: the negroes were in number about two hundred and fifty : nor was there a village or place within many miles from which assistance could be summoned. Let the reader only imagine the scene that must have en- sued had some of these blacks, while smarting under the pain of the lash, been taught the first crude notions of natural right, or been awakened to the first consciousness of their power, or been excited to one feeling of indignation or revenge strong enough to overcome the habitual terror of the cowhide ! Hence it is not difficult to under- stand how justly the slaveholders urge the neces- sity of keeping from their slaves all glimpses of knowledge or liberty upon the ground of self-pre- servation ; and thus the best apology for slavery furnishes the best evidence of its inhuman- unholy nature. But to return to the plantations on James River. There is a wide difference between the respective conditions of the domestic and the farm-labouring slave; the former has, in many instances, been OVERSEERS. 16? brought up under the same roof with his owner perhaps they have been playmates in early boy- hood ; he has rarely, if ever, felt the lash ; and his respectability of demeanour and attachment to the family are characteristics which it is easy and plea- sant to observe ; his punishment when idle is gene- rally confined to a scolding, and if that fails, a threat to sell him will almost always reduce the most obstinate to obedience. But the farm-labour- ing slave is little brought into contact with his master, whose habitual feelings of humanity are, therefore, seldom excited in his favour : he is one of a gang from which, as from a team of horses, a cer- tain quantum of labour is expected ; he is entirely at the mercy of the overseer ; and the merit of that functionary in the eyes of his employer being to extract the maximum of profit from the exertions of the slaves, he is apt to spare neither threats nor blows in the discharge of his office, and an appeal against him to the master is worse than hopeless, as the negro evidence is unheeded. The complainant, therefore, is well aware that by accusing his op- pressor, he would only draw upon himself redoubled severity or cruelty. These overseers are generally men of harsh and unfeeling character, which every day spent in their disagreeable vocation must have a natural tendency to harden ; but I have never heard in the South-eastern States of their being guilty of the licentious atrocities of which they have been 168 MARRIAGE OF SLAVES. sometimes accused in Louisiana, and which cer- tainly are but too common among them in the West India Islands. The marriage of the slave is, of course, entirely at the option of the owner, by whom it is generally encouraged. If the wife belong to a gang on an ad- joining property, the husband is usually allowed to visit her from Saturday night until Monday morn- ing, and sometimes once again in the week from sunset until the following daybreak : the children resulting from the marriage belong to the owner of the mother. The sexual morality of the negroes (being unchecked by any notions of decency or pro- priety) would be even more lax than it is, were it not restrained by prohibitory regulations on the part of their owners, whose interest it is to prevent all irregularities which might interfere with the labour of the male, or the fecundity of the female slaves : let us hope, also, that some impose these re- straints from better and higher motives. The religion of the negroes is such as might be expected from the brutal state of ignorance in which they are brought up ; the dignity, the responsibility, the immortality of man being unknown to them, their religion is a compound of superstition and ab- surdity, inculcating no virtue, duty, or self-denial, and filling their heads with drivelling fruitless fan- cies ; they always prefer their own preachers (some brother-slave, whose vanity and volubility have in- duced him to assume the office) to any white minis- AGRICULTURE. 169 ter that can be offered to them ; and the only defi- nite article of belief that I could obtain from seve- ral whom I examined, was, that if adultery, theft, and murder were very bad, a few prayers soon ex- piated the offence, and the " man might start again as good as ever ! " The soil on both banks of James River is natu- rally very fertile ; but it has been much exhausted by neglect and by over-cropping. A better system of agriculture is now introduced ; a triennial rota- tion is observed, consisting usually of wheat, Indian corn, and clover ; fine beds of marl have lately been discovered of great extent, and the use of this with shells and a free admixture of animal and vegetable manure, is already producing evident and rapid improvement in the soil and in the crops. Most of the implements of husbandry are made on the farm ; the draught cattle consist chiefly of small, lean, but hardy oxen, and stout mules, which are fed upon the coarsest refuse of the produce : thus (with the exception of the value of the slave- labour) the outlay upon these farms is not by any means heavy in proportion to their return ; and were it not for the subdivision to which, by the laws of the country, they are so frequently subject- ed, these estates would maintain a comfortable and independent gentry. I suppose my American friends would call it British prejudice ; but I confess it often made me sad in my journey through Virginia, to see good VOL. I. M 5 170 EMBARK FOR WILLIAMSBURGII. substantial manor-houses, built while the law of primogeniture was in force, either untenanted or half inhabited, because none of the heirs of the sub- divided property could afford to live in them. However, although I will not enter further into the merits of that question here, I freely admit that I consider a law of primogeniture incompatible with republican institutions. On the 19th of April I bade adieu to my kind hosts, and embarked again on James River for Williamsburgh, the former colonial seat of govern- ment. The steamer in which I found myself was the " Patrick Henry ! " The name of the extraor- dinary man after whom it was so called, is familiar to all who are in any degree conversant with the his- tory of the American revolution. How little could he imagine, when he was stirring up the Virginians to revolt, and fulminating his eloquent denuncia- tions against their governor, who had proclaimed him outlaw and traitor, that in fifty years his own country would be a mighty independent empire, and the grandson of that governor be received there as a traveller with kindness and hospitality ! The district through which I was now passing was the Wingandacoa, mentioned as the first region visited by the English on this coast ; it is de- scribed by Philip Amydas, narrator of that expedi- tion, as " a soile most plentiful, sweete, and whole- some of all other ;" in proof of which the worthy captain states, " the come groweth three times in EARLY SETTLERS. 171 five moneth ; we put some of our pease in the grounde, which in ten dayes were fourteen inches high ! " 1 entreat the reader to take this statement upon the faith of Philip Amydas's veracity, and not of mine. It appears that in 1585, Wingandacoa received the name of Virginia, and a second expedition was sent thither under Sir Richard Grenvill, Master Heriot, Layne, and others. Their first negotiations with the Indians seem to have been carried on in that spirit of intolerance and cruelty which has marked and disgraced the conduct of English, Spa- nish, and of all the civilized nations, in their in- tercourse with ignorant and helpless savages. Mas- ter Heriot's narrative abounds with illustrations of this observation ; let one short sentence suffice : very soon after their landing, he says, " At Aquas- cogac the Indians stole a silver cup, so we burnt their towne, and spoyled their corne," &c. When civilization and Christianity came to the poor In- dians, recommended by such acts of wanton atro- city as are recorded in the narratives written by the first European settlers themselves, who can wonder that they should become objects of fear and hatred, rather than of admiration and love ? The speed of the Patrick Henry exceeded that of any steamer which I had seen in England or in America. She went over seventy-six miles (with wind and tide in her favour) in four hours and twenty minutes precisely, including several 172 JAMES TOWN. short stoppages to land and take in passengers. I landed at James Town, the now desolate spot, where the fathers of America first established them- selves on her shores : it is impossible to view it without interest and emotion, or to forget that from this acorn sprung the huge-spreading oak on which the American eagle has built her nest ! " Time was when, settling on thy leaf, a fly Could shake thee to the roots and time has been When tempests could not."* Nothing now remains of that parent settlement excepting the ruins of the church, which mark the place whence the tidings of Christianity were first preached in the Western world. Here I regret to add that the condition both of the ruins and of the churchyard, attest the indifference of the American people to sepulchral relics or monuments of antiquity. Instead of showing any reverence for this classic and holy ground (such, at least, it should be to them), the church has been allow- ed to fall to pieces the gravestones have been rudely torn from their places the marble slabs broken, and scattered in every direction the in- scriptions and carved ornaments defaced the churchyard wall thrown down nor is there the slightest remaining barrier to protect this, their earliest religious and ancestral monument, from the intrusion of pigs and cattle, or the more disgrace- ful profanation of human mischief and curiosity ! * Cowper's " Yardley Oak." DESECRATED CHURCHYARD. 173 Some may think this a light and trivial matter I cannot agree with them : it appears to me an amiable, if not an instinctive feeling in our nature, to have a regard to all the concerns, the habits, the deeds, as well as the houses and more material relics of our forefathers ; how much more so to venerate the spot of which the dust is kindred to our own animated clay, where sleep the men to whom we owe the land and the liberty we enjoy. I will defy any one who pretends to understand or appreciate a stanza of Gray's matchless Elegy to look upon this desecrated churchyard without min- gled feelings of indignation and pain. If I were an American statesman, I would watch, and en- deavour to correct this national defect, and to in- stil into my countrymen a sentiment which the concurring testimony of civilized nations has ap- proved. Burke, who was no superficial observer of human nature, has said, " They who never look back to their ancestors, will rarely look forward to posterity." The road from James Town to Williamsburgh is through a tame ill-cultivated country, without much pretension to beauty. The seat of govern- ment during the Old Dominion is now little bet- ter than a " deserted village." The centre of the palace where the governor resided has long since fallen down, and even the traces of its ruins are no more to be seen. Two small wings, which formed part of the range of offices, are still stand- 174 RUINS OF AN OLD PALACE. ing : they have been bought and fitted up by Mr. B , their present possessor, in a neat cot- tage style. I did not scruple to enter, and ask permission to cast my eye round the apartments and adjoining garden, which was politely granted. It may be imagined with what mingled and un- definable feelings I viewed this spot, as a stranger and a foreigner, where my grandfather had lived, surrounded by the pomp and pageantry of vice- royalty ! then all was bustle, and gaiety, and life within those halls when the governor welcomed the colonists to the board and to the dance, or sallied forth with British soldiery, supported by the bold woodsmen of the country, to drive the red invaders from the remote portions of Virginia, which are now included in the States of Ohio and Tennessee!* What is now the contrasted scene ? those wilder- nesses, watered by the Ohio and Mississippi, which were then the abode of the wolf, the bear, and the Indian, are filled with thriving farms and busy villages, amidst which are to be found towns of great and increasing opulence ; while the ancient capital, on the site of which I was now stand- * In the time of James the First, and for many years after his reign, the colony of Virginia was held to contain all the country between latitudes 32 and 44, " and as far westward as might be convenient." I saw some very curious records connected with this subject in the archives, which are preserved in good order at Richmond. The present northern and south- ern limits of Virginia were assigned in 1630-1632, when the boundaries of Carolina and Maryland were drawn. OLD COLLEGE. 175 ing, has dwindled, in half a century, into a paltry village, without even a venerable ruin to rescue its decay from insignificance ! The train of reflections naturally arising from the contemplation of this scene probably prevented my paying due attention to the college situated in the neighbourhood of it, built and endowed (as is well known) by William and Mary. I did visit it, however, and found a large irregular pile of building, without any architectural pretensions. I also paid my respects to Mr. T , one of the principal professors : his deportment and conversa- tion answered the expectation which I had formed from the general high character that he enjoys throughout the state. His general views of edu- cation and college discipline appeared to me libe- ral and enlightened. He introduced me to two other professors belonging to the establishment; and my impression from the interview was, that, under such men, the college, which had, for many years subsequently to the revolution, and the consequent diminution of its funds, been on the decline, would soon regain its former celebrity. On the 20th of April I left Williamsburgh, and proceeded, through an uninteresting country, to Hampton. From thence I took a stroll towards the new fortification at Old Point, which has been constructed with much care and at great expense. The works are of considerable extent, and many difficulties must have presented themselves in the 176 NEW FORTIFICATION. progress of the fortification, especially from the in- stability of the foundation, the whole being built upon sand. I should conceive it altogether a strong fortress, as regular approaches could only be made on one side, and that is a narrow isthmus, not easily occupied by an enemy. Its dimensions are quite out of proportion with the military force at present existing in the country. I should have conceived that the whole United States' army would not make more than a sufficient garrison for it (as it certainly would easily contain eight thousand men, which is above two thousand more than their present numerical force) ; but I am told the techni- cal calculations respecting the fortification (of which I am myself very ignorant) are, that it can be de- fended by three thousand men, and is calculated to hold out against regular approaches for forty days. The guns that I saw were all twenty-four and thirty- two pounders ; but forty -twos are to be mounted, upon a new and improved principle in the construc- tion of the carriages. I have been informed that it was meant to form a kind of depot, or centre, of a great line of coast fortification, extending all along the shores of the Atlantic : the intention of which was to protect the whole important line between the Hudson and the James River. Crossing from Old Point to Norfolk, in the steamer, I arrived late in the afternoon. This is a bustling, active town, containing, probably, about eleven thousand inhabitants. The streets are nar- NORFOLK. 