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title: Cry of the Thunderbird : The American Indian's Own Story

author: Hamilton, Charles publisher: University of Oklahoma Press

isbn10 | asin: 0806112921 print isbn13: 9780806112923

ebook isbn13: 9780806171845 language: English

subject Indians of North America--Manners and customs, Indians of North America-- History.

publication date: 1950 lcc: E77.H2 1950eb

ddc: 970.1

subject: Indians of North America--Manners and customs, Indians of North America-- History.

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Cry of the Thunderbird The American Indian's Own Story

With paintings by George Catlin

and sketches by American Indian Artists

Edited and with an Introduction and Commentary by Charles Hamilton

UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA PRESS : NORMAN AND LONDON

Page iv

By Charles Hamilton

Men of the Underworld: The Professional Criminal's Own Story (New York, 1952)

Braddock's Defeat: The Journal of a British Officer, Halkett's Orderly Book (editor; Norman, 1959)

Collecting Autographs and Manuscripts (Norman, 1961, 1970)

Lincoln in Photographs: An Album of Every Known Pose (with Lloyd Ostendorf; Norman, 1963)

The Robot That Helped to Make a President (New York, 1965)

Scribblers and Scoundrels (New York, 1968)

Cry of the Thunderbird: The American Indian's Own Story (New York, 1950; Norman, 1972)

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Hamilton, Charles, 1913 ed.

Cry of the Thunderbird. (The Civilization of the American Indian Series, v. 119) Bibliography p. 263274 1. Indians of North AmericaSocial life and customs. 2. Indians of North AmericaHistory. I. Title. II. Series. E77.H2 1972 970.1 70-177336 ISBN: 0-8061-1292-1

Cry of the Thunderbird is Volume 119 in THE CIVILIZATION OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN SERIES.

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Page v

To DORIS

Page vii

PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITION When this book was first published, in 1950, it was, I believe, the first and only book in which the Indian told in his own words about his way of life and his view of the white man. Those words are packed with the power and beauty of the Indian dreamhis religion, his hopes, his love of nature, his view of battle. Here he tells why he clashed with the whites in a series of bitter wars that he probably knew he could never win.

In today's terms the Indian was a conservationist. He rarely killed for sport, only for sustenance. He believed the white man to be a symbol of extinction and predicted that the day would come when the whites who slaughtered buffaloes, cut down trees, dammed and polluted rivers, and carved up the Great Spirit's land would see nature turn upon him and destroy him. Today those prophecies seem to be coming true.

This book is an indictment of the white man by the "savages" whom he betrayed and virtually destroyed. But it is an indictment tempered with warmth and wisdom and mercy. In the end one sees the hand of the Indian outstretched in friendship and brotherhood.

CHARLES HAMILTON NEW YORK CITY

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Acknowledgment is gratefully given to the following publishers or holders of copyright material for permission to reprint selections:

The Caxton Printers, Ltd., for Yellow Wolf: His Own Story, by Lucullus Virgil McWhorter, published by the Caxton Printers, Ltd., Caldwell, Idaho, copyright, 1940, by the Caxton Printers, Ltd., and used by special permission of the copyright owners.

The John Day Company, Inc., for American: The Life Story of a Great Indian, as he told it to Frank B. Linderman. Copyright, 1930, by Frank B. Linderman.

Dodd, Mead & Company, Inc., for Flaming Arrow's People, by James Paytiamo. Copyright, 1932, by Dodd, Mead & Company, Inc.

Mrs. Elaine Goodale Eastman, for From the Deep Woods to Civilization, by Ohiyesa (Dr. Charles A. Eastman), copyright, 1916, by Charles A. Eastman, copyright, 1944, by Elaine Goodale Eastman; Indian Boyhood, by Ohiyesa, copyright, 1902, by Little, Brown, and Company, copyright, 1930, by Charles A. Eastman; and Indian Heroes and Great Chieftains, by Ohiyesa, copyright, 1918, by Little, Brown, and Company, copyright, 1946, by Elaine Goodale Eastman.

Mrs. Minnie-Ellen M. Hastings, for A Warrior Who Fought Custer, interpreted by Thomas B. Marquis, published by the Caxton Printers, Ltd., copyright, 1931, by Minnie-Ellen M. Hastings.

Houghton Mifflin Company, for My People, the Sioux, by Chief Luther Standing Bear, copyright, 1928, by Luther Standing Bear, and Land of the Spotted Eagle, by Chief Luther Standing Bear, copyright, 1933, by Luther Standing Bear, reprinted by permission of and arrangement with Houghton Mifflin Company, the authorized publishers.

William Morrow and Company, Inc., for Black Elk Speaks, as told to John G. Neihardt. Copyright, 1932, by John G. Neihardt, by permission of William Morrow and Company, Inc.

Rinehart & Company, Inc., for Long Lance, by Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance. Copyright, 1928, by Rinehart & Company, Inc., and reprinted with their permission.

Trail's End Publishing Co., Inc., for Firewater and Forked Tongues, by M. I. McCreight. Copyright, 1947, by Trail's End Publishing Co., Inc.

Yale University Press, for Sun Chief: The Autobiography of a Hopi Indian, edited by Leo W. Simmons. Copyright, 1942, by Yale University Press.

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I wish also to express my gratitude to the Bureau of American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution, for their invaluable publications on the American Indian; to Mrs. Elaine Goodale Eastman, for information regarding Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance; to Eleanor Daniels, for her understanding and helpful guidance; to my brother Bruce, for his valuable suggestions; and to my wife, Doris, for her advice and encouragement.

Finally I wish to thank the Thomas Gilcrease Institute of American History and Art, Tulsa, Oklahoma, for its generosity in allowing me to reproduce the works of George Catlin included in this new edition of the book.

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CONTENTS

Preface to the New Edition vii

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction xvii

Prologue by Chief Standing Bear

I. Around the Campfire 3

A Sioux Courtship by Black Elk

The Maidens' Feast by Ohiyesa

Songs of Ojibway Lovers 12

Traditional Advice on Getting Married Anonymous

Home and Family by Chief Standing Bear

Education of Children by Ohiyesa

A Hopi Childhood by Don C. Talayesva

Blanket Signals 25

by Chief Standing Bear

Ojibway Picture Writing by Chief Kah-Ge-Ga-Gah Bowh

Telling of Legends by Chief Elias Johnson

II. Game Trails 33

Boyhood Training in Woodcraft by Ohiyesa

The Boy Hunter by Ohiyesa

Hunting Laws by Chief Kah-Ge-Ga-Gah-Bowh

Deer Hunting Ritual By Flaming Arrow

Ways of Hunting the Deer by Chief Kah-Ge-Ga-Gah-Bowh

A Buffalo Hunt by Chief Standing Bear

Killing a Bear by Chief Kah-Ge-Ga-Gah-Bowh

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III. Wilderness Sports 53

Games of Sioux Children by Ohiyesa

Hopi Children at Play by Don C. Talayesva

Games of the Eastern Tribes by Chief Kah-Ge-Ga-Gah-Bowh

Outdoor Sports of the Plains Indians by Wooden Leg

Whisky Sprees by Chief Kah-Ge-Ga-Gah-Bowh

Temperance Lessons by Chief Simon Pokagon

Fireside Humor by Ohiyesa

IV. The Great Spirit 71

Searching for a Spiritual Guide by Edward Goodbird

The Gods of the Ojibways by Chief Kah-Ge-Ga-Gah-Bowh

Sacred Song to the Morning Star by Tahirussawichi

The Sun Dance 79

by Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance

Getting in Touch with the Spirits by Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance

Curing a Wounded Warrior by Chief Plenty-Coups

Marksmanship of a Medicine Man by Wooden Leg

Witchcraft by Chief Kahkewaquonaby

Cannibalism Among Medicine Men by William Warren

The Peyote Cult by John Rave

Burial Customs by Chief Kahkewaquonaby

The Happy Hunting Grounds by William Warren

V. On the Warpath 97

Boyhood Preparation for the Warpath by Ohiyesa

Counting Coup on a Wounded Buffalo by Chief Plenty-Coups

100

Making a War Club and War Whistle by Yellow Wolf

102

Scouting Out the Enemy 103

by Chief Standing Bear

Preparation for Battle by Wooden Leg

105

Battle Tactics by Chief Kahkewaquonaby

107

A Horse Stealing Raid by Chief Plenty-Coups

108

Burning at the Stake by William Warren

113

Stratagem of a Wyandott Chief by Peter D. Clarke

114

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Chivalry of the Ioways by Black Hawk

115

The Courage of an Old Warrior by William Warren

116

Origin of the Five Nations by Chief Elias Johnson

118

VI. War Belts on the Old Frontier 121

The Warning of the Bees by Peter D. Clarke

123

Arrival of the White Men by Joseph Nicolar

123

Captain John Smith and Powhatan by Chief Flying Hawk

124

The Pilgrim Invasion by William Apes

125

King Philip's War by William Apes

128

Germ Warfare Against the Indians by Chief Andrew J. Blackbird

133

The Capture of Fort Michilimackinac by William Warren

134

Logan Defends His Conduct by Chief James Logan

139

VII. Fighting the Long Knives 141

With the British in the Revolution by Chief Hopocan

143

Colonel Crawford Burned at the Stake by Peter D. Clarke

145

An Attack on a Flatboat by Peter D. Clarke

149

The British Campaign in the Northwest by Black Hawk

150

The Invasion of Canada by William Apes

155

The Ojibways Remain Neutral by William Warren

158

"We Are Determined to Defend Our Lands," by Tecumseh

159

The Surrender of William Weatherford by William Weatherford

162

The Black Hawk War by Black Hawk

163

VIII. Covered Wagons and Iron Horses 171

Attacking the Union Pacific by Chief Standing Bear

173

The Wagon Box Fight by Fire Thunder

175

Fighting the Mexicans 176

by Geronimo

The Retreat of the Nez Perces by Chief Joseph

180

The Last Stand of the Nez Perces by Yellow Wolf

191

The Surrender Speech of Chief Joseph by Chief Joseph

193

The Courage of Sitting Bull by Ohiyesa

193

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Sitting Bull Defends His Character by Sitting Bull

194

Custer Warned by His Indian Scouts by Chief Plenty-Coups

195

The Custer Battle by Iron Hawk

196

Looting After the Custer Battle by Wooden Leg

199

Why the Indians Fought Custer by Sitting Bull

204

The Ghost Dance Religion by Masse Hadjo

205

The Massacre at Wounded Knee by Turning Hawk, and others

206

IX. The White Man's Road 209

Mysterious Medicine of the White Man by Ohiyesa

211

The Character of the White Man by Chief Plenty-Coups

213

How the White Man Fights by Black Hawk

214

The Symbol of Extinction by Chief Standing Bear

214

The White Man's Lack of Sense by Chief Kahkewaquonaby

216

A Tour of the East by Black Hawk

216

At the St. Louis World's Fair by Geronimo

219

Impressions of the English by Chief Kahkewaquonaby

221

Impressions of the French by Maungwadhaus

223

A Visit to Grandmother England by Black Elk

223

A Sioux at Dartmouth by Ohiyesa

225

Early Days at Carlisle by Chief Standing Bear

228

Red Jacket Denounces the Black-Coats by Red Jacket

236

Murder of an Indian Seminarist by Chief Andrew J. Blackbird

239

Confusion of the White Man's Religion by Chief Spotted Tail

241

Sequoyah and the Cherokee Alphabet by John Ridge

241

The Indian Problem by Chief Standing Bear

243

The Indians' Appeal for Justice by Chief Joseph

244

The Future of the Indian by Chief Standing Bear

245

Epilogue by William J. Harsha

249

Notes 251

A Selected Bibliography 263

Index 275

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ILLUSTRATIONS

Color Paintings by George Catlin

In-Ne-O-Cose, a Blackfoot Brave Crow Wigman Pa-Bo-Ko-Waigh (the Crushing God) Bearclaw Necklace Indian Deerskin Dress Indian Headdress Indian Council Mandan Cemetery Dress of Christianized Indian Indian Female

140

Black and White

Courting Scenes After crayon sketches by Big Back, a Cheyenne. From Dodge's Our Wild Indians.

The Characters Used in Picture Writing By Chief Kah-ge-ga-gah-bowh, an Ojibway. From Traditional History and Characteristic Sketches of the Ojibway Nation.

A Buffalo Hunt After a water-color by Standing Bear, a Miniconjou Sioux. From Black Elk Speaks, as told to John G. Neihardt,

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Maidens' Ball Game By Jesse Cornplanter, a Seneca. From Cornplanter's Iroquois Indian Games and Dances.

The Sun Dance After a crayon drawing by an Indian. From J. O. Dorsey's ''A Study of Siouan Cults,'' 11th Annual Report, Bureau of American Ethnology.

Counting Coup By Running Antelope, a Sioux. From Garrick Mallery's "Picture-Writing of the North American Indians," 10th Annual Report, Bureau of American Ethnology.

Attack on a Village By Jesse Cornplanter, a Seneca. From Parker's The Code of Handsome Lake.

121

Fighting the White Men By Standing Bear, a Miniconjou Sioux. From Black Elk Speaks, as told to John G. Neihardt, copyright, 1932, by John G. Neihardt, by permission of William Morrow and Co., Inc.

141

The Custer Battle After a water-color by an Indian. From Garrick Mallery's "Picture-Writing of the North American Indians," 10th Annual Report, Bureau of American Ethnology.

171

Converting the Indians By Jesse Cornplanter, a Seneca. From Parker's The Code of Handsome Lake.

209

Map

Indian Tribes of the United States

Page xvii

INTRODUCTION The American Indian is the author of this book. Here the last men of the Stone Age describe their heroic struggle with the first men of the Machine Age, their incredible customs and rites, adventures in hunting and on the warpath, and finally their pathetic efforts to accept the strange ways of the white invader. Their great warriorsTecumseh, Black Hawk, Sitting Bull, Chief Joseph, Geronimospeak once more in these pages.

Descriptions of the Indian by white travelers, soldiers, or missionaries seldom show sufficient understanding or knowledge of the red man's character. Reticent in the presence of strangers, the Indian kept his real thoughts to himself and gave out only information which he considered inconsequential. But when he wrote about himself, he told the truth even though it might be unflattering.

The writings of Indian authors are of immense importance because they present a new interpretation of events and bring into sharp focus the true nature of the red man's conflict with the white invader. The Indian explains why he so bitterly contested the white man's advance, and why he often chose to die rather than give up his hunting grounds.

Aside from a few typographical corrections, the texts are exactly as the Indians wrote them. Their spelling is not always uniform because certain words, like Ojibway and tepee, had no standard spelling. Occasionally, repetitious or confusing passages were deleted; but the exact pages quoted from each source are shown in

the Notes at the back of the book. A brief biography of each author, and the time and place of the selection will also be found in the Notes.

Page xviii

Only the Indians who lived in what is now the United States are included, for no one book could relate the customs and history of all Indian tribes. Not every tribe is represented, as there were hundreds, each with a different culture, inside the limits of the United States. Many tribes were small and relatively uninteresting. Those Indians who subsisted on fish and berries and gave up their land to the white man without a struggle lacked the qualities which most of us associate with the red man. They are left undisturbed at their peaceful clam digging and berry picking.

Probably the greatest Indian culture in America was that of the Five Civilized Nationsthe Cherokees, Creeks, Seminoles, Choctaws, and Chickasaws. These tribes, originally located in the Southeast, were driven west to Oklahoma, where they modeled their civilization after that of the white man. Their cultural achievements set them apart from the elemental world of the fighting Ojibways and Sioux and the great Iroquoian tribes who once held the balance of power in America.

But it is the valiant Plains Indian, with his colorful war bonnet and feathered lance, who has become the symbol of the red man. His long and courageous struggle against the military power of the United States and his nobility in defeat entitle him to a major role in this book.

The different Indian cultures, usually classified by language, geographical location, type of habitation or food, are here grouped together. Tribes in the same area often had many customs in common, but no two tribes were exactly alike. The Sioux were similar to their neighbors, the Cheyennes, but entirely different from more distant tribes like the Hopi or Seneca. To avoid

confusion, each author is identified by tribe; and, unless otherwise stated, the custom he describes should be looked upon as applying only to his own tribe.

The Indians are portrayed here not as tribal units but as individuals. If they occasionally cross a boundary without anthropological permission, it is because they are live Indians. They are not the sort who fit into neat ethnological rows or stand sedately in front of cigar storesthey are men who lived hard and fought hard, and still found time to philosophize about the beauty and mystery of the earth.

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Cry of the Thunderbird

Page xx

Indian Tribes of the United States at the time of the events described in this book

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PROLOGUE Chief Standing Bear

The feathered and blanketed figure of the American Indian has come to symbolize the American continent. He is the man who through centuries has been moulded and sculped by the same hand that shaped its mountains, forests, and plains, and marked the course of its rivers.

The American Indian is of the soil, whether it be the region of forests, plains, pueblos, or mesas. He fits into the landscape, for the hand that fashioned the continent also fashioned the man for his surroundings. He once grew as naturally as the wild sunflowers; he belongs just as the buffalo belonged.

With a physique that fitted, the man developed fitting skillscrafts which today are called American. And the body had a soul, also formed and moulded by the same master hand of harmony. Out of the Indian approach to existence there came a great freedoman intense and absorbing love for nature; a respect for life; enriching faith in a Supreme Power; and principles of truth, honesty, generosity, equity, and brotherhood.

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I AROUND THE CAMPFIRE

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The campfire was the center of Indian social life. On festive occasions the fire was built in the dance circle and around it gathered the Indians in their finery. Here the old men talked longingly of the days when arrows were sharper and bows were stronger. Warriors swapped stories of their adventures, and children learned tribal traditions as they listened to the tales of their elders. The women usually sat on one side of the dance circle and the men on the other; few words were exchanged, but there were many shy glances to mark the beginning of courtships.

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A Sioux Courtship Black ElkSioux

The following is taken from Black Elk Speaks by John G. Neihardt, well known authority on Plains Indians, especially the Sioux. It is interesting to note that in his forthcoming novel of Sioux life Neihardt has expanded the character of High Horse in keeping with other stories told by the author's old friends among the Sioux.

You know, in the old days, it was not so very easy to get a girl when you wanted to be married. Sometimes it was hard work for a young man and he had to stand a great deal. Say I am a young man and I have seen a young girl who looks so beautiful to me that I feel all sick when I think about her. I can not just go and tell her about it and then get married if she is willing. I have to be a very sneaky fellow to talk to her at all, and after I have managed to talk to her, that is only the beginning.

Probably for a long time I have been feeling sick about a certain girl because I love her so much, but she will not even look at me, and her parents keep a good watch over her. But I keep feeling worse and worse all the time; so maybe I sneak up to her tepee in the dark and wait until she comes out. Maybe I just wait there all night and don't get any sleep at all and she does not come out. Then I feel sicker than ever about her.

Maybe I hide in a brush by a spring where she sometimes goes to get water, and when she comes by, if nobody is looking, then I jump out and hold her and just make her listen to me. If she likes

me too, I can tell that from the way she acts, for she is very bashful and maybe

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will not say a word or even look at me the first time. So I let her go, and then maybe I sneak around until I can see her father alone, and I tell him how many horses I can give him for his beautiful girl, and by now I am feeling so sick that maybe I would give him all the horses in the world if I had them.

Well, this young man I am telling about was called High Horse, and there was a girl in the village who looked so beautiful to him that he was just sick all over from thinking about her so much and he was getting sicker all the time. The girl was very shy, and her parents thought a great deal of her because they were not young any more and this was the only child they had. So they watched her all day long, and they fixed it so that she would be safe at night too when they were asleep. They thought so much of her that they had made a rawhide bed for her to sleep in, and after they knew that High Horse was sneaking around after her, they took rawhide thongs and tied the girl in bed at night so that nobody could steal her when they were asleep, for they were not sure but that their girl might really want to be stolen.

Well, after High Horse had been sneaking around a good while and hiding and waiting for the girl and getting sicker all the time, he finally caught her alone and made her talk to him. Then he found out that she liked him maybe a little. Of course this did not make him feel well. It made him sicker than ever, but now he felt as brave as a bison bull, and so he went right to her father and said he loved the girl so much that he would give two good horses for herone of them young and the other one not so very old.

But the old man just waved his hand, meaning for High Horse to go away and quit talking foolishness like that.

High Horse was feeling sicker than ever about it; but there was another young fellow who said he would loan High Horse two ponies and when he got some more horses, why, he could just give them back for the ones he had borrowed.

Then High Horse went back to the old man and said he would give four horses for the girltwo of them young and the other two not hardly old at all. But the old man just waved his hand and would not say anything.

So High Horse sneaked around until he could talk to the girl again, and he asked her to run away with him. He told her he thought he would just fall over and die if she did not. But she said

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she would not do that; she wanted to be bought like a fine woman. You see she thought a great deal of herself too.

That made High Horse feel so very sick that he could not eat a bite, and he went around with his head hanging down as though he might just fall down and die any time.

Red Deer was another young fellow, and he and High Horse were great comrades, always doing things together. Red Deer saw how High Horse was acting, and he said: ''Cousin, what is the matter? Are you sick in the belly? You look as though you were going to die.''

Then High Horse told Red Deer how it was, and said he thought he could not stay alive much longer if he could not marry the girl pretty quick.

Red Deer thought awhile about it, and then he said: "Cousin, I have a plan, and if you are man enough to do as I tell you, then everything will be all right. She will not run away with you; her old man will not take four horses; and four horses are all you can get. You must steal her and run away with her. Then afterwhile you can come back and the old man cannot do anything because she will be your woman. Probably she wants you to steal her anyway."

So they planned what High Horse had to do, and he said he loved the girl so much that he was man enough to do anything Red Deer or anybody else could think up.

So this is what they did.

That night late they sneaked up to the girl's tepee and waited until it sounded inside as though the old man and the old woman and the

girl were sound asleep. Then High Horse crawled under the tepee with a knife. He had to cut the rawhide thongs first, and then Red Deer, who was pulling up the stakes around that side of the tepee, was going to help drag the girl outside and gag her. After that, High Horse could put her across his pony in front of him and hurry out of there and be happy all the rest of his life.

When High Horse had crawled inside, he felt so nervous that he could hear his heart drumming, and it seemed so loud he felt sure it would 'waken the old folks. But it did not, and afterwhile he began cutting the thongs. Every time he cut one it made a pop and nearly scared him to death. But he was getting along all right and all the thongs were cut down as far as the girl's thighs, when he became so nervous that his knife slipped and stuck the girl. She gave a big, loud yell. Then the old folks jumped up and yelled too. By this

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time High Horse was outside, and he and Red Deer were running away like antelope. The old man and some other people chased the young men but they got away in the dark and nobody knew who it was.

Well, if you ever wanted a beautiful girl you will know how sick High Horse was now. It was very bad the way he felt, and it looked as though he would starve even if he did not drop over dead sometime.

Red Deer kept thinking about this, and after a few days he went to High Horse and said: "Cousin, take courage! I have another plan, and I am sure, if you are man enough, we can steal her this time." And High Horse said: "I am man enough to do anything anybody can think up, if I can only get that girl."

So this is what they did.

They went away from the village alone, and Red Deer made High Horse strip naked. Then he painted High Horse solid white all over, and after that he painted black stripes all over the white and put black rings around High Horse's eyes. High Horse looked terrible. He looked so terrible that when Red Deer was through painting and took a good look at what he had done, he said it scared even him a little.

"Now," Red Deer said, "if you get caught again, everybody will be so scared they will think you are a bad spirit and will be afraid to chase you."

So when the night was getting old and everybody was sound asleep, they sneaked back to the girl's tepee. High Horse crawled in

with his knife, as before, and Red Deer waited outside, ready to drag the girl out and gag her when High Horse had all the thongs cut.

High Horse crept up by the girl's bed and began cutting at the thongs. But he kept thinking, "If they see me they will shoot me because I look so terrible." The girl was restless and kept squirming around in bed, and when a thong was cut, it popped. So High Horse worked very slowly and carefully.

But he must have made some noise, for suddenly the old woman awoke and said to her old man: "Old Man, wake up! There is somebody in this tepee!" But the old man was sleepy and didn't want to be bothered. He said: "Of course there is somebody in this tepee. Go to sleep and don't bother me." Then he snored some more.

But High Horse was so scared by now that he lay very still and

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as flat to the ground as he could. Now, you see, he had not been sleeping very well for a long time because he was so sick about the girl. And while he was lying there waiting for the old woman to snore, he just forgot everything, even how beautiful the girl was. Red Deer who was lying outside ready to do his part, wondered and wondered what had happened in there, but he did not dare call out to High Horse.

Afterwhile the day began to break and Red Deer had to leave with the two ponies he had staked there for his comrade and girl, or somebody would see him.

So he left.

Now when it was getting light in the tepee, the girl awoke and the first thing she saw was a terrible animal, all white with black stripes on it, lying asleep beside her bed. So she screamed, and then the old woman screamed and the old man yelled. High Horse jumped up, scared almost to death, and he nearly knocked the tepee down getting out of there.

People were coming running from all over the village with guns and bows and axes, and everybody was yelling.

By now High Horse was running so fast that he hardly touched the ground at all, and he looked so terrible that the people fled from him and let him run. Some braves wanted to shoot at him, but the others said he might be some sacred being and it would bring bad trouble to kill him.

High Horse made for the river that was near, and in among the brush he found a hollow tree and dived into it. Afterwhile some

braves came there and he could hear them saying that it was some bad spirit that had come out of the water and gone back in again.

That morning the people were ordered to break camp and move away from there. So they did, while High Horse was hiding in his hollow tree.

Now Red Deer had been watching all this from his own tepee and trying to look as though he were as much surprised and scared as all the others. So when the camp moved, he sneaked back to where he had seen his comrade disappear. When he was down there in the brush, he called, and High Horse answered, because he knew his friend's voice. They washed off the paint from High Horse and sat down on the river bank to talk about their troubles.

High Horse said he never would go back to the village as long

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as he lived and he did not care what happened to him now. He said he was going to go on the war-path all by himself. Red Deer said: "No, cousin, you are not going on the war-path alone, because I am going with you."

So Red Deer got everything ready, and at night they started out on the war-path all alone. After several days they came to a Crow camp just about sundown, and when it was dark they sneaked up to where the Crow horses were grazing, killed the horse guard, who was not thinking about enemies because he thought all the Lakotas [Sioux] were far away, and drove off about a hundred horses.

They got a big start because all the Crow horses stampeded and it was probably morning before the Crow warriors could catch any horses to ride. Red Deer and High Horse fled with their herd three days and nights before they reached the village of their people. Then they drove the whole herd right into the village and up in front of the girl's tepee. The old man was there, and High Horse called out to him and asked if he thought maybe that would be enough horses for his girl. The old man did not wave him away that time. It was not the horses that he wanted. What he wanted was a son who was a real man and good for something.

So High Horse got his girl after all, and I think he deserved her.

The Maidens' Feast OhiyesaSioux

There were many peculiar customs among the Indians of an earlier period, some of which tended to strengthen the character of the

people and preserve their purity. Perhaps the most unique of these was the annual "feast of maidens." The casual observer would scarcely understand the full force and meaning of this ceremony.

The last one that I ever witnessed was given at Fort Ellis, Manitoba, about the year 1871.

One bright summer morning, while we were still at our meal of jerked buffalo meat, we heard the herald of the Wahpeton band [of Sioux Indians] upon his calico pony as he rode around our circle.

"White Eagle's daughter, the maiden Red Star, invites all the maidens of all the tribes to come and partake of her feast. It will be in the Wahpeton camp, before the sun reaches the middle of the

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sky. All pure maidens are invited. Red Star also invites the young men to be present, to see that no unworthy maiden should join in the feast."

The herald soon completed the rounds of the different camps, and it was not long before the girls began to gather in great numbers. The fort was fully alive to the interest of these savage entertainments. This particular feast was looked upon as a semi-sacred affair. It would be desecration for any to attend who was not perfectly virtuous. Hence it was regarded as an opportune time for the young men to satisfy themselves as to who were the virtuous maids of the tribe.

There were apt to be surprises before the end of the day. Any young man was permitted to challenge any maiden whom he knew to be unworthy. But woe to him who could not prove his case. It meant little short of death to the man who endeavored to disgrace a woman without cause.

The youths had a similar feast of their own, in which the eligibles were those who had never spoken to a girl in the way of courtship. It was considered ridiculous so to do before attaining some honor as a warrior, and the novices prided themselves greatly upon their self-control.

From the various camps the girls came singly or in groups, dressed in bright-colored calicoes or in heavily fringed and beaded buckskin. Their smooth cheeks and the central part of their glossy hair was touched with vermilion. All brought with them wooden basins to eat from. Some who came from a considerable distance

were mounted upon ponies; a few, for company or novelty's sake, rode double.

The maidens' circle was formed about a cone-shaped rock which stood upon its base. This was painted red. Beside it two new arrows were lightly stuck into the ground. This is a sort of altar, to which each maiden comes before taking her assigned place in the circle, and lightly touches first the stone and then the arrows. By this oath she declares her purity. Whenever a girl approaches the altar there is a stir among the spectators, and sometimes a rude youth would call out:

"Take care! You will overturn the rock, or pull out the arrows!"

Such a remark makes the girls nervous, and especially one who is not sure of her composure.

