Dahcotah Part 22

But whatever they might have felt on the occasion of meeting again, they showed but little joy. Red Face entered the room where were a.s.sembled the Indians and the officers of the garrison. He shook hands with the officers and with the interpreter, and, without looking at his wife, took his seat with the other Dahcotahs.

But her composure soon left her. When she saw him enter, the blood mantled in her pale cheek--pale with long anxiety and recent fatigue.

She listened while the Dahcotahs talked with the agent and the commanding officer; and at last, as if her feelings could not longer be restrained, she arose, crossed the room, and took her seat at his feet!

The chief Hole-in-the-Day has been dead some years, and, in one of the public prints, it was stated that he was thrown from his carriage and killed. This was a genteel mode of dying, which cannot, with truth, be attributed to him.

He always deplored the habit of drinking, to which the Indians are so much addicted. In his latter years, however, he could not withstand the temptation; and, on one occasion, being exceedingly drunk, he was put into an ox-cart, and being rather restive, was thrown out, and the cart wheel went over him.

Thus died Hole-in-the-Day-one of the most noted Indians of the present day; and his eldest son reigns in his stead.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HAOKAH THE ANTI-NATURAL G.o.d; ONE OF THE GIANTS OF THE DAHCOTAHS. Drawn by White Deer, a Sioux Warrior who lives near Fort Snelling.]

EXPLANATION OF THE DRAWING.

1. The giant.

2. A frog that the giant uses for an arrow-point.

3. A large bird that that the giant keeps in his court.

4. Another bird.

5. An ornament over the door leading into the court.

6. An ornament over a door.

7. Part of court ornamented with down.

8. Part of do. do. with red down.

9. A bear; 10. a deer; 11. an elk; 12. a buffalo.

13, 14. Incense-offering.

15. A rattle of deer's claws, used when singing.

16. A long flute or whistle.

17, 18, 19, 20. Are meteors that the giant sends out for his defence, or to protect him from invasion.

21, 22, 23, 24. The giant surrounded with lightnings, with which he kills all kinds of animals that molest him.

25. Red down in small bunches fastened to the railing of the court.

26. The same. One of these bunches of red down disappears every time an animal is found dead inside the court.

27, 28. Touchwood, and a large fungus that grows on trees.--These are eaten by any animal that enters the court, and this food causes their death.

29. A streak of lightning going from the giant's hat.

30. Giant's head and hat. 31. His bow and arrow.

WAH-ZEE-YAH

ANOTHER OF THE GIANT G.o.dS OF THE DAHCOTAHS.

Wah-Zee-Yah had a son who was killed by Etokah Wachastah, Man of the South. Wah-zee-yah is the G.o.d of the winter, and Etokah Wachastah is the G.o.d of the summer. When there is a cold spell early in the warm weather, the Dahcotahs say Wah-zee-yah is looking back. When the son of Wah-zee-yah was killed, there were six on each side; the Beings of the south were too strong for those of the north, and conquered them. When the battle was over, a fox was seen running off with one of the Beings of the north.

These G.o.ds of the Dahcotahs are said to be inferior to the Great Spirit; but if an Indian wants to perform a deed of valor, he prays to Haokah the Giant. When they are in trouble, or in fear of anything, they pray to the Great Spirit. You frequently see a pole with a deer-skin, or a blanket hung to it; these are offerings made to the Great Spirit, to propitiate him. White Dog, who lives near Fort Snelling, says he has often prayed to the Great Spirit to keep him from sin, and to enable him and his family to do right. When he wishes to make an offering to the Great Spirit, he takes a scarlet blanket, and paints a circle of blue in the centre, (blue is an emblem of peace,) and puts ten bells, or silver brooches to it. This offering costs him $20. Christians are too apt to give less liberally to the true G.o.d. When White Dog goes to war, he makes this offering.

White Dog says he never saw the giant, but that "Iron Members," who died last summer, saw one of the giants several years ago.

Iron Members was going hunting, and when he was near Shah-co-pee's village, he met the Giant. He wore a three-cornered hat, and one side was bright as the sun; so bright one could not look upon it; and he had a crooked thing upon his shoulder.

Iron Members was on a hill; near which was a deep ravine, when suddenly his eye rested upon something so bright that it pained him to look at it. He looked down the ravine and there stood the Giant. Notwithstanding his position, his head reached to the top of the trees. The Giant was going northwards, and did not notice the Indian or stop; he says he watched the Giant; and, as he went forward, the trees and bushes seemed to make way for him. The visit was one of good luck, the Indians say, for there was excellent hunting that season.

The Dahcotahs believe firmly the story of Iron Members. He was one of their wisest men. He was a great warrior and knew how to kill his enemies. White Dog says that at night, when they were on a war party, Iron Members would extinguish all the fires of the Dahcotahs, and then direct his men where to find the Chippeways. He would take a spoonful of sugar, and the same quant.i.ty of whiskey, and make an offering to the spirits of their enemies; he would sing to them, and charm them so that they would come up so close to him that he would knock them on the head with his rattle, and kill them. These spirits approach in the form of a bear. After this is done, they soon find their enemies and conquer them.

