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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
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WITH TWENi;X^q!Ll9*JU.UfTRATI0Na
•«• • • • • ; • • • ,
••• •
I* • • • I
• • •«•• ■•<
• • • ••
• • • •
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Gall and Inglxs, 25 Patbbnosteb Squabb;
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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
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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.
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p^jTS^TJ^W---
mittOBUOTIoy.
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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
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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 <me
occasion) in my lifetime, than I ran and scaled
the fences on this errand.
While this conversation was passing about the
"kettle of gold," it had occurred to my father that
Buel Rowley, one of his hired men, had ploughed up
a small brass kettle a few years before, on the bank
of the creek, and at the identical spot designated by
the forefinger of the Indian; and that kettle being
brought by me from my mother^s culinary collection,
was now under the eyes of the child of the forest.
Whilst he was in silence gazing upon it, and
turning it over and over, my father described to him
the manner and place in which it was found, and
that it was made of brass, which, to be sure, looked
like gold, but was much harder, and of much less
value. After a pause of a few minutes, and without
the change of a muscle, but drawing a deep sigh,
as if he recognised the long-hidden treasure, and
trying his knife two or three times on ^^i upper
rim of it; he laid it down, and drawing a deep breath
or two through his pipe, said to my father, that he
had no doubt but it was the same kettle, but that
two things troubled his mind very much — ^the first
was, that the kettle should be so small; and the
other, that he found it was not a " kettle of gold"
The first error he attributed to his having carried it
when he was quite a small boy, as it was then a
|^«♦,p"^pf'*'•.^9*w■w*•''^■^"!■'l.».'P^^lP^■»..-;
r-r-riffa
xvm.
INTRODUCTION.
heavy load for him; and the other, from having
learned amongst the white people that a very small
piece of gold was worth ten dollars; and having
estimated from this standard the probable value of
a " kettle of gold/' not having as yet learned enough
from the white people to know the difference be-
tween gold and brass.
My father and several of his neighbours paid
frequent visits to his little bivouac; and I spent
nearly all my time there, so completely were all my
fears turned into admiration. My loisty tomahawk
head I brought to him, for which he made me a
handle, and curiously carved it with his knife. The
handle was perforated for smoking through, a mys-
tery which no one of the neighbours could solve, as
"there was no gimlet long enough to make such a
hole," little thinking, as he explained the secret to
me, that the handle was made of a young ash, the
pith of which is easily burned away with a heated
wire, or a piece of hard hickory wood.
The handle finished, my friend Johnny O'Neil
laid the head and blade of it on the grindstone
while I turned, until it was everywhere silvery
bright, and its edge as sharp as a knife. This
lighted the eyes of the child of the forest, and he
gave a new gleam to mine, when he filled the bowl
of it with tobacco (or k'nick-k'neck, an Indian
substitute for tobacco) and commenced smoking.
The tobacco having all burned out, my good and
INTBODUOTION.
XIX.
confiding fiiend now arose with the tomahawk in
his right hand, and raised my astonishment and
admiration still higher, by throwing it at the trunk
of a tree some rods distant, and burying its blade
in the solid wood, explaining to me the certain
fate of an enemy within an equal distance. I had
not the power to draw it out; but under his prac-
tised hand it seemed to leave the tree like a breath
of wind.
He then stepped back again some ten or fifteen
steps, with the end of the handle in his hand, when
— chick 1 it seemed to pronounce, as quick as elec-
tricity, and was there buried again! This he did
more than twenty times, without ^ filing once, to the
astonishment of my father and others looking on;
the weapon revolving many times in the air, and the
blade, no matter what the distance, always entering
the tree. Here I was left in one of the several
inexplicable mysteries which I have met in Indian
life, and never have been able to solve, even to the
present day. "
My father was under constant apprehensions for
their safety, and while he was maturing a plan for
sending them home by a different route, and at his
own expense, it was discovered one morning that
their smoke was missing in the comer of my father's
"big wheat-field;" and on the same morning was
found hanging in my father's wood-house, which was
always open on one side, a fine saddle of venison,
w^^
'} I ' \
■■'''•f!-?f,'^^m'-wmw9!^'^'*<yWWW'^^
XX,
INTRODUCTION.
with one of the beautiful and well-known eiagle
quills from the head of On-o-gong-way fastened
in it!
Poor, honest, and harmless man! he had left, to
meet the chances for his life on his long journey
home; and as an unmistakable evidence of his
friendship and gratitude, he had left this silent
parting gift, and with it, as he could not write his
name, his choicest plume, to identify the giver.
"The Indians are gone! the Indians are gone?"
was echoed everywhere, and through the neighbour-
hood, in the morning; and poor Johnny O'Neil,
when he looked upon the saddle of venison con-
taining the eagle's quill, exclaimed, "Upon my
word, squire, thase is nae japsies — an' I'll be shot
if thot mon's not a gintleman!"
A few days later we learned that the dead body
of poor On-o-gong-way was found, pierced by two
rifle bullets, in Randolph Valley, a dark and dreary
wilderness, some eight or ten miles from my father's
plantation, which it was necessary for him tOj cross
in order to reach his own country and friends.
What became of his poor wife and the interesting
and innocent little daughter, no mortal was ever
able (or willing) to say; and the "kettle of gold,"
which my father had confident hopes would have led
to the detection of so foul a murder, notwithstanding
his exertions from year to year, never furnished any
clue to the villany.
RAMBLES
Among the Indians
C# TBI
^ffjcks X3El0tintitinij snb J^nibee.
mt * * *
CHAPTER I.
THE rattlesnakes' DEN.
BHE readers of my former book will have
preserved some impression of the shape and
position of my father's plantation in the
picturesque little valley of the Ocquago, on the bank of
the Susquehana River, hemmed in with huge mountains
on either side, and in which was situated the "Old
Sawmill Lick," and the scene of the " Kettle of Gold,"
which have.beto\descril5eiti jii tha^i volume.
As Im *ij^in 'eald/.ljiou^'h'nbt ihe place of my nativity,
it was the* tapis onjj^h^pti my boyi&n days were spent;
liitAf tiS^yvi^ bgeud$ oi Ijidian lure Its natural features
arid it»1iLciddnts' staibpdd upon my youthful mind im-
pressions which easily beguile me in this, as in my
earlier volume, again to loiter a little about it before
ipp
"Wf^f^Klll^fgfl^PWmm^
W!?F
10
LAST BAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
I?
I start off with my young readers to the vast and
boundless regions where the principal scenes of this
little book are to be laid.
" John Darrow " ift recollected, and faithful " Johnny
O'NeU/' and their singular and lespective characters
will be better stereotyped in the little episode which is
here to follow.
Ocquago (Ohk-qua-giih) is the Indian name of a
straight mountain, of six or eight miles in length, in the
southern part of the State of New York, having the cool
and limpid river Pasquehana gliding along at its western
base, and a fertile valley of rich alluvion, from one to
two miles in breadth, on the opposite shore, barricaded
by the Bandolph Mountains on the west.
In the middle of this little valley lay my father's
plantation, and above and below it, during the days of
my boyhood, fsume eight or ten farms of less dimensions,
and also bordering Oi^ the river shore, were under cultiva<
tion; which, together with labourers, hunters, fisher-
men, &c., counted a population of something like two
hundred persons.
This picturesque but in§igni^eant Jittle valley, which
at that time had acqijii'^d t\q^ ^ojdo^'-ita.vhi^toiy, having
been settled but a fbW yeafi^ i\4^ertlieldB^,*had its
army during the frontier war^ in which t'-ae'" W'yoming
Massacre " took place ; and the finale of which was the
subsequent cUroute uf Brant and his Indian forces.
THE RAriLESNAKES DEN.
11
through the valley of the Ocquago, and beyond the
Eandolph Mountains, to the sources of the Susquehana,
by the Pennsylvania militia.
These events, and their attending cruelties, both
savage and civilised, too recent at that time to be called
traditions, accounted (as stated in the first volume) for
the vivid and unfading impressions which I received,
at an early age, of Indians, of " Indian massacres," &c.
And the singular adventures here to foUow will show
how I received at the same age impressions not less
exciting, ncr less lasting, but of another kind, indicated
the heading of this chapter.
Though the Indians had disappeared, and nothing
but their oral history, and their bones, and their imple-
ments ploughed up in our fields, remained of them,
there was yet another enemy, even more numerous,
more cruel, and more deadly, and threatening to be
more unconquerable and inexterminable.
The banks and the meadows of the Susquehana, in
the beautiful valleys of Wyoming, Tioga, Chenango,
Ocquago, and Otsego> 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^<i^^
^.-.
16
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST TBE TNDLANS.
\
poisonous beasts, which were at that time almost
threatening the existence of the otherwise happy
little colony of the valley of the Ocquago — a trap
which, by way of comparison, might be called a whole-
sale trap — a cataclysm — a catastrophe, as will be
seen, which rescued the valley from its dangers, and
gained for its inventor honours, though not immortal,
yet of an enviable character, while they lasted. ("We
shall see anon.)
" Darrow " (recollect the empire which his Nimrodic
celebrity had gained over my youthful mind — my con-
summate admiration of his deer-stalking and panther-
hunting qualities) — ^Darrow, not a long time after the
scene at the " Old Sawmill Lick," and, I think, early in
the spring of 1810, said to me one day whilst he and I
were working in the field together, " George, I intend to
play a trick on the rattlesnakes this spring — ^they've had
it all in their own way long enough. You recollect
poor Mary Judkins, George ?"
" Yes, Mr. Darrow, I was close by her when she was
bit last summer. I heard her scream when she was
struck. There was a whole waggon-load of us, boys and
girls, out on Bowman's ridge picking whortleberries;
she was reaching her hand forward when the snake
jumped from a rock before her, and about even with
her face, and bit her right in the vein of her neck! She
gave one scream, and fell backwards, close by me, and
never got up. All the party gathered around her, and
put her into thie waggon, quite dead, and carried her
THE RATTLESNAKES DEN.
17
home; and her neck and her arms were just the colour
of the rattlesnake itself, which we found under the
rocks and killed."
"And that good soul Heth, George, hitten on the
floor of his own house!"
" Yes; that I didn't see, Mr. Darrow, but I heard of it."
" It's getting too bad, George. These creatures are in-
creasing at such a rate that it's almost as much as a man's
life is worth to work in the fields amongst them. Now,
George, I know where all these beasts come from; I know
the very house they all live in; and you and I will make a
smash among *em, George, before many days come round."
Darrow then related to me, what at that time was
new to me, and which has been mentioned in a former
page, that these reptiles all leave the valley at the first
appearance of frosty nights in the fall of the year, and
congiegate in one immense cavern, where they spend
the winter in a torpid state, and start off in pairs for
the valleys as soon as the weather is warm enough in
the spring of the year; and that for a week or two
before the nights are warm enough for their travels,
during the warmth of the sun in the middle of the
spring days, they come out of their den, not only in
hundreds, but by thousands, and lie for several hours
in front of it basking in the sun, and return into their
cave before the coldness of the evening approaches.
"Why, that's the * Rattlesnakes* Den,' that I have
heard my father talk about."
** Yes," said Darrow, " the ' Rattlesnakes' Den;' it's in
■#■■•
pfpipiri!ip||!^Wf«,i.jiiJiWA<9«,fip.<^l
18
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANA
the top of Steele's Mountain, back of Hilboums, nnder
the high ledge looking ofif into Hemlock Hollow. About
ten years ago these creatures got to be so bad, that Joe
Snidigar, Atwill, and myself, and several others, went
out in a spring day and thrashed about three hundred
of them to death whilst they lay sunning themselves in
front of their den; and they are now getting to be so
bad again, that you and I must make another row
among *em, George. Say nothing of it yet, but on
Sunday, if it should be a surmy day, when neither of us
have any work to do, we'll go and merely take a peep at
them, and lay our plans as to the time and mode of attack.
Sunday came, and it was a fine and sunny day ;
and though I had difficulties of a very peculiar and
embarrassing kind to contend with, I met Darrow as
arranged, "in the lower barn," with my little single-
barrelled fowling-piece, and he in his hunting shirt and
fox-skin cap, and rifle in hand, a model to which my
whole soul aspired.
My dear mother was a Methodist, and a devout and
professing Christian, and my father a philosopher, but
keeping and teaching the Commandments. My incur-
able propensity for trout-fishing, under the unfortunate
conviction that they "took the fly" better on Sunday
than on other days, had gained me the condemnation of
these good parents, and on several occasions severe
floggings, which were well deserved, for disobeying their
positive commands as to fishing and shooting on that day.
It had been a long time since I had had one of these
"'y7iP7!wp!nmw«'!"r;i^^
ww^^V'tWi
f
THE rattlesnakes' DEN.
19
flog^gs, and old though I was getting, I still was
tinder the injunction, and with the certain conviction
that the penalty would be inflicted in case of dis-
obedience.
Darrow assured me that our mission was one for the
public good, offering to plead my case with my father.
Leaving the " lower bam " with our pieces trailed, and
following the bed of the " Big Creek," so as not to be
seen from the house, we soon reached, through my
father's meadows, the river-side, where we got a canoe
to land us on the other shore, at the foot of the
mountain, in the thick forest of which we were soon
ensconced, and our day's enjoyment (whatever might
come after it) was now secure before us.
We sat down upon a large log, and whilst Darrow was
knocking the priming out of the pan and repriming his
gun, which he always did on entering upon promising
hunting-ground, he said —
" George, we are now going to pass through one of
my best ranges. Many a fine buck 'Old Ben'* has
knocked over on this side of the ridge, and we have full
two miles to go before we reach the ' Battlesnakes'
Den.' Keep some five or six rods behind me, Qeorge,
and don't break a stick ; watch me close, and if you see
me on my hand and knee (or on my beUy, which is
sometimes necessary), don't move an inch. On the first
ledge we shall climb, about half a mile from here, is a
famous buck, who always lies chewing his cud from
* nia rifle.
\ >
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 «<lge, and
is very wiry and tough.
THE rattlesnakes' DEN.
27
know the meaning of this, and the painful necessity of
it ; that I do it not hecause I hate you, but because I
love you ; and I am sure it will be the last time."
" It shall be, dear, dear father."
» 4» * * »
Darrow came in, but too late i my case had been tried
— judgment, sentence, and retribution! How much and
what he said to my father, and how far he succeeded in
exciting any repentant feeling, I never learned, though I
thought for several days I discovered a sort of ex post facto
Bigns of a partial for^veness, aridng from the plea that
my friend and master, Darrow, had put in for me, the
public importance of our expedition, now admitted by all,
which had led us to the " Rattlesnakes' Den " on Sunday.
However, I was silent, and determined to be so,
though Darrow, with the countenance of my father and
all the neighbours, was proceeding with his plans for a
grand onslaught on the reptiles, in the course of a few
days. Darrow was everywhere listened to in his descrip-
tions of what we had seen, and I was called on as a
witness to the facts, but I was mum, having resolved to
have no further hand in the affair.
But when my father said to me—
" George, my dear son, did you see, with Darrow, at
the * Rattlesnakes' Den,' what he has described ? "
" Yes, dear father " (I said it in a sort of convulsion,
and before I willed it), "I saw it all, father; it is all true."
" Then, my dear boy, you shall go with us. We shall
have a grand holiday on Wednesday, if the weather is
y^L-
■■,\ 1
1-
h
k i
PlPPSPW'^lWWWPJfP^'fP^
u
23
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
fine. Captain Brush is going, and Medad, and Jonas.
The Snidigars are going — ^Rowley and O'Neil, and half-
a-dozen others, and you shall join us, and cany the
little musket for your weapon."
What a concession ! I soon forgot the ordeal I had
passed, and was inflated with the most impatient am-
bition for the catastrophe that was preparing. Wednes-
day (after a long time) came — a fine sunny day. The
Snidigars (old hunters) were on the spot, Atwill was
there, and Heth, and Captain Brush, and all assembled
at my father's house at ten o'clock in the morning, and
all, in Heth's ferry-boat, crossed the river, and Darrow
(with me by his side) taking the lead, we penetrated
the forest on the mountain-side, and soon arrived at the
" Pulpit Rock," which was considered half way.
My father, to make it a real holiday, had freighted
Johnny O'Neil, his faithful hired man, with a number
of bottles of cognac brardy from his cellar, and a good
boiled ham, and other accompaniments for a comfortable
lunch after the grand feat should be accomplished, and
we should be on our return march. A bottle of this
being used at the halt, and Johnny having safely secreied
the rest in the " Pulpit Rock " for our return, the party
were about resuming their march, when Darrow said —
"Hold on, my friends; *01d Golden' sleeps only a
little above here, and right in our way."
This required no explanation for any one present, for
" Old Golden " was a famous deer of an enormous size,
known to all the hunters of the valley, who had each
THE rattlesnakes' DEN.
29
in their turn followed him, and been foiled in all their
attempts to come round him. The name of " Old Golden"
had also been for years in the mouths of even the women
and children of the valley, and many had seen his tracks,
nearly the size of those of an ox. He had been followed
from one side of the valley to the other, sleeping on the
mountains on one side or the other, just as his security
might demand it, and now had established his lair a
little above the " Pulpit Rock."
"Hold on a bit," said Darrow; *the cunning old
fellow played George and me a shabby trick last Sunday,
and T want to see if he will do the same thing to-day.
You know him well, Snidigar?"
" That I do. The old fellow has slipped through my
fingers often enough. I know exactly where he lies,
Darrow."
Darrow had his plans all laid, and now, assuming the
spokesman, he said to my father — ^
" Squire, I want you to take charge of the party, and
keep them all where they are, and without much noise,
for about a quarter of an hour ; and if ' Old Golden ' is
in his bed to-day, it is gone case with him: he will
make fools of us no longer. Snidigar and I both know
where he sleeps, and we know exactly where he runs
when put up. George and I will go round and take our
stand at the foot of the ' Eagle's Nest,' close to which he
generally runs; and Snidigar will go round and stand at
the 'South Pass.' One or t'other of those places he
must go out at ; and we will see to-day what he is made
^HH
iiii
30
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
of. Wait here about a quarter of an hour, Squire, giving
us time to get to our stands, and then Atwill, who knows
the way, will lead you up the hill."
Darrow and I swung round a mile or so to get to our
stand, and Snidigar started for the "South Pass," a
famous run-way, known to the hunters, and often used
by them for driving the deer through.
Darrow took a tree, and placed me behind another
close by, charging me to keep my body hidden whilst
looking around the tree ; and if I saw the deer coming
in the distance, not to stir an inch, as the deer pay little
attention to a man if he stands still. He had directed
my attention to the quarter where the deer would first
be seen, if he came.
We had not stood many minutes before I heard the
heavy tramp of his feet amongst the leaves and sticks,
as he was bounding over the logs, and was approaching;
and at length the dodging of his white flag amongst the
bushes showed that he was close at hand; and in an
instant leap, his full and frightful figure plunged out of
the thicket into the open timber. Just before he was
to have passed us, "Ma !" said Darrow, in an under and
tender tone, and he stopped, with his legs braced out,
ready for another spring ; but he was too late, for bang !
went Darrow's rifle, and that spring he never made, but
reeled bat^liwards and fell, and was dead in an instant !
Darrow ran up to him as quick as he could, and drawing
his long knife horn his belt, cut his throat, whilst I was
cautiously advancing up.
S'.'
THE RATTLESNAKES DEN.
George !" said
81
. « ' Old Golden'
don't play any more of his tricks."
A place has been kept clear on my retina for the
impression of that picture then made, which nothing in
the whole course of my life has effaced or in the least
obscured.
The horns of this noble buck, which at that season
were growing, were in the velvet, and, when running,
they looked like a chair carried on his head.
Darrow had set his rifle against a tree, and, with his
knife in his hand, was giving me some lessons for my
future guidance in deer-hunting.
" To stop a deer, George, when running, always call
'Ma !'; they are sure to stop; if you whistle, it is apt to
frighten them,and make them run faster. And when your
deer is down, always cut its throat as quick as possible, to
bleed it properly ; if you don't, you have the blood all
inside, which is awkward in dressing it, and hurts the
meat also." And pointing to the mark of his bullet,
"The old fellow stopped with his head and shoulders
right behind that beech-tree, so I took him in the
kidneys. The best place to aim, George, is always at the
heart, just back of the fore-shoulders, and rather low
down ; and next to that the kidney ; it's a small mark,
but if you can hit it, it is just as fatal as to strike the
heart. It's just forward of the hip-bone, and a little
above the centre."
Darrow now went a little round the point of rocks,
and sounded his whistle, the hunter's call, which he
iBS
|,|^iiiii|ipiii«iii jiipiiijMiP Jiqilipil||fi|g|
32
LAST KAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
always carried, and in a little time Snidigar, who had
heard his rifle, and now knew what was the result,
soon came up, and Atwill soon followed with the whole
of the party. " Old Golden" down was a splendid sight
for all, and in a few minutes his skin was oif, and his
heavy quarters were on the hunters' shoulders, and were
carried and suspended in our route to the "Rattle-
snakes' Den," to be taken up on our return from that
enterprise.
On our route again, we were soon on the top of the
mountain, where a sort of council of war was held, wheii
Darrow and Joe Snidigar, who had been parties in the
onslaught ten years before, laid the plans of attack and
took the lead.
I was to creep cautiously up to the brink of the
precipice from which Darrow and I had viewed the
reptiles a few days before, and getting into my position,
to be perfectly still and ready to fire ; until Darrow, and
Snidigar, and Atwill, and the rest of them, had got round
on the hillside below the den, and below the level plat-
form on which the reptiles were sleeping.
From that point the hill descended with a steep
declivity, up which the invading parties were cautiously
to advance, unseen, except by me, and within a few
paces of where the snakes were lying ; each armed with
a heavy club of six or eight feet in length, to be wielded
with both hands, and paid on to the group when the
concerted signal should be given. For this Darrow had
ordered me to watch his fox-skin cap, and when he gave
W^^^^^^m^^^^^^
n
i
J.
piiFfllf!^
w
A .
^'^j¥nt*^'^
THE RATTLESNAKES DEN.
ns
the signal of " ready/' I was to fire into the thickest of
them, and the discharge of my gun was to be the signal
for all to rush on.
Though my father had indicated that I might carry
the " little musket/' a light one-barrelled fowling-piece
belonging to me, I had, without his knowledge, designed
something more destructive for this particular occa-
sion, and had borrowed of Captain Beebe, our nearest
neighbour, an old Bevolutionary rusty musket, of larger .
calibre and of greater power, and charged it before
siarting with an exorbitant charge of duck-shot; and
just before getting to the brink of the precipice, to
be sure that my explosion should lack nothing, had
rammed down an extra charge of shot on top of the
others. And with this, which required my utmost
strength to elevate, I was peeping over the brink of
the precipice. '
To my astonishment and ecstatic delight, in the midst
of the group there was a knot of these reptiles the size
of a bushel basket, wound, twisted, and interlocked
together, with their heads standing out — just the mark
I wanted for the old musket. I got exceedingly timid
and nervous while waiting for the signal, but when it
came I "let fly I"
I knew nothing, for some time afterwards (when I
was picked up), of what had transpired from that moment.
I saw nothing of the grand 7n4Ue that ensued, nor
ever knew anything of it, except what I got from
tradition.
34
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
The old Revolutionary musket, doubly (if not trebly)
cliarged, and filled with the rust of many years, and
pointed down h:U when I fired, had made a tremendous
icebound, slapping me on the side of my head, and
pitching over, a rod or so bchmd me. I wa^ found lying
on my back after the fracas was over by several of the
party, who had gone round and ascended the hdge to
where I was. I was put upon my legs, but coveted with
blood, which was running quite into my »hoes ! How-
ever, I was soon on the battle-field, and helped to count
the scalps. My double cl. -ge of shot had cut the
knotted mass (perhaps from fifty to one hundred) to
pieces, and the party rushinr; on with their clubs, had
thrashed some hundreds more to death, whilst hundreds
were saving themselves by n^nning under the rocks into
their den.
In a council of war again held on the battle-field,
while counting the scalps of some five or six hundred
slain, and whilst Darrow and Snidigar and Atwill, and
others, were pulling oil the glistening skins and rattles
of some of the most beautifully coloured of them, the
rattle of one was heard, which, in the death-struggle,
had escaped over the edge of the rock, and slid down
the mountain-side for a considerable distance. It was
a huge specimen ; and Snidigar cut a pole with a, crotch
at the end of it, which was put upon the reptile's neck,
when Darrow took it by the throat with his htvud, and
brought it alive on to the battle-ground.
An instant thought struck me, and I said, " Father,
«S"
THE rattlesnakes' DJSN.
35
if a horn of powder were fastened to the fellow's tail, and
a slow match applied to it; and he allowed to drag it
into the den, wouldn't the whole lot of them be
destroyed?"
"Good!" said Darrow. "George, you are now the
best hunter in the valley of the Ocquago." Snidigar
took the idea, and my father also, and the rest of the
party. Snidigar had an immense powder-horn attached
to his bullet>pouch, which was taken off for the purpose,
and oho other hunters emptying their horns into it, filled
i^. to the brim. A string of four or five feet in length
was tied to the rattlesnake's tail, and at the end of
it the powder-horn, with a slow match of a yard
or more in length, which Snidigar made of some
wetted and twisted tow, filled with powder, dragging
after it.
This fatal appendage all ready, and Darrow still hold-
ing the reptile by the neck, laid it upon the ground
nerr the mouth of the den * when all hands, excepting
Snidigar and Darrow, ran down the hill some distance,
and most of them, like myself, took positions behind
large trees. Snidigar pct lue to the fuse, and Darrow
let go, and bom ran for secure quarters, when the
powder-horn could be heard, rattling amongst the rocks,
as the snake was carr^dng it home to its defeated
comrades.
A breathless silence of a minute or so, and bang ! !
(like an instant clap of thunder) went the hora of
powder, shaking the very earth on which we stood, and
mmm.
mm
v.
36
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
sending up blue streams of smoke througli the creviceii
opened in the solid rock of twenty-five feet in thickness
overlaying the den! The smoke rose in clouds amongst
the trees, and when it cleared away all hands ventured
again on the scene of action, where not the sound of a
rattle, even in distress, could be heard, and where no
mortal thing could have escaped destruction.
" I'll be blathered, Squeer Cathlin" (as he called my
father), said Johnny O'Neil, "if iver thase varmints
mahks us iny mare trooble, they've all gan , Squeer!"
and turning to me — "They've cast you a lackin, Garge,
and a bloody noase, but that's nathin."
A look of approbation from my father was even more
encouraging than the speech of Johnny ; and, what was
still more satisfactory to my pride, was the unanimous
applause of the model hunters, Darrow and Snidigar,
and which all the rest of the party gave me, as the
inventor of the scheme by which the pests and the
terror of tho inhabitants of the flourishing and happy
little valley of the Ocquago were disposed of, undoubt-
edly, for several years to come.
Before commencing to descend the mountain, I recol-
lect all hands were for a while seated in the shade of
some large oaks, when several pipes were lit, and a
bunt^le of cigars distributed, which my father had
brought in his pocket. From the spot where we sat,
we had an extensive view to the east, overlookirg the
"Sturrukker" and the "Hemlock HoUow"
The "Sturrukker" (or "bloody run"), a large and
THE RATTLESNAKES DEN.
37
dashing stream, emptying into the Susquehana at Hil-
boums, three or four miles distant from where we were
sitting, was said to have " run red with blood " during
the Indian war, waged but a few years before ; and is
since equally famous for the incredible quantity of trout
taken in its black waters, in the taking of which several
lives were said to have been recently taken by the
Indians of Hemlock Hollow, in which dark ard dreary
solitude the stream rises.
During our ascent of the mountain, and even when
taking oflf the skin of " Old Golden," I learned, from
remarks made by Darrow and Snidigar, that the party
were ascending these mountains under a sort of pre-
sentiment that their day's sport might be intercepted
by lurking and revengeful Indians, said to be still hang-
ing about the Ocquago and Randolph Mountains ; and
the fact seemed to be well known by Darrow and
Snidigar, and other hunters, that, moe the defeat and
expulsion of Brant, a lingering and marauding party of
Ovieidas were still remaining ensconced in lae dark and
almost impenetrable forest of the " Hemlock Hollow" a
constant teiror to the border inhabitants, and occasion-
ally "game" for the rifles of the hunters whom they
had to contend with.
Though nothing as yet had transpired to affect the
nerves or apprehensions of the party as to Indians, aii<
whilst they were enjoying their tobacco, I saw Snidigar's
corrugator muscles drawn down, and his long forefinger
of the left hand pointing to the dark green " Hemlock
m
M
i ii{piEip!JW!.lil!WPIiy !
38
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
Hollow " which lay beneath us, and to which Darrow's
eye was being directed, "There," said he, "there are
those Indians again — ^there's their smoke rising above
the hemlocks! *Red Feather* is there, Darrow, and
* Yellow Moccasin ;' I'll be bound these fellows are back
again, and very likely a party with them — ^the poor
people at Hilboum's Landing are in great danger —
they may all be cut off."
"I know," said Darrow, "we'll have to give it to these
chaps again."
"And I howp," said Johnny O'Neil, who was listening
to the conversation, "I howp, gintlemin, ye'll nat be
dowen of it to-day. I thank we'd batter be gangin*
tow-ards howm, for won't the thunder and the smohk
we've been a raisin* bring them upon us ?'*
The party seemed mostly to incline to Johnny's
opinion, and were soon on the march, descending the
mountain, as they were evidently not prepared for an
Indian fight.
Poor Johnny was no doubt influenced by a double
thought — of the smoke of the Indians in "Hemlock
Hollow,** on the east side of the mountain, and the
" bottles of brandy " he had secreted at the " Pulpit
Rook,'* on the west side, towards which we were all now
progressing.
On our way, the quarters and skin of " Old Golden '*
were again taken on to the shoulders of the hunters ;
and, arrived at the " Pulpit Rock," the party were
seated on some large logs on a level plain in front of
THE rattlesnakes' DEN.
39
the pulpit, and, ever good-natured, Johnny brougnt
forth with great alacrity and some grace his hidden
bottles of brandy, and his boiled ham, &c.
As in the celebrations of most great victories, where
jocose hilarity, boasting, threatening, and defying are
mixed with the cup that's passing round, so -vn-Jli
Johnny's tin cups of brandy and slices of ham, which
were dealt about, were ejaculated the most unqualified
exultations for the conquest of " Old Golden," the most
unfeeling huzzas for the fate of the poor rattlesnakes,
and boasts of the unerring truth of " Old Ben " and
"Long Polly,"* and fearless contempt for the "Red
Feather" and his party of marauders, whom Johnny
O'Neil had "supposed" might be coming upon them
from " Hemlock Hollow."
In the midst of this jubilee lunch, in which t-.ome
were seated on logs and others upon the ground, and
the conversation was, of course, on rattlesnakes and
Indians, bang! went a rifle on our left, at a distance of
some twenty-five or thirty rods, the smoke of which
was seen amongst a thicket of bushes, and the ball
of which was heard as it went whizzing over our
heads.
Darrow at the time was sitting on a log, somewhat
higher than the rest of rs. All of us sprang to our
feet, or on to our hands and feet, and amongst the last
were Darrow, Snidigar, and At^sill, the only ones who
had rifles with them.
* Danow'i and Snidigiur^s H£i«9.
PS»!l|liip!tf|!|f!^W!»?*f!?I^B^^
'i.\
40
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
A,
"That's a close shave," said Darrow. "He knows
my old fox-skin cap ; but it was only a graze, anyhow."
" That's ' Red Feather/" said Snidigar.
" No doubt of it," said Darrow. " I know the crack
of his rifle ; it's not t h^ first time that I have heard it.
He's snatched many a fine buck out of my hands on
these mountains, and you and I know the music of
his rifle, Snidigar, and we shall have more of it. Look
wild !"
"Lie close there, every one of you," said Snidigar, as
Darrow was creeping forward on the ground, as close as
a rattlesnake would crawl, to the roots of a large beech
tree, poising his rifle in his left hand before him in a
horizontal position.
" Take the pine-log there, near its root," said Darrow
to Snidigar, " and see every leaf that stirs in that
direction."
The rest of the party were dropped under or by the
side of the logs, and as whist as mice, all except Johnny
O'Neil, who had also been flat, but had conceived the
plan of pushing down a handful of buck-shot into my
old musket, and which he was doing by resting on one
elbow,
I got my head sufficiently raised to see my friend
and master, Darrow, whose every motion I was still
studying, as important to the education I was receiving.
BEis motions at that time were all so slow as to be
almost imperceptible, and on either side of the tree,
before advancing his head far enough to see, his fox-
pppppiiPW^PIipapilB
THE rattlesnakes' DEN.
41
skin cap was lield a little in advance, so as to receive
the bullet when it should come. I saw him at length
lying perfectly still for a minute or so, when his cap
was lowered down, and his rifle gradually raised to his
face. He didn't fire, and in a moment lowered it
again, but before taking up his cap, he raised it quickly
up and fired; and instantly, from amongst the logs,
with a tremendous crash, Johnny O'Neil let off the
old musket with its charge of buck-shot in the same
direction.
Darrow at this time was flat on his back, and with
his wiper was pushing down another ball, when in
a low whisper he said, " It's nothing — ^it was only a
shaking leaf." Johnny O'Neil, however, actually saw
an Indian, and saw him quail before the handful of
buck-shot !
" I've kilt one of the Indians !" said Johnny.
Snidigar whispered to him to hold his tongue, and
he could shoot no more, for his buck-shot had given
out.
Darrow was on the look-out again, and all the party
resting in breathless anxiety, when " spang ! " said
another rifle behind us (exactly in the opposite direc-
tion, the Indians' mode precisely, and on the level
platform on which we were resting, below, and in front
of the "Pulpit Kock "), and whew ! went the ball over our
heads.
Snidigar, from the beginning of the fight, had placed
Atwill on the look-out in that direction, apprehend-
Pl^iipfpp
prfipp;
\ ■,
42
LAST BAMBLES AMONGST THB INDIANS.
I»S"
ing, from Indian modes of warfare, that we should be
attacked on both sides simultaneously.
Atwill could see nothing to "draw a bead" upon,
though the smoke of the Indian's gun, as in the other
case, was seen rising out of the bushes. Darrow was
steady at his post, and looking out, and Snidigar's
eagle eyes were roaming about in all directions, and
not a leaf moved without his seeing it.
The Indians had decidedly the advantage, being
sheltered by the thickets on each side of us, when our
warriors were obliged to stand comparatively exposed in
open ground.
The most of our party being unarmed, and we being
surrounded, it was evident that our best chance was to
lie as still and close as possible, and meet what might
come in the best manner we could, with the three rifles
of famous hunters to protect us.
There was no use in advancing, which would only
expose us to the Indians' fire, and the suspense became
awful, waiting for the attack to be resumed. In the
midst and silence of this, I heard my father whispering
to Johnny O'Neil, on the other side of the log ; from
what I could understand, he was sending Johnny off
into the valley for help — " From the very first leap
that you make," said my father, " don't even turn your
head io look back, but go straight to the river — ^to
Atwill's house I Tell his brother — and tell him to bring
the Hilboums ! Send some one to Heths ! Take
Atwill's canoe and cross over ! Tell Rowley and the
ifa
MiiPPR^PiRPIPPililiR
THE rattlesnakes' DEK.
48
other men in the field ! Jump on to the sorrel mare in
the south stahle, and go up the valley at the utmost
speed 1 Go to the Buels! — go to the Smiths! At the
'Pulpit Rock '—the 'Pulpit Rock!' Mind!" I saw
Johnny taking his tremendous kangaroo leaps down the
hill, when I peeped over the log.
Johnny was out of sight in an instant, and, for one,
out of danger ; and the instant thought came that I too,
in the like way, could save one, and perhaps help in
bringing succour to the besieged and doomed party.
And as quick as thought, a bound and a leap or two
took me out of the sight and hail of the party, and, like
a rolling hoop, I was bounding and rebounding down
the mountain-side for a inile or more.
Johnny had been and reported to Atwill's wife as he
passed that " Squeer Cathlin " (no doubt to make the
alarm more exciting) was " kilt," and to her and others
whom I met, that " Garge " was wounded (for I was still
covered with blood from the bruise of the old musket,
and had no time then to explain the cause of), and that
he had himself " kilt one of the Indians."
Johnny was soon across the river, and, astride of the
sorrel mare, electrifying the people of the valley as he
advanced towards its head, and rallying the rifles into
the field. Men were everywhere seen, some on horse-
back and others on foot ; and in a little time the river
was spotted with canoes, with their glistening paddles
and rifles, on their hurried way to the scene of
action, to land at Atwill's, as Johnny had said, and
1
\ 1
44
LAST BAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
proceed to the "Pulpit Bock/' where the battle was
waging.
Horsemen were started across the mountains for the
rifles of Kandolph Valley; and horns were blowing,
women were screaming, and dogs were howling, and
even the very atmosphere of the little valley seemed
to be aware of the horrid scene that was transpiring at
the " Pulpit Rock," and to breathe, in unison with the
voices of the living, " Death to the Indians, every one
of them !''
What a piece of good luck for Johnny O'Neil and I
that in an instant's thought we bounded o£f and escaped
as we did ! And how little, two hours before, was
dreamed of in this quiet little valley, and by the jovial
party at the " Rattlesnakes' Den," of the scenes now to
be related I I would stop here if I could, but the whole
must be told. Who had expected the dread sound of
the frightful war-whoop, and the relentless blows of the
tomahawk and scalping-knife ? Who had thought that
these things were to be unburied, and stained again
with the blood of the innocent and quiet inhabitants of
the little valley of the Ocquago ?
What reader who has ever read the history of the
ill-fated valley of Wyoming, of its " Indian Massacre,"
the battles at " Bloody Run," of " Oosterhouts Narrows,"
and of " Tunkhannock," will lack the patience to bear
with me a few moments until we can arrive at the end
of this gathering storm, or lack the means of appreciat-
ing its anticipated horrors when they are made known?
tHE RATTLESNAKES DEN.
45
The mind shudders at scenes of blood, of massacres, and
murder when they transpire, and that is enough ; and
therefore the finale of these descriptions must await
the result.
I, as I have said, luckily scaled the mountain's side,
crossed the river, and got home. My dear mother met
me with screams, as I was covered yet with blood ; and
learning from me that " Squeer Cathlin " was not yet
" kilt," she washed off the blood, and put me into a
clean shirt. And gallant Johnny O'Neil at this time
was galloping down the valley with his scattered volun-
teers, and the canoes of the river were landing their
heroic cargoes at "Atwill's Landing," where Johnny
and myself had first arrived in our stampede from the
"Pulpit Rock."
There had been no one to preach to the poor
affrighted group packed away under the logs, or watch-
ing, with their rifles, on their hands and knees or bellies,
for the show of a red feather or a string of wampum.
Whilst weary and nearly exhausted, and impatient
for the battle or a rescue, the awful silence was at last
broken by a terrible, a wicked, and a cruel laugh that
broke out from the summit of the rock above the
" Pulpit," higher up than the affrighted group had been
looking, from the stretched mouths of two giggling
country lasses of their familiar acquaintance, who sat
overlooking the unhappy and imprisoned group, having
their two sweethearts seated behind them, and joining
in the laugh, with their rifles on their shoulders.
s
WrI.T ~;i757 '■
"T^ WWp!Jf«IH^ '^»1^'!
■-"'J iiwfl.ffli fip .1 |jn,jH im!j,ppipfpppp^iim
\(
46
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
\
The prostrate group gradually arose from their pain-
ful lairs, and Darrow, rising upon one knee, and bring-
ing his rifle to his face, exclaimed, " Bogard, you'll not
play that trick again." But Bogard's head was lowered
out of sight, and that of Trowbridge his companion, and
their damsels departed with them.
The Indian battle, of course, with all its horrors,
terminated here. Bogard and Lyman Trowbridge had
been engaged to join the party to the " BAttlesnakes'
Den," but mustering their sweethearts to accompany
them, were behind time, and left behind. They had
followed on the trail, and travelling slow, with petticoats,
through the thickets, had met the returning party,
without being thems&lves discovered, near the " Pulpit
Rock," and resolved to give them a " sensation," which
had been done in the manner described : one firing his
rifle over their heads from the right, and the other from
the left, from which points, unseen, they had mounted
the precipice and joined their damsels, and with them
sat amusing themselves by overlooking the splendid and
warlike manoeuvres, transpiring below, of preparing for
an Indian battle.
Darrow had lain until his legs were stiff, and the
strained eyes of Snidigar had become bloodshot. The
rest of the party, stowed away under the logs, came
forth in better condition, and in the midst of an excited
dialogue as to the infamous trick, and the manner in
which it should be eventually punished, the undevoured
crumbs were gathered up, and a bottle oi two of brandy
vf7-t*r'',3j7"T
THE UArXLESNAKES DEN.
m
yet remaining, their suddenly broken lunch "was resumed
with increased appetites.
In the midst of this, Snidigar's long forefinger was
seen pointing down the hill. " Look ! there's Bill " (his
brother, also a celebrated hunter); "there's a fellow
always ready." Bill Snidigar was a man six feet and
a-half high, and with his head and shoulders rising out
of the fern (for he was on his hands and knees), with
his rifle in his hand, and at thirty or forty rods distance,
where he had arrived, he was ready for the fight — for
the rescue.
At a less distance,, and farther to the right, and from
behind an oak tree, " Tom Ely " gradually showed out
his ugly face ; and within a few rods, and farther to ths
left, appearing like mermaids looking out of the sea,
wore discovered the uncovered foreheads of " Jake and
Jim Seeley," never behind — their bodies hidden in the
mass of fern in which they were embedded. These were
the foremost for the rescue, and first on the ground ; like
serpents, silent and unseen, they were on the spot, and
ready for action.
The "up river boys" had landed at Atwill's ferry,
and were now spread out, and entering the forest in
position, and ready for a tree fight, sounding the fright-
ful war-whoop, and advancing from tree to tree, as
the forest rang with the echo of their yells ahead of
them.
The besieged party at this time were gathered up,
with their rattlesnakes' sKins bandaging their hats,
■ a
i.
-4'f'
t■'V;?i^(lv■ ■■• ""t ■■•!"■.!•■ ri;^iTB^^
3Wi«p!f!pBf»BfPf?
mmm^^
LAST RAI^IBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
their waists, and their arms, and others were carried on
poles as flags and trophies.
The beautiful and silent vanguards then rose from
their hidden lairs in the fern all around, came up, got a
drink of cognac brandy, raised the war-whoop over the
saddle of "Old Golden," with whom all had been
acquainted, helped to transport his remains, and meet-
ing the advancing columns, turned them, and all togethei
descended the mountain-side to the river-shore, where
boats were ready to cross over, and other boa*. • of rifle-
men were just arriving.
Across, all hands met ujion my father's meadows, and,
my father taking the lead, the little army was soon upon
the lawn of my father's house, on which all were seated.
A bottle or two more of brandy added to the merriment
of that picturesque scene, in which I was put forward in
a white shirt, and with a clean face, as the hero of the day.
At this moment two poor young men came up from
" down the river," each one bringing a string of several
dozens of fine trout. " Joo Still," who was spokesman
for the two, said, " Squire Catlin, what will you give V*
holding them up.
" Do you mean for all ?"
« Yes, Squire."
" What do you expect for them ?"
" Well, we'll take a dollar. Squire."
" There it is," said my father. " Still," inquired iny
father, as all the party were listerang, " where did you
catch these t"
''P'?'J?K5i^'»w^'^'?^^^?^T^
THE rattlesnakes' DEN.
49
" In Hemlock Hollow, Squire. The Sturrukker is full
on 'em there, and yesterday bein* a showery day, they
bit uncommonly well."
"But I thought there were Indians there ?"
" We thought we li&w their smoke there to-day, we
feared that 'Mtd Feathjer * and * Yellow Moccasin* were
there."
"No," said the second fisherman, as he advanced for-
ward, and drew his shirt-sleeve from his elbow to his
wrist of eacb. arm across Lis face, beneath his nose;
" No, Squire, there haint been an Ingin there these five
years ! ' Joe Still * and I has each on us got a nice little
farm a cummin on there in * Hemlock Holler.* We've
beeu bumin' logs there for some days, and I think that
was the smoke you seed. Squire. We was gitten a little
afraid this mornin' howsomsever, when we saw a smoke
on Steele's Mountain, or somear tharabouts, and thinkin*
it might be Ingins (though I think they dasent come
to Hemlock Holler any more), we still thought 'twas
best to take our wives and little ones down to Hilbourn's
Landing for a day or two, and from there we've just
cummed up here. Squire."
My father explained to these men the cause of the
smoke they had seen on Steele's Mountain, and twilight
approaching, with a few united war-whoops, the party
dispersed, giving "three cheers for *Garge'" (which
Johnny O'Neil proposed), "who has been lacked, and
been kacked, but has blawn the pison manufactury to
distruction."
.1
■^vf^ffs^m^w^h^^^imf^fiif^^'f
50
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
So much, and nothing would have answered short of
it, for the affair of the " Rattlesnakes' Den," a legend
not before known in history, but life with the name of
its hero in Susquehana lore.
m^mm^rm
CHAPTER IL
GOLD HUNTING IN THE CRYSTAL MOUNTAINS.
N the past chapter we have halted a little, and
I hope not too long, amongst the scenes of my
boyish life; in this, I shall retrace some of the
interesting steps of my elder days ; and stopping occa-
sionally for scenes which I too hurriedly passed by in the
earlier volume of this work, will bring the reader to
where that left ofiP, with a field vast and boundless
before us, in which again to view the Indians and the
incidents of Indian life.
In the first Book the reader learned that I had
travelled eight years amongst the tribes of North
America, east of the Bocky Mountains, and made a
collection of more than 600 portraits of Indians and
paintings illustrating .their, modes of life; and that I
made a.n E;chibitipiL of .the.sametin New York, in Paris,
and in London. ' ;: ' <
.That, BjthibitiQn -jvas very popular, and gained me
gi;eat. fppiause, ,apd . mo]iey, lalsoj Vv^t,- like too many
fast men, I was led into unfortunate speculations, and,
like them, suffered injurious consequences.
51
^^''^^^pnpiiiPPii
»l^ll|Wli^.i,wl*•»M*;,*f j-wj" *«'H;i!i'^pp!.is»^J
52
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
At this time, however, the Senate of the United
States was considering a Bill for the purchase of my
collection, for the sum of 65,000 dollars. A committee
had reported a hill in favour of the purchase, and in
their report had stated that they considered the price
of 65,000 dollars to he a moderate compensation for
it ; and I had encouraging assurances of its success.
Messrs. Webster, Seward, Foote, and the other Federal
members were in favour of the appropriation, and voted
for it; and the Democratic members voted against it.
Mr. Webster advocated the purchase, in a long and
eloquent speech, of which the following is a brief
extract : —
Extract from the Speech op The Hon. Daniel
Webster, on a motion in the Senate op the
CJnited States for the purchase op " Catlin's
Indian Collection," in 1849.
"Mr. President — The question isy WJiether it does
not become us, as a useful thing, to possess in the
United States this collection of paintings, &c., made
amxmgst tJie Indian tribes ? Whether it is not a case
for the exercise of large ^ib^Jllity-- J will not say
bounty, but policy ?'.'!fAefiiB hibes, sir, ihat huve pre-
ceded vs, to whose lands we have succeeded, and who
have no written inimnorials of their laws, thci.* hobds,
and their manHer^i are all; passing away to the vjorid
of forgetfulness. Their likeness, manners, and customs
are portrayed with more accuracy and truth in this
m
?FP?PpPfP''PBWWfn!WFi^^
GOLD HUNTINQ IX THE CBTSTAL MOUNTAINS. 53
collection hy Catlin than in all the other drcmvngs
and representations on the face of the earth. Some-
body in this country ought to possess this collection —
that is my opinion ; and I do not know how there is,
or where there is to he found any society, or cmy
individual, who or which can with so much propriety
possess himself or itself of it, as the Government of
tJie United States. For my part, then, I do think that
the preservation of ' Catlin's Indian Collection ' in this
cou/ntry is an important public act. / think it pro-
perly belongs to those accumulatioTis of historical
matters respecting our predecessors on this continent,
which is very proper for the Government of the United
States to maintain. As I have said, this race is going
into forgetfulness. They track the continvMion of
mankind in the present age, and call recollection back
to them. And '/lere they are better exhibited, in my
judgment, better set forth and presented to the mind
and the taste and the curiosity of mankind, than in
all other collections in the world. I go for this as an
American subject — as a thing belonging/ to us — to our
history — to the history of a race whose lands we till,
and over whose obscure graves and bones we tread,
every day. I look upon it as a thing moie appro-
priate for us than the ascertaining of the South Pole
or anything that can be discovered in the Dead Sea
or the River Jordan. TJiese are the grounds, sir, upon
which I propose to proceed, and 1 shall vote for Hie
appropriation with great pleasure."
M
m
w-
wrr'^rrrr
■■w,"V, . f- '•' ,"'*■ '■■ :■ *;*;,T
T^!P^Wwf'!'!^n^WT^
54
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST IHE INDIANS.
The following letter also, which I received at that
time, I have a right to int^odnc^ in this plf oe : —
Letter from General Cass, Secretary of State of
THE United States of America.
"Dear Sir — Ko man can appreciate better than
myself the admirable fdelity of your Indian Collection
and Indian booh, which I have lately exa/mined. They
are equally spirited and accurate: they are true to
nature. Things that are are not sacrificed, as they
too often are by the painter, to things as (in his judg-
ment) they should be.
" During eighteen years of my life I was superin^
tendent of Indian affairs va the north-western territory
of the United States; and d/wrmg mxyre than five I
was Secretary of War, to which department belongs
the general control of Indian concerns. I know the
Indians thoroughly. I have spent many a month in
thevr camps, council-houses, villages, and hunting-
grounds; I have fought with them and against them;
and I have negotiated seventeen treaties of peace or
of cession with them. I Tnention these dircumsta/nces
to show you that I have a good right to speak con-
fidently upon the subject af your drawings. Among
them I recognise many of my old acquaintances, and
everywhere I am struck with the vivid representations
of them and their customs, of their peculia/r features,
and of their costumes. Unfortunately, they are reced-
ing before the advancing tide of our population, and
,<ij«i"B<?iV«*¥!.s^.'mi -J
GOLD HUNTING IN THE CRYSTAL MOUNTAINS. 55
are probably destined, at w> distant day, wholly to
disappea/r ; hit your collection will preserve them, as
fa/r as hv/man art can do, a/nd will form the most
perfect monumerU of an extimgwished race that the
world has ever seen,
" Lewis Cass.
« To Geo. Catlin."
Mr. " Jefiferson Davis/' at that time a member of
the Senate, before giving his vote, made, in a speech
of two newspaper columns in length, and now matter
of record, the most complimentary eulogy that has
ever been passed on my works, stating that I was
" the only artist who ever had painted, or could paint,
an American Indian ; that he had been a campaigner
with me for several months amongst the Osages,
the Comanches, Pawnee Ficts, &c., whilst he was an
officer in the 1st Begiment of Mounted Dragoc >;
that he had sat by me and seen me paint many of
my portraits from the life, and knew their accuracy,
that the collection was one of great interest and
value to our country, and that it would be a shame
if it were sold in a foreign land." And yet, when the
stage of the voting showed that his vote was to turn the
scale, stated that, " from pri/nciple, he was bound to vote
against the appropriation," which he did, and defeated
the biU.
This unexplained "principle" I construed to be
clearly the principle adopted and proclaimed by President
'Xi
66
LAST BAMBLES AMONOST THE INDIANS.
Jackson many years before, of removing all the southern
tribes of Indians west of the Mississippi River, that their
two hundred and fifty millions of rich cotton lands
might be covered with slave labourers ; which principle,
with an accompanying hostility to everything Indian,
had been and was being carried out by the successive
administrations, convincing me that I had nothing
further to expect or claim from my country for the
labours I had expended and the collections I had made
in the Indian countries.
This discouragement, and the explosion of my pecuni-
ary afiairs in London, came upon me together, and botli
contributed to impede my return to my native country
(which I had contemplated at that time), as will be seen,
till after my subsequent wanderings, to be briefly
narrated in the following pages. In this dilemma I was
lost ; but my collection was saved to my country by an
American gentleman — an act so noble and so patriotic
that I cannot believe my country will forget it.
