They are considered by the nations to the south and west of them as a brave and warlike nation; but are by no means a match for the northern nations, who make use of the rifle, and can combat them two for one; whilst they again may fight those armed with bows, arrows, and lances, at the same disproportion.
The humane policy which the United States have held forth to the Indian nations, of accommodating their differences and acting as mediators between them, has succeeded to a miracle with the Osage of the Grand village and the Little Osage. In short, they have become a nation of Quakers, as respects the nations to the north and east of them, at the same time that they continue to make war on the naked and defenseless savages of the west. An instance of their forbearance was exhibited in an attack made on a hunting-party of the Little Osage, in the autumn of 1808, on the grand river of the Osage, by a party of the Potowatomies, who crossed the Missouri river by the Saline, and found the women and children alone and defenseless. The men, 50 or 60, having found plenty of deer the day before, had encamped out all night. The enemy struck the camp about ten o'clock in the morning, killed all the women and boys who made resistance, also some infants, the whole number amounting to 34; and led into captivity near 60, 46 of whom were afterward recovered by the United States and sent under my protection to the village. When the men returned to camp, they found their families all destroyed or taken prisoners. My narrator had his wife and four children killed on the spot; yet, in obedience to the injunctions of their great father, they forebore to revenge the blow.
As an instance of the great influence the French formerly had over this nation, the following anecdote may be interesting: Chtoka, alias Wet Stone, a Little Osage, said he "was at Braddock's defeat, with all the warriors who could be spared from both villages; that they were engaged by Mr. M'Cartie, who commanded at Fort Chartres,[IV-6] and who supplied them with powder and ball; that the place of rendezvous was near a lake and large fall (supposed to be Niagara); the Kans did not arrive until after the battle; but the Otos were present. They were absent from their villages seven months, and were obliged to eat their horses on their return."
The Osage raise large quantities of corn, beans, and pumpkins, which they manage with the greatest economy, in order to make them last from year to year. All the agricultural labor is done by women.
If the government think it expedient to establish factories for the Grand and Little villages, equidistant from both, which would answer for the Grand and Little villages, the other establishment should be on the Arkansaw, near the entrance of the Verdigrise river, for the Arkansaw Osage, as stated by Lieutenant Wilkinson.
The Pawnees are a numerous nation of Indians, who reside on the rivers Platte and Kans. They are divided into three distinct nations, two of them being now at war; but their manners, language, customs, and improvements are in the same degree of advancement. On La Platte reside the Grand Pawnees, and on one of its branches the Pawnee Loups, with whom the Pawnee Republicans are at war. [See [note73, p. 412].]
Their language is guttural, and approaches nearer to the language of the Sioux than the Osage; and their figure, tall, slim, with high cheek-bones, clearly indicates their Asiatic origin. But their emigration south, and the ease with which they live on the buffalo plains, have probably been the cause of a degeneracy of manners, for they are neither so brave nor so honest as their more northern neighbors. Their government is the same as the Osages', an hereditary aristocracy, the father handing his dignity of chieftain down to his son; but their power is extremely limited, notwithstanding the long life they have to establish their authority and influence. They merely recommend and give council in the great assemblage of the nation.
They are not so cleanly, neither do they carry their internal policy so far as, the Osage; but out of the bounds of the village it appeared to me that they exceeded them; as I have frequently seen two young soldiers come out to my camp and instantly disperse a hundred persons, by the strokes of long whips, who were assembled there to trade with my men. In point of cultivation [agriculture], they are about equal to the Osage, raising a sufficiency of corn and pumpkins to afford a little thickening to their soup during the year. The pumpkin they cut into thin slices and dry in the sun, which reduces it to a small size, and not more than a tenth of its original weight.
With respect to raising horses, the Pawnees are far superior to the Osage, having vast quantities of excellent horses which they are daily increasing, by their attention to their breeding mares, which they never make use of; and in addition they frequently purchase from the Spaniards.