Western Scenes and Reminiscences Part 18

6. When the Gitshee Kenabik and his a.s.sociate turn up red, and the other white, it counts 38, the bra.s.s pieces immaterial.

7. When one of the Ininewugs stands up, it counts 50, without regard to the position of all the rest.

8. When either of the Gitshee Kenabiks stands upright, it counts 40, irrespective of the position of the others.

9. When all the pieces turn up white, excepting one, and the Ozawabiks dark, it counts 20.

10. When all turn up red, except one, and the bra.s.s pieces bright, it counts 15.

11. When the whole of the pieces turn up white, but one, with the Ozawabiks bright, it counts 10.

12. When a bra.s.s piece turns up dark, the two Gitshee Kenabiks and the two men red, and the remaining pieces white, it counts 8.

13. When the bra.s.s piece turns up bright, the two Gitshee Kenabiks and one of the men red, and all the rest white, it is 6.

14. When the Gitshee Kenabik in chief, and one of the men turn up red, the Ozawabiks, bright, and all the others white, it is 4.

15. When both the Kenabiks, and both men, and the three ducks, turn up red, the bra.s.s piece black, and either the Keego, or a duck white, it is 5.

16. When all the pieces turn up red, but one of the Ininewugs, and the bra.s.s piece black, it counts 2.

The limit of the game is stipulated. The parties throw up for the play.

This game is very fascinating to some portions of the Indians. They stake at it their ornaments, weapons, clothing, canoes, horses, every thing in fact they possess; and have been known, it is said, to set up their wives and children, and even to forfeit their own liberty. Of such desperate stakes, I have seen no examples, nor do I think the game itself in common use. It is rather confined to certain persons, who hold the relative rank of gamblers in Indian society--men who are not noted as hunters or warriors, or steady providers for their families. Among these are persons who bear the term of Ienadizze-wug, that is, wanderers about the country, braggadocios, or fops. It can hardly be cla.s.sed with the popular games of amus.e.m.e.nt, by which skill and dexterity are acquired. I have generally found the chiefs and graver men of the tribes, who encouraged the young men to play ball, and are sure to be present at the customary sports, to witness, and sanction, and applaud them, speak lightly and disparagingly of this game of hazard. Yet, it cannot be denied, that some of the chiefs, distinguished in war and the chase, at the west, can be referred to, as lending their example to its fascinating power.

An a.n.a.lysis of this game, to show its arithmetical principles and powers might be gone into; but it is no part of the present design to take up such considerations here, far less to pursue the comparison and extension of customs of this kind among the modern western tribes. It may be sufficient to say, from the foregoing rules, that there seems to be no _unit_ in the throw, and that the count proceeds by _decimals_, for all numbers over 8. Doubtless these rules, are but a part of the whole series, known to experienced players. They comprise, however, all that have been revealed to me.

"Gambling is not peculiar to our race, The Indian gambles with as fixed a face."

Herodotus says of the ancient Thracians--that "the most honourable life, with them, is a life of war and plunder; the most contemptible that of a husbandman. Their supreme delight is war and plunder." Who might not suppose, were the name withheld, that this had been said by some modern writer of the p.a.w.nees, or the Camanches?

REVERENCE AND AFFECTION FOR PARENTS.

There lived a noted chief at Michilimackinac, in days past, called Gitshe Naygow, or the Great-Sand-Dune, a name, or rather nick-name, which he had, probably, derived from his birth and early residence at a spot of very imposing appearance, so called, on the southern sh.o.r.e of Lake Superior, which is east of the range of the Pictured Rocks. He was a Chippewa, a warrior and a counsellor, of that tribe, and had mingled freely in the stirring scenes of war and border foray, which marked the closing years of French domination in the Canadas. He lived to be very old, and became so feeble at last, that he could not travel by land, when Spring came on and his people prepared to move their lodges, from their sugar-camp in the forest, to the open lake sh.o.r.e. They were then inland, on the waters of the Manistee river, a stream which enters the northern sh.o.r.es of Lake Michigan. It was his last winter on earth; his heart was gladdened by once more feeling the genial rays of Spring, and he desired to go with them, to behold, for the last time, the expanded lake and inhale its pure breezes. He must needs be conveyed by hand.

This act of piety was performed by his daughter, then a young woman. She carried him on her back from their camp to the lake sh.o.r.e, where they erected their lodge and pa.s.sed their spring, and where he eventually died and was buried.

This relation I had from her own lips, at the agency of Michilimackinac, in 1833. I asked her how she had carried him. She replied, with the Indian apekun, or head-strap. When tired she rested, and again pursued her way, on-wa-be-win by on-wa-be-win, or rest by rest, in the manner practised in carrying heavy packages over the portages. Her name was Nadowakwa, or the female Iroquois. She was then, perhaps, about fifty-five years of age, and the wife of a chief called Saganosh, whose home and jurisdiction were in the group of the St. Martin's Islands, north of Michilimackinac.

