of which, there was a wide field for honorable exertion, and, if it was embraced, also of historical inquiry and research. The taste for natural history might certainly be transferred to that point, where the opportunity for discovery was the greatest." The position afforded him excellent opportunities for studying the Chippewa language and Indian mythology and superstition, characteristics, and customs, of which he made the best use. He determined to be a laborer in the new field of Indian studies. His diary during the whole term of his office shows him leading a busy and varied life. We find in it notes on his subjects of study, of his readings on various general topics, observations on the natural features of the region, remarks on mineralogical specimens, and incidents of official work.
Mr. Schoolcraft spent the winter of 1824-'25, on leave of absence, in New York, where he superintended the printing of his Travels in the Central Portions of the Mississippi Valley. "Society" was much interested in Mrs. Schoolcraft, the "Northern Pocahontas," a lady of aristocratic Irish descent on one side, and tracing her ancestors on the other side to the royal house of the Chippewas, who was withal, having been educated abroad, highly accomplished and refined in her manners. She was the daughter of Mr. John Johnston, of Sault Ste. Marie, who had married the daughter of Wabojeeg, a distinguished Chippewa chieftain. In 1825 he attended a convocation of the Indian tribes at Prairie du Chien, where a treaty was signed, through which it was hoped internal disputes between the tribes might be settled by fixing the boundaries to their respective territories. In the next year he attended a similar gathering of the Chippewa tribes at Fond du Lac, where the principles of the treaty of Prairie du Chien were reaffirmed, and a new treaty was made, under which the Indians acknowledged the sovereign authority of the United States; ceded the right to explore and take away the native copper and copper ores, and to work the mines and minerals in the country; and provision was made for the education of the Indians and their advancement in the arts. The system of Indian boundaries established by these treaties was completed by the treaty of Butte des Morts, August, 1827. The three treaties embodied a new course and policy for keeping the tribes in peace, and were founded "on the most enlarged consideration of the aboriginal right of fee simple to the soil." In 1827 he was elected a member of the Legislative Council of the newly organized Territory of Michigan—an office which was not solicited, and was not declined. As a member of this body during four sessions, he directed his attention to the incorporation of a historical society; to the preparation of a system of township names derived from the aboriginal languages; and to some efforts for bettering the condition of the natives.