177 row, and the houses rather small ; and, though the shops are well filled, and the streets are lined with hampers, barrels, crates, and all the usual pavement- impediments of a commercial port, still there is little to interest a stranger ; but the bay affords a noble harbour, and the merchants of Norfolk have been long and justly celebrated for their hospitality. As for the great bay of the Chesapeak, in which this seaport is situated, it is certainly one of the finest in the world, whether considered in reference to its commercial or naval importance, being, on an ave- rage, twelve or fifteen miles wide, two hundred and seventy miles long, and eight or ten fathoms deep throughout ; it contains many commodious har- bours and excellent fisheries. Besides the James River, of which I have before spoken, it receives the waters of several navigable rivers, the principal of which are the Susquehanna, Potomac, Patuxent, Rappahanock, and York. During my stay I was hospitably entertained by the British Consul, and made some agreeable ac- quaintance. After a few days I returned to Wash- ington. VOL. I. 178 MORNING RIDE. CHAPTER X. Morning Ride. Delightful Season. Shrubs and Flowers. The Mocking-bird. Visit to a Flower-garden. Preparations for a Tour in the West. Parting from Friends. Leave Washington for Baltimore. Fearful Ravages of the Cholera. Incident in the Museum at Baltimore. Arrival at Phila- delphia. Start for Pittsburgh. Lovely Prospect. Lancaster Vale. German Settlers. The Susquehanna. The Juniata. Track Boats. A Newspaper Reporter. Inquisitive Wes- tern Traveller. Walk to Holydaysburgh. Nocturnal Annoy- town. Passage across the Alleghanies. Arrival at Johns- ance. The River Conimah. Railroad. The Alleghany River. Pittsburgh. The Market. Mr. Rapp's Settlement. ON the morning of the 5th of May I sallied forth, about seven o'clock, to ride round the heights of George-town, and the picturesque glens by which they are divided from the Washington race-course. All who have seen the various tints which clothe the American woods in autumn, (or, to use their own poetical and admirable expression, in the fall,} have agreed in celebrating their unrivalled richness and beauty. I will not institute an odious compa- rison between that time of year and the " soote season" in which I now pricked forth : both are sweet, and both have their peculiar attractions. DELIGHTFUL SEASON. 179 After all, the last seen is always the best. Nature is like Perdita in " The Winter's Tale," " what she does, still betters what is done :" but I never remember to have enjoyed a more delight- ful ride (at least, alone] : the sun was clear, bright, and gay in his bridegroom trim the sweet south shook the dew-drops from the budding trees ; " The flowers sprang wanton to be prest ; The birds sang love on every spray;" and all nature wore that universal smile which the untranslatable expression of ^schylus so exquisitely paints in describing the sea.* The season, indeed, was later than usual, and on this lovely morning, the blooming May was busied in calling that " sleeping fragrance from the ground " which her elder sister April ought to have awakened ; the " Violets dim, But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes, Or Cytherea's breath," were peeping from every tangled corner in the dell ; buds and blossoms of various shrubs and trees, whose names were unknown to me, were bursting open in every direction the verdant walls of their native prison, and endeavouring, " all bash- fully, to struggle into light ;" while the graver pines and cedars seemed to mock their tender and unformed foliage. Proudly eminent among them * The dvt'ipidnov ye'Xctcr/ia. Vide Prom. 1. 90. VOL. i. N 2 180 THE MOCKING-BIRD. all was the luxurious and gaudy beauty of the Cor- nus florida* (called here the dog-wood); this is a large shrub, bearing delicate flowers of a paly pink hue, and such a profusion of them as to make the wild woods look like a flower-garden, and to throw into shade the beauties even of the May- thorn. Nor was animate nature less busily employed : the saucy robin was pluming himself by the stream, and regarded not my approach ; the gorge- ous blue-bird was showing to the sun his " feather- ed mail, sky-tinctured grain ;" the cat-bird and thrush were singing their matins from every bush and tree ; and, far above the rest, that prince of mimics and songsters, the mocking-bird, was swing- ing upon a small twig of the hickory-nut, which waved gently to and fro in the breeze ; while he, " as if he would the charming air repay," poured forth a strain of such rich and varied melody, as made me, for the moment, almost forget my allegiance to that feathered queen of song, who, throned in some venerable oak in Windsor's glades, has received so often the grateful homage of my ear, and charmed so many hours, by day and night, of my earlier years ! Thus lovely was the scene through which I suf- fered my steed to ramble at his own pace, un- * I believe, in autumn, it bears bright scarlet berries : its bark is a powerful tonic, and is taken as a remedy for ague. FLOWER-GARDEN. 181 willing that he should not have his share in the enjoyment diffused around him ; my own musings were tinged, however, with melancholy, as the last post from Europe had brought alarming accounts of the health of one who was and is to me as a sister one who, when I left her, was blithe and lovely as the landscape before me. There was something, moreover, in the object with which I visited thus early these woody dells, which was cal- culated to inspire gentle thoughts ; for my course was directed to a flower-garden, where I was go- ing to select a small bouquet for a young lady, to whom I had, the preceding evening, lost a " flowery wager ;" and as her attractions rendered her well worthy of the fairest and most fragrant selection which I could make, I was, perhaps, un- consciously illustrating those lines of our " old man eloquent," in which one, " Forth issuing on a summer's morn, to breathe Among the pleasant villages and farms Adjoined, from each thing met conceives delight ;" but when the " fair virgin" is added to the picture, " What pleasing seem'd, for her now pleases more." I returned home, laden with sweets like a bee, only with this difference, that the bee is a thief, and I came honestly by mine. I here feel obliged to acknowledge, that, although Washington is a dis- mal and dreary skeleton of a city, possessing a cli- 182 LEAVE WASHINGTON. mate and situation equally detestable, there are some delightful rides in its neighbourhod. After spending a few days more in the capital, I determined upon making a tour in the West, leav- ing its extent and direction to be guided by cir- cumstances, and by such information or advice as I might meet with on the way. Accordingly, I armed myself with letters of introduction to the officers on the western stations from the Secretary of the War Department and from the Commander- in-Chief, to both of whom I was much indebted for the readiness with which they gave them, and the pressing language in which they were couched. I could not leave the friendly roof under which I had passed so many pleasant weeks without sin- cere regret, especially as I was not sure whether its highly esteemed inhabitant might not return to Europe during my absence ; neither did " my bosom's lord sit lightly on his throne," on quitting others whose acquaintance and intimacy I had en- joyed. Although the society of three or four of the transatlantic cities might be gayer, there were some at Washington with whom I felt more at home, and consequently more loth to quit, than I should be to leave the gaieties even of Paris or Naples ! Never- theless, on Monday, the 19th of May, I went to Baltimore. The day was fine, the company in the stage well-informed and pleasing members of the best society ; so that the blue devils made a hurried RAVAGES OF THE CHOLERA. 183 retreat. I had for a fellow-passenger General Eustace, a highly esteemed officer, and he gave me the following account of the fearfully rapid attack which the cholera had made upon some troops under his command in 1832. He was on board a steam-boat on Lake Michigan, bound for Chicago, on the 9th of July, with about two hundred men. Some alarming reports regarding cholera having prevailed, he desired the surgeon to examine all the men carefully on Sunday evening ; the order was obeyed, and a report of their perfect health, without one exception, returned. On Monday morning, he was awakened by the surgeon telling him that there was one decided cholera case. He doubted it, but rose ; before he was dressed the steward reported another. He now fitted up a sort of hospital cabin, removed the two sick men to it, with the requisite orders for tending them, and went to breakfast : by the time he had finished his meal, the two men were dead, and numerous other cases had occurred. They reached Chicago that afternoon, and he had then thrown overboard nineteen dead, and had to land sixty-five helplessly ill, few of whom re- covered ! They had no premonitory symptoms ; no medicine afforded the slightest relief. They were seized at once with fearful cramps and spasms; and General Eustace described their cries and yells as having been acute and dreadful in the extreme. 184 MUSEUM AT BALTIMORE. In a few days there were scarcely survivors enough to bury their comrades by fours and fives in large holes, which they dug for the purpose. While at Baltimore I strolled into the Museum, to see the Well-known figures of Tam O'Shanter and Souter Johnnie, which were being exhibited. I was contemplating them with the interest which the home recollections they suggested would natu- rally produce, heightened not a little by the pure broad Scotch with which the exhibitor explained to the spectators their distinctive peculiarities, when the grotesque group received an addition which I shall not easily forget. Oh ! how I longed for the pencil of a Wilkie, or rather of a Reynolds ! Indeed the poetic contrast was stronger than that presented by the struggle between Tragedy and Comedy for the great actor of the last century. How I do long now for the pen of the Wizard of the North, that I might delineate, for my own satisfaction, or for that of others, the scene which, for a few mo- ments, I enjoyed ! It was simply this. The merry cobler was sitting in stone, with the broad smile upon his countenance, and the half-emptied can in his hand, when suddenly I observed a delicate round arm passed round his neck, and a profusion of dark tresses mingled with his grey locks ! It was a young girl, of about sixteen or seventeen years, who, with the naivete of youthful curiosity, had approached to take a nearer view of the jolly Souter. She was one of the most lovely creatures START FOR PITTSBURGH. 185 that ever I looked upon : her hair was dark and glossy ; her eyes black and brilliant, beneath eye- brows most delicately pencilled, and shaded by lids the fringe of which threatened to tickle her rosy cheek ; her nose was of that fine correct form so distinctive of American beauty, and round her sweet small mouth played two dimples that Psyche might have slept in ; her figure and her attitude blended the playful grace of the child with the symmetry of ripening bloom ; and thus, in delighted and un- conscious beauty, did she hang her arm round Johnny's neck of stone, and look into his grinning visage, her arch eyes beaming with surprise, and her full cherry lips almost touching his rough cheek ! I could not forbear gazing more intently perhaps than I ought ; she happened to look up, and, on encountering my rivetted eyes, she blushed deeply, and changed her position. I turned and left the room, for fear aught should mar that lovely and perfect picture of contrast ! On the following day I went on to Philadelphia, where I remained twenty-four hours, and took my place in the canal and railroad line from thence to Pittsburgh, the Birmingham of the West, and the extreme point of Pennsylvania, being three hundred and eighty-five miles from Philadelphia. Having furnished myself, by the assistance of an obliging friend in Philadelphia, with a fleet dog, called, or rather miscalled, Peevish, of a mixed greyhound race, whose speed I proposed to try on the plains 186 CITY OF PHILADELPHIA. of Illinois and Missouri, I set off on Friday morn- ing for Pittsburgh. The opening of this great railroad, after passing the celebrated waterworks of Fairmount, mounts the range of hills which overlook the city to the westward by an inclined plane, the draught-power being placed in a steam-engine worked at the sum- mit. As the operation of attaching the cars was somewhat tedious, I got out, and walked to the top of the hill, when my eye was gladdened by one of the most delightful prospects imaginable. The morning was bright as a young May sun could make it ; the Schuylkil wound gracefully round the base of the eminence on which I stood, his banks fringed with the oak, the poplar, and the weeping willow, and studded with many white and smiling villas, their creeper-covered arbours and neat lawns reminding me of some of those on the banks of Father Thames ; while, stretched on the seaward plain, lay the peaceful city of Brotherly Love, its bright spires glittering above the light hazy smoke which partly hid and partly revealed the humbler buildings beneath. No pen can de- scribe the beauty of the forest-foliage at this "sweet hour of prime ;" so great was the variety of tree and shrub which clothed the undulating hills around, all spangled with early dew, the brilliant dog-wood shining through every casual opening, and the lap of earth beneath teeming with the LANCASTER VALE. 187 honeysuckle, the azalia, the wild fusia, and hun- dreds of humbler, though not less lovely, flowrets. Thence the railroad carried us through one of the richest and most pleasant valleys in America, or in the world, called Lancaster Vale, from the town situated in its bosom. At this season it was one continued waving sea of rye, clover, and wheat : the farm-houses were almost all whitewashed, with a neat garden in front, and on one or each side a large orchard, the trees of which were planted with the utmost regularity, and their fragrant boughs teeming with blossom ; while, here and there was a favourite cow, with her jingling neck- bell, or a pet pony, cropping the rich orchard grass, and revelling, with an almost Apician glut- tony, on the luxuriant pasture. This part of the country was chiefly settled by Germans ; indeed, many of them can speak very little English. They have German preachers, and a German printing-press ; and yet so corrupted is their dialect, that I very much doubt whether a Saxon, a Brunswicker, or a Hanoverian could un- derstand them readily. One old man with whom I spoke, was the third in descent, American born, his great grandfather having come from Frankfort ; he could speak neither language intelligibly ; his son, however, a well-educated young man, joined in the conversation, and said, " Sir, you will not easily understand this dialect, but I will speak to you in 188 THE SUSQUEHANNA. Luther's German ;" upon which he addressed several sentences to me in language tolerably pure, both in grammar and pronunciation. It is almost needless to say, that the above phrase derives its origin^from Luther's translation of the Bible, still in universal use among the Germans. After travelling seventy-two miles on this rail- road, we arrived at Columbia, a village that seems to possess a brisk trade in lumber, judging from the vast piles collected on each side of the road. Here my eye was regaled by the first view of the sweet and now classic Susquehanna ; and well may that stream inspire the poet's pen or limner's pencil. The river, opposite Columbia, winding round the base of the hill which girds the eastern extremity of that village, is there broad and shallow, and its rippling current is broken by a thousand little islets, many of them only a few feet in diameter, but which the profuse hand of Nature has decked already with moss, grass, or shrub, although in winter they are probably submerged ; but now they formed a complete fresh-water archipelago. Here we left the railroad and took to the canal-boat, which, to my great delight, followed the course of the river, and gave us an opportunity of enjoying for many miles, the view of its picturesque and woodland banks. After passing Harrisburgh, the canal leaves the Susquehanna at Petersburg!), and courts her rival and younger sister the Juniata. I confess, with THE J UNI ATA TRACK-BOATS. 