The incident was not voluntarily told, but came out, incidentally, in some inquiries I was making respecting historical events, in the vicinity. One such incident goes far to vindicate the affections of this people, and should teach us, that they are of the same general lineage with ourselves, and only require letters and Christianity, to exalt them in the scale of being.

The first words of men, says Harris in his Hermes, like their first ideas, had an immediate reference to sensible objects; in after days, when they began to discern with their intellect, they took those words which they found already made, and transferred them by metaphor, to intellectual conceptions.

ANDAIG WEOS, OR CROWS-FLESH.

Many persons among the Indian race, have attracted notice from their exploits on the war-path. Andaig Weos was not among the number of these, or if he had mingled in such events, his deeds of daring are now lost amid the remembrance of better qualities. He was a chief of the once prominent and reigning band of Odjibwa Algonquins, who are called Chippewas, located at Chegoimegon, on Lake Superior, where his name is cherished in local tradition, for the n.o.ble and disinterested deeds which he performed in former days. He lived in the latter part of the 18th century.

It was perhaps forty years ago--said my informant, it was while the late Mr. Nolin, of Sault Ste. Marie was a trader in the Chippewa country, between lake Superior and the Mississippi, that he wintered one year low down on the Chippewa river. On his way down this stream, and while he was still on one of its sources, cold weather set in suddenly, the ice formed, and he was unable to get on with his goods. He consequently put them _en cache_, according to the custom of the country, and proceeded on foot, with his men to the lower part of the river, to the spot at which he had determined to winter. Here he felled trees, and built his house, and having made all things ready, he set out with his men on his return, to his _cache_, in order to bring down his goods.

On the way he fell in with an Indian hunter and his wife, who followed him to the place where he had secreted his goods. On reaching this, he filled a bottle with spirits and gave a gla.s.s to each of his men, took one himself, and then filling the gla.s.s presented it to the Indian. This was done after the camp had been made for the night. It so happened that the Indian was taken suddenly ill that night, and before day light died.

Nolin and his men buried him, and then proceeded back to his wintering house below, each man carrying a pack of goods; and the widow rejoined her friends.

After the Indians had taken their credits, and dispersed to their several wintering grounds, it was rumoured amongst them, that the trader had administered poison to the Indian who died so suddenly after taking the gla.s.s of spirits. And this opinion gained ground, although the widow woman repeatedly told the Indians, that the liquor given to her deceased husband was from the same bottle and gla.s.s, that all the French people had drank from. But it was of no avail; the rumour grew, and Mr. Nolin began to be apprehensive, as he had already learnt that the Indians meant to kill him. To confirm this suspicion a party of forty men, soon after, entered his house, all armed, painted black, and with war dresses on. They were all presented with a piece of tobacco, as was customary, when each of them threw it into the fire. No alternative now appeared to remain to avert the blow, which he was convinced must soon follow.

Almost at the same instant, his men intimated that another party, of six men more, were arriving.

It proved to be the chief Andaig Weos, from near Lac du Flambeau, in search of a trader, for a supply of tobacco and ammunition. On entering, the chief eyed the warriors, and asked Mr. N. whether he had given them tobacco. He replied that he _had_, and that they had all, to a man, thrown it in the fire, and, he added, that they intended to kill him.

The chief asked for some tobacco, which he threw down before the warriors, telling them to smoke it, adding in an authoritative voice, that when Indians visited traders, it was with an intention of getting tobacco from them to _smoke_ and and not to _throw into the fire_; and that, for his part, he had been a long time without smoking, and was very happy to find a trader to supply him with that article. This present from him, with the rebuke, was received with silent acquiescence,--no one venturing a reply.

The chief next demanded liquor of the trader, saying, "that he intended to make them drink." The politic Frenchman remonstrated, saying, "that if this was done, he should surely be killed." "Fear not, Frenchman,"

replied the chief, boldly. "These are not _men_ who want to kill you: they are _children_. I, and my warriors will guard you." On these a.s.surances, a keg of liquor was given, but with the greatest reluctance.

The chief immediately presented it to the war-party, but cautioned them to drink it at a distance, and not to come nigh the trader during the night. They obeyed him. They took it a short distance and drank it, and kept up a dreadful yelling all night, but did not molest the house.

