41. The Pipe of Peace
BY MONSIEUR JONTEL (1679)
WHILE we halted on the bank of a river to eat, we heard the tinkling.
of some small bells. This made us look about and we spied an Indian with
a naked sword-blade in his hand. It was adorned with feathers of several
colors, and two large hawks' bells, which made the noise we had heard.
He made signs for us to come to him, and gave US to
understand that he was sent by the leaders of the Indians to
meet us, and bring us to their village. He caressed us in a
strange way. I noticed that he took pleasure in ringing the
hawks' bells.
Having travelled a while with him, we saw a dozen other
Indians coming towards us. They made much of us and
conducted us to the village, to the chief's cottage. There we
found dried bear-skins laid on the ground. They made us sit on
these. We were shell treated with eatables, and a throng of
women came to see us.
The next day the elders came to visit us. They brought us two
buffalo hides, the skins of four others,
one white wild goat's skin, all of them well dried. They also
gave us four bows. These things they gave in return for the
present we had before made them. The chief and another
Indian came again some time after, bringing two loaves, the
finest and the best we had yet seen.
Towards evening, we were entertained with a
ceremony we had not seen before. A company of elders, with some
young men and women, came to our cottage in a body, singing
as loud as they could roar. The foremost had a calumet, so
they call a very long sort of tobacco-pipe, adorned with several
sorts of feathers. When they had sung a while, before our
cottage, they entered it, still singing on for about a quarter of
a hour.
After that they took our priest, whom they considered our
chief, and led him in solemn manner out of the cottage, holding
him under the arms. When they were come to a place they had
ready, one of them laid a great handful of grass on his feet.
Two others brought clean water in an earthen dish and washed
his face. Then they made him sit down on a skin, put there for
the purpose.
When the priest was seated, the elders took their
places, sitting round about him. The master of the
ceremonies fixed in the ground two little wooden forks. He
laid a stick across these; all the things were painted red. He
placed on them a buffalo hide dried, a goat's skin over that,
and then laid the pipe thereon.
The song was begun again, the women joining in the
chorus. The concert was made louder by great hollow
gourds, in which there were large gravel stones.
The Indians struck upon these, keeping time with the notes
of the choir. And the most amusing of all was that one of the
Indians placed himself behind our priest, to hold him up; at
the same time he shook and candled him from side to side,
doing all in time with the music.
The concert was hardly ended, when the master of the
ceremonies brought two maids, one having in her hand a sort
of collar, and the other an otter's skin. These they placed on
the wooden forks, at the ends of the pipe. Then he made them
sit down on each side of our priest, facing each other and
with their feet spread out on the ground.
Then one of the elders fastened a dyed feather to the back
part of the priest's head, tying it to his hair. The singing went
on all that time. But the priest grew tired of all this and made
signs to us. We made it known to the chief that the priest
was not well. So two of the Indians took hold of him under
the arms and led him back to the cottage. They made signs
to him to take a rest.
This was at about nine in the evening and the Indians spent
all that night singing. In the morning they went again to the
priest, took him again out of the cottage, with the same
ceremony, but made him sit down while the singing-was
going on.
Then the master of the ceremonies took the pipe,
filled it with tobacco and lighted it, next he offered it to the
priest; but he drew back and came forward six times before
he gave it to him. Having at last put it in his hands, the priest
made motions as if he were smoking, and gave it back to
them. Then they made us all smoke round, every one of them
in his turn, the music still going on.
The sun was growing very hot, and the bare headed priest
made signs that it did him harm. Then at last they stopped
singing and took him back into the cottage. They took the
pipe and put it into a case made of wild goat's skin, with the
two wooden forks and the red stick that lay across them. All
of these one of the elders offered the priest.
They told him that he might pass through all the Indian
nations which were their friends. Because he had this sign of
peace, he would every where meet with kindness. This was
the first place where we saw the calumet, or pipe of peace.