During my long absence and captivity among the Arrapahoes, I had often
reflected upon the great advantages which would accrue if, by any
possibility, the various tribes which were of Shoshone origin could be
induced to unite with them in one confederacy; and the more I reflected
upon the subject, the more resolved I became, that if ever I returned to
the settlement, I would make the proposition to our chiefs in council.
The numbers composing these tribes were as follows:--The Shoshones,
amounting to about 60,000, independent of the mountain tribes, which we
might compute at 10,000 more; the Apaches, about 40,000; the Arrapahoes,
about 20,000; the Comanches and the tribes springing from them, at the
lowest computation, amounting to 60,000 more. Speaking the same
language, having the same religious formula, the same manners and
customs; nothing appeared to me to be more feasible. The Arrapahoes
were the only one tribe which was generally at variance with us, but
they were separated from the Shoshones much later than the other tribes,
and were therefore even more Shoshone than the Apaches and Comanches.
Shortly after my return, I acted upon my resolution. I summoned all the
chiefs of our nation to a great council, and in the month of August,
1839, we were all assembled outside of the walls of the settlement.
After the preliminary ceremonies, I addressed them:--
"Shoshones! brave children of the Grand Serpent! my wish is to render
you happy, rich, and powerful. During the day I think of it; I dream of
it in my sleep. At last, I have had great thoughts--thoughts proceeding
from the Manitou. Hear now the words of Owato Wanisha; he is young,
very young; his skin is that of a Pale-face, but his heart is a
Shoshone's.
"When you refused to till the ground, you did well, for it was not in
your nature--the nature of man cannot be changed like that of a moth.
Yet, at that time, you understood well the means which give power to a
great people. Wealth alone can maintain the superiority that bravery
has asserted. Wealth and bravery make strength--strength which nothing
can break down, except the great Master of Life.
"The Shoshones knew this a long time ago; they are brave, but they have
no wealth; and if they still keep their superiority, it is because their
enemies are at this time awed by the strength and the cunning of their
warriors. But the Shoshones, to keep their ground, will some day be
obliged to sleep always on their borders, to repel their enemies. They
will be too busy to fish and to hunt. Their squaws and children will
starve! Even now the evil has begun. What hunting and what fishing
have you had this last year? None! As soon as the braves had arrived
at their hunting-ground, they were obliged to return back to defend
their squaws and to punish their enemies.
"Now, why should not the Shoshones put themselves at once above the
reach of such chances? why should they not get rich? They object to
planting grain and tobacco. They do well, as other people can do that
for them; but there are many other means of getting strength and wealth.
These I will teach to my tribe!
"The Shoshones fight the Crows, because the Crows are thieves; the
Flat-heads, because they are greedy of our buffaloes; the Umbiquas,
because they steal horses. Were it not for them, the children of the
Grand Serpent would never fight; their lodges would fill with wealth,
and that wealth would purchase all the good things of the white men from
distant lands. These white men come to the Watchinangoes (Mexicans), to
take the hides of their oxen, the wool of their sheep. They would come
to us, if we had anything to offer them. Let us then call them, for we
have the hides of thousands of buffaloes; we have the furs of the beaver
and the otter; we have plenty of copper in our mountains, and of gold in
our streams.
"Now, hear me. When a Shoshone chief thinks that the Crows will attack
his lodge, he calls his children and his nephews around him. A nation
can do the same. The Shoshones have many brave children in the prairies
of the South; they have many more on the borders of the Yankees. All of
them think and speak like their ancestors; they are the same people.
Now would it not be good and wise to have all these brave grandchildren
and grand-nephews as your neighbours and allies, instead of the Crows,
the Cayuses, and the Umbiquas? Yes, it would. Who would dare to come
from the north across a country inhabited by the warlike Comanches, or
from the south and the rising sun, through the wigwams of the Apaches?
The Shoshones would then have more than 30,000 warriors; they would
sweep the country, from the sea to the mountains; from the river of the
north (Columbia) to the towns of the Watchinangoes. When the white men
would come in their big canoes as traders and friends, we would receive
them well--if the come as foes, we will laugh at them, and whip them
like dogs. These are the thoughts which I wanted to make known to the
Shoshones.
"During my absence, I have seen the Apaches and the Comanches. They are
both great nations. Let us send some wise men to invite them to return
to their fathers; let our chiefs offer them wood, land, and water. I
have said."
