-breed children, that their chiefs threatened to use force to prevent his departure.

His Ojibway wife appears to have been a woman of great energy and force of character, as she is noted to this day for the influence she held over her relations—the principal chiefs of the tribe; and the hardy, fearless manner, in which, accompanied only by Canadian "Coureurs du bois" to propel her canoes, she made long journeys to distant villages of her people to further the interests of her husband.

She bore him two sons, John Baptiste, and Michel, who afterwards succeeded their father in the trade, and became, with their succeeding children of the same name, so linked with the Ojibways, that I shall be forced often to mention their names in the future course of my narrative, although at the evident risk of laying myself open to the charge of egotism, or making them prominent because they happen to be my direct progenitors.

Alex. Henry, in his straight-forward and truthful narrative, gives full testimony to all which I have said respecting the position and influence of Mons. Cadotte among the Ojibways during the middle of the past century, and not only for the purpose of making known the noble and philanthropic conduct of this man during this trying season in Ojibway history, but also to more fully illustrate to the reader the position and affairs of the tribe during this era, I will take the liberty to introduce a few more paragraphs from his pen. In the spring of the following year after his capture, having passed the winter as an Indian in the hunting camp of his adopted brother Wa-wa-tam, in whose family he was ever kindly treated, he returned to the fort at Michilimackinac, which now contained but two French traders. He says:—

"Eight days had passed in tranquillity, when there arrived a band of Indians from the bay of Sag-u-en-auw (Sag-