The whole population of the region had assembled, and the maidens came shyly into the circle. The simple ceremonies observed prior

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to the serving of the food were in progress, when among a group of Wahpeton Sioux young men there was a stir of excitement. All the maidens glanced nervously toward the scene of the disturbance. Soon a tall youth emerged from the throng of spectators and advanced toward the circle.

At last he stopped behind a pretty Assiniboine maiden of good family and said:

"I am sorry, but, according to custom, you should not be here."

The girl arose in confusion, but she soon recovered her self-control.

"What do you mean?" she demanded, indignantly. "Three times you have come to court me, but each time I have refused to listen to you. I turned my back upon you. Twice I was with Mashtinna. She can tell the people that this is true. The third time I had gone for water when you intercepted me and begged me to stop and listen. I refused because I did not know you. My chaperon, Makatopawee, knows that I was gone but a few minutes. I never saw you anywhere else."

The young man was unable to answer this unmistakable statement of facts, and it became apparent that he had sought to revenge himself for her repulse.

"Woo! woo! Carry him out!" was the order of the chief of the Indian police, and the audacious youth was hurried away into the nearest ravine to be chastised.

The young woman who had thus established her good name returned to the circle, and the feast was served. The "maidens' song" was sung, and four times they danced in a ring around the

altar. Each maid as she departed once more took her oath to remain pure until she should meet her husband.

Songs of Ojibway Lovers

The Brave to the Maiden:

Awake! flower of the forest, sky-treading bird of the prairie. Awake! awake! wonderful fawn-eyed One. When you look upon me I am satisfied; as flowers that drink dew. The breath of your mouth is the fragrance of flowers in the morning, your breath is their fragrance at evening in the moon-of-fading-leaf. Do not the red

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streams of my veins run toward you as forest-streams to the sun in the moon of bright nights?

When you are beside me my heart sings; a branch it is, dancing, dancing before the Wind-spirit in the moon of strawberries. When you frown upon me, beloved, my heart grows darka shining river the shadows of clouds darken, then with your smiles comes the sun and makes to look like gold furrows the cold wind drew in the water's face. Myself! behold me! blood of my beating heart. Earth smilesthe waters smileeven the sky-of-clouds smilesbut I, I lose the way of smiling when you are not near.

Awake! awake! my beloved.

The Maiden to the Brave:

My love is tall and graceful as the young pine waving on the hill, and as swift in his course as the noble, stately deer; his hair is flowing, and dark as the blackbird that floats through the air, and his eyes, like the eagle's, both piercing and bright; his heart, it is fearless and great, and his arm it is strong in the fight, as this bow made of ironwood which he easily bends. His aim is as sure in the fight and chase, as the hawk, which ne'er misses its prey. Ah, aid me, ye spirits! of water, of earth, and of sky, while I sing in his praise; and my voice shall be heard, it shall ring through the sky; and echo, repeating the same, shall cause it to swell in the breadth of the wind; and his fame shall be spread throughout the land, and his name shall be known beyond the lakes.

Traditional Advice on Getting Married

AnonymousWinnebago

What Every Young Man Should Know

If you ever get married, my son, do not make an idol of your wife. The more you worship her, the more will she want to be worshipped. Thus the old people said. They warned the young men against the example of those men who always hearken to what the women say, who are the slaves of women.

My son, if you keep on listening to your wife, after a while she will never let you go to any feast at all. All your relatives will scold

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you and your own sisters will think little of you. Finally, when you have become a real slave to your wife, she might tell you to hit your own relatives, and you would do it. For these reasons, my son, I warn you against the words of women. Steel yourself against them. For if you do not do so you will find yourself different from other men. It is not good to be enslaved by a woman.

My son, this also I will tell you. Women can never be watched. If you try to watch them you will merely show your jealousy and your female relatives will also be jealous. After a while you will become so jealous of your wife that she will leave you and run away. You yourself will be to blame for this. You thought too much of a woman and in worshipping her you humbled yourself, and as a consequence she has been taken away from you. All the other women will know of this, and no one will want to marry you again. Everyone will consider you a very bad man.

What Every Young Woman Should Know

If you marry a man and you want to be certain of always retaining him, work for him. With work you will always be able to retain your hold on men. If you do your work to the satisfaction of your husband, he will never leave you. Remain faithful to your husband. Do not act as though you are married to a number of men at the same time. Lead a chaste life. If you do not listen to what I am telling you and you are unfaithful to your husband, all the men will jeer at you. They will say whatever they wish to [and no one will interfere].

Do not act haughtily to your husband. Whatever he tells you to do, do it. Kindness will be returned to you if you obey your husband,

for he will treat you in the same manner.

If a wife has no real interest in her husband's welfare and possessions she will be to him no more than any other woman, and the world will ridicule her. If, on the other hand, you pay more attention to your husband than to your parents, your parents will leave you. Let your husband likewise take care of your parents, for they depend on him. Your parents were instrumental in getting you your husband, so remember that they expect some recompense for it, as likewise for the fact that they raised you.

When you visit your husband's people do not go around with a haughty air or act as if you considered yourself far above them. Try to get them to like you. If you are good-natured, you will be

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placed in charge of the home at which you happen to be visiting. Then your parents-in-law will tell your husband that their daughter- in-law is acting nicely to them.

Home and Family Chief Standing BearSioux

The home was the center of Lakota societythe place where good social members were formed and the place whence flowed the strength of the tribe. Here it was that offspring learned duty to parents, to lodge, to band, to tribe, and to self.

Woman's work, generally, was to cook for the family, keep the tipi in order, and sew the clothing of the household members. The good wife never allowed one of the family to run low in clothing. There were garments to be made, and moccasins, robes and blankets, and sometimes gloves, caps and scarfs. Buttonholes were never made, probably never thought of, but very pretty buttons were fashioned of rawhide and either painted or covered with porcupine quills. Sinew was split for thread, coarse strands for heavy work and medium fine or very fine strands for decorative work, then folded into little bundles and placed in a sewing kit. When the men came home from the hunt there were skins to be cleaned and tanned. New tipis were made and old ones, for the sake of frugality, made into clothing for children. From rawhide were made moccasin soles, bags and trunks for holding ceremonial garments, headdresses, and other articles to be kept in neatness and order.

The good wife always kept plenty of food stored and cooked so

that it could be served at any moment. The thought was to not only meet the food requirements of the family, but to be able to serve any one who came to the tipi, strangers or relatives, children who came in from other tipis, or any old people whom the children might bring in. If the husband brought home friends unexpectedly, he could be sure that his wife would receive them hospitably without any request from him.

Many of the courtesies of Indian social life included the preparation and serving of food, and among the Lakota it was a custom of good will just as it is with the white man. When a white friend wishes to extend a courtesy it is usually by asking one to dine. A feast in

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honor of my father was sometimes given in this way: Some of my mother's relations would invite her over to their tipi. At once the women would begin preparing food for a number of people. When all was ready, they would tell mother to ask father to come to the feast and bring with him some of his friends. Father would gladly accept the invitation and would bring with him, as a rule, some of the old men of the village and there would be singing, eating, storytelling, and a general good time. The meal which the relations offered to father was their good will expressed in their most generous way. All his relations wished him to remain on good terms with his people, so if father could ask a number of old men to share good food with him, his chances for remaining popular would be better. The feast tended to strengthen the ties between father and the headmen of his band and also between him and his wife's relations.

Visiting bands were often received with a feast of welcome. As soon as the visitors stopped and began putting up their tipis, our women and girls built fires and cooked great quantities of food. They then carried the food over and spread the feast for the visitors, waiting upon them with every attention. The visitors ate and enjoyed themselves, but were never allowed to help in clearing away the remains of the feast. This was done by the women after the visitors had departed.

Sometimes a lone stranger came to our village for a visit. He was usually taken from tipi to tipi for a round of feasting and gossip, for the visitor was sure to have news to tell and he was encouraged to tell of his travels and of the people of his band. When the round of visits began, the stranger was given a long stick, pointed at one

end, which he carried with him from tipi to tipi, each family putting on his stick some dried meat until it was full and sometimes more. This meat was to supply the visitor with food on his return or continued journey.

The serving of a family meal was a quiet and orderly affair. Mother placed the food in front of her while we children all sat quietly about, neither commenting on the food nor asking for any favors. Father, if at home, sat in his accustomed place at the side of the tipi. He, too, remained perfectly quiet and respectful, accepting the food that mother offered to him without comment. The serving was done on wooden plates, the soup being passed in horn spoons of different sizes, some of them holding as much as a large bowl. The food was por-

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tioned to each one of us as mother saw fit, her judgment being unquestioned, for we never asked for more. Before serving us, however, mother put a small portion of the food in the fire as a blessing for the meal.

Grandmother, next to mother, was the most important person in the home. Her place, in fact, could be filled by no one else. It has been told and written that old people among the Indians were sacrificed when they became useless. If this is the case with other tribes, I do not know of it, but I do know that it was never done among the Lakotas. Most old people were revered for their knowledge, and were never considered worthless members to be got rid of. Parental devotion was very strong and the old were objects of care and devotion to the last. They were never given cause to feel useless and unwanted, for there were duties performed only by the old and because it was a rigidly-kept custom for the young to treat their elders with respect. Grandmother filled a place that mother did not fill, and the older she got the more, it seemed, we children depended upon her for attention. I can never forget one of my grandmothers, mother's mother, and what wonderful care she took of me. As a story-teller, she was a delight not only to me but to other little folks of the village. Her sense of humor was keen and she laughed as readily as we.

Mother's and grandmother's tipis were quite close together and they saw a good deal of each other, working together and visiting back and forth. The men folks of the family were, for the most part, away from home during the day on hunting or scouting parties. But whenever father was at home and he chanced to walk out of the tipi, he covered his face with his blanket until he was sure that he

would not see his mother-in-law. In this way he showed his respect for her, and had he not observed this courtesy she would have had every right to be affronted. She, too, avoided him, and if by chance they met, she hid her face. Had she allowed him to look upon her, it would have been an unforgivable breach of manners. In order to show her great respect for my father, grandmother often cooked some meat in her tipi, and calling my mother over would give her the meat saying, ''Take this to my son-in-law.'' In this way she let him know that she thought highly of him.

The men, when at home, were shown a good deal of attention by the women. This was but natural, as it was the hunters, scouts and

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warriors who bore the greatest dangers, and consequently were the recipients of much care and consideration. Young warriors bearing for the first time the hardships of life were specially considered by the women. I remember one winter a party of young hunters returned home exhausted and near starvation, having seen no game. On reaching the village, they entered the first tipi they came to, which happened to be that of an old woman. Without a word, these young men began putting the meat, which was strung on a pole inside the tipi, on the fire to cook, and feeding themselves until it was gone. All the while the old woman ran about crying, not with anger or sorrow, but with joy for the return of the young men, and with gladness for the supply of meat that she was able to furnish. Had a white man witnessed this occurrence, it would probably have been interpreted in a manner far from correct.

Women and children were the objects of care among the Lakotas and as far as their environment permitted they lived sheltered lives. Life was softened by a great equality. All the tasks of womencooking, caring for children, tanning and sewingwere considered dignified and worth while. No work was looked upon as menial, consequently there were no menial workers. Industry filled the life of every Lakota woman.

The first thing a dutiful husband did in the morning, after breakfasting, was to arrange his wife's hair and to paint her face. The brush was the tail of the porcupine attached to a decorated handle, and in place of a comb a hair parter was useda slender pointed stick, also with a decorated handle. The husband parted his wife's hair, then carefully brushed and plaited it into two braids which were tied at the ends with strings of painted buckskin. These

hair-strings were sometimes works of art, being wrapped with brightly colored porcupine quills and either tipped with ball tassels of porcupine quills or fluffs of eagle feathers. Bead hair-strings were later made, and they, too, are very pretty. When the hairdressing was finished, the part in the hair was sometimes marked with a stripe of red or yellow paint. Next, the husband applied red paint to his wife's face, sometimes just to the cheeks, sometimes covering the entire face. If the woman was to be exposed to the wind and sun all day, she usually had her face covered with a protective coat of paint mixed with grease. It was "style" for the Lakota woman to use much red paint, but the custom was very likely a necessary and

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comfortable one before it became a mere matter of style. Many Lakota women had skins quite fine in texture and in childhood were light in color. Such skins, of course, burned easily in the hot wind and sun, consequently children were often painted with the red paint and grease, both boys and girls, the mother performing this duty and not the father.

If the man of the family was to be home for several days, he busied himself in many ways, lightening the work of the woman. He cut down trees for the ponies and for wood, made and repaired her saddles, cut up meat conveniently for drying, and, when there was nothing else to be done, gladly amused the baby of the family. A man who unduly scolded his wife or who beat her or his children was not considered a good man. A man who would inflict punishment upon the women and children was considered a weakling and a coward. Whenever it was said about a man, "He ought not to have a wife," that was expressing strong disapproval of him.

As soon as the wife realized that she was to become a mother, she withdrew from the society of her husband, though at all times he had her in his care. But the husband immediately found duties that occupied his timethe hunt, the war-party, or ceremonies. With the knowledge that a child was about to be born the thought of the couple was for its welfare, and both father and mother were willing to sacrifice for the sake of the health of the child and mother. Not till a child was five or six years of age did the parents allow themselves another offspring. As a consequence Lakota families were not large, four or five children being the rule. But disabled mothers were a rarity and many a grandmother was as strong as her

granddaughter. And with all the demands placed by parenthood, seldom was the relationship between husband and wife weakened. Children were influential beings with parents also. I remember my stepmother's uncle, Horse Looking, who fell a victim to the habit of drinking. It made of him a terrible man when under its influence, though in his right mind he was the kindest of men. When he was in a drunken frenzy, the only way to curb him was to get his youngest child and present it to him. He would at once forget his temper and begin to pet and fondle the child.

With the nearing event much preparation took place. Sisters, aunts, and other relatives made clothes of the finest and softest doeskin. A cradle was decorated and paints and powders prepared. But to grand-

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mother fell the honor of officiating as supervisor and adviser on all matters pertaining to the occasion. She had, in fact, started her preparations and arrangements for the event of birth from the day of the wedding. During the waiting period grandmother had baked a red earth clay and pounded it to a fine powder to mix with the buffalo fat which she had rendered into a creamy paste. This mixture served as a cleanser and also as a protector to the tender skin of the child. Then grandmother had gathered the driest of buffalo chips and ground them between stones to a powder as fine and soft as talcum. This powder was a purifier, and soothing to an irritated skin.

Perhaps the hardest duty in the performance of parenthood was not so much to watch the conduct of their children as to be ever watchful of their owna duty placed upon parents through the method used in instructing their youngexample. Children, possessors of extreme vigor of health, with faculties sensitized by close contact with nature, made full use of eyes and ears; and Lakota parents and elders were under scrutiny for conduct and conversation. They were consequently bound to act in as kind and dignified a manner as possible.

Education of Children OhiyesaSioux

It is commonly supposed that there is no systematic education of their children among the aborigines of this country. Nothing could be farther from the truth. All the customs of this primitive people were held to be divinely instituted, and those in connection with the

training of children were scrupulously adhered to and transmitted from one generation to another.

The expectant parents conjointly bent all their efforts to the task of giving the new-comer the best they could gather from a long line of ancestors. A pregnant Indian woman would often choose one of the greatest characters of her family and tribe as a model for her child. This hero was daily called to mind. She would gather from tradition all of his noted deeds and daring exploits, rehearsing them to herself when alone. In order that the impression might be more distinct, she avoided company. She isolated herself as much as pos-

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sible, and wandered in solitude, not thoughtlessly, but with an eye to the impress given by grand and beautiful scenery.

The Indians believed, also, that certain kinds of animals would confer peculiar gifts upon the unborn, while others would leave so strong an adverse impression that the child might become a monstrosity. A case of hare-lip was commonly attributed to the rabbit. It was said that a rabbit had charmed the mother and given to the babe its own features. Even the meat of certain animals was denied the pregnant woman, because it was supposed to influence the disposition or features of the child.

Scarcely was the embryo warrior ushered into the world, when he was met by lullabies that speak of wonderful exploits in hunting and war. Those ideas which so fully occupied his mother's mind before his birth are now put into words by all about the child, who is as yet quite unresponsive to their appeals to his honor and ambition. He is called the future defender of his people, whose lives may depend upon his courage and skill. If the child is a girl, she is at once addressed as the future mother of a noble race.

In hunting songs, the leading animals are introduced; they come to the boy to offer their bodies for the sustenance of his tribe. The animals are regarded as his friends, and spoken of almost as tribes of people, or as his cousins, grandfathers and grandmothers. The songs of wooing, adapted as lullabies, were equally imaginative, and the suitors were often personified, while pretty maidens were repsented by the mink and the doe.

Very early, the Indian boy assumed the task of preserving and transmitting the legends of his ancestors and his race. Almost every

evening a myth, or a true story of some deed done in the past, was narrated by one of the parents or grandparents, while the boy listened with parted lips and glistening eyes. On the following evening, he was usually required to repeat it. If he was not an apt scholar, he struggled long with his task; but, as a rule, the Indian boy is a good listener and has a good memory, so that the stories were tolerably well mastered. The household became his audience, by which he was alternately criticized and applauded.

This sort of teaching at once enlightens the boy's mind and stimulates his ambition. His conception of his own future career becomes a vivid and irresistible force. Whatever there is for him to learn must

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be learned; whatever qualifications are necessary to a truly great man he must seek at any expense of danger and hardship. Such was the feeling of the imaginative and brave young Indian. It became apparent to him in early life that he must accustom himself to rove alone and not to fear or dislike the impression of solitude.

Our manners and morals were not neglected. I was made to respect the adults and especially the aged. I was not allowed to join in their discussions, nor even to speak in their presence, unless requested to do so. Indian etiquette was very strict, and among the requirements was that of avoiding the direct address. A term of relationship or some title of courtesy was commonly used instead of the personal name by those who wished to show respect. We were taught generosity to the poor and reverence for the "Great Mystery." Religion was the basis of all Indian training.

I recall to the present day some of the kind warnings and reproofs that my good grandmother was wont to give me. "Be strong of heartbe patient!" she used to say. She told me of a young chief who was noted for his uncontrollable temper. While in one of his rages he attempted to kill a woman, for which he was slain by his own band and left unburied as a mark of disgracehis body was simply covered with green grass. If ever I lost my temper, she would say:

"Control yourself, or you will be like that young man I told you of, and lie under a green blanket!"

In the old days, no young man was allowed to use tobacco in any form until he had become an acknowledged warrior and had achieved a record. If a youth should seek a wife before he had reached the age of twenty-two or twenty-three, and been

recognized as a brave man, he was sneered at and considered an ill- bred Indian. He must also be a skillful hunter. An Indian cannot be a good husband unless he brings home plenty of game.

These precepts were in the line of our training for the wild life.

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A Hopi Childhood Don C. TalayesvaHopi

The peaceful life of the Hopi has changed little since the Spanish conquest. Most of the Hopi are farmers and herders who raise corn and beans and tend flocks of sheep and goats. Their textiles are still prized by neighboring tribes, just as they were generations ago, and their strange rituals are famous for colorful pageantry and for the weird masks worn by the dancers.

Everybody appeared happy after a rain. We small boys rolled about naked in the mud puddles, doused each other with water, and built little irrigated gardens. In this way we used too much of the water from the little pond on the west side of the village where the women went to wash their clothes and the men to water their stock. Our parents scolded us for wasting water and once my mother spanked me on account of my dirty shirt.

During droughts we had strict rules for the use of water. Even small children were taught to be careful, and I saw mothers bathe their babies by spitting a little water upon them. By watching the old people I learned to wash my face with a mouthful of waterit is the safest way to wash without waste.

Sometimes water gave out. Then the men went with their burros to distant springs while the women stayed up all night taking turns to catch a little trickle that came from the Oraibi spring. My grandfather told me about the cistern that he had chiseled out of the solid rock to catch the rain that fell on the mesa shelf. He said that

he had done this hard work when he married my grandmother in order that his children and his grandchildren might not suffer from thirst. My mother went daily to this well to fetch water. In winter she cut out chunks of ice from the rock ledges and brought them in on her back.

Whenever it rained, we were told to take our little pots and go out on the ledges, scoop up puddles, and fill the cisterns. There were about one hundred of these hewn out of the solid rock by our ancestors. The people pointed out that water is essential to life and taught us what to do out in the desert whenever we became so dry and thirsty that we could neither spit nor swallow. Then one should cut twigs

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off a cottonwood tree and chew them, eat the inner bark of the cedar, or hold dried peaches in his mouth.

The importance of water was impressed upon us by the way the old men prayed for rain and planted pahos [ceremonial prayer sticks] in the springs to please the water serpents and to persuade them to send larger streams to quench our thirst. We were reminded that all the dances and ceremonies were for rain, not for pleasure. They were held in order to persuade the Six-Point-Cloud-People [dead ancestors who live in the clouds and control the rain] to send moisture for our crops. Whenever we had a good rain, we were told to show our happy faces and consider ourselves in favor with the gods. We made it a point never to praise the weather on fair, dry days. Whenever it rained during or just after a dance, the people praised highly those who had taken part in the performance. If a strong wind followed the dance, it was a sign that the people who had invited the Katcinas [priest-dancers] to come and dance had a bad heart or had done some evil.

We were told that there is health-giving power in water, and that it is a good practice to bathe in cold water, to wash our hands and faces in snow, and to rub it upon our bodies to make them tough. The old people said that warm water made wrinkles and shortened life. I saw them setting bowls of water outside to become ice-cold before using it for a bath. Some old men would go out naked and rub snow all over their bodies. My grandfathers often took me outside and rolled me in the snow on winter mornings.

Another important business was to keep track of the time or the seasons of the year by watching the points on the horizon where the sun rose and set each day. The point of sunrise on the shortest day

of the year was called the sun's winter home and the point of sunrise on the longest day its summer home. Old Talasemptewa, who was almost blind, would sit out on the housetop of the special Sun Clan house and watch the sun's progress toward its summer home. He untied a knot in a string for each day. When the sun arose at certain mesa peaks, he passed the word around that it was time to plant sweet corn, ordinary corn, string beans, melons, squash, lima beans, and other seeds. On a certain date he would announce that it was too late for any more planting. The old people said that there were proper times for planting, harvesting, and hunting, for ceremonies, weddings,

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and many other activities. In order to know these dates it was necessary to keep close watch on the sun's movements.

My great-great-uncle Muute, who lived south of the Howeove kiva, was the Special Officer of the Sun Clan, and was called Tawamongwi [Sun Chief]. He would sit at a certain place and watch the sun in order to know when it reached its summer home. When the sun had arrived at its summer home, my uncle would say to the Sun Clan people, "Well, our great-uncle, the Sun god, has reached his summer home and now we must butcher a sheep and make prayer offerings for the sun, moon, and stars. We will pray hard to our Sun god, asking him to send rain and to keep away the bad winds that destroy our crops."

Blanket Signals Chief Standing BearSioux

The Indian had many ways of communicating. The plains warrior could relay a simple message by smoke a hundred or more miles in a few minutes, for on a clear day smoke signals were nearly as fast as the "talking wires" of the white men. Mirror signals, often used in battle, could flash a message instantly five or ten miles.

When warriors of different tribes met, they talked in the sign language. Far from being crude, this method of communicating was nearly as fluent and accurate as speech. A skilled sign talker could tell a subtle joke or a complicated story, and even the most abstract thoughts could be put into gestures.

The sign language was picture writing in action, and its symbolism

was often beautiful and poetic. The sign for "spring" was made by placing the right hand close to the ground, back downward, with the thumb and fingers extended upward. Then the hand was raised slowly several times to indicate the growing grass. The sign for "autumn" was made by picturing leaves falling from a tree. The idea of ''falsehood" was conveyed by making the sign for "talk," followed by the sign for ''different ways."

Among the Plains Indians the blanket was in almost daily use as a means of conversation, especially distant conversation, as across the

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village or from a hilltop. When the scout came in sight of the village and had given his signal call, he announced the nearness of the enemy or the rapid coming of the buffalo herd by rolling up his blanket and throwing it up in the air several times quickly, catching it like a ball. This signal meant, "Hurry up." The hunters and warriors got their weapons and prepared for either a hunt or a battle.

If the scout waved his blanket up and down slowly a number of times, then spread it on the ground and jumped over it, that notified the watchers that plenty of buffalo were near. The hunters then waited for the scout to tell them how many buffalo were near. If he walked, say, a quarter of a mile one way, then returned to the blanket and walked a similar distance in the opposite way and back to the blanket, that meant a very large herd was near. But if he walked just a few yards each way and back to his starting point, it meant that not so large a herd had been sighted. In either case preparations were madethe hunters filled quivers with arrows, knives were sharpened, wood was brought for fires, and general activity began.

The blanket was also used for summoning. It was waved in an outward motion from the body and back again. The man used the right arm and the woman the left arm.

Smoke was used for distant communication and was always watched for by those in the village if the hunters, warriors, or scouts were expected. This sort of signaling was usually begun when within a couple of days' travel from home. Smoke meant victory, and if a war-party returned without making smoke there would be no victory to relate.

Of the various modes of communication, perhaps the most dramatic were the mime dances of the braveshunters, scouts, or warriors, and sometimes, the dances of the women in full male regalia. The Lakota was an actor, in some cases exhibiting splendid ability in the performance of tribal presentation. A close observor of animal life, his imitations of walk, manner and behavior of animals were most artful. Characteristics, through body motion, facial expression, intricate steps, symbolical dress, and even muscle contortion, were brought out with faithful portrayal. Animals like the turtle were imitated and this would call, naturally, for muscle control and subtle suggestion.

When the braves got together for their dances, it was a time for much feasting and social intercourse. The warrior danced his exploits;

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the scout his adventures; the hunter his fortunes, and the medicine- man his experiences. Story-telling, no matter how conducted, will always delight a people. Furthermore, history was repeated and kept alive.

The Plains people have always been distinguished from other native people by the beautiful and expressive use of the hands in what is known as the "sign language"it being the communicating gesture most often seen and noted by the European.

Ojibway Picture Writing Chief Kah-Ge-Ga-Gah-BowhOjibway

The Indians did not have an alphabet, so they wrote in pictures. Sometimes these pictographs were etched on copper, but more often they were painted on birch bark or animal skins. The most famous of all Indian picture writings is the Walam Olum, or "painted tally" of the Delawares, their tribal history scratched upon tablets of wood. Another well known Indian manuscript is Lone-Dog's Winter Count, a calendar of winter events in Sioux history painted on a buffalo robe. It covers the period from 1800 to 1871, and for each winter there is a painting. Oddly enough, Lone-Dog and other buffalo robe historians overlooked most of the events that would seem important to us. A horse-stealing foray might be used to describe the year instead of a great battle, or a successful hunt might take the place of an important peace treaty.

Many tribes, especially those living near the sea, used wampum for picture writing. These bits of colored shell were pierced and woven

into belts so that the design conveyed a message. Treaties were often preserved on wampum belts. Peter D. Clarke, a Wyandott author, wrote that "every wampum belt representing some international compact was placed in the archives of the Wyandott nation. Each belt bore some mark, denoting the nature of a covenant or contract entered into between the parties, and the hidden contents of which were kept in the memory of the Chiefs."

There is a place where the sacred records are deposited in the Indian country. These records are made on one side of bark and board plates, and are examined once in fifteen years, at which time the decaying ones are replaced by new plates.

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Most Indian Nations of the West have places in which they deposit the records which are said to have originated their worship. The Ojibways have three such depositories near the waters of Lake Superior. Ten of the wisest and most venerable of the Nation dwell near these, and are appointed guardians over them.

Fifteen years intervene between each opening. At the end of this time, if any vacancies have been caused by death, others are chosen in the spring of the year, who, about the month of August, are called to witness the opening of the depositories. As they are being opened, all the information known respecting them is given to the new members; then the articles are placed before them. After this, the plates are closely examined, and if any have begun to decay they are taken out; an exact facsimile is made and placed in its stead.The old one is divided equally among the wise men. It is very highly valued for having been deposited; as a sacred article, every fibre of it is considered sacred, and whoever uses it may be made wise. It is considered efficacious for any good purpose to which it may be put.

These records are written on slate rock, copper, lead, and on the bark of birch trees. The record is said to be a transcript of what the Great Spirit gave to the Indians after the flood, and by the hands of wise men has been transmitted to other parts of the country ever since. Here is a code of moral laws which the Indian calls "a path made by the Great Spirit." They believe that a long and prosperous life will be the result of obeying that law. The records contain certain emblems which transmit the ancient form of worship, and the rules for the dedication of four priests who alone are to expound them. In them is represented how man lived happy in his

wigwam, before death was in the world, and the path he then followed marked out an example for those of the present time.

Chief Oreille ("Moose Tail"), in the spring of 1836, related to my uncle an account of one of these depositories.

He said he had been chosen as one of the guardians about five years previous, and that the guardians had for a long time selected as the places of deposit the most unsuspected spot, where they dug fifteen feet, and sunk large cedar trees around the excavation. In the centre was placed a large hollow cedar log, besmeared at one end with gum. The open end is uppermost, and in it are placed the records, after being enveloped in the down of geese or swan, which are changed at each examination. These feathers are afterwards used in

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war, being supposed to have a protective power. When camping, a few of these feathers are left near each place where the warriors dance.

These are some of the figures used by us in writing. With these, and from others of a similar class, the Ojibways can write their war and hunting songs.

An Indian well versed in these can send a communication to another Indian, and by them make himself as well understood as a pale-face can by letter.

