Presence of mind and self-devotedness in an Indian
mother—Indian warfare—conversation of a chief—winter hunt
on the Begwionusko River—medicine hunting—customs, in cases
of manslaughter—symbolic, or picture writing—death of
Pe-shau-ba—disaster at Spirit Lake, and death of the Little
Clam.
Within a few days after this drunken quarrel, Ta-bush-shish was seized
with a violent sickness. He had for many days a burning fever, his flesh
wasted, and he was apparently near dying when he sent to Wa-me-gon-a-biew
two kettles, and other presents, of considerable value, with a message,
“My friend, I have made you look ugly, and you have made me sick. I have
suffered much, and if I die now my children must suffer much more. I
have sent you this present, that you may let me live.” Wa-me-gon-a-biew
instructed his messenger to say to Ta-bush-shish, “I have not made you
sick. I cannot restore you to health, and will not accept your presents.”
He lingered for a month or more in a state of such severe illness that
his hair all fell from his head. After this he began to amend, and when
he was nearly well, we all removed to the prairie, but were scattered
about in different directions, and at considerable distances from each
other.
After our spring hunting we began to think of going against the Sioux,
and an inconsiderable party assembled among those who lived immediately
about me. Wa-me-gon-a-biew and I accompanied them, and in four days we
arrived at the little village where Ta-bush-shish then lived. Before
our arrival here we had been joined by Wa-ge-tote with sixty men.
After we had rested and eaten at our encampment near Ta-bush-shish’s
lodge, and were about to start, we saw him come out naked, but painted
and ornamented as for a war, and having his arms in his hands. He
came stalking up to us with a very angry face, but none of us fully
comprehended his design, until we saw him go up and present the muzzle
of his gun to Wa-me-gon-a-biew’s back. “My friend,” said he, “we have
lived long enough, and have given trouble and distress enough to each
other. I sent to you my request that you would be satisfied with the
sickness and pain you had made me suffer, but you refused to listen
to me, and the evils you continue to inflict on me, render my life
wearisome. Let us therefore die together.” A son of Wa-ge-tote, and
another young man, seeing the intention of Ta-bush-shish, presented
the point of their spears, one to one of his sides, the other to the
other, but he took no notice of them. Wa-me-gon-a-biew was intimidated,
and dared not raise his head. Ta-bush-shish wished to have fought,
and to have given Wa-me-gon-a-biew an equal chance for his life, but
the latter had not courage enough to accept his offer. Henceforth, I
esteemed Wa-me-gon-a-biew less even than I had formerly done. He had
less of bravery and generosity in his disposition than is common among
the Indians. Neither Ta-bush-shish nor any of his band joined in our
war-party.
We went on, wandering about from place to place, and instead of going
against our enemies, spent the greater part of the summer among the
buffalo. In the fall I returned to Pembinah, my intention being to go
thence to the wintering ground of the trader above mentioned, who had
proposed to assist me in getting to the states. I now heard of the war
between the United States and Great Britain, and of the capture of
Mackinac, and this intelligence deterred me from any attempt to pass
through the frontier of the United States territory which were then the
scenes of warlike operations.
In the ensuing spring, there was a very general movement among the
Ojibbeways of the Red River toward the Sioux country, but the design
was not, at least avowedly, to fall upon or molest the Sioux, but to
hunt. I travelled in company with a large band under the direction of
Ais-ainse, (the little clam.) His brother, called Wa-ge-tone, was a man
of considerable consequence. We had ascended Red River about one hundred
miles when we met Mr. Hanie, a trader, who gave us a little rum. I lived
at this time in a long lodge having two or three fires, and I occupied
it in common with several other men with their families, mostly the
relatives of my wife. It was midnight or after, and I was sleeping in my
lodge when I was waked by some man seizing me roughly by the hand and
raising me up. There was still a little fire burning in the lodge, and by
the light it gave I recognized, in the angry and threatening countenance
which hung over me, the face of Wa-ge-tone, the brother of the Little
Clam, our principal chief. “I have solemnly promised,” said he, “that
if you should come with us to this country, you should not live. Up,
therefore, and be ready to answer me.” He then went on to Wah-zhe-gwun,
the man who slept next me, and used to him similar insolent and
threatening language, but, by this time, an old man, a relative of mine,
called Mah-nuge, who slept beyond, had comprehended the purport of his
visit, and raised himself up with his knife in his hand. When Wa-ge-tone
came to him, he received a sharp answer. He then returned to me, drew
his knife, and threatened me with instant death. “You are a stranger,”
said he, “and one of many who have come from a distant country to feed
yourself and your children with that which does not belong to you. You
are driven out from your own country, and you come among us because you
are too feeble and worthless to have a home or a country of your own.
