Letter XIII.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE PRÉCIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS.
Tchatka.
REVEREND FATHER:
You have received the address of Matau-Witko, or the 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, or -Absharokays, to the Black-Feet, or Ziarzapas,* their inveterate enemies. I, have described the Assiniboin worship, which, in regard to ceremonies, superstitious practices, and various points of belief, resembles all others in use among the different Indian tribes of the Upper Missouri.
These details must have given you an idea of the depth of heathen darkness in which the North American Indians are yet shrouded. How worthy, alas ! are they of exciting Christian compassion and devotedness ! How noble the
(* The Black-Feet are one of the most powerful tribes in the new territory of Nebraska. They number about 10,000. Their war and hunting parties go as far north as 52°, and cover all the valley of the Upper Missouri and its tributaries from the Rocky Mountains to 103° north.
I have already given a table of the different tribes of the Upper Missouri, and of the Sioux, as well as some notions on the bands, territories, language, names, names of principal chiefs, and explained the word wah-kon or medicine.)
mission of rescuing the minds and hearts of this despised and forlorn race from the degrading superstitions and infamous cruelties to which they are abandoned : of sowing in that uncultivated soil the mustard-seed, which will spring up and bear the immortal blossoms of present and future happiness !
Some of our Fathers are already engaged in this noble task. It is to be hoped that a greater number may be inspired to join them in bearing the torch of faith to "all the nations which desire it, and incessantly implore Black-gowns. I speak from actual knowledge when I say that most of the nations -of the Great Desert manifest a desire for instruction, and listen willingly to the word of the Lord.
To initiate you still further in the knowledge of Indian manners and customs, I have thought that you would be pleased to receive a sketch of the life of the most renowned chief of the Assiniboins. He was a crafty, cruel, deceitful man, a bad Indian, in every sense of the word ; his whole life was full of horrors. For forty years he lea his tribe in
the forest. At the commencement of his career, his band numbered over 2000. He led them from war to war, some times with success, often with reverse. Disease thinned the band-poison and battle wasted theta like snow. When they were but a handful, he beheld the remnant of his gallant band disperse, and seek an asylum in a more powerful and numerous camp. He died as he had lived. Either from fear, jealousy, or hatred, he had recourse to poison to rid himself of all who opposed him. Pursued by remorse and despair, he used the same means to put an end to his own days. He died in most terrible convulsions. This story will show you that the Indians, too, have their Neros and Caligulas. All the accounts that I have read on the statistics of the Indians, show that their numbers constantly decrease. To what is this remarkable decline to be ascribed ? The history' of the Assiniboin tribe, led by this wicked chief, is more or less the history of the decline of the other tribes. Ambitious chiefs and partisans keep up incessant wars in their tribes, and unknown diseases thin them. Then comes the acquaintance with the whites ; the Indians learn, and easily adopt, the vices and excesses of the pioneers of our civilization. The spirituous liquors, which they offer the Indians in abundance-more terrible than war-sweeps them off by hundreds, and they disappear, leaving behind them only sad mounds, as tombs, which dot the plains and highlands by ,he river-side, till the plough at last levels these last vestiges of a race.
If time permits, I will hereafter give some details on the actual condition of the Indian tribes under the domination )f the great Republic. The government has just organized, in the western desert, two new territories-Kanzas and Nebraska.* They embrace an extent of neither more nor less than between five and six hundred thousand square miles. they will then be divided into several States, and each of .here States will be larger than France. Whites are already pouring in in thousands, all hastening to take possession of he best sites. The law has just passed; no steps are yet
(* Nebraska Territory extends to 49° north, the northern boundary of the United States ; on the south, the line of 40° separates it from :Kanzas; its eastern limit is the White River and the 'Missouri, which separate it from Minnesota and Iowa ; on the west, it extends to the Cocky Mountains.
Kansas Territory extends three degrees, or 208 miles, further south; on the east is the State of Missouri ; on the north, the 37th degree separates it from the Cherokee Reservation ; on the west, it is bounded by he Rocky Mountains.
These two territories contain over 500,000 square miles, or forty times the surface of Belgium.)
taken to protect the Indians, and already fifty new towns and villages are in progress ; barns, farms, mills, &c, rise on all sides as though by enchantment. I did not then think that the moment of invasion was so near.
The narrative with which I will entertain you to-day is well known in all the region where the scenes occurred. I have it from two most reliable sources-that is to say, from a man of tried probity and veracity, Mr. Denig, of the St. Louis Fur Company, and from a worthy Canadian interpreter. Both resided many years among the Assiniboins, and knew the subject of the story, and witnessed many of his acts.
This hero is Tchatka or Gaucher, an Assiniboin chief. He exercised, during his long career, more power over the band or tribe that he led and governed, than any other savage Nestor whose history I have learned. He had received several names; but that of Gaucher, or Awkward, is that by which lie was known among the voyageurs* and fur-traders. His other names were, Wah-kon-kangta, or the Great Medicine; Mina-Yougha, or the Knifeholder; and Tatokah-nan, or the Kid. These titles were bestowed on him at different periods of his life, in memory of some remarkable deed by which he had distinguished himself, and which will appear in the course of my- narrative.
The family of Tchatka was very numerous, and enjoyed great influence. As the members purposed electing him their chief, and conductor of the camp, as soon as he should attain his majority, lie attracted the attention of the northern fur-traders of Upper Canada and the Hudson Bay Company's territory. The intimacy which he cultivated with
(* I use the word voyageur, a Canadian term, adopted in English to designate the white hunters of the West., a peculiar set of men.)
the whites, united to a high degree of native cunning, proved the means of his acquiring many arts, which gave him on his return a hind of distinction among his people. He had also, obtained, by means of a white, man, a quantity of poison, and had learned its properties and use. Tchatka was an unprincipled, deceitful, cunning, cowardly man. Although young and vigorous, he always kept out of danger. While the warriors of his tribe were fighting in the plain, he would be seated on a hill or some other spot from - which he could observe all that passed. He had been initiated into all the tricks of the jugglers. He never performed incantation and juggleries without a good horse beside him, on which he sprang in case of defeat. He was always the first to escape, abandoning the combatants to their own luck, and got off as well as he could. As we shall see in the sequel, he became chief of two hundred and eighty lodges, or -about twelve hundred warriors. The great confidence which they had in their leader seems to have been the cause of his great success in the war against the Black-Feet and other enemies of the nation.
As soon as Tchatka had attained the requisite age, ha used every effort to attain his object and satisfy his ambition.' He calculated the advantages and ascendency he would obtain over the people by becoming initiated in the great band, of medicine-men or jugglers,'` and he pretended to the gift
(* The Wah-kons, or Medicine-men, among the American Indians, and the Panomoosi of Northern Asia, belong to the same class. In both hemispheres these charlatans pretend to heal diseases by witchcraft; they predict the issue of wars and hunts. In all cases they pretend to be inspired by Manitous ; that is, divinities or spirits. They generally retire to the depth of the forests, where they pretend to fast for several days, and often practice very vigorous penances, consisting especially in corporal macerations ; then they heat the drum, dance, sing, smoke, cry, and howl like wild beasts. All these preparatives are accompanied
of prophecy. A second motive for this initiation was, that he might thereby conceal his want of bravery-a quality in dispensable in a chief. Many remarkable stories are related of his exactitude in predicting future events, and for which the ,simple savages could give no explanation.