There are over two hundred figures in general use for all the purposes of correspondence. Material things are represented by pictures of them.

The Characters Used in Picture Writing

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Invitations to Indians to come and worship in the spring are made in the following form:

The whole story would thus read:

"Hark to the words of the Sa-ge-mah."

"The Great Medicine Lodge will be ready in eight [?] days."

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"Ye who live in the woods and near the Lakes and by streams of water, come with your canoes or by land to the worship of the Great Spirit."

In the above, the wigwam and the medicine pale [Great Lodge] represent the depositories of medicine, record and work. The Lodge is represented with men in it; the dots above indicate the number of days.

These picture representations were used by the Ojibways until the introduction of European manners among them. When this occurred, they neglected in a great degree their correspondence with other nations, except by special messengers, and became very cautious in giving information respecting their religious worship to the whites, because they, the whites, ridiculed it.

In times of danger or in the progress of a war, beads and shells were used for the purpose of conveying a message, and this custom is yet in vogue [1850].

These beads and shells were colored, and each had a meaning, according to its place on the string. Black indicated war or deathWhite, peace and prosperityRed, the heart of the enemy would representPartial white or red, or both intermixed, the beginning of peace or the commencement of war.

Numerals are marked on the shell. The knot gives information of its starting point, or the name of the person sending it. In stringing the shell or beads, the end of the sentence is strung first, so that the first word of the message is in the person's hand. This manner of correspondence is the most common.

Three hundred years ago the Delawares sent communications in this way to the Shawnees in Sandusky, Lake Erie; and they to the Ojibways in Superior and Huron.

This mode was practised by Pontiac in his appeals to the Indians of Michigan, Huron, and the prairies of the West, during the wars. The Indians say that these beads cannot give false stories, for it is not possible for the man who takes it to alter or add to them, during his journey.

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Telling of Legends Chief Elias JohnsonTuscarora

On long winter evenings the Indian hunters gathered around their fireside, to listen to the historical traditions, legends of war and hunting, and fairy tales which had been handed down through their fathers and fathers' fathers, with scarcely any variation for centuries, kindling the enthusiasm of the warrior and inspiring the little child some day to realize similar dreams, and hand his name down to posterity as the author of similar exploits.

They have superstitious fears of relating fables in summer; not until after snow comes will they relate of snakes, lest they should creep into their beds, or of evil genii, lest they in some way be revenged.

It is very difficult for a stranger to rightly understand the morals of their stories, though it is said by those who know them best, that to them the story was always an illustration of some moral or principle.

To strangers they offer all the rites of hospitality, but do not open their hearts. If you ask them they will tell you a story, but it will not be such a story as they tell when alone. They will fear your ridicule and suppress their humor and pathos; so thoroughly have they learned to distrust pale faces, that when they know that he who is present is a friend, they will still shrink from admitting him within the secret portals of their heart.

And when you have learned all that language can convey, there are still a thousand images, suggestions and associations recurring to

the Indian, which can strike no chord in your heart. The myriad voices of nature are dumb to you, but to them they are full of life and power.

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II GAME TRAILS

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The Indian was a master of woodcraft. He knew the calls of birds and animals and could imitate them perfectly. He understood wild creatures and their ways because he himself had the wariness and sensitivity of an animal.

When game was plentiful, a skilled hunter could supply enough food for a dozen families. An Ojibway named No-ka started at Crow Wing River near the upper Mississippi and killed in one day's hunt sixteen elk, four buffalo, five deer, three bears, one lynx, and a porcupine.

The Indian hunter did not kill for sport but to provide food and clothing for his family. "The Indian was frugal in the midst of plenty," wrote Chief Standing Bear. "When the buffalo roamed the plains in multitudes he slaughtered only what he could eat and these he used to the hair and bones."

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Boyhood Training in Woodcraft OhiyesaSioux

It seems to be a popular idea that all the characteristic skill of the Indian is instinctive and hereditary. This is a mistake. All the stoicism and patience of the Indian are acquired traits, and continual practice alone makes him master of the art of woodcraft.

My uncle, who educated me up to the age of fifteen years, was a strict disciplinarian and a good teacher. When I left the teepee in the morning, he would say: ''Look closely to everything you see''; and at evening, on my return, he used often to catechize me for an hour or so.

"On which side of the trees is the lighter-colored bark? On which side do they have most regular branches?"

It was his custom to let me name all the new birds that I had seen during the day. I would name them according to the color or the shape of the bill or their song or the appearance and locality of the nestin fact, anything about the bird that impressed me as characteristic. I made many ridiculous errors, I must admit. He then usually informed me of the correct name. Occasionally I made a hit and this he would warmly commend.

He went much deeper into this science when I was a little older, that is, about the age of eight or nine years. He would say, for instance:

"How do you know that there are fish in yonder lake?"

"Because they jump out of the water for flies at mid-day."

He would smile at my prompt but superficial reply.

"What do you think of the little pebbles grouped together under the shallow water? and what made the pretty curved marks in the

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sandy bottom and the little sand-banks? Where do you find the fish-eating birds? Have the inlet and the outlet of a lake anything to do with the question?"

He did not expect a correct reply at once to all the voluminous questions that he put to me on these occasions, but he meant to make me observant and a good student of nature.

He would say to me, "You ought to follow the example of the shunktokecha (wolf). Even when he is surprised and runs for his life, he will pause to take one more look at you before he enters his final retreat. So you must take a second look at everything you see.

"It is better to view animals unobserved. I have been a witness to their courtships and their quarrels and have learned many of their secrets in this way. I was once the unseen spectator of a thrilling battle between a pair of grizzly bears and three buffaloesa rash act for the bears, for it was in the moon of strawberries, when the buffaloes sharpen and polish their horns for bloody contests among themselves.

"I advise you, my boy, never to approach a grizzly's den from the front, but to steal up behind and throw your blanket or a stone in front of the hole. He does not usually rush for it, but first puts his head out and listens and then comes out very indifferently and sits on his haunches on the mound in front of the hole before he makes any attack. While he is exposing himself in this fashion, aim at his heart. Always be as cool as the animal himself." Thus he armed me against the cunning of savage beasts by teaching me how to outwit them.

"In hunting," he would resume, "you will be guided by the habits of

the animal you seek. Remember that a moose stays in swampy or low land or between high mountains near a spring or lake, for thirty to sixty days at a time. Most large game moves about continually, except the doe in the spring; it is then a very easy matter to find her with the fawn. Conceal yourself in a convenient place as soon as you observe any signs of the presence of either, and then call with your birchen doe-caller.

"Whichever one hears you first will soon appear in your neighborhood. But you must be very watchful, or you may be made a fawn of by a large wild-cat. They understand the characteristic call of the doe perfectly well.

"When you have any difficulty with a bear or a wild-cat-that is,

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if the creature shows signs of attacking youyou must make him fully understand that you have seen him and are aware of his intentions. If you are not well equipped for a pitched battle, the only way to make him retreat is to take a long sharp-pointed pole for a spear and rush toward him. No wild beast will face this unless he is cornered and already wounded. These fierce beasts are generally afraid of the common weapon of the larger animalsthe horns, and if these are very long and sharp, they dare not risk an open fight.

"There is one exception to this rulethe grey wolf will attack fiercely when very hungry. But their courage depends upon their numbers; in this they are like white men. One wolf or two will never attack a man. They will stampede a herd of buffaloes in order to get at the calves; they will rush upon a herd of antelopes, for these are helpless; but they are always careful about attacking man."

Of this nature were the instructions of my uncle, who was widely known at that time as among the greatest hunters of his tribe.

The Boy Hunter OhiyesaSioux

It will be no exaggeration to say that the life of the Indian hunter was a life of fascination. From the moment that he lost sight of his rude home in the midst of the forest, his untutored mind lost itself in the myriad beauties and forces of nature. Yet he never forgot his personal danger from some lurking foe or savage beast, however absorbing was his passion for the chase. His moccasined foot fell

like the velvet paw of a catnoiselessly; his glittering black eyes scanned every object that appeared within their view. Not a bird, not even a chipmunk, escaped their piercing glance.

There was almost as much difference between the Indian boys who were brought up on the open prairies and those of the woods, as between city and country boys. The hunting of the prairie boys was limited and their knowledge of natural history imperfect. They were, as a rule, good riders, but in all-round physical development much inferior to the red men of the forest.

Our hunting varied with the season of the year, and the nature of the country which was for the time our home. Our chief weapon was the bow and arrows, and perhaps, if we were lucky, a knife was

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possessed by some one in the crowd. In the olden times, knives and hatchets were made from bone and sharp stones.

We hunted in company a great deal, though it was a common thing for a boy to set out for the woods quite alone, and he usually enjoyed himself fully as much. Our game consisted mainly of small birds, rabbits, squirrels, and grouse. Fishing, too, occupied much of our time. We hardly ever passed a creek or a pond without searching for some signs of fish. When fish were present, we always managed to get some. Fish-lines were made of wild hemp, sinew or horse-hair. We either caught fish with lines, snared or speared them, or shot them with bow and arrows. In the fall we charmed them up to the surface by gently tickling them with a stick and quickly threw them out. We have sometimes dammed the brooks and driven the larger fish into a willow basket made for that purpose.

It was part of our hunting to find new and strange things in the woods. We examined the slightest sign of life; and if a bird had scratched the leaves off the ground, or a bear dragged up a root for his morning meal, we stopped to speculate on the time it was done. If we saw a large old tree with some scratches on its bark, we concluded that a bear or some raccoons must be living there. In that case we did not go any nearer than was necessary, but later reported the incident at home. An old deer-track would at once bring a warm discussion as to whether it was the track of a buck or a doe. Generally, at noon, we met and compared our game, noting at the same time the peculiar characteristics of everything we had killed. It was not merely a hunt, for we combined with it the study

of animal life. We also kept strict account of our game, and thus learned who were the best shots among the boys.

I am sorry to say that we were merciless toward the birds. We often took their eggs and their young ones. My brother Chatanna and I once had a disagreeable adventure while bird-hunting. We were accustomed to catch in our hands young ducks and geese during the summer, and while doing this we happened to find a crane's nest. Of course, we were delighted with our good luck. But, as it was already midsummer, the young cranestwo in numberwere rather large and they were a little way from the nest; we also observed that the two old cranes were in a swampy place near by; but, as it was moulting-time, we did not suppose that they would venture on dry

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land. So we proceeded to chase the young birds; but they were fleet runners and it took us some time to come up with them.

Meanwhile, the parent birds had heard the cries of their little ones and come to their rescue. They were chasing us, while we followed the birds. It was really a perilous encounter! Our strong bows finally gained the victory in a hand-to-hand struggle with the angry cranes; but after that we hardly ever hunted a crane's nest. Almost all birds make some resistance when their eggs or young are taken, but they will seldom attack man fearlessly.

We used to climb large trees for birds of all kinds; but we never undertook to get young owls unless they were on the ground. The hooting owl especially is a dangerous bird to attack under these circumstances.

I was once trying to catch a yellow-winged woodpecker in its nest when my arm became twisted and lodged in the deep hole so that I could not get it out without the aid of a knife; but we were a long way from home and my only companion was a deaf mute cousin of mine. I was about fifty feet up in the tree, in a very uncomfortable position, but I had to wait there for more than an hour before he brought me the knife with which I finally released myself.

Our devices for trapping small animals were rude, but they were often successful. For instance, we used to gather up a peck or so of large, sharp-pointed burrs and scatter them in the rabbit's furrow- like path. In the morning, we would find the little fellow sitting quietly in his tracks, unable to move, for the burrs stuck to his feet.

Another way of snaring rabbits and grouse was the following: We made nooses of twisted horse-hair, which we tied very firmly to the

top of a limber young tree, then bent the latter down to the track and fastened the whole with a slip-knot, after adjusting the noose. When the rabbit runs his head through the noose, he pulls the slip- knot and is quickly carried up by the spring of the young tree. This is a good plan, for the rabbit is out of harm's way as he swings high in the air.

Perhaps the most enjoyable of all was the chipmunk hunt. We killed these animals at any time of year, but the special time to hunt them was in March. After the first thaw, the chipmunks burrow a hole through the snow crust and make their first appearance for the season. Sometimes as many as fifty will come together and hold a

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social reunion. These gatherings occur early in the morning, from daybreak to about nine o'clock.

We boys learned this, among other secrets of nature, and got our blunt-headed arrows together in good season for the chipmunk expedition.

We generally went in groups of six to a dozen or fifteen, to see which would get the most. On the evening before, we selected several boys who could imitate the chipmunk's call with wild oat- straws and each of these provided himself with a supply of straws.

The crust will hold the boys nicely at this time of the year. Bright and early, they all come together at the appointed place, from which each group starts out in a different direction, agreeing to meet somewhere at a given position of the sun.

My first experience of this kind is still well remembered. It was a fine crisp March morning, and the sun had not yet shown himself among the distant tree-tops as we hurried along through the ghostly wood. Presently we arrived at a place where there were many signs of the animals. Then each of us selected a tree and took up his position behind it. The chipmunk caller sat upon a log as motionless as he could, and began to call.

Soon we heard the patter of little feet on the hard snow; then we saw the chipmunks approaching from all directions. Some stopped and ran experimentally up a tree or a log, as if uncertain of the exact direction of the call; others chased one another about.

In a few minutes, the chipmunk-caller was besieged with them. Some ran all over his person, others under him and still others ran

up the tree against which he was sitting. Each boy remained immovable until their leader gave the signal; then a great shout arose, and the chipmunks in their flight all ran up the different trees.

Now the shooting-match began. The little creatures seemed to realize their hopeless position; they would try again and again to come down the trees and flee away from the deadly aim of the youthful hunters. But they were shot down very fast; and whenever several of them rushed toward the ground, the little red-skin hugged the tree and yelled frantically to scare them up again.

Each boy shoots always against the trunk of the tree, so that the arrow may bound back to him every time; otherwise, when he had shot away all of them, he would be helpless, and another, who had cleared his own tree, would come and take away his game, so there

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was warm competition. Sometimes a desperate chipmunk would jump from the top of the tree in order to escape, which was considered a joke on the boy who lost it and a triumph for the brave little animal. At last all were killed or gone, and then we went on to another place, keeping up the sport until the sun came out and the chipmunks refused to answer the call.

When we went out on the prairies we had a different and less lively kind of sport. We used to snare with horse-hair and bow-strings all the small ground animals, including the prairie-dog. We both snared and shot them. Once a little boy set a snare for one, and lay flat on the ground a little way from the hole, holding the end of the string. Presently he felt something move and pulled in a huge rattlesnake; and to this day, his name is "Caught-the-Rattlesnake." Very often a boy got a new name in some such manner. At another time, we were playing in the woods and found a fawn's track. We followed and caught it while asleep; but in the struggle to get away, it kicked one boy, who is still called "Kicked-by-the-Fawn."

It became a necessary part of our education to learn to prepare a meal while out hunting. It is a fact that most Indians will eat the liver and some other portions of large animals raw, but they do not eat fish or birds uncooked. Neither will they eat a frog, or an eel. On our boyish hunts, we often went on until we found ourselves a long way from our camp, when we would kindle a fire and roast a part of our game.

Generally we broiled our meat over the coals on a stick. We roasted some of it over the open fire. But the best way to cook fish and birds is in the ashes, under a big fire. We take the fish fresh from the creek or lake, have a good fire on the sand, dig in the sandy

ashes and bury it deep. The same thing is done in the case of a bird, only we wet the feathers first. When it is done, the scales or feathers and skin are stripped off whole, and the delicious meat retains all its juices and flavor. We pulled it off as we ate, leaving the bones undisturbed.

Our people had also a method of boiling without pots or kettles. A large piece of tripe was thoroughly washed and the ends tied, then suspended between four stakes driven into the ground and filled with cold water. The meat was then placed in this novel receptacle and boiled by means of the addition of red-hot stones.

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Hunting Laws Chief Kah-Ge-Ga-Gah-BowhOjibway

The hunting grounds of the Indians were secured by right, a law and custom among themselves. No one was allowed to hunt on another's land, without invitation or permission. If any person was found trespassing on the ground of another, all his things were taken from him, except a handful of shot, powder sufficient to serve him in going straight home, a gun, a tomahawk, and a knife; all the fur, and other things, were taken from him. If he were found a second time trespassing, all his things were taken away from him, except food sufficient to subsist on while going home. And should he still come a third time to trespass on the same, or another man's hunting grounds, his nation, or tribe, are then informed of it, who take up his case. If still he disobey, he is banished from his tribe.

My father and another Indian, by the name of Big John, and myself, went out hunting. While we were out on the hunting grounds, we found out that some Indians had gone before us on the route up the river, and every day we gained upon them: their tracks were fresh. The river and the lakes were frozen, and we had to walk on the ice. For some days together we did not fire a gun, for fear they would hear it and go from us, where we could not find them. At length we found them by the banks of the river, they were Nah-doo-ways or Mohawks, from Bay Quinty; they were seven of them, tall fellows. We shook hands with them: they received us kindly. My father had determined to take all they had, if we should overtake them. After they gave us a good dinner of boiled beaver,

my father stepped across the fire and ripped open two packs of beaver furs, that were just by him. He said to them "We have only one custom among us, and that is well known to all; this river, and all that is in it are mine: I have come up the river behind you, and you appear to have killed all before you. This is mine, and this is mine," he said, as he touched with the handle of his tomahawk each of the packs of beaver, otter, and muskrat skins. I expected every moment to see my father knocked down with a tomahawk, but none dared touch him; he counted the skins and then threw them across the fire-place to us. After this was done, the same thing took place with the guns; only one was left them to use on their way home. They left, and we

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took possession of the temporary wigwam they had built. We never saw them afterwards on our hunting grounds.

Deer Hunting Ritual Flaming ArrowPueblo

Let me take you to an Indian deer hunt.

First we get our men together. Four is enough in a bunch. We start out from home with a song. The song is translated:

"From Acoma I am going to put the sewed-up moccasins on my feet. I, the man, do put on the moccasin heel-piece. Painting my body with yellow, red, blue and white clay color, Then clothing myself with an apron round my waist with designs on, Then round my knee the colored yarn, Then the colored yarn around my wrist, Then around my arm green bands with fir Tree branches stuck in them. Next I paint my face red and black. I tie an eagle feather on top of my hair. I pick up my arrows. The bow made of a rainbow, and the arrows representing the lightning flash. I travel sometimes with song to attract deer with my singing."

After a whole day's travel we camp. For a whole day's trip I travel south from Acoma, and reach a place for my prayer-sticks [ceremonial twigs, painted and decorated with feathers, which are believed to possess magical powers]. I lay them down carefully, and bury them, as if there were strange gods near to hear my prayers; and each one of the party does the same. After we bury our prayer-sticks, we all gather round the campfire.

We have started out with a supply of food and ready baked bread to last us for two weeks, the same amount of blue cornmeal to make our gravy, and such things as lard, onions, potatoes, coffee and sugar. We do not need any meat, as we will be killing rabbits on our way.

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When we reach our camp, the first evening after dark, each one goes off in some direction by himself, to pray to strange gods. We pray towards any direction in which we think there may be some god listening to hear our prayers. We pray to the mountain lion, eagles, hawks, wolves, and other wild beasts. Then we bury our prayer-sticks and pick up a piece of log and sprinkle it with cornmeal, and say to it: "You be the deer which I expect to bring into camp," and then we carry this piece of wood in and place it on the campfire, and blow our breath on a pinch of cornmeal in our hands and throw it on the flames. Doing so we receive power, and hunt well.

Then each is seated on his rolled-up blanket around the campfire. The next thing we do is to choose our officers. First we choose the field chief, Tsa-ta-ow-ho-tcha. He has to see that all the hunters get their deer. If one of the hunters is unlucky enough not to get a deer, he has to divide up with him. Next we elect our governor, Dta-po- po. He is to see that the camp is in order, and keep peace in the camp. The youngest one is always elected as the cook, and also has to look after the horses and burros, and get wood for the fire. If he has any time, after the dishes are washed, and there is plenty of wood and water, and the stock has been watered, he can hunt right around the camp.

After these officers are elected, the field chief gives orders to put down as an altar, between us and the fire, the flint and other stone animals which every hunter carries with him to the hunt, and which are handed down in each family. After all of these little animals are placed on the level ground, they sprinkle white cornmeal over them, and around them, forming a circle of cornmeal. Then a song

is sung which means: "We welcome this altar into our camp. Come and take a place with us." Then they sing to the mountain lion to take its place, then the wolf, then the man himself, then the owls, then the hawks. Song after song continues through the night until dawn. In the morning, each one picks up his little hunting animal, and ties it in the handkerchief around his neck, and takes his cornmeal from the little bag at his side. Praying to the strange gods, and breathing his breath on the cornmeal, he sprinkles it out to the east to the sun.

The hunters are ordered to pack up for another day's trip. All are feeling happy, and they are not supposed to make one complaint about anything, which is strict orders. They sing softly all the way they travel.

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When an Indian has hit a deer, he runs to the fallen animal. First he takes a small branch of a tree and brushes him off, as he has a religious belief that the deer is made of sheets of clouds, and he has to brush off the clouds to get at him. Then he reaches down in his pocket for some yellow pollen he has collected from flowers, takes it between his thumb and forefinger, drops a little on the deer's mouth, then carries it to his own breath, and makes a sign with the pollen towards the hunter's camp, which is supposed to lead the spirit of the deer to the camp.

Then he pulls the deer around by the forelegs, until he lies with his head towards the camp. The next thing is to take the little flint animals in the shapes of lions, wolves and bears, as many as he carries, and place them on the deer to feed and get back the power they gave him. They always come first. While these animals are on the deer, the hunter rolls a cigarette of cornhusks, and while he smokes he talks to the dead creature just as if he were telling a human where to go. When he finishes he gathers his flint animals, carefully places them in his bag, and talks to them while he puts them in the bag, telling them that he hopes for the good luck of another deer. Then he ties the bag with these animals round his neck under his shirt.

He pulls out of his pocket a flint arrowhead, and, starting from the deer's neck pretends to cut it. In older days, they really cut with the spear head, instead of knives. Then he cuts off juniper pine twigs and lays them as thick as he can alongside of the deer, ready to be placed upon it after it is skinned, to keep the blood off the hide and the dirt off the meat.

After skinning the deer and placing the meat on these juniper twigs,

the hunter starts to cut the animal into parts like a beef. He is always sure that he takes the entrails out first. He digs in the ground a shallow hole, and washes his hands. If there is no water nearby, he wipes his hands on a cloth. He reaches down with his hands into the blood and dips it up four times, and places it in the shallow hole on the earth. This is to feed the mother earth. Then he takes out the spleen, and places it nearby on a twig of a tree to feed the crow. Then he cuts him up.

The hind legs are taken off first, then the front quarters. Then he strips the meat off the bone from the hoofs to the first joint, and ties these muscles together, front and hind legs, so as to hang the deer over the saddle without any rope. Next the ribs are taken off

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in such a way as to hang over the saddle without being separated. This leaves the breast connected with the meat of the stomach, and in this way all the parts will balance on a burro's back, and the backbone and fur and head are still together, and are easily balanced on the saddle.

After each hunter gets one deer, they agree on a day to start home. Coming home they will all join in on their new songs, singing as loudly as they can, and if they camp again before reaching home, the burdens of the burros and horses are placed in line, so as to be easy to repack in line in the morning.

When they are within a mile from home, each of the hunters loads his gun with one shot, and they are fired off, one by one, so that each family by counting the shots, can tell which group of hunters is returning. As they come home each hunter makes a round circle from fir trees, to fit his head, puts evergreens on his horse's bridle, and around the deer heads. Even the burros' heads are decorated with fir twigs.

When they arrive home there will be relatives there to take charge of the meat, and see to the unsaddling and feeding of the animals. All the hunter does is to tell his wonderful story.

Ways of Hunting the Deer Chief Kah-Ge Ga Gah BowhOjibway

The deer was killed in four different ways before the introduction of fire-arms. The first was by a snare formed of a rope of wild hemp, and so placed that when the deer's neck was caught, the

more stir he made the more he couldn't stir. At every movement the cord would wind about the neck tighter and tighter, until he was choked. When they wish to get through soon, they placed these snares all around for half a day, then drive the deer all over the snares until some are caught.

The second was by driving sharp spikes of wood into the ground on the deer path, just the other side of a log over which they would be expected to jump. In jumping the logs, they must fall upon these sharp spikes, which would pierce them through, and thus kill them.

The third way was to drive the deer with dogs into the water, when, being out of their element, they could be captured. In winter,

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instead of driving them into the water, a short chase in the deep snow would soon tire them, and they were soon at the disposal of the hunter.

The fourth and last manner of killing them was by means of bow and arrow. Bows were made of a power to enable them to shoot through the side of a deer without any difficulty. The Indian watched at the ''Salt Licks,'' or at the borders of lakes or rivers, to which the deer often go to feed on the grass. An Indian can shoot a deer in the woods at a distance of fifty paces.

The bow was generally made of iron-wood or red cedar; sometimes of hickory, well seasoned. The arrows were made like spikes at the end. Before they had iron, they used bone and shell for the ends: the shells were carved in such a manner as to admit of being pointed at the end of the arrow.

In the spring but few deer were killed, because they were not in good order, the venison being poor, and the skin so thin, that it was no object to kill them. To hunt deer in the summer was my great delight, which I did in the following manner:During the day I looked for their tracks, as they came on the shore of the lake or river during the night; they came there to feed. If they came on the bank of the river, I lighted pitch pine, and the current of the river took the canoe along the shore. My lantern was so constructed that the fight could not fall on one spot, but sweep along the shore. The deer could see the light, but were not alarmed by it, and continued feeding on the weeds. In this way, I have approached so close that I could have reached them with my paddle. In this manner our forefathers shot them, not with a gun, as I did, but with the bow and arrow.

Another mode of hunting on the lakes, preferred by some, is shooting without a light. Many were so expert, and possessed such an accuracy in hearing, that they could shoot successfully in the dark, with no other guide than the noise of the deer in the water; the position of the deer being well known, in this way, the darkest night. I will here relate an occurrence which took place in 1834. My father and I were hunting on the river Trent, in the night; after we had shot two deer, and while returning homewards, we heard the noise of a deer's footsteps. The night was dark as pitch. We approached the deer. I asked my father at what part of the animal I should aim. He replied, "At the head or neck." I poised my gun and fired; hearing no noise, I concluded that my game was sure. I lighted some pitch

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pine and walked towards the spot from which the noise had come. The deer lay dead and bleeding. On examination I found that I had shot it just below the ear.

A Buffalo Hunt Chief Standing BearSioux

A scout had been sent out, and one morning, very early, he reported that there were some buffalo near. Everybody, including myself, began to get ready. While one of my stepmothers was helping me, she said, "Son, when you kill a buffalo, save me the kidney and the skin." I didn't know whether she was trying to poke fun at me or to give me encouragement. But it made me feel proud to have her talk like that to me.

But my father always talked to me as if I were a man. Of course I now felt that I was big enough to do a man's work. The night before the hunt, my father instructed me as follows:

"My son, the land on which these buffalo have been found is reported not to be rough, and you will not have to chase the buffalo into dangerous places, as the land is very level. Whatever you do, watch the buffalo closely. If the one you are after is running straight ahead and not turning, then you can get in very close, and you will stand a good chance to shoot it in the heart. But if you observe the buffalo to be looking at you from the corner of its eye, then look out! They are very quick and powerful. They can get their horns under your horse and toss him high in the air, and you might get killed.

"If you hit in the right spot, you may kill the buffalo with only one arrow, but if not, you will have to use more. If your pony is not fast enough to catch up with the buffalo, the best thing you can do is to shoot an arrow right behind the small ribs. Perhaps it will reach the heart. If the buffalo runs down a hill or into a bank, then you have another chance. Shoot at the joint of the hips, then your buffalo will sit down and you can take your time to kill it.

"Keep your eyes open! In the beginning there will be lots of dust, but after you pass through that, it will be clear, and you will be able to see where you are going."

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This was the first time I was to go on a hunt after such large animals. I had killed several small animals, but a buffalo is far from being a small creature, and you can imagine that I was greatly excited.

Early the next morning every one was ready for the start. I carried my bow in my hand, as there was not room for it in my quiver where I kept my arrows. I rode a little black mare, a very fine runner that could cover the ground like a deer.

Two men on beautiful horses rode in front of us. This was for the purpose of keeping order in the party. There was no chance of one man getting ahead of the others and scaring the game. We all had to keep together and stay behind these men.

They rode to the top of a hill where they could get a good look at the herd and figure if there was any better place from which to approach it. We always got as close to the buffalo as possible, because it makes the meat tough to run an animal any farther than necessary.

After looking at the herd from various positions, they chose what was considered the most advantageous spot. Here they cautioned the hunters to change to their running-horses and be all ready. I did not have to make any change, as the little black mare was all the animal I had. I saw some of the men tying their two braids of hair back, and others, who wore shirts, began rolling up their sleeves. They wanted their arms free once they began shooting. They fixed their quivers on the side instead of carrying them on the back. Nobody wore any feathers or carried any spears or lances.

The extra horses were hobbled and left in the charge of an old man.

When the two riders gave the command, everybody started right up. Of course I was right at the front with them. I wanted to do something brave. I depended a great deal on my pony, as I knew she was sure-footed and could run as I wanted her to.