189 shame, that I had never heard of this river ; yet are her unsung banks as rich in foliage, in pleasant farms, in every variety of beauty, as hers which are consecrated by the Legend of Gertrude : the aver- age size of the channel appears to me to be much the same as that of " royal-towered Thame" at Wind, sor. The packets, or track-boats as they are here called, are tolerably comfortable ; and their rate of going is about four miles an hour ; which I preferred to greater speed, as it enabled me in the evening and morning, when the heat was not intense, to walk many miles in the enjoyment of the fresh hill breeze and the lovely everchanging scenery. The company on board these boats is very mixed, including every grade, from the operative to the highest class in Philadelphia. I was very for- tunate in meeting with an elderly gentleman well known as one of the most eminent and accurate re- porters in this country. His abilities are employ- ed in the service of the National Intelligencer ; a paper conducted by gentlemen, and remarkable in these days of political profligacy for advocating mo- derate and sound opinions, as well as for a rigid ab- stinence from that tone of virulence and personality which disgraces a great many American, and not a few British, newspapers. I think I understood him to say that his remuneration from this paper, as a re- porter, was about 3000 dollars (between 6 and 700/.) per annum. I enjoyed much agreeable and not uninstructive 190 INQUISITIVE TRAVELLERS. conversation with this gentleman, and I never saw the autumn of life adorned with more sober or more cheerful hues : happy in his home, honoured by his children, with a good constitution and a religious and contented spirit, and maintaining his opinions, which were strong and somewhat peculiar, with all the warmth and energy of youth, I could not help wishing, that thirty years hence, if I am destined so long to live, my mind and body might be in a simi- larly happy frame. I found an amusing contrast in the manners of some western travellers, who were cast in a rougher mould : they were not satisfied till they had found out who I was, where I came from, why I came, where I was going to, how long I meant to stay, and, in addition to these particulars, how much my umbrella cost, and what was the price of my hat. This last inquiry was followed by the party taking it up from the bench, and putting it on his head, which was not very cool, neither did it appear to have suffered much annoyance from water or from comb ; luckily the hat did not fit, and after giving it two or three stout pulls in a vain attempt to draw it over his scalp, he returned it to me. Another fel- low saw me smoking a Carbanos cigar ; he asked me, " Stranger, have you got another of them things ? I will give you a cent, for one" (a halfpenny). I im- mediately gave him one, saying, in perfect good- humour, " I will not sell you one, but I shall be very glad if you will accept this." To my surprise WALK TO HOLYDAYSBURGH. 191 he became irritated and angry, and tried two or three times to force the cent, upon me. I refused as stoutly ; and at length told him, that if he was determined to buy, and not to accept the cigar, I should charge him half a dollar for it. This view of the case induced him to take it gratis, but he seemed annoyed, and by no means grateful. I record these curious traits as more or less indi- cative of the western yeoman : that these sturdy fellows are less civil or good-humoured than those of a similar class in Lancashire or Yorkshire, I neither say nor think ; but doubtless their freedom of manner and conduct would be reckoned imperti- nent in any other country. On the eve of the 25th we arrived, about four, at a place where one of the locks was undergoing some repairs, and consequently the boat could pro- ceed no further until they were completed ; an ope- ration which was expected to last some three or four hours. I was informed that it was only twelve or fourteen miles to Holydaysburgh, where the canal terminates, and the journey is resumed the follow- ing morning on a railroad across the Alleghanies. I accordingly left the boat, and with my stout stick in my hand, and Peevish gamboling at my side, I set off on foot over the hills to Holydaysburgh. The evening was beautiful, but the heat was very severe for pedestrian exercise ; however, I trudged merrily along over a wooded and somewhat rough country, and a few hours brought me to the village, where I 192 NOCTURNAL ANNOYANCE. supped. In an evil moment, I determined to sleep in the tavern instead of in the close cabin of the track- boat, where our hammocks were slung in tiers three deep, and a " stout gentleman" might have found some difficulty in creeping into them. Having procured a sleeping apartment with only two beds in it, I hired them both, under a pretext of a friend about to follow me, and comforted my- self with the delicious prospect of solitude and quiet. Heu, vatum ignartf mentes ! Scarcely had I " quenched the flaming minister" and nestled myself in the least dirty-looking of the beds, when forth rushed from tester, pillow, and post a horde of those " blastet wonners," whose name I abhor to write : the well-remembered night spent at Pico presented its horrors to my memory ; and after be- stowing hundreds of random blows upon every part of my assaulted person, I rose and beat the whole blanketed field of battle with a large towel. 'T was all in vain : after suffering about two hours of this annoyance, my servant came in with a candle, by the assistance of which I slew five of the ringlead- ers ; but after his departure, the " rebel rout " re- turned to the charge and gained an easy victory. In addition to the draughts of pleasure which I thus took in through the sense of touch, I might also mention others which I enjoyed through that of hearing, such as the baying, yelping, and howling of seven or eight dogs in the yard below, whose power of voice was only equalled by its endurance. Sleep CROSS THE ALLEGHAN1ES. 193 would not " light on my lids," and I arose at day- light, unrefreshed and wounded as if I had slept over a wasps' nest. Upon mentioning to the landlord the undesired company with which I had been favoured, he said, " Yes, it is rather unpleasant." I agreed with him, and with much satisfaction bade adieu to him and his temple of vermin. On Monday morning I entered the railroad-car that was to convey me across the Alleghanies. We had to go up many inclined planes before we could reach the summit. Some passengers are much alarmed at that part of the journey, because all the cars are attached by one rope, which hauls them up the hill by the power of a steam-engine ; and if it were to break, the cars and all their contents would probably be dashed to pieces. I never felt this alarm : why should it break ? the rope is thick and very strong; and I cannot understand why people whose whole existence depends constantly upon strings and fibres finer than thread, should fear to trust it to the security of a cable ! Yet such are the contradictions commonly incidental to human nature. The passage over the mountain is one continued scene of rough wild woodland. The railroad is carried along the sides of ridges of considerable height, and almost precipitous ; where I should think that persons troubled with nerves might be now and then annoyed and alarmed. On our descent VOL. i. o 194 ARRIVAL AT JOHNSTOWN. from the summit, the horses got frightened twice : the first time, on meeting another line of cars, they turned round and got jammed between the two lines, whence there was some difficulty in extricating them ; the second time, they went down a steep bank, about twenty feet deep, and if it had occurred a little sooner or later, it must have been fatal to them, and might have been so to us. However, we arrived in safety at Johnstown, where we were transferred again to the canal which follows the course of the river Conemaugh, and we felt that the journey was drawing to a close, as the waters now ran to the west all of them hurrying through their multitudinous channels to swell the mighty tide of the Mississippi. After travelling some dis- tance along the banks of the Conemaugh, its name, probably from some intermediate tributary stream, is changed to the Kis-kiminitas ; the pronunciation of which among a party of strangers gives rise to much merriment and laughter. On both sides of its channel are extensive salt-works, and coal and lime abound. The earth is bored to the depth of six or seven hundred feet, a copper tube is inserted, and the salt water being drawn up by a pump, the salt is extracted by boiling : the whole process being carried on by the assistance of steam. The salt finds a ready market at Pittsburgh, " the Birmingham of the West." One of the principal engineers who had been employed in constructing this railroad, happened to RAILROAD. 195 be with us, and from him I gathered some of the subjoined particulars. The length of the canal and rail line from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, is three hundred and eighty-three miles, of which about one hundred and twelve are railroad; the cost of the whole was 1,600,000 dollars, about 350,000/. ; the height of " the summit" is two thousand three hundred feet above the sea, and fourteen hundred above the canal at the base. There are two tunnels of considerable length in the course of the whole line : the first is a railroad tunnel, through one of the spura of the Alleghany mountain, nine hundred feet long, and the hill above it is between two and three hundred feet high ; the second is a canal tunnel of similar dimensions, and passing also under a mountain. I learned with much surprise that the former of these vast excavations had cost only 5000/. The whole line reflects the highest credit both on the engineers and on the State. The detail is certainly very faulty, as the rate of travelling is unnecessarily slow (about four miles an hour, in- cluding stoppages), and we were obliged to go back a mile once or twice, through meeting other cars at places where we could not pass ; but these are trifles which a few months will probably re- medy, and which it would be invidious and foolish to carp at, when we consider the difficulties that have been overcome, the wonderful facilities of transportation that have been acquired, and the mingled courage and perseverance with which the o2 196 PITTSBURGH. rugged chain of the Alleghanies have been obliged to " bend their stiff necks," and lend their rough backs, to carry the comforts and luxuries of life be- tween the Atlantic cities and the " Great Valley." At Freeport we joined the course of the Alle- ghany River, and mingled our muddy Kis-kimina- tian waters with its clear and transparent stream. The country now assumed a more tame and settled appearance, while the continual recurrence of coal- smoke and steam-engines reminded us of our return to civilisation. Pittsburgh stands at the junction of the Alleghany and Monongahela, from the union of which two rivers springs the majestic Ohio. The town is, like all other busy manufacturing towns, an emporium of smoke and dirt. The inns are in character with the town ; and, though it is situated on the delta formed by two beautiful rivers, and the neighbouring country is both rich and variegated, still I know nothing that need detain a stranger there, unless he is anxious to make an accurate investigation into the state of its manu- factures. It is almost unnecessary to add that Pittsburgh was originally a French settlement, called Fort du Quesne. The French were remarkable for the sa- g^city which they showed in the choice of their posts, and consequently did not overlook the eli- gible situation, both in regard to military objects and to Indian trade, which was afforded by the confluence of these great rivers. It was near this THE MARKET. 197 spot that Braddock paid the penalty of his rash and ignorant obstinacy with his life ; and also that one of my countrymen, Colonel Grant, with nearly a thousand followers, mostly highlanders, fell on the side of a hill which still bears his name. I strolled into the market, and for several minutes really fancied myself in one of the smaller quarters of Glasgow or Birmingham, so loud was the din, so smoke-blacked were the bricks, so noisy were the dogs gathered round the shambles, and so " proudly eminent" above all other sounds was Paddy's ver- nacular voice, male or famale, whether raised in fun, bargain, or wrath ! The only item calculated to dispel the illusion was the number of broad-faced and broad-sterned, fair-haired butchers, whose na- tive land might easily be guessed, without Yankee ingenuity, and without looking at the boards over their stalls, with their various inscriptions of " Schmidt," " Reinhardt," " Hermann," &c. The price of the best beef was about eight cents (or 4 , would have made, if the said ten-water grog had been served out to him in a cup holding less than a party stay or loiter, and chiefly to see that the rear-guard do their duty, as it is from that quarter that their enemies gene- rally attack them. At this time the Pawnees were upon hostile terms with the Shiennes and Ricaras, and bands of both these tribes were hunting at no great distance- * It is needless to mention that they learn this from whites, and practise it only towards whites. f The nearest legible approach to this exclamation is the common English word " How," only uttered with a strong as- pirate, and in a tone resembling as much as possible a grunt. T 2 276 INDIAN LOVE OF WHISKY. quarter of a pint. It is so well known, that as soon as any Indian tribe becomes accustomed to whisky, their speedy and total degradation in every physical and moral quality is a sure consequence, that the United States have very properly forbidden all their troops and traders to sell them spirituous liquors under a heavy penalty ; in spite of this law, how- ever, a great quantity of whisky finds its way to those Indians who have much commerce with the whites ; the temptation is too strong for the traders, many of whom are Canadian French, and men with- out either principle or education ; they frequently get opportunities of selling a pint of spirits for fifty or a hundred times its value in beaver and other skins ; the craving of the savages increases in pro- portion to their acquaintance with this fatal liquor, and they will part with anything they have for a dram. I found that very few of the Pawnees had ever tasted whisky, and still fewer expressed any strong desire or liking for it ; I, therefore, felt it my duty, both towards myself and the authorities of the United States, under whose protection I was making my tour, not to be in the smallest degree instrumental in giving the Pawnees a relish for a liquor which becomes in their hands nothing less than a poison. Accordingly, whenever I gave a brandy and water draught to any of the chiefs, which I did very rarely, I took care to make it so extremely weak that the spirit could scarcely be tasted, and they INDIAN VILLAGE. 277 were sufficiently pleased with the honour of drink- ing the white man's liquor. It was not a little amusing to see how readily the Pawnee-French interpreter entered into my views on this subject. I once or twice lent him my small pocket flask, and allowed him to serve out the weak toddy to the chiefs ; he talked most gravely of the pernicious effects of spirits among " les sauvages" carefully mixed for them at least nine proportions of water for one of brandy, and then, with equal gravity, helped himself to a dram, in which he exactly reversed the aforesaid propor- tions. As soon as this introductory feast was concluded, we accompanied the chiefs to the village, which was about twelve miles a-head of us ; at length we came in sight of it, and a more interesting or picturesque scene I never beheld. Upon an extensive prairie gently sloping down to a creek, the winding course of which was marked by a broken line of wood here and there interspersed with a fine clump of trees, were about five thousand savages, inclusive of women and children ; some were sitting under their buffalo-skin lodges lazily smoking their pipes ; while the women were stooping over their fires busily em- ployed in preparing meat and maize for these indo- lent lords of the creation. Far as the eye could reach, were scattered herds of horses, watched (or as we should say in Scotland, " tented") by urchins, whose whole dress and equipment was the slight 278 INDIAN VILLAGE. bow and arrow, with which they exercised their in- fant archery upon the heads of the taller flowers, or upon any luckless blackbird perched near them. Here and there might be seen some gay young war- rior ambling along the heights, his painted form par- tially exposed to view as his bright scarlet blanket waved in the breeze ; while his small fretful horse was scarcely to be recognized under the variety of trappings with which the vanity of his rider had tricked him out ; near him might be seen another naked savage, without a saddle, and his only bridle a thong round the horse's head, galloping at full speed, and waving in his extended right hand a " laryette," with which he was chasing some refrac- tory mule or runaway steed, who had escaped from his gang : while the banks of the stream were alive with the garrulous voices of women, some washing themselves, their clothes, or their infants, others car- rying water to the camp, and others bearing on their backs a load of wood, the portage of which no London coalheaver would have envied them. Our approach excited some curiosity and in- terest. The families of those who had been to the fort placed themselves in or near our path ; and as the husband, father, or brother, came near, the little kindred group would withdraw to a retired spot and indulge those feelings of curiosity and affection, which nature has implanted as strongly in the bosom of the savage as of the civilized man. THE CHIEF AND HIS FAMILY. 