Native+American+Second+Series-White+Man's+interactions

Native American Second Series-White Man's Interactions.

Go to this site an look around: []

**Travels in North America during the years 1834, 1835 & 1836, including a summer residence with the Pawnee tribe of Indians in the remote prairies of the Missouri and a visit to Cuba and the Azore Islands.** [|Murray, Charles Augustus, Sir, 1806-1895.]
 * 1

**CREATED/PUBLISHED**

London, R. Bentley, 1839.

This was a disagreeable evening: it had rained most of the day; ourselves, clothes, &c. were tolerably soaked; we could not pitch our tent; and with some difficulty got up a fire, threw some tea into a pot of boiling water, and mixing it with our wet biscuit, found it delicious. It rained all night, and all the following morning; however, we succeeded about mid-day in overtaking our Pawnees; the old chief, Sâ-nì-tsărish, embraced me tenderly, and seemed much grieved at our having lost two horses. We then opened our bales, to ascertain the amount of damage done by mulish freaks and wet. We found most of our biscuit reduced to bad pap; many of our beads blackened with wet powder; and part of the vermilion bestowing its rosy favours among its neighbours, with an indiscriminate generosity which was by no means admired. Our knives were rusted, and the whole package in poor plight. However, our powder and flour were unhurt, and that was a subject of much satisfaction. The Indians assisted us most good-naturedly in spreading and drying all our "goods;" and I do not believe we lost the smallest article, although hundreds of them were standing around. We made a great feast with our wet biscuit and a pot of coffee, and gave as much as was in our power among the Indians, who had little or no food, except such roots as they could pick up. Of these, the principal was an esculent root, something between

Page 266{[|page image]} a potato and a radish, most greedily sought by the Indians when going to the Buffalo country: they are then often reduced to a state approaching to starvation; and I have seen these roots dug out two, three, and even four miles from the regular trail. I ate them, and they appear somewhat nutritious and not unpalatable, but under any other circumstances would be thought tasteless and difficult of digestion. They are eaten raw, and I have never seen any attempt to cook them among the Pawnees; but they are said to be tolerably wholesome, as well as palatable, when boiled or roasted. The Canadian French call them//Pomme blanche;//their Pawnee name I forget, but in the Ojibbeway dialect they are called//Metus-ko-she-min//, or grass-berries; and their botanical appellation is, I believe,//Psoralea esculenta.//Some of the Missouri tribes call them//Nu-ga-re.// No game had been seen or killed, and every hour's experience tended to convince me of the exaggerated statements with which many Western travellers have misled the civilised world in regard to the game on these prairies. I had been now five days travelling through them; and with the exception of a few grouse and the fawn I shot, had not seen anything eatable, either bird or quadruped. 12th July.--The weather continued rainy, and the Indians went but a few miles; the country became less rich in wood and in vegetation of every

Page 267{[|page image]} kind, the only timber that we found being along the creek courses; and the prairie was no longer enlivened by the flowers to which the eye had become accustomed. I went out with a hunter in search of deer: we saw one doe (elk) about half a mile distant, and I allowed my red friend to take the lead in endeavouring to get a shot, in which office he appeared to me very much inferior to our highland deer-stalkers in taking advantage of wind and position of ground, although he would have proved far superior to them in following a foot-track. The doe got sight of us, and made off. We ran her about two miles, without success, and gave up the pursuit. I found it no joke running with an Indian up and down hill in grass three feet high, now and then mingled with tangled brushwood and shrubs. His wind seemed almost as inexhaustible as his appetite, and running quite as easy to him as sitting. I kept up, however, without giving him to understand that I was annoyed by the heat, and cooled myself now and then by wading and dabbling in the creek. After a walk of fifteen or sixteen miles, during which we saw no more deer, we returned to the camp. The following morning was beautiful, but was ushered in by a misfortune, which would be lightly thought of by those, and those only-- "Who live at home at ease,

And little apt to think upon

The woes of the prairies;"

