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JT.- ; w iteli fev A' f I a 3 I' BAUBLES :m Among the Indians t I 9 OF TBB )Sl«ks XSClottntnins sob ^h» J^nbM BY •^ GEORGE OATLIN Author of -Life Among the Indiam of North Amerka,' i > WITH TWENi;X^q!Ll9*JU.UfTRATI0Na •«• • • • • ; • • • , ••• • I* • • • I • • •«•• ■•< • • • •• • • • • • • •• • t«« • • • 3 , J O <*t« J9^'U0 3 J • J a >3 0) ^#i Gall and Inglxs, 25 Patbbnosteb Squabb; AWO MDtVBUM9B. MilMMiMMllHHilMIIMiii • t •'( / • • •: • • ••••• ••« •• ••« * • » ■ • •• « • ••< ■/■ .'■ rm ^■^■r^ / CONTENTS. CHAP. INTBODVOnOir, ., ...t L THB BAXXU8NAKIB' SKN, •••.... 9 U. GOLD HOKIHrO IN THS OBTSTAL MOUNTAOrS, . . . . 61 in. Tstaxmst or shi tuoatau, . . ... . . 81 IV. TBI IXATHSAD JXtDIASBf . . . . . . . 144 V. OAIWOBHIA, . . . ... ... .180 VL UO DB JAiniBO, . .201 Vn. BUBHOSATBIS, 248 Vm. IIBBBA DBL FDBQO, . 279 n. TBX IKDIAH8, WHBBB VBOM ! . „. . . . . .296 X. THBIBDIANB, 1VH0 ABBTHXT! . ... 810 XL inanrnuim^wBiBBABBTBxrooiKot . .826 •79196 &^&S^I&i s'jKfli- ■■; ->"^ tW'-; w ||':v;. K ' &■ K'' !*''•',■' HK'^. ^^ I'/ft p R^-J; r« ^Ek^w^' WF^ ^Mp/#.' ^4 i; C fiX m LIST OF ILLUSTBATIONa I » IBM BATTUnUTAXI IH BOWI.R*S TKAP, . BATnanrAn trap, THB BATTLinrAxn* snr, ..... FOIiIiOWID BT raOOABOSj . • • A TIBIT nOM AN ABT-IAIBB, .... BtAxmnh oAvoasy "SOBS UBS," . . . VATAB IKDIAm, ....... A ICKDroiNB DANOB, POBIBAITS or RATA8 WITH THBIB OBNAMBBTS, BLOCKS or WOOD rOB THB OHDBB-UP, BTC., . riiATHBAS WOXBN, ...... rLATHBAD OHIBr AHD BIS Wms, WITH BABT, BAoDA-AB'6H0N-Dn, THB JUMFBB, .... A OBOW—- TBIiLOW MOOOASIB AT HIS TOUiETTB, HAH-QUOT-SB-0, SPABIBH SPDB, AHD BIO-WAB-BA, . " TTO-BATIONAI^" BOTOOUSOB AND PATA0UA8 INDIANS, . INDIAH or THB AMAZON, . ORIBrB or THB AMAZPN, WITH FBNDBNT OBNAMBNTB^ OUAWfA BOBOBBBB» WITH FBNDBNT OBNAMKHTSy . tnnCABBIBD OIBXi or VBNBIUBLA, . INSUV BIAa>|[QBAL8, . • KIUiINO WIU> BOSSES WITH BOLAS, , , , . PASS . IS . 70 88 . 128 . 126 . 181 . ^84 . 186 . 187 . 146 . 147 . 164 . 156 . 186 . 187 . 208 . 220 . 286 . 287 . 280 . 241 . 257 S?ffwp!WW^||fjfiyff?W!ll9'W'?'^ ■^'?^T'^:^'r^:: . . 18 • . ts • . 70 • . 86 . 128 . las . 181 . ^84 . 186 . 187 . 146 . 147 . 154 . 156 . 186 . 187 . 208 . 229 . 286 . 287 . 289 . 241 257 RAMBLES Among THE Indians Imtboduot^on. I WAS bom in the beautiful and famed Valley of Wyoming, which is on the Susquehanna Biver, in the State of Pennsylvania. My father, however, for the relief of his health, impaired by the prac- tice of the law, had removed a ne forty miles to the romantic valley of Oc-qua-go, on the banks of the Susquehanna Biver, in the State of New York, where he had purchased a beautiful plantation, resolving to turn hid attention during the remainder of his life to agricultural pursuits. The plough in my father's fields daily turned up Indian skulls or Indian beads, and Indian flint arrow-heads, which the labouring men of his farm, as well as those of the neighbourhood, were brmg- to me, and with which I was enthusiastically forming a little cabinet or museum; and one day, as the most valued of its acquisitions, one of my father's ploughmen brought from his furrow the head of an Indian pipe-tomahawk, which was covered with rust, the handle of which had rotted away. B!"P!|P1^^"'T'5'T^;''i^' .'•"..^^w'l'.wfMfl \* IL IMTBODtTOnOV. W t;;',\ ■ The preBonoe of these relioB is accounted for as follows:** Not a long time after the dose of the Revoln- tionaiy War in that country, a settlement was fonned by white people, while the Indian tribes, who were pushed out, were contesting the right of the white people to settle in it. One day it was ascertained that large parties of Indians were gathered on the mountains, armed and prepared to attack the white inhabitants. Accordingly, the ^hite men in the valley immediately armed, to the number of five or six hundred, and leaving their wives and children and old men in a rude fort on the bank of the river, advanced towards the head of the valley in search of their enemies. The Indians, watching the movements of the white men from the mountain tops, lay in ambush on both sides of the road, and, at the sound of the war-whoop, sprang upon the whites with toma- hawks and scalping-knives in hand, and destroyed them all, with the exception of a very few, who saved their lives by swimming the river. Amongst the latter was my grandfather on my moth«r^s side, from whom I have often had the most thril- ling descriptiona This onslaught is called in history the "WyomiTig Massaore." After this victory, the Indians marched down the valley, and took possession of the fort centr- ing the wom^ and children, who were kept as a. m^. m^' llf l,l„I.J,,y p^jTS^TJ^W--- mittOBUOTIoy. iil prisonera for several weeks, until relieved by a body of troops arriving over the Pokona mountains. To the honour of the Indian's character, be it for ever known (as attested by every prisoner, both men and women), that the Indians treated them, in every sense, with the greatest propriety and kindnesa Amongst the prisoners thus taken in the fort was my grandmother, and also my mother, who was then a child only seven years old. When I was