Fig. 783.—Record of battle.
Fig. 783 relates that the Indian named Two-Arrows a, of the nation of the Deer c, and the Wolf family d, has gone as an ambassador bearing the calumet of peace to the Bear nation e, accompanied by thirty persons h. In both figures the Indian is not only represented by his “hieroglyph,” but he is also pictured at full length in the first with his arms, and in the second holding the calumet and the rattle.
Fig. 784.—Battle of 1797. Ojibwa.
A historical record relating to a fight between the Ojibwa and the Dakota ninety-one years ago is given in Fig. 784. The following narrative was given by the draftsman of the record, an Ojibwa:
Ninety-one winters ago (A. D. 1797) twenty-five Ojibwa were encamped on a small lake, o, called Zi'zabe'gamik, just west of Mille Lacs, Minnesota. The chief’s lodge, a, was erected a short distance from the lake, m, where the Indians had been hunting, and as he felt unsafe on account of the hostile Sioux he directed some of his warriors to reconnoiter south of the lower lake, where they soon discovered a body of three hundred of their enemies. The chief of the reconnoitering party, b, sent back word for the women and children to be removed to a place of safety, but three of the old women refused to go. Their lodges are represented in c, d, and e. Five Ojibwa escaped through the brush, in a northwest direction (indicated in f).
The Sioux surrounded the lake and the fight took place on the ice. Twenty of the Ojibwa were killed, the last to die being the chief of the party, who, from appearances, was beaten to death with a tomahawk; g represents three bearskins; h, i, and j, respectively, deer, grouse, and turtle, the kinds of game hunted there during the several seasons. The canoe k indicates the manner of hunting along the shore and the stream connecting the lakes, l, m, and o.
The Ojibwa frequently spent part of a season at the middle lake, m, and at another time had been engaged in a skirmish with the Sioux farther north, on the small lake indicated at o. The Ojibwa had been scattered about, but when the attack was made by the Sioux the former rapidly came to the rescue both by boat, p, and on foot, q, so that the enemy was gradually driven off. In the first mentioned battle 70 Sioux were killed, their bodies being subsequently buried in the lake by cutting holes through the ice. The openings are shown at r, the lines representing bodies ready to be cast down into the water.
Baron Lahontan (b) says:
When a Party of (Algonkin) Savages have routed their enemies in any Place whatsoever, the Conquerors take care to pull the Bark off the Trees for the height of five or six Foot in all Places where they stop in returning to their own Country; and in honour of their Victory paint certain images with Coal pounded and beat up with Fat and Oyl. These Pictures continue upon the peel’d Tree for ten or twelve Years, as if they were Grav’d, without being defac’d by the Rain.