Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-11-26
0blu tS35tatesrlraEll,l!,. II,
Indian Life ON JtEs EDatGIEIes.

FROM Is. r. Iayl0rB COrro3p JHdenco IN tno Out-
-ii 70 r1E JuI cago Journal 1TuI ID1 M 1igO9g
Beyond the Missouri, in the wilderness
Is an lndian1Yillage, fortyreight hours from
Chicago, n 1t is as rude and old world-like
as Long "forest primeval."' II might
have been described by the old French I
fathers two centuries agog just as youdsesl
1t, or the illustriOus native Of Genoa,p or J
anybody this side the deluge of Deucalion.
1t is as much stereotype, that village Is,
as a flock of muskrat houses, which itVeTyd I
much Tesem bles. You ride athrOngh,th
billOwy country arounddeScribed,s scanned !
with deep runs" and ireckled like face,
with yellow flowers. You begin to find I
out, now 1t is wanting, how much compa- |
ny q fence may be, running along beside
you ppst-haste as you go,- how much OF
their pictorial beauty the pastures green''
owe to fibck and herd, and how a -Ilttle
sprinkIing of Indians in such scene seems
to date the landscape back to the days of
Misunderstanding, Hawkeye and Pathfnder,
aud you feel as If one Of the old alnanacs
in which the SIS were all f's would answer
as well as any. .I'UI % EiDu 3qH 5IB si-31sI
But two signs of civilizationappear the
| trail beneath you that Is tlaCteUed out into
wagon track, and the little patches OF corn,
| shaped like an old fashioned harrow, that
| lie about OIL the sunnylsides of thehills, be- O
| Titled to vulgar fractions of acres. These
spots of earth have been gently irritated
| by the squaws, and the maize has grown oi
itself, and amazingly tall You are !
nearing the village. Ponies OF all col :
Ops, poor enough to herd with PharOah's,
kline in the lean year-for their masters
have just returned from the buffalo hunt1
are sniUolSing around, dragging after them
long lariats Ofbu utfalohide. Smalllpieees OIL,
bifureated animal copper, rall aliye," but
not big enough 10 say "how," are toltering
about loose, the soul Of shiny black burton
in every eye. Fancy thirty lmuskrat hoases
removed out of their damp Hollandic l. H.
taGlon to dry land, ragged in circle, sud
magnitied to a hight OF twelve or thirteen
| feet at the top of the arch, and with a
circumference, some of them, of torty
Cut a door in the side, and build aDarrow
hall of approach, Pierce, u hole in the top
for the light to 20 in and the smoke to go
out. Set weeds and flowers to growing up
on these homely domes. Lay lazy Indians.
at length upon the sunny sides OF all OF,
them, and you have the picture OF an In
dian summer village.
| Coming nearer, you discover lurking
paths running in every direction amOugI
The tall weeds. SquawsB and children are.
constantly entering and emerging by the
little hall door like the bees of an old straw
hive on a pleasant day. Thesumshines and
the tableauX are various and picturesque.
Here, two squaws, with knives OF bone, are
currying q buffalo robe on the wrong side,
stretched upon four springy sticks thrust
In the earth and holding It tense aud level
as table. There, mother with round
black head in her lap,is examining itscon-
tents. for the ideas of the urehin are pretty
much all external and pediculous, and can
be caught with that fine -toothed rake CALI
ed a comb. Yonder an old grandma with
gray hair sits upon The ground clasping
her knees with both hands and swinging
to and fro, for all the world like my lazy in
her rocking chair. Here group of boys
are shootingiat wild thistle-heads Withrbow
and arrow. The explosive merriment of
the white and black race is wanting.
They laugh inwardly and, silently, the
smoky faces just -brightehirtg up with a
show of teeth at a good shot, and thatslis
all. But the girls have laugh werth hear
ing. 1t bursts out like peal of silver bells
shaken for an instant, and then ceases like
bird you surprised in her song, only to
begin il again in another place. There, two
Indians smoking red sandstone pipe,
One takes few whiffs, and thep the other.
Yonder, a brawny fellow asleep on the roof
of a wigwam. 'ai Hogu ia41oa' Wg.s
|
of a dozen are gathered, some squattng on
their haunches, like hungry and sXpectant
dogs some sitting upon their Heels, and
one full. grown young Indian in a napkin
lies, as our first mothers unpleasant friend
in Paradise; was condemned to travel for all
time !; his heels thrown up like a couple Of
flukes, at one end, and his head on level
with the top of the Kettle at the otherg o "a
"A row of other dogs, only they are fnnr7
footed, form the periphery of this family
party, sort of animated onion; il you
please; YOU peal off an outer rind OF, dogs.
then OfiIndians,c and so ON dirt, dogs and
savages, ountil you come to the kernel,
which is the kettle The chef de cuisine IS
an old Witch in a sort Of aboriginal pettr
coat and short-gOwn, and she is bending
over the Kettle Of boiling fat cooking .'sa ags
biscuit tO-wit! Lumps Df leadenn dough
dropped into the fat. As fast as she forks
them out upon the ground-wliat should
we do without it for everything to fall on /?
IA smutty arm; with a hand at the other
end of it, is reached out and the, lump is
drawn in toward the owner, the lips are
cautiously retracted and the teeth set into
the glowing and greasy morsel, much as "a
horseSmanipulauesy "a thistle. The feast is
over and the dogs lick the kettle. 80.
Passing through eHe-Of-the narrow halls,
built up of sticks, aud sods, you will find
the hollow dOmeas cool as a cavern. The
floor is of hard, well-swept earth, witt a
raised seat or couch runningi round the
wall. Here, a pappoose is yshelved there
a, package of skins; yOnder the drowsey
master of the household. You perceive the
structure of the Awigwani; poles brought
together in theocenter,y thatehed with wild
grass and soddedjwith turf, the amphithea-
| ter ia spacious enough for a large family /: