6. VI.
OLOTOCARA.
Satouriova, surrounded by his kinsmen, his allies, and subordinate
chiefs, appeared in all his state on the banks of the river,
almost with the rising of the sun. There were, in immediate attendance,
the Paracoussies or Cassiques. Tacatacourou—whose
tribe, living along its banks for the time, gave the name to the
river—Helmacana, Athoree, Harpaha, Helmacapé, Helicopilé,
Mollova, and a great many others. We preserve these names
with the hope that they may help to conduct the future antiquary
to the places of their habitation. Being all assembled, all in their
dignities, each with his little band of warriors, numbering from
ten to two hundred men, they despatched a special message to the
vessels of Gourgues, inviting him to appear among them. By a
precautionary arrangement the escort of our chevalier appeared
without their weapons, those of the red-men being likewise removed
from their persons, and concealed in the neighboring woods.
Gourgues yielded himself without scruple to the arrangements of his
tawny host. He was conducted by a deferential escort to the mossy
wood where the chiefs had assembled, and placed at the right hand
of Satouriova. The weeds and brambles had been carefully pulled
away from the spot—the place had been made very clean, and the
seat provided for Gourgues was raised, like that of Satouriova, and
nicely strewn, in the same manner, with a mossy covering. With
his trumpeter and Pierre de Bré, the captain of the French
found no embarrassment in pursuing the conference. It was
protracted for some time, as is usually the case with Indian treaties,
and involved many considerations highly important to the enterprise;
the number of the Spaniards, the condition of their
fortresses, their vigilance, and all points essential to be known,
before venturing to assail them. Much time was consumed in
mutual courtesies. Gifts were exchanged between the parties; De
Gourgues receiving from Satouriova, among other things, a chain of
silver, which the red chief graciously and with regal air cast about
the neck of the chevalier.
It was while the conference thus proceeded, that a cry without
was heard from among the great body of the tribes assembled.
Shouts full of enthusiasm announced the approach of a favorite;
and soon the Frenchmen distinguished the words, “Holata Cara!”
“Holata Cara!”[2]
which we may translate, “Beloved Chief or
Captain,” and which preceded the sudden entrance of a warrior,
the appearance of whom caused an instantaneous emotion of surprise
in the minds of the Frenchmen.
The stranger was fair enough to be a Frenchman himself. His
complexion was wonderfully in contrast with that of the other
chiefs, and there was a something in his bearing and carriage, and
the expression of his countenance, which irresistibly impressed
De Gourgues with the conviction that he was gazing upon one of
his own countrymen. The features of the stranger were smooth
as well as fair, and in this, indeed, he rather resembled the
race of red than of white men. But he was evidently very young,
yet of a grave, saturnine cast of face, such as would denote equally
middle age and much experience, and yet was evidently the result
of temperament. His hair, the portion that was seen, was short,
as if kept carefully clipped; but he wore around his brows several
thick folds of crimson cotton, in fashion not greatly unlike that of
the Turk. There were many of the chiefs who wore a similar
head-dress, though whence the manufacture came, our Frenchmen
had no way to determine. A cotton shirt, with a falling cape and
fringe reaching below to his knees, belted about the waist with a
strip of crimson, like that which bound his head, formed the
chief items of his costume. Like the warriors generally, he wore
well-tanned buckskin leggings, terminating in moccasins of the
same material. He carried a lance in his grasp, while a light
macana was suspended from his shoulders.
“Holata Cara!” said Satouriova, as if introducing the stranger
to the Frenchmen, the moment that he appeared, and the young
chief was motioned to a seat. In a whisper to the trumpeter,
Gourgues asked if he knew anything about this warrior; but the
trumpeter looked bewildered.
“Such a chief was not known to us,” said he, “in the time of
Laudonniere.”
“He looks for all the world like a Frenchman,” murmured
Gourgues.
“He reminds me,” continued the trumpeter, “of a face that I
have seen and know, Monsieur; but, I cannot say. If that turban
were off now, and the paint. This is the first time I have
ever heard the name. But the boy, Pierre, may know him.”
Gourgues whispered the boy:
“Who is this chief? Have you ever seen him before? Do
you know him?”
“No, Monsieur; I have never seen him. I have heard of him.
He is the adopted son of the Great Chief, adopted from another
tribe, I hear. But he is as white as I am, almost, and looks a
little like a Frenchman. I can't say, Monsieur, but I could swear
I knew the face. I have seen one very much like it, I think,
among our own people.”
“Who?”
“I can't say, Monsieur, I can't; and the more I look, the more
I am uncertain.”
Something more was said in an equally unsatisfactory manner,
and, in the meantime, the stranger took his seat in the assembly
without seeming concern. He betrayed no curiosity when his eye
rested upon the Frenchmen. When it was agreed that two persons
should be sent, one of the French and one of the red chiefs
to make a
reconnaissance of the Spanish fortress, he rose quietly
looked towards Satouriova, and, striking his breast slightly, with
his right hand, simply repeated his own name,—
“Holata Cara!”
“It is well,” said the chief, with an approving smile; and Holata
Cara, on the part of the Indians, and Monsieur d'Estampes,
a gentleman of Comminges, on the part of the Frenchmen, were
sent to explore the country under the control of the Spanish
usurpers. Holata Cara immediately disappeared from the assembly.
A few moments after he was buried in the deepest of the neighboring
thickets, while a beautiful young savage—a female—who
might have been a princess, and wore, like one, a fillet about her
brow, and carried herself loftily as became a queen, stood beside
him, with her hand resting upon his shoulder, and her eye looking
tenderly up into his; while she said, in her own language:
“I will follow you, but not to be seen; and our people shall
be nigh to watch, lest there be danger from the Spaniard.”
The chief smiled, as if, in the solicitous speech to which he listened,
he detected some sweet deceit; but he said nothing but
words of parting, and these were kind and affectionate. It was
not long before Holata Cara joined Monsieur d'Estampes, the boy
Pierre de Bré being sent along with them, on the reconnaissance
which the allies had agreed was to be made. In the meantime,
the better to assure Gourgues of the safety of D`Estampes, Satouriova
gave his son and the best beloved of all his wives, into the
custody of the French