Outdoor Life and Indian Stories / Making open air life attractive to young Americans by telling them all about woodcraft, signs and signaling, the stars, fishing, camping, camp cooking, how to tie knots and how to make fire without matches, and many other fascinating open air pursuits. Also, stories of noted hunters and scouts, great indians and warriors, including Daniel Boone, Kit Carson, General Custer, Pontiac, Tecumseh, King Philip, Black Hawk, Brandt, Sitting Bull, and a host of others whose names are famous; all of them true and interesting

by Edward Sylvester Ellis

SHAWANOH,
THE UTE CHIEF

We think that in time to come, you will be wise, and that we shall be friends forever. You see that we are a great people, numerous as the flowers of the field, as the shells on the seashore, or the fish in the sea. We put one hand on the eastern, and, at the same time, the other on the western ocean. We all act together. Sometimes our great men talk loud and long at our council fires, but if you shed one drop of white men's blood, our young warriors, as thick as stars of the night, will leap on board our great boats, which fly on the waves, and over the lakes, swift as the eagle of the air, then penetrate the woods, make the big guns thunder, and the whole heavens red with the flames of the dwellings of their enemies.

"Brothers, the President made you a great talk. He has but one mouth. That one has sounded the sentiments of all the people. Listen to what he has said to you. Write it on your memories. It is good, very good.

"Black Hawk, take these jewels, a pair of topaz ear rings, beautifully set in gold, for your wife or daughter, as a token of friendship, keeping always in mind that women and children are the favorites of the Great Spirit. These jewels are from an old man, whose head is whitened by the snows of seventy winters; an old man, who has thrown down the bow, put off the sword, and now stands leaning on his staff, awaiting the command of the Great Spirit.

"Look around you; see all these mighty people; then go to your homes, and open your arms to receive your families. Tell them to bury the hatchet, to make bright the chain of friendship, to love the white men and to live in peace with them, as long as the rivers run into the sea, and the sun rises and sets. If you do so, you will be happy. You will then insure the prosperity of unborn generations of your tribes, who will go hand in hand with the sons of the white men, and all shall be blessed by the Great Spirit. Peace and happiness, by the blessing of the Great Spirit, attend you! Farewell!"

The grim countenance of the old chief showed the pleasure he felt, as the well-chosen words were interpreted to him. His mouth expanded into a smile, when the pretty present was handed to him, and he was told for whom it was intended.

"Brother," said he, in reply, "we like your talk. We will be friends. We like the white people; they are very kind to us. We shall not forget it. Your counsel is good; we shall attend to it. Your valuable present shall go to my squaw. It pleases me very much. We shall always be friends."

In the month of August, 1813, a peculiar battle was fought near Fort George, by several hundred volunteers and Indians, the latter supported by two hundred English regulars. The Americans surprised the British and Indian camp at daybreak, killed seventy-five and took a number of prisoners. The singular feature of the fight was that the Seneca Indians, who were with the Americans, decoyed their brethren on the British side into an ambush by a series of signals which the others thought were made by friends. Among the chiefs who led the warriors were Red Jacket, of whom we have learned, and Captain Pollard, whose Indian name was Karlundawana. He was now an aged chieftain of the Senecas, held in high respect not only by them, but by the whites, to whom he had always been a loyal friend.