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THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 
 
 OR 
 
 THE LEGEND OF 
 STARVED ROCK 
 
 A TALE OF ILLINOIS 
 
 BY 
 W. N. ROUNDY 
 
 CHICAGO 
 1916 
 
5^^ 
 
 
 Copyright 
 
 by 
 
 THE AUTHOR 
 
 1916 
 All Rights Reserved 
 
 / 
 
 MAY -3 1917 
 
 500 copies of this Legend printed 
 
 the 28th day of July, 1916. 
 
 by Hack & Anderson 
 
 CLA-i67251 
 
 1k^ 1 ^ 
 
DEDICATED 
 
 to the 
 
 MEMORY 
 
 of 
 
 PONTIAC 
 A Man of Vision 
 
The Last of The Illini or 
 
 The Legend of 
 
 The Starved Rock 
 
PRELUDE. 
 
 The story that I fain would fashion, 
 Is a legend of the Indians; 
 Floated down from misty ages, 
 From the twilight times long vanished. 
 When the copper colored Redmen 
 Roamed in pride these vast prairies, — 
 Free and careless as the eagles ; 
 Wild as storm-clouds in a tempest; 
 Happy like all things unfettered. 
 
 'Tis of old times that I tell you : 
 Of the days when all these regions 
 Scarcely knew a white man's footprint; 
 When the panther, deer and bison 
 Shared these meadows, plains and wood- 
 lands 
 With the wild and wandering tribesmen— 
 The Kickapoos, the Sacs and Foxes; 
 The Ottawas and Pottawatomies : 
 Last of all and of all greatest. 
 The ruling nation, the lUini; — 
 *Tis the latter and their death-song 
 Makes the burden of my story. 
 
Canto I 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINL 
 
 Canto I. 
 
 1. 
 
 From the Wabash far to westward, 
 To the lordly Mississippi; 
 From the Ohio far to northward. 
 To the pine lands of Wisconsin, 
 Roamed of olden the lUini; 
 O'er the prairies hunted bison; 
 Chased the antelope and red deer; 
 Caught the mink, muskrat and beaver; 
 Held their festivals and corn dance; 
 Danced their scalp dance and their sun 
 
 dance; 
 Made themselves as glad as might be; 
 Called these limitless prairies 
 Homeland — saying they were given 
 By their Father — the Great Spirit. 
 
 Men alone are strong and mighty. 
 Who forever toil and struggle; 
 Action maketh Gods and Freemen; 
 Sloth is but the sire of cowards. 
 
10 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 
 
 3. 
 
 In their early days of glory 
 Strove in labor the Illini; 
 Followed hunting for subsistence; 
 Played at ball for sport and pastime; 
 Went to war because they loved it. 
 All things would they do and suffer, 
 That could make them still more rugged. 
 In the autumn they made journeys, 
 Southward to the Smoky Mountains, 
 Over many broad swift rivers. 
 Past the country of green meadows. 
 Past the salt springs and the deer licks. 
 To the country of the Choctows, 
 There to buy or trade for pottery; 
 
 In the springtime, oft a party. 
 Made of picked and eager young men, 
 Restless for some far adventure. 
 Would in light canoes of birch bark. 
 Push far up the Mississippi, 
 Then into the clear Wisconsin, 
 Next by portage to the Green Bay, 
 They would reach Lake Michigamia, 
 Whose blue waters and cool breezes. 
 Wooed them ever hither, thither. 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 11 
 
 To explore the world and find them 
 Fairer facts to fit their Fancies — 
 Hardy youths must still be dreamers. 
 Whether north or south they paddled, 
 On the great vast waste of waters, 
 Always their home route was ever 
 By the dull Checagou river. 
 When by portage to the Des Plaines, 
 Down they floated to their village. 
 Not disputeless were these journeys — 
 Rather would it often happen. 
 Every camp ground showed fierce fighting; 
 Every portage heard wild war-whoops. 
 
 Thus they spent the speeding seasons ; 
 
 Ever growing strong by action. 
 
 Molding still their hearts to hardships, 
 
 And by fiercest of adventures, 
 
 Making good to sight of nations. 
 
 The meaning of their chosen race-name, 
 
 The mini — first of all men. 
 
 But at length came years of plenty; 
 
 On the fertile river bottoms. 
 
 Waved for miles the yellow corn fields. 
 
 Lifting proudly their full bounty. 
 
 Waiting for the time of harvest. 
 
 When the squaws with willow baskets. 
 
12 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 
 
 Came to pluck the ears full ripened. 
 Game and fish leaped all around them; 
 From the chase and from their trapping. 
 Still the hunters came full handed, 
 While the fishers in the river 
 Found it tiresome to bring homeward, 
 All the strings of pike and catfish; 
 Having more than what they needed. 
 They f orebore their restless striving. 
 Satisfied with mere enjoyment — 
 Then they revelled and they feasted : 
 They reclined beneath the shade trees. 
 Telling tales to one another; 
 While at eve by gleam of camp fire, 
 They would sit beneath the twilight. 
 With sparkling eyes and swelling bosoms, 
 Harkening ancient deeds of valor. 
 
 7. 
 
 While at ease lived the lUini, 
 Midst their game and corn in plenty, 
 To the East and West and Northward, 
 Hungry eyes watched their good fortune. 
 Hungry ears drank in their f eastings. 
 Parched lips kept repeating over: 
 All good things are overflowing. 
 In the land of the Illini! 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 13 
 
 Like a fire before the West wind, 
 Spread the news of their abundance: 
 Swiftly came Earth's word in answer. 
 From the East, the fierce Five Nations, 
 Making war upon the Hurons, 
 On the Shawnees and Miamis, 
 Finding: that their store of deer meat. 
 Was becoming low and lower. 
 Would say simply: We are victors, 
 Let us push a little farther, 
 To the land of the Illini, 
 There all things are waiting for us! 
 
 From the dark woods of Wisconsin, 
 After cold and rugged winters. 
 Came the gaunt-eyed Winnebagoes, 
 Fierce as wolves with spur of hunger. 
 To the land of the Illini; 
 Giving war-whoops as their payment. 
 For their gracious entertainment; 
 With perchance a flight of arrows. 
 Or swift blows from heavy war-clubs; 
 Leaving groans of dead and dying. 
 As their gifts to the Illini, 
 For the corn-meal and the deer meat. 
 
14 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 
 
 8. 
 
 Thus from many different nations, 
 Came unceasing: feud and forage, 
 As Earth's answer to their fortune. 
 Though at first they fought and conquered, 
 Beating back the roving strangers. 
 Who would rob them of their plenty; 
 Yet more oft, the fierce invaders, 
 Left red marks of blood behind them ; 
 Left bleak wails of mourning kinsmen; 
 Left dismay and desolation, 
 By the gently flowing river. 
 In the land of the Illini. 
 
 So in time this mighty nation. 
 
 Great in spirit and in numbers. 
 
 In fame and strength were sadly broken; 
 
 In numbers much decreased and lessened. 
 
 By their very reputation. 
 
 As a race of peace and plenty. 
 
 As possessors of abundance. 
 
 9. 
 A little space of respite reached them. 
 Through the efforts of the Frenchmen, 
 Who first came on explorations, 
 Down the gently flowing river; 
 Father Maquette, mild voiced preacher; 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 15 
 
 Joliet, the youthful trader; 
 Bold La Salle and noble Tonti : 
 These as friends helped the lUini ; 
 Fought with them against their f oemen, 
 Or invoked protection for them. 
 'Gainst the wandering fierce Five Nations, 
 Or the fighting wild Dacotahs. 
 
 Only for a brief, glad season. 
 
 Did the Frenchmen guard and aid them : 
 
 Even then the cunning traders. 
 
 Undermined them with their whiskey; 
 
 Gave them lies for their believing, 
 
 Till at length came on the English, 
 
 The Virginia frontiersmen. 
 
 Men as fierce as any savage. 
 
 While the terrors of the country, 
 
 The far-roving, fierce Five Nations, 
 
 Kept them all alert for battle. 
 
 Thinned their numbers by quick onslaughts, 
 
 And reduced by force and cunning. 
 
 The power of this mighty nation. 
 
 Pontiac, the far-famed chieftain. 
 
 Roused the valor of their young men. 
 
 In the splendid cause of Freedom, 
 
 And of vengeance 'gainst the white man; 
 
 Led them far away to battle. 
 
 Many led away forever. 
 
16 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 
 
 'Tis at such time, weak in numbers, 
 Scarce five hundred able warriors, 
 That Fate descended in its fury. 
 Over the ill doomed Illini. 
 
 10. 
 Born far north of diverse parents. 
 Half Ojibway, half Ottawa, 
 No wise kin to the Illini, 
 Save as member of the Metai, 
 Pontiac, the chief of chieftains. 
 Years before, by deeds of valor, 
 Raised his name before his People, 
 Till he overruled the country. 
 East and Westv/ard from the Hurons; 
 Gaining ground, he gained ambition; 
 Gaining likewise hate for white men: 
 (For the wrongs the Redmen suffered. 
 Cried aloud to God for justice. 
 Called for action to their leaders). 
 
 Then he planned a mighty movement, 
 'Twas no less than one great race-league. 
 Which uniting all the Redmen, 
 Should in purpose be the death-knell 
 Of the savage white invaders. 
 That is, of the savage English; 
 For the Indians loved the Frenchmen, 
 Since they intermarried with them. 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 17 
 
 11. 
 
 It was Pontiac who planned it, 
 Planned this great league of the Redmen; 
 He the greatest, — save Tecumseh, — 
 Who by wisdom, strength and valor, 
 Ever tried to stem the onrush 
 Of the white men o'er the Redmen. 
 Far he journeyed, this great warrior. 
 From the Northland to the Southland, 
 From the East unto the Westland, 
 Ever urging and exhorting 
 His red kinsmen to arouse them. 
 To surround and kill the white wolves. 
 Ere the chance for action vanished. 
 Through a hundred tribes he wandered. 
 Some so far their tongue he spake not. 
 Speaking to them through sign language. 
 
 12. 
 
 Once he called the tribes together. 
 Where Lake Huron is united. 
 To Lake Erie by a river. 
 Where Detroit has since been builded; 
 There for months he fought the English, 
 Held them all behind their redoubts ; 
 Scared them, awed them, starved them, 
 shot them, 
 
18 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 
 
 And was on the verge of triumph, 
 In a cunning foray on them, 
 When at length the siege was broken, 
 By the secret information, 
 Of the plot to kill the English, 
 Given to Commander Gladwin, 
 By an Indian maid who loved him. 
 
 13. 
 
 Thus do love and women ever 
 
 Mold the fate of men and nations 
 
 Now as in those olden ages 
 
 When the Greeks besieged the Trojans. 
 
 14. 
 
