St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1891-02-28
LEGEND OF ASH-KE-MUK.
A Story Of Indian Life In Musko-
ka, Canada.

A Story Of Indian Life in Musko
ka. Canada.
Durlng the summer vacation OF 1875
devoted my leisure time to trout-fish
ang, and Tor this purpose pushed ava,
up into the wild. rocky region of north
eastern Muskoka, Canada, far beyon,
the limit OF any OF my former explora
tions- In the vicinity of Bracebridge
engaged as guide, philosopher and
friend" an old Iroquois Indian, wks
know every inch Of the territory ovel
which, II his own account was to be be
lieved, he had roamed for nearly
eighty years
Ono day as wo sat smoking on the
bank OF . river which my guide said
was the Ash-Se-Muk. the old Indian
pointed to sSpot about twenty feet uE
the face Of lcipice. and said:
You see Ut cave? Wonderful
thing thing hapa shere once; me tell you
looked closely at tho place indi.
GATED. and saw, through . tangled maze
OF wild creepers. what appeared TO be q
dark .sole, some three feet wide and i've
feet hig.i. John said this was the en-.
trance to a. Large cavern. the existence
OF which had been quite unknown to
his tribe. formerly inhabiting the
fertile plain. until revealed to them by
the occurrence Of events which he pro-
ceeded to relate. I will not attempt to
follow the old mans vernacular. but
give the legend in his own simple
words as nearly as can.
IA long. long time ago." said he,
when / was very small boy, my
people. a large band OF the great Iro.
quOis tribe. dwclt upon the good land.
where we stopped last night Game
was plentiful in those days, both win.
ter and summer. The river, then much
bigger than now, was full Of fish. My
people raised much corn. and were con-
tented and happy. Where are they
now? Gone! Gone! All gone but poor
old John! Tho white mans rum and
smallpox, the white mans ways have
swept them from the earth.
'Our head chief, Matchedash. WAS .
great warrior and ruled his people
wisely and we'll He had no sons, and
but one daughter. Minnekoma. besuti-
f0i as tho morning sun, fleot of foot as
wild deer. with eyes like stars, and
hair glossy as the ravens wing. All
the young men Of the tribe laid their
gifts at her feet only to be rejected.
But one brave. O;etka, would not be re-
pulsed. Far and near he sought for the
choicest spoils of the chase and brought
them to her wigw am: yet still she
turned coldly away.
'Ojetka was a crafty, cunning war
rior, and with rich presents bought the
old chief over to cspouse his cSxse. All
was in vain. Minnekoma's face was
hard toward him and she would not
listen. Matchedash was much angered..
but she was his only child and had great
influence in the tribe, and he would not
give her away against her wfll None
could tell why the maiden refused to
marry, unless it might 30 that she had
given her heart to . Huron lover: for
some tine before. Thyendaga. . noted
warrior Of that tribe. with which the
1roquois were then 1t peace. had asked
her in marriage and had offered her
father great wealth in gifts But the
old chief spurned him away, saying
that his daughter must we'd only an Iro-
quOis; and none Of our tribe had seen
the Huron since. Ojetka hid his grief
and put on . careless air to throw Min
nekoma of her guard. but all the time
he was on tho watch: and one evening.
when the sun WAS low. he saw her leave
the lodge and wander slowly away into
the forest
Even Ojctka dared not b seen to
follow or spy upon Minnckona's move
ments, SO he went OF. at first another
way, to the woods and then made wide
sweep to strike her trail Soon be
found this and crcpt along il, sure, slow
and silent as . panther. In . little
while he came to . clear spot where.
had been an old camp and saw Minne-
koma standing there with bowed head,
listening. Pretty soon hc heard the
low call OF . pigeon. and then Thyen-
daga stepped out from the other side.
and clasped the young squaw In his
arms Oietka's heart burned with rage,
and softly he drew An arrow to its head,
but dared not tshoot while the two stood
together. Bime-bye. they turned and
came straight toward him, and now he |
let his arrow fly; but the starry eyes Of |
Minnekoma had seen him! Quick as |
the lightning's fash she bent the |
Huron down. and the arrow passed over
his head. Then, out from his cover |
sprang Ojetka, and, whirling his toma-
hawk in tho air. sent it fiercely at his
rivals breast
But Thyendaga, tall and springy Is
cedar. strong as IN oak, WAS now
ready. and the bright blade whistled by |
without hurt, and, with his own toma-
hawk upraised, in three great leaps he |
was upon his foe. His first blow struck |
the knife from Ojetka's hand. and the |
next buried the Axe in his brain. Down |
like log he fell dead Thyendaga |
shouted . cry OF victory and stopped |
down to tear OF the scalp but at that
moment was seized on all sides 1T once
BY six troquois who were returning
from hunt and had come to the place
OF the fight just as Ojetka fell Now
they bound the prisoner between two
warriors. and taking up tho dead body,
set on to camp singing the song Of |
mourning IS they went Soon the coun-
ell was called. and, although 1t was
clearly shown that the Huron had
killed in his own defense, he was con-
demned to die BY running the gauntlet
That night hs was tied = . tree and |