138 



THE OOLOGIST 



This is the advantage of hunting 

 up history. When a bird flaps its 

 wings at you, as the Piasa did at me, 

 you will never forget anything about 

 it. You will know your page of his- 

 tory — not only for today's recitation — 

 but also all your life. So I chased 

 this strange elusive bird to the only 

 hiding place it now possesses, the 

 Indian Mythology of North America. 

 The Indians had many legends sim- 

 ilar to this, that describes the power 

 of some fearful bird. So while the 

 fancy is too wild and strange for 

 any white man to believe literally, 

 it would seem possible, if not prob- 

 able, that there might have been a 

 great and frightened bird, back in 

 the time of the Mastodon, and Bisons, 

 different and bigger and more fero- 

 cious than anything that history 

 knows. 



The Indian legend relates that this 

 monstrous bird, as large as a calf, 

 carried off the red men and devoured 

 them. They were powerless against 

 it. So, at last, a big Chief, Onatoga, 

 prayed the "G-reat Spirit" to help him 

 save his people from this frightful 

 thing. In a dream he was directed 

 to select 20 of the bravest of his 

 brave, and letting one offer himself 

 on a lonely cliff to the bird, the 

 others were to stand ready with 

 drawn bows and arrows. 



It was considered a hopeless affair, 

 so fearful were the Indians of this 

 bird. But the "Great Spirit" had di- 

 rected and Onatogo was a brave 

 chief; so he chose to be the one on 

 the cliff. The legend goes on to tell 

 how he stood watching the bird cir- 

 cle toward him, and just as it was 

 about to lift him from the ground 20 

 arrows pierced its body, and it fell 

 dead before him. 



In commemoration of this great 

 event the Piasa bird was painted on 

 the rocks, off to the west, from the 

 little town of Piasa, where Piasa 



Creek flows into the great river. 

 This tradition runs through all the 

 tribes of the upper Mississippi. This 

 painting was 80 feet high or more on 

 the Cliff and it as depicted with horns 

 on its head like a deer, red eyes, 

 beard like a tiger, face somewhat like 

 a man's body covered with scales, 

 and a tail so long that it was wrap- 

 ped twice around its body. This ob- 

 ject of terror was painted so high, 

 andand so vivid in red and green and 

 black, that in the strong sunlight, 

 sharp Indian eyes, trained to long 

 distances, could use it for miles. 



So we know why it was not 

 strange, when Jesuit Jacques Mar- 

 quette, come sailing up the Mississip- 

 pi, with his little hand of Indian 

 guides from the south one beautiful 

 June morning in 1673, that they were 

 frightened, at such a sight; never 

 having been so far up the river, and 

 not knowing the legend, they mistook 

 the picture for reality. They refused 

 to go on and Marquette's first voy- 

 age was a failure. 



***** 



How the Indians managed to paint 

 this picture so well upon the sheer 

 face of the cliff is conjecture like so 

 many other pages in history, it 

 shows that when people want to do a 

 thing badly enough there is a way. 

 All the early accounts state that it 

 was painted in a better manner than 

 the Indians were capable of, and in 

 such lasting dye that it withstood the 

 weather and the continual firing of 

 the Indians until 1848. All these 

 years to the present day, it has been 

 the custom for the Indians, to fire at 

 it in passing. 



History relates that a Dr. Russell 

 went up the Mississippi in 1836, and 

 near this spot discovered a cave 

 where the bird was supposed to carry 

 its prey. He states that he excavated 

 and found human bones to the depth 

 of three or four feet. That is all there 



