History, Manners, and Customs of the North American Indians Part 12

"See," said Duke Holland to his astonished companions, "there is the enemy; not people of my nation, but Mingoes, as I truly told you. They are in our power. In less than half an hour they will be all fast asleep. We need not fire a gun, but go up and tomahawk them. We are nearly two to one, and need apprehend no danger. Come on, and you will now have your full revenge."

But the whites, overcome with fear, did not choose to follow the Indian's advice, but desired him to take them back by the nearest and best way. This he did; and when they arrived at home, they reported the enemy to have been so great that they durst not venture to attack them.

_Austin._ This instance is quite as wonderful as the other.

_Brian._ I would not have an Indian after me if I had done wrong; for he would be sure to find me out.

_Hunter._ Red men often act very conscientiously. One day, an Indian solicited a little tobacco of a white man, to fill his pipe. Having some loose in his pocket, the white man gave him a handful. The next day the Indian returned in search of the man who had given him the tobacco.

"I wish to see him," said the Indian.

"Why so?" inquired some one.

"Why, I find money with the tobacco."

"Well! what of that? Keep it; it was given to you."

"Ah!" said the Indian, shaking his head, "I got good man and bad man here," pointing to his breast. "Good man say, 'Money not yours; you must return it:' bad man say, '_'Tis_ yours; it was given to you.'

Good man say, 'That not right: _tobacco_ yours, _money_ not yours.'

Bad man say, 'Never mind, n.o.body know it; go buy rum.' Good man say, 'Oh no; no such thing.' So poor Indian know not what to do. Me lie down to sleep, but no sleep; good man and bad man talk all night, and trouble me. So now, me bring money back: now, me feel good."

_Basil._ I like that Indian very much.

_Brian._ No one could have acted more honestly.

_Hunter._ Whatever the Indians may be, when oppressed, wronged and deceived by the whites; and however they may act towards their enemies; they are usually honest towards their own tribe. While I was residing on the Big Beaver, says one who lived much among them, I pa.s.sed by the door of an Indian who was a trader, and had, consequently, a quant.i.ty of goods in his house. He was going with his wife to Pittsburg, and they were shutting up the house; as no person remained in it during their absence. This shutting up was nothing else than putting a large block, with a few sticks of wood, outside against the door, so as to keep it closed. As I was looking at this man with attention, while he was so employed, he addressed me in these words:--

"See, my friend, this is an Indian lock that I am putting to my door."

I answered, "Well enough; but I see you leave much property in the house: are you not afraid that those articles will be stolen while you are gone?"

"Stolen! by whom?"

"Why, by Indians, to be sure."

"No, no," replied he, "no Indian would do such a thing. Unless a white man, or white people, should happen to come this way, I shall find all safe on my return."

_Basil._ If we were to leave our doors in that way, our houses would be sure to be robbed.

_Hunter._ No doubt they would; but Indians have good and bad qualities. The notion entertained by the Iroquois Indians, respecting the creation of mankind, will show how ignorant they are with respect to the Creator of all things; but, indeed, if the blessed book of truth were not in our hands, we should be equally ignorant ourselves.

Before man existed, say they, there were three great and good spirits; of whom one was superior to the other two, and is emphatically called the Great Spirit and the Good Spirit. At a certain time, this exalted being said to one of the others, "Make a man." He obeyed; and, taking chalk, formed a paste of it, and moulding it into the human form, infused into it the animating principle, and brought it to the Great Spirit. He, after surveying it, said, "This is too white."

He then directed the other to make a trial of his skill. Accordingly, taking charcoal, he pursued the same process, and brought the result to the Great Spirit; who, after surveying it, said, "It is too black."

Then said the Great Spirit, "I will now try myself;" and taking red earth, he formed an Indian. On surveying it, he said, "This is a proper or perfect man."

After relating the strange opinion of the Iroquois Indians, the hunter advised the young people, on their return home, to look over the account of the creation of the world and mankind, in the first chapter of Genesis; telling them that they could not be too thankful for the opportunity of reading G.o.d's word, which was not only sufficient to keep them from error in such things, but was able also to make them "wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." He told them, that though the Indians were ignorant of holy things, they did not want shrewdness and sagacity. "When General Lincoln," said he, "went to make peace with the Creek Indians, one of the chiefs asked him to sit down on a log; he was then desired to move, and, in a few minutes, to move still farther. The request was repeated, until the general got to the end of the log. The Indian still said, 'Move farther;' to which the general replied, 'I can move no farther.'

'Just so it is with us,' said the chief. 'You have moved us back to the water, and then ask us to move farther!'"

In the account of his expedition to the foot of the Rocky Mountains, in 1821, Major Long relates the following anecdote of a p.a.w.nee brave, son of Red Knife, who, in the succeeding winter, visited the city of Was.h.i.+ngton, during the session of Congress.

