Elkswatawa

by James Strange French

A warrior, then, a chosen friend of the Prophet, stepped from the crowd, and began howling a dismal song, in a low grumbling voice, and at the same time to move in a slow trot around the throne. The multitude now rose, and joining in the song, followed on in the dance until they had circled it three times, when the Prophet rose, and stood erect upon the highest pinnacle of his throne. The song was now more loud and animated,—the multitude moved with greater activity, and nothing could be more impressive than the reverberation of their voices afar off, in the hollow windings of that huge cavern.

At a given signal, all was hushed, and the Prophet stood erect, with his bare arms stretched towards heaven. His attitude was one of prayer, and his countenance was singularly expressive. His hair, simply parted over his forehead, was drawn tightly back, and fastened; falling thence unconfined, in straight lines, far below his shoulders, and serving from its deep black, to impart to his face a redder tinge than it was wont to wear. His dress was plain, and he wore no ornaments save the rings which were ever suspended from his ears;—but as he moved his arms about, a couchant tiger, beautifully tattooed, and representing the totem of his tribe, was seen to move with every action of his muscles. The humility of manner which marked his first announcement as a Prophet, had now left him, and with a calm and composed look, he gazed for several minutes around him, when he thus spoke:—

“Brothers,” begun the Prophet in a soft, low tone of voice, which gradually increased, until like the rushing noise of a swollen torrent, it was heard forcing its way through every winding of that spacious cavern. “Listen. It is the voice of the Great Spirit who speaks to you in the words of his Prophet. He lives in the winds, he rides on the tree tops, he walks on the rivers, he stands on the mountains. From all he has cried unto me and said, ‘Elkswatawa, go and talk to the red men.’ Tell them of their evil deeds, warn them of their danger and beg them to do better. Elkswatawa was sleeping in his wigwam, when the spirit first came. It said ‘Elkswatawa, awake, awake, go unto the red men and preach the word.’ It told me that the red men had evil ways, that their sufferings were very great, that their hunting grounds were going away far from them, and soon they would have no homes to rest in, no game whereon to feed. It told me that the bones of your fathers were now lying upturned on the fields of the stranger, who once came to you hungry and you gave him food! who came to you naked, and you clothed him in skins—and saying this,” continued Elkswatawa, “the heart of the Great Spirit was sorry, and he said, ‘I made these hunting grounds for my red children, but on account of their evil deeds the white man has taken them away.’”

And here the animal which was concealed within gnashed his tusks and ran howling around the stage on which the throne was erected.

“But,” resumed the Prophet, “while the Great Spirit was sorry for his red children, he told me how to relieve their sufferings, and make them happy as they were before the white man came from beyond the wide waters,—make them happy as our fathers were, when nobody could say ‘this belongs to me, that belongs to you;’ but when the fruits which grew belonged to him who gathered them, and the red man built his wigwam wherever he wished it.

“Brothers, listen! give me your ears while I put his words into them. He is sorry for his red children, and wants to see them happy. He says they must not lie, they must not steal, they must not go to war with each other, nor with the white man—that the white man was bad to his red brothers, and that they ought to go away and leave him—that they ought not to trade with him, nor associate with him, nor follow his example, but above all not to drink his whiskey—that it was poisonous to the red man, and made him give away his lands—that what was good for the white man was not good for the red—that they were two people, and ought to live each after their own ways. The Spirit told me to talk to you, to tie you together, until you were all like brothers—to tell you that though you had different tongues, yet you were one people—to tell you that what was good for one was good for another, that you should think alike, and feel alike, until a wrong done one was felt by all.

“Brothers, listen! I have now spoken to you the words of the Great Spirit; I ask you are they good? Does he ask of you a sacrifice? No. He promises all you wish. Obey his words as the Prophet has spoken, and your lands shall be given back to you, so vast, that the sun shall never go down upon them—and they shall be covered with deer and buffalo and elk, as many in number as the leaves on the trees. The tomahawk shall be buried, and peace like a large bird shall spread his wings over the land—the white men shall go over the waters, and the red men shall again be masters of the country. But, disobey him, continue in your evil ways, and the Great Spirit will sweep you away, and your hunting grounds will be given to the pale face.

“The Prophet has finished, you have heard the words of the Great Spirit, and they stand as firm as the sun in the Heavens.”

He then ceased speaking, and was silent:—the multitude seemed struck with awe and astonishment at the exposition of his doctrines; they were so plain, they were so easily followed, they required no sacrifice, yet promised so much. Each looked at the other and whispered, until the Prophet again rose; then all were silent, when in substance he stated “that in obedience to the will of the Great Spirit, he would now empower some of his chosen servants to aid him in preaching the word, that setting out in different directions, they might spread far and wide the words of the Great Spirit, turn the red men from their evil deeds and give them peace and plenty.”

He then called over a list of the chosen, about a dozen in number, each one being conspicuous in the circle to which he belonged. They approached the throne, and fell prostrate before the Prophet. After a few moments he ordered them to rise, detailed to them the course that each must pursue, the doctrines they must preach, the holy errand upon which they were about to set out, and the great good which was to result from their labours. He adverted to the many privileges to which they were entitled as agents of the Great Spirit, and dwelt upon the evil consequences to which those would be exposed who treated them amiss. Having given a detail of their various duties, enjoined upon them the mode of life they were to follow, and the habits they were to adopt; he ordered them to approach nearer, that they might touch the flesh of the Great Spirit in token of their acceptance of the holy mission. They obeyed, and foremost among the applicants for holy orders now stood Tecumseh. They having approached sufficiently near, the Prophet stepped from his throne, seized a broach which had been lying at his feet, and began to wind up the thread which had been drawn off. At this moment several of the immediate followers of the Prophet, were seen to slip unobserved from the crowd and disappear in the cavern, each one carrying a coal of fire. The Prophet continued winding the broach and seemed as if searching for the end of the thread. A few moments sufficed to show that it had found its way among the skins where the singular figure before described was now reposing, yet the Prophet continued to wind, and as the thread came more slowly and was pulled with some difficulty, the animal within, for so I must designate it, became noisy and restless, making the cavern re-echo with the most hideous yells, and contorting and twisting himself into various shapes, and lashing the staging with that part of his body which terminated in a snake. A moment more and out it burst, screaming and yelling, and rolling around the throne, with eyes like coals of living fire—at the same time was drawn out the end of the string, and to it was attached a motley mass of mouldy beans, lizards tongues, and birds' livers. At their appearance the Prophet trembled from head to foot, and knelt in the humblest attitude of prayer, while at the same time, the most vivid coruscations of lightning were seen to burst forth from various parts of the cavern, accompanied by a dull heavy sound, so violent as to bring from the walls a shower of small crystals, broken loose by the violence of the concussion. With a tremulous hand, and scarcely articulate voice, the Prophet seized the string, and bade his chosen band touch the flesh of the Great Spirit.