It was in the western portion of the Dakotah territory, described in the
last chapter, that a numerous band of the lords of the soil had pitched
their skin tents by the side of a stream, whose grassy banks, fringed
with trees, contrasted strongly with the dry and hilly ground before
mentioned, which, as far as the eye could reach, extended on either side
of them. Yet the scene was animated in the extreme. In the centre of a
wide basin, into which a valley opened from the distant prairie, was
erected a high, circular enclosure of stakes, and boughs, and skins.
There was but one entrance towards the valley, and on either side of
this entrance commenced a row of young trees, or branches of trees, the
distance between each line becoming greater and greater the further off
they were from the enclosure. The figure formed by the lines was
exactly that of a straight road drawn in perspective on paper: being
very wide at one end, and narrowing gradually till it became only the
width of the entrance to the enclosure at the other. Between each of
the trees or bushes was stationed an Indian armed with bow or spear, and
having a cloak, or a thick mass of branches in his hand. Outside the
enclosure were numerous persons, chiefly women and old men and boys, the
latter armed with bows and arrows, and the former having cloaks or
boughs. They were flitting to and fro, apparently waiting some event of
interest. As the travellers reached the top of a hill overlooking the
enclosure, a cloud of dust was seen approaching the further end. "There
they come, there they come!" exclaimed the old hunter, with difficulty
refraining from dashing down the hill, as, at the instant, a herd of
some three or four hundred buffaloes burst, at headlong speed, from out
of the dust--tossing their heads and tails, tearing up the earth with
their horns, trampling, in their terror, over each other--followed
closely by a band of red-skinned huntsmen, with bow or spear in hand,
most of them free of clothing, and uttering the wildest cries and
shouts, now galloping here, now there, as some fierce bull turned and
stood at bay, sending an arrow into the front of one, dashing a spear
into the side of another, while they hung on the flanks of the herd,
keeping the animals, as nearly as possible, in the centre of the road.
Whenever any of the herd approached the line of bushes on either side,
the Indians stationed there shook the cloaks or the boughs they held in
their hands, and shouted and shrieked, thus effectually turning the
bewildered animals into the main stream. Sometimes the whole herd
attempted to break through, but were turned with equal facility. If
they attempted to stop, the hunters behind, closing in on them, urged
them on until, still more and more compressed, those in the interior of
the herd being utterly unable to see where they were going, they were
forced, by redoubled shouts and shrieks in their rear, through the
narrow gateway into the enclosure. Through it they dashed, a dark
stream of wild, fierce heads and manes surging up and down, till the
whole were driven in, and the hunters themselves, leaping the bar across
the entrance, followed close in their rear. Now, round and round the
confined pound, the affrighted creatures rushed, not discovering a
single opening which might afford them a chance of escape, bellowing and
roaring, the strong trampling on the young and weak, the calves soon
falling and being crushed to death; showers of arrows from the hunters'
bows bringing many low, while others, wounded by the darts and spears of
the people outside, or gored by their fellows, sunk down exhausted from
loss of blood.
It was truly a spectacle of wanton and barbarous slaughter, which none
but those accustomed to it could have watched unmoved. Even Robert
Nixon, though he had often joined in similar scenes, regarded it with
feelings very different to what he would formerly have done. "Alas!
alas! is it thus God's creatures are destroyed to no purpose by these
poor savages?" he exclaimed to his companion. "Not one-twentieth part
of the meat can be consumed by them; and the lay will come when they
will seek for food and there will be none for them, and they themselves
must vanish away out of the land." The two travellers had been moving
along the height above the valley, but so entirely engaged were the
Indians in the work of entrapping the buffalo, that they were observed
by no one. They now descended towards the tents. In front of one of
them sat a somewhat portly man, his countenance, and the hue of his
complexion, rather than his costume, showing that he was of the white
race. The tents were pitched on a spot sufficiently elevated above the
valley to enable him to watch all that was taking place within the
pound. His attention also was so completely absorbed by the proceedings
of his companions, that he did not perceive, for some time, the approach
of the horsemen. When he did, starting to his feet, and upsetting the
three-legged stool on which he was sitting, he exclaimed, "What, old
chum! is it you--you, indeed? I made sure that what they told me was
true, and that you were long, long ago food for the wolves. Let me look
at you. I cannot yet believe my senses." Rob Nixon having dismounted,
the two old men stood for some moments grasping each other's hands.
