Memoirs of a captivity among the Indians of North America, from childhood to the age of nineteen: with anecdotes descriptive of their manners and customs. To which is added, some account of the soil, climate, and vegetable productions of the territory westward of the Mississippi / [John Dunn Hunter].

  • Hunter, John Dunn, 1798?-1827.
Date:
1823
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Memoirs of a captivity among the Indians of North America, from childhood to the age of nineteen: with anecdotes descriptive of their manners and customs. To which is added, some account of the soil, climate, and vegetable productions of the territory westward of the Mississippi / [John Dunn Hunter]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    vastly extensive country could afford proof of' it; and if this is not sufficient, the scars they all bore would incontrovertibly establish it, as long as the lire of life burned.” I heard this subject discussed: much di- vision of opinion existed; but the wise counsels and appropriate eloquence of Kis-ke-mas prevailed. The Pawnees, Mahas, and some other nations, were, to the best of my recollection, severally at war with each other about this time; and the two above mentioned were also hostile to the Kansas, and made, during the summer, several disconnected incursions upon their hunting grounds, killed several of their hunters, and stole many of their horses. The Kansas, determining to put a stop to these encroachments, and to make repri- sals, pursued one of these marauding parties, belong- ing to the Pawnees, up the Kansas river to the shoals below Neesh-ke-nah, or the Willow islands of the tra- ders, where there is a safe ford, which is a thoroughfare for the Indians in their hunting and depredatory excur- sions. The Pawnees, perceiving that they were pursued, and taking advantage of the very dry season and high winds that prevailed, set fire to the leaves and prairie- grass, and made safe their retreat across the river. The Kansas were in consequence compelled to aban- don the pursuit, and escaped with great difficulty from the smoke and flames, which spread with the most as- tonishing rapidity. About this time, the Mahas, who were and for a long time had been at war with the Ka'nsas, and also with the Otto was, made peace with the latter ; and uniting their forces, determined to re- sist the ambitious views of the Kansas, as respected the farther extension of their hunting grounds, o o