279 I witnessed with much pleasure the meeting of my old chief,* Sa-ni-tsa-rish, with his wives and chil- dren, which took place under a knot of fine trees, a little to the right of our path. I could read in the glistening eyes of the women, and in the glad faces of the children, that the old man was a kind husband and father ; and, if the features of the parties had not been so totally devoid of anything like beauty, the family-picture would have been as picturesque as it was interesting. The old chief himself is one of the finest-looking men of his tribe, but his wives were extremely plain, and very slo- venly and dirty in their appearance ; while the poor little children, besides their equally distant claims to cleanliness, were suffering under the small- pox and hooping-cough ; nevertheless, as he stood among them, and gave to one a few beads, to another a ribbon, and exhibited to them various trifles brought from the white man's dwelling, I would not envy the heart of any man who could have looked upon the little group with any other feelings than those of pleasure and interest. I soon began to play with the children, and, though my first advances were received with the utmost * As the lodge, or tent, of the chiefs was not large enough to admit us all into one, it was agreed on the road that, during our stay at the village, I and my servant should remain with Sa-ni-tsa-rish ; while V and the other attendant should be the guests of Pe-te-re-sha, one of the chiefs of the Grand Pawnees, and the eldest son of the great chief. 280 BUFFALO MEAT. shyness and alarm,* they summoned courage at length to examine my buttons, my pistols, and other articles new to them, and ere long our ac- quaintance was established upon a footing ap- proaching to confidence. As soon as our arrival was known in the village we were invited to six or seven feasts in succession ; and here we tasted buffalo meat for the first time. No cows had yet been seen, and the bull-beef was as hard, tough, and stringy (besides being only quarter dressed) as ever it fell to the lot of human jaw to masticate. In vain might a set of the finest civilized teeth that were ever fostered by the care * Nature appears to have divided the white from the red man by a species of antipathy scarcely reconcilable with the benignity and sympathies which are usually found in her pro- visions. An Indian infant cannot endure the approach or sight of a white man, neither can the infant of a white look without terror upon an Indian. In walking quietly through the Pawnee camp, I have often found myself the innocent cause of the cries and screams of at least twenty of these little alarmists, though I may not have passed nearer than thirty yards from some of them. Nor is this most strongly-marked aversion confined to the human race : Indian horses cannot bear the smell of a white man. I have repeatedly seen them, when standing quietly by their owner, prick up their ears and snort at my approach, and no coaxing would induce them to let me come near or touch their bridle. Nor was I more approved of by the dogs, for whenever I or my companion walked about the village, we had a retinue of these curs bark- ing and snarling at our heels ; and if they had not fortunately been as cowardly as they were noisy, we might have experi- enced serious inconvenience from their persecution. BUFFALO MEAT. 281 of Messrs. Dumergue and Cartwright, endeavour to separate the indissoluble fibres ; the vain attempt is soon given up in despair, and the unbroken mass is submitted to the gastric juice, which fortunately asserts and proves the inexhaustible resources of nature, by disposing, without inconvenience, of that which proved too strong an opponent for ivory ! Of course this must not be taken as a fair representation of buffalo meat in general ; because the ribs, and the back, especially the hump, are, if properly dress- ed, as sweet, tender, and delicious beef as the most delicate epicure could desire ; and both the fat and marrow are certainly finer than those of any domes- tic cattle ; but that it is a fair and unexaggerated picture of buffalo bull meat, as dressed (or rather undressed) by the Pawnees, I do most positively as- sert.* On arriving before Sa-ni-tsa-rish's lodge, which was destined to be my abode for many weeks, I naturally cast my eyes around to observe its con- struction and arrangements. The result may be given in a few words, but the description will be * I beg here to remind the reader once for all, that the ani- mal called throughout this expedition the Buffalo is, properly speaking, the Bison (Bos Taurus); but I retain the incorrect appellative, because it is generally and familiarly so employed in North America. In strict language, the Buffalo is the Bos Babylus, the horns of which animal are turned backward behind its head : it is too well known in Italy and other countries to require further description. 282 ORDER OF MARCH. more satisfactory and more easily comprehended if it embraces the pitching of the Pawnee tent, or " lodge," as it is usually termed in the West. On reaching the camping-place, which is selected by the grand chief (or, in his absence, by the next in rank), the senior squaw chooses the spot most agreeable to her fancy, and orders the younger women and children, who lead the pack-horses and mules (generally from five to ten in number, accord- ing to the size or wealth of the family), to halt ; but in making this choice of ground, she is restricted within certain limits, and those of no great extent, as the Pawnees observe great regularity both in their line of march and encampment. I could not ascertain whether these regulations were invariable, or made at the pleasure of the chief; but I believe the latter ; and that on leaving their winter, or sta- tionary, villages, he issues the general orders on this subject, which are observed during the season or the expedition ; at any rate, they never varied during my stay among them. They move in three parallel bodies; the left wing consisting of part of the Grand Pawnees and the Tapages ; the centre of the remaining Grand Pawnees ; and the right of the Republicans. It is needless to say that these names of the different Pawnee tribes are given by the French traders ac- cording to their absurd fancies ; but the Indian ap- pellations by which the Tapages (Republiques), &c. are known, could convey no idea of distinction, and ORDER OF MARCH. 283 consequently I shall adhere to those by which they are known through the Missouri country. For the information of curious philologists I will, however, add, that in the Pawnee language, the Grand Paw- nees are called Tsa-we ; the Republican band, Tskit-ka-kish ; the Tapage band, Pe-towe'-ra ; and the Loups, or Pawnee-Mahas (who parted from us when we crossed the Republican Fork), are called All these bodies move in " Indian file," though of course in the mingled mass of men, women, chil- dren, and pack-horses, it was not very regularly ob- served ; nevertheless, on arriving at the halting- place, the party to which I belonged invariably camped at the eastern extremity of the village, the great chief in the centre, and the Republiques on the western side ; and this arrangement was kept so well, that, after I had been a few days with them, I could generally find our lodge in a new encamp- ment with very little trouble, although the village consisted of about six hundred of them, all nearly similar in appearance. Now, to return to our squaws, whom we left in the act of preparing to pitch the tent. They first unpack and unsaddle the horses, which are given to a boy to drive off to their grass and water : they * Once for all I beg the reader to remember that, in endea- vouring to convey Indian words in writing, the vowels, accents, &c. which I employ are those of the French language, as they can be made more nearly to resemble the Indian pronunciation than the English. 284 PAWNEE SUMMER LODGE. then arrange all their bales, saddles, &c. in a semi- circular form, and pile them from two to three feet high. Around the exterior of these they drive into the ground eight or ten curved willow rods, from two to three feet distant from each other, but all firmly bound by leather thongs to four large up- right poles, that form the front of the lodge, and along which run transverse willow rods, to which the extremities of the curved ones are fastened. When the frame, or skeleton, is thus finished, they stretch the cover (made of buffalo hides, sewed to- gether) tight over the whole, leaving an aperture for entrance and egress in the centre of the front ; and in fine weather, the whole front open. This is an accurate description of a Pawnee sum- mer-lodge ; but, of course, the dimensions vary ac- cording to the number and wealth of the families residing therein : in some tents I have observed the front consisting of six or eight upright poles, to which were fixed more skins, for additional shelter or shade. On the grass, in the interior, are spread mats, made by the squaws from reeds, and skins of buffalo or bear. From the foregoing it will be easily understood that the bales of cloth, maize, skins, and whatever other property they possess, form the back of the tent. Each occupant, from the chief to the lowest in rank, has his assigned place ; sleeps upon his own blanket, or buffalo robe ; has his bow and quiver suspended over his head ; his saddle, bridle, and ARMORIAL BEARINGS. 285 laryettes, &c. behind his back : and thus little con- fusion prevails, although each individual has only just room to sit or lie at full length. Before the tent a kind of shield is raised, upon three poles pyramidically placed, on which is the device of the chief, by which his tent is to be recog- nised. Let not the Heralds' College imagine that the use of " armorial bearings" is confined to the descendants of Norman barons, or of European or Moorish chivalry ! The Gael of the highlands of Scotland is as proud of his clan-sprig of heather, holly, or, juniper ; and the Pawnee of his beaver- skin, bunch of feathers, or quiver, shield-device, as the Douglas of his bleeding heart, or the Percy and Talbot of their threatening monarch of the woods. How often are we brought thus to bow before the throne of Nature! and the proudest and most polished of her children are made to ac- knowledge and feel their affinity to the most savage and unenlightened, by the wants, the desires, the failings, and vanities, which are common to them all. In the interior of the tent, and generally about the centre of its concave, is suspended the " medi- cine," which is most carefully and religiously pre- served. If this word " medicine" (as it is used by the French and Indian traders, with all the western and southern Indians,) is only half as vague, un- satisfactory, and mysterious to any luckless wight, whose evil genius has imposed upon him the task of VOL. i. T 7 286 MEDICINE. reading these pages, as it is to me, (and I might add, to the Indians themselves,) let him not hope to find any further elucidation of the riddle, nor at- tempt to fathom this verbal and ideal chaos. Under the head of " medicine," the Indians comprise not only its own healing department, but everything connected with religion or superstition ; all omens, all relics, and everything extraordinary or super- natural. Thus, in one Indian language, the Deity is called the " Big-Medicine-Man ; the horse (which animal was once an object of their terror and astonishment, vide " Conquest of Florida," &c.), the " medicine-quadruped ;" and in another, a gun is called a " medicine-weapon." Among the Pawnees, the priests, and doctors, and all the medicine department, have their respective offices and tents. Part of the buffalo meat is always set apart for the medicine (theoretically, to be consecrated to the Great Spirit ; practically, to be eaten up by these charlatans, like Baal's priests of old). Then there are medicine-flags, medicine- pipes, medicine-robes, medicine-ceremonies ; and, lastly, the medicine-bag, wherein are contained arrow-heads, with which their fathers have killed a foe, scalps, and any other similarly precious an- cestral relics. In this tent I now established myself, spread my bear-skin, hung up my rifle ; and, with my saddle- bags for a pillow, prepared for the "coming on of grateful evening mild." It is not easy, in a situa- NIGHT IN A PAWNEE LODGE. 287 tion so curious and strange, to court " tired na- ture's sweet restorer." Moreover, I found that among the Pawnees, Silence was not -among the Goddesses of the Night, imprimis, the two chil- dren in the tent were extremely ill with the hoop- ing-cough ; besides which, they were very ill-tem- pered, and both completely spoiled ; so that some- times they were uttering the groans and cries of real suffering, at others, would scream with the utmost power of their lungs, till their mother rose, and gave them anything they might fancy. In the second place, the loquacity of the ladies knew no bounds ; and they seemed determined to indemnify themselves for the temporary silence which the labours of the day imposed upon them. My ear was just becoming accustomed to these shrill and varied vibrations of the human tongue, and I was just about to fall asleep, when I was aroused by a distant howl, as I thought, of a wolf. It came on nearer and nearer, louder and louder, till at length the wild, tumultuous, and many-mingled cry swell- ed into such a volume of sound as it is impossible to describe ; and if I could describe it, I could scarely expect it to obtain credence. But first, let any doubter recall to mind some night when he may have been sleepless and feverish, perhaps a chained watch-dog began to "bay the moon," and perhaps some canine neighbours caught up and prolonged the strain, and he may remember the musical ef- fect produced by this serenade ! Now let me inform 288 DOGS. him, that in our village there were more than six hundred tents, and that each tent owned, upon an average, seven dogs, so that there were upwards of four thousand dogs in the encampment, all of them mongrels and curs, very slightly differing from the wolf in appearance, and scarcely at all in voice. In this nightly howl they all join (at least, of all those round our tent, I could not see one excep- tion) : and, having now faithfully described the cause, it is needless to suggest, even to the most sluggish imagination, the grand effect of a dog- chorus, at midnight, in the Pawnee village ! LAVATORY IN THE PRAIRIE. 289 CHAPTER XV. Lavatory in the Prairie. Picturesque Scene. A " Brave." Quarrel with him. Desolate Prairie. Prairie Dogs. Owls and Rattlesnakes. First View of Buffalo. Chase of Buffalo. Indian Butchery. Horses stolen by the Ricaras. In- dian Method of Horse-stealing. Discussion as to the expe- diency of making Reprisals. Present of a Buffalo Robe. Indian Character A Feast. Indian Curiosity. NOT being yet thoroughly drilled to a prairie life, I had not learned to consider cleanliness as a useless and supererogatory luxury ; and, accord- ingly, after sleeping in my clothes, in the midst of a scene too dirty to depict, where we were as close- ly packed as the horses in a stage-coach stable, I was weak enough to imagine that it was desirable to wash my hands and face, and change my linen. Such notions being quite exploded among expe- rienced travellers, I am almost ashamed to own them ; but candour demands the sacrifice, and I trust my brother prairie-men will remember, that a prejudice once acknowledged, is more than half overcome. Accordingly, I armed myself with a towel, some soap, a tooth-brush, and a clean shirt, and sallied forth in search of the creek, the banka VOL. i. u 290 LAVATORY IN THE PRAIRIE. of which were to be my dressing-room on the occa- sion. I found it to be a muddy streamlet, from four to eight inches deep, having neither brushwood nor timber to mark its course. It was completely alive with animal industry, which seemed all exercised in endeavouring to make it more and more turbid and muddy. Women washing their children and their blankets ; boys and girls splashing ; dogs swimming, and horses tramping in every direc- tion. As this did not seem a favourable spot for the bath and toilet of one who can boast of having, in his day, made a respectable appearance in Bond Street, I walked above a mile up the little stream, in hopes of finding a place less pre-occupied by my biped and quadruped competitors in ablution. Finding this attempt fruitless, and seeing that the " ladies " were not at all afraid of me, I determined not to evince less courage ; and putting my watch, my knife, my mauvaise honte, and other trifles in my pocket, I proceeded quietly to undress ; and having bathed for a few minutes, proceeded with my toilet. I ought to mention that I effected this bath by lying down and rolling where the water was about nine inches deep. I was about half dressed before I experienced any positive interrup- tion, when two or three Indians came up, and began to examine every article of my toilet with the greatest curiosity. They could not make out PICTURESQUE SCENE. 