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Show ~6 , AUTOlHOGRAPHY O.F lican Pawn~e villages? when what was .our consterna~ tion and dismay to find the place entirely deserted. rrhey had removed to their winter quarters. We were entirely out of provisions, having expected to find abundance at the lodges. We searched diligently for their caches (places where provisions are secured), but failed in discovering any. Our only alternative was to look for gan1e, 'v hich, so near to an Indian settlement, we were satisfied must be scarce. I would break my narrative for a while to afford "Some explanation in regard to the different bands of the Pawnee tribe; a subject which at the present day is but imperfectly understood by the general readerthe knowledge being confined to those alone who, by living among them, have learned their language, and hence become acquainted with the nature of their di-visional lands. The reader, perhaps, has remarked, that I related we were on a visit to Republican Pawnee villages. This is a band of the Pawnee tribe of Indians, which is thus divided: The Grand Pawnee Band. " Republican Pawnee Band. " Pawnee Loups or Wolf Pawnees. " Pawnee Pies or Tattooed Pawnees, and " Black Pawnees. The five bands constitute the entire tribe. Each band is independent and under its own ch1ef, but for mutual defense, or in other cases of urgent necessity, they unite into one body. They occupy an immense extent of country, stretching fron1 beyond the Platte River to south of the A.l·kansas, and, at the time I speak of, could raise from thirty thousand to forty thousand warriors. Like all other Indian tribes, they have J.Al\IES P. BECKWOURTfi. 27 dwindle~ away ~ro1n various causes, the small-pox and war having carried them off by thousands. Some of t~e bands .. have been reduced to one half by this fatal dtsease (In many instances introduced designedly an1ong th.em by their civilized brethren); a disease ~ore particularly fatal to the Indians from their entire Ignorance of any suitable remedy. Their invariable t:~eat~e~t for all ailments being a cold-\vater immerSion, It IS not surprising that they are eminently unsuccessful in their treatment of the small-pox. Horsestealing, practiced by one band upon the other leads to ex~erminating feuds and frequent engage:nents, wherein great numbers are mutually slain. The following interesting episode I had from the lips of the interpreter: . So~e thirty-two years ago, during Monroe's adminIstration, a powerfur Indian named Two A xe, chief counselor of the Pawnee Loup band, went to a hi ':Great ~ather," the President, a visit. He w~syove: SIX fee~ htgh and well proportioned, athletic build, and ~s straight as an arrow. He was delegated to WashIngton by his tribe to make a treaty with his Great Father. Being introduced, his "father" made known to hi~ through the .interpret~r, the substance of his proposal: The keen-witted Indian, perceiving that the proposed treaty" talked all turkey" to the white man and "all crow" to his tribe, sat patiently during the reading o~ the ~aper. The reading finished, he arose with all his native dignity, and in that vein of true Indian eloquence in which he was unsurpassed, declared that the tr~aty h~d. been conceived in injustice and brought forth In duphcity; that many treaties had been signed by Indians of their "Great Father's" concoction, where- |
