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Show ( 32 ) changed the instruments, and once more tried their supposed mut-l.t cal skill, but avain with out ~my better effect. All the r.ompany, <'X• cept Waanatna antl the four I 1di::m ' Bell es/ laboured under a gener:-d fit of l.au~ht ~ r, ob s~rvi ng the lam entable figures of the two unha ppy anJ d1 sappomtcd f:-t th crs, who w ·snw their commercial-musica l speculation turn to nothing, nftcr they had given up their lovely goofls to the purchasers. At length Carr ·1, apprc h e ndin 1~ some di sagreeDble consequen ces from the father~' despair, and perhaps r C' venfSe, a ~ kcd Arland and Urban, in good earnc.st, \\:hcth er th ex would keep and take along the yQung squaws as t.h etr w1ves? for, 1ft hey wou lrl keep, he propose(\ to the company another sacrifice of two more 1_\,Jnckinaw bl:m lwts in behalf of th e ~r wishes, whi ch was gra.ntcd accordingly; whereupon the two mmJJcians declared their resolutions in the affirmative and at the same time promised to compensate in a fu ture time t~ the company the value of whatever should be added to the blanketR, if necessary or thou ght proper, in justice to the sati. faction of th eir brides' fa thers.' "vVe can not spare any. more rifles,,, said Cnrrel, "nor :my more powder and l~ad, but I thmk we may douhle the value in giving two b.lankets for erther Mrs. Arland and l\1rs. Urban, as Madame Gaston has alone cost much more than the value of six blankets. The di~'~ppoir: .eel f~th ers anrl. would-.he musicians were standing in the mean tun~ d.iscu s.s tng together, castmg now and then their an xious lool\s nt the hv1ng a~d at the wooden objects of their discul'l'ion, when ~a:mata a acqtJa1 nted them with what the company had rel'lokred ~n th etraccount, whereupon t eir hitherto snd and serious conntennn ce ~ . brightened up, like t ho~e of two thirsty dnwkards at the appear- , ance of a bottle filled wrth their favourite liC]UOr. They went directly to ~arre~, who g~v~ t~em the. four blankets without ceremony ~nd to the1r ev1.den! satrsf~ct.JOn, wh1eh they expressed by their un~ mterrnpted. smiles rn rc ce 1vrn~ these ~oods, and in shaking handH, not only wrth Carrel and Waanataa, but al so with Arland and U r ban., whose young wives they tlid not consider now any longer as their own daught ers. "B t f · d ' ' · ·1 . u : my nen s, s~uu .. ~:trrel ~o the company, "it's the highest hme fOJ us to 1e.ave tl11s S10ux village, or else <1ll its marriageable youn~ squaws w1ll become ap;rceable mem hers of our company ;therdore, let-what art" the Indian names of Mrs. Arland and Mrs. U rb?'? ?-.-let them be the last ones who join us." h I he1r Indi an names," replied Waanataa, ";-tre too hard and too long f?r you-Leach ista rnr a and O ta k ~. wandah." · "\ ell, may we nol n')bre viate t 1cm? What do \'OU ~av Ar~ and .and Urban? ll ow ... nuld you be p en ed with Lea :md bta ?'' l~Hpnred Carrel. , Arl~ n '. and Urban replied th at they had no ohjec. t10ns to these aborevJdtJOn ~, if their wivcB themselves had none. Waanataa asked the latter for their opinions, wherenpon Leachistanana and Otakawandah declared them"el vcs to be satisfied wi 1 h the oames of Lea and Ota. \V . e were rnterruptt'd hy the appearance of the old chief, KeeY~·a· , • ( 33 ) trOll. hkum, who came to inform ns, in his own person, of the death ~f his son and intended successor, 1\Ioamatonee, inviting us at the :nme time to attend his funeral. \Vaanataa answered fot· ns in the p oper manner, u. ual on Sllch an occasion, an 'l told us the funera l 1houlu take place on the following day. Our curiosity .,vas not :~. l1ttlc excited to witness the funeral of l\:Ioamatonee ; but as he had not yet been a real commanding chief, we were rather JisappointeJ in our expectation of a great solemnity; for this funeral was a very modest and simple ceremony, without the lea~t pomp; however, its novelty fol' us made it interesting enough, to be recorded here. The corpse was brought to its resting-place without a coffin, only twrapped up in buffalo-skins, on a single hand-barrow or hearse, horne by four warriors and followed by old Kc c wa~ou &hkum with ~·Ioamatonee's widow, her two children and two dog~. It almosl 8eemed to us that the deccaseu had not been very popular among his people, as only very few of them attended his funeral, nnd thi~ was perhaps the reason that Keewagoushkum retired immediately after the arl'ival of the little procession on the funeral ground, a place with four trees, to the tops of which the four bearers of the corpse climbed up, where they fastened the latter, with its skins around it. There it was to decay in the open air. Our brother artist, Manuel, made a sketch at the funeral, while the corpse was put upon the tops of the four trees, and during the - ~peech he added to the figures of those who attenJeJ, (with the exeeption of ourselves,) and illustrated our jourual with that fine draw rng. . . . . On the next day, early m the morn1ng, \Ve took a irrendly le:we ot Keewao-oushkum and his people, who crowded our camp and fol- · }owed us, ~any of them, for some miles; but Yonka's good father ~ accompanied us all the day, anJ stayed with us till the next mormng~ when he bade us and his daughter a last farewell. We had purchased in the Sioux villag r ix In dian r.o~ies, besides the two giv11n hy Yonka's father: she used one for ndmg, and the other for carryi11g her bagga~e; three other ponies. were ':lo,mteJ by Ahihah, Lea and Ota, while the three others carr•ed the1r baggag.e. The five remaining oxen were, like t e mules, constantly kept .m good spirits by our Indian dogs, of which we had a.lso purchased SIX. Thus ou r caravan proceedeli for several days, w~tho d a~y adventures, exrcpl su <~ h as generally occnr to.travellers tn the wddc,·ness, oae of which, ho wever, is worth recordmg. . . . . We were 111 Friday at noon r e. t in <~ ;1nd dtntng m a large rav.rne, whieh we had <'I .·en for bein r· a !ittl-. protected from the cold wmd. th;:~t was blowi 1)~ , while our anl m'JL·'\Vo;; re allowed to j.>asture above nnd arou nd 1s at pleasure, watche•l b) \led and the dogs, the newlymarried couple merrily ba~kin 6 in the honey- noon, played and jested with eJr.h other; whil~.; lllr love.ly "D.aughter of the Phalanx" was eng:1~cd in serious con\:ersatr~n wtth Waanataa; when Max]e takin<r a lonelv wall< at a little d1stance around 01 r camp, ~udde~ly sta ~led us a·ll with a plaintive yel1, quite different from _hi usual 'yodle,' when singing. Waanataa ran mstantly toward htm. |