I was very young then--- not thirteen years old; but if I was young, I
had travelled much, and had gained that knowledge which is to be
obtained by the eye--perhaps the best education we can have in our
earlier years. I shall pass over the monotony of the voyage of eternal
sky and water. I have no recollection that we were in any imminent
danger at any time, and the voyage might have been styled a
prosperous one.
After five months we arrived off the coast, and with some difficulty we
gained the entrance of a river falling into Trinity Bay, in lat. 41°
north and long. 124° 28' west.
We anchored about four miles above the entrance, which was on the coast
abreast of the Shoshones' territory, and resorted to by them on their
annual fishing excursions. In memory of the event, the river was named
by the Indians--"Nu elejé sha wako;" or, the Guide of the Strangers.
For many weeks it was a strange and busy scene. The Prince Seravalle
had, during his former residence with the Shoshones, been admitted into
their tribe as a warrior and a chief, and now the Indians flocked from
the interior to welcome their pale-faced chief, who had not forgotten
his red children. They helped our party to unload the vessel, provided
us with game of all kinds, and under the directions of the carpenter,
they soon built a large warehouse to protect our goods and implements
from the effect of the weather.
As soon as our cargo was housed, the Prince and my father, accompanied
by the chiefs and elders of the tribe, set off on an exploring party, to
select a spot fit for the settlement. During their absence, I was
entrusted to the care of one of the chief's squaws, and had three
beautiful children for my play-mates. In three weeks the party returned;
they had selected a spot upon the western banks of the Buona Ventura
River, at the foot of a high circular mountain, where rocks covered with
indurated lava and calcined sulphur, proved the existence of former
volcanic eruptions. The river was lined with lofty timber; immense
quarries of limestone were close at hand, and the minor streams gave us
clay which produced bricks of an excellent quality.
The Spaniards had before visited this spot, and had given the mountain
the name of St. Salvador; but our settlement took the Indian appellation
of the Prince, which was--"Nanawa ashta jueri ê;" or, the Dwelling of
the Great Warrior. As the place of our landing was a great resort of the
Indians during the fishing season, it was also resolved that a square
fort and store, with a boat-house, should be erected there; and for six
or seven months all was bustle and activity, when an accident occurred
which threw a damp upon our exertions.
Although the whole country abounds in cattle, and some other tribes, of
which I shall hereafter make mention, do possess them in large herds,
the Shoshones did not possess any. Indeed, so abundant was the game in
this extensive territory, that they could well dispense with them; but
as the Prince's ambition was to introduce agriculture and more domestic
habits among the tribe, he considered it right that they should be
introduced. He therefore despatched the _Esmeralda_ to obtain them
either at Monterey or Santa Barbara. But the vessel was never more heard
of; the Mexicans stated that they had perceived the wreck of a vessel
off Cape Mendocino, and it was but natural to suppose that these were
the remains of our unfortunate brig.
All hands on board perished, and the loss was very heavy to us. The crew
consisted of the captain, his son, and twelve men; and there were also
on board five of our household, who had been despatched upon various
commissions, Giuseppe Polidori, the youngest of our missionaries, one of
our gunsmiths, one of our masons, and two Italian farmers. Melancholy as
was this loss, it did not abate the exertions of those who were left.
Fields were immediately cleared--gardens prepared; and by degrees the
memory of this sad beginning faded away before the prospect of future
happiness and comfort.
As soon as we were completely established, my education commenced. It
was novel, yet still had much affinity to the plan pursued with the
students of the Military Colleges in France, inasmuch as all my
play-hours were employed in the hardier exercises. To the two excellent
missionaries I owe much, and with them I passed many happy hours.
We had brought a very extensive and very well selected library with us,
and under their care I soon became acquainted with the arts and sciences
of civilization; I studied history generally, and they also taught me
Latin and Greek, and I was soon master of many of the modern languages.
And as my studies were particularly devoted to the history of the
ancient people of Asia, to enable me to understand their theories and
follow up their favourite researches upon the origin of the great ruins
in Western and Central America, the slight knowledge which I had gained
at the Propaganda of Arabic and Sanscrit was now daily increased.
Such were my studies with the good fathers; the other portion of my
education was wholly Indian. I was put under the charge of a celebrated
old warrior of the tribe, and from him I learned the use of the bow, the
tomahawk, and the rifle; to throw the lasso, to manage the wildest
horse, to break in the untamed colt; and occasionally I was permitted
to accompany them in their hunting and fishing excursions.
Thus for more than three years did I continue to acquire knowledge of
various kinds, while the colony gradually extended its fields, and there
appeared to be every chance of gradually reclaiming the wild Shoshones
to a more civilized state of existence.