You have visited our best hunting grounds, and wherever you have been
you have destroyed all the animals which the Great Spirit gave us for
our sustenance. Go back, therefore, from this place, and be no longer a
burthen to us, or I will certainly take your life.” I answered him, that
I was not going to the country we were now about to visit, particularly
to hunt beaver, but that even if I were to do so, I had an equal right
with him, and was as strong to maintain that right. This dispute was
becoming somewhat noisy, when old Mah-nuge came up, with his knife in his
hand, and drove the noisy and half drunken Wa-ge-tone out of the lodge.
We saw this man no more for a long time, but his brother, the Little
Clam, told us to think nothing of what he said.
Here a messenger overtook us to bring to the Ottawwaws the information
that Muk-kud-da-be-na-sa, (the black bird,) an Ottawwaw of
Waw-gun-uk-ke-zie, or L’Arbre Croche, had arrived from Lake Huron,
to call us all home to that country. So we turned back, and one after
another fell back, till Wa-ge-tone only was left, and he went on and
joined a war-party of Ojibbeways then starting from Leech Lake. A part of
this band stopped at the Wild Rice River,[25] and went into the fort, or
fortified camp before mentioned. Here they began to hunt and trap, and
were heedlessly dispersed about when a large party of Sioux came into
their neighbourhood.
Ais-ainse, the Ojibbeway chief, returned one evening from a successful
hunt, having killed two elks, and on the following morning, his wife with
her young son, started out to dry the meat. They had proceeded a great
distance from the lodge when the lad first discovered the Sioux party, at
no great distance, and called out to his mother, “the Sioux are coming.”
The old woman drew her knife, and cutting the belt which bound the boy’s
blanket to his body, told him to run for home with all his strength. She
then, with her knife in her hand, ran to meet the approaching war-party.
The boy heard many guns, and the old woman was no more heard of. The
boy ran long, when, perceiving that his pursuers were near, he lost
consciousness; and when he arrived at the fortified camp, still in a
state of mental alienation, the Sioux were about one hundred and fifty
yards behind him. He vomited blood for some days, and never recovered his
health and strength, though he lived about one year afterwards.
Several of the Ojibbeways were hunting in a different direction from that
in which the wife of the Little Clam had met the war-party. As soon as
the Sioux disappeared from about the fort, young men were sent out, who
discovered that they had taken the path of the hunters, and one or two,
taking a circuitous direction, reached the Little Clam just as the Sioux
were creeping up to fire upon him. A fight ensued, which lasted a long
time without loss on either side. At length, one of the Ojibbeways being
wounded in the leg, his companions retired a little in order to give him
an opportunity of escaping under cover of some bushes, but this movement
did not escape the notice of the Sioux. One of their number followed the
young man, continuing to elude the notice of the Ojibbeways while he did
so, killed him, and took his scalp and medal, he being a favourite son of
Ais-ainse, the Ojibbeway chief. Then returning, he shook these trophies
at the Ojibbeways, with some exulting and vaunting words. The enraged
father, at sight of the scalp and medal, rushed from his cover, shot
down one of the Sioux, cut off his head, and shook it exultingly at the
survivors. The other Ojibbeways, being emboldened at this conduct of the
Little Clam, rushed forward together, and the Sioux fled.
Another considerable man of the Ojibbeways, who was also named
Ta-bush-shish, had been hunting in a different direction, accompanied
by one man, and had heard the firing, either where the old woman had
been killed, or where Ais-ainse was fighting, and had returned home.
