History, Manners, and Customs of the North American Indians Part 19

_Hunter._ In a short time he rose again, sitting in his full dress like the leader of a warlike tribe, and calmly and smilingly extended his hand to the chiefs and officers, to his wives and his children.

But this, his last effort, exhausted his remaining strength. He was lowered down on the bed, calmly drew his scalping-knife from its sheath under his war-belt, where it had been placed, and grasped it with firmness and dignity. With his hands crossed on his manly breast, and with a smile on his face, he breathed his last. Thus pa.s.sed away the spirit of Oseola.

_Austin._ Poor Oseola! He died like a chief, at last.

_Hunter._ He did, but not like a Christian, and, very likely, when he grasped his scalping-knife, before his last breath forsook him, some glowing vision of successful combat was before him. In the pride of his heart, perhaps, he was leading on his braves to mingle in the clash of battle and the death-grapple with his enemies. But is this a fit state of mind for a man to die in? Much as we may admire the steady firmness and unsubdued courage of an Indian warrior in death, emotions of pride and high-mindedness, and thoughts of bloodshed and victory, are as far removed as possible from the principles of Christianity, and most unsuitable to a dying hour. Humility, forgiveness, repentance, hope, faith, peace and joy, are needed at such a season; and the time will come, we trust, when Indians, taught better by the gospel, will think and feel so.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Mounted Chief.]

CHAPTER XIV.

The holidays of the three brothers were drawing to a close; and this circ.u.mstance rendered them the more anxious to secure one or two more visits to the cottage, before they settled down in right earnest to their books. Brian and Basil talked much about the poisoned arrows, and the mystery man; but Austin's mind was too much occupied with the Camanchee chief on his black war-horse, and the death of the Seminole chief Oseola, to think much of any thing else. He thought there was something very n.o.ble in the valour of a chief leading on his tribe to conquest; and something almost sublime in a warrior dressing himself up in his war-robes to die. Like many other young people of ardent dispositions, he seemed to forget, that when a victory is enjoyed, a defeat must be endured; and that before any one can rejoice in taking a scalp, some one must be rendered miserable or lifeless by losing it.

The remarks of the hunter, respecting the inconsistency of such customs with the peaceful principles of religion, especially the solemnities of a dying hour, had not been made altogether in vain; yet still he dwelt on the image of Oseola grasping his scalping-knife, crossing his hands over his breast, and dying with a smile on his countenance.

On their next walk to the cottage, the way was beguiled by endeavouring to call to mind all that had been told them on their last visit; and, to do him justice, he acquitted himself uncommonly well.

It is true, that now and then his brothers refreshed his memory on some points which had escaped him; but, on the whole, his account was full, connected, and clear.

"And what must I tell you now?" said the hunter, as soon as he and the young people had exchanged salutations. "Do you not know enough about the Indians?"

To this inquiry, Brian replied that what they had heard had only increased their curiosity to hear more.

"Well; let me consider," said the hunter. "I have told you about the different tribes of Indians, their religion, languages, manners and customs; their villages, wigwams, food, dress, arms and musical instruments. I have described to you the fur trade; and dwelt on the scenery of the country, the mountains, rivers, lakes, prairies and many remarkable places. I have related the adventures of Black Hawk and Nikkanochee. And, besides these things, you have had a tolerably full account of buffaloes, bears, wild horses, wolves, deer and other animals, with the manner of hunting them; as well as a relation of Indian amus.e.m.e.nts, dances, sham fights, war-parties, encampments, alarms, attacks, scalping and retreats. Let me now, then, dwell a little on the Indian way of concluding a treaty of peace, and on a few other matters; after which, I will conclude with the best account I can give you of what the missionaries have done among the different tribes."

_Austin._ I shall be very sorry when you have told us all.

_Brian._ And so shall I: for it is so pleasing to come here, and listen to what you tell us.