probably only nine or ten years old, I had become a pretty successful shot, with a light single-barrelled fowling piece which my father had designated as especially my own, and with which my slaughter of ducks, quails, pheasants, and squirrels was considered by the neighbouring hun- ters to be veiy creditable to me. But I began now to feel a higher ambition — that of kUling a deer. In my then recent visits to the "Old Saw-miU!' on the "Big Creek'' ^^ famous place, to which my co-propensity, that of trout-fishing, often called me— I had observed that the saw-mill lick was much frequented by deer, and that I soon fixed as the scene of my future and more exciting operations. The "old saw-mill" was a solitary ruin, about one mile from my father's back fields, situated in a dark and lonely wilderness, with an old and deserted road leading to it, following mostly along the winding banks of the creek. Near by it, in wwfppwpppp \\ IV. INTBODVOIXOV. W. a deep and daric goige in the monntain^s aide* ovMihadowed by dark and tall hemlocks and flr^ treeflk was the "Uek," or salt-spring, which the deer visit in warm weather, to allay their thirsty and to obtain the salt, wbiuh seems necessary for diges- tion. Stimulated by the recent traces of deer, and by my recollections, yet fresh, of the recitals of several of the neighbouring hanters of their great success in the old saw-mili lick, I resolved to tiy my first luck there. A rifle for this enterprise was absolutely neces- sary — a weapon which I never had fired, and as yet was not strong enough to raise. But the greater difficulty of my problem was the positive order of my father that I was not to meddle with the arms of my elder brothers, which were in covers, and hanging against the wall. This I solved, how- ever, at a late hour of the night, by extracting one of them from the cover, and putting my little fowling-piece in ^ts place, and taking the rifle into the fields, where I concealed it for my next afternoon's contemplated enterprise. The hour approaching, and finding the rifle loaded, I proceeded, with a light and palpitating heart, through the winding and lonely road, to the old saw-mill lick ; creeping along through narrow defiles, between logs and rocks, until, by a fair glance at the l|ck, I found there was no game in it at the INTBODUGRnON. ▼* momeni. I then took to a predpitous ledge of roekfl in the side of the hill, partly enclosing the dark and lonely place where the jaltrBprii:^ i w oa ii , and where the leer were in the habit of coming to lick. The nook into which I clambered and seated my- self was elevatea some twenty or thirty feet above the level of the lick, and at the proper distance for a dead shoi I here found myself in a snug and sly little box, which had e^Mdntly been con- structed and used for a similar purpose on former occasions by the old hunters. Having taken this position abouo the middle of the afternoon, with the muzzle of my rifle resting on a little breastwork of rock before me, I re- mained until near nightfall without other excite- ment than an occasional tremor from the noise of a bird or a squirrel in the leaves, which I mistook for the footsteps of an approaching deer I The faUing of a dry branch, however, which came tumb- ling down upon the hill side above and behind me, in the midst of this silent and listless anxiety, gave me one or two tremendous shivers, which it took me some time to get over, even after I had discovered what it was ; for it brought instantly into my mind the story which I had often heard Darrow relate, of "killing the panther," which, it had not occurred to me until that moment, took place, not long before, at the old saw-mill lickl m fliPillPllliPipMPi^ RW^ / i Vy i sr,. U (;^i \ Si/' vi IMTRODUOTION. Jb^n Da/rroWt a poor man living in the neigh- bourhood of my father, often worked for him in his fields, but was more fond of hunting, for which his success had gained him a great reputation in that vicinity. His story of the panther, which I was now revolv- ing in my mind, he had told on arriving at my father^s house one morning at an «arly hour from one of these nocturnal hunts, himself covered from head to foot with blood, and with a huge panther slung across his back, with a bullet hole between its eyes, ran thus: — ^"I was watching last night, Sqwire (as he called my father), at the old saw- mill lick, and it getting on to be near midnight, I fell asleep. Seated on the ground, and my back leaning against a beech tree, I was waked by a tremendous blow, like a stroke of lightning — 'twas this beast, d'ye see ; he sprung upon me, and landed me some ten or twelve feet, and dropped me, and made only one jump farther himself, as I knew by the noise when he stopped. I knew it was a painter, though I could see nothing, for it was total darkness. I was badly torn, and felt the blood running in several places. My rifle was left in the crotches, and feeling my way very gradually with my feet, but keeping my eyes set upon the brute, for I knew exactly where he was lying, I at length got hold of the rifle, but it could do me no good in the dark. My