“He remained for the night. In the morning he arose from his couch; but he was an altered man. A change, fearful and thrilling, had come over him. His eye was quenched; his proud step wavered; and his haughty frame seemed almost sinking beneath the pressure of some heavy calamity. He collected his family around him. He told them that the Great Spirit had visited him in a dream, and had said to him that he had now reached the height of his fame; that no voice had more weight at the council-fire than his; that no arm was heavier in battle; and concluded by commanding him henceforth to relinquish all claim to the rank of a warrior, and assume the dress and duties of a female. The communication was listened to with deep sorrow, but with implicit confidence. He then made known his determination to the nation. They, too, listened gravely and sadly, but admitted the justness of his views. He next returned to his lodge, took down his bow, broke it into atoms, and threw them in the fire. He buried his tomahawk and rifle, washed the war-paint from his face, and took out the eagle-plume from his scalp-lock. After this, he was seen no more among the warriors, and took no part in the councils; but, attired as a female, occupied himself in the most servile and degrading employments, and lived abject, neglected, and scorned by those who once gloried in being his followers!”
The Osages are said to have been formerly a brave and warlike people, and in good circumstances. But disease, and the attacks of the Sioux, of whom they were once the hardiest and fiercest enemies, have reduced their tribe so that not more than 5,500 now remain. Treaties have been made with them, and various efforts have been used, but with small success, to civilize and teach them. They have secured to them, for the education of their tribe, by an arrangement for the sale of their lands to the United States, about seventy thousand dollars. Stipulations have also been entered into to teach them agricultural pursuits.
This tribe are still distinguished for their tall, fine forms, though they have lost their fame as warriors. They have repeatedly moved and jostled along from the head-waters of the White River, and even from the banks of the Mississippi, to the Indian territory bordering on the Creeks, where they now are. The Kansas, formerly a portion of this nation, have seceded from them, and thus impaired their strength. They have been, till recently, engaged in war with the Pawnees and Camanches, and, though thereby reduced, they have a number of able men as chiefs and warriors.
THE INDIANS WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI.
The Omahaws are said to have formerly been a much larger tribe than they are at present, and a terror to their neighbours, being able to muster not less than a thousand warriors. But in the year 1802, they were attacked by the small-pox, and the tribe was reduced to about three hundred souls. The survivors, unwilling to remain in a place that had proved so fatal to them, burned their village, and became, for a time, a wandering people. But they have since returned to their country, north of the River Platte, and built a village on the southwest bank of the Missouri. The Pancas, having been nearly destroyed by the Sioux, after several removals from the Red River of Lake Winnipeg, joined the Omahaws, and, for a time, were merged in that tribe, but have now resumed their separate existence. These two tribes are allied with the Pawnees, and, some twenty years since, their chiefs accompanied some Pawnees and other Indian warriors to Washington, where Big Elk, the Omahaw chief, thus addressed the President.
“My great father, look at me! look at me, my father! My hands are unstained with your blood; my people have never struck the whites, and the whites have never struck them. It is not the case with other red-skins. Mine is the only nation that has spared the Long Knives. I am a chief, but not the only one in my nation; there are other chiefs who raise their crests by my side. I have always been the friend of the Long Knives, and, before this chief” (pointing to Major O’Fallon) “came among us, I suffered much in support of the whites. I was often reproached for being their friend; but when my father came among us, he strengthened my arms, and I soon towered over the rest.”
In reference to the proposition made him to have people come among them to teach them the arts of agriculture, he said:—“The Great Spirit made my skin red, and he made us to live as we do now; and I believe, that, when the Great Spirit placed us upon this earth, he consulted our happiness. We love our country, we love our customs and habits. I wish that you would permit us to enjoy them as long as I live. When we become hungry and naked; when the game of the country becomes exhausted, and misery encompasses our families; then, and not till then, do I want those good people among us. Then they may lend us a helping hand; then show us the wealth of the earth; the advantages and sustenance to be derived from its culture.”