As long as I spoke, the deepest silence reigned over the whole assembly;
but as soon as I sat down, and began smoking, there was a general
movement, which showed me that I had made an impression. The old great
chief rose, however, and the murmurs were hushed. He spoke:--
"Owato Wanisha has spoken. I have heard. It was a strange vision, a
beautiful dream. My heart came young again, my body lighter, and my
eyes more keen. Yet I cannot see the future; I must fast and pray, I
must ask the great Master of Life to lend me his wisdom.
"I know the Comanches, I know the Apaches, and the Arrapahoes. They are
our children; I know it. The Comanches have left us a long, long time,
but the Apaches and Arrapahoes have not yet forgotten the
hunting-grounds where their fathers were born. When I was but a young
hunter, they would come every snow to the lodge of our Manitou, to offer
their presents. It was long before any Pale-face had passed the
mountains. Since that the leaves of the oaks have grown and died eighty
times. It is a long while for a man, but for a nation it is but as
yesterday.
"They are our children,--it would be good to have them with us; they
would share our hunts; we would divide our wealth with them. Then we
would be strong. Owato Wanisha has spoken well; he hath learned many
mysteries with the _Macota Conaya_ (black robes, priests); he is wise.
Yet, as I have said, the red-skin chiefs must ask wisdom from the Great
Master. He will let us know what is good and what is bad. At the next
moon we will return to the council. I have said."
All the chiefs departed, to prepare for their fasting and ceremonies,
while Gabriel, Roche, my old servant, and myself; concerted our measures
so as to insure the success of my enterprise. My servant I despatched
to Monterey, Gabriel to the nearest village of the Apaches, and as it
was proper, according to Indian ideas, that I should be out of the way
during the ceremonies, so as not to influence any chief; I retired with
Roche to the boat-house, to pass the time until the new moon.
Upon the day agreed upon, we were all once more assembled at the
council-ground on the shores of the Buona Ventura. The chiefs and
elders of the tribe had assumed a solemn demeanour and even the men of
dark deeds (the Medecins) and the keepers of the sacred lodges had made
their appearance, in their professional dresses, so as to impress upon
the beholders the importance of the present transaction. One of the
sacred lodge first rose, and making a signal with his hand, prepared to
speak:--
"Shoshones," said he, "now has come the time in which our nation must
either rise above all others, as the eagle of the mountains rises above
the small birds, or sink down and disappear from the surface of the
earth. Had we been left such as we were before the Pale-faces crossed
the mountains, we would have needed no other help but a Shoshone heart
and our keen arrows to crush our enemies; but the Pale-faces have double
hearts, as well as a double tongue; they are friends or enemies as their
thirst for wealth guides them. They trade with the Shoshones, but they
also trade with the Crows and the Umbiquas. The young chief, Owato
Wanisha, hath proposed a new path to our tribe; he is young, but he has
received his wisdom from the Black-gowns, who,--of all men, are the most
wise. I have heard, as our elders and ancient chiefs have also heard,
the means by which he thinks we can succeed; we have fasted, we have
prayed to the Master of Life to show unto us the path which we must
follow. Shoshones, we live in a strange time! Our great Manitou bids
us Red-skins obey the Pale-face, and follow him to conquer or die. I
have said! The chief of many winters will now address his warriors and
friends!"
A murmur ran through the whole assembly, who seemed evidently much moved
by this political speech from one whom they were accustomed to look upon
with dread, as the interpreter of the will of Heaven. The old chief,
who had already spoken in the former council, now rose and spoke with a
tremulous, yet distinct voice.
"I have fasted, I have prayed, I have dreamed. Old men, who have lived
almost all their life, have a keener perception to read the wishes of
the Master of Life concerning the future. I am a chief, and have been a
chief during sixty changes of the season. I am proud of my station, and
as I have struck deepest in the heart of our enemies, I am jealous of
that power which is mine, and would yield it to no one, if the great
Manitou did not order it. When this sun will have disappeared behind
the salt-water, I shall no longer be a chief! Owato Wanisha will guide
our warriors, he will preside in council, for two gods are with him--the
Manitou of the Pale-faces and the Manitou of the Red-skins.
"Hear my words, Shoshones! I shall soon join my father and grandfather
in the happy lands, for I am old. Yet, before my bones are buried at
the foot of the hills, it would brighten my heart to see the glory of
the Shoshones, which I know must be in a short time. Hear my words!