At the top of the hill, all the hunters turned their horses loose, and the animals started in running like the wind! I whipped up my little black mare and nearly got ahead of the others. Soon I was mixed up in the dust and could see nothing ahead of me. All I could hear was the roar and rattle of the hoofs of the buffalo as they thundered along. My pony shied this way and that, and I had to hold on for dear life.

For a time I did not even try to pull an arrow from my quiver, as

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I had all I could do to take care of myself. I knew if my pony went down and one of those big animals stepped on me, it would be my last day on earth. I then realized how helpless I was there in all that dust and confusion, with those ponderous buffalo all around me. The sound of their hoofs was frightening. My pony ran like the wind, while I just clung to her mane; but presently we came out of the dust.

Then I observed what my father had told me previously. I was quite a bit ahead of the buffalo now, and when they caught sight of me, they started running in two different directions. When I looked at those big animals and thought of trying to kill one of them, I realized how small I was. I was really afraid of them. Then I thought about what my stepmother had said to me about bringing her a kidney and a skin, and the feeling that I was a man, after all, came back to me; so I turned my pony toward the bunch which was running north. There was no dust now, and I knew where I was going.

I was all alone, and I was determined to chase them, whether I killed one or not. By this time I could hear shots fired by some of the hunters who carried guns, and I knew they were killing some. So I rode on after this small bunch, and when I dashed behind them, I pulled out one of my arrows and shot into the middle of them. I did not even know where my arrow went, and was just thinking of quitting when I observed a young heifer running slower than the others.

This encouraged me, so I whipped up my pony again and took after her. As I came in close, she stopped and turned. Then she started running in another direction, but I saw she was losing fast. She was

not as big as the others, so I was not afraid. I made up my mind I was going to kill that buffalo if it took all the arrows in my quiver.

I rode right up alongside the buffalo, just as my father had instructed me. Drawing an arrow from my quiver, and holding to my pony with all the strength of my legs, I fitted the arrow and let drive with all my strength. I had expected to kill the buffalo right quick, but the arrow went into the neckand I thought I had taken such good aim! But the buffalo only shook her head and kept on running. I again caught up with her, and let another arrow loose, which struck near the heart. Although it was not fired with sufficient strength to kill at once, I saw that she was fast weakening and running much slower. Then I pulled my third arrow and fired again. This went into the heart. I began to think that buffalo had all the nine lives of a cat, and was going to prove about as hard as a cat to kill, when I saw blood

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running from her nose. Then I knew she would have to drop pretty soon. I shot my fourth arrow into her, and she staggered and dropped over on her side, and was soon dead. So I had killed my first buffalo.

When I examined the fallen animal and noted that I had shot five arrows into her, I felt that this was too many arrows for just one buffalo. Then I recalled that my father had once killed two buffalo with only a single arrow. He knew he had hit the first one in the right spot, as the arrow penetrated very deeply and he simply rode up alongside, drew the arrow through, pulled it out again and used it to kill the second one.

As I stood there thinking of this, it made me feel ashamed of my marksmanship. I began to think of pulling all the arrows out but one. In fact, I had started to do this, when a remark that my father had once made to me came into my head. It was, "Son, always remember that a man who tells lies is never liked by anybody." So, instead of trying to cheat, I told the truth; and it made me feel happier.

I took all the arrows out and started in to skin the buffalo. I was doing splendidly until I tried to turn the animal over. Then I discovered that it was too heavy a task for me. As I had but one side skinned I began to think of removing the kidney and cutting out a nice piece of meat for my stepmother. Just then I heard someone call me. I got on my pony and rode to the top of the hill. There I saw my father, who had been looking for me. He called to me, but I just rode back to my buffalo. He knew something had happened, so came over, and then I pointed to the dead buffalo, lying there half-skinned.

He was so pleased that I had tried to do my best. Then I told him about the number of arrows I had had to use, and where each one had struck. I even told him how I had shot my first arrow into the whole bunch, not knowing where it had landed. He laughed, but he was proud of me. I guess it was because I had told the truth, and not tried to cheat or lie, even though I was just a youngster.

Then Father started in on my buffalo. He soon had it all skinned and butchered. He said he had been all ready to go home when he discovered I was missing. He had thought I was with my grandfather, while Grandfather thought I was with him. All that time I was having a hard job all by myself. When we reached home it made me very proud to be able to give my stepmother the skin and kidney. And she was pleased that I had done so well.

My father called the old man of the camp, who always acted as

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herald, to announced that "Ota Kte" ["Plenty Kill," the boyhood name of Chief Standing Bear] had shot his first buffalo, and that "Standing Bear," his father, was giving away a horse.

Killing a Bear Chief Kah-Ge-Ga-Gag-BowhOjibway

Of all animals the bear is the most dangerous to hunt. I had heard so many stories about its cunning that I dreaded to meet one. One day a party of us were going out to hunt the bear. After we had made a temporary place to stay for several days, we marched in file. After a while we halted, each took a different direction. My father said, "My son, you had better loiter behind the rest. Do not go far, for you may lose yourself." We partedI took my course, and the rest theirs. I trembled for fear I should see what I was hunting for! I went only where I least expected to see a bear, and every noise I heard in the woods, I thought must be one. As I stood on an old mossy log, there was such a crack on the side of the hill that my heart leaped within me. As I turned and looked, there was a large bear running towards me! I hid myself behind a tree; but on he came; I watched him; he came like a hogshead rolling down hill; there were no signs of stopping; when a few feet from me, I jumped aside, and cried Yah! (an exclamation of fear). I fired my gun without taking sight; in turning suddenly to avoid me, he threw up the earth and leaves; for an instant I was led to believe that the bear was upon me. I dropped my gun and fell backwards, while the bear lay sprawling just by me. Having recovered, I took up my gun and went a few feet from where I fell, and loaded my gun in a

hurry. I then sought for a long pole, and with it, I poked it on its side, to see if it was really dead. It did not move, it was dead; but even then I had not courage to go and touch it with my hands. When all was over, and I had told my father I had killed a bear, I felt as though my little leggings could hardly contain me. In examining it, I found the ball had gone through its heart.

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III WILDERNESS SPORTS

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The Indians excelled in competitive sports which demanded alertness and athletic skill. When not hunting or on the warpath, they gave much time to wrestling, target practice with arrows and knives, shinny, and intertribal ball play and pony racing. Once a group of army officers at Fort Chadbourne in Texas pitted their three finest race horses against a shaggy Comanche pony. The little pony won the first two races only by a neck, and the army officers, not realizing that the Comanches were leading them on, wagered large sums on the third race. Their fastest horse, a thoroughbred Kentucky mare, was running. At the starting signal, the shaggy pony got away like the wind and left the mare far behind. The Comanche rider galloped the last fifty yards of the course facing his pony's tail and beckoning to the army officer to hurry.

Although the Indians had no games of mental agility, they played many kinds of guessing games on which both players and spectators often placed heavy bets. Sometimes in the fever of gambling a plains warrior would stake his tepee or even his wife on a single toss of the dice. The loser paid his debts without grumbling, for the Indians put a high value on good sportsmanship.

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Games of Sioux Children OhiyesaSioux

The Indian boy was a prince of the wilderness. He had but very little work to do during the period of his boyhood. His principal occupation was the practice of a few simple arts in warfare and the chase. Aside from this, he was master of his time.

Whatever was required of us boys was quickly performed: then the field was clear for our games and plays. There was always keen competition among us. We felt very much as our fathers did in hunting and wareach one strove to excel all the others.

It is true that our savage life was a precarious one, and full of dreadful catastrophes; however, this never prevented us from enjoying our sports to the fullest extent. As we left our teepees in the morning, we were never sure that our scalps would not dangle from a pole in the afternoon! It was an uncertain life, to be sure. Yet we observed that the fawns skipped and played happily while the gray wolves might be peeping forth from behind the hills, ready to tear them limb from limb.

Our sports were molded by the life and customs of our people; indeed, we practiced only what we expected to do when grown. Our games were feats with the bow and arrow, foot and pony races, wrestling, swimming and imitation of the customs and habits of our fathers. We had sham fights with mud balls and willow wands; we played lacrosse, made war upon bees, and coasted upon the ribs of animals and buffalo robes.

No sooner did the boys get together than, as a usual thing, they divided into squads and chose sides; then a leading arrow was shot at random into the air. Before it fell to the ground a volley from the

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bows of the participants followed. Each player was quick to note the direction and speed of the leading arrow and he tried to send his own at the same speed and at an equal height, so that when it fell it would be closer to the first than any of the others.

It was considered out of place to shoot by first sighting the object aimed at. This was usually impracticable in actual life, because the object was almost always in motion, while the hunter himself was often upon the back of a pony at full gallop. Therefore, it was the off-hand shot that the Indian boy sought to master.

The races were an every-day occurrence. At noon the boys were usually gathered by some pleasant sheet of water and as soon as the ponies were watered, they were allowed to graze for an hour or two while the boys stripped for their noonday sports. A boy might say to some other whom he considered his equal:

"I can't run; but I will challenge you to fifty paces."

A former hero, when beaten, would often explain his defeat by saying: "I drank too much water."

Last of all came the swimming. A little urchin would hang to his pony's long tail, while the latter, with only his head above water, glided sportively along. Finally the animals were driven into a fine field of grass and we turned our attention to other games.

Lacrosse was an older game and was confined entirely to the Sisseton and Santee Sioux. Shinny, such as is enjoyed by white boys on the ice, is still played on the open prairie by the western Sioux. The moccasin game" [a guessing game, similar to our pea-

and-shell game], although sometimes played by the boys, was intended mainly for adults.

The "mud-and-willow" fight was rather a severe and dangerous sport. A lump of soft clay was stuck on the end of a limber and springy willow wand and thrown as boys throw apples from sticks, with considerable force. When there were fifty or a hundred players on each side, the battle became warm; but anything to arouse the bravery of Indian boys seemed to them a good and wholesome diversion.

Wrestling was largely indulged in by us all. It may seem odd, but wrestling was done by a great many boys at oncefrom ten to any number on a side. It was really a battle, in which each one chose his opponent. The rule was that if a boy sat down, he was let alone, but as long as he remained standing within the field, he was open to attack.

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No one struck with the hand, but all manner of tripping with legs and feet and butting with the knees was allowed. Altogether it was an exhausting pastime-fully equal to the American game of football and only the young athlete could really enjoy it.

One of our most curious sports was a war upon the nests of wild bees. We imagined ourselves about to make an attack upon the Ojib-ways or some tribal foe. We all painted and stole cautiously upon the nest; then, with a rush and war-whoop, sprang upon the object of our attack and endeavored to destroy it. But it seemed that the bees were always on the alert and never entirely surprised, for they always raised quite as many scalps as did their bold assailants! After the onslaught upon the nest was ended, we usually followed it by a pretended scalp dance.

On the occasion of my first experience in this mode of warfare, there were two other little boys who were also novices. One of them particularly was too young to indulge in an exploit of that kind. As it was the custom of our people, when they killed or wounded an enemy on the battle field, to announce the act in a loud voice, we did the same. My friend, Little Wound (as I will call him, for I do not remember his name), being quite small, was unable to reach the nest until it had been well trampled upon and broken and the insects had made a counter charge with such vigor as to repulse and scatter our numbers in every direction. However, he evidently did not want to retreat without any honors; so he bravely jumped upon the nest and yelled:

''I, the brave Little Wound, to-day kill the only fierce enemy!''

Scarcely were the last words uttered when he screamed as if

stabbed to the heart. One of his older companions shouted:

"Dive into the water! Run! Dive into the water!" for there was a lake nearby. This advice he obeyed.

When we had reassembled and were indulging in our mimic dance, Little Wound was not allowed to dance. He was considered not to be in existencehe had been killed by our enemies, the Bee tribe. Poor little fellow! His swollen face was sad and ashamed as he sat on a fallen log and watched the dance. Although he might well have styled himself one of the noble dead who had died for their country, yet he was not unmindful that he had screamed, and this weakness would be apt to recur to him many times in the future.

We had some quiet plays which we alternated with the more severe

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and warlike ones. Among them were throwing wands and snow- arrows. In the winter we coasted much. We had no "double- rippers" or toboggans, but six or seven of the long ribs of a buffalo, fastened together at the larger end, answered all practical purposes. Sometimes a strip of bass-wood bark, four feet long and about six inches wide, was used with considerable skill. We stood on one end and held the other, using the slippery inside of the bark for the outside, and thus coasting down long hills with remarkable speed.

The spinning of tops was one of the all-absorbing winter sports. We made our tops heart-shaped of wood, horn or bone. We whipped them with a long thong of buckskin. The handle was a stick about a foot long and sometimes we whittled the stick to make it spoon- shaped at one end.

We played games with these topstwo to fifty boys at one time. Each whips his top until it hums; then one takes the lead and the rest follow in a sort of obstacle race. The top must spin all the way through. There were bars of snow over which we must pilot our top in the spoon end of our whip; then again we would toss it in the air on to another open spot of ice or smooth snow-crust from twenty to fifty paces away. The top that holds out the longest is the winner.

Sometimes we played "medicine dance." This, to us, was almost what "playing church" is among white children, but our people seemed to think it an act of irreverence to imitate these dances, therefore performances of this kind were always enjoyed in secret. We used to observe all the important ceremonies and it required something of an actor to reproduce the dramatic features of the dance. The real dances occupied a day and a night, and the program

was long and varied, so that it was not easy to execute all the details perfectly; but the Indian children are born imitators.

Occasionally, we also played "white man." Our knowledge of the pale-face was limited, but we had learned that he brought goods whenever he came and that our people exchanged furs for his merchandise. We also knew that his complexion was pale, that he had short hair on his head and long hair on his face and that he wore coat, trousers, and hat, and did not patronize blankets in the daytime. That was the picture we had formed of the white man.

So we painted two or three of our number with white clay and put on them birchen hats which we sewed up for the occasion; fastened a piece of fur to their chins for a beard and altered their cos-

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tumes as much as lay within our power. The white of the birch-bark was made to answer for their white shirts. Their merchandise consisted of sand for sugar, wild beans for coffee, dried leaves for tea, pulverized earth for gun-powder, pebbles for bullets and clear water for the dangerous "spirit water." We traded for these goods with skins of squirrels, rabbits and small birds.

When we played "hunting buffalo" we would send a few good runners off on the open prairie with a supply of meat; then start a few equally swift boys to chase them and capture the food. Once we were engaged in this sport when a real hunt by the men was in progress; yet we did not realize that it was so near until, in the midst of our play, we saw an immense buffalo coming at full speed directly toward us. Our mimic buffalo hunt turned into a very real buffalo scare. Fortunately, we were near the edge of the woods and we soon disappeared among the leaves like a covey of young prairie-chickens and some hid in the bushes while others took refuge in tall trees.

We loved to play in the water. When we had no ponies, we often had swimming matches of our own and sometimes made rafts with which we crossed lakes and rivers. It was a common thing to "duck" a young or timid boy or to carry him into deep water to struggle as best he might.

I remember a perilous ride with a companion on an unmanageable log, when we were both less than seven years old. The older boys had put us on this uncertain bark and pushed us out into the swift current of the river. I cannot speak for my comrade in distress, but I can say now that I would rather ride on a swift bronco any day than try to stay on and steady a short log in a river. I never knew how

we managed to prevent shipwreck on that voyage and to reach the shore.

We had many curious wild pets. There were young foxes, bears, wolves, raccoons, fawns, buffalo calves and birds of all kinds, tamed by various boys. My pets were different at different times, but I particularly remember one. I once had a grizzly bear for a pet and so far as he and I were concerned, our relations were charming and very close. But I hardly know whether he made more enemies for me or I for him. It was his habit to treat every boy unmercifully who injured me. He was despised for his conduct in my interest and I was hated on account of his interference.

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Hopi Children at Play Don C. TalayesvaHopi

We learned to catch beetles and put them in circles; we called them our "wild horses," but we were warned never to hurt them, for the old people said they were good in treating some diseases. I never played with spiders because of their mother, the Spider Woman. I never teased the hawks and eagles staked out on the housetops [captured birds used in religious ceremonies], for we were told that they were spirit people.

We made necklaces out of homed toads and strung them around our necks. The old people said, "Don't tease toads too much; they are spirits and can help us." I could pick up a lizard or a horned toad in my hands and not feel afraid. One time I was too rough with a toad, and it bit me. This taught me a lesson. I never tied a string to a toad and hung it around another fellow's neck; he might have slung the toad away roughly, angering it, and this would have been a disgrace. At first I used to pick up small snakes, but later I learned that this was not right. One day I killed a very small one, which was an awful thing to do.

We chased the chickens, threw corncobs at them, and shot them with our toy arrows. We encouraged roosters to fight for our amusement. My grandfather cautioned me that chickens are the chosen pets of the Sun god. "The crowing of the cocks in the early morning is important," he said. "The Sun god put them here to wake up the people. He rings a little bell telling the roosters when

to announce the coming dawn. They crow four times before daylight."

Games of the Eastern Tribes Chief Kah-Ge-Ga-Gah-BowhOjibway

The plays I am about to describe are the principal games practised by the people of my nation. One of the most popular games is that of ball-playing [lacrosse, now the national game of Canada], which oftentimes engages an entire village. Parties are formed of from ten to several hundred. Before they commence, those who are to take a part in the play must provide each his share of staking, or things

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which are set apart; and one leader for each party. Each leader then appoints one of each company to be stake-holder.

Each man and each woman (women sometimes engage in the sport) is armed with a stick, one end of which bends somewhat like a small hoop, about four inches in circumference, to which is attached a net work of raw-hide, two inches deep, just large enough to admit the ball which is to be used on the occasion. Two poles are driven in the ground at a distance of four hundred paces from each other, which serve as goals for the two parties. It is the endeavor of each to take the ball to his hole. The party which carries the ball and strikes its pole wins the game.

The warriors, very scantily attired, young and brave, fantastically paintedand women, decorated with feathers, assemble around their commanders, who are generally men swift on the race. They are to take the ball either by running with it or throwing it in the air. As the ball falls in the crowd the excitement begins. The clubs swing and roll from side to side, the players run and shout, fall upon and tread upon each other, and in the struggle some get rather rough treatment.

When the ball is thrown some distance on each side, the party standing near instantly pick it up, and run at full speed with three or four after him at full speed. The others send their shouts of encouragement to their own party. "Ha! ha! yah!" "A-ne-gook!" and these shouts are heard even from the distant lodges, for children and all are deeply interested in the exciting scene. The spoils are not all on which their interest is fixed, but is directed to the falling and rolling of the crowds over and under each other. The loud and merry shouts of the spectators, who crowd the doors of

the wigwams, go forth in one continued peal, and testify to their happy state of feeling.

The players receive blows whose marks are plainly visible after the scuffle. The hands and feet are unincumbered, and they exercise them to the extent of their power; and with such dexterity do they strike the ball that it is sent out of sight. Another strikes it on its descent, and for ten minutes at a time the play is so adroitly managed that the ball does not touch the ground,

No one is heard to complain, though he be bruised severely, or his nose come in close communion with a club. If the last mentioned catastrophe befell him, he is up in a trice, and sends his laugh forth as loud as the rest, though it be floated at first on a tide of blood.

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It is very seldom, if ever, that one is seen to be angry because he has been hurt. If he should get so, they would call him a "coward," which proves a sufficient check to many evils which might result from many seemingly intended injuries.

The Moccasin play is simple, and can be played by two or three. Three moccasins are used for the purpose of hiding the bullets which are employed in the game. So deeply interesting does this play sometimes become, that an Indian will stake first his gun; next his steeltraps; then his implements of war; then his clothing; and lastly, his tobacco and pipe, leaving him, as we say, "Nah-bah-wan- yah-ze-yaid;" a piece of cloth with a string around his waist.

The "Tossing Play" is a game seldom seen among the whites. It is played in the wigwam. There is used in it an oblong knot, made of cedar boughs, of length, say about seven inches. On the top is fastened a string, about fifteen inches long, by which the knot is swung. On the other end of this string is another stick, two and a half inches long, and sharply pointed. This is held in the hand, and if the player can hit the large stick every time it falls on the sharp one he wins.

"Bone Play," is another in-door amusement, so called, because the articles used are made of the hoof-joint bones of the deer. The ends are hollowed out, and from three to ten are strung together. In playing it, they use the same kind of sharp stick, the end of which is thrown into the bones.

Doubtless the most interesting of all games is the "Maidens' Ball Play," in the Ojibway language, Pah-pah-se-Kah-way.

The majority of those who take part in this play are young damsels,

though married women are not excluded. The ball is made of two deer skin bags, each about five inches long and one in diameter. These are so fastened together as to be at a distance of seven inches from the other. It is thrown with a stick five feet long.

This play is practiced in summer beneath the shade of wide- spreading trees, beneath which each strives to find their homes, tahwin, and to run home with it. These having been appointed in the morning, the young women of the village decorate themselves for the day by painting their cheeks with vermillion, and disrobe themselves of as much unnecessary clothing as possible, braiding their hair with colored feathers, which hang profusely down to the feet.

At the set time the whole village assemble, and the young men,

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whose loved ones are seen in the crowd, twist and turn to send sly glances to them, and receive their bright smiles in return.

The same confusion exists as in the game of ball played by the men. Crowds rush to a given point as the ball is sent flying through the air. None stop to narrate the accidents that befall them, though they tumble about to their no little discomfiture; they rise making a loud noise, something between a laugh and a cry, some limping behind the others, as the women shout. "Ain goo" is heard sounding like the notes of a dove, of which it is no bad imitation. Worked garters, moccasins, leggings and vermillion are generally the articles at stake. Sometimes the Chief of the village sends a parcel before they commence, the contents of which are to be distributed among the maidens when the play is over.

Outdoor Sports of the Plains Indians Wooden LegCheyenne

Competitive sports used to interest us. Horse races, foot races, wrestling matches, target shooting with guns or with arrows, tossing the arrows by hand, swimming, jumping and other like contests were entered upon. In the tribe such competition usually was between men representing the three warrior societies. These were the Elk warriors, the Crazy Dog warriors and the Fox warriors. If any Sioux tribe or big band camped jointly with us the matches were between representative members of the two tribes. Bets were made on every kind of contest. The stakes were of guns, ammunition, bows and arrows, blankets, horses, robes, jewelry, shirts, leggings, moccasins, everything in the line of personal

property. The betting always was on even terms. Articles were piled upon a blanket, matched articles in apposition to each other. The winners took all and shouted over the victory.

The Elk warriors, the society to which I belonged, had the best runners. Our speediest man on foot was named Apache. He was almost as tall as I was and he was much heavier. He had remarkably big thighs. One time at a double camping with the Ogallalas on upper Powder river a foot race was arranged between the two tribal champions. The Ogallala fast man was tall and slender. His name was

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Black Legs. The distance they were to run was about a mile, I believe, although at that time we had no measurements for distance. Four friends of each man accompanied the two racers to the starting point. A revolver shot told them when to go. Near the finish, the Sioux fell exhausted. Our man Apache was very tired, but he ran on to the end of the route. Of course, the Cheyennes took all of the stakes, let out a chorus of cheers and fired their guns into the air. "The Cheyenne medicine broke his legs," the Sioux said when their man collapsed.

The old Chief Little Wolf had been a great runner when he was a young man. The longer the distance the better it suited him. As the Cheyennes and the Ogallalas were traveling together in moving camp there was much bantering such as, "I think the Sioux can travel faster than the Cheyennes can," or, "It appears the Cheyennes must go a little more slowly in order not to run away from their friends the Sioux." Finally a young Sioux jokingly challenged Little Wolf to a foot race.

"How," assented Little Wolf, "I'll run with you."

The caravan was stopped and arrangements were made for the race. Little Wolf then was past fifty years of age, while his Sioux challenger was just entering young manhood. Nevertheless, the Cheyennes backed their chief heavily. A great pile of bets were placed upon the containing blankets. Four Cheyennes and four Sioux went with the two men to the agreed starting point, which must have been three or four miles away. At the crack of a revolver shot the race began. Up to the last mile the young Sioux kept well in the lead. Then he began to move more slowly. It appeared Little Wolf never changed his pace. So he closed up toward the leader. In

the last part of the last mile he went ahead, still running at what appeared to be his same rate while the other man's speed continued to lessen. By a broad hundred yards Little Wolf won the contest. Many of the Sioux, even some who had lost bets, joined the Cheyennes in cheering for the old man.

A good wrestler and general strong man was Little Hawk. He and Buffalo Hump and Brave Wolf made up a playful raiding group in the camp one time after a great hunting party had brought in lots of buffalo beef. All about the camp circle there were drying poles loaded with meat. The three young men had not been fortunate in the chase, so they decided to borrow from their friends. They went to a certain tepee.

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"We need meat," they announced. "Your drying poles are too full, and we think our wants can be supplied there. But Little Hawk wants to wrestle for it. If anybody here can throw him we will not take any food from this lodge."

Nobody there wanted to accept this challenge. The young men took some meat and went on to another tepee. There they made the same kind of announcement and proposition. There likewise all of the men present feared to grapple with Little Hawk, and there also the three joking robbers helped themselves from the bountiful store. At the next tepee the transaction was more complex. After some exchange of talk the spokesman of the lodge said: "Big Thigh is here. He says he will wrestle you."

The conditions of the match were agreed upon. The two men stripped to their breechcloths. A group of onlookers assembled. The group soon became a great crowd. Big Thigh and Little Hawk appeared equally confident. Both of them rushed into the grapple. They tugged and shoved and tripped. The advantage seemed to shift back and forth. The throng of spectators whooped and danced. There was some partisan cheering, but most of it was merely the expression of delight at witnessing this tribal championship battle. After several minutes of fierce and continuous struggling Little Hawk began to weaken and wilt. Big Thigh pinioned the arms of his antagonist and bore him face downward to the ground. The victor sat astride the back of the vanquished and sprinkled handfuls of dirt upon him. He also picked up a folded blanket lying near by and used this as a soft club in pretense at beating into complete submission the defeated Little Hawk. Shouts of congratulation greeted the conqueror while jeers were heaped upon the under dog

and his two confederates. Brave Wolf and Buffalo Hump, ridiculed to complete embarrassment and compelled to replace their looted buffalo meat, quickly took themselves into hiding.

Our target shooting was with rifles, revolvers and arrows. For the arrow contests an erect wooden figure of a man was the customary mark. Sometimes the arrows were shot from the bow, sometimes they were tossed by hand. Both accuracy and extent of penetration counted in either form of this archery. Shooting arrows for long distance was another test of capability. Here a strong bow and a powerful arm and hand were important elements for success. In all of these games the regular rule allowed four successive shots for each

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contestant. Fine points in the manipulation of arrows were brought out in the sidewise tossing of them at short distances, each toss being made in attempt at the exact crossing of another arrow thrown out by an opponent.

Most of our few rifles were muzzle loaders and our revolvers usually were of the kind using caps and moulded bullets. The target for practice with them ordinarily was a black ring as broad as a large hand marked upon an animal's dried shoulderblade, or upon a barked tree. Teams of three or more men on each side often were arrayed against each other for either the arrow or gun contests. Usually the teams represented their respective warrior societies. On many occasions, though, there were personal engagements. In these there might be sought only an honorable distinction or there might be betting added as an incentive to achievement.

Whisky Sprees Chief Kah-Ge-Ga-Gah-BowhOjibway

There was a custom among us that when the Ojibways intended to take a general whisky "spree," several young men were appointed by the head chief to collect all the fire arms, knives, war-clubs and other weapons, and keep them in a secret place, till the Indians had completed their frolic. This was done to prevent them from murdering each other when intoxicated. By this means many lives have been saved; although many have been killed during their drunken fights.

They would walk very far for a dram of liquor. I once heard of an

individual, whom I had seen many times, who would travel all day for a single drink of fire-water. When he arrived at the trading post, he obtained and guzzled down a cup full of whisky. When the poison had operated, he said, that he felt as if his head was going down his throat; and added, "Whah! I wish my neck was a mile long, so that I might feel and hear the whisky running all the way down!"

A certain Indian once teased a Mrs. F. for whisky, which he said was to cure his "big toe," that had been badly bruised the preceding night. Mrs. F. said, "I am afraid you will drink it." He declared he would not drink it; and after much pleading, she handed him some; he took it, and looking first at his toe, and then at the liquor, alter-

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nately, all of a sudden he slipped the whisky down his gullet, at the same time exclaiming, as he pointed to his toe, ''There, whisky, go down to my poor big toe.''

Temperance Lessons Chief Simon PokagonPottawattami

Most Indian leaders disapproved of drinking sprees and appealed to the American government to pass probihition laws. In 1802 Little Turtle, a Miami chief, addressed the legislatures of Ohio and Kentucky urging that laws be passed to stop the whisky traffic. Of the whisky traders, Little Turtle said: "They stripped the poor Indian of skins, gun, blanket, everythingwhile his squaw and the children dependent on him lay starving and shivering in his wigwam."

Despite the efforts of Little Turtle and other chiefs, the government made no serious attempt to stop the liquor traders who were enriching themselves at the Indian's expense. One well known whisky recipe called for "two gallons of common whisky, or unrectified spirits, to thirty gallons of water, add red pepper enough to make it fiery, and tobacco enough to make it intoxicating."

