Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1895-11-07
REIMBURSEMENT
hEMOURNS FOR THE VANISHED HAP
PlNESS OF HIS RACE.

Chippewa Talks Familiarly Of the Gus
toms Of His Tribe-He Feels That the
Whites Did the Indian Grievous Wrong.
Tho Paradise That Il Gone.
Before the white men came we were
men," said a Chippewa friend. These
people look back upon their past as upon
lost paradise, in which there were
happiness and innocence. They repudi-
ate the descriptions OF them written by
white historians as the work of enemies,
seeking to justify cruelties and wrongs.
"Our fathers always did what was
right, and they punished bad men. They
were kind and true to their friends and
terrible only to their enemies. We were
great warriors, and we fought for our
own long time. 1t was not the white
me4's arms, but their vices, which
ruined us.
"What makes you think that the old
times were SO much better? You have
good laws, no wars, and the government
will not let you go hungry. Is not this
better than the old precarious and dan
gerous way of living:"
"We did not go hungry. Wehad more
than we wanted. You can see for your
self what we had from what is left after
so much destruction. There was no end
to the deer, moose, caribou, beaver,
lynx and all the smaller fur bearers, and
as for the fish, you said there was no
| fun catching them when you came, they
| were too plenty-trout, bass. pike, pick
| erel, sturgeon-the waters swarmed
| with them. Then look at the wild rice,
nuts, blueberIies, wild plums-oceans
| of them. And then we had cornfields,
and for smoking the .kinnikinic. The
| plains were black with buffalo. We had
no hard work to do. What we did was
manly sport, while it provided us with
food and clothing. And then we were
free, the freest people in the world, with
a whole continent in which to enjoy it.
We are not now what we were. Our
people have become drunkards, beggars
and towards The white man has de-
stroyed us, along with everything else.
I see that you have among your photo
graphs the picture of a Chippewa grave.
That is the grave of the last Of the Five
Brothers, great warriors. You may say
that is the grave of the last of the Chip
pewas, because what were left after the
Seven Brothers and the Five Brothers
were no longer true specimens of oul
great and noble people. The Sever
Brothers were Tecumseh's best men.
They were known all over the Mississip
pi valley, and the Five Brothers, whit
came after them, were as good. They
adopted me when my father died. TIL.
last one died 80 years ago, a very ole
. man."
Tsuppose you think the Seven Broth
; ers made president of the United
. States because he beat them at Tippeca
noe?'
Eyes. they made two, and the Chero
II KEGS made two The white men though
/, it was great thing when, four or fiv'
to one, they could whip an Indian, ant
they made haroeS {. those who did it
That is wha: Qt6E:, man thought o
. the Indian.
=, "What about your sign language ant
picture writing?"
"That is nearly forgotten. Only few
know anything about it, and they ar
: old men. The sign language was wha
J deaf and dumb people have, only it wa
simpler, and all the tribes understood
J it. For example, if you came strange
e to a tepee of a village. a stamp Of tn
foot ON the ground meant that you wer
9 welcome-two or three stamps, that 20
d were very welcome. Hunting signal
q were made with the hands Four finger
n and the thumb down meant q bear
c with the thumb up deer. If lynx Q
e other climber, climbing signs. If tn
q animal were running, the hand wit
~ fingers down made bounding motions
J. If man, the forefinger was held up.
y the man were hiding, the finger We
he closed down to the hand. Picture wri
,e ing was done on bark and was a ma
DO with various signs and animals here an
ts there upon it. A circle meant yell
i. by which the reader was instructed
OF call when he reached certain point. y
&C, "You had a freemasonry for your fan
81 lilies, did you not:'
m "Yes, J. can recognize RELATIVE
&C though I never met him before. The u.
~ for this has died out, but we cann'
ey give it to any one not entitled to it. p"
"What was your totem:'
1.-THE alligator. The alligator can III
II, in the water and on the land. He liv,
to be very old. 1t means long life al
= good luck in hunting and fishing.
r was the totem of the Five Brothers, al
Il they gave it to me when they adopt'