291 the use of the tooth-brush ; and when I explained to them that it was to " sharpen the teeth" they ex- pressed their wonder by the well-known "Ugh!" They were equally at a loss to make out the use of the soap * and other things, which they took out of my pocket. At length I got so tired of their handling my clothes, that I forbid them to do so any more, and they desisted. On my return to the camp I found all the lodges struck, the horses packed, and everything ready for marching. My worthy host had desired his women to pack the greater part of my baggage ; I had obtained the loan of a horse, and thus I was enabled to give a day's rest to my jaded steeds. I watched this great moving body of savages as they left the rising ground on which we had been camped, and deployed on the plain into the three irregular straggling columns which formed their line of march. The scene was picturesque in the ex- treme, and was every minute diversified by amus- * This word reminds me of a mischievous trick played by our young American lad, who was one day washing with some strong coarse soap, when an Indian came up, complaining of very sore eyes, and asked him if the soap was good for them. He said it was very good, and showed him by signs that he should rub it well in below the lids, which the Indian accord- ingly did ; of course the pain and smarting were extreme, and he jumped about, apparently not at all pleased with the re- medy. However, it made his eyes water very much for ten minutes, and afterwards relieved the inflammation ; and he returned to his friends to praise the great skill of the Salicks- ta-ka (white man). u 2 292 A "BRAVE." ing or interesting incidents. In the spaces between the columns rode the chiefs and the younger war- riors, decked out in all their gayest habiliments, with white, blue, or scarlet blankets, and making their fidgety little horses prance and curvet to show the riders' horsemanship. Near them was a dignified-looking " Brave," am- bling slowly along ; his only ornament the much- envied collar made from the claws of the formi- dable grisly bear. Here and there were scattered groups of boys, shooting at birds, or any trifling object within their reach ; and sometimes a refrac- tory mule or untamed colt would gallop out from the line, plunge and kick till he had eased him- self of his burthen, nor return to a sense of his duty till two or three mounted Indians had given him proof with their laryettes, of the superior power and address of man. I had a little quarrel with the " Brave " above- mentioned, which is worth recording, as illus- trative of Indian character. I mentioned, a few pages back, that on the journey I had sold a tired horse for the loan of a fresh one till we reached the Pawnee village. This " Brave" was the man with whom I had made the bargain, and I told the interpreter to make him distinctly under- stand that he was to have my broken-down nag, and might do as he pleased, either in leaving him to rest and recover, or endeavouring to make him travel ; but that I had nothing more to do with QUARREL WITH HIM. 293 it than to put a certain portion of my baggage on his fresh horse till we reached the village. This bargain having been made, he chose to force on the tired horse, and a day or two after- wards, the interpreter came and told me that it had stopped altogether, and that the "Brave" would not let me have his any more, as he wanted it himself. This piece of impudent roguery was too glaring to be allowed, and I determined to resist it, having heard and learned that if Indians perceive any weakness or simplicity in a white man, they will take every opportunity of cheating and insulting him. Accordingly, I told the interpreter that " he had been himself the medium through which the bargain had been struck, and that if the jaded horse stopped, or even died on the road, I was entitled to, and would keep the fresh one till we reached the village." He reconsulted the " Brave," who was sitting only a few yards off, and returned to tell me that the Indian did not understand the terms of the bargain ; " he wanted the horse, and was determined to have him." This was not a pleasant predicament to be in among these wild fellows ; but I knew they would not dare to kill me openly, under the circumstances of my having been placed under the protection of their chiefs, and I determined accordingly to carry my point. The horse was among the rest, not more than twenty yards from where we sat. I 294 DESOLATE PRAIRIE. got up quietly, and said to the interpreter, " You know, and he knows, that he is in the wrong. I shall now go and bridle that horse ; if he chooses to come and try to take him from me, let him do so at his own risk." I accordingly took a lary- ette, put it over the horse's neck, and desired my servant to saddle and pack him ; during which operation I experienced neither hindrance nor in- terruption, and we proceeded peaceably on our journey. The " Brave" never attempted to re- cover his horse ; and, in justice to him, I ought to add, that he never appeared to bear me any grudge on account of this little breeze ; on the contrary, I believe we were afterwards better friends than if I had allowed him to cheat me ; and I am sure I saved myself the trouble of rebutting many simi- lar attempts at" imposition. He is considered one of the most distinguished Braves of the nation, having killed two or three men and two grisly bears. I joined the chiefs in the central interval, and amused myself by observing the scene around, and by endeavouring to increase my scanty stock of Pawnee language. The prairie through which we now travelled was barren and desolate ; however, we were cheered by finding fresh tracks of buffalo, and the ponds or mud-holes in which they had wal- lowed, partly to refresh themselves from the heat, and partly to escape from the vexatious attacks of the gadfly. PRAIRIE DOGS. 295 In this waste there was not either bird or beast to be seen, except prairie dogs. I do not know how these little animals obtained this absurd ap- pellation, as they do not bear the smallest resem- blance to the canine species, either in formation or habits. In size they vary extremely, but in general they are not larger than a squirrel, and not unlike one in appearance, except that they want his bushy tail ; the head is also somewhat rounder. They burrow under the light soil, and throw it up round the entrance to their dwelling like the English rabbit : on this little mound they generally sit, chirping and chattering to one another, like two neighbour-gossips in a village. Their number is incredible, and their cities (for they deserve no less a name) full of activity and bustle. I do not know what their occupations are ; but I have seen them constantly running from one hole to another, al- though they do not ever pay any distant visits. They seem, on the approach of danger, always to retire to their own homes : but their great delight apparently consists in braving it with the usual in- solence of cowardice, when secure from punish- ment ; for, as you approach, they wag their little tails, elevate their heads, and chatter at you like a monkey, louder and louder the nearer you come ; but no sooner is the hand raised to any missile, whether gun, arrow, stick, or stone, than they pop into the hole with a rapidity only equalled by that sudden disappearance of Punch, with which I have 296 OWLS AND RATTLESNAKES. been, when a child, so much delighted in the streets and squares of London. I attempted to shoot some, having been told that they were good to eat, but could only get two, although I destroyed probably five times that number ; for they always contrived to creep or fall into their subterranean fortress, and make it, like true heroes, their grave. The two which I did recover were too small to cook, and I made a resolution never to molest the little wretches again with my gun. The whole plain was also covered with owls ; each hole seemed to be the residence of an owl and a prairie dog ; and this apparently discrepant couple lived together united in the bonds (not of matrimony) but of friendship. I have been often told that rattlesnakes are also admitted into the same dwelling, but to the truth or untruth of this I cannot speak from personal observation. * On the 22nd my long-cherished curiosity was destined to be gratified ; loud and deafening cries of " Taraha ! taraha ! " (buffalo) ran from one end of the line to the other, and all became bustle and * The little animal here described is called by Ord and other Western naturalists, the Louisiana Marmot, or Arctomys ; the owl mentioned is the Coquimbo owl, the same as the spe- cies found in South America, with similar habits of burrowing (Strix cunicularia), and feeds upon grasshoppers and insects. The rattlesnake, which is- said sometimes to join company with this singular pair, is the Crotalus tergeminus. See " Long's Expedition," vol. i. p. 499; vol. ii. p. 37. BUFFALO CHASE. 207 confusion. Some young men went in their gayest attire, others vaulted naked on their unsaddled horses ; in all, about a thousand sallied forth in search of the enemy. Many false reports had been spread as to their distance and locality, so that we had to gallop over twelve or fifteen miles of steep and undulating ground before we came up with their rear-guard, consisting of thirty or forty bulls, bounding after their uncouth fashion along the side of a hill. The horses were now put to their speed, and I soon found that the pony which had been lent me, was neither strong nor swift enough to bear me in such a chase ; and having seen a few killed about two hundred yards ahead of me, I gave up the pursuit in despair, and determined to see how they disposed of the slain, as I had no chance of overtaking the living. I jumped off my panting pony, and went to the nearest group, where the ceremony of dissection was about to take place. Two or three Indians were round the fallen monster, whose life was scarcely extinct, whetting their knives on their mocassins ; and just as I arrived, they began to take off the skin. It is needless to detail the succeeding opera- tions at large ; but I am confident that, from the time that the first incision was made till the whole meat was cut up, packed, and strung upon a horse, fifteen minutes had not elapsed ; and, except the head, there was not enough left upon the ground to feed a dog. They were not provided with saw, 298 RICARAS. axe, or cleaver, nor with any other weapon but a common pointed dinner-knife, and yet they had car- ried off the brains,* the heart, the marrow, and liver ; the greater portion of the two latter they ate raw upon the spot. I was then surprised and horrified I soon grew wiser. When the band of hunters came in, at night-fall, it appeared that they had overtaken a large herd, as they brought in about eighty buffalo. The same evening, a runner from the out-picquetsf came round the tents to give the pithy caution, " Men have been seen;" this is a warning that a fresh trail has been found, or a glimpse caught of some one, who disappeared so quick that they could not determine his tribe. A report had prevailed for one or two days that the Ricaras were in the neigh- bourhood. Accordingly we loaded our guns, tied * In case any knight of the cleaver should doubt my asser- tion, in regard to extracting the brains of a bull without any heavy metal or wooden instrument, I think it right to record how they take them, and why they take them. First, they break ?nd cut off the fore-leg at the knee joints, and using the shank as a handle and the hoof as a hammer, by repeated blows they break through the frontal bone. The purpose of taking the brains is to render the skin soft and pliant, when it is in the course of being prepared as a robe. 1 1 observed that on the march, and during their night-encamp- ment, the Pawnees always had out-posts on every side of the village. Besides this precaution, a great many of the young men lie in their blankets, at a little distance from it, chanting their war and hunting songs ; and they prefer sleeping in that manner to the confinement of their tents. RICARAS. 299 all the horses, and took the usual precautions. The Ricaras (or, according to the usual French muti- lation of names, the Rees les Ris) are a wild and warlike tribe, famed for their skill in horse-stealing. They roam chiefly between the prairies over which we were travelling, and the Rocky Mountains. They are a branch of the once great Pawnee nation, although now hostile to them ; but their languages are the same ; nor am I aware of any other tribe who speak a similar tongue. However, if they con- templated thieving undiscovered, one great diffi- culty was removed out of their way, namely, si- lence. I never heard such a continued confusion of sounds. The council of Pandsemonium, or the tower of Babel, could scarcely equal it. Women chattering, children crying, men singing, or rather yelling, their war-songs, dogs howling, horses neigh- ing, and asses braying ! From these instruments let the imagination compose the orchestra to which I was that night indebted for music. Our crafty neighbours did not neglect the oppor- tunity thus offered. On rising in the morning, we heard that a small Ricara party had carried off twenty-six of our horses during the night, includ- ing two of mine, one of which broke away from them and returned ; but the other, a venerable grey, remained in the hands of the captors. * * Soon after our departure from the fort, our American lad, who was a merry wag, named the different pack-horses and mules after the public men of the day, according to his opinion of their 300 HORSE STEALING. The manner in which they steal horses is as fol- lows : Two or three men approach the encamp- ment, cautiously, soon after night-fall, and take advantage of any creek, dell, or brushwood, that may serve to conceal them from the observation of the out-picquets ; if they succeed in reaching the extremity of the village undiscovered, they stand up and walk deliberately through it, wrapped in their buffalo robe. Of course they can no longer be distinguished from the Pawnees by the faint light of the half-extinguished fires ; and as they pass the groups of horses collected before their respect- ive owners' lodges, they cut with a sharp knife the laryettes which fasten those that they purpose to carry off. As soon as they have loosened the re- quired number, each man jumps upon one, and they drive off the rest at full speed, shaking their blan- kets, and urging the alarmed animals to their ut- most exertions. Of course they obtain a consider- able start of any pursuit ; and if the night is dark, run but little risk of being overtaken. respective merits and qualities. It was impossible to avoid a smile when I overheard some of his objurgations, as he was dri- ving them up in the rear: " Come up, General!" "Wo, ho, Van Buren your pack is all on one side." " Go it, Henry Clay old Kentuck for ever!" &c. I believe it was "General Jackson" that remained a Ricara prisoner. How they ever succeeded in making him move I cannot imagine, as all our in- struments of persuasion, from a spur to a cowhide, could only extract a very small jog-trot, and that for a short time. Never- theless, he must have been forced off at some speed, as a few Pawnees pursued for many miles, in the morning, without success. REPRISALS. 