 Being worn out with their waiting. 
 When they learned about the warning. 
 Quick the clansmen vanished homeward, 
 Each tribe to its woods and meadows. 
 Even Pontiac could not detain them; 
 Even his fierce fiery language 
 Failed to hold their courage steady. 
 For the redman on the warpath 
 Must perceive a sure achievement. 
 Must feel certain of his victory. 
 Or his courage and endurance. 
 And especially his patience. 
 
 i 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 19 
 
 Flies into a thousand pieces, 
 Vanishes like smoke of grasses. 
 The distinction of high courage 
 Is the holding to a purpose; 
 This trait only comes with training; 
 Hence 'tis lacking in the savage. 
 
 15. 
 
 Seventeen hundred sixty-three 
 Was the year of this great failure; 
 Then the Peace twixt French and English 
 Made another chance more doubtful. 
 This Peace made between two foemen, 
 Though it puzzled all the Redmen, 
 Never daunted that great warrior, 
 Pontiac, the chief of chieftains, 
 Lessened not his hate for English; 
 Only added hate for Frenchmen. 
 
 16. 
 
 Six full winters then succeeded; 
 
 Now again the old thought rankled; 
 
 Rose in Pontiac the purpose, 
 
 To unite against the English, 
 
 And, before the chance had vanished. 
 
 Drive them from the Redman's homeland : 
 
 So from place to place he journeyed. 
 
20 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 
 
 Seeking every council meeting, 
 
 Which might give him chance for talking 
 
 Of the great thought in his bosom : 
 
 Thus at length to south and westward, 
 
 Hearing of a mighty meeting. 
 
 To be held beside the river, 
 
 The lordly giant Mississippi, 
 
 Pontiac came to tell his purpose. 
 
 And to win the warriors to it. 
 
 Friends he had in every nation; 
 
 Fellow clansmen bound by mystic 
 
 Ties of lodge-lore fast unto him: 
 
 Raven was he and an Eagle, 
 
 Buffalo and Beaver totem. 
 
 Likewise member of the Metai, 
 
 The largest secret Indian order. 
 
 For this reason, he Ottawa, 
 
 Came the greatest Redman living. 
 
 To the land of the lUini, 
 
 Came to push his purposed race-league, 
 
 For a war against the English. 
 
 Friends were there from many nations. 
 Each one hating down to heart core 
 The savage faces of the English, 
 Waiting only for a leader. 
 
Canto II 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINl 23 
 
 THE LAST OF THE ILLINL 
 CANTO IL 
 
 1. 
 
 At the village of Cahokia, 
 
 By the mighty Mississippi, 
 
 Was the meeting place appointed 
 
 For a feast of ancient usage: 
 
 Many chiefs had come together, 
 
 Many warriors of far nations; 
 
 Kickapoos, Pottawattomies, 
 
 Sacs and Foxes and Ojibway, 
 
 Many Shawnees and Miamis; 
 
 Most in number, the lUini, 
 
 Who were on their winter camp ground. 
 
 2. 
 
 With his proud head lifted haughty; 
 With his black eyes flashing fury, 
 There strode Pontiac, the Chieftain: 
 Lonely was his heart and heavy; 
 Once more had he been defeated, 
 Once more had his hopes been baffled; 
 Once more had his faith and trusting 
 To the promises of white men 
 Been destroyed like reeds wind-broken. 
 Dreams of years had sunk to nothing. 
 Though six years had come and vanished, 
 
24 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 
 
 In his mind the old wound rankled, 
 
 For his hatred kept it open, 
 
 Kept it fresh for his remembrance. 
 
 Thus his heart its chance was waiting, 
 Waiting for its day of vengeance. 
 The day that had been surely promised, 
 By the Manitoo, the Spirit, 
 To himself and to his People. 
 A man was he both strong and wily; 
 True as oak unto his kinsmen; 
 Fierce as fire unto his foemen, 
 Kingly in his looks and bearing: 
 Quicker still at acts than speeches; 
 Swifter still to move than linger; 
 Eager always to go forward. 
 Somewhat hard, stern and forbidding; 
 Somewhat gentle too and winning. 
 Master both of friends and strangers; 
 On he strode with quick, lithe footsteps, 
 To the meeting of his clansmen. 
 
 4. 
 
 'Twas a day of solemn feasting. 
 In honor of the old achievements. 
 Wrought in pastimes by the Redmen, 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 25 
 
 By the great Algonquin war-chiefs. 
 Lifted up by his great purpose, 
 Wrapped around as by a Vision, 
 There came Pontiac, the Chieftain; 
 Great in fact and great in feeling. 
 As the best of his ancestors; 
 In wisdom, greater than the greatest: 
 They had rushed to war and triumphed; 
 He had fought and he had waited; 
 Gainst Time itself had been a victor; 
 Like a rock was he in patience; 
 Like a reed to bend when need be. 
 As he passed on through the village, 
 To the borders of the forest. 
 The twinkling lights within the houses, 
 Stabbed him like so many arrows; 
 While the fort's gun with its booming. 
 Telling the approach of sunset, 
 Roused in him a bitter raving. 
 For he saw in these an omen 
 Of the Redman's sure destruction; 
 In such things he saw lay hidden 
 Poison that should kill his People. 
 
 5. 
 On the border of the forest. 
 In a meadow fringed with oak trees. 
 Was assembled the great meeting; 
 
26 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 
 
 Round the circle of red faces, 
 Firelight flung its ruddy colors, 
 When toward it moved a figure. 
 Prouder, sterner than all others. 
 More imperious and more haughty: 
 Cries of huh ! huh ! then ran swiftly 
 Round the circle — 'twas a welcome 
 To the far-famed mighty chieftain. 
 
 6. 
 
 With a short curt word of greeting, 
 He sat down within the circle. 
 Listening to the common business. 
 Long the feasting and carousing, 
 Mong those far-met friendly clansmen, 
 In that meadow hid in twilight. 
 Lit up by the lonely firelight; 
 Till at length, the mighty Chieftain, 
 Pontiac, moved toward the centre; 
 Not a sound broke on the stillness; 
 Not a leaf stirred in the forest. 
 As the chief of many battles. 
 Stood a moment like a statue. 
 Gravely searched the rows of faces. 
 Painted by the ruddy firelight. 
 On a curtain made of shadows. 
 Then with deep voice in whose volume, 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 27 
 
 Slumbered waves of hidden passion, 
 Thus he spake unto his People: 
 
 SPEECH OF PONTIAC. 
 
 Brothers, I am glad to meet you; 
 
 My eyes rejoice to see my kinsmen; 
 
 My heart is kindled by your faces. 
 
 Many years now you have known me, 
 
 You know that I have battled for you. 
 
 Against your foes, the hated English; 
 
 You know I hate them now as ever. 
 
 Forty summers have passed over. 
 
 Since I sought them on the war-path; 
 
 Then my hair was like the raven's ; 
 
 Now 'tis flecked with fallen snowflakes, 
 
 It has felt the touch of winter. 
 
 Yet my heart is strong and hopeful; 
 
 Still I look to see the Future, 
 
 Give back power to the Redman; 
 
 I shall see my People happy. 
 
 Much in former days I counselled. 
 
 Things that ever more proved true things, 
 
 For the Spirit sent them to me: 
 
 Now again I speak, the last time. 
 
 Words my lips are fierce to utter; 
 
 In my heart, the Spirit stirs them. 
 
 And I cannot keep them under. 
 
28 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 
 
 You know I sent to our French father, 
 
 Asking aid against the English : 
 
 Weak women's words were brought back to 
 
 me, 
 Saying: AH are friends together; 
 Frenchmen love their foes the English, 
 And the Redmen too must love them. 
 I make no answer to such folly; 
 Let the Frenchmen love the English; 
 They may love grey wolves and panthers: 
 But I say to you, my Brothers, 
 We must arm and fight together. 
 Must be from East to West one People; 
 Must rouse ourselves and wait the signal, 
 Then like lightning seize the English, 
 Kill them as they kill the red deer 
 In the deep snow drifts of winter; 
 Sweep them from the sight of daylight. 
 Leave no seed for next year's harvest. 
 
 Maybe there are some here gathered. 
 Who are friends unto the English; 
 Let them listen; they must follow, 
 Or FU drive them from these prairies. 
 As the fire burns grass in autumn, 
 Not a tuft of them shall linger. 
 But we shall triumph all together; 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 29 
 
 The Manitou has whispered to me, 
 Saying: All things are the Redmen's kins- 
 men; 
 All the beasts and birds and fishes ; 
 All the hills and brooks and meadows; 
 All the forests and the rivers; 
 All the clouds within the heavens : 
 He alone has known and loved them ; 
 Has worn his trails across the meadows; 
 Has placed his dead upon the hill-tops. 
 Therefore hills and plains and rivers, 
 Are for him and for him only. 
 This is why it must and shall be, 
 That we triumph all together,^- 
 This is the Great Spirit's reason: 
 
 We are brothers; they are strangers; 
 We are friends and they are foemen; 
 We are owners ; they, intruders ; 
 We are children of the Father, 
 They are outcasts, come from nowhere: 
 Will you let them dispossess you? 
 Take the graves of your forefathers. 
 Spoil the bones of your great chieftains. 
 Scatter forth your wives and children. 
 And like vultures sit in triumph, 
 On your own unburied bodies? 
 
30 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 
 
 No! you shall have better fortune; 
 The Great Spirit guards his children, 
 When they give their pledges to him. 
 Why do bullets never reach me? 
 Why are English threats as nothing? 
 'Tis because I do the bidding 
 Of the Manitou, the Spirit, 
 Who long years ago had willed it, 
 That I save you, my own People; 
 That I bring you back, my brothers, 
 The Glory and the Pride and Valor 
 Of the warriors, your forefathers; 
 You shall see the day when never 
 Our great meadows and our rivers 
 Shall be darkened by the English; 
 The time is coming when the sunshine 
 Shall see the Redmen free and happy: 
 I have spoken. This you all know, 
 I will act the words I utter; 
 When the wampum belts are ready, 
 I will lead you on the war-path. 
 
 7. 
 
 As he ceased, a sudden rustle. 
 Running round the darkened circle. 
 Showed the interest of his hearers; 
 Then huh ! huh ! in quick succession, 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 31 
 
 Clenched the words that had been spoken. 
 With a flush on his dark features, 
 The mighty chieftain paused a moment, 
 Looked round with an eager searching 
 In his eyes of restless roving; 
 Gravely took a proffered peace pipe; 
 Puffed two whiffs of strong tobacco; 
 Then with wave of friendly greeting, 
 Strode out from the fire-lit circle, 
 Out toward the darkened forest, 
 Where the shadows hung together. 
 Making meshes deep and solemn; 
 There he went to chant his war-songs. 
 And invoke the Spirit's blessing. 
 
