486 AUDUBON 



chief of that name was buried, at his request, on his 

 horse, whilst the animal was alive. We are now fast to 

 the shore opposite this famed bluff. We cut good ash 

 wood this day, and have made a tolerable run, say forty 

 miles. 



Saturday, May IS. This morning was extremely foggy, 

 although I could plainly see the orb of day trying to force 

 its way through the haze. While this lasted all hands 

 were engaged in cutting wood, and we did not leave our 

 fastening-place till seven, to the great grief of our com- 

 mander. During the wood cutting. Bell walked to the 

 top of the hills, and shot two Lark Buntings, males, 

 and a Lincoln's Finch. After a while we passed under 

 some beautiful bluffs surmounted by many cedars, and 

 these bluffs were composed of fine white sandstone, of 

 a soft texture, but very beautiful to the eye. In several 



of great consideration, for ever since liis death he has been supplied with 

 provisions, from time to time, by the superstitious regard of the Mahas." 

 ("Expedition of Lewis and Clarlc," by Elliott Coues, 1893, p. 71.) 



" The 7th of May (1833) we reached the chain of hills on the left bank; 

 . . . these are called Wood's Hills, and do not extend very far. On one of 

 them we saw a small conical mound, which is the grave of the celebrated 

 Omaha chief Washinga-Sabba (the Blackbird). In James' ' Narrative of 

 Major Long's Expedition,' is a circumstantial account of this remarkable and 

 powerful chief, who was a friend to the white man ; he contrived, by means 

 of arsenic, to make himself feared and dreaded, and passed for a magician. 

 . . . An epidemical smallpox carried him oflE, with a great part of his nation, 

 in 1800, and he was buried, sitting upright, upon a live mule, at the top of a 

 green hill on Wakouda Creek. When dying he gave orders they should 

 bury him on that hill, with his face turned to the country of the whites." 

 (" Travels in North America," Maximilian, Prince of Wied.) 



Irving, in chap. xvi. of " Astoria," gives a long account of Blackbird, 

 based on Bradbury and Brackenridge, but places his death in 1802, incor- 

 rectly ; and ends : " The Missouri washes the base of the promontory, and 

 after winding and doubling in many links and mazes, returns to within nine 

 hundred yards of its starting-place ; so that for thirty miles the voyager 

 finds himself continually near to this singular promontory, as if spell bound. 

 It was the dying command of Blackbird, that his tomb should be on the 

 summit of this hill, in which he should be interred, seated on his favorite 

 horse, that he might overlook his ancient domain, and behold the backs of 

 the white men as they came up the river to trade with his people." 



