I have just returned from a tour or voyage on Lake Huron. . . . I had a special meeting of the Indians at the great Manalouli Island. I had some important business to transact with them, and we had a grand council. They appointed their best orator to reply to me. The fellow’s name was Segonal (the Black-bird), and he was celebrated for having often on grand public occasions spoken without once stopping, from Sunrise to Sunset. Is not this being what’s called “a powerful speaker?” I often thought of you, and wished I could have produced you. The Indians never saw a book; never heard of a bookseller; and would have worshipped you as the Cacique of that tribe.
