USA > Nebraska > Nebraska history and record of pioneer days, Vol. V > Part 11
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*Indians commonly called a priest a "black gown."
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NEBRASKA HISTORY
"I am come hither to see the King in the Name of my Nation and my young People. When shall I see him? All the fine Things I see are nothing if I do not see the King, our true Father and yours, and if I do not hear His Word to re- port them to my young people.
"I was dead some Days ago, but now I am reviv'd, be- cause great Care has been taken of me. I thank you for it, and hope that you will continue it. In short, because you are our Chiefs, speak kindly to me that my young People may be pleas'd when I see them again, and that they may perceive that you are well disposed towards us. This is what I had to say to you, who am your Son, and a Friend of the French."
CHICAGOU.
The following Speech was made to the India Company by the Chiefs of the Indian Nations call'd Missoury, Osages, and Otoptata.
""Tis now Twelve entire Moons since we set out from our lands to this Country. One of our Chiefs dy'd by the way, the others were left on the Sea Shore.
"We were given to understand that the King and Com- pany demanded some of each of our Nations. We are here now before you, but still ignorant of what you want with us. "We are ashamed to see that we have nothing worth your acceptance. We brought with us some Skins and the Workmanship of our Wives, which you that have abundance of fine things of more importance would not have valued, but all was lost in the first Ship that was to have carry'd us.
"We can't sufficiently admire the fine things which we see every day, Things which we shall never forget, and which will rejoyce all to whom we relate them.
"We are very well pleas'd with the Treatment we have met with since we came to this Country, but were uneasy till we arrived.
"Our Seniors each for his Nation, have enjoyn'd and charged us to lay their Demands before you.
1. "They desire you not to abandon them, and hope the French will not only furnish their necessities, but maintain their union.
2. "They complain that they never had any Body among them to instruct them to pray, but one White Band ** lately come thither, with whom they are well pleased.
3. "They desire you to send us back furnish'd with your Promise. They are all looking this way to see us again.
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4. "The French have told us that you consider well in all this Country, and that the Magazines there are yours. We are in your power. Consider how to dispose of your Bodies.
After the reading these Speeches, the Comptroller Gen- eral ordered his Answer to be read to all of them, which was composed with that Spirit proper for conversing with that People, and the better to be understood by means of their In- terpreters. He gave a Copy of it to each of their Chiefs.
Then he caused the presents of the Company to be de- livered to them, consisting of a Habit compleatly French, be- ing a blue Coat with Silver Buttons and Buttonholes, scarlet Waste coats, embroider'd with Silver, red Breeches and Hose, Silver Lac'd Hats, some with red and others with blue Feathers, six ruffled Shirts, six Necks, etc. A Savage Habit, consisting of a Cloth Wrapper, five Quarters wide, with Silver Lace two Inches above the List, which is left there, because the Savages reckon it an Ornament, a Braguet, which is a quarter of an Ell of scarlet Cloth adorned with silver Lace above the Selvage. This they make use of to cover their Nu- dities. And a pair of Mitase, which are Cloth Stockings half blue and half red, which comes up to the Thigh, and are ty'd with Ribbonds to their Sashes.
The Dress presented to the Savage Girl, was a Damask Gown of Flame Colour, with Gold Flowers, an under Petticoat of the same, a Panier, two pair of Boddice, six Lac'd Shifts, and Ribbonds of Gold and Silver, and a pair of Silk Stockings.
THE ANSWER OF THE COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE FRENCH INDIA COMPANY, TO THE SPEECH OF THE FOUR SAVAGES INSERTED IN OUR LAST, WHICH ANSWER WAS PRONOUNCED BY THE COMPANY'S SECRETARY.
Hear Illinois, Missoury, Osages and Otoptata :
"I am very glad that you have heard the Speech of the Company, I see you here with Pleasure. The Company will always think of you, and can never forget your saying.
"They know, Illinois, that you are a Man of Prayer. They conjecture that you Missoury, you Osages, you Optata will hear the Words of the Missionaries that shall be sent unto you.
You have seen how many People the great Onontio (King) commands. You cannot but know how his Riches and Magnificence by his Palaces and Gardens where you have been.
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"This great Onontio is he whom we all obey. He is our Father and the Governor of Louisiana is his Interpreter. He has kindled the Fire of his Council at New Orleans. "Tis from thence all our Thoughts ought to proceed. Hearken not to any other Words but such as shall be deliver'd to you from the place. They will be the Words of the Great Onontio. If you hear them, the Roads will be free, and you will have very good Hunting.
"The Company, who loves you, and takes you into their very Bosom, gives you Tobacco to make your hearts merry, to disperse any clouds that might overcast your Minds, and to keep you in good Humor till you depart. They also give you Cloaths for you to wear here, and others, after the Fash- ion of your own Nation. They made the like provision for the good Woman that is come with you."
