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Updated: June 24, 2025
As long as I spoke, the deepest silence reigned over the whole assembly; but as soon as I sat down, and began smoking, there was a general movement, which showed me that I had made an impression. The old great chief rose, however, and the murmurs were hushed. He spoke: "Owato Wanisha has spoken. I have heard. It was a strange vision, a beautiful dream.
It is probable that the scene had been prepared beforehand by the excellent chief, who wished to introduce us to his warriors under advantageous circumstances. He waved his hand to claim attention, and spoke again. "It is now twelve moons, it is more! I met Owato Wanisha and his two brothers.
No! their nature cannot change, not more than that of a chief, and that chief, a chief of the Shoshones! "Owato Wanisha will remain what he is; he is too young to be the great chief of the whole of a great nation. His wish is good, but his wisdom is of yesterday; he cannot rule. To rule belongs to those who have deserved, doing so, by long experience. No!
Learn his name, so that you may tell your children that they have a friend in Owato Wanisha. He Is a chief among the tribe of our great-grandfathers, he is a chief, though he is very, very young." At this moment all the warriors came, one after the other, to shake hands with me, and when this ceremony was terminated, the chief resumed his discourse.
Owato Wanisha was there, but he had a red skin, and his hair was black; so were his two fathers, but they were looking young; so was his aged and humble friend, but his limbs seemed to have recovered all the activity and vigour of youth; so were his two young friends, who have fought so bravely at the Post, when the cowardly Umbiquas entered our grounds.
"Crows, Umbiquas, and Flat-heads, Cayuses, Bonnaxes, and Callapoos can hunt all together, and rest together; they are the blackbirds and the parrots; they must do so, else the eagle should destroy them during the day, or the hedgehog during the night. "Now, Owato Wanisha, or his Manitou, has offered a bold thing.
"Owato Wanisha, we met as strangers, we part as friends. Tell your young warriors you have been among the Comanches, and that we would like to know them. "Farewell, young chief, with a pale face and an Indian heart; the earth be light to thee and thine. I have said: young brother, farewell." The tears stood in our eyes as gallantly the band wheeled round.
On my return I was therefore admitted as a chief, with the Indian name Owato Wanisha, or "spirit of the beaver," as appropriate to my cunning and address. To obtain the rank of a warrior chief, it was absolutely requisite that I had distinguished myself on the field of battle. Before I continue my narration, I must say a little more relative to the missionaries, who were my instructors.
"I am old and feeble; I am tired, arise, my grandson Owato Wanisha; speak to my warriors; tell them the wishes of the Great Spirit. I have spoken." Thus called upon, I advanced to the place which the chief had left vacant, and spoke in my turn: "Shoshones, fathers, brothers, warriors, I am a Pale-face, but you know all my heart is a Shoshone's. I am young, but no more a child.
The Comanches even now have a Shoshone heart, a Shoshone tongue. Owato Wanisha has been with them; he says they are friends, and have not forgotten that they are the children of the Great Serpent.
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