Ash-taw was a woman among the Ottawas renowned as a temperance worker. She traveled from place to place, and wherever she found a few families in a neighborhood, she called the children together to hold a little "pow-wow" of their own. She always managed to keep on hand a stock of snakes' eggs. She would hold

her meetings at such times as some of the egg litters were about to hatch. She stained them a beautiful red color, placing them on green moss in "wig-was-si ma-kak-ogons" (small, white birch-bark boxes) so as to have them appear to the children as charming as possible. After the children were assembled, she called them about her; then opened the boxes one by one in their presence; and when their admiration was sufficiently excited so they all began to inquire what kind of eggs they were, she would make reply, "These are ish-kot-e-waw-bo wan-an-og (whisky eggs);" then she would add, "Would you like to take some of them?" She would then carefully put into each extended hand some of the charming- colored little eggs.

On receiving them, childlike they would feel of the little beauties

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with the tips of their fingers, when to their great surprise, the frail egg shells would crumble away, and from each come forth a little snake squirming and wriggling in their hands. Then with a shriek of horror they would let the young reptiles drop, and scatter like leaves in a whirlwind. The cruel joke impressed their youthful minds with such a loathsome hate against ish-kot-e-waw-bo that their very souls ever after would revolt at the sight, smell, or even thought of the deceptive curse.

This shrewd woman would then make an application of the strong object-lesson, convincing the children that what they had witnessed was but a slight foretaste of the awful reality, and that they who drank, after a while would be tormented with "mi-chi-gin-e-big" (great big snakes), which they could not escape, or even let go of.

Fireside Humor OhiyesaSioux

There is scarcely anything so exasperating to me as the idea that the natives of this country have no sense of humor and no faculty for mirth. This phase of their character is well understood by those whose fortune or misfortune it has been to live among them day in and day out at their homes. I don't believe I ever heard a real hearty laugh away from the Indians' fireside. I have often spent an entire evening in laughing with them until I could laugh no more. There are evenings when the recognized wit or story-teller of the village gives a free entertainment which keeps the rest of the community in a convulsive state until he leaves them. However, Indian humor

consists as much in the gestures and inflections of the voice as in words, and is really untranslatable.

Matogee (Yellow Bear) was a natural humorous speaker, and a very diffident man at other times. He usually said little, but when he was in the mood he could keep a large company in a roar.

"I am a believer in dreams," one remarked.

"Yes, certainly, so are we all. You know Hachah almost lost his life by believing in dreams," commented Matogee.

"Let us hear that story," was the general request.

"You have all heard of Hachah, the great medicine man, who did many wonderful things. He once dreamed four nights in succession

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of flying from a high cliff over the Minnesota river. He recollected every particular of the scene, and it made a great impression upon his mind.

"The next day after he had dreamed it for the fourth time, he proposed to his wife that they go down to the river to swim, but his real purpose was to see the place of his dream.

"He did find the place, and it seemed to Hachah exactly like. A crooked tree grew out of the top of the cliff, and the water below was very deep."

"Did he really fly?" I called impatiently from the doorway, where I had been listening and laughing with the rest.

"Ugh, that is what I shall tell you. He was swimming about with his wife, who was a fine swimmer; but all at once Hachah disappeared. Presently he stood upon the very tree that he had seen in his dream, and gazed out over the water. The tree was very springy, and Hachah felt sure that he could fly; so before long he launched bravely forth from the cliff. He kicked out vigorously and swung both arms as he did so, but nevertheless he came down to the bottom of the water like a crow that had been shot on the wing."

"Ho, ho, ho! Ho, ho, ho!" and the whole company laughed unreservedly.

"His wife screamed loudly as Hachah whirled downward and went out of sight like a blue heron after a fish. Then she feared he might be stunned, so she swam to him and dragged him to the shore. He could not speak, but the woman overwhelmed him with reproaches.

"'What are you trying to do, you old idiot? Do you want to kill

yourself?' she screamed again and again.

"'Woman, be silent,' he replied, and he said nothing more. He did not tell his dream for many years afterward. Not until he was a very old man and about to die, did Hachah tell any one how he thought he could fly."

And at this they all laughed louder than ever.

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IV THE GREAT SPIRIT

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The Indian religion was designed to bring happiness in this world, and when the Indian prayed or made sacrificial offerings he demanded immediate results. If the results were not forthcoming from one god, the Indian tried another, for the number of godsfriendly and hostilewas legion.

Most Indians believed that the world was pervaded by a strange, magical force which was possessed by every god and could even be attained by man. Control of this force could make a warrior invulnerable to the weapons of his enemy, successful in hunting, or irresistible to women. Each tribe had a different name for the mysterious power. The Algonquians called it Manito, the Sioux called it Wakan Tanka, and the early missionaries, confusing this force with their own idea of God, named it the Great Spirit.

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Searching for a Spiritual Guide Edward GoodbirdHidatsa

We Hidatsas believed that this world and everything in it was alive and had spirits; and our faith in these spirits and our worship of them made our religion.

My father explained this to me. "All things in this world," he said, "have souls, or spirits. The sky has a spirit; the clouds have spirits; the sun and moon have spirits; so have animals, trees, grass, water, stones, everything. These spirits are our gods; and we pray to them and give them offerings, that they may help us in our need."

We Indians did not believe in one Great Spirit, as white men seem to think all Indians do. We did believe that certain gods were more powerful than others. Of these was It-si-ka-ma-hi-di, our elder creator, the spirit of the prairie wolf; and Ka-du-te-ta, or Old- woman-who-never-dies, who first taught my people to till their fields. Long histories are given of these gods.

Any one could pray to the spirits, receiving answer usually in a dream. Indeed, all dreams were thought to be from the spirits; and for this reason they were always heeded, especially those that came by fasting and suffering. Sometimes a man fasted and tortured himself until he fell into a kind of dream while yet awake; we called this a vision.

Believing as he did that the world was full of spirits, every Indian hoped that one of them would come to him and be his protector, especially in war. When a lad became about seventeen years of age,

his parents would say, "You are now old enough to go to war; but you should first go out and find your god!" They meant by this, that he should not risk his life in battle until he had a protecting spirit.

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Finding one's god was not an easy task. The lad painted his body with white clay, as if in mourning, and went out among the hills, upon some bluff, where he could be seen of the gods; and for days, with neither food nor drink, and often torturing himself, he cried to the gods to pity him and come to him. His sufferings at last brought on delirium, so that he dreamed, or saw a vision. Whatever he saw in this vision was his god, come to pledge him protection. Usually this god was a bird or beast; or it might be the spirit of some one dead; the bird or beast was not a flesh-and-blood animal, but a spirit.

The lad then returned home. As soon as he was recovered from his fast, he set out to kill an animal like that seen in his vision, and its dried skin, or a part of it, he kept as his sacred object, or medicine, for in this sacred object dwelt his god. Thus if an otter god appeared to him, the lad would kill an otter, and into its skin, which the lad kept, the god entered. The otter skin was now the lad's medicine; he prayed to it and bore it with him to war, that his god might be present to protect him.

Indians even made offerings of food to their sacred objects. They knew the sacred object did not eat the food; but they believed that the god, or spirit, in the sacred object, ate the spirit of the food. They also burned cedar incense to their sacred objects.

My grandfather once told me of a man who had a vision of four buffalo skulls that became alive.

Many years ago when our villages were on Knife River [North Dakota] a man named Bush went to find his god. He sought a vision from the buffalo spirits; and he thought to make himself

suffer so that the spirits might pity him. He tied four buffalo skulls in a train, one behind another, and as Bush walked he dragged the train of skulls behind him.

He made his way painfully up the Missouri, mourning and crying to the gods. The banks of the Missouri are much cut up by ravines, and Bush suffered greatly as he dragged the heavy skulls over this rough country.

Fifty miles north of the villages, he came to the Little Missouri, a shallow stream, but subject to sudden freshets; he found the river flooded, and rising.

He stood on the bank and cried: "O gods, I am poor and I suffer! I want to find my god. Other men have suffered, and found their gods. Now I suffer much, but no god answers me. I am going to

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plunge into this torrent. I think I shall die, yet I will plunge in. O gods, if you are going to answer me, do it now and save me!"

He waded in, dragging the heavy skulls after him. The water grew deeper. He could no longer wade, he had to swim; he struck out.

He wondered that he no longer felt the weight of the skulls, and that he did not sink. Then he heard something behind him cry, "Whoo-oo-ooh!" He looked around. The four buffalo skulls were swimming about him, buoying him up; but they were no longer skulls! Flesh and wooly hair covered them; they had big, blue eyes; they had red tongues. They were alive!

Bush himself told this story to my grandfather.

It should not be thought that Bush was trying to deceive when he said he saw these things. If one had been with him when he sprang into the torrent, and had cried, "Bush, the skulls are not alive; it is your delirium that makes you think they live!" he would have answered, "Of course you cannot see they are alive! The vision is to me, not to you. The flesh and hair and eyes are spirit flesh. I see them; you see only the skulls!"

The Goods of the Ojibways Chief Kah-He-Ha-Hah-BowhOjibway

The Ojibway Nation believed in a Great Good Spirit, and in a Bad Spirit. They had also "gods innumerable," among which was "the god of war," "the god of hunting,'' and "the god of the fowls of the air."

The skies were filled with the deities they worshipped, and the whole forest awakened with their whispers. The lakes and streams were the places of their resort, and mountains and valleys alike their abode. All the remarkable spots in the country were considered their favorite resorts. These were the peaks of rocky cliffs; the clefts of craggy mounts. Water-falls were thought to be their sporting scenes.

The sky was the home of the god who held a watchful care over every star. They heard him whisper in the gentle breeze, or howl in the tempest. He had dominion over all the heavens, and sometimes amused himself by hurling stars from their stations and causing them on their passage to the earth to change into demons to wrong and perplex the people who inhabited the place of their destination.

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The constellations of stars were council gatherings of the gods. The brightest were ruling spirits, appointed by the Great Spirit as guardians of the lesser ones. Clusters of stars were the populous cities of the celestials.

In the stories of the wigwam, mention is made of some of these high born personages coming to earth to dwell among the people; also of men going up and becoming inhabitants of the skies. They say animals have received wings; and some of them from heaven.

Were all the stories that are related of the skies written, it would be found that each star has connected with it some strange event. The history of the tradition of the stars, according to Indian tradition, would be a history indeed, and would rank among the "curiosities of literature."

The earth teemed with all sorts of spirits, good and bad; those of the forest clothed themselves with moss. During a shower of rain, thousands of them are sheltered in a flower.

The Ojibway, as he reclines beneath the shade of his forest trees, imagines these gods to be about him. He detects their tiny voices in the insect's hum. With half closed eyes he beholds them sporting by thousands on a sunray.

They have a special god presiding over the most noted herbs of the earth. These are subject to this being who is called the god of Medicine. Men or women are deemed capable of learning the virtues of roots from him, and often fast in order to gain his favor. In time of war they carry certain roots with them, which according to their idea, prevent the balls of an enemy from striking them.

Sacred Song to the Morning Star TahirussawhiciChaui-Pawnee

Oh Morning Star, for thee we watch! Dimly comes thy light from distant skies; We see thee, then lost art thou. Morning Star, thou bringest life to us.

We sing this song slowly with reverent feeling, for we are singing of very sacred things.

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The Morning Star is one of the lesser powers. Life and strength and fruitfulness are with the Morning Star. We are reverent toward it. Our fathers performed sacred ceremonies in its honor.

The Morning Star is like a man; he is painted red all over; that is the color of life. He is clad in leggings and a robe is wrapped about him. On his head is a soft downy eagle's feather, painted red. This feather represents the soft, light cloud that is high in the heavens, and the red is the touch of a ray of the coming sun. The soft, downy feather is the symbol of breath and life.

The star comes from a great distance, too far away for us to see the place where it starts. At first we can hardly see it; we lose sight of it, it is so far off; then we see it again, for it is coming steadily toward us all the time. We watch it approach; it comes nearer and nearer; its light grows brighter and brighter.

This is the meaning of this stanza, and the star comes as we sing it four times.

Oh Morning Star, thy form we see! Clad in shining garments dost thou come, Thy plume touched with rosy light. Morning Star, thou now art vanishing.

As we sing this stanza the Morning Star comes still nearer and now we see him standing there in the heavens, a strong man shining brighter and brighter. The soft plume in his hair moves with the breath of the new day, and the ray of the sun touches it with color. As he stands there so bright, he is bringing us strength and new life.

As we look upon him he grows less bright, he is receding, going back to his dwelling place whence he came. We watch him vanishing, passing out of our sight. He has left with us the gift of life which Tira'wa atius [the Great Spirit] sent him to bestow.

We sing this stanza four times.

III

Oh youthful Dawn, for thee we watch! Dimly comes thy light from distant skies; We see thee, then lost art thou. Youthful Dawn, thou bringest life to us.

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As we sing this stanza we are still standing at the west of the lodge, looking through the long passageway toward the east. Now in the distance we see the Dawn approaching; it is coming, coming along the path of the Morning Star. It is a long path and as the Dawn advances along this path sometimes we catch sight of it and then again we lose it, but all the time it is coming nearer.

The Dawn is new born, its breath has sent new life everywhere, all things stir with the life Tira'wa atius has given this child, his child, whose mother is the Night,

We sing this stanza four times.

Oh youthful Dawn, we see thee come! Brighter grows thy glowing light As near, nearer thou dost come. Youthful Dawn, thou now art vanishing.

As we stand, looking through the long passageway of the lodge, watching and singing, we see the Dawn come nearer and nearer; its brightness fills the sky, the shadowy forms on the earth are becoming visible. As we watch, the Dawn, like the Morning Star, recedes. It is following the star, going back to the place whence it came, to its birthplace.

The day is close behind, advancing along the path of the Morning Star and the Dawn, and, as we watch, the Dawn vanishes from our sight.

We sing this song four times.

Among we Skidi-Pawnee, the ceremony of the morning star was a

weird and barbarous rite in which a young girl was sacrificed. They believed that the morning star had great power over their crops, and in certain years, at planting time, they selected a beautiful captive to be offered as a bride to the morning star. She was kept in ignorance of her fate and was treated with great kindness. On the morning of the sacrifice day she was led through the village, begging for wood, unaware that the wood was to be used in burning her. In the afternoon, she was undressed. The right half of her body was painted red and the left half black.

In the final act of the sacrifice the girl was lashed to a scaffold, and a slow fire built under her body just as the morning star was rising.

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Armed with small bows, the men and boys of the tribe fired arrows of joint grass into her breast. As the shafts penetrated her skin, oily substances oozed out and the arrows took fire, flaming like tiny torches. The girl was then killed, and her heart cut out and burned. The smoke from the burning heart was believed to possess magical powers, and weapons and tools were passed through it to insure success in their use.

In 1818 the Skidi-Pawnee were holding the morning star sacrifice when a young Pawnee chief named Petalesbarro, who had concealed two horses nearby, dashed forward, cut the girl loose, and galloped away with her. When they were safe from pursuit, he gave the girl the horse she was riding, a supply of food, and sent her home to her people.

Petalesharro became a hero when news of his deed reached Washington. The young ladies of Miss White's Seminary presented him with a silver medal and this admonition: ''Accept this token of our esteemalways wear it for our sakes, and when again you have the power to save a poor woman from death and torture, think of this and of us, and fly to her relief and her rescue."

Holding the medal in his hand, the handsome warrior replied. "This brings rest to my heart. I feel like the leaf after a storm, and when the wind is still. I listen to you. I am glad. I love the pale faces more than. I ever did, and will open my ears wider when they speak. I am glad you heard of what I did. I did not know the act was so good. It came from my heart. I was ignorant of its value. I now know how good it was. You make me know this by giving me this medal."

The Sun Dance Chief Buffalo Child Long LanceCroatan

About half an hour before noon we would hear a big commotion, and then we would see twelve young warriors racing into the camp on horseback, dragging behind them the freshly cut evergreens which would be thrown over the skeleton of the Sun Dance lodge at a given signal from the medicine man. And a little later two men, dressed in special regalia, would come galloping into camp with an eagle's nest [representing the thunderbird's nest], which would be placed at the top of the Sun Dance pole.

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At high noon, just as the sun arrived directly overhead, the medicine-man would give the signal for the erection of the lodge.

That was the signal for the cut-loose. Never has one heard such a noise as that which prevails for the next fifteen minutes until the lodge is completed. As fifty men work frantically on the big evergreen enclosure, a hundred warriors come galloping into the campus, shooting, yelling, and racing madly around and around the lodge, while many hundreds of others join in the din with rattles, bells, whistles, and shouting and singing. Children run here and there to dodge the heels of the flying horses. Our parents have forgotten us completely; they have been lost in the excitement of the one big moment of the year. The smell of powder smoke and sweating horses fairly sting our nostrils.

Midst this uproar the Sun Dance woman, who has been fasting in a special teepee for five days, comes out and takes her seat beside the medicine-man just behind the big lodge, which is now going up with startling speed. Before this woman all of the young braves who are to go through the tortures of the Sun Dance come and bow down to be anointed with black paint on their faces and around their wrists.

Then, suddenly, the medicine-man gets up and runs inside the lodge and grabs the eagle's nest. He goes to the foot of the Sun Dance pole, which is still lying on the ground beside a deep hole, and paints a series of black rings around it with the palm of his hand. When he gets up to the top of the pole he draws his blanket completely over him in a squatting position, and thus hidden from view, fastens the nest at the top of the pole. Then comes the final part of building the lodge: five braves rush up and grab the big

pole, with the medicine-man still clinging to the top, and set it up in the hole. The medicine-man is now about fifteen feet above the ground, and if he should fall, that would be a sign that the sun did not look favorably upon the dance, and all proceedings would be stopped at once. But we never saw that happen.

Now comes the interesting part of the Sun Dance. All the young men who are to be made "braves" come walking into the lodge, stripped down to their breech-cloths. The medicine-man drops from his precarious perch at the top of the pole and goes to his medicine paraphernalia and takes out a long, sharp knife and several hundred feet of rawhide thong. He takes up a position beside the small medi-

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cine fire, and one by one the young men come before him and kneel.

The medicine-man runs the sharp knife into the left breast of the man in front of him and makes a long, deep gash. Then he pulls it out and makes a similar gash about an inch and a half from the first one. Now he runs the knife under the flesh between these two gashes, and while he holds his finger in the connecting hole, he reaches down with the other hand and picks up a stout rawhide thong about three feet long and draws it through the hole. He then ties the flesh up tightly and with his knife repeats the operation on the right breast, using the other end of the thong to tie it up with. When this is done the young man, who has not yet uttered a sound, has one rawhide thong "sewed" into his chest at both ends. The medicine-man now takes a heavier thong, many feet long, and ties one end to the thong in the young man's chest and the other end to the Sun Dance pole.

And it is now that the young aspiring brave begins his dance. He gets up and starts his dance while the next man comes and kneels before the medicine-man. As the drums boom to the singing of the Sun Dance song, the young man dances and jerks upon the long thong, trying to pull out the flesh which it holds and free himself. He dances on and on, jerking with all his might.

Sometimes they danced many hours without being able to free themselves. If the young man lasted all this time without fainting, the medicine-man would order a warrior to come into the lodge on a pony, and he would untie the thong from the pole and fasten it to the horse. The warrior would then race around and around the lodge, dragging the young man behind him in an effort to release

the flesh. We children would run in and jump on and off the young man's back as he was dragged around, to increase the weight. If this did not free him, the warrior would back his horse up several feet and then send it forward with a sudden rushand "swish"a sickly sound of rending flesh, and the young man would get up, if he could, with his chest hanging with blood and torn muscles. The medicine-man would "doctor" him for a moment with native herbs, and then the young man went his waynow a brave. He had proved his salt, and the tribe would now allow him to go out on the war- path as a full-fledged warrior. Indians would not permit a young man to go on the war-path against an enemy until he had gone through this ordeal, lest he should disgrace the tribe by showing cowardice. Any man

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who failed to go through the dance until he pulled the flesh loose or fainted in the attempt was never allowed to rank as a brave, nor to fight as a warrior.

Not since 1853 when the Oneida chief, Eleazar Williams, pretended to be the "Lost Dauphin" has so strange a personality as Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance appeared among the Indians. Long Lance claimed to be a Blackfoot chief and published an autobiography in 1928. His book was widely accepted as one of the best descriptions of a vanished era, and Long Lance was invited to star in a motion picture on the IndiansThe Silent Enemy. Soon afterward, at the height of his success as an actor, author, and lecturer, he committed suicide. Investigation disclosed that Long Lance was not a Blackfoot, but a mixed-blood of Croatan Indian and Negro descent. He was born in North Carolina about 1893, and his real name was Sylvester Long.

Although Long Lance obtained his information at second hand, his book is an accurate, vivid, and sympathetic depiction of Indian life.

Getting in Touch with the Spirits Chief Buffalo Child Long LanceCroatan

The most weird and interesting part of the medicine-man's practices was the sensational rites which he would carry out when "getting in touch with the spirits." Whenever he wanted to get a forecast of the future, get the outcome of some future event or cure some sick person who was lying at the point of death, he would hold this rite in the big medicine-teepee, and the entire tribe would

be allowed to witness it. I often watched this as a youngster, and to this day I am puzzled over what I saw. I have never seen any old Indian who could explain it.

An hour or so preceding one of these medicine lodges the camp crier would go through the camp crying out the news that the medicine-man was "preparing to talk with the spirits." This caused great excitement in camp. The entire tribe would go early to the medicine lodge in order to get seats; for only about one hundred could get inside of the lodge, and the rest had to stay outside and listen to the uncanny ceremony. Our mother would take us children with her and bundle us close to her on the woman's side of the lodge.

As we sat and looked on with eyes agape, the medicine-man's assistant

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would erect four poles in the center of the big lodge and tie them together at the top in tripod fashion. Under these poles there was an area about twelve feet across. In this area the assistant, with the help of four men, would drive into the ground a series of sharp pegs, placing them at intervals of about an inch until the entire area was covered. These pegs were so sharp at the top that they would go through a man's foot if stepped upon. In the center of the twelve-foot area a little square was left clear, a place just large enough for a man to stand in. The only way one could reach this area over the sharp pegs was to jump into it, and that seemingly would mean serious injury or death.

The medicine-man would now enter with four men. These men would undress him, leaving only his breech-cloth on his body, and then lay him down on his back. They would place his two hands together, palm to palm, and with a strong rawhide thong they would bind his two thumbs together so tightly that they would sometimes bleed. They would place each pair of fingers together and bind them together in the same way. Then they would go down to his feet and tie his two big toes together, pulling with all their strength to bind them as tightly as they could.

Now they would take a hide about the size of a blanket and roll it tightly around him from head to foot, like a cigar wrapper. Around this wrapper they would twine him up from neck to ankles with a stout rawhide thong, winding it tightly around and around his body at intervals of every inch down the length of his form until he was securely bound. And still another hide was wrapped around him, and another rawhide thong was wound tightly around his motionless form. Now, as he lay helpless on the ground, he

resembled a long brown cigar. Literally, he could not move a finger.

The assistants would now raise the medicine-man to a standing position and carefully balance him on the soles of his bare feet. He would stand there for a while like a post. Then gradually he would begin slightly to bend his knees and draw them up again, and after a while each bend of the knees would take the form of a short jump. These jumps would keep increasing in length until finally he would be leaping around and around the four poles with startling speed, resembling some ghostly post bobbing up and down through the air so fast that the eye could hardly follow him.

Then, suddenly, with a huge leap, so quickly executed that no one

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could see how he made it, he would dart through space and land with a thud in the one-foot clearing in the center of the area of sharp pegs. He had leaped six feet over these dangerous spikes and landed safely in the little clearing, which was just big enough to hold his two feettruly a remarkable exploit in itself.

But he has not yet started the real thrilling part of the ceremony.

As he stands there in the center under the poles, stiff bound securely, he commences to sing his medicine song, accompanied by the boom of the big medicine-drum in the hands of his assistant.

What I am going to describe now may seem strange; it is strange, but it is precisely what happens. How and why, no one knows.

Presently, as the medicine-man stands there singing his weird chant to the spirits, voices from above are heard; voices which seem to emanate from the opening away up at the top of the big medicine- teepee. As everyone can see, there is nothing up there but the night air and the stars above. Where these voices come from no Indian has ever been able to explain. But, according to the medicine-man, they are the voices of the spiritsthe spirits with whom he is trying to get in touch. The mystery of it is that no one has ever been able to prove that they were anything else.

These voices speak in a language which we cannot understand. Even the medicine-man cannot understand most of them. All he can say is that they are speaking in foreign tongues, and that they are not the spirits that he wants. There were only four spirits whom our medicine-man, White Dog, could understand. I remember the name of only one of them, and that was "First White Man." And

that name had been with our medicine-men for years before our tribe knew that there was a white man in existence.

As these voices keep moaning down into the lodge, the medicine- man rejects them one by one, and continues to ask for one of the four spirits whom he can understand. Sometimes it takes him many minutes to do this. I can remember one or two times when he could not get hold of one of them at all, and he had to end the ceremony without accomplishing his aim.

But when he did get hold of the spirit whom he was seeking he would become excited and talk away so fast that we could hardly hear what he was saying. It seemed that he had to hurry to get in what he wanted to say before the spirit departed. If it was a cure he was after, the dying patient lying there in the medicine lodge would

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also become excited; and we have seen such get up and walk. If it was information the medicine-man was seeking, he would make his inquiries in short parables of his own, and he would be answered by the spirits in these same unintelligible parables, which later had to be explained to us. It was our language, but it was phrased in a way that we could not understand. And, furthermore, it was the ancient method of speaking our languagethe way it was spoken a long time agoand only our oldest men could understand some of the phraseology and old words.

But the part of the ceremony which made us youngsters afraid came at the conclusion of the medicine-man's interview with the spirits.

These interviews ended in many exciting ways, but always the final scene was accompanied by a howling wind, which would start to roar across the top of the lodge as the spirits ceased talking. The big medicine-teepee would rock and quiver under the strain of this wind, as it screeched through the poles at the top of the teepee and caused us to shake with fright. It was a startling climax. A chaotic medley of noise would come down to us from abovefrom the round opening at the top of the lodge where the teepee poles jutted out into the night air. Strange voices shrieking in weird pandemonium above the wailing of the winds; the clanking and jingling of unknown objects, and then a sudden jerk of the entire lodge, a flicker of the flames, a terrifying yell from the medicine-man, and then

He would disappear right in front of our eyes. But in that same instant we would hear him yelling for help. And looking up in the direction of his voice, we would see him hanging precariously by

one foot at the top of the Lodge, stripped as naked as the day he was born. The only thing that held him from falling and breaking his neck was his foot, which seemed to be caught in between the skin covering of the teepee and one of the slanting poles which supported it.

''Kokenaytukishpewow!Hurry!" he would yell frantically.

And the men would rush for long poles with which to remove him from his dangerous, dangling perch at the roof of the lodge, lest he should fall and break his neck.

How he got there, no one knows; but he said that the spirits left him there on their way out. But the greatest puzzle to us youngsters was how he got stripped of all those stout bindings!

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Curing a Wounded Warrior Chief Plenty-CoupsCrow

In a skirmish with four Pecunie [Blackfeet] scouts, all of whom were slain, a Crow warrior named The-wolf was shot in the chest. Although his wound was apparently fatal, he was cured by Takes- plenty, a Crow medicine man. In explaining this miraculous cure, Chief Plenty-coups said: "Such things were done long ago by good men who were wise. Nobody now understands what our Wise Ones [medicine men] knew before the white man came to change this world."

The fighting was finished, but The-wolf, a good man, was lying on the snow in a circle of blood, and our hearts were beside him.

We raised him up and got the blood out of his mouth. "Try to save him," said Gros Ventres-horse to my uncle, Takes-plenty, one of our Wise Ones, as he untied a fine necklace from his own neck and put it around mine. [It was not customary to offer reward directly to a medicine-man for his services. To show earnestness the necklace was given to Plenty-coups, who was related to the medicine man.]

"I will try. We must not leave his body in the Pecunie country," said Takes-plenty, removing a little buckskin pouch from his shirt.

The-wolf's mind was yet sound, but he was nearly gone. The bullet hole was in his breast, and blood was coming from his mouth and nose, when Takes-plenty opened his pouch and took out a pinch of The-flower-the-buffalo-will-not-eat [?] and a little of another kind

of flower I did not know. He chewed them in his mouth, and, stepping to windward, blew them upon The-wolf's breast. He then walked one-quarter round him and did the same thing, then half round, then three-quarters, each time chewing a portion of the two flowers and blowing them upon The-wolf, who lay upon his back with his eyes open. I knew he understood what was going on, and hoped with all my heart he would get well.

Takes-plenty snorted like a buffalo-bull and jumped over The- wolf's body, and I saw the wounded man turn his eyes and try to move his body a little, as though he wished to sit up. But Takes- plenty did not even look at him. He jumped again and again over his body

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and legs, each time snorting like a buffalo-bull. "Bring me a robe with a tail on it," he said to us, who were watching.

He shook the buffalo's tail before the seeing eyes of The-wolf, snorting and jumping over his body till The-wolf reached out his hand in a weak effort to take hold of the tail. But Takes-plenty did not even look, or did not seem to. I felt like calling out, "Wait! wait!" because he did not see and was now even backing away from The-wolf, who reached farther and farther, at last sitting up.

I stepped out to help him, but Takes-plenty waved me away and kept backing, backing up, his eyes now looking into the dim ones of the wounded man that were growing brighter as he reached out again and again to take hold of the buffalo's tail that fluttered about before them, until he staggered to his feet without help.

They were walking slowly in a circle, when Takes-plenty, without looking our way or stopping the buffalo's tail that kept fluttering before the eyes of The-wolf, said "Open his shirt."

