Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1867-10-21
An Indian pow.wow.

A portion of a private letter, printed
in the Springfield Republican, from q wri-
ter who has lately attended pow
wow" of the Arkansas Indians, gives
rather a pleasant, but not romantic, de-
scription of the braves of the forest:
II was our first sight of wild Indians,
and you may be sure we improved the
occasion for making our red brothers.
acquaintance. As he is usually pic
tured with a diguiied countenance, re-
sembling Daniel Webster about the time
he said, GAS for me, give me liberty"
We may as well tell you that he looks
like tho Evil One, minus horns and
hoofs. An utterly %depraved, diabolical
~countenance, 80 filthy that it is alive
with something beside animation of ex-
preston, the shrewdest Of inky eyes,
and the look of Shylock bargaining for
the pound of flesh. His very smile is
like the grin Of o skull, which Victor
Hugo calls tho satire of laughter. Tho
principal chiefs present were Left Hand
and Poor Bear Of the Apaches, and Tall
Bull and Black Kettle of the Chcyennes,
Little Raven and Yellow Bear Of the
Arappahoes, besides many lesser lights.
Trading with the whites has somewhat
modified the traditional Indian costume.
Black Kettle was arrayed in @ crimson
and white damask table cloth, over a
lowered dressing gown, whose owners
scalp very likely adorned his string Of
human hair. His own locks were parted
in the middle and reached to his waist (;
they were plated with strips Of fur, sill
yer bands and beads, while the parting
was stained red. Two chiefs wore great
silver medals, with President Johnson's
face thereon. The costumes were all
grotesque in the extreme, and the
squaws were not distinguishable from
the mon, except for their high shrill
voices; the papooses looked like Jumps
of dirt fashioned into q baby. No
I" squaws" but white were admitted to
the council, but VIC visited them after
ward. Mrs. Black Kettle is a bag te-
side whom Merrilles is Venus, and the
Witch Of Endor Hebe. She is a survi-
vor Of the Chiyington massacre, and has
ten bullet holes in her body but there
is enough Of her, such rs it is, to stand
it. We gave her our handkerchief as q
parting souvenir, but have no hope Of
her ever using it. The only English
any n could speak were the words,
"How" when they shook hands, and
"Good," to express approval.
The "~pow-wow" consisted in their
being told, through a woman interpre-
ter, that if they would be nice, good
boys, and not play scalp any more, kind,
soft-hearted Uncle Samuel would pay
them SlOO, 900 or more for the Indian
village burned by General Hancock, and
would give them all the goods they
wanted. And they replied as follows,
Tor words to this effect): "Wishywashy-
ihtiskibumtumgumughug GOO p which
translated, means: 1--WE will 90 home
and ask our tribes about it''-further
than which they were non-committal.
Then followed the pipe of peace, Of
which we took two whifs, much to Little
Ravens delight, and q grand distribu-
ton of goods in Col. Wyncoop's back
yard. These were of very poor quality,
and to see the savage nose go up and
the jeering grunts when some cotton
checked shirts were passed around, vas
very funny. We have seen all Of the poor
Indian we care to, and as we gazed on
the circle Of dirty wretches, it was with
extreme difficulty that we could for
give Christopher Columbus for discov-
ering America