Tchatka was not ignorant that there were several persons. in the tribe whose influence was great, who were older than he, and who had acquired by their valor in.war, and by their wisdom in the council, real titles to the dignity of great chief. In order to arrogate to himself the sole government of the camp, he conceived the frightful design of getting rid of his competitors. He brought to the execution of his project all his cunning and deceit. I have already alluded to the poisons in his possession. By secret experiments he became well informed concerning their power and influence. He administered it himself, or by the hands of others, so adroitly that not the least suspicion was excited. His character of prophet came to his aid. He predicted to his victims, often several weeks and months before the event, that they had not long to lire, according to the revelations of his Wah-kon, and manitous or spirits. The accomplishment of this species of prediction established his reputation ; he obtained the title of " Strong in Jugglery." The poor savages regarded him with fear and respect-as a being who could at his will dispose of life. Many made him presents of
(by a host of furious actions, and such extraordinary contortions of body, that they would seem possessed. These jugglers are visited secretly by night by accomplices in their craft and hypocrisy, who carry them all the news of the village and its neighborhood. by these means the jugglers, on leaving the forest and returning to the village, easily impose on the credulous. The first part of their predictions consists in giving an exact account of all the events of the village since their departure marriages, deaths, returns from the war or the hunt, and all other remarkable items.)
horses and other objects, in order to escape figuring on the list of his fatal predictions.
The most influential and courageous personage of the Assiniboins, the principal obstacle to the ambition of Gaucher or Tchatka, was his own uncle. To a lofty stature, his uncle joined a bravery, a boldness, and a violence which no one dared oppose. -He bore the name of the Walking Bow, or Itazipa-man. He was renowned for his valorous deeds in combat. His robe, his casque, his clothing, his tomahawk, lance, and even the bridle and saddle of his steed, were adorned with scalps and trophies taken from his enemies. He was surnamed The One-eyed, or Istagon, because he had lost an eye in battle by an arrow.
Tchatka was,jealous of the power of Istagon, and of the influence the latter exercised over the whole tribe. Hitherto he had not attempted the life of his uncle; as he feared his anger, he desired to assure himself of his protection.' He needed him as long as those were living who might oppose his ambitious march, the success of which was so little merited on his part: no deed of arms, no trophy gained from the enemy, could authorize him to carry his pretensions higher. By his arts and flattery, by an assiduous attention and feigned submission to the smallest desires of the chief, the cunning young man succeeded in gaining the friendship and confidence of his uncle. They saw each other more frequently : they gave each other feasts and banquets, in which the greatest harmony seemed to reign. One evening Tchatka presented his guest a poisoned dish : the latter, according to the Indian custom, ate the whole. Knowing, by experience, that in a few hours the ingredient would produce its effects, Tchatka invited all the principal braves and soldiers of the camp to repair to his lodge, announcing, that he had an affair of the highest importance to communicate to them. He placed his Wah-kon in the most suitable and most conspicuous part of his lodge. This Wah-kon of Gaucher's consisted of a stone, painted red, and surrounded by a little fence of small sticks about six inches in length. It lay at a little distance from the fire, which was burning in the centre of the lodge, and opposite the place where he sat. It had occupied this place for several years.
As soon as the whole assembly were arranged, Tchatka disclosed his Wah-kon. He declared to them that the thunder, during a nocturnal storm, had launched this stone into the middle of his lodge; that the voice of the thunder had told him that it possessed the gift and the spirit of prophecy; that the Wah-kon stone had announced that a great event was about to take place in the camp; for that very night the most valiant brave of the tribe would struggle in the arms of death, and that another, more favored than he by the spirits, would take his place, and would be proclaimed great-chief of the camp; that at the very moment the chief expired, the Wah-kon stone would vanish, and accompany the spirit of the deceased into the country of souls.
A mournful silence succeeded this singular declaration. Astonishment, mingled with superstitious dread, was depicted on the faces of all those who composed the assembly. No one dared to contradict the discourse of Tchatka, or call in doubt his words. Besides, on so many other occasions his predictions bad been realized at the appointed time. He whose death had been foretold, without being named,, was present. As several occupied nearly as high a rank as himself in the camp, and shared the power in concert with Istagon, the latter did not at first apply to himself exclusively the announcement of death which had just been made so mysteriously. He did not yet feel the effects of the poisoned dish, and had not even the slightest suspicion on the subject.
Each withdrew to his own lodge; but dark apprehensions troubled their minds, and agitation controlled their hearts. 'Who will be the victim announced ?
Towards midnight a messenger informed Gaucher that his uncle and friend was very sick, and wished positively to speak with him. The uncle suspected the perfidy of his nephew, and was resolved to stretch hint dead at his feet while he yet possessed sufficient strength. The wily Tchatka answered the messenger, "Go, tell Istagon that my visit to him would prove useless. I could not possibly at this moment quit my lodge and my Wall-kon."
In the mean time a great tumult and great confusion arose throughout the camp ; consternation became general. In his horrible convulsions, and before they had deprived him of the use of speech, Istagon declared to the braves who first answered his call, that he suspected Tchatka of being the cause of his death. They at once uttered shrieks of rage and vengeance against the latter, and hastened to his lodge to execute their threats. Tchatka, apparently grieved and melancholy, on account of the unhappy lot of his uncle, and trembling with fear at the sight of so many uplifted tomahawks, besought these avengers of Istagon to suspend their wrath and deign to listen to him. “Relations and friends," said he, " Istagon is my uncle; the same blood flows in our veins; lie has ever loaded me with marks of his friendship and his confidence. How then could I injure him? A few moments ago you saw him vigorous with health; now that he is grappling with death you come to discharge your vengeance upon me! What have I clone to deserve it? I predicted the event! How could I help doing so? Such was the decree of' my great Wah-kon ! Approach, and observe it closely, for I announced at the same time that my Wah-kon would disappear, in order to accompany the soul of the chief into the region of spirits. If my word is accomplished, and my Wah-kon stone disappears, is it not an evident sign that the death of Istagon is rather a decree of the manitous than a treachery on my part ? Wait, and judge for yourselves." These few words had the desired effect; they seated themselves as sentinels around the mysterious stone. Neither calumet nor dish was handed round in this mute circle-silent in appearance, but tumultuous in reality, for their hearts were agitated with different emotions, to which the discourse of the perfidious Tchatka had given rise.