My " occupation gone," and with no other means on
earth than my hands and my brush, ai 1 less than half
of a life, at best, before me, my thoughts, as with all that
is human and mortal, tended towards Dame Fortune,
to know if there was there anything yet in store for
me. The thought was an extremely unpromising and
visionary one, and yet, without a superstition, seemed
worthy of a trial
In this state of mind, therefore, into one of the eccentric
adventures of my chequered life I was easily led at that
iipliiiiiipi
PRPipipi'.^>jiu|iq"pp< m\%mi^
GOLD HUNTING IN THE CRYSTAL MOUNTAINS.
57
time, by the information got by a friend of mine, a
reader in the Biblioth^que Impdriale of Paris, from an
ancient Spanish work, relative to gold mines of mar-
vellous richness, said to have been worked by Spanish
miners some 300 years since, in the Tumucumache (or
Crystal) Mountains, in the northern part of Brazil.
According to this tradition the Spanish miners, after
having accumulated great riches, were attacked by the
Indians and massacred in their houses, or driven out of
the country, leaving their gold behind them. This
wonderiul relation, with other corroborating legends I
had received, had enough of probability (with the
additional circumstances already narrated) to excite my
cupidity, and what follows is a brief account of my
singular enterprise entered upon at that time.
In my wandering contemplations, ten years, at least,
of solitudes in voluntary exile, with my pencils and
sketch-books, were before me as agreeable realities;
nuggets of gold of all sizes appeared in my dreams, and
in my waking hours I had allowed a half superstition to
intimate to me that Dame Fortune might have some-
thing precious in store for me, which she could not
bestow without the suitable opportunity. As traditions
had said that the gold miners of the Crystal Mountains
had accumulated vast amounts in sold dust and nuggets,
imagination naturally and easily depicted these riches
left behind, buried within the walls of their adobe houses
when the miners were destroyed, or obliged to flee from
their villages.
■|p|Plil^?ppiy^jiMiiii,.''w,!P«iiwwBp^p^
»iiyMwiijpi!|pijpi^«iiSy)fWWi"u>if'.<
58
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
The wealth of London was to be at my command if I
succeeded ; a company, with unbounded capital, was to
be formed, and a concession was to be obtained from the
Government of Brazil for the right of working the mines
and carting the gold away ; and I had yet the stimulus
of an unexplored country before me.
With such reflections and anticipations I started, in
1852, for the Crystal Mountains, in Brazil. I sailed to
Havannah ; from thence I went to Carraccas, Venezuela,
to see the wonderful "Silla," described by Baron de
Humboldt. From Carraccas to the Orinoco and
Demerara, designing to ascend the Esseq bo to the
base of the Crystal Mountains.
Learning from friends in Demerara the jealousy with
which the unsettled boundary between British Guiana
and Brazil was at that time guarded, and the consequent
difficulty, if not impossibility, of passing the frontier
post at the Grand Bapids of the Essequibo, I obtained
a British passport for Brazil, and an incognito cognomen,
as kings and emperors sometimes do, resolved to leave
the river below the "Sabo" or great cataract, and approach
the mountains by a land route, taking a guide and escort
from some of the Arowak or Taruma villages I should
have to pass through.
Having previously met my old acquaintance. Sir
Bobert Shombergk, returning from his second exploring
expedition to the sources of the Essequibo, he had
explained to me the uncertainty of getting permission
from the post-holder to pass the Grand Rapids, and also
mpmfj^fWf~"'"''<!'J^'^™v->* '
■TWi
GOLD HUNTING IN THE CRYSTAL MOUNTAINS. 59
the extreme difficulty of ascending the Essequibo and
from that to the mountains, owing to the numerous
rapids, requiring a strong force of men. He approved
my plan of tfiking the eastern route ; and having learned
from me the object I had in view, stated that he had
long since heard legends of the Spanish gold mines in
these mountains, and that were it not that he was at
that time executing a special command of Her Majesty
the Queen, he would have accompanied me in the
enterprise.
Joined in Georgetown by an enterprising young man
by the name of Smyth, an Englishman, a good shot, and
carrying a first-rate minid rifle, and armed myself with
Colt's revolving carabine, we left the Essequibo below
the grand cataract, and, after a desperate encounter with
livers and swamps, reached an Arowak village. Received
in this village with great kindness (as has been described
in my former work), we procured hired horses and mules,
on which, with an Indian guide, passing several Indian
villages, and a country of three or four hundred miles,
we reached the base of the mountains, and then, with a
half-caste interpreter and guide, who knew the route,
and a mule to carry our packs, we trusted to our legs
for a passage across the mountains into the valley of the
Amazon, which we accomplished, but with great fatigue
and some distress, to the forks of the Trombutas, from
which we descended in an Indian pirogue to the Amazon,
to Santarem, and to Para, as has been more fully narrated
in the earlier work.
if^M
60
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS,
V
Instead of finding the Tumucamache (or Acarai) a
single mountain ridge, which I had contemplated, we
found ourselves in the midst of a series of mountains of
palseozoic rocks of the most frowning and defying aspect
for a breadth of fifty or sixty miles. In the midst of
these our poor mule gave out, and we were obliged to
leave it and most of our packs, and trust to our weapons
for subsistence. Food and life and progress now became
subjects of more importance than gold; and in our jaded
and exhausted condition we were but miserable nugget
hunters. We hunted, however, passing over extensive
beds of auriferous quartz, in some instances distinctly
exhibiting to the naked eye the precious metal.
In a beautiful valley amongst the mountain ranges
we struck upon an ancient waggon-road, which we
followed for several miles, showing intelligible proofs of
mining operations. This, however, we lost, from the
thick overgrowth of a sort of thorn, not unlike a com-
pact hedge, extending in some places for miles together,
and entirely impenetrable to man or horse, until cut
away.
From such causes all my nugget fever for the time
passed away, and I was happy to be again at my old
vocation, and safe and sound in the valley of the
Amazon. . .
Near the close of the former work, I gave some
account of the valley of the Amazon, its rivers, its
forests, and inhabitants; but, for want of space, was
obliged to make it brief and very incomplete. Other
*W*!IW ! !|i •-i*"^'"f' !,w •..'Wf'ff/r^m»mnmf^^'M^}
GOLD HUNTINQ IN THE CRYSTAL MOUNTAINS. Gl
features of it, which I was then obliged to pass by, will
now be taken up, and the end of this chapter will bring
us to the Pacific, where we will have a new region to
pass into.
In my boarding-house in Para I made the agreeable
acquaintance of Seiior L , to whom I gave a descrip-
tion of my long voyage, and the object I had had in
crossing the Crystal Mountains. He told me he had long
heard traditions of those gold mines, and the massacre
of the miners by the Indians; and he added that he
had no doubt of the facts, nor any doubt but that great
wealth had been left concealed in or about the miners'
adobe houses.
He informed me that he lived on an island in the
Amazon, some hundreds of miles above Santarem, which
he had stocked with several thousand head of cattle and
horses ; that he was returning by steamer in a few days;
and that if I would accompany him, he would fit out
another expedition at his own house, and at his expense,
approaching the mountains from a different direction,
and in a different place; and, he thought, with a better
chance of success.
I accepted this gentleman's kind offer, and in three
days we were prepared for our coming cam/ vign. At
Para we obtained each a tunic and leggings of strong
buckskin, and other articles necessary for our tour, and
various trinkets and other presents for the Indians.
I had at the time in my employment a first-rate
negro man (a maroon), six feet and two inches in height,
F
EW^vW:
C2
MST RAMBLES AMONGSx' THE INDIANS.
at:
' ■ '/!?*^
U
" Caesar Bolla" who had freed himself from bond.\ge by
leaving his master, Senor Bolla, in Havannah, and had
proved to me his value in a tour of five or six weeks
which we h^d just made together amongst the Xingu
Indians, on the liver by that name.
My former companion, Smyth, having left me in Para,
I purchased of him his minid rifle, which I put into
Caesar's l^ands, and of which he was very proud.
Senor L proposed to take two of his own negroes,
and employ a couple of friendly Indians living in the
vicimty of his residence as guides and interpreters,
making in all a party of seven.
This hos^'>itable gentleman had on his island ten
thousand cattle and horses, and fifteen negroes. He
told me before starting that, as we were going into a
section of country known to be rich in minerali, and
guarded with great jealousy by the Government, we
should be more or less liable to fall into the hands of
one of three garrisons of bare -footed soldiers, stationed
at the Barra ano at the base of the mountains; and
that in such an event he should much rather answer to
the namr. of Seficr NoveL'o than that of Senor L .
His motive for this he knew I could correctly ap-
preciate when I showed him my passport, and at the
same time told him my real name, with which (when he
heard it) he said he had been for some years familiar.
He spoke the Portuguese, the Spanish, and the " Lingua-
geral " (the language of the country), and Caesar spoke
the Spanish and the English, and our two Indian guides
m^m^}t\!mm%'i^mm^jiim^
GOLD HUNTING IN THE CRYSTAL MOUNTAINS. 63
Spoke the "geral," and the Indian language of the tribes
where we were going ; so that on the score of languages
we had nothing to fear.
The route proposed was to descend the Amazon some
fifteen or twenty miles in a huge and unwieldy pirogue;
then ascend a small and sluggish stream some twenty
or thirty miles, leave tha pirogae, and traverse the vast
and gloomy forest until we reached the llanos (prairies),
where we would hire mules of the Indians to take us to
the mcrmtains.
We were several days making the necessary prepara-
tions; laying in salt and dried meats, coffee, sugar,
biscuits, tea, salt, &c., and a few culinary articles ; and
amongst them a large tin pan from his wife's pantry, for
washing gold, and a heavy hammer for breaking the
rocks, and a cold chisel for cutting the nuggets which we
might find too large to be transported entire !
Embarked in our heavy pirogue, with all our stores
and equipments laid in, we were venturing on a tour
(which probably no white man had ever made before,
and of which we had no knowledge except that obtained
from our two Indians, who had traversed several times
before) of wading, of creeping and crawling, through
the vast and sunless and pathless solitudes which lie
between the Amazon and the llanos that spread out at
the foot of the Tumucamache, or Crystal Mountains.
And those who would appreciate the grandeur, the
vastness, the intricacy, and the mysteries of the Amazon
forests without seeing them, now listen !
04
LAST RAMTTLES MtONGST THE INDL^Wl,
Gently and easily we floated down the nortliem shore
of the river for the distance of tifteen or twenty miles ;
most of the way the banks, the shore, and the tru-nkg of
the Mty trees were entirely hylAen by the outroilmg and
out8!tretching ma«ses of ioi\^%s> of various hue» and
varioitfts patterns, which seemed y^ be tumbling over our
heads i\fflto the river.
Without discovering the least appearance of a landing-
place, or mouth of a river or stream, **Ya-ka, ya-ka"
(there it is, there it is), cried out one of our Indians, and
pointing to it, when our pirogue was steered about, and
plunged by force of paddles amidst the hanging boughs
that were dipping in the water. In a moment we were
out of sight of the mighty Amazon^ and ascending a
deep and sluggish stream of unknown width, for the
hanging foliage was everywhere bathing in the stream,
and hiding the muddy shores and the trunks of the
trees from our view.
A sort of " lAngua-geral" boat-song was now raised
as the negroes were plying the paddles; and the two
Indians, in the bow, with their paddles were dividing
and lifting the drooping boughs out of the water and
passing them over our heads as the boat moved on.
When raised, they were struck with the paddle, and
most of their water discharged, but enough still filled
the air, like a mist or a gentle shower of rain.
The little Indians, with their entirely naked bodies, who
were thus nicely and comfortably cooled, were laughing
at our buckskins, in which we were completely drenched.
f!l?W^!S^5H!!fW|«?«^TIPfn!RW;?W!«9^^
GOLD HUNTING IN THE CRYSTAL MOirNTAINS. 65
The song progressed, the paddles were plied, and wc
stiil went on, whilst the artificial rain was tilling and
the sun was shining. Night approached; and we found
a comfortable landing-shore, where our hammocks were
slung, and between two tremendous fires we passed the
night, amidst the howling of monkeys and hooting and
screaming of nocturnal birds.
The third day of this perpetual shower-bath brought
us to the head of navigation of this little river without
a name, where there were lying three other pirogues
belonging to Indians, each one fastened to the shore
with a thong of raw hide, and claimed by the owner's
totem and the figure of a knife drawn on a piece of
bark with blood-red paint, and fastened to the raw hide
thong.
Here was a little spot of open timber, comfortable for
an encampment, and we remained two days, arranging
our packs, and preparing for our march through the
forest, leaving our canoe for our return, labelled and
claimed in the manner of those of the Indians ; and our
Indian guides assured us that no Indians would ever
remove it.
Now our mighty task began. So far the pirogue had
carried our " bags and baggage," but now we had to
divide them amongst ourselves, each one carrying his
load upon his back as he squeezed and crept through
the mazy network of shrubbery and twisted vines. Our
Indian guides professed to be " following a road ; " but
what a road ! A road here is where the Indians have,
^^u,
!T^W'T»''''?^^^pi!i5?»^!|fl(f(^^
66
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
with their knives, cut away the vines, and made an
opening large enough for a man's body, as he stoops, to
pass through ; and this, in a few months or weeks, requires
the same process repeated to make it passable again.
Strapped upon Caesar's back was always my large
portfolio, containing a large number of cartoon por-
traits of North American Indians, and blank cartoons
for other portraits to be made, protected by a water-
proof covering. Over that was fastened the tin pan for
gold washing. On his left shoulder his minid rifle, and
in his right hand the sledge-hammer for getting at
large nuggets, for which my cupidity was now for a
second time becoming roused.
Senor N and myself carried our rifles, and each
his knapsack of provisions, &c. ; and the other articles
were divided amongst the two negroes and the two
Indians, the two last of whom were armed with their
sarhacanes (or blow-guns), with poisoned arrows
Thus freighted and thus equipped, we started on our
long and painful campaign, little knowing of, and little
caring for, the toils and difficulties ahead of us — those
of an Amazon Forest, and yei, to be described. The
ground was shrouded with an endless impenetrable
mass of green leaves, of twisting viues, and wild flowers
of various hues, which were penetrated, where we walk,
or stand, or creep, by the trunks of the stately moras,
hackeas, and palms, and fifty other sorts of trees, whose
tops, and even branches, are lost in the chaotic mass of
foliage that embraces them.
imJ^4f^'''f^^^"^^^^
^^imvmif^W.
COLD HUNTING IN THE CRYSTAL MOUNTAINS. 67
Man wanders under and through these vast canopies
without finding a log or a stone, or even the roots of
a tree, to rest his wearied limbs upon. No tree, even
in its natural decline, falls to the ground, but, like the
masts of vessels with their cordage, they are held and
braced up by twisting vines, whilst their decaying
txunks are wasting awf y in the moist alluvion, and they
gradually settle down (as they arose) to the earth from
which they came.
No stone has been dropped here from a drifting ice-
berg, or tumbled along in a mountain torrent ; the roots
of trees, to be seen, must be dug for ; and so rapid is
the accumulation of soil around them, that the trunks
of trees have the shape of piles driven into the ground.
Owing to the shade and perpetual dampness of those
solitudes, fire never makes any progress, and the
heaviest showers of rain gererally fail to reach the
ground, otherwise than in a light mist, or by creeping
down the branches, trunks, and twisting vines by which
it is broken and conducted.
In the fresh air and sunshine at the tops of the trees,
which we can never see, there is a busy and chattering
neighbourhood of parrots and monkeys, but all below is
a dark and silent matted solitude, in whicli a falling
leaf, from want of wind, may be a month in reaching
the ground, and where a man may be tracked by the
broken cobwebs he leaves behind him.
On, on we go, from day to day, in " Indian file,*'
cutting our way, without the slightest change, cn-
pppppipiiiniiipii
*..Tf»^™'< ■
^i
68
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
camping at night between our fires, always serenadccL
by the frightful arig^atoes (howling monkeys), whilst wo
are beating off the mosquitoes, or shaving our legs to the
knees with our knives to destroy the thousands of red
ticks that fasten their heads in the skin.
Our progress is slow, perhaps some ten or twelve
miles per day. If man were but knee high, or, like a
serpent, could crawl upon his belly, he might travel
farther. Not only are we impeded by the vines that
are twisting about our necks and our legs, but the
ground we walk on is painful and fatiguing owing to the
vast quantity of leaves that fall, which have neither
winds nor heavy rains to flatten them down, or fire to
bum them.
Nuts, and shells of nuts, are dropping on our heads,
disengaged by monkeys and birds engaged in the tops
of the trees, the chattering of which we constantly
hear, though we don't see them. The falling nuts are
lost to the eye when they reach the ground, owing to
the depth and looseness of the leaves amongst which
they are hidden, the peccaries, in search of these, throw
up the leaves around their sides until they are often
nearly lost sight of, but the troupe thus engaged always
keep sentinels on the look-out, to give the alarm when
an enemy is approaching.
On the fifth day of our march, getting into a region a
little elevated, and with more open timber, we passed a
large gang ef these little fellows busy in their furrows ;
and a short time after, our little Indian "Bok-ar"
>
'f^?a^!«5Wi^**S!(^-'*!i'*!V-i('Wr' 'wj;,:HP')Hi'»»(P«PW^"'"'*-''- -
^ ..!([•-■, .■■,'» ,■ .,,. ■!>,»" JIIWJ
GOLD HUNTING IN THE CRYSTAL MOUNTAINS. 69
announced that they had taken up the line of march^
£ id were following r s, and that we were in great danger
unless we could reach a small stream that was a few
miles ahead of us. At his request we relieved him of
as much of his load as we could, and he went back to
meet them, and keep them at bay by some sort of
charm that he was master of, and which I did not
learn ; the same, he told us, that the jaguar uses to decoy
them up to a leaning tree or other place where he can
pounce upon the fattest of the herd, and, with it, leap
to a nook above their reach.
About three or four o'clock in the afternoon we
reached the anticipated stream, and forded it, the mud
and water reaching to our waistbands. All hands safe
over, we came to a halt, and laid our packs upon the
ground, the Indians assuring us that our enemies would
not enter the water for us.
Our daring little Bok-ar was in full view, dancing
backwards towards us, singing, and now and then squeak-
ing like a young peccary, but staring at them as they
were advancing in a solid phalanx upon him, chafing
their tusks and preparing for battle.
Bok-ar waded the stream, and joined the party,
whilst the band of nut-gatherers advanced to the edge
of the stream, in a body as thick as they could stand,
little else being seen than their heads, with theii noses
pointed towards us.
Thus they stood, chafing their ivory, the sound of
which was like that in a marble-yard when stone-cutters
■#v
P^5?P»P!'^^'??'i^W|iH^^^
70
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANA
are chipping marble; their eyes were blood-red wifch
rage, and a white froth was dropping from their jowls.
As near as I could judge, there were from five to six
hundred of these bristly little warriors in the group,
and the reader will easily imagine that so wild and
savage a spectacle could not escape a place in my sketch-
book.
This done, we were resolving to give them a broad-
side with our rifles, when I saw the little Boh-ar slip-
ping a poisoned arrow into his blow-gun. We lowered
our rifles, and gave the two Indians a chance to ex-
hibit the powers of their insignificant-looking weapons.
They seemed very proud of the compliment thus paid
them, and smiled as they slipped the fatal knitting-
needles into the slender reeds.
The distance across the stream was some twelve or
fifteen yards. The little Boh-ar asked me which one
he should hit, and I pointed to one of the largest,
standing with its feet at the water's edge, and with its
head elevated, exposing its breast and the veins of its
neck. A sudden whiff! and the deadly missiles were
off.
Boh-ar*8 pig pitched forward into the mud, and
never moved, the aiTOW having struck the jugular vein ;
the other victim, shot in the side, wheeled about, and
after reeling and staggering for two or three seconds,
gave a squeak or two and fell, when a scene commenced
that baffled all description. The sagacious group around
the falling animal seemed to know that it was dying,
wisif^^wfmmwm^^^
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a
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o
piW«nWMip».Ji.Ji!iiMMWW)jli^|lli.iiiJ!^ npiliipiipil
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,11(11.114.. I .iiipiijvi^p|Pip^iimMf.ipiiiwi|ip
^^''ifPPHiP'W*^^^
GOLD HUNTING IN THE CRYSTAL MOUNTAINS. 71
when they pitched upon it, ripped and tore it, and
tossed it in all directions.
I ordered Caesar to fire his minid riflo over their
heads, when the whole group took fright and disappeared
in an instant, and we saw no more of them.
The Indians waded the stream, and both recovered
their arrows, and returned them to their quivers, and
(as they told me) as ready and efficient for battle as if
they had not been fired ! How wonderful this poison,
and what can it be ? Some have thought it extracted
from the rattlesnake's tooth, but that can't be, for the
poison of a serpent's tooth produces immense swelling —
the poisoned arrow's victim never swells at all.
In the former work I have given a fuller account
of this wonderful weapon and its effects, from experi-
ments I witnessed and made while amongst the Connibo
Indians. When the Indian requires for such deadly
effects but an almost imperceptible quantity of the
poison on the point of his needle-arrow, I would ask
what awful havoc would be produced in war if an
army or regiment of men were armed with the ancient
bell-muzzled arquebuses charged with duck-shot that
had been rolled in this liquid and dried, and driven by
powder instead of the Indian's feeble breath?— or if
small field-pieces were charged with such missiles?
No surgeons would need to follow, no wounded would
be lef i M})on the field of battle, for where one drop of
blood . s; di'i .wn, death must ensue.
A coiiic rifle-ball, charged at its point with this
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72 LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
poison, entering the body of an ox, a tiger, or an elephant^
would, in my opinion, produce death as instantaneous
as the flash of a gun.*
To proceed on our voyage. The surface of the country
over which we were now passing was beginning evidently
to rise, and after some five or six days' farther march the
forest became more open, its twisting vines and other
impediments in a measure disappeared, and its true
grandeur and beauty, more fully developed, showed us
that we were on the divide between water-sheds, and
that we were consequently approaching the llanos
prairies), which we should soon meet, pointing into
the forest.
Encouraged, we marched easier and farther each day,
and on the eleventh day from our start we beheld the
opening to the prairie — ^the sun shining upon it, the
smoke from a Zurumati village and the blue Acarai (or
Crystal) Mountains in the distance. Our Indians soon
found their acquaintances ; our views were made known
to them, and we were received with hospitality and
kindness. Csesar soon got my portfolio open in a
suitable place, and began his usual lectures on the
* Six or seven years after my adventures in that country, a oorre-
spondent in Fara states in one of his letters : — " Since your visit to the
Upper Amazon, several agents have been traversing the whole conntry,
botik on the Amazon and in Guiana, and buying up all the Indian
poison at any price, but for what purpose no person has been able
to ascertain. God forbid that it should be used for the advancement of
civilisation, for the Indians themselves have long since censed to use it
in Indian warfare."
W|-«"«ipWfl'«»|i«P^»lj*HI!^,»W^
GOLD HUNTING IN THE CRYSTAL MOUNTAINS. 73
portraits of their " Red hredren " in North America,
as ho held them up one by one to their view.
Great excitement and amusement were produced by
the pictures, but all ^ere afraid to be painted when
it was proposed, and no one would consent to the
operation.
The women had not yet come forward, and one of the
chiefs very respectfully inquired if the women could be
allowed to look at the portraits. He said if their
women could be allowed to look at the portraits the
next day, they should be dressed properly for the
occasion.
The next day about noon, some fifteen or twenty of
them came, mostly young and unmarried girls.
On this occasion, to be, as they had proposed, in full
dress, they had very curiously (and, indeed, in some
cnses very beautifully) painted their round and pretty
limbs with vermillion and other bright colours, and
ornamented their bodies and limbs with long and sweet-
scented grass, parts of it plaited in beautiful braids,
forming kilts, that extended from the waist to the knee.
Braids of this grass also ornamented their ankles, their
wiists, and their necks ; and wreaths of evergreen
boughs, tastefully arranged, encircled their heads and
waists, enlivened with orchids and other wild blossoms
of the richest hues and odours, whilst their long and
glossy black hair, which is generally kept in braids, was
loosened and spread in beautiful waves over their breasts
and shoulders.
^rjk- *(.■ "f ■
':'^^'wpw^fWTwp|^pi(ipi?^^i5i»pi^^^
74
LAST BAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
Gaiety, modesty, and pride were imprinted on every
one of their faces, and evinced in all their movements,
which were natural and exceedingly graceful. And oh,
that a photographic impression could have heen taken
of this singular and pretty group, which would have
vanished like a flock of antelopes had I attempted to
have made a sketch of it. Csesar was embarrassed, but
with his lAnguorgeralf which these Indians partially
understood, he got along tolerably well in showing them
the pictures.
With a dozen or two cf knitting-needles for arrows
to their blow-guns, and some other little presents, we
easily engaged men with mules to convey us with our
packs to the base of the mountains, a distance of forty
or fifty miles ; and if anything on the face of the earth
could properly be called a paradise it was the beauti-
fiilly rolling prairies, with their copses and bunches of
graceful leaning palms and palmettoes, endrcied with
flowers of all colours, spotted here and there with herds
of wild cattle and horses, and hedged in a hundred
directions with the beautiful foliage bordering the
rivulets and rivers wending their serpentine course
through them.
We had no time or disposition for the chase, and the
only gun fired in our course was fired by myself, and
much to my regret. A wild cow, lying directly before
me, shook her head, and seemed to dispute the right of
way with me. I raised my rifle and shot her dead;
and, on approaching, found the poor creature had been
f!!m'^mi^^Wf-'^w^'''^f%vtt!v\^v'v(>!ii'
I^TTT^rff,''T7''^^'V7';T'!':''w«Sp5T^!^(?^^ ■• '
GOLD HUNTING IN THE CRYSTAL MOUNTAINS. 75
watching over the body of her calf, which had been
some days dead, and, from its swollen condition, we
supposed from the bite of a snake.
In this ride we forded several streams, and, amongst
them, the west fork of the Trombutas; and, if the
Indians informed us rightly, something like one hundred
miles from its junction with the eastern branch, where
I struck it six months before, as related in my earlier
book.
After two days* ride, the blue of the mountains
became grey, and green as we were at their base. In
some places, for many miles together, they were in
perpendicular palisades, like shore cliffs of ancient seas,
with higher mountains rising above and behind them ;
and, at their base, sloping descents of clay, with guUies
of great depth, and a thousand curious forms winding
down and blending with the prairies.
With no instruments to d^itermine our meridian or
latitude, we supposed we were here directly under the
equator, and something like two hundred miles north-
east of the Barra, at the mouth of the Rio Negro.
The " nugget fever " was now raging on us. Our
Indian einiployda, with their mules and with our ham-
mocks and other packs which we should not want, went
back, as they were afraid of the Woy-a-way Indians in
the mountains, and their mules were of no further
service to us amongst the rocks, which we were obliged
to scale on our own bones and muscles.
A sad occurrence here embarrassed ua very much.
a
■<^
5;'?Wfi'«^!5W*|^!W^]^ffWg|^^
70
JJLST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
One of the mules, on the night before they left, had, hy
accident, stepped its foot into our " tin pan," our only
gold- washer, and completely broke its bottom through,
rendering it irreparably useless, and narrowing our
"golden" prospects to the chances there might be of
nivggeta alone.
Gates were here and there openmg into these moun-
tain escarpments, into one of which we entered, and
found ourselves in one of the most beautiful valleys in
the world, surrounded by high ridges on the north, the
cast, and the west, the slopes of which were beautifully
ornamented with vines, and with natural orchards
of orange and fig trees, bending down with their
fruit. ■■ ..•■m^ .-
Here we established our head-quarters, building a
sort of cabin with rocks, and covering it with palm
leaves. This valley, of some six or eight miles in length,
and varying from two to three in breadth, was filled
Avith boulders of granite, and gneiss, and quartz, not
transported by icebergs from foreign sources, but
descended from the mountain slopes around it, and
which were consequently an unerring index to the
minerals of the beds from which they came.
Several days were spent amongst these by Senor
N and myself, but with no success. A few days'
rest, and our next expedition was to strike for the
ancient road which I had before discovered and crossed,
or to meet the Woy-a-vray or other Indians of the
mountains, from whom we might obtain some informa-
MM
P5W»P?^E5f«?fW"l!l»^^
■^rrirayr^'^^-r^iifrr'rr'^ifr^
GOLD HUNTING IN THE CRYSTAL MOUNTAINS. 77
tion of the ancient mines and the remains of the adobe
houses to which I have before alluded.
For this, leaving in c<xche a part of our provisions to
fall back upon in case of emergency, we started, with
our knapsacks on our backs, in a north-easterly direc-
tion. We scaled the rugged mountain behind us to
get a glance at the country beyond it, but then a deep
and desolate ravine succeeded, and beyond that another
mountain range of greater height than the one we
had ascended. We gained the summit of this, and
then beheld the field for all our labours spread out
before us.
Not a " crystal mountain," but a succession of moun-
tains — hills peeping o'er "hills — and Alps on Alps
arising," until they were blue and lost in the distance.
Their summits were capped, not with snow, but some
with naked granite, and others with grass and rhodo-
dendrons, their sloping sides and deep ravines, seeming
to sink down, down, far bdow the earth's surface, were
covered with evergreen thickets that tried the nerves
of the boldest and bravest who undertook to penetrate
them.
In this pictured landscape, long and broad valleys
were seen, and lakes reflecting the white equatorial
sky that was over them ; and glistening waterfalls and
cascades were seen in various directions : but not the
smoke of an Indian's wigwam could be discovered with
the most patient telescopic examination. How desolate!
and yet how beautiful I
tWWWJfSf^.ilWPPi^'k'il^i^
78
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
We kept on our course for several days, crossing
ravine and ravine, and mountain and mountain, having
nothing but a pocket-compass and mountain landmarks
to guide us. As the naked rocks were chiefly granite
and gneiss, and the others covered with impenetrable
vegetation, and our means of washing in the earthy
deposits were gone, our only remaining chances for dis-
coveries were in the beds of the deep ravines, where the
rocks, descended from the mountain sides, were exposed
and washed by the running streams.
Many of these streams we traced for long distances
with various success. One of these, a large and dashing
stream — its course, where we struck it, from east to west,
and probably one of the sources of the Essequibo — ^pre-
sented us many huge blocks of a greyish rose-coloured
quartz, containing frequent speculse of gold, easily
apparent to the naked eye.
These blocks were undoubtedly from a vein of quartz
m the slope of the mountain above, but which we were
too feeble to uncover, or even to get sight of.
In one of these blocks of several hundred tons weight,
lying in the bed of the stream, I discovered a cluster of
nuggets, from the size of a pin's head to the size of a
pea, washed bare and polished by the action of the
water. We now believed we had arrived at or near our
" El Dorado : " all hands were gathered around it, until
these, by chisels, screwdrivers, &c., we extracted, when
Osesar set to work with the sledge-hammer, in hopes to
make an opening into further and richer discoveries.
Ilili^iflPPi^^fipiwrWf^Wi'sPP^^
«»M!i»p^l,fjii(;,wi"V»fV» 'j'liv.HJCjJW. f.vi'(u«i,i,.u ■
t
GOLD HUNTINQ IN THE CRTSTAL MOUNTAINa 79
In one of his tremendous swings, when all hopes were
high (as if Dame Fortune was set against us), the ham-
mer slipped from its handle and plunged into the foam-
ing stream, dashing amongst the rocks below us ! Every
possible search was made for its recovery, but from the
depth and maddening force of the water amongst the
rocks, our efforts were in vain. Various smaller nuggets
were afterwards secured with our lighter tools, and others
were picked up in the sands and gravel of the stream.
The beds of several other streams presented us similar
quartz rocks, and in some instances lesser evidences of
their auriferous character.
Nuggets having been our only hance for the last few
days, and that chance now reduced to a failure, and our
supplies running low, we swung around for two or three
days in desperate marches, in hopes still to rediscover
the "ancient road," or to strike upon some Indian
villages or Indian paths, but none of which could we
discover ; when we t'lmed cor faces again towards the
valley of the Amazon, which we entered some forty or
fifty miles from where we had left it.
We reached our hidden stores in a few days in a
starving condition; after that, the friendly Zurumati
village, our pirogue, and at last the mighty Amazon,
more ragged than Falstaff 's men, and actually richer in
gold than when we started, two months before, by jufA
ttooowncea!
Moral. — ^In this wise Dame Fortune's kind favours
• mw^mm"i*>' pi'w wu m'p-|;Piw,««|kI' ijiiiii||i^jp||fif ijimijjii<j) ,.|i.pi!ppppi|pi|i^pp
80
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
were solicited ; and if she bestowed not upon me the
visioned mines of gold, should I complain? ,She has
given me what is better — ^life, and health, and wis-
dom, and greatly added to my only wealth, my port-
folios, to which she has long been a liberal and kind
contributor.
"n «>
1 1
mam
pnpwfP
CHAPTER IIL
DESCENT OF THE YUCATALI.
HE " gold fever " having thus been cnired, and
two weeks of delightful convalescence passed
in the hospitable hacienda of Seiior N , an
ascending steamer snatched Csesar and myself, with
scarcely a moment to shake hands, from this scene of
enchantment to the '' Barra," at the mouth of the Rio
Negro; from thence we went to Tabatinga and to Nauta ;
and after visiting the surrounding tribes, the Muras,
the Marahvas, the Yahuas, the Orejones, the Angtba-
turaSy the Mayoroonaa, the Iquitoa, the Omaguaa, the
Ccocomas, the Ticurias, the Cormihos, the Sepibos, the
Chetibos, and a dozen other " boa " and " guaa " of the
Yucayali and Upper Amazon, we crossed by the mail
route, with many jovial and agreeable passengers, the
rocks, the snows, the ravines, and the frightful dog-ways
of the Andes, to Lima, where I took leave of my readers
in my first Book, and said I was in " the most beauti-
ful city of the world."
We have now a starting-point, and here this volume
beguis. But, before we proceed, let us halt a little ; the
81
, iJiujiiiiii|iippi.<ifi!Mi.vJi,v«»i!iHi"..ij^ijiiifiii|iMii>fk.ji.V4i(i_WUI» (IVl'lJIf
\\
82
LAST RAMDLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
steamer is not ready to start. In the last chapter I was
bringing up incidents passed by in my former Book, as I
have said, for want of space to recite them ; and of the
hundreds and thousands that are yet left, those of
the shores of the Yucayali demand our attention yet for
a few moments, and we will go back.
After our ridf > on the Pampa del Sacramento, and our
visit to the Connibos, where we saw them manufacturing
the beautiful pottery described in the earlier volume, and
where the facetious and troublesome old medicine-man
contended that my painting of their portraits was ** only
an ingenious mode of getting their skins for museums ;"
Csesar and I, with a faithful Indian canoeman, who
knew the river, and a young man by the name of Goyau,
a Spaniard, from one of the missions on the head waters
of the Yucayali, and on his way to Para, started in a
pirogue from Nauta, on the Amazon, near the mouth of
the Yucayali, a distance of 300 miles.
In our down-river voyage we went at a rapid rate,
and, keeping in f 3 middle of the current to get greater
speed, exposed ourselves so constantly to the rays of the
sun, that I became sick ; and slinging my hammock on a
high bank, and under a tremendous and open forest,
we remained for a week, with provisions enough,
and a great variety of fish, taken whenever we required
them.
The crumbs of hard biscuit that I was in the habit of
throwing to some monkeys from my hammock, while
eating, seemed to be telegraphed in some mysterious
KSLU
|]|i9^l«q|pppppp[fprpwpiji. VJ^V< m ".f*-
wr
I JNPf Wl ■JUif^.H-n^l
•mr"
DESCENT OP THE YUCAYALI.
83
way, for in a day the hordes of these begging and
beseeching creatures became so numerous and so extort-
ing, that we were somewhat alarmed, and were about
to change our encampment ; but a circumstance, droll
enough, at length afiforded us relief.
One of the animals, of tremendous size, and, in fact,
the first one which had introduced himself to us, was in
the habit of approaching a little and a little nearer
every morning to my hammock wnilst I was taking my
coffee, and receiving the bits of biscuit, dipped in coffee,
which I was in the habit of tc ^ising to him, he became
so jealous of the uninvited flocks that were gathering
around us, that he pitched upon the nearest of them,
and from tree to tree leaped and bolted on to them, till
the whole multitude fled and stood aghast at his bristled
and frightful aspect! It was a complete "cowp de
singe !" — a d^route — a victory, and he had for the rest
of the time the ground to himself.
I applauded him for his gallant services, and rewarded
him by larger bits of biscuit, which he seemed perfectly to
understand. His adversaries were afterwards always
more or less in sight, but in the distance; and if any one
attempted to come nearer, the hair on his ugly face and
on his back stood on end, the meaning of which they
evidently understood; then turning his face towards
me, every hair was laid smoothly down; and as he
approached me, the motions of his mouth and his lips
seemed as if he were talking, but in a language that
had no sounds.
84
LAdT RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
. I*:,
This rational creature was present regularly at all of
my meals, and particularly docile and agreeable in the
morning, when his crumbs were dipped in coffee, and the
sweeter the better.
At every meal he ventured a little nearer, and got
so at length as to reach up and catch the crumbs from
my hand as I dropped them ; and at length, to be more
familiar, and probably to feel more secure from Caesar (as
they were occasionally showing their teeth at each other)
he took his position in the crotch of a little sapling tree
to which the head rope of my hammock was fastened,
and there, a little above, and within arm's reach of me,
sat and took his crumbs from my hand, and evidently
either as an expression of gratitude or for the sugar on
them licked the ends of the fingers that gave them.
Csesar and the other men, cooking and eating at a
little distance, tried him in vain with food of various
kinds ; and when Caesar even looked at him he showed
his teeth, and seemed to take it as an insult. I must
say I felt somewhat vain of his exclusive attachment,
and I believed (and I still believe) that a few days more
would have enabled me to have got the fellow into my
arms, and a harmless bedfellow in my hammock, but
for an unfortunate occurrence which I could not explain
to him, and which led to a different result. My dried
biscuits gave out ; and as he neither ate fish nor meat,
mutual sympathy was at a stand-still.
I offered him coffee, but he knew not how to drink
it ; and tendering to him a piece of boiled meat, which
pppppiipiiiPiinpMp
DESCENT OP THE YUCAYALI.
85
ho smelled, the creature stepped back into the crotch of
the tree, and looking me full in the face for a minute,
without the movement of a muscle, made an instant
spring upon me with aU his force, breaking my ham-
mock rope, and falling with me to the ground, and with
a horrid growl and a snap, bit me through the joint of
my thumb on my right hand ; and in a leap or two was
among the trees and out of sight, with screams, and
afterwards bowlings, so frightful and so horrible at every
leap, that neither himself nor a monkey of any grade or
caste showed itself again whilst we remained in our
camp.
(How acceptable are kindnesses and caresses whilst
they last ; and how disastrous they are apt to be when
stopped.)
My compcagnona de voyage, moved, I believe, by
jealousy, rather than anything else, were very merry at
the sudden termination of our growing intimacy, not
knowing that I was suffering everything but lock-jaw
itself from the severed joint. My Indian guide, who
seemed to be somewhat of a medicine-man, told me he
had feared from day to day that our intimacy would
come to that ; and tracing the river shore he collected
some herbs, of which he made and applied a poultice,
which soon gave me relief.
Our little camp seemed to be destined to the intru-
sions of inquisitive visitors, and the next morning,
whilst I lay dozing in my hammock, and Caesar was
boiling the coffee and frying some fish, and SeiLor Goyau
86
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
and the Indian were fishing in the canoe, I was instantly
alarmed by Caesar's vehement and startling exclamation —
" Well, wot you call dis, Massa Catlin ?'*
I looked out as he was starting back from the fire,
where he had been sitting with one hand on the ground,
and holding his fr3ring pan in the other, whilst a huge
ant-eater was advancing upon the other side of the fire,
with its long nose almost in the embers.
My rifle, which was hanging over my hammock, I took
down, and shot the stupid beast through the heart. Poor
Caesar, who never had been in museums, and had never
even imagined so curious a creature, was agitated at first
by fear ; but his nerves were still more convulsed after
fear was over by the inexpressible drollness of this out-
landish animal, which any one may laugh half-an-hour
at without an effort; and as soon as he got his nerves in
a condition to express anything, he exclaimed —
"Well now, aflfer dat, I wonder wot will turn up
nex?"
I took the measure of this uglj, stupid, and harmless
creature, and foimd its length, from the end of its nose
to the end of its long, bushy tail, to be twelve feet I
After our encampment of a week we took to our
canoe again, and after paddling a few hours, I was taken
again excessively ill with vertigo and vomiting. We
went ashore, and landed again in a noble forest, and
were preparing our encampment, though in a thick
tmdergro ^h of grass and weeds.
I was too helpless, from vertigo, to walk, and being
*?^'PCKf!SP?1^:P!»!»«'W?WP^
iiippipil
ao
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<
M
"^s
//
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ii
DESCENT OF THE YUCATALI.
87
assisted up the bank, had lain down on a mass of long
grass and weeds, that bent down as I reclined back upon
them. Whilst in this position I was rendered doubly sick
by a stench that was evidently rising from under me,
and which I at first attributed to some noxious weeds that
I had crushed. It became so bad, however, that I could
bear it no longer, and I called Csesar to help me to
move to some other spot ^
Our Indian companion, seeing my distress, came with
Csesar, and the moment he got over me he exclaimed —
" Buccare-hul-be, huccare-hvl-he !" "A rattlesnake, a
rattlesnake ! " They lifted me up, and by the direc-
tion of the Indian's eyes and the expression of his face,
I saw that he considered the snake, which he smelled
but had not seen, was under the grass and weeds, and
that I had been lying on it.
' I got seated on a bare piece of ground at a little dis-
tance, when the Indian, with his paddle lifted up the
weeds, and showed me a huge rattlesnake that I had
been lying on ! nearly suffocated, I suppose, from my
weiffht, and of course ready for the most deadly battle.
Csesar sprang for his rifle, and was going to shoot it,
when the poor Indian threw himself forward, and in so
imploring an attitude begged for its life, that I told
Csesar not to fire or to harm it, knowing the superstitions
of most of the tribes of Indians, who never kill a rattle-
snake, but, on the contrary, pay it a sort of devotion,
lest their heels may be in danger from some of ita
surviving relations.
88
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDLA.KS.
This was new to Caesar, and when 1 had expla'ned it
to him, he exclaimed — •;
" Well, I don't wonder ; dat bery good reason.**
Senor Goyau, who was at this time overhauling some
of his luggage in the canoe, and who understood the
language of the Indian, learned from his excited remarks,
and from seeing Caesar with his rifle in his arms, that
something was \vrong on shore, and came running up the
bank, and pitching down by the side of me, exclaimed, in
Spanish and in Indian — " I am bitten by a rattlesnake!"
All got around him, and his half-boot, apparently of
sheepskin, and reaching half-way to his knee, being
taken oflf, the wounds by two fangs were easily per-
ceptible in the lower part of the calf of his leg, but
apparently in the fleshy part only, without striking a
vein or artery.
The Indian, in a moment, was flat upon his belly,
and seizing the calf of the leg a few inches above and
below the wounds, in both hands, as tight as he could
possibly grip them, commenced suckmg the wound, and
spitting the blood from his mouth at short intervals.
Between his two hands and around the wounds the
flesh of the leg became the same colour, and bore the
same marks as the skin of a rattlesnake itself; but after
an operation of a quarter of an hour in this manner,
without letting go with his hands, or ceasing his suctions,
the flesh took again its natural colour, when the Indian
let go of his patient, and triumphantly exclaimed —
" It is all done ; there is no more danger."
mmmmsmmmmmm,
TIES' JfiNT Of THE YUCAYALI.
80
Goyau seemed convinced of this, though I had still
some fears. The snake that I had lain upon was still
coiled and ready for battle, and emitting the most sick-
ening odour imaginable. .
Goyau had not seen the snake that had struck him^
as he -was climbing the bank, nor had he the least
disposition to go and look it up ; for I found that his
superstition was the same as that of the Indian. And
he told me that both he and the Indian knew from the
smell that we were in the midst of a nest of these crea-
tures, and the sooner we were off the better.
Either from inhaling the poisonous effluvia arising
from these reptiles, or from the excitement, my vertigo
had at this time entirely left me, and I could walk as
straight as ever ; and taking the Indian's paddle, and
annoying the snake that I had lain on, and which was
in no way disposed to retreat, it began a most frightful
shaking of its rattles, when we heard several others in
the grass and weeds in different directions answering
it, which convinced all that we were in bad company,
and that, as Goyau had said, " the sooner we were off
the better." And not to wound any superstitious feeling,
Caesar and I agreed (and possibly, on my part, in a
measure, from recollections of the wholesale murder at
the " Rattlesnakes' Den ") to bruise no serpent's heads
on this occasion.
My disease seemed completely cured by this day's
excitements, but poor Goyau was sick all the way to
Nauta, and we left him sick there when the steamer
do
TAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
took US from that place, though apparently not in any
danger.
Now we start. The field is new, and vast, and fresh,
before us. Between Lima and San Francisco there are
many Indians inhabiting the coast, but we go by sea, and
necessarily must leave them, at least till we come back.
San Francisco is a highly civilised place, so we have
little interest there. There are plenty of books
written about it. They are all for gold there, and I am
shy of gold, having just recovered from it. Some
straggling Apachee Indians come in there at times; but
we will probably see better specimens of them by-and-
by, on our return. We are now on our way to Oregon,
the mouth of the Columbia. Our craft is small, and
sails slow; and when the sea is smooth, gives me a good
chance to finish up my sketches, and to prepare my
cartoons for others to be made.
The schooner Sally Anne (she was built in New York)
doubled Cape Horn in 1843, and is now sailed by Senor
Pedro Paste, a Spaniard, who goes once a-year to Astoria,
to Victoria, to Queen Charlotte's, to the Alaeutian
Islands, and to Kamskatka, and returns with sheepskins,
wool, dried fish, and other products of those countries.
J. Paulding, of New York, L. Simms, of Missouri,
J. Stephens, of Ohio, then living in San Francisco (who
had got an idea in their heads that nuggets of gold
were larger on the Columbia coast, and perhaps in the
Alaeutian Islands),and I (who was quite sure that Indian
li
■ppiPPPPPPPpipilif uipppiP III ]ij^jmmmf>>Wfmamf>*mmmmmn§fim > -w ■iw.sfwiwjfj'jw.iippj •.Mil
DESCENT OF THE TUCATAU.
91
portra/ita in any quantity could be got there), agreed to
pay to Captain Fasto 200 dollars each to take us safe
to Queen Charlotte's Island — ^to Liska, on the Alaeutian
Islands — and to Eamskatka, and back to Yictoria, on
Vancouver's Island (my man Caesar to be carried free,
but a servant to all, when required). And did Captain
Fasto do it, and what did we find, and what did we see?
Before we enter further upon this, it will be well for
the reader to understand upon what conditions we
sallied forth on the broad ocean for so long and so criti-
cal a voyage. An "vrnderstandimg" (as agreements
are called in that country) was definitely agreed to,
and an off-hand article for all to sign was drawn up, in
the following form and words, by Simms, whose extra-
ordinary tact and despatch in draughting contracts and
other documents of those countries, to be executed by
revolvers and bowie-knives, if not otherwise, will be
visible on the face of it.
** Understaridmg.
"Agreed — the Sally Arme, Captain Fasto, bound for
Nishnee Eamskatk, to take us 4, and found, whole way
and back to Queen Charlotte's Sound and Victoria, at
200 dels, each, one-half down ; salt pork and beans to
last ; owner's risque ; and Catlin's nigger to go free.
"(Signed) J. Faulding.
"V. Simms.
"J. Stevens.
. "Geo. Catlin.
" Fedro Fasto, Capt. Sally AnneJ*
92
LAST GAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
Each contractiog party, armed with a copy of the
above "agreement," a six-shot revolver, a rifle, and a
bowie-knife in the belt, in a country where there are no
courts of justice, or even magistratefi, feels abundantly
able to defend his rights, and to enforce the performance
of all engagements so solemnly and definitely undertaken
as this.
These documents pocketed (which, by the way, were
not rights, but only indications of rights), we move on;
all is jocularity, mutual confidence, and good fellowship,
or sure to be so, at least, in the outstart.
A long voyage, with no other absolute misfortunes
than the total exhaustion of all our "salt pork and
beans," and alarming symptoms of scurvy, brought our
little bark to the mouth of the Columbia, with the safe
harbour of Astoria close before us. Here, however,
when the dangers of the sea seemed over, our difficulties
began.
Captain Pedro Fasto (for the owner was captain of
his own craft), about to glide from the rough waves of
the ocean into the smooth waters of the Columbia, ran
his ship upon the bar — ^her bow in the sand, and the
waves dashing against her stem, and driving her farther
on, as the tide was rising.
Night approaching, our position was critical; but
morning showed us, at full tide, driven quite over the
bar, and at anchor in the quiet water of the river, with
loss of rudder only.
Captain Fasto, with Paulding and Stevens, in a small
(/
mm
mm^fmmmmmifmm
DESCENT Oy THE YUCATALL
98
craft, went up the river to Astoria for ship-carpenters
to make repairs, and to replenish the exhausted requisite
of "salt pork and beans," and other provisions, and
Simms and myself remained on board.
At low tide the schooner lay upon her side on the
sands, and Simms, with his hawk-eye, in walking around
her, discovered that the name of the vessel, the Santa
(I forget what) de Ccdlao, in large yellow-ochre letters,
was chiefly all washed ofif by the force of the driving
waves against her stem, and the remainder of them
peeling off under the rays of the sun, and underneath
them, covered with a thin coat of paint, the "Sally
Awne, of N, York*' was quite conspicuous.
I opened my paint-box, and with a brush, and a tube
of yellow chrome spread upon my palette, I touched the
letters up a little.
When the captain returned, the vessel was afloat, and
Simms, taking him around astern in the yawl, said to
him, " Look there, sir, I can disfranchise you, when we
get back, ibr changing the name of your vessel when at
sea. It is a very grave offence."
Qetting on deck, Simms said, "We have no idea,
captain, that you stole the vessel, and Sally An/ne
being a favourite Yankee name of ours, we shall christen
her so, for this voyage at least, and you bringing out a
couple of bottles of wine for the occasion, we will agree
to say nothing about it."
With his wine, the good-natured captain brought on
to the table his papers, showing that he bought his
0^
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THV INDIANS.
schooner of a couple of Americans in the port of CaHao;
and it was at this moment that the famous **v/nder'
atandvng" on the previous page was first reduced to
writing and signed. •
A few days making the necessary repairs, and we
sailed out, all in good humour, passing outside of
Vancouver, and coasting along its western shore of
huge rocks and pine-covered mountains, towards Queen
Charlotte's Sound, the grand anticipated field for the
gold-hunters, and also for the operations of my hrush.
Nootka Sound took us up. A strong north-west
wind, increasing to a gale, held our schooner three days
wind-hound in this snug and quiet little shelter, with
the picturesque island of Nootka on one side of us, and
the dark green pine forests and overtowering black
piles of upheaved rocks, and blue, and then snow-covered
mountain peaks of Vancouver, on the other.
Nothing ever surprised me more than the information
I here got, and demonstrated to my eyes, that mountains
covered with perpetual snows were standing in the
island of Vancouver ! And nothing that I ever before
heard, or ever should have heard, would have conveyed
to me an adequate idea of the singular appearance (and
beauty, I may say) of its vast and ever-changing (in
form, but not in colour) hills, and mountains, and
ravines, not only clothed, but robed, and mcmtled, and
belted with dark-green and gloomy pines and cedars,
throwing out their long and drooping arms over rocks
and streams, and even over the waves of the ocean.
DESCENT OP THE YUCAYALI.
95
The first day that we lay here we had amusement
enough on deck of our little vessel in studying tlie
scenery around us, and the darting (and seemingly
leaping) canoes that were passing around, and the
Klah-o-quat Indians, and their wives and little pap-
pooses, that we invited on board.
A remarkably fine-looking man, whom I supposed,
from his appearance, was a chief, with his wife, carrying
her infjBnt in its cradle on her back, and their daughter,
came on board, after getting permission, for which he
was asking by smiles and intelligible signs. His manner
was that of an intelligent man and a gentleman ; and
when he raised his hand and p' 3sented its palm towards
the throng that was endeavouring to follow him, I was
convinced that he was a chief, and was going to use his
authority to protect us firom an uncomfortable crowd on
deck.
It was but half-an-hour's sail from here to the place
where the "Tonquinl* John Jacob Aster's brig, was
destroyed, some years before, by the Indians, and the
crew destroyed, and Captain Fasto began to feel fears
for ourselves and his vessel The chief seemed evidently
to be aware of this from the captain's manner, and
leading his wife and daughter up to me, easily explained
by ^Igns that he would leave them with me until he
would go in his canoe and bring some one who could
talk with me. And I said to Cassar —
" This is a fine old fellow ; jump into his canoe with
him, and take the wife's paddle, and help him ; and if
mW'^^r'^'JW^^'W'^^
96
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
he runs away with you, I will hold on to his wife and
daughter, and easily get you exchanged after a while."
" Agreed, massa ! I no fea I "
They paddled off rapidly, and soon turned round a
point and were out of sight. And in half-an-hour they
came back, with a brigade of canoes following them, and
bringing with them an intelligent mulatto boy, who
spoke English very well, and also the Klah-o-quat, and
several other Indian languages of the coast.
This young man told me that he swam ashore there
from a whaling vessel, two years before, because they
flogged him too much, and was now making his living
by interpreting for the Indians, and for vessels coming
into the Sound ; and that he lived most of the time in
one of the Indian villages; and that the Indian who
had come for him was the chief, and a very good man.
Then, said I, the first thing I wish you to tell him is,
that I knew by his actions that he was a chief, and by
the expression of his face, that he was a good man.
And tell him that I am very much obliged to him for
going in search of you. This being interpreted, a hearty
shake of the hand took place all around.
My three gold-seeking companions, who had rather
shunned him at first, now came forward, and shook
hands with him also, and Simms went to his luggage,
and brought and gave to him a bundle of about a dozen
cigars. The chief was so pleased with the present, that
he seized hold of Simms, and embraced him in his irms.
*• Well, Catlin," said Simms, " that's a very fine old
jij jLiimiip>ipjj|imi:|iii^^^^
DESCENT OF THE YUCAYALL
97
fellow — ^that man is a gentleman! I'd trust myself
anywhere with that man ! "
Always carrying with me a quantity of little trinkets
and ornaments for the Indians on such occasions, I
went to my trunk and got a handsome string of blue and
white beads, which I placed on his daughter's neck;
and a little looking-glass, which I gave to his wife in
rotum for his kindness in going for the interpreter.
This explained to the chief we were all friends, and
under a sudden and tolerably good understanding.
There were at this time a great number of canoes
from the Vancouver shore around the vessel, aL«d the
crowds that were in them were generally a poor-looking
set — poor-looking as to clothing, weapons, &c., but at
the j,ame time with faces fuU of sprightliness and intel-
ligence. A great proportion of the women had their
heads flattened ; and occasionally a man was seen with
a flattened head, but very seldom.
They were beckomng and whining, and some of
Ihem were crying to be allowed to come on board ; but
the chief, by showing them the palm of his hand,
quieted them, and kept them back. I told the inter-
preter to say to him, that if there were any whom he
would like to indulge by permitting them to come on
board, he could do so, as the captain of the vessel had
agreed to it.
He then called to several whom he thought deserved
the privilege, and they came on board, and amongst
those there came several with baskets of dried salmon,
IP
■fPF
« ff ,j^5!5i)p_^ipppp!j5]«^|ifW
98
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
whale blubber, and oysters, to barter, and the captam
and mate at once had something to do in replenishing
our larder.
The interpreter I engaged to be with us as long as
we should remain in the harbour, and he agreed to take
us the next day to the £^ah-o-quat village, where the
chief had invited us to go.
Leaving Caesar to amuse the Indians on deck and in
their canoes around the vessel, I got the chief, with his
wife and daughter and the interpreter, below, and as
each cf us cow/pagnons de voyage had laid in at San
Francisco a certain number of bottles of cognac brandy
for emergencies, I uncorked one of these on this special
occasion. I explained to the chief that we were all
temperate men, but that we carried a few bottles for
medicine if we got sick, and once in a while, to those
whom we lovet\ not to make them diank, but to give
them a pleasant drink, as a mark of respect.
He replied, through the interpreter, that he perfectly
understood my meaning, and, taking up his glass, took
me by the hand, and bowing his head, " My friend, I
drink your love." This was a little diflferent from the
usual form of salutation ; but what could be better —
more expressive? Simms, whose heart was always
ready for anything from the heart, was quite touched
at this, and swore it was something "new, and ten
times better than the old and hackneyed and worn-out
expression."
I learned from this intelligent man, to my great
HlfSW'BR™?^^
DESCENT OF THE YUCAYALI.
99
surprise, that there were ahout twenty different tribes of
Indians on the island of Vancouver, and containing some
six or seven thousand persons, though after all, they are
but different bands of the great Hat-head tribe, and
speaking languages, though dialectic, oftentimes almost
entirely different.
The greater portion of these practise the abominable
custom of flattening the head, which will be described
anon.
"On that western coast of Vancouver," the chief
continued, "besides the Klah-o-quats, there are the
To-quahta living in Barclay Sound, farther south, and
several other tribes living on the coast between Nootka
Island and Cape Scott, the northern cape of Vancouver ;
that they all believe in a Great Spirit, who created them
and all things ; and that they all have times and places
when and where they pray to that Spirit, that He may
not be angry with them. That they live chiefly on fish
of various sorts — salmon, halibut, blubber of whales,
oysters, clams, &c., which they can always get in abund-
ance ; and that they had but one fear, that was, that
'King George,* as they had been told, was soon going to
drive them all from the coast into the mountains and
rocks ; and in that case," he said, " they would aU get
sick, and soon starve to death.''
I told him "King George" had long been dead, and
that there was a queen in England, who was kind-hearted
and good, and I knew she never would allow her Ked
children to be treated so cruelly ; which seemed to please
Tvm^mifnijimm
>W!»lWiip^»(^W»f^«S^!»)^wW^'«Wf.'i*^
100
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
\
him veiy mucli; and his wife, hearing it translated,
cried out in a most expressive tone, " La— la — la — a"
(good, good, good).
After the chief had drunk ahout half of Us wine-glass
of brandy, and which he told me he never had tasted
before (though he had sometimes drunk whisky), I took
a large glass, and with brandy, and water, and sugar,
made a " brandy toddy," which he said he liked much
better, and which I got him to share ^vith the old lady
and her daughter. All were delighted with it, and after
that I opened my portfolio of cartoon portraits of Indians.
These surprised and amused them very much, and after
an hour or so the interpreter took canoe with them, and
paddled towards their village, as niglit was approach-
ing, the interpreter having promised to come on board
the next morning, and conduct Caesar and me to their
village.
The next morning, if we were t ill wind-bound, the
captain had promised me the use of the yawl; but at the
hour appointed, the chief himself came with the inter-
preter, paddling his own canoe, which was a compliment
that I could not decline ; and Caesar and I got into it,
taking the portfolio and my sketching apparatus, and
leaving my gold-hunting companions at cards with
Captain Fasto, and the gale outside of the sound still
blowing. ^
The canoe — the canoe of the chief, in which we were
riding— floating, not flying, though it seemed so, was a
iiJuiU, apparently as thin and as light as bark, and made
J',
''■'''TWfST'fj^^'^ipiBpil^^
wwjpjf I; f^fw^^^^TYmm
DESCENT OF THE YUCATALI.
101
from the trunk of a huge cedar — a "dug-out" — yes,
strictly a dug-out. And I must tell you how it was
dug out. Large enough and strong enough to cany
thirty men, yet its sides so thin and light that the
paddles of two men, with us four in it, sent it like a bird
flying through the air. The gala-boat, the gondola, the
water-phaeton, of a nobleman, kept dry except on fSte
days, saluted by the multitude when it passed, and a
beautiful ornament for a palace park, or a royal museum.
"Dug-out," I have said; but how? not from the
patriarchal cedar as it stands in the forest, on the
mountain-side — it must lie prostrate on the ground for
that ; it must be " chopped down." But how ? These
people have no axes ! Listen, and say if there is not
industry and tact in this ? Wapiti, a noble animal and
shy, with immense horns, feeds under these stately cedars
on the mountain-sides ; they must be brought down to
bring the cedct/r down. And how ? not with rifles (these
people know nothing of gunpowder end of rifles), but by
motive power sinewy — ^not explosive. Missiles are de-
signed and shaped in wood, made light, and steered in
the air by feathers on their sides, and their points of
flint or bone — one about as good as the other. Bows
are made to throw them, and strained by sinews, not by
gunpowder. The stately elk (or wapiti) falls before
them. His horns — the broadest, hardest parts — are cut
with knives and hatchets of flint into the form of chisels.
With these chisels in the left hand, and a heavy mallet
made of stone encompassed in a withe for its handle, the
w^'^^^ftf^^^ifyiw^l'^fW^f^'^^W^W^''
102
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
Axe-men and axe-women, on their knees, set to with
" hammer and chisel " at the trunks of these stupendous
trees ; and, doomed, they are cut near to the centre, and
then left ; and when the wind is in the right direction
to lay them on the ground best suited for their excava-
tion, a few blows with the hammer and chisel send them
tumbling to the ground.
The monster tree is down ! What next ? Why, a
hundred labourers, both men and women, with the same
tools and others, mount upon it, and work at the same
time. The bark is stripped off, and the work laid out
and marked by master-workmen, and all — even women
and children — dig, and cut, and drill to the lines marked
out, and no farther.
For digging out, a species of mussel-shell of a large
size, found in the various inlets where fresh and salt
water meet, are sharpened at the edge and set in withes
of tough wood, forming a sort of adze, which is used
with one hand or both, according to its size, and the
flying chips show the facility with which the excavation
is made in the soft and yielding cedar, no doubt designed
and made for infant man to work and ride in.
But, felled and dug out, this is but brute force and
industry. The beaver can do this, and all Indians ; but
the architect, the naval constructor who conceives in the
log and lays out those beautiful lines that are to balance
Rud ease it through the water — ^those " lines of beauty"
— what artist ? Where did he get his art ? And where
is he ? Is he gone ? He can't be a savage. And the
'f
't
.,-^-^^-rn^WT?^PW' 1,1 ipHpil , I II I' li i VW , |||||P|||||pp!^||p|pf
DESCENT OF THE YtJCAYALI.
103
soft, and smooth, and polished finish, outside and in, how
done ? And the painter — ^the artist who designed and
drew those ornamental lines and figures on its sides, its
bow, and its stem; and for what, and what do they
mean ? Maybe we shall find out * At present we get
in and we ride ; and a chief who " drinks my love'*
paddles me to his house — his humble dwelling. What
is it ? It is a shed made of heavy posts standing in the
ground, Avith long and immense timbers resting on their
tops, and covered with planks for a roof. Its floor is the
ground ; trodden and swept, it becomes hard, and dry,
and polished. The fireplace is a circular enclosure of
stones in the centre, and the chimney the raising of a
short plank in the roof directly over it. Their food is
served and eaten on the floor, and their beds — without
feathers — cribs eighteen inches above the ground, made
of small elastic poles and covered with rush mats ; and
pillows made of a solid block of wood excavated so as to
receive the head, with soft matting underneath — the
best sleeping contrivance ever yet invented, as it holds
the head elevated and inclined forward, and keeps a
man in his sleep always on his back, as he ought to be.
This chief, not like the chiefs of the Crows, the Sioux,
ur Madans, clad in skins fringed with scalp-locks and
ermine, with painted robes of buflalo skins, and head-
* This beautiful canoe was a present from a Nayas chief, of Queen
Cniarlotte's Island, to the Klah-o-quat chief ; though the interpreter
informed me that, amongst the Klah-o-quats and the To-quaht6, there
wei-t; others of their own make, quite as handsome.
mtmm
1^1^ i*W»iu^>i |^l!H.'flk.!Wj< ^wti> Jjfy^^Uf <iii|fi pj^ijpji^yiif ijMJi ii,iyy?yi;i»i>wwvjMj,i»i -.^iwfi^awwiwjv^^^
104
.. \
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
dresses of war-eagles' quills — ^but with a simple breech-
cloth around his waist, and a blanket over his shoulders,
his hair parted on his forehead and falling over his
shoulders without ornament. He is quite their equal in
war or in councils, and no less the gentleman.
What evidence of this ? In his hospitable wigwam,
where he had invited me, he had assembled the
worthiest of his tribe who were at the time near him ;
and when I enteired he brought them to me one by one
and presented them, not according to ribands, or medals,
or other decorations, for they have none, but according
to their rank for honourable deeds, which he explained
to me as he introduced them. What could be more
gentlemanly than this? And he gave us a humble
feast. It was the best he had ; and whilst we ate he
ate nothing, but waited upon us as we were eating, and
charged and lit the pipe for us to smoke when we had
done. Humble and unpretending, but what could be
more polite, more gentlemanly than this ? Is such a
man, who has had none but nature to teach him, a
brute?
He had invited a dozen or more of his friends to see
me, and to see my portraits of Indians, which were now
opened, to their astonishment and amusement.
The wigwam of this man was an immense thing, one
hundred feet or more in length, and twenty-five feet in
width, with several apartments with intervening parti-
tions of planks, lodging the different branches of his
numerous family.
ppfwpp^flwpsiriwis^^^
'FT^PT*' '^■^'i: ,^
DESCENT OF THE YtCAYALl.
105
As our time was to be very short, I set Caesar at work
in a comer of the wigwam, amusing them with the port-
folio, and the interpreter to explain, whilst I went to
work upon a sketch of the chief and his wife and child,
which I got tolerably well before night ; and just at the
time when I had got about through, an instant excitement
arose, which I was at a loss to understand, and which I
must say, for a few seconds, gave me a degree of alarm,
accustomed as I have been to Indian modes. I heard
the shouts first in the village, at a distance, and the
next moment bursting forth from the whole multitude
in the house and around it. All sprang upon their feet ;
some leaped in the air, and others clapped their hands
and danced, and then I instantly saw, by the expression
of their faces, that it was a jubilee rather than an alarm ;
that there was no bad news, for every face, even in its
astonishment, teemed with joy, and Vociferated and
echoed in all parts (though in Indian), " A whale ashore!
a whale ashore! " The interpreter ran to me, and echoed
again, " A whale ashore 1 " News had just arrived that
the north-west gale had landed a sperm-whale on
the sands, near the entrance of " Hope Canal," at the
head of Nootka Island.
Here was a " Godsend " for these poor people, and
every throat was stretched with " A whale ashore ! a
whale ashore ! " and all was " helter-skelter." The wig-
wams were all emptied, for " out-doors " was a larger
and freer space for the circulation of the mutual expres-
sions of joy that rang from every mouth. The dogs
106
\
LASt RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
caught the excitement and howled, and knew as well
as their masters that something had happened, but
probably knew not what
The chief came to me with the interpreter, and told
me that news had just arrived that a whale was strug-
gling on the sands at the head of the strait, and that
every canoe of the village would be in a few minutes
on the way to the spot to secure it.
He had told me in the morning that the north-west
gale would drive many fine fish into the sound, and in
inlets and coves, where the water was calm, there would
be fine spearing that night by torchlight ; that salmon
and halibut would be taken in great quantities, and it
had been arranged that I should go and see the sport ;
but the sudden news of " a whale ashore " silenced every
other excitement for the time, and engrossed everybody
and everything that could be handled or moved.
Every canoe was starting off, filled with men,
women, and children, and with harpoons, and cords, and
spears, and everything that their wigwams contained
that could be used in securing the monster on the sands.
The wind was still blowing a gale outside, and yet their
flying canoes were starting off and up the strait, through
which, a distance of fifteen or twenty miles to the spot,
they could creep along the shore and in quiet water.
" A whale ashore " is surely a gift from Heaven for
these poor people, and they receive it and use it as such.
They believe it is sent to them to be received and used
by all alike, and, no matter how many tribes assemble
^ippfpmniHP
«i|y**i«lH.,V"'»'»ll»jpiPPP«ll^*'."iF ' -W I
~^^^^fm
DESCENT OP THE TUCATALI.
107
on the occasion, all share alike in their efforts to secure
it, and all share equally of its flesh, its sinews, and its
bones when it is dissected. A great proportion of its
flesh is eaten ; other parts produce oil for their lamps,
sinews, bones, skin, and fifty other things useful for
Indian existence.
Not only the canoes from this little village were on
their way, but the coves and inlets of the sound were
alive with canoes darting about, and wending their way
to the whale wreck.
The chief sent the interpreter with us in a canoe
to our vessel, and, night arriving, we lost sight of the
Indians. The next morning the wind had so much
abated that Captain Paste put his schooner in motion,
and sailing out of the sound, and outside of the island,
we were on our course, and had Hope Canal, at the
head of the island, before us, and almost exactly in our
route.
Getting ofif the northern cape of the island, with
glasses we had at once a view, at several miles' distance, of
the monster lying high and dryonthebeach,and thegroup
of Indians, like ants around a sugar-bowl, moving in all
directions about it. We were all curious alike, and pre-
vailed on Captain Fasto to steer in towards the shore,
and to give us his yawl for landing.
He ran us within two or three hundred yards of the
shore, and, the yawl manned, Simms and Stevens, and
Caesar and myself got in, and Captain Fasto agreed to
lie off and wait for us.
108
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE TNDUNS.
The beach looked smooth and sandy and the sea
cahn, but it being ebb-tide, and a current running off,
we had a tremendous hard pull to reach the sands, and
a tremendous sea-bath in landing. We got ashore,
however, but drenched, and pulled our boat on to the
sands.
Then the sight! — the spectacle! The monster lay
embedded in the sand, yet a long distance from us, and
we started towards it. On our way we met our mulatto
boy interpreter and several Indians coming to meet us.
We approached the monster on the sea side, and in the
immense furrows which in its struggles it had grooved
out in the sand, as the waves of the rising tide had
forced it towards the land. The sight was imposing
when we came near to it, but not until we came round
it on the other shore side had I any idea of the scene
v/e were to witness.
Some hundreds, if not thousands, of Indians, of all
ages and sexes, and in all colours, were gathered around
it, and others constantly arriving. Some were lying,
some standing and sitting ii> groups, some were asleep,
and others eating and drinking, and others were singing
and dancing.
At our approach the women commenced crying, and
a mournful murmur ran through the crowd; — eating
and dancing and sleeping were all stopped. The
women covered their mouths with their hands, and
cried and howled in piteous tones, and the men were
silent. I asked our fine little interpreter if the chief
wma^mfim
mmi!^f9miimsKmmm^viw j' ipji^jpiiim^i;
DESOKNT OF THS YUOATALL
109
whom we had seen the day before was there, and he
saic that he had not yet arrived, but that he would
be there in a little time. I asked him what the
women were crying about, and he said they had seen us
coming from the ship, and they knew that we were some
of " King George's" men coming to claim the whale. I
asked him if he thought he could interpret what I
wanted to say, so that they could all hear and under-
stand it, and he said yes.
''That's right," said Simms, "make a speech to them,
Catlii^."
Several immense baskets, which had been brought to
carry blubber, &c., in, were lying near, and placing two
or three of these one within the other, and bottom-side
upwards, we lifted our little interpreter on to them, so
that all could see and hear him.
I stood upon another by the side of him, but not
quite so high, and began making significant signs, which
they all understood, that what I should say I spoke from
my heart.
I told them that I was sorry to learn that their women
were crying because they thought we had come from
our ship to claim the whale; and if that was what they
were crying for, they need not cry any more, or have
any fears of us; that we were not "King George's"
men, as they had thought, but that we were all friends
of the Indians, and had come to see the whale, and to
shake hands with them if they wished.
" Tell them," I said to Joseph, " that I consider tbe
l^^9piippiip..ijj,i|pp.^pimi>.'^Ji^^^^^
110
LAST BAHBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
fr-
Great Spirit loves them, and has sent this laiga fish to
them as an evidence of it ; that it therefore belongs to
them, and to nobody else."
This interpreted to them, there was a shout of
applause from che whole crowd with uplifted hands.
"Tell them, Joseph, that we are only passing by on
the ocean, never to see them again, and that we shall
leave here in a few minutes, and wish them well."
Another uproar of applause, and Joseph got down.
A great many of the chiefs came up and shook hands
with us, and all troubles were ended.
The scene was now curious. No stones, no timbers,
or anything of the sort were placed about the monster
to secure it; but on the shore side some twenty or
thirty harpoons had been thrown into its side during
its struggles on the rising tide by the first who were on
the spot, and with long cords, some reaching to the
trunks of the trees on the shore, and others fastened to
stakes driven into the ground. These were watched,
and at every lift of a wave moving the monster nearer
the shore, they were tightened on the harpoons, and at
low tide the carcass is left on dry land, a great distance
from the water.
The whale, to Simms and Stevens, was the curiosity ;
and they took the measure — ^length and breadth of it ;
to me, the curiosity was the crowd of poor humans who
were gathered about it, and of them I could :ake no
other measure than by the naked eye; for though I
bad put a sketch-book in my paletot-pocket, in the
DESCENT OF THE YUCAYALT,
111
drenching which we got in landing, every leaf of it, like
everything else upon us, was soaked.
The dissection of this monstrous creature, and its
distrihution amongst the thousands who would yet be
a day or two in getting together, the interpreter informed
us would not be commenced until all the claimants
arrived, and I therefore lost one of the curious scenes
of my life which I should have been glad to have
■witnessed.
Their mode of slaughtering such a beast and dividing
it would have been curious in the extreme. A per
capitwm division is always the mode of the Indians in
such cases — ^the poorest of the tribe and the youngest
infant drawing the same as a chief.
I could have studied for hours, without pencil or
sketch-book, amongst the curious group, and ^ those
studies I never could forget. The beach, for ha]f-a-mile,
was almost literally covered with something — with
reclining groups of women and children — ^with baskets,
an'^ bags, and cribs, and pouches, and every sort of
vehicle they possessed, for transporting their respective
proportions of the prize ; and the drying of blankets,
red, blue, and green, and white, wet like ourselves in
landing their canoes, made a carpet for the sands in the
distance of the most extraordinary hues.
Not like the Sioux, or the Crows, or the Chayennes,
covered, and plumed, and moccasined in full and hand-
some dresses, but poor and naked, excepting their
breech-cloths and blankets, they were yet human —
mi
^J!P?Bpp!SBri!Wri-^-'T3!!F?^^
112
LAST RAilBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
\
painted in a thousand forms and of all colours, and
thus were subjects for a picture, and subjects for a
sermon or a lecture.
Our drenched condition, and signals from Captain
Fasto, terminated our visit here. A crowd of these poor
people followed us to our boat, took it up bodily, and
entered the water with it, and took us up in their arms
one by one, and waded through the surf with us, and
put us into it, and bade us a civil and affectionate
farewell.
Saihng out of Nootka So ;md, and again on our wa^
to the visioned fields of gold and Indians, n.aps and
charts were mustered out upon the table, correspon-
dences relating to nuggets of fabulous sizes that had
been seen amongst the Nayas Indians, and supposed
localities in which they had been found, were brought
out and referred to, and the second and last great effort
to raise another "gold fever" on me was strenuously
tried, but decidedly failed.
This, however, v i no way impaired my influence in
the consolidated strength of the expedition at that place,
for the very field which was soon to become the scene
of action for tbem, the actual " El Dorado '* of America,
was the very point to which my ambition led me,
that coast being thickly inhabited by tribes of Indians
of the most interesting character, and as yet but little
known or appreciated.
Passing the picturesque shores of Vancouver we v, trr>
soon in Queen Charlotte's Sound, and gliding aloL^ ^Ji
i
DESCENT OF THE TUCAYALI.
113
front of the ever-varying mountain baiiiers of the main-
land, covered alternately with rhododendrons and honey-
suckles, or capped with moss-covered rocks, enclosed by
deep and dark ravines shooting up their tall and
pointed pines and cedars.
At the shore of the sea, huge blocks from the moun-
tain tops stood in relief, like houses, and sometimes like
immense ramparts and castles rising out of the water,
and behind and around them quiet glrdes, overshadowed
by outstretched arms of pines and hemlocks, and over-
hung by long-leafed laurel, under, and through, and
around which brigades of the Nayas' painted canoes, with
their cargoes of red shoulders and glistening paddles,
were darting, and easily keeping us opposite company.
On our left, and towards the setting sun, and blue
and purple in the distance, rose the shining summits of
Queen Charlotte's Island ; and near its base, a blotched
mass of deep green (its pines and cedars), underlined
by a streak of white, the sands of its shore, at ebb-tide.
No imagination could paint, and few artists* pencils
ever have painted, scenes so grand and so picturesque
as these.
We are gliding along from day to day, with our
glasses behold ipg the " rocks that aie doubtless full of
gold," and my Invlian suDJects flying about in their light
canoes, and the smoke of their villages on the shore,
which, by our " agreements," we are bound to pass by,
and leave for our homeward voyage. What temptations,
and what glorious fields were beckoning us back !
^^m
'?S!iPJlP^J^P»mP,pW'^7^^
114
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
These left behind, what then is before us ? Liska is
\he chief town of the Alaeutian Islands ; a little village
df some sixty or eighty Russian and Indian houses and
huts, where Captain Fasto goes once a-year, gets skins,
gets wool, and other products, for which he trades cotton
and woollen cloths, hardware, cutlery, &c. The Russians
here are half Indians, and the Indians are Americans,
not Kamskatkans, nor Mongol Tartais ; not an expression
or feature o' ' ^r, as my portraits will show.
What next t ..lie captain's business done, we are on
the sea, and a few days' sail brings us t^ the coast of
Siberia, and the river Kamskatka, of twenty miles,
transports us to the town of Nishna-Kamskatk, or
Petropolovski What a town! How droll! Russian
houses built of pine poles and mud, adobes and mud!
and huts of Koriak Indians, somewhat like the Mandan
wigwams, earth-covered, but the doors in their tops
— how strange — men, women, and dogs walk down a
ladder to get into them !
There's Che-nish-ka Wabe (a mountain on fire), the
volcano of Avatcha; its smoke stands up in a vast
column, leaning to the right, and softening away in the
distance in a long and straight cloud towards the western
horizon. The mountain is blue in the distance, and
yet we must look into its sulphurous crater. Mud, and
then snow, and the most frowning and defiant rocks
are in our way, but we go on. We get to the brink
of the awful and boiling lake, when nature is completely
exhausted.
mmmm
mmmm^^mimmM
DESCENT OF THE TUCAYALI.
115
Sulphur is glazed over eyerything we touch and
everything we see. Excepting smoke, we see nought
but rocks ; we tread upon them, and lean against their
slippery sides, and tremble at the awful sight that is
before us ; and rage and fret too, for all beyond, below,
and all around us is smoke, smoke ! and nothing else.
Hissing, like a thousand furnaces at work, is constant ;
a hollow and consumptive cough is frequent, and now
and then a sneezing, ejecting jets of stones and gravel,
coated with liquid blazing sulphur, whizzing past our
heads, and rattling amongst the rocks around and over
us. These significant monitors determine us to retrace
our steps and get a view from the valley several miles
below, for nothing of the Avatcha can be seen, at this
season, from its fumy head and sides, above.
What a day of toil was spent to see a sight unseen !
And yet, as we are sailing o£F upon the green waters of
the bay, how splendid to gaze upon the snow-clad sides
(yet blue in the distance), and the rising clouds from
the crater of the Avatcha. Good-bye, ye icy, muddy,
wiUowy, cedared, rodcy coasts of Sioeria, and ye Koriaks
fine fellows, whose portraits I slipped into my portfolio.
" Back to Queen Charlotte's," said the captain, and
so said our '' agreements."
"But stop — a codicil r' said our attorney, Simms.
"Captain, we have agreed to see Petropetrovski, the
Russian capital, and you must run us to it ; and then
we will sail for Queen Charlotte's, and not before. And
we four have agreed to give you thirty dollars each."
M
W«P?!P?!f^!l!PWWPpi»»!^^
116
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDLANS.
\
rf
" I can't do it," said Captain Paste. " You have all
seen my papers, and you know if I leave my track I
risk my insurance."
"Never mind the risk and the insurance," said
Simms ; " we will insure your vessel, and a better in-
surance you can't find on the face of the earth. Bring
forward your agreements, all hands," said he ; and in ten
minutes the following " codicil " was appended : —
" Cx)DlClL, off the coast of Kamskatka, 1853.
" Further agreed, to run the Sally Anne to Petro-
petrovski, and thence to Queen Charlotte's Sound; no
risques ; enough to eat ; and nigger free.
" (Signed) J. Paulding.
"V. SIMMS.
; " J. Stevens.
" Geo. Catlin.
" Capt. Pasto, of the Sally Anme."
The thirty dollars each were put down, and the vessel
headed for Petropetrovski. "You do tb'igs quick,"
said Captain Pasto to (Squire) Simms, as we called
him. " Yes, sir, vhen I know I'm right, I go ahead.
I've been a Missouri attorney for ten years — I take but
little time to do up such things as this. I have sat
three times as Judge Lynch, and signed death-warrants
in half the time. Brevity is the life and strength of all
business, and when I know I'm right I lose no time."
Each one pocketed his agreement again, and the
p^ppllilil
'!>• "'-' Jill ^jupifiiprfiiiii^^
DESCENT OF THE YUCATALI.
117
captain went to the deck, evidently under a strong con-
viction of the necessity of following to the letter the
meaning and intention of the document he had put in
his pocket.
Petropetrovski had very little interest for any of us :
the captain had no business there ; and the prospect of
" gold " was a dead one. I saw, however, during the
four days that we remained there, a group of Esquimaux
Indians, and a number of Athapascas, who come in there
occasionally. These were interesting to me, and I got
my sketches of them.
My gold-hunting companions were getting impatient ;
and all hands, the captain included, were sighing for
wind, as we were sailing down the coast and aiming for
Queen Charlotte's.
There was now another overhauling of papers between
my fellow-voyagers, who, it seems, had before but
partially informed me on the subject of their grand
design, and the excitements which had turned their
attention to it.
"Catlin," said Stevens (as they had got me to the
table), "you must know all about our plans before we
go any farther." A number of letters were read to me,
and amongst them one from a brother of Stevens in
New Orleans, who had drawn from a sailor, some years
before, something like the following extraordinary nar-
rative : —
" After a fatal shipwreck in Queen Charlotte's Sound,
in 1825, he and one other sailor succeeded in reaching
m
ftmmm^
'i<|WW.|||p|[{|fiiV.),^pi|!pilPliHJP!!|k^^
118
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
the land, on the mainland shore, and in a state of
starvation got into an Indian village, where the natives
yrore large round blocks of wood in their lips, and were
very kind and friendly to them.
" That they remained there two years, when one of
fchem died, and the other one, who gave the narrative,
got permission to go with a party of Indians, in their
canoes, to Nootka Sound, where he got on board of a
vessel sailing for Panama."
The surprising and only supposed available part of
the narrative was the astounding description of lumps
and masses of pure gold which he had seen in the
possession of the Nayas Indians; and amongst these,
belonging to the chief, " a solid block, the full size of a
man's head, and as much as one man could lift ! "
What a cause for an epidemic or a contagion ! Who
would not catch the gold fever — ^unless he had had a
touch of it before — at a recital like this ?
No precise locality for this wonderful discovery was
given ; nothing more definite than that it belonged to
one of the great chiefs, and was seen amongst the Nayas
Indians, on the mainland side of Queen Charlotte's
Sound, which has an extent of several hundreds of
miles on the coast and some hundreds of miles in the
)ar.
The " gold fever," however, has the wonderful power
of shortening distances and of solving the most em-
barrassirig difficulties. ''Such wonderful nuggets as
this/' I was informed, " must be known throughout the
pnippppfPfinpffPiipiRii^ppiP
WWlfpi^WT^PPPW^PWiPi^^
DESCENT OF THE YUCAYALI.
119
tribe, and the way, therefore, could easily be found to
it ; and the bed from whence it came must be known
also to the Indians. That's what we want, Catlin, more
than the big nuggets ; but well get at them both, you
may rely upon it."
The cool and perfect state of health I was in as to
"gold" seemed to check a little the fever that was
raging around me, but not to allay it, for I said,
" Gentlemen, I am yours for any expedition we can
agree upon into the interior of this interesting country;
there are many things in it which I have heard of,
and which I want. But, hold," said I; ''do you know
that the whole of this country and its populations
have been for these fifty years in the possession and
under the control of the Hudson's Bay Company, who
are gold-hunters as well as yourselves? They have
their trading houses amongst these people, and has it
occurred to you that such a wonderful nugget would
probably have found its way into their hands before
this, if it actually existed amongst the Nayas Indians ?
I do not suggest this to discourage you, but I will go
ashore with you and use all my endeavours to assist you
in discovering these wonderful treasures."
The third day of sailing brought us into the sound,
and nearing the coast, the smoke of an Indian village
was soon in view ; and getting near to it, the roofs of
houses, which at once informed us that we weie in
front and in full view of one of the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany's factories. All hands suggested, and I agreed,
ilPBWWppwiippfw^iipfpflii^
120
LAST RAMBLES xVMONGST THE INDIANS.
that we had better proceed farther down the coast, and
land at some of the villages which we had passed on our
northward passage.
My comrades seemed evidently surprised at the in-
formation I had given them as to the Hudson's Bay
Company, and their influence in that country, and be-
gan to show symptoms of fear lest they should excite
an enemy more fatal to their enterprise than the Indians
themselves. They evidently were approaching a country
that they had known little about, and which, they had
believed, with all its treasures, lay open and free to all
comers.
I explained to them as near as I could the vast in-
fluence the Company had over the whole of that country,
from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean — the
great number of trading houses they had, that one or
more of their employes would probably be found in
every Indian village, and that the present existence
amongst the Indians of such a block of gold as had been
described was a matter of impossibility, or that rich
mines of gold known to the Indians could have escaped
their acquisitive investigations.
My advice and suggestions, which were less patiently
listened to at first, were now being more thankfully
received, aa I reiterated with them my intention to use
my best efforts and all my influence, under any circum-
stances, to promote their views, whilst any chance of
success remained.
We were running on, and sundown and twilight
|fjpi{i.ifi(i{|li|p«9pi^pnippg«ppinfl«^pi
^ffi^w'w ^.fPflTippp^npp^
DESCENT OF THE TUCAYALI.
121
approaching, we ran into a deep cove, sheltered by a
high and precipitous rock escarpment, and the Sally
Anne cast anchor, and lay till morning. At sunrise,
and before coming on deck, I heard distinctly Caesar's
loud voice and broad laugh, as he was ejaculating
English, Spanish, and the Lingua-geral, all in rapid
succession, convincing me that we had visitors on board.
I got on deck (the gold-hunters yet iast asleep), and
found our forward deck half covered with a party of
Indians, and double the number resting on their paddles,
in their painted canoes, lying around us. Fresh salmon
and dried, in great abundance, and oysters and whortle-
berries, were brought on board for barter, and the cap-
tain and mate were busily engaged in laying in supplies,
while Caesar, a head taller than all the group, and the
sun shining on his glistening cheek-bones and fore-
head, stood, with his rifle in his arms, a model, vainly
endeavouring by his Lingua-geral and Spanish to get
some clue to conversation with the curious group around
him ; but aU in vain, and for the first time I had seen
him put to his trumps completely.
All eyes were upon him, and the Indians were as
much surprised and perplexed at his sudden advent
and novel appearance as he was perj Irsad with the
total unintelligibility of their language. It required
but a coup d'oeil to see that shining, glistening, black
Caesar was to be the lion, the paragon of the enterprise.
The Indians on deck all shook hands with him, and,
in total default of his Spanish and Geral, he had got
K
m
122
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
into a partial conversation with them by signs manual,
of which he was master, and which (a curious fact) are
much the same amongst all the tribes, both in North
and South America ; and by the time I got on deck he
was becoming a tolerable interpreter for me.
" Well, dear me, Massa Catlin," said Csesar, " dem dar
bery curious people. I b'lieve dey bery good. I guess
you go ashore, Massa?"
" Yes, CsBsar ; we are going to land here for a while,
after the other gentlemen get up."
We were lying about four hunderd yards from the
shore at this time, and though no signs of a viUage
could be seen, their light and bounding canoes werp
constpctly putting out from the nooks and crevices ii
the rocks overhuDg with C'idar and impenetrable masses
of red, and white, and purple rhododendrons, and gather-
ing in a gay and dancing fleet around us.
Though I had heard of the beauty of their canoes,
and their dexterous mode of handling them, I had formed
but an ignorant notion of them. The sluggish logs and
tubs that Csesar and I had been knocked about in on
the Amazon and the Xingu gave us no clue to the light,
the gay, the painted gondolas now dancing on the ocean's
waves about us. Excavated from the trunks of the
immense cedars of the country, they were fashioned
with grace and lightness, and painted of all colours,
and so were the naked shoulders that were seen within
them.
Like a flock of goats playing up and down upon a
'JPPP'PWIW
Bpwipppwwww:^
DESCENT OP THE YUCAYALI.
123
group of hillocks, upon the rising and sinking waves
they were sporting and vaunting in all directions, and
seemed, at times, actually roaring, as if to leap upon the
deck. Their paddles were all painted with similar
designs as those upon their boats, and their robes, when
worn, showed characters the same, and all seemed like
some system of hieroglyphic signs yet to be understood.
In the following cuts, two of these canoes, with paddles,
are represented.
In the midst of the group now assembled on the deck,
our attorney, Simnis, emerged from the cabin below,
exclaiming —
" Why, Catlin, we are prisoners !"
" Oh, no ; we are in the midst of one of the most
fiiendly receptions, and it is a great pity that you, and
Paulding, and Stevens, should lose any part of it. We
are in the midst of the Nayas Indians, and their largest
village is just around the point ahead of us."
'."id
124
LAST RAMBT.ES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
"Halloa, below there, fellows!" exclaimed Simms,
putting his head as far down the hatchway as he could.
" You are losing everything !**
Half-awake, and misunderstanding the two last words,
and hearing the voices of Indians oji deck, and catching
a glimpse of the group through the sky-lights, they
advanced most bravely, and at a jump wore on the deck,
with their rifles up and their revolvers ready ! Simms
sprang at one, and I at the other, and, just in time,
saved the carnage tl h wa« at the instant of commencing.
The Indians, unarmed, flew to the bow of the vessel,
and a number of the»n overboard. And well they might,
from the frightful aspect of the two gladiators, but half
dressed, and rising, like demons, from below, at the
signal call, for their extermination.
I spread my hands forward and over the Indians, and
made signs fcr them to come back, whilst Simms and
myself were cooling down the two flre-brands; when
Caesar threw himself between the two groups, and, a
figure like the Colossus of Rhodes, he stood, explaining
by signs to one party, and by tolerably good English to
the other, that " it was only a little mistake, and dat we
were all bery good friends."
This little sensation over, others of the Indians began
climbing on board from their canoes, arid, last of all,
some half-a-dozen of their women, 'vhose eyes were
riveted on Caesar ; and he began to loom up, as he
used to dv amongst the Muras, the Connibos, and the
Chetibos, and other tribes of the Amazon.
■i
pppplppipipp
iimmmmmsmm^^
DESCENT OF THE YUCAYALI.
125
He was naturally a tremendous gallant, and, stimu-
lated by the gaze of these fair beauties, he was fre-
quently in the clouds.
The singular appearance of one of them, whom he
had observed, brought him to me at this instant.
" Well, Massa Catlin. I bery sorry for dat poor gal
dar, she got mighty soa lip !"
" Yes, Csesar, it's a great pity : for she seems, from
her dress and manners, to be a very nice girl ; I should
say, the belh of the village."
" kiiuu Lips."
Breakfast was ready below, and CoBsar and the hands
of tue vessel amused the group on deck whilst we were
taking our coffee, and discussing the movements of the
day, to be made on the lerid.
Caesar had learned that their village was just around
the point, and, at the request of the mate, the Indians
V ore returning to their village, where they were in-
formed we sliould follow them when our breakfast was
over.
:p!r!JJ!,?fP!pif?WPW^^
126
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
About nine o'clock we four, with Captain Fasto (with
only our revolvers, our rifles being left on board), and
Caesar, carrying my portfolio on his back, and his mini^
rifle in his hand, got into the yawl and went ashore,
and were conducted to the village, which was at the
head of a little cove, half-a-mile or so from the shore.
The Indians, informed of our visit, had all gathered
into their huts, and the chief, a very dignified man, was
seated in his wigwam and ready, with his pipe lit, to
receive us. We were seated on mats spread upon the
ground, and whilst the pipe was being passed round,
the first ceremony on all such occasions, the Indian dogs
(half wolves), of which there were some hundreds, got
upon our tracks, and completely invested the chiefs
wigwam, and set up the most hideous and doleful
chorus of yells, and howls, and barks. The sentinel
whom the chief had placed at the door of his wigwam,
to prevent all access except by his permission, drew his
bow upon one of the foremost or the gang, and shot it
through the heart, when the throng was silenced and
dispersed by the Indian women, who set upon them
with their paddles.
Our position was rather awkward, having no other
interpretation than the imperfect knowledge of signs
already named, of Caesar and myself, brought from South
America and the valley of the Missour: However, we
effected a general understanding, and learned from the
chief that he had sent to another village not far off, and
would have an excellent interpreter in a little time.
P««T???»'?^'W1^^
^
mm
DESCENT OF THE YUCAYALl.
127
I told my companions I thought they had better not
fiay a word of their object in visiting the country until
the interpreter arrived, when it could be clearly explained
without being misunderstood, and in the meantime I
would not lose a moment's time in making a sensation,
and of exciting a friendly interest.
" Good," said Simms, " I know what it is, Catlin, go
ahead 1 Show him your pictures."
I had beckoned Caesar, who was at that moment
unstrapping the portfolio from his back, and advancing
tovAards me. I opened it before the chief, and sat by
the side of him explaining the portraits, as I turned
them over. He was a very deliberate and dignified
man, and exhibited no surprise whatever, but at the
same time evidently took a deep interest in them.
I showed him several chiefs of the Amazon, and also
several of the Sioux, C iges, and Pawnees, and the last
one turned up, a portra l, full length, of Caesar Bolla.
He could not hold his musdr still any longer, but
burst out in the most uncontrollable and vociferous
laugh, and turning around to Caesar, who was sitting at
the farther side of the lodge, extended his hand, which
Caesar, advancing, shook, and, at the chiefs request,
took a seat by the side of him.
The book of portraits was creating such av > vcitement,
that three or four sub-chiefs came in aud took their
seats. And the wigwam being in two sections, and
divided bv a door made by a hanging bearskin, which
was put aside, two women and a young man entered.
mimmifiimmiffi^^^
128
LAST BAHBLES AMOKQST THE INDIANS.
and also took their seats on the ground, to get a pe^p
at the portraits ; one of these was the wife of the chief,
and the other his daughter, an unmarried girl.
Caesar had his attention at this time fixed upon one
of the men who had taken his seat, with the block of
wood in his under-lip, and the chiefs daughter was
decorated in the same way.
" Caesar," said I, " here are mere sore lips."
"Well, now, I do decla, Massa Catlin, dea me, I
think it is ketchin I "
I turned the portfolio through again, to the amuse-
ment and astonishment of all, and when Caesar Bolla
was turned u^, there was a roar of laughter again, all
eyes were upon him, and turning his face one side, and
a little down, he whispered to me, " Well now, Massa
Catlin, I neber felt so shame in all my life afoa." And
when he had mustered courage to raise his head, and
cast his eyes around, I said, " Caesar, your portrait has
cured the sore lips " (the two wearing blocks of wood in
their lips having slipped them out in order to enable
them to laugh).
About the instant that Caesar had observed that the
blocks were out, and the broad laugh was over, they
were slipped in again, when he exclaimed, "Well,
Massa Catlin, affer dat, I neber know wat I will see
nex.
M
Though this curious and unaccountable custom was
known to me, my companions had been as ignorant of
it as Caesar was, and evidently were regarding it with
mm
(WW ■»>, •^^'^mfrnflffi fl
DESCENT OF THE YUCAYALl.
120
equal astonislimeiit. I said to them and to Csesar, " Of
the ' sore lips ' take no more notice until the interpreter
comes, and then we will learn all ahout it."
My attention was then fixed on a beautiful mantle
worn by the chiefs daughter, made, as I learned, of
mountain sheep's wool and wild dogs* hwr, vionderfully
knitted with spun-yam of beautiful colours, and so
assembled as to exhibit the most eccentric and intricate
figures, and bordered with a fringe of eighteen inches in
length, the work of three women for one year, I was
told, and its price, five horses.
The bowl of the pipe which the chief had been pass-
ing round was full fourteen inches in length of pot
stone, jet black, and highly polished, the whole, a group
of figures, human and animal, interlocked and carved in
the most ingenious manner.
Of these pot-stone pipes I saw many, and obtained
several, and the eccentric designs on them, on their
robes, their canoes, their paddles, their leggings, and
even the paintings on their faces and limbs, are pecu-
liarly tribal, and their own, differing from anything
seen in the other tribes of the continent.
The same extraordinary characters are written on
their spoons, their bowls, their vases, their war-clubs ;
on their pottery, of which they make great quantities,
and on everything else that they manufacture, and
seeming to be a system of hieroglyphics not yet ex-
plained, and which, for the archsBologist and ethnologist,
may yet be a subject of peculiar interest.
gg|
P!lUfPlpj.|.-*|^|-!ii,«W^JmWii!PPppi^
130
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
Instead of tbe stupid superstitious fears and objections
which generally stood in the way of my painting their
portraits in the valley of the Amazon and other parts of
South Amori;;a, this intelligent and rational man at
once said, when I asked him —
" Yes ; if you find any of us worthy of so great an
honour, and handsome enough, we will all be ready to
be painted."
" Good ! " said I (by intelligible signs). " I love such
a man. Caesar, bring my painting-box and easel from
the vessel, and I will begin this noble fellow's portraxu
this afternoon."
"Catlin!" said Simms, "you are getting altogether
ahead of us."
" Never mind," said I, " I am on the right track —
the right vein. I know these people better than you
do ; they must be pleased first, amused, complimented ;
and the compliment I am now paying to tha chief will
make him the friend of all. I will secure his goodwill
first for the whole party, and when the interpreter
comes to-morrow, you may put in your claims in the
best manner you can devise."
The afternoon came, and my paint-box and the chief
were before me, and with him his lovely daughter. He
told me he loved her, and always made it a rule to have
her by him, and he thought I had better place them
both in the same picture. I told him I loved him for
that ; it was natural and noble.
Vanity is the same all the world over, both in savaoje
lilllliplJ
Piifiiliippppi
DESCENT OF THE YUCAYAIJ.
131
and civilised societies. Good looks in portraiture and
fashions, whatever they are — crinoline of the lip or
crinoline of the waist (and one is just as beautiful and
reasonable as the other), or rings in the nose or rings in
the ears, they are all the same.
Nayas Indians.
Night came, and my picture was taken on board.
" Catlin," said my companions, " you are leaving us
all in the background."
132
LAST RAMBLES A3fONGST THE INDLVXS.
" Never mind," said I again, " I am introducing you
where you never could have got a foothold for an hour.
We will have a council to-morrow in the chiefs lodge,
and, his interpreter present, your plans will progress as
well as mine."
During the night the wind veered about, and being
very nearly driven on to the rocks, the captain set sail,
and crossing the sound, got shelter under the lee of
Queen Charlotte's Island. The wind abating the next
day, we were able in the afternoon to return to our
anchorage in front of the Indian village.
The Indians were all on the shore, and received us
with shouts, and many in their canoes gathered round
as whilst we were coming to anchor; and amongst
them came on board the interpreter who had been sent
for by the chief. He was a young man, a Frenchman,
by the name of Fr^nid, an em/ployd in the fur company,
and met us with much civility.
From him we soon got an account of the numerous
tribes of Indians along the coast, and on Queen Char-
lotte's Island, over which also the fur company's business
extended. The interpreter had learned from the chief
that I had painted his portrait, and it being brought
on deck, he was excessively delighted with it, holding
it up over the gunwale and showing it to the Indians
paddling about in their canoes.
Csesar was on the spot with my cartoon portraits, and
ready to make a further sensation. " Yes, Csesar," said I,
" bring it forward." We had a look at the portraits, and
DESCENT OP THE TUCATALI.
133
the interpreter then asked my name. When I wrote it
for him with my pencil, he said my name had been
familiar to him for ten years past, and that there was
not a man in the Hudson's Bay Company nor an
Indian between the Kooky Mountains and the Pacific
coast who had not heard my name, and of the col-
lection of Indian paintings I was making, though he
believed I never was in that part of the country
before.
He told us that the chief expected myself and my
companions to eat and to smoke with him in his wig-
wam that afternoon, and that at night the doctors were
going to give us a medicine dance. Simms agreed with
me that "all was going right," and that it would be
best not to start the inquiries about gold until these
festivities were over.
We were soon ashore, all excepting Captain Paste
and his crew, he having hinted to me that there might
be a plot in all this to get all ashore, and then take
possession of his vessel I was quite agreed to this, as
the festivities would now be tendered to us alone who
could appreciate them.
As we approached the village a great throng came
out to meet us, and I observed the mass (and particularly
the women) were siding up to Caesar, who was marching
at his fulest height, with the portfolio of portraits
strapped on his back.
The concourse of people seeming to me too large for
30 small a village, led me to make the suggestion to the
flfllllffKlllfBllfllflW^^
134
LAST RAMDLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
interpreter, who replied that " the news of our arrival
and the masquerade dance to be given that evening
had brought a great number from Jauma's village, and
that others were coming."
" Soa lips " now began to thicken around CsBsar, who
had got the portfolio ofif from his back, and was carry-
ing it under his left arm, whilst the other was con-
stantly employed in answering the questions put by
signs. He was evidently the lion, and as soon as I could
I got him and his portfolio into the chiefs lodge, to be
subject to the chiefs orders.
My companions found enough for their amusement
amongst the throng whilst I was sketching two other
portraits, and at sundown we sat down to a feast of
venison in the chiefs wigwam. This and " a smoke "
kept us till some time after dark, when a dozen or more
flaming torches, with yelping, and barking, and singing,
approached his wigwam, and in front of it commenced
the masquerade dance.
Bizarre is but a lame word for the startling eccen-
tricity and drollery that were then before us. Caesar
was not in the midst of it, but by the side of it, and
overlooking it. I had serious apprehensions that I
should lose him, from the hysterical bursts and explo-
sions of laughter that fell in bolts and half-strangled
hiccups from his broad mouth. v
Some fifteen or twenty, all men, were engaged in this
singular affair, all masked and otherwise dressed in the
most strange and curious taste ; and many of the
iWiiiiliJPiiPiPiPPPimif^PPiPpilPPPMiPi^^
I <,
mi
A MEDICINE DANCE.— p. 135.
!l
If
fmm
m
mimmmmmw^f'^
pppn
DESCENT OF THE TUCATALI.
135
lookers-ou, in the iront ranks, both men and women,
were masked and dressed in a similar manner.
The leader of the dacice, a medicine man, the drollest
of the droll, was the " King of the Bustards," another
was "Kimg of the Loons," another was the "Doctor of
the Babbits," one was " the Maker of the Thv/nder,"
one was "the White Crow," one was "the Bear that
travels in the night," and another " the Cariboo* s Ohost"
&c. &c., until the names of the animal and feathered
tribes were chiefly exhausted.
The m.^sks which the dancers wore (and of which I
procured several), were works of extraordinary ingenuity.
Carved in a solid block of wood, excavated in such a
manner as closely to fit the face, and held to the dancer's
face by a transverse strap of leather, from comer to
comer of the mouth of the mask, inside, so that when
the mask was on, and close to the face, the strap of
leather was taken between the teeth, counterfeiting
thereby, not only the face, but the voice — ^a perfection
in masking yet to be leamed in the masquerades of
civilised frolickings.
Besides the ingenuity exhibited in the forms and
expressions of these masks, they were all painted of
various colours, and with the most eccentric designs.
These masks (with the exception of that worn by the
leader of the dance) were all made to imitate the
mode of the people, of wearing a block of wood in the
under-lip.
The custom of masking and of masquerade dancing
!'m3r™W^rvi^ifWWv~-^iSf,
136
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
is by no means peculiar to the Nayas Indians, for in
many of the tribes, both in South and North America, I
have witnessed similar amusements.
Here are copies of two of my portraits illustrating
the mode of wearing the blocks of wood in the under-
lip, and also >f slitting and elongating the cartilage
Portraits of Nayas, with their Ornaments.
and lobes of the ear?, in which large blocks also are
worn as ornaments.
The ornament of the lip is a mode bslonging chiefly
to the women, though there are some eccentric men
who also practise it. And of the women, it is but a
PPPPPiipFliiPiPP'iPP?^^
DESCENT OF THE YUCAYALI.
137
portion of them who perforate the lip, and even by
them it is only on particular occasions that they wear
the blocks, to be seen, as they term it, in full dress.
When eating and sleeping the blocks are removed, and
also when much use of their tongues is required j for,
(a) A block worn by a child of three or four yeaxs' old.
