The Arkansaw traveler., 1886-04-03

never QuArretIeN with ms destiny or with the author of it, as those in civi- lized lands do, who take their lives in their own hands and cut them short by suicide, (For that matter seldom, if ever, was an Indian known to commit downright suicide) Alas that there should be any of our countrymen to give currency to such an atrocious say ing as, There are no good Indians but dead ones -a saving that to say the least of it. that the native Indian and the white man of our country are natu- ral born enemies and that We are here only to fight and kill one another
 To be sure, there were some who were the most shameless of heggarS; some who came to Us ottener than need be, and hung around our camp with looks that seemed to say, Give poor dog bone" To such we were sometimes obliged to run the risk of seeming un- civil; and when in their lingo they said Shot-C7p (victuals) We replied by say ing, C0tSshof-eqp, I"d,aa pil'cay (no victu- als, Indian 20 ay)-you can refresh your stomachs on grass seed and lizards
 l have alluded to the policy of feeding them generously As for hospitality on our part II Was really of a dismal sort and it became more and moro dismal aS the winter wore on and finally II be came apparent that If We would say" ourselves from starvation. II would be absolutely necessary to ckr cut our al ready failing store of provisions hy the most rigid economy We had beans sf., arl l.,nt, |. with water as the prevailing ingredient We found we'll adapted to purposes of economy, and Ut the same time appar- ently agreeable to Indian stomachs To be prepared to serve our Indian guests We kept the camp kettle filled with the watery mess \ family ot the old New England pilgrims might have been forced to keep their porridge ln the same way and for reasons very similar
 for H. the legend runs, theirs was bean porridgc hot, bean porridge cold. bean porrldge i'll the pot nine days old But the ott-repcatcd calls of our would be guests never allowed our porridge to at tain the age of nine days before being eaten The rising smoke of our camp fire, far up on the mountain side, was to them a hint that the Merry eats were at home and its light in the evening seemed to draw them. just as Il candle may draw dorhugs on d summer night
 Pah-Wichit, the chief made an oeca- sional visit to our camp One of his visits in particular impressed itself on my memory. Pah.W irhit Was no wild painted-taccd savage, like some of his red brothers of the north It would seem that once, at least, he had visited the Mormon settlements in southern Utah, and learned enough of the Mor- mons to draw the line sharply between them and the Merry For said hcs Merry eats fp-~,ch-,-mg,o tverv good ] Mormons cots (no good Yet Mer- mon civilization had already begun his education by clothing him in her east of garments For the coat h" wore was dingy and grcasc-spotted it had no doubt done service for some cInigrant Mormon lrosclytc and his pants. like the coat, through worId-wandcring, were of stove pipe sheen The hat that crowned his irowzy head was wrinklrd and battered by long service. making on the whole costume" to say the least, very unbccoming ciiritain IL was at the cdg" of evening and w were busy at ttI" calnp-fre preparing our evening meal. Both the camp-kcttlr and the coffee pot were simnering over the coals, when Pah-Wichit, with Il number of his followers made their appearance. and after mutual salutation of How, how Indian fashion. we all gathered around the fire and the chief began hiA wordy haranguc Much of it was Greek to us, but the portions of it ac- companied by signs Were perfectly intel ligible
 He saw fit, at the outset, to remind lis that that region was n domain He said Me one great capitan. and with impressive gesture, he pointed down the valley, but suddenly dropping that sub jcct, he went on to compliment Us by saying Merry-cats to-,ctch-a-p-y5,o Mer- ry-cats have blankets and glancing at the camp-kcttlc he added and plenty of shot-cpp
 With that and much more he pro c"eded to unroll lot of coyote skins. Then pointing to blanket which hap pencd to be near, he intimat"d his desire to trade the coyote skins for 1t. by saving, Merry-cat- swap Of cour~" there was nothing for it but to hand oyer the blanket and take the coyote skins
 But immediately after the trade, the chief saw fit to suggest picnic. by saving 4hotc,p IL wa- d bril- liant if not d friendly. thought on his part for he well knew that his starving people had drawn heavily on our resources of late. and we might very properly have declined it. with the intination that our grub stake vas all ready reduced to the very -malle-t pro portions and that We were then actually discussing the necessity of an early lour- ney to San Bernardino or some settle ment in southern California, to rcplcni-h our failing stock of provisions But then 1t would never do to run the rick of offending th" chief So there was nothing for il on thi- occasion but to make the best of 1t
 The occasion called for some addi tional cooking, and our gue-t- were not backward in taking the initiatiy. at this