SOLON ROBINSON, 1841 199 



same silence we both puffed away, until the little pent-up 

 wigwam was so full of smoke, that one unaccustomed to 

 such an atmosphere, might have found respiration rather 

 difficult to his effeminate lungs. He then motioned to me 

 again, and we both knocked out the ashes from our pipes 

 in a little heap between us. He then looked up to the 

 smoke, slowly ascending through the little apperture at 

 the top of the wigwam, and for the first time since my 

 entrance, spoke — 



"So fades the red man away. But a few short months 

 ago, and they filled all this land, so that there was no 

 more room. Now, what remains of them?" And he 

 pointed to the little heap of ashes upon the ground be- 

 tween us. I could not restrain a sigh — perhaps a tear. 



"The first death blow was struck by your great war 

 chief, on the banks of the Tippecanoe. Then the toma- 

 hawk was raised and it could not be burried. Better had 

 it been for us, had it not then tasted blood. But our 

 young men were then like a heard of young buffaloes, 

 and they could not be tamed. A great war chief came 

 also among us, whose blood came not from the blood of 

 our fathers. And with him came his brother, who was a 

 great medicine, but his spirit was not from the good 

 Manito. And he worked conjurations among us, and 

 bade us strike your women and children, and our sweet 

 father that wears a red coat, and lives away beyond the 

 Salt Lake, would give us many guns and plenty of 

 powder, and that we should drive your race from our 

 border. For a time his words proved true. But the 

 Great Father of your people loved war, and he sent the 

 great war chief who laid his hand so heavily upon us on 

 the Tippecanoe, and our warriors could not stand before 

 him. The blood of the strange war chief then for the 

 first time mingled with the blood of our people, and the 

 earth drank up both together. Then your people sent 

 away their Great Father who loved war, to his own wig- 

 wam, and another came to your great council house who 

 loved peace. After him came another who would have 



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