Long ages ago some of our children, not finding our hunting-grounds wide
enough for the range of their arrows, left us. They first wandered in
the south, and in the beautiful prairies of the east, under a climate
blessed by the good spirits. They grew and grew in number till their
families were as numerous as ours, and as they were warriors and their
hearts big, they spread themselves, and, soon crossing the big
mountains, their eagle glance saw on each side of their territory the
salt-water of the sunrise and the salt-water of the sunset. These are
the Comanches, a powerful nation. The Comanches even now have a
Shoshone heart, a Shoshone tongue. Owato Wanisha has been with them; he
says they are friends, and have not forgotten that they are the children
of the Great Serpent.
"Long, long while afterwards, yet not long enough that it should escape
the memory and the records of our holy men, some other of our children,
hearing of the power of the Comanches, of their wealth, of their
beautiful country, determined also to leave us and spread to the south.
These are the Apaches. From the top of the big mountains, always
covered with snow, they look towards the bed of the sun. They see the
green grass of the prairie below them, and afar the blue salt-water.
Their houses are as numerous as the stars in heaven, their warriors as
thick as the shells in the bottom of our lakes. They are brave; they
are feared by the Pale-faces,--by all; and they, too, know that we are
their fathers; their tongue is our tongue; their Manitou our Manitou,
their heart a portion of our heart; and never has the knife of a
Shoshone drunk the blood of an Apache, nor the belt of an Apache
suspended the scalp of a Shoshone.
"And afterwards, again, more of our children left us. But that time
they left us because we were angry. They were a few families of chiefs
who had grown strong and proud. They wished to lord over our wigwams,
and we drove them away, as the panther drives away her cubs, when their
claws and teeth have been once turned against her. These are the
Arrapahoes. They are strong and our enemies, yet they are a noble
nation. I have in my lodge twenty of their scalps; they have many of
ours. They fight by the broad light of the day, with the lance, bow,
and arrows; they scorn treachery. Are they not, although rebels and
unnatural children, still the children the Shoshones? Who ever heard of
the Arrapahoes entering the war-path in night? No one! They are no
Crows, no Umbiquas, no Flat-heads! They can give death, they know how
to receive it,--straight and upright, knee to knee, breast to breast,
and their eye drinking the glance of their foe.
"Well, these Arrapahoes are our neighbours; often, very often, too much
so (as many of our widows can say), when they unbury their tomahawk and
enter the war-path against the Shoshones. Why; can two suns light the
same prairie, or two male eagles cover the same nest? No. Yet numerous
stars appear during night all joined together and obedient to the moon.
Blackbirds and parrots will unite their numerous tribes, and take the
same flight to seek all together a common rest and shelter for a night;
it is a law of nature. The Red-skin knows none but the laws of nature.
The Shoshone is an eagle on the hills, a bright sun in the prairie, so
is an Arrapahoe; they must both struggle and fight till one sun is
thrown into darkness, or one eagle, blind and winged, falls down the
rocks and leaves the whole nest to its conqueror. The Arrapahoes would
not fight a cowardly Crow except for self-defence, for he smells of
carrion; nor would a Shoshone.
"Crows, Umbiquas, and Flat-heads, Cayuses, Bonnaxes, and Callapoos can
hunt all together, and rest together; they are the blackbirds and the
parrots; they must do so, else the eagle should destroy them during the
day, or the hedgehog during the night.
"Now, Owato Wanisha, or his Manitou, has offered a bold thing. I have
thought of it, I have spoken of it to the spirits of the Red-skin; they
said it was good; I say it is good! I am a chief of many winters; I
know what is good, I know what is bad! Shoshones, hear me! my voice is
weak, come nearer; hearken to my words, hist! I hear a whisper under
the ripples of the water, I hear it in the waving of the grass, I feel
it on the breeze!--hist, it is the whisper of the Master of Life,--
hist!"
At this moment the venerable chief appeared abstracted, his face
flushed; then followed a trance, as if he were communing with some
invisible spirit. Intensely and silently did the warriors watch the
struggles of his noble features; the time had come in which the minds of
the Shoshones were freed of their prejudices, and dared to contemplate
the prospective of a future general domination over the western
continent of America. The old chief raised his hand, and he spoke
again:--
"Children, for you are my children! Warriors, for you are all brave!
