Elliott Coues

“ The Osage appear to have emigrated from the north and west; from their speaking the same language with the Kans, Otos, Missouries, and Mahaws, together with their great similarity of manners, morals, and customs, there is left no room to doubt that they were originally the same nation, but separated by that great law of nature, self-preservation, the love of freedom, and the ambition of various characters, so inherent in the breast of man. ”

“ Those who may be more interested in Pike's Peak at a distance are referred to a dainty booklet entitled Legends of the Pike's Peak Region, 8vo, Denver, 1892; it is full of quaint local lore, especially of the traditions of the only mountain Pike climbed part way up. Among all the myths that cling to the Peak, obscuring the facts in the case like the clouds that mantle the mountain, the very basic one—that one on which the mountain rests, so to speak—is the universal tradition that the brave young officer discovered and ascended the Peak which upholds his name. ”

“ It will readily be believed that, in my thus advocating implicit obedience to the orders of a superior, that I do not suppose the highest improbabilities or impossibilities, such as an order to turn your arms against the constituted authority of your country, or to be the ensign of his tyranny or the pander of his vices. Those are cases where a man's reason must alone direct him, and are not—indeed, cannot be—subject to any human rule whatever. ”

“ This Nezuma, whom Chouteau took on to Washington 551 last fall with his wife, I am better acquainted with than perhaps Mr. Chouteau himself. In the first place, I marched with him from St. Louis to his town, and he started with us to visit the Pawnees; but the mean and pitiful wretch got alarmed and sneaked off without even advising us of his departure. He has no more command in the village than a child, is no warrior, and has not even the power to control the will of a single man of his nation. ”

“ For hospitality, generosity, and sobriety the people of New Spain exceed any nation perhaps on the globe; but in national energy, patriotism, enterprise of character, or independence of soul, they are perhaps the most deficient. Yet there are men who have displayed bravery to a surprising degree, and the Europeans who are there cherish with delight the idea of their gallant ancestry.
Their women have black eyes and hair, fine teeth, and are generally brunettes. I met but one exception to this rule, at Chihuahua—a fair lady, who, by way of distinction, was called "the girl with light hair." ”

“ From the foregoing statement your Excellency will observe that I yet possess immense matter, the results of one year's travel in countries, desert and populated, which have both been long the subject of curiosity to the philosopher, the anxious desires of the miser, and the waking thoughts and sleeping dreams of the man of ambitious and aspiring soul—results which, in our present critical situation, I do conceive to be immensely important, and which open a scene for the generosity and aggrandizement of our country, with a wide and splendid field for harvests of honor for individuals. ”

“ Should you discover any unlicensed traders in your route, or any person from this territory, or from the United States, without a proper license or passport, you are to arrest such person or persons and dispose of their property as the law directs.
My confidence in your caution and discretion has prevented my urging you to be vigilant in guarding against the strategy and treachery of the Indians; holding yourself above alarm or surprise, the composition of your party, though it be small, will secure to you the respect of a host of untutored savages. ”

“ Any number of men who may reasonably be calculated on would find no difficulty in marching by the route we came, with baggage wagons, field artillery, and all the usual appendages of a small army; and if all the route to Santa Fe should be of the same description, in case of war I would pledge my life and what is infinitely dearer, my honor, for the successful march of a reasonable body of troops into the province of New Mexico. ”

“ But it is worthy of remark that although the male buffaloes were in great abundance, yet in all our route from the Osage to the Pawnees we never saw one female. I acknowledge myself at a loss to determine whether this is to be attributed to the decided preference the savages give to the meat of the females, so that consequently they are almost exterminated in the hunting-grounds of the nations, or to some physical causes; for I afterward discovered the females with young in such immense herds as gave me no reason to believe they yielded to the males in numbers. ”

“ Before Pike was welcomed by the civil and ecclesiastical dignitaries of El Paso del Norte, he crossed the great river, and thus passed from the State of Texas into that of Chihuahua, as these are now bounded. He would have said that he simply went across the river which flows in the province of North or New Mexico of the kingdom of New Spain, and had not yet reached the province of New Biscay. But aside from any of the political affairs which spoil the complexion of the maps, El Paso is one of the most remarkable positions in North America, unique in some respects. ”

