The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1885-01-31
AN INDIAN POWWOW.
A Religious Rite In Commemora,
ton Of the. Dead.
How It Is Performed by = Remnant Of thu
Menomonee Tribe In Wisconsin-The
Indians Inordinate Desire for
Whisky.

.'Would you like. to attend q pow
wowP" asked my friend Brown, at
whose camp in the pine wood party
of us was stopping, for weeks rest
and few trout.
Wouldn't Ip' was my reply. II
have always desired to witness such a
ceremony" A powwow, as presume
most of my readers know, is sort of
religious rite performed annually in
commemoration of the dead. 1t is gen.
orally held at some place where large
number of Indians are buried together.
'.Well. then, if nothing happens, you
can crafty that desire tonight" said
Brown. Years ago the smallpox
killed off about half the tribe of Me-
nomonees, and their burial ground-or
mound, rather, for they are all buried
together in a great heap-is about three
miles from this place. l saw some In
dams to-day, and, on asking them
where they were going, they told me
that powwow began tonight"
''Are they willing to receive visitors?"
/ asked.
20, yes," answered Brown; nothing
pleases them more"
We set off just before dark. The trail
we followed led through the pine woods
and was so slight that an unframed
eye never would have known there
was one. But Brown, who has spent
most of his life in the woods, has be-
come almost an Indian in the tricks and
accomplishment of woodcraft, and he
seemed to find it easy to keep in the
path without the aid OF lantern which
we had suggested, much to his amuse-
ment. The night was not positively
Dark, but as the sky was full of clouds
the way through the woods was at best
very shadowy and obscure one"
''Harkr' said Brown. as we climbed
to the top of a ridge. We listened, and
heard family sounds that reminded me
of the bowling of wolves, as remembered
from my childhood, which had been
spent in wild, unsettled country where
wolves and other wild animals were
things we were so familiar with that
familiarity almost ''bred contempt"
That's them," said Brown. cts
always the same thing over'n over
Sh'd think they'd get tired of it and
have a change some time, but they
don't"
: AS we went down the long slope of
the ridge the sound began to grow
more distinct. Now it would come on
the wind from the valley and seem near
by; then the wind would die away, and
the sound with it, until it seemed far
off. 1t was a sound between howl
and wall, pitched in a minor key, and
very mournful. 1t suggested grief, and
was precisely the sound you would
expect man to make in expression of
his sorrw if he had no words to express
it in. All people express grief in sounds
very much alike when no words are
used, l think. There seems to be
universal language for the various emo
tons we experience, whether of joy or
sorrow.
Presently we began to see lights shin
ing through the trees. A sharp turn in
the trail led us into clear space on the
side of the hill, from which we could
look into the Indian camp, which was
situated on small stream running
through the valley almost beneath our
feet. The wigwams were at one side of
a clearing of perhaps an acre in extent.
There were probably about thirty of
them. The once powerful Menomonee
tribe is reduced to about two hundred
men, women and children, and is
doomed to become extinct in a few
years. In front of each wigwam
smouldered fire about which the cook
ing had been done. At the other end
of the clearing was circle of fires. fed
from piles of resinous pine split into
small strips. These ignited immedi-
ately and sent out a brilliant blaze.
which gave out a dense black smoke.
which rose and blended in with the
gloom of the pines encircling the little
camp. In the center of the circle of
fires rose large mound, overgrown
with bushes. In this the dead had been
buried in one ghastly heap.
For years they wouldn't come near
the spot" said Brown. "Was afraid
they'd catch the. disease that carried
the others of, you see. There's moth
ing in the world the Injun's SO much
afraid of as smallpox And well he
may be, for it goes hard with EN-,
1t seems that one part of the ceremo-
nies of the evening had been completed
Just before we came in sight of the camp,
for the Indians were standing about in
little groups outside the line of fires.
Most OF them were clad in the gayest
attire, which consists of buckskin leg
gins, q long shirt of gaudy calico, pro-
fusely rufiied, and q blanket. The |
brighter the blanket the more it is
priced, and one of vivid green or flaming |
red Is always selected in preference
10 any other. About each Indians