knife had slipped INTRODUCmON. VU. out of the scabbard in the struggle, and I had now no hope but from knowing that the cowardly animal will never spring while you look him in the face. "In this position, with my rifle in both hands, and cocked, I sat, not hearing even a leaf turned by him, until just the break of day (the only thing I wanted — ^it was but a few hours, but it seemed a long time, I assure), when I could just begin to discover his outline, and then the wrinkles be- twixt his eyes! Time moved slowly then, I can tell you, Squire; and at last I could see the head of 'Old Ben' ('i.e., his rifle); there was no time to be lost now, and I let slip! The beast was about twenty feet from me." One can easily imagine my juvenile susceptibilities much heightened by such reflections in such a place ; and every leaf that turned behind me calculated more or less to startle me. My resolve, of course, was not to trust myself in that gloomy place in the night, nor to wait much longer for the desired gratification, which I was then believing I should have to forego for that day at least I was on the eve of descending from my elevated nook, and wending my way home, when I heard the distant sc-unds of footsteps in the leaves, and shortly after discovered in the distance a deer (a huge buck 1), timidly and cautiously descending the hill, and approaching the lick, stopping often to gaze, and liipHppiAiiy /' VIU. INTR0DUC3TI0N. sometimes looking me, apparently, full in the face, when I was afraid even to wink, lest he should discover me. My young blood was too boilable, and my nerves decidedly too excitable for my business. Successive chills seemed to rise, I don't recollect where from, but they shook me, each one of them, until after actually shaking my head, they seemed to go out at the top of it. The deer kept advancing, and my shakes increas- ing, — at length it entered the pool, and commenced licking ; and the resolve that the moment had arrived for my grand achievement, set my teeth actually chattering. My rifle, cocked, was rested before me on the surface of the rock, and all things, save my- self, were perfectly ready; after several useless at- tempts, I got my aim, but before I could pull trigger, from another chill and a shake, I lost it again. I tried again and again, but in vain, and then more prudently resolved to lie still a few moments until I could get my nerves more steady. But the deer at this time seemed to have got enough of licking, and, stepping out of the lick, disappeard in the thicket. "Oh, what a loss! — what a mis- fortune ! What a chance is gone ! What a coward, and what a poor fool am I ! But if he had stopped, though, one minute longer, I am sure I could have killed him, for I don't tremble now." Just at this cool moment the deer cume gliding INTRODUCTION. fee through the bushes and into the lick again, much nearer than before. One little chill began; but by gritting my teeth tight together I succeeded in getting a more steady aim, when — ^bang! went the crack and the flash of a rifle, a little to the left of me I and the deer, bounding a few rods from the pool on to an elevated bank, and tumbling upon the ground, quite dead, showed me that I was too late! My head and the breech of my rifle were instantly lowered a little more behind my stone breastwork, and then — oh, horrid! what I never had seen be- fore, nor ever dreamed of seeing in that place — the tall and graceful form of a huge Ind/ian, bu^j half bent forward, as he pushed his red and naked shoulders, and drew himself slowly over ihe logs and through the bushes. Trailing his rifle in his left hand, and drawing a large knife with the other from its sheath in the hollow of his back, he advanced to the carcase of the deer, which had fallen much nearer to me than it was when it was shot. His rifle he leaned against a tree, and the blade of his bloody knife, which he had drawn across the neck of the deer, he clenched between his teeth, while he suspended the anim.al by the hind legs from the limb of a tree to let it bleed. "Oh, horrid! horrid! what — wliat a fate is mine! what am I to do?" afwupiippppipi ipiiPi^PPPilP X. INTRODUCTION. Presently he seated himself upon the trunk of a large and fallen tree, wiped his huge knife upon the moss, and laid it by his side; then drawing from his pouch his flint, and steel, and spunk, he lit his pipe, and soon blue clouds of smoke were curling around him. Who will ever imagine the thoughts that were passing through my youthful brain in these exciting moments ? for here was before me, for the finst time in my life, the living figure of a Red Indian! "If he sees me I'm lost; he will scalp me and devour me, and my dear mother will never know what became of me!" At last his pipe burned out; the deer, with its fore and hind legs tied together, he slung upon his back, and, taking his rifle in his hand, he silently and quietly disappeared in the dusky forest, wliich at this time was taking the gloom of ap- proaching night My position and reflections were still like lead that could not be removed, until a doubly reason- able time