As I did so, I heard his breath whistling through the bullet hole in his breast. I stepped back, and Takes-plenty, standing a little way from him, told The-wolf to stretch himself. When he did, black blood dropped out of the hole to the snow. When red blood came my uncle stopped it with the flowers from his pouch.

The-wolf walked alone among us. "I am all right," he said, and our hearts began to sing.

Marksmanship of a Medicine Man

Wooden LegCheyenne

Jules Seminole brought a keg of whisky to the camp. He got it at some white man trading post. He was a southern half-breed married to one of our Northern Cheyenne women and accounted as belonging to our tribe. One of our young men solicited him:

"Give me a drink of your whisky."

"No, but I'll bet a drink that I can beat you at shooting," Seminole proposed. "What have you to bet?"

The young man feared defeat. But he went canvassing here and there in an effort to find someone who would take up Seminole's challenge. One after another declined to contest. Finally, in jest

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rather than in earnest, he put the case before an old medicine man who was totally blind in one eye and partly blind in the other.

"I'll bet a good buffalo robe against the whole keg of whisky that I can beat you at shooting," the old man declared to Seminole.

Seminole evidently suspected some kind of trick. He hesitated, but the urgings of the gathered crowd carried him into acceptance of this counter proposition.

A tree was barked and a black circle target drawn upon this clean surface. Seminole shot first. He had a cartridge rifle. The bullet imbedded itself an inch or so below the black circle.

"Get me a pin," the old medicine man requested of his young helper.

The pin was brought. The aged Cheyenne placed it point forward upon his right palm. He held this palm upward in front of his eyes. His squint wrinkles deepened and his lips formed themselves into a pucker. A sudden puff of his breath caused the pin to vanish. Nobody knew what had become of it.

"Examine the target," the performer told them.

There it was, buried to its head just outside the circle. The people all wondered. The keg of whisky was conceded to its new owner.

"I'll bet a horse against the whisky that you can't do anything like that again," Seminole dared him.

"How," came instantly a responsive agreement.

The target was placed more distant, this at the request of Seminole

and by assent of his competitor. Onlookers became involved in the betting. The medicine man found many backers of his mysterious powers. The half-breed adjusted his sights. He took an unusually long and careful and steady aim. "Bang!" His bullet struck within an inch of the circle's center. His betting supporters were gleeful, the opposition were in doubt. They awaited anxiously the next move of their champion.

"Bring me a claw of a redbird," he calmly ordered.

A dozen young men put themselves into his service. They wanted to help him in drinking the whisky. Within a minute he had the required object.

The redbird claw was placed upon the same upturned palm where had been the pin. "The target is too far," came a complaint. Then: "Yes, I can see it now." Puff! The claw was gone. Where? Right into the central black spot of the black circle target!

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All comers had a drink of the whisky. A tin cup was brought and the old medicine man dipped in and passed out hot liquid mouthfuls to hundreds of Cheyennes.

Witchcraft Chief KahkewaquonabyOjibway

Witches and wizards are persons supposed to possess the agency of familiar spirits, from whom they receive power to inflict diseases on their enemies, prevent the good luck of the hunter, and the success of the warrior. They are believed to fly invisibly at pleasure from place to place; to turn themselves into bears, wolves, foxes, owls, bats, and snakes. Such metamorphoses they pretend to accomplish by putting on the skins of these animals, at the same time crying and howling in imitation of the creature they wish to represent. Several of our people have informed me that they have seen and heard witches in the shape of these animals, especially the bear and the fox. They say that when a witch in the shape of a bear is being chased, all at once she will run round a tree or a hill, so as to be lost sight of for a time by her pursuers; and then, instead of seeing a bear, they behold an old woman walking quietly along, or digging up roots, and looking as innocent as a lamb. The fox witches are known by the flame of fire which proceeds out of their mouths every time they bark.

Many receive the name of witches without making any pretensions to the art, merely because they are deformed or ill-looking. Persons esteemed witches or wizards are generally eccentric characters, remarkably wicked, of a ragged appearance and forbidding

countenance. The way in which they are made is either by direct communication with the familiar spirit during the days of their fasting, or by being instructed by those skilled in the art. The method they take to bewitch those who have offended them is this:The necromancer in the first place provides himself with a little wooden image, representing an Indian with a bow and arrow. Setting this figure up at a short distance before him, he will name it after the person whom he wishes to injure; he then takes the bow and arrow and shoots at the image, and wherever the arrow strikes, at that instant, they say, the person is seized with violent pain in the same part.

The causes that urge them to take revenge by witchcraft often

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arise from quarrels, or from supposed injuries done to them, and not infrequently has it led to murder. A relative of the person thought to be bewitched will go secretly and put the necromancer to death. Many instances, which have come under my own observation, have arisen out of disappointments in marriage. If the witch or wizard is denied the object of his or her desire, then the poor creature in request is immediately threatened with some severe disease, and from fear of being bewitched they are often induced to give their consent to marry. In this way it is that many of the old noted conjurors obtain more than one wife. Frequently, when I have enquired the cause of a disease, the reply has been that it originated in offence given to some witch or wizard.

I have been informed that formerly, when any notorious necromancer was suspected of having bewitched any one, they were often condemned by the councils of the different tribes to execution; but this was always done with great caution, lest the conjuror should get the advantage over them, and thus bewitch the whole assembly.

I have sometimes been inclined to think that, if witchcraft still exists in the world, it is to be found among the aborigines of America. They seem to possess a power which, it would appear, may be fairly imputed to the agency of an evil spirit.

The belief in witches continued even after the Indians were exposed to white skepticism. The Cherokees, among the earliest to take the ''white man's road," passed a law to prevent the killing of alleged witches. The Cherokee council first received testimonies on the power of witches to pass into the bodies of animals. Then, without denying the popular belief in witches, they ingeniously decreed that

it should be lawful to kill the animal harboring the witch's spirit, but it should not be lawful to kill a witch in human form.

Cannibalism among Medicine Men William WarrenOjibway

The dispersion of the Ojibways from the island of their refuge [La Pointe, Lake Superior] was sudden and entire. The Evil Spirit had found a strong foothold amongst them, during the latter years of their residence on this island. Evil practices became in vogue. Horrid

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feasts on human flesh became a custom. It is said by my informants, that the medicine men of this period had come to a knowledge of the most subtle poisons, and they revenged the least affront with certain death. When the dead body of a victim had been interred, the murderer proceeded at night to the grave, disinterred it, and taking it to his lodge he made a feast of it, to the relatives, which was eaten during the darkness of midnight, and if any of the invited guests became aware of the nature of the feast, and refused to eat, he was sure to fall under the ill-will of the feaster, and become the next victim. It is said that if a young woman refused the addresses of one of these medicine men, she fell a victim to his poison, and her body being disinterred, her relatives were feasted on it by the horrid murderer.

Such a taste did they at last acquire for human flesh, that parents dared not refuse their children if demanded by the fearful medicine man for sacrifice. And numerous anecdotes are related of circumstances happening during this horrid period, which all tend to illustrate the above assertions, but which the writer has not deemed proper to introduce, on account of the bloody and unnatural scenes which they depict. The Ojibways, at this period, fell entirely under the power of their Satanic medicine men, and priesthood, who even for some time caused themselves to be believed invulnerable to death. This, however, was finally tested one night, by a parent whose beloved and only child had just fallen a victim to the insatiable longing for human flesh, of one of these poisoners. After interring his child, he returned at night with his bow and arrow and watched near the grave. At midnight he saw what appeared to be the form of a black bear, approach and commence digging into the grave. It was also believed that these

medicine men possessed the power of transforming themselves into the shapes of animals.

But the determined father, overcoming his fear, launched his barbed arrow into the body of the bear, and without waiting to see the consequence of his shot, he fled to his wigwam. The next morning, the body of one of the most malignant and fearful poisoners was found clothed in a bearskin, weltering in his blood, on the grave of the old man's child, whom he had made a victim.

Whether or not these evil practices were at this particular period caused by dire necessity, either through a failure of their crops, or by being entirely hemmed in by their enemies, as to be prevented from

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hunting on the main shore, the writer is not enabled to state, though he should be but too happy to give this as a palliating excuse for the horrid custom he is obliged to relate.

It is further stated that these evil practices were carried on to such an extent, that the Che-bi-ug, or "souls of the victims," were at last heard nightly traversing the village, weeping and wailing. On this the inhabitants became panic stricken, and the consequence was that a general and complete desertion of the island of their refuge took place, which left their town and fields entirely desolate, and from that time, they have become overgrown with trees and bushes.

The Peyote Cult John RaveWinnebago

Peyote is the dried fruit of a small cactus that grows in the Southwest and in northern Mexico. A mild narcotic, it stimulates the optic nerve and creates wonderful visions in color. Indians claim that the visions not only improve their morals and bring them into the presence of God, but even cure diseases. Although not officially recognized as a religion, peyote eating is actually a backdoor entrance into Christianity and has converted many Indians who were indifferent to the efforts of missionaries.

During 189394 I was in Oklahoma with peyote eaters.

In the middle of the night we were to eat peyote. We ate it and I also did. It was the middle of the night when I got frightened, for a live thing seemed to have entered me. "Why did I do it?" I thought to myself. "I should not have done it, for right at the beginning I

have harmed myself. Indeed I should not have done it. I am sure it will injure me. The best thing will be for me to vomit it up. Well, now, I will try it." After a few attempts I gave up. I thought to myself, ''Well, now you have done it. You have been going around trying everything and now you have done something that has harmed you. What is it? It seems to be alive and moving around in my stomach. If only some of my own people were here! That would have been better. Now no one will know what has happened to me. I have killed myself."

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Just then the object was about to come out. It seemed almost out and I put out my hand to feel it, but then it went back again. "O, my, I should never have done it from the beginning. Never again will I do it. I am surely going to die."

As we continued it became day and we laughed. Before that I had been unable to laugh.

The following night we were to eat peyote again. I thought to myself, "Last night it almost harmed me." "Well, let us do it again," they said. "All right, I'll do it." So there we ate seven peyote apiece.

Suddenly I saw a big snake. I was very much frightened. Then another one came crawling over me. "My God! where are these coming from?" There at my back there seemed to be something. So I looked around and I saw a snake about to swallow me entirely. It had legs and arms and a long tail. The end of this tail was like a spear. "O, my God! I am surely going to die now," I thought. Then I looked again in another direction and I saw a man with horns and long claws and with a spear in his hand. He jumped for me and I threw myself on the ground. He missed me. Then I looked back and this time he started back, but it seemed to me that he was directing his spear at me. Again I threw myself on the ground and he missed me. There seemed to be no possible escape for me. Then suddenly it occurred to me, "Perhaps it is this peyote that is doing this thing to me? Help me, O medicine, help me! It is you who are doing this and you are holy! It is not these frightful visions that are causing this. I should have known that you were doing it. Help me!" Then my suffering stopped. ''As long as the earth shall last, that long will I make use of you, O medicine!''

This lasted a night and a day. For a whole night I had not slept at all.

Then we breakfasted. Then I said, when we were through, "Let us eat peyote again to-night." That evening I ate eight peyote.

In the middle of the night I saw God. To God living up above, our Father, I prayed. "Have mercy upon me! Give me knowledge that I may not say and do evil things. To you, O God, I am trying to pray. Do thou, O Son of God, help me, too. This religion, let me know. Help me, O medicine, grandfather, help me! Let me know this religion!" Thus I spoke and sat very quiet. And then I beheld the morning star and it was good to look upon. The light was good to

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look upon. I had been frightened during the night but now I was happy. Now as the light appeared, it seemed to me that nothing would be invisible to me. I seemed to see everything clearly.

Many years ago I had been sick and it looked as if this illness were going to kill me. I tried all the Indian doctors and then I tried all of the white man's medicines, but they were of no avail. "I am doomed. I wonder whether I will be alive next year." Such were the thoughts that came to me. As soon as I ate the peyote, however, I got over my sickness.

Black Water-spirit at about that time was having a hemorrhage and I wanted him to eat the peyote. "Well, I am not going to live anyhow," he said. "Well, eat this medicine soon then and you will get cured." Consumptives never were cured before this and now for the first time one was cured. Black Water-spirit is living today and is very well.

There was a man named Walking-Priest and he was very fond of whisky; he chewed and he smoked and he gambled. He was very fond of women. He did everything that was bad. Then I gave him some of the peyote and he ate it and he gave up all the bad things he was doing. He had had a very dangerous disease and had even had murder in his heart. But today he is living a good life. That is his desire.

Whoever has any bad thoughts, if he will eat this peyote he will abandon all his bad habits. It is a cure for everything bad.

Burial Customs

Chief KahkewaquonabyOjibway

As soon as an Indian dies his friends proceed to lay him out on the ground, putting his best clothes on him, and wrapping his body in skins or blankets. Formerly, coffins were not known, or not used among them. After digging about three feet deep, generally in the course of twelve hours they inter him, with his head towards the west. They then place by the side of the corpse all his former hunting and war implements; such as his bow and arrow, tomahawk, gun, pipe and tobacco, knife, pouch, flint and steel, medicine-bag, kettle, trinkets, and other articles which he carried with him when going on a long journey. The grave is then covered, and on the top of it poles or sticks are placed lengthways, to the height of about two feet, over

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which birch bark or mats form a covering to secure the body from the rain. The relations or friends of the deceased then sit on the ground in a circle round the head of the grave, when the usual offering to the deadconsisting of meat, soup, or the fire-watersis made. This is handed to the people present in bowls, a certain quantity being kept back for a burnt offering. While this is preparing at the head of the grave, the old man, or speaker for the occasion, makes a prayer to the soul of the departed, enumerating his good qualities, imploring the blessing of the dead that his Spirit may intercede for them, that they may have plenty of game; he also exhorts his spirit to depart quietly from them. They believe that the soul partakes of a portion of the feast, and especially that which is consumed by fire. If the deceased was a husband, it is often the custom for the widow, after the burial is over, to spring or leap over the grave, and then run zig-zag behind the trees, as if she were fleeing from some one. This is called running away from the spirit of her husband, that it may not haunt her. In the evening of the day on which the burial has taken place, when it begins to grow dark, the men fire off their guns through the hole left at the top of the wigwam. As soon as this firing ceases, the old women commence knocking and making such a rattling at the door as would frighten away any spirit that would dare to hover near. The next ceremony is, to cut into narrow strips, like ribbon, thin birch bark. These they fold into shapes, and hang round inside the wigwam, so that the least puff of wind will move them. With such scarecrows as these, what spirit would venture to disturb their slumbers? Lest this should not prove effectual, they will also frequently take a deer's tail, and after burning or singeing off all the hair, will rub the necks or faces of the children before they lie down to sleep, thinking that

the offensive smell will be another preventive to the spirit's entrance. I well remember when I used to be daubed over with this disagreeable fumigation, and had great faith in it all.

I was present at the burial of an old pagan chief by the name of Odahmekoo, of Muncey Town. We had a coffin made for him, which was presented to his relatives; but before they placed the body in it, they bored several holes at the head, in order, as they supposed, to enable the soul to go in and out at pleasure.

During the winter season, when the ground is frozen as hard as a rock, two or three feet deep; finding it almost impossible to penetrate through the frost, having no suitable tools, they are obliged to wind

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up the corpse in skins and the bark of trees, and then hang it in the fork of a large tree, high enough to be beyond the reach of wolves, foxes, and dogs, that would soon devour it. Thus the body hangs till decomposition takes place, and the bones, falling to the ground, are afterwards gathered up and buried.

The Happy Hunting Grounds William WarrenOjibway

When an Ojibway dies, his body is placed in a grave, generally in a sitting posture, facing the west. With the body are buried all the articles needed in life for a journey. If a man, his gun, blanket, kettle, fire steel, flint and moccasins; if a woman, her moccasins, axe, portage collar, blanket and kettle. The soul is supposed to start immediately after the death of the body, on a deep beaten path, which leads westward; the first object he comes to, in following this path, is the great Oda-e-min (Heart berry), or strawberry, which stands on the roadside like a huge rock, and from which he takes a handful and eats on his way. He travels on till he reaches a deep, rapid stream of water, over which lies the much dreaded Ko- go-gaup-o-gun or rolling and sinking bridge; once safely over this as the traveller looks back it assumes the shape of a huge serpent swimming, twisting and untwisting its folds across the stream.

After camping out four nights, and travelling each day through a prairie country, the soul arrives in the land of spirits, where he finds his relatives accumulated since mankind was first created; all is rejoicing, singing and dancing; they live in a beautiful country interspersed with clear lakes and streams, forests and prairies, and

abounding in fruit and game to repletiona word, abounding in all that the red man most covets in this life, and which conduces most to his happiness. It is that kind of paradise which he only by his manner of life on this earth, is fitted to enjoy.

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V ON THE WARPATH

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The Indian warrior had no equal as a fighter. He was physically alert, hard, and powerful. With a knowledge of frontier fighting be combined courage and boldness tempered by animal caution.

The warrior of the old frontier the Iroquois, Ojibway, Shawnee, Wyandottwas at his best in forest fighting. Appearing from nowhere, be would strike suddenly at his enemy and then dissolve into the forest leaving no trail. The Plains Indianthe Sioux, Cheyenne, Crow, Blackfootwas a master of horseback fighting. At a full gallop, be could swing down and shoot from under his horse's neck without exposing himself to the enemy's fire.

Only in tactics was the Indian deficient, for he seldom planned a campaign in advance or fought in an organized body. After the first shot of battle was fired the chiefs had little authority, and the outcome depended largely upon individual bravery and skill.

Unique among the American Indians was the custom of the death song, by which the warrior expressed his contempt for death. Namebines, an Ojibway chief who had been fatally wounded in a skirmish with the Sioux, sang this song:

The odor of death, I discern the odor of death In front of my body.

As he finished singing he turned to his surviving comrades and said: "When you reach home sing this song for the women to dance by and tell them how I died."

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Boyhood Preparation for the Warpath OhiyesaSioux

All boys were expected to endure hardship without complaint. In savage warfare, a young man must, of course, be an athlete and used to undergoing all sorts of privations. He must be able to go without food and water for two or three days without displaying any weakness, or to run for a day and a night without any rest. He must be able to traverse a pathless and wild country without losing his way either in the day or night time. He cannot refuse to do any of these things if he aspires to be a warrior.

Sometimes my uncle would waken me very early in the morning and challenge me to fast with him all day. I had to accept the challenge. We blackened our faces with charcoal, so that every boy in the village would know that I was fasting for the day. Then the little tempters would make my life a misery until the merciful sun hid behind the western hills.

I can scarcely recall the time when my stern teacher began to give sudden war-whoops over my head in the morning while I was sound asleep. He expected me to leap up with perfect presence of mind, always ready to grasp a weapon of some sort and to give a shrill whoop in reply. If I was sleepy or startled and hardly knew what I was about, he would ridicule me and say that I need never expect to sell my scalp dear. Often he would vary these tactics by shooting off his gun just outside of the lodge while I was yet asleep, at the same time giving blood-curdling yells. After a time I became used to this.

When Indians went upon the war-path, it was their custom to try the new warriors thoroughly before coming to an engagement. For instance, when they were near a hostile camp, they would select the

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novices to go after the water and make them do all sorts of things to prove their courage. In accordance with this idea, my uncle used to send me off after water when we camped after dark in a strange place. Perhaps the country was full of wild beasts, and, for aught I knew, there might be scouts from hostile bands of Indians lurking in that very neighborhood.

Yet I never objected, for that would show cowardice. I picked my way through the woods, dipped my pail in the water and hurried back, always careful to make as little noise as a cat. Being only a boy, my heart would leap at every crackling of a dry twig or distant hooting of an owl, until, at last, I reached our teepee. Then my uncle would perhaps say: "Ah, you are a thorough warrior," empty out the precious contents of the pail, and order me to go a second time.

Imagine how I felt! But I wished to be a brave man. Silently I would take the pail and endeavor to retrace my footsteps in the dark.

Counting Coup on a Wounded Buffalo Chief Plenty-CoupsCrow

Among the plains tribes, war was a game in which the score was kept by counting coup. Many Indians carried willow wands decorated with feathers and known as "coup sticks." The warrior who touched a living enemy with his hand or coup stick received the highest coup award. Honors of lesser value were awarded for killing or scalping an enemy, or for stealing a horse. The warrior

who counted coup was allowed to add a special decoration to his war feathers or to paint his face so that his fellow tribesmen could see his war record at a glance.

Plenty-coups, the famous Crow chief, counted his first coup against a wounded buffalo when he was only nine; but after he reached manhood this deed was dropped from his list of honors because it was not performed against a human enemy.

One day when the chokecherries were black and the plums red on the trees, my grandfather rode through the village, calling twenty of us older boys by name. The buffalo-runners had been out since daybreak, and we guessed what was before us. "Get on your horses and follow me," said my grandfather, riding out on the plains.

We rode fast. Nothing was in sight until Grandfather led us over

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a hill. There we saw a circle of horsemen about one hundred yards across, and in its center a huge buffalo bull. We knew he had been wounded and tormented until he was very dangerous, and when we saw him there defying the men on horseback we began to dread the ordeal that was at hand.

The circle parted as we rode through it, and the bull, angered by the stir we made, charged and sent us flying. The men were laughing at us when we returned, and this made me feel very small. They had again surrounded the bull, and I now saw an arrow sticking deep in his side. Only its feathers were sticking out of a wound that dripped blood on the ground.

"Get down from your horses, young men," said my grandfather. "A cool head, with quick feet, may strike this bull on the root of his tail with a bow. Be lively, and take care of yourselves. The young man who strikes, and is himself not hurt, may count coup."

I was first off my horse. Watching the bull, I slipped out of shirt and leggings, letting them fall where I stood. Naked, with only my bow in my right hand, I stepped away from my clothes, feeling that I might never see them again. I was not quite nine years old.

The bull saw me, a human being afoot! He seemed to know that now he might kill, and he began to paw the ground and bellow as I walked carefully toward him.

Suddenly he stopped pawing, and his voice was still. He came to meet me, his eyes green with anger and pain. I saw blood dropping from his side, not red blood now, but mixed with yellow.

I stopped walking and stood still. This seemed to puzzle the bull,

and he too stopped in his tracks. We looked at each other, the sun hot on my naked back. Heat from the plains danced on the bull's horns and head; his sides were panting, and his mouth was bloody.

I knew that the men were watching me. I could feel their eyes on my back. I must go on. One step, two steps. The grass was soft and thick under my feet. Three steps. "I am a Crow. I have the heart of a grizzly bear," I said to myself. Three more steps. And then he charged!

A cheer went up out of a cloud of dust. I had struck the bull on the root of his tail! But I was in even greater danger than before.

Two other boys were after the bull now, but in spite of them he turned and came at me. To run was foolish. I stood still, waiting. The bull stopped very near me and bellowed, blowing bloody froth from

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his nose. The other boys, seeing my danger, did not move. The bull was not more than four bows' lengths from me, and I could feel my heart beating like a war-drum.

I stepped to my right. Instantly he chargedbut I had dodged back to my left, across his way, and I struck him when he passed. This time I ran among the horsemen, with a lump of bloody froth on my breast. I had had enough.

Making a War Club and War Whistle Yellow WolfNez Perce

The regular war club is generally short handled, about five or six inches aside from the stone at its end. It must be only five or six inches in length for this reason: because in the battles and fights with another tribe, the warriors do not meet face to face and strike at each other. They grab and scuffle. This kopluts [war club] hangs on the wrist with a buckskin thong. When the enemy grabs hold of you to throw you down and kill you, if you have a long-handled club to your wrist, he can easily seize it and hold on to it. But if a short handle, you have it well covered with your own hand. You can then club your enemy and you are privileged to break his arm.

I, Yellow Wolf, raised among warriors, made it a study how I should go to war against different tribes and fight from horseback. How I should have the enemy to meet and match when mounted. I would have to strike across from horse to horse, fighting for my life. Trying for the death of my enemy. From all this, I judged I

would need a long handle on this club, which you now see as I fashioned it.

At the time I made this kopluts, preparing for war, I put this war paint on it which has been there ever since. Not that I did this of myself. It was the belief that I have within me, obtained from the fowls that fly, from the creatures that creep or leap through the wilds, that gave me a Power to be strong in battle, in war, where life is against life. This Power told me to make such a weapon for protecting myself.

It was in this way, by the instructions of this Spirit, that this kopluts was made and painted.

I was small, quite young, when I fashioned this kopluts. I did not select the stone. Searching around to select, I was given instructions

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directions about the rock to pick fromwhen and how to make it. This stone I rounded myself. You can select a rock from the river and try breaking this one: Tock! tock! tock! [Striking imaginary blows.] The other rock will break. This one is a selected stone for war business.

I was instructed to cover the kopluts with elk rawhide, then wrap the handle with the fur of the otter.

I am Heinmot Hihhih [White Thunder, Yellow Wolf's other name]. That thunder, when it rolls and strikes anything, it kills. That thunder gave me its Power to be with this kopluts, striking as the lightning strikes. This Spirit guided me in making this weapon.

This war whistle which helped me in dangerous places is made from the wingbone of the crane. Spirits guided me in its making. Guided me from what bird the bone must be taken. It is not to be used in sport and amusement. For war only, I always sounded it in battle. The soldiers then could not hit me. Only in battle or other dangerous places did I sound this whistle. Not at any other time was it to be sounded.

I wore it by the buckskin thong still fast to it. This loop was about my neck and left shoulder. The flute hung under my left arm. There it was away from handling the rifle. These two small eagle-down feathers at the end of the thongs were plucked from over the bird's heart. Their fluttering up in the wind was good. Always moving, you could not see that which does it. There was good prayer in the feather movements.

Scounting out the Enemy Chief Standing BearSioux

One of the most important and indispensable members of Lakota society, and so considered by that society, was one not so often seen or so much talked aboutthe scout. He was the man who preferred, usually, to work alone, either by night or day, and whose outstanding quality was scrupulous honesty. He ran terrible risks, was not a fighting man, yet knew how to fight when he had to, and was withal the most relied-upon man in the tribe. In him was reposed the utter dependence and faith of a people for their livelihood-food and safety

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from danger. His training was rigorous, his word was inviolable, and in calling he was bound to serve his tribe. The dangers to which he was exposed demanded of him the keenest development and alertness of senses, particularly observation.

Every natural object was watched for any significance attached to its motion or appearance. No movement was too slight for the scout to ignore, and no sound too meaningless to go unheeded. The soaring maneuvers of buzzard or eagle were to be looked into; the calls of the sand or prairie cranes were announcers of the always important weather changes; a croaking frog proclaimed a tiny marsh or hidden spring, and at once more caution intuitively arose; while a distant smoke column might reveal the advance of an enemy party.

Even the black, homed ground-beetle commonly called tumble- bug, once common on the plain, the scout stopped and attentively watched, providing the scout were looking for buffalo. The two horns on the top of the insect's head were movable in all directions, but were invariably pointed and held toward the buffalo herd, probably attracted in that direction by stamping hoofs too distant for even sensitive human ears to detect. Sometimes we called these beetles ballplayers for their habit of rolling up balls, round and perfect as marbles, out of manure of horse or buffalo. A beetle, sometimes two of them, rolled these balls about here and there as if enjoying a game.

It was this ability to discern and observe small things that made the scout's work valuable. Minute details in appearance of objects, and changes in actions and manners of animals were noted; also the condition of man or animal trails he followedbent twigs, trampled

grass, sky and landmarksthings that would fade from a mind equipped with compass and stakes. Not wishing to leave a trail of his own to betray his travels, he built no monuments, however small; but his keen eye registered all, placing them in his memory, there to stay until needed, whether it be a week, a month, or a year.

All the while the scout traveled, he realized that while he watched he was being just as intently watched. Numerous eyes of the animal world were upon him, and human eyes, too. Often he turned quickly to scan the landscape back of him, and if he had reason to suspect the close presence of an enemy scout, he lay in wait for a long while until the enemy watcher was located.

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Preparation for Battle Wooden LegCheyenne

All of the best clothing was taken along with him when any warrior set out upon a search for conflict. The articles were put into a special bagordinarily a beautifully beaded buckskin pouch, but perhaps a rawhide oneand this was slung at one side of his horse. The bag also contained extra moccasinsbeaded moccasinswarbonnet, paints, a mirror, special medicine objects, or anything else of this nature. If a battle seemed about to occur, the warrior's first important preparatory act was to jerk off all his ordinary clothing. He then hurriedly got out his fine garments. If he had time to do so he rebraided his hair, painted his face in his own peculiar way, did everything needful to prepare himself for presenting his most splendid personal appearance. That is, he got himself ready to die.

The idea of full dress in preparation for a battle comes not from a belief that it will add to the fighting ability. The preparation is for death, in case that should be the result of the conflict. Every Indian wants to look his best when he goes to meet the Great Spirit, so the dressing up is done whether the imminent danger is an oncoming battle or a sickness or injury at times of peace. Some Indian tribes did not pay full attention to this matter, some of them seeming not to care whether they took life risks while naked or while only partly clad or shabbily clad. But the Cheyennes and the Sioux were careful in following out the procedure. When any of them got into a fight not expected, with no opportunity to dress properly, they

usually ran away and avoided close contact and its consequent risks. Enemy people not understanding their ways might suppose them to be cowards because of such flight. In fact, these same apparent cowards might be the bravest of the brave when they have on their good clothing and feel that they may present a respectable appearance if called from this life to meet the Great Spirit.

