Cogewea, the Half-Blood

why the Black Robes were believed when they at last did come.

“The tribe watched and waited for the coming of the pale faces, but it was many snows before they came. It was so long that the prophecy of the dead-man was almost forgotten. The younger generation began to think it untrue; only some chip-chap-tiqul^k20 of the older Indians.

“My father was then a young man, a big chief, who ruled after the death of his father. He won fame for bravery among the tribes.21 One day a warrior came to him in haste and deep trouble. He had found a pale faced man almost dead with cold and starvation and had brought him to his teepee in the night to be fed and warmed. What should be done with the strange being?

“The Chief ordered him brought to his own lodge, where it was discovered that he had hair growing on his face. The Chief then remembered the dead man’s words and that the stranger must be treated well.

“After the white-skinned man had revived, he began teaching the way of the new trail to the Spirit Land. He wore a long black robe, from which he was called ‘Black Robe.’ He remained all winter with the Okanogans and learned much of our language. He told them that there were many more pale faces from where he came, that it was far away in the snow country towards the sunrise. That he and another Black Robe came together, but the bad Indians of the north had killed his companion. He had escaped. Maybe the Great Spirit took pity on him.

“When he began telling the Okanogans about the good White Spirit, they must not have understood, for they prayed to the Black Robe himself. They believed that he was more than man. Had not the dead man told them that the first to come would be able to show them a better way to reach the Hereafter? He must be in communication with the Great Spirit and thus understood their petitions. He forbid them praying to the sun, moon and stars, which the Indians thought to be the lodges of spirits.

“The Black Robe stayed till the snow disappeared before the Warm-winds, when he went towards the sunset. He said he was going to teach the tribes living there how to reach the White Spirit. That was the last ever heard of him. Maybe the bad Indians killed him, but we never knew.

“The Okanogans prayed the ‘new way’ for many snows, when they grew tired and almost forgot the words of the Black Robe. Then they saw the pale face again, two of them. They had no black robes, but the people tried to pray to them, as they remembered the words of the Black Robe. The pale faces only laughed at them. But this is another story which I may tell you some time.

“I have told you of the first pale face to come to our village and tribal grounds. The land is now all turned to the production of the white man’s food, which we must also use. But we old people prefer our natural food; that which the earth gave us without scarring its bosom. The deer and other game; the fish, the berries and the roots were always here; placed here for us.

“It was good to live in a lodge with no roof to smother you; where you could breathe fresh all the time. It was this former life that we loved; when the men were brave and the women were true. This is all that I will talk today.”

XV

The Superior Race

… So well
His legendary song could tell⁠—
On ancient deeds, so long forgot!
Of feuds, whose memory was not;
Of forests, now laid waste and bare.

Lay of the Last Minstrel

Cogewea and Densmore left the Stemteemä in her lodge, to dream of the past. Thus would she live to the close of her days. The teepee would never be deserted for the dwellings of civilization, which had only proven deathtraps for her race. Strolling to the river bank, the two sat down under the pines. Densmore was the first to speak. More to court favor, he broached a subject in which he felt no particular interest.

“Cogewea! are all those supposed facts as narrated by your grandmother concerning the first coming of the white man, or only legend? They seem to be no part of the chronicles.”

“Why! man!” exclaimed the girl in unfeigned surprise, “didn’t you see that she was in earnest? Sincerity was manifest in the telling. There are plenty of facts that are never alluded to by the recording historian. Are oral impartations of mind-stored truths to be reckoned as naught? A fact, like the life germ of a seed, is no less a fact from having been stored for a time.”

“Well⁠—yes! I thought the grandmother was in earnest, but mistaken. Lewis and Clark were the first Caucasians to reach and explore the great Northwest. That is recognized history.”

“They were the first white explorers of the Northwest, but not the first to penetrate its sylvan wilds. It is my belief that the last two ‘pale faces’ Stemteemä mentioned were the famous pathfinders sent out by the Government, and I am sure that when you hear her story of these men, you will agree with me on that score. Stemteemä was a small child at the time of this second coming, and she has certainly seen more than a hundred snows. Of this, there can be no doubt. My mother was the youngest of twelve children and if she were now living, would be in her late sixties at least. The grandmother was shrunken with age as far back as I can remember. My early ancestors were all favored with remarkable longevity⁠—those permitted to live out their natural lives⁠—and retentive minds; some of them filling the