Travels and Adventures of Monsieur Violet

by Frederick Marryat

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

  During my long absence and captivity among the Arrapahoes, I had oftenreflected upon the great advantages which would accrue if, by anypossibility, the various tribes which were of Shoshone origin could beinduced to unite with them in one confederacy; and the more I reflectedupon the subject, the more resolved I became, that if ever I returned tothe settlement, I would make the proposition to our chiefs in council.

  The numbers composing these tribes were as follows:--The Shoshones,amounting to about 60,000, independent of the mountain tribes, which wemight compute at 10,000 more; the Apaches, about 40,000; the Arrapahoes,about 20,000; the Comanches and the tribes springing from them, at thelowest computation, amounting to 60,000 more. Speaking the samelanguage, having the same religious formula, the same manners andcustoms; nothing appeared to me to be more feasible. The Arrapahoeswere the only one tribe which was generally at variance with us, butthey were separated from the Shoshones much later than the other tribes,and were therefore even more Shoshone than the Apaches and Comanches.

  Shortly after my return, I acted upon my resolution. I summoned all thechiefs of our nation to a great council, and in the month of August,1839, we were all assembled outside of the walls of the settlement.After the preliminary ceremonies, I addressed them:--

  "Shoshones! brave children of the Grand Serpent! my wish is to renderyou happy, rich, and powerful. During the day I think of it; I dream ofit in my sleep. At last, I have had great thoughts--thoughts proceedingfrom the Manitou. Hear now the words of Owato Wanisha; he is young,very young; his skin is that of a Pale-face, but his heart is aShoshone's.

  "When you refused to till the ground, you did well, for it was not inyour nature--the nature of man cannot be changed like that of a moth.Yet, at that time, you understood well the means which give power to agreat people. Wealth alone can maintain the superiority that braveryhas asserted. Wealth and bravery make strength--strength which nothingcan break down, except the great Master of Life.

  "The Shoshones knew this a long time ago; they are brave, but they haveno wealth; and if they still keep their superiority, it is because theirenemies are at this time awed by the strength and the cunning of theirwarriors. But the Shoshones, to keep their ground, will some day beobliged to sleep always on their borders, to repel their enemies. Theywill be too busy to fish and to hunt. Their squaws and children willstarve! Even now the evil has begun. What hunting and what fishinghave you had this last year? None! As soon as the braves had arrivedat their hunting-ground, they were obliged to return back to defendtheir squaws and to punish their enemies.

  "Now, why should not the Shoshones put themselves at once above thereach of such chances? why should they not get rich? They object toplanting grain and tobacco. They do well, as other people can do thatfor them; but there are many other means of getting strength and wealth.These I will teach to my tribe!

  "The Shoshones fight the Crows, because the Crows are thieves; theFlat-heads, because they are greedy of our buffaloes; the Umbiquas,because they steal horses. Were it not for them, the children of theGrand Serpent would never fight; their lodges would fill with wealth,and that wealth would purchase all the good things of the white men fromdistant lands. These white men come to the Watchinangoes (Mexicans), totake the hides of their oxen, the wool of their sheep. They would cometo us, if we had anything to offer them. Let us then call them, for wehave the hides of thousands of buffaloes; we have the furs of the beaverand the otter; we have plenty of copper in our mountains, and of gold inour streams.

  "Now, hear me. When a Shoshone chief thinks that the Crows will attackhis lodge, he calls his children and his nephews around him. A nationcan do the same. The Shoshones have many brave children in the prairiesof the South; they have many more on the borders of the Yankees. All ofthem think and speak like their ancestors; they are the same people.Now would it not be good and wise to have all these brave grandchildrenand grand-nephews as your neighbours and allies, instead of the Crows,the Cayuses, and the Umbiquas? Yes, it would. Who would dare to comefrom the north across a country inhabited by the warlike Comanches, orfrom the south and the rising sun, through the wigwams of the Apaches?The Shoshones would then have more than 30,000 warriors; they wouldsweep the country, from the sea to the mountains; from the river of thenorth (Columbia) to the towns of the Watchinangoes. When the white menwould come in their big canoes as traders and friends, we would receivethem well--if the come as foes, we will laugh at them, and whip themlike dogs. These are the thoughts which I wanted to make known to theShoshones.

  "During my absence, I have seen the Apaches and the Comanches. They areboth great nations. Let us send some wise men to invite them to returnto their fathers; let our chiefs offer them wood, land, and water. Ihave said."