Page 268{[|page image]} the handle of my fryingpan was broken off by an Indian, to whom I had lent it, and our bread, parched beans, &c. must thenceforward be procured at the risk of burnt fingers. I could not evince any anger; for all the savages were most obliging, brought us wood and water, helped to pack our luggage, and during the heat of our midday halt, made a sort of branch-arbour to protect us from the sun.[|*] [Note: * I afterwards found that all these obliging acts of kindness were performed with expectation of proportionate reward; the Pawnee French interpreter confessing that the Indians did nothing "sans dessein." This latter word was used by him, and I have heard it used by other uninstructed Canadian French, to signify almost every category in the moral or physical world: it often signified "malice," "design," "reward," "good sense," "money," &c.] In the evening, we pursued our route, and crossed the Great Nimahaw River, which was not too deep to ford, although it immersed part of the little mule's pack. However, we had a solid and ample supper; as a party of hunters, who had been all day employed in the chase, had brought in two or three elk. The meat was good, but not so high flavoured as ordinary venison. The following day (the 14th) was intensely hot, and the journey dreary and wearisome. Our eyes were not gladdened by the sight of any edible animal; the only visible creatures being larks, blackbirds,[|‡]and now then a hawk or buzzard. After [Note‡: ‡ These prairie blackbirds are the tamest of the bird creation that I have seen in any country, exceeding in familiar impudence the licensed intruder on the breakfast-table of the English country-clergyman in winter, namely, the robin redbreast. They repeatedly perched upon the back of the buffalo, and of our horses, saddled or unsaddled. I have, more than once, seen them venture upon the shoulder of a man; and the young Indian boys practise their early archery by shooting them at the distance of two or three yards.]

Page 269{[|page image]} dinner, at one o'clock, I started off with a party of hunters in search of elk; the sun was burning hot, and my Indian companions walked very fast on level ground and up the hills, while in every descent they indulged themselves with a run or long trot. The grass was up to our middle--I was clothed, and they were naked--and I had to carry my solid double-barrelled rifle, weighing at least twice as much as their light fowling-pieces.[|*]It may easily be imagined that this amusement (with the thermometer probably about 120° in the sun) was rather warm: we went at least ten miles before we found the nearest timber, which was on the banks of the Blue River; here we saw an elk [Note: * Since their last treaty with the United States, the Pawnees receive annually a certain number of guns, as part of the payment for the land ceded by them on the Kanzas river. These guns are light pieces manufactured at Birmingham, and cost about five or six dollars each. Some are tolerably good; but the Pawnees having but lately become acquainted with the use of fire-arms, soon destroy them, by examining, firing off powder, overloading, and other follies. Some they gamble away; and all that they do not either lose or spoil, they exchange with the Haitans and other predatory tribes in the West and South for horses; so that when the pay-day returns, very few efficient guns are to be found in the Pawnee village.]

Page 270{[|page image]} grazing, about half a mile off. I must not forget to make honourable mention of myself, as having been the first to discover and point him out to the Indians; and again I had to remark their want of skill in hunting. We bad crept to within three hundred yards of his feeding-place, when a clumsy fellow showed his head over a neighbouring hillock, and our intended victim made off, and was no more seen. We then moved along the northern bank of the river for many miles, but saw no more game; at length we were obliged to cross. The water was breast high, but not very rapid. I thought that, being once wet, I might as well make the most of the opportunity; so I deposited my gun and ammunition in safety, and remained splashing and swimming about for a quarter of an hour, to the surprise and amusement of the Indians. After a fruitless walk of twenty miles or more, we rejoined the camp. The 15th was again a very hot day; the soil became more barren as we advanced, and the grass much shorter. The country resembled very much some of the//downs//in the southern part of England. We travelled between twenty-five and thirty miles without finding water; and, owing to the extreme heat and our forced marches, one of my horses "stopped short," or "gave out," which latter is the current word in the West. The good-natured old chief (Sâ, ní, tsă-rish) himself remained behind, and with difficulty led on the wearied animal, and

Page 271{[|page image]} thereby did not reach our night-camp till an hour after we had finished our supper: this toilsome and harassing task he undertook unasked, and, at the time, unknown to me. In what civilised country would the courtesy and kindness of hospitality be carried to a higher extent? I was obliged to sell my jaded steed for the loan of a horse to carry his pack, till we should reach the great body of Pawnees, where I was assured I should find no difficulty in obtaining a horse, or such other assistance as I might require.

age to Congress on Indian Removal. Click on the link:
 * 1) 2 President Andrew Jackson's mes

[]

**A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774 - 1875** [|American State Papers], House of Representatives, 1st Congress, 2nd Session Indian Affairs: Volume 1
 * 3