had elapsed for this strange apparition to be entirely out of my way. He having seem- ingly, at last view, to have taken the direction of the "old road," by which I had expected to return, my attention was now turned to a diflerent but more difficult route. By clambering the huge precipice still above me, which I did as soon as perfect safety seemed to authorise it, and by a INTRODUCTION. Zl. run of more than a mile through the woods, scarcely daring to look back, I was safely lodged in my father's back fields, but without hat or rifle, anl without the least knowledge of the whereabouts in which either of them had been deposited or dropped. The last of these, however, was recovered on the following day, but the other never came to light Such was the adventure, and such the mode of "my first seeing an Indian." Having seen him, the next thing was to annouTice him, which I did without plan or reserve, but solely with youthful impulse; exclaiming as I ap- proached the vicinity of my father's house, and as pale as a ghost, "I've seen an Indian! I've seen an Indian!" No one believed me, as no Indian had been in the neighbourhood for many years. I related the whole of my adventure, and then they thought "the boy was mad." Next morning, however, Johnny O'Neil, a faithful farm-labourer in my father's emplojrment, came to the door, announcing that, "Jist m the toother eend of the bag whate- field, where ye see thit lattle smohk areesin, has kimmed thae japsies; sae ye may be lookin' oot for yer toorkies, an' yer suckin'-pigs, an' yer chah- kins, for I tal ye ther'U be nae gude o' 'em." Poor Johnny O'Neil ! he was not believed either ; lor, said my father, "That's almost a bull, Johnny, for there are no gipsies in this country." " I bag * '-^ ." -f -^'Sill^tT^j^jf^Pllj^jjpj^^Bip^^ Xll. iNTBODtJCTlON. I i yer parihen," said Johnny ; and my father continued — ^"I'll be bound these are George's Indians!" and putting on his hat, and taking me by the hand, he and Johnny O'Neil and myself started off for the farther comer of the "big wheat-field/' where we found my Indian warrior (Paddy's "gipsy"), seated on a bear-skin spread upon the ground. His legs were crossed, his elbows resting on his knees, and his pipe at his lips; with his wife, and his little daughter of ten years old, with blan- kets wrapped around them, and their necks covered with beads, reclining by the side of him; and over them all, to screen them from the sun, a blanket, suspended by the comers from four crotchets fastened into the ground, and a siaall fire in front of the group, with a steak of venison cooking for their breakfast. "There's the japsies!" said Johnny O'Neil, as we were approaching. "There is the Indian, father!" said I ; and my father, who had been familiar with Indians, and had learned to sing their songs and speak somewhat of their language in his early life, said to me, "George, my boy, you were right, — these are Indians." "Yes," said I, "and that's the very man I saw.'* He was smoking away, and looking us steadily in the face as we approached; and though I began to feel something of the alarm I had felt the day before, my father's stepping up to him and taking INTRODUCTION. Xlll. him by the hand with a mutual "How — how — how," and the friendly grip of his soft and delicate hand, whioh was extended to me also, soon dissi- pated all my fears, and turned my alarm to perfect admiration. Understanding and speaking a little English, he easily explained to my father that he was an Oneida, living near Cayuga Lake, some one hundred and fifty miles distant, that his name was On-o-gong- way (a great warrior). He asked us to sit down by him, when he cleaned out his pipe, and, charg- ing it afresh with tobacco, lighted, and gave it to my father to smoke, and then handed it to me, which, my father explained, was a pledge of his friendship. My father then explained to him the story of my adventure the day before at the old saw-mill lick, to every sentence of which I was nodding "yes," and trembling, as the Indian was smoking his pipe, and almost, but not quite, commencing a smile, as he was earnestly looking me in the face. The story finished, he took me by both hands, and repeated the words, "Good — good — ^good hun- ter." He laid his pipe down, and very deliberately climbing over the fence, stepped into the shade of the forest, where he had suspended a small saddle of venison, and brought it, and laying it by my side, exclaimed, as he laid his hand on my head, "Dat you, you half — very good;" meaning that I P^.Pil|i^.Mmy.. ''i> ■ # ^^IW.pjiMllf ylllmMI|l■l^.l-y'ilv^iliili^lPi|lpilW^^ 'i '■".' '.I J'W"" - III y I > XIV. INTRODUCTION. was a good hunter, and that half of the venison belonged to me. The saddle of venison, though very small, was no doubt a part of the animal I had seen in the lick, though it had appeared to me the day before, as I had represented it at home, a "bitcA; of the most enormous size," and the Indian a giamit though on more familiar acquaintance, to my great surprise, he proved to be no larger than an ordinary man. This generous present added much to my growing