During the two hours that this scene lasted, the fire gradually became dim, and shed only a few feeble glimmerings; which were from time to time reflected from these sombre and sinister faces. In the interval, some runners arrived, to announce the progress of the malady. "Istagon is in convulsions, and utters naught but shrieks of rage and despair against his nephew-his convulsions grow more feeble-he is losing his speech-he can only be heard with difficulty-lie is in agony-Istagon is dead." Cries of distress accompanied this last message. At the same instant the mysterious stone burst into a thousand fragments, with a noise like thunder, which palsied all the assistants with fear. In scattering, it filled the lodge with cinders and fire, and wounded severely the nearest of the observers. Stunned and frightened, all took flight from this scene of prodigies. The indignation and revenge which animated them a moment before against Tchatka, gave place to fear, mingled with awe and respect for him, and they no longer dared approach him. The supernatural power of the Wall-kon was acknowledged, and he who had received it from the thunder was honored throughout the camp with the title of Wahkon-Tangka, that is, Great Medicine.
This pretended supernatural affair is thus explained: The wily savage had been a long time preparing the part he intended performing. Some days beforehand he pierced the stone, and charged it with nearly a pound of powder. A train of powder, carefully covered over, conducted from the place in which he was seated to the hole excavated in the stone-a distance of six or eight feet. He seized a favorable instant for lighting a piece of tinder, and at the very moment that the death of the " One-eyed" was announced, he fired the train-the stone exploded.
All these subtle and perfidious means of Gaucher must appear very simple in the civilized world, where poison and powder are so often employed in all manner of crimes and misdemeanors; but among the Indians the case was widely different. They were then ignorant of the destructive power of these two articles. It is not, therefore, astonishing that they saw only Wah-kon-that is to say, the supernatural and incomprehensible-in all this.
At his death, Istagon left a great number of friends, especially among the warriors, who were sincerely attached to him on account of his bravery. Several among them, less credulous perhaps than the others, eyed Tchatka with stern and threatening looks every time that he appeared in public. But as he lived retired, rarely quitting his lodge, their disdain and aversion for him were not much remarked. Besides, as I have already observed, he had a numerous band of relatives; the members of his family, on whom he could rely, with his partisans, formed a fourth part of all the camps, or about eighty lodges.
Tchatka was well persuaded that a politic stroke was still necessary to gain the undecided, the discontented, and the incredulous. Circumstances seemed to favor this measure; lie resolved to have recourse to it while the prodigy of the stone was still fresh in their memory. It has occasionally happened, too, that on the death of a chief, a numerous camp divides into different companies, above all if there had existed any anterior discord. Tchatka, therefore, shut himself in his lodge during several days, without communicating openly with any one. The camp expected something marvellous. The causes of this long retreat were discussed; they lost themselves in conjectures; all, however, were fully persuaded that some new manifestation, either good or evil, would be the result. On the fifth day of Tchatka's retreat, a general uneasiness was manifested among the savages, and they spoke of dividing.
What was the famous Tchatka, the Great Medicine-the hope of some, and the terror of others-doing ? Nothing else than making a drum, or tchant-cheega-kabo, of such dimensions that never any Indian had imagined. Some time .beforehand, in the premeditation of his exploit, he bad secretly sawed a piece of an enormous hollow tree, very suitable to his design. Its height three feet, and its breadth two, his drum resembled a churn. One end was covered with goatskin, and the other only with wood. He employed several days in cutting and scraping the interior of this famous instrument, in order to render it lighter. On the exterior of this tchant-cheega-kabo, he painted the figures of a grizzly bear, of a tortoise, of a bison bull-three superior genii in the catalogue of the Indian manitous. Between these figures were painted human heads, without scalps, fil1ing every space, about eighty in number. On the skin of the drum, a chief of the Black-Feet tribe was represented, without a scalp, in black, and daubed with vermilion.
He had finished his work, and made all his preparations. At midnight the voice of Tchatka was heard, with the muffled sound of his tchant-cheega, which resounded through the camp. As though just coming forth from an ecstasy, he offered aloud his thanksgivings and his invocations to the Great Spirit, and to all his favorite manitous, to thank them for the new favors with which they had just crowned hint, the effects of which were to reflect upon the whole tribe. Without delay, every one listened to his call, and repaired to his lodge. Observing the usual customs, the counsellors, the principal among the braves and soldiers, entered the first, and soon filled his abode; while hundreds of the curious, old and young, collected and besieged it without. Curiosity is at its highest pitch : they are on fire to learn the explanation of the mysterious news ; they wait with anxious impatience.
As a preliminary,- Tchatka intoned a beautiful war-song, without paying the slightest attention to the multitude which pressed around him. In his quality of medicine-man, his head-dress was made of swan's-down ; his face and his breast were painted in figures of different colors; his lips, dyed with vermilion, indicated that he thirsted for blood, and breathed the spirit of war. When he perceived that the whole band was around him, he arose, and with the voice of a stentor, addressed the assembly.
"I dreamed," said he, "friends and warriors, I dreamed ! During five days and five nights, I was admitted into the land of spirits; living, I walked among the dead. My eyes have witnessed frightful scenes; my ears have heard frightful moans, sighs, lamentations, and howlings ! Have you courage to listen to me ? Can I suffer you to become the victims of your most cruel enemies? For, know that clanger is near-the enemy is not far distant !"
An aged man, whose white hairs announced seventy winters, the grand counsellor of the nation, and a juggler, replied " A man who loves his tribe, conceals nothing from the people. When danger is at hand, he speaks; when the enemy is in sight, be goes out to meet him. You say you have visited the region of souls; I believe in your words. I also, in my dreams, have frequently conversed with the ghosts of the departed. Tchatka, though young, has given us extraordinary proofs of his power; the last hour of Istagon was terrible, but who dares rise to blame you? You only predicted the two events: the chief died, and the Wah-kon disappeared. I -also performed wonders in lily youth. Now I am old ; but although my limbs begin to be feeble, I have yet a clear mind. 'We will listen to your words with attention, and then we will decide on the course we ought to take. I have spoken."
The speech of the old man had a favorable effect on the whole assembly. Perhaps he was in Tchatka's secret. All the succeeding orations manifested a feeling of inclination to the murderer. The latter, reassured concerning the dispositions in regard to him, continued his recital with firmness and showed confidence respecting his future plans.