The next morning Andaig Weos demanded tobacco of the still uneasy _marchand voyageur_, and ordered one of his young men to distribute it to the Indians in the war-dress. He then rose and addressed them in an energetic and authoritative speech, telling them to march off, without tasting food; that they were _warriors_, and needed not any thing of the kind; and if they did, they were _hunters_,--they had guns, and might hunt, and kill and eat. "You get nothing more here," he added. "This trader has come here to supply your wants, and you seek to kill him--a poor reward for the trouble and the anxiety he has undergone! This is no way of requiting white people." They all, to a man started, and went off, and gave the trader no farther molestation while he remained in the country.

On another occasion Andaig Weos was placed in a situation which afforded a very different species of testimony to his principles and integrity. A French trader had entered lake Superior so late in the season, that with every effort, he could get no farther than _Pointe La Pet.i.te Fille_, before the ice arrested his progress. Here he was obliged to build his wintering house, but he soon ran short of provisions, and was obliged to visit La Pointe, with his men, in order to obtain fish--leaving his house and storeroom locked, with his goods, ammunition, and liquors, and resolving to return immediately. But the weather came on so bad, that there was no possibility of his immediate return, and the winter proved so unfavourable that he was obliged to spend two months at that post.

During this time, the chief Andaig Weos, with fifteen of his men, came out from the interior, to the sh.o.r.es of the lake, for the purpose of trading, each carrying a pack of beaver, or other furs. On arriving at the point La Pet.i.te Fille, they found the trader's house locked and no one there. The chief said to his followers.--It is customary for traders to invite Indians into their house, and to receive them politely; but as there is no one to receive us, we must act according to circ.u.mstances.

He then ordered the door to be opened, with as little injury as possible, walked in, with his party, and caused a good fire to be built in the chimney. On opening the store-door he found they could be supplied with all they wanted. He told his party, on no account to touch, or take away any thing, but shut up the door, and said, "that he would, on the morrow, act the trader's part."

They spent the night in the house. Early the next morning, he arose and addressed them, telling them, that he would now commence trading with them. This he accordingly did, and when all was finished, he carefully packed the furs, and piled the packs, and covered them with an oilcloth.

He then again addressed them, saying that it was customary for a trader to give tobacco and a keg of spirits, when Indians had traded handsomely. He, therefore, thought himself authorized to observe this rule, and accordingly gave a keg of spirits and some tobacco. "The spirits," he said, "must not be drank here. We must take it to our hunting camp," and gave orders for returning immediately. He then caused the doors to be shut, in the best manner possible, and the outer door to be barricaded with logs, and departed.

When the trader returned, and found his house had been broken open, he began to bewail his fate, being sure he had been robbed; but on entering his store room and beholding the furs, his fears were turned to joy. On examining his inventory, and comparing it with the amount of his furs, he declared, that had he been present, he could not have traded to better advantage, nor have made such a profit on his goods.

These traits are not solitary and accidental. It happened at another time, that a Mr. Lamotte, who had wintered in the Folle-avoine country, unfortunately had a quarrel with the Indians, at the close of the season, just when he was about to embark on his return with his furs. In the heat of their pa.s.sion the Indians broke all his canoes in pieces, and confined him a prisoner, by ordering him to encamp on an island in the St. Croix river.

In this situation he remained, closely watched by the Indians, till all the _other_ traders had departed and gone out of the country to renew their supplies, when the chief Andaig Weos arrived. He comprehended the case in an instant, and having found that the matter of offence was one of no importance, he immediately went to the Indian village, and in a loud and authoritative tone of voice, so as to be heard by all, commanded suitable canoes to be taken to the imprisoned trader--a summons which was promptly obeyed. He then went to Mr. Lamotte and told him to embark fearlessly, and that he himself would see that he was not further hindered, at the same time lamenting the lateness of his return.

The general conduct of this chief was marked by kindness and urbanity.

When traders arrived at Chagoimegon, where he lived, it was his custom to order his young men to cover and protect their baggage lest any thing should be injured or stolen. He was of the lineage of the noted war-chief, Abojeeg, or Wab Ojeeg. He lived to be very old, so that he walked nearly bent double--using a cane. The present ruling chief of that place, called Pezhickee, is his grandson. These anecdotes were related by Mr. Cadotte, of Lapointe, in the year 1829, and are believed to be ent.i.tled to full confidence.

The Tartars cannot p.r.o.nounce the letter b. Those of Bulgaria p.r.o.nounce the word _blacks_ as if written _ilacs_. It is noticeable, that the Odjibwas and their cognate tribes at the north, not only make great use of the letter b, in native words, but when they come to p.r.o.nounce English words, in which the letter v occurs, they invariably subst.i.tute the b for it, as in village, and vinegar.

There are three letters in the English alphabet which the above tribes do not p.r.o.nounce. They are f, r, and l. For f, they subst.i.tute, in their attempts to p.r.o.nounce foreign words, p. The sound of r, they change to broad a, or drop. L is changed to n.