 The meeting meanwhile broke up swiftly. 
 Each man pondering o'er the war words. 
 
 8. 
 
 Just without the fire-lit circle, 
 A trader had been standing silent. 
 Listening to the great Chiefs language. 
 And his threats of war-like meaning. 
 An English trader who saw foremost. 
 That a war would spoil his profits; 
 Quickly made he his decision: 
 (Greed for money knows no conscience 
 
32 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 
 
 And will dare all things by proxy.) 
 
 Thus the trader acted swiftly; 
 
 With a sly and cautious gesture, 
 
 He called a renegade Illini, 
 
 Who was coming from the meeting, 
 
 Scarcely fit to know the meaning 
 
 Of what things had taken place there, 
 
 (Made so by the grace of whiskey) 
 
 Though awake enough to reckon. 
 
 That he wanted more fire-water. 
 
 The trader knew his man to heart core; 
 
 Beckoning him into a shadow. 
 
 He promised then to give him whiskey. 
 
 Powder, bullets, too, and money. 
 
 If he killed the ancient foeman 
 
 Of the English ; the one man, also 
 
 Who in open council meeting, 
 
 Dared to threaten an Illini; 
 
 These few words and then the trader, 
 
 Went back slowly to the village. 
 
 With his black heart wreathed in smilings : 
 
 While the renegade Illini 
 
 Sneaked off through the darkened shadows. 
 
 Careless, heedless, unsuspecting. 
 Many young ambitious warriors, 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 33 
 
 Kinsmen of the famous Chieftain, 
 Made a circle round the camp fire, 
 Waiting for their chief's returning. 
 Meantime passing round the peace-pipe. 
 As they smoked, from out the forest. 
 Came a voice upraised in music. 
 Chanting medicine and war songs. 
 Asking aid from the Great Spirit. 
 When they heard his deep voiced singing. 
 They looked and smiled at one another. 
 Knowing something was forthcoming, 
 When the Chief invoked the Spirit. 
 
 10. 
 
 As they talked in quiet converse, 
 
 Of a sudden, lo! a stillness 
 
 Fell upon the flickering firelight. 
 
 On the meadows and the wide fields. 
 
 Over all the darkened forest; 
 
 They listened and again they listened. 
 
 For the voice to raise its chanting. 
 
 For the voice of the great war chief. 
 
 Communing with the Manitou. 
 
 All around was solemn silence: 
 
 Then in wonder at the stillness. 
 
 Up they sprang from round the camp fire, 
 
 Rushed into the gloomy forest, 
 
34 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 
 
 And upon the crisp brown oak leaves 
 Found the Chief's dead body stabbed 
 
 through, 
 From the back by an assassin, 
 The corpse of the far-famed warrior, 
 Hero of a hundred battles, 
 Pontiac, the chief of chieftains. 
 
 11. 
 
 As they raised the mournful death-song, 
 From the shadows sprang in terror. 
 The low and cowardly assassin. 
 Born by chance and luckless fortune 
 To the name but not the nature 
 Of a true man, an Illini. 
 
 12. 
 
 Long ago the word was written; 
 Both the innocent and guilty 
 Must of need together suffer; 
 Men are still their brothers' keepers: 
 He who scorns this fact will rue it. 
 
 13. 
 
 Quick as speeds a fljing arrow. 
 Sprang three warriors hasting forward. 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 35 
 
 After the dim flying figure, 
 
 Toward the village of Cahokia, 
 
 The quiet, peaceful little village, 
 
 Where beside their friends, the Frenchmen, 
 
 Lived in winter the lUini, 
 
 Numbering now perhaps a thousand. 
 
 Behind them in the darkened forest. 
 
 Rose the mournful, wailing death-song. 
 
 Chanted by the faithful kinsmen. 
 
 For the honor of their war-chief. 
 
 Gone at last beyond the rivers. 
 
 Fast flew pursued and the pursuers; 
 
 But beside the Mississippi, 
 
 He escaped into the darkness. 
 
 Fled away into the willows. 
 
 Which obscured it like a jungle. 
 
 Seeing not but caring nothing, 
 
 Since tribes answer for their members. 
 
 Giving payment as requittal. 
 
 Or more oft another member. 
 
 Who should expiate injustice, 
 
 Wiping out Death's wrong by dying. 
 
 Blind with anguish, rage and horror, 
 
 On they rushed into the village, 
 
 Calling with loud cries the Elders, 
 
 To deliver up the traitor. 
 
 Or give vengeance as befitted. 
 
36 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 
 
 That they might thus make atonement, 
 For the dear blood of their kinsman, 
 After the established custom. 
 
 14. 
 
 Then the Elders speaking gravely, 
 Said in turn that they were sorry, 
 Though they knew naught of the matter, 
 They promised to the anguished kinsmen, 
 Two Ojibways from Wisconsin; 
 One Ottawa from the northland. 
 That if wrong had been committed. 
 Justice would in time be given. 
 After the Illini blood-law: 
 Thus the Elders gravely answered. 
 
 15. 
 
 But not so, the younger warriors; 
 Decked and daubed and full of whiskey. 
 They spoke out with words of boasting; 
 Said their fathers were the rulers 
 Of that land from East to Westward. 
 Then what business had the war-chief. 
 To come there to make them trouble: 
 Were he dead, it were small matter; 
 They could live again in comfort. 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 37 
 
 16. 
 
 Thus spake rashly, the young: warriors, 
 
 Made mere fools by too much whiskey. 
 
 But in answer said the kinsmen: 
 
 We demand our sacred blood-rites; 
 
 Give us vengeance, or we take it; 
 
 We have warned you; you have heard us! 
 
 Baffled, back they went in sorrow, 
 All intent upon their blood-rites. 
 Back to where beside the chieftain. 
 Friends were raising still the death-song, 
 Neath the lonely sombre shadows, 
 In the darkened midnight forest. 
 
 17. 
 
 Having been refused their blood rites. 
 
 Satisfaction set by custom, 
 
 By the tribe of whom a member 
 
 Has been guilty of a murder. 
 
 One thing now remained before them. 
 
 Ceaseless, bloody retribution 
 
 On each man born an lUini. 
 
 For by ancient Indian custom. 
 
 Any tribe denying payment 
 
 For the ill deed of a member. 
 
38 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 
 
 Could be swept from oflf the Earth^s face, 
 By the kinsmen of the injured: 
 Thus each clansman of the Chieftain, 
 Called for war 'gainst the Illini. 
 
 18. 
 
 Leaving one to guard the body, 
 All the rest — his friends and kinsmen — 
 More than fifty all together. 
 Chiefs and warriors of tried valor. 
 With a parting look of anguish, 
 Turning from the great dead Chieftain, 
 Plunged into the lonely forest. 
 Each in a diverse direction. 
 And vanished through the darkened 
 shadows. 
 
Canto III 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 41 
 
 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI. 
 Canto HI. 
 
 Blood for blood ! — the cry resounded, 
 Over hill and plain and meadow; 
 'Twas a clansmen's shout of vengeance: 
 Swifter than a coming tempest; 
 Faster than the gleam of lightning; 
 Wild as howl of wolves in winter. 
 Speeding on it gathered fury, 
 Like the cloud that bears destruction, — 
 Like the tempest which Death follows, — 
 Woe! unto the doomed Illini. 
 
 All thenceforth was stir and bustle 
 
 In the village of Cahokia: 
 
 By the Elders word was given. 
 
 To make ready the next morning. 
 
 To return unto their homeland, 
 
 Far away from the great River, 
 
 To the stream that floweth gently. 
 
 Specked with islands; edged with sandcliffs; 
 
 To their village of La Ventum, — 
 
 To the meadows of their fathers. 
 
42 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 
 
 When the morning flung its grey light, 
 
 Far across the wide prairies, 
 
 Hastily within the village, 
 
 By the mighty Mississippi, 
 
 The mini rose together. 
 
 Rose and cooked a scanty breakfast. 
 
 Then with speed of a war-party. 
 
 Packing up their camp utensils. 
 
 Wended forth to North and Eastward, 
 
 Over a well beaten roadway, 
 
 To the land of their forefathers. 
 
 To their village of La Ventum, 
 
 On the fertile river bottoms. 
 
 By the gently flowing river. 
 
 Little time for rest was given; 
 Urged on ever by the warriors, 
 They were pushed forth to the journey. 
 Three days passed in stolid travel; 
 On the fourth day just at twilight. 
 When they looked down on the river. 
 From the cliffs that edge the valley. 
 Round about the wide horizon, — 
 To the North and East and Southward; 
 To the Westward, too, behind them. 
 Came short puffs of fire a moment. 
 Which soon vanished into darkness. 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 43 
 
 Then the keen eyes of the Elders 
 Grew anxious and again more anxious, 
 As pushing through the gathering dark- 
 ness, 
 They saw the signal fires repeated. 
 On they hurried fast and faster; 
 One or two young men and runners. 
 Sped ahead unto the village. 
 To give warning to the women. 
 To the children and the old men. 
 Who had been engaged in planting, 
 To drop everything and follow: 
 Whither? came the weary question. 
 From an old squaw worn with labor. 
 To the Rock! came back the answer. 
 
 4. 
 
 Fronting boldly to the Northward, 
 
 With its deep indented edges. 
 
 Worn out by the mighty waters. 
 
 In the floods of bye-gone ages. 
 
 There beside the gentle river 
 
 Loomed up through the dusk of evening 
 
 The great Rock which had been famous, 
 
 Since the time when noble Tonti 
 
 With a mere handful of allies. 
 
 Beat the fierce Five Nations from it. 
 
44 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 
 
 Round it had the torrents sweeping, 
 Left it standing like a giant, 
 All bereft of friends and kinsmen; 
 There in grandeur stood their haven. 
 Toward which now all the Illini, 
 Warriors, women, maids and children. 
 Went pell-mell in a wild panic. 
 Headlong to escape their f oemen, — 
 The dead Chieftain's clan and kinsmen. 
 Who were coming for their vengeance. 
 
