Chapter I: Preface

These pages describe the adventures of men whom duty or inclination has brought into contact with the Indians of the entire American continent; and, since every day sees the red race diminishing, or abandoning the customs and mode of life once characteristic of it, such adventures must necessarily relate mainly to a bygone generation.

To-day the Indians form a bare sixtieth of the American population, a falling off for which the colonist has been responsible both actively and involuntarily. The history of the red man's relations to those who ultimately were to be his rulers is a painful one; massacres and cruelties on the one side led to reprisals of a similar nature on the other. Happily the days of persecution and revolt are now ended; some few of the natives have intermarried with whites and have adapted themselves to the conditions of modern civilisation; others have settled down to an inoffensive and gypsy-like life on reserves granted by the white governments. Meanwhile the whole race--particularly in the north--continues to diminish. It is not improbable that in the days of Cortez and Pizarro the Indians were already a dying people; and that collision with the white invaders only hastened their demise. The result of this collision is melancholy, and the author of "Westward Ho!" has put it all into a nutshell. "The mind of the savage, crushed by the sight of the white man's superior skill, and wealth, and wisdom, loses at first its self-respect, while his body, pampered with easily-obtained luxuries, instead of having to win the necessaries of life by heavy toil, loses its self-helpfulness; and with self-respect and self-help vanish all the savage virtues."

Bishop Bompas, who spent his life among the Indians of the far north, says, "the whole of the Tenni race seem to be of a sickly habit, and are dwindling in numbers. They are not much addicted to ardent spirits, nor are these now supplied to them, but they have an inveterate propensity to gamble. Though almost wholly free from crimes of violence, and not much inclined to thieve, yet heathen habits still cling to them, and they exhibit the usual Indian deficiency in a want of stability and firmness of character.... In sickness the Indians are very pitiful. They soon lose heart, and seem to die more fro despondency than disease. The constant removals are trying to the weak and infirm, and in times of distress those who cannot follow the band are left behind to perish.... The old women employ themselves in twisting grass or roots or sinew into twine for sewing or fishing-nets. The men and boys are often busied in shaping bows, arrows, snowshoes, and sledges.... Their capacity for civilisation is very limited; none become business men."

CONTENTS

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CHAPTER I
CHEROKEE WARFARE

Indian insurgents and their rifles--The rising of 1793--March
of Lieutenants Lowry and Boyd--The Indian attack--Sergeant
Munson--Saving an officer's life--Walking into the battle
instead of out of it--The third Indian contingent--Munson
wounded--Prisoners--Taken through the forest--The camp on
Lake Erie--The chief's sentence--Slavery!--Plans for
flight--Munson's escape by water--The Cherokee canoemen 17

CHAPTER II
THE INVASION OF CORRIENTES

Southern Indians as soldiers--Andresito Artegas--The war of
1818-20--An awkward time for British residents--The panic
in Corrientes--The march of the Indian army--A magnanimous
chief--Mr. Postlethwaite--Hindrances to good fellowship--A
quaint vengeance--Schemes for flight--Andresito as a
guest--A Peruvian blackguard--Flight and pursuit--Running
for it--A ship in sight--The last struggle for liberty 32

CHAPTER III
A CAPTIVE AMONG ARGENTINE INDIANS

The Guaranian Family--A story of Don Pedro Campbell--Indians
in pursuit--Ascencion and her sister captured--Taken
to the _tolderia_--"The Cordoban soldiers are
coming!"--Escape of the Indians--The two girls made
slaves--Murder of a young Spaniard--An evening alarm--The
Macabis--The battle--Ascencion's sister killed--Another
flight--A strange ship in the river--The Portuguese
commander--Peter Campbell as rescuer--The Indians
subdued--Punishing a would-be assassin 44

CHAPTER IV
THE IROQUOIS OF THE CANADIAN BOUNDARY

The Iroquoian family--Surgeon Bigsby--Coasting on Lake
Ontario--A strange reception--Saluting "royalty"--Landing
in the Indian village--The chief's remarkable speech--The
excitement that a red tunic may cause--The old chief's
generosity--Further popularity for the doctor--The
chief's dinner-party--Farewell gifts--The next
halt--Troubles of a geologist--"Cesar Auguste"--An
unwelcome passenger--Getting rid of the half-breed 55

