Next to them, at the end of the middle line, to the left, are two Indians, shown to be such by their being bare-headed. Beyond is a fire, showing that these persons formed one mess at their encampment.
Above is a line of figures denoting that the party was escorted by eight soldiers armed with muskets, who together formed another mess, as is denoted by their fire. The men and the muskets are represented separately. This was to simplify the work of making the drawing - it being less difficult to draw the guns by themselves than in the hands of the men. On the corner below are delineated the figures of two animals which had been killed the day before for food.
This document, executed upon a large piece of birch bark, was attached by the Indians that made it to a pole which was set in the ground in a slanting direction, the top of the pole pointing out the course which the party making the record had taken in continuing their journey.
It is curious to observe in the work, especially in the mode of drawing, the men, how ingeniously the artists contrived to make their delineations as much as possible by straight lines, and with very few of these in each figure. This was quite necessary, considering the intractable nature of the materials which they had at command, and the very moderate degree of skill which they were able to exercise in using them.
Chapter 8. Indian Legends and Tales
Travelers Among the Indians
In every period since the first arrival of Europeans in the country there have been many persons who have taken great pleasure in visiting the Indian tribes, and even in living among them for considerable periods, for the purpose of studying their manners and customs, learning their language, and listening to their legends and tales; and many of these visitors, on their return to the civilized world, have published what they have thus discovered.
The tales and legends which some of these travelers say were related to them from time to time, as they sat on some summer evening in the open air amid a little circle of listeners gathered from an Indian encampment, or assembled in winter around the wigwam fire, are, or at least many of them are, exceedingly curious, and they give us considerable insight into the manners and customs, And still more into the ideals and sentiments which prevailed among the different nations. The following are among some of these legends. The first is an account of the origin of man, as given by a tradition handed down by one of the western tribes:
Origin of Man
In ancient times there was a snail living upon the banks of the Mississippi. He lived there in peace and quietness for some time, until at last a great inundation came and he was in danger of being drowned. He crawled upon a log to save his life, and while he was upon it the log was lifted up by the water and borne away down the stream.
At length it was cast upon a bank and the snail crept off from it to the shore; but instead of landing upon hard ground he found only mud and slime. He crawled along over the soft surface a little way, but presently the sun came up, and shining very hot, it suddenly dried up in the mud, and, as it were, baked the poor snail in.
He struggled for some time to get free, and at last, faint with hunger and exhausted with fatigue, he was about giving up in despair when suddenly he found himself undergoing a strange transformation, and at the same time increasing marvelously in a size. Legs were growing out from him below and a head and arms above. In short, he found himself turning into a man.
The transformation was soon complete, and he stood out upon the bank changed into a perfect human form, but emaciated and weak, and more hungry than ever. Indeed, he was almost starved. He was naked, too, as well as hungry, and thus his limbs were exposed and defenceless. Though he saw birds flying around him in the air, and land animals moving to and fro, he did not know how to proceed in order to procure food and clothing from them.
At length the Great Spirit appeared to him and called him by name, expressing, at the same time, a feeling of kindness and sympathy for him in his destitute and helpless condition.
The Great Spirit brought him a a bow and arrow and showed him how to shoot a deer with it. When the deer was killed he showed him that the flesh was good for food.
When the man had cooked his food and eaten it and thus appeased his hunger, the Great Spirit told him that cold winds and rains would come, and that he must make himself some clothing to protect his limbs from them; and he taught him how to make a garment from the skin of the deer which he had killed.
The Great Spirit also put a string of wampum round his neck, saying to him as he did so, "This is the badge of your authority over all the animals of creation."
The Great Spirit then disappeared.
The man, after this, in rambling on through the country, met the beaver. He commanded the beaver to submit to him, and showed him the necklace of wampum which the Great Spirit had given him as the badge of his authority.
But the beaver, instead of simply complying with this demand, took the man home with him to his lodge. The man was very kindly received by the beaver's wife and children, and he learned from inspection of the lodge in which they lived how to build a house for himself.
Very soon he fell in love with the beaver's daughter and demanded her in marriage. His demand was acceded to, and in due time the marriage was celebrated.
It was a very great wedding. All the birds in the air and all the animals in the woods were invited to it, and great were the festivities and rejoicings. From this union all the races of men were descended.
The narrator of the legend, by way of giving his authority for it to the traveler who recorded it, closed with these words:
There is among the other stories one which seems designed to illustrate the value of a contented and happy disposition.
Old Boreas and Shingebiss
In ancient times there was a man named Shingebiss. He lived in a lodge which he had built for himself on the margin of the water.
When the winter came it was very cold. Shingebiss had four logs of wood, and as the winter was to be four months long, he had just one log for each month, and he was consequently obliged to keep very little fire, so as to burn his logs very slowly, in order to make them last until the spring.
He had nothing for food but the fish which he could catch in the stream. But the stream was frozen over so hard that it was impossible to break through the ice. He, however, looked about and found openings or weak places where the flags and rushes grew, and through these openings he caught his fish. When the fish were caught he dragged them home across the ice, strung together upon a string.
At last old Boreas saw him and said to himself, "This man is as contented and happy in this cold season as if it were June. He seems to despise me. I'll go and pay him a visit, and see what I can do to make him feel my power." Note: The name in the original is the Indian name for the north wind.
So old Boreas blew upon him and made him very cold on the side that was turned away from the fire. So Shingebiss turned first one side and then the other to the fire, but still went on singing his song.
Then old Boreas went out upon the stream and froze up all the openings which the flags and rushes had made.
"Now," said he to himself, when he had done this, "he can get no fishes, and will starve."
But Shingebiss did not despair. He continued his search upon the ice till he found new openings, and by patience and perseverance he broke open those that Boreas had closed up, and so caught more fishes; and when he had caught them he dragged them home to his lodge, over the ice, as happy as ever.