Let those who have ears, hearken to me! those who have not, are free to go ! You know me. I am a man of few words, but what I advance is true, and the events which I predict arrive. During five days and five nights my spirit was wafted amid the spirits of the dead, especially of our relatives and friends-of our friends whose bones are whitening on the plains, and which the wolves drag into their lairs --of our friends who still, unavenged, wander up and down, amid swamp, and snow, and ice, in sterile and forsaken deserts, which produce neither fruit, nor root, nor animal, to subsist on. It is a place of darkness, where sunlight never enters. They are subject to all privations-cold, hunger, -thirst. We, their friends, their relatives, their brethren, are the cause of their long sufferings and fearful woes. Their sighs and moans were unsupportable. I trembled in every limb; my hair stood erect on my bead; I believed my lot fixed with theirs; when a kindly spirit touched my hand and said: I Tchatka, return to the place which thou past left; return to thy body, for it is not yet time for thee to enter the land of spirits. Return, and thou shalt be the bearer of good news to thy nation-the shades of thy deceased relations shall be avenged, and their deliverance is nigh. In thy lodge thou wilt find a drum, painted with figures that soon thou shalt learn to know.' At this instant the spirit left me. Coming forth from my dream, I found my drum, painted as you now behold it. When my body was restored to animation, I found that I had not changed position. During four days and four nights I had the same vision, varied sometimes, but always accompanied with complaints and reproaches concerning our recent defeats by our enemies, the Black-Feet. The fifth night, the manitou addressed me anew, and said: Tchatka, henceforth the tchant-cheega-kabo shall be thy Wah-kon. Arise, follow without delay the war-path which leads to the Black-Feet. At the source of the Milk River thirty lodges of the enemies are encamped. Set out instantly, and after five days' march thou shalt reach the camp. On the sixth thou shalt make a fearful carnage. Every, head painted on the drum represents a scalp, and the taking of these scalps will appease the manes of thy deceased parents and friends. Then only will they be enabled to quit the frightful abode where thou beholdest them, to enter the beauteous plains where plenty reigns, and where suffering and privation are unknown. At this moment a Black-Feet war-party is prowling around the camp. They sought a favorable moment, but not finding it, have gone in search of a weaker enemy. Set out, then, without delay; thou shalt find an easy victory; thou shalt find in the Black-Feet camp only old men, women, and children.' Such were the words of the manitou, and he disappeared. I returned to my body. I recovered my senses. I have told you all."* Thus spoke this extraordinary man.
Before continuing the strange history of Tchatka and of his predictions, it will be necessary to explain that he gained over to his cause and. person several active young men, the best runners in the camp. From them he obtained in secret all the news and information that they could gather in their long expeditions, either as to the hunt, or as to the proximity, number, and position of the enemy. The juggler, as soon as he is informed, makes his medicine or incantations, and then prophecies to the people, who, not suspecting the trick, deem all supernatural that comes from the impostor's mouth. .
'Let us continue: the discourse of Tchatka (for we will so style him in our narrative, although he had now received that of Wah-kon-Tangka or Great Medicine) bad produced the effect he desired on all his auditory. The Assiniboins entertained a mortal hatred against the Black-Feet; this detestation had been transmitted from father to son, and augmented by continual aggressions and reprisals. We may form an idea of the propensity that Indians have for war, from the expression which they use to designate it. They call it "The Breath of their Nostrils." Each family cumbered some member slain by their dreadful adversary.
(* Many of our Indian tribes celebrate, towards the close of winter, the "Feast of Dreams." The ceremonies are often prolonged to ten days or a fortnight. They might rather be termed Bacchanalia or Carnival. Even the Indians call it the "Feast of Madmen." These are days of great disorder;-when all they dream or pretend to dream must be executed. Dances, songs, and music form the principal ceremonies of the feast.)
Tchatka’s words aroused in their hearts the most violent thirst of vengeance. The sassaskwi, or war-whoop, was the unanimous response of all the warriors in the camp. They lighted bonfires, formed groups for chanting invocations to their manitous, and executed the scalp-dance. Then each one examined his arms, and the whole scene changed into a vast workshop. The soldiers sharpened the double-edged knives and daggers, filed anew the lances and arrows, vermilioned the battle-axes and the tomahawks, bridled and saddled the horses; while the women mended and prepared the moccasins, the leggins, and the sacks of provisions necessary for the journey. As though it were a grand gala occasion, every one daubed his, face with vermilion, according to his fancy, and arrayed himself in his handsomest ornaments. Never had so lively and so unanimous an enthusiasm appeared in the tribe. All relied implicitly on the promises of Tchatka, and counted on certain victory. The warriors felicitated themselves on having at last found an opportunity to efface the shame and opprobium inflicted on the nation, and to avenge the death of their kindred. The camp breathed naught but war. The man who had set all in motion remained silent and alone. Tranquil in his lodge, beside his big drum, he would neither take part in the public rejoicings, nor join in the singing and dancing the war-dance.
When the war-party was formed, and ready to depart, several old men and soldiers were deputed to Tchatka, to ask him to. take the lead, and conduct the enterprise in person. He replied : " You have seen that the two events that I predicted have drawn upon me the ill-will of a great number. I am young-I am no warrior-choose an older and more experienced man than I to lead the braves to battle. I will stay here; leave me to my dreams and my drum:' The deputies reported his response to their comrades but the latter insisted anew that Tchatka be of the company. A new deputation, composed this time of the nearest relatives of Istagon, sought Tchatka in the 'name of the whole camp, and announced to him that henceforward he should be their war-chief, and all promised him respect and obedience. After some hesitation, Tchatka surrendered to their entreaties, saying: " Friends and relations, I forget the wrongs that I have endured. If my predictions are accomplished-if we find the camp of the Black-Feet which I have designated-if we tear from the enemy as many scalps as are on my drum, will you in future believe in my great medicine ? If I declare to you that on the second day after our departure we shall detect the trail of the war-party that has passed near our camp-if we slay on the battle-field the 1 great chief of the Black:-Feet, and you see him as he is painted on my drum, without a scalp and without hands ;-if all this be accomplished literally, will you in future respond to my call ?" They all accepted his conditions.
Immediately Tchatka arose, intoned his war-song to the sound of his drum, and to the acclamations of the whole tribe. He then joined his band, but without arms, not even a kuife. Ile ordered diem to fasten his drum on the back of a good horse, which he had led beside him by one of his faithful spies and runners, by the bridle.
In order to understand better the issue, it may not be irrelevant to say a few words on the Indian chiefs. Each nation is divided into different bands or tribes, and each tribe counts several villages. Every village has its chief, to whom they submit, in proportion to the respect or terror which his personal qualities inspire. The power of a chief is sometimes merely nominal; sometimes, also, his authority is absolute, and his name, as well as his influence, extends beyond the limits of his own village, so that the whole tribe to which he belongs acknowledge him as their head. This was the case among the Assiniboins the time of Tchatka. Courage, address, and an enterprising spirit may elevate every warrior to the highest honors, especially if his father or an uncle enjoyed the dignity of chief before him, and that be has a numerous family ready to maintain his authority and avenge his quarrels. Yet when the seniors and warriors have installed him with all the requisite ceremonies, it must not be supposed that he, on this account, arrogates to himself the least exterior appearance of rank or dignity. He is too well aware that his rank hangs by a frail thread, which may quite easily be broken. He must gain the confidence of his uncertain subjects, or retain' them by fear. A great many families in the village are better off than the chief; -dress better, are richer in arms, horses, and other possessions. Like the ancient German chiefs, he gains the confidence and attachment of his soldiers, first, by his bravery, more frequently by present-,, which only serves to impoverish him the more. If a chief does not succeed in gaining the love of his subjects, they will despise his authority and quit him at the slightest opposition on his part; for the customs of the Indians admit no conditions by which they may enforce respect from their subjects.