_Hunter._ When it is agreed between hostile tribes that a treaty of peace shall be made, the chiefs and medicine men of the adverse tribes meet together, and the calumet, or peace-pipe, ornamented with eagle quills, being produced, every one smokes a few whiffs through it. It is then understood by them that the tomahawk is to be buried. The pipe-of-peace dance is then performed by the warriors, to the beat of the Indian drum and rattle, every warrior holding his pipe in his hand.

_Brian._ That pipe-of-peace dance is a capital dance, for then bloodshed is at an end.

_Hunter._ Unfortunately, war is apt soon to break out again, and then the buried tomahawk becomes as busy as ever.

_Austin._ Well, I do like the Indians, in spite of all their faults, and I think they have been used cruelly by the whites.

_Hunter._ As a general remark, those Indians who have had least to do with civilized life are the most worthy of regard. Such as live near white men, or such as are frequently visited by them, seem to learn quickly the vices of others, without giving up their own. To observe the real character of red men, it is necessary to trace the turnings and windings of the Yellow Stone River, or the yet more remote sinuosities of the Upper Missouri. The nearer the United States, the more servile is the Indian character; and the nearer the Rocky Mountains, the more independent and open-hearted.

_Austin._ If I ever go among the red men, the Yellow Stone River, or the Upper Missouri, will be the place for me.

_Hunter._ Many of the chiefs of the tribes near the Rocky Mountains may be said to live in a state of splendour. They have the pure air of heaven around them and rivers abounding in fish. The prairie yields them buffaloes in plenty; and, as for their lodges and dress, some of them may be called sumptuous. Sometimes, twenty or thirty buffalo skins, beautifully dressed, are joined together to form a covering for a lodge; and their robes and different articles of apparel are so rich with ermine, the nails and claws of birds and animals, war-eagle plumes, and embroidery of highly coloured porcupine quills, that a monarch in his coronation robes is scarcely a spectacle more imposing.

_Austin._ Ay, I remember the dress of Mah-to-toh-pa, "the four bears,"

his buffalo robe, his porcupine-quilled leggings, his embroidered buckskin moca.s.sins, his otter necklace, his buffalo horns, and his splendid head-dress of war-eagle plumes.

_Hunter._ In a state of war, it is the delight of a chief to leap on the back of his fiery steed, decorated as the leader of his tribe, and armed with his glittering lance and unerring bow, to lead on his band to victory. In the chase, he is as ardent as in the battle; smiling at danger, he plunges, on his flying steed, among a thousand buffaloes, launching his fatal shafts with deadly effect. Thus has the Indian of the far-west lived, and thus is he living still. But the trader and the rum-bottle, and the rifle and the white man are on his track; and, like his red brethren who once dwelt east of the Mississippi, he must fall back yet farther, and gradually decline before the approach of civilization.

_Austin._ It is a very strange thing that white men will not let red men alone. What right have they to cheat them of their hunting-grounds?

_Hunter._ I will relate to you an account, that appeared some time ago in most of the newspapers (though I cannot vouch for the truth of it,) of a chief who, though he was respected by his tribe before he went among the whites, had very little respect paid to him afterwards.

_Brian._ I hope it is a long account.

_Hunter._ Not very long: but you shall hear. "In order to a.s.sist the officers of the Indian department, in their arduous duty of persuading remote tribes to quit their lands, it has been found advisable to incur the expense of inviting one or two of their chiefs some two or three thousand miles to Washington, in order that they should see with their own eyes, and report to their tribes, the irresistible power of the nation with which they are arguing. This speculation has, it is said, in all instances, more or less effected its object. For the reasons and for the objects we have stated, it was deemed advisable that a certain chief should be invited from his remote country to Washington; and accordingly, in due time, he appeared there."

_Austin._ Two or three thousand miles! What a distance for him to go!

_Hunter._ "After the troops had been made to manoeuvre before him; after thundering volleys of artillery had almost deafened him; and after every department had displayed to him all that was likely to add to the terror and astonishment he had already experienced, the President, in lieu of the Indian's clothes, presented him with a colonel's uniform; in which, and with many other presents, the bewildered chief took his departure."