admiration, which was increased again as I listened to his narrative, made to my father and myself, of his history, and of some of his adventures, as well as the motive which had brought him some hundreds of miles over a country partly of forest and partly inhabited by a desperate set of hunters whose rifles were unerring, and whose deep-rooted hostility to all savages induced them to shoot them down whenever they met them in their hunting grounds. His father, he said, had been one of the warriors in the battle of Wyoming, and amongst them was afterwards driven by the white soldiers, after many > ^ttles and great slaughter, up the shores of the Susquehana to the country where the remnant of his tribe now lived, between the Oneida and Cayuga Lakes. During this disastrous retreat, he being a boy about INTRODUCTION. XV. my size, his father made him assist in carrying many heavy things which they had plundered from the white people, where they fought a great battle, at the mouth of the Tunkhannock; amongst which, and one of the most valuable, as one of the most difficult to carry, was a ketUe of gold. "What!" said my father, "a kettle of gold!" "Yes, father," said he, — ''now listen. "The white soldiers came through the narrows you see yonder " (pointing to a narrow gorge in the mountains, through which the river passes); "and on those very fields, which then were covered with trees" (pointing to my father's fields, lying beneath and in front of us), " was a great battle, and many were the warriors that fell on both sides; but at that time, father, another army of white men came from the north, and were entering the valley on that side, and the poor Indians had no way but to leave the river and all their canoes, and to cross these high mountains behind us, and make their way through the forests to Cayuga. "In passing these mountains, my father, they followed the banks of that creek to its head" (pointing to the creek on which the old saw-mill was built, and which passed in a serpentine course through my father's farm to the river). "On the banks of that creek many things were buried by the Indians, who were unable to carry them over the mountains; and amongst them, somewhere near If'^vW'""^ ^^ mn^mwwww XVI. INTBODUOTION. m"-" that bridge, my father, where the road crosses, on the farther bank, I saw my father and my mother buiy the 'kettle of gold,' with other things, in the ground. "When my father was old and infirm, I was obliged to hunt for him, and I could not come; but since he has gone to the land of his fathers, I have made the journey a great way, to dig Up the 'kettle of gold.' But I see this day, from where I now sit, that there is no use in looking for it, and my heart is very sad. "My father — ^we buried the 'kettle of gold' at the foot of a large pine-tree that stood on the bank ; but I see the trees are all gone, and all now is covered with green grass; and where shall I go to look? This, my father, I kept a secret for many years, but I see there is no use in keeping it a secret any longer, and this makes my heart sad. I have come a great way, my father, and my road in going back I know is beset with many enemies." My father asked him many questions about the "kettle of gold," and in answering these, he ex- tended both arms in the form of a circle, his fingers' ends just touching each other. "There," said he, "it was about thus large, and just as much as I oould lift; and must be of great value." ^ My father, after a study of a few minutes, turned to me, and said, "George! run down to the house and ask your mother to give you the 'little brass INTBODUOnON. ZVU. kettle/ and bring it here as quick as you can." I never, perhaps, had run more nimbly (but on were probably more infested than any other portions of the globe with rattlesnakes of all colours and various dimensions, that struck at the heels of all that was mortal, man or beast, in the meadows or fields of grain, in which they crawled and wallowed during the summer season. Of theee localities, the little valley of the Ocquago seemed to be the most cruelly ravaged by this terrible scourge, no doubt, from its limited dimensions and piiPipiliWlit'fVWwj^i'^^ 12 LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS. '.:? peculiar position, receiving the concentration of these reptiles in the summer months from the desolate moun- tains surrounding it. During the hay-making and harvesting season these poisonous creatures were exceedingly dangerous to the lives of the labourers, and from my father's fields their frightful carcasses were daily brought in by my father's hired men, with their heads cut oflf by the scythe, or killed by the cudgel. And every summer, more or fewer men, women, or children, as well as horses, dogs, and other animals were destroyed, in the otherwise peaceable and happy little valley, by these hidden and deadly enemies. With the habits and peculiarities of an enemy so deadly and so universal (and consequently so " re^'pect- able ") as this, in the mountains and valleys of America, it may be well for the reader to be made a little more familiar in this