It rarely happens, among the Western tribes, that a chief attains great power, unless he is at the head of a numerous family. I have sometimes seen whole villages composed of the descendants and relatives of the chief. This kind of nomadic community has a certain patriarchal character, and -is generally the best regulated and the most pacific. The chief is less a master than a fattier, who reigns in a numerous household by the wish to do all in his power to render all happy. It may be said in general of the Indian nations, that tribes little united with each other, rent even by discord and jealousy, can possess little power and exercise it less.
Let us return to Tchatka, the grand chief-elect of the principal band of the Assiniboins. He found himself in command of four hundred warriors. They marched the rest of the night, and during the whole of the next day, with the greatest precautions and in the best order, so as to prevent all surprise. Some scouts alone ran over and beat the surrounding country, leaving in their passage signals and rods planted in the earth, and inclined in such a manner as to indicate the route that the little army ought to follow. About evening they descried a thick wood, on the border of a little stream, and there erected, hastily, a kind of parapet, or defence, with the dried branches and trunks of trees, and thus passed behind it a peaceful night. In the morning they found themselves in the midst of an innumerable herd of bisons, and stopped some instants to renew their stock of provisions.* Towards nightfall a faithful scout returned and communicated secretly with Tchatka. After marching still several miles, the chief, with the beating of his drum, Wah-kon, collected all his warriors, and pointing with his finger to a high hill, some miles distant, he informed them that
(* I have often spoken of the bisons, improperly called buffaloes, without mentioning the great use which the Indians make of this interesting animal. They supply almost all the necessaries of life. Their skins form lodges or dwellings, and serve as clothing, litters, bridles, and saddle coverings, vessels to hold water, boats to cross lakes and rivers; with the hair, the Indians make their cordage; with the sinews, bowstrings and thread for clothes, as well as glue; the shoulder-blade is spade and pickaxe. The bison is their daily bread, their chief food. The dung of the animal, called bois-de-vache, furnishes abundant fuel. Last year 100,000 buffalo-skins were sent from the desert to the warehouses of St. Louis. With the proceeds the Indians obtain arms and all they need.)
there they would trace the war-party of the Black-Feet, of which he had dreamed before leaving the camp. Several horsemen set out without delay to reconnoitre the enemy. At the spot indicated they found the path tracked by nearly a hundred horses. All the warriors redoubled their zeal, ardor, and confidence in their new chief. The two succeeding days offered nothing very singular. They again stopped in the evening of the fifth day, without discovering the smallest vestige of proximity to the , hostile camp they sought. The watchful scouts were, gone, during the day, in different directions, without bringing back the least news, except the one who had been in secret communication with Tchatka. Several of the most ancient of the warriors murmured boldly, saying, "that the day predicted by the chief, on which they would surely see the enemy, bad passed."
But Tchatka silenced them all, replying to them: "You seem still to doubt my words-the time is not past! Rather say, the time is arrived. You appear still young in experience-and yet a great many winters are beginning to whiten your heads. Where do you think you will find the lodges of your enemies? Is it in the open plain, or on the summit of an elevation ? With a single glance of the eye we perceive all that is there, and is it there you pretend to discover them ; and that, too, in a moment in which those who should protect their wives and children are afar? The bear and the jaguar hide their little ones in their dens, or in the depth of impenetrable forests; the wolf hides them in a hole; the goat and the deer cover them with hay . -When you hunt the deer, do you not peep through the trees and the briars ? In the fox and the badger hunt, you seek their lairs. Let some one go and examine the little point of forest near the large rock, at the end of the plain in. which we are."
Instantly, several of the most courageous and the most experienced in the stratagems of warfare were sent to the discovery. Favored by the night, and with all possible precautions, they entered the little wood, and made all their observations without being perceived. In. the silence of midnight, they reported their news to Tchatka and his companions - " that they had discovered the Black-Feet encampment in the place indicated by the chief; that the lodges were occupied solely by old men, women, and children; that they could not hear the voices of any youth ; and that all the horses were gone." This account filled these barbarous hearts with joy. The rest of the night was passed in songs and dances to the sound of the great drum, in juggleries and invocations to the manitous who had inspired Tchatka during his five days and five nights of dreams, and which had conducted his spirit into the regions of souls.
At the break of day the four hundred Assiniboin warriors surrounded the thirty feeble wigwams of the Black-Feet. The cry of war and of vengeance, which they shouted simultaneously, like so many bloodthirsty furies, awakened and filled with dreadful fear those unhappy mothers and children. left unprotected there. In accordance with their expectations, the Assiniboins found few men in the camp; all had gone with the war-party of which I have made mention. The small number of Black-Feet youth defended themselves with desperate bravery; but they could not long resist so many enemies. The combat was short; the carnage bloody and hideous. Old men, women, and children, fell ail easy prey to the cruel Assiniboins. Only two young B1ack-Feet escaped this shocking butchery. An Assiniboin who participated in the combat gave the recital of it to M Denig, and declared that with his own hand he had killed fourteen children and three women. M. Denig asked him if he had killed them all with arrows. "Some of them," answered be; "but failing in arrows, I had recourse to the tomahawk and the dagger." He added, at the same time, that they tore from the arms of their mothers, and took with them a great number of little children, and that on their way, amid their songs and the scalp-dances, they amused themselves with flaying them alive and running pointed. sticks through their bodies, in order to roast them alive before the fire. The piercing shrieks of these little creatures fell upon the ear of these barbarians, amid their inhuman orgies, like the sweetest and most delightful melody. All that a pitiless and savage heart could invent of torture, was put in practice on this occasion. The Assiniboins declare that they satiated themselves with cruelty, to satisfy the manes of their deceased parents and kindred, and their implacable and long-wished-for vengeance against the greatest of their enemies, the Black-Feet. The number of scalps taken surpassed greatly the number of heads painted on the drum.
When returning to their own grounds, at the first encampment which they made, one of the warriors remarked, and loud enough for Tchatka's ear, " that the Black-Foot chief had neither been seen nor slain." The chief replied "Our work is not yet finished; we will therefore have another encounter before repairing to our homes. The Black-Foot chief, shall die! I saw him scalped in my dream: such he was painted on the drum by the manitous. His scalp shall be taken from him with his own knife."
A gentle shower fell during the night; a heavy fog obscured the sky during the morning, which obliged the whole company of warriors to remain together, in order not to lose their way. After some hours' march, the sound of a gun discharged in front of the line, informed those who brought up the rear that an attack had commenced. Every one pressed forward to join the combatants. It was a rencontre with a troop of twenty or thirty Black-Feet that the fog had separated from their companions. Notwithstanding all the manoeuvres of Tchatka to shelter himself from danger, he found himself enveloped in the midst of the fight, ignorant which way to turn. The Black-Feet, defended themselves courageously, but they were forced to yield to the superior number of adversaries. Several escaped by means of the fog, which covered them from view.