  As long as I spoke, the deepest silence reigned over the whole assembly;but as soon as I sat down, and began smoking, there was a generalmovement, which showed me that I had made an impression. The old greatchief rose, however, and the murmurs were hushed. He spoke:--

  "Owato Wanisha has spoken. I have heard. It was a strange vision, abeautiful dream. My heart came young again, my body lighter, and myeyes more keen. Yet I cannot see the future; I must fast and pray, Imust ask the great Master of Life to lend me his wisdom.

  "I know the Comanches, I know the Apaches, and the Arrapahoes. They areour children; I know it. The Comanches have left us a long, long time,but the Apaches and Arrapahoes have not yet forgotten thehunting-grounds where their fathers were born. When I was but a younghunter, they would come every snow to the lodge of our Manitou, to offertheir presents. It was long before any Pale-face had passed themountains. Since that the leaves of the oaks have grown and died eightytimes. It is a long while for a man, but for a nation it is but asyesterday.

  "They are our children,--it would be good to have them with us; theywould share our hunts; we would divide our wealth with them. Then wewould be strong. Owato Wanisha has spoken well; he hath learned manymysteries with the _Macota Conaya_ (black robes, priests); he is wise.Yet, as I have said, the red-skin chiefs must ask wisdom from the GreatMaster. He will let us know what is good and what is bad. At the nextmoon we will return to the council. I have said."

  All the chiefs departed, to prepare for their fasting and ceremonies,while Gabriel, Roche, my old servant, and myself; concerted our measuresso as to insure the success of my enterprise. My servant I despatchedto Monterey, Gabriel to the nearest village of the Apaches, and as itwas proper, according to Indian ideas, that I should be out of the wayduring the ceremonies, so as not to influence any chief; I retired withRoche to the boat-house, to pass the time until the new moon.

  Upon the day agreed upon, we were all once more assembled at thecouncil-ground on the shores of the Buona Ventura. The chiefs andelders of the tribe had assumed a solemn demeanour and even the men ofdark deeds (the Medecins) and the keepers of the sacred lodges had madetheir appearance, in their professional dresses, so as to impress uponthe beholders the importance of the present transaction. One of thesacred lodge first rose, and making a signal with his hand, prepared tospeak:--

  "Shoshones," said he, "now has come the time in which our nation musteither rise above all others, as the eagle of the mountains rises abovethe small birds, or sink down and disappear from the surface of theearth. Had we been left such as we were before the Pale-faces crossedthe mountains, we would have needed no other help but a Shoshone heartand our keen arrows to crush our enemies; but the Pale-faces have doublehearts, as well as a double tongue; they are friends or enemies as theirthirst for wealth guides them. They trade with the Shoshones, but theyalso trade with the Crows and the Umbiquas. The young chief, OwatoWanisha, hath proposed a new path to our tribe; he is young, but he hasreceived his wisdom from the Black-gowns, who,--of all men, are the mostwise. I have heard, as our elders and ancient chiefs have also heard,the means by which he thinks we can succeed; we have fasted, we haveprayed to the Master of Life to
show unto us the path which we mustfollow. Shoshones, we live in a strange time! Our great Manitou bidsus Red-skins obey the Pale-face, and follow him to conquer or die. Ihave said! The chief of many winters will now address his warriors andfriends!"

  A murmur ran through the whole assembly, who seemed evidently much movedby this political speech from one whom they were accustomed to look uponwith dread, as the interpreter of the will of Heaven. The old chief,who had already spoken in the former council, now rose and spoke with atremulous, yet distinct voice.

  "I have fasted, I have prayed, I have dreamed. Old men, who have livedalmost all their life, have a keener perception to read the wishes ofthe Master of Life concerning the future. I am a chief, and have been achief during sixty changes of the season. I am proud of my station, andas I have struck deepest in the heart of our enemies, I am jealous ofthat power which is mine, and would yield it to no one, if the greatManitou did not order it. When this sun will have disappeared behindthe salt-water, I shall no longer be a chief! Owato Wanisha will guideour warriors, he will preside in council, for two gods are with him--theManitou of the Pale-faces and the Manitou of the Red-skins.