301 The manner of securing horses on the prairie against these depredators is two-fold : either to tie them by a laryette, passed round the neck, to a peg or stake driven firmly into the ground; or to " hobble " them, which is effected by tying the fore legs close together, by leather thongs passed round them, below the knee-joint. This latter is the safer plan, because a thief can sometimes cut the laryette, as he walks, without risk of observation ; but if he stoops down to untie or cut a strong leather thong between the shins of a horse, he not only runs more risk of alarming the animal, but incurs suspicion from any one who may happen to be lying awake in the neighbourhood. In cases where there is a probability of such an attempt, it is better both to tie and hobble them ; a lesson which I learned by experience. On the following day the chiefs assembled, and sat in council many hours, probably discussing the expediency of reprisals. Indeed the subject affords a wide field for debate ; as the United States, in the stipulation for paying the annuities for ceded lands, exact from the Pawnees that they shall not send out war parties to steal horses, as had been their con- stant practice ; in the mean time the more distant tribes come in to hunt in the buffalo prairies and steal the Pawnee horses, while the latter are for- bidden to make reprisals. These stipulations would be very hard, if adhered to ; but I have good reason to believe that, during my residence with the Paw- 302 PRESENT OF A BUFFALO ROBE. nees, they sent out several horse-stealing parties, one of which was supposed to have met with consi- derable success among the Kanzas, a tribe settled on the river of the same name. The Indian no- tions of reprisals are very cosmopolitan : if thirty horses are stolen from them, and they cannot dis- cover the thieves, they consider themselves per- fectly justified in stealing thirty from the first party or tribe that may offer them the opportunity. I cannot give reference to the Pawnee Blackstone ; but the " Jus etfactum" are both indisputable. We remained now two days without seeing any buffalo, and I had nothing to amuse me but to watch, observe, and record the manners and cus- toms of those around me. I received a visit from Tarawicadi-a * (or the Little Chief). He was the head chief of the Tapage tribe, and a man of con- siderable influence and ability. He made me a pre- sent of a painted buffalo robe,f such as is given by a bridegroom to his intended father-in-law. It was not quite new, but the symbols are curious and clearly distinguishable, representing the claws of a bear, and two drawings of a bird and a beast with half a dozen tails, the genus or species of which * This chief has another council name, vide supra, which is indicative of his eloquence. See p. 67. j- The Indians paint various devices upon their robes, accord- ing to the ceremony or exploit which they wish to commemorate. Thus there are marriage-robes, battle-robes, hunting-robes, medicine-robes, &c. The one to which I refer above is a marriage-robe, and is still (1839) in my possession. INDIAN CHARACTER. 303 would be problematical either to Linnaeus or Buffon. I had learnt enough of the Pawnees to know, that they never make a present without expecting a more than adequate return, and consequently I paid the Tapage chief with a parcel of beads, knives, tobacco, and vermilion. In bargaining they are complete Jews ; they esteem a man who beats them down in the price of an article, and despise one who sells them anything at a low rate. Every hour that I spent with the Indians, im- pressed upon me the conviction that I had taken the only method of becoming acquainted with their domestic habits and their undisguised character. Had I judged from what I had been able to ob- serve at Fort Leavenworth, or other frontier places, where I met them, I should have known about as much of them as the generality of scribblers and their readers, and might, like them, have deceived myself and others into a belief in their "high sense of honour" their hospitality their openness and love of truth, and many other quali- ties which they possess, if at all, in a very moderate degree ; and yet it is no wonder if such impres- sions have gone abroad, because the Indian, among whites, or at a garrison, trading-post, or town, is as different a man from the same Indian at home as a Turkish "Mollah" is from a French barber. Among whites, he is all dignity and repose ; he is acting a part the whole time, and acts it most admirably. He manifests no surprise at the most 304 INDIAN CHARACTER. wonderful effects of machinery is not startled if a twenty-four-pounder is fired close to him, and does not evince the slightest curiosity regarding the thousand things that are strange and new to him ; whereas at home, the same Indian chatters, jokes, and laughs among his companions fre- quently indulges in the most licentious conversa- tion ; and his curiosity is as unbounded and irre- sistible as that of any man, woman, or monkey, on earth. Truth and honesty (making the usual excep- tions to be found in all countries) are unknown, or despised by them. A boy is taught and en- couraged to steal and lie, and the only blame or disgrace ever incurred thereby is when the offence is accompanied by detection. I never met with liars so determined, universal, or audacious. The chiefs themselves have told me repeatedly the most deliberate and gross untruths to serve a trifling purpose with the gravity of a chief-jus- tice ; and I doubt whether Baron Munchausen himself would be more than a match for the great chief of the Pawnees. Let them not dis- pute the palm each is greatest in his peculiar line one in inventive exaggeration, the other in plain unadorned falsehood. But from all these charges I most completely exonerate my old chief, Sa-ni-tsa-rish ; Nature had made him a gentleman, and he remained so, in spite of the corrupting examples around him. A FEAST. CURIOSITY. 305 To give some idea of their " want of curiosity," I will merely relate the circumstances usually at- tending a feast, to which I, or any of our party of four, was invited. On entering the lodge, I found a vacant place near the owner, who made signs that I should occupy it : if others were invited, we waited till all arrived. A bowl, either of Indian corn or buffalo meat, was then placed in the centre ; the guests sitting cross-legged, like tailors, around it. There was a horn-spoon for each person ; and at the word, " L6," or " L6-wa," we all fell to work. This word comprises their whole vocabulary of " assent," " satisfaction," and " compliment :" it invariably begins and concludes a feast, each guest saying it as he enters and leaves the tent. As the giver of the feast never eats with his guests, his occupation generally was to scrutinize me. He would first pass his hand all over my coarse blue checked shirt (or jacket) ; then he would take up my knife open and shut it twenty times ask as many questions about it, then pass it on to another : he would next take up, or take off, my hat, and place it on his own greasy head, first cocking it on one side, then on the other all the time admiring himself in a pocket-mirror. While he was thus employed, an- other would pounce upon my red-silk pocket-hand- kerchief, and wind it like a turban round the unwashed, uncombed, and thickly-peopled head of VOL. i. x 306 CURIOSITY. some half-pleased, half-frightened child ; and a third, in the mean time, would dive to the bottom of every one of my pockets, and submit every thing therein contained coins, copper-caps, pencil, &c. to the same diligent inspection. After being among them some little time, I determined to put a stop to this nuisance, and whenever they touch- ed my hat, knife, or anything else belonging to me, I quietly removed their hand, and told them gravely they must not do so. They soon found out I was in earnest, and they ceased from annoy- ing me. I am not sure whether they thought me a " sulky fellow" or a " great chief" in consequence of this conduct, but I rather believe the latter, as they treated me with more respect; whereas my white companions pursued a less determined (per- haps, a more good-natured) course ; and I saw my friend V 's and my servant's hat, and other articles, making the tour of heads and hands as long as we remained among them. As to their begging, I was obliged very early to put a stop to that ; for there was not a single thing in my possession that they did not ask for, even till I was tired of repeating " Ka-ki," No. INDIAN WOMEN. 30? CHAPTER XVI. Indian Women. Children. Nursery Discipline. Girls. Courtship. Marriage. A Missionary Occupation and Labours of married Women. Degradation of the half-civi- lized Tribes. Education and Life of Indian Men. An Indian Dandy. His elaborate Toilet. His Effeminacy. Game of the Javelin. Indian Courage. IT may seem unpardonable that I have so long deferred any mention of the appearance, manners, dress, and condition of the "ladies" in this commu- nity. The delay has been occasioned by the best of motives, namely, a hope that longer experience might enable me to find some exceptions to such a general description as truth would oblige me to give. I waited long, and found none ; and am now under the unpleasant necessity of declaring that, among the Pawnee females, I never saw one instance of beauty, either in face or figure of neatness in dress cleanliness in appearance, or of any one of those graceful and attractive attributes which generally characterise the softer sex.* Their life is one of perpetual degradation and slavery ; and, in spite of their slovenly appearance, I could not * I did afterwards see two or three pretty girls, but so few in number that I did not think myself justified in altering the text. x 2 308 INDIAN CHILDREN. withhold my admiration at the good-humour with which they perform labours unequalled by those of any free servant or slave. In their infancy and early childhood they are completely spoilt. Some authors have pretended that Indian chil- dren never cry : this is as true as many other parts of their absurd histories ; I never was among children so given to cry and scream. I have seen them repeatedly do so (when they wanted any trifle which was refused them), with such incessant violence, that they ended by coughing most horri- bly and spitting blood ; then the alarmed mother would leave her work, and, instead of a good whip- ping, give them whatever they asked for. Among other instances of foolish maternal indulgence, and its corresponding effects on a child, the following is not among the least ludicrous : In our tent was a little girl, nearly two years old, so dreadfully affected by the hooping-cough, that it frequently caused me to lie awake half the night, and I hourly expected it to break a blood- vessel and die. This poor little wretch's temper was as bad, and as badly nursed, as her health ; she governed the whole tent ; and I cannot con- ceive how she survived a week, considering that her mother and aunts used all the means in their power to kill her, short of a " lethal weapon." I have seen her in the course of one morning (she being only two years old!) eat a good bowl of half- boiled maize then enough green grapes and plums NURSERY DISCIPLINE. 309 to give the cholera to a bargeman then a large hunch of buffalo meat, nearly raw; in the midst of which last she stopped, and began to cry and scream, for what I knew not, but her mother knew better ; and the poor woman was obliged to open her blanket and suckle the young screamer, who still held the half-eaten slice of buffalo meat in her hand !* Even the hints that kindly nature gave were lost upon them ; for, after she had rejected the unripe fruit, with evident proofs of her aversion, too disagreeable for me to forget, within ten minutes I saw the child again taking another, and at least as large a dose, of the same composition. So much for infant diet! As they grow older their tyranny decreases, and by the time they are five or six years old, they are made to carry wood and water, and enter upon the duties of their life ; before they are grown up, the more industrious and ingenious among them, add to their usual domestic accomplishments the making of various little ornaments, and the paint- ing of buffalo-skins. Suppose the young lady arrived at the age when the short usurpation of Cupid is to be succeeded by the absolute monarchy of Hymen, the ceremony to * The Pawnee women frequently keep their children un- weaned till near three years of age, and thus, of course, have sometimes two or three sucking at once. The long, pendant breast of an Indian squaw, after a certain age, is one of the most offensive and disagreeable objects upon which my eye ever rested. 310 COURTSHIP. be observed is (as far as I can learn) nearly as fol- lows : When the lover wishes to break the ice, he comes to her father's tent uninvited, and sits on the corner of the mat for a considerable time, then rises, and goes away without speaking. This is the pre- liminary step in courtship, answering perhaps to the first gentle pressure of the hand the first blushing hesitation in address the first mutual glance of understanding. But I am treading on dangerous ground, and must proceed no further with these drawing-room " preliminaries." After a few days the young man returns, wearing his buffalo-robe with the hair outwards, and again sits down silent in the corner of the tent ; this is a regular proposal ; if the father is determined to re- ject him at once, no skin is placed for him to sit on, and no meat is offered to him ; but if he approves of the match, these usual rites of hospitality are ob- served, and he tells the young man that he will give a feast to obtain the consent of all his daugh- ter's connections, and advises him also to do the same by his relations ; should both of these feasts terminate favourably, the young man presents him- self once more before his bride at the door of her tent, then turns round and walks slowly off towards his own ; she rises and follows him the marriage is then complete (if she remain sitting, it is a sign that her family decline the match). As soon as he reaches home he sends her father the marriage pre- sent, or rather, the purchase money for his wife, MARRIAGE. 311 (indeed it is neither more nor less,) the amount of which is already pretty well ascertained by the father-in-law, and which consists of horses, blan- kets, or robes, according to the wealth or respect- ability of the contracting parties. The most extraordinary part of this matrimonial affair is, that, having married the elder sister, he has a right to marry all the younger ones as they successively attain the age of puberty. Nor is this at all unusual ; on the contrary, it is a common practice, as the husband thereby secures so many additional slaves, and can obtain so much more corn, dried meat, dressed skins, &c. all of which are the result of female labour. When the second sis- ter becomes marriageable, or rather, when it suits his fancy or convenience to take her, he sends her father a horse, or other proportionate present, and she comes over to his lodge ; and so on with the other sisters.* I have seen several chiefs who have, in this manner, married a whole family ; the eldest wife being the greatest drudge, and the youngest being generally, the favourite sultana, and, con- sequently, doing the least work. * This custom is common among other savage tribes besides the Pawnees. See Major Long's " Account of the Omahas," vol. i. p. 230. Also, the Padre Palon's " Description of Upper California," quoted by Mr. Forbes ; " it is very common for the wife to urge her husband to marry her sisters, and even their mother ! and the common custom is, when a man marries, that he takes the whole of the sisters for wives." Fortes' Cali- fornia, p. 190. VOL. I. X 4 312 A MISSIONARY. I cannot affirm the universal accuracy of the above account, because I could not understand the Indians sufficiently to extract much information from them. The French interpreter was extremely illiterate, ignorant, and uncommunicative ; and the only other source from which I could gather any thing, was from a young man sent by the mission- aries from New England to learn the Pawnee lan- guage, with a view to his teaching their children hereafter the elements of religion, morals, grammar, &c. The history of the world affords ample evi- dence to prove that the first spreaders of the Gos- pel among savage tribes, must be active enterprising men, and enthusiasts ; any thing more directly op- posite to these qualities than the character of the young missionary resident among the Pawnees, I defy the whole world to produce, he was the most quiet, indolent, phlegmatic being I ever beheld, and in taciturnity worthy to be a priest of Momus him- self. However, I did now and then extract a few sentences from him ; and such facts as he told me I could depend upon, as there did not appear to be a grain of fancy or invention in his composition. He had been with the Pawnees about eight months, and spoke a few words of the language ; but he had not the " bump" I beg pardon, the " organ" of language. His residence among them may be pro- ductive of some advantage to the estimate formed by the savages of the character of the whites, as his life is decent and moral ; whereas their intercourse has MARRIED WOMEN. 