The Indians said of him, as, indeed, they often say of a man after
his death, that he had some presentiments or forewarnings of what was
about to happen. On the preceding evening he had come home, as the
Indian hunter often comes, to be annoyed by the tongue of an old wife,
jealous of the attentions bestowed on a younger and more attractive
one. On this occasion he said to her, “Scold away, old woman, for now
I heard you the last time.” He was in the fort when some one arrived
who had skulked and fled with the news of the fight the Little Clam
was engaged in. Ta-bush-shish had two fine horses, and he said to one
of his friends, “Be-na, I believe you are a man. Will you take one of
my horses and go with me to see what Ais-ainse has been doing all day?
Shall we not be ashamed to let him fight so long, within hearing, and
never attempt to give him assistance? Here are more than one hundred
of us, who have stood trembling within this camp while our brother has
been fighting like a man with only four or five young men to assist
him.” They started, and following a trail of the Sioux, it brought them
to a place where a party had kindled a fire, and were, for a moment,
resting themselves around it. They crept up near, but not thinking this a
favourable opportunity to fire, Ta-bush-shish and Be-na went forward on
the route they knew the party would pursue, and laid themselves down in
the snow. It was now night, but not very dark. When the Sioux began to
move, and a number of them came near the place where they had concealed
themselves, Ta-bush-shish and Be-na rose up together, and fired upon
them, and the latter, as he had been instructed to, instantly fled. When
at a considerable distance, and finding he was not pursued, he stopped
to listen, and for great part of the night heard now and then a gun, and
sometimes the shrill and solitary sah-sah-kwi of Ta-bush-shish, shifting
from place to place. At last many guns discharged at the same moment;
then the shouts and whoops of the Sioux at the fall of their enemy; then
all was silent, and he returned home. These were all that were killed at
that time, the old woman, Ta-bush-shish, and the son of Ais-ainse.
It was on the same day, as we afterwards heard, that the war-party from
Leech Lake, which Wa-ge-tone had joined, fell upon forty Sioux lodges
at the long prairie. They had fought for two days, and many were killed
on each side. Wa-ge-tone was the first man to strike a Sioux lodge.
Wah-ka-zhe, the brother of Muk-kud-da-be-na-sa, met those Ottawwaws who
returned from the Wild Rice River at Lake Winnipeg. He had been ten years
in the Rocky Mountains and the country near them, but now wished to
return to his own people. He had, in the course of his long life, been
much among the whites, and was well acquainted with the different methods
of gaining a subsistence among them. He told me that I would be much
better situated among the whites, but that I could not become a trader,
as I was unable to write. I should not like to submit to constant labour,
therefore I could not be a farmer. There was but one situation exactly
adapted to my habits and qualifications, that of an interpreter.
He gave us, among other information, some account of a missionary who
had come among the Ottawwaws of Waw-gun-uk-kezie, or some of the Indian
settlements about the lakes, and urged them to renounce their own
religion, and adopt that of the whites. In connection with this subject,
he told us the anecdote of the baptized Indian, who, after death, went
to the gate of the white man’s heaven, and demanded admittance; but the
man who kept watch at the gate told him no redskins could be allowed
to enter there. “Go,” said he, “for to the west there are the villages
and the hunting grounds of those of your own people who have been on
the earth before you.” So he departed thence, but when he came to the
villages where the dead of his own people resided, the chief refused
him admittance. “You have been ashamed of us while you lived. You have
chosen to worship the white man’s God. Go now to his village, and let him
provide for you.” Thus he was rejected by both parties.
Wah-ka-zhe being the most considerable man among us, it devolved on him
to direct our movements, but through indolence, or perhaps out of regard
to me, he determined that not only himself, but his band, should, for
the winter, be guided by me. As we had in view no object beyond bare
subsistence, and as I was reckoned a very good hunter, and knew this part
of the country better than any other man of the band, his course was not
an impolitic one.
