CHAPTER X.
TCHATKA,1 THE CHIEF OF THE ASSINIBOINS.
Tchatka's beginnings as a medicine man -Removal of his uncle - Poison and pyrotechnics - A big drum - A medicine dream - A successful war-party -Abundant scalps-Marries plentifully-His coadjutor- Reverses on the warpath- Attempts seizure of Fort Union -Runs out of poison -Disastrous defeat- Predicts his own death - Notes on the Assiniboins.
Reverend Father:
L OU have received the address of Matau-Witko,2 or Crazy Bear, the present chief of the Assiniboins. This has shown the favorable dispositions entertained by that chief for our holy religion. I spoke to you of their hunts, of an expedition of peace and war sent by the Crows,
1 The story of Tchatka was furnished Father De Smet by the Indian trader, Edwin T. Denig, and was sent in French to Reverend Father Terwecoren, editor Precis Historiques. It forms Letter XIII, Second Series, Cinquante Nouvellcs Lettres and Western Missions and Missionaries. The latter text is here followed.
2 Maximilian of Wied mentions this chief, calling him Manh-Ouitkatt. or 1'Ours Fou. He appears also in Larpenteur as Crazy Bear, and is there said to have proved the greatest chief of the Assiniboins. "Tchatka" means left hand in the Assiniboin language. Maximilian of Wied saw this chief leading the attack on Fort Mackenzie, August 28, 1833; gives his name as Minohenne (which would apparently mean something about water) and says he assumed the name Tatogan, or Antelope, after that occurrence. Tchatka appears occasionally in Larpenteur's journal, where he is called Gauche, and nicknamed Co-ban - " hurry up." He is described as a "queer kind of grizzly-bear fellow, very odd in his way," and as " the terror of all the neighboring tribes." Left Hand is still told of by old Assiniboins, and a lineal descendant of his, named Left Handed Bear, is (1903) living on one of the Montana reservations. In Father De Smet's manuscript letters he calls him variously Gaucher, Gauchet and Gauche.