James's Account of S. H. Long's Expedition, 1819-1820, part 2James, Edwin
History
James's Account of S. H. Long's Expedition, 1819-1820, part 2
James, Edwin
Indians of North America; Rocky Mountains; United States -- Discovery and exploration; West (U.S.) -- Description and travel
Wasacaruja, in consequence of having first accepted of the calumet,
was now regarded as responsible for the sincerity of his friend
Herochshe. He therefore arose, and thus addressed the ambassador. "My
friend! I am glad to see you on such an occasion as the present, and
to hear that your voice is for peace. But I can hardly believe that we
can ever rest in a permanent peace. A few winters ago, when we were in
friendship with each other, I visited your village, and you gave me
all your people, saying, that all the Konzas were mine. But it was not
long afterwards, as we hunted near your country, that you stole our
horses and killed some of our people, and I cannot but believe that
the same course will be again pursued. Nevertheless, I shall again
repair to the same place, of which I have spoken, this autumn, for the
purpose of hunting, and in the spring I will again visit your town. You
observed that you were apprehensive of being killed as you approached
our village; and you most probably would have been so, coming as you
did, late in the evening, and without the usual formality of sending a
messenger to apprize us of your approach, had you not been accompanied
by the Big-knife with whom you are so well acquainted. But we have now
smoked together, and I hope that the peace thus established, may long
continue. You say that you are in want of mockasins, we will endeavour
to give you one or two for your journey home. That is all I have to
say."
Herochshe then apologized for his unceremonious {39} entrance into the
village, by saying that he knew it to be customary, to send forward a
runner on such an occasion, and he should have done so, but his friend,
the Big-knife, whom he had previously consulted with that view, told
him, that he had full confidence in the magnanimity of the Otoes.
Thus the ceremony was concluded, and peace restored between the two
nations.
Numerous are the anecdotes already related by various authors, which
go to show, that the desire of revenge for an injury or insult is
remarkably permanent with the North American Indian. It would almost
seem, that neither time nor circumstance can utterly eradicate it, and
it is certain that it is not always extinguished with the life of the
offended individual, but that it sometimes descends as an inheritance
to his posterity.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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