(6) A block worn at the age of seven or eight years.
(c) A block worn by a young woman at maturity.
{d) A block worn by the men only, in the cartilage of the ear.
with the block in the mouth there are many words not
pronounced.
In the accompanying cut, I have given the exact
dimensions and shapes of three blocks for the lip and
•.;j»Wflf^^P5«?5!
138
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
one for the ear, which I procured of the people whilst
amongst them.
The perforation for the block in the lip is made at a
very early age, and is kept open through life, and is
scarcely perceptible when the block is out.
For inserting the block, the thumb of the left hand is
forced upwards through the aperture, and by the side
of it the thumb of the right hand, and the block is
delivered into its place by the fingers, from above,
as the thumbs are withdrawn.
The whole of the next day after the masquerade I
was painting, and Caesar was showing and descanting
on the portfolio; and my three companions, with the
interpreter, were discussing gold nuggets and gold
placers ; and as near as I could ever learn it, the total
of their discoveries led to this: that there had been
about two years before, a party of gold-hunters from
California in that country, having heard marvellous
accounts of gold nuggets in the possession of the Indians,
and that they had bee a ordered out of the country by
the Hudson's Bay Company, and were obliged to leave in a
great hurry; thatthore had, no doubt, been some nuggets
in the hands of some of the Indians, but that they had
been found at a great distance off, near the mountains
on the banks of a great river (supposed to be Frazer's
River, where the rich mines are now being worked).
The Frazer River mines at that time were just
becoming known ; ^nd my companions very judiciously
decided that their best way would be to return to Vic-
P'l''iPiP*»PPW«^'l^!^^
DESCENT OF THE TXJCAYALI.
139
toria, and take the track of the flood of Frazer River
miners at that time ascending the Frazer's Biver.
This resolution suited the captain of our little craft
exactly, as time was precious to him, and his vessel more
or less at risk whilst lying along the coast. Victoria,
which was then but a town of some forty or fifty houses,
was our next aim, and stopping a day or two in several
villages of Hydas and Bella Bellas, on the coast, we
were safe at anchor in Smith's Inlet, opposite to the
northern cape of Vancouver's Island. Its shores were
alive with the smokes of Indian villages, and there was
no need of leaving the vessel to see Indians. We were
at all hours of the day surrounded by their bounding
and galloping pirogues, and often had more than the
captain was disposed to accommodate on deck, mostly a
miserable, almost naked, and squalid looking multitude,
bringing fish and oysters to barter for rum, or whatever
else they could get. Amongst these were Skidegates,
Stickeens, Bella Bellas, Hydas, and several other tribes
inhabiting the coast and islands in the vicinity. Some
were flat heads, and others were not.
It mattered little to me what the shapes of their
heads were, and for a couple of days I was gathering
them into my portfolio, whilst Caesar kept all comers,
and of all languages, amused with the portraits, which
he was lecturing on alternately in English, in Spanish,
and Lingua-geral, from which they learned just as
much as they would have learned from the squalling
of a paroquet or cockatoo.
^iW^r4!^P4(9IM!lr!:'»4''L^Ji^!Mpjrp^|^
140
LAST BAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
It seemed a perfect mystery to my impatient com-
panions " how I could sit out two whole days without
my dinner, painting these ill-looking Indians." They
killed time, below the deck, with the captain, at cards;
and during the third night sails were up to pass the
straits and run to Victoria, which our chart showed us
was but a short run.
Morning came, and where were we ? not in the har-
bour of Victoria, nor near it, but in front of Nootka
Island, where we had been before, off the west coast of
Vancouver, and its t-all pines and rocky peaks but just
discernible ! And for what ? nobody could tell unless
the captain's reasons were correct, that the shape and
character of the winds made it hazardous to nin the
strait and the soimd, and that an open sea and fair
sailing which he was making was apt to be the quickest
and the safest.
A forty-eight hours' run brought us round the
southern cape of the island, and into the Strait of Juan
de Fuca, and hugging the shore, and heading towards
Victoria. And hugging a little too close, at low tide,
the keel of the Sally Anne was rubbing on the sands,
and losing her headway, and hitching inwards a little
at every wave, as the tide was rising. Shd was hitched
up, and hitched up, until, at high tide, she was lying^
and was left, broadside upon the sands in a little sandy
cove, between huge and frowning rocks.
We remained on board until another flood-tide, which
only lifted us higher up and left us again, a few rods
ipipPiPWlwpippwppwS!!^^
DESCENT OF THE YUCAYALI.
141
farther on to the island, and, of course, a few rods
nearer to Victoria. All chances of getting his little
craft nearer to Victoria harbour being now apparently
ended, and with due sympathy for the poor captain,
which we all felt, as we were taking leave, we each
agreed to leave him a bonus of thirty dollars, and each
signed his " agreement " to take us to Victoria " eoce-
cuted." We got some Flathead Indians on the shore to
carry our luggage, and at their guidance we trudged
through the forest to Victoria.
In Victoria all was confusion, complete pell-mell;
houses were filled, steamers and vessels were full, and
men and women were sleeping in carts and waggons in
the streets; and others were not sleeping at all, but
with bonfires built upon the bank, or under the pines,
were dancing away the nights in wild and frantic
whirls.
Fiazer River had just debuted as the El Dorado of
the world, and it seemed as if California had emptied
itself, "neck and heels" — its men, its mules, and its
steamers — into the sound of Vancouver.
Reports were hourly arriving from the mines, and all
wad on — on! and "bad luck to the hindmost." The
"Celestials" were there, with two oblique sabre cuts
and two gimlet holes for eyes; New Yorkers and
Londoners were there ; and all the nations of the earth
seemed to be assembling. The Omnipotent hand had
spread nuggets and sands of gold in such profusion over
the newly-discovered fields, that it required but the
iiiliiiliilppilippi^^
142
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
hand of industrious man to pick and scrapo it up, and
load his pockets ^ith it.
The midst of this grand imM^ was the place exactly
for my three impatient companions, and the mere hur-
ried " Good-bye, and God bless you, Cat." was about all
that I could get from them as they disappeared.
The poor Indians living in the vicinity of Victoria, on
Vancouver's Island, and all belonging to the Flathead
family, seemed alarmed, and withdrew their encamp-
ments into the forest.
In the midst of such an epidemic, after having had
the fever myself, one can easily imagine my position
anything but agreeable, and in a few days, by a return-
ing San Francisco steamer, Caesar and I got a passage to
Astoria, and from thence, by another craft to Portland,
the head of navigation on the Columbia River.
This thrifty little beginning of a town has the pros-
pect of wealth and greatness before it*
The *' Dalles " (and we soon made it) was the next
and the last destination foreshadowed in that direction
thirty miles above, and on the same river. This famous
place, from time immemonal the living, the life, and
support of tens of thousands of surrounding Indians,
from the endless quantities of salmon taken in it, is a
bold and furious rapid, for several miles dashing and
foaming through compressed channels in the rocks, in
* Whilst halting a few days in this little seaport town, I learned by
accident that Captain Paste had got his schooner afloat, and had put out
to I
iii
i^mm^KifimiiKi^^
DESCENT OF THE TTJCATALI.
143
the eddies of which the fatigued fish, in theii laborious
ascent, stop to rest, and are pierced by the harpoon
arrows of the overleaning and overlooking Indian, and
lifted out.
The fresh fish for current food and the dried fish for
their winter consumption, which had been from time
immemorial a good and certain living for the surrounding
tribes, like everything else of value belonging to the poor
Indian, has attracted the cupidity of the " better class,"
and is now being "turned into money," whilst the
ancient and real owners of it may be said to be starving
to death ; djHing in sight of what they have lost, and in
a countiy where there is actually nothing else to eat.
PPiffi!P!iin|P"P
ipil|i(|ip|,ipup|l III ilJi»i|lll||,lljjp|||||pp||pp|ltliJI I U UilllipilAMf !iil'..-Jif|
CHAPTER IT.
THE FLATHEAD INDIANS.
UST at this time another epidemic was raging,
and not less prolific in its victims than the
scourge of the country I had just escaped from ;
the crusade from the States across the Rocky Mountains
to Oregon, by waggons, by ox-carts, and by wheelbarrows,
spotting the prairies and mountains with recent graves,
and strewing the wayside with carcasses of oxen and horses,
and broken waggons and abandoned household furniture.
The greater portion of this disastrous and almost
fanatic pilgrimage crossed the mountains at what is
known as the " south pass," that is, south of the terrible
and impassable piles of twicv- upheaved rocks, where the
Salmon River Mountain traverses the Rocky Mountain
range, and over, or through, the mountains, descended
through the valley of the Shoshonee (or Snake) River
to the Columbia.
Learning by some of the most recent of these arrivals
that the Paunch (Grosventres), a band of the Crow
Indians, had crossed the mountains north of the Salmon
River Mountain, and were encamped in the Salmon Rivei
THE FLATHEAD INDIANS.
145
Valley near its sources, I made the instant and desperate
resolve to reach them, if impossibility were not in the way.
I asked Caesar how he would like to take a trip on
horseback and see the Bocky Mountains.
"Well, dat ar just wat suit me now, zactly. You
guess you go ? "
" Yes, if I can get a horse and a couple of good mules.
This I can't do here, Caesar, but at Fort Walla Walla,
farther up the river, I think it can be done."
Flatheads we were now in the midst of, and for the
time I had my work to do. The Klatsops, the Chinooka,
the Clickatats, the Walla WaHas, and the Ifez Perces
and Spokane, constituting the principal bands of the
Flathead family, I was there in the midst of, and had
enough to do. Some of these flatten the head, and
others do not, yet all speak the Flathead language, or
dialects of it.
The Flathead tribe, so called from their singular
practice of flattenmg the head, is one of the most
numerous (if not the most numerous) west of the Rocky
Mountains, occupying the whole country about the lower
Columbia, including the island of Vancouver. It is
altogether a canoe race, living in a country where there
is little else than fish to live upon. The tribe is divided
into something like thirty bands, speaking nearly the
same language, and generally spoken of (but erroneously)
as so many different tribes, the names of the principal of
which I have already mentioned.
The strange and unaccountable custom of flattening
'0-
m»^m\ ^w'ijww i!,i|ui! jpi'.n'i^w^''s'«
146
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
the head in this tribe is confined mostly to the women,
and amongst them it is by no means general, and orna-
mentation, singular as it may seem, appears to be the
sole object of it. In the Cuts below I have given copies
of two of my portraits of women, showing the artificial
shapes produced by that strange custom ; and in next
page portraits of a Flathead chief, curiously wrapped
Flathead Women.
in his blanket, and his wife, with her infant in its crib
(or cradle) on her back, which is undergoing the process
of flattening. The infant, at its birth, is placed in its
cradle, dug out of a solid log of wood, and fastened down
with bandages, so that it cannot move, and the frontal
process is pressed down by an elastic lever, which is tight-
ened daily by strings fastened to the sides of the cradle.
The bones of that part of the head, at that period, being
cartilaginous, are easily pressed into that unnatural form,
THE FLATHEAD INDIANS.
147
and after two or three months of this pressure the
required shape is obtained, which lasts through hfe. By
pressing the frontal region back, the head is pressed out
on the sides to an unnatural extent, as seen in the illus-
V ■ ;■
Flathead Chief and hia Wife, with Baby.
trations, p. 146. If this were a natural deformity,
stultility would undoubtedly be the result ; but as it is
an artifical deformation, no such result is produced, nor
148
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANa
need it to be looked for, as it is only a change in the form
and position of the mental organs, without interfering
with their natural functions. The evidence of this is,
that those with their heads flattened are found to be
quite as intelligent as the others in the tribe ; and it
would be a monstrous supposition to believe that the
fathers of families and chiefs would subject their infants
to a process that was to stultify them.
Near Fort Walla Walla, for the first time in my life,
I procured a tolerable horse, a stout mule for Caesar,
and a pack-mule, at a fair and honest price ; and in
company with three young men who had recently arrived
from the States, and were going back to meet and aid
the sick and disabled of their party that had been left
behind, we started, with our faces towards the moun-
tains.
After five days' march together, their course being to
the right, and through the Snake River Valley, we were
obliged to part company, and Csasar and I, with an
Indian guide, took to the left, hugging as near as we
could the ragged and frightful, and all but impassable,
southern bank of the Salmon River, until, at length,
after many days of deep repentance, we entered the
more calm and beautiful meadows and prairies of the
Salmon River Valley.
Our ride (or rather walk, for we had to walk and
climb most of the way, leading our horses) was one
which I deeply regretted from day to day, but which I
never have regretted since it was finished. The eighth
m^mmmmmf^mmmmmmmmiimimi^^
THE FLATHEAD INDIANS.
149
day opened to our view one of the most verdant and
beautiful valleys in the world ; and on the tenth a dis-
tant smoke was observed, and under it the skin-tents,
which I at once recognised as of a Crow village.
I was again amongst my old friends the Crows!
men whose beautiful forms and native, gentlemanly
grace had not been deformed by squatting in canoes,
nor eyes bridled by scowling on the glistening sun
reflected on the water, nor heads squeezed into wedges,
nor lips stretched around blocks of wood.
As soon as we were dismounted, and in the midst of
jhe crowd around us, I was struck more forcibly than
ever with the monstrous and pitiable deformities of man,
which the peculiar necessities of life often drive him to,
as seen amongst the squatted, paddling tribes of the
Amazon, Vancouver, and the Columbia coast and river.
It was a pleasure that I cannot descr.be to find myself
a.gain amongst mankind as Nature made them, the
Crows, whom I had long since thought I had seen for
the last time.
The Crows (as they are called by their neighbours),
Belantseat of whom I gave some account in the first
volume of this work, are probably the most unbroken,
unchanged part of the original st« .k of North American
Man. Their numbers, at the time when I was amongst
them, in 1832, were about 10,000, living on the head
aters of the Yellow Stone Biver and in the Eocky
Mountains.
From their traditions, which are very distinct, they
ffif(!^m!'*t-*''<'jff^
v?^n
150
LiiiT RAMBLES AAIONGST THE INDIANS.
formerly occupied the 'whole range of the Kocky Moun-
tains and the beautiful valleys on each side, from the
sources of the Saskatchewan in the north, and as far
south (their traditions say) as the mountains continue :
that -VTould be to the Straits of Panama.
They say that their people were a great nation before
the Flood, and that a few who reached the summits of
the mountains were saved when all the tribes of the
valleys were destroyed by the waters.
That they were the most ancient American stock,
and the unique, original American type, I believe ; and
that they were the original Toltecs and Aztecs, who,
history and traditions tell us, poured down from the
mountains of the north-west, founding the cities of
Mexico, Palenque, and Uxmal.
My portraits of Orows, made in my first series of
voyages, in 1832, and exhibited in London, irom their
striking resemblance to those on the sculptured stones
of Mexiv and Yucatan, excited suggestions to that
effect fiom many of my friends ; the first of these, and
the most enthusiastic, my untiring and faithful friend
Captain Shippard, an indefatigable reader amongst the
ancient archives of the British Museum ; and my friend
the Baron de Humboldt, who told me also that the sub-
ject was one of profound interest to science, and well
worthy of my further study.
Thjse reiterated suggestions, added to my own
intelligence, have kept alive, for many years, my anxiety
on that subject, and undoubtedly were the uncombatible
/wn'1*"! %m 'w^F'iiHmM m'
Wx^^^JF!^
T&E FLATHEAD INDlAKS.
151
arguments which determined me, when hearing, at the
Dalles, of a band of Crows encamped in the Salmon
Biver Valley, west of the Rocky Mountains, to " make
shift" (coute qui coute\ and, with Caesar, to throw
myself amongst them.
I ha/s said that "we were there," and whatever I
found amongst them in customs, and contour, and
traditions, as well as amongst other tribes that I visited
in more southern latitudes, between them and the
Straits of Panama, tending to establish the belief above
advanced, that they were the Toltecs and Aztecs of
Mexico and Yucatan, will be noticed in a subsequent
part of this work.
The Crow village that we were in, consisting of some
forty or fifty skin tents, had crossed the mountains on
to the head waters of Salmon River, to take and dry
salmon, there being no salmon on the east side of the
Rocky Mountains.
The chief of the band, a sub-chief, cfa31ed the " Yellow
Moccasin" was a very intelligent man, and gave me
a clear and, no doubt, true account of the recent
history of the tribe, as he had received it from his
father and grandfather. According to this, the Crows
were originally confined to the mountains and their
valleys, from which their enemies of the plains could
never dislodge them ; but that since horses have made
their appearance in the plains, a great portion of their
people have descended into the prairies, where they
have been cut to pieces by the Sioux, the Blackfeet,
-'v"U5|«.-7»«"'v«|f^«!n5«f^."^"-7'
152
LAST RAMBLES AMONGSl' THE INDUKS.
and other tribes, and l^eir forna*^r great strength de-
stroyed.
I was received * -th great kindn<«siK bjr these people,
and told by the d&niei that I sliould be welcome, and
that hi« young mec )^fe«ould watch and gi&sarcl my horses.
The incidents here, es^jgh in themselves io»' ^ fmall
book, must be passed tryer, for there are yeet many
adventures ahead of us.
One thing, however, cannot be passed by. ^^ilst
seated in the chief's lodge, where there were some six
or eight men besides the chief, and endeavouring, as
the necessary preliminary in all first interviews with
Indians, to make the object of my visit distinctly known,
I opened the portfolio of cartoon portraits, which all
were examining with great interest and astonishment,
when on turning up the fifth or sixth portrait, one of
the party gave a sudden piercing yelp, and sprang upon
his feet and commenced dancing in the most violent
jumps and starts, and vociferating, " Bi-eets-e-cure !
Bi-eets-e-cure !" (the name of the young man), whose
portrait I had painted at the mouth of the Yellow
Stone twenty years before, and was now holding up.
The portrait was recognised by all, when on their
feet, and darting out of the wigwam, were three or four
of the party, and through the village to where the
women were drying fish, on the bank of the river, and
back, they re-entered the chief's wigwam, and with
them, out of breath, and walking as if he were coming to
the gallows, entered Bi-eets-e-cure (the very sweet man).
■piw-!^Ppi.iip|(y«ii}iHJ:j^W
THE FLATHEAD INDIANS.
153
I instantly recognised him, and rising up, lie took
about balf-a-minute to look me full in the eyes, without
moving a muscle or winking, when he exclaimed, "How !
how!" (yes, yes), and shook me heartily by the hand.
I took up his portrait, and showing it to him, got the
interprettjr to say to him that I had "kept his face
clean!"
The reader can more easily and more correctly ima-
gine the pleasurable excitement, and the curious remarks
amongst the party at this singular occurrence, than I
can explain them ; for, not knowing their language, I
was ignorant of much that passed myself.
"One thing I'm sua, Massa Catlin," suddenly
exclaimed Csesar, who had not before opened his mouth,
" I quite sua dat ar man knows you, Massa !"
All eyes were now turned for a moment upon
Csesar, who was sitting a little back, and evidently
looked upon by most of the party as some great
chief, until the interpreter explained that he was my
servant.
During this interlude, and which required some little
exchange of feelings and recollections between the
" very sweet man " and myself, I had shut the portfolio,
to begin again where we left off; and proceeding again
with the portraits, after showing them several of their
enemies, the Sioux and Blackfeet, Ba-da-ah-ckon~du
(the Jumper), one of the chiefs of the Crows, whose
portrait also was painted at Yellow Stone twenty years
before, turned up ! All recognised him, arid Bi-eets-e-cure
^•r -ri.tr^f-^^, ■'!«t-ysr' <■ -r.- •v.-wv^f^ij fv^zj-j^^wr ^-.f-:-^
v^^^Wi^r'^^Z^^try^^
154
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
told them that he saw me when I was painting that
picture twenty years before.
Through the interpreter, I told them that more than
100,000 white people had seen the chiefs face, and, as
Ba-da-ah-chon-du, tht J uinper.
they could see, there was not a scratch upon it 1 The
chief then rose upon hi.? feet, and making signs for me
to rise, embraced me in his arms, and each one of the
party saluted mc in the same affectionute manner,
IWjp.-yHlWIf^pili ^•»|«"'WWP' W|»W.' \ «" y^mfiii
IJ^if.™. 1,1 I u^^fi,^„^,m~~
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.wrf^v -^^rvyf* Ty T» 1
THE FLATHEAD INDIANS.
165
See Ba-da-ah-chorir-du (the Jumper, Cut, p. 164.)
His head-dress of war-eagles' quills, his robe the skin
of a buffalo, with his battles painted on it, his lance in
his hand, his shield and quiver slung on his back, his
tobacco-sac suspended from his belt, and his leggings
fringed with Rcalp-locks.
In conversation which I had v.ith Bi-eets-e-cure, he
informed me that the chief Ba-da-ah-chon-du, whose
portrait we had just seen, was dead — that he died soon
after I painted his portrait, and many cf his friends and
relations believed that the painting of the portrait was
the cause of his death, " But," said he, " I told them
they were very foolish — that I had no fears when mine
was painted, and here I am alive, after so many years !"
I told them that no man of good sense could see any
waj' in which the painting could do them an injury,
and that amongst the white people we all had our
portraits made, and it did us no harm. They all gave
their assent in a "How, how, how !" and the next day I
slipped off the " akin," as they called it, of two or three
of them ; and, amongst them, and the first, that of the
young chief whose hospitality I was enjoying.
I painted him at his toilette, as he was letting down
his long hair and oiling it with bear's grease, which his
wife was pouring into his hand from a skin bottle (Gut,
p. 156.) She, poor woman, from a custom of the
country, not to compete with her husband in a feature
so ornamental, was obliged to keep her hair cropped
close to the head.
yjBBWp:FT'''T3pwS»'!f!S3yTir!?^WW^
»r"^.' fwfjSS
156
LAST KAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS,
In the first volume of this work I have given a more
detailed account of this striking peculiarity of the Crow
tribe, in which there are many men who trail two and
A Crow- " Yellow Moccasin " at his Toilette.
three feet of their natural hair on the ground as they
walk.
The day before I left, a report was brought, by one of
».Mffi*'«'w^i.wffw«P',i' ■;" ■• •"'^'■' ' "
. ^.ivi'fj
""^m
THE FLATHEAD INDIANS.
167
the HudsoD's Bay Company's men, that a party of Black-
feet — their deadly enemies — was preparing to march
upon them from the north. All, of course, was excite-
ment and confusion ; and they were preparing to move
into a defile in the mountains, where they could protect
themselves if attacked ; whatever was the result of this
movement I never heard.
With a faithful guide, who knew the route, recom-
mended by the chief, we started to cross the Salmon
River Mountain into the Snake River Valley — a pass
difiicult to traverse, and requiring the most desperate
resolution. Ravine after ravine, amidst the most frown-
ing and defiant rocks of all sizes, which had tumbled
down from the snow-capped summits on either side of
us. Our guide entered us well into them, and, sleeping
with us one night, instructed us how to proceed, and
left us to our fate, returning to his village.
We had an ample supply of dried salmon for our five
or six days' march, which was to bring us to Fort Hall,
one of the Company's fur factories, near the source of
the Snake River. We might have returned to the
Dalles by the same route by which we had come, and
escaped the terrible task we were now performing, but
for two reasons — the first, that in all the travels of my
life I have had a repugnance to return by the same
route; and the second, that I had an unconquerable
desire to cross this range of palaeozoic rocks, and to
examine the strange confusion produced by a mountain
lifted by a rising mountain.
.■^■ifl
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W|pii(l|J.J|4|l'lipi^.^<i^«»W|f(li(jpu^^^
!t?Pf'»5^!'^^w^^«^'SPPl!PP?l^
158
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
This mountain range, running from west to east,
traversing the Eocky Mountains, and becoming the
" Black Hills " on the eastern side, is known to geo-
logists to have been a mountain under the sea before
the continent of America arose, and to have been re-
lifted up at the intersection by the Rocky Mountains
rising underneath at a later date. How sublime ! A
stupendous mountain, with its hidden treasures from the
bottom of the sea, lifted up to the heavens and crumb-
ling to pieces, is tumbling into the valley and ravines
below ! And what a field for the geologist to get at the
deepest productions of the earth's hidden material I
Gneiss and granite, from their deepest beds in the
earth, raised in stupendous mountain piles under the
sea, and, risen with a continent, have again been shoved
up by deeper beds of granite underneath, until their
sub-aqueous, cavern-formed lime-stones of all colours —
of snow-white, of green, and blue, and grey, and their
associated felspathic rocks and massive blocks of felspar
— are turned out upon their tops and tumbled down
their sides.
What a field for geologists, and why are they not
there?
Amongst these immense and never-ending blocks I
was reading an instructive book and making notes,
which Caesar could not understand ; he had enough to
do to take care of the horses, whilst I was sometimes for
hours out of his sight and hearing ; and coming back,
and waking him and the mules from their sleep, all I
THE FLATHEAD INDIANS.
159
would hear was : " Well, Massa Catlin, you bery strange
man, dat's all I got to say." He was getting sick on
dried salmon and no excitement ; and our poor animals
were all but starving to death, there being sometimes,
for miles together, not one solitary blade of grass for
them to crop. What a time to study geology !
We had a sort of a path — a track — ^to follow, which
we could keep to only with the greatest difficulty. The
tracks of horses shod convinced me that the men of the
trading houses were in the habit of passing from one
trading post to another by it, and it was our only
confidence that we should sooner or later discover the
valley of the Snake Biver.
This we did on the fifth day ; and even our poor and
jaded animals neighed and brayed when we saw, through
a ravine, the blue of the valley, and the " Troia Buttea"
— ^three beautiful and stupendous natural pyramids—
though blue in the distance, standing in the centre
of it.
Qetting out, and upon the flank of the mountain,
green grass was in abundance and shady trees ; and I
spent several hours in revising and rewriting my hasty
notes on the rocks and the minerals we had passed, whilst
our poor animals were luxuriating, and Caesar was
sleeping.
At a great distance, and before us, where a forest of
shrubbery seemed evident, a smoke was seen rising,
which I decided was Fort Hall, to which we were aiming,
and minuting its bearing by my pocket compass, we
mmi^ilfi^flllllllflffffm^^
160
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
launched off into the (not glass, but sand-covered)
valley towards it. ^
We started at noon, and hoped to reach it before
night. The Trois Buttes, three conical hills of granite,
and of great height, standing in a group, and at many
miles' distance, were on our right. We travelled slow,
and night overtook us, and we encamped, not in sand,
but in cinders and pulverised pumice, and without
vegetation for our horses.
The valley, though beautiful to look into when seen
at a distance, like too many things in this world, is any-
thing but beautiful when we get into it. The surface is
generally without grass and without timber, or even
bushes, excepting here and there bunches of artemisia,
and is everywhere covered with volcanic ashes and
pumice, which are wafted by the winds ; and all roads,
and all tracks of living beings before us are obliterated
before we see them.
No living animal or fowl is seen to afford us food,
not even a rabbit or a prairie hen ; and the tail of our
last dried salmon for vs, and nothing for our poor horses,
put us to sleep upon this barren and desolate waste.
Our course was contmued in the morning, and about
noon we came upon the bank of a small stream covered
with luxuriant grass ; and here we were obliged to stop,
for our poor animals could have gone no farther ; and
who could have had the heart to push them beyond it ?
But we had nothing to eat, and our only chance to get
anything was to lie down and quietly wait till our
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THE FLATHEAD INDIANS.
161
animals were satisfied, and able to carry us, and then
move on, which we did ; and a little before sundown we
approached the patch of timber we had seen, and soon
after (not Fort Hall, but) the encampment of some
twenty or twenty-five emigrants from the States, who
had crossed the Bocky Mountains at the South Pass, and
were on their way to Oregon.
When we rode up to their tents, or waggons and carts
(for these were mostly used for tents), they seemed as
much surprised as ourselves ; and if not the first sentence
that I pronounced, certainly the second was, "Have
you got anything to eat ? " " Well, neighbour," said one
of them, a middle-aged man, who stepped forward as
spokesman, " we are pretty hard up ; our flour has long
since gin out ; but we have a plenty of hard biscuits,
and some good salt pork." " Don't say any more, my
dear sir," said I, " that's enough ; we are just starving
to death."
" Oh, dear me," said his tidy and red-cheeked wife, as
she jumped down from one of the waggons and came up
to my stirrup, her face beaming with sympathy. " Dear
dr, if you had come a little sooner ! We had a nice
pot of boiled beans and pork to-day, and I don't know
— Sally ! my dear, look into the iron pot and see if any
of them beans is left !"
Sally, without running to look, came to her mother,
ojaoulating, with a sort of a hiccup, " Oh yea, mother ; I
Imow there is a heap left ; we didn't eat a half on 'em ;
and there's a large lot o* pork, too ! "
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WEBSTER, NY. M5B0
(716) S77-4503
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162
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIAN&
Here my youpg readers must again imagme (to save
space) how comfortable Caesar and I were made when
there was a pot of boiled pork and beans all ready,
and a plenty of hard biscuits, and good grazing for our
horses; and in the midst of twenty-five intelligent
persons, old and young, male and female, with all
their traps and accoutrements, from the State of New
Hampshire, on their way to a new and unseen home
in Oregon.
What Cesar and I first did was to discuss the pork
and beans, and how we did it need not be described;
and other matters discussed in the course of the even-
ing must be brief, if noticed at all in this place.
Thirty-six days before this party had started from
Fort Leavenworth, on the Missouri Biver, in eight wag-
gons and two carts, drawn by oxen, and using no horses.
Their waggons, which supported hoops covered with
sailcloth, were all made new, and of great strength,
expressly for the purpose. Their oxen were shod like
horses, to preserve their feet, and grain was transported
for their food, to be used in places where the grass
should give out
In rising from the prairies on to the arid plains of
the mountain regions, the wood of their waggon-wheels
shrunk, and the tires were loosened; and without
smithing utensils, their misfortunes became irreparable,
and all but fatal to their existence. Wheels that went
to pieces were left by the wayside ; wheels were withed
and mended as well as ingenuity could devise, and
wff-wef-'"t
■■ ^■«v.4w,^'T^^rr'J^TO!«'.^p'f9l^fu,'l. '
THE FLATHEAD INDIANS.
163
changed from axle to axle until waggons were left, and
at length oxen after oxen, as they died, or fell, or gave
out from fatigue whioh they could no longer endure.
And when we met them, but three of their waggons
remained, and less than half of their oxen were living.
Substantial food they had transported enough of;
and their little children, as well as the rest of the party,
were in good health ; and all, yet in unbroken spirits,
approaching, with a prospect, their new homes.
They had met that day a half-caste interpreter from
Fort Hall, to which they had been steering, from whom
they learned that the trading post was yet twenty miles
in advance, which showed me how far Caesar and I had
mistaken our course in entering the valley. '^
These people told me that, since they entered Sweet
Kiver Valley in the mountains, they had passed over
one hundred and fifty carcasses of oxen lying by the
wayside; some partly devo^'red by wolves and bears,
and others not in the least decayed, though they had
been dead for weeks and, perhaps, months. Such was
the unaccountable and almost incredible pilgrimage, in
those days, from the States to the '' promised land " on
the Columbian coast.
This party, where we found them, had left the tra-
velled road for several miles to get grass for their cattle,
and they assured me that for fifty miles which they had
last passed there was not a blade of grass left for poor
oxen or horses to live upon; and, by the interpreter
they had met, they were informed that such had been
lllg.
'!fP(PiPP.ll'BlWk'«'I.W|lW||pip!|^
164
LAST BAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
the crowd of emigrants over the mountains, that foi
the distance of ten miles around Fort Hall every par-
ticle of grass had heen exhausted, and the people in the
fort, as well as their horses, were in a state of almost
absolute starvation, and had notified all emigrants ^
and travellers to keep at a distance from them, where
they and their animals might possibly find something
to subsist upon.
This little caravan started the next morning on their
route, in good spirits, leaving Fort Hall on their right,
and steering for Fort Boissey, another trading house
one hundred and forty miles farther west, towards their
destined home.
Caesar and I " saddled up," and, to their great delight,
started in company with them, our destination being
the same. We were soon on the emigrants* road, and
both they and we in absolute apprehensions of losing
our animals conveying us, the poor creatures getting
but here and there a bite of short grass that had
been twenty times bitten by other animals before
them.
The stench exhaling from the carcasses of oxen and
horses that we passed on the wayside became sickening
and almost unendurable. I did not count, but I believe
that in the two days we passed more than fifty ; and,
in one of these instances, two of these poor creatures lay
dead in the yoke together ! Such was the lamentable
fate of these poor and faithful beasts, after dragging
man and his effects over the vast prairies and arid
TBE FLATHEAD IKDIAKS.
165
mountains, a distance of 1400 miles, and not even
getting their food for it.
On the second day, the interpreter of whom I have
spoken overtook us, galloping on a very fine horse — a
half-caste Snake (or Shoshonee) Indian — a rakish look-
ing young man, speaking French, English, and several
Indian languages; dressed out in all the flaming colours
that broadcloths and ribbons could give him, and carry-
ing in his hand a first-rate rifle.
I at once suspected, and soon learned from him, that
his business was that of galloping about amongst the
lost, the straggling, the suflering parties that were
traversing the country at that time, guiding them and
interpreting for them, and depending upon their gener-
osity for compensation.
Learning from him that one day's ride would bring
us to the great or " smoky " falls of the Snake River,
the vicinity of which he toid me was his native place,
and with the whole localities of which he was familiar,
I made an arrangement with him to conduct me there
tlie next day, which he did, we having procured several
days* provisions of the little and, as yet, stout-hearted
colony, and taken leave of them, at all events, for a few
days.
They travelled so slow that we could easily calculate
on spending a day or two about the falls, and overtake
them before they reached the settlements. Our ride to
the falls took us the most of two days, instead of " one,"
over a sandy and barren waste ; but, with a guide who
\.
M iiiiMi H'l ''''l"''"J'liP'''ir"'!''lf '^M!i|''i'!l'JI!!llt'|pMPI'.VIl "!f i
166
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDLiNS.
knew the way and the modes of the country, we felt
secure, and rode it with tolerable ease.
The great or " smoking " falls of the Snake Biver may
well be classed amongst the greatest natural curiosities
of the world. Not that they resemble in character or
magnitude the chAte of Niagara ; but, from a character
peculiarly their own, of an awful grandeur, which strikes
the beholder in quite a different way.
For a hundred or two miles around, in different direc-
tions, the country is chiefly as barren a waste as the
deserts of Arabia. The earth is everywhere almost
entirely destitute of vegetation, and even of birds and
insects, and covered with a light and moving sand or
dust, composed of pulverised pumice and volcanic ashes.
In the midst of this vast plain of desolation we dis-
covered, at many miles distance — not a pyramid of spray
rising, forming and piling away a mass of clouds in the
heavens, as we see above the fall of Niagara — ^but a
chain, of several miles in length, of jets of spray, rising
apparently out of the level ground, not unlike the smoke
of the camp-fires of an army of men ; and, approaching
it, we scarcely realise its origin until we are quite upon
the brink, and the awful abyss, with all its grandeur, is
beneath us ; and, even then, it is but here and there
that we can approach near enough on the sand-covered
brink, with no tree or rock to cling to, to catch more
than a partial view of the scene before us.
Instead of looking upwards, as we usually do, to see
a waterfall, or of seeino^ it leaping off from the rock on
PIPiPPt9iniPPMW!Pf'<f^V'^N"'(^(WJWUi<
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tHE FLAtH£AD INDIAKS.
16*
^hich we axe standing, all is here below us at the
bottom of an awful chasm, and the veiy surface of each
successive fall is several hundred feot below us.
The term ** Qreat Fall/' which has been known for
more than half-a-century, is applied to a succession of
leaps which the river makes within the space of three
or four miles, dashing and foaming from side to side, in
a zig-zag channel cut in the solid rock, varying from six
hundred to eight hundred feet in width, with preci-
pitous — and much of the way, perpendicular — ^walls of
basaltic rocks on either side, from one hundred and fifty
to two hundred feet in height, and with here and there
an avalanche or graded way, where, with great fatigue,
ard with somewhat of danger, we can descend to the
bottom of the chasm, and, at the water's edge, behold
with wonder and enchantment the spirit of these wild
scenes. " ■ -
Ovmig to the zig-zag shape of the channel, the views
from these points are exceedingly limited; but the
frantic rage (or play, for it seems to partake of both) of
the leaping, bounding, and foaming torrent, dashing
alternately from wall to wall, with the overhanging
rocks on either side, furnish for the artist's pencil
scenes of spirit and wildness which I never have been
able to see anywhere else, and which no imagination
could create.
Comparatively, but a small portion of the cataract
can be viewed from below, owing to the few chances
there are of descending to the river's bed \ and where
N
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Last BAkJBt&s amongs't the iNDtAi^d.
we descend we are obliged to retitice our steps, as we
can neither follow the shore nor cross the stream.
From the top of the wall, with great fatigue, and
with the guidance of our good cicerone, I was enabled
to see the whole extent of this wonderful scene. Owing
to the depth of the chasm, when looking down from the
top of the wall, the water seemed to be running nearly
on a level, though its tremendous leaps and bounds, as
well as the corresponding decline of the brink of the
opposite wall, gave us something like an estimate of
descent in the various chAtes.
The trappean bed through which this wonderful
gorge is cut slopes to the west, and as the heights of
the walls on either side are generally about the same,
the gradual descent of the summit surface, for the
distance of four miles, would indicate a near estimate of
the descent of the river in that distance ; and judging
as well as I could from these premises, without the use
of instruments, I was led to believe that the whole
descent in four miles was something like three or four
hundred feet
I have seen some statements, recently made public,
of travellers who reported the great perpendicular fall
of Snake River to be 198 feet — " thirty-five feet higher
than the fall of Niagara, and the volume of water
quite equal to that of Niagara Biver." This statement
is certainly quite Quixotic, and demands contradiction,
if it were only for the benefit of school-boys' education.
The Snake River has its extreme source but about
1
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iimiiiflllllllfflifi^fi^^
THE FLATHEAD INDIANS.
169
150 miles above these falls, and has no large tributaries
above the falls to swell it; therefore the statement that
this volume of water is equal to that of the Niagara is
necessarily incorrect. There is one point of view from
which, looking up the stream, four or five successive
leaps are seen in the distance, so ranged one above the
other as to appear at the first glance to be one entire fall
of great height ; but from other points these are seen
to be separated by intervening distances of a quarter or
half-a-mile.
In all the cataracts which compose what is called the
great or ''smoking "fall on the Snake Biver, however
terrific and picturesque they are, there is not amongst
them, I should think, a perpendicular leap of more than
forty feet And the Columbia Biver at the Dalles, 400
miles below, after uniting the Snake and Salmon Rivers
with the north fork of the Columbia, contains, from the
nearest estimate I could make, but about one-fifth of
the volume of water tbat passes over the fall of Niagara,
and the Snake Biver, at the great (or smoking) falls,
probably not more than one-twelfth or one-fif^senth
part.
Few travellers who visit the fall uf Niagara are
aware of its real magnitude ; no object on earth more
completely deceives the human eye. In 1830 I spent
six months at the falls, making a survey and estimates
for a model ; and even then I was in ignorance of its
real magnitude until I went to Black Bock Feny,
twenty-five miles above, where I ascertained by measure-
*■.;■-
^^ 'ipiiPlPi'. 1 '"ivii'W'VJi^^R<"7PiPipipiip^
170
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
ment the width of the river to be seven-eighths of a
mile, and its average depth eighteen feet^ and its surface
movement four and a-half miles per hour; which, as the
river at that place glides over the smooth surface of a
level rock, would give a mean movement of four miles
per hour. Such a mass of water, moving at the rate of
a man under a fast walk, is easily contemplated ; and
with pen, ink, and paper, one can soon bring into cubic
feet and avoirdupois weight the quantity of water per
minute, per hour (and per annum, if figures can define
it), which pours through the rapids at Niagara, and
leaps down a precipice of 163 feet.
Such is the might and such the magnitude of Niagara,
which, amongst waterfalls (like this little book amongst
Indian books), still will stand without a rival on the
globe!
After having examined all the features of the great
falls, and made my sketches, we laid our course for Fort
Boissey, following the course of the river for many
miles, which still ran through a deep and rocky cofkm,
and firom the summits of its banks we had often views
of its deep-bedded and foaming waters, still dashing
amongst rocks and down precipices, with a continuous
wall on either side, of several hundred feet in height.
Near a ford which we were to make we met an
encampment of Shoshonee (or Snake) Indians, about
thirty in number, and being all men, and without women,
I supposed them to be a war party; but our guide said
no— that they had no enemies near them to fight, and
I
SfW/Wiji w ,!if wjjini-i', 1 1, m»m I .! m tmwxf ,
THE FLATHEAD INDIANS.
had been down to Fort Boissey to trade. He knew
them all — ^was amongst his relatives, and introduced
us without any difficulty.
I had previously seen but a specimen or two of this
tribe, and when meeting face to face this fine and
elegant troupe of young men, I said to myself, " These
are Crows!" The impression was instant and com-
plete. I then said to our interpreter that these people
resembled the Crows, whom I had just been amongst.
" Well, they may," said he. " The Crows are our friends
and relations, and we know them all." I said, '' then
you are Toltecs." This I could not make him under-
stand, as he had never heard of Mexico or Yucatan ;
but as the Snake Indians occupy a great portion of the
mountains lying between the Crows and Mexico, it
made a strong impression on my retina, as regards the
origin of the Toltec and Aztec tribes, which history says
poured down from the mountains of the north-west
into Mexico and Yucatan.
These handsome young men had been playing a
desperate game of ball at Fort Boissey, and having their
ball-sticks and balls with them, were proud to show us
what they could do with them. The ground was not
good, but from the beautiful catches and throws which
they made, I consider them quite a match for the
Sioux or the Choctaws, and their rackets are formed
much in the same way.
We spent a day very pleasantly with them, Csesar
showing the pictures, and I painting three of the young
tf
' ! •■W|l|™»»'"iN»J«l-.H WpfW^WJI'^lliMIWllMWp'l '»
172
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
men, their names — Tav^-na/Ur'Sha/w-^piXt Na/w-en-aa/w-
pix (he who runs up hill), On-dor-Tumt (smooth bark).
All objected to being painted until the portrait of
the Crow chief, Ba-da-<ih-ch(m-du, was shown them;
they all recognised him, and the gallant little fellow,
" Yau-Tiaiirahaw-pix" then sprang upon his feet, and
throwing a beautiful Crow robe over his shoulders,
exclaimed, ''There I you may paint me — I am not
afraid."
The rest then all agreed to be painted, but I selected
the three named above, and got the rest to wait until I
should come again.
We parted, but not without regret, from our friends
the Snakes (not jRaMZesnakes), who went on their way
to their village, near the base of the mountains, and
commenced our winding and dangerous descent of some
hundreds of feet, to the river shore, where we were to
make the ford. There was no other place for a great
many miles where it was possible to descend to the bed
■ of th 3 river, or to ford it if we could get to it.
I had engaged our gay and dashing chevalier to lead
us safely across the river, and to put us fairly in the
track, for the frontier settlements, instead of Fort
Boissey, which I felt a confidence in reaching from that
place, without a guide, there being a well-beaten road
to follow.
Down at the bottom of the terrible gulf, the river,
with its transparent waters, was smoothly, but rapidly
gliding alon^ before us. The n^zt thing was to cross it.
i
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HP7^..1i|.ii PJJiflJ«l|i|pilW«!P)iiii> -^TTwif^i^ti
THE FLATHEAD INDIANS.
173
and the thing next to that, to reach the opposite shore
aboye, a huge point of perpendicular rocks projecting
into the stream, and below which our interpreter said
there was no chance of getting out.
The river here was some eighty or a hundred yards
in width, with a pebbly bottom ; and from the various
contortions of the surface of the water, evidently of
unequal bottom, and full of bars. Our guide explained
to us, as weU as he could, the ciycaitous route we were
to take, after we should get into the stream, not to fall
into the troughs and currcT>bs; and to show us the
course, dashed in and led the way.
We stood and watched him closely, and seeing the
water nowhere higher than his stirrups, our apprehen-
sions were all at an end. He mounted about half way
up the opposite diff, and dismounting Lorn his horse,
sat overlooking our movements. We had but one fear,
and that was for our pack-mule, which was a little
creature; and CsBsar, a tremendous tall fellow, said,
<'Massa Catlin, I radder wade, and den I take 'Nelly'
moa safe."
« Well, Csesar," said I, " do so — give me the portfolio
(which I slung on my own back), and I will lead your
mule when I see you and Nelly safe over."
He handed me his pantaloons, and was on his way,
his rifle in his left hand and his donkey in the other,
whilst I was sitting on my horse and watching the
result. When about the middle of the river, I observed
^bey were at a halt j| the mule was pulling one way an4
'KJTT'^'^^'fJS^'SSafS^W^'.'mfW*^
174
LAST BAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
he the other. Instead of the lasso around its neck, he
was leading it by a halter with a raw-hide headstall,
somewhat in the shape of a bridle. After mutual and
stubborn pulling in this way for a minute or so, I saw
Gsesar, who had been standing up to his navel in the
water, fall suddenly back, and quite under the sur&ce
of the water ! The bridle had slipped from the animal's
head, and they at once took different directions.
CsBsar, it seems, falling backwards, was thrown from
the shoal water into a deeper channel, where the current
was stronger, and ofif from his feet, he was rapidly drift-
ing away, his head and his hands now and then above
the water!
I instantly threw my portfolio and my rifle to the
ground, and dropping the rein of the mule I was holding,
I plied my spurless heels with all the muscle that was
in me to the sides of my slow and stubborn "Bozenante"
— and thought, " Oh (not my * kingdom,' but), my * col-
lection!' for a horse! for 'CJiarley,* for my * Ancient
Charley!*" But I believe my convulsive kicks and
blows frightened my poor beast into untried leaps and
bounds, which soon passed me over the bar of shoal
water into swimming depth, where Csesar, ahead of me,
and not able to swim, was paddling with his hands, and
keeping his head, most of the time, above the water.
He saw me coming, and I hailed him — ''Hold on,
my brave fellow — ^you are safe."
My horse was all below the water but its head and
tail, and T was down to my armpits. There was but
THE FLATHEAD INDIANS.
one way — and as I got near to him I said — ^'*Now
mind 1 — as I pass by you, don't touch me, but seize my
horse by the tail, and hold on I "
I passed him, and looking back over my right
shoulder and seeing nothing of him, I instantly ex*
claimed, " Oh, mercy ! he's lost !" — ^when added to that,
without a period or a comma —
"Dat ar bery good ; now I guess I go ashoa I" And
looking over my left shoulder, with an astonishment
that nearly threw me from my saddle, I saw he had
both hands clenched to the tail of his own riding mule,
which, it seems, had plunged in when I threw down its
bridle, and without my observing it, had swam by my
side, and a little bads of me, to the rescue of poor
Caesar, whom it was now pulling to the shore! I reined
my horse towards the shore, and Caesar, holding on, was
gliding along by the side of me —
" Well, Massa Catlin, dis ar beat all ; I no feas now !"
Our horses' feet were now getting hold on the bottom,
and at that moment came down the shore at full gallop,
and dashing through the water, our faithful guide, who,
thoughtless of any accident, had placed himself too far
from us sooner to lend a helping hand.
We were all upon the beach, and safe, and our little
pack-mule, with all our baggage soaked, had swam to
the same shore from which it started, but half-a-mile
below, and was standing in a nook of rocks, from which
it did not know how to escape.
Our demi-" Snake " dashed into the river to recover
M
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PP!'fSffi!!WP^9R"*f!l?!f!'P^^
176
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
it, and I hailed him — ^pointing to my rifle and portfolio,
left on the beach. He soon had them strapped on his
back, and the donkey in his hand; and, with little
difficulty and without fear or danger, was soon with us.
" Now," said I, " Csesar, we are aU saved, and there is
but one thing that I see missing, that is the old minid"
Csesar, whatever might have been his education, or
want of education, was a very moral and a religious man
— and in all my travels with him, under the hundreds
of instantaneous excitements and vexations which we
had met together, I never heard him use a profane or
an indecent word ; but his sudden exclamations were,
''Oh, de goodness me ! My soul alive !" &c.; and on this
occasion, such was his attachment to the mini^ rifle,
''Well, as I am a libbin being, I guess, Massa Catlin,
dat ar gun is neber seen no moa ! I no recollection ;
but when I slip in de deep water, I guess de minny has
slip from my hands widout my know it ; I bery sorry."
The fact luckily was, that the eyes of our guide had
been upon it when it slipped from Csesar's hand, and,
marking the place where it saik, he was now wading
his horse to the spot, and with his eagle eye was scan-
ning the bottom through the dear water, and, after
wading and then swimming awhile, he give a piercing
yell and a wave of his hand, signifying that he had
discovered it. He instantly rose, with his feet upon his
horse's back, and making a plunge headforemost,
brought it up ; and then, not swimming for his horse,
piade hi^ horse swim to hi/m, for he had a long lasso of
THE FLATHEAD INDIANS.
177
raw hide of ten yards in length, fastened round its
neck, and its other end in his hand.
''Well, now, dat ar de mose wondeful man I eber saw
yet! I neber seede like afoa!" '
There is no sunshine in the deep and gloomy caMon
of this part of the river; and ascending the avalanching
difif, and fairly on its top and in the sun, our soaking
packs were spre&d out to dry. We all took a lunch
and a sleep, and our animals found a little grass to
regale upon.
Our guide gave us instructions for the ride that
Caesar and I were to make alone; and, putting into
his bullet-pouch what he acknowledged as a liberal
compensation for his services, he galloped oif intend-
ing to overtake his party of Snake warriors during the
day.
In our course, after riding a mile or two, I halted,
and said to Caesar, " Have you got your rifle dry and in
order?"
"Tes, Massa; and loaded."
"Then," said I, pointing to a bunch of wild sage at a
Utile distance, ''go and fetch that rabbit; it is a very
large one, and has set down behind these weeds. Be
careful, and don't touch anything but its head."
"Tea, Massa; you hold de mule."
This rabbit, the first fresh meat we had had for a
long time, came in admirably well with our salt pwk,
and was the first creature of the kind that we had seen
pince we left the coast of the Pacific.
ljw?l^i,fw»wjapk|fr¥!?;»t!«'s!P
178
LIST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
Six or eight days of hard work, and fording the Snake
River at two different places on our way — (but why
should I stop to narrate more particularly here?) —
brought us to the border settlements near Fort Walla
Walla. I had then a horse and two mules to dis|M>se
of — an affair that, as well as buying, I have always
approached with a displeasure; for, until now, in all my
travels, when I have wanted to buy horses, I have been
" a little too late ; there were a plenty here for sale a
few days since, but the last of them have been bought
up and taken away." And, when wishing to sell, "They
would have brought you a good price a little back, sir;
but so many have been brought in lately, that they are
a mere drug now. You may be able to gi/ve them away,
but I am not sure that you will even get a thankie for
that."
However, in this instance, I was not long in looking
up Thompson, the man of whom I bought the animals
for my campaign to the Salmon Biver Valley. I said
to him, " What will you give ? they are all in tolerable
trim, and as valuable as when I bought them." I
expected him to name about half ^he price I had given
him for them, and I was quite ready to have taken it. •
" Well, I know the animals, and I don't care to give
you the same that you gin me for them."
" Agreed," said I; and, having the money in his pocket,
the affair was soon ended. I said, " Thompson, you are
a very prompt dealer, and I like to deal with such
men.' •<
pi4ipiiWilipitpi|iP.pPiJiP
THE FLATHEAD INDUNS.
179
** Well," said he, " I'm glad you're satisfied, sir. You
see, sir, there's just now sich a crowden into the diggins,
that they've taken up the last crittur; and notwith-
standin' that, horses is ahout at a standstill, but mules
has riz."
He got about double the price for his " critturs " an
hour afterwards. They went to the "diggins," and
CaBsar and I steamed from Portland to California.
A
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CHAPTER V.
GALIFOBNIA.
f HE reader must not tbixik that because we were
again in California, we were at home, and our
Indian peregrinations finished. In California
we were on the wrong side of the mountains ; and, as I
hinted in a former chapter, that though a straggling
Apachee was once in a while seen there, better specimens
of that interesting tribe would probably be seen on our
return.
The Apachee Indians, at this time probably the most
powerful and most hostile tribe in America, hunt over
and claim a vast extent of country within the Mexican
lines, through the province of New Mexico, and extend-
ing northward nearly to the Great Salt Lake, and west-
ward quite to the Pacific Ocean, embracing the silver
mines of Sonora, and, until quite lately, the gold mines
of California.
At this last point continued struggles, with much
bloodshed, have resulted from the claims of white people
to the gold mines on the Sacramento Biver, and in and
180
iPPPPPiPPPPI^irWPPiiiii
<3ALIF0RKiJL
181
tost of the Sierra Nevada. These Indians, met by the
California miners, are known by various names, and w
are the Indians from San Francisco to St. Diego, and
the peninsula of Lower California, though they are but
bands of the great family of Apachees, speaking dialects
of the Apachee language.
The aggregate of this great tribe, when counted alto-
gether, is something like 30,000 ; and the traveller who
only meets a few of their border bands, or the gold-
digger who sees only those bands on whose rights he is
trespassing, gets but a partial knowledge of their real
numbers, or of their actual strength.
I learned from one of their chiefs, the ''Spanish
Spur," that they could muster 8000 men well mounted,
and equipped in the same manner as a war party of
800 which I saw him review. This gallant fellow had
gained his laurels in his battles with the Mexican troops
on the Mexican frontier ; and his name from a pair of
huge spurs, which he often wore as trophies, taken from
the heels of a Spanish officer whom he had killed in
single combat.
The greater portion of this tribe are strictly migratory,
changing the sites of their villages several times in the
course of the year. And to reach the village of this
chiefs band, at present some thirty miles north of the
Ghila, the voyageur should cross the Bocky Mountains
from Santa F^, taking the " Pony Express " route, or
start, as Caesar and I did, from Santa Diego, on the
Pacific Coast, with a strong mule under him, and a light
wM
IP!fff«f^i?PfW?WPfW5P^'!«RWWf^^
182
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDUNS.
mule to cany his packs, and ride to La Paz, on the Rio
Colorado, and thence to the great village of the Ohila
Apachees — north bank of the Ghila, some sixty or eighty
miles from La Paz, and thence cross the mountains to
Santa Fd.
The Apachees, like the Snakes, are a part of the Great
Crow or Toltec family. As with the Snakes, from a
wandering specimen or two I was not struck; but
looking about me in the centre of the tribe, I was in-
stantly impressed with the conviction of the relation-
ship and unity of type which I was regularly tracing
from the Belantsea (or Crow) to the mountains of
Mexico.
Like the Crows, their tradition is, that " their tribe is
the father of all the existing races — that seven persons
only were saved from the Deluge by ascending a high
mountain, and that these seven multiplied and filled
again the valleys with populations ; and that those who
built their villages in the valleys were very foolish, for
there came a great rain, which filled the valleys with
water, and they were again swept off."
The Apachees in Mexico, being mostly in the vicinity
of the Catholic missions, have made some progress
in civilisation, and are clad in ponchos, in leggings
and tunics of cotton-stuffs or of bark, and broad-
brimmed hats of grass, of Spanish manufacture. In
the province of New Mexico, and the vicinity of the
Ghila, and the mountains of the north-east, they are
dressed in skins, when dressed at all, and in their
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CALIFOBNIA.
183
costumes and weapons bear a strong resemblance to the
Comanches.
Their manufacture of flint arrow and spear heads, as
well as their bows of bone and sinew, are equal, if not
superior, to the manufactures of any of the tribes exist-
ing; and their use of the bow from their horses' backs
whilst running at fuU speed may vie with the archery
of the Sioux or Shyennes, or any of the tribes east of
the Rocky Mountains.
Like most of the tribes west of and in the Bocky
Mountains, they manufacture the blades of their
spears and points for their arrows of flints, and also
of obsidian, which is scattered over those volcanic
regions west of the mountains; and, like the other
tribes, they guard as a profound secret the mode by
which the flint and obsidian are broken into the shapes
they require.
Their mode is very simple, and evidently the only
mode by which those peculiar shapes and delicacy
of fracture can possibly be produced; for civilised
artisans have tried in various parts of the world,
and with the best of tools, without success in copying
them.
Every tribe has its factory, in which these aiTow-heads
are made, and in those only certain adepts are able or
allowed to make them, for the use of the tribe. Erratic
boulders of flint are collected (and sometimes brought
an immense distance), and broken with a sort of sledge-
hammer made of a rounded pebble of horn-stone, set in
o
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184
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIAK&
a twisted withe, holding the stone, and forming a
handle.
The flint, at the indiscriminate blows of the sledge, is
broken into a hundred pieces, and such flakes selected
as, from the angles of their fracture and thickness, will
answer as the basis of an arrow-head ; and in the hands
of the artisan they are shaped into the beautiful forms
and proportions which they desire, and which are to be
seen in most of our museums.
The master-workman, seated on the ground, lays one
of these flakes on the palm of his left hand, holding it
firmly down with two or more fingers of the same hand,
and with his right hand, between the thumb and two
forefingers, places his chisel (or punch) on the point
that is to be broken off; and a co-operator (a striker)
sitting in front of him, with a mallet of very hard
wood, strikes the chisel (or punch) on the upper end,
flaking the flint off on the under side, below each pro-
jecting point that is struck. The flint is then turned
and chipped in the same manner from the opposite
side; and so turned and chipped until the required
shape and dimensions are obtained, all the fr'acturcs
being made on the palm of the hand.
In selecting a flake for the arrow-head, a nice judg-
ment must be used, or the attempt will fail: a flake
with two opposite parallel, or nearly parallel, planes is
found, and of the thickness required for the centre of
the arrow-point. The first chipping reaches near to
the centre of these planes, but without quite breaking
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CALIFORNIA.
185
it away, and each chipping is shorter and shorter,
until the shape and the edge of the arrow-head are
formed.
The yielding elasticity of the palm of the hand ena-
bles the chip to come o£f without breaking the body of
the flint, which would be the case if they were broken
on a hard substance. These people have no metallic
instruments to work with, and the instrument (punch)
which they use I was told was a piece of bone ; but
on examining it, I found it to be a substance much
harder, made of the tooth (incisor) of the sperm-whale
or sea-lion, which are often stranded on the coast of
the Pacific. This punch is about six or seven inches in
length, and one inch in diameter, with one rounded
side and two plane sides; therefore presenting one
acute and two obtuse angles, to suit the points to be
broken.
This operation is very curious, both the holder and
the striker singing, and the strokes of the mallet given
exactly in time with the music, and with a sharp and
rebounding blow, in which, the Indians tell us, is the
great medicvne (or mystery) of the operation.
The bows also of this tribe, as well as the arrow-heads,
are made with great skill, either of wood, and covered
on the back with sinew or bone, said to be brought
from the sea coast, and probably from the sperm-whale.
These weapons, much like those of the Sioux and
Comanches, for use on horseback, are short, for conveni-
ence of handling, and of great power, generally of two
p i ij wif i^|wiw«Bi!»'""»'s.i*J ' i'<^»i;"'fwiw
«WJiMjHH!illipippiHJii,!U'!
186
LAST RAMBLES AMONGffiT THB INDIANS.
feet and a-half in length, and their mode of using them
in war and the chase is not surpassed by any Indians on
the continent.
In Cut opposite are copies of three of my portraits
made in their little village — (a) The chief, "Spanish
Spur" wrapped in a beautiiul buffalo-robe, with his
battles painted on it; (&) Nah-quot-se-o ("The Sur-
rounder"); (c) Nic-war-ra ("The Horsecatcher "), two
distinguished warriors, in war costume and war paint,
armed, and ready for battle.
We remained several days in this village, and found
abundance of curious customs and things for our
amusement; and on the day before we left we had
the luck to witness an excitement of curious interest
and which might, with propriety, be called "Tir-
national"
Much like the Sioux and Comanches, this tribe are
all mounted, and generally on good and fleet horses,
and from their horses' backs, while at fiill speed,
with their simple bows and arrows, they slay their
animals for food, and contend with their enemies
in mortal combat. With their short bows, which
have been described, as they have but a few yards
to throw their arrows (the rapidity of their horses
overcoming space), their excellency in archery
depends upon the rapidity with which they can get
their arrows upon the string and o£P, and the accu-
racy with which they can throw them whilst their
horses are at full speed. Their practice at this is
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CALIFORNIA.
187
frequent and very exciting, and certainly more pic'
turesque than rifle-shooting of volunteers in the
educated world.
For this day's sport, which is repeated many times in
the year, a ground is chosen on the prairie, level and
good for running, and in a semi-circle are made ten
successive circular targets in the ground hy cutting
away the turf, and making a sort of "bull's-eye"
in the centre, covered with pipe-clay, which is white.
Prizes are shot for, and judges are appointed to
award them. Each warrior, mounted. In his war
costume and war paint, and shoulders naked, and
shield upon his back, takes ten arrows in his left
hand with his bow, as if going into battle, and all
gtiJloping their horses round in a circle of a mile or
so, under full whip, to get them at the highest speed,
thus pass in succession the ten targets, and give their
arrows as they pass.
The rapidity with which their arrows are placed upon
the string and sent is a mystery to the bystander, and
must be seen to be believed. No repeating arms ever
yet constructed are so rapid, nor any arm, at that little
distance, more fatal. Each arrow, as it flies, goes with
a yelp, and each bow is bent with a " wuhgh !" which
seems to strain its utmost sinew, and every muscle of
the archer.
This round and its scoring done, a little rest, and
the same strife repeated. And after the tenth round,
when each warrior's arrows have been claimed by his
ii
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188
LAST RAMBLES AMOKQST TfiE Iin>IAK8.
private mark Id their feather, and the scoring done,
the stakes and honours (not medals) are awarded,
and a feast is given to the contending archers. I
have seen " tirs-national " and " tirs-m^ernational/' but
amongst them all, nothing so picturesque and beautiful
as this.
Taking leave of the great Apachee village, our little
party (now consisting of two Santa F4 traders —
acquainted with the route — ^two brothers Gleeson, of
Texas, Cxp'A a^d myself) laid its course for the " Santa
F^ Pass," in the Rocky Mountains, unknown at that
time as the " Pony Express " route, being, twelve years
ago, but known to Eitt Carson and other guides in the
habit of conducting parties through those dark and
dreary solitudes.
The first mountain passed, in a beautiful valley we
were in anoth'^r Apachee village ; anc. anotlier mountain
passed, we found another village of Apachees ; and fif-
teen days of riding, of walking and leading, and prying
and lifting on sides of hills, on avalanches of snow and
mud, and through ravines, and in the beds of roaring
and dashing torrents, with overhanging rocks, and
gloomy hemlocks and pines, we crept out of and began
descending the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains,
with the Spanish town of Santa F4 a great way ahead
of us, itiid in the valley near it the Rio del Norte (if we
should ever get to it), an easy and safe highway to the
Gulf of Mexico. /
DescendinfiT from the base of the mountains into the
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OALirOBNIA.
189
plains, and rising out of a deep ravine, which we had
followed for some miles, we came instantly, and without
a moment's warning, on to a group of human beings,
lying mostly stretched upon the grass, in a Sunny place,
without fire, and apparently seeking the warmth of
the sun. Nothing could surpass the expressions of
astonishment and fear exhibited on their faces when
they arose, and seeing the inutility of trying to escape,
they were, with uplifted hands, imploring for mercy,
as we were all mounted and armed, and white men,
their enemies.
The little party, about twenty, were all women and
children but two, who were old men, and rheumatic,
and were almost unable to walk. From our signs they
soon saw that we did not wish to harm them ; and rid-
ing up to them, we saw that they had not a weapon of
any sort with them, and, from their haggard looks and
signs, that they were in a state of starvation. We dis-
mounted, and one of our Santa y4 companions, who
understood something of the Apachee language, learned
from them that they were the wives and children of a
little village of Apachees that had been a few days
before destroyed, and all their warriors killed, by a
large army of white soldiers, after many terrible battles
— ^that they had fled so far, and had nothing to live
upon but roots from the ground, and no one to hunt for
them — that the whole country to the north and the
east was fuU of white soldiers, and that the whole
Indian race were being killed off I
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LAST BAMBLieS AlCOKGST THE INDIAKS.
. This was the first knowledge we had of a horder war
that it seems was then raging between the United
States dragoons and volunteers and the Apachees,
united with the Yutahs, their allies ; and from which
we drew the instant inference of the danger we were
facing in moving farther in the direction of Santa
We had no alternative but to leave those poor and
helpless and pitiable objects, with their little children,
as we found them, dividing with them our provisions,
which were then running low, and laying our pliins to
save ourselves in the best way we could. I gave to one
of the old men part of a box of lucifer matches I had,
and showed him how to make fire with them, to warm
their children by, for, firom the snowy atmosphere from
the mountains, the weather was veiy cold there. He
thanked me as he took them, but said, "To make a
smoke would be our certain destruction!" They all
came np and shook hands with us, with the pitiful
" Ya, ya," as we were mounting our horses ; and, with
tears in our eyes, I believe all felt as I exclaimed,
"Would to Qod that we could save these poor crea-
turesl"
Our trail leading to the north-east, right in the
hostile ground, was now a dangerous one, and I said to
our Santa F^ companions, " Is it possible that these are
Apachee Indians, and that a nation of Apachees is
living on the east side of the mountains?" "Most
assuredly, sir," said the Santa F4 gentlemen — "the
ppfPffpppppsisiiWwwprasifiTJpm^^
CAIiIFORNIA.
191
Jicca/rilla Bcmd, and half-a-dozen other bands; they are
everywhere, and the greatest set of thieves and rogues
in the world."
Our course was towards Santa F^, but we rode in
trembling and doubt ; and a couple of hours after we
left the group of women and children, whilst passing
through a narrow and rocky defile, two dashing and
naked Indians on high-mettled horses plunged into our
view and in our path, some forty or fifty rods ahead of
us. They halted for a moment, and evidently were
alarmed, seeing us all with our rifles in our hands.
There was no escape, except by retreat, which they
seemed unwilling to attempt. We all agreed to move
on, without changing our course or halting ; and they
no doubt discovering from our costumes and our pack-
mules that we were a party of travellers, and not
soldiers, advanced slowly, lowering their rifles, and
we did the same, and made the signs of friendship at
the same time.
We met and shook hands, and the foaming state of
their horses showed us at once that they were riding on
an express, the object of which we suspected, and our
Santa F^ companions soon drew the same from them,
and, also, that the whole country to the north-east was
in a state of the most bloody warfare, that the country
was filled with soldiers, and that several hundreds of
the Jiccarilla Apachees and Yutahs had already been
killed, and their villages burned, and that they two, one
an Apachee and the other a Yutah, were on an express
m
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TWCTffPrTWP'I'W'v'ffTOBB^^
192
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE IimiANa
to the great Apachee villages west of the mountains,
to call for reinforcements. Their halt with us was
very short, and they rode off, suggesting to us very
distinctly that the course we were pursuing was in
a very dangerous direction. On emerging from this
mountain defile, we struck upon a strong trail lead-
ing to the south-east, which was known to lead to
St Diego, a small village on the bank of the Del
Norte.
Here, from the intelligence obtained from the two
unexpected interviews we had just had, a sort of council
of war was held, in which it was decided that the two
Santa F^ traders and the elder Qleeson would continue
on their route to Santa F^, and run all the risks of
meeting the Apachee and Yutah war parties; and
that CsBsar and I, who had no particular desire to see
Santa F6, should take the trail leading to St. Diego,
and with us the younger Qleeson, who, like ourselves,
was destined for Matamoras, at the mouth of the Rio
del Norte.*
Our tracks here diverged — ^the one leading to Santa
F^ tending to the north-east, and ours to the south-east.
Ours was but an Indian trail, and difficult to follow, and
was still over mountains, through valleys, and across
* After reaching the frontier settlements I learned that a most
relentless and bloody war had been waged for several months past be>
tween the United States forces and the Apachee and Tutah Indians ;
fbat Lieutenant St. Yrain and Colonel Fontleroy, with large forces, had
destroyed a great many of the Apachees ; and that our position had been
one of great danger.
i
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CALIFORNIA.
193
river and swamps; and yet we kept it, not learning
from any landmark, or from any human being, whether
one day or one week would bring us to the bank of
the Bio Grande, and knowing only by my faithful
and never-failing little pocket-compass that we were
advancing in the right direction.
Impressions are daily ai»d hourly made in rides
through such vast and dreary solitudes as these that are
never e£faced from memory ; and one, at the end of our
first day's march, that was curious enough for narration.
On a little plateau of a few rods in breadth, covered
with grass, and near the bank of a small stream, with a
tremendous and dreary forest of rocks and pines behind
us, we had bivouaced at sundown, and for the night.
Gleeson had taken the lassoes off the animals, and gone
down a little descent, nearer the stream, where the grass
was more abundant and fresher for the horses. Csesar
had collected dried wood and made a rousing fire, and
was boiling the pot, whilst I, at the distance of ten
or fifteen rods from him, seated on the bank of the
stream, and with my back towards him, was making
a sketch of the picturesque landscape before me. " My
soul alive! wat you want dar?" suddenly exclaimed
Csesar ; and turning round, I saw him on one hand and
one knee, by his fire, swinging around and over his head
a flaming firebrand; and in the direction where he was
aiming it, and but a few rods from him, two grizzly
bears of the largest kind, one seated, and the other in
advance, and galloping upon him !
|T'''T''TV'TT7rn''^W(«Wli!>«Rip|^«lR^^
194
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
The firebrand fell a few feet before it, when the beast
sprang upon it with both paws, and seized it in its
mouth! He dropped it, and wheeling about, and crying
in the most piteous manner, retreated, wiping his nose
and his paws upon the grass. > v
The female, with the curiosity (perhaps) natural to
her sex, must have a smell of it too, and was advancing
for the purpose. An instant snufP (and I think a taste)
was enough for her too, and they both galloped off
together, whining in the most doleful manner as they
disappeared amongst the rocks.
Gleeson knew nothing of the a£fair until he heard our
relation of it; and all of us, without our weapons in
hand, were spared the necessity of asking mercy of these
unmerciful beasts, only by the whirling of a firebrand
which Caesar happened to have in his hand at the
moment, instead of vainly attempting to run for his rife !
Delivered thus from the jaws of those monstrous
animals, which had gone off evidently with a distaste
for us, we began collecting wood for the night, each of
us carrymg a firebrand in his hand as a precaution; and
between two rousing fires, and our horses close picketed
to our heads, and one of the three always on sentry,
we slept tolerably well.
After several days from this, and continuing our
course over hills and valleys, and, in the latter part of
the way, having lost the trail, we at length approached
a conical hill of considerable height, and with the
appearance of a low level country beyond it, which we
mmmmiimmfm
PPiiPPM
CALIFORNIA.
195
had reason to believe was at last the valley of the Bio
Qrande del Norte, and that we must necessarily be
nearing the settlements on its borders.
It was agreed that Qleeson should turn it on the right,
and that Caesar and I would flank it on the left ; and
that, as our horses were shod, and a sandy plain with
thin grass was around it, we could not cross each other's
tracks without recognismg them; and, in this way,
with a certainty of joining company again somewhere
beyond the mound, one or the other of us would
probably stumble upon some trail leading to the
settlements.
CsBsar and I, after a few miles, came upon a well-
beaten track of shod horses, showing us beyond doubt
that we were near the settlement ; and, in a little time,
following it, we turned a small hillock and came upon a
settler's hut — a well-built log-house — and its smoking
chimney showed us that it was occupied. We rode up
in front of it, and a nice and tidy middle-aged woman,
with two little children, came to the door.
I addressed her in Spanish, inquiring how far we had
yet to ride to reach the mission of St. Diego, or any
other town on the Rio del Norte. She replied, in
English, that she did not understand Spanish. I then
asked her in English, when she promptly answered that
we could not get to the river that night.
" Then, good woman," said I, " can we get lodging
here to-night, and something to eat ; for our provisions
are entirely out ? "
rwj-p^w^WBwr'TTT'^TT"!''^"!!
196
LAST RAMBLU8 AMONGST THE INDIAKS.
** Well, sir/' said she, " I am very much ashamed ; we
have heen here hut a very short time, and we hain't got
things agoin' very well yet; hut you shall he welcome
to the hest we have got, if you can put up with it."
" Don't have any fears, madam," said I ; '' we are not
very particular, and I know what allowance to make.
We don't require heds; we have each a good hufifalo
rohe, and all we will ask will he a part of the floor
to spread them on where the planks are not too
hard."
" Well, I'm sorry to say, sir, we hain't got our floor
laid yet. We've no thin' hut some hirch hark for floors
now, hut I think you will find 'em dry."
" That's enough, madam ; the principal thing we want
is shelter."
We dismounted, and Csesar picketing the horses — for
there was ahundance of good grass — I then sat down in
conversation with the good-natured woman.
" I can give you a steak," said she, " and pan-haked
hread, and a cup of coffee, hut we have no sweetening
for it hut molasses."
" Never mind," said I; "that's quite enough — ^we don't
wish to fare hotter."
From a few minutes' cjaversation, I learned that she
was a native of Ohio ; that she was married in Texas,
and, a year or two previous, had, with her husband,
moved to Santa Fd; and, not satisfied with Santa F4 life,
they had squatted on the fine little prairie of rich land
on which they were living, which cost them nothing ;
PP^^-^W^WPW-l-lipppipi^lWIPfP^WfPfipiffliipfl^WWiW^ iiinpp ^.IJI.>»«^m^ ii^inpf .
CALIFORNU.
197
and that thoy had no neighbours nearer than throe
miles.
Caesar and I had supped on the steak and coffee pro-
mised us, and we had enjoyed it very much ; and night
had approached. " But, Gleeson, where is he ? He has
not amved — he has not struck our trail! Maybe a
grizzly bear has chewed him up, or that some of those
Navaho Indians have taken his scalp in order to get his
horse. We have got to go back in the morning and
look him up."
The morning seemed to come very quick ; and,
hdving taken a steak and our coffee the same as the
evening before, Csesar led up our animals, and, as we
were saddling them, Qleeson turned the little hillock
and rode up.
His circuit the day before had been so much longer
than ours, and having been impeded by a difficult stream
to cross, he had struck our trail too late in the day to
overtake us, and had slept in his saddle all night, with-
out anything to eat. I presented him to our kind
landlady, and told him I believed he could get a steak
for his breakfast. But the poor woman, who seemed
embarrassed at this, replied that she was sony she could
not give him a steak — " For," said she, " I cooked the
last I had for your breakfast. We can't get any meat
here, gentlemen, except what my husband kills with his
gun. All game is very scarce now, and he has had very
bad luck lately; he was out all the day before yesterday
and got nothing ; and yesterday he went out again, and
>V^;
inppi>;p!^?ippi^pppim
198
LAST BAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
hasn't got back yet ; and, to tell tlie plain truth, we have
had no meat but that pamter for the last two weeks."
« Pamter I" said I, " what painter ? "
"Well, dear me ! now, I'm afraid I forgot to tell you
that them steaks -was painter's meat. I should have
mentioned it ; and if I forgot it, I hope you will excuse
me.
Gleeson, who was standing by, and starving, relieved
the poor woman in a measure from her embarrassment
by exclaiming, "Why, my good woman, I am nearly
starved to death — I could eat anything ! Have you not
got the tail of the panther left ? I could make a break-
fast on that, without any ceremony."
" Well, no, sir ; I am sorry also to say that the animal
was very fat, and we roasted the tail the first night when
it was brought in."
I helped the kind woman as well as I could, by assur-
ing her that the steaks which we had eaten were very
good, and that I should be glad if I could get another
like them for my supper. And sympathetic Caesar, who
had been listening, put in, " Well, I guess, missus, no
harm is done, anvhow."
Gleeson took a turn at the pan-baked bread and coffee,
after which we took leave of the good and hospitable
woman, by leaving with her what Caesar called "a
silber doUa," though she positively refused to make any
charge for what we had eaten.
We reached the Rio Grande del Norte, sold our jaded
animals—- in my accustomed way — for less than hotlf the
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CALIFOBKIA.
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price we had paid for them, took a "dug-out"* and
paddles, and began drifting towards Matamoras, then
eight hundred miles ahead of us.
This, being in the spring of 1855, was five years before
the civil war in the United States, and seven years
before the French invasion of Mexico — so that all was
peace and goodwill on the banks of that noble and
beautiful river, of which I may say something more near
the end of this book, if there should be space enough
for it. From Matamoras, a sailing vessel took Ciesar
and me to Sisal, in Yucatan ; and, after a very short visit
to TJxmal, and some points of interest on the coasts of
Campeachy, I started for Liverpool.
Discoveries I had made, not amongst the India/ns,
but amongst rocks, decided me to make a visit to my
friend and correspondent, the Baron de Humboldt ; and,
in July of 1855, 1 started for Berlin. I was received
with great kindness by that great philosopher, and by
him was presented to the King and Queen of Prussia,
at " Sans Souci."
The Baron de Humboldt approved, without excep-
tions, the theory I had come to advance with regard to
the rocks of America, and which interesting subject
was thon determining me to make a second voyage to
South America and the West India Islands.
Of my interviews with him, and the objects I had in
view in visiting the Qreater and Lesser Antilles, more
will be said in a future ch. .pter of this book. Enough
* A pirogue.
.lsi^7^f?f^^f^,f!v^=m^'^ 'r^"<i^,^T«ii>qpn;pg^iH^pnj|(jjp^ >
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!PSWWHWa!PRf"f?^^a^"^<'?
200
LAST R/MBLES AMONGST THE INDIAKS.
at present. With letters from him to his old travelling
companion, "Bonpland," then living in Uruguay, and
others, I sailed for Cuba ; and, having visited most of
the Lesser Antilles, steamed for Eio de Janeiro ; and,
with Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego ahead of me, there
were rocks and Indians enough yet in advance for long
and patient investigations. ^
Ha,
■||mBBP(P(PpBIHpf!pi^RS!P»!lll!^^
CHAPTER VI.
RIO DE JANEIRO.
ESCRIPTIONS of long voyages in a short book
must necessarily be discursive and disjointed ;
and with jumps like those of kangaroos, they
must leap, not creep, from points to points, that voyage,
incidents, and the end of the book may terminate to-
gether.
Under this necessity, from the beginning of the former
Book, I have had the somewhat painful task of in-
viting the reader to imagine the intervening incidents,
which the want of space has often prevented me from
narrt ting. In this dilemma we now are. After a long
and interesting voyage — or series of voyages — we are
at Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil : a beautiful city, with its
overtowering escarpments of black and frowiiing rocks
behind it, and the marvellous bay of Botafogo, like a
beautiful apron, in front of it. Its foaming and dash-
ing cascade of tiiC Curcovado is a fixture, and, like the
rest, an ornament eternal. But what are more beautiful
— or, at all events, more exciting and interesting— -are
its grand, and mighty, and impenetrable forests, and
201
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202
LAST RAMBLES AMOKQST THE INDLAKd.
\
rivers, and swamps, and mosquitoes, and fireflies, and
butterflies, and alligators, and tigers, and monkeys, and
parrots, and Indians, that lie west and south of it.
Rio, I have said, is a beautiful city ; ita rocky walls
are grand, its Botafogo charming, its Plaza amusing, and
its museum ; its inhabitants are gay and rich, and its
ladies are beautiful; its civilisation is of a high and
noble cast. But what of all this ? why should we stop
here ? J r "^ \y of Botafogo, and these dark and frown-
ing escarpn s of rocks, and the glistening cascade of
the Corcovado will be the same a thousand yeaprs hence;
the Plaza will be better built, its inhabitants will be
more rich, its civilisation will be higher ; and its ladies,
not more beautiful, but there will be more of them. Then
why detain us now ? We travel to see the perishable,
not etfimal.
These grand and sublime forests which we are to
enter will soon fall by the axe ; these beautiful, crouch-
ing, creeping, spotted, and glistening tigers, and the
muddy alligators, will soon be seen, with glass eyes, in
our museums ; these thousands of leaping, vaulting, and
peeping monkeys, and chattering parrots and parroquets,
and gilded butterflies, and anacondas will be there also;
and all those endless clusters and bouquets of wild
flowers, and everything else of Nature's blossoming and
breathing works, including the wild and frolicsome
Indian, who now exultingly smiles as he draws his
long and unerring bow amidst the jungle, or paddles
his light canoe, are soon to be metamorphosed — to be
ifiPffllWIIfWpiJIPpB^^
BtO D£ JANEIBO.
£03
spoiled, if not obliterated, by the ruthless march of
civilisation.
Why, then, stop to see the imperishable and the pro-
gressive, which ran be seen a hundred years hence as
well as now ? We are of a different caste and a different
taste. We travel to see the perishable and the perish-
ing; and let us see them before they fall; let us hie
away, then, to Buenos Ayres. There are no Indians, no
tigers, no alligator^, no anacondas, here. The steamer
leaves to-morrow for Buenos Ayres. I'll take this little
book along, and my pencils. The Uruguay, with its
clear and blue waters, comes in there, and on it, in
their light canoes, the tall and handsome Payaguas,
the Tohos, the lA/nguas, and the Bocolia, and the
Botocfodoa.
The mighty Paraguay comes rolling along there, also,
with the waters of the long Parana, both rising in the
mountains in the centre of the empire ; and, in their
course of 1800 miles, afford a highway and food for
more than fifty tribes of Indians, and their waters and
their shores, localities for 50,000 tigers, 150,000 alliga-
tors, 1,000,000 of monkeys, 5,000,000 of parrots, tens of
thousands of anacondas and rattlesnakes, and, now and
then, a boa-constrictor.
What a delightful field have we, then, before us at
Buenos Ayres ! And yet, not far off, to the south, the
Aucas, the Puelches, the AurOfComos, the Patagovis
and Fv£gia7i8. Oh, how inviting and how exciting!
I cannot crowd them all into this little book, I am sure
.|'«|fr!'?P»«W*PI'P^'CT"*r"^?^^
204
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
of it ; but I will abridge when I can, and go on while
the paper lasts.
Csesar left me a year ago, at Sisal, and I am lost.
The vessel that took us from Matamoras was going
from Sisal to Para, and there he was impatient to
unfold to "Sally Bool," a beautiful mulatto girl, who
sells oranges at the head of the quay, the wonders of
his voyages. Our parting was sorrowful, as my young
readers can easily imagine — he going to see his old
sweetheart, " Sally Bool" and I going to my old friend,
the Baron de Humboldt. We shook hands three times,
and, at the end of the last shake, he exclaimed, " Oh,
de Lord preserb you, good Massa Catlin !" I never will
forget it.
My friend Thomas, in whose house I was made
welcome whilst in Buenos Ayres, recommended to me a
faithM servant man — Jose Alzar (pronounced Althar)
— ^whom he liad employed for several years, and whose
native place was Corrientes, some hundreds of miles up
the Paraguay, and at the mouth of the Bio Parana.
His knowledge of the country, and of several of the
Indian tribes, and of their languages, -Wod just the thing
for me ; and, with Jose Alzar, I was again soon ready,
by steamer and canoes, and without horses, for Indian
peregrinations.
I put into Alzar's hands the now famous mini^ rifle,
first carried on the Essequibo and the Trombutas, as
has been described, by my worthy companion Smyth,
and afterwards by Csesar, for more than ten thousand
^'miiJifilffiiim.ummjiiw}'m^^^
<■' "■''•ir'«3rT'?
RIO DE JANEIRO.
205
miles. I reduced the number of cartoon portraits, in
the portfolio, to about a dozen, and, strapping it on to
his back, we started on a steamer for Corrientes.
Of Corrientes, which is a large and flounshing town
on the right bank of the river, I have little other
recollection than that of seeing from the deck of the
steamer, before we landed, several groups of tents of
Indians lining the shore of the river, above and below
the town.
I recollect landing and taking my luggage to an
hotel; but my subsequent and stronger impressions
were got in the wigwams, to which I was a quick and
constant visitor.
One can easily imagine the facilities and the con-
fidence rendered me by my new employ^, who was
now in his native town, and with the Indians of his
personal acquaintance around him. Three families of
the Payaguas tribe were there, and several tents of the
Botocudos, who had made long voyages in their oanoeSi
and were soon to return to their native countries.
The Payaguas, the representatives of a tribe nearly
extinct, and whose modes were purely primitive, were
chiefly naked — both men and women wearing but a
"fig-leaf" the width of the palm of one's hand, made of
cotton-doth or of bark — and made a new impression
upon me, of native man in physiological development
and dignity. Not even the Osages or the Shyennes of
North America were equal in stature to them, nor man
whom I ever saw in any society. Six feet and nine
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206
LAST BAHBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
\
inches, and six feet and seven inches, and six feet and six
inches were the measurements of the three men of the
party, and six feet the measure of a boy of sixteen years.
My interpreter, who had seen the whole of the tribe,
assured me that these were about an average of the
tribe ; and these men told me there were many others
taller than themselves. And, until I shall see the
Patagons, I shall believe them the tallest race in
America. They are canoe Indians, and, like all of that
class, from the constant use of their brachial and pectoral
muscles, are broad and muscular in the chest and
shoulders, but, in proportion, slight in their legs, from
their habitual squatted positions and little use of their
nether Hmbs.
The Payaguaa live on the right bank of the Paraguay,
and have, on the opposite bank, the Ohacos, a race of
horsemen who have extensive prairies for the chase,
and consequently, like the prairie Indians of North
America, exhibit a different symmetry in proportions.
These two tribes, although always at war with each
other, and inveterate enemies, have been unable
mutually to inflict more than partial injuries on each
other — ^the canoe-men too wise to be caught upon the
prairies, and the horsemen unable to contend upon the
water.
The Payaguas live chiefly in one long cabin or tent
(tolderia) in the form of a shed, standing on the bank
of t)ie river, of some thirty or forty rods in length, built
of upright posts at equal distances, set in the ground,
''fWrwTOP»?»«W!»«WT'7!?iPP!J)ilTpR»TT»r^^^
BIO DE JANEIRO.
207
and covered with a curious and beautiful thatching of
palm leaves — a roof merely, and no walls, with a curtain
of palm leaves or of rush mats forming a hanging
partition between the different families. A community
excessively droll, and too closely associated to be other-
wise than social and peaceably disposed.
They live principally on fish and turtle, with which the
river abounds, which are easily taken, and at all seasons
of the year, without the slightest danger of default.
The Botocudos, who come from near the sources of
the Uruguay, are quite a different race in appearance
and in language ; the remnants of a warlike and numer-
ous tribe, recently reduced to a few hundreds by those
universal pests of the American Indians — ^rum, and
whisky, and the smallpox. Of ordinary stature, they
are a better proportioned race than the Fayaguas, and
with an approach to civilisation, are in a measure clad
with tunics and ceintures of cotton-cloth, which they
barter for with the border traders.
Both the Botocudos and Fayaguas wear the block of
wood in the under-lip as an ornament, like the Nayas
Indians of Queen Charlotte's, in North America, already
spoken of. How surprising this fact! that, on the
north-west coast of North America and on the south-
east coast of South America, almost the exact antipodes
of each other, the same peculiar and unaccountable
custom should be practised by Indian tribes, in whose
languages there are not two words resembling, and
who have no knowledge of each other. Such striking
..ft;
Efy8WW«V«^
VJ'''^'''mm'vyMt!ia^vt(lfm^'i.4M\'if^l^^
208
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
facts should be preserved and not lost, as they may yet
have a deserved influence in determining ultimately the
migration and distribution of races.
In the following Cut I have given copies of three of
my portraits of Botocudos, illustrating the singular
customs above described.
Botocudos Indians.
Who can imagine, who can understand, but myself,
the astonishment and also the amusement which my
portfolio produced amongst these poor people, when I
showed them a couple of portraits of the Nayas Indians,
with the block of wood in their under-lips, whom, as I
told them, I had recently visited, and who were at least
i.JIIJ .. I I ipPii|iiii|iP''l-''l'' '■■''!''''
IP^'HI'II J>.^mpJ44iUPM!;li|."Hf||f|« W"'Wl 'KM
RIO DE JANEIRO.
209
three hundred days' march (their only mode of com-
puting long distances) from them, and also on the exact
opposite side of the earth, which was round — a new
idea to them I
What a pity poor Csesar lost this I By the portrait
which I showed them, I explained also that the custom
of slitting and elongating the ears, and wearing in
them oval blocks of wood, was precisely the same, when
a chief of the party pronounced them " brothers," and
a facetious old medicine-Tnan, with his head painted
white, disposed to be witty, observed that he thought
'* the Nayas Indians were very distant relations."
By going to my hotel and opening my luggage, I was
able to return in a little time to these astonished
people, with three of the blocks which I had brought
from the Nayas tribe, and which were polished by long
use. At the sight of these, which they could take in
their hands, they seemed to draw more practical proof,
and all the men set up a terrific howl, started by the
medicine-man, whilst the women covered their mouths
with both hands. This, my interpreter told me, was
their mode of recording a, truth, an established, proved
fact, which no one was allowed afterwards to deny. A
recorded fact.
I explained to them the slight li ^Terence in the
shape of the blocks — ^those of the Nayas (as seen in
Cuts, page 137) being of an oval form, and concave
on the upper and lower sides, and grooved around
the rim, whilst those of the Payaguas and Botocudos
■^T^""' '^^^ ^v'i»'P7fw|iiirii puiwi|>li!nilVip.|ill i«ip,nip!f|;^jP9qmHici||ppi|^
«»^^
210
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
were round, and both surfaces and the rim perfectly
plane.
The chief replied to this, that he could recollect
perfectly well when the Fayaguas shaped their blocks
in the same manner as the Nayas ; but, for the greater
facility of slipping them in and out, and also to save
the labour of excavating them, for which their tools
were very bad, they changed their shapes to what they
now are. On inquiring what their object was in wear-
ing such things in the lip and in the ear, I met at once
some difficulty, which seemed to be raised by the
fidgety old medicme-man. He seemed to meet the
inquiry with some suspicion, or to treat it, at least, as
he suggested, as a thing which I ought to have lear 1
from my friends, the Kayos, *' on the other side of
world " — a queer thing running still in his head ; which,
as I learned through the interpreter, had led him to
doubt, in some moiisure, my strict sanity.
The chief;^ however, took a diJGferent view of the affair,
and gave me in a very few words, as well as he could,
an answer to my inquiries. He said, in the first place,
he believed the reason why the custom was practised
was that their ancestors had practised it before them ;
that he had always thought it a very foolish practice,
and, as it was chiefly confined to the women, it was not
likely to do any harm; that the women seemed to
think it improved their appearance, and that, in such
things, the men generally let the women have their
own way. >
\
kUWVIWW'W'P^'' "»■»!'
ttlO Dt JANEIRO.
1^11
He said, there was now and then a man to be seen
with the block in his lip, but that in such cases it only
got him the name of an " old woman." The men of his
tribe, he said, all have ^he under-lip pierced, so as to
wear ornaments of various kinds. "This we can't
avoid," said he, "for it is done by our mothers when
we are infants, and under their sole control ; and there
are many men in our tribe whose ears and lips have
been thus cut, and who never have worn an ornament
of any kind in them ; and I think it is much the best
way.
In speaking of this strange custom amongst the Nayas
Indians of British Columbi ^, I described the manner in
which the orifice in the lip was produced, as well as the
mode of slitting and elongating their ears, by wearing
weights in them, and the mode seems to be precisely
the same here.
After having expressed my surprise at finding two
peoples, on opposite sides of the globe, practising alike
this unaccountable custom, it is not less surprising that
the Bev. Dr. Livingstone should have found a native
tribe in the centre of Africa wearing blocks exactly
similar in shape and dimensions in the upper-lip, and
called by the natives, '£4-16-14 (pronounced Pay-lay-
lay),
From his description, the blocks are from one and
a-half to two inches in diameter, and the mode of per-
forating the lip in childhood, and increasing the size of
the blocks as the wearer advances in age, are the same
Q
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2ii
LAST BAMBiES AMONGST THE INDIaI^^
as I have described above ; and he adds, that, the only
object for whic^^ they are worn, as far as he could learn,
was bliat of ornament.
Now, if, in my eccentric peregrinations, I should
stumble on to a tribe, or m^efc an individual Indian
lady, ingenious enough to have united the two —
wearing a block both in the upper and the under lip
— what a beautiful and useful impiovement it would
be, and what a wonderful axldition to the honourable
discoveries of my roving life— a double Pay-lay-lay!
The very thougi^t of its being a possibility ahead of me
stimulates me, and Alzar and I will move on. '
A sort of bu,rge, not unlike the keel-boats of the
Missouri, propelled by eight oars, and freighted, not
unlike th*^ cr.ii- ts of that river, with stuflfs, and hard-
ware, &c. (and, no doubt, in the bottom of the hold,
with run and whisky), was starting for the upper
waters of the Parana: and Alzar agreeing to handle
an oar, and myself to lend a hand in rapid water, got
us an agreeable and amusing passage to the mouth of
the Iguazu River — a distance of 500 males — ^from which
point we designed to cross the country to the upper
waters of the Uruguay, and descend that river to
Buenos Ayres, visiting many tribes of Indians on its
banks, and killing some of the black tigers that fatten
on the peccaries and soft-shelled turtles that abound
along its shores.
it^zar, wibh these boatmen, was at home; and his
acquaintance with them and their modes of life made
|P|!«PP|Ptpii-J-|i"!Wl!W!l«!?'-^?'''. Wl-i'^' V-- i'..,i.v- ••'^yv'T^':^:^- •••-•■/ r"*-. .y;- ..
BIO D£ JANEIBO.
213
the boat, though a rough one, an agreeable home for
me.
I had promised him, at the end of our campaign, in
addition to his monthly wages, to leave him, as a
present, the minid rifle; i^Jid one can imagine better
than I can describe it, the infinite pleasure he was
taking in cleaning, polishing, and handling it, and
" heaving his lead ashore,*' as Smyth used to do on the
banks of the Trombutas and Essequibo. Alligators,
peccaries, swans, wild geese, and ducks were constantly
marks for him ; and his long and deadly shots were not
only amusement, but astonishment for his comrades,
who never before had seenamini^ rifle, or even dreamed
of its long range and accuracy. *:
The high and perpendicular walls of red sandstone
and overtowering forests of lofty trees, alternating from
one side to the other, and fronted by islands and the
opposite shore, covered with forests of orange and wild
peach trees, bending down with their yellow and red
fruit, and interspersed and interwoven with the deep
green of rhododendrons and the massive purple of thorn
blosr )ms, presented a picture as new to me as if the
river and mountain scenes of my former voyages I had
passed blindfolded.
" Sam " — a name not made known even to Alzar as
yet — "Sam Colt," a six-shot carabine, made expressly
for me by my old friend. Colonel Colt, and which has
answered to the nick-name of "Sam" in my former
travels, had been so far under cover ; but the constant
^'.^-I>^'^.VFr'»ni«|^.1;;^<>J<r^E;^;,'«(^<^^j)^<li^
214
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
flapping of wings about and over us, and the total
nothingness else for me to do, brought it out, and a
new excitement and a new astonishment amongst the
boatmen, who had barely heard the word " revolver "
pronounced, but never in those days had had the chance
of seeing one.
But why should I spend time and space here, with
the thousands of incidents that took place on this
beautiful river? We have a long journey before us,
Indians in abundance, and, perhaps, a double Pay-lay-
lay ; and, getting towards the end of my little book,
I may have yet to strike out the fifty last pages that
have been written. One thing, however ; by the way,
rowing against the stream, we saw few tigers — not even
their heads — for, at the grunting of our boatmen and
the noise of their oars, they lowered themselves in the
weeds, and peccaries stood in the shade as we passed ;
but the wild-fowl, unused to the soimd of a gun,
sufficient for our larder, I daily seduced with " Sam,"
from my comfortable seat — a keg — which made me a
sort of " figure-head " in the bow of the boat.
Rapids became frequent, and laborious, and tedious,
and were said to be more so ahead of us, and the sun
insupportably hot; and, before our 500 miles were
finished, we were at Candeloria, a small town on the
east bank of the river, where our trading companions
had business to do, and an encampment of Botocudos
promised work for me, and Alzar and I halted. After
a couple of days, our trading companions continued on
mF^
5^" »■.,'• »,7«f»- -".t^-'f
j'rtT- M ■ '.'^■yif-^ ■
BIO DE JANEIRO.
216
their course, and we got conveyed across the " Entre
Bioa" mountain to the small village and mission of
Conception, on the upper waters of Uruguay.
Alzar renewed old acquaintances there, and with the
" old mini^ " in his hands and the portfolio of Indian
portraits on his back, and the tact and facetiae of a son
of a Portuguese father and a Creole mother, one can
easily imagine rapidly gaining new ones, and raising a
sort of furore in the peaceable and silent little village
into which we had entered.
No Indians were there, and after sleeping two days
ahead, whilst Alzar was stipulating for a "dug-out"
canoe, and laying in salt meat, cofifee, sugar, salt, &c.,
for our voyag;:^ down the river, I stepped with him into
our lazy, ugly, but solid and steady little craft, in which
he had seated a stout and first-rate paddler of his old
acquaintance, who was wanting to go to Buenos Ayres,
and was willing and f d of the chance if he could be
allowed to " work his paasage."
To this lucky occurrence ther was no objection ; and
with three good paddles and three good paddlers (not
peddlers) from Conception — a very good startin j-point
— ^we started off.
To go down stream in a solid and dry canoe, in such
a climate, and on so clear and beautiful a rWer, with
hard biscuits enough, and coffee, and sul' , and salt,
and a few pounds of salt pork for cooking, and plenty of
powder and ball and fishing-tackle, is one of the delight-
ful things of this world. To paddle or to sleep, as we
iiPPiiinwBwp'^^
^m^'m'^mimmmsii^fWfi^^^'^^
216
LAST BAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
\
choose, we still go on, and the stillness with which we
can travel brings us within pistol-shot, if we wish it, of
the staring tigers, whose heads are above the grass and
weeds on the bank.
As Smyth and I had been tiger-shooters on the
Trombutas, so Alzar and I, with the same weapons, were
tiger-slayers on the shores of the Uruguay. And why
not? It costs nothing, no apprenticeship is necessary;
no courage, no rashness, or recklessness is called into
question ; no great skill in shooting is requisite, for they
hold their heads perfectly still — ^there is a beautiful
mark in the centre of their foreheads, the right spot
exactly, where the black lines radiate — ^the smooth
current does not in the least interfere with our range,
and brings us within fifty paces if we desire it.
The whole cost, therefore, is the price of a conic ball
and a charge of powder. And for these, if the animal
be fat, which is generally the case, the tail itself pays
a hundred times over, and leaves us the skin, which is
worth twenty dollars.
'' A tiger's tail, ha ! You eat a tiger's tail ? **
Yes, to be sure, a tiger's tail ; but it cannot be cooked
in a kitchen — ^it would be useless to try it. It must be
bandaged in the leaves of the wild cabbage (or tuapai-
pi/n/nica/n), and roasted under the embers of a camp fire,
on the ground. Nothing that ever was cooked exceeds
it in deliciousness of flavour and pleasure of digestion.
These often weigh some six or eight pounds, and an
evidence that they are by the Indians considered the
EIO DE JANEIBO.
217
choicest of food is, that, in my South Arierican travels,
I have met at least a dozen Indians of the highest rank
somamed the " Tiger* s Ta/il," from some peculiar
excellence ; and I have myself twice received this high
and flattering distinction from these poor people, who
have hearts, but no decorations, to give.
Like the Bio Trombutas, the banks of this beautiful
river are chiefly covered with dense and magnificent
forests, abounding in monkeys and parrots, and peccaries
and tigers, and the bed of the stream, from their
emptied shells on the beach, would seem to be paved
with soft-shelled turtles. Fish of many kinds and of
delicious flavour, and for the names of which I was
obliged to appeal to Alzar, were constantly raised by
our trolling lines. And ducks and geese — and swans
and pelicans if we wanted them — ^were constantly at our
service, and an easy prey ; and the islands of the lower
half of the river, like those of the Parana, covered with
oranges and wild peaches of delicious flavour.
We generally slept on islands, for on them tigers
more seldom walk, and rattlesnakes generally fail to
reach them ; but on these, as on the main shore, like
the islands and shores of the Missouri and the Amazon,
those invulnerable and unconquerable pests, as universal
and as omnipresent in that country as the air itself, the
relentless mosquitoes, were always at war with us as
soon as the sun was down.
On the shore at ihat time it was necessary to be, to
boil the pot and cook our food, but that done, and each
?.7 .1 ijwiii^v,.,, lBP!,l|J«Hlpp^p|||
im
218
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
one armed with a bunch of bushes, our provisions and
culinary articles were taken into our canoe, and pushing
into the stream, and whipping off, the flying, whirling
cloud was soon ashore ; and casting anchor, we had till
ten o'clo(l< . or thereabouts, a quiet and delightful time
to get our iirst nap in the canoe. At that hour, by
some police that these creatures have, and which I
never could exactly understand, hungry or not hungry,
they are all housed until near sundown of the next
day.
So at ten o'clock, or a little after, we always went
quietly to the shore and slept — ^" Where?" Not in
hammocks, but in our strong and dry canoe, ready, at
a moment's warning, if danger was at hand, to push off
upon the boiling current. And if it rained, covering
the canoe from stem to stem by an unrolled mat, con-
structed of palm leaves by Alzar and his passenger, as
we floated along, we were perfectly protected from the
entrance of a drop of water. The heaviest thunder-
showers pelted us, and poured on to us, but in vain ;
but against mosquitoes our roof was no proof, for where
air comes, in South America, there vnll come (during
their daytime) mosquitoes also.
And how strange! What a mysterious order of
nature! The billions on billions of millions of these
sanguiniverous insects created to exist but a few weeks
of time, with a taste for blood, and a proboscis for bor-
ing and for drawing it through the thickest of hides,
i|iid, probablv, not one in a hundred millions ever tastes
P^W'?P!fW?l^?WI5W?PPP'"W^
RIO DE JANEXRO.
219
the food they were made to procure and enjoy; and
from which, if they are allowed to be gorged by it, they
are known to die in a few minutes.
How strange, also, that the beautiful provision of
nature, given them for penetrating the skin and draw-
ing the food which nature has indicated for them,
should inflict such insupportable pain as completely
to defeat their e£forts to procure it ! No animals of
the country allow a mosquito to bite; and man, at
the few points where he is exposed, though he often
feels the sting, allows the insect no time to draw his
blood.
Is it then that here is an order of nature frustrated,
or was it the intention of nature that the probosces of
these murderous creatures should have been used for a
different purpose, and that the cruel and sanguinary
use they are making of them is but a wicked perversion
of an instrument intended for a different object ?
How strange^ also, that the proboscis of this insect,
which will go through the thickest clothing and the
skin of a white man, vnd even at times through his
buckskin leggings, has little or no effect upon the
naked Indian, not that it lacks the power, or that the
blood is not as easily drawn, for t' Indian's skin is as
soft and as thin as that of a white man.
There have been various theories advanced on this
subject. Some have supposed some peculiar quality
in the Indian's blood makes it unpalatable to the mos-
quitoes. And others have thought that the Indians had
wmm''^mmm
imimim^mim^mmm
220
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
some oil or drug which they rubbed oyer their bodies
and limbs as a protection ; but it is more probable that
the constant smoke they live in, and which mosquitoes
always avoid, forms a surface on the skin repugnant to
the olfactory nerves of the insect
The Indians of South America, and particularly
those of the Amazon, sleep under sheds, in the open
air, unmolested by mosquitoes, where a white man, naked,
could not possibly exist one hour ; not loss of blood, but
inflammation would be the death of him. And if the
whole human (civilised) race of the globe were spread
over the valley of the Amazon and its tributaries,
and exposed in the same way, one day, from sun-
down to ten o'clock at night, would end the whole of
them.
But enough of tigers and mosquitoes. I fear I shall
have to strike them all out of my little book before I
get through, for want of space. We are travelling with
the Indians. However, I will venture to insert here
the following recipe which I wrote out to please Alzar;
and after that we will proceed on our course.
How to make Mosquito Soup,
"Recipe. — ^Descending the Missouri or Arkansas rivers
in North America, or the Corontyns or Uruguay in
South America, run your canoe ashore in a thick bottom,
just at sundown, having filled your kettle about half
full of river water, which is very pure and wholesome.
Before landing, however, throw a couple of spoonfuls of
^mmmmmifmmmmmw
BIO DE JANEIRO.
221
salt (or, what is better, if you have it, half-a-pound of
salt pork) and one of black pepper into your kettle, and
a dozen or so of the small prairie onions (cop^-hlos), a
sort of wild onion about the size of a rifle-bullet, and
which no travellers in those regions should fail to gather
and carry along, as important aids in cooking. In fact,
a wild turkey or goose cannot be well roasted without
them, as your atujling ovherwise will be a complete
failure.
"All these things be sure to arrange before you land,
as it might be difEcult to arrange them on shore. Also,
before being put on shore, if you be the cook, you should
draw a pair of Indian buckskin leggings over your
pantaloons, tying them very tight around the ankles.