place ; for they are an enemy more dan- gerous than Indians, and will probably demand a large space in the narrations of incidents to L. given in the following pages. As a fact in natural histoiy, and known to all the inhabitants of those parts where they abound, it is curious that these reptiles, after spending the summer season in the grassy valleys, and on the banks of the rivers and lakes, at the first indication of frost in the fall of the year, en masse, and simultaneously, from in- stinct, commence a pilgrimage across rivers, across lakes, and up the mountain sides, no matter what distance, to the " Rattlesnakes' Den." their winter's rendezvous. u THE RATTLESNAKES DEN. 13 where not only hundreds, but thousands assemble. And in their inapproachable cavern, in a torpid state, they await the coming of spring and the beginning of sum- mer, when they venture forth again, and descend into the valleys, for another summer's campaign. How curious the fact, also, that, in their summer's peregrinations, the male and female always travel in the same direction, and how wonderful that instinct which enables them to track each other, and never to lose each other, though, when met, two are never seen together, but the one is generally within hearing of the other's rattle, or not far distant, following on the trail ! Most generally, if we irritate the one, and make it sound its rattle, we hear in the distance the sound of the other's rattle, in answer ; and if we kill the one we meet, and leave its carcass over night, we find the other by its side, or near it, the next morning. And a Rattlesnake Trap ! (who has ever heard of it ?) first invented, no doubt, by Buel Rowley, one of my father's labouring men ; the same who ploughed up the "kettle of gold," and the rusty tomahawk, which, it will be recollected left its indelible mark on my left cheek-bone. Well, the " Rattlesnake Trap," here it is — sp'ippl^'isp 14 LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS. A simple log of wood, some three or four feet in length, and the size of a man's leg, or larger, with a hollow through it, large enough for the reptile to crawl through, but not sufficiently spacious for it to turn about; its forward extremity being partially closed, to prevent the snake from passing out. Bowley, from a practical knowledge he had gained of the close manner in which this creature follows the trail of its mate, conceived the plan of conducting it into a hollow tube from which it could not escape, being unable to retreat in its straitened and confined position, and checked by the reversed posi- tion of its scales. This ingenious machine was lodg * ** in my father's woodhouse,* and when a rattlesnake was killed in any of his fields, the trap was transported to a position near the spot, when the carcass of the snake was gently dragged towards it through the grass, by a thcng, and pulled through the hollow of the log. After which a tenpenny naU or two driven into the foi-ward end was sufficient to prevent the living snake from passing through, and at the same time to allow the light to enter. The carcass of the dead snake was then lilted from the ground and carried away ; and on Rowley's shoulder the next morning the rattlesnake trap was almost invariably transported back to the woodhouse ; the tail of the snake, with its rattles, hanging out, a harmless and amusing toy for the women and children to play * An open ihed, in whioh wood for the winter ii itored. ' THE RATTLESNAKES* DEK. 15 with, for by touching them, or striking the log, they were instantly set in motion, and the expression and crescendo of their music controlled by the harmless rage that was boiling within. Curiosity satisfied (and that curious propensity of the most of mankind " to finger danger when it is iron bound"), Kowley's pincers withdrew the nails in front of the cage, which was then passed between the bars of the fence, enclosing a field containing a number of hogs, and clipping the tail with its rattles as a trophy, the imprisoned reptile lost no time in launching itself out of its prison, and into the jaws of " the old sow," which stood ready, and whose forefeet were instantly upon it and held it, whilst she exhibited her swinish taste, by tearing it to pieces, and devouring every morsel of it 1 My father had learned (I don't know how) that the bite of a rattlesnake was not poisonous to the flesh of swine, and that these reptiles were invariably devoured by hogs that happened to come upon them; both of which singular facts I often saw confirmed in my father's fields of swine, when he had ordered these living serpents to be thrown amongst them. Rowley's trap, for which he had no patent, was soon adopted in other parts of the valley, and his enviable standing, as a public benefactor, was soon evident from the number of tails with rattles which were sent to him, and which he had demanded as a sort of royalty for his invention. And yet a greater trap than this awaited those C y^!^>•*liii^!#f^!:W"g^p*'*■f*w^'^.