On the 22d of November these Savages set out for Foun- tainbleau. On the 24th, they were carried about to all the Princes and Princesses and other Lords and Ladies of the Court, who were fond to see Savages whom to their Surprise they found to have as much Spirit and good Sense as other Men. At night, the Comptroller General carried them to the Duke of Bourbon, to whom the Illinois made the following Speech :
GREAT CHIEF, MY FATHER,
"I know that your Ancestors were mighty Men and great Warriours, who often dy'd their Helmets with the Blood of the Enemies of the French. At this Day you are without your Helmets because there are no Enemies; but you have given to the French their true Mother, who is above all the great women in the World. This is more than beating an enemy. I know also that the Father of the French loves you, and that he commits his Children to your care, and that he hears your Words. Learn therefore of him to be always truly the Father of the French and ours; cause him to think of us, and to love me and my Nation. May you also love us as much as I ad- mire you, and may you be of Opinion that you can never love us too much."
The Duke of Bourbon answer'd the Illinois, That he was much obliged for the advantageous Idea he had of him, and that he could not return a better Answer to his Compliment that by assuring him that he looked upon as a Chief and a great Warriour, and by promising to take Care that he re- turns away contented, and more attached than ever to the French nation.
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His Serene Highness afterwards received the compl- ments of Missoury, Osages and Otoptata, and when he had return'd a civil answer to each, promised to present them next Day to the King as he came from hunting, which he accord- ingly did, and introduced them all dress'd in their Savage Habits into the King's Cabinet, when Father Beaubois pre- sented his Majesty the Illinois and a letter from the Grand Chief, and made the following speech :
SIRE,
"This Savage, who has the honor to appear before your Majesty, is no ordinary Man. Yet tho' the Chief of his vil- lage, and one of the most considerable of his Nation, he has nothing of that Pomp and Grandeur which surround Princes, and which render them so venerable to the people who are under 'em, these being things unknown in America. But what your Majesty will no doubt value him for is, that this Indian, born as one may say in another World, and brought up in the middle of Forests, could conceive so high an Idea of your Grandeur, as so earnestly to desire to see it nearer, and to come and pay you Homage. An unhappy Shipwreck, which chang'd the minds of those who accompanied him, did not intimidate him, and since he has been in France, the sight of what has been the Astonishment of all Foreigners, has still made him the more eager of seeing the Monarch of so potent an Empire. The most considerable Chief of all the Ill- inois nation has a thousand times enjoy'd the happiness of this, as himself ingenuously owns to your Majesty, and has, as one may say, a thousand times regretted that he is so necessary to the French nation in his own country. Vouch- safe, Sire, kindly to receive the Letter which he presumes to send to your Majesty, and be pleased to return a favorable Answer.
"For my Part, Sire, I think myself very happy, that I have this Day the Honour of approaching your Throne, there to be Witness of the Wonders which France admires in your Sacred Person. Permit me, Sire, to beg your Majesty's Roy- al Protection for the Missions of Louisiana, that vast Pro- vince, where there cannot be too many for the welfare of your Colony, and to procure to the many Savage nations that in- habit it, the Knowledge of the True God. Lewis le Grand of Glorious Memory, always made it his delight to protect those whom Providence honours with so holy a Ministry, and there- by to demonstrate that Zeal he had for the Propagation of the Faith. Being Heir, Sire, of his Heroick Virtues, as you are of his rich Diadem, do you show the same Zeal, which
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cannot but be infinitely glorious to you. We have a Right it seems to expect it from your Piety, which appeared so emi- nently in the Choice you have made of the most virtuous Princess of the world, to place her by you on the most August Throne in the Universe.
Extracts from Charlevoix Letters. (From a letter dated at Michillimackinac, April 5, 1721) Volume II, Pages 63-65
Next day, the chiefs of the two nations paid me a visit; and one of the Otchagras showed me a Catalonian pistol, a pair of Spanish shoes, and I do not know what drug, which appeared to me to be a sort of ointment. All this they had received from one of the Aiouez, and the following is the oc- casion, by means of which these things fell into the hands of this person.
About two years ago, some Spaniards, who had come as they say, from New Mexico, with design to penetrate as far as the country of the Illinois, and to drive the French out of it, whom they saw with extreme regret approach so near the Missouri, descended this river and attacked two villages of the Octotatas, a people in alliance with the Aiouez, from whom it is pretended they draw their origin. As these In- dians had no fire-arms, and being besides surprised, the Span- iards easily succeeded in their enterprize, and made a great slaughter of them. A third village of the same nation, and at no great distance from the two others, making no doubt that the conquerors would pay them a visit, laid an ambush- cade for them, into which the Spaniards blindly stumbled. Others say, that the Indians having learned that the Span- iards had almost all of them got drunk, and were sleeping in great security, fell upon them in the night; and it is certain they cut the throats of almost every one of them.
