AN INDIAN TRAGEDY.

Colonist, Volume III, Issue 220, 29 November 1859, Page 3

AN INDIAN TRAGEDY.

WANDERINGS OF AN ARTIST AMONG THE INDIANS

OF NORTH AMERICA. Among the numerous Indians assembled here was oue that particularly attracted my attention from his venerable and dignified appearance. la reply to my inquiry as to who he was, I learned that he was called Shawwanossoway, or " One with his face towards the West," and that he was a great medicine-man, skilled in the past, present-, and future. As I happened to lose, some days previously, some articles from my tent, I resolved, for the sake of introduction and the gratification of my curiosity, to apply to the seer. On laying my case before him, he told me that his power was of no avail wherever the pale faces were concerned, and notwithstanding my offer of a very liberal remuneration, I could not prevail upon him to put his incantations into practice. He had been, I was told, a celebrated warrior in his youth, but that, owing to a romantic incident he had abandoned the tomahawk and scalping knife for the peaceable profession of the medicineman, or, in common parlance, the necromancer, or conjuror in which he has obtained great repute among his people. There dwelt many years before, on the shores of one of the great lakes, a band of Ojibbeways. Among them was a family, consisting of a father and a mother with a grown-up son and a daughter, the latter named Awh-mid-raay, or " There is music in her footsteps;" she exceeded in beauty the rest of her tribe, and was eagerly sought in marriage by all the young warriors of her nation. It. was not long before the Muck-etuck enow, or " Black Eagle,'' renowned by his prowess in battle and the chase, had, by bis assiduities won her undivided affections; nor did she conceal from him this favorable state of her feelings, but, in accordance with the customs of hi r people she had unhesitatingly extinguished the blazing bark which he had sent floating down the stream that glided past, her lodge and thus acknowledged him as her accepted lover. Confident of possessing her heart, he directed all his endeavors to the propitiation .of her parents, and eagerly sought hi»w to compensate them for the loss they would undergo in relinquishing a daughter so dearly loved For this purpose he departed on a long and distant hunt, and while straining every faculty of his^ mind and body in collecting trophies and presents therewith to conciliate them, and show his entire devotion to the object of his adoration, their evil destiny brought Shawwanossoway, then a great war chief,, in ail the pride of manly strength and vigor, to their camp, on his return from a war excursion, in which he had greatly distinguished himself, and spread his fame far and wide as the terror of his enemies and the boast of his friends. Having heard of the transcendant charms of Awh-mid-may, he presented himself before her, girded with the scalps of his enemies and loaded with other trophies of victory. No sooner did he behold her, than overcome with her charms, he devoted himself to her service aad endeavored, by every art, that the most passionate love could dictate, to win her regard. He recounted the numerous battles he had won the enemies he bad slain. He displayed the reeking scalps he had torn from the defeated J enemy,—warriors who had been the terror of his nation. He named the many chiefs who had sued to him for peace; and at the same time plied every artifice to win the good will of her pareuts, who, proud of what they considered their daughter's superb conquest, listened to him with delight, and urged her, by every persuasive argument, to accept go distinguished a chief as her husband, expatiating on honor such an alliance would confer on their family. Constant, however, to her. first love, she turned a deaf ear to all the protestations of his rival whose tales of conquest qnd bloody trophies only exoited her abhorrence. But nothing daunted, and determined to win her, either by fair means oHfoul, Shawwanosoway persevered in his suit trusting to time and accident to attain his object. The poor girl, now made truly wretched by his undenting persecution accompanied by the menaces of her parents who were determined to conquer what they regarded as the rebellious obstinacy of their child, at length ca,ma to the resolution of appealing to f thft w4 hwof «f tw pn«*tQr

and, in hope of propitiating his forbearance, io an evil hour the confessed her long-cherished affection for Muck-e-tick-enow. He no sooner discovered the cause of her rejection jof his suit than rage and jealousy took full i possession of his heart, and plans of vengeance rapidly succeeded each other, until he decided the assassination of his rival. Having learned from his unsuspecting charmer the route her lover had taken, he tracked him. and came up with his camp, and, concealing himself from observation, crawled towards the fire where his victim sat alone preparing his evening repast, and shot him from behind a tree. Hiding the body among some brushwood, he took possession of the game of his murdered rival, as a means of accounting for his own absence, and hastened back to the village/ where he renewed bis suit more ardently than before, to the utter distppointmentand distress of Awh-mid-may, who still rejeoted all his overtures with indignation, until, urged by the positive commands and threats of her parents, she at last, hoping by some artifice still to put off the evil day, consented to name a time when she would receive him as her husband, trusting that her lover would in the meantime return and rescue her from the impending sacrifice, and concealing, as well as she could, her increasing aversion to her persecutor. The dreaded day at last, however, arrived, but no lover, of course, returned* Little did she. think that his mangled remains had fallen a prey to the ravenous beasts of the forests—for still hope only directed her gaze in the direction the bad seen him take at his departure, when all was sunshine and prospective happiness; with aching eyes and a bursting heart she saw the evening approach that, was to bind her irrevocably to one she abhorred ; The bridal canoe, which, according to the Indian custom, had been prepared with the necessary stores to convey the betrothed pair on a month's excursion together, which is, in fact, the only marriage ceremony, was already lying upon the beach. Night had come—the nuptial feast, was prepared—the last she was to partake of in her father's lodge—wiieu lo! the bride was missing, and consternation usurped the place of gaiety in the bridal throng. Eagerly did they seek her with torches and shouts through the neighboring forests, but no answering sound met their ears, although the search was continued with untiring eagerness till daylight. Then, for the first time, it was discovered that the bridal canoe was gone, and concluded that the bride had availed herself of it to aid her escape. Shawwannossoway, accompanied by her brother, started in pursuit on foot, following the direction of the shore. After proceeding for several hours, they oaught sight of the canoe and its fair occupant in the distance. Increasing their speed, they reached a point which the canoe must necessarily pass round. Here the lover swam out, hoping to intercept it. In vain did he endeavor, by every means he could devise, to induce her to stop and take him on board. Defeated by her resolute refusal and the vigor and skill with which she plied the paddle, he was obliged to relinquish the pursuit and return to the shore. He had scarcely landed when a violent storm, accompanied with thunder, lightning, and heavy rain, compelled the pair to encamp for the uight. Notwithstanding the tempest, she continued her efforts until the shades of night hid her from their view. The clouds dispersed with the dawning day, and they continued their pursuit until they at length espied the canoe lying on the shore. . Thinking they had at last attained their object, they quickened their steps; but, on coming up to it,! they encountered a troop of wolves, and their horror may well be conceived on discovering the remains of the being they loved almost wholly devoured, and only to be recognised by her torn and scattered garments. With aching heart 3, they carefully gathered her cherished remains, and placing them in the canoe, they returned to the camp, where she was wept and mourned over for many weeks by her disconsolate relatives and friends, and buried with all the ceremonies of her tribe. It was evident that the heavy storm had driven the canoe ashore, and it is probable that her materials for kindling a fire having become soaked with water, she had been debarred the only means of protectiug herself from these ravenous animals. Shawwanossoway was so much grieved at the misery which his ungovernable passions had brought upon the object of his warmest love, that he formed the resolution of abandoning his warlike pursuits; and throwing up the tomahawk to the Great Spirit, that it might he employed only as an instrument of justice; betook in its stead the rattle of the rat dicine man ; nor did he ever after acj inconsistently with his altered character.