This brave, of fine size, figure and countenance, is now about twenty-five years old. At the age of twenty-one, his heroic deeds had acquired for him in his nation the rank of the bravest of the braves.

The savage practice of torturing and burning to death their prisoners existed in this nation. An unfortunate female, of the Paduca nation, taken in war, was destined to this horrid death.

The fatal hour had arrived. The trembling victim, far from her home and her friends, was fastened to the stake. The whole tribe were a.s.sembled on the surrounding plains to witness the awful scene.

Just as the funeral pile was to be kindled, and the whole mult.i.tude of spectators were on the tiptoe of expectation, this young warrior, having, unnoticed, prepared two fleet horses, with the necessary provisions, sprang from his seat, rushed through the crowd, liberated the victim, seized her in his arms, placed her on one of the horses, mounted the other himself, and made the utmost speed towards the nation and friends of the captive.

The mult.i.tude, dumb and nerveless with amazement at the daring deed, made no effort to rescue their victim from her deliverer. They viewed it as the immediate act of the Great Spirit, submitted to it without a murmur, and quietly retired to their village.

The released captive was accompanied three days through the wilderness, towards her home. Her deliverer then gave her the horse on which she rode, and the necessary provisions for the remainder of the journey, and they parted.

On his return to the village, such was his popularity, that no inquiry was made into his conduct, and no censure was pa.s.sed upon it. Since this transaction no human sacrifice has been offered in this or any other of the p.a.w.nee tribes; the practice is abandoned. How influential is one bold act in a good cause! This deed ill.u.s.trates a grand principle, boys. It is by such men that great reformations are made in the world, and yet there is no mastery in it. Every one is capable of doing that which he knows to be right, regardless of the opinions of wicked men, or the habits of the weak and foolish, who follow customs which have no apology but that others have done so before.

The publication of this anecdote at Was.h.i.+ngton led some young ladies, in a manner highly creditable to their good sense and good feeling, to present this brave and humane Indian with a handsome silver medal, with appropriate inscriptions, as a token of their sincere commendation of the n.o.ble act of rescuing one of their s.e.x, an innocent victim, from a cruel death. Their address, delivered on this occasion, is sensible and appropriate, closing as follows:

"Brother--Accept this token of our esteem; always wear it for our sakes; and when again you have the power to save a poor woman from death and torture, think of this, and of us, and fly to her relief and rescue."

To this the p.a.w.nee made the following reply:--

"Brothers and sisters--This medal will give me ease more than I ever had; and I will listen more than I ever did to white men.

"I am glad that my brothers and sisters have heard of the good deed that I have done. My brothers and sisters think that I have done it in ignorance, but I now know what I have done.

"I did do it in ignorance, and I did not know that I did good; but by your giving me this medal I know it."

The cruelty of torturing and burning a captive, the great danger of the female Indian, and the n.o.ble daring of the p.a.w.nee brave, formed the subject of conversation for some time among the young people; and Austin was unbounded in his approbation of the p.a.w.nee. Willingly would he have contributed towards another silver medal for him, and Brian and Basil would not have been backward in doing their part; but the affair appeared hardly practicable, inasmuch as a reasonable doubt existed whether the p.a.w.nee brave was still alive; and, even if he were, there seemed to be no direct way of communicating with him.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Indian Horsemans.h.i.+p.--Page 160.]

CHAPTER X.

"Remember," said Austin, as he urged his brothers to quicken their pace on their way to the cottage, "we have hardly heard any thing yet about buffaloes and grizzly bears, and other animals which are found in the woods and the prairie. Let us make haste, that we may have a long visit."

Brian and Basil, being almost as anxious as their brother to hear all about bears and buffaloes, quickened their pace as he desired them, so that no long period had pa.s.sed, before the hunter, at the request of his youthful visitors, was engaged in giving them the desired account.

"The different animals and birds," said he, "that inhabit different countries, for the most part, roam backwards and forwards, according to the season. Creatures that love the cold move northerly in summer, and such as delight in a warmer clime move southerly in winter. It is, however, princ.i.p.ally to obtain food that they remove from one place to another. I must here explain to you, that though I have, in common with most others who use these terms, spoken of buffaloes, the animal which abounds in the prairie is not properly the buffalo, but the bison."

_Austin._ But if they are bisons, why are they called buffaloes?

_Hunter._ That is a question that I hardly know how to answer. From whatever cause it may have arisen, certain it is, that the name of buffalo has become common; and, that being the case, it is used in conversation, and oftentimes in books, as being more easily understood.

_Brian._ What is the difference between a buffalo and a bison?

_Hunter._ A buffalo is an animal that abounds in Africa, resembling an ugly cow, with a body long, but rather low; and very long horns. But the bison stands very high in front, has a hump on the back part of the neck covered with long hair, short horns, and a profusion of long s.h.a.ggy hair hanging from its head, neck and fore-legs.