There were two chaplains in this party, one of whom was killed in the beginning of the affair, and the other saved himself amongst the Missourites who kept him prisoner, and from whom he made his escape in a very dexterous manner. He happened to have a very fine horse, and the Missourites delighting in beholding him perform feats of horsemanship, he took the advantage of their curiosity, in order to get out of their hands. One day as he was scampering about in their presence, he withdrew insensibly to a distance, when clapping spurs to his horse, he instantly disappeared. As they made no other prisoner but him, it is not yet exactly known neither from what part of New Mexico these Spaniards came, nor
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with what design; for what I first told you of the affair, was founded upon the reports of the Indians only, who perhaps had a mind to make their court to us by giving it to be under- stood, that they had done us a very material piece of service by this defeat.
All they brought me was the spoils of the chaplain who had been killed, and they found likewise a prayer-book, which I have not seen: this was probably his breviary. I bought the pistol; the shoes were good for nothing; and the Indian would by no means part with the ointment, having taken it into his head, that it was a sovereign remedy against all sorts of evils. I was curious to know how he intended to make use of it; he answered that it was sufficient to swallow a little of it, and let the disease be what it would the cure was im- mediate; he did not say however that he had as yet made trial of it, and I advised him against it. The Indians begin here to be very ignorant, and are very far from being so sen- sible or at least so communicative, as those who have more commerce with us.
Volume II Page 218
On the tenth about nine in the morning, after sailing five leagues on the Mississippi, we arrived at the mouth of the Missouri, which lies north-west and south-south-east. Here is the finest confluence of two rivers that, I believe, is to be met with in the whole world, each of them being about half a league in breadth ; but the Missouri is by far the most rapid of the two, and seems to enter the Mississippi like a conquer- or, carrying its white waters unmixed across its channel quite to the opposite side; this colour it afterwards communicates to the Mississippi, which henceforth it never loses, but hurls with precipitation to the sea itself.
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Shau-hau-napo-tinia was a noted chief of the Ioway tribe. His name means "Man who Killed Three Sioux". He was also called Moano-honga or Great Walker. His boy chum was killed at the age of 19 by the Sioux. Shau-hau-napo-tinia rushed into a Sioux village of 400 lodges killed one warrior and two squaws. He returned with their scalps. He went to Washington in 1837 when this portrait was made.
STATEMENT OF THE OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT, CIRCULA- TION, ETC., REQUIRED BY THE ACT OF CONGRESS OF AUGUST 24, 1912,
Of Nebraska Hist. & Record of Pioneer Days published Quarterly at Lincoln, Nebraska for April 1, 1923.
State of Nebraska.
County of Lancaster
SS.
Before me, a Notary Public in and for the State and county afore- said, personally appearedA. E. Sheldon, who, having been duly sworn according to law, deposes and says that he is the Editor and Business Manager of the Nebr. Hist. & Record of Pioneer Days and that the fol- lowing is, to the best of his knowledge and belief, a true statement of the ownership, management (and if a daily paper, the circulation), etc., of the aforesaid publication for the date shown in the above caption, re- quired by the Act of August 24, 1912, embodied in section 443, Postal Laws and Regulations, printed on the reverse of this form, to wit:
1. That the names and addresses of the publisher, editor, managing editor, and business managers are:
Name of- Post office address-
Publisher Nebraska State Historical Society
Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln, Nebraska
Editor A. E. Sheldon
Managing Editor A. E. Sheldon
Lincoln, Nebraska
Business Managers A. E. Sheldon
Lincoln, Nebraska
2. That the owner is: (If the publication is owned by an individual his name and address, or if owned by more than one individual the name and address of each, should be given below; if the publication is owned by a corporation the name of the corporation and the names and addresses of the stockholders owning or holding one per cent or more of the total amount of stock should be given.)
Nebraska State Historical Society
3. That the known bondholders, mortgagees, and other security holders owning or holding 1 per cent or more of total amount of bonds, mort- gages, or other securities are: (If there are none, so state.) None.
4. That the two paragraphs next above, giving the names of the own- ers, stockholders, and security holders, if any, contain not only the list of stockholders and security holders as they appear upon the books of the company but also, in cases where the stockholder or security holder appears upon the books of the company as trustee or in any other fidu- ciary relation, the name of the person or corporation for whom such trustee is acting, is given; also that the said two paragraphs contain statements embracing affiants's full knowledge and belief as to the cir- cumstances and conditions under which stockholders and security holders who do not appear upon the books of the company as trustees hold stock and securities in a capacity other than that of a bona fide owner; and this affiant has no reason to believe that any other person, association, or corporation has any interest direct or indirect in the said stock, bonds, or other securities than as so stated by him.
Sworn to and subscribed before me this 2nd day of August, 1923. A. E. SHELDON.
Max Westermann, Notary Public. (My commission expires August 4, 1927.)
( Seal)
HECKMAN BINDERY INC.
DEC 94 und -To -Please N. MANCHESTER, INDIANA 46962
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