But "l'homme propose et Dieu dispose." Another heavy blow fell upon the
Prince, which eventually proved the ruin of all his hopes. After the
loss of the vessel, we had but eight white men in the colony, besides
the missionaries and ourselves; and the Prince, retaining only my
father's old servant, determined upon sending the remainder to purchase
the cattle which we had been so anxious to obtain.
They departed on this mission, but never returned. In all probability,
they were murdered by the Apaches Indians; although it is not impossible
that, tired of our simple and monotonous life, they deserted us to
establish themselves in the distant cities of Mexico.
This second catastrophy weighed heavy upon the mind of the good old
Prince. All his hopes were dashed to the ground--the illusions of the
latter part of his life were destroyed for ever. His proudest
expectations had been to redeem his savage friends from their wild life,
and this could only be effected by commerce and agriculture.
The farms round the settlement had for now nearly four years been tilled
by the squaws and young Indians, under the direction of the white men;
and although the occupation was by no means congenial to their nature,
the Prince had every anticipation that with time and example, the
Shoshones would perceive the advantages, and be induced to till the land
for themselves.
Before our arrival, the winter was always a season of great privation to
that portion of the Indians who could not repair to the hunting grounds;
while now, Indian corn, potatoes, and other vegetables were in plenty,
at least for those who dwelt near to the settlement. But now that we had
lost all our white cultivators and mechanics, we soon found that the
Indians avoided the labour.
All our endeavours proved useless: the advantages had not yet been
sufficiently manifest: the transition attempted had been too short; and
the good, although proud and lazy, Shoshones abandoned the tillage, and
relapsed into their former apathy and indifference.
Mortified at this change, the Prince and my father resolved to make an
appeal to the whole nation, and try to convince them how much happier
they would be if they would cultivate the ground for their support. A
great feast was given, the calumet was smoked; after which the Prince
rose and addressed them after their own fashion. As I had, a short time
previous, been admitted as a chief and warrior, I, of course, was
present at the meeting. The Prince spoke:--
"Do you not want to become the most powerful nation of the West? You do.
If then such is the case, you must ask assistance from the earth, which
is your mother. True, you have prairies abounding in game, but the
squaws and the children cannot follow your path when hunting.
"Are not the Crows, the Bannaxas, the Flat Heads, and the Umbiquas,
starving during the winter? They have no buffalo in their land, and but
few deer. What have they to eat? A few lean horses, perchance a bear;
and the stinking flesh of the otter or beaver they may entrap during
the season.
"Would they not be too happy to exchange their furs against the corn,
the tobacco, and good dried fish of the Shoshones? Now they sell their
furs to the Yankees, but the Yankees bring them no food. The Flat Heads
take the fire-water and blankets from the traders, but they do so
because they cannot get anything else, and their packs of furs would
spoil if they kept them.
"Would they not like better to barter them with you, who are so near to
them, for good food to sustain them and their children during the
winter--- to keep alive their squaws and their old men during the long
snow and the dreary moons of darkness and gloom?
"Now if the Shoshones had corn and tobacco to give for furs, they would
become rich. They would have the best saddles from Mexico, and the best
rifles from the Yankees, the best tomahawks and blankets from the
Canadians. Who then could resist the Shoshones? When they would go
hunting, hundreds of the other natives would clear for them the forest
path, or tear with their hands the grass out of their track in the
prairie. I have spoken."
All the Indians acknowledged that the talk was good and full of wisdom:
but they were too proud to work. An old chief answered for the
whole tribe.
"Nanawa Ashta is a great chief: he is a brave! The Manitou speaks softly
to his ears, and tells him the secret which makes the heart of a warrior
big or small; but Nanawa has a pale face--his blood is a strange blood,
although his heart is ever with his red friends. It is only the white
Manitou that speaks to him, and how could the white Manitou know the
nature of the Indians? He has not made them; he don't call them to him;
he gives them nothing; he leaves them poor and wretched; he keeps all
for the pale faces.
"It is right he should do so. The panther will not feed the young of the
deer, nor will the hawk sit upon the eggs of the dove. It is life, it is
order, it is nature. Each has his own to provide for and no more. Indian
corn is good; tobacco is good, it gladdens the heart of the old men when
they are in sorrow; tobacco is the present of chiefs to chiefs. The
calumet speaks of war and death; it discourses also of peace and
friendship. The Manitou made the tobacco expressly for man--it is good.
"But corn and tobacco must be taken from the earth; they must be watched
for many moons, and nursed like children. This is work fit only for
squaws and slaves. The Shoshones are warriors and free; if they were to
dig in the ground, their sight would become weak, and their enemies
would say they were moles and badgers.
"Does the just Nanawa wish the Shoshones to be despised by the Crows or
the horsemen of the south? No! he had fought for them before he went to
see if the bones of his fathers were safe; and since his return, has he
not given to them rifles and powder, and long nets to catch the salmon,
and plenty of iron to render their arrows feared alike by the buffaloes
and the Umbiquas?