It was in conformity to my advice that we went to spend the winter at
the Be-gwi-o-nush-ko River. The Be-gwi-o-nush-ko enters Red River about
ten miles below Pembinah, and at the time I speak of, the country on it
was well stocked with game. We lived here in great plenty and comfort,
and Wah-ka-zhe often boasted of his sagacity in choosing me to direct
the motions of his party. But a part of the winter had passed when
Wa-me-gon-a-biew began to talk of sacrificing Wah-ka-zhe, the latter
being in some manner connected with the man who, many years before, had
killed Taw-ga-we-ninne, Wa-me-gon-a-biew’s father. I refused to join, or
in any manner countenance him in this undertaking, but notwithstanding
my remonstrances, he went one day to the lodge of Wah-ka-zhe with his
knife in his hand, intending to kill him, but as he was entering,
Muk-kud-da-be-na-sa, a son of Wah-ka-zhe, perceived his intention and
prevented him. He immediately tried to provoke Wa-me-gon-a-biew to
engage him in single combat, but he retreated in his accustomed manner. I
not only reproved Wa-me-gon-a-biew for this unmanly conduct, but proposed
to Wah-ka-zhe to have him driven from the band, and no longer considered
him my brother, but Wah-ka-zhe was a considerate and friendly man, and
unwilling that trouble or disturbance should be made, and therefore
forgave his offence.
One of the young men, the son of Wah-ka-zhe, was accounted the best
hunter among the Indians of this band, and there was, between us,
while we resided at Be-gwi-o-nush-ko, a friendly rivalry in hunting.
O-ke-mah-we-nin-ne, as he was called, killed nineteen moose, one beaver,
and one bear. I killed seventeen moose, one hundred beavers, and seven
bears, but he was considered the better hunter, moose being the most
difficult of all animals to kill. There are many Indians who hunt through
the winter in that country, and kill no more than two or three moose, and
some never are able to kill one.
We had plenty of game at the Be-gwi-o-nush-ko, until another band
of Ojibbeways came upon us in great numbers, and in a starving
condition. While we were in this situation, and many of those who had
recently joined us on the point of perishing with hunger, a man called
Gish-kaw-ko, the nephew of him by whom I was taken prisoner, went a
hunting, and in one day killed two moose. He called me to go with him
and get some meat, at the same time signifying his intention to keep his
success concealed from the remainder of the band, but I refused to have
any part with him in such a transaction. I immediately started on a hunt
with Muk-kud-da-be-na-sa, and one or two others, and we having good luck,
killed four bears, which we distributed among the hungry.
We now found it necessary for our large party to disperse in various
directions. With Muk-kud-da-be-na-sa, Black Bird, and Wah-ka-zhe, and
one other man, I went and encamped at the distance of two days’ journey
from the place where we had been living. While here, we all started
together one morning to hunt, but in the course of the day scattered
from each other. Late at night I returned, and was surprised to find,
in place of our lodge, nothing remaining but a little pile of the dried
grass we had used for a bed. Under this I found Black Bird, who, having
come in but a little before me, and after the removal of the lodge,
had laid down to sleep, supposing himself the only one left behind.
As we followed the trail of our companions on the succeeding day, we
met messengers coming to inform us that the son of Nah-gitch-e-gum-me,
the man, who with Wah-ka-zhe, had left us so unexpectedly, had killed
himself by an accidental discharge of his gun. The young man had been
resting carelessly on the muzzle of his gun, when the butt slipping
from the snow-shoe on which he had placed it. It had fired, and the
contents passing through the arm-pit, had entered his head, but though
so shockingly wounded, the young man lived twenty days in a state of
stupor and insensibility, and then died. The Indians attributed to a
presentiment of evil on the part of Nah-gitch-e-gum-me and Wah-ka-zhe,
their abrupt abandonment of Black Bird and myself.
Shortly after this we were so reduced by hunger that it was thought
necessary to have recourse to a medicine hunt. Nah-gitch-e-gum-me sent
to me and O-ge-mah-we-ninne, the two best hunters of the band, each a
little leather sack of medicine, consisting of certain roots, pounded
fine and mixed with red paint, to be applied to the little images or
figures of the animals we wished to kill. Precisely the same method is
practised in this kind of hunting, at least as far as the use of medicine
is concerned, as in those instances where one Indian attempts to inflict
disease or suffering on another. A drawing, or a little image, is made
to represent the man, the woman, or the animal, on which the power of
the medicine is to be tried; then the part representing the heart is
punctured with a sharp instrument, if the design be to cause death, and
a little of the medicine is applied. The drawing or image of an animal
used in this case is called muzzi-ne-neen, muzzi-ne-neen-ug, (pl.) and
the same name is applicable to the little figures of a man or woman,
and is sometimes rudely traced on birch bark, in other instances more
carefully carved of wood. We started with much confidence of success,
but Wah-ka-zhe followed, and overtaking us at some distance, cautioned us
against using the medicine Nah-gitch-e-gum-me had given us, as he said it
would be the means of mischief and misery to us, not at present, but when
we came to die. We therefore did not make use of it, but nevertheless,
happening to kill some game, Nah-gitch-e-gum-me thought himself, on
account of the supposed efficacy of his medicine, entitled to a handsome
share of it. Finding that hunger was like to press severely upon us,
I separated from the band and went to live by myself, feeling always
confident that by so doing I could ensure a plentiful supply for the
wants of my family. Wah-ka-zhe and Black Bird came to Lake Winnipeg, from
whence they did not return, as I had expected they would.