Leave your hat or cap behind, covering the head with a
large silk handkerchief or shawl, passing under the chin,
and covering the face as high as the bridge of the nose,
and tie it firmly in the back of the neck : then, with a
bunch of VTillow boughs in your left hand to protect
your eyes (keeping it constantly in motion), whilst your
right hand is free to work with, a thick pair of buckskin
gloves or mittens on your hands, and your pantaloons'
pockets turned inside out, your person is tolerably secure
from all approach, and you may venture to step ashore,
but keeping your body and limbs constantly more or
less in motion, which will defeat the aim of such pro-
boBces as may occasionally have found their way through
the imperfect seams or otherwise vulnerable parts of
your dress.
■0?
m.
• •( ,»»*•■: T)T7*T*-
'•WWMTW'V.' ■ "fTfl#'«i^l
,tf,iwufr>'iv'W"ff.>'»»|HH, -'"..U»n«Mllliif!||f|,|iUU^„li.|l| JIX,_KJ^
222
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
" In these heavy wooded bottoms there is always plenty
of dried mulberry hmbs and trees, which gather as
quick as possible; they bum free, with a light flame and
little or no smoke to frighten the mosquitoes away. Set
your kettle exactly in the middle of the fire, so that the
flame will rise equally all around it, and some twelve
or fourteen inches above its rim, which is abundantly
high.
« The rest of the party, having left you ashore, should
then lose no time in paddling into the stream, each one
with a bunch of willow boughs whipping ashore all
the insects that are attempting to follow the canoe,
and leaving you, the cook, alone to ' walk the kettle,'
fis one alone concentrates the flying cloud better than
several
" The cloud beginning to gather in promising quan-
tities around you, you may commence walking at a
regular pace, with short steps, around the fire and boil-
ing kettle ; the swarm wiU follow in your wake, and, to
shorten the distance, they will constantly be flying over
the fire, when, their wings being singed, they faU into
the kettle; and whilst keeping your eyes clear with
the willow boughs in your left hand, if you aim your
blows right, a great many may be thus knocked into
the kettle that perhaps are too wary to get their wings
burned.
" There is no limited time for this operation, nor any
end to the arriving multitudes ; but you must be guided
entirely by the apparent quantity, by lifting oiF the
'iwi!fl4»ww^»wf»'nii-w!;!iiiiw^iii«iiR«iwr»fi'.':'»'"'.v,''M "W|pf f ^'%^*{mm^ii!w>^iiww^
RIO DE JANEIRO.
223
kettle occasionally, when the boiling ceases, and their
carcasses rise in a large clotted mass on the surface,
which, with a large wooden spoon, you should throw off,
as the fat is all extracted from them, and their bodies
should give way to a fresh supply, in order to obtain the
requisite richness of the soup.
" If you observe occasionally a gallinipper or a mos-
quito hawk falling in, which is very apt to be the case
where they are so confusedly grouped together, all the
better, for they are always gorged with a fresh supply
of these insects; and if in the desperate struggle
any part of your dress should have given way, and
the mosquitoes should have succeeded through the
breach in getting a few ounces of your blood, no
matter — ^never mind it; it will add to the richness of
the soup.
" The boiling operation being finished, and the canoe
called ashore, the kettle should be handled as quickly
as possible, and taken on board ; all hands, as they are
armed each with a bunch of willow boughs, will be able
to whip the following swarms ashore as the canoe enters
the current, over which they never venture to fly more
than a few rods.
" Then landing on some barren sand-bar which has
no vegetation, and consequently is uninhabited by these
torments, a comfortable night's rest may be enjoyed;
and the soup, when it is sufiBciently cooled, and the
again-collected mass of their light and emptied carcasses
floating on the surface are again skimmed off with the
mm^^'^ff'^ifmimmmmmmm
1F'"*^^W!ii|
■.-I -■'
224
LAST RAMBLDS AMONGST TBE xNDlANS.
spoon, and some hard biscuits crumbled in, your kettle
of ' Mosquito Soup ' is ready for use.*
" Gbo. Oatlin, Rio Uruguay."
From Conception, where we started, to the little town
of Santa Cruz, 200 miles, and from that to San Pedro,
on the west bank of the river, 200 miles farther down,
here and in the neighbourhood were Indians a plenty.
But one incident more — a tiger story. It never again
can be told, and should be history. I can tell it
in a few words, and then we will go on with the
Indians.
On the Missouri, with Batiste and Bogard to paddle,
I always steered; but on the Uruguay, the steering-
paddle was in the hands of Alzar, and I sat about the
middle of the canoe, whilst our passenger " working his
passage" was near the bow, with his propeller always at
work, like a machine.
Some thirty or forty miles below the town of Santa
Cruz, and whilst we were passing great quantities of
turtle-shells, and half-devoured carcasses of turtles lying
on the sandy beach, signs incontrovertible of tigers,
I had charged Alzar to keep a bright look-out, and
to let me know if any game was discovered, and I
had fallen asleep. In the midst of this (I forget
* If from any tindae prejudice the superior quality of this soup should
be questioned, it at least has this advantage over most other kinds, that
it costs nothing, and is always at hand, snd easily obtained in all the
{freat weatem valleys of North, and in all tte valleys of South America.
mm^i imu
ji iia.in* I tmn
&iO i)fi ^AifElftO.
^25
what I was dreaming about), Alzar whispered in my
ear —
" Sefior, there's a beautiful tiger ahead — stcnds out
whole neck and head above the grass !"
Before getting my eyes fairly open, ** Slip back," said
I, "to your seat inch by inch, and keep your paddle
down, and both hands close to the water's edge, and
steer the canoe a little in ; we are rather too far from
the shore."
Before he retreated he had given me, with his fore>
finger, the direction, and I was beginning to Bee the
staripg, glaring round head of the villain above the grass
on the top of the bank.
But why, by the way, should I say ** villain V* These
poor creatures slay only for food; we kill for amusement,
not for food, not for the carcass — and for tho tail, we
sometimes don't even take that. But a '* Tiger ahead!"
is a poor place for moralising or sympathising. " Sam"
was in both hands, and, of course, near my cheek!
The smoke cleared away. I could see nothing; but
both of the men exclaimed — ''Dead shot, dead shot!
sefior."
I told Alzar to steer the canoe in, and put me ashore.
He landed me a few rods below where the animal
had sat, and advancing along the edge of the stream
until I got opposite to the place, I directed him to
keep the canoe a little out from the shore, and in front
of me, and his rifle up and ready in case of any neces-
sity.
"^'*J^~*' ■^iT'r»'.'n^''»<i|
IfTf^P??????^!^"''^"^''^^
226
LAST RAMBLES AltOKQST THE INDIANS.
Though my men had seen the animal fall, I took this
precaution, as I was ahoi^t to ascend the hank, of some
thirty or forty feet, and covered Trith tall grass and
weeds, under a sort of conviction, from the rather slow
fire of my rifle, that I had missed, or only grazed the
creature's head, and that it might be lying in the weeds,
and ready to make a spring upon me ; or, if the animal
were dead, as my men believed, its mate might be
lying by its side, and ready to do the same thing for
me.
I had five shoe's left in the cylinders, however, and
ready at the inst&nt, and was ready to run all risks of
mounting the bank alone, imprudent as it was. The
bank was something like thirty feet higher than the
river, and from the water's edge rose at an angle of
thirty degrees, and was covered with grass and weeds as
high nearly as my head. I ascended very slowly, and
with my rifie raised ; and when near the brink, I was
no doubt soonest discovered, being in motion. And, as
if shot from a cannon, the beast struck me, its breast
meeting the muzzle of my rifle, which was thereby
thrown over my shoulder, and quite into the river — and
myself backwards and headlong to the water's edge!
It was a blow and a rebound ; and the animal, at one
leap, was out of sight !
I was paralysed by the shock, and in that condition
was taken into the canoe; and might as well have been
taken and lugged into the thicket, the helpless prey of
my adversary. When consciousness came, beyond the
/
f^?5PfBT'9f»?«?!!77WW«'l!f^^ •;f^»«BFIf!^'W8F^r
"«?^wot??!?5S»»5»Tt^
ttXO 1)E JANtllHd.
22^
shock, I knew nctliing of what had transpired except
what my men related to me, nor had I then the slightest
recollection of having seen the animal, in its flight,
coming upon me, probably from the quantity of weeds
between us hiding it from my view.
We got into tho stream anu floated off, all hands
(jadicioudy, no doubt) agreeing to a drawn battle rather
than risk anything further to gratify curiosity.
The animal that I fired at might have fallen dead,
aa my men still declared, and its mate, lying by,
might have sprung upon me; or I might, as I think,
from the dampness of my powder, have grazed
its head, and brought it, in the manner described,
upon me; but, whichever m'ght have been the
case, we were quite willing to leave it to tigers to
decid&
"Whilst exulting in my lucky escape, I began to feel
pain in my left arm between the wrist and the elbow,
and blood beginning to issue freely from it, I was con-
vinced that the animal, though instantly as it had
rebounded, had had a grab at my arm ; and getting at
it, the incisions of two of its teeth were visible on the
upper, and one on the opposite side. And, as proof
that the creature intended to have taken me along
with it, one paw had gone over my left shoulder, and,
failing to take me along, had opened my cotton paletot
for a considerable distance, and left the furrows of two
of its nails in the flesh. My wounds, therefore, like those
of a woman's fight, were but scratches, and easily dressed,
"i;'^1''1T^»"»'ra
tAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDUNS.
^28
and were quickly forgotten, though the marks of them
still remain.
At San Pedro I said we should find Indians, and in
it and its vicinity we found plenty of them. The TohoSy
the Lengtias, and the Bocohies — small trihes, the sur-
vivors from rum, and whisky, and smallpox, by which
the greater portion of those once numerous and warlike
people have been swept away.
Of these the Leivguas and Tohos, which seem to be
an amalgam of two tribes, are the most numerous and
the most interesting. Their village (tolderia) is all in
one long shed, standing on the bank of the river, and
forty rods in length, and built much like the tolderia of
the Payaguas, which has been described; and resembling
also the sheds of the Connibos and Sepibos, on the Bio
Yucayali, in Peru, and already described in the earlier
volume of this work. The people, also, in their personal
appearance and customs, resemble the Connibos enough
to be their brothers ; and yet they resemble the Boto-
cudos, of which people they are no doubt a part. Like
the Botocudos, they wear the block of wood in the lip,
and slit and elongr.te the rims of their ears.
This extraordinary and curious custom, of which I have
spoken in former chapters, I had opportunities of more
closely examining in this tribe, and which examinations
will justify a few further remarks in this place. The
greater portion of the tribe have long since abandoned
so useless and so ridiculous a custom, and others still
study eccentricity by keeping it up.
p,ii^w! m}^m!^}jhflm^'k^m^
fiUi^wfmm^jii^aw
RIO DE JANEIRO.
229
In several instances I was permitted to examine
closely the orifice in the lip, when the block was not in,
and to my surprise, in each instance, such is the elasticity
and contraction of the lip, that from the moment a round
block of wood, of two inches in diameter, was taken out,
the lip contracts to its natural shape and proportions, and
Indian of the Amazon.
the orifice is so perfectly closed, that not even the saliva
from the mouth escapes through it; and to the pass-
ing spectator the mark of it is scarcely visible in the
face.
From one of their medicine-men, whose portrait I
was painting, with the block in his lip, I got many
'^?*!^f!)^i!ipitf!ipffi^piP^^
230
LAST BAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
curious particulars relating to the custom, and amongst
others, he put his finger on several holes in his cheeks,
from which he told me he suspended strings of beads
and feathers, and other ornaments, on certain occasions,
in their dances, masquerades, &c. And I pointed to
one that I discovered in his ujjper-lip —
" Yes," said he, pulling down the lip and running his
thumb through it, ''and I have sometimes worn the
block in it."
I had just before bartered for a couple of these blocks,
which I had at the moment in my pocket; and handing
him one of them, he knew my object, and in an instant
it was adjusted in his upper lip ! Here it was that I
"stumbled on a double pay-lay-lay.** It made a
great laugh amongst the ludian bystanders, which
showed that it was an eccentricity of the moment, not
a custom. The droll old doctor found, however, that
he could talk better with the two than he could with
the one only, and the clacking and clattering sounds of
his wooden lips, and the curious grimaces of his face,
produced a short spell of excessive laughter and amuse-
ment.
Besides this singular mode of ornamentation, and
the modes of defiyiination already spoken of, practised
by the Flatheads and the Penivians, there are yet many
others, not less curious, which I have witnessed, and of
which the world are as yet not generally aware. And
of these none are more curious and extraordinary than
those practised by the numerous tribes "u the upper
Hi
tmr^^wfrw^^^'^^
,j!.'}*l^B"'l9«pt.lS^tWP,VfpitW*'^*-'^^r'^'^^ '•"-
RIO DE JANEIRO.
231
Amazon and its tnbutaries, whom Caesar and I visited
several years before, and of whom I spoke very briefly
in the earlier volume of this work.
Of all the tribes on the Continent of America, those
of the Amazon and its affluents are the most nude,
the most ill-shaped, the least ornamented, the least
warlike, and the least hostile.
The equatorial climate in which they live, almost
absolutely denying the use of clothing of any sort, and
their fisherman's modes of life, living almost constantly
in their dirty and wet canoes, destructive to costumes
of all sorts, presents thousands of these people almost in
a state of nudity.
Ill-looking as many of the Amazon tribes are com-
pared with the other American races, there are still
tribes amongst them that remind the traveller of the
Winaebagoes, the Menomonies, and other Canoe Indians
of North America, and are quite their equals.
On the Amazon and its tributaries, from the mouth of
the Bio Negro to Nauta, which constitutes but a half of
that river, there are more than one hundred tnbes speak-
ing different or dialectic languages; and though ugly
enough from Nature's hands, they have been caricatured
in a manner that reflects little credit to Art, and stigma-
tised as CarmibalSf in language as little worthy of
historians.
The whole country, a distance of 800 miles, if it were
possible to traverse its vast forests and swamps on both
sides of the river, might be travelled in security by
»'-r«!P,!!P!!)l»»S|PUP!"^
232
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDLiNS.
\
a man with his wife and his children, and unarmed,
without harm from the Indians; and amongst them
he would find helping hands whenever difficulties were
in his way. These people are friendly to the whites,
because there are no buffaloes nor beavers in their
coimtry to excite white man's cupidity — because they
have nothing with which to buy rum and whisky, and
because their lands are so vast, and covered with such
unmovable forests of timber that white men do not
want them. Hostility amongst themselves is little
known — the tribes are too small to wage desolating
warfare — they have no defined boundaries to protect, or ^
hunting grou:jds to defend. They cannot hunt; the
denseness of their forests forbids it; and living by
fishing, the rivers which they fish upon admit
of no boundaries, and are alike free to all; and the
movements of their canoes, propelled only by the
muscles of the warrior's arms, are less inspiring to
deeds of war than the movements of the horse, which
often lead the crazed warrior into rash and mortal
combat.
Like most Canoe Indians, the peculiar modes of their
lives, sitting in their wet canoes or wading in the water,
forbid their dressing their feet and their legs, and,
unlike the Indians who ride on the prairies or travel on
foot amongst the rocks, they are generally barefooted ;
and the labour of propelling their canoes without the
use of their nether limbs gives them physiological
disproportions — an over-development of the muscles of
'HS.'WMIf* '
BIO DE JANEIRO.
283
the arms and chest, and a narrowness in the hips, and a
lankness and deficiency in the legs.
The horsemen on the prairies, on the other hand,
who always exercise astride of their horses' hacks, and
using their arms only for their light hows and the
hridle, heget a lack of symmetry almost equally striking:
an over-hreadth in the hips, expansion and curvature
of the upper legs, and comparative lightness and slight-
ness in the arms and chest.
The fisherman is heautiful as he glides along in his
canoe ; hut placed upon his naked feet, he cringes and
looks to the ground hefore his steps, and loses the
dignity and grace of the moccasined man, who fearlessly
and solidly sets his foot, and uses his eyes for the
distance.
These circumstantial departures from the natural
symmetry of man and his movements are plainly ex-
hibited amongst all the horse and canoe tribes of
America ; but there is another, the Mountain Indians,
who have neither horses to ride nor canoes to paddle —
who have no fish to catch and no buffaloes to chase, who
draw their sinewy bows — ^whose steps and leaps,
upwards and downwards, and climbing amongst the
rocks, exercise alike all the muscles of the body and the
limbs, where perfect symmetry of form alone can be
found.
The numerous tribes on the haute Amazon — about
the mouth of Bio Negro, and from that to Nauta, and
upon the shores of the Yucayali, of whom I have spoken
234
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
as Canoe Indians, deserve a few fiirther remarks in this
place relative to the curious modes of pendent and
pigment ornamentation which they practise, and with
effects perhaps more bizarre and more droll than even
the blocks of wood worn in the lips, in the tribes where
we are now halting.
Besides the ordinary way of painting with vermilion,
and other colours daubed on with the fingers, several of
these tribes have a mode o{ printing the colours on
their faces and bodies in the manner somewhat of
theorem painting. On a certain sort of palm leaf, or a
piece of parchment-dressed skin, the most curious and i
intricate arabesque devices are drawn and cut out, and
this laid on one cheek and the other, and the forehead,
and the colour, mixed with grease, covering the palms
of the hands of the operator, a gradual pressure prints
the intricate designs through the theorems upon the
face.
There are often different patterns printed on the
breasts, the shoulders, and arms, and legs, bewildering
the beholder who does not understand the process with
astonishment at the a\!;jarent labour and artistic effect
produced on a figure in the morning, to be washed off at
night, little thinking that the whole effect has been
produced in five minutes.
These theorems are prepared with oil and glue, so
that they bear washing, and being once elaborated,
can be used a thousand times; and the mystery that
astonishes fm artist isj, thc^t i,wQ ^d tlire^ colours s^e
mf»^j|j^j^ip!^'PW!f?wi??^?^p(^
BIO DE JANEIEO.
235
sometimes printed over and between one another, like
chromo-lithographic printing, and the colours rubbed
in with the fingers, e£fects being often produced that
would test the skill of the best artist to copy.
The fat and round and solid cheeks of these people,
and their peculiar colour, form the best possible ground
for this curious art, which I am quite sure could
not be practised with equal effect on any other sub-
stance.
The pendent ornaments of the face and ears in most
of these tribes are not less surprising, and certainly are
more completely unaccountable. Of the tribes that I
have visited in that region, the most remarkable for
these modes are the Muraa, on both sides of the Ama-
zon, above the mouth of Rio Negro, the Iquitoa, the
Omaguas, the Ticunaa, the Yahuas, the Marahuaa,
the Orejones, the Mayot'unMa, the Connihos, and
Sepiboa.
These tribes all sever the rims of the ears and
elongate the lobes, by wearing heavy weights in them,
which accomplished, enables them to wear enormous
blocks of wood and other ornaments in them, precisely
like the Botocudos and Lenguas, whom we are yet
amongst. By the process of elongating the lobe, it
becomes enlarged, and oftentimes is seen descending
quite to the shoulder, and, from appearance, of half-a-
pound or more in weight.
I have given copies of three of my portraits made
{unon^st these people, illustrating the principal and moist
^i!;pn^|RfFqmp^p[^infimniPpn^ipi!fmpr<^i^^
236
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
,\
curiouB of the above-named modes in the Cuts below,
(a) A Mura chief, his ears curiously mutilated and
elongated, with ornaments attached, round plates of
silver fastened to his cheeks, his chin, and his nostrils,
and long thorns standing out from his cheeks and his chin.
For the supports of these singular ornaments of the
face, incisions are made in the flesh in childhood, into
. -^|*s..
Chiefs of the Amazon, with pendent Ornaments.
which a large bead is forced, with a slight thong hang-
ing out. The flesh hfeals around the cicatriced wound,
and ftie bead is withdrawn. The elasticity of the flesh
is such that the orifice is scarcely perceptible ; and, at
the times of ornamentation, for galas, festival days, &c.,
a bead, into which the butt-end of the thorn is pressed,
is slipped into the orifice, and supports the thorns in
the positions in which they are placed, and so the
T<HT'^^>«f)<'.' "ii"*!! MiiV9ft.mm\mnjff:i^ I 1.1 Ji I u ifM|||pp^|p||ffpp|||P||^ppipF|f|[||ipi
BIO DE JANEIRO.
237
silver plates are supported on the cheeks and the chin,
and feather and other pendents.
They dance, and sing, and yell with all these orna-
ments attached, and if any one of them becomes the
least deranged, the mere touch of the. fingers adjusts
it again. The portrait (6), same plate, an Orejona, is
.\
Omagua Sorcerer, with pendent Ornaments.
still more curiously ornamented with long feathers run
through the cartilage of his nose, two splints fashioned
from the branches of palm, attached by beads to the
nose, and quills and beads suspended from his under-lip
by the same means, and blocks of wood in the cartilage
of his ears.
■m
PHwi'.qywiifiUiiPik I iiii|i|||ip(i,v.pmi*
\s ifujui I .«i injq^iip^ppiHp«i««i;pqpp||||pi|p|pi|p^
238
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
The portrait (o), same plate, of a Ccocato chief, with
the same incisions, wears the blocks in his ears, and
ornaments his face, on this occasion, with strings of
beads only. And besides these pendent ornaments,
their faces, and bodies, and limbs, were painted in a
variety of forms and colours.
In Cut, p. 237> I have given a copy of a portrait of
a medicine-man (sorcerer) in the Omagua tribe, who
uses the perforation through his lip alternately for
suspending strings of beads or shells, or beautiful
plumes, or for suspending a boulder of flint of a pound
or more in weight, supported by a large bead on the \
inner side of the lip, which he assured me was a habit
that he could not dispense with, from the pleasure it
gave him at times, and always after eating, of drawing
the cool air upon the gums and through his teeth !
The habit of suspending strings of beads and feathers
from the under lip is also practised by the females in
many of the tribes, not only on the Amazon, but in
various parts of South America, amongst the women of
Venezuela, of Guiana, of Paraguay, and the mountains of
Peru. This copy (p. 239) of a portrait of a Oooagive un-
married girl of Venezuela illustrates this mode amongst
the females; and the long thorns projecting from her
cheeks might almost be recommended for young ladies
in the economy of civilised life.
Finishing this curious episode amongst the Amazons,
we return again to the Tobos and Lenguas, whom we
l^ft on the Uruguay.
I_
rWllFP'"T>W» "Willi ^l»jp||,Jpf»J|||l)WU|J»lHlP|lll|llP^,.l
RIO r»E JANEIllO.
230
The passion for ornamentation seems to belong to all
the human race much alike ; whether they are clad in
beautiful and costly stuffs, or are naked, the passion
seems to be the same. The Indians in the northern
latitudes of North America, who dress in skins, wear
their orriaments in paintings and embroideries on their
dresses. The Amazons, who wear no dresses, are equally
vain, and expend their ingenuity and exhaust their
Unmarried Girl of Venezuela.
means in ornamenting their naked limbs. They load
their wrists and ankles with bright and costly bracelets
and rings, and their necks and breasts and hair with
beads, and paint their limbs and faces with beautiful
colours. And what can be more beautiful ? what more
proper?
But blocks, and thorns, and weights! What a mistake
in taste ! And last of all, to flatten and elongate their
'Bitt'OR^™',^!*^ ''™""' '
'I'lj^.f iiwf)^Nyi|iVJ.' I ^ ,
rms
240
LAST RAMBTES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
\V
skulls, like the Flatheads and Peruvians, in order to
look beautiful! O Vj-nity, thy name is (certainly) —
Indian! "Everything has its cause." It is easy to
account for the love of ornament with paint and beads,
and "sven blocks and thorns, but who can guess the
caus3 of changing the shape of the skull to beautify
" the human face Divine ? " There must be a cause for
this. ,
The Fl&thead tribe at the mouth of the Columbia,
whose portraits I have shown (and also their mode of
flattening the head) in Chapter IV., and the ancient
Peruvians, as we learn by their skulls, are the tribes that
^ave ventured to deform nature for a form they imagine
more beautiful. And is it exactly sol I do not believe
it. I do not believe that any part of the human family
would venture such a stride from nature as to flatten
the skull as the Flatheads do, or to compress it into a
sugai-loaf as the Peruvians have done, without a model,
without a fashion to follow — an Indian bsavAdeal to
which ' hfjy have aspired. Those beau-ideala are seen
in Cut, p. 241. Letter a, a Crow of the Rocky
Mountains, and b, an alto-Peruvian of the Andes, the
two great original fountains of American man, to whom
all the tribes point as their origin, and on whom, of
course, all the tribes have looked as the heavAdecUs of
the Indian race. The Flathead, letter c, aiming at the
Crow-skull (like the copyists of most fashions), has
cai ried the copy into caricature ; and the bas-Peruvian,
letter ds aiming at the elevated frontal of the mountain
V-'"'' Wl;.
RIO D£ JANEIRO.
Ul
tegions, has squeezed his up with circular bandages to
equally monstrous proportions.
Not to make this chapter too long, I shut my note-
book on the Lengua and Tobos Indians around us ; and
Indian Beau-Ideab.
shaking hands with them, a few days down-stream
showed us the little band of Bocobies at the mouth of
the Rio Negro of Uruguay, and after that the beautiful
city of Buenos Ayres, and — where next ?
" Patagonia and the Patagons, of course." The " Giants
ptip<.vi{ln«pii»wjt.i..iW8Wir?^'''^»*"^' ■¥>*>i''HW'WjiBt<;Bpwiiig|ji,j{|iypii^vi^''pi'^^^^ • ; ■ ■
,„ ,.^.
24)2
LAST RAMBLES AMONGft?!' THE INDLAKS.
of Patagonia — ten feet high!" smd the ** Cannibals ! "
I did not believe siieh things, bnat would go and look
for them through the centre of Pattsagonia and Tieira del
Fuego. But hea^ ^iiis chapt^ endfUji.
» :
^r^
; ■nf'WTwrff ;•■
CHAPTER VII.
BUENOS AYEES.
|ERE, in a boarding-house, in a comfortable room
looking on to the Plaza, and at home, of
course, I was at work on my sketches.
Alzar came in, and softly, behind him, and wrapped
in a scarlet mantle, a handsome young man, a half-caste,
rouged to the eyes, and his glossy hair, parted on his
forehead, falling back upon his shoulders, and without
a quill upon his head ; and in his wake, and more softly
and timidly still, a young woman of the same colour, in
a calico dress, her hair dressed in the same manner, the
two looking effeminate enough, and enough alike to
have been sisters.
Alzar, with his hat in his hand, "bowed and scraped,"
and introduced them as brother and sister, of the Auca
tiibe, living on the head waters of the Rio Salado, to
the south of Buenos Ayres. Such was the suavity and
gentleness of their manners as they advanced aod both
shook hands with me, that I felt almost embarrassed.
Alzar had no doubt given them a high-coloured descrip-
m 243
jfc.
:w-i
•■■^''!'w™?WlflpiiSP«!l|iipp???'^^
244
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
tion of me and my works, and they were approaching
me with a profound respect.
Alzar could speak somewhat of their language, and,
what was better, the young man spoke Spanish very
well, and his beautiful and modest sister well enough to
be amusing and agreeable to me. They had learned
enough from Alzar to know the object of my travelling
and the sincerity of my views, to enter into undisguised
conversation about their own and other tribes of
Indians in the vicinity, and conversation took the place,
for the time, of my painting, and my brushes were
laid down.
I expressed my surprise at meeting red people in the
city of Buenos Ayres, and particulary so beautiful a
young lady, when Til-tee (" The Firefly "—I found that
was her name) replied quicker than her brother was
able to do, " Oh, we often come here, senor, and there's
a plenty of us here now ; my father, and my mother,
and my sister are all up town."
Alzar then said, " This is a very respectable family.
Seflor Oonzales horroro, he is a Portuguese gentleman,
and his wife is an Auca woman. They live on the Rio
Salado, and these are some of their children ; and if } ou
will permit me, seiior — I know they will be glad to see
your paintings."
" Most certainly, Alzar. Go and fetch them." Alzar
was o£f, and I went to amusing my visitors with my
sketches.
My portfolio of Indian portraits was giving so un-
!fpp^!wpwijii,wuju mm' mv',.
P^F^-!"
BUENOS ATBE3.
245
thought-of and so exciting a pleasure to the two, and
particularly to that heautiful little creature, who became
more beautiful every time she turned, that I was in the
midst of a peculiar satisfaction myself, when Alzar came
in, with the rest of the family.
This was the first day after my arrival in Buenos
Ayres, and though I had several letters of introduction
which I had not yet delivered, I spent the whole of that
day with this interesting family, having learned, in the
early part of my conversation with them, that their
business was all settled, and their arrangements all
made to start for their home on the Salado at an early
hour the next morning.
I gained from them a great deal of valuable and
reliable information respecting their own tribe, and of
their neighbours on the south, the Puelches and
Patagona, with both of which tribes I found they were
well acquainted, and with which they were living on
terms of friendship. The Puelches and Aueas, both
coming freely into Buenos Ayres, and trading for guns,
ammunition, clothes, hardware, cutlery, &c., which they
sell at a profit to the Patagons, who are sworn enemies
to the Buenos Ayreans, and never see them except on
the field of battle.
My cartoon portraits, which they could not soe enough
of, gave an unspeakable pleasure to these pecplo; and
those with flattened heads, and those with blocks of
wood in the lip, seemed to excite, with a people who
wear tew ornaments, equal disgust and astonishment.
p^ ■ ^'iliPisp?wfS|lF^n«pippR'^^
246
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANA
\
They told r.j they never had thought that any Indians
were such great fools.
Borroro and his son gave me such a glowing descrip-
tion of the country where they lived, of the beauty of
the forests, the lakes, the prairies and pampas ; of the
chasing of ostriches, wild horses and wild cattle, which
they kill for their hides and their hair, as well as the
beautiful games of the Indians, and, at the end of
all, so pressing an invitation to come and see, and
to join in them, that I told them distinctly that
Alzar and I would ride there before a fortnight was
out.
This evidently gave him great pleasure, and the
father said that both he and his son would join me
in any or all of the sports of the country, if I would
come. I told him I had long had an intention of
making a journey through the middle of the Puelche
and Patagon tribes, to Tierra del Fuego, and he believed
that from that place on the Salado, which would be
150 miles directly on the route, would be the proper
point to start from ; and that, if I chose, his son, who
was an excellent horseman and hunter, and knew well
the Puelches and the Fatagons, should be one of the
party, and could easily get me any number of first-rate
young men around him to join me.
" Well done," said I. " Alzar, my troubles are all over.
I see our way now clearly. We'll go through the centre
of Patagonia."
Borroro was himself half an Indian (his father a
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BUENOS ATBES.
247
Portuguese planter), and, therefore, with all the vaoity
that usually belongs peculiarly to the half-caste dass,
and with the strict traits of honour that generally
characterise them also; and I thereupon said to him
aod his Indian wife, " There is one thing, now, that I
want to ask of you — ^I want you to allow me to make a
sketch of Til-tee, your beautiful daughter. The day is
half gone, and I will not have time to finish it very well,
but I will bring it with me and finish it when I come
to see you. She is so pretty that I don't wish to forget
how she looks."
The extreme overjoy of the mother seemed as if she
had, in a measure, misunderstood the arrangement I
had asked for ; and no objections being made, and no
conditions named, I went to work. The timid little
girl said she was sony that she had not her prettiest
dress on. I told her that was no matter, it was not the
dress I wanted, it was her pretty face and neck only,
and if I could paint that part now, the dress could be
painted when I should see her again.
When my work was done, "one thing more" I
wanted, and they granted it. I wanted to walk with
them to a jeweller's shop in the comer of the plaza,
where, old man as I was, I could not forego the pleasure
I had of buying, and placing in her ears with my own
fingers, a brilliant pair of pendants, for which she
prettily tried to express (but could not well enough in
Spanish) what her brother interpreted to me, " that her
heart was thankful for the rich present I had made her."
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248
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
Night was at hand, and "Buenas noches/' ''a Dios,**
&C., and we parted.
I had commissioned the young man Oo8~hroh not to
buy, but to look up, and have ready for my negotiation
when I should arrive, the best horse in the country for
my tour through Patagonia; an animal of the best
bottom and speed, and well trained to the chase of
ostriches, horses, guanacoes, or anything else ; and the
two or three weeks previous to our start, I passed by
working on my numerous sketches, and making the
necessary preparations for our campaign.
My spirits were a good deal depressed during this
time by reports, made to me by my friends, that there
was a prospect of an approadiing war between Buenos
Ayres and the Patagon Indians, which would render
my expedition to Patagonia impossible, as these people
know no white people but the Buenos Ayreans, and
would make no distinction between me and them,
provided I were endeavouring to enter their countiy
under such circumstances.
I nevertheless got my preparations made, even against
the advice of friends, and, with Alzar, started for the
banks of the Salado. Our ride was a severe one, and
much longer than we had apprehended, but the countiy
one of continued interest as we passed. Not on the
bank of the Salado, but a great way beyond it, we
found the rancko of our new-made friends, and by and
around them many families of the small and handsome
Auca Indians.
IPf)^ .11,, ;H')..'J»<(ljfW«l'W,yi',»JI.-|yPlHj! "^I'lJ
BUENOS ATBSS.
240
The tribe is small, having been decimated by whisky
and the smallpox, and, though partly civilised, are still
living principally by the chase. Game c' many kinds
is always abundant in their country, and easily killed ;
and wild horses and wild cattle in countless numbers,
which they kill for their hides and hair, which find a
ready market in Buenos Ayres.
All were rejoiced to see us in performance of the
promise I had made, and particularly so the pretty
little "Firefly" who was parading her sparkling ear-
drops — and also the rather unfortunate mother, who,
we learned (but not till some time after), had overheard,
but misunderstood, the arrangement made between her
husband and myself in Buenos Ayres, as to hunting
ostriches, &c., and which arrangement, fearing an
announcement of it for two or three weeks ahead
would bring an unwished-for assemblage of ludian
sportsmen around him, he had charged his wife to say
nothimg about
Under the wrong impression which the poor woman
got when I asked permission to take her daughter's
portrait, which was that I had asked her hand in
marriage, and afterwards under the injunction " to say
nothing about it," she was keeping (as will be seen) the
supposed important secret profoundly safe, and, as can
be imagined, was not the least joyful of the family on
our arrival.
The Aucas are not only a small tribe, but a tribe
of small people; and, a singular fact, the men and
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250
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
women near the same size, and resemble each other so
much in stature, form, and features, and in the mode
of arranging their hair on their always naked heads,
that it is often difficult to distinguish one sex from the
other.
They wear but little dress in the summer season, and
that chiefly of civilised manufacture ; of calicoes and
other cotton cloths. The men often wear ponchas, and
the women, in the warm season, are naked as low as
the waist, from which drops an apron of cotton, extend-
ing as low as the knee ; and wear a sort of sandal or
half moccasin, made of goat's skin, or skin of the
guanaco. In this really pretty way I found the hand-
some little " Til-tee " dressed, and freed from the
horrible folds of pictured calico, she was free and grace-
ful, and more beautiful than ever.
The young man Goa-broh lost no time in informing
me that he had found the best horse in the countiy
for me, without the least trouble ; that it belonged to
his father — a mustang, taken by his own hand on
the pampa, and trained in the chase by himself; that
his father had ten horses, and this one, his favourite,
he had resolved to sell to me. I gave him his price,
150 piastres, and the lasso was in my hand. A noble
creature — an entire horse. I could imagine him
" Charley " — ^but he wanted the colour ; he was a silver
grey, his mane and tail were black, and the latter swept
the ground.
The sagacious animal seemed to know, from the
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BIfENOS ATRES.
251
moment his owner put the rein in my hand^ that he
had got a new master; and from my caressing, and
comhing, and trimming, evidently was soon convinced
of the fact. A mutual understanding was soon estah-
lished between us — several little excursions we made
together about the neighbourhood, and yet there was
one unthought-of and necessary condition to be under-
stood and arranged, which neither " Yudolph " (that was
the name he answered to) nor his former master had
probably ever heard of.
Horses in that country, and ostriches, and guanacoes,
and other animals are taken with the lasso and bolas,
and no guns are ever fired from a horse's back for any-
thing. Colt's revolvers had not at that time travelled
so far, and horses knew just as much of them as their
masters; the amusement of which remained yet to be
afforded to the one, and the alarm and astonishment to
be presented to the other. In short, " Yudolph " had
got to smell gunpowder, and the Aucas to understand
revolvers.
" Sam," for the first time in that region of country,
was taken from its case, and in the wigwam, in a little
time, was partly comprehended ; but for " Yudolph," it
was to become a more inexplicable mystery. In the
rashness and thoughtlessness of my inexperience, being
then only fifty-seven years of age, it had not occurred
to me that ''Yudolph," though a bold hunter and
varrior, as he had been, had probably never heard the
aound of a gun ; and, under this lack of intelligence, I
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LAST BAUBLES AMONGST THE INDL/LNS.
mounted him with " Sam " in hand, in presence of his
fonner master ^nd Alzar, and the pretty little Til-tee^
to see, as I said, how he would " stand fire," for my game
had got to be taken, and my battles fought, not with
lasso and bolas, but with gunpowder.
I certainly was a pretty good rider, as well as a good
shot, by this time ; and galloping him round in a curve
or two, I fired a cylinder to the left! — and the next
thing that I was sensible of was, that Borroro and Alzar
had hold of me, and were carrying me towards the
rancho.
I said, "Hold on — ^I am not hurt. ^Where's
*Yudolph*?"
" He's yonder, sefLor."
^nd at a distance of thirty rods I saw him stand-
ing broad-side — ^his head and tail up— a beautiful
picture, as he stood gazing at us, and wondering what
had taken place. His master walked towards him
and called him, ** Yudolph!" when the faithful crea-
ture advanced, and met him half-way. He led him
up and put the rein again in my hand, and the
trembling brute, seeming to think there had been
some aoGident, followed my motions as willingly as
before.
"Where's 'Sam'?*' said I.
" Here ! " said Alzar, as he handed it to me in two
pieces .* — ^the stock broken off below the guard, not in-
juring the lock in any way. ^
"Where's the saddle?"
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BUENOS ATBES.
253
"Here, seilor/* said Borroro. "The girth is hroken,
and by that means you fell'*
''I know that — saddles have thrown me many limes,
but no horse can do A,**
"Is your rifle loaded, Alzar?" "
"Ye8,sefior." i,
"Just give it to me, then, and your buUet-pouch and
powder cartridges, if you have any."
Al2ar handed me his rifle and three or four powder-
cartridges, and placing my nose to the nostrils of the
trembling animal, and exchanging a few breaths to
inspire him with confidence, I threw myself upon his
naked back, and galloping the same rounds as before, I
fired the mini^ to the left — ^kept the horse upon his
course ; reloaded, and fired again, and again, as if I were
in a buffalo chase on the Missouri, or in mortal combat,
and as easily, and with as accurate an aim, as if I had
been firing from the back of "old Chouteau," my
buffalo chaser at the mouth of Yellow Stone.
"Huzza! huzza 1 bravo! bravo!" exclaimed the by-
standers; and trembling " Yudolph," as I rode him up,
seemed to take one-half at least of the applause to
himselfl And last, though not the least complimentary
and welcome, came the nice old lady from where she
had sat in the door of her house, who extended her
hand, and showed me, by the expression of her fistce,
that she was taking to herself a peculianr satisfaction
at the successful and laudable feats of her (as she still
supposed) approaching son-in-law.
iniMVPpPiiqippiPPc^iniipiPV
254
L^T KAMBLKB AMONGST THE INDIAN&
** Tudolph ** now understood something of gunpowder,
and was ready for the chase. He had long since,
under his former master, learned how to run and
how to approach; and I, who had long since learned
how to shoot, with "Sam" in hand and a six-shot
revolver in my helt, was considered equal to a war-
party. But where was ''Sam"? Sent ofif by a little
son of mine host to a small village on the river, some
twenty miles distant, where a country blacksmith
bound the two parts together, and it came back, not
as handsome, nor as lights but quite as strong as
ever.
After a few days spent in and about the little Auca
village, the appointed day approached for a "grand
hunt" — an oatrick chase. The young man Qoa-hroh
had told me in Buenos Ayres that he knew of a fine
brood that had been hatched and raised witlun a few
miles, as yet unmolested, and just about old enough for
sport This he had told me in my painting room
when the father and mother were sitting by, and just
when I had obtained their consent to have the daughter
painted; and the old lady, from her imperfect knowledge
of Spanish, understanding but a word or two of what
he had said, nodded assent, as in the other cases,
supposing we were still talking of Til-tee, whilst the
rest of us were thinking of ostriches.
This "hatch" was also known to (Gonzales Borroro
(his father), who now told me they would be found in
the edge of the thistles, near the head of the "red
r«?;,-.:'y^PTw?ra5!!j>^«!-'',^^^^
BUENOS ATBES.
255
water/' one of the extreme sources of the Salado, and
in the pampa.
The pampas in various parts of South America are
vast level plains, not unlike the great prairies of the
Platte and the Arkansas, excepting that they are
covered with high weeds instead of short grass; and
amongst these weeds, of which there are many kinds,
there are wild flowers of all colours. And on the
eastern borders of the great pampas, stretching off from
Buenos Ayres to Patagonia on the south, and to the
base of the Andes on the west, there are vast forests
of thistles, which, sometimes for a great many miles
together, though they grow in patches, and as high
as a horse's back^ are almost impassable, even for a man
on horseback.
These thistles are the covers and asylums for the
ostrich, which feeds mostly out in the open plains and
in the ravines ; and when pursued runs to the thistles
for cover, where it is excessively difficult to follow it.
The plan of our day's sport was to ride about ten
miles before sunrise, and break upon the brood whilst
they were feeding in the open plain ; and if not suc-
cessful in that, to drive a thistle patch of several miles
in drcumference, forcing the game to cross an interven-
ing prairie of two or three miles to enter another thistle
cover, and in which plain our run would take place.
Borroro laid the plans and took the lead, riding a
beautiful pied horse, his bolas coiled upon his left arm,
and a lasso, in loops, round his horse's neck. His sion.
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256
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
\
Oos-hroh, and two other young men, well mounted and
equipped in the same way, and Alzar with his mini^
rifle, and I with ''Sam" in hand, and a uix-shot
revolver in my belt, formed the " hunters " of the party;
and some six or eight Indians, mounted but not armed,
followed in our train, as drivers of the thistles.
I have before said that sportsmen in this countiy
hunt without guns. The bolas — ^the " deadly bolas ! " a
thing imagined in the powder-burning world, and yet
but little understood. Let us know more about it and
its deadly powers before we go further — ^before we see
these true sportsmen playing with the flock of birds
before us. (We will come back to this play-day anon).
'' Borroro lives by killing and by catching horses, and
others of my people live by killing cattle." So said
Borroro to me ; and two weeks after this play-day on
which we have commenced, I went with Borroro and
party of ten, to see the deadly work of the bolas
amongst a band of wild horses that had been reported
on the plains near the head of the Bio Saladillo.
Driven by drought upon the vast pampas, these
animals often come in thousands together to the ex-
treme sources of the rivers rising in the plains, to get
water ; and sometimes, the Indians tell us, die by thou-
sands and rot upon the pampas before they reach it.
A circuit of ten days, in which I lost much flesh,
though I had no flesh to spare, satisfied all the passion
I ever had to witness the extreme of Indian endurance,
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BT7EN0S ATBES.
267
the deadliness of the bolas, and its havoc amongst the
noble tenants of the pampas.
The bolas is a raw-hide cord (and, of course, of great
strength, though very small), somewhat in the form of
the capital letter T ; each of the three branches being
some eight or ten feet in length, and having a leaden
ball of half-a-pound weight at its end. This is carried
in a coil on the rider's left arm, or on the horse's withers,
and when in the heat of the chase the rider raises it
an'^ swings it in a rotary motion around and above his
head, by holding one of the balls in his hand. His
horse is trained to approach its game on the right hand
side, that the missile may be thrown with its fullest
force and accuracy; and, at the proper distance, the balls
are sent forward with a force and tact that keeps them
revolving in the air, and their centiifugal force keeping
the cords straight, till one or the other of the cords
strikes the animal's neck, it matters not which, for in an
instant they all wrap around its neck and legs, and
binding both and all together, the animal falls upon
its head, and generally the neck is broken by the fall ;
if not, before the instant is out its hamstrings are cut
by a long and semi-circular-bladed lance, and its chances
for life are ended.
In battle, an enemy's arms are thus wrapped to his
sides, or his body wrapped to the neck and the legs of
his horse, and both go to the ground together !
In this hunt (or massacre), to which I have no more
space to devote, twenty horses were killed ; their skins,
T
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J ijiuiipi iifi/pp^pwjviqi
258
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIAN&
with the manes and tails attached, were stripped off,
and, on the backs of mules, were transported to the
Indian village.
This chase was for skins and hair only, and the lassoes
were not used. When death is wanted, the bolas is
taken in hand. When the Auca or the Puelche Indian
wants a horse for service, the affectionate lasso is
dropped over its neck, and it is broken in and domes-
ticated much in the manner of the North American
Indians, described in the earlier volume of this work.
Mounted and equipped, as has been related, for the
ostrich chase, we were assembled at and around the
rancho of Gonzales Borroro, a little before the dawn of
day.
Til-tee was up and dressed (the little she had was
soon put on), and her fond mother was there too, and,
from a wooden bowl, filled my pockets with dried prunes,
delightful to eat in the chase, when water is scarce.
She patted Yudolph on the neck and the nose, exa-
mined the girth of my saddle closely, and saluted me
with a waive of the hand, and a long " ya — ya — a" as I
rode off, evidently afraid that I should be thrown fi:om
Yudolph's back, and perhaps my neck broken.
At that time I could not more than half comprehend
such marked kindness, and such peculiar solicitude, but
gave the good woman credit for it, and received it as a
very strong eocfpreasion of hospitality.
We were off, and galloped over our ten miles pretty
I
ii^ifjf^fWfKffiimmf^il^iffmKFm'm^^^ - "rr-
1 ■ f ■
BUENOS ATBES.
259
quick, and getting near to the ground for our sport, it
was necessary to follow up for a mile or two the bed of
a small stream, forming a little grass-covered valley,
lower by some twenty or thirty feet than the surface of
the level platform on which our game was expected to
be discovered.
Borroro and myself, leaving the rest of the party in
the valley to await our signals, rode up the embankment
as quietly as we could, under cover of some hazel-bushes
and thistles standing on a projecting point, to reconnoitre
the plains about, of which we had a perfect view for
several miles.
Discovering nothing, after a careful search, we stepped
our horses out into the open prairie. Hearing the signal
whistle of his son, which he understood, " Here they
come I" said Borroro, as he was wheeling his horse about,
and the whole troop, with their necks stretched, and
their wings up, were breaking from a copse of willow
on the bank of the stream, where they had been for
water, had passed our companions, who were mostly
dismounted, and were now steering for the thistles,
exactly in a straight line towards us, and with our
fellow-sportsmen in their wake, as fiEist as they could
get their feet in the stirrups.
"Stand!" said Borroro. "We can do nothing in
meeting them — ^we must get behind them." And
moving his horse back into the bushes, at his signal
I followed him.
It was a beautiful sight — ^there were about twenty in
^w^m\Bl^mflll'WP^f'!9mmlmm^m9mm ■' "i .i->*-m.«im*fmmyf^
260
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIAira.
the troop, two coveys united. They rose the hill within
a few rods of us, and the plunging chevaliers were a
long distance hehind them. ''Now I" said Borroro,
"don't try to shoot, but lay out Yudolph to his utmost
— ^we must cut them off before they reach that thistle
patch, or we lose them I" Both Borroro and myself were
at our extremcirit, and side by side, as if on a race-course.
The " thistle patch " was half-a-mile or more. Yudolph
headed him by several lengths, and yet the running-
flying troop, on their tip-toes, turned the point of
thistles before us, and were out of sight in an instant.
All hands again together, and out of breath from the
sudden brush, a dismount and a " council of war" was
the next thing. That we should have passed the whole
troop in so thoughtless and careless a manner within
two or three hundred yards, in the valley, was an affair
so provoking and so humiliating to all, that the first
part of our counsel was taken up with groans and
exclamations of disappointment and regret, and after-
wards we proce<>ded to plans for bringing our labours
to better results.
If Borroro and I had been a few rods farther ahead
in our chase, we should have cut them off from the
thistles, and turned them loose upon an open prairie
of several miles, where th^ ground was good, and where
our sport would have been of the first order. "How-
ever," said Borroro, " we'll have it all right yet — ^there's
the south prairie — ^we'U turn them into it — ^it's just as
good/'
fm'r,'9f 111"" ri".T^
BUENOS AYKEB,
261
The "south praurie," (or llano, as they call it) was
another open, grassy plain of several miles in extent
stretching off between the forest of thistles into which
our game had plunged, and another similar forest farther
to the south. Our plan now was for the hunters of our
party to ride round some five or six miles, and in this
prairie, on its northern border, to take our positions at
equal distances, under cover of the edging thistles, and
await the breaking of cover, inlii'h was to be produced
by our staff of " drivers," who were to enter the thicket,
and work their way through *t from the north.
Signal whistles were to be blown when the birds were
well entered on the prairie, for the drivers to appear as
soon after as possible on the prairie's border, to prevent
them from returning to the thistles, and not until their
appearance was the chase to begin.
We all sat close and silent, and at length (it was a
curious sight) the older and wiser birds appeared first,
and led the way, tilting and crouching along as they
cautiously emerged, and their long necks stretched,
examining the prairie before them to see if an enemy
was on it. Moving as if they suspected the plot, and
the younger of the broods following, they advanced a
long distance into the prairie, and lay down, some upon
their bellies, and others upon their sides, hidiig their
heads behind bunches of leaves and tufts of grass whilst
the whole of their fat and round bodies loomed up in
full view and exposed.
Our "drivers" came out and showed themselvas at
262
LAST RAMBLES AMONGHiT THE INDIANS.
different points, and at the sound of Borroro's whistle
we all started. The poor birds (which Borroro subse-
quently assured me had all shut their eyes), from the
tramp of our horses, which announced our approach, and
which they heard with their heads on the ground, were
up and off. We were now in the chase — " an ostrich
chase."
They started in a group, and ran, not in a circuit or a
curve, but stretched their necks in a straight line for
the nearest thicket, perhaps at a distance of two miles.
No manoeuvring, and nothing but a fair and a straight
race offered us any chance, and the first half-mile was
thus contested with equal speed, when the tremendous
strides of maddened Yudolph, in spite of all the poor
creatures could do, brought me into the midst of them,
with Borroro but a length or two in arrear, and on their
right flank. At my first cylinder one of them fell, and,
probably from the sound of the gun, they broke and ran
in all directions. The sport then became beautiful, each
rider, crossing their curves, came upon them. I saw
them writhing and struggling in the deadly coils of the
bolas, and recognised the "old minid's" voice in the
miUe. It was now a "running fight," a leaping and
dodging for life with some, others were leading off in
straight lines for the thicket, and some got there — ^but
few. Every one was attending to his own business, and
it was difficult to see or to know exactly what was
actually progressing.
When the field was cleared, however, and there was
piMIHIJilPMiiPiiPPiiP
BUENOS AYRES.
263
nothing more to be done, though we were separated, in
some instances, several miles apart, we got breath by
resting awhile in our saddles, or by dismounting and
lying on the ground, and at length got together on the
fie'd, our drivers having been whistled up to carry our
game. '
I have joined in the buffalo chase in all its forms,
but never before took part in a chase so difficult as this.
After the brood was separated, they ran in all directions,
darting in zig-zag and curved lines before and around
us, leading our horses into angles difficult to turn, and
the rider into positions from which he could not use his
weapons. Our horses, at the end, as if they had run a
five-mile heat, like ourselves, were ready to lie down
upon the ground for rest
My two first shots killed, but I discharged the other
four cylinders all upon the same bird, but without
effect, owing to its shifting courses, and the consequent
irregular and violent motions of my horse. My two
first shots, which were fatal, were given while both the
bird and the horse were running in a straight line,
which made the aim more steady and more sure. My
third bird worried me and my horse by its crooked lines
until it reached the thistles, and I returned without it.
Borroro picked up three, and his son brought in two.
The other two Indians had three between them, taken
with lassoes, and Alzar had fired once, and missed.
