A generous man was the Chief,
and a friend of the fearless explorer;
And dark was his visage with grief
at the treacherous act of the warriors.
"Brave Wazi-kute is a man,
and his heart is as clear as the sunlight;
But the head of a treacherous clan
and a snake-in-the-grass, is Tamdoka,"
Said the chief; and he promised DuLuth,
on the word of a friend and a warrior,
To carry the pipe and the truth
to his cousin, the chief at Kathaga;
For thrice at the _Tanka Mede_
he smoked in the lodge of the Frenchman;
And thrice had he carried away
the bountiful gifts of the trader.
[AX] Mille Lacs
[AY] See Hennepin's account of "Aqui-pa-que-tin," and his village.
Shea's Hennepin, 225.
When the chief could no longer prevail
on the white men to rest in his _teepees_,
He guided their feet on the trail
to the lakes of the winding Rice-River.[AZ]
Now on speeds the light bark canoe,
through the lakes to the broad _Gitchee Seebee_;[BA]
And up the great river they row,--
up the Big Sandy Lake and Savanna;
And down through the meadows they go
to the river of blue _Gitchee-Gumee_.
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