 As they passed across the river. 
 Some in light canoes of birch bark. 
 Some by fording, others swimming; 
 To them came a burst of yelling, 
 With a swarm of flying arrows. 
 Cutting all the water round them, — 
 Signal fires were bearing fruitage! 
 Then the whiz of bullets o'er them. 
 Showed their f oemen were increasing. 
 In return the warriors sent back. 
 Answer by a quick sharp volley. 
 Which raised death-songs up behind them, 
 And grim yells of maddened fury. 
 From the willows by the river; 
 Just grim yells, but not the body 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 45 
 
 Of a f oeman shone from cover. 
 Then the swift eyes of the Elders, 
 Grew relieved for well they reckoned, 
 If their foes were great in number. 
 They would rush forth to attack them. 
 Fast they fled along the lowlands, — 
 On their right the shining sand cliffs ; 
 On their left, the gentle river; 
 And in front straight on before them. 
 The great Rock in silence standing. 
 Like a mighty pillar placed there. 
 By the Manitoo, the Spirit, 
 As a refuge for his children. 
 Soon above them shone the shadows 
 Of the mighty Rock, — their haven. 
 To the inner side they hurried, 
 Where a pathway, steep and narrow 
 Wound its way unto the summit; 
 There the warriors turned and facing, 
 Held at bay their fleet pursuers; 
 While the women and the children 
 Clambered up the rocky pathway: 
 One by one the warriors followed, 
 While from out the trees and bushes, 
 Now and then a bullet whistled. 
 Or there came an arrow singing. 
 Forth from out the darkened forest. 
 
46 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 
 
 When at length they gained the summit, — 
 All together, the Illini, — 
 Gave a mighty yell of triumph, 
 Which was answered by a war whoop, 
 From the shadows by the river: 
 
 Safe at last ! For who could reach them, 
 There high up above the valley. 
 Perched like eagles in an eyry. 
 Throned like Spirits in their Cloudland? 
 
 They were safe; — but lo! to westward. 
 Gleaming through the dusk of nightfall. 
 Sparks of fire leaped far to Heaven; 
 Bursting flames shot gleaming upward; 
 'Twas their village, — their dear homeland, 
 In the grasp of the pursuers. 
 
 8. 
 
 Wearied with their tedious journey. 
 All the warriors and the women. 
 All the children and the old men. 
 After having eaten supper. 
 Laid them down to rest, save only 
 One young brave, an Indian half-breed, 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 47 
 
 Called Le Bel, from his red mother — 
 Named so from her Frenchman lover. 
 He had joined them at La Ventum; 
 By chance had come up there before them, 
 Allured there by a maiden's black eye, 
 A Shawnee maid whose village slumbered, 
 Some few miles down on the river; 
 Half-breed was he, yet all Indian, 
 For he loved his mother's people. 
 
 All the rest lay down to slumber. 
 
 Leaving: this young brave to guard them ; 
 
 As they slept, the only noises 
 
 Were the whisperings of the breezes 
 
 Through the spreading cedar branches, 
 
 And the whippoorwills a-calling, 
 
 From the shadows by the river. 
 
 At the ending of the pathway. 
 
 By the cliff's edge sat the young brave; 
 
 In his hand a trusty rifle; 
 
 In his belt a keen-edged dagger. 
 
 Long he sat there like a statue. 
 
 Hearing not a sound or ripple. 
 
 From the world of all things living. 
 
 Mid the stillness of the darkness. 
 
 Soon his thoughts went down the river, — 
 
48 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 
 
 To the Shawnee maiden's wigwam; 
 Floated on the placid current, 
 Stopping by her round lithe figure, 
 Where he too would fain be resting. 
 Held there by her radiant glances ; 
 Lulled by her inspired caresses; 
 Wooed to slumber by her kisses. 
 
 10. 
 
 He was dreaming Love's fair visions, 
 In the face of gloom and danger, — 
 For of all moods neath the Heavens, 
 Love's mood is the most heroic, — 
 When the sudden soft low rolling 
 Of a stone fell on his hearing : 
 Then a long deep silence followed: 
 All alert, he pressed him forward. 
 With his eyes into the darkness. 
 Swiftly stepping neath a cedar. 
 Which hung o'er the gleaming sand cliff, 
 At the turning of the pathway. 
 There in patience then he waited: 
 
 11. 
 
 Soon he heard a something moving. 
 
 Quiet as a shifting shadow. 
 
 Not a human form he saw there, — 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 49 
 
 Just a motion in the pathway, 
 As if sand were coming upward 
 To its old place on the summit; 
 There was movement; then a silence; 
 Then again a faint ground swelling, 
 In the winding of the footpath; 
 Puzzled somewhat, still he waited, 
 All alert with unsheathed dagger. 
 From the place where he was stationed, 
 One short bound would gain the summit; 
 Suddenly the pathway lifted. 
 And a form rose from the darkness. 
 Rose and showed against the starlight 
 A hand that clenched a gleaming dagger. 
 
 12. 
 
 Never stirring; never breathing; 
 Though the stranger almost touched him, 
 Stolid stood Le Bel one instant. 
 Till the stealthy stranger passed him. 
 Passed a step or two beyond him, 
 Then he sprang like lightning on him; 
 With one hand plunged deep his dagger; 
 With the other hand reached forward. 
 Groping for his f oeman's weapon : 
 'Neath the blue-black of the midnight. 
 Fiercely fought those two lone f oemen, — 
 
50 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 
 
 Fought as men fight for existence. 
 Back and forth they swayed and tottered; 
 Gasped for breath and tugged and waited; 
 Then began again, while ever 
 Yawned the great void far below them, — 
 Far below them loomed the darkness. 
 Gradually the wound first given. 
 Told upon his foe ; so, rousing 
 All his strength, he forced the stranger, 
 Foot by foot still near and nearer 
 To the cliff's edge, when all sudden. 
 With a wrestler's quick maneuver 
 Young Le Bel then gave his foeman. 
 One great push that sent him headlong 
 Downward, downward to the water; 
 But so mighty was the effort, 
 O'er the brink he too went crashing. 
 Downward toward the yawning river. 
 But his fall was brief and broken; 
 For by luck a scraggy cedar 
 Jutting from between two ledges 
 Saved him just in time; and as he 
 Swung himself back to the summit, 
 From below a great splash rose up. 
 Next a gurgle from the river; 
 Then dropped down Night's peaceful 
 silence. 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 51 
 
 13. 
 
 To his post then sprang the young man; 
 
 For a moment he was tempted, 
 
 To arouse the weary sleepers, 
 
 But on waiting for a minute. 
 
 When no human echoes answered 
 
 That great splashing of the river, 
 
 Then he knew that it was only. 
 
 Some young brave who hoped by daring. 
 
 To acquire a chieftain's title. 
 
 With the midnight shadows round him, 
 
 Like a statue still unstirring. 
 
 Sat the young man there till morning. 
 
 14. 
 
 Daybreak came and looking round them, 
 Lo! they saw far up the river. 
 Large canoes containing warriors; 
 On the lowlands they saw motion. 
 Which betokened hasting allies; 
 Underneath them by the river. 
 Every space could show a wigwam. 
 To the East and to the Southward, 
 O'er the canyon on a sand cliff. 
 Where their foes could watch each move- 
 ment. 
 
52 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 
 
 To the mainland there behind them, 
 
 Warriors waited keen and eager; 
 
 In the river right below them; 
 
 On an isle shaped like an arrow, 
 
 Shone the campfires of the allies, — 
 
 Not a point of vantage empty! 
 
 Grave grew the dark brows of the Elders, 
 
 For they knew the situation, — 
 
 They could read its grim hard meaning. 
 
 But the children and the young men. 
 
 Looking downward laughed and hooted, 
 
 Making faces at the camp fires ; 
 
 Cried out : Stay there, you mud turtles. 
 
 Till the rising waters sweep you 
 
 Far away to the great River, — 
 
 You are stupid ugly cat-fish ! 
 
 15. 
 
 Slowly passed the days in waiting. 
 With no sound save now a yelling. 
 From the camp fires by the river. 
 In honor of some new arrival; 
 Or an answer of defiance. 
 From the rock that towered skyward. 
 
Canto IV 
 
THE LAST OP THE ILLINI 55 
 
 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI. 
 
 Canto IV. 
 
 There upon the Rock's high summit: 
 Lying on the pleasant grasses, 
 Or reclining 'neath the cedars, 
 Chatting gaily with the maidens. 
 All the thoughtless younger warriors 
 Being safe and feeling valiant 
 Taunted still the poor besiegers, 
 Saying they were wasting labor. 
 But the Elders and the women. 
 Looking over the provisions. 
 Found their stock was low and scanty. 
 Then their grave eyes grew more anxious, 
 For though meat and meal were scanty, 
 Though the river flowed beneath them; 
 Making pleasant little ripples. 
 Not a drop of water had they. 
 
 Water they must have and quickly; — 
 So they knew but knew well, likewise. 
 Night must first come down to shield them. 
 Long they waited for the darkness, — 
 First they saw the Day's glare lessen; 
 
56 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 
 
 In the lowlands to the Westward, 
 Next they saw the river shadows, 
 Deepen and grow dark and darker; 
 As the sun grew large and golden; 
 They saw it rest one splendid moment, 
 Setting on the western hill tops. 
 In the midst of gorgeous colors, 
 And then vanish like a monarch : 
 They saw the pink light of the sunset: 
 Sink behind the western shadows; 
 Watched the soft green of the meadows 
 Slowly change its blithesome color; 
 Heard the whipporwills keep calling. 
 From the darkness by the river. 
 Then they saw the camp fires lighted. 
 In the forests all around them; 
 While above, the silver star-light 
 Glimmered through the air of evening. 
 
 As they waited, from their number. 
 Eight young warriors were selected; 
 With them two with water bottles. 
 Made of tanned skin sewed up tightly: 
 When the blackness had grown blacker. 
 Till the forests merged together, 
 Making all the world one shadow, 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 57 
 
 Then they crept down slow and slower, — 
 Silent as the ghosts of dead men; 
 Noiselessly they reached the river, 
 Filled their bags and turned back upward. 
 When a yell rang from the silence, 
 And a volley lit the darkness; — 
 Breathless watched their friends above 
 
 them. 
 As the two with bags came straining 
 Up the pathway and behind them. 
 Two came limping slowly onward; 
 Two came bounding up exultant. 
 But the other two lay dying. 
 Far below them in the shadows, — 
 Such the price they paid for water. 
 
 4. 
 
 The first night passed away in silence; 
 Still another day succeeded. 
 And another day came and vanished : 
 Many foes had flocked around them; 
 Then another came unbidden, — 
 Cunning as a creeping serpent; 
 Silent, stealthy as a panther; — 
 It was Hunger, — the fierce Demon. 
 
 5. 
 Like a dry wind, it came o'er them, 
 
58 THE LAST OP THE ILLINI 
 
 Parching all the earth and heavens; 
 They grew faint and weak and listless; 
 Heavy eyed and heavy hearted; 
 In their veins, a sleepless burning, 
 As if many nagging devils. 
 Were at work upon their vitals. 
 Of the corn-meal, not a kernel; 
 Of their deer-meat not a morsel; 
 Of their water not a module. 
 Then they seized the shrubs and bushes ; 
 Split the tender sprigs half open, — 
 Chewed them till they could not swallow: 
 How they cried and prayed for water! 
 Calling for a single rain drop: 
 With the bright blue heavens o'er them. 
 How they longed to see the black clouds 
 Come up o'er the western hill tops. 
 For they knew that they held water; 
 Meanwhile still the placid river 
 Mocked them with its smiling ripples. 
 