It was some time before old Tom could persuade himself that his friend
was really alive; not, indeed, till the latter had given a brief account
of the way he had been found and rescued by the Indian, Peter, and the
chief events which had occurred to him. "Well, well! I'm right glad to
get you back; and now you must give up hunting, as I have done, and just
take your ease for the rest of your days," said old Tom. "Hunting I
have done with; but I have yet much work to do before I die," answered
the old hunter. "You and I are great sinners; we were brought up in a
Christian land, and still we have been living the lives of heathens.
But, Tom, since I have been away I have read the Bible; I have there
learned about Christ; and I see that we have been living lives as
different from His as black is from white, as light is from darkness.
Tom, would you like to learn about Him?" Tom signified his readiness
with a nod. It was all Robert Nixon required, and he at once opened on
the subject of God's love, and man's sin, and Christ the Saviour from
sin. The young Indian stood by holding the horses, and watching the
countenances of the speakers. It must have been a great trial for him
to remain thus inactive while his countrymen were engaged in their
exciting occupation; but a new rule of life had become his, and duty had
taken the place of inclination. "There, Tom; I've just said a little
about the chiefest thing I've got to say to you," were the words with
which Rob wound up his address. Tom looked puzzled, but not displeased,
as some men might have been.
His friend was prevented from saying more by the loud shouts of the
Indians as the last bull of a herd of nearly three hundred animals sunk,
overcome by loss of blood from numberless arrows and darts, to the
saturated ground. There lay the shaggy monsters in every conceivable
attitude into which a violent death could throw them, some on their
backs as they had rolled over, others with the young calves, which they
had run against in their mad career round the pound, impaled on their
horns; many had fallen over each other, and, dying from their wounds,
had formed large heaps in every direction. It was truly a sickening
spectacle. [Note.] The old hunter after a pause pointed towards
it;--"There Tom, that's just a picture of what has been going on in the
world time without mind," he remarked; "the Indians are doing what the
spirits of evil do, and the poor buffaloes are like the people in the
world, all driven madly together, destroying one another till none
remain alive; but Christ delivers men from the spirits of evil, and
leads them into safety and rest." Hitherto the new comers had escaped
observation, but now numerous Indians crowded round, some to welcome the
old white hunter, others to inquire the cause which brought the young
man with him. The first to approach the old man was a young girl; her
complexion was fairer than that of several other girls who accompanied
her, and her dress was more ornamented with beads and feathers than
theirs. She stopped timidly at a short distance--Indian etiquette would
not allow her to approach nearer. She was very beautiful, but her
beauty was that of the wild gazelle, it had not yet been destroyed by
the hard toil and often cruel usage to which the older women of her
people were exposed. "Come daughter, come," said the old man in the
Dakotah tongue, holding out his arms, "I have good tidings for thee."
The young girl bounded forward, and Rob Nixon, taking her in his arms,
imprinted a kiss on her brow. "Father, father, that you have come back
when we thought you lost, is good news enough; you cannot bring me
better," looking up into the old man's face, not without some surprise,
however, at the affectionate manner in which she was treated, contrasted
with the stern way in which the Indians treat the females of their
people. "I will tell thee of the good news anon. You might not value
it as it deserves," said Robert Nixon. "Thy brother, where is he?"
"He left the camp with a score more of our young braves nearly ten moons
ago, to make war on the Crees of the plain, and he has not yet returned.
