Medicine-men are plenty among them, and tell them
how to raise children. The Injins do not understand this. Small-pox,
fire-water, bad hunting, and frosts, keep us poor, and keep our
children from growing as fast as the children of the pale-faces.
"Brothers, all this has happened within the lives of three aged
chiefs. One told to another, and he told it to a third. Three chiefs
have kept that tradition. They have given it to me. I have cut
notches on this stick (holding up a piece of ash, neatly trimmed, as
a record) for the winters they told me, and every winter since I
have cut one more. See; there are not many notches. Some of our
people say that the pale-faces are already plentier than leaves on
the trees. I do not believe this. These notches tell us differently.
It is true the pale-faces grow fast, and have many children, and
small-pox does not kill many of them, and their wars are few; but
look at this stick. Could a canoe-full of men become as many as they
say, in so few winters? No; it is not so. The stories we have heard
are not true. A crooked tongue first told them. We are strong enough
still to drive these strangers into the great salt lake, and get
back all our hunting-grounds.
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