James's Account of S. H. Long's Expedition, 1819-1820, part 3

by Edwin James; Stephen H. Long; Thomas Say

Sunday, 3d. Our chief, who upon the invitation of Clermont visited the Indian camp accompanied by Julien and Clermont's son, returned this morning with two other sons of that chief, and a handsome young squaw, wife of one of them. His reception was not equal to his anticipations; Clermont, however, and one of his sons, each presented a skin of maize; but that chief could not realize the almost splendid offers he had made of guides and horses.

Word was brought to Clermont that the information received yesterday, of our deserters having departed from the village, was incorrect, and that they still remained there. This induced, at once, the offer of every thing they were in possession of, with the exception of the manuscripts alone, to any persons who should bring them to our camp. With this liberal offer Clermont himself, accompanied by Julien, set out for the village to arrest them, but on their way a messenger, whom they met, assured them that they had actually and finally departed this morning. Thus all our hopes of recovering our lost property vanished.

The stature of the Osages that fell under our observation was by no means superior to that of the Missouri Indians, and in very many instances their form exhibited a beautiful symmetry. They do not seem to differ, in point of features or colour, from the Indians just mentioned. But the custom seems to be still more general in this nation of shaving the head, so as to leave only a scalp on the back part and above, which is, as usual, ornamented with silver plates, brooches and feathers.

[107] Their dresses and decorations are very similar to those of the Omawhaws, Otoes, and Konzas; but, from their proximity to the settlements, they are furnished with a great proportion of manufactured articles from the Whites.

Their government, so far as we could ascertain, was of the same description with that of the other nations; and their manners, though perhaps less fierce and warlike, seem to be, with the exception of their vociferous matins, not very essentially distinct.

They have the usual armature of the bow and arrow, tomahawk, war-club, and scalping-knife; but a large proportion of them have fusees, and we saw but very few who bore the lance and shield. They are freely branded by the Missouri Indians with the epithet of cowards. They are, at present, in amity with the Sauks and Foxes; and their friendship with the Konzas, with whom they freely intermarry, seems to have been uninterrupted since the expedition of Lieutenant Pike.

The horses belonging to the Osages are by much the best we have seen amongst the Indian nations, and they are kept in the best order. The Indians generally of this country appear to be excellent connoisseurs of horses, and to perceive any defects in them with a remarkable readiness. One of Clermont's sons possessed a very fine horse, for which the Kaskaia horse was offered, but the exchange was refused.

Horses are the object of a particular hunt to the Osages. For the purposes of obtaining these animals, which in their wild state preserve all their fleetness, they go in a large party to the country of the Red or Canadian river, where these animals are to be found in considerable numbers. When they discover a gang of the horses, they distribute themselves into three parties, two of which station themselves at different and proper distances on the route, which by previous experience they know the horses will most [108] probably take when endeavouring to escape. This arrangement being completed, the first party commences the pursuit in the direction of their colleagues, at whose position they at length arrive. The second party then continues the chase with fresh horses, and pursues the fugitives to the third party, which generally succeeds in so far running them down as to noose and capture a considerable number of them.

The name of this nation, agreeably to their own pronunciation, is Waw-sash-e; but our border inhabitants speak of them under the names of Huz-zaus, and O-saw-ses. The word Wawsashe, of three syllables, has been corrupted by the French traders into Osage; and though the spelling of the latter has been retained by the Americans, we have still farther swerved from the original, by pronouncing the word agreeably to the genius of our language.