  "Hear my words, Shoshones! I shall soon join my father and grandfatherin the happy lands, for I am old. Yet, before my bones are buried atthe foot of the hills, it would brighten my heart to see the glory ofthe Shoshones, which I know must be in a short time. Hear my words!Long ages ago some of our children, not finding our hunting-grounds wideenough for the range of their arrows, left us. They first wandered inthe south, and in the beautiful prairies of the east, under a climateblessed by the good spirits. They grew and grew in number till theirfamilies were as numerous as ours, and as they were warriors and theirhearts big, they spread themselves, and, soon crossing the bigmountains, their eagle glance saw on each side of their territory thesalt-water of the sunrise and the salt-water of the sunset. These arethe Comanches, a powerful nation. The Comanches even now have aShoshone heart, a Shoshone tongue. Owato Wanisha has been with them; hesays they are friends, and have not forgotten that they are the childrenof the Great Serpent.

  "Long, long while afterwards, yet not long enough that it should escapethe memory and the records of our holy men, some other of our children,hearing of the power of the Comanches, of their wealth, of theirbeautiful country, determined also to leave us and spread to the south.These are the Apaches. From the top of the big mountains, alwayscovered with snow, they look towards the bed of the sun. They see thegreen grass of the prairie below them, and afar the blue salt-water.Their houses are as numerous as the stars in heaven, their warriors asthick as the shells in the bottom of our lakes. They are brave; theyare feared by the Pale-faces,--by all; and they, too, know that we aretheir fathers; their tongue is our tongue; their Manitou our Manitou,their heart a portion of our heart; and never has the knife of aShoshone drunk the blood of an Apache, nor the belt of an Apachesuspended the scalp of a Shoshone.

  "And afterwards, again, more of our children left us. But that timethey left us because we were angry. They were a few families of chiefswho had grown strong and proud. They wished to lord over our wigwams,and we drove them away, as the panther drives away her cubs, when theirclaws and teeth have been once turned against her. These are theArrapahoes. They are strong and our enemies, yet they are a noblenation. I have in my lodge twenty of their scalps; they have many ofours. They fight by the broad light of the day, with the lance, bow,and arrows; they scorn treachery. Are they not, although rebels andunnatural children, still the children the Shoshones? Who ever heard ofthe Arrapahoes entering the war-path in night? No one! They are noCrows, no Umbiquas, no Flat-heads! They can give death, they know howto receive it,--straight and upright, knee to knee, breast to breast,and their eye drinking the glance of their foe.

  "Well, these Arrapahoes are our neighbours; often, very often, too muchso (as many of our widows can say), when they unbury their tomahawk andenter the war-path against the Shoshones. Why; can two suns light thesame prairie, or two male eagles cover the same nest? No. Yet numerousstars appear during night all joined together and obedient to the moon.Blackbirds and parrots will unite their numerous tribes, and take thesame flight to seek all together a common rest and shelter for a night;it is a law of nature. The Red-skin knows none but the laws of nature.The Shoshone is an eagle on the hills, a bright sun in the prairie, sois an Arrapahoe; they must both struggle and fight till one sun isthrown into darkness, or one eagle, blind and winged, falls down therocks and leaves the whole nest to its conqueror. The Arrapahoes wouldnot fight a cowardly Crow except for self-defence, for he smells ofcarrion; nor would a Shoshone.

  "Crows, Umbiquas, and Flat-heads, Cayuses, Bonnaxes, and Callapoos canhunt all together, and rest together; they are the blackbirds and theparrots; they must do so, else the eagle should destroy them during theday, or the hedgehog during the night.

  "Now, Owato Wanisha, or his Manitou, has offered a bold thing. I havethought of it, I have spoken of it to the spirits of the Red-skin; theysaid it was good; I say it is good! I am a chief of many winters; Iknow what is good, I know what is bad! Shoshones, hear me! my voice isweak, come nearer; hearken to my words, hist! I hear a whisper underthe ripples of the water, I hear it in the waving of the grass, I feelit on the breeze!--hist, it is the whisper of the Master of Life,--hist!"

  At this moment the venerable chief appeared abstracted, his faceflushed; then followed a trance, as if he were communing with someinvisible spirit. Intensely and silently did the warriors watch thestruggles of his noble features; the time had come in which the minds ofthe Shoshones were freed of their prejudices, and dared to contemplatethe prospective of a future general domination over the westerncontinent of America. The old chief raised his hand, and he spokeagain:--

