Dahcotah | Page 5

miles below the Falls of St. Anthony. He has four wives,
all sisters, and the youngest of them almost a child. There are other
villages of the tribe, below and above Fort Snelling.
The scenery about Fort Snelling is rich in beauty. The falls of St.
Anthony are familiar to travellers, and to readers of Indian sketches.
Between the fort and these falls are the "Little Falls," forty feet in

height, on a stream that empties into the Mississippi. The Indians call
them Mine-hah-hah, or "laughing waters." In sight of Fort Snelling is a
beautiful hill called Morgan's Bluff; the Indians call it "God's House."
They have a tradition that it is the residence of their god of the waters,
whom they call Unk-ta-he. Nothing can be more lovely than the
situation and appearance of this hill; it commands on every side a
magnificent view, and during the summer it is carpeted with long grass
and prairie flowers. But, to those who have lived the last few years at
Fort Snelling, this hill presents another source of interest. On its top are
buried three young children, who were models of health and beauty
until the scarlet fever found its way into regions hitherto shielded from
its approach. They lived but long enough on earth to secure them an
entrance into heaven. Life, which ought to be a blessing to all, was to
them one of untold value; for it was a short journey to a better land--a
translation from the yet unfelt cares of earth to the bright and endless
joys of heaven.
Opposite the Fort is Pilot Knob, a high peak, used as a burial-place by
the Indians; just below it is the village of Mendota, or the "Meeting of
the Waters."
But to me, the greatest objects of interest and curiosity were the
original owners of the country, whose teepees could be seen in every
direction. One could soon know all that was to be known about Pilot
Knob or St. Anthony's falls; but one is puzzled completely to
comprehend the character of an Indian man, woman, or child. At one
moment, you see an Indian chief raise himself to his full height, and
say that the ground on which he stands is his own; at the next, beg
bread and pork from an enemy. An Indian woman will scornfully
refuse to wash an article that might be needed by a white family--and
the next moment, declare that she had not washed her face in fifteen
years! An Indian child of three years old, will cling to its mother under
the walls of the Fort, and then plunge into the Mississippi, and swim
half way across, in hopes of finding an apple that has been thrown in.
We may well feel much curiosity to look into the habits, manners, and
motives of a race exhibiting such contradictions.
There is a great deal said of Indian warriors--and justly too of the Sioux.
They are, as a race, tall fine-looking men; and many of those who have
not been degraded by association with the frontier class of white people,

nor had their intellects destroyed by the white man's fire-water, have
minds of high order, and reason with a correctness that would put to the
blush the powers of many an educated logician. Yet are these men
called savages, and morally associated with the tomahawk and scalping
knife. Few regard them as reasonable creatures, or as beings endowed
by their creator with souls, that are here to be fitted for the
responsibilities of the Indians hereafter.
Good men are sending the Bible to all parts of the world. Sermons are
preached in behalf of fellow-creatures who are perishing in regions
known only to us in name. And here, within reach of comparatively the
slightest exertion; here, not many miles from churches and schools, and
all the moral influences abounding in Christian society; here, in a
country endowed with every advantage that God can bestow, are
perishing, body and soul, our own countrymen: perishing too from
disease, starvation and intemperance, and all the evils incident to their
unhappy condition. White men, Christian men, are driving them back;
rooting out their very names from the face of the earth. Ah! these men
can seek the country of the Sioux when money is to be gained: but how
few care for the sufferings of the Dahcotahs! how few would give a
piece of money, a prayer, or even a thought, towards their present and
eternal good.
Yet are they not altogether neglected. Doctor Williamson, one of the
missionaries among the Sioux, lives near Fort Snelling. He is exerting
himself to the utmost to promote the moral welfare of the unhappy
people among whom he expects to pass his life. He has a school for the
Indian