In the heat of the engagement, Tchatka's horse was killed under him; the horseman and his steed rolled in the dust. At the same instant a Black-Foot, of lofty stature and prodigious strength, hurled his lance at him, which only grazed the head of his enemy, and struck deep, quivering in the earth. Then he attacked him, knife in hand. Tchatka rose rapidly from his fall, and, coward as he was, in self-defence he displayed skill and strength. He seized the arm of his terrible adversary, and used every effort to wrest the knife. As the combat in front of the line had ceased, the Assiniboins, perceiving the absence of their chief, returned to look for him. They found him prostrate, and still combating with this powerful enemy. The Black-Foot now disengaged, raised his arm to plunge his knife into the heart of Tchatka, when he received the blow of a tomahawk on his skull, which stretched him without consciousness beside his vanquished adversary. The latter, in his turn, seized the murderous instrument and finished the Black-Foot. On rising he shouted : " Friends, behold the chief of the Black-Feet, for his medal reveals and proclaims him! I hold in my hand the knife of Mattan Zia (Bear's-Foot), whose mighty deeds you know, and who has been, during many years, the terror of our nation." With the same bloodstained knife he scalped him and cut off his two hands, in order to accomplish the last point of his great prophecy, which will be repeated from father to son among the Assiniboins, to the last generation. On this occasion Tchatka received the third name, Minayougha, or the Knifeholder.
The whole tribe gave themselves up to a delirium of joy, which I could not describe, when the expedition returned with so many trophies gained from their most cruel enemies. The dances and incantations to the sound of the mysterious drum, and the public rejoicing which commonly accompany the scalps, were renewed a hundred times during the space of a single moon. The glory of Tchatka and his manitous was chanted in the whole camp. They announced him, with the highest acclamations, the Minayougha and the Wah-kon-Tangka par excellence, whom none could resist. He lost none of the advantages which he had gained in public opinion by his profound and cruel stratagem. The whole command of the tribe was intrusted to him, and never chief among the Assiniboins attracted so much respect and fear.
Like a true bashaw, or modern Mormon, he selected three wives at once, without even consulting them. Two of these had been already betrothed to two young and very influential warriors. Notwithstanding their protest, the parents believed themselves honored in being allied to the family of the great chief, by the choice which he made of their daughters, and they were conducted to the lodge of Tchatka. To maintain peace in his new household, and put the discontented in good-humor, by destroying every hope, lie gave orders to one of his partisans to poison, in secret, his two competitors. The better to shield himself from all suspicion, he set off in the chase. On his return, they gave him the news of their death. He contented himself by saying,"that those who were capable of contradicting him in the smallest trifles, or who presumed to despise his power, were in imminent clanger of death."
In this manner the principal accomplice associated with Tchatka, for executing his numerous poisonings, fulfilled his mandates. We shall say a word concerning the relations in which these two detestable men stood. The hidden abettor was a near relative of the chief. He was about five feet in height, and of a robust and vigorous frame. He had lost an eye in a quarrel with a young man; over the other hung a great flap of flesh, beginning from the middle of his forehead, and extending as far as his under jaw. He had a flat nose, thick lips, a large, gaping mouth, which displayed two rows of oval teeth, as white as ivory. He concealed lightly his ugly frontispiece under tufts of thick, filthy black hair, matted together with gum and resin, mingled with vermilion. For several years, when lie visited Fort Union, at the mouth of the Yellowstone, he was the terror of all the children, for it was impossible to meet a human face more frightful and more loathsome. Undoubtedly, the marks of contempt that he everywhere received, on account of his exterior, excited in him the inveterate hatred that he bore to his race. The. artful- Tchatka, perceiving some advantages that he might draw from a man of this nature, in the execution of his designs, had long before taken him as associate. He always treated him with kindness, made him presents, sought his confidence on various occasions, and flattered his vicious inclinations. He could, in consequence, always rely upon this man, when there was occasion to injure his equals, and the poison had been administered so adroitly to the two young warriors that neither he nor Tchatka were suspected. On the contrary, in the opinion of the whole tribe, a new gem had been added to the brilliant reputation of Wah-kon Tangka, who could, when distant or near, control the lives of his subjects.
During the first years that Tchatka found himself at the head of his tribe, success very generally crowned all his undertakings, and his renown passed into all the neighboring tribes. However, it sometimes happened that his warriors were beaten. On, such occasions he was always the first to take flight, giving for excuse to his comrades that his great medicine (his drum carried him away in spite of himself. It was most prudent to credit his word, for should any one be so rash as to doubt, he would be scarcely sure of escaping the sudden and mysterious death which seemed promptly to attack all his enemies in his own camp.
In 1830, after having predicted success, he experienced his first great defeat, on the part of the Black-Feet, leaving on the plain beyond sixty warriors slain, and nearly an equal cumber wounded. From this moment dates the commencement of his fall; the prestige which hitherto surrounded hiss name and his deeds began to fail. About this time the fur-company had received a new and very large stock of provisions -at Fort Union. It bad been furnished during two years with merchandise, for executing the treaty among the Indian nations in Upper Missouri.
In hopes of repairing, in some manner, the great loss that be bad just undergone, to arouse the dejected courage of his soldiers, to "cover the dead,"-that is to say, to put an end to the mourning in the families which bad lost near kindred in the last battle, Tchatka promised them boldly, " that he would render them all rich, and would load them with an abundance of spoils, so that all the horses of the tribe would not be able to carry them. He bad been favored with a new dream,-a dream which will not deceive them, provided they enter into his designs, and that they be faithful in the execution of his orders." He had formed the project of seizing Fort Union, with a band of two hundred select warriors: Tchatka presented himself there. He affected a singular friendship for the whites. He attempted to make the superintendent, M. M-, believe that he was en route, with his band, for the country of the Minataries of Missouri, their enemies; that they had need of some munitions of war; and that they intended continuing on their way at daybreak. Hospitality was kindly accorded to them. The chief played his part so well, that the ordinary precaution of disarming guests, and putting their weapons under lock and key, was neglected on this occasion. The plan that Tchatka had developed to his warriors, was, to retire to the different chambers of the fort, and to massacre, during their sleep, at a given signal, all those who occupied them. By a happy incident, some clays previous to this enterprise, all the Canadian employees at the fort, to the number of about eighty, bad come to Fort Union for goods to trade with the Crows and the Black-Feet. Notwithstanding this strong reinforcement, the savages might have succeeded in their design. An Assiniboin had a sister married to one of the merchants from the North. Desirous of saving the life of his sister, and -of sheltering her in the melee which was to take place, he communicated to her, under the strictest secrecy, the intentions of the chief, inviting her to come and pass the night in his room, that he might the better protect her. The woman promised to follow him ; but went immediately to warn her husband against the danger which menaced him as well as all the whites at the fort. The husband announced the plot to the superintendent and to all the gentlemen i n charge.
The employees, one after the other, were called, without arousing the least suspicion. They quitted their apartments quietly, were armed in the twinkling of an eye, took possession of the two bastions and of all the important points of the fort. When all the precautions were taken, Tchatka, and the principal braves of his band were invited to repair to the parlor of the commandant, who openly reproached them with their black treachery. Giving no heed to their protestations, he gave them their choice, either to quit the fort without blows, or to be chased from it by the big guns (cannon), which were levelled at them. Tchatka accepted the former without hesitation, and instantly withdrew, confused and vexed at having lost so fine an opportunity of enriching himself and his tribe, at having failed in his promise; and in the accomplishment of his pretended dream.