CHAPTER V
CREEK INDIANS AT PLAY

U.S. Government and Indians--Captain Basil Hall, R.N.--The
Creeks--A disappointment--The real Indians--A
well-timed visit--The local band--The eve of a great
festival--Dancing--Scarifying--The great day of the
year--The match-ground--Where are the players?--The
two teams--A discourteous commencement--Other
preliminaries--The ball-play begins--Some alterations
much needed--The end of the game 67

CHAPTER VI
WITH THE DELAWARES AND CREES

Sir George Head--Across Nova Scotia--Up the St. John
River--Indian salmon-spearing--A ducking for the
Major--A novel method of life-saving--The guides'
limit--A ferocious Cree--Engaging the new
guide--Irishwoman _versus_ Indian--The ride through
the pine-forest--Snow--Wolf-tracks--Provisions
short--The wolves' attack--Keeping the guide in
order--Trying to be wiser than an Indian--How to kill
wolves--The Indian camp--Dances 79

CHAPTER VII
AMONG THE FUEGIAN INDIANS

The Pesherahs of Tierra del Fuego--Admiral Fitzroy--Fuegians
as boat-thieves--Hostages--An experiment--Fitzroy's
second voyage--Met by the natives--Compliments and
curiosity--A puzzle--Indian vanity--Ashore
again--Hostile natives--"Yammerskooner"--An uncomfortable
plight for English sailors--A night among unpleasant
neighbours--Jemmy Button's meeting with his
relatives--Mr. Matthews's experiences--Jemmy again--Why
Jemmy stayed among his people 95

CHAPTER VIII
THE END OF THE “BLACK HAWK” WAR

What's in a name?--Black Hawk--The Treaty of 1804--How it was
kept--The Treaty of 1830--The beginning of the end--The
Illinois militia--Through Wisconsin--Cholera--General
Atkinson's march continued--The Bad Axe River--An
unlooked-for meeting--On board the _Warrior_--A
dialogue--A _mauvais quart d'heure_--The white men's
revenge--Fording the river, in pursuit--A brief
battle--The Sioux--Capture of Black Hawk--_Vae victis!_ 106

CHAPTER IX
PERUVIAN INDIANS

Lieutenant Smyth, R.N.--The H.M.S. _Samarang_ survey--A rash
offer--The Jevero Indians--The guides' opinion of their
employers--How the mountain Indians defy hunger--Coca
balls--A gruesome neighbourhood--_Alma perdida_--Up the
Huallaga River--Manatee hunters--Trouble caused by the
guides--Smyth's presence of mind 119

CHAPTER X
THE CARIBS OF GUATEMALA

John Lloyd Stephens--A delicate mission--Belize--Reception
by the British Commanding Officer--Up the river--A
genial Franciscan--Caught in the storm--A rude
awakening--"Squaring" the Caribs--Central
Guatemala--Agricultural Caribs--Hospitality--Catherwood
seized with fever--The Charge d'Affaires in a hole--The
native doctor to the rescue--Any port in a storm--A
miraculous cure--Caribs and Mestizo rebels--Joining
forces with the officers--The scuffle--The long mile back
to British soil--Safe over the boundary 128

CHAPTER XI
A PRINCE’S ADVENTURES IN BRAZIL

Prince Adalbert of Prussia--Journey across South America--No
guides--The Brazilian forest--A path discovered--Gathering
cherries--The mysterious Carib--The visit to the
village--The cacique's banquet--An unlooked-for
_taboo_--The bull-fight dance--Carib guides--The Amazon at
last--Indians among the trees and on the river--The party
captured by Guaranis--Taken before the cacique--Ransom--An
unexpected ally--The penitent Guaranis--A tapir hunt 140