 On the fifth day in the morning, 
 
 Rose the mists above the valley; 
 
 Then the clouds came scudding earthward. 
 
 Till the whole sky-dome was darkened; 
 
 Fell a light and gentle tapping 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 59 
 
 On the new leaves of the oak trees : — 
 When the rain came down in torents. 
 Like wild things they leaped to meet it; 
 Opened wide their mouths to catch it; 
 Snapped at it like dogs in autumn; 
 Licked the rocks where it had fallen: 
 Stripping off their bits of clothing, 
 They let their thirsty bodies drink it; 
 Through the wet grass rolled them over, 
 Thankful for its happy coming, — 
 The good Rain, — their benefactor. 
 But as quick as they had risen. 
 Soon again the storm-clouds vanished, — 
 Flew away like great black eagles, 
 Leaving skies all hot above them. 
 
 Round them all the world was happy; 
 Fish leaped darting from the river; 
 Merry hunters chased the red deer 
 Down along the lowland bottoms; 
 Mild eyed ring-doves cooed above them. 
 While below, they watched the white buds 
 Of a cherry tree whose branches 
 Flung far out into the sunshine 
 The fragrance of a thousand blossoms; 
 Then with eyes of pain and fury 
 
60 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 
 
 They saw their foes at ease reclining, 
 Gorged to slumber by their feasting. 
 
 8. 
 
 Le Bel, the young brave, had a sister, — 
 Kiskilwasee, the Bright-eyed One; 
 Orbs of jet and cheeks rose ruddy. 
 Like good bronze that's highly polished. 
 Gentle, fawn-like motions had she; 
 Graceful movements; pleasant smilings; 
 Modest winsome maiden manners : 
 In her hands, the dimples lingered; 
 On her brow lay childhood's freshness; 
 Round her breathed the bloom of flowers. 
 
 In her brother's first love making, 
 Kiskilwasee often counselled. 
 Showing puzzles to the young man. 
 Now in turn he gave her comfort; 
 Cheered her as she grew despondent, — 
 Told her that perhaps some allies. 
 Knitted by blood ties unto them. 
 Might assist them in their trouble. 
 For the maiden, dull with hunger, 
 Spite of all would grow dejected. 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 61 
 
 As she heard her brother's plannings, 
 Kiskilwasee only smiled then ; 
 Told him he must try to save him 
 For the sake of his belowed one; 
 For she felt that she would never 
 See again the days of olden. 
 
 10. 
 
 Although proudly the Illini, 
 Silently and uncomplaining, 
 Faced their grim and direful fortune, 
 Unrelenting and unswerving. 
 Ruthlessly their doom descended. 
 
 llo 
 
 One by one they all grew weaker; — 
 First the children; next the old men; 
 Then the women. One by one — 
 Beneath the trees, a little pappoose. 
 Powerless for speech or crying. 
 Would without a single whimper 
 Fold its tiny hands forever: 
 Mothers with gaunt haggard faces 
 Would be found at break of morning 
 Dead beside their dying offspring; 
 Old men who had once been famous 
 For a hundred deeds of valor, — 
 
62 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 
 
 Hardships almost past the telling, 
 Would lie down beneath the bushes 
 And give their last breath to the Spirit ; 
 At the ending of the pathway 
 Still the warriors watched and waited; — 
 Though unfit to lift a weapon; 
 Though too weak to pull a bow-string, 
 From behind a dozen cedars 
 Gleamed the shining rifle barrels, 
 Ready for the first invader, 
 While to help keep up their courage 
 In this awful stress of famine. 
 Bravely, feebly spake they, saying: — 
 We are men ! We are lUini ! 
 
 12. 
 
 Twas the sunset of the twelfth day, — 
 
 Half were dead; the rest were dying; — 
 
 By the maiden, Kiskilwasee, 
 
 Sat Le Bel, her faithful brother. 
 
 Gazing on his sister's features 
 
 With unutterable anguish, 
 
 With a pity past expression. 
 
 Life, the Beautiful, was going 
 
 Past the unreturning sunset; 
 
 All the things that they had dreamed of; 
 
 All the dreamings they had lived for; 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 63 
 
 All the hopes that they had cherished, — 
 All were gone from them forever: 
 Death's grim eyes were staring at them ; 
 Death's cold face was watching o'er them; 
 Death's long bony hand seemed itching 
 For the chance to seize and rend them. 
 
 how gracious, precious Life seemed, 
 Now that it was slipping from them! 
 Softly whispered Kiskilwasee; — 
 
 1 would like to live, my brother, 
 Until you were safe and happy: 
 After all, this earth is winsome. 
 When the People keep peace on it. 
 We have had glad days together; 
 For so much at least I'm grateful: 
 If you live, remember, brother, 
 That your Kiskilwasee loved you, — 
 Blessed you, — ^wished you all good fortune! 
 
 13. 
 
 Death is life's one great instructor; 
 Teaching tenderness and beauty; 
 Opening hearts to nobler thinking; 
 Bringing subtler, deeper insight 
 Into mysteries of living ; 
 Smiting Self from its enthronement, 
 Crowning Love with wreaths of laurel. 
 
64 THE LAST OP THE ILLINI 
 
 14. 
 
 What best moves both men and heroes 
 
 Are the mild words of a woman; — 
 
 Strength has need of being tender. 
 
 When her brother heard the praises, 
 
 First they cut him like an arrow, 
 
 Rankling in his heart a little, — 
 
 For he did not feel deserving ; 
 
 (Merit ever is unconscious.) 
 
 Then the young man rose up slowly. 
 
 Took a small red jug of pottery. 
 
 Tied around with thong of deer skin; 
 
 With a motion to his sister, 
 
 Which she answered with faint smilings. 
 
 Straight he walked toward the cliff's side. 
 
 Where it hung above the water; 
 
 But where trees and bushes fringed it. 
 
 Half way down unto the river: 
 
 Swinging from a sturdy pine tree. 
 
 Soon he reached a ledge that jutted 
 
 Just below the cliff's true summit; 
 
 There he rested for a moment, — 
 
 Being weak with weary fasting. 
 
 Gazing at the space below him. 
 
 Lo! he saw there by the river. 
 
 Many boats but not a warrior; 
 
 Much he wondered; long he lingered; 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 65 
 
 Slowly then by roots and bushes, 
 Swinging down, now low and lower. 
 He had almost reached the water. 
 And then thinking how his sister 
 Would rejoice to see his jug full. 
 When a war-whoop sounded o'er him. 
 Then another and another, — 
 Far up on the cliff's high summit. 
 His thin blood froze up within him; 
 Looking down at the canoes there. 
 Drawn up underneath the shadows. 
 Then he understood their meaning: — 
 All was over now forever — 
 Naught he knew could save his people; 
 For their swarming foes had waited 
 Until they were weak with hunger. 
 To assault and over-power them. 
 
 15. 
 
 Death is easier than living! — 
 So he thought as high above him 
 Once again the yells resounded, — 
 'Twas the death-knell of a nation. 
 Le Bel began to clamber upward, 
 Back to where he had descended. 
 Hoping he might save his sister. 
 But, alas, his weak arms failed him; 
 
66 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 
 
 Though he strove by pulling, hauling, 
 To regain the rocky cliff -side, 
 Time and time again he stumbled, 
 Till he saw that it was useless; 
 Even though he reached the summit 
 He was powerless to aid her. 
 Having neither strength nor weapons. 
 
 16. 
 
 As he pondered for a moment, 
 Suddenly, as in a vision. 
 Came his sweetheart's face before him. 
 Filling all his soul with courage; 
 Breathing farewell to his sister, 
 Seizing a canoe, he launched it 
 On the placid flowing current; 
 Close beside the bank he kept it, — 
 Close beneath the spreading elm trees. 
 And the friendly fringe of willows. 
 Down the stream, he let it hurry. 
 Dipping very soft his paddle, 
 Now and then, to keep it headed 
 Underneath the welcome shadows. 
 While the war-whoops rang behind him. 
 After floating for a little, 
 Which seemed like a thousand ages. 
 Out of sound and sight and hearing 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 67 
 
 Of the bloody deeds behind him, 
 With his arms made strong and wiry 
 By a sudden wondrous spirit, 
 Which o'er-multiplied his courag^e. 
 He began to paddle swiftly 
 To the land of life and freedom. 
 
 17. 
 
 Guarded by some happy fortune, 
 
 Guided by some gracious Spirit, 
 
 'Twas his fate to reach his haven, 
 
 Down below him on the river. 
 
 Where his sweetheart's heart was waiting. 
 
 To the village of the Shawnees; 
 
 And in time also by fortune. 
 
 He secured all he hoped for. 
 
 Both the maiden and a wigwam, — 
 
 Gaining love by gift of loving. 
 
 18. 
 
 Meanwhile on the Rock's high summit. 
 Vengeance dire and stern was doing, 
 Just as if the great Chiefs spirit 
 Had descended for a season 
 To inspire his friends and kinsmen : 
 Raising high their red stone axes; 
 Lifting up their bloody daggers. 
 
68 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 
 
 There upon the Rock's high summit, 
 To the stars that glittered o'er them, 
 This the song those warriors chanted:— 
 
 Hear us, Kinsman, 
 
 Mighty Chieftain! 
 Best and greatest of thy people: 
 See the gifts we pour out for thee; 
 Hear the groans we raise up to thee; 
 Watch the blood that flows like water 
 Know, O Chieftain, mighty warrior, 
 That the Spirit of the war-path 
 Smiles upon our deeds of vengeance, 
 And that o'er thy honored body 
 All the earth is showering blessings; — 
 
 Hear us. Kinsman, 
 
 Mighty Chieftain! 
 Best and greatest of thy people; 
 Now thy death has been avenged! 
 
 19. 
 
 There among the spreading cedars. 
 In the darkened twilight shadows. 
 Far above the placid river. 
 This victorious song was chanted; — 
 Thus was Pontiac's death atoned for. 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 69 
 
 20. 
 
 Passed and gone, in silence vanished 
 Are the Redman's days of splendor; — 
 Passed like golden leaves of autumn; 
 Gone like Springtime's fragile beauty; 
 Fled like flowers at touch of winter. 
 Yet the leaves still whisper of them ; 
 Still the oak trees chant their death songs; 
 Still the grasses keep their graves green; 
 While the Earth, — all gracious Mother, — 
 Hides their bones from glare of sunlight; 
 Since all Nature feels a kindness 
 For the deeds and deaths of heroes. 
 
Notes to Canto I 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 
 
 NOTE 1. 
 