313 been mostly confined to the French traders, who are in general grossly licentious and profligate, having wives in every tribe they deal with, and tempting the poor savages to barter the honour (if among them it can be so called) of their daugh- ters and sisters for a dram of whisky. It is difficult to understand how so many Indians can have four, five, or six wives, and that so very few are unmarried at thirty years of age, unless w r e suppose that three or four females among them are born to one male : it might have been accounted for formerly by the number of men that died in their wars, hunting parties, and accidents ; but these means of depopulation are so much more rare than they used to be, that they can scarcely be supposed to explain the great disproportion be- tween the sexes. Having already brought the lady through all the dangers of celibacy, her matrimonial happiness will be most easily appreciated by a faithful narration of her daily occupation when the village is moving. She rises an hour before daylight, packs up the dried meat, the corn, and other bales, strikes the tent, loads and saddles all the horses and mules, and at dawn the march commences ; they generally go from twelve to fifteen miles before their mid-day halt ; the husband rides, some animals are loaded, many run loose ; she travels on foot, carrying on her back either a child or a package of considerable size, in one hand a bundle or a can of water, with the 314 LABORIOUS DUTIES other leading one or two pack-horses. On arriving at the camping-place, she unpacks the animals, and proceeds to pitch the tent, or lodge, as before de- scribed. But in order to appreciate the extreme labour of this apparently simple operation, it must be borne in mind that she has to force eight or ten poles, sharpened at the point, into ground baked nearly as hard as brick by a vertical sun ; they require to be driven at least six inches deep by the mere strength of her arms, as she is not assisted by the use of any iron-pointed instrument or any mallet. As soon as the tent is pitched and arranged, she goes in search of wood and water ; the latter is ge- nerally within half-a-mile of the camping-place se- lected, but the former, I can positively affirm from my own observation, she frequently has to seek and carry on her back three or four miles. From mingled commiseration and curiosity, I have once or twice raised these wood-bundles thus brought in, and am afraid to hazard a conjecture at their weight, but I feel confident that any Lon- don porter would charge high for an extra load, if he was desired to carry one of them half-a-mile : she then proceeds to light the fire, cut up the meat, and pound the corn, for which latter purpose she is obliged to use a heavy club, round at the extremity, and a mortar, hollowed by herself from the trunk of a walnut. As soon as the meal is finished, she has to strike the tent, re-load the horses, and the whole foregoing work is to be repeated, except that OF THE WOMEN. 315 the afternoon walk is generally not more than eight miles. This is the ordinary routine of a travelling day ; but on the day of a hunt, and on its successor, her labour varies in kind, not much in degree, as, besides bringing wood and water, cooking, &c. she has to cut up all the meat into thin flakes or layers to be dried in the sun, to dress the skins and robes, the mode of doing which I shall have to notice presently ; to make the mocassins, leggins, and, in short, what- ever clothing is wanted by any part of the family. To perform this incredible labour there were only three women in our lodge, and I never saw any of the three either grumble, or rest a moment, al- though plagued with the additional care and cease- less crying of the two before-mentioned brats. Lest it may be supposed that in the permanent or winter lodge they enjoy more rest, it is as well to mention that, in addition to their domestic duties, the whole of the agricultural labour, in their coarse system of raising maize, falls to their share. Is it possible to contemplate this constant and se- vere fatigue, undergone with uncomplaining cheer- fulness, without pity and admiration ? And yet the women appear contented and even happy ; they laugh under their burthens, and chatter during half the night. They seem even to be proof against the pains of the primal punishment brought, by sin, upon womankind ; for they pursue their ordinary occupations until the latest period of their labour, 316 HALF-CIVILISED TRIBES. and immediately after the birth of the child resume them without interruption. It appears that no ob- stetric aid is required on these occasions : if the village is on a march, the sister or some other female remains, for an hour, in the rear, with her friend, and then they rejoin the main body, and present the "happy father" with his fine boy or girl, as the case may be ! Is it not possible that the progress of years, if it bring with it civilisation and some alleviation of their drudgery, may mar the happiness they now enjoy, by implanting wants, desires, and seeds of discontent, to which they are still strangers? It is a melancholy but undoubted fact that the half-civilised tribes are more licentious, treacherous, and debased, both in body and mind, than those who know the white man only by distant rumour, and view him as their natural and irreconcilable enemy. This, however, is to be attributed, not to civilisation abstractedly, nor to white man as a genus, but to whisky, and the profligate vicious traders, chiefly Canadian French, who first intro- duced that liquid curse among them. I must now turn to the male portion of the com- monwealth, and record a few particulars regarding them. As soon as the boys are able to run about they begin to practise the bow and arrow ; and in the barren prairies, where neither bird nor flower offers itself as a mark, their constant occupation is shoot- ing at an arrow previously sent by one of the little party. This they perform (to use a vulgar phrase) EDUCATION OF THE MALES. 317 " turn about :" A. shoots an arrow into the ground, about ten or fifteen yards off; B. shoots at it ; then B. sends one for A. to aim at ; and so forth. Until they attain the age of ten or eleven they remain more or less under their mother's control, and are made to help her in carrying water, and in catching or leading horses ; but about that discreet time of life they begin to feel the dignity of their sex, and to perform such menial offices with repugnance ; and I have often observed with surprise and indig- nation, that if I gave a gun-case or any kind of pack- age to one of them to carry during a march, before ten minutes he would transfer it to his already over- loaded and submissive mother, and return to his bow and arrow with his companions. They delight also, while they are lads, to follow their elder bro- ther or father to the buffalo hunt, during which they keep a respectful distance in the rear ; but as soon as the game is killed, they assist at the dis- section, and the horse on which they rode is used to carry the meat to the camp. About the age of twenty they are allowed to hunt, and seek other opportunities for distinction. This epoch answers to the Oxonian's first ap- pearance in London life after taking his B. A. degree. I have seen some dandies in my life English, Scotch, French, German, ay and Ameri- can dandies too ; but none of them can compare with the vanity or coxcombry of the Pawnee dandy. Lest any of the gentry claiming this distinction, 318 AN INDIAN DANDY. and belonging to the above-mentioned nations, should doubt or feel aggrieved at this assertion, I will faithfully narrate what passed constantly be- fore my eyes in our own tent ; namely, the manner in which Sa-ni-tsa-rish's son passed the days on which there was no buffalo hunt. He began his toilet, about eight in the morning, by greasing and smoothing his whole person with fat, which he rubbed afterwards perfectly dry, only leaving the skin sleek and glossy ; he then painted his face vermilion, with a stripe of red also along the centre of the crown of the head ; he then pro- ceeded to his " coiffure," which received great attention, although the quantum of hair demanding such care was limited, inasmuch as his head was shaved close, except one tuft at the top, from which hung two plaited " tresses." (Why must I call them "pigtails?"*) He then filled his ears, which were bored in two or three places, with rings and wam- * The fashion of wearing the hair varies in every tribe, and in every individual of the tribe, according to the fancy of the person ; but the method here described is the most prevalent among the Pawnees. The Ricaras plait a long stream of horse- hair with their crown-tuft, which floats wildly in the breeze as they gallop, and gives them a terrible and picturesque appear- ance. I have also been informed by many of the Rocky Moun- tain traders, that some of the Crow chiefs (a nation to the north- west of the Ricara) wear hair of seven and eight feet long; and a gentleman of character and education assured me that he had measured the hair of one of them nine feet. Like the faithful old Herodotus, I add, " these things I have not seen, but give them as they were told to me." HIS TOILET. 319 pum, and hung several strings of beads round his neck ; then, sometimes painting stripes of vermilion and yellow upon his breast and shoulders, and placing armlets above his elbows and rings upon his fingers, he proceeded to adorn the nether man with a pair of mocassins, some scarlet cloth leggins fastened to his waist-belt, and bound round below the knee with garters of beads four inches broad. Being so far prepared, he drew out his mirror, fitted into a small wooden frame, (which he al- ways, whether hunting or at home, carried about his person,) and commenced a course of self- examination, such as the severest disciple of Watts, Mason, or any other religious moralist, never equalled. Nay more, if I were not afraid of offending the softer sex by venturing to bring man into comparison with them in an oc- cupation which is considered so peculiarly their own, I would assert that no female creation of the poets, from the time that Eve first saw " that smooth watery image," till the polished toile,t of the lovely Belinda, ever studied her own reflected self with more perseverance or satisfaction than this Pawnee youth. I have repeatedly seen him sit, for above an hour at a time, examin- ing his face in every possible position and ex- pression ; now frowning like Homer's Jove be- fore a thunder-storm, now like the same god, described by Milton, " smiling with superior love ;" now slightly varying the streaks of paint VOL. I. X 8 320 DECORATION OF HIS HORSE. upon his cheeks and forehead, and then push- ing or pulling " each particular hair" of his eye- brows into its most becoming place ! Could the youth have seen anything in that mirror half so dangerous as the features which the glassy wave gave back to the gaze of the fond Narcissus, I might have feared for his life or reason ; but, fortu- nately for these, they had only to contend with a low receding forehead, a nose somewhat simious, a pair of small sharp eyes, with high cheek-bones, and a broad mouth, well furnished with a set of teeth, which had at least the merit of demolishing speedily everything, animal or vegetable, that came within their range. His toilet thus arranged to his satisfaction, one of the women or children led his buffalo-horse before the tent ; and he proceeded to deck his steed, by painting his forehead, neck, and shoulders with stripes of vermilion, and sometimes twisted a few feathers into his tail. He then put into his mouth an old-fashioned bridle, bought or stolen from the Spaniards, from the bit of which hung six or eight steel chains, about nine inches long ; while some small bells, attached to the reins, contributed to render the movements of the steed as musical as those of the lovely " Sonnante," in the incomparable tales of Comte Hamilton.* All things being now ready for the promenade, he threw a scarlet mantle over his shoulders ; thrust * See Fleur-d' 'Epine. GAME OF THE JAVELIN. 321 his mirror in below his belt; took in one hand a a large fan, of wild-goose or turkey feathers, to shield his fair and delicate complexion from the sun ; while a whip hung from his wrist, having the handle studded with brass nails. Thus accoutred, he mounted his jingling palfrey, and ambled through the encampment, envied by all the youths less gay in attire, attracting the gaze of the unfortunate drudges who represent the gentler sex, and admired supremely by himself! On these blank days, the men who were not dan- dies passed the time in smoking, feasting, mending and sharpening their knives and arrows, or in the javelin game, of which last amusement they are very fond. It is played by two competitors, each armed with a dart, on the smoothest plot of grass which they can find. The arena is about fifty yards long. They start from one end at full speed ; one of the players has a small hoop, of six inches diameter, which, as soon as they have reached the middle of the course, he rolls on before them ; and each then endeavours to dart his weapon through the hoop. He who succeeds, counts so many in the game ; and if neither pierces it, the nearest javelin to the mark is allowed to count, but, of course, not so many points as if he had " ringed" it. This game is exceedingly hard exercise ; they play with many on a side, and sometimes for five and six hours, in the mid-heat of an August day, without intermission. It is made subser- VOL. I. Y 322 INDIAN COURAGE. vient to their taste for gambling ; and I have seen them lose guns, blankets, and even one or two horses, in a morning. I have heard that they play at cards in their winter-quarters, but cannot vouch for the truth of the assertion. In fact, this is the only game that I ever saw among the Pawnees : but it is well known that other tribes play admirably at ball, after different fashions, one of which resembles closely the English "hockey," or Scottish "shinny,'' and is played with a hooked stick. However, we must not believe that Indian games are quite as various or scientific, as some careless authors have described them.* The courage of the Indians has been the subject of much controversy : I have had few opportunities of forming a practical opinion on the question. One thing, however, is certain, that they invariably pre- fer ambush and artifice to open attack ; and the highest praise is given to the warrior who brings home a few scalps without losing a man ; but if he returns with a number of scalps, having lost a few of his own party, he obtains much less praise. No one can deny them the merit of passive courage or endurance. It would appear that their nervous sys- tem is much less irritable than that of the whites. I do not form this opinion from the numberless written narratives upon the subject; but I have * I remember, in an enumeration of them by some traveller, quoted by the author of a " Winter in the Far West," to have found the word tennis. Query, had the said traveller ever seen a tennis-court, or did he know the meaning of the term ? INDIAN COURAGE. seen and conversed with several Americans who have been engaged in Indian wars, and who have described to me tortures that they have witnessed, too horrible to relate, and borne either with un- flinching silence, or with a kind of frantic exulta- tion, that dared the torturers to make the arrow sharper and to bring a hotter firebrand. This may be, and undoubtedly is, true in regard to inflicted pain ; but it certainly is not true relatively to the sufferings of disease, or any of the natural "ills that flesh is heir to." I have more than once seen a full-grown strong-looking Indian moan and whine under the toothach or colic in a manner that, among us, would shame " a sick child." Pa 6 -taMa e -cha'ro, who was, I think, the strongest and most formidable Indian in the camp, sent for me one day, and complained most grievously of pains in his body. He lay at full length, wrapped up in his buffalo-robe, and sighed and groaned most piteously. He held out his arm to me, and made me signs to bleed him ; an operation which those Indians who have seen or heard of it among the whites, are very fond of undergoing. I felt his pulse at the wrist ; it was regular, firm, and quiet. I therefore told him that he was not very bad, and refused to bleed him. Having only performed this office once, and not being much of an adept therein, I never would attempt it, except in cases of urgency or danger. However, he continued his groans, al- though I felt convinced that the only malady under Y (2 324 INDIAN COURAGE. which he laboured was the effect of having eaten three or four pounds too much buffalo meat or boiled maize. While I was still sitting in the lodge, the heralds came round to cry that buffalo were near, and that the hunters might mount. The young chief sprang up, like a lion roused, snatched his bow and leather quiver, and in five minutes was at a full gallop over the prairie ! HUNTING CEREMONIES. 