Colonel Dudley, governor of Massachusetts, in the beginning of the last
century, had a number of workmen employed in building him a house on
his plantation; and one day as he was looking at them, he observed a
stout Indian, who, though the weather was very cold, was a naked as well
as an idle spectator. ‘Hark ye, friend,’ said the governor, ‘why don’t
you work like these men, and get clothes to cover you?’ ‘And why you no
work, governor?’ replied the Indian. ‘I work,’ answered the governor,
putting his finger on his forehead, ‘with my head, and therefore need not
work with my hands.’ ‘Well,’ replied the Indian, ‘and if I would work,
what have you for me to do?’ ‘Go kill me a calf,’ said the governor,
‘and I will give you a shilling.’ The Indian did so. The governor asked
him why he did not skin and dress it. ‘Calf dead, governor—give me my
shilling; give me another,’ said the Indian, ‘and I will skin and dress
it.’ This was complied with. The Indian then went to a tavern with his
two shillings, and soon spending one for rum, returned to the governor,
saying, ‘Your shilling bad, the man no take it.’ The governor believing
him, gave him another; but soon returning in the same manner, with the
second, the governor discerned his roguery; however, he exchanged that
also, reserving his resentment for a proper opportunity. To be prepared
for it, the governor wrote a letter directed to the keeper of Bridewell,
in Boston, requesting him to take the bearer and give him a sound
whipping. This he kept in his pocket, and in the course of a few days the
Indian came again to stare at the workmen; the governor took no notice
of him for some time, but at length taking the letter out of his pocket,
and calling the Indian to him, said, ‘I will give you half a crown if you
will carry this letter to Boston.’ The Indian closed with his proposal,
and set out on his journey. He had not gone far, before he met with
another Indian in the employ of the governor, to whom he gave the letter,
and told him that the governor had sent him to meet him, and to bid him
return with that letter to Boston, as soon as he possibly could.
The poor fellow carried it with great diligence, and received a severe
flogging for his pains; at the news of which, the governor was not a
little astonished on his return. The other Indian came no more; but,
after the lapse of some months, at a meeting with some of his nation, the
governor saw him there among the rest, and asked him how he durst serve
him such a trick? The Indian looking him full in the face, and putting
his forefinger to his forehead, replied, ‘_Head work! governor, head
work!_’
MAGNANIMITY AND DISINTERESTED GENEROSITY: WITH STRIKING TRAITS IN THE
SAVAGE CHARACTER.
The Pawnee Loups (Wolf Pawnees) a tribe of Missouri savages, lately
exhibited the anomaly among the American aborigines of a people addicted
to the superstitious rite of offering human victims, in propitiation of
‘_Venus, the Great Star_.’ The inhuman ceremony was annually performed at
the period immediately preceding their horticultural operations, in order
to insure a bountiful return from the earth:—the neglect of which duty,
it was believed, would occasion a total failure of crops. To obviate,
therefore, a national calamity so formidable, any person was at liberty
to offer up a prisoner, of either sex, whom the fortune of war had placed
in his power.
The devoted individual was clad in the gayest attire, pampered with a
profusion of the choicest food, and constantly attended by the conjurers,
alias priests, who anticipated all his wants—cautiously concealed from
him the real object of their sedulous attentions—and endeavoured to
preserve his mind in a state of cheerful composure:—with the view of
promoting obesity, and thus rendering the sacrifice more acceptable to
their Ceres.
When the victim was sufficiently fattened, a day was appointed for the
sacrifice, that all might attend the celebration. In the presence of
the assembled multitude, he was bound to a cross; a solemn dance was
performed; and, after certain ceremonies, the warrior who had captured
him, cleft his head with a tomahawk; and, at the same moment, numerous
arrows were discharged at the body.
It appears, this barbarous rite has lately been abolished. _Latelesha_,
or Knife Chief, principal of the nation, having long regarded this
sacrifice as cruel and unnecessary, had vainly endeavoured to wean his
countrymen from the observance of it. At length an Iotan woman, brought
captive into the village, was doomed to the Great Star. Having undergone
the necessary treatment, she was bound to the cross. At this critical
juncture, _Petalesharoo_, son of _Latelesha_, stepped forward, and
declared, that it was his father’s wish to abolish a custom so inhuman;
that, for his part, he was determined to release the victim, at the risk
of his life. He now cut the cords that bound her, carried her swiftly
through the crowd, and placed her on a horse; mounted another himself,
and conveyed her beyond the reach of pursuit.
Notwithstanding the success of this enterprise, it was reserved for
another display of the firmness of this young warrior, to abolish the
sanguinary sacrifice—we hope for ever. The succeeding spring, a Spanish
boy was captured, and confided, by the warrior who took him, to the
priests, to undergo the usual preparation for sacrifice. The Knife Chief
consulted with his son how to avoid the repetition of the horrible rite.
“_I_ will rescue the boy,” said _Petalesharoo_, “as a warrior ought—by
force.” But the father, unwilling that his son should again expose
himself to imminent danger, devised other means for rescuing the devoted
victim:—that is, by ransom. For this purpose he repaired to a Mr. Pappon,
then trading in the village, who generously contributed a quantity of
merchandize. Other contributions were added by the Knife Chief himself,
and by Petalesharoo, and other Indians. The whole was laid up in a heap,
in the Chieftain’s lodge, and the warrior was summoned to attend.
Latelesha, armed with his war-club, commanded the warrior to accept of
the merchandize, as a ransom for the boy, or prepare for instant death.
The warrior refused to comply: the chief flourished his club in the air.
“Strike!” said Petalesharoo, “I will meet the vengeance of his friends.”
But the more politic Chief preferred adding to the mass of merchandize
a few more articles, in order to give the warrior another opportunity
of complying, without breaking his word. The expedient succeeded. The
goods were reluctantly accepted; the boy was liberated, and afterwards
conducted to St. Louis by the traders. The merchandize was sacrificed in
his place: the cloth was cut in shreds, and suspended on poles, and many
of the valuables were consumed by fire, to appease and propitiate the
Indian Ceres.
[Illustration]