Tchatka had exhausted all his medicine sack, or provision of poisons. His former Northern friends had refused to furnish him any more. He was absolutely determined on procuring some, for poison was his only means of getting rid of those who opposed his ambition or contradicted him in his plans. He performed his diabolical deeds with such skill and secrecy, that the Indians were firmly persuaded that their chief had only to will it, and they would die. Hence their abject submission to his every and least caprice. This people, formerly free ,is air, was reduced, during a succession of years, to the condition of slaves to the most cowardly and pitiless tyrant.
In the course of the year 1836, Tchatka, presented himself again at Fort Union, at the head of a hand of hunters. They went there to sell their peltry,-viz., buffalo-robes, beaver-skins, and the fur of badgers, foxes, beam, deer, goats, and big-horns; in a word, the fruits of their-hunting excursions, in exhange for tobacco, ornaments, blankets, guns, ammunition, knives, daggers, and lances. A large portion of the peltry belonged to Tchatka. He offered them to a merchant for a very small quantity of tobacco, telling him, secretly, "that he was in absolute want of poison, whatever it might cost," and begging him to procure a large amount; without which, the charm which surrounded him among his people would abandon him hopelessly." His proposition was heard with great horror. He only received in reply severe representations on the baseness of his conduct and on his infamous and frightful proceedings. But these were ineffectual on his perverted heart, hardened by an astonishing succession of unheard-of crimes and atrocities. He left the fort with evident tokens of discontent, at having been frustrated in his attempt.
During the two years which succeeded, Tchatka conducted several war-parties, sometimes with success and sometimes with reverses. It was perceptible that his years were advancing; that his manitous were less faithful than formerly; that his predictions were no longer realized ; that those who criticised his arrangements lived, notwithstanding. Several even dared to defy his power.
In the spring of 1838, the small-pox (it was not well known how) was communicated to the Indian tribes in Upper Missouri. The ravages of this disease entirely changed the position which Tchatka had hitherto held among the Indians. The fine camp of Tchatka, composed of twelve hundred warriors, was reduced, in this single season, to eighty men capable of bearing arms. Other tribes experienced trials still more severely. This scourge counted more than 10,000 victims among the Crows and the Black-Feet ; the Minataries were reduced from one thousand to five hundred; the Mandans, the noblest among the races in the Upper Missouri, counting six hundred warriors before the epidemic, were reduced to thirty-two, others say to nineteen solely ! A great number committed suicide, in despair ; some with their lances and other warlike instruments, but the greater part by throwing themselves from a high rock which overlooks the Missouri.
In the course of the following year, Tchatka formed the design of seizing, by stratagem, the large village of the Mandans, and of taking all the horses and effects which they could find in it.
The village of the Mandans was then permanent, and in the neighborhood of the present site of Fort Clark. About five miles lower dwelt the Arickaras, new allies and friends of the Mandans, who numbered about five hundred warriors, and had escaped the contagion, because they were absent in the hunting-grounds when the scourge broke out.
Tchatka was ignorant of the circumstances of the position of the Arickaras, in respect to the Mandans, and had scarcely given a thought to the proximity, of the two tribes. Having collected the sad remnant of his warriors, be communicated to them the design he had formed. `We will go," said he, "to offer the calumet of peace to the Mandans. They will accept it -with joy," added he, "for they are feeble, and have the hope of finding in us a protection against the Sioux, their most furious enemies. As soon as we are admitted in the village, under these appearances of friendship, we will scatter ourselves here and there throughout their lodges, then, by a simultaneous movement, we will fall, with cutlass and dagger, on all that remains of the Mandans.
(* I have mentioned the Mandans, and some of their traditions, in several of my letters. Their Indian name is See-pohs-ka-nu-ma-ka-kee, which signifies a partridge. They have a remarkable tradition concerning the delude. On a high hill existing in their territory, they say that the trig canoe (the ark) rested. Every year, when the willow buds, they celebrate this event by grand festivals and noisy ceremonies. Their tradition says that the branch brought back to the great canoe by the bird was a willow- branch, full of leaves. The bird they allude to was the dove, and it is forbidden, in their religious code to. kill it.
They cannot escape us. All that they possess will belong to us." The plan appeared practicable to them. Desiring to do something .which might ameliorate their condition, the Assiniboins accepted heartily the proposition of their chief.
The secret of this expedition was confided to no one. They passed by Fort Union, so as to procure powder, as well as the balls necessary, and a few pounds of tobacco, wherewith to smoke peace." Arrived in sight of the village, they stopped, and made signals of friendship to the Mandans, requesting them to come and join them. Tchatka placed himself on a high hill, and beating his drum, be chanted his invocations to his manitous. He deputed twelve men of his tribe, rearing a little flag and the calumet of peace, with orders to smoke it when half way between him and the village. Through good fortune for the Mandans, some Arickaras, friends and allies, when returning from the chase, bad stopped among them. Of all the nations of the Upper Missouri, the Arickaras are considered the most deceitful and treacherous. Tchatka, without -suspecting it, found himself taken in his own nets. He came to overthrow the little Mandan tribe, and then return laden with booty and with scalps. He fell into the snare which he had spread for others, and found himself at the mercy of worthy competitors.
After the Assiniboin deputies had smoked the calumet with the Mandans, the Arickaras set forth with all haste to go and announce to their chiefs this sudden and unforeseen reconciliation. The occasion was very favorable. Immediately the war-whoop resounded throughout the camp of the Arickaras. A few moments sufficed to saddle their horses and arm themselves. They had evidently a great advantage over their adversaries. Hidden by a headland of the forest, in the low valley, or bottom of the Missouri, they filed silently, and without being perceived, into the village of the Mandans.
The ceremony of smoking the calumet of peace is ordinarily prolonged during several hours. First takes place a friendly interchange of news, a conversation in which each party boasts his lofty deeds, or the exploits he has achieved over his enemies, an exposition which is intended to excite the admiration of the opposite party. They then pass to speeches, in which the points in question are to be discussed. If the calumet is accepted, and passes from mouth to mouth, the resolutions are ratified and peace is concluded.
They were at this point, and were disposing themselves to enter the village together, when suddenly the Arickaras presented themselves and shouted their war-cry. At the first discharge of guns and arrows, the twelve Assiniboin deputies lost their lives. Their scalps were at once taken off and their bodies horribly mutilated. It was the affair of a moment. About three hundred Arickaras, shouting cries of victory, mingled with imprecations, directed their steps towards the hill, in order to continue the massacre of the Assiniboins. At the first signal of attack, Tchatka sprang to his horse and fled. The greater part of the Assiniboins, being on foot, were easily overtaken by their enemies on horseback, and soon fell under the blows of the latter. Many among them, however, defended themselves like braves. Notwithstanding their great inferiority in number, they killed three Arickaras ; and, although wounded, were so happy as to gain the forest, and escape the slaughter.
