It Was Apprehended That He Intended To
Starve Himself To Death; His People Approached Him In Trembling
Awe, And Entreated Him Once More To Uncover His Face And Be
Comforted; But He Remained Unmoved.
At length one of his warriors
brought in a small child, and laying it on the ground, placed the
foot of the Blackbird upon its neck.
The heart of the gloomy
savage was touched by this appeal; he threw aside his robe; made
an harangue upon what he had done; and from that time forward
seemed to have thrown the load of grief and remorse from his
mind.
He still retained his fatal and mysterious secret, and with it
his terrific power; but, though able to deal death to his
enemies, he could not avert it from himself or his friends. In
1802 the small-pox, that dreadful pestilence, which swept over
the land like a fire over the prairie, made its appearance in the
village of the Omahas. The poor savages saw with dismay the
ravages of a malady, loathsome and agonizing in its details, and
which set the skill and experience of their conjurors and
medicine men at defiance. In a little while, two thirds of the
population were swept from the face of the earth, and the doom of
the rest seemed sealed. The stoicism of the warriors was at an
end; they became wild and desperate; some set fire to the village
as a last means of checking the pestilence; others, in a frenzy
of despair, put their wives and children to death, that they
might be spared the agonies of an inevitable disease, and that
they might all go to some better country.
When the general horror and dismay was at its height, the
Blackbird himself was struck down with the malady. The poor
savages, when they saw their chief in danger, forgot their own
miseries, and surrounded his dying bed. His dominant spirit, and
his love for the white men, were evinced in his latest breath,
with which he designated his place of sepulture. It was to be on
a hill or promontory, upwards of four hundred feet in height,
overlooking a great extent of the Missouri, from whence he had
been accustomed to watch for the barks of the white men. The
Missouri washes the base of the promontory, and after winding and
doubling in many links and mazes in the plain below, returns to
within nine hundred yards of its starting-place; so that for
thirty miles navigating with sail and oar the voyager finds
himself continually near to this singular promontory as if spell-
bound.
It was the dying command of the Blackbird that his tomb should be
on the summit of this hill, in which he should be interred,
seated on his favorite horse, that he might overlook his ancient
domain, and behold the barks of the white men as they came up the
river to trade with his people.
His dying orders were faithfully obeyed. His corpse was placed
astride of his war-steed and a mound raised over them on the
summit of the hill. On top of the mound was erected a staff, from
which fluttered the banner of the chieftain, and the scalps that
he had taken in battle. When the expedition under Mr. Hunt
visited that part of the country, the staff still remained, with
the fragments of the banner; and the superstitious rite of
placing food from time to time on the mound, for the use of the
deceased, was still observed by the Omahas. That rite has since
fallen into disuse, for the tribe itself is almost extinct. Yet
the hill of the Blackbird continues an object of veneration to
the wandering savage, and a landmark to the voyager of the
Missouri; and as the civilized traveller comes within sight of
its spell-bound crest, the mound is pointed out to him from afar,
which still incloses the grim skeletons of the Indian warrior and
his horse.
CHAPTER XVII.
Rumors of Danger From the Sioux Tetons.- Ruthless Character of
Those Savages.- Pirates of the Missouri.- Their Affair with
Crooks and M'Lellan.- A Trading Expedition Broken Up.- M'Lellan's
Vow of Vengeance.- Uneasiness in the Camp.- Desertions.-
Departure From the Omaha Village.- Meeting With Jones and Carson,
two Adventurous Trappers.- Scientific Pursuits of Messrs.
Bradbury and Nuttall. - Zeal of a Botanist.- Adventure of Mr.
Bradbury with a Ponca Indian. -Expedient of the Pocket Compass
and Microscope.- A Messenger From Lisa.- Motives for Pressing
Forward.
WHILE Mr. Hunt and his party were sojourning at the village of
the Omahas, three Sioux Indians of the Yankton Alma tribe
arrived, bringing unpleasant intelligence. They reported that
certain bands of the Sioux Tetons, who inhabited a region many
leagues further up the Missouri, were near at hand, awaiting the
approach of the party, with the avowed intention of opposing
their progress.
The Sioux Tetons were at that time a sort of pirates of the
Missouri, who considered the well freighted bark of the American
trader fair game. They had their own traffic with the British
merchants of the Northwest, who brought them regular supplies of
merchandise by way of the river St. Peter. Being thus independent
of the Missouri traders for their supplies, they kept no terms
with them, but plundered them whenever they had an opportunity.
It has been insinuated that they were prompted to these outrages
by the British merchants, who wished to keep off all rivals in
the Indian trade; but others allege another motive, and one
savoring of a deeper policy. The Sioux, by their intercourse with
the British traders, had acquired the use of firearms, which had
given them vast superiority over other tribes higher up the
Missouri. They had made themselves also, in a manner, factors for
the upper tribes, supplying them at second hand, and at greatly
advanced prices, with goods derived from the white men. The
Sioux, therefore, saw with jealousy the American traders pushing
their way up the Missouri; foreseeing that the upper tribes would
thus be relieved from all dependence on them for supplies; nay,
what was worse, would be furnished with fire-arms, and elevated
into formidable rivals.
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