Our birds, therefore, counted up, were ten. The
ostriches that we kiQed. called in that country " nandu,"
^64
LAST RAMBL1BS AMONGST THE INDIANS.
were about one-hair the size of the AMcan ostrich, with
three toes instead of two; and their feathers com-
paratively of little value. Their wings were cut off
and carried, and their legs for the sinews; and the
skins of several of them were taken for sacks, useful for
many purposes, and their carcasses were left on the
field. •
The ten pairs of wings were elevated on two long
poles by two of the Indians, as we rode triumphantly
into the village under shouts of applause. Little
Til-tee*a voice and hands were raised amongst the
number, and the good mother, when she heard from
her husband how I had performed, patted me on the
shoulder, erdaiming, "Buenol bueno! — rmiy bueno,
seiLor ! " thinking perhaps to herself of what nobody but
herself had yet thought of.
The grand features of this vast and untilled country,
in addition to its pampas and prairies, are its lakes, its
salines, and its sables. Its sandy (or "cedar") ridge,
lying off towards the Bio Negio, is fiill of guanacoes, a
species of llamas, beautiful for chasing, and almost the
only sport and living of the Puelches and Patagons. Its
flesh is equal to that of venison, and the skins form
leggings and robes for clothing, and, sewed together,
form coverings for their tents. We planned a run
amongst them, but now are taking a look at the " Qr^d
Saline."
Ooa-hrok, the chiefs son, was to lead us. Alzar was
going, and two Indians. The ride was thirty miles —
iiifeii
^pjiiiilfllipilpip^
BUENOS ATBES.
265
one day's work. One day to be spent there, and two
days to come back, examining the " talking lake " and
shooting ducks on our way. We laid in salt (we actually
required nothing else). I promised the little Til-tee to
bring her some beautiful feathers, which could not be
reached by bolas or lasso, and she was in raptures ; and
the mother again stuffed my pockets with dried prunes.
Our horses were led up, but not yet saddled, and
Alzar's nag from Buenos Ayres, ruminating perhaps on
the uncouth manners of people in this part of the
country, slipped its head out of its bridle, and evidently
was turning its face towards the civilised city. Alzar
mounted on to one of the Indians* horses, and;, with a
lasso in his hand, with v^liich he was tolerably expert,
galloped off after it A broad prairie was before us^
and making a circuit, to get abead of his eloping
horse, he made several passes at it, but the cunning
animal showed its heels, and effectually kept out of
his way.
The scene was an amusement for all, and all were
astonished at the desperate bolts and curves made by
bolli, to no effect, excepting the complete discourage-
ment of Alzar, who seemed to be abandoning the chase
in despair, to return to the village.
I stood at the moment holding Yudolph, yet un-
saddled, with the bridle in both hands crossed behind
me, and feeling a gentle pressure upon the rein, I
looked round, and met the sparkling eyes of the smiling
little TU-tee, by their veiy expression emphatically and
iilpp^ipqpipiiPi^
\
266
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
silently asking consent as she was timidly drawing the
rein of Tudolph out of my hand. The instant allowed
me was just enough to yield consent, and to see that
she had a lasso coiled on her left arm, when Tudolph
had her astride of his bare back, and was off, in his
clear and flying bounds I
A shout of surprise was ndsed, but no one had fears
but myself. The father smiled, the mother gazed, and
the child rode on ! And as her floating black hair and
narrow shoulders of demi-red were alternately rising
and sinking above and in the waving grass, I thought,
"0 lucky, envied horse! Were I in Yudolph's place
with such a prize, I would gallop to the golden coast."
She seemed troubled ; her hair had lost its pin, and fell
in two parted waves over her shoulders ; and, dropping
the rein to adjust it (for it was in her way), oh, ho^r
gracefully she balanced as she was wrapping and tying
it round her neck I
Tudolph, though knowing his errand and his rider,
had kept his speed, but not exactly his course. The
rein was lifted again, and the mile that she and Yudolph
then made in a straight line w s like a flying arrow,
leaving a tinged train firom its reddened feather. Alzar
was passed, and btood astounded, as if a meteor had
gone by him! The Buenos Ayrean steed, aware of
what was behind him, steamed at his highest, and just
before they would have slipped from our view, the
delicate arm of the little Amazon (for with my pocket-
glass I could see it distinctly) made a circuit round
yiJNipiiiPlliiipiiiPiWiiuipiij^
BUENOS ATBES.
267
and over her head, and the fatal noose was seen to fall I
A shout was raised, but she was too far to hear it.
Yudolph was seen galloping a curve or two with the
Buenos Ayrean nag by his side, like a boat picked up
on the waves of the sea, and, taking Alzar in tow, all
came trotting in together.
Alzar looked distressed, but said the Indian horse he
rode knew he was not an Indian; his Buenos Av?*ean
steed showed an expression of utter despair, and a fuU
conviction of Yudolph's superior mettle; and ever-
beaming little Til-tee dismounted, and with her smiling
cheeks and heaving breast received the applause of allf
and from me a kiss — ^I could not help it — and a
beautiful pocket looking-glass, set in silver.
Our ride to the " Orarid Saline" was yet before us,
and, our saddles on, we started. An hour or so, and we
were at the shore of another branch of the Salado;
into it, and through its clear waters, and over its pebbly
bottom we waded — ^reminding me of Caesar and me in
the Snake Biver. As we passed over these clear and
transparent waters, quietly on their way to the ocean,
I contemplated the vast and unknown solitudes of
grass and thistles in which they had their origin,
and mounting the retraced banks also and slopes on
the opposite side, the ancient turns and motions of
the elements when these vast excavations were dredged
out.
- We were beyond it, and on an elevated plain of grass,
with wild flowers that no pencil could portray and no
M
268
LAST IIAHBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
pen could describe. We were evidently on a divide — a
water-shed ; and looking to the south convinced us. A
vast and interminable lake or sea seemed to be lying in
distance before ua, here and there spotted with green,
like islands, which proved to be shrubbery, but at last
terminating, like everything else, blue in the distance ;
and yet not all blue — ^there were streaks of white. And
m the sky — ^what's that ? An army of soldiers ? Soldiers
are not in the sky. It's a mirage. It's the mirage of a
war-party ; and yonder is another, drawn out in Indian
file I It must be so! But stop! — these soldiers are
pouring down like a stream into the lake of blue
and white below; and now this shadow passing by
us!
" Now look up, sefior; here is another war-party right
over our heads!"
''And so it is. And now I understand: these are the
beautiful birds, the flamiTigoea, that you are taking me
to see."
''Yes, seiLor. That blue lake that you see in the
distance is the ' Orand Saline,* and the streaks of white
are the beautiful birds hatching out their eggs. This
is just the season, and to-morrow you shall have fun
enough."
From the summit of the graceful swell upon which
we had mounted we gradually and almost imperceptibly
descended for several miles, until we were near the
border of this vast saline; when, whispering, Alzar begged
US to halt for a moment. I held his horse as he dis-
■■ I
^PliPiP!
mmm
\^jf9Wi9m9mmmmm'^
BUENOS ATRES.
269
mounted, and cautiously advancmg a few rods, he raised
his rifle and shot down a solitary guanaco that had
stood its ground, and was looking at us, precisely at the
place where we were going to sleep, and when fresh
meat was wanted.
We were now on a level with the saline, and could
see little hut the constant flocks of flamingoes sailing
ahout like infantry, or like war-parties on the march.
These, constantly rising and getting high into the air,
were steering ofiF to other parts, or were streaming down
into the saline to spend the night.
We collected great quantities of dried willow-stalks
for fael, and with a rousing fire on each side of us, and
a smoke from huming rotten grass, we kept off the
mosquitoes, but gre/»tly to their disappointment. Their
hour, about ten o'clock, arrived, but they were silent,
and we walked forth in the cool air unmolested, and
unattracted or amused, except by the clacking and
chattering of the wild-fowl of these saline solitudes
and the incredible beauty of the firefly halos that
were here and there glowing like the light of hidden
lamps. "
Everywhere and all around us these little insects, each
one carrying his beautiful phosphor lamp, were making
their curves, and swinging, and dancing under our noses,
and sometimes against them; and here and there, in
the distance, swarms with myriads in a little space
moving the air, or settled and hovering in the grass
and around the bushes, where my note-book was
270
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIAlHi.
read as easily as by daylight, or under the brightest
lamp.
These swarms, some stationary and others travelling,
could be seen in the distance until their numbers became
countless, and a general flood of light near the ground
almost extinguished the darkness of night.*
The salines, of which there are many on the head
waters of the Salado and Saladillo, and also farther
south, near the Colorado, and between that and the
Bio Negro, are evidently the remains of salt lakes,
in time filled in with growing and decaying vegetation.
There are still, around the extreme sources of the
Salado, a great number of salt lakes without any
connection with running streams, either into or out
of them.
These salines, in the winter season, are generally
covered with several feet of salt water, which rises from
the earth, and in the summer season this water is
evaporated by the rays of the sun, leaving an incrusta-
tion of the muriate of salt over much of the surface, and
other parts a slimy mud associated with salt, so exces-
sively di£Scult to travel on, and so nauseous, that no
animal whatever will venture into it, and none of the
feathered tribes except the stork species, of which are
the flamingoes. They build their nests and hatch their
* What an ornament these beautiful and harmless insects would be to
a nobleman's or gentleman's grounds in England ; how beautifully they
would light up his lawn. They could easily be imported, and the climate
of England would, no doubt, be snitable for them.
ii!Pi!wti«i(piwi|j|P,«lPV.U4i.iMli|!^ip I' '"^IR^iiliiPiiliRPIiVRPPI
BTTINOS ATBES.
271
young in it, in perfect security from molestation by
animals of the country.
It is probably owing to this perfect security to their
eggs and their young, that incredible numbers of these
birds are seen in that country, often settling down, and
rising, and wading in these salines, and sailing about
over them in millions at the same time.
The flamingo, which is one of the most delicate and
beautiful birds in existence, varies from four to five feet
in height ; its chief colour is pure white, with parts of
its wings of the most flaming red, and another proportion
jet black.
They gather grass and weeds, with which they build
their nests on the ground, and stiffen them up with
mud, much in the manner that swallows build. These
nests stand in the mud, and are generally about
one foot high, open cones, and from two to three
feet apart; and sometimes cover hundreds of acres,
looking from a distant elevation like a mass of honey-
comb.
In the winter season these nests are all under water,
and not seen. In the summer, when the water is
evaporated, they reappear, and the birds, taking posses-
sion, fit them up, and hatch their broods in tftiem again.
The birds are always paired, and the male is busily
engaged in hunting and bringing food, or standing by
on one leg and sleeping whilst the female is sitting on
her eggs. Domestic rights seem to be guarded with the
greatest jealousy, and, from their frequent encounters,
272
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
one would suppose they were protected with the most
obstinate and heroic gallantry.
From our bivouac we saddled up in the moxning, and
rode to a slight eminence, the nearest we could see to
the nests, and from that, overlooking the scene with a
good field-glass, the picture was one of interest for hours
to look upon; it was truly a "Qrand Exposition" —
grand for its industry of millions, all busy, building,
hatching, and feeding — ^grand for its proportions, extend-
ing, perhaps, some twenty miles in length — and grand
for the beauty of its colours ; for the sun was just up,
and its horizontal rays, catching upon the bending
columns soaring in the air, and on the never-ending
group, where thousands were constantly playing on tip-
toe with upspread wings, and all, the red, the black,
and the white, glistening, like the slimy mud they
walked and ran and played upon, with the sun's re-
fracted rays.
My glass was good, but perhaps I am more inquisitive
than other folks — ^I wanted a nearer view. Beconnoi-
tiing the ground closely, though we were fiill a mile
from the nearest part of it, I discovered a sort of pro-
montory of grass and bog, with now and then little tufts
of willows, extending into the saline, and very near to
where the nests commenced. One of the little Indians
who had accompanied us (half negro) told me he could
lead me near enough to shoot amongst them. He said
he had sometimes walked up so near to them as to catch
them with the bolaa "Come on, then," said I. We
1
mmm
Ffmmfrmm.
If MlllfPl , !
•t^HTiv^vrmM'\' f- wp' < w.
r
BtJENOS ATRIS.
273
left the rest of the party to overlook us ; we were in the
chase (or rather ruse).
Advancing ahout half the way, we came to a hunch
of alder and willow hushes, and in a few minutes he had
cut and so arranged a screen of these, to carry in hoth
hands hefore him, as completely to hide him from their
view, and also to screen me, as I was to walk close up
to him, stepping in his footsteps. My hat was left he-
hind, and my helt was filled with houghs rising higher
than my head, and with others descending to my feet,
so that we were ostensibly (at least for silly birds)
nothing but a bunch of bushes.
My cylinders, which my friend Colonel Colt had
shaped expressly for shot and ball, I had filled with
duck-shot, and we began to move forward in a straight
line, but very slowly. Full half-a-mile, almost inch by
inch, the bunch of bushes moved. Sometimes we were
on or astride of bogs, and sometimes up to our waist-
bands in mud, and ignorant of the moment that might
have taken us to the chin.
However, "nothing risked, nothing .v^n." We kept
on, and at length came within some five or six rods
of the nearest nests, where the females were sitting
on their eggs, and the husbands standing on one
leg by them and fast asleep, whilst others were
gathenng wonns from the mud and bringing to feed
them!
The silly things looked hard at us as an unaccount-
able appearance, but the bunch of bushes not apparently
U
274
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
moving, they seemed to think it was but the natural.
I had no chance to sketch, as " Sam " was before me in
both hands, and motions would have been imprudent ;
but I had the most perfect chance to see and to
study (to sketch in my mind) eveiy attitude and every
characteristia
At length one of the tallest of the throng, with his
mouth full of collected worms, seeming to be suspicious,
advanced quite up to take a good look at us, and poked
his long neck forward, and began to walk round to get
a side or back view of us. His motions and expressions
were so droll, as I saw him across the bridge of my
nose, that I burst (which I could not avoid) into a loud
laugh. He screamed, and I fired through the group, a
raking fire, and another cylinder as they were getting
on the wing ; and of all the curious hunting or other
scenes that I have seen on earth, that scene was the
most curious. Those that were near were wheeling
about in the air, like a cloud above us, and shadowing
the earth around us; and as the alarm was general,
those rising more slowly in the extreme distance
looked like a white fog streaming up from the ground.
We stood still, and the whirling multitudes in the air
formed into lines like infantry, and each, with its
leader, was moving round and over our heads, not
knowing what the matter was, or where the danger was,
or where to go.
One of these lines came so near that I brought the
leader down. He descended with outspread wings, and
gum
m^mmifmim
$i^9Vf«ivTCtpn"
p^ppT^wvniiMiiHpim I
»>HI|.l,"lf|ll
BUENOS ATRES.
275
fell within ten feet of me, and down came bis troop,
faster than I could count them, all in a mass, one upon
the other, not knowing what was the trouble, stretching
down their long legs and flapping their scarlet wings
actually against me and in my face ! At the struggling
of their dying leader, they all saw there was some
mistake, took the alarm, and were ofif in confusion. StiU,
brigade after brigade came sailing round us, and I soon
discharged all my cylinders, bringing down one at each
fire.
From my two first raking shots, where in range they
looked like a solid mass, seven or eight were lying dead,
and others were hobbling off with broken wings ; and
of all together we picked u^ thirteen. But, before
picking up my birds, I had been obliged to pick up my
negro Indian boy. He had had no idea of my firing more
than once, and in my agitation and somewhat of con-
fusion in turning to fixe right and left, being withed up
in a bunch of bushes filled with smoke, the sharp
breech of my rifle had struck him on the temple, and
knocked him helpless down, without my knowing it.
He had fallen backwards, entangled in his bushes, and
was lying on his back, imploring me to be merciful. He
thought I had shot him, and that I was going to shoot
him again.
I got him up, and soon explained, by signs, the
accident, and then we observed our companions, without
their horses, coming at full gallop to join us. We
were a nasty group, up to our waistbands in the mud
U|,piilMWffi|iMlPa||i|jlL|jj|J|)pp|iyt.|pi(^|[|^^^
276
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANA
and slime, on which the birds walked with scarcely wet
feet. V
The scene now before us was strange in the extreme,
a landscape, a perspective of nests, with the heads of
young birds standing out, as far as the eye could
discern, and nothing else. Nests with eggs, and nests
with young ; the very young heads up and gazing, the
older young, but without wings, pitched out of their
nests, and sprawling, and trying to fly or to hide
themselves on the ground. We replaced the little
chicks about us in their nests as well as we could, and .
left them.
Two pair of the handsomest wings I cut ofiF with my
own knife for little Til-tee, and the rest were taken by
the others of the party. These wings, for military
feathers and other uses, are objects of commerce, and
always find a ready market in Buenos Ayres and Bio
de Janeiro.
Now, why should I lose space by telling how we got
back; how we spent the day amongst the birds, the
worms, and snakes that infest in myriads the shores of
the "Grand Saline" — how we recrossed the sandy
plains, rode to the " talking (echoing) lake," and after
shooting ducks and geese till we were tired, returned to
the happy little Auca village.
Til-tee was the first to meet and to greet us, half-
a-mile from the village. I then gave her the beautiful
red wings of the flamingoes, and others, of green and
blue, of the wood-ducks I had shot at the " lake that
^Ilffflflll^gfllgirtflllfjim^^
BUENOS ATBES.
277
talks." Yudolph knew the little maid, and he trembled
with his love for her when she came up and patted him
on his nose. She uou:ided with joy, and was in the
village before us.
The villagers were gathered around us, and what
was the first news we heard? Borroro had gone to
Buenos Ayres, with two Puelche chiefs, who had arrived
from the Colorado with information that a large war-
party of Fatagons was assembling on the Eio Negro, for
a war with Buenos Ayres ! Borroro had left word that
I must not think of going to Patagonia yet, and that
his son OoS'hrok should accompany me to Buenos
Ayres.
I was very liberal now with the little store of
presents I had laid in for the Fatagons. Til-tee got
many strings of beautiful beads, of ribbands, needles,
&c. ; and her mother several vari- coloured cotton
shawls, for which she had a peculiar passion; and,
with Ooa-hrok for our guide, we started for Buenos
Ayres.
And what in Buenos Ayres ? All was for war. " War,
war, with the Fatagons!" Men were enlisting, and
soldiers were drilling ; and I saw at once the impossi-
bility of a tour through Fatagonia under the present
circumstances. And why should I say more of my
dreamed and fancied expedition which did not, and
could not, take place ?
Faithful Alzar, who had become very much attached
to me, and I were obliged to take leave of each other.
278
LAST BAUBLES AMONGST THE INDIAN&
and shaking hands for the third and last time, he was
saved, perhaps, from shedding any tears by the "old
mini^," which I had promised him, and now placed in
his handa.
ll*W||ipill||lliPWIPUW!^
CHAPTER Vm.
TIEBBA DEL FUSGO.
Y " occupation (again) gone," I dwelt no more on
Indians, but thought again of " Rocks** " How
much more grand, how sublime ! Indians are,
after all, poor things, and soon to become extinct — ^but
rocks I rocks ! the eternal landmarks and boimdaries of
the globe!"
" Tierra del Fuego (the land of fire), the perpetual
snMyw-cofvered mountains of the land of fire ! how
harmonious and how inviting. And the fire-vomiting
Cotopaxi (Cotopa^i), that coughs up a rock of sixty tons
weight, and only throws it fifteen miles I and 600 miles
the greatest extent to which its awfiil bellowings are
heard; and the snow and cloud capped Chimborazo!
(Tchimboracho); these are said actually to exist, and
the great Baron de Humboldt has even said so, and also
that he saw them ; but how much more satisfactory to
go and see and feel them."
With such contemplations, could I stop in Buenos
Ayres? I was going on board the Oladiator. She
was bound to Valparaiso, on the Pacific coast. From
pi|J.iU||liypilVl|piUlliU,li.JJiHl|i|pi|llLli.
280
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIAN&
day to day the palisaded coast of Patagonia, like tHe
clififs of the Kentish coast in England, were tantalising
us as we passed them. And the ragged and black and
white, and smoking heaps and piles of lifted mountains
and mountain-peaks of " Magellan " and " Fuego " were
ahead of us, but as jet in imagination. Cartoons were
ready, and colours and pencils, and two days of sleep,
ahead, so as to be wide awake whilst passing them.
We are in the Strait of Magellan — and those
mountains, blue on our left and before us, and some
over them and higher, glistening like the tin roofs of
Montreal — ^the sun's rays are on them, and they are
covered with snow !
" Captain, you know all about theso V*
** Well, I ought to know something of them ; I have
seen them from all sides.*'
" And these black and frowning walls on our rights
they look as if they had been b ken off with mighty
sledge-hammers ; and these two, right straight ahead —
how immense and how grand I They look as if they
had been shoved up from the bottom of the ocean on
the back of some terrible monster ! Surely the Andes
has been broken in two here I What an awful struggle
there has been I The Indians tell us that the Andes
was once a great serpent — that its tail was here, and
these huge rocks were its rattles I How sublime!
What a rattlesnake ! I have crossed over the back of
this reptile, and also of its mate, in North America, the
Kocky Mountains, in their largest parts.**
^WPHppp!||p|ppa5P!l»?lfP^
TIERBA DEL FUEQO.
281
** I think you axe fond of rocks and mountams, sir V*
"Yes, captain. There is nothing else on the earth's
surface so suhlime, so grand, and so interesting for the
study of man. I think of nothing else — but here —
how is this ? you are anchoring in this cove — what
for?" .
" Why, sir, the wind is dead ahead round that point
yonder, and blowing fresh — ^we'll have to lie by a bit
here. We are in * Pecket Harbour.* Vessels are often
wind-bound here, and take in water and provisions.
There's a sutler here, and he's just come on board, and
this is he, sir." *'
** Ah 1 Where's your town, sir V*
''That's all that you see yonder, sir, and a few
houses round the point. There's nothing here but a
few of us, and some poor creatures, Indians, encamped
around us ^"
« What 1 Indians ? Well, that's droll ; I thought I
had finished with Indians. What Indians are they ?"
''Well, sir, there's a little encampment of Fatagons,
and a dozen or so of Fuegians."
" Captain, I am going ashore, and you must send the
yawl with me after breakfast ; and let me have one of
the cabin-boys to carry my portfolio."
" They shall be at your service, sir."
Ascending the little hill at the back of the village to
reach the Indians' camp, and near it, with a mulatto
boy carrying my portfolio, I met a large and very fine
dog hobbling along towards me, and yelling in the most
Ilpfipippliipiiplppip^
282
LAST RAMBLES AMONOST THE INDLiNa
piteous manner, with an arrow driven into its side quite
up to the feather, and two Indians following it with guns,
and evidently intending to shoot it. My first impression
was that it was mac?, and I was raising my rifle for self-
defence, when I observed by its crouching position and
the wagging of its tail as it was approaching me, that it
was seeking a friend in me, and evidently was approach-
ing me for protection.
I answered its supplication by beckoning with my
hand, and the poor creature understanding me, crept
up and lay down at my feet ; but the link of sympathy
was severed the next moment, by one of the Indians
advancing and shooting the poor creature through the
head!
I had no interpreter, and of course no means of getting
an explanation ; and taking it by the legs, the Indians
dragged it into the camp. This was entering an Indian
village for once in my life under an excited and rather
hesitating feeling, but it would not do to turn back at
this point, where the eyes of all were upon us.
I was met, however, and luckily, in this dilemma, by
an interpreter who was sent to speak with us.
The first thing I asked, and the first thing explained,
was the object for which the poor dog had been shot. It
was required, by the singular custom of the country, to
be placed in the grave with its master, whose body was
then just being buried, and whose tent, at a little dis-
tance, containing all its furniture, clothing, &c., was then
burning!
TIERRA DEL FUEQO.
283
In the middle of the night before, the poor man had
gone oat from his tent to move the picket of his horse,
when he was bitten in the leg by a rattlesnake that he
had disturbed. The villagers were all up, with torches
in their hands, and the reptile being found, was killed,
and the man died in a few hours.
I had sat down with this interpreter, who was a
Portuguese half-caste, and also spoke Spanish tolerably
well. I told him I feared it would be an unlucky time
to visit their little camp, and he said, "No; the occur-
rence which has just happened would present no diffi-
culty whatever;" and he then conducted me to the
chiefs tent, where I was politely received, and easily
explained my views — ^that I had come ashore from a
vessel just arrived, and having learned that a party of
Indians were there, I had come to make them a short
visit, probably for the day only.
I told him that I had spent the best part of my life in
visiting numerous tribes of red people like himself, in
various parts of the world; and, like a practical and
reasoning man, and a real gentleman, he evidently
appreciated my motives in an instant, and began to
ask me questions about the various races I had seen
faster even than I could answer them.
This man, though a chief, was but the chief of a band,
or perhaps only of the little encampment over which he
had control. His questions were rational and judicious,
and after answering them awhile, I took the initiative
by opening my portfolio of portraits, which seemed to
mmiimBmm.
IPiPPViPiPilPiii
mmmmmmf^m
284
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE IimiANB.
answer a thousand questions, and evidently to suggest
as many more.
I explained to him that I had visited more than one
million of red people in their various villages ; and on a
small map of North America I pointed out, so that he
clearly understood their relative positions and distances
from where we were then sitting. He expressed no
astonishment whatever in his looks or actions, nor made
ejaculations, but calmly told me there was much more
for poor Indians to learn in this world than he ever
before had thought o£
By this time his tent was becoming too small for the
crowd that was getting into it, and it became necessary
for my mulatto boy to hold up each portrait in turn, so
that all could see them, whilst I, with the aid of the
interpreter, descanted on them.
These people never flatten the head, nor cut and maim
the flesh in any way for the purpose of ornamentation,
and when I showed them the Flatheads, and explained
the process of flattening the head, and the Botocudos
and Nayas portraits, with blocks of wood in their
lips, a tremendous laugh was raised, and the chief
very coolly remarked that "they were very great
fools."
For want of space I was now obliged to take up a
position outside of the chief's tent, where all comers
could see and hear ; and amongst others that appeared
there soon came from two grass-covered wigwams, at a
little distance, several Fuegians, and amongst them an
.',
pim(ii)PPPippnpc|M'i^iv .iMpwwiif i^wjfwiPif fwp^'.'w.wif up-fw"|«i|ipi|i ''mwv i
TIEBRA DEL FUEOO,
285
eccentric cliaractor whom the interpreter told me was a
medicine-man (a sorcerer), his body and limbs cuiiously
painted, and his head and neck as white as pipe-clay
could make them, and surmounted by two white quills
of the largest dimensions. This strange-looking being,
either from jealousy of my works (which, of course, were
considered great medicme), or from disbelief in my
wonderful relations, took it in his head to raise objec-
tions to the " spectacle " that was going on. The chief,
however, telling him I would most likely have his fright-
ful face put in my book, caused him to haul gradually
off, whilst the crowd were laughing at him.
I felt at once amongst this little group as if I were
amongst a group of Comanches of North America. Not
only are they mounted, equipped, and armed, like the
Comanches, with bows and arrows, and long lances, and
like them in their modes of dress and ornament, but
strikingly resemble them in physiognomy and physio-
logical traits.
The men chiefly divide their long hair in two parts,
separated on the forehead and thrown on to the shoulders
and back by a silver-plated band or hoop, which is
crowded down from the top of the head and over the
hair, near to the eyebrows, holding the hair in its place,
clear from the face and back of the ears. Their faces
(in full dress) are always painted red from the eyebrows
to the mouth, including the ears, and the other parts
of the face painted in a variety of shapes and bright
colours; and they wear no head-dresses, and very
mm
mfm^^i'^^
mmmmmmmmfi^
286
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
seldom ornament the head even wUh a single quill or
feather.
Their dress at this season — the middle of Januaiy,
and therefore midsummer — ^is very slight. The men
wear a breech cloth round the waist, and the women
a sort of apron of cotton-cloth or of bark, extending
down to the knee, and moccasins beautifully embroidered,
made of the skins of deer or goats ; and in the colder
season, both men and women dress the leg with skins
and wrap themselves in robes made of the skins of
guanacoes, and curiously painted; and their tents, which
are small and light for the convenience of transportation,
are made of the skins of the same animal, or of wild
cattle and horses, with which the vast plains of their
country abound.
Observing on the chiefs face the marks of smallpox,
I questioned him about it, and he informed me that
when he was a boy he was near dying with that disease ;
and he told me that, about 1812 or 1815, as near as I
could ascertain, that awful disease was communicated
to his people by some white people on the coast,
who were selling rum and whisky and other things
to the Indians, and that more than one-half of the
great and powerful tribe of Fatagons were destroyed
by it. « •
" We are poor," said he ; " we want many things that
the white people make — ^their clothes, their knives, their
guns, and many other things — and we come here to buy
them; and many of my people, who are foolish, will
mmm
fujmirwTmm
pilPPI^^jjiVnr
TIERRA DEL FUEQO.
287
buy whisky, and it makes them mad, when they will
kill even their own mothers and their little children.
We do all we can to prevent this, but still it is not
stopped, and we are afraid of getting the awful disease
again."
One can easily see that I had enough to do this day
without painting, and we returned on board full of
fatigue and hunger, the chief having agreed to sit for
his portrait the next day, if the vessel would wait for
me.
My conditional appointment with the chief being ex-
plained to the captain, and the portfolio opened to him,
which he had not before seen, he agreed to wait another
day, whatever the wind might be, for the satisfaction of
gratifying me, and the pleasure he would have ashore
with me.
Captain Ford proved to be a real " hon horn/me" and,
becoming as much taken up with me as the Indians
were, went ashore with me the next morning, on con-
dition that he could have the pictures to lecture on
amongst the women and children, who had not yet seen
them, whilst I was sketching my portraits. And when
night came, and we were safe on board again, and our
craving stomachs pacified, he said to me that this had
been to him the happiest day of his life that he ever
had spent
My sketch of this rational and intelligent chief was
followed by that of his wife and a warrior ; and then
hasty sketches were made at the little and more humble
'mmmfmm9mi^im^''^'li^^
288
LAST BAMBIiES AMONGST THE XDDIAN&
demewre of the Fuegians, at which the famous doctor,
with his white head, was mi/nua, he having withdrawn
himself, prohahly with absolute disgust.
The reader will easily imagine with what excitement,
and with what ^clat, and with what security and success,
from this point I could have penetrated and passed
through the centre of Patagonia, with the introduction of
this little returning colony, had there been no rumours
of war, and I had had my faithful Csesar, or even Alzar,
with me ; but here I stood alone, and the barren coast
could have furnished me no reliable companions. But
it may happen yet that I shall be able to see the way
and a proper time to pass through the midst of these
interesting people; and then if it happens I shaU be
able to say more of them and their customs than I now
can.
Yet, from this little caravan, which had travelled several
hundred miles to visit the coast, I learned many things
of interest, and was enabled to learn them in a little
time. As to the fabulous accounts of "giants," men
"eight and ten feet high," as related by some early writers,
I learned from this chief that there actually existed no
such monstrous persons in the tribe, though there were
some parts of the country nLere the men were very tall,
considerably taller than himself.
From this man I learned that the government of the
Patagons resembled very closely that of most of the
North American tribes — a head chief and a council of
subordinate chiefs, or chie& of bands, forming the
wwp^PPPPPW
■Mpipnivvff'i.i. !i,nniiiii^m,,ij|if,i«:Piii^«» i.uBW'fi
TIKRRA DEL FUEQO.
289
government of the tribe. He told me they could
muster 8000 warriors, well mounted and well armed,
and were abundantly able to defend themselves and
their countzy from assaults of any enemy they had.
That the tribe of Puelches on the north of them,
between them and Buenos Ayres, were their relations,
and that through them they traded horses and hides
for guns and ammunition to the Buenos Ayreans, and
m that way could equip all the warriors of the tribe.
They catch their horses wild on the prairies, and train
and ride them in the same way and as well as the
Comrxnches do.
Their saddles and stirrups are made with great skill,
and the stirrups for women (who ride astride, and as
boldly as the men) are suspended by a broad and
ornamented strap crossing the horses' neck; and for
both men and women these stirrups, which are made of
wood, and curiously carved, admit but the two largest
toes to enter, to guard against fatal accidents, which too
often befall horsemen in the civilised world.
Their dead are always buried in a sitting posture,
and with them their pipes and their weapons, and by
the side of them their dogs and their horses; and
eveiything else that they possess is burned with their
wigwam.
The Fuegians are a tribe of some five or six thousand,
mhabiting both sides of the Strait of Magellan, living
entirely on fish and wildfowl. Their lives are spent
chiefly in their canoes, made from bark of trees, sewed
mrnmif^'^m^'mmvj^mmiiui \. mmm^^^
290
\'.
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
together and glued, somewliat like the canoes of the
Ojibbeways of North America. In the summer season,
both men and women wear only a flap covering the
hips ; and in the winter cover their bodies with robes
made of th^ skins of the sea-wolf, which they kill with
their spears and arrows.
Their manufacture of flint spear and arrow heads is
not surpassed by even the Apachees or Snakes, or any
other of the North American tribes, and they are made
in the same forms and by the same process which has
been described. And their wigwams, which are very
small, are made by setting a number of slender poles in
the ground in a circle, and bending the tops in, forming
a cone, which is covered with long grass, or with skins
of the sea-wolf.
These people are unquestionably a branch of the
Fatagon family, speaking & dialect of the Patagon
language, and living in harmony and friendship with
them ; and living by the side of and adjoining them, and
still so entirely i*nlike, both in physiognomy and in
symmetrical proportions, furnish one of the most strik-
ing and satisfactory proofs of the metamorphose of man
by men's different modes of life.
Wind-bound a third day, I went again ashore, and
drew, through the interpreter, which he pronounced
with distinct emphasis, the following brief vocabulary of
Patago:iian translations of English words, which may be
interesting to the reader : —
?m^'?p«ifiP.pRif*tt^ia»f!!'i!W5fP^
TIEBBA DEL FUEGO.
291
English.
Patagon.
English.
Patagon.
I
ya
before
wieeker
you
mushma
behind
aucenker
he
da
below
anunk
they
dushda
here
nane
this
win
there
hemai
that
miro
yes
hooi
good
getenc
no
gom
had
sterone
large
stsanic
man
alen
small
stsalenc
woman
naac
hot
borshenc
baby
amel
cold
curshenc
boy
stalsen
dry
arenc
girl
carsen
wet
etshaksh
father
yanco
high
sebenick
mother
yan
low
tsamnick
brother
den
sweet
goosh
sister
denon
bitter
stark
husband
hausenk
clean
jet
wife
shay
dirty
startenk
sick
shoyu
head •
eru
much
tsait
hair
hon
little
stalco
nose
or
red
gabenk
eye
otl
yellow
waitenk
mouth
consen
blue
caltenk
tongue
3ta,l
white
orenk
ear
shan
black
polnk
knee
tepen
pifiiiinippiyuipiutliii^w^^^
W
292
LAST RAMBLES AMONGSl THE INDIANS.
English.
Patagon.
English. Patagon.
foot
shawkenue
clouc
pawin
arm
hensh
gold
pothamic
silver pesho
horse
caul
iron
akels
mule
molo
stone
I yaten
dog
shamenoo
knife
paiken
pipe
anu
fire
yaic
tobacco golgi
water
hamin
spoon coyu
wind
kurshim
gun
yalbok
sea
kono
pistol yalbok-chame
sky
coche
powder yalbok-sbepen
English.
Patagon.
snn
senisensin
moon
senisenson
star
sterke
uigtt.
stenon
moaning
wiec
noon
catese
evening
sterker
before
seuco
to-day
ma
to-morrow
nashgut
to-morrow mom
ing
hatyunk \
yesterday
nashensh
now
yomeno
always
gelooni
PSPWP!fW»?lWSH[!'?PW?P^^
TIBBRA DEL FUEGO.
293
Numerals.
one
choche
two
wame
three
caash
four
cage
five
tsenon
six
winecash
seven
caoc
eight
winecage
nine
kamektsen
ten
casen
eleven
choche-caur
twelve
wame-caur
thirteen
caash-oaur
fourteen
cage>jaur
fifteen
tsenon-caur
sixteen
winecash-caur
seventeen
caoc-caur
eighteen
winecage-caur
nineteen
kamektsen-caur
twenty
wameno caaen
twenty-one
wameno casen choche-caur
thirty
casheno casen
forty
cageno casen
fifty
tsenono casen
sixty
winecasheno casen
seventy
caocono casen
eighty
winecagono casen
\\
294 LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
Numerals.
ninety kamektsenono casen
hundred patak
two hundred wame palak
thousand warank
\m'!'mp9!f^m'inifnj!imwW}WfW'^
CHAPTER IX.
THE INDIANS, WHERE FBOM ?
lAVING in this and the former volume intro-
duced my young readers in a cursory manner
to most of the principal tribes of American
Indians and their leading customs and modes of life,
from the highest latitude in North America to the
southernmost cape of South America, there yet remain
to be made, within the original conception of this little
work, some general remarks of interest, which are
suggested by the queries naturally arising in the
minds of the readers — " Who are the American
Indiana ? — From whence did they come ? — and. Where
are they goin^ V*
These questions involve matter of very great im-
portance to ethnology and to human education generally,
and deserve a much greater space than can be allotted
to them in this little book, in which all that is to be
yet said must necessarily be concise.
If we should look to the Indians themselves to answer
295
"■''■?"''»w?w'np«?355fSW!P??^^
296
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
V
the above questions, they would decide for us very
briefly (having no history, sacred or profano) " that they
are the favourite children of the Great Spirit, created
on the grounds on which they live," and that they are
" going to the setting sun."
The first of these beliefs is the unexceptional in-
stinct of all the American tribes ; and the second, no
doubt the poetical figure raised by the continual and
never-ending encroachments of civilisation upon them,
forcing them firom their hunting-grounds, and conse-
quently driving them to the west, towards the " setting
sun.
Some of their various theories of their creation
will be given, but science demands some better solution
of questions so important. And if with that view the
suggestions hereafter to be made should fail to settle
those important facts, they will, like Other theories that
have been abundantly advanced, tend towards an
ultimate solution of questions which science as yet is a
great way from having determined.
Various theories have been advanced, and by very
eminent men, as to the origin of the An^crican Indians,
who were found, on the first discovery of the American
continent, to be inhabiting every part of it from pole to
pole, and every island contiguous to it in the Atlantic
and Pacific Oceans.
These facts put the question at once — " From whence
did these people come? and by what means and by
what route did they come ?" These questions are based
"i^JKy^r.'" -—V-'V" T'
IWIPP^PPI^'*'^'
[.glWi
■'"i'*-i;i..«'w*
THE INDIANS, WHERE FROM ?
297
apon an established presv/mption of necessity (whicli
may yet be questioned), and ethnologists and geographers
have indicated Behring*s Strait and other points as the
probable routes by which they arrived from the " Old
World." All have suggested routes and modes by
which it was possible they could have eome, and their
theories there all stand on the slender ground that not
one of them has produced a particle of proof that they
did come, or that it was necessa/ry that they shoiUd
have come.
When the science of human ethnology, which has
been for some thousands of years travelling to the west
with the advance of civilisation, gets quite round the
globe it will probably be seen whether there has not
been some error at its starting-point — error as its basis,
and, consequently, error heaped upon error as it has
advanced. Whether erroneous dogmas, travelling with
the wave of civilisation, have not been too much the
established rule by which all things ethnological in the
New World should be measured; and whether true
ethnological knowledge of a people is best drawn from
an independent study of those people and their habits,
or from the application of an ethnological education
drawn from books, made from hooks, with all the dog-
matical rules that have been made for, and applied to,
other peoples ?
Is it necessary that on the last quarter of the globe
a whole continent of human beings, independent, and
happy in their peculiar modes of life, and never heard of
298
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
\t
or thought of until the fourteenth century, should be
traced when discovered back to the opposite side of
the globe, because civilisation happened to come from
there ? What an ill conceit of civilised man to believe
that because his ancestors came from the east, all man-
kind on a new continent, a new world, must have come
from there also ! And what a pity for science, and
what a blunder in science, if such a fact be established
before it is proved. And what proof of it is there ? I
have said, " None whatever."
Ethnologists and other savants find amongst the
American Indians some resemblances in physiological
traits to some foreign races. How strange if there
were not such ! Once in a while a word in their
language resembles a word in the Hebrew or other
Eastern language. How extraordinary if in any two
languages there were not some words bearing a resem-
blance to each other! And then these savants say,
" Not only in the resemblance of language, but in the
stiruciture of language.'* But how trivial is all such
evidence as this, when all languages are constructed to
suit the organs pronouncing them, and which are the
same in all the human race, leaving us to wonder that
the resemblance in the construction of languages is not
greater than it is.
One distinguished ethnologist of England recites in
his work on ethnology one word of only two syllables,
found m use amongst an American tribe on the Pacific
coast, the same as spoken by a tribe on the opposite
''W'^«BV!^PWW?F7W*w!!W9»f^5l^wW»:TW^
THE INDIANS, WHERE FROM ?
299
coast of Siberia, as an evidence that the American tribe
came from that coast, probably by the way of Behringf s
Straitl
What a monstrous way to prove a theory, and how
bad the theory that grasps at such proofs ! If such an
isolated word was worth a notice, why not better
suppose that probably some poor fisherman of Siberia
had been driven in his canoe to the Columbia coast,
and that the American Indians who picked him up
adopted from him a dying word to recollect him
by?
As has been said, that I went to Fetropotrovski, to
the Alaeutian Islands, and to Kamskatka, on the coast
of Siberia. I found many words of Siberian languages
spoken on the American side of the Strait of Behring,
and as many, or more, on the Siberian side of the
American languages. What did this prove ? Nothing
— except that there had been a mutual crossing of
Behring's Strait in their canoes or on the ice (both
of which at certain seasons are feasible), and that
there had been, to a certain extent, a mutual adop-
tion of words in their languages. It proved that those
opposite people sometimes cross the strait, while
the total absence of resemblance in physiological
traits as positively disprove the fact of emigration
(or peopling a continent) from one side or the
other.
The ethnologist enters the wildest tribes on the United
States frontier, and to his astonishment finds the Indians
-M^^W
';^:,^^:S£iXii^
^?S^'«.^W*«?W>"SCT'r;'
IjfW^WWFJWlliil.f r^'^w. ^,f Vi I!
300
\
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDLiKS.
there using occasionally French and English words, and
now and then meets a half-white Indian, with a French
face and a French beard. This is no evidence that these
tribes are Frenchmen or Englishmen, but proves only
that Frenchmen and Englishmen have been there a
hundred years before him.
He finds these people using bows and arrows, the same
precisely as were anciently used by the ancient Saxon
race, the flint arrow and spear heads precisely the same
as those of the ancient Britons, and he is astounded !
But why astonished ? What do these prove ? Not that
the American Indians emigrated from the British Isle,
or that the ancient Britons came across the Atlantic in
their canoes from America, but it helps to prove the
truth of the old adage, that " necessity is the mother of
invention," that the nations of all the earth, without the
use of iron, having necessity for food and means of get-
ting it, and implements for war and defence, have had
alike the ingenuity to take the bharp edge of broken
flints for knives and arrow-points, and by the aid of
their inventive powers, granted them alike by the Great
Spiiit, they have everywhere improved them much ia
the same shape, not from each other, but led to the same
results and same forms by the peculiar fracture of
the stone, in all countries the same, and the similar
objects for which their knives and arrow-heads were
formed.
The flint arrow, therefore, and the bow to throw it,
have not been necessarily the gift of one nation to
ipw'f'fwwiwii^ippipi^pippiiii^^
THE INDIANS, WHERE FROM ?
301
another, but the native invention of eveiy people. They
certainly came not from Adam. Adam was a gardener,
and Ills sons farmers and tenders of flocks. These
things, then, were purely of human invention, and
growing out of necessity; and if one race invented
them, another race, from the same necessity, could as
well do it.
Savants who have grown up ethnologists in their
fathers' libraries of books also tell us that some por-
tions of the splendid ruins at TJxmal and Copan, as
well as ancient sculptures found in Mexico, and the
relics found on the Ohio and Muskingum are of
Egyptian origin, because they resemble Egyptian
monuments.
How weak is such evidence, that merely because
these ruins and these sculptures happen to resemble
some edifices or some sculptures of the Egyptians,
they are of Egyptian origin. They admit that they
were built by savage tribes, for they bear no Eg3rp-
tian inscriptions or hieroglyphics, but the inscrip-
tions and hieroglyphics of savage races who must
have brought their arc of building and sculpture from
Egypt !
How astonishing that such stupendous ruins are
actually there, and were built there, iui left there, with-
out a living soul to tell their history, or who built them,
and covered with inscriptions and hieroglyphics, no
doubt telling their own history if they could be read,
but with no corresponding living language in the Old
80i
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIAN&
World or the New, to prove that their origin was Asiatio
or Egyptian.
Egyptian sculpture and Egyptian architecture were
not taught the Egyptians; they were the inventions,
and in their grandeur and magnificence were but the
progress of, native art. And so the ruined temples and
palaces of Falenque and Uxmal.
Talents for art and design are inherent in all man-
kind, and as wealth and luxury and civilisation increase
in all countries, so will sculpture and architecture ad-
vance in grandeur and in beauty of design; and these
advancements, like those in Indian weapons, suggested
by the demands of elegance and comfort in buildings, or
of beauty and nature in sculpture, with nature every-
where thti same for its models, will necessarily, in all
countries, arrive, sooner or later, at more or less
resemblance.
A sculptured statue, found amongst the antiquities of
Mexico or Yucatan, if it resembles ever so closely an
Egyptian statue, is no evidence whatever that it was
transported from Egypt, to America, or that the sculptor
of it came from that country, bringing his tools and his
models with him ; it only proves that in both countries
men have alike an inherent talent for art, and that
working from similar models, and in similar material,
they have arrived at equal perfection, both copying
closely their model ; and their works, consequently and
necessarily, resembling one another.
An ethnologist finds amongst the American Indians
THE INDIANS, WHERE FROM ?
303
a wooden spoon, precisely the same in proportions and
shape as the wooden spoons brought from the Ealmuk
Tartars in Asia. This, though only evidence for a bad
theory, proves just as much as resemblance in statu-
ary, or of fa9ades, door-ways, &c., in ancient palaces;
it proves that man's ingenuity and necessities in both
countries led him to build fagades and door-ways
and to adapt the length and shape of his spoon to suit
the motions of his arm, and the bowl of it to fit
his mouth.
The ancient Egyptians, before the construction of
their stupendous monuments and their grand groups in
sculpture, which now stand to astonish the world, lived
in tents like the Aztec Indians previous to their build-
ing the cities of Falenque, Copan, and XJzmal. And
the two native races, developing the talent with which
nature had endowed them for those grand purposes,
probably constructed those vast edifices on the two
continents about the same time.
In the two countries the wonder is, not that there
should be a resemblance in their monuments, but that
the people who built them, and arose by their own
talents to such grandeur in art, and such luxuiy, should
have fallen short of all history which should have
recorded their greatness.
To the theory so often and so strongly advanced of
an Egyptian or Asiatic origin of the American Indians,
there are yet other and stronger objections to be
produced before tLu subject is disposed of.
m
iipp^ifiippppppisiii
iU.|||liP!lpUA||p^p.|il.
\.
304
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
The theory of such a mode of peopling a whole con-
tinent 'nvolves, as will be seen, difficulties and objec-
tions (considering the time at which such supposed
emigrations took place), in effect equal to imposaihility
itsel£ I say i/mpossibUityt because the Aztec ruins in
Yucatan and Guatemala, which sjjeak & language, which
no one can deny, are as old as the most ancient monu-
ments of Egypt, and are unquestionably the results of
the growth of a civilisation fircm savage native tribes,
which growth itsel nust have required some thousands
of years.
The evidence th-^.t those monuments were not the
works of Egyptain architects is, that, though in some
respectiS they bear a resemblance, not an Egyptian
inscription or hieroglyphic mark is to be found amongst
them, and also that if the Egyptians, in so advanced a
state of civilitiation and art, emigrated t^> the continent
of America, and built such stupendous palaces and
other edifices, it is quite impossible, though the people
have perished, that history should have been, until
the date of Columbus, in ignorance of the American
continent.
From the above dates and evidences of dates we are
bound to infer that the American native races are as
ancient as any of the races of the " Old World," whose
antiquity is known by their monuments.
Then let us see if the builders of those monuments
were Egyptians or Asiatics, what objects they had in
coming to America — how they found the way there —
ill!mmWm'''^^'^^'^^'^'^'T^^^'^
tBt J[Nt>iANS, WHfiRE FROM t
305
and how the> got there (at least 6000 years ago, if at
all), when civilisation, with the art of navigation, and
stimulated by commerce, by science, and the thirst
for gold, never reached there until within the last 400
years.
There is nothing in history, sacred or profane, to
prove a peopling of one continent from the other, and
probably for ever, as at the present time, presvmiption
wil' be the only ground on which such a theory will
stand ; and if the fact could be proved to have tran-
spired, there is nothing yet to show that it might not
as well have been from west to east, as from east to
west.
The most enthusiastic theorists on this subject have
never yet entertained the idea of a savage emigration
across the Atlantic or the Pacific Ocean, but look to
Behring's Strait, where, by possibility, at certain seasons
of the year (as has been said), they can cross from con>
tinent to continent on the ice, or in canoes. But
what motive for doing that in the state in which
savage society was in the frozen regions of Kamskatka
6000 years ago, when at the present time, with all their
modem improvements in Toat building, in weapons,
and with some ideas of cc mmerce to stimulate them,
no Indian, on either coast, ventures across, except under
the advice and escort of civilised men who accompany
them.
Savages, of all the human family, are the least dis-
posed to emigrate — like animals, their instinct is against
Y
,if'!1WWWSWT???iPfPP'W!"^^
m
(LiAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDUES.
it; driveu from their homes like animals, they will
return to them, and without the stimulants of science,
of commerce, or of gold, like animals, they are contented
to remain in them.
If the barren and frozen coast of Siberia had been
overstocked with a surplus population, and the American
coast opposite, a luxuriant garden, instead of a coast
equally barren and desolate, such an emigration might
have been a possible thing for Asiatics, and in the space
of 6000 years they might possibly have increased and
spread over North America and perhaps through Cen-
tral and South America, to Tierra del Fuego, but if so,
where are they ?
In the whole extent of the whole American continent,
from Behring's Strait to Tierra del Fuego, there is not
to be seen, amongst the savage tribes, a Mongol, a
Kalmuk, or a Siberian Tartar, nor a word of their
language to be heard. Languages, to be sure, may be
lost or changed, but physiological traits of people are
never lost whilst the race exists.
Some travellers through South America, as if to aid
the theory of Asiatic emigration, have represented the
tribes of the Upper Amazon with " bridled " eyes, like
thv. Chinese, and even caricatured the Chinese obliquity,
and put these more than Chinese peculiarities forward
as " types." But I have seen most of the tribes on the
Amazon and its affluents, and though the natives in
these regions are generally a low degree of American
aborigines, they exhibit nothing of the Mongol general
5PP5|?PPiP»ptW»!^!ili|W^?^^
THE INDIANS, WHERE FROM ?
307
character of face, nor Mongol obliquity of eye, other
than the occasional muscular approach to it produced by
their peculiar habits of life, living mostly, in their fisher-
man's lives, in their canoes ; their eyes affected by the
refraction of the vertical ray? of the sun on water, on
which they are looking; and on land, walking with
naked feet, requiring their eyes to be constantly on the
ground before their steps.
The effect thus produced in the expression of their
eyes is very striking, but is neither Mongolic nor a
"typo," but aberration from type, produced by the
external causes above named.
I have said above that if an Asiatic population had
crossed at Behring's Strait, they might in time have
advanced through North and South and Central America,
and have stocked the whole continent; and this has
been claimed by the ad^ ates of Asiatic immigration.
This is a posaihility, and therefore, they say, is 2))o-
hahle; but here possibility stops, and certainly proof
with it.
The Sandwich Islands, with a population of 500 OOO,
are more than 2000 miles from the coast of South
America. How did the population of these islands
get there ? Certainly not in canoes over ocean waves
of 2000 miles. But I am told, " The Sandwirl landers
are Polynesians." Not a bit of it ; they are 2000 miles
north of the Polynesian group, with the same impos-
sibility of canoe navigation, and are as different in
physiological traits of character and language from the
^
M»"4'-iMippi!M^^WW!ii.^(!;!{|WWi|J|fJ
WWf?Wl^r'!rpP!<^PP!^!WS^»f!P^^
308
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST TRA INDIANS.
Polynesian as they are different from the American
races.
