STORIES ABOUT AMERICAN

INDIANS.
. (Continued from page 235.)
\ GREAT dance was celebrated
among the tribe of Opallallas,
. and repeated at Fort Laramie
for the officers and families,
To this point Red Cloud’s
son and wife came, but they
returned with the others to
their hunting-grounds in the
Sioux country.
When the party under Gen-
eral Smith left the post in
, ambulances, &c., some felt ‘ sea-
sick,’ never having rode in a waggon before !

Once on the cars, it was kept as quiet as possible.
At Fremont, forty-seven miles from Omaha, it had
leaked out, and much excitement prevailed there, as it
was reported that the Pawnees, the old and inveterate
enemies of the Sioux, were coming in from their
reservation (near there), and would attack the train
and kill the Sioux chiefs. A number of them were
there when the train came along, but they kept very
quiet. One or two of the Pawnees went up and
shook hands with their old enemies (with whom a
deadly feud had existed for years), but they were
closely watched by General Smith, lest a stab should
be given with their knives. Although the Sioux
chiefs were told of the danger, they were ‘as cool
about it as a cucumber.’ They looked at their knives
being all right, and that was all. Of course all along
their route they were objects of curiosity to every-
body; and had the Government declined to have
them go (as it was said at first they would) a war
would have ensued soon after!

 

LEGEND OF ‘CRAZY WOMAN’S FORK.’

THE Absarakas, or Crow nation, have the reputa-
tion of being good friends to the whites, and it is also
said they have never warred with them.

Tron Bull, the renowned chief of the Crows, relates
the following legend :—

In the journey through that most delightful region
of Montana from Fort Phil. Kearney to Fort C. F.
Smith (in the Powder River country), one of the most
favoured camping-grounds is the one called ‘ Crazy
Woman’s Fork,’ the name of a pretty little stream of
water that rises in the Big Horn Mountains, and
emptying into the Little Horn River. About three
miles from the mountains this stream crosses the trail
between the two military posts mentioned.

This camp on the fork is noted for its danger from
Indian attacks, as an abundant supply of game being
found in the valley, brings the Indian there to re-
plenish his larder of wild meat. Notwithstanding
the dangers attending a journey through this region,
it has its attractions in the beautiful and diversified
views of lovely scenery, which hasten the parties
travelling in that region to encamp, for a night at least,
on the banks of a limpid stream that refreshes man
and beast from an unfailing source in the mountains.
The banks are spotted with cotton-wood trees, and to
the west one sees the tall spurs of the Rocky Moun-

tains rising up, as it were, from your feet, their dizzy
heights covered with snow; while the haze that sur-
rounds them gives to them a halo of glory and weird-
like appearance, that the imaginative might compare

to the garments that mantle the spirits of the blessed in

Paradise !

Tron Bull said that about two hundred years ago,
when the moon shone brighter, and there were more
stars, his nation was a great people, and they roamed
all over that country from the Missouri River to the
west of the Yellowstone, and no dog of a Sioux dare
show himself there. But the people had been wicked,
and the Great Spirit had darkened the heavens and
made the sun to shine with such heat that the streams
were dried up, and the snow disappeared from the
highest peaks of the mountains. The buffalo, the elk,
the mountain deer, the sheep, and the rabbit, all dis-
appeared and died away, bringing a great famine upon
his tribe, and the spirit of the air breathed death into
the lodges, so that the warrior saw his squaw and
papooses die for the want of food he could not find
on all the plain, or on the mountain-sides ; so that
the whole nation grieved and mourned in sorrow of
heart.

Still, they kept up their wars with the Sioux, and
fought many a bloody battle with them when they
suffered most, and the game had entirely disappeared.
Their great medicine man called a council, and when
the head men had assembled he told them a wonder-
ful dream that he had had, when he was bidden.by
the Great Spirit to gather the chiefs of the tribe at
the fork of the stream where they lived.

Their ponies had all been eaten for food, so the
proud Indians were compelled to make the journey
on foot to the place of meeting.

But when they arrived at the bluffs, on the edge of
the valley, they were surprised to see a bountiful sup-
per spread on the bank of the stream, close by the
Forks, and a white woman close by, standing up and
making signs to them to descend from the bluffs.

Having never before seen a ‘white squaw,’ they
were greatly astonished. The medicine-man descended
to the valley. The white woman told him that the
Great Spirit would talk through the council to her.
She told him that the wars of the tribe were dis-
pleasing to the Great Spirit, and they must make
peace with the Sioux nation. When that was done,
the great chief, ‘the Bear-that-grabs, must return
to’ her.

They sent out runners to the Sioux, and peace was
declared between the tribes for the first time in one
hundred years. je

She then followed the great chief to the mountain
in a westerly course, until he came to the Big Horn
River, and where the rock was perpendicular he was
to shoot three arrows, hitting the rock each time.

The chief pursued his journey, and, arriving at the
place told him by the white squaw, he discharged his
arrows. ‘The first one struck the rock. The second
flew over the mountain. The third was aischarged,
and a terrible noise followed: the heavens were aglow
with lightning ; the thunder shook the mountains ;
the earth trembled, and the rocks were rent asunder ;
and out of the fissure countless herds of buffalo came,
filling the valleys and the hills. The hearts of the
Indians were glad, and they ate and were merry, and