 "O'er the prairies hunted bison." 
 One of the common modes of killing the 
 buffalo, practiced by the Illinois and other 
 tribes of the West, was to drive them head- 
 long over the precipitous banks of rivers. 
 
 Buffalo Rock, a large promontory rising 
 fifty or sixty feet high, on the North side of 
 the Illinois river, six miles below Ottawa, is 
 said to have derived its name from this 
 practice. — Davidson and Stuve's History of 
 Illinois. 
 
 NOTE 2. 
 
 "Held their festival and corn dance.'' 
 The green corn dance is thus described by 
 Catlin: — 
 
 When the doctors have decided that the 
 corn will do, criers are sent through the 
 village saying that the Great Spirit has 
 been kind to them, that all must empty their 
 stomachs and prepare for the coming feast. 
 
 On the day appointed a kettle is hung 
 over a fire and filled with green corn which 
 
74 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 
 
 is well boiled, as a present to the Great 
 Spirit. While this first kettle is boiling, four 
 medicine men, with a stalk of corn in one 
 hand and a rattle in the other, with their 
 bodies painted with white clay, dance 
 around the kettle, chanting a hymn to the 
 Great Spirit. At the same time a number 
 of warriors are dancing around in a larger 
 circle, holding stalks of corn in their hands, 
 while the villagers look on. 
 
 During this scene a lot of wooden bowls 
 are arranged on the ground, each contain- 
 ing a spoon of buffalo or mountain sheep's 
 horn. 
 
 When the doctors decide the corn is boiled, 
 it it taken out and placed on a scaffold of 
 sticks above the fire, where it is then al- 
 lowed to burn up while the dance goes on. 
 Next the fire and ashes are removed, and a 
 second fire made by friction, built on the 
 same spot, and another kettle full of corn 
 is boiled for the chiefs and medicine men. 
 After this, unlimited license is given to the 
 whole tribe to boil and eat corn until the 
 fields are exhausted." — See Catlin, Vol. I, 
 pp. 189-190. 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 75 
 
 NOTE 3. 
 
 "Played at ball for sport and pastime." 
 
 The national game of nearly all Indian 
 tribes was the game of LaCrosse or Bagga- 
 tiway. 
 
 At the end of the stick was a netting of 
 catgut, in which they caught and from 
 which they threw the ball, but this netting 
 was much smaller than in the modern La- 
 Crosse stick. 
 
 In the Chippewa or Ojibway tongue, this 
 game is called Bang-ah-ud-o-way. It is thus 
 described by William W. Warren, who on 
 the maternal side had Ojibway blood in his 
 veins: — 
 
 "This game is played with a bat and a 
 wooden ball. The bat is about four feet 
 long, trimmed at one end into a circular 
 curve, which is netted with leather strings, 
 and forms a cavity where the ball is caught, 
 carried, and, if necessary, thrown with 
 great force to treble the distance that it can 
 be thrown by hand." 
 
 Catlin (in Vol. II, page 124) gives the 
 following account of an Indian game of ball 
 as played by the Choctaws : 
 
76 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 
 
 "Monday afternoon at three o'clock, I 
 rode out with Lieutenants S. and M. to a 
 very pretty prairie, about six miles distant, 
 to the ball playground of the Choctaws, 
 where we found several thousand Indians 
 encamped. 
 
 There were two points of timber about 
 half a mile apart, in which the two parties 
 for the play, with their respective families 
 and friends, were encamped, and lying be- 
 tween them, the prairie on which the game 
 was to be played. . . . Each party had 
 their goal made with two upright posts, 
 about 25 feet high and 6 feet apart, set 
 firmly in the ground, with a pole across the 
 top. 
 
 These goals were about forty or fifty 
 rods apart, and at a point just half way 
 between was another small stake driven 
 down, where the ball was to be thrown up 
 at the firing of a gun, to be struggled for 
 by the players. 
 
 All this preparation was made by some 
 old men, who were, it seems, selected to be 
 the judges of the play, who drew a line (on 
 the sides of the field) from one bye to the 
 other, to which directly came from the 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 77 
 
 woods on both sides a great concourse of 
 women and old men, boys and girls and 
 dogs and horses, where bets were to be 
 made in the play. 
 
 The sticks with which this tribe play are 
 bent into an oblong hoop at the end, with a 
 sort of slight v/eb of small deer thong tied 
 across, to prevent the ball from passing 
 through. 
 
 The players hold one of these in each 
 hand, and by leaping into the air, they catch 
 the ball between the two nettings and throw 
 it, without being allowed to strike it or 
 catch it in their hands. . . . 
 
 In every ball play of these people it is a 
 rule of the play that no man shall wear moc- 
 casins on his feet or any other dress than 
 his breech cloth around his waist, with a 
 beautiful bead belt and "a tail" made of 
 white horse hair or quills and a "mane" on 
 the neck, of horsehair dyed of various 
 colors. 
 
 This game had been arranged and "made 
 up" three or four months before the parties 
 met to play it, and in the following manner: 
 
 The two champions, who led the two 
 parties, and had the alternate choosing of 
 
78 THE LAST OP THE ILLINI 
 
 the players through the whole tribe, sent 
 runners with the ball sticks most fantas- 
 tically ornamented with ribbons and red 
 paint, to be touched by each one of the 
 chosen players, who thereby agreed to be 
 on the spot at the appointed time and ready 
 for the play. 
 
 The ground having been all prepared and 
 the preliminaries of the game settled, and 
 the bettings all made, and goods all 
 "staked," night came on without the ap- 
 pearance of any players on the ground, but 
 soon after dark a procession of lighted 
 flambeaux was seen coming from each en- 
 campment, to the ground where the players 
 assembled around their respective byes, 
 and at the beat of the drums and chants of 
 the women, each party commenced the ball 
 play dance. 
 
 Each party danced a quarter of an hour 
 around their respective byes, in their ball 
 play dress, rattling their ball sticks together 
 in the most violent manner, and all singing 
 as loud as they could raise their voices, 
 while the women of the party, who had 
 their goods at stake, formed into two rows 
 on the line between the two parties of 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 79 
 
 players, and danced also, in a uniform step, 
 and all the voices joined in chants to the 
 Great Spirit, in which they were soliciting 
 His favor in deciding the game to their ad- 
 vantage, and also encouraging the players 
 to exert every power they possessed in the 
 struggle that was to ensue. 
 
 In the mean time, four old medicine men, 
 who were to have the starting of the ball, 
 and who were to be judges of the play, were 
 seated at a point where the ball was to be 
 started, and busily smoking to the Great 
 Spirit for their success in judging rightly 
 and impartially between the parties in so 
 important an affair. 
 
 This dance was one of the most pic- 
 turesque scenes imaginable, and was re- 
 peated at intervals of every half hour dur- 
 ing the night, and exactly in the same 
 manner, so that the players were certainly 
 awake all the night, and arrayed in their 
 appropriate dress, prepared for the play 
 which was to commence at nine o'clock the 
 next morning. 
 
 In the morning at the hour, the two 
 parties and all their friends were drawn out 
 and over the ground, when the game com- 
 
80 THE LAST OP THE ILLINI 
 
 menced by the judges throwing up the ball 
 at the firing of a gun, when an instant 
 struggle ensued between the players, who 
 were some six or seven hundred in number, 
 and who were endeavoring to catch the ball 
 in their sticks and throw it home and be- 
 tween their respective stakes, which when 
 successfully done counts one for game. 
 
 In this game every player is dressed 
 alike, that is, divested of all dress, except 
 girdle and tail, which I have before de- 
 scribed, and in these desperate struggles for 
 the ball when it is up . . . there are 
 rapid successions of feats and incidents 
 that astonish and amuse, far beyond the 
 conception of any one who has not had the 
 singular good luck to witness them. 
 
 For each time that the ball has passed 
 between the stakes of either party, one was 
 counted for their game, and a halt of about 
 one minute, when it was again started by 
 the judges of the play, and a similar 
 struggle ensued, and so on until the suc- 
 cessful party arrived to 100, which was the 
 limit of the game.'' — Catlin, Vol. 11, pp. 124 
 to 126. 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 81 
 
 Note 4. 
 
 "The mini— first of all men." 
 
 mini is a French corruption of the Algon- 
 quin words "in" and "nini," meaning "the 
 man," Latin vir., equivalent to our modern 
 slang phrase, "we, the people," as if there 
 were no other people. 
 
 The main tribe of Illinois Indians were 
 the Kaskaskias. 
 
 "This is the name of the tribe that for- 
 merly occupied, and of course owned, a vast 
 tract of country lying on the east of the 
 Mississippi . . . and now forming a 
 considerable portion of the great and popu- 
 lous state of Illinois. 
 
 Perhaps there has been no other tribe on 
 the continent of equal power with the Kas- 
 kaskias, that have so suddenly sunk down 
 to complete annihilation and disappeared. 
 The remnant of this tribe have long since 
 merged into the tribe of Peorias of Illinois, 
 and it is doubtful if one dozen of them are 
 now existing. 
 
 With the very few remnants of this tribe 
 will die in a few years a beautiful language, 
 entirely distinct from all others about it, 
 unless some enthusiastic person may pre- 
 
82 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 
 
 serve it from the lips of the few who are 
 yet able to speak it." — Catlin: N. A. Indians. 
 Vol. II, p. 100. 
 
 "From the East the fierce Five Nations/' 
 
 The Iroquois 
 Oneidas 
 Senecas 
 Onondagas 
 Cayugas 
 Mohawks 
 
 "In 1712 they were joined by the Tusca- 
 roras from North Carolina, who constituted 
 the sixth member of the confederacy." 
 
 "All the mighty concerns of the Iroquois 
 were the subject of full deliberation, in 
 open council, and their diplomatic negotia- 
 tions were managed with consummate skill. 
 When the question of peace or war was de- 
 cided, the counsellors united in chanting 
 hymns of praise or warlike choruses, which 
 at the same time gave expression to the 
 public feeling, and imparted a kind of nat- 
 ural sanctity to the act. The majority of 
 those who have given their attention to Iro- 
 quois history, have recognized in their pub- 
 lic acts the germs of a national policy which 
 would have been characterized by greater 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 83 
 
 subtlety and strength than that of the 
 Aztecs under Montezuma or of the Peruv- 
 ians under Atahualpa." — Schoolcraft : — 
 Archives of Aboriginal Knowledge, Vol. VI, 
 p. 189. 
 
 "Their great men, both sachems and cap- 
 tains, are generally poorer than the com- 
 mon people, for they effect to give away 
 and distribute all the presents or plunder 
 they get in their treaties, or in war, so as to 
 leave nothing to themselves. 
 
 There is not a man in the Magistracy of 
 the Five Nations who has gained his office 
 otherwise than by merit; there is not the 
 least salary, or any sort of profit, annexed 
 to any office, to tempt the covetous and 
 sordid, but on the contrary, every unworthy 
 action is unavoidably attended with the 
 forfeiture of their commission, for their 
 authority is only the esteem of the people, 
 and ceases the moment that that esteem is 
 lost. 
 