“ Both above and below Albuquerque, the citizens were beginning to open canals, to let in the water of the river to fertilize the plains and fields which border its banks on both sides; where we saw men, women, and children, of all ages and sexes, at the joyful labor which was to crown with rich abundance their future harvest and insure them plenty for the ensuing year. ”

“ The beggars of the City of Mexico are estimated at 60,000 souls; what must be the number through the whole kingdom, and to what reason can it be owing that, in a 791 country superior to any in the world for riches in gold and silver, producing all the necessaries of life and most of its luxuries, there should be such a vast proportion of the inhabitants in want of bread or clothing? ”

“ Of all countries ever visited by the footsteps of civilized man, there never was one probably that produced game in greater abundance. We know that the manners and morals of the erratic nations are such (the reasons I leave to be given by the ontologists) as never to give them a numerous population; and I believe that there are buffalo, elk, and deer sufficient on the banks of the Arkansaw alone, if used without waste, to feed all the savages in the United States territory one century. ”

“ The humane policy which the United States have held forth to the Indian nations, of accommodating their differences and acting as mediators between them, has succeeded to a miracle with the Osage of the Grand village and the Little Osage. In short, they have become a nation of Quakers, as respects the nations to the north and east of them, at the same time that they continue to make war on the naked and defenseless savages of the west. ”

“ This country she has therefore bound up in all the ligatures of restrictions, monopolies, prohibitions, seclusions, and superstitions; and has so carefully secluded all light from bursting in on their ignorance, that they have vegetated like the acorns in the forest, until the towering branches have broken through the darkness of the wild which surrounded them and let in the light of heaven. ”

“ I hardly think that Indians thus huddled around a church, in abject terror alike of their natural and their supernatural enemies, outside and inside the pueblo, were any better off for self-defense than they would have been had they been left to their natural resources—though many have so fancied; for the numerical strength of such an aggregation would have been just as effective without that edifice, and tame Indians are no match for wild ones. ”

“ I find the savages of this country less brave, but possessing much more duplicity and by far a greater propensity to lying and stealing, than those I had to pass through on my last [Mississippi] voyage.
I am extremely doubtful if any chief of those nations can be induced to prosecute the voyage with us, as their dread of the Tetaus and the objections of the Pawnees seem to outweigh every argument and inducement to the contrary. ”

“ Notwithstanding all this semblance of justice, should an individual dare to make the appeal and not succeed in establishing the justice of his claim to redress, he is certainly ruined. Where justice is so little attended to, when opposed to power and wealth, as in the Spanish provinces, the appeal is a desperate remedy. This tribunal or legislative body enacts all the laws for the general regulations of their divisions of the kingdom. ”

“ Sergeant William E. Meek marched with one man, whose name was Theodore Miller, and I took three other men to accompany him some distance, in order to point out to him a pass [III-47] in the mountain which I conceived more eligible for horses than the one by which we came. I must here remark the effect of habit, discipline, and example, in two soldiers soliciting a command of more than 180 miles, over two great ridges of mountains covered with snow, inhabited by bands of unknown savages, in the interest of a nation with which we were not on the best understanding. ”

“ He possesses a great knowledge of mankind from his experience in various countries and societies, and knows how to employ the genius of each of his subordinates to advantage. He had been in the United States during the presidency of General Washington, and had been introduced to that hero, of whom he spoke in terms of exalted veneration. He is now lieutenant-colonel of infantry, and governor of the kingdom of New Leon. His seat of government is Mont Elrey; and probably, if ever a chief is adored by his people, it is Herrara. ”

“ The Tañoan pueblos have been pretty fully noted in the foregoing itinerary, but the Tusayan and Keresan have not been sufficiently treated. We must first come to an understanding of the term "Pueblo Indians." This is simply a convenient phrase, or façon de parler, to designate various tribes which, in New and Old Mexico, and Arizona, settled in permanent habitations, became attached to the soil, practiced agriculture, kept flocks, and built the kind of towns called "pueblos." They are thus collectively distinguished from all roving and more or less warring tribes; they are settlers, not nomads ”