After the battle, the corpses of fifty-three Assiniboins remained stretched on the plain, a prey for vultures and wolves. But where is their leader, the great chief of the Assiniboins? Where was he during the fight ? This famous Tchatka, thisWah-kon-Tangka, this Minayougha, this hero of the great drum had been the first to fly on his fleet horse. But the Arickaras had fresher animals, and pressed on in hot pursuit. As they gained on him they fired repeatedly, and at last killed his horse beneath him. Tchatka rose instantly. The forest is before him; if he can reach it, there is yet a shadow of hope. He spares no effort; fear lends him wings; old as he is, he takes the start and gains the goal before his most impetuous enemies in, the pursuit can reach him. Some of his own soldiers, witnesses of this famous running-match, conferred on him the name of Ta-to-kah-nan, or the wild-goat, the fleetest animal of our plains.
Tchatka rejoined his soldiers in the forest. Thirty only had escaped the tomahawk and scalping-knife of the Arickaras ; the greater number were wounded, and some of them mortally. They were the feeble remains, the last men of a band of twelve hundred warriors. Tchatka hung his head, and hardly dared to look at them. All his nation had disappeared.~ Two of his sons fell in the last -combat. His tchant-cheega-kabo, or great drum, was in the hands of his enemies ; his favorite horse killed. He had no longer a band, over whom he could exert his influence, and accomplish his execrable intentions of poisoning.
After this defeat, the band of Tchatka having become too reduced to form a camp, was united to the " Gens du nord," or Northern people, as they termed them ; that is, to another great branch of the Assiniboins. From that time Tchatka no longer mingled with public affairs. However, he always continued to pass for a great medicine-man, and was sometimes consulted, particularly on great and dangerous occasions. He never ceased, until his death, to inspire all who approached him with a certain respect, mingled with fear and terror.
"As we live, so we die," says the proverb. The end of this wicked chief was not less remarkable than his whole e. What follows I have from an eye-witness. I cite the authority of Mr. Denig, an intimate friend, and a man of high probity, from whom I have received all the information at I have offered you concerning the Assiniboins, and who resided among them during twenty-two years.
In the autumn of 1843, the "Northern People" repaired Fort Union to make exchanges in trade with their pelfry. The first who presented himself at the entrance of the fort, shake hands with M. Denig, was old Tchatka. " Brother,"said he, laughing, "I came to the fort to die among the whites !" M. Denig, attaching no importance to these words,
the aged man repeated them to him anew. "Did you understand what I said ? This is my last visit to the fort. I shall die here !" M. Denig then inquired concerning the health of Tchatka-whether -he felt ill. He spoke of it to other Indians, but all assured him that Tchatka was in good health as usual; they added, however, that before quitting the village he had predicted to them, " that his last hour was approaching, and that before the next sunset his spirit would be in the region of souls." The gentlemen of the fort, informed of this news, ordered Tchatka to be called, and questioned him concerning his strange declaration. They also feared some artifice on his part, and recalled the tricks, deceits, and cruelties that he had practiced on his tribe, as well as his black treason, and his odious plots against the occupants of the fort, in 1831. He declared positively to these gentlemen that he was quite well;, that he experienced no kind of indisposition. He added: "I repeat to you, my hour is come-my manitous call me-I ,have seen them in my dream-I must depart! Yes, tomorrow my spirit will take flight into the land of ghosts!"In the evening he took a good supper, and slept peacefully after, while the other Indians amused themselves during the whole night. On the morrow, Tchatka presented himself once more at the office of Mr. Denig, and had a slight spitting of blood. They tried to make him take some remedy, but he refused, saying : "All is useless-henceforth life is insupportable to me-I will and I must die-I have told you so." A little time after he left the fort with the other Indians, and went to the margin of the river. He soon had a second attack, more violent than the first. They placed him on a sleigh, intending to, transport him to the Indian camp, but he died on the way, in the most terrible convulsions. It was, according to all appearances, the same "grand medicine" which he had administered on a great number of occasions to his unfortunate victims, during his sad and long administration as chief, that at last terminated his own career.
The lifeless body of this too famous chief was carried in great ceremony into the Indian village, twenty-two miles distant from the fort. The whole tribe assisted at his obsequies. The corpse, after being painted, ornamented with their richest decorations, and wrapped in a scarlet-colored blanket and a beautiful buffalo-robe embroidered with porcupine* quills, was at last elevated and fastened between two branches of a large tree, amid the tears, cries, and lamentations of the multitude.
Such was the ascendency that his name and deeds exerted over the minds of the whole Assiniboin tribe, that the place where his mortal remains repose is at the present day an
(* En porc-epic is the terns of the voyageurs. The long quills of the animal resemble those of a bird, and are stripped off by the women in threads, for embroidering.)
object of the highest veneration. The Assiniboins never pronounce the name of Tchatka but with respect. They believe that his shade guards the sacred tree; that he has power to procure them abundance of buffalo and other animals, or to drive the animals from the country. Hence, whenever they pass they offer sacrifices and oblations, they present the calumet to the tutelary spirits and manes of Tchatka. He is, according to their calendar, the Wah-konTangka par excellence, the greatest man or genius that ever visited their nation. The Assiniboins never bury their dead. They bind the bodies with thongs of raw hide between the branches of large trees, and more frequently place them on scaffolds, to protect them from the wolves and other wild animals. They are higher than a man can reach. The feet are always turned to the west. There they are left to decay. When the scaffolds or the trees to which the dead are attached fall, through old age, the relatives bury all the other bones, and place the skulls in a circle in the plain, with the faces turned towards the centre. They preserve these with care, and consider them objects of religious veneration. You will generally find there several bison skulls. In the centre stands the medicine-pole, about twenty feet high, to which Wah-kons are hung, to guard and protect the sacred deposit. The Indians call the cemetery the village of the dead. They visit it at certain seasons of the year, to converse affectionately with their deceased relatives and friends, and always leave some present.
The Assiniboins give their name to the Assiniboin River, the great tributary of the Red River of the North, in the English Hudson's Bay Company's territory. The word Assiniboin signifies stone-cooking people. This tribe had, in former times, for want of better utensils, the custom of boiling their meat in holes dug in the ground and lined with raw skins. The water and the meat were put together in these holes; then large red-hot stones were cast in until the meat was boiled. This custom is now almost obsolete, since they get pots from the whites. The original mode is used, however, on great occasions or medicine-feasts. The Assiniboin language is a dialect of the Dacotah or Sioux. They separated from this great nation for a trifle-a quarrel between two women, wives of the great chiefs. A buffalo had been found by these two women; each of them persisted in having the whole heart of the animal; from words they came to fisticuffs; and in their rage they used their nails and teeth. The two great chiefs had the folly to take part with their better-halves in the quarrel, and separated in lasting discontent. From that epoch the two tribes have been at war.
In this last short recital, I furnish your poets with materials for a new Iliad. The two great chiefs possessed, without doubt, names more sonorous than those of Achilles and .Agamemnon. I leave you to continue the similitude.
P. J. DE SMET, S. J.