St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1888-08-11

AN ESQUlMAUx BATTLE.
a yIsees E.saeeneat % the Laqasnav
Betweea Two Northers Tribes.
1--WE went into Il one thousand war.
riors on side, and in either army were
twenty chiefs of fame. We fought the
eight at Mamelons, where at sunset We
met the Esquimaux coming up as we
+wcrc going down. Tho Montaignais
whose fathers wigwams stood at Name
Ions. had fought the Esquimaux one
thousand years. and both had wrongs
70 right Ny fsth@ died that spDmer.
and I. fresh from the fields Of France,
headed my tribe You know how
small it was the last remnant Of the
old Leaape root. but every man war
rior. i knew not the right Or wrong
Of II. nor did r Care. I Only
knew our tribe was pledged to the
Nasquapees Of frozen Ungava, and they
were allies Of the Mountaineers, and
hence the hight held us to its edge.
That night We slept under truce. but
when the sun came up, went at it
see that morning now. The sun from
out the eastern sea rose redas blood.
The Nasquapees. who lived as atheists
without . medicine man. cared not for
this. but the prophet Of the Mountain
GERS painted his face and body black n
night. tore his blanket into shreds. and
lay in the sand as one dead Tho Mas
quapees laughed. but We Of the mount
aims knew by that dread sign that our
faces looked toward our. last battle
We made it q brave doom. We fought
till noon upon the shifting sands, nos
gained an inch. nor did our foes, whep
suddenly the sum was clouded and a
great wind arose that drove the sand
so thickly that 1t hid the battle. The
firing and the shouting ceased along
the terrace where we fought.
and a great. Al dread silence
fell on the mighty mounds.
save when the fierce gusts smOte them.
Thus living and dead, friend and foe.
We lay together. our faces plunged into
the coarse gravel, our hands clutching
the rounded stones, that We might
breathe and stay until the wind might
pass. And such 3 wind was never
blown on man before, for It was hot
and came straight down from heaven.
70 that our backs whced as we lay
Aattened. Thus mixed and mingled.
We clung to the hot stones, while some
of them crept in beneath the dead for
shelter. SO both armies chung to the
ground for an hours space. Then,
suddenly. tho sun rushed out. and
shaking the sand from eyes and hair.
and splitting il from our mouths, ut 1t
We went again
..In the pauses Of the wind we,
who fought on either side, heard
shrieks and shouts and tramplings as
of ten thousand feet, and over us were
roarings and blowings and hollow
noises, dreadful to hear, and through
all the battle went the word that the
old dead were fighting. tOOr and that
made us Wild. Both sides went mad.
The dying cheered the living. and the
living cheered tho dead. So went the
battle-the fathers and the sons, the
dead and the living. hard at it. The
waters Of the Saguenay. thousand
feet below. were beaten into foam by
the rush Of fighting feet and the roar.
ing OF q great battle filed its mouth.
Its dark tide whitened with strange
death frofh from shore to shore, while
ever and anon its surface shivered and
shook. And under us ON the high
crest. cloud wrapped. the earth
trembled as we fought, 20 that more
than once as we stood clinchcd, VIC
two. the foe and ]. still grippcd
Tor death, would pause until the
ground grew steady. for its trem-,
blings made us dizzy, then clinch the
derccr, mad with great madness at be
ing stopped in such death-grappls.
Under US all the long afternoon the
great mounds rose and sunk like waves
that have no base to stand upon. The
clouds showed ashes. Mud fell IN
showers. The air we breathed stank
with birthstone and burned bones.
And still it thickened, and still both
sides, now but scattered few, fought
ON, until at last, with q crash, as il the
world had split apart. darkness deep
~ death fell suddenly. SO that eyes
were vain. and we, who were not dead.
unable to find the foe, stood stili. And
thus the battle ended. even drawn, be-
cause God stopped the fight at Name
tons. - The Doom of The Mameions.