The naked fighters, among the Cheyennes and Sioux, were such warriors as specially fortified themselves by prayer and other devotional exercises. They had special instruction from medicine men. Their naked bodies were painted in peculiar ways, each according to the direction of his favorite spiritual guide, and each had his own medicine charms given to him by this guide. A warrior thus made

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ready for battle was supposed to be proof against the weapons of the enemy. He placed himself in the forefront of the attack or the defense. His thought was: ''I am so protected by my medicine that I do not need to dress for death. No bullet nor arrow can harm me now.'' On the other hand, a warrior not made ready by special religious exercise and appliances had in his heart the thought: "A bullet or an arrow may hit me and kill me. I must dress myself so as to please the Great Spirit if I should go now to Him."

Warbonnets were not worn by all warriors. In fact, there were only a few such distinguished men in each warrior society of our tribe. It was expected that one should be a student of the fighting art for several years, or else that he be an unusually apt learner, before he should put on the crown of eagle feathers. He then did so upon his own initiative, or perhaps because of the commendatory urgings of his seniors. The act meant a profession of fully acquired ability in warfare, a claim of special accomplishment in using cunning and common sense and cool calculation coupled with the bravery attributed to all warriors. The wearer was supposed never to ask mercy in battle. If some immature young man pretended to such high standing before it seemed to his companions that he ought to do so, he was twitted and shamed into awaiting his proper time. I first put on my warbonnet when I was thirty-three years old, fourteen years after I had quit the roaming life. After a man had been accepted as a war-bonnet man he remained so throughout his lifetime. War chiefs and tribal chiefs ordinarily were warbonnet men, but this was not a requirement for these positions. Pure modesty might keep the bravest and most capable fighter from making the claim. Also, an admittedly worthy wearer of the warbonnet might not be chosen for or might refuse all official

positions. The feathered headpiece, then, was not a sign of public office. It was a token of individual and personal feeling as to his own fighting capabilities.

The warbonnet was made by the man who was to wear it. His wife, mother or sister made only the beaded band for the forehead. The man made also whatever spirit charm objects he might use, or he got a medicine man to make them for him. The women made all of the war shirts, leggings, moccasins and such clothing for the men. They also made all of the common clothing for the men, for themselves, and for all members of the household. The men made their

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own pipes, weapons, lariat ropes and such other articles as were used by men only.

Our hand mirrors were not used entirely for dressing and painting. We made use of them for signaling. Two persons who understood each other could exchange thoughts in this way over long distances, and even when they could not see each other. Some kinds of such signals were understood by all of our people. The little glass was often useful in approaching a camp when the traveler was in doubt whether it was an assemblage of his own people or of an enemy or unknown people. In such cases, flashes of inquiry and flashes of response, or lack of responses, settled the doubt.

Battle Tactics Chief KahkewaquonabyOjibway

In war excursions the war chiefs take the lead, and act as captains over their respective warriors. These chiefs direct the order of march and mode of attack, and are men who have distinguished themselves for their bravery, and consequently obtain the confidence of their tribe. The civil chiefs, who in general inherit their chieftainship by descent, are not expected to go to the field of action. They seldom, however, neglect a good opportunity of displaying their wisdom, skill, and bravery, and often accompany their people and engage in the conflict. The more scalps they take, the more they are revered and consulted by their tribe. Their mode of action is entirely different from that of civilized nations. They have no idea of meeting the enemy upon an open plain face to face,

to be shot at like dogs, as they say. Their aim is to surprise the enemy by darting upon them in an unexpected moment, or in the dead of night. They always take care, in the first place, to ascertain the position of the enemy. When they find them unprepared or asleep, they creep up slowly and stealthily, like panthers in pursuit of their prey; when sufficiently near, they simultaneously raise the war whoop, and before the enemy awake or have time to defend themselves, the tomahawk is rattling over their heads.

When a village, a wigwam, or a party is thus surprised, there is seldom any mercy shown either to age or sex; all are doomed to feel

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the weight of the tomahawk and the deep incision of the bloody scalping-knife. When scalping any one, they take hold of the hair of the head, making an incision with the knife round the head to the skull, and then jerk off the scalp. This must be a very painful operation when performed on a living person, yet some have survived. I have seen an Indian woman at Lake Huron, who had been both tomahawked and scalped by the Sioux. She had recovered from her wound when I saw her, but was obliged to wear a wig of cloth. The scalps are stretched on round hoops and carefully dried. They are then painted, and decorated with wampum beads and ribbons.

A Horse Stealing Raid Chief Plenty-CoupsCrow

Stealing horses was an honored occupation among the Plains Indians. Little credit was given to the brave who merely took the horse of a slain opponent; but stealing a mount which was tethered to an enemy tepee required great courage and was attempted only by the boldest warriors. Enemy camps were well guarded by dogs and sentinels and no mercy was shown to horse thieves.

On Cloud Peak we met the other parties and soon picked up the enemy's trails, one coming in from the Black Hills, and one from the west. The sign [trail] was fresh and heavy, as though many lodges were somewhere ahead of us. Near sundown our Wolves [scouts] brought us word that there was a large village on Goose Creek.

And what a village it was! It reached from Goose Creek to Tongue River. Five drums were going at once, and the big flat was covered with horses. I could count more lodges than I had ever seen before at one time. We should stand no chance against such a village, but we could steal some horses. I looked at the sky. The moon was already there waiting for night, and there would be little darkness.

Our leaders were holding a council. By and by they stood up, Bell- rock beckoning me, and Bear-in-the-water calling Covers-his-face. We both went to them to get our orders. We, with several others selected by Half-yellow-face and Fire-wind, were to go into the village and cut as many horses as we could while the rest of the

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party stood ready to cover our retreat when we should be discovered. My heart sang with pride.

Covers-his-face and I stole together to the edge of the village and waited for darkness. But it did not come. Instead, the moon grew brighter and brighter. But as though to reassure us the five drums kept beating, telling us the enemy was dancing, and that he was too busy with his pleasure to watch his horses. Nights in summer are very short, the light would come soon, and we dared not wait too long. "Let us go in," I whispered finally, and we tied our horses. I hated to leave mine. He was the best I had ever owned, but of course I could not take him with me.

Before I knew it Covers-his-face had disappeared. I was alone among the enemy lodges, and the nearest was a Striped-feathered- arrow [Cheyenne]! No wonder the village was so large. The Sioux were not alone. They had company, and this might make them stupidsure that no enemy would dare attack them. So many lodges made me feel lonely, and I turned my course to where they were not so close together. My eyes could not look behind, ahead, and on both sides at once. I went away from the thickly pitched lodges until I reached a very tall one that stood a little apart. A fine bay horse was tied there. Immediately I set my heart on owning him. I saw I should have to be careful because the lodge-skin was raised from the ground. And next I made out that the lodge was an Arapahoe! The three worst enemies our people had were combined against us, with the intention, I believed, of making quick war on us. ["Arapahoe" in the Crow tongue means "Tattooed marks, plenty of."]

But my eyes were on the bay horse most of the time now. He was

eating grass before the Arapahoe lodge, and the rope around his neck reached into it. Somebody loved him and slept with his hand on the rope. I could not blame him. I thought the bay might be as good as the Deer, my own good war-horse tied at the edge of the village. No Sioux owned a better horse than he. It occurred to me more than once that they might steal him while I was stealing one of their horses.

I crept a little closer. The lodge-skin was lifted in front, the rope going into the blackness inside. I tried to see under the lodge-skin, but the moonlight made a big, bright ring around it that stopped at the lodge-poles as though afraid to go farther. I could see nothing

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inside and there were no sounds. I would chance it! I was flat on the ground by the bay horse, my knife lifted to cut the rope, when somebody stirred, moved a bit inside the lodge. My hand with the knife came down to my side. The Arapahoe was awake and watching his horse!

The shadow of the bay was on me, and I dared not move. I heard the five drums, one beating in the middle of the village and two at either end, far off. I must not stay there too long. Even if the Arapahoe did not see me, the other Crows might be discovered, and then I should be caught and killed.

I crept out of the bay's shadow like a wolf until I had got his form between me and the eyes I felt sure were watching from the blackness of the Arapahoe lodge. Then I went swiftly until I came to another horse. He was a cream with white mane and tail, a good horse, but not so good as the bay. He was tied to a Sioux lodge that was dark and still. His owner was dancing, and while he enjoyed himself I cut his horse's rope. But I wanted the bay. I could not go away without him. I would have another try anyway.

A cream-colored horse is difficult to see in the night, especially in the moonlight. I would make him help me steal the bay. Leading him, and yet crowding against his body to keep myself hidden from the sharp eyes in the Arapahoe lodge, I managed to reach the bay again, expecting to feel an arrow in my side or see the flash of a gun out of the black hole beneath the lifted lodge-skin. The horses, wondering what was going on, touched their noses together, their warm bodies pressing against my naked sides, while I stared into the black hole. Nothing stirred there. Perhaps the man had gone to sleep. I would find out.

Instead of cutting the bay's rope I tied my own rope around his neck. Dropping the coil at his feet, I kept hold of the other end and slipped away, leading the cream till my rope was stretched. Then the cream and I stood still while I began slowly to pull on my rope. The bay, thinking somebody wanted him, began to come toward me, and as he came I kept coiling my rope, until he stopped short. He had reached the very end of the Arapahoe's rope, you see, and could come no farther. I was very careful now to look and listen. If the Arapahoe pulled in his rope, taking his bay back with it, I would let him have my rope that was tied to his horse's neck and go away from there with the cream. But he did not pull. The bay horse, wondering

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what somebody was trying to do with him, stood still with two ropes around his neck. The Arapahoe who owned him was asleep!

I led the cream back to the bay and cut the other fellow's rope. I knew it was time I was away from there now, so I hurried with my two horses to the edge of the village where I had left the Deer. But before I was halfway a shot cracked, then another. I sprang upon the bay and, leading the cream, lashed them into a run, wondering what had become of Covers-his-face.

The first Crow I met was Bell-rock. He was leading the Deer. When I raced up to him he tossed me the rope. "Keep him," I called. "Somebody will need him." The big village was aroused. Guns were cracking. There was no time now to stop and change horses, and I tossed the rope of the Deer back to Bell-rock. But he did not catch it. The Deer was left behind; my wonderful war-horse was mine no longer. The Sioux that got him was a lucky man.

I thought that Covers-his-face had been discovered and had started the fight, but instead, those who stampeded the loose horses just outside the village brought on the fighting. I saw that we had a large number of horses, but did not wait to talk to anybody and raced away for the place where we had left our clothes with two men to watch them. It was on the right of Tongue River, just at the canyon. We called it The-place-where-the-cranes-rest. The bay horse was fast, and I reached the place first. "Get ready!" I cried, springing from the bay and getting into my leggings and shirt, "our party is coming."

I could hear the pounding hoofs, even when my shirt was over my head. Before my clothes were decently on me I had seen the

pointers [men in the lead to guide the running horses] and close behind them many frightened horses. The enemy was after them too. Guns flashed as our men turned on their horses to shoot back in the gray light of breaking day. There were four Crows in the lead, and they were riding like the wind toward a steep-cut bank, a regular canyon! Did they not know it was there? It seemed to jump up before my eyes and to run to meet my friends. What would they do?

Not knowing yet how I could help them I dashed for the river. I dared not call out or wave my arms to warn them, for fear I might turn the whole band and cause a stampede that would lose what we had gained. I stopped still, my breath nearly choking me, when the first horse went over the brink. They all went over-horses, riders,

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like a swirl of dry leaves in a gale of wind. And before I could take ten steps they were coming outalive! I could not believe my eyes! Only one man was hurt. His face was smashed and his horse killed under him. I was happy again.

We soon reached the timber where we had the best of it and drove the enemy back easily. Three days later we rode into our village singing of victory, and our chiefs, Sits-in-the-middle-of-the-land and Iron-bull, came out to meet us, singing Praise Songs. My heart rejoiced when I heard them speak my own name. The village was on Arrow Creek, near the Gap, and was getting ready to move. But Iron-bull stopped all preparation until he could give us hot coffee to drink. It was the first I had ever tasted, and I shall never forget it, or how happy I felt because I had counted my first coup.

This is all of the story; but I left out something I ought to tell you. When we were in the timber where we drove back the enemy, Covers-his-face found that the animal he had stolen in the village was a mare. He felt disgusted and declared he would go back and steal a horse. We tried to talk him out of his plan, but he was determined. "I will wait here for you," said Bear-in-the-water, who had given his horse to the man whose face had been smashed, and so was himself afoot.

"All right," said Bear-rears-up, "if Bear-in-the-water waits here I will wait with him." So we left them to do as they pleased and for ten days heard nothing more of them. We had begun to believe they had been killed, when one day the three came in, each riding a good horse that Covers-his-face had stolen from the Sioux. He told us he had found the lodge of a young man who was so jealous of his wife that he camped far from the nearest lodges of his friends.

He had three very good horses tied to his tepee, just one apiece for Covers-his-face and his two friends waiting in the timber. This is what a man gets for being so jealous of a woman that he cannot be sociable with other men.

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Burning at the Stake William WarrenOjibway

Historians have often stressed the cruelty of the Indians in torturing prisoners; but, compared with their contemporaries in Europe, the Indians were amateurs in the art of torture. The Tuscarora chief Elias Johnson wrote: "It is said the Indian inflicted unspeakable torture upon his enemy taken in battle. But from what we know of them, it is not to be inferred that Indian Chiefs were ever guilty of filling dungeons with innocent victims, or slaughtering hundreds and thousands of their own people, whose only sin was a quiet dissent from some religious dogma. Towards their enemies they were often relentless. They slew them in battle, plotted against them secretly, and in a few instances comparatively, subjected individuals to torture, burned them at the stake, and, perhaps, flayed them alive. At the very time that the Indians were using the tomahawk and scalping knife to avenge their wrongs, peaceful citizens in every country of Europe were incarcerated for no crime whatever, and such refinement of torture invented and practiced, as never entered in the heart of the fiercest Indian warrior that roamed the wilderness."

The origin of burning at the stake is not known. In this selection, William Warren tells the traditional story of how the custom began among the Ojibways.

A noted warrior of the Ojibways was once taken prisoner by his own nephew, who was a young warrior of the Foxes, son of his own sister, who had been captured when young, adopted and

married in this tribe. This young man, to show to the Foxes his utter contempt of any ties of blood existing between him and his Ojibway uncle, planted two stakes strongly in the ground, and taking his uncle by the arm, he remarked to him that he "wished to warm him before a good fire." He then deliberately tied his arms and legs to the two stakes, as wide apart as they could be stretched, and the unnatural nephew built a huge fire in front of his uncle. When he had burnt his naked body to a blister on this side, he turned him with his back toward the fire, and when this had also been cruelly burned, he untied him, and turning him loose, he bade him to "return home and tell the Ojibways how the Foxes treated their uncles."

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he uncle recovered from his fire wounds, and in a subsequent war excursion, he succeeded in capturing his cruel nephew. He took him to the village of the Ojibways, where he tied him to a stake, and taking a fresh elk skin, on which a layer of fat had purposely been left, he placed it over a fire till it became ablaze; then throwing it over the naked shoulders of his nephew, he remarked. "Nephew, when you took me to visit the village of your people, you warmed me before a good fire. I now in return give you a warm mantle for your back."

The elk skin, covered with thick fat, burned furiously, and "puckering," it tightened around the naked body of his nephewa dreadful "mantle" which soon consumed him. This act was again retaliated by the Foxes, and death by fire applied in various ways, soon became the fate of all unfortunate captives.

It is not unnatural to suppose that the tale of this occurrence being spread amongst the surrounding tribes, gave the name of Ojibway"to roast till puckered up," to this tribe.

Stratagem of a Wyandott Chief Peter D. ClarkeWyandott

News came to their old Chief that a war party of Senecas were on their way to his village, they having learnt that his warriors were absent.

The old Wyandott Chief conceived the plan of baffling the enemy's contemplated assault on his village, by having an effigy made representing himself in a sitting posture in his wigwam, and during

the night in which he expected the attack, he ordered all the old and young people to be secreted with him outside the village, and the moment he ascertained that the enemy had crossed the stream, he sent some of the boys and women to secrete their canoes. After midnight, or before the dawn of day, the Senecas entered the deserted village and surrounded the old Chief's residence. The leader of the invading party perceiving him through a hole over his door, quietly sitting, as he thought, by his fire which afforded but a dim flickering light, smoking his pipe, his grey head represented with a wig made of the skin of some white-haired animal, "Wauh!" exclaimed the leader of the Senecas, as he broke in, followed by his men upon the old Chief, and with uplifted tomahawk accosted His Majesty thus, "a

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Wyandott at one time killed a War Chief of our tribe, and the time to have our revenge by slaying you has at last come!" uttering a savage yell as his descending tomahawk came in contact with the wooden headof the Wyandottdiff!"Whoo!" exclaimed the Seneca "what does this mean?" a roar of laughter succeeded the savage yells of the whole party on perceiving the stratagem, and commenced dancing around the fire, yelling and singing their savage war songs, knocking the effigy of the old King about his wigwam with their tomahawks and war clubs.

But their boisterous conviviality was instantly hushed by the distant whoop and yell of Indians. Thinking that it might be a party of Wyandott warriors hurrying home to save their people from being massacred, the Senecas made a hasty retreat, and not finding their canoes where they had landed, they rushed into the stream to swim across.

Owing to the darkness of the night they did not discern a gang of women and boys standing in the water who attacked them with clubs. These, on perceiving that the enemies were not of a large party, gave the signal to the Wyandott boys and women at the opposite side of the stream to attack the refugees. Several of the latter were slain.

The distant yell that started the Senecas from the village was uttered by some of the older boys then about home, as they were ordered by the old Chief.

Chivalry of the Ioways

Black HawkSauk

My nation had now some difficulty with the Ioways, with whom we wished to be at peace. Our young men had repeatedly killed some of the Ioways; and these breaches had always been made up by giving presents to the relations of those killed. But the last council we had with them, we promised that, in case any more of their people were killed by ours, instead of presents, we would give up the person, or persons, that had done the injury. We made this determination known to our people; but, notwithstanding, one of our young men killed an Ioway the following winter.

A party of our people were about starting for the Ioway village to give the young man up. I agreed to accompany them. When we were

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ready to start, I called at the lodge for the young man to go with us. He was sick, but willing to go. His brother, however, prevented him, and insisted on going to die in his place, as he was unable to travel. We started, and on the seventh day arrived in sight of the Ioway village, and when within a short distance of it, halted and dismounted. We all bid farewell to our young brave, who entered the village alone, singing his death-song, and sat down in the square in the middle of the village. One of the Ioway chiefs came out to us. We told him that we had fulfilled our promisethat we had brought the brother of the young man who had killed one of their peoplethat he had volunteered to come in his place, in consequence of his brother being unable to travel from sickness. We had no further conversation, but mounted our horses and rode off. As we started, I cast my eye towards the village, and observed the Ioways coming out of their lodges with spears and war clubs. We took our trail back, and travelled until darkthen encamped and made a fire. We had not been here long, before we heard the sound of horses coming towards us. We seized our arms; but instead of an enemy, it was our young brave with two horses. He told me that after we had left him, they menaced him with death for some timethen gave him something to eatsmoked the pipe with himand made him a present of the two horses and some goods, and started him after us. When we arrived at our village, our people were much pleased; and for the noble and generous conduct of the Ioways, on this occasion, not one of their people has been killed since by any of our nation.

The Courage of an Old Warrior William WarrenOjibway

Early one morning the camp was attacked by a large war-party of Foxes, and the men, women and children all murdered, with the exception of a lad and an old man, who, running into a swamp, and becoming fastened in the bog and mire, were captured and taken in triumph by the Foxes to their village, there to suffer death with all the barbarous tortures which a savage could invent.

Bi-aus-wah [the Ojibway chief ], at the time of the attack, was away on a hunt, and he did not return till towards evening. His feel-

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ings on finding his wigwams in ashes, and the lifeless, scalpless remains of his beloved family and relatives strewed about on the blood-stained ground, can only be imagined. He had lost all that bound him to life, and perfectly reckless he followed the return trail of the Foxes determined to die, if necessary, in revenging the grievous wrong which they had inflicted on him. He arrived at the village of his enemies, a day after their successful war-party had returned, and he heard men, women, and children screaming and yelling with delight, as they danced around the scalps which their warriors had taken.

Secreting himself on the outskirts of the village, the Ojibway chieftain waited for an opportunity to imbrue his hands in the blood of an enemy who might come within reach of his tomahawk. He had not remained long in his ambush, when the Foxes collected a short distance from the village, for the purpose of torturing and burning their two captives. The old man was first produced, and his body being wrapped in folds of the combustible birch bark, the Foxes set fire to it and caused him to run the gauntlet amid their hellish whoops and screams; covered with a perfect blaze of fire, and receiving withal a shower of blows, the old man soon expired.

The young and tender lad was then brought forward, and his doom was to run backwards and forwards on a long pile of burning fagots, till consumed to death. None but a parent can fully imagine the feelings which wrung the heart of the ambushed Ojibway chieftain, as he now recognized his only surviving child in the young captive who was about to undergo these torments. His single arm could not rescue him, but the brave father determined to die for or with his only son, and as the cruel Foxes were on the point of

setting fire to the heap of dry fagots on which the lad had been placed, they were surprised to see the Ojibway chief step proudly and boldly into their midst and address them as follows:

''My little son, whom you are about to burn with fire, has seen but a few winters; his tender feet have never trodden the war pathhe has never injured you! But the hairs of my head are white with many winters, and over the graves of my relatives I have hung many scalps which I have taken from the heads of the Foxes; my death is worth something to you, let me therefore take the place of my child that he may return to his people.''

Taken totally by surprise, the Foxes silently listened to the chief's

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proposal, and ever having coveted his death, and now fearing the consequence of his despairing efforts, they accepted his offer, and releasing the son, they bade him to depart, and burnt the brave father in his stead. The young man returned safely to his people.

Origin of the Five Nations Chief Elias JohnsonTuscarora

Even before the arrival of the white man, the intertribal wars of the Indians were frequent. In the New York area, the Iroquois were constantly under attack from powerful enemy nations. To protect themselves, they formed a defensive confederation which brought together at one council fire the five most powerful tribes in the New York region. Representatives of the Five Nations met to make laws and decide upon peace or war. So effective was this wilderness democracy that Benjamin Franklin recommended that the United States model its government after the League of the Iroquois.

The League was organized about 1570. One of the founders was probably Hiawatha, an alert and progressive Mohawk statesman. After his death, the historic Hiawatha was gradually transformed into a legendary figure with the wisdom and power of a god.

In Hiawatha, Longfellow's hero was an Ojibway. Perhaps his model was tall, handsome, muscular Chief Kah-ge-ga-gah-bowh (George Copway). A close personal friend of Longfellow, Chief Kah-ge-ga-gah-bowh was famed among the Ojibways for his great physical strength and hunting skill.

There were thus three Hiawathas: the historic Hiawatha,

associated with the founding of the Iroquois League; the legendary Mohawk, Hiawatha, described in this selection by Chief Elias Johnson; and Longfellow's Hiawatha, an Ojibway hero related only in name to the other Hiawathas.

The council met. Hiawatha entered the assembly with even more than ordinary attention, and every eye was fixed upon him, when he began to address the council in the following words:

"Friends and Brothers:You being members of many tribes, you have come from a great distance; the voice of war has aroused you up; you are afraid of your homes, your wives and your children; you

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trembled for your safety. Believe me, I am with you. My heart beats with your hearts. We are one. We have one common object. We come to promote our common interest, and to determine how this can be best done.

"To oppose those hordes of northern tribes, singly and alone, would prove certain destruction. We can make no progress in that way. We must unite ourselves into one common band of brothers. We must have but one voice. Many voices makes confusion. We must have one fire, one pipe and one war club. This will give us strength. If our warriors are united they can defeat the enemy and drive them from our land; if we do this, we are safe.

"Onondaga, you are the people sitting under the shadow of the Great Tree, whose branches spread far and wide, and whose roots sink deep into the earth. You shall be the first nation, because you are warlike and mighty.

"Oneida, and you, the people who recline your bodies against the Everlasting Stone, that cannot be moved, shall be the second nation, because you always give good counsel.

"Seneca, and you, the people who have your habitation at the foot of the Great Mountain, and are overshadowed by its crags, shall be the third nation, because you are all greatly gifted in speech.

"Cayuga, you, whose dwelling is in the Dark Forest, and whose home is everywhere, shall be the fourth nation, because of your superior cunning in hunting.

"Mohawk, and you, the people who live in the open country, and possess much wisdom, shall be the fifth nation, because you

understand better the art of raising corn and beans and making cabins.

"You five great and powerful nations, with your tribes, must unite and have one common interest, and no foe shall disturb or subdue you.

"And you of the different nations of the south, and you of the west, may place yourselves under our protection, and we will protect you. We earnestly desire the alliance and friendship of you all.

"If we unite in one band the Great Spirit will smile upon us, and we shall be free, prosperous and happy; but if we shall remain as we are we shall incur his displeasure. We shall be enslaved, and perhaps annihilated forever.

"Brothers, these are the words of Hiawatha. Let them sink deep into your hearts. I have done."

A deep and impressive silence followed the delivery of this speech.

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On the following day the council again assembled to act on it. High wisdom recommended this deliberation.

The union of the tribes into one confederacy was discussed and unanimously adopted. To denote the character and intimacy of the union they employed the figure of a single council-house, or lodge, whose boundaries be co-extensive with their territories.

Hiawatha, the guardian and founder of the league, having now accomplished the will of the Great Spirit, immediately prepared to make his final departure. Before the great council, which had adopted his advice just before dispersing, he arose, with a dignified air, and addressed them in the following manner:

"Friends and Brothers:I have now fulfilled my mission here below; I have furnished you seeds and grains for your gardens; I have removed obstructions from your waters, and made the forest habitable by teaching you how to expel its monsters; I have given you fishing places and hunting grounds; I have instructed you in the making and using of war implements; I have taught you how to cultivate corn, and many other arts and gifts. I have been allowed by the Great Spirit to communicate to you. Last of all, I have aided you to form a league of friendship and union. If you preserve this, and admit no foreign element of power by the admission of other nations, you will always be free, numerous and happy. If other tribes and nations are admitted to your councils, they will sow the seed of jealousy and discord, and you will become few, feeble and enslaved.

"Friends and brothers, these are the last words you will hear from the lips of Hiawatha. The Great Creator of our bodies calls me to

go; I have patiently awaited his summons; I am ready to go. Farewell."

As the voice of the wise man ceased, sweet strains of music from the air burst on the ears of the multitude. The whole sky appeared to be filled with melody; and while all eyes were directed to catch glimpses of the sights, and enjoy strains of the celestial music that filled the sky, Hiawatha was seen, seated in his snow-white canoe, amid the air, rising, rising with every choral chant that burst out. As he rose the sound of the music became more soft and faint, until he vanished amid the summer clouds, and the melody ceased.

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VI WAR BELTS ON THE OLD FRONTIER

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In 1492 Columbus, looking for a shorter route to India, landed on one of the Bahamas. Believing he had reached India, he called the natives Indians. Later explorers named them "redskins" because they painted their faces with red ocher.

Columbus was followed by explorers and conquistadors who probed the new continent for gold. Then came the colonists, bringing guns and whisky and strange diseases with which to conquer the Indians. Gradually they pushed the Indians back, and within two hundred years the entire eastern seaboard of the United States was in the hands of the white invaders.

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The Warning of the Bees Peter D. ClarkeWyandott

According to legend, the ancient medicine men had prophesied that a white race would some day come from across the great waters and destroy the Indians. They had predicted that the honeybee, seldom found in a wild country, would give warning of the white man's arrival.

One summer day, whilst a party of children of nature were sitting and lying around under shady trees on a bank of the stream, one of their old men suddenly exclaimed, "Hun-haw!" (expressive of regret) "Look here!" said he pointing toward a strange looking insect that was buzzing around some wild flowers near them, "the white man,'' he continued, "is not very far off, and this strange thing you see flying about here was brought over to this country by the white man from the other side of the 'big waters,' and who, before very long, will come and take the whole country from the red man. Like the white man, this strange thing represents the rapidly increasing and ever busy tribe it belongs to." The insect that attracted their attention was the honeybee. "Thus you see," resumed the Wyandott, ''that what has been foretold by our fathers is now coming to pass." Presently the bee came buzzing around them, then darted into the forest.

Arrival of the White Men Joseph NicolarPenobscot

There is no Indian eyewitness account of the landing of Columbus or any other early explorer. Joseph Nicolar, writing in 1893, described the Penobscot tradition of an early landing. The French colonized Neutral Island on the St. Croix River in 1604, and this may be the landing to which Nicolar referred.

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Just at this time an exciting news was brought from the extreme north to the effect, that the white man's big canoe had come, and had landed its people who are still remaining on the land on the north shore of the "Ma-quozz-bem-to-cook, Lake River," and have planted some heavy blocks of wood in the form of a cross. These people are white and the lower part of the faces of the elder ones are covered with hair, and the hair is in different colors, and the eyes are not alike, some have dark while others have light colored eyes, some have eyes the color of the blue sky. They have shown nothing only friendship, they take the red man's hands in their own and bow their heads down and make signs in the direction of the stars; and their big canoe is filled with food which they eat and also give some to those that come to them and made signs of friendship. When this news spread, the people took it so quietly and talked about it in such a way, there was no excitement, but everybody took it as though it was an old affair, yet it had such effect upon them, that it was evident the general desire was, that the habits of the strange people must be well learned, and all agree to wait and see what kind of a treatment they will extend to the red people. If the treatment they have already extended be continued, it was thought will be the means of bringing happiness to both races.