However voluminous and learned the discussions may
be on the mysterious subject of the origin of races, they
must all come to the conclusion at last that, even if
Asiatic, or Egyptian, or Polynesian populations found
their way to the American continent, at whatever
date, they found, and intermingled with, an aboriginal
American race as ancient as, or more ancient than, the
races they descended from.
Some have contended that the American Indians are
Jews, and that the ** ten lost tribes of Israel," got to the
American coast, and gave a population to the continent.
How chimerical is this. At the date of the disappear-
ance of the " ten tribes," the ruined cities of Yucatan
and Guatemala were in full splendour; and with no
advantages of navigation the ten tribes would have had
to wander through the barbarous and savage tribes of
Chinese, Kalmuk, Mongol, aud Siberian Tartary to the
snowy and icy regions of Eamskatka and Behring's
Strait, a distance of more than 10,000 miles ; and for
Avhat? for a new continent they never had heard of;
for, if any one had ever reached it, certainly no one
had ever gone back.
This interesting but unimportant question of, "Where
the American Indians came from," has been elaborately
and ingeniously discussed by able writers, and still will
probably continue to be discussed for centuries to come,
without being further understood than at the present
ippliliipiiiip^
!iJi|«Jlifi'liW";"'«^S''i*i^'!*fW'»W^
THE INDIANS, WHEBE FROM ?
309
time; and enough has been said of it in this little work
to prepare the minds of its readers for my own opinions,
which I am about to advance, as to that part of the
question put in the beginning of this chapter, not
" Where they came from" but " Who are the A'^nericam,
Tndia/nst"
4
>!
ffiiB'iffff^fii'^iwwn'F^^
CHAPTER X
THE INDIANS, WHO ABE THET?
mf'
D/
HE reader has learned, by following me through
these two little volumes, that I have, during
fourteen years of research, not amongst
books and libraries, but in the open air and the
%vildemess, studied the looks and character of the
American native races in every latitude, from Behr-
ing's Strait to Tierra del Fuego; and here he will
learn that, from the immutable, national, physiological
traits with which the Almighty stamps this and
every other race, I believe the native tribes of the
American continent are all integral parts of one
great family, and that He who made man from dust
created these people from the dust of the country in
which they live, and to which dust their bodies are
fast returning.
I can find nothing in history, sacred or profane,
against this; and from their colour and physiological
traits, which are different from all other races on the
110
p^plpppiiiilpiiplpilli^^
.^M
THE INDUNS, WHO ARE THEY ?
311
eaxth, as well as from reasons advanced in the fore-
going chapter, I am compelled to believe that, in His
boundless and unerring wisdom, the Almighty, who
created the "cattle of the fields, the fishes in the
sea, and the fowls of the air" of this vast and
glowing continent "for man's use" (not that they
should grow and decay for thousands of centuries,
until man should accidentally reach them to enjoy
them), placed these red children there, and said to
them, in some way, " I am your Father, your Maker ;
I give you these things, go forth and enjoy them;"
and that in the undisputed enjoyment of this rich
inheritance given them, of unlimited fields and forests
abounding in game, with unbounded liberty for using it,
they were, in Mexico, in Yucatan, and Peru, duly and
successfully using those faculties which God had
given them, and intonded for raising them gradually
into civilisation and splendour; when cataclysms
sunk the splendid edifices and the people in one,
and more than barbarous or savage cruelties of mer-
cenary men, crushed theii' rising power, robbed them
of their gold, and carried the sword and death
amongst the others, and sent a drowning wave of
discouragement through the remotest tribes of the
continent.
The American Indians are as distinct from all the
other races of the earth as the other races of the earth
are distinct from each other, and, both in North and
South and Central America, exhibit but one great
i:
!|PPP!lfP?????P'^PW«W"P9"^^
312
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
original family type, with only the local changes which
difference of climate and different modes of life have
wrought upon it.
I believe they were created on the ground on which
they have been found, and that the date of their
creation is the same as that of the human species on
other parts of the globe. This belief is founded on the
reasons advanced in the foregoing chapter, supported by
the traditions of the Indians, which will be noticed, and
a strong and unavoidable intuitive disbelief that all
the races of man, of different colours, have descended
from one pair of ancestors; and the inconceivable
plan of the whole surface of the earth teeming
with luxuries, "created for man's use," vegetating
and decaying for tens of thousands of years, until
wandering man, from one point, and from one pair,
by accident, arrives there to use them. [Catlin's
theory of the creation of the Indian races is a
mere dream, unsupported by any evidence what-
ever.]
Some writers have advanced the belief that South
America and the continent of Europe were anciently
united, and that the American continent received its
population in that way ; but as this is mere hypothesis,
and probably will for ever remain so, it refers us for a
last remaining remark to Behring's Strait, by which
route, if the American Indians are the descendants of
*'Adam" and "Eve," at the rate that an infant savage
population would spread over an uninhabited and deso-
THE INDIANS, WHO ABE THEY ?
813
late country, several thousand years would have been
required to populate and move through the vast regions
of Ealmuk Tartary and Siberia to Behring's Strait, a
distance of more than 10,000 miles ; and from Behring^s
Strait to Central and South America, and Tierra del
Fuego, 10,000 miles more, and an equal time required —
one thousand years at leas^. for a civilisation to arise
sufficient to have built the splendid monuments of
Yucatan, and the vast space of time that has transpired
since those monuments were depopulated; in all, a
space of time far transcending that allowed by sacred
history, or even by geology, for man's appearance on
the earth !
The American Indians know nothing of this, yet
their traditions and monuments prove beyond a doubt
their great antiquity; for, of 120 different tribes
which I have visited in North and South and Central
America, every tribe has related to me, more or less
distinctly, their traditions of the Deluge, in which
one, or three, or eight persons were saved above the
waters, on the top of a high mountain; and also
their peculiar and respective theories of the Crea-
tion.
Some of these tribes, living at the base of the Bocky
Mountains, and in the plains of Venezuela, and the
Pampa del Sacramento in South America, make annual
pilgrimages to the fancied summits where the ante-
diluvian species were saved in canoes or otherwise, and,
under the mysterious regulations of tbeir medicine
mmmmmimnff^mmmiii^'^''^ww^
314
LAST BAMBLES AMONQST THE INmANS.
(mystery) men, tender their prayers and sacrifices to the
Great bpirit, to ensure their exemption from a similar
catastrophe.
Indian traditions are generally conflicting, and soon
run into fable; but how strong is the uncmi/mous
tradition of the aboriginal races of a whole continent of
such an event! how strong a corroboration of the
Mosaic account ; and what an unanswerable proof that
the American Indian is an antediluvian race! and
how just a claim does it lay, with the various modes
and forms which these poor people practise in celebrat-
ing that event, to the inquiries and sympathies of the
philanthropic and Christian, as well as to the scientific,
world!
Some of those writers who have endeavoured to
trace the American Indians to an Asiatic or Egyptian
origin have advanced these traditions as evidence in
support of their theories, which are as yet but
unconfirmed hypotheses; and as there is not yet
known to exist (as I have before said), either in the
American languages, or in the Mexican or Aztec,
or other monuments of these people, one single
acceptable proof of such an immigration, these tra-
ditions are strictly American — indigenous, and not
exotic.
If it were shown that inspired history of the Deluge
and of the Creation restricted these events to one con-
tinent alone, then it might be that the American races
came from the Eastern continent, bringing these tradi-
THE INDIANS, WHO ABE THET ?
S15
tions with them ; but until that is proved, the American
traditions of the Deluge are no evidence whatever of an
Eastern origin.
Though there is not a tribe in America but what
has some theory of man's creation, there is not one
amongst them all that bears the slightest resemblance
to the Mosaic account.
How strange is this, if these people came from
the country where inspiration was prior to all his-
tory!
The Mandans believed they were created under the
ground, and that a portion of their people reside there
yet.
The Choctaws assert that " they were created crawfish,
living alternately under the ground and above it, as
they chose; and coming out at their little holes in
the earth to get the warmth of the sun one sunny
day, a portion of the tribe was driven away and
could not return. They built the Choctaw village,
and the remainder of the tribe are still living under
the ground."
The Sioux relate with great minuteness their tradi-
tions of the Creation. They say that the Indians were
all made from the " Eed Pipe Stone," which is exactlj
of their colour — ^that the Great Spirit, at a subsequent
period, called all the tribes together at the Red Pipe
Stone Quarry, and told them this : " That the red stone
was their flesh, and that they must use it for their pipes
only."
si
M
a
816
LAST RAlfBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
Other tribes were created under the water; and
at least one-half of the tribes in America represent
that man was first created imder the ground, or in the
rocky caverns of the mountabs. Why this diversity
of theories of the Creation, if these people brought
their traditions of the Deluge from the land of
inspiration ?
How far these general traditions of a flood relate to
a wrmeradl Del/uge, or to local cataclysms (of which
there have evidently been one or more over portions of
the American continent), or whether there HAS been
a v/n/wersal Deluge, and at what period, it is difficult
to determine.
One thing, however, is certain — the Indian traditions
everywhere point distinctly at least to one such event,
and amongst the central and southern tribes they as
distinctly point to two such catastrophes, in which
their race was chiefly destroyed ; and the rocks of their
countries bear evidence yet more conclusive of the
same calamities, which probably swept off the popula-
tions in the plains, and, as their traditions say, left
scattered remnants on the summits of the Andes and
the Bocky Mountains.
Since that epoch (or those epochs), their descendants
nave wandered off into the fertile plains where climate
and a greater abundance of game and fish have invited
them, peopling in time the whole continent, from the
Atlantic to the Pacific coasts, and the West India and
other islands.
7W7"^fi'^t^
'S^TT^-'
THE INDIANS, WHO ARE THET ?
3i;
These scattered people have arranged themselves into
different tribes, with languages dialectic or idiomatic,
but without exception beaming evident physiological
traits of the ancient parent stock, with local and tribal
differences produced by different habits of life, and
varieties of climates, and differences of food on which
they subsist.
The Crows, of whom I have spoken in a former
chapter, and also at greater length in the earlier volume
of this work, still inhabiting a part of the Rocky
Mountains in North America, with the Apachees and
several other tribes in New Mexico, still exhibit in bold
relief the original type, which is seen so well preserved
in the stone monuments of Yucatan and ancient Mexico;
and the same type, unmistakable, though less conspicu-
ous, is traceable through the alto-Peruvian tribes — ^the
M0XO8, the Chiquitos, the CocJiahambaa, and others yet
to the south.
The Crows are living Toltecs (or Aztecs), and history
abounds in proof that the Toltecs in Mexico and the
Aztecs in Yucatan and Guatemala came from the
mountains in the north.
The Aztecs emigrated farther to the south and east
than the Toltecs, and to a more fertile country, but
lower in position, by which means, in the second
cataclysm, their magnificent cities were submerged and
their populations exterminated, but their imperishable
monuments record the truth that such a race then and
there existed, and the physiological traits of its present
fWV"'f^l^^'!7twWW'^''^fm^miw^W
^>/I^WmwWW'9"WW''y^^^ '
318
LAST RAMBLES AMONG&rr THE INDIANS.
population as well prove that the Mexicans are remains
of the Toltec race.
The history, which establishes beyond a doubt the
migration of the Toltecs and Aztecs from the mountains
of the north-west into Mexico and Yucatan, is ex-
tremely vague &ti to time, and from the similarity of
their monuments it seems probable that they vrer^
portions of the same race, who have taken different
ni?imes from the diflferent periods of th'-ir emigrations,
or from the positions to which they respectively went,
the word Toltec (or Toh-fcec) being still applied by
some of the northern Mexicans to the people of the
mountains (mountaineers), and the word Aztec (or
Ah-tec), to the people of the low countries (lowlanders),
and Ah-na-tec to the people beyond the lowlanders (the
white people).
Subsequent to the second cataclysm, which destroyed
the Aztecs, and deluged their stupendous monuments,
the Toltecs built the city of Mexico in a high and sterile
region, from fear of a similar fate to that of their neigh-
bours, the Aztecs.
In the second cataclysm the summits of the mountains
in the West Indies, then forming a part of the main-
land of the continent, protect- d a portion of their in-
habitants, who, from the fear of another calamity (and
later from the cruelty of the Spanish invaders, since
the discovery of America), have emigrated in vast
numbers to the coast of Venezuela, Guiana, and
Yucatan: such are the Caribhea; and from the
^}'Mmfii^^^m^^fm'mmm»^^
THE INDIANS, WHO ARE THEY ?
319
north and the west of Guatemala and Mexico, the
Maya and other tribes have migrated to the east,
spreading over the promontory of Yucatan, Honduras,
&c.
Amongst all of these tribes, as well as amongst the
present Mexicans and the numerous tribes to the
north, even to the Kiowas and the Comanches, I have
found distinct traditions of three successive cataclysms
— ^two by water, and one by fire. And in the rocks
and mountains, both in the West India Islands
and on the Mexican coast, as well as in Yucatan
and its ruins, I have found, from chemical and
geological tests, undeniable e\idenc3s of the same
catastrophes.
Nothing is more certain than that the second
cataclysm in those regions was produced by the
volcanic actions underneath, causing a subsidence of
a large tract of country, including the whole range
of the Greater and Lesser Antilles, the promontory
of Yucatan, the eastern and lower parts of Mexico
and Honduras, and even extending to the coast of
Venezuela.
At a later period (perhaps some thousands of years)
this subsided country, or a great proportion of it, has,
from an opposite action of similar causes, risen to a
suflficient extent towards its ancient elevation, to show,
in the granite and volcanic tops of the Antilles which
have reappeared above the ocean, the continuation of
the Cordillera, and also to expose to view the Aztec
M
ppi|f|pp5ffP|fi)pj?lippv^
ITfW'
w
320
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
ruins of Guatemala and Yucatan; leading us to the
rational and unavoidable conclusion that a people so
far advanced in civilisation and the arts as to build
such populous and magnificent cities as Palenque,
Uzmal, and Copan, were never confined to three
cities, but that other cities of equal yr greater
extent were spread over the plains, which, in the days
of the Aztecs, extended from the ruins of Yucatan to
the base of the West India mountains, and which
lost cities may now be said to be ruins under the
sea.
What is now the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of
Mexico were, in the days of XJxmal and Falenque, vast
and fertile plains, through which the Bio Grande del
Norte and the Mississippi wended their long and
serpentine ways, and, uniting their waters near the hme
of the mountains, debouched into the ocean between
Cuba and the Bahama Islands.
This vast space, in area much larger than the
kingdoms of France aid England together, teeming
with luxuries the most inviting to man, with the
richest soil and the most salubrious climate of the
world, would consequently have had its portion of
the Aztec race, and probably the ruins of millions
and millions are there, still embedded under the
sea.
The reader who does not travel may easily trace on
his map the Cordillera range, through Grenada, and
pointing out at Santa Martha, on the coast of Yenezueits
mmm
mmimk
THE INDIANS, WHO ARE THEY ?
321
and follow it through the Lesser and Greater Antilles ;
and he who travels may see with the naked eye, on the
northern face of the Silla, at Carraccas, the sublime
vertical grooves cut when that mighty subsidence went
down.
From those points the chain of the Lesser Antilles,
as now seen, is a succession of mountain peaks, some
volcanic, and others not, continuing the course of the
Cordillera; and from chemical and geological tests I
have found that they have anciently occupied positions
equally elevated as the highest parts of the Andes at
the present day !
In my descent from the tribe of Crows in the
northern ranges of the Bocky Mountains (as has
been described), through the other Toltec tribes,
to Mexico, in 1854, and gathering their traditions
all pointing to the sunken countries, I was for-
cibly struck with the importance of these great
changes, in their probable effects on the distribution
of races.
I contemplated tests by which to determine the
extent of those subsidencies, and the depths to which
they had sunk, and also the partial elevations to
which they have again risen; and with examinations
I then made, partly establishing my theory, I visited
the Baron de Humboldt, in Berlin, in 1855 (the same
visit alluded to in page 199). And after having
fully explained my theory to him, and the tests which
I brought him, when I was about starting on a
z
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?(iP«l»l^«W!WA'H"'\«!iW«^'MI^I^'y^^^^^^^
\'
322
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
second voyage to the Lesser Antilles, I received the
following complimentary and approving letter from
him : —
"To Geo. Catlin, Esq.
r
" Mt dear Sir,
" I have read with profound interest the papers yon
left with me.
" I helieve with you that the Crows are Toltecs ; and
I was instantly impressed with this belief when I first
saw your portraits of Crow chiefs in London, some years
since.
"But I am more struck with your mode of deter-
mining the sinking and rising transits of rocks,
and the probable dates and extent of cataclysmic
disasters.
"I believe your tests are reliable^ and perfectly
justify you for making the contemplated voyage to
the Lesser Antilles. The subject is one of vast
importance to science, and if I were a younger man I
would join you in the expedition at once !
" I believe your discoveries will throw a great deal
of light on the important subject of the effect of cata-
clysms on the distribution of races.
" I return to you with this the papers you left with
me, and I enclose you a mmiorandwm for your voyage,
which may lead you to examinations that you might
otherwise overlook.
Hfffi} ..ifliwuwpntjjuyipiji ■ i(w.ai»w?if jip^v^?<«ip!
THE INDIANS, WHO AlE THEY ? 323
" Let nothing stop you — you are on a noble mission,
and the Great Spirit will protect you.
" Your sincere friend,
" A. V. Humboldt.
"Potsdam, Sept. 12th, ISSS.** (,
Armed with this encouraging letter, and the invalu-
able " memorandum," from that great philosopher, for
my further guidance, I made my second visit to the
West Indies, and carried my tests, and applied them
to the summits of the Ando-Venezuelan Mountains
on the coast of South America ; and with facts which
I then gathered I recrossed the ocean, and was
traversing the continent to lay the results of my
resefjches before my noble friend, as he had desired,
when the news of his death met me, but in no way
depreciated the important facts with which I was
freighted. ' '
The migration of the Toltecs and Aztecs from the
norch and the cataclysmic events, so well proved by
Indian traditions, and more positively established by the
tests I have alluded to, account for the total extinction
of a race so numerous, and so far advanced in civilisation
and arts, that they could not have fallen by native
tribes ; nor is it possible to believe that the whole of
such a race could have been destroyed by an epidemic
disease.
All traditions of the contiguous mountain tribes arQ
PiipuHPi;iip.l!iPiilillppii^^
324
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDUNS.
against this, rnd point distinctly to a flood in which
the tribes of the lower countries perished; and the
ocean sands and deposits covering the whole surface of
Yucatan and its ruins, with other evidences equally
strong, help to establish, beyond a doubt, the same
calamity.
The cataclysm by fire, forming a part of the tradi-
tional catastrophes of Central America, and equally well
established, was less extensive and less disastrous in its
effects, and probably took place at the same time ; and
from the same commotions which caused the subsidence
of earth, and consequent flood of water. And that
such eruptions of flame have been of repeated occur-
rence, and that they accompany most earthquake com-
motions, there is abundance of evidence in their marks
on the rocks in the crevices of the mountains of Central
and South America.
The great antiquity of the Aztec ruins is questioned
by some, who find amongst them painted frescoes,
painted tablets and statues, and lintelled roofs, and
Maya and Mexican inscriptions.
The Maya Indians, who, it hf^ already been said,
migrated from the west and took possession of those
ruins after they arose from the sea, found convfinient
shelter within their walls, which they defaced, and to
which they added inscriptions; and centuries after
(and for centuries previous to the reign of Monte-
zuma) a succession of Mexican piinces occupied the
same ruins — lintelled and roofed the palaces — ^painted
THE INDIANS, WHO ABE THEY I
325
the frescoes and tablets, and added Mexican inscrip-
tions, until the ablest archsBologists are unable to
expound them; but the very sands which cover them
and the whole countiy around them, not blown there
by the wind, but deposited by the waves of the ocean,
show that neither the Maya Indians nor the Mexi-
cans had anything to do with their original construc-
tion.
■\v
CHAPTER XL
THE INDIANS, WHEBE ARE THET GOING ?
F the brief remarks advanced in the two pre-
ceding chapters leave the reader's mind in any
doubt as to the origin of the American Indians,
there need be no uncertainty in answering the second
question, " Where are these people going ? " It requires
no archaeologist, no historian, no antiquarian for this —
" to the setting sun," knowing from the irresistible wave
of civilisation, which has already engulfed more than
one-half of the tribes on im continent, that somewhere
in the western horizon the last of their race will soon be
extinguished.
The first shocks to Indian civilisation and advance-
ment, which have been related in the foregoing chapters,
were the results of natural accidents, which none but
God controls ; and if those awful events could have been
avoided, Columbus would have discovered a continent
in the west as high in civilisation, in agriculture, and
in the arts, as the eastern continent was at that time.
326
THE INDIANS, WHERE AllE THEY GOING 'i 327
Staggering under this death-blow, the genius of
civilisation lay for centuries and centuries in embers,
until it again began to blaze out in Mexico and Peru,
when the inhuman onslaughts and revolting cruelties
of civilised men, stimulated by the thirst for gold,
set honesty, morality, religion, and Heaven itself at
defiance, in extinguishing the last lights that were
lifting these poor nations from savage darkness and
ignorance.
The last gleams of Indian civilisation thus extin-
guished by deceptions and cruelties, at the recital of
which the hearts of honest men and philanthropists
sicken, the poor Indians, from one end of the continent
to the other, have stood aghast at white man's cruelty ;
and, suspicious, have eveiywhere resisted his proffered
civilisation and religion, and yet the dupes of only one
inducement — ^his rum and whisky.
Crazed by and for these, from one side of the continent
to the other, they have bartered away their game, their
lands, and even their lives; for wherever rum and
whisky have gone the smallpox has also travelled, and
in every tribe one-half or more have fallen victims to its
mortality.
Columbus, in October, 1492, perhaps, was the first
white man who ever saw an American Indian. Landing
on the island of San Salvador, one of the Bahamas, " he
discovered Indians running to the shore, naked, and
gazing at the ships."
In Ilayti, where he met greater numbers, he says, in
328
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIAN8L
a letter to Louis de St. Angel, " True it is that after
the Indians felt confidence, and lost their fears of us,
they were so liberal with what they possessed, that it
would not be believed by those who had not seen it.
If anything was asked of them, they never said no, but
gave it cheerfully, and showed as much anxiety as if
they gave their very heart; and if the things given
were of great or little value, they were content with
whatever was given in return."
" Columbus was afterwards wrecked on the island of
Hispaniola. The cacique (chief), Oua-can-a-gcm, living
within a league and a-half of tx.e wreck, shed tears of
sympathy, and sent all his people in canoes to his aid ;
and the cacique rendered all the aid he could in person,
both on sea and on land, consoling Columbus by saying
that ever3rthing he possessed should be at his disposal.
All the effects of the wrecked ship were deposited
near the cacique's dwelling, and not the slightest
article, though exposed to the whole population, was
pilfered 1"
And Columbus, in his letter to the King and Queen
of Spain, says, ''So tractable, so peaceable, are these
people, that I swear to your majesties there is not in
the world a better nation. They love their neighbours
as themselves, and their discourse is even sweet and
gentle, and accompanied with a smile; and tbcugh
it is true that they are naked, yet their manners are
decorous and praiseworthy."
Columbus, amongst these people, was loaded with
THE INDUNS, WHERE ABB THET GOING ? 829
presents the most costly that they possessed ; and as he
says himself, " this generous cacique, and a variety of
other chiefs, placed coronets of pure gold on his head.'*
And what was the sequel ? This " generous cacique,"
and all the " variety of other chiefs," and their people,
who had not even hows and arrows to defend themselves
with (so peaceahle they were), were driven from their
dwellings into the mountains, and their villages humt
to the ground. The Carihhes were more warlike, and,
armed with hows and arrows, made a stronger resistance ;
hut they were at length defeated hy one of the most
disgraceful stratagems that ever appeared in the history
of warfare. These Indians, who possessed large quan-
tities of gold, getting an idea that silver, first produced
amongst them hy the Spaniards, was of much greater
value, exchanged gold at the rate of ten ounces for
one. To turn this to the hest account, a massive pair
of steel manacles, highly polished for the purpose, to
resemhle silver (and, of course, of an immense value)
were represented to CorOTi-e-bo, the chief, at the head of
the Indian army, as a magnificent pair of bracelets of
silver, sent to him by the King of Spain. Dazzled hy so
brilliant a present, and from the king, he submitted to
mount a powerful steed and have them put on. They
were locked to his wrists, and by a mailed troop of horse
in readiness he was galloped through the Indian lines
and to the coast, where he was put in additional irons,
and sent a prisoner to Spain. And in the space of five
years of the most cruel and deadly warfare, waged with
m
mmmmmm.
330
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
guns, and coats of mail, and sabres against these harm-
less and inoffensive people by the man whose honours
were to be immortal, over 200,000 of these poor people
were slain on their own ground, and more than 5000
were made prisoners and shipped to Spain, and sold as
slaves, where they slew themselves, or perished from
diseases of the country.
Here began American history, and here was the
beginning (not the end) of the Indians' second series of
calamities.
This cruel and disgraceftil warfare was all for gold.
But the shining god proved to be farther west, and
another fleet and another army were on its track, and
another monster at its head. Fernando Cortes was
this man, this educated demon, with a fleet and an
army of mounted and mailed soldiers under his com-
mand, and the gold, and jewels, and blood of Mexico
his idols.
History has well recorded the more than savage
cruelties, and massacres, and robberies of this cwiliaed
expedition, in which the second growth of spontaneous
civilisation was crushed, and smothered, and strangled
into a degraded and sickening amalgamation of con-
quered and subjugated, with selfish and fiendish con-
querors.
An Indian (rich and beautiful) city was sacked and
robbed of its gold — 100,000 of its inhabitants were slain
— its king (Montezuma) was deceived, dethroned, and
murdered — ^its palaces destroyed — its religion trodden
THE INDIANS, WHERE ARE THEY QOINO ? S31
under foot and its sacred temples thrown down! and
yet the thirst for gold, for plunder, and for massacrs
was not satisfied — there was another sun of Indian
civilisation above the horizon, and another mine of
gold — it was Peru.
Pizarro (from the same civilised school) was the
merciless wretch for this. Like Cortes in Mexico, with
a fleet, and an army of mailed soldiers with firearms
and sabres in hand, he cut and slaughtered his way
through the defenceless ranks of the uuofifending
Peruvians, on their own ground, with the mo;:it disgrace-
ful breach of proffered faith known to history, robbed
the city of its gold — ^imprisoned and murdered its
monarch, the Inca, and with the blades of his swords,
taught to 150,000 peaceful and civilised Indians, as
Cortes had taught in Mexico, their first lesson of the
''blessings" of European civilisation,
The "El Dorado" was yet an idea — still unsolved;
the plundered heaps of gold were yet too small, and the
river of Indian blood must again be flooded ! Civilisa-
tion required another glorification, and De Soto was the
ready cavalier for that. A knight Castilian was he,
blood-snuffing, and mad for g d; and soon after the
scenes of blood related, his little fleet anchored, and dis-
embarked his cavalry legion on the sandy coast of
Florida. His men were in coats of mail, and his horses
also, which were of the noblest Castilian breed ; and his
cannons were drawn by horses covered with polished
steel, and helmets plated with gold !
Hf wipfifp*=^jyi^iw» *^.j wwff
332
LAST EAMBLES AMONGST THE UDIANS.
m
In helmet of gold himself, and sword in hand, he
mounted his milk-white steed, and facing the west,
where he dreamed of native cities and waggon-loads
of gold to be drawn back by his splendid troupe
of Castilian chargers, entered the swamps and ever-
glades of Florida ! Poor fool, that he could have known
what was before him ! He penetrated the impassible
and interminable swamps and lagoons, and dragged his
heavy cannon through them. And after wading the
swamps, and through the blood of the poor savages, the
cruelty and butchery of which has no parallel in the
pages of history,* he at last arrived on the bank of the
Mississippi, in which his body found a grave, and his
vidoned cities and mines of gold were never reached.
After such examples of white man's injustice and
cruelties, such illustrations of " glorious civilisation," the
news of which, of course, spread like the waves of a
rining flc od, over and through every tribe, from ocean to
ocean, bot_ in South and North America, is it wonder-
ful that the American Indians should be suspicious of
white man and his fair promises, his civilisation, his
faith, and his proflfered religion ? And is it not wonder-
ful, under their traditions taught to their children, of
such civilised barbarities and treacherous massacres,
that these poor people should everywhere, in first inter-
views (as abundance of history informs us), receive
white men with open arms, with hospitality and wel-
fiome, in their humble wigivams ?
* See Irving's "Life of De Soto."
iiiiliipipiPfwv'
THE INDIANS. WHERE ARE THEY GOING ? 333
Reader, listen to a few of these, whicli are truths, and
tell me if it is not a wonder. And after that I will
name other civilised transactions ; and then I will ask
you, who is the savi^e — ^which is the hrute ?
Columhus has already told us " that the caciques of
Hispaniola embraced him in their arms, shed tears for
his misfortunes, and placed upon his head coronets of
gold." This is not wonderful^ for it was natural. Man
has been everywhere made (not a brute, but) human,
ready and disposed to meet his fellow-man in friendship
and kindness, where there has been no cause given for
a different reception.
Subsequent to the shocking invasions and cruelties
recited above, colonisation in North America com-
menced, and the be^finning of this was the little colony
of Puritans who sailed from England, and landed,
with their wives and children, on the rock of Ply-
mouth. "They were hungry and in distress, and the
Indians received them with open arms, and fed them
with maize and other food which they brought to
them."
This was not wonderful, but natural; and ndblet
because these intelligent and discriminating people
contemplated in this little domestic group of hus-
bands, wives, and children, the elements of fellow-
ship and peace, instead of the signals of war and
plunder.
The entrance of this colony opened the door for others,
and the stream of emigration that has continued ever
! ■■•-.'fjIfWllffm^^i ■ h'^t
' !'liHfi(il«-" ' » *w'^'JJ'*t!»W''i'J*"^*'!-**J*<'«!H1»« '*?wfyiVWW.jTO!W^^;r?'-.-'j;
334
LAST KAMBLE8 AMOlfGST TH£ I27DIASS.
sixkce, peopling the whole Atlaistic «5oast. and constantly
moving on toward* 'he west, and disjplacii^^ and moving
the Indian populait4/>ns by treaty sl5«»|>ulatio«as, or by
force. ■■
And we now come te what is dricfly wondfrfol, and
even astonishing, that un<5*er all the invasions, the Iraads,
the deceptions, and tricks as wei! as force, t^iart-. have
been practised upon them to push them from ^hetr
lands, and towards " the setting sun," these poor and
abused people have exercised so little cruelty as they
have; — that rum, and whisky, and smallpox, of the
white man's importation amongst them, have been sub-
mitted to ; and border warfare, until they are reduced,
tribe after tribe, to mere remnants, and still pushed
again and again to the west; and that even there, and
under these irritating circumstances, white men travel
unprotected, their lives secure, and their property
transported with safety; — that "Lasalle and Father
Hennepen," in 1678, with only thirty men, should have
pasBed, in their voyages of discovery, through the whole
of the great lakes, the Illinois and the Mississippi,
during eight years of continual travels and explorations,
amongst more than twenty tribes as yet ignorant of
civilisation ; and Father Hennepen (as he relates), with
only two men, ascending, amongst the numerous tribes
(the first explorer there), to the Falls of St. Anthony ;
and under all the exposure and trying vicissitudes of
those eight years, as they say, they were uniformly
treated with hospitality and kindness by the Indians; —
•il!ijS|l*WI«l5|!yAllff^^ »P5!/jp,f
THE INDIANS, WHERE ARE THEY GOING ? 335
that " Lewis and Clarke," with a small detachment of
men, in 1805, should have ascended the whole length
of the Missouri River, crossed the Rocky Mountains,
and reached the Pacific Ocean, and returned, a distance
of more than 8000 miles, in which they paid the first
visits of white men to more than thirty of the wildest
and most warlike tribes on the continent, without
having to wield a weapon in self-defence ! " And " (as
I had it from General Cla? ke's lips in his old age) " we
visited more than 200,000 of these poor people, and
they everywhere treated us with hospitality and kind-
ness." And that hundreds of other travellers, and
amongst them, myself , whose lives and whose property
have been at their mercy, that they have been so
merciful, and so friendly, and honourable, under the
sense they have of white men's cruelties and wrongs, is
truly a matter of wonder !
In the epitome of my wanderings, given in this little
work, it has been seen that I have found my way into
and through 120 different tribes, in North, South, and
Central America, and the reader who has got thus far
in the book will easily imagine that my life and my
property have been, much of the time, at their mercy ;
and will here le^rn that, not only have I found it
unnecessary ever to raise my hand against one of
them, but that they have everywhere treated me>
with hospitality and kindness : and nowhere, to my
knowledge, stolen a sixpence worth of my property,
though in their countries there is universal poverty
w^w^
836
LAST RAMBLES AMOXGST THE INDIANS.
pfif
to stimulate to crime, and no law to punish for theft,
ftnd where travellers carry no trunks with locks and
keys !
The above statements, if they be true, show us a
people who are not only by nature humcm, but
hv^mane; and evince a degree of submission and for-
bearance Oil their part which would be a virtue and an
honour for any race ; and w^uch, with their other claims,
entitle them to a better fate than the unlucky one they
are hastening ta
In the past pages we have seen these unhappy
people in the midst of the cruel onslaughts for gold,
by cataclysms sunk down, and by sabres struck
down, in the progress of their own civilisation; and
we have contemplated +hem in " floods," from which,
tradition tells us, a few only were saved on the tops
of the mountains — but we have yet to view them in
another deluge more fatal, and from the drowning
waves of which it is to be feared the mountain-
tops will save not one of them — ^the Flood of Emigra-
tion!
After cataclysms, the Indians' misfortune in South
America, in Mexico, and Hispaniola, was in their gold ;
and that done, there is yet a chance of their living.
Their misfortune in North America, that they owned
the broadest and richest country on the globe, teeming
with all the luxuries tempting to white man's cupidity
— the temperature of its climate— the richness of its soil
•^its vast prairies speckled with bufifalo^^is, and its
A
'inf?^'siim'!f^-
JtUB INDIANS, VtnEEik ARk TMfiT GOtNG t 33t
nvers and mountains abounding in valuable furs, in
latitudes most suitable for emigration, and that emigra-
tion led and pushed on by a popular government which
could have but one motion, and that onward, to the
Hccky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean.
Under suSk accumulated circumstances the Indians'
fate was sealed — ^their doom was fixed; and in that
" flood," which has been for a half centuiy spreading
over their country, the last of them are now being
engulfed ; and as if gold must necessarily have its share
in their destruction, its shining scales are being turned
up in various parts of the Eocky Mountains, adding
fury to the maddened throng who are now concentrat-
ing for its search in the very centre of the vast solitudes
to which advancing civilisation has been driving the
poor Indians, both from the east and the west, as their
last possible hold in existence.
Unlike the goid searchers in Mexico and Peru, who
struck their blotoe, got their gold in Tinasses, and were
off, the gold sedcers in the Rocky Mountains will hold
on — their mines will last, and the poor Indians, be-
tween gold diggers, and squatters, and whisky sellers,
who are armed with repeating rifles and revolvers, v^ill
lengthen their days as long as they can, but there ^vlll
be few of them.
For the last fifty years a lucrative traffic in whisky,
paid for in beaver and other furs, and buffalo robes, has
led to dissipation and poverty of the poor Indians, and
introduced smallpox and other diseases, which have
2 a
■ ™T^f,'|i^^!P!Pf' • '"■" ^iv^-y
aJllRip^PillPPIiiiPP
^38
LASr KAMBLES AMONGSt TH£ INDIANS.
often swept off in a few months one-half in man^
tribes, and two-thirds and even three-fourths in
others.
The disastrous and cruel consequences sure to flow
from this tra,ific, with two or three thousand unprinci-
pled men in the mountains and valleys of the Far West,
under the direction of rich and powerful companies,
has often been pointed out to the government; but
in countries fo far beyond the reach of laws, nothing
has been done effectually to check it; and now tho
predicted consequences are seen in their full force.
The combined causes of border emigration moving
on faster than the government can purchase the lands
of the Indians — the unemployed hunters, and trappers,
and whisky sellers, whose business is declining, and a
headlong stampede of half-crazy adventurers flying to
the gold fields of the Rocky Mountains, form a phalanx
of the most desperate men, who take possession of the
Indians' country — claim it, and hold it — pronounce the
Indians all "brutes, who can hold no title" — build
towns of log huts, and call them " cities " — publish
newspapers, and announce " Indian murders ! Indian
murders of white men !" (whether perpetrated or not),
call upon the government for regiments and armies
of soldiers to protect them, and these soldiers in
their country openly advocate " extermination " — offer
rewards of twenty dollars for every Indian's scalp
that can be taken (with the civil condition armexed),
"provided that both ears are attached to them!"
^mmmimii^llfimm
Jll^limmmmmmffitmm'^^
THE INDIANS, WHERE ABE THEY GOING ?
339
Hera, my young readers, we are upon facts, and I
am ashamed for the character and honour of my country
to acknowledge them as such; and I now put the
question which I promised to ask, " Who is the savage,
and which the brute V* My heart bleeds at this, but I
cannot prevent it.
Twenty dollars offered by the corporation of Central
City, in the middb of a state of the Union, for every
Indian's scalp — for every deliberate murder ! — What a
carte blanche! what a thriving business the trappers
and whisky sellers can make of this! How much
better than killing wolves at two dollars per head, or
catching cunning beavers for three dollars ! The poor,
unsuspecting Indian of any distant tribe, whilst hunting
for food to feed his wife and children, may be shot
down, or decoyed from his wigwam, made drunk with a
pint of whisky, and scalped, as the trapper's exigencies
may demand ; or taken out of his grave, where he has
recently been buried, and his scalp, " with both ears,"
taken without the merit, and without the trouble, of a
murder!
Why, the butcheries by Cortes and Pizarro and De
Soto were not half so bad as this ! Can it be that, in
the present age of civilisation and emancipation, scenes
so abhorrent as these are to be countenanced or permitted
by the government of my country, in the centre of one
of her confederated states ? It is said that an army of
men sufficient to protect all the white inhabitants in the
mountains and in the plains is on the move, and that
^T^
''5?KT"r?5iW^-»?™!W??!^^
fl.^'.JWl'^' ■ l|;fl
340
LAST BAMBLBS AMONGST TH£ INOIANB.
*' eaciUrmina;ti(m to ike savage** is to be the "watch-
word." I do not believe it — I think better of my
countiy than this.
What ! the government that has just gained ever-
lasting honour before the civilised world by giving
freedxym and rights of citizenship to two millions of
Africans, now, at the point of the bayonet, to dAsfrcm-
chise and enslave a free and indeperident people — ^to
dismherit her " red ckUdren" whose lands she holds,
and (to protect a set of murderous adventurers in the
Rocky Mountains} to dispute their existence I I ca/n/not
believe this, and I will not, for I wish yet to lay my
bones in my native land.
I have so far briefly enumerated the principal mis-
fortunes of the poor Indians, but there is yet one other,
not less unfortunate or less lamentable for them in its
results — they have no newspapers^ no missiles to
herald, post-haste, their griefs, their wrongs, to the ears
of the world ; but all deaths, when they are shot down
by the rifles of their enemies, and all abuses of their
wives and children, are muffled and silenced in the vast
solitudes around them, whilst every blow struck by
an Indian in retaliation rings and echoes over every
part of the continent as ''wilful murder and mas-
sacre by the infernal savage !" Glorious institution, the
"Press," but how much more glorious if it were not
one-sided!
I have long been aware of the approaching Indian
crisis which now is evidently at hand, and in my notes
■^ffWIffewnrnfjp
w
THE INDIANS, WHERE ABE THET GOING ? 341
written on the Upper Missouri, and published thirty
years since, I predicted it in the following terms: —
'' The Sioux of 25,000, the Mandans of 2000, the Assine-
boins of 7000, the Minatarrees of 2500, the Chayennes
of 6000, the Pawnees of 10,000, and numerous smaller
tribes of the prairies which I have visited, and who are
living exclusively on the flesh of the buffaloes (their
only food, for in the vast plains where these cattle
range there are no other animals for food), making
their tents of their hides, and robes and clothing
for themselves and families^ are soon to be left in a
state of destitution, and, in fact, in absolute starvation,
in which they will have to flee to the base of the
Bocky Mountains to get animals for their subsist-
ence.
" The cause of this approaching misfortune, which is
soon to come upon them, is the nefarious business of
rum and whisky selling, which is driven to that extent,
by rich and rival companies, that in a very few years
the vast herds of buffaloes that now graze on the prairies
in the plains of the Platte and the Missouri will be
destroyed. These are eveiy year concentrating into a
narrow compass, and being followed up by the various
tribes on all sides, the last of them wUl suddenly dis-
appear ; the last animal will be skinned, and 200,000
Indians who now subsist on their flesh, and at least
500,000 wolves that live by picking the bones of the
animals slain, will come together, and face to face will
have to contend for existence.
M
in
mimA II .ii^jiipp|iippiip||.wiiiP'i»i'iii .iJ p "i ■ 11
W
342
LAST BAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
"Though the government at Washington have
passed laws prohibiting the passing of whisky into
the Indian countries, they appoint Indian agents, who
are silent members of the trading companies, and,
having control over the whole Indian country, facili-
tate the entrance of as much whisky as the traders
require.
" This whisky, which is distilled by these companies
at St. Louis or other towns on the frontier, is conveyed
into the Indian country in * high wines ' (alcohol), and
for the Indians' use is diluted, each pint of alcohol
making three pints of Indian whisky. At the mouth
of the Yellow Stone, on the Upper Missouri, the prin-
cipal factory on the Missouri, the price of this diluted
whisky is eighteen dollars per gallon ; and transported
from that on horses to the Crows and Blackfeet, the
price becomes thirty-two dollars per gallon ! Such are
the prices that these poor people pay for their dissi-
pations.
" At this post, and the other trading establishments
on the Missouri and Platte, the uniform price of
buffalo robes, beautifully dressed by the Indian women,
is a pint of Indian whisky ; so that one pint of alcohol
buys three buffalo robes, worth, in St. Louis, from five
to eight dollars each ! And here (discovered perhaps
by accident, and probably never patented) it was
ascertained that tobacco soaked in whisky made the
whisky much more pungent and more intoxicating,
and this important discovery, being brought into a
:/
v'm»- '^■m^>mym]ig^jiti[i^mi.mmmw^m
THE INDIANS, WHERE ABE THEY GOING ? 345
working process here, results greatly to the Fur Com-
pany's advantage, in the following simple and beautiful
manner.
" In the Fur Company's retailing store, inside of their
fort, they have two barrels of whisky standing on end,
side by side, with taps near their bottoms, for drawing
out the liquor. One of these barrels has a part of the
heading taken out, and a keg of plug tobacco being
knocked to pieces, the tobacco is thrown into the barrel
of whisky, and every morning, with a stick long enough
to reach to the bottom, the tobacco and whisky are well
stirred about.
" This precious barrel is marked No. 1, and the other
No. 2. And when the poor Indians come in with their
buffalo skins and throw them down, the clerk inquires
which kind they desire. No. 1. or No. 2 ; if No. 1, two
robes are taken instead of one ! And as most important
discoveries lead to others, this has resulted in this way :
when the whisky is out, and the tobacco dried and
prepared for smoking, it has been ascertained that
the Indians are quite willing to pay a double price
for it, from the flavour it has acquired by lying in the
whisky!
" The profit arising from this sort of commerce is
easily calculated, and also the results that it must
sooner or later lead to ; and from forty to fifty thou-
smd buffalo robes are taken down the Missouri to
St. Louis every summer (for which the animals are
mostly killed in the winter, when their hair is the
IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-3)
1.0 £1^ Ki
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344
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANS.
longest, and their flesh too poor to eat), in addition to
the vast numbers killed for the subsistence of 200,000
Lidians. From these statements something like an
estimate can be made of the rapid decrease of these
animals, and, as I have said, of their approaching
extinction."
For the above prophesy and '* v/njwA oMcLch upon the
Fwr Oompofiiy" I have had some unfriendly denuncia-
tions by the press, and by these critics I have been
reproachfully designated the " Ivdumr-lovvng CcUli/n"
What of this ? What have I to answer ? Have I any
apology to make for loving the Indians ? The Indians
have always loved me, and why should I not love the
Indians ?
I love the people who have always made me welcome
to the best they had.
I love a people who are honest without laws, who
have no jails and no poorhouses.
I love a people who keep the commandments without
ever having read them or heard them preached from
the pulpit.
I love a people who never swear, who never take the
name of Qod in vain.
I love a people " who love their neighbours as they
love themselves."
I love a people who worship God without a Bible, for
I believe that God loves them also.*
• (Xkate WMihlpb teom th« Antbotfi own tTldMia*, U Ignomit Mid matcriftl, urn ^ 9f, Wt, Igt. ]
I151^ft'8,'ai*.y. ., iJ)M>t'-, '.':* '■W;.''»7
T
THE INDIANS, WHERE ARE THET GOING ? 345
I love the people whose religion is all the same, and
who are free from religious animosities.
I loye the people who haye never raised a hand
agunst me, or stolen my property, where there was no
law to punish for either.
I love the people who have never fought a battle with
white man, except on their own ground.
I loVe and don't fear mankind where Qod has made
and left them, for there they are children.
I love a people who live and keep what is their own
without locks and keys.
I love all people who do the best they can. And oh,
how I love a people who don't live for the love of
money !
It has been sneeringly said that I have " spoken too
well of the Indians " (better to speak too well of them
than not to speak well enough) — ^"that I have flattered
them" (better to fiatter them than to oariaatv/re
them ; there have been enough to do this). If I have
overdone their character, they have had in vm one
friend at least; and I will not shrink from the sin and
responsibility of it.
I was luckily bom in time to see these people in
their native dignity, and beauty, and independence, and
to be a living witness to the cruelties with which they
have been treated, worse than dogs; and now to be
treated worse than loolvea I And in my former publica-
tions I have predicted just what is now taking place —
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846
LAST RAMBLES AMONGST THE INDIANA
iS!f^•.
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that in their thrown, and hunted down, and starred
condition, the future " gallopers " across the plains and
Bocky Mountains, would see here and there the
scattered, and starving, and hegging, and haggard
remnants of these once proud and handsome people —
epresent them, in their entailed miseiy and wretched-
ness, as "the 8iov>x" "the Cfha,ye7me8," " the Oaages"
&o., and me, of course, as a liar.
From the very first settlement on the Atlantic coast
there has been a continual series of Indian wars. In
eveiy war the whites have been victorious, and every
war has ended in " Surrender of Indian Territory"
Every battle which the whites have lost has been a
"massacre" and every battle by the Indians lost, a
"ghriovs victory!" And yet, to their immortal
honour, be it history with its inferences (for it is fcuth),
they never fought a battle with civilised men excepting
on thevr own ground ! What are the inferences from
this, and to whose eteroal shame stands the balance in
the books ?
I have said that I was lucky enough to have been
bom at the right time to have seen these people in
their native dignity and elegance ; and thanks to Blm
in whose hands the destinies of all men are that my life
has been spared to visit most of the tribes in every
latitude of the American continent, and my hand
enabled to delineate their personal looks and their
modes, to be seen and to be criticised after the people
and myself shall have passed away.
^
THE INDIANS, WHERE ABE THET GOING ? 347
I have devoted fourteen years of my life, and aU my
earthly vnecmSf in visiting these scattered and remote
people, and with my toils and privations, I have had my
enjoyments. These have been curiously mixed, and
generally by chance and by accident, which probably
have beneficially relieved the one and the other from
injurious anticipations and excitement.
My works are done, and as well as I could do them
nnder the circumstances. I have had no government,
society, or individual aad, but travelled and laboured at
my own expense. In my writings and my paintings I
have quoted no one ; but have painted and written of
things that I saw and heard, and of nothing else. My
works will probably be published in full (too late for
my benefit), but for the benefit and instruction of others
who come behind me.
Art may mourn when these people are swept from
the earth, and the artists of future ages may look in
vairi for another race so picturesque in their costumes,
their weapons, their colours, their manly games, and
their chase ; and so well adapted to that talent which
alone is able to throw a speaking charm into marble,
or to spread it upon the canvas.
The native grace, simplicity, and dignity of these
natural people so much resemble the ancient marbles,
that one is irresistibly led to believe that the Grecian
sculptors had similar models to study from. And
their costumes and weapons, the toga, the tunic, and
manteau (of skins), the bow, the shield, the lance, so
m
348
LAttT BAMBLE8 AMONGST THB INDUITB.
precisely similar to those of andent times, convince nt
that a second (and last) strictly classic era is passing
fipom the world.
In a political and ethnological point of view, also, from
their ey&nescent position, these people and their modes.,
at this time, are surely subjects of peculiar interest,
reduced, since the discovery of America, from seven or
eight millions to an eighth part of that number at the
present time; and that remainder, from the causes
ahready mentioned, with no other prospect than rapid
dedmation aikd final extinction.
Of the irresistible, individual means that have been
used, and of the various policies of the United States
government, tending to (though not intended for) the
destruction of these people, it has not been the inten-
tion of this little work to speak other than in brief and
general terms; nor would it be justice towards the
Indians, or to those who read, if I were to omit to
say in this place that the causes which have so far led
to their destruction are still in force; that rum
and whisky and disease are still dispensed amongst
them from one end of the frontier to the other;
and (what pains me most to say) that my ancient
friends the 8iova, the Cha/iitwne8t and other tribes
of the plains, who treated me with uniform kind-v
ness and hospitality, and made me welcome in their
villages thirty-three years ago, are now being swept
from their beautiful plains into the Rocky Mountains
by armies of men armed with cannons and revolvers I
TBI INOIAKS, WHEBE ARE THEY QOINO 7 349
These poor people, whose cruel fate posterity will
lament, whose countrieis for more than half-a-centuiy
have been scourged (and in some places depopulated)
by rum and whisky and smallpox, and who are now
being driven into the mountains, will certainly perish
there; but, in their death-struggle, will as certainly
wreak a cruel and costly vengeance on the powers that
are sending them there, as well as upon the settlers of
the frontiers and the innocent travellers who venture to
cross the vast and uninhabited solitudes of the great
plains and the Bocky Mountains.
The remnants of numerous tribes driven from both
sides into the desolate wilds and wastes of the Rocky
Mountains, alike impressed with the undying sense of
white man's cruelty to teach to their children, will
there unite for sway and vengeance in regions which
require but little in addition to their natural features
to bid defiance to white man's existence.
Across those vast, and frozen, and uninhabitable tracts
the United States are sending mail-bags on the backs of
ponies, and telegraphs by a single wire, and might have
done so for the fifty years past and for the fifty years
to come, without molestation from the Indians; but how
long, in a state of war, and war for eostermination, can
this be done ?
Other wires are to be stretched amongst the rocks,
and a railway is to be built, and is being built, and
goods, and valuable treasures, and human life are to be
wheeled by day and by night over and through those
"^F^-:".. .7*
m
350 LAST aAMBLES AXONGST THB IKDUK8.
vast and desert solitudes, and what security will there
be for either ?
I have seen some estimates in the American papers
that the ''Pony Express" alone is going to require
10,000 men, at an expense of a million of dollars per
annum, to protect it ! If that be so (and I believe it),
what force, and at what cost, will protect a single wire
when the Indians are in a state of starvation and death,
fighting for existence; their scalps advertised for at
twenty dollars each, and the telegraphic wire (the very
thing they want to point their arrows with) stretched
through a thousand miles of rocks and snowdrifts ? or
the nightly passing train, that a simple rock or block of
wood upon the rail would enable an ambuscade of
Indians, in five minutes, in the dead of night, to revenge
the death of hundreds of their brothers, wives, and
children, and enrich themselves with plunder, to be
hidden in the unapproachable solitudes and caves of
the mountains ; or the same rocks and blocks of wood
laid and the booty shared by pale-faced (moccasimed)
bandits (there will be enough of them), to be avenged
upon the Indians?
I have seen the country and I know the people, and
I imagine the time near at hand when a Pony Eocpresa
a tdegra/pKio wire, and a raAlmay will each require,
100,000 men to ensure them security; and then will be
shouted by the acquisitive race, like thunder from the
heavens, ** On, on, merdfuZ omUaation ! the treasures
of the earth are thine, and death to the savage I" when
w
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l'H£ INDIANS, WHERE ARE THEY GOING ? %h\
the last of the race ydll be tracked by bloodhounds, and
sent to the dust with " Sharp's rifles ! "
[The railway and telegraph have been successfully
constructed and are in constant use without any of these
alarming consequences predicted by the Author.]
THE END.
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