After I had finished my hunt, and at about the usual time for assembling
in the spring, I began to descend the Bi-gwi-o-nush-ko to go to the
traders on Red River. Most of the Indians had left their camps and gone
on before me. As I was one morning passing one of our usual encamping
places, I saw on shore a little stick standing in the bank, and attached
to the top of it a piece of birch bark. On examination, I found the
mark of a rattle snake with a knife, the handle touching the snake, and
the point sticking into a bear, the head of the latter being down. Near
the rattlesnake was the mark of a beaver, one of its dugs, it being a
female, touching the snake. This was left for my information, and I
learned from it that Wa-me-gon-a-biew, whose totem was She-she-gwah, the
rattlesnake, had killed a man whose totem was Muk-kwah, the bear. The
murderer could be no other than Wa-me-gon-a-biew, as it was specified
that he was the son of a woman whose totem was the beaver, and this I
knew could be no other than Net-no-kwa. As there were but few of the bear
totem in our band, I was confident the man killed was a young man called
Ke-zha-zhoons. That he was dead, and not wounded merely, was indicated
by the drooping down of the head of the bear. I was not deterred by this
information from continuing my journey. On the contrary, I hastened
on, and arrived in time to witness the interment of the young man my
brother had killed. Wa-me-gon-a-biew went by himself, and dug a grave
wide enough for two men; then the friends of Ke-zha-zhoons brought his
body, and when it was let down into the grave, Wa-me-gon-a-biew took off
all his clothes, except his breech cloth, and sitting down naked at the
head of the grave, drew his knife, and offered the handle to the nearest
male relative of the deceased. “My friend,” said he, “I have killed your
brother. You see I have made a grave wide enough for both of us, and
I am now ready and willing to sleep with him.” The first and second,
and eventually all the friends of the murdered young man, refused the
knife which Wa-me-gon-a-biew offered them in succession. The relations
of Wa-me-gon-a-biew were powerful, and it was fear of them which now
saved his life. The offence of the young man whom he killed, had been
the calling him “cut nose.” Finding that none of the male relations of
the deceased were willing to undertake publicly the punishment of his
murderer, Wa-me-gon-a-biew said to them, “trouble me no more, now or
hereafter, about this business. I shall do again as I have now done, if
any of you venture to give me similar provocation.”
The method by which information of this affair was communicated to me at
a distance, is one in common use among the Indians, and, in most cases,
it is perfectly explicit and satisfactory. The men of the same tribe
are extensively acquainted with the totems which belong to each, and
if on any record of this kind, the figure of a man appears without any
designatory mark, it is immediately understood that he is a Sioux, or at
least a stranger. Indeed, in most instances, as in that above mentioned,
the figures of men are not used at all, merely the totem, or sirname,
being given. In cases where the information to be communicated is that
the party mentioned is starving, the figure of a man is sometimes drawn,
and his mouth is painted white, or white paint may be smeared about the
mouth of the animal, if it happens to be one, which is his totem.
After visiting the trader on Red River, I started with the intention
of coming to the States, but at Lake Winnipeg I heard that the war
between Great Britain and the United States still continued, with such
disturbances on the frontier as would render it difficult for me to pass
with safety. I was therefore compelled to stop by myself at that place,
where I was after some time joined by Pe-shau-ba, Waw-zhe-kah-maish-koon,
and others, to the number of three lodges. The old companion and
associate of Pe-shau-ba, Waw-so, had been accidentally killed by an
Assinneboin in hunting. Here we lived in plenty and contentment, but
Pe-shau-ba, upon whom the death of his friend Waw-so had made some
impression, was soon taken violently ill. He was conscious that his end
was approaching, and very frequently told us he should not live long.