323 CHAPTER XVII. Ceremonies attendant on the Buffalo Chase. Adventures with Buffalo. Number of Beasts slain. Night Attack of the Shiennes. The Conflict. War Songs. A Council. Re- ligion Great Spirits and other Deities. Religious Cere- monies. Notions of Futurity. Months and Years. Office of Soldiers. A " Cerne," or " Surround." Buffalo Hunt. Preparation of Buffalo Skins. Strange Fuel. March re- sumed, Otoe chief. Deadly Feud between two Brothers. Great Medicine Feast. Impromptu Oration. Indian Eloquence. Grace before Meat Rapid Feeding. Method of Invitation to a Feast. Contrasted Temperature. Change in the Aspect of the Country. ON the 26th we started at four in the morn- ing, in the hope of finding water before mid-day. About eight o'clock the cry of " taraha" (buffalo) again echoed through the columns, and we were all ordered to halt. I rode forward to the head of the line, where a circle was made, consisting of the chiefs and prophets. Two long poles, belonging to the " medicine," and covered with feathers and shreds of cloth, were placed in the centre, and an hour was spent in speechifying, smoking, and medi- cine-mummery, to ensure a good day's sport. The warriors, or hunters, then went forward, and, half- 326 THE CHASE. a-dozen miles in advance of the main body, we found several large herds of buffalo. Each hunter selected the herd that he would attack, and we rushed in upon them from every side. It was a glorious sight to see the naked savages urging their horses to their utmost speed, with loud cries and repeated use of the cowhide ; while the affrighted and maddened bulls galloped, or rather plunged, along the hill-side, only escaping one band of tormentors to fall in with another. A great slaughter ensued. I happened to have left my rifle, on this occasion, in the rear, with my servant, and was armed only with a pistol. How- ever, I singled out two or three bulls and cows, and pursued them six or seven miles ; but, when I reached them, was much annoyed to find that no effort or exertion could induce my steed to venture near them; so I returned unsuccessful and out of humour to the camp. There I found that V had remained in the thick melee with the chiefs, and had killed, or helped to kill, three with a pistol. He had borrowed a horse fully trained for the sport, and he could ride close up to their tails ; but the animal would never press forward enough to risk an encounter with their horns. I was determined not to let the sun set upon my blood-guiltless head ; and, as it was only about two P.M., I mounted another horse, took my rifle, and again set out in quest of adventures. I soon found a bull in a neighbouring ravine, slightly wounded ADVENTURES WITH BUFFALO. 327 by an arrow in his flank ; and, as he was near the village, a large party of women and children were answering, at a respectful distance, his roaring and bellowing by their shouts and cries. They told me to go and kill him. As the horse I had then mounted would not allow me to shoot from his back, I dismounted, and shot a bullet into the bull's shoulder : after a short interval, he tottered and fell. I thought that he was just about to die, and im- prudently walked up nearer to him. To my sur- prise, he sprung up and made at me ; I waited till he came within two or three yards, then fired my second barrel, and jumped on one side. He passed over the place I had ceded to him, and, after stag- gering on a short distance, he fell again. I re- loaded my rifle, and was obliged to fire another ball, which put him out of, his pain ; and then I left him to the tender mercies of the women and chil- dren, and, mounting my horse, cantered over the hills, in search of more game. I was soon aware of a fine bull, enjoying its solitary range at the distance of a quarter of a mile. I gave chase, and after a gallop of two or three miles, I came alongside the enemy ; but my Indian nag would not allow me to shoot off his back ; the moment I presented my rifle, he would wheel and jump, so as to preclude all possibility of taking aim. The bull chased me about fifty yards, but finding he had no chance of overtaking me, stopped and stamped. I dismounted, and a pitched 328 NUMBER OF BEASTS SLAIN. battle now ensued, in which Purday's double-barrel ultimately gained the day ; but I never met with an animal so tenacious of life. He did not fall till he received my fourth ball in the heart ; two having pierced him before, not more than three inches from the heart, and one having entered his eye, which I aimed at, in the expectation of thereby reaching his brain. I now returned to the camp, satisfied with my day's sport. I might have killed three times as many with half the trouble, had I chosen to re- main with the chiefs in the centre of the " cerne," and assist in the medley-massacre ; but I could see no sport or excitement in a scene resembling too closely the shambles ; besides which, it is impossible to have the undivided glory, as the greater number are pierced by three or four arrows, and you must either kill some other hunter's wounded buffalo, or let him kill what you have wounded, neither of which alternatives a sportsman would choose to adopt. I cannot say exactly the amount of the day's slaughter, but it was between five and six hundred. Soon after our return from hunting I was invited to a feast, where I tasted a most luxurious dish, being the udder of a young cow ; it was well boiled, and was extremely sweet and delicate food. In the evening, the elders, or medicine-men, went round the encampment, uttering loud cries, (which were meant to express their gratitude to NIGHT ATTACK. 329 the Great Spirit for a plentiful supply of buffalo), and carrying a portion of the meat to the old and infirm who were not able to hunt, and who had no young man in their lodge to supply them with provision. About ten o'clock at night, after we had all betaken ourselves to our bear or buffalo-skins, and the camp was as still as a Pawnee camp can be, a sudden yell or shout was raised, which reached the inmost recess of every lodge " Charicks waik- ta!" " The enemy are upon us!" In a moment all was confusion and bustle. The tent of my old chief was pitched at the western extremity of the "village," and not more than two hundred yards from a small wooded ravine. The hostile band had contrived to elude the vigilance of our out- posts, and to reach this place of concealment un- discovered ; consequently our predicament would have been a dangerous one, had they possessed sufficient force to profit by this advantage, or had our warriors allowed them time to improve it. But it was beautiful to see the readiness and rapidity with which our Pawnees were prepared to meet them. Each man's bow and quiver were at his head ; the laryette which secured his horse served for a bridle ; and in two minutes from the time that the alarm was given, the warriors and Braves were at full speed in the direction of the enemy. I jumped up from my bear-skin, and with a brace of pistols in my belt, a stout hunting-knife at my 330 NIGHT ATTACK. side, and a double-rifle in my hand, lost not a moment in joining my old friend, the chief, at the door of his lodge. My first care was to secure my horses, which, scared by the firing, yelling, and gal- loping around them, struggled with all the power of terror and excitement to get free from their fastenings : fortunately I had caused them all to be doubly secured and hobbled, so that none of them got away. I then inquired of the chief how I could be useful, and he pointed to the lodge, and the women and children, giving me to understand that I must stay and protect them. Indeed, there was nothing else for me to do ; inasmuch as had I sallied out in the dark with the others, I could not distinguish friend from foe, and should have been as likely to shoot the former as the latter. Standing thus quietly on the defensive, I had leisure to enjoy the wild beauty of the scene before me. The shrill and savage war-cry raised by a thousand voices the neighing, struggling, and trampling of the excited horses, mingled with the howling of dogs, and the irregular firing of their guns, with which the Pawnees directed and cheered their warriors to the scene of action formed a wild and exciting combination of sounds ; while the groups of women and children gathered round the pale and expiring fires, and the tall dark figure of the old chief, standing with his arms calmly folded beside me, served admirably to fill the in- teresting and picturesque fore-ground. At first, NIGHT ATTACK. 331 the shouts and yells approached then they re- ceded then again they came nearer and nearer, and for a few minutes, I thought we might have a skirmish before our lodge (which was, as I before said, at the very extremity of the encamp- ment). My rifle was ready with two bullets, each of an ounce weight ; and as our fire had been refreshed, so as to throw light upon an ad- vancing party, I felt pretty sure that two of them would pay the penalty of a near approach. But I was not destined either to take or lose a scalp on this occasion ; the Pawnees were too strong and too active for their opponents; the yells became gradually more faint and indistinct; and at length the occasional discharge of a gun at a distance was the only audible sign of conflict or pursuit. I was anxious to find out who these fellows were who had dared to attack the Pawnees in their full encampment, and learned from the first warriors who returned that they were Shiennes, about one hundred and fifty or two hundred in number, who had made this bold attempt to seize a number of the Pawnee horses ; at least, it is impossible to believe that they could from any other motive have ventured, with a handful of men, to attack a camp containing above a thousand warriors, as well or better armed than themselves. The Pawnees, in making the Shienne sign, pre- VOL. i. Y 6 332 WAR-SONGS. tend to saw the left-arm with the fore-finger of the left-hand ; thereby denoting the marks which dis- tinguish that tribe. They are a warlike marauding nation, who frequent the plains watered by the sources of the Platte and Arkansas, towards the base of the Rocky Mountains : they are generally at war with the Pawnees. As far as I could hear, they escaped without losing any of their party. As soon as their first attempt at surprise failed, they fled at full speed ; and the darkness of the night rendered pursuit ineffectual, if not impossible. I presume that the Pawnees guessed their number by their horse- tracks in the morning ; but possibly they were not very anxious to detach a body to follow them, as they did not know whether the Shiennes might not have a considerable force to retire upon in the neighbourhood. In a short time, all was again still in the camp ; nothing stirred, save here and there the dusky figure of some returning warrior, who had followed the enemy farther than his comrades ; and no sound met the ear, except the low and monotonous war- song chanted by some of the Braves as they lay enveloped in their blankets on the side of a small hill commanding the encampment. I was very sorry that I had no intelligent interpreter from whom I could obtain a translation of these Indian lyrics, I did contrive, with the aid of the half-Frenchman, to gather a few phrases, which may serve to illus- A COUNCIL. 333 trate the character of the whole. " I rushed upon my enemy like a buffalo ! I shouted my war-cry aloud ! Hi-hi-hl-hi-hi ! &c. I took his scalp ! His women howl for him in their lodge ! I am a great war-chief ! lam called the Black Wolf ! Hl-hi-hi-hi ! " These, and similar effusions of sa- vage simplicity, form the solitary chant of a Paw- nee warrior. On the following morning their blood was boil- ing with resentment at the affront which they had received. A council was held, but they carefully concealed their determination from me ; so that I have little doubt that reprisals of some kind were carried nem. con. But of the measures which they adopted I remained in total ignorance. Doubtless, they considered me somewhat in the light of a spy ; for when I inquired whether they had taken any scalps, or lost any men in the skirmish of the pre- ceding night, they either pretended not to under- stand, or made the sign of " mystery" or " silence," by placing the hand before the lips, and then extending it with the palm towards me. Even from Sa-ni-tsa-rish, who was usually very commu- nicative, and gave me lessons in his language daily, I could gain no information on this subject. As they remained for a day or two drying and cutting up their meat, I employed myself in endeavouring to get some idea of their religious tenets and superstitions. These are at best vague and undefined : to those who understand their 334 RELIGION. language they cannot explain the theory of their belief, and the only method of attaining any know- ledge of the subject is, by attentive examination and careful comparison of the leading features of their practice and ceremonial observances. As far as I can learn, their idea of a Divinity is a single presiding Being or Spirit, generally benevo- lent, but changeable, according to the supplies or offerings which he receives of buffalo, of which they dedicate considerable portions to him. (No small part of this dedicated meat is consumed by the medicine-men.) Besides this Supreme Spi- rit, they believe in others of an inferior caste, (like the secondary gods in the Greek and Egyptian, or the genii and gnomes in the Eastern, mytho- logy,) in whom they imagine resemblances to diffe- rent kinds of animals, as buffalo, deer, bears, &c. Each man considers himself under the peculiar care of one of these inferior deities ; and in seasons of peril, grief, joy, or any other strong excitement, he will work himself up to a high pitch of enthu- siasm, and imitate his tutelary spirit, either by creeping and growling like a bear, or roaring and stamping like a buffalo, and so forth, They never eat or smoke without making a first-offering to the Great Spirit. At a feast or ordinary meal, the first spoonful of maize or mor- sel of meat is placed on the grass for his use ; and, when they smoke, the first whiff is puffed up- ward in honour of him ; and generally the two DIVISION OF THE YEAR. 335 succeeding, one on the right, the other on the left, to the buffalo, or some other spirit. In re- gard to futurity, they believe that, if they have been bold hunters and brave warriors, they will, after death, inhabit a country where buffalo will be plentiful, and where the chase, the feast, and the pipe, will form their only occupation. They divide their year into twelve months, of thirty days, to each of which they give a name, descriptive of its peculiar produce, or occupation, as "the corn month" " the cold month" "the sowing month" " the hot month" " the buffalo month," &c. ; but I find that, with some other Indian tribes, the year consists of six months; and the spring hunt and the winter hunt make the two years.* The 28th of July, which was a beautiful day for buffalo hunting, was entirely lost, (although the animals were close to the encampment and the * A similar method of naming the months obtains among the tribes inhabiting the regions of the Upper Mississippi, as the Ojjibeways, Menomenees (or wild rice-eaters), &c. They divide the year into a certain number of moons, some of which are called after particular berries that ripen at the season, as " Ota-ha-mene Kezus," the wild-strawberry moon " Meno- me-ne, ka-we Kezus," the wild-rice gathering moon, &c. Other months are called in a similar manner,