Scouts have been sent out, but no tidings have been received of the
party." The father did not conceal his disappointment. "I have a rich
gift to offer him," he thought; "would that he had been here to have
accepted it. Alas! alas! how great is my sin, who was born a Christian,
to have allowed my children to grow up ignorant heathens." It is sad to
think that many white men in many parts of the vast territory known as
Rupert's land, may have cause to feel as did Robert Nixon. Two of old
Tom's sons were also away on the same hazardous expedition, but though
anxious about them, for he was a kind-hearted man, he could not enter
into Rob Nixon's feelings in the matter. Now as the evening came on the
people crowded into the encampment, all eager to hear how their white
friend and one of their chief, as well as the oldest, of their leaders
had escaped death. He used no bitter expressions, but he could not help
asking, ironically, how it was that--among so many who professed regard
for him--no one had thought of turning back to look for him when he was
missed? Numerous were the excuses offered, and all were glad when he
dropped the subject, and held up a book out of which he proposed to read
to them in their own language. Not knowing the nature of a book, they
naturally supposed it to be some powerful charm, and declared that he
had become a great medicine man. "If it is a charm, and I do not say
that it is not, it is one that, if you will listen, may do you good, and
will make you wiser than you have ever before been," he answered. "Do
you, or do you not wish to hear me?" There were no dissentient voices,
and he then read to them how God, the Great Spirit, so loved the world,
that He sent His Son into the world that all who believe in Him should
not perish but have eternal life,--"men, women, and children, old and
young alike," he added. "I will tell you more about the matter
by-and-by, friends. Talk over now what I have said. This book, though
small, contains a great deal; many a day must pass before you know its
contents. Those who wish to know more may come to my lodge when they
will, and I will read to them."
Bob Nixon made a very efficient missionary in his humble, unpretending
way. He did not attack Manitou or any of the superstitions, but he
placed the better way before them, that they might have the opportunity
of comparing it with their own foolish customs and notions. With his
own daughter and his old friend, whom he knew he could trust, he
proceeded in a different method; his friend he reminded of what he had
been taught in his youth, how he had spent his life, and again and again
inquired what hope he had for the future. To his daughter he pointed
out the folly of the religious belief and the customs of the red people,
and showed her the advantages of those of true Christians. To an
artless, unsophisticated mind, where sin has not ruled triumphantly, the
Gospel will always prove attractive, if offered--as its Divine
Originator intended it should be offered--as a blessing--as a charter of
freedom, not a code of legal restrictions. The young girl received it
joyfully, and day by day increased in knowledge and grace. He was,
however, often in despair with regard to old Tom. His friend listened
to what he read and said, but the truth did not appear to find an
entrance into his mind; still he listened and tried to pray, and as he
tried he found praying less difficult; and when he listened he
comprehended better and better what he heard. Tom's sons and daughters
still remaining with him began also to listen, and came oftener and
oftener to the old hunter's lodge, as their interest increased, till
they declared that they were ready to go wherever they could constantly
hear the Word of God, and be more fully instructed in its truths. A
large part of Robert Nixon's object was accomplished, but not the whole.
A great grief lay at his heart--the loss and probable death of his son.
The winter had now set in, snow covered the whole face of nature in
every direction for many hundreds of miles. Travelling, though not
impracticable, had become more difficult and dangerous; it could,
however, be accomplished by means of dog-sleighs or carioles, though all
the wealth possessed by Nixon and his friend could scarcely furnish dogs
sufficient to transport all the party and provisions to the banks of the
Assiniboine. No news had been received of the missing band. Old Tom
shared his friend's grief, and now he began to dread their loss for the
most important reason. Nixon's time was also engaged among the tribe
generally; even the chief listened to him attentively, and offered no
opposition to his proceedings. For himself he said that he was too old
to change, but that his people might follow the new way, if they found
it better than the old. Joseph, the young Sioux, was a great assistance
to him. Nixon offered to allow him to go back to his own people, but he
declined, saying that he was not strong enough to resist temptations,
and might be inclined to go back to their evil ways, if he found himself
among them; an example which more civilised youths might wisely follow--
not to run into temptation.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note. The chief object of the Indians in thus slaughtering so large a
number of buffalo is to lay in a store of their flesh, which they
preserve and call pemmican. It is first cut off free of fat and hung up
in thin strips to dry in the sun. It is then pounded between stones and
put into leathern bags, with the boiled fat of the animal poured in and
mixed with it. The white fur traders also purchase this pemmican, as
well as the skins known as robes, and also the sinews. Very many more
animals are killed than can be used by the thoughtless savages, and thus
thousands are left to rot uselessly on the prairie. As the buffaloes
decrease in number, so do the red men disappear from the face of the
earth. The settlement of civilised men in the territory appears to be
the only mode of saving the natives by affording them the means of
subsistence.