One day he said to me, “I remember before I came to live in this world,
I was with the Great Spirit above. And I often looked down, and saw men
upon the earth. I saw many good and desirable things, and among others, a
beautiful woman, and as I looked day after day at the woman, he said to
me, ‘Pe-shau-ba, do you love the woman you are so often looking at?’ I
told him I did. Then he said to me, ‘Go down and spend a few winters on
the earth. You cannot stay long, and you must remember to be always kind
and good to my children whom you see below.’ So I came down, but I have
never forgotten what was said to me. I have always stood in the smoke
between the two bands when my people have fought with their enemies.
I have not struck my friends in their lodges. I have disregarded the
foolishness of young men who would have offended me, but have always
been ready and willing to lead our brave men against the Sioux. I have
always gone into battle painted black, as I now am, and I now hear the
same voice that talked to me before I came to this world: it tells me I
can remain here no longer. To you, my brother, I have been a protector,
and you will be sorry when I leave you; but be not like a woman, you will
soon follow in my path.” He then put on the new clothes I had given him
to wear below, walked out of the lodge, looked at the sun, the sky, the
lake, and the distant hills; then come in, and lay down composedly in his
place in the lodge, and in a few minutes ceased to breathe.
After the death of Pe-shau-ba, I wished to have made another attempt to
come to the States, but Waw-zhe-kah-maish-koon prevented me. I lived with
him the remainder of the winter, and in the spring went to Ne-bo-wese-be,
(Dead River,) where we planted corn, and spent the summer. In the fall,
after the corn was gathered, we went to our hunting grounds.
An old Ojibbeway, called Crooked Finger, had been living in my lodge
about a year; in all that time, having never killed any thing. When I
started to hunt buffalo, he followed me, and we came at the same time in
view of a large herd, when the old man endeavoured to raise a quarrel
about my right to use those hunting grounds. “You Ottawwaws,” said he,
“have no right in this part of the country, and though I cannot control
all of you, I have you, at last, now in my power, and I am determined
that if you do not go back to your own country from this very spot, I
will kill you.” I had no apprehension on account of his threat, and I
defied him to injure or molest me. After an hour or more of altercation,
he crept up, and at length began to shoot at the herd of buffalo. Soon
after he had left me, two Ottawwaws who had overheard the quarrel as they
were coming up, and had concealed themselves in the bushes near, joined
me. The old man, after three or four unsuccessful shots at the buffalo,
turned and went home, ashamed alike of his insolence to me, and of his
want of success. Then I went forward with the two young Ottawwaws who had
joined me, and we killed a considerable number of fat cows.
Shortly after this, when I had been hunting all day, on returning home
late at night, I found a very unusual gloominess in the countenances of
all the inmates of my lodge. I saw there a man named Chik-ah-to, who was
almost a stranger to me. He, and all the rest of them, seemed as if cast
down by some sudden and unexpected bad news, and when I asked my wife the
cause of this apparent distress, she returned me no answer. At length,
Waw-zhe-kah-maish-koon, in reply to my earnest inquiries, told me, with
the utmost seriousness, and a voice of solemn concern, that the Great
Spirit had come down again. “What, has he come again so soon?” said I;
“He comes often of late, but I suppose we must hear what he has to say.”
The light and irreverent manner in which I treated the subject, was very
offensive to many of the Indians, and they apparently all determined
to withhold from me all communications respecting it. This was to me a
matter of little consequence, and I went, as usual, to my hunting on the
following morning. My own indifference and contempt for these pretended
revelations of the Divine will kept me in ignorance for some time of the
purport of the present one. But at a subsequent period of my life, I
found that though my skepticism might not be offensive to the Great God,
in whose name these revelations were made to us, still it was highly so
to those who were pleased to style themselves his messengers, and that
by incurring their ill will I exposed myself to much inconvenience and
danger.