 Here we see the natural origin of all 
 power and authority among a free people." 
 — Golden: — History of the Iroquois. 
 
84 THE LAST OP THE ILLINI 
 
 Note 6. 
 
 "Father Marquette, mild voiced 
 preacher." 
 
 "Joliet, the youthful trader." 
 
 "Marquette was born in 1637, of an old 
 and honorable family at Laon, in the north 
 of France, and was now (1673) thirty-five 
 years of age. When about seventeen he had 
 joined the Jesuits, evidently from motives 
 purely religious, and in 1666 he was sent to 
 the missions of Canada." 
 
 . . . Louis Joliet was the son of a 
 wagon maker in the service of the Hundred 
 Associates, then owners of Canada. He 
 was born at Quebec in 1645, and was edu- 
 cated by the Jesuits. When still very young 
 he resolved to be a priest. He received the 
 tonsure and the minor orders at the age of 
 seventeen. Four years after, he is men- 
 tioned with especial honor for the part he 
 bore in the disputes in philosophy, at which 
 the dignitaries of the colony were present, 
 and in which the Intendent himself took 
 part. 
 
 Not long after, he renounced his clerical 
 vocation and turned fur trader. . . In 
 what we know of Joliet, there is nothing 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 85 
 
 that reveals any salient or distinctive trait 
 of character, any especial breadth of view 
 or boldness of design. He appears to have 
 been simply a merchant, intelligent, well 
 educated, courageous, hardy and enter- 
 prising." — Parkman: — LaSalle and Discov- 
 ery of the Great West, pages 48-49. 
 
 Note 7. 
 
 "Bold LaSalle and Noble Tonty.'' 
 Parkman thus describes LaSalle's char- 
 acter: — 
 
 "Serious in all things, incapable of the 
 lighter pleasures, incapable of repose, find- 
 ing no joy but in the pursuit of great de- 
 signs, too shy for society and too reserved 
 for popularity, often unsympathetic, and 
 always seeming so, smothering emotions 
 which he could not utter, schooled to uni- 
 versal distrust, stern to his followers, and 
 pitiless to himself, bearing the brunt of 
 every hardship and every danger, demand- 
 ing of others an implied deference, heeding 
 no counsel but his own, attempting the im- 
 possible, and grasping at what was too vast 
 to hold, he contained in his own complex 
 and painful nature the chief springs of his 
 
86 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 
 
 triumphs, his failures, and his death." — 
 LaSalle and the Discovery of the Great 
 West, p. 407. 
 
 Parkman in a note on page 441 of his 
 LaSalle and the Discovery of the Great 
 West, gives the following account of Tonty: 
 
 "The missionary, St. Cosine, who traveled 
 under his escort in 1699, says of him, ^He is 
 beloved by all the voyageurs. . . It was 
 with deep regret that we parted from him. 
 He is a man who best knows the country; 
 he is loved and feared everywhere.' " 
 
 Note 8. 
 
 "Pontiac, the far famed chieftain." 
 Parkman thus describes Pontiac: "Pon- 
 tiac was principal chief of the Ottawas. 
 The Ottawas, Ojibways, and Pottawatomes 
 had long been united in a loose kind of con- 
 federacy, of which he was the virtual head. 
 Over those around him his authority was 
 almost despotic, and his power extended 
 far beyond the limits of the three united 
 tribes. His influence was great among all 
 the nations of the Illinois Country, while 
 from the sources of the Ohio to those of the 
 Mississippi, and indeed to the farthest 
 
THE LAST OP THE ILLINI 87 
 
 boundaries of the widespread Algonquin 
 race, his name was known and respected. 
 
 The fact that Pontiac was born the son 
 of a chief would in no degree account for 
 the extent of his power, for among Indians, 
 many a chief's son sinks back into insig- 
 nificance, while the offspring of a common 
 warrior may succeed to his place. 
 
 Among all the wild tribes of the conti- 
 nent, personal merit is indispensable to 
 gaining or preserving dignity. Courage, 
 resolution, address, and eloquence, are sure 
 passports to distinction. 
 
 With all these Pontiac was pre-eminently 
 endowed, and it was chiefly to them, urged 
 to their highest activity by a vehement am- 
 bition, that he owed his greatness. He pos- 
 sessed a commanding energy and force of 
 mind, and in subtlety and craft could match 
 the best of his wily race." — Conspiracy of 
 Pontiac, Vol. I, pp. 182-3. 
 
 Note 9. 
 
 "Save as member of the Metai." 
 Metai and Me-da-we is thus mentioned 
 by Wm. W. Warren, of the Warren family 
 
88 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 
 
 of Massachusetts, who had Ojibway blood in 
 his veins: — 
 
 "The grand rite of Me-da-we-win (or as 
 we have learned to term it, Grand Medi- 
 cine) and beliefs incorporated therein, are 
 not fully understood by the whites. This 
 important custom is still shrouded in mys- 
 tery, even to my own eyes, though I have 
 taken much, much pains to inquire, and 
 made use of every advantage, possessed by 
 speaking their language perfectly, being 
 related to them, possessing their friendship 
 and intimate confidence, has given me, and 
 yet I frankly acknowledge that I stand as 
 yet, as it were, on the threshold of the 
 Medawe lodge. Among the Ojibways, the 
 secrets of this grand rite are as sacredly 
 kept as the secrets of the Masonic Lodge 
 among the whites. 
 
 Fear of threatened or certain death, 
 either by poison or violence, seals the lips 
 of the Me-da-we institute, and this is the 
 patent reason why it is still a secret to the 
 white man, and why it is not more generally 
 understood. . . In the Me-da-we rite is 
 incorporated most that is ancient among 
 them, songs and traditions that have been 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 89 
 
 descended, not orally, but in hieroglyphics, 
 for at least a long line of generations. 
 
 In this rite is perpetuated the purest and 
 most ancient idioms of their language, 
 which differs somewhat from that of the 
 common every day use. . . 
 
 They assert that the Me-da-we rite was 
 granted them by the Great Spirit in a time 
 of trouble and death, through the inter- 
 cession of Man-ah-asho, the universal uncle 
 of An-ish-in-aubag. 
 
 Certain rules to guide their course in life 
 were given them at the same time, and are 
 represented in hieroglyphics. 
 
 These great rules of life, which the writ- 
 er has often heard inculcated by the Me- 
 dawe initiations in their secret teaching to 
 their novices, bear a strong likeness to the 
 ten commandments, revealed by the Al- 
 mighty to the Children of Israel." 
 
 — Minnesota History Soc. Coll. 
 Vol. V, p. 67. 
 
 Note 10. 
 
 "Or the fighting, wild Docotahs." 
 The Docotah or Sioux Indians are per- 
 haps the hardiest of all the Indian tribes. 
 
90 THE LAST OP THE ILLINI 
 
 Living in a cold country, they were obliged 
 to be alert and active in order to live. Be- 
 sides being very strong and active, their 
 morals were of a high order. A United 
 States private soldier, who had been sta- 
 tioned for many years in the country of the 
 Sioux, told me in the course of a long, pri- 
 vate conversation, that the United States 
 soldiers never dared to make love to Sioux 
 girls, — that whenever any of the boys were 
 so reckless as to attempt it, he took his life 
 in his hands, and not infrequently lost his 
 life in the attempt. 
 
Notes to Canto II 
 
THE LAST OP THE ILLINI 93 
 
 Note 1. 
 
 "At the Village Cahokia." 
 
 Cahokia was one of the principal French 
 villages in Illinois in 1763. Vincennes and 
 Kaskaskia were the others. Kaskaskia was 
 near the mouth of the Illinois river. Ca- 
 hokia was nearly opposite St. Louis. 
 
 Note 2. 
 "To the meeting of his clansmen.'^ 
 Warriors often traveled hundreds of 
 miles to attend an important meeting. In 
 1900 two Indian Chiefs from Old Town, 
 Maine, made a journey by canoe, to Wash- 
 ington City and return, to see the Great 
 Father. 
 
 Note 3. 
 
 "You know I sent to our French Father." 
 In a speech to some Canadian French dur- 
 ing the siege of Detroit in June, 1763, Pon- 
 tiac used the following language: — 
 
 "I am the same French Pontiac who as- 
 sisted you seventeen years ago. I am a 
 Frenchman, and I wish to die a French- 
 man." 
 
94 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 
 
 Note 4. 
 
 "When the wampum belts are ready/' 
 In ancient times it (wampum) consisted 
 of small shells or fragments of shells rudely 
 perforated and strung together; but more 
 recently it was manufactured by the white 
 man from marine or fresh water shells. An 
 Indian orator at every pause of his speech, 
 delivered a belt or string of wampum, vary- 
 ing in sizes, according to the importance of 
 what he had said, and by its figures and col- 
 oring, so arranged as to perpetuate the re- 
 membrance of his words. These belts were 
 carefully stored up, like written documents, 
 and it was generally the office of some old 
 man to interpret their meaning." 
 
 Note 5. 
 
 "Chanting medicine and war songs." 
 It is interesting to observe that even 
 great war chiefs like Pontiac, in order to 
 increase their power, cultivated the char- 
 acter of a medicine man as zealously as they 
 did that of a warrior. Sitting Bull is an 
 example in recent years of an Indian per- 
 sonally a coward, who by his cunning, 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 95 
 
 gained great influence over his fellows, 
 through his claim to being a Great Medi- 
 cine man. 
 
 Note 6. 
 
 "Calling with loud cries, the elders 
 
 To deliver up the traitor." 
 
 Indian custom made it obligatory upon 
 the relatives and friends of a murdered 
 man to gain vengeance. It was supposed 
 that the ghost of the deceased could not 
 rest until he had been avenged. 
 
 Note 7. 
 
 "After the Illini blood law." 
 
 When a murder was committed among 
 the Indians, satisfaction might be made by 
 payment of goods to the dead man's rela- 
 tives, or by the sacrifice of life for life. If 
 the murderer did not give himself up, one 
 of his relations or tribesmen were required 
 to do so. The money payment was often 
 favored by the older chiefs, because it pre- 
 vented feuds. A graphic account of an ex- 
 piation when the murderer gave himself 
 up, is thus described in Gurdon Hubbard's 
 Life, pages 62 to 66. Being the account of 
 
96 THE LAST OP THE ILLINI 
 
 an eye witness it has historic value. The 
 account is as follows: 
 
 "We progressed leisurely into the mouth 
 of the St. Joseph river, where we were 
 encamped for several days, and were joined 
 by the traders from that river. We reached 
 Grand river early in May (1819) and sought 
 a good camping place up the river, some dis- 
 tance from the Indian camps. 
 
