Bisonette Soon
Invited Us To A Feast, And We Suffered Abundance Of The Same Sort Of
Attention From His Indian Associates.
The reader may possibly
recollect that when I joined the Indian village, beyond the Black
Hills, I found that a few families were absent, having declined to
pass the mountains along with the rest.
The Indians in Bisonette's
camp consisted of these very families, and many of them came to me
that evening to inquire after their relatives and friends. They were
not a little mortified to learn that while they, from their own
timidity and indolence, were almost in a starving condition, the rest
of the village had provided their lodges for the next season, laid in
a great stock of provisions, and were living in abundance and luxury.
Bisonette's companions had been sustaining themselves for some time
on wild cherries, which the squaws pounded up, stones and all, and
spread on buffalo robes, to dry in the sun; they were then eaten
without further preparation, or used as an ingredient in various
delectable compounds.
On the next day the camp was in commotion with a new arrival. A
single Indian had come with his family the whole way from the
Arkansas. As he passed among the lodges he put on an expression of
unusual dignity and importance, and gave out that he had brought
great news to tell the whites. Soon after the squaws had erected his
lodge, he sent his little son to invite all the white men, and all
the most distinguished Indians, to a feast.
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