Chiefs, for you are all chiefs! I have seen a vision. It was a cloud,
and the Manitou was upon it. The cloud gave way; and behind I saw a
vast nation, large cities, rich wigwams, strange boats, and great
parties of warriors, whose trail was so long that I could not see the
beginning nor the end. It was in a country which I felt within me was
extending from the north, where all is ice, down to the south, where all
is fire! Then a big voice was heard! It was not a war-whoop, it was
not the yell of the fiends, it was not the groan of the captive tied to
the stake; it was a voice of glory, that shouted the name of the
Shoshones--for all were Shoshones. There were no Pale-faces among
them,--none! Owato Wanisha was there, but he had a red skin, and his
hair was black; so were his two fathers, but they were looking young; so
was his aged and humble friend, but his limbs seemed to have recovered
all the activity and vigour of youth; so were his two young friends, who
have fought so bravely at the Post, when the cowardly Umbiquas entered
our grounds. This is all what I have heard, all what I have seen; and
the whisper said to me, as the vision faded away, `Lose no time, old
chief, the day has come! Say to thy warriors Listen to the young
Pale-face. The Great Spirit of the Red-skin will pass into his breast,
and lend him some words that the Shoshone will understand.'
"I am old and feeble; I am tired, arise, my grandson Owato Wanisha;
speak to my warriors; tell them the wishes of the Great Spirit. I have
spoken."
Thus called upon, I advanced to the place which the chief had left
vacant, and spoke in my turn:--
"Shoshones, fathers, brothers, warriors,--I am a Pale-face, but you know
all my heart is a Shoshone's. I am young, but no more a child. It is
but a short time since that I was a hunter; since that time the Manitou
has made me a warrior, and led me among strange and distant tribes,
where he taught me what I should do to render the Shoshones a great
people. Hear my words, for I have but one tongue; it is the tongue of
my heart, and in my heart now dwells the Good Spirit. Wonder not, if I
assume the tone of command to give orders; the orders I will give are
the Manitou's.
"The twelve wisest heads of the Shoshones will go to the Arrapahoes.
With them they will take presents; they will take ten sons of chiefs,
who have themselves led men on the war-path; they will take ten young
girls, fair to look at, daughters of chiefs, whose voices are soft as
the warbling of the birds in the fall. At the great council of the
Arrapahoes, the ten girls will be offered to ten great chiefs, and ten
great chiefs will offer their own daughters to our ten young warriors;
they will offer peace for ever; they will exchange all the scalps, and
they will may that their fathers, the Shoshones, will once more open
their arms to their brave children. Our best hunting-ground shall be
theirs; they will fish the salmon of our rivers; they will be Arrapahoes
Shoshones; we will become Shoshones Arrapahoes. I have already sent to
the settlement of the Watchinangoes my ancient Pale-face friend of the
stout heart and keen eye; shortly we will see at the Post a vessel with
arms, ammunition, and presents for the nation. I will go myself with a
party of warriors to the prairies of the Apaches, and among the
Comanches.
"Yet I hear within me a stout voice, which I must obey. My grandfather,
the old chief, has said he should be no more a chief. I was wrong, very
wrong; the Manitou is angry. Is the buffalo less a buffalo when he
grows old, or the eagle less an eagle when a hundred winters have
whitened his wings? No! their nature cannot change, not more than that
of a chief, and that chief, a chief of the Shoshones!
"Owato Wanisha will remain what he is; he is too young to be the great
chief of the whole of a great nation. His wish is good, but his wisdom
is of yesterday; he cannot rule. To rule belongs to those who have
deserved, doing so, by long experience. No! Owato Wanisha will lead
his warriors to the war-path, or upon the trail of the buffalo; he will
go and talk to the grandchildren of the Shoshones; more he cannot do!
"Let now the squaws prepare the farewell meal, and make ready the green
paint; to-morrow I shall depart, with fifty of my young men. I have
spoken."
The council being broken up, I had to pass through the ceremony of
smoking the pipe and shaking hands with those who could call themselves
warriors. On the following morning, fifty magnificent horses, richly
caparisoned, were led to the lawn before the council lodge. Fifty
warriors soon appeared, in their gaudiest dresses, all armed with the
lance, bow, and lasso, and rifle suspended across the shoulder. Then
there was a procession of all the tribe, divided into two bands, the
first headed by the chiefs and holy men; the other, by the young
virgins. Then the dances commenced; the elders sang their exploits of
former days, as an example to their children; the young men exercised
themselves at the war-post; and the matrons, wives, mothers, or sisters
of the travellers, painted their faces with green and red, as a token of
the nature of their mission. When this task was performed, the whole of
the procession again formed their ranks, and joined in a chorus, asking
the Manitou for success, and bidding us farewell. I gave the signal;
all my men sprang up in their saddles, and the gallant little band,
after having rode twice round the council lodge, galloped away into the
prairie.
Two days after us, another party was to start for the country of the
Arrapahoes, with the view of effecting a reconciliation between our two
tribes.