“ I was myself eye-witness of a scene which made my heart bleed for those poor wretches, at the same time that it excited my indignation and contempt, that they would suffer themselves, with arms in their hands, to be beaten and knocked about by beings no ways their superiors, unless a small tint of complexion could be supposed to give that superiority. ”

“ But his reception at the Arkansaw village, in the autumn of 1806, must have nearly cured him of that idea. And in fact, every reason induces a belief that the other villages are much more likely to join the Arkansaw band, which is daily becoming more powerful, than the latter is to return to its ancient residence. For the Grand and Little Osage are both obliged to proceed to the Arkansaw every winter, to kill the summer's provision; also, all the nations with whom they are now at war are situated to the westward of that river, whence they get all their horses. ”

“ This nation formerly extended from the entrance of the Rio Grande to the Gulf of California, and have waged a continual warfare, excepting short truces, with the Spaniards, 748 from the time these pushed their enterprises back from Mexico into the internal provinces. It is extremely difficult to say what are their numbers at the present day, but they must be very much reduced, from their long and constant warfare, the wandering and savage life they lead in the mountains, which is so injurious to an increase of population, and in which they are frequently extremely pinched by famine. ”

“ There is nothing peculiarly characteristic in this province that will not be embraced in my general observations on New Spain, except that, being on the frontier and cut off, as it were, from the more inhabited parts of the kingdom, together with their continual wars 755 with some of the savage nations who surround them, renders the people the bravest and most hardy subjects in New Spain; being generally armed, they know the use of arms. ”

“ To a stranger it is impossible to define the limits of the military and ecclesiastical jurisdictions; in every affair which relates to the citizens, and in fact with the soldiery, the force of superstition is such that I am doubtful whether they would generally obey one of their officers in a direct violation of the injunction of their religious professions. The audiences of Mexico and Guadalaxara were formed, no doubt, as a check on the immense power of the viceroy. ”

“ They always warred with other Indians, always warred with the whites, and not seldom with one another. In Arizona particularly, so far as we are concerned, they did more to retard the development of the country than all other causes combined. For some years after the Territorial government was established, it was at the risk of life that one went out of sight of Prescott or Fort Whipple alone or with a small party. The Apaches lurked behind every rock, and hid in every bush ”

“ The cooks are either for the general use, or attached particularly to the family of some great man; and what is the more singular, men who have been great warriors and brave men, having lost all their families by disease, in the war, and themselves becoming old and infirm, frequently take up the profession of cook, in which they do not carry arms, and are supported by the public or their particular patron. ”

“ The doctor and Frank, a young Pawnee, marched for the village at daylight; we at half past six o'clock. Halted at one o'clock. On the march we were continually passing through large herds of buffalo, elk, and cabrie; and I have no doubt that one hunter could support 200 men. I prevented the men shooting at the game, not merely because of the scarcity of ammunition, but, as I conceived, the laws of morality forbid it also. Encamped at sunset on the main branch [Cottonwood] of White river, hitherto called Grand river. Killed one buffalo and one cabrie. ”

“ The power of certain chiefs becoming unlimited, and their rule severe, added to the passionate love of liberty and the ambition of young, bold, and daring characters who step forward to head the malcontents, and 526 like the tribes of Israel, to lead them through the wilderness to a new land—the land of promise which flowed with milk and honey, alias abounded with deer and buffalo—these characters soon succeed in leading forth a new colony, and in process of time establishing a new nation. ”

“ They therefore have turned their eyes toward the United States, as to a sister of the same soil, in their vicinity—one who has within her power ample resources of arms, ammunition, and even men, to assist in securing their independence, and who in that event would secure to herself the almost exclusive trade of the richest country in the world for centuries, and [the opportunity] to be her carriers as long as the two nations exist. ”

“ The Kanses and Osage came further to the east, and thereby avoided the Sioux, but fell into the hands of the Iowas, Sacs, Kickapous, Potowatomies, Delawares, Shawanese, Cherokees, Chickasaws, Chactaws, Arkansaws, Caddoes, and Tetaus; and what astonished me extremely is that they have not been entirely destroyed by those nations. But it must only be attributed to their ignorance of the enemies' force, their want of concert, wars between themselves, and the great renown the invaders always acquire, by the boldness of their enterprise, in the minds of the invaded. ”