Captain John Smith and Powhatan Chief Flying HawkSioux

Not until 1607 did the English plant their first permanent colony in the New World, Jamestown. The colonists were led by hard, shrewd Captain John Smith, who in his books, written many years later,

boasted of how he saved the colony by outwitting the Indians. Here is an Indian impression of Smith by Chief Flying Hawk (18521993). A nephew of Sitting Bull, Chief Flying Hawk fought in the Custer battle in 1876. Later he joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, and only when he was too old to travel did he retire to his cabin in the Bad Lands. In 1929, the chief dictated his impressions of American history to his friend, M. I. McCreight.

That Virginia venture was a gold-hunting expedition like when Cortez went to steal from Montezuma the Indians' gold and silver

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and land. They were a lot of fellows out of a job who wanted to live without work by cheating and robbing the native people who did not have guns.

Powhatan was kind to them when they came. He gave them food and helped them to make houses to live in. They stayed a long time and did not work and raise food but got it from the Indians. Then when the corn was not plenty for all, Smith told Powhatan that they had been wrecked and soon ships would come from England and take them back home. Ships came and put more English people on the land but did not bring food for them. They were hungry and asked for more corn from the Indians, but there was not enough for all, and so Powhatan told them he had food only for his own people. The white men had guns and swords and told Powhatan he must give them the corn or they would kill his people. Then there was trouble. They took the food from the Indians and the Indians killed some of them and then they became enemies.

It was when they had stolen a lot of food from the Indians and were in camp to eat it that Smith said Pocahontas came to them through the path in the woods and told them the Indians were coming to kill them, and she put her arms around Smith's neck and cried. It was a good white man's story, but Indians do not believe it. Smith did not tell this story until long after he went back to England to put it in his book. Pocahontas was a girl only twelve or thirteen years old and Smith was a hard man more than forty or fifty winters. Rolfe took her to England but she did not live very long there so far away from her people.

The Pilgrim Invasion WIlliam ApesPequod

The story of the Pilgrims really began in 1606 with the founding of the Plymouth Company, chartered for the purpose of trading in the New World and backed by wealthy Londoners. After several unsuccessful efforts to found a colony in New England, the company bit upon the idea of using as colonists a group of people who opposed the Church of England and were eager to found a religious community built entirely upon their own beliefs.

In the summer of 1620, 102 immigrants were jammed into the May-

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flower. Only a third of the passengers were Pilgrims. The others were adventurers or settlers who bad been picked up in London by the Plymouth Company.

William Apes, a descendant of the Wampanoag sachem King Philip, wrote this critical account of the Pilgrims in 1836.

December, 1620, the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, and without asking liberty from any one, they possessed themselves of a portion of the country, and built themselves houses, and then made a treaty, and commanded them [the Indians] to accede to it. This, if now done, would be called an insult, and every white man would be called to go out and act the part of a patriot, to defend their country's rights; and if every intruder were butchered, it would be sung upon every hilltop in the Union, that victory and patriotism was the order of the day. And yet the Indians, though many were dissatisfied, without the shedding of blood, or imprisoning any one, bore it. And yet for their kindness and resignation towards the whites, they were called savages, and made by God on purpose for them to destroy. It appears that a treaty was made by the Pilgrims and the Indians, which treaty was kept during forty years; the young chiefs during this time, was showing the Pilgrims how to live in their country, and find support for their wives and little ones; and for all this, they were receiving the applauses of being savages. The two gentlemen chiefs were Squanto and Samoset, that were so good to the Pilgrims.

The next we present before you are things very appalling. We turn our attention to dates, 1623, January and March, when Mr. Weston['s] Colony, came very near starving to death; some of them were obliged to hire themselves to the Indians, to become their

servants, in order that they might live. Their principal work was to bring wood and water; but not being contented with this, many of the whites sought to steal the Indian's corn; and because the Indians complained of it, and through their complaint, some one of their number being punished, as they say, to appease the savages. Now let us see who the greatest savages were; the person that stole the corn was a stout athletic man, and because of this, they wished to spare him, and take an old man who was lame and sickly, and that used to get his living by weaving, and because they thought he would not be of so much use to them, he was, although innocent of any crime, hung in his stead. Oh, savage, where art thou, to weep over the Christian's crimes.

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Another act of humanity for Christians, as they call themselves, that one Capt. Standish, gathering some fruit and provisions, goes forward with a black and hypocritical heart, and pretends to prepare a feast for the Indians; and when they sit down to eat, they seize the Indian's knives hanging about their necks, and stab them to the heart. The white people call this stabbing, feasting the savages. We suppose it might well mean themselves, their conduct being more like savages than Christians. They took one Wittumumet, the Chief's head, and put it upon a pole in their fort; and for aught we know, gave praise to God for success in murdering a poor Indian; for we know it was their usual course to give praise to God for this kind of victory, believing it was God's will and command, for them to do so.

But we have more to present; and that is, the violation of a treaty that the Pilgrims proposed for the Indians to subscribe to, and they the first to break it. The Pilgrims promised to deliver up every transgressor of the Indian treaty, to them, to be punished according to their laws, and the Indians were to do likewise. Now it appears that an Indian had committed treason, by conspiring against the king's life, which is punishable with death, and Massasoit makes demand for the transgressor, and the Pilgrims refuse to give him up, although by their oath of alliance they had promised to do so. Their reasons were, he was beneficial to them. This shows how grateful they were to their former safeguard, and ancient protector. Now, who would have blamed this venerable old chief if he had declared war at once, and swept the whole colonies away? It was certainly in his power to do it, if he pleased; but no, he forbore, and forgave the whites. But where is there a people, called civilized, that would do it? we presume, none; and we doubt not but the

Pilgrims would have exerted all their powers to be avenged, and to appease their ungodly passions. But it will be seen that this good old chief exercised more Christian forbearance than any of the governors of that age, or since. It might well be said he was a pattern for the Christians themselves; but by the Pilgrims he is denounced, as being a savage.

In this history of Massasoit we find that his own head men were not satisfied with the Pilgrims; that they looked upon them to be intruders, and had a wish to expel those intruders out of their coast. A false report was made respecting one Tisquantum, that he was murdered by an Indian, one of Coubantant's men. Upon this news, one Standish, a vile and malicious fellow, took fourteen of his lewd

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Pilgrims with him, and at midnight, when a deathless silence reigned throughout the wilderness. At that late hour of the night, meeting a house in the wilderness, whose inmates heardMove not, upon the peril of your life. At the same time some of the females were so frightened, that some of them undertook to make their escape, upon which they were fired upon. Now it is doubtless the case that these females never saw a white man before, or ever heard a gun fired. It must have sounded to them like the rumbling of thunder, and terror must certainly have filled all their hearts. And can it be supposed that these innocent Indians could have looked up them as good and trusty men? Do you look upon the midnight robber and assassin as being a Christian, and trusty man? These Indians had not done one single wrong act to the whites, but were as innocent of any crime, as any beings in the world. But if the real sufferers say one word, they are denounced, as being wild and savage beasts.

The history of New England writers say, that our tribes were large and respectable. How then, could it be otherwise, but their safety rested in the hands of friendly Indians. In 1647, the Pilgrims speak of large and respectable tribes. But let us trace them for a few moments. How have they been destroyed, is it by fair means? No. How then? By hypocritical proceedings, by being duped and flattered; flattered by informing the Indians that their God was a going to speak to them, and then place them before the cannon's mouth in a line, and then putting the match to it and kill thousands of them. We might suppose that meek Christians had better gods and weapons than cannon. But let us again review their weapons to civilize the nations of this soil. What were they: rum and powder, and ball, together with all the diseases, such as the small pox, and

every other disease imaginable; and in this way sweep off thousands and tens of thousands.

King Philip's War WIlliam ApesPequod

Within fifty years after the Pilgrims landed, the New England coast was dotted with towns. Each year a stream of immigrants poured into the New World, and each year the colonists demanded and got more land from the Indians.

When the Indians signed away their hunting grounds, they be-

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lieved they were only lending the land to the colonists. The earth, they said, was the mother of all life and could not be bought or sold. Fences that set off the land and plows that defaced it were against the laws of nature.

The colonists did not understand or pretended not to understand the Indian beliefs. So they went on "buying" land.

This difference of ideas on landownership led to conflicts. The first major clash came in 1637, after the murder of a white trader touched off the Pequod War. The colonists surrounded and set fire to the Pequod stronghold near the Mystic River. In a terrible slaughter, more than 400 Pequod men, women, and children were burned to death or put to the sword. A few less fortunate Pequods were captured. The Pilgrims sent the men and boys to Bermuda to be sold into slavery and gave the women and girls to any Pilgrim who wanted them.

For nearly forty years there was peace-a shaky, uncertain peace. Then, in 1675, came the second great struggle between the colonists and the Indians. Under the brilliant leadership of King Philip, the New England Indians formed a confederation to resist the Pilgrims. The fighting began when the whites, in violation of an old treaty, executed three Indians for murder. In a series of raids, Philip's warriors struck at the heart of New England. Of ninety towns, fifty-two were attacked and twelve were completely destroyed. The struggle ended when Philip was betrayed by his allies, and his forces were surrounded and cut to pieces in a Rhode Island swamp.

William Apes (1798 ?) was ordained a Methodist preacher in 1829.

At the Odeon on Federal Street in Boston he delivered in 1836 a stirring eulogy on King Philip. The eulogy was a thinly veiled attack on bigotry and intolerance. Soon after making his speech on King Philip, from which the following selection is taken, Apes disappeared mysteriously. Where or how he died is not known.

At council it appears that Philip made the following speech to his chiefs, counsellors and warriors.

Brothers,You see this vast country before us, which the Great Spirit gave to our fathers and us; you see the buffalo and deer that now are our support.Brothers, you see these little ones, our wives and children, who are looking to us for food and raiment; and you now see the foe before you, that they have grown insolent and bold;

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that all our ancient customs are disregarded; the treaties made by our fathers and us are broken, and all of us insulted; our council fires disregarded, and all the ancient customs of our fathers; our brothers murdered before our eyes, and their spirits cry to us for revenge. Brothers, these people from the unknown world will cut down our groves, spoil our hunting and planting grounds, and drive us and our children from the graves of our fathers, and our council fires, and enslave our women and children.

This famous speech of Philip was calculated to arouse them to arms, to do the best they could in protecting and defending their rights. Philip's young men were eager to do exploits, and to lead captive their haughty lords. It does appear that every Indian heart had been lighted up at the council fires, at Philip's speech, and that the forest was literally alive with this injured race. And now town after town fell before them. The Pilgrims with their forces were ever marching in one direction, while Philip and his forces were marching in another, burning all before them, until Middleborough, Taunton and Dartmouth were laid in ruins, and forsaken by its inhabitants.

At the great fight at Pocasset, Philip commanded in person, where he also was discovered with his host in a dismal swamp. He had retired here with his army to secure a safe retreat from the Pilgrims, who were in close pursuit of him, and their numbers were so powerful they thought the fate of Philip was sealed. They surrounded the swamp, in hopes to destroy him and his army. At the edge of the swamp Philip had secreted a few of his men to draw them into ambush, upon which the Pilgrims showed fight; Philip's men retreating and the whites pursuing them till they were

surrounded by Philip, and nearly all cut off. This was a sorry time to them; the Pilgrims, however, reinforced, but ordered a retreat, supposing it impossible for Philip to escape, and knowing his forces to be great, it was conjectured by some to build a fort to starve him out, as he had lost but few men in the fight. The situation of Philip was rather peculiar, as there was but one outlet to the swamp, and a river before him nearly seven miles to descend. The Pilgrims placed a guard around the swamp for 13 days, which gave Philip and his men time to prepare canoes to make good his retreat; in which he did, to the Connecticut river, and in his retreat lost but fourteen men. We may look upon this move of Philip's to be equal, if not superior to that of Washington crossing the Delaware. For while Washington was assisted by all the

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knowledge that art and science could give, together with the instruments of defence, and edged tools to prepare rafts, and the like helps for safety across the river, Philip was naked as to any of these things; and yet makes his escape with equal praise.

Philip having now taken possession of the back settlements of Massachusetts, one town after another was swept off. A garrison being established at Northfield by the Pilgrims, and while endeavoring to reinforce it with thirty-six armed, twenty out of their number was killed, and one taken prisoner. At the same time Philip so managed it as to cut off their retreat, and take their ammunition from them.

About the month of August, they [the Indians] took a young lad about fourteen years of age, whom they intended to make merry with the next day; but the Pilgrims said God touched the Indians' heart, and they let him go. About the same time, the whites took an old man of Philip's, whom they found alone; and because he would not turn traitor, and inform them where Philip was, they pronounced him worthy of death; and by them was executed, cutting off first his arms and then his head. We wonder why God did not touch the Pilgrims' heart, and save them from cruelty, as well as the Indians.

But we have another dark and corrupt deed for the sons of the Pilgrims to look at, and that is the fight and capture of Philip's son and wife, and many of his warriors, in which Philip lost about 130 men killed and wounded; this was in August 1676. But the most horrid act was in taking Philip's son, about ten years of age, and selling him to be a slave away from his father and mother. While I am writing, I can hardly restrain my feelings, to think a people

calling themselves Christians, should conduct so scandalous, so outrageous, making themselves appear so despicable in the eyes of the Indians; and even now I doubt not but there is men honorable enough to despise the conduct of these pretended Christians. And surely none but such as believe they did right, will ever go and undertake to celebrate that day of their landing, the 22d of December.

Philip's forces had now become very small, so many having been duped away by the whites, and killed, that it was now easy surrounding him. Therefore, upon the 12th of August, Captain Church surrounded the swamp where Philip and his men had encamped, early in the morning, before they had risen, doubtless led on by an Indian who was either compelled or hired to turn traitor. Church had now placed his guard so that it was impossible for Philip to escape without

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being shot. It is doubtful, however, whether they would have taken him if he had not been surprised. Suffice it to say, however, this was the case. A sorrowful morning to the poor Indians, to lose such a valuable man. When coming out of the swamp, he was fired upon by an Indian, and killed dead upon the spot.

I rejoice that it was even so, that the Pilgrims did not have the pleasure of tormenting him. The white man's gun missing fire lost the honor of killing the truly great man, Philip. The place where Philip fell was very muddy. Upon this news, the Pilgrims gave three cheers; then Church ordering his body to be pulled out of the mud, while one of those tender-hearted Christians exclaims, what a dirty creature he looks like. And we have also Church's speech upon that subject, as follows: For as much as he has caused many a Pilgrim to lie above ground unburied, to rot, not one of his bones shall be buried.

Captain Church now orders him to be cut up. Accordingly, he was quartered and hung up upon four trees; his head and one hand given to the Indian who shot him, to carry about to show. At which sight it so overjoyed the Pilgrims, that they would give him money for it; and in this way obtained a considerable sum. After which, his head was sent to Plymouth, and exposed upon a gibbet for twenty years; and his hand to Boston, where it was exhibited in savage triumph; and his mangled body denied a resting place in the tomb.

I think that as a matter of honor, that I can rejoice that no such evil conduct is recorded of the Indians; that they never hung up any of the white warriors, who were head men. And we add the famous speech of Dr. Increase Mather; he says, during the bloody contest,

the pious fathers wrestled hard and long with their God, in prayer, that he would prosper their arms, and deliver their enemies into their hands. The Doctor closes thus: Nor could they, the Pilgrims, cease crying to the Lord against Philip, until they had prayed the bullet through his heart. If this is the way they pray, that is bullets through people's hearts, I hope they will not pray for me; I should rather be excused.

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Germ Warfare Against the Indians

Chief Andrew J. BlackbirdOttawa

Many of the tribes that welcomed the Pilgrims to Plymouththe Pequods, Naticks, Narragansetswere virtually exterminated by the end of the seventeenth century. In other northern colonies the match for empire between France and England was getting under way, with the Indians as pawns. The French pitted the Hurons and Otta-was against the British and their Iroquois allies.

After a long series of clashes the military genius of the Iroquois swung the balance in favor of Britain, and on September 18, 1759, the French stronghold of Quebec fell to the forces of General Wolfe. The capture of Quebec ended French hopes for empire in America.

The most formidable enemies of the British were now the Ottawas and Ojibways (Chippewas) who held most of the Great Lakes region. Many historians claim that the British resorted to germ warfare in order to destroy these hostile tribes, for nearly 2,000 Ottawa and neighboring Indians were struck down by smallpox.

Germ warfare was not an entirely new idea. In 1752 General Jeffrey Amherst recommended the use of smallpox to his subordinates. ''You will be well advised,'' wrote His Excellency, "to infect the Indians with sheets upon which small pox patients have been lying or by any other means which may serve to exterminate this accursed race. I should be very glad if your plan of hunting them down with dogs were to prove practicable."

Chief Andrew J. Blackbird, Ottawa historian, wrote this indictment of the British in 1887.

The Ottawas were greatly reduced in numbers on account of the small-pox which they brought from Montreal during the French war with Great Britain. This small-pox was sold to them shut up in a tin box, with the strict injunction not to open their box on their way homeward, but only when they should reach their country; and that this box contained something that would do them great good, and their people! The foolish people believed really there was something in the box supernatural, that would do them great good. Accordingly, after they reached home they opened the box; but behold there was another tin box inside, smaller. They took it out and opened the

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second box, and behold, still there was another box inside the second box, smaller yet. So they kept on this way till they came to a very small box, which was not more than an inch long; and when they opened the last one they found nothing but mouldy particles in this last little box! They wondered very much what it was, and a great many closely inspected to try to find out what it meant. But alas, alas! pretty soon burst out a terrible sickness among them. The great Indian doctors themselves were taken sick and died. The tradition says it was indeed awful and terrible. Every one taken with it was sure to die. Lodge after lodge was totally vacatednothing but the dead bodies lying here and there in their lodgesentire families being swept off with the ravages of this terrible disease. The whole coast of Arbor Croche, or Waw-gaw- naw-ke-zee, where their principal village was situated, on the west shore of the peninsula near the Straits, which is said to have been a continuous village some fifteen or sixteen miles long and extending from what is now called Cross Village to Seven-Mile Point (that is, seven miles from Little Traverse, now Harbor Springs), was entirely depopulated and laid waste. It is generally believed among the Indians of Arbor Croche that this wholesale murder of the Ottawas by this terrible disease sent by the British people, was actuated through hatred, and expressly to kill off the Ottawas and Chippewas because they were friends of the French Government or French King, whom they called "Their Great Father." The reason that today we see no full-grown trees standing along the coast of Arbor Croche, a mile or more in width along the shore, is because the trees were entirely cleared away for this famous long village, which existed before the small-pox raged among the Ottawas.

The Capture of Fort Michilimackinac

William WarrenOjibway

In the spring of 1763 the Indians under Pontiac (1720?1769) launched an all-out attack against the British on the northwest frontier. Of twelve fortified posts attacked, eight were taken.

Pontiac, an Ottawa chief, was one of the greatest of Indian leaders and like King Philip formed a confederacy of tribes to drive the English from his country. He personally led the siege of Detroit, and at a

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powwow called upon the French to join him. Hurling a war belt into their midst he said: "My Brothers! I did not wish to ask you to fight with us against the English, and I did not believe you would take part with them. You will say you are not with them. I know it, but your conduct amounts to the same thing. You will tell them all we do and say. You carry our counsels and plans to them. Now take your choice. You must be entirely French, like ourselves, or entirely English. If you are French, take this belt for yourselves and your young men, and join us. If you are English, we declare war against you!"

Despite Pontiac's shrewdness the French refused to take part in the war. Several attempts to seize Detroit by stratagem failed, and on the Pennsylvania frontier the Indians were defeated and routed. At last, on August 17, 1765, Pontiac reluctantly signed a treaty of peace.

The most spectacular victory scored by the Indians during the Pontiac War was the capture of Fort Michilimackinac (Mackinaw). This description of the capture, written in 1852, was based upon details furnished by old men of the Ojibway tribe.

For upwards of four years after the French had ceded the country to the British, the allied Algic tribes, after a short lull of quiet and comparative peace, under the masterly guidance of Pontiac, maintained the war against what they considered as the usurpation, by the British, of the hunting grounds which the Great Spirit had given to their ancestors.

Such was the force and accuracy of the organization which this celebrated leader had effected among the northern tribes of his

fellow red men, that, on the same day, which was the 4th of June, 1763, and the anniversary of the king's birth (which the Indians knew was a day set apart by the English as one of amusement and celebration), they attacked and besieged twelve of the wide-spread western stock-aded forts, and succeeded in taking possession of nine [?]. In this alliance, the Ojibways of Lakes Huron and Michigan were most active parties, and into their hands was entrusted by their common leader, the capture of the British fort at Mackinaw [city]. "That fort," according to the description of an eminent writer, "standing on the south side of the strait between lakes Huron and Michigan, was one of the most important positions on the frontiers. It was the place of deposit, and point of departure between the upper and lower countries; the traders always assembled there, on their voyages to and

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from Montreal. Connected with it, was an area of two acres, inclosed with cedar wood pickets, and extending on one side so near to the water's edge, that a western wind always drew the waves against the foot of the stockade. There were about thirty houses within the limits, inhabited by about the same number of families. The only ordinance on the bastions were two small brass pieces. The garrison numbered between ninety and one hundred."

The important enterprise of the capture of this important and indispensable post, was entrusted into the hands of Mih-neh-weh- na, the great war chieftain of the Ojibways of Mackinaw, and by the manner in which he superintended and managed the affair, to a complete and successful issue, he approved himself a worthy lieutenant of the great head and leader of the war, the Ottawa chieftain Pontiac.

The Ottawas of Lake Michigan being more friendly disposed to the British, were not called on by the politic Ojibway chieftain for help in this enterprise, and a knowledge of the secret plan of attack was carefully kept from them, for fear that they would inform their English friends, and place them on their guard. In fact, every person of his own tribe whom he suspected of secret good-will towards any of the new British traders, Min-neh-weh-na sent away from the scene of the intended attack, with the admonition that death would be their sure fate, should the British be informed of the plan which had been formed to take possession of the fort.

In this manner did he guard with equal foresight and greater success than Pontiac himself, against a premature development of their plans. Had not the loving Indian girl informed the young officer at Fort Detroit of Pontiac's secret plan [to seize Detroit], that

important post, and its inmates, would have shared the same fate as befell the fort at Mackinaw.

Of all the northern tribes who occupied the great lakes, the Ojibways allowed only the Osaugees to participate with them in their secret councils, in which was developed the plan of taking the fort, and these two tribes only were actively engaged in this enterprise.

The fighting men of the Ojibways and Osaugees gradually collected in the vicinity of the fort as the day appointed for the attack approached. They numbered between four and six hundred. An active trade was in the mean time carried on with the British traders, and every means resorted to for the purpose of totally blinding the suspicions which the more humane class of the French population

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found means to impart to the officers of the fort, respecting the secret animosity of the Indians. These hints were entirely disregarded by Major Etherington, the commandant of the fort, and he even threatened to confine any person who would have the future audacity to whisper these tales of danger into his ears. Everything, therefore, favored the scheme which the Ojibway chieftain had laid to ensnare his confident enemies. On the eve of the great English king's birthday, he informed the British commandant that as the morrow was to be a day of rejoicing, his young men would play the game of ball, or Baug-ah-ud-o-way [lacrosse], for the amusement of the whites, in front of the gate of the fort. In this game the young men of the Osaugee tribe would play against the Ojibways for a large stake. The commandant expressed his pleasure and willingness to the crafty chieftain's proposal, little dreaming that this was to lead to a game of blood, in which those under his charge were to be the victims.

During the whole night the Ojibways were silently busy in making preparations for the morrow's work. They sharpened their knives and tomahawks, and filed short off their guns. In the morning these weapons were entrusted to the care of their women, who, hiding them under the folds of their blankets, were ordered to stand as near as possible to the gate of the fort, as if to witness the game which the men were about to play. Over a hundred on each side of the Ojibways and Osaugees, all chosen men, now sallied forth from their wigwams, painted and ornamented for the occasion, and proceeding to the open green which lay in front of the fort, they made up the stakes for which they were apparently about to play, and planted the posts toward which each party was to strive to take the ball.

This game of Baug-ah-ud-o-way is played with a bat and wooden ball. The bat is about four feet long, terminating at one end into a circular curve, which is netted with leather strings, and forms a cavity where the ball is caught, carried, and if necessary thrown with great force, to treble the distance that it can be thrown by hand. Two posts are planted at the distance of about half a mile. Each party has its particular post, and the game consists in carrying or throwing the ball in the bat to the post of the adversary. At the commencement of the game, the two parties collect midway between the two posts; the ball is thrown up into the air, and the competition for its possession commences in earnest. It is the wildest game extant among the Indians, and is generally played in full feathers and ornaments, and

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with the greatest excitement and vehemence. The great object is to obtain possession of the ball; and, during the heat of the excitement, no obstacle is allowed to stand in the way of getting at it. Let it fall far out into the deep water, numbers rush madly in and swim for it, each party impeding the efforts of the other in every manner possible. Let it fall into a high inclosure, it is surmounted, or torn down in a moment, and the ball recovered; and were it to fall into the chimney of a house, a jump through the window, or a smash of the door, would be considered of no moment; and the most violent hurts and bruises are incident to the headlong, mad manner in which it is played. It will be seen by this hurried description, that the game was very well adapted to carry out the scheme of the Indians.

On the morning of the 4th of June, after the cannon of the fort had been discharged in commemoration of the king's natal day, the ominous ball was thrown up a short distance in front of the gate of Fort Mackinaw, and the exciting game commenced. The two hundred players, their painted persons streaming with feathers, ribbons, fox and wolf tails, swayed to and fro as the ball was carried backwards and forwards by either party, who for the moment had possession of it. Occasionally a swift and agile runner would catch it in his bat, and making tremendous leaps hither and thither to avoid the attempts of his opponents to knock it out of his bat, or force him to throw it, he would make a sudden dodge past them, and choosing a clear track, run swiftly, urged on by the deafening shouts of his party and the by-standers, towards the stake of his adversaries, till his onward course was stopped by a swifter runner, or an advanced guard of the opposite party.

The game, played as it was, by the young men of two different tribes, became exciting, and the commandant of the fort even took his stand outside his open gates, to view its progress. His soldiers stood carelessly unarmed, here and there, intermingling with the Indian women, who gradually huddled near the gateway, carrying under their blankets the weapons which were to be used in the approaching work of death.

In the struggle for its possession, the ball at last was gradually carried towards the open gates, and all at once, after having reached a proper distance, an athletic arm caught it up in his bat, and as if by accident threw it within the precincts of the fort. With one deafening yell and impulse, the players rushed forward in a body, as if to

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regain it, but as they reached their women and entered the gateway, they threw down their wooden bats and grasping the shortened guns, tomahawks, and knives, the massacre commenced, and the bodies of the unsuspecting British soldiers soon lay strewn about, lifeless, horribly mangled, and scalpless. The careless commander was taken captive without a struggle, as he stood outside the fort, viewing the game, which the Ojibway chieftain had got up for his amusement.

Not a hair on the head of the many Frenchmen who witnessed this scene was hurt by the infuriated savages, and there stands not on record a stronger proof of the love borne them by the tribe engaged in this business than this very fact, for the passions of an Indian warrior, once aroused by a scene of this nature, are not easily appeased, and generally everything kindred in any manner to his foe, falls a victim to satiate his blood-thirsty propensities.

Logan Defends His Conduct

Chief James LoganCayuga

The most famous of Indian orators, Chief James Logan (1725? 1780) was widely known on the Ohio and Pennsylvania frontiers for his pleasant personality, handsome features, and friendship for the white men.

In the spring of 1774, a gang of white settlers attacked and massacred a settlement of peaceful Indians at the mouth of Yellow Creek, Ohio. Among the murdered were members of Logan's family. He and other Indians took up the tomahawk and avenged

the Yellow Creek massacre in a series of barbarous attacks on settlers and their families.

The Indian uprising was suppressed, but Logan refused to attend a peace conference. Instead, he sent by the interpreter a defense of his conduct of which Thomas Jefferson said: "I may challenge the whole orations of Demosthenes and Cicero, and of any more eminent orator, if Europe has furnished more eminent, to produce a single passage, superior to the speech of Logan."

I appeal to any white man to say, if he ever entered Logan's cabin hungry, and he gave him not meat; if he ever came cold and naked, and he clothed him not. During the course of the last long and bloody war, Logan remained idle in his cabin, an advocate for peace. Such

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was my love for the whites, that my countrymen pointed as they passed, and said, "Logan is the friend of white men." I had even thought to have lived with you, but for the injuries of one man. Colonel Cresap, the last spring, in cold blood, and unprovoked, murdered all the relations of Logan, not sparing even my women and children. There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any living creature.

This called on me for revenge. I have sought it: I have killed many: I have fully glutted my vengeance. For my country, I rejoice at the beams of peace. But do not harbor a thought that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not turn on his heel to save his life.

Who is there to mourn for Logan?Not one.

In-Ne-O-Cose (Blackfoot Brave) Watercolor on paper George Catlin 1836

Courtesy of Thomas Gilcrease Institute of American History and Art, Tulsa, Oklahoma

Crow Wigwam Oil on canvas George Catlin Undated