*'w^ 20 LAST BAUBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS. nine or ten in the morning until near sundown. I've tried him several times, but he's always too wide-awake for me. I've let fly at him two or three times, when nothing but his white flag was seen bounding through the bushes; but those were random shots, only sent for amusement. I'll give him a call, however, as we pass up the hill ; and a little beyond that, at the foot of the second ridge, I'll show you, George, the spot where I shot the beautiful painter, whose skin, you know, lies on the floor in your father's haU, in front of the parlour door." At this, with his rifle trailed in his right hand, and his wiper* in the left, and an extra bullet in his mouth, more quickly handled than if drawn from his pouch, his body was seen gliding through the bushes and between the rocks without moving a leaf. Oh, how beautiful to my young and aspiring vision the cautious and graceful movements of this stalking teacher! What pupil ever watched the magic touches of his master's pencil with more admiration than I watched the movements of this master-hunter as he led me through the forests and rocks and ravines of the moun- tain-side? No time or circumsiances have ever yet effaced the slightest impression then made upon my youthful mind, nor will they leave \ixe while recollection lasts. We passed the lair of " Old Golden" (as the famous * An extra ramrod, vhicsh hunters carry in their left hand, for facility in loading and cleaning their riflei. THE RATTLESNAKES* DEN. 11 ** Big Buck" was called) without finding him at home ; and getting near to the top of the last ridge, I saw Darrow carefully sinking down upon his left knee, with his rifle drawn to his face. What a palpitation I I heard my heart distinctly beat! Was it a panther, or an Indian (for reports were that they were still lurking about) ? Was he to fire, or not ? And if he did, and should miss, or should wound — I was charged with small shot only, and what might the next moment disclose ? ,« Darrow held his position without moving for a mmute or two, when he gradually lowered his body to the ground, and, getting his face round so as to see me, beckoned with his hand for me to come on my hands and knees to him. I applied my first ideas of stalking as well as I could in my agitated state, and getting by the side of him, with a large log before us, which screened us from its view, he whispered to me — " Qeorge ! it's a fine large doe. What a pity to harm the poor thing! She's big, and I haint the heart to draw a bead* upon her. Look at her, but be cautious." I raised my forehead above the log as gradually and cautiously as I could ; and at the instant that my eyes were above the surface of the log, I discovered the deer about a hundred yards from us, lying down, and with nose and ears pointed, looking me full in the face! She sprang upon her feet, and bounded off, and " Old Golden," lying behind a bunch of fern at a few paces * To take sight. Is'- |P|PPiiPiPiiSPIVI.|l:lilL]|LpJ^ mmm ij 22 LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS. distant, rising as it were into the air, and waving his white flag to and fro, accompanied her ! "What a fool I've been, George!" exclaimed Darrow. "That old fellow has played me many a trick, but I never expected him in company with his wife at this season of the year. He don't get off in that way another time, I assure you." Poor Darrow (I never shall forget it), how he was chapfallen ; his face became wrinkled and creviced in a minute, and he sighed and groaned as he contemplated the beautiful position in which " Old Golden" had laid under the range of his rifle, " if he only had known it." However, the misfortune was irreparable, and we moved on towards the " Rattlesnakes' Den." On the top of the mountain, which was barren and level for a long distance, Darrow shouldered his rifle, and said — " George, we can talk here as much as we please — no game lives here." He then said, "We are now close to the 'Den.' That tall pine you nee yonder stands right upon the rock where the snakes come out ; and probably they go under the rocks as far as where we now stand. There's not another word to be said, but you keep a little back of me, and watch my signs." Darrow advanced on his hands and knees towards the brink of the precipice, and getting within a few yards of it; laid down his rifle, and then, lying closer to the ground, and advancing more slowly, got so as to look over and down upon the level platform of rock THE BATTLESNAKES' DEN. 23 below. After gazing for a mimite or so, by reaching back with his right hand he made signs for me to come to him, which I did, creeping in the same manner he had done, and leaving my gun behind. Getting by the side of him, and both of us fixed and motionless, we had together the strange view of some five or eight hundred of the reptiles spread out on the surface of a level rock of some four or five rods in diameter, and twenty-five feet below us, in coils, in knots and bunches, basking in the sun, and all motionless, and apparently asleep. Their scales, fresh from their damp cavern, and not yet soiled by their summer's travels, were glistening in the