INDIAN TERRITORY. 



375 



ful farmers, have con .fortable cabins, and several mills. The Quapavvs have made less pro- 

 gress, but they are peaceable and industrious. The Senecas, who removed thither from New 

 York, have a transLa.ion of the book of Common Prayer, which many of them are able to read, 

 and one of their number officiates at their meetings for public worship. 



The Osages or Wososhes are an indigenous tribe, and are mostly dependent upon the chase. 

 Their squaws raise some Indian corn and beans. A band on the Neosho owns some cattle and 

 hogs, and have begun to use the plough. The others live in portable lodges, formed by insert- 

 'ng small poles in the ground, and bending them over so as to meet at the top, where an aper- 

 ture is left for the escape of the smoke, the sides being covered with flags, or buffalo or elk 

 skins. Their country extends along the northern boundary of the Cherokees. Further north, 

 on the Osage River, are the small kindred bands of Piankeshaws, Weas, and Peorias of the 

 Miami nation, and the related bands of Pottawatamies and Ottawas. They have fenced and 

 ploughed fields, and decent cabins, and own a considerable number of cattle. The Methodists, 

 the Western Missionary Society, and the Baptists, have missionaries among them. 



The Shawnees or Shawanees own a tract lying between the head of the Osage and the lower 

 part of the Kansas River. They are among the most improved of the Indian tribes, having 

 . generall}^ good houses, well fenced and ploughed fields, and a sufficient number of live stock ; 

 there is also a saw and grist mill in the country. The Methodists and Baptists have missions 

 among them, and at the Shawanee station under the care of the latter, there is a printing-press. 

 North of the Kansas, and southwest of the Missouri, is the Delaware country, uhich extends 

 westward 200 miles, with a breadth of 10 miles ; the condition of the Dclawares resembles that 

 of the Shawanees, v.itli whom they were long politically connected ; and there are among them 

 Methodist and Baptist missions. 



The Kansas or Konzas occupy a tract on both sides of the Kansas river, between the Dela- 

 ware and Shawanee lands ; they are an indigenous tribe, nearly allied to the Osages, and are 

 poor and wretched ; their lodges are partly like those of the Osages, and in part made of earth ; 

 in these last, the roof is supported by wooden props within. They follow the chase for a sub- 

 sistence. The Kickapoo tract lies on the 

 western side of the Missouri, on the north 

 of the Delaware country. The Kickapoos 

 are of kindred origin with the Illinois and 

 Miami bands, and resemble them in their 

 condition. One of the Kickapoo chiefs 

 has founded a religious society ; he lays 

 claim to divine revelations, and inculcates 

 abstinence from ardent spirits, flagellation 

 for sin, and the observance of holy days. 

 The religious ceremonies consist of a series 

 of prayers chanted by the whole assembly, 

 and they are solemnized four times a week. 

 Many Pottawatamies are also seated here. 

 Fort Leavenworth, on the Missouri, is in 

 the Kickapoo teriitory. The united bands 

 of Sacs or Sauks and lowas occupy a tri^ct 

 uurth of the Kickapoos, on the Missouri. They have lately removed, but are in an improving 

 condition. 



The Otoes, between the Platte or Nebraska and the Little Nemahaw ; the Omahas or ^Ja- 

 has, between the Platte and the Missouri ; the Pawnees,^ to the west of the latter ; and the 



Indian Village. 



* •' Every lioiiv that I spent with tlie Indians impressed 

 upon me the convictinn, tliat I hnd taken itie only method 

 of becoming- acquainted with their domeslic habits and 

 their undisguised character. Had I judged from wliat 1 

 had been able to observe at Fort Leavenworth or other 

 frontier places where I met them, I should have known 

 about as much of them as the generality of scribblers and 

 their readers, and might, like them, have deceived myself 

 and others into a belief in their 'high sense of honor,' 

 their hospitality, their openness and love of truth, and 

 many other qualities which they posse.ss, if at all. in a very 

 moderate degree ; and yet it is no wonder if such impres- 



sions have gone abroad, because the I ndian, among whites, 

 oral a gai risnn. trading-post, or town, is as different a 

 man from the same Indian at home, as a I'nrkisk ' mollah' 

 is from a Frencli barber. Among whites, he is all dignity 

 and repose ; he is acting a part the whole time, and acts it 

 most admirably. He manifests no surprise at the most 

 v.'onderfiil effects of machinery, — is not startled if a 

 twenty-four ))ounder is fired close to him. and does not 

 evince the slightest curiosity regarding the thousand thinirs 

 that are sirancre and nevv to him ; whereas, at home, the 

 same Indian chatters, jokes, and laughs among his com 

 panions : frequently indulges in the most licentious con 