The Dahcotahs think their medicine possesses supernatural powers; they burn incense,--leaves of the white cedar tree,--in order to destroy the supernatural powers of a person who dislikes them. They consider the burning of incense a preventive of evil, and believe it wards off danger from lightning. They say that the cedar tree is wahkun (spiritual) and on that account they burn its leaves to ward off danger. The temple of Solomon was built of cedar.

Unktahe, the G.o.d of the waters, is much reverenced by the Dahcotahs.

Morgan's bluff, near Fort Snelling, is called "G.o.d's house" by the Dahcotahs; they say it is the residence of Unktahe, and under the hill is a subterranean pa.s.sage, through which they say the water-G.o.d pa.s.ses when he enters the St. Peter's. He is said to be as large as a white man's house.

Near Lac qui parle is a hill called "the Giant's house." On one occasion the Rev. Mr. ---- was walking with a Dahcotah, and as they approached this hill the Dahcotah exclaimed, "Do you not see him, there he is." And although no one else saw the Giant, he persisted in watching him for a few moments as he pa.s.sed over the hill.

Near Lac qui parle, is living an old Dahcotah woman of a singular appearance. Her face is very black, and her hair singed and faded-looking. She was asked by a stranger to account for her singular appearance. "I dreamed of the Giant," she said; "and I was frightened when I woke; and I told my husband that I would give a dance to the Giant to propitiate him; but my husband said that I was not able to go through the Giant's dance; that I would only fail, and bring disgrace upon him and all my family. The Giant was very angry with me, and punished me by burning my face black, and my hair as you see it." Her husband might well fear that she would not be able to perform this dance.

It would be impossible to give any idea of the number of the G.o.ds of the Dahcotahs. All nature is animated with them; every mountain, every tree, is wors.h.i.+pped, as among the Greeks of old, and again, like the Egyptians, the commonest animals are the objects of their adoration.

May the time soon come when they will acknowledge but one G.o.d, the Creator of the Earth and Heaven, the Sovereign of the universe!

STORMS IN LIFE AND NATURE;

OR,

UNKTAHE AND THE THUNDER BIRD

"Ever," says Checkered Cloud, "will Unktahe, the G.o.d of the waters, and Wahkeon, (Thunder,) do battle against each other. Sometimes the thunder birds are conquerors--often the G.o.d of the waters chases his enemies back to the distant clouds."

Many times, too, will the daughters of the nation go into the pathless prairies to weep; it is their custom; and while there is sickness, and want, and death, so long will they leave the haunts of men to weep where none but the Great Spirit may witness their tears. It is only, they believe, in the City of spirits, that the sorrows of Dahcotah women will cease--there, will their tears be dried forever.

Many winters have pa.s.sed away since Harpstenah brought the dead body of her husband to his native village to be buried; my authority is the "medicine woman," whose lodge, for many years, was to be seen on the banks of Lake Calhoun.

This village is now deserted. The remains of a few houses are to be seen, and the broken ground in which were planted the poles of their teepees. Silence reigns where the merry laugh of the villagers often met in chorus. The scene of the feast and dance is now covered with long gra.s.s, but "desolation saddens all its green."

CHAPTER I.

Dark and heavy clouds hung over the village of "Sleepy Eyes," one of the chiefs of the Sioux. The thunder birds flapped their wings angrily as they flew along, and where they hovered over the "Father of many waters," the waves rose up, and heaved to and fro. Unktahe was eager to fight against his ancient enemies; for as the storm spirits shrieked wildly, the waters tossed above each other; the large forest trees were uptorn from their roots, and fell over into the turbid waters, where they lay powerless amid the scene of strife; and while the vivid lightning pierced the darkness, peal after peal was echoed by the neighboring hills.

One human figure was seen outside the many teepees that rose side by side in the village. Sleepy Eyes alone dared to stand and gaze upon the tempest which was triumphing over all the powers of nature. As the lightning fell upon the tall form of the chief, he turned his keen glance from the swift-flying clouds to the waters, where dwelt the G.o.d whose anger he had ever been taught to fear. He longed, though trembling, to see the countenance of the being whose appearance is the sure warning of calamity. His superst.i.tious fears told him to turn, lest the deity should rise before him; while his native courage, and love of the marvellous, chained him to the spot.

The storm raged wilder and louder--the driving wind scattered the hail around him, and at length the chief raised the door of his teepee, and joined his frightened household. Trembling and crouching to the ground were the mothers and children, as the teepee shook from the force of the wind. The young children hid their faces close against their mothers'

b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Every head was covered, to avoid the streaked lightning as it glanced over the bent and terrified forms, that seemed to cling to the earth for protection.

At the end of the village, almost on the edge of the high bluff that towered above the river, rose a teepee, smaller than the rest. The open door revealed the wasted form of Harpstenah, an aged woman.

Aged, but not with years! Evil had been the days of her pilgrimage.