Oregon free press., September 02, 1848, Image 1

OR EG
FREE
RESSa
FOR THE
VOL.!.) WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1848. (NO. 22.
"Here shall the Press the people's rights maintain; Unawcd by influence, and unbribed by gain."
FOR THE FREE PRESS.
A TRADITION OF THE NORTH-WEST LNDIANS.
By an Itinerant.
A superstitious belief in events of a portcnluous na
ture seems to be closely interwoven with the feelings
of man in iiis savage stale. But in no other part of the
world does this he lief appear to have had more control
ovi r his actions and feelings than among the American
aboriginees.
All who are acquainted with this singular race of
men, know the awe that is inspired in the bosom of the
hardy warrior by the cry of the owl near his encamp
ment in the wildness;' or the unfeigned terror that
thrills the iron nerve of the North-west Indian, when
he regards some mysterious event as a warning from
his evil-genius the manilto. But at noollu r lime docs
the supposed harbinger of fate as strongly impiess his
mind with the dread of approaching calamity, as when
the ominous messenger disturbs the councils or his
people. Tradition marks Presque Isle, upon the Mau
ince river, as the theatre of one of these singular visi
tations. A large rock there bears impressions i-iniilar
to a turkey's feel, which have evident! been nj.rat n
upon it with a sharp melalic instrument, by sou e de
signing impostor, to practice, a fraud upon the suj cisli
tious credulity of his countrymen. The Indians be
lieve they were made by the dreadtd inamtlo, which
they assert, exhibited itself upon that sh.nc two nights
previous to their disastrous battle tcitli Gen. Nayne,
in 1794.
A few years ago I visited a Chh f of the Polavii.lomie
tribe a very aged man and inquired of him inspect
ing Ibis singular belief of his people. With a " armlh
and sincerity, which indicated his full conviction of its
trull), he related to me (hat wild and t xlraagui.l tra
dition, which fully confirms Ihe truth of the loiegoing
remarks. As near as memory will pi nnil nu , I shall
relate it in the brief and sun pic manner that it was
communicated to me. That gr at Chu f said
" He whom you call General a) ne, but who is
known to us by the name of " the man that never
sleeps," with his pale-faced warriors, were passing
over oui country like the spirit oi disolatiou. Their
palh was marked by Ihe destruction of our tit Ids and
villages, and the death of man) of mr bra is. We
had cautiously retreated bi fore (hi m watehirg for a
good opportunity to surprise them until we hac. almost
reached the great lakes, and could go no lai tin r with
out abandoning our country like cowards to tlx enemy.
This a true warrior will never do. We chose a place
to fight and called our warriors log ther. I his spot
had been pointed out to our Prophets by the Great
Spirit, and there we eonfid nlly cxp eh d success.
"One night, during the las! moon of summer, our
Chiefs and Prophets all left the main body to hold a
talk, and worship the Great Spirit, the moon, almost
round, had risen high above the trees, and shone
brightly upon our path. We slopped at the bottom of
a large hill, near the Great Miami or the lake. The
shade of the woods upon the hill covered it with dark
ness which the eye could not penetrate. We talked
much about fighting the while men, and some of our
Chiefs wished to smoke the pipe of peace with them
they were afraid of the great white Chief and the war
riors be had with him.. But we knew that our British
friends, who lived upon the river below us, would be
mad if wo did not light, and would give us no more
presents. They would laugh at us too, and call us
women, for we had told them that we should kill the
great long-knife and all his people at this place.
" We therefore concluded to wait upon the ground
where we had left our warriors until the white men
came and then fight them. Our Prophets now com
menced singing to Ibis Great Spirit, that he might be
well pleased, and help us in the coming fight. They
had scarcely commenced singing when a loud cry,
such as I had never heard before, was made in the
darkness on the top of the hill. Our Prophets slopped
singing and we were all silent. The noise grew louder
and approached us. We looked towards each olher,
but kept silent in our places. It was a kind of con
fused sound like Ihe roar of battle when many war
riors are fighting. Soon it emerged from the darkness
and we saw something coming down the side of the
hill towards us. It appeared to be a wolf, though lar
ger than any I had ever seen before, and seemed cov
ered with blood. It writhed itself as if in deep dis
tress. It placed its feel upon that large stone, which
you say you have seen, and looked sorrowfully at us.
Our rifles were in our hands, but we did not try to
iiurt it. After standing a moment it moved towards
the river, and began its cries again though not as
loud as at first but low apd mournful, like the sound
mad by the woundt d brave, when in bis last moments
hetfing his death-sofig. K nG cctatov.'cr iivvent
from us, and the noise grew h ss loud, until it seemed,
like the last sighs of the dying warrior when it
reached Ihe river we heard it iio more.
"One of our Chi. Is now arose, and inquired of our
Prophets the meaning of what we had just seen.
"They all seemed frightened, and told us tlial we
had seen the dreaded manitlo but that they could not
yet lell whether he had come to speak of good or evil
that was to befall us. After talking by themselves for
a long lime, they told us that the white men would
soon attack us and tight very brave at first that after
fighting a while, they would stop their war-cry and
look sorrowfully at us, and Ihen run away, leaving the
ground con end" with their wounded warriors, who
would sing their death so'ig in tones like those we had
just h. aid the manitlo use.
Two days ,.P. r litis the white men came. We be
gan the fight, for we were confident of success. The
pal -fact s diu not seem to mind our fire, but rushed up
on us like a vvoundid bear, drove us from our hiding
places, and killed many of our warriors with the sharp
ends of their guns. The great while Chief had made
his int n drunk and thiy would not slaud and fight us
fairly. My warriors fled and I followed them. In my
flight I passed the place where we had met in council
I wo niglils before. The pale-faces and my people
were lighting there. The "Turkey-foot," a brave
Chief of the Ollowa tribe, was wounded and lying
upon the stone vvnere we had seen the manitlo. Many
m ire were wounded aud lying near him. They were
all singing their dt alli-song. Others had been driven
into the river, aud were falling under the long knives
of the horsemen. 1 continued my flight until 1 consid
ered myself beyond all danger. I then looked around
aud saw one of our Liu. Is coming towards me. He
came near, and falling upon tht ground to die, said
"now we know what the manitlo came to tell us."
" Many moons passed and we smoked the pipe of
peace with the white men. We then went to the
filace where "Turkey-foot" was killed, and found two
arge foot-prints upon the stone where he died, and
our Prophets tell us they were made by the manitto the