Page:History of the Ojibway Nation.djvu/187

Rh and confidence of his people, he sent his war-club, tobacco, and wampum belt of war, to the far-scattered bands of his tribe, inviting the warriors to collect at Fond du Lac by a certain day, and march with him, to put out the fire of the Dakotas at Sandy Lake.

Men from all the villages of the Ojibway responded to his call, and canoes laden with warriors arrived on the appointed day from Sault Ste. Marie, Grand Portage, La Pointe, and all the camps of the tribe within the area of the Great Lake. It is said that the train of warriors which followed Bi-aus-wah on this occasion, was so long, as they marched in their usual single file, that a person standing on a hill could not see from one extremity to the other. They marched against the Dakotas of Sandy Lake. They found the enemy collected in force, notwithstanding which, they made the attack, and after a severe fight, they (being armed with the murderous weapons of the pale face), ultimately forced them to retreat and evacuate their village.

Some years after, having struck repeated blows on this band of the Dakota tribe, Bi-aus-wah with many wigwams of his people, lit their fires and permanently located their village, first on the islands of the lake, but afterwards at the point which lies nearly opposite the mouth of East Savannah River.

From this central location, they gradually increased their conquests in western, northern, and southern directions, and drawn by the richness of the hunting grounds in this region of country, many families from Lake Superior, of both the northern and southern divisions of the tribe, who had separated two centuries before at Sault Ste. Marie, moved over, and joined this band of hardy pioneers, increasing their strength and causing them to be better able to withstand the powerful Dakotas, and gradually to increase their new possessions. Sandy Lake or Kah-me-tah-wung-a-guma, signifying "lake of the sandy waters," is the site