 The Teast of the Dead' had commenced, 
 and many Indians had already arrived, and 
 for five or six days we were witnesses to 
 their strange, yet solemn ceremonies. 
 
 One evening at the close of the feast we 
 were informed that an Indian, who the fall 
 previous, in a drunken quarrel, had killed 
 one of the sons of a chief of the Manistee 
 band, would on the morrow deliver himself 
 up to suffer the penalty of his crime accord- 
 ing to the Indian custom. 
 
 We gave but little credence to the ru- 
 mor, though the Indians seemed much ex- 
 cited over it. On the following day, how- 
 ever, the rumor proved true, and I wit- 
 nessed the grandest, most thrilling incident 
 of my life. 
 
 The murderer was a Canadian Indian, and 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 97 
 
 had no blood relatives among the Maniteis, 
 but had, by invitation, returned with some 
 of the tribe from Maldin, where they had 
 received their annuities from the English 
 government, and falling in love with a Man- 
 istie maiden, had married her and settled 
 among them, agreeing to become one of 
 their tribe. 
 
 As was customary, all his earnings from 
 hunting and trapping, belonged to his 
 father-in-law until the birth of his first 
 child, after which he commanded his time, 
 and could use his gains for the benefit of 
 his family. 
 
 At the time of the killing of the Chiefs 
 son he had several children and was very 
 poor, possessing nothing but his meagre 
 wearing apparel, and a few traps. He was 
 a fair hunter, but more proficient as a 
 trapper. 
 
 Knowing that his life would be taken un- 
 less he could rescue it with furs and articles 
 of value, after consulting with his wife, he 
 determined to depart at night in a canoe 
 with his family, and secretly make his way 
 to the marshes at the head waters of the 
 Muskegon river, where he had before 
 
98 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 
 
 trapped successfully, and there endeavor 
 to catch beaver, mink, marten and other 
 fine furs, which were unusually abundant, 
 and return in the spring and satisfy the de- 
 mands of the Chief. 
 
 As, according to custom, if he failed to 
 satisfy the Chief and family of the mur- 
 dered man, either by ransom or a sacrifice 
 of his own life, they could demand of his 
 wife's brothers what he had failed to give, 
 he consulted with one of them, and told 
 him of his purpose, and designated a par- 
 ticular location on the Muskegon, where 
 he could be found if it became necessary to 
 return and deliver himself up. 
 
 Having completed his arrangements, he 
 made his escape and arrived safely at the 
 place of destination, and having but few 
 traps, and but a small supply of ammuni- 
 tion, he arranged dead-fall traps in a cir- 
 cuit around his camp, hoping with them 
 and his few traps to have a successful win- 
 ter, and by spring to secure enough to save 
 his life. 
 
 After the burial of his son, the Chief 
 took council with his other sons as to what 
 they should do to revenge the dead, and as 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 99 
 
 they knew the murderer was too poor to pay 
 their demands, they determined upon his 
 death, and set about finding him. Being 
 disappointed in this, they made a demand 
 upon the brothers of his wife, who know- 
 ing that they could not satisfy his claims, 
 counselled together as to what course to 
 pursue, all but one of them believing that 
 he had fled to Canada. 
 
 The younger brother, knowing his where- 
 abouts, sent word to the chief that he would 
 go in search of the murderer, and if he 
 failed to produce him, would himself give 
 his own life in his stead. 
 
 This being acceptable, without divulging 
 the secret of his brother-in-law's hiding 
 place, he started to find him. It was a long 
 and difficult journey, as he had no land 
 marks to go by, and only knew that he 
 should find his brother-in-law on the head 
 water of the Muskegon, which he finally did. 
 
 The winter had been one of unusually 
 deep snow, and the spring of great floods, 
 which had inundated the country where he 
 was. The bear had kept their dens, and for 
 some reason the marten, beaver and mink 
 had not been found, so that when their 
 
100 THE LAST OP THE ILLINI 
 
 brother-in-law reached them, he and his 
 family were almost perishing from starva- 
 tion, and his winter's hunt had proved un- 
 successful. 
 
 They accordingly descended together to 
 the main river, where the brother left them 
 for his return home, it being agreed be- 
 tween them that the murderer himself 
 would report at the mouth of the Grand 
 River during the "Feast of the Dead," 
 which promise he faithfully performed. 
 
 Soon after sunrise the news spread 
 through the camp that he was coming. The 
 Chief hastily selected a spot in a valley be- 
 tween two sand hills, in which he placed 
 himself and family in readiness to receive 
 him, while we traders, together with the 
 Indians, sought the surrounding sand hills, 
 that we might have a good opportunity to 
 witness all that might occur. Presently we 
 heard the monotonous thump of the Indian 
 drum, and soon thereafter, the mournful 
 voice of the Indian, chanting his own death 
 song, and then we beheld him, marching 
 with his wife and children, slowly and in 
 single file, to the place selected for the ex- 
 ecution, still singing and beating the drum. 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 101 
 
 When we reached a spot near where the 
 Chief sat, he placed the drum on the ground, 
 and his wife and children seated themselves 
 on mats which had been prepared for them. 
 
 He then addressed the Chief, saying, "I 
 in a drunken moment stabbed your son, 
 being provoked to it by his accusing me of 
 being a coward, and calling me an old wo- 
 man. I fled to the marshes at the head of 
 the Muskegon, hoping that the Great 
 Spirit would favor me in the hunt, so that 
 I could pay you for your lost son. I was 
 not successful. Here is the knife with 
 which I killed your son; by it I wish to die. 
 Save my wife and children. I am done." 
 
 The Chief received the knife, and hand- 
 ing it to his oldest son, said, "Kill him." 
 The son advanced, and placing his left hand 
 on the shoulder of his victim, made two or 
 three feints with the knife, and then 
 plunged it into his breast to the handle and 
 immediately withdrew it. 
 
 Not a murmur was heard from the In- 
 dian or his wife and children. Not a word 
 was spoken by those assembled to witness. 
 All nature was silent, broken only by the 
 singing of the birds. Every eye was turned 
 
102 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 
 
 upon the victim, who stood with his eyes 
 fixed firmly upon his executioner, and calm- 
 ly received the blow without the appearance 
 of the slightest tremor. For a few moments 
 he stood erect, the blood gushing from the 
 wound at every pulsation, then his knees 
 began to quake, his eyes and face assumed 
 an expression of death, and he sank upon 
 the ground. 
 
 During all this time the wife and chil- 
 dren sat perfectly motionless, gazing upon 
 the husband and father, not a sigh or mur- 
 mur escaping their lips until life was ex- 
 tinct, when they threw themselves upon his 
 dead body, lying in a pool of blood, in grief 
 and lamentations, bringing tears to the eyes 
 of the traders, and causing a murmur of 
 sympathy to run through the multitude of 
 Indians. 
 
 Turning to Mr. Deschamp, down whose 
 cheeks the tears were trickling, I said, 
 "Why did you not save that noble Indian? 
 A few blankets and shirts, a little cloth 
 would have done it." "Oh, my boy," he re- 
 plied, "we should have done it. It was 
 wrong and thoughtless in us. What a scene 
 we have witnessed!" 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 103 
 
 Still the widowed wife and her children 
 were clinging to the dead body in useless 
 tears and grief. 
 
 The Chief and his family sat motionless 
 for fifteen or twenty minutes, evidently re- 
 gretting what had been done. Then he 
 arose, approached the body, and in a tremb- 
 ling voice said, "Woman, stop weeping. 
 Your husband was a brave man, and like 
 a brave, was not afraid to die as the rules 
 of our nation demand. We adopt you, your 
 children in the place of my son; our lodges 
 are open to you, live with any of us. We 
 will treat you like our own sons and daugh- 
 ters. You shall have our protection and 
 love." "Che-qui-ock" (that is right) was 
 heard from the assembled Indians, and the 
 trial was ended. 
 
Notes to Canto III 
 
THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 107 
 
 Note 1. 
 
 "To their village of La Ventum." 
 La Ventum — the chief village of the Illi- 
 nois Indians, was situated a little over a 
 mile below Starved Rock, on a low mound 
 on the bottom land. — Parkman: — LaSalle, 
 pages 223-4. 
 
 Hennepin counted over 470 lodges in the 
 village. 
 
 Note 2. 
 
 "Since the time when Noble Tonty, 
 
 With a mere handful of allies, 
 
 Beat the fierce Five Nations from it." 
 
 In 1683 Tonty was at Starved Rock, hold- 
 ing it with a small force; also in 1684-5 
 and 6. 
 
 Note 3. 
 
 "There in grandeur stood their haven." 
 After the fortifications of 1682-7 and the 
 subsequent abandonment of the rock by the 
 French, the Indians were accustomed to flee 
 to Starved Rock for refuge in times of 
 need. 
 
108 THE LAST OF THE ILLINI 
 
 Note 4. 
 
 "To the inner side they hurried, 
 Where a pathway steep and narrow, 
 Wound its way unto the summits;" 
 There is evidence that a great deal of 
 debris has accumulated, especially on the 
 inner side of Starved Rock, during com- 
 paratively recent years. In 1769 'tis likely 
 that the rock was more inaccessible than 
 today. 
 
 Note 5. 
 
 "The only noises 
 
 Were the whisperings of the breezes. 
 
 Through the spreading cedar branches." 
 
 The center of the rock, when I was there 
 in 1892 and '93, was comparatively clear, 
 with the exception of two or three good- 
 sized oaks. Around the extreme edges 
 were quite a large number of cedar trees, 
 some of good size. 
 
 Note 6. 
 
 "By the cliff's edge sat the young brave;" 
 
 As a rule an Indian, whether descended 
 
 from a Chief or not, gained his ultimate 
 
 rank and name by virtue of some deed or 
 
THE LAST OP THE ILLINI 109 
 
 deeds of valor done either in a battle or in 
 a foray. Undoubtedly the origin of the 
 custom of taking scalps, was simply to have 
 proof positive of valor, and to prevent the 
 boaster or impostor from gaining equal 
 rank with the really brave man. 
 
Notes to Canto IV 
 
112 THE LAST OP THE ILLINI 
 
 Note 1. 
 
 "Meanwhile on the Rock's high summit, 
 Vengeance dire and stern were doing," 
 Revenge with the Indian is not only a 
 powerful motive for action, but it is a duty. 
 
 Note 2. 
 
 "Still the grasses keep their graves green" 
 In many places adjacent to Starved Rock, 
 as well as upon the rock itself, — human 
 bones are found in great plenty when any 
 excavating is attempted. When the hotel 
 was built on the inner side of the Rock near 
 its base, many skeletons were dug up. On 
 the Rock itself I found several human finger 
 bones and other fragments in 1892, while 
 digging where the sod has been worn away.