CHAPTER XII
INDIAN WARFARE IN CALIFORNIA

Captain Wise, U.S.N.--Sent ashore at Monterey--The march of
the boat's crew--A Yankee trapper settlement--News of the
Apaches and Comanches--Indians in the pay of
Mexico--Preparing for an attack--The night
alarm--"Hy-yah!"--The four Comanches--The palaver--Trouble
ahead--The sudden volley--Pursuing the Apaches--Following
the trail--From the forest to the prairie--A dilemma--The
battle of the Indians--Capture of the fugitives--A
surprise 154

CHAPTER XIII
WITH THE AYMARAS AND MOXOS

Prevalence of Indian tribes in Bolivia--The Colla or Aymara
people--Hugh de Bonelli--The Aymaras as walkers--A walk
along Lake Titicaca--Seventy miles a day--The Moxos--A
glorious canoe-ride--Family parties of Indians on the
river--The gathering of the tribe--The cacique--The
start for the egg-hunt--Turtle "nests"--A large
family--Commencement of the digging--Five days' hard
work--Breaking the eggs--Procuring the oil 166

CHAPTER XIV
A SPORTING TRIP ACROSS THE PRAIRIES

The Hon. Henry Coke--Across the prairies--Bluffs--The
Crow guide--Brought to a full stop--Bison in
sight--Disappearance of the guide and some of the
baggage--Pursuing him--A hopeless chase in the dark--The
Indians' camp-fire--The Pawnees--Bargaining for a
prisoner's life--The new guides--Bison--Cautioning
the new hands--Some very risky hunting--Cut off from
the herd--Man down!--Attacked by an infuriated
bison--Saved by an Indian's presence of mind 175

CHAPTER XV
HOW THE YO-SEMITE VALLEY WAS DISCOVERED

The Sierra Nevada--The Snakes, or Shoshonees--San
Francisco--John Savage--Jose Jerez--Indian
dissatisfaction--Impressing the savages--Trouble
with drunken Indians--An anxious drive--Home
again--Boycott?--Terrible news--Attack on the
Frezno River store--The return--Indians kept at bay
by the diggers--An opportune arrival--A wife
stolen--Pursuit--Volunteers to the rescue--Guided
by prisoners--Found at last--The surrender in the
Yo-Semite Valley 189

CHAPTER XVI
AMONG THE NIQUIRANS AND APACHES

Julius Froebel--A hazardous project--A travelling Indian
tribe--A hot march--Niquiran hospitality--"El Dorado"--A
deserted village--The villagers' gold-mine--Froebel's
reception--The baskets and their contents--A very
ill-judged action--Flight--Froebel's wanderings--Ancient
ruins--A new occupation for the wanderer--The
Apaches--Firing on the Mexicans' camp--Pursuit through the
darkness--An unexpected arrest 204

CHAPTER XVII
ACROSS THE UNITED STATES IN A WAGGON

Mexican Boundary Commission--John Russell Bartlett--An
ethnologist's hunting-ground--Panic among horses
and teamsters--The cause--A remarkable sight--A
bison-surround--Wanton carnage--Approach of the
Missouris--The presents--The delicate part of the
bison--Grave warnings--Breakdown of the waggon--The
Apaches--"Mangus Colorado"--The attack on the inn--The
Apaches put to flight 216

CHAPTER XVIII
A JOURNEY TO THE GRAN CHACO

The Gran Chaco of Western Paraguay--Charles Blachford
Mansfield--Up the Para--The madman's cold
dip--Corrientes--Finding canoemen--The Indians--A
dangerous landing-place--Pitching the
camp--Supper--_Mate_--A jaguar--Game easily
obtained--Nearing Asuncion--An inexplicable scare--Hunting
on the Chaco 226

CHAPTER XIX
AMONG THE SERIS OF MEXICO

Gustav Ferdinand von Tempsky--A risky journey--A
tropical thunderstorm--A warm reception for the
travellers--Mistaken for Indians--The road to
Durango--"They have burnt another village!"--Dr.
Steel as leader--Von Tempsky's "capture"--The Mexican
lancers--A scraggy army--Tracking the redskins--
Sudden appearance of three hundred Indians--Working
with awkward tools--The fight--Reinforced by Yankees 239