"Nanawa speaks well, for he loves his children: but the spirit that
whispers to him is a pale-face spirit, that cannot see under the skin of
a red warrior; it is too tough: nor in his blood; it is too dark.
"Yet tobacco is good, and corn too. The hunters of the Flat Heads and
Pierced Noses would come in winter to beg for it; their furs would make
warm the lodges of the Shoshones. And my people would become rich and
powerful; they would be masters of all the country, from the salt waters
to the big mountains; the deer would come and lick their hands, and the
wild horses would graze around their wigwams. 'Tis so that the pale
faces grow rich and strong; they plant corn, tobacco, and sweet melons;
they have trees that bear figs and peaches; they feed swine and goats,
and tame buffaloes. They are a great people.
"A red-skin warrior is nothing but a warrior; he is strong, but he is
poor; he is not a wood-chunk, nor a badger, nor a prairie dog; he cannot
dig the ground; he is a warrior, and nothing more. I have spoken."
Of course the tenor of this speech was too much in harmony with Indian
ideas not to be received with admiration. The old man took his seat,
while another rose to speak in his turn.
"The great chief hath spoken; his hair is white like the down of the
swan; his winters have been many; he is wise; why should I speak after
him, his words were true? The Manitou touched my ears and my eyes when
he spoke (and he spoke like a warrior); I heard his war-cry, I saw the
Umbiquas running in the swamps, and crawling like black snakes under the
bushes. I spied thirty scalps on his belt, his leggings and mocassins
were sewn with the hair of the Wallah Wallahs[1].
[Footnote 1: Indians living on the Columbian river, two hundred miles
above Fort Vancouver, allied to the Nez Percés, and great supporters of
the Americans.]
"I should not speak; I am young yet and have no wisdom; my words are
few, I should not speak. But in my vision I heard a spirit, it came upon
the breeze, it entered within me.
"Nanawa is my father, the father to all, he loves us, we are his
children; he has brought with him a great warrior of the pale faces, who
was a mighty chief in his tribe; he has given us a young chief who is a
great hunter; in a few years he will be a great warrior, and lead our
young men in the war-path on the plains of the Wachinangoes[2], for
Owato Wanisha[3] is a Shoshone, though his skin is paler than the
flower of the magnolia.
[Footnote 2: Name given to the half-breeds by the Spaniards, but by
Indians comprehending the whole Mexican race.]
[Footnote 3: The "spirit of the young beaver;" a name given to me when I
was made a warrior.]
"Nanawa has also given to us two Makota Konayas[4], to teach wisdom to
our young men; their words are sweet, they speak to the heart; they know
everything and make men better. Nanawa is a great chief, very wise; what
he says is right, what he wishes must be done, for he is our father, and
he gave us strength to fight our enemies."
[Footnote 4: Two priests, literally two black gowns.]
"He is right; the Shoshones must have their lodges full of corn and
tobacco. The Shoshones must ever be what they are, what they were, a
great nation. But the chief of many winters hath said it; the hedge-hogs
and the foxes may dig the earth, but the eyes of the Shoshones are
always turned towards their enemies in the woods, or the buffaloes in
the plains."
"Yet the will of Nanawa must be done, but not by a Shoshone. We will
give him plenty of squaws and dogs; we will bring him slaves from the
Umbiquas, the Cayuses, and the Wallah Wallahs. They shall grow the corn
and the tobacco while we hunt; while we go to fetch more slaves, even in
the big mountains, or among the dogs of the south, the Wachinangoes. I
will send the vermilion[5] to my young warriors, they will paint their
faces and follow me on the war-path. I have spoken!"
[Footnote 5: When a chief wishes to go to war, he sends to his warriors
some leaves of tobacco covered with vermilion. It is a sign that they
must soon be prepared.]
Thus ended the hopes of making agriculturists of the wild people among
whom we lived; nor did I wonder; such as they were, they felt happy.
What could they want besides their neat conical skin lodges, their
dresses, which were good, comfortable, and elegant, and their women, who
were virtuous, faithful, and pretty? Had they not the unlimited range of
the prairies? were they not lords over millions of elks and
buffaloes?--they wanted nothing, except tobacco. And yet it was a pity
we could not succeed in giving them a taste for civilization. They were
gentlemen by nature; as indeed almost all the Indians are, when not
given to drinking. They are extremely well bred, and stamped with the
indubitable seal of nobility on their brow.
The council was broken up, as both Christianity and his own peculiar
sentiments would not permit the Prince Seravalle to entertain the
thought of extending slavery. He bowed meekly to the will of Providence,
and endeavoured by other means to effect his object of enlightening the
minds of this pure and noble, yet savage race of men.