  "Children, for you are my children! Warriors, for you are all brave!Chiefs, for you are all chiefs! I have seen a vision. It was a cloud,and the Manitou was upon it. The cloud gave way; and behind I saw avast nation, large cities, rich wigwams, strange boats, and greatparties of warriors, whose trail was so long that I could not see thebeginning nor the end. It was in a country which I felt within me wasextending from the north, where all is ice, down to the south, where allis fire! Then a big voice was heard! It was not a war-whoop, it wasnot the yell of the fiends, it was not the groan of the captive tied tothe stake; it was a voice of glory, that shouted the name of theShoshones--for all were Shoshones. There were no Pale-faces amongthem,--none! Owato Wanisha was there, but he had a red skin, and hishair was black; so were his two fathers, but they were looking young; sowas his aged and humble friend, but his limbs seemed to have recoveredall the activity and vigour of youth; so were his two young friends, whohave fought so bravely at the Post, when the cowardly Umbiquas enteredour grounds. This is all what I have heard, all what I have seen; andthe whisper said to me, as the vision faded away, `Lose no time, oldchief, the day has come! Say to thy warriors Listen to the youngPale-face. The Great Spirit of the Red-skin will pass into his breast,and lend him some words that the Shoshone will understand.'

  "I am old and feeble; I am tired, arise, my grandson Owato Wanisha;speak to my warriors; tell them the wishes of the Great Spirit. I havespoken."

  Thus called upon, I advanced to the place which the chief had leftvacant, and spoke in my turn:--

  "Shoshones, fathers, brothers, warriors,--I am a Pale-face, but you knowall my heart is a Shoshone's. I am young, but no more a child. It isbut a short time since that I was a hunter; since that time the Manitouhas made me a warrior, and led me among strange and distant tribes,where he taught me what I should do to render the Shoshones a greatpeople. Hear my words, for I have but one tongue; it is the tongue ofmy heart, and in my heart now dwells the Good Spirit. Wonder not, if Iassume the tone of command to give orders; the orders I will give arethe Manitou's.

  "The twelve wisest heads of the Shoshones will go to the Arrapahoes.With them they will take presents; they will take ten sons of
chiefs,who have themselves led men on the war-path; they will take ten younggirls, fair to look at, daughters of chiefs, whose voices are soft asthe warbling of the birds in the fall. At the great council of theArrapahoes, the ten girls will be offered to ten great chiefs, and tengreat chiefs will offer their own daughters to our ten young warriors;they will offer peace for ever; they will exchange all the scalps, andthey will may that their fathers, the Shoshones, will once more opentheir arms to their brave children. Our best hunting-ground shall betheirs; they will fish the salmon of our rivers; they will be ArrapahoesShoshones; we will become Shoshones Arrapahoes. I have already sent tothe settlement of the Watchinangoes my ancient Pale-face friend of thestout heart and keen eye; shortly we will see at the Post a vessel witharms, ammunition, and presents for the nation. I will go myself with aparty of warriors to the prairies of the Apaches, and among theComanches.

  "Yet I hear within me a stout voice, which I must obey. My grandfather,the old chief, has said he should be no more a chief. I was wrong, verywrong; the Manitou is angry. Is the buffalo less a buffalo when hegrows old, or the eagle less an eagle when a hundred winters havewhitened his wings? No! their nature cannot change, not more than thatof a chief, and that chief, a chief of the Shoshones!

  "Owato Wanisha will remain what he is; he is too young to be the greatchief of the whole of a great nation. His wish is good, but his wisdomis of yesterday; he cannot rule. To rule belongs to those who havedeserved, doing so, by long experience. No! Owato Wanisha will leadhis warriors to the war-path, or upon the trail of the buffalo; he willgo and talk to the grandchildren of the Shoshones; more he cannot do!

  "Let now the squaws prepare the farewell meal, and make ready the greenpaint; to-morrow I shall depart, with fifty of my young men. I havespoken."

  The council being broken up, I had to pass through the ceremony ofsmoking the pipe and shaking hands with those who could call themselveswarriors. On the following morning, fifty magnificent horses, richlycaparisoned, were led to the lawn before the council lodge. Fiftywarriors soon appeared, in their gaudiest dresses, all armed with thelance, bow, and lasso, and rifle suspended across the shoulder. Thenthere was a procession of all the tribe, divided into two bands, thefirst headed by the chiefs and holy men; the other, by the youngvirgins. Then the dances commenced; the elders sang their exploits offormer days, as an example to their children; the young men exercisedthemselves at the war-post; and the matrons, wives, mothers, or sistersof the travellers, painted their faces with green and red, as a token ofthe nature of their mission. When this task was performed, the whole ofthe procession again formed their ranks, and joined in a chorus, askingthe Manitou for success, and bidding us farewell. I gave the signal;all my men sprang up in their saddles, and the gallant little band,after having rode twice round the council lodge, galloped away into theprairie.

  Two days after us, another party was to start for the country of theArrapahoes, with the view of effecting a reconciliation between our twotribes.