CHAPTER XX
A HOLIDAY AMONG THE OJIBEWAS

The Algonquin family--Charles Richard Weld--A holiday tour in
Southern Canada--A coach ride over the prairie--Indian
bullies--Getting rid of them--A rattlesnake
hunt--Extraordinary method of snake-killing--Ojibewa
guides--Rapid-shooting without warning--English
strangers--Major Strickland's farm--Ojibewas as indoor and
outdoor servants--A great prong-buck hunt--Hunting methods
of the Ojibewas--The battue 252

CHAPTER XXI
CHIPPEWYANS AND COLUMBIAN GOLD-DIGGERS

The Columbian gold find of 1857--H.M.S. _Plumper's_
task--Lieut. Mayne, R.N.--The Yale rising--Up the Fraser
in a pinnace--Coming in at the end--The Indians'
complaint--Night march of the bluejackets--Excitement of
the Indian guides--Glee turned to fear--Reaching the scene
of disorder--The miners' outpost--An awful sight--Quelling
the mob--Struggle of the Indians to save their wigwams
from the rioters--Disarming the diggers--The Chippewyan
reinforcement--The lieutenant in an awkward dilemma--The
palaver--An anxious night 264

CHAPTER XXII
THE CHIPPEWYANS OF THE COLUMBIAN MOUNTAINS

John Keast Lord--Across the Columbian Coast
range--Disadvantage of an escort--Lord's best weapon of
defence--"Held up" by Indians--Between danger and
safety--The assailants become guides--Suspicions on both
sides--A night at the Indian camp--The Canadian's
discovery--Lord on his mettle--The escape--Indian notion
of keeping an oath--Signalling--The gorge--The ambush--The
truth 277

CHAPTER XXIII
TWO DAYS IN A MOHAWK VILLAGE

Johann Georg Kohl--The Quebec Mohawks--The Indian
village--Some of the villagers--Lodgings--The chief--His
recollections and his house--His sons--Supper--The evening
chat--Kohl a _persona grata_--A morning in the
forest--Lynx traps--"Scratching the Russian"--The black
bear--Native sport--Old and new customs--A betrothal.... 289

CHAPTER XXIV
CANADIAN LAKE AND RIVER INDIANS

The Athapascan family--The Chippewyans--Rev. C.
Colton--From New York to the Saskatchewan--A
curious demonstration--Making ready for the
Chippewyans--The steam-launch aground--Surrounded by
the canoes--"Sturgeons!"--Making the Indians pay the
piper--The Lake of the Woods--The Indian fur-traders'
camp--Bargaining--Chippewyan "lodges"--Start of the
canoe flotilla--Experiments--The strange river--Too
late to turn--Rapids--An awful fate ahead--The
canoemen's presence of mind--A way of escape--Scaling
the canon--Towing 302

CHAPTER XXV
A WALK ABOUT URUGUAY

Indians of Uruguay--Thomas Woodbine Hinchcliff--A
solitary walk--The mountain-forest--Lost--A very
remarkable bull--Sudden appearance of Indian
cattle-hunters--Lassoing--Breakfast with the
Indians--Riding, under difficulties--A critical
moment--Strange method of persuading a
horse--Thirst--Help in sight, but running away--The
Indian fellow-traveller--A surprise--Sticking up for
the Indian--What the vice-consul had to say 316

CHAPTER XXVI
THE EXPLORATION OF THE SALADO VALLEY

Thomas Hutchinson, F.R.S.--In Santa Fe--A fortunate
meeting--The steam-launch--Up the Salado--The Gaucho
farmstead--The Quiteno guide--His luggage--Warnings--Visit
from the "man-eaters"--The parley from the boat--Feeding
the savages--Their terror at sight of smoke--Fear of the
Quiteno--Men who have sunk to monkey level--Fish-bone
spears--A very indiscreet question--Getting rid of the
savages--Other Indians--Ostrich-hunting--The Quiteno's
contempt for the ox-waggon, and its remedy 328