Nevada County picayune., 1888-04-25
ONAT0GA'S SACRIFICE
indian Tradition of a Great Man.
 Eating Bid.

Once. in the long ago. before the white man had heard of the conti- nent on which we live. red men. who were brave and knew not what fear was in battle, trembed at the men ton of great man-cating bird that had lived before the time told of in the traditions known of their eldest chiefs.
 This bird which, according to the
 Indian legends, ate men, was known IS the Piasau
 The fayorite haunt of this terrible bird was q bluff on the Mississippi river. a short distance above the site of the present city of Alton, Illinois. There il was said 10 lie in wait, and to keep watch over the broad. open prairies. Whenever some rash 1n- dian yentured out alone to hunt up- on this fatal ground. he became the monsters prey. The legend says the bird, sweeping down with the fierce swiftncss of hawk. seized upon it's victim and bore him to a gloomy cave wherein it made its hor- rid feasts. The monster must have had an unsuitable appetite or pro longed existence. for tradition de- clarc7 that it dcpopulated whole viii lagrs. Then it was that the wise men began to see visions and to prophecy the speedy extinction of the tribe. Years of it's ravages fol- lowed one upon another. until at length. according to the legend. was lost all reckoning of the time when first that strange, foul creature came to scourge their sunny plains. Years before had died the last of the wise men whose fathers had once hunted the mastodon. or chased the ostrich like diorns. where now the grand sons followed the bison and the deer. The aged men. whose youth was but a dim memory. could say only that the bird was as it had always been. Nothing like it had ever been heard of save in vague traditions carried from the far distant Darien lsthmus. There. the legends ran, near Dolby ba. a wild hurricane had once brought bird-fend that plagued their coast for many weary moon, until wise man caught it in snare. But no snare could save the men Cf the Hi nois tribe. the "lllini they were doomed, Nets, arrows. stratagems planned by the most cunning warri- ors. alike had failed. Still the bird prcycd uponthcm.
 There was one, Onatoga, who be- gan to ponder.
 Now, Onatoga was the great leader of the lllini: one whose name was spoken with awe even in the distant wigwams north of the Great Lake.- Long had he grieved and wondered over the will of the Great Spirit ;that he should look upon the men Of the Western prairies, not as warriors. but as slccr or bison. only it to fill the maw of so pestilcnt a thing as this monstrous bird, Before the new moon began to grow upon the face of the sky. OnatOga s resolve was taken. He would go to some spot deep in the forest. where by fasting and prayer his spirit would become so pure that the Great Mas ter of Life would hear him and once apain be kind and turn His face back in light, upon the lllini,
 Stealing away from his tribe in the night, he plunged far into the track less forest. Then, blackening his face. for a full moon he lasted. The moon waxed full and then waned; but no vision came to assure him that the Great Spirit had heard his pray CTS. Only one more night remained. Wearied and sorrow-worn, he closed his eyes. But, through the deep sleep that fell upon him, came the voice of the Great Spirit. And this is the message that came to onatoga, as he lay sleeping in body. but in ms soul. awake:
 Arise. Chief of the lllini! Thou shalt save thy race. Choose thou twenty of thy warriors; nohle-heart- ed. sttong-armed, eagle-eyed, Put in each warriors hand a bow. Give to each an arrow dipped in the ven om of the snake. Seek then the man whose heart loyeth the Great Spirit Let him not fear to look the Piasau i, inc face but see that the warri-