In the spring of the year, after we had assembled at the trading house at
Pembinah, the chiefs built a great lodge and called all the men together
to receive some information concerning the newly revealed will of the
Great Spirit. The messenger of this revelation was Manito-o-geezhik, a
man of no great fame but well known to most of the Ojibbeways of that
country. He had disappeared for about one year, and in that time he
pretended to have visited the abode of the Great Spirit, and to have
listened to his instructions, but some of the traders informed me he had
only been to St. Louis, on the Mississippi.
The Little Clam took it upon him to explain the object of the meeting.
He then sang and prayed, and proceeded to detail the principal features
of the revelation to Manito-o-geezhik. The Indians were no more to go
against their enemies. They must no longer steal, defraud, or lie; they
must neither be drunk, nor eat their food, nor drink their broth when it
was hot. Few of the injunctions of Manito-o-geezhik were troublesome or
difficult of observance, like those of the Shawnee prophet. Many of the
maxims and instructions communicated to the Indians at this time were of
a kind to be permanently and valuably useful to them, and the effect of
their influence was manifest for two or three years in the more orderly
conduct, and somewhat amended condition of the Indians.
When we were ready to separate from the trading-house, Ais-ainse, (the
little clam,) invited several of us, myself in particular, to accompany
him to his residence at Man-e-to Sah-gi-e-gun, or Spirit Lake,[26]
but I would not join him, as I wished to remain in a woody country
for the purpose of hunting the fur-bearing animals. Ten men, among
whom were Wa-ge-tote and Gi-ah-ge-git, together with great numbers of
women, accepted his invitation and went with him. A young man, a friend
of the Little Clam, named Se-gwun-oons, (spring deer,) before they
separated from us at Pembinah, predicted that he would be killed at
Spirit Lake. Many other predictions he made, which were verified from
day to day, until the Indians came to have such confidence in him that
his admonitions of impending danger to those who should go to Spirit
Lake began to be so much regarded, that Wa-me-gon-a-biew and many
others became alarmed and returned. Last of all came Match-e-toons, a
foolish and lying young man, who reported that the indications of danger
thickening around the Little Clam and his band, he had stolen away in the
night, and the next morning, though he had fled a considerable distance,
he heard the guns of the Sioux at the camp he had left. We did not
immediately credit the account of this man, but waited anxiously from
day to day, till at last the chiefs determined to send twenty men to
ascertain whether there was any foundation for his statement. This party,
when they arrived at the place where the Little Clam had been encamped,
found that the whole band had been cut off. First, and in advance of all
the camp, lay the body of Se-gwun-oons, the young man who had predicted
the attack before he left Pembinah. Near him lay some young men of his
own age, and farther back the stout body of the Little Clam, stuck full
of arrows. In the camp the ground was strewed with the bodies of the
women and children. At a distance was the body of one of the Sioux, in
a sitting posture, and covered with the puk-kwi, or mats, which had
belonged to the Ojibbeway lodges. Not one escaped except Match-e-toons,
but some afterwards doubted whether he had not fled in the time of the
fight, instead of the evening before, as he had stated. Thus died the
Little Clam, the last of the considerable men of his age belonging to the
Ojibbeways of Red River. Our village seemed desolate after the recent
loss of so many men.
We then went down to Dead River, planted corn, and spent the summer
there. Sha-gwaw-koo-sink, an Ottawwaw, a friend of mine and an old man,
first introduced the cultivation of corn among the Ojibbeways of the Red
River country.
In the ensuing fall when we went to our hunting grounds, the wolves were
unusually numerous and troublesome. They attacked and killed my horse,
and several of my dogs. One day, when I had killed a moose, and gone with
all my family to bring in the meat, I found on my return, the wolves had
pulled down my lodge, carried off many skins, carrying-straps, and, in
fine, whatever articles of skin, or leather they could come at. I killed
great numbers, but they still continued to trouble me, particularly
an old dog wolf, who had been so often at my door that I knew his
appearance, and was perfectly acquainted with his habits. He used,
whenever he came, to advance boldly upon my dogs and drive them in. He
would then prowl about to seize whatever he could find of food. At last,
I loaded my gun and went out, when he sprang directly at me, but I shot
him before he had time to fasten upon me. Half his hair had fallen off.