sun, of all colours — ^yellow, black, and white, and the breathing motions of their bodies gave them the spark- ling efiect of moving diamonds. In the midst of these groups were here and there harmless black snakes of some ten or twelve feet in length, interwined and coiled with them as if members, of the same venomous family. There were rattlesnakes of all sizes — some were black, some brown, and others of a bright yellow. Some were lying on their backs, perfectly st/aight, and others were hanging from the limbs of the adjoining trees, and others coiled round their trunks. Oh I what a beautiful sight, and what a perdition, if, by a slip of the foot, one were to have been launched into the midut of it ! Darrow at length gave the signal, and slowly with- drawing his head, and I following, we were in a moment beyond their view, and safe for the remarks which ■/■' 24 LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS. Darrow was prepared to extemporise and I to ejaculate. I have no sort of recollection what they were, but whilst we were descending the mountain, on our way home, and had got about half-way down, Darrow said, <* There, George, we are now at the * Devil's Pulpit,' " I had some vague recollections of stories I had heard about it, and being just old enough to know the mean- ing of a pulpit, I was curious to know what the name meant. '• Well, George," said Darrow, " I don't exactly know the whole history of the place myseh^ but that rock you see standing out in front of the wall \rhere is shaped like a pulpit, and has just room for a man to stand in it and make a speech or preach a sarment. And I've beam say that when the Indians had made the * Massacre of Wyoming,* the great Mohawk chief Brant held his army of 2000 Indian warriors here encamped, on the very ground where we now stand in front of the pulpit, to guard the narrows below, in case the Pennsylvania militia attempted to follow the Indians through. Brant was a temble warrior, though orly a half-Indian: he had brought a number of white prisoners to this place who had been taken in the battle of Tunkhannock, and some of them who afterwards escaped said that he every morning preached a sarment to his warriors from this pulpit, and everybody, knowing him to be a very bad man, called the rock the 'Devil's Pulpit.* But your father, Georgej can tell you more about it." We were, in a little time, from the " Pulpit Rock " THE RATTLESNAKES DEN. 25 down to the river-side, which we crossed, and entered my father's fields. Now was approaching the tribunal, the awful retribution for me. Darrow had engaged to plead my cause with my parents, and Sunday not yet being passed, we halted awhile at the "lower bam," where my little fowling-piece was secreted ; and Darrow fearlessly shouldering his rifle, we successfully entered my mother's kitchen without being noticed by any one. Darrow, after waiting awhile for my trial to come on, gave me these consoling words— " I don't believe your father is going to say anything about it to-night, George, and I shall see him early in the morning." He then departed for his own home, half-a-mile dis- tant, where he was living with his family ; and I soon after slipped into bed. Before I had got tc sleep, how- ever, a light entered my room. It was my father with a candle in his hand. He took a seat by the side of my bed. Oh, what a moment ! " My dear son," said he, " you never tell me a false- hood. I have looked everywhere to-day, and your mother also, for the 'little musket.' Do you know any- thing about it ? Where is it ? " " It's at the * lower bam/ father." " How came it there, George ? " "I left it there, father." '* It was missing this morning at an early hour, and you have been absent all da;^ with it ? " Yes, father." 6 b i*j^ o 26 LAST BAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS. "You recollect what I promised you if you ever broke the Sabbath again in that way, old as you now are?" " Yes, my dear father." " You never knew me to break my promise, George ? " "No, father." " Would you wish me to break a promise, my dear son?" " No, dear fathe ," " Then get up anc ^ m your clothes, and go down to the bank of the crecK, below the wheat-stacks, and cut a good bunch of water-beech sprouts,* about three feet long, and lay them in your mother's cheese-room until morning, which will give you time to reflect upon the truant you have been playing this day.** Trusting to my advocate to speak for me, and my mind overloaded with what I had seen during the day I failed to make any defence, and started off for the " beech sprouts," which I procured, and went to bed. Tn vain I attempted to lie in bed in the morning until I could hear Darrow's voice below, for I was called up at an early hour ; and my father waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs, with the " beech sprouts " in his hand, said to me as I came down, "Walk this way, George," as he went through the kitchen and into the woodhouse, where we were alone together. " My dear son," said he, " you are old enough now to * Water-beech, a sort of beech that grows by the water's «