At two dined at Case's Half Way House, being just thirty-two miles from Milwaukee and the same distance from Fond du Lac, agreeably to the road survey made last summer. ...

... Fourteen miles further brought us to Rock river (where I arrived before the sun had made his exit for the day)... With one or two slight exceptions the country passed over today is covered with forest trees of the same kind that constitute the woods at Milwaukee. A very small prairie is crossed at Case's, but hardly large enough to be worthy of notice.

Several places showed where deer had trampled down the snow and dug holes in it to procure acorns in a manner similar to swine, indeed had it been a more thickly settled part of the country the hogs would have had the entire credit of making these holes.

As we approached the river, the signs of Indians became more and more frequent and finally I met two squaws. Several abandoned wigwams had been seen during the day consisting of poles bent over and united at the top so as to form, when covered, a hemisphere and towards evening several sugar houses in a state of neglect and decay were seen. These are made of split logs and are of much larger dimensions and have more the appearance of a house than the wigwam. Several scaffolds were seen, made of crotched sticks supporting poles laid horizontally against one or more trees. These are said to be for various purposes, but especially for a hiding place when an Indian lies in wait for the approach of deer that are thus unconsciously brought within reach of his un-erring aim. Dead bodies of their distinguished men are sometimes placed in similar situations.

There is a very common practice here of marking trees, the guide boards consist of marks with red chalk on the smoothed surface of a tree and if a person makes a claim on a tract of land his name usually appears at some conspicuous place on a tree. This afternoon I passed a place where there was an index or hand pointing down towards a deep hollow and was marked "To H--l"! Probably put there by some person who met with some difficulty in the place and took this method of expressing his ill humor. ...

About one hundred Indians constituting one of the twelve bands of the tribe called "Menomonees" or "Wild Rice Eaters" are now living near this place, subsisting upon venison and fish and preparing to make maple sugar in the spring. During the evening several of these Indians came to Mr. Darling's house where I was stopping in the famous village of Fond du Lac, which consists of two houses, one a blacksmith shop! Among these Indians was the chief of the band whose name is Saugun or "He who scares every body," a tall good looking man except when he smiles and shows his fine row of pure white teeth in a most ludicrous manner. ...

... At Juneau's the Indians were under the effect of a barrel of liquor dealt out gratis by a man from Green Lake last Sunday,--the effect could be seen and heard. Mr. Juneau showed me the horns of two bucks so interlocked that the strongest men have been unable to separate them. They were purchased of an Indian who saw them while yet alive and fastened together in this manner. He shot the smaller of the two, the other immediately threw him over his head and could not extricate himself, and was also killed by the Indian. I was shown also a war club with a wolf carved upon it by an Indian. It was more the shape of a lizard than a wolf. Querie,--are not many of the lizard mounds intended for wolves rather than lizards?

Upon asking Mr. Juneau the name of a certain Indian, he declined giving it in his presence as it is not considered polite and decorous to do so, indeed it is usually taken as an insult! This man had a pouch made of the skin of a skunk. Beaver were found in this part of the country until about fifteen years ago. Badger skins are used, and the flesh eaten. ...