_Brian._ He would hardly know how to walk in a colonel's uniform.

_Hunter._ "In a pair of white kid gloves; tight blue coat, with gilt b.u.t.tons, gold epaulettes, and red sash; cloth trowsers with straps; high-heeled boots; c.o.c.ked hat, and scarlet feather; with a cigar in his mouth, a green umbrella in one hand, and a yellow fan in the other; and with the neck of a whiskey bottle protruding out of each of the two tail-pockets of his regimental coat; this 'monkey that had seen the world' suddenly appeared before the chiefs and warriors of his tribe; and as he stood before them, straight as a ramrod, in a high state of perspiration, caused by the tightness of his finery, while the cool fresh air of heaven blew over the naked, unrestrained limbs of the spectators, it might, perhaps not unjustly, be said of the costumes, 'Which is the savage?' In return for the presents he had received, and with a desire to impart as much real information as possible to his tribe, the poor jaded traveller undertook to deliver to them a course of lectures, in which he graphically described all that he had witnessed."

_Austin._ An Indian in white kid gloves, blue coat, high-heeled boots, and c.o.c.ked hat and feather! Why his tribe would all laugh at him, in spite of his lectures.

_Hunter._ "For a while he was listened to with attention; but as soon as the minds of his audience had received as much as they could hold, they began to disbelieve him. Nothing daunted, however, the traveller still proceeded."

_Austin._ I thought they would laugh at him.

_Hunter._ "He told them about wigwams, in which a thousand people could at one time pray to the Great Spirit; of other wigwams, five stories high, built in lines, facing each other, and extending over an enormous s.p.a.ce: he told them of war canoes that would hold twelve hundred warriors."

_Austin._ They would be sure never to believe him.

_Hunter._ "Such tales, to the Indian mind, seemed an insult to common sense. For some time he was treated merely with ridicule and contempt; but, when, resolutely continuing to recount his adventures, he told them about a balloon, and that he had seen white people, who, by attaching a great ball to a canoe, as he described it, could rise in it up to the clouds, and travel through the heavens, the medicine, or mystery men of his tribe p.r.o.nounced him to be an impostor; and the mult.i.tude vociferously declaring that he was too great a liar to live, a young warrior, in a paroxysm of anger, levelled a rifle and shot him dead!"

_Austin._ Well, I am very sorry! It was very silly to be dressed up in that way; but they ought not to have killed him, for he told them the truth, after all.

_Brian._ I could never have thought that an Indian chief would have dressed himself in a blue coat and gilt b.u.t.tons.

_Basil._ And, then, the fan and green umbrella!

_Austin._ Ay, and the whiskey bottles sticking out of his tail-pockets. He would look a little different from Mah-to-toh-pa.

_Hunter._ I have frequently spoken of the splendid head-dress of the chiefs of some tribes. Among the Mandans, (and you know Mah-to-toh-pa was a Mandan,) they would not part with one of their head-dresses of war-eagle plumes at a less price than two horses. The Konzas, Osages, p.a.w.nees, Sacs, Foxes and Iowas shave their heads; but all the rest, or at least as far as I know of the Indian tribes, wear long hair.

_Brian._ Yes; we remember the Crows, with their hair sweeping the ground.

_Hunter._ Did I tell you, that some of the tribes glue other hair to their own to make it long, as it is considered so ornamental?

_Basil._ I do not remember that you told us that.

_Hunter._ There are a few other things respecting the Indians that I wish to mention, before I tell you what the missionaries have done among them. In civilized countries, people turn out their toes in walking; but this is not the case among the Indians. When the toes are turned out, either in walking or running, the whole weight of the body falls too much on the great toe of the foot that is behind, and it is mainly owing to this circ.u.mstance, that so many have a deformity at the joint of the great toe. When the foot is turned in, the weight of the body is thrown equally on all the toes, and the deformity of the great toe joint is avoided.

_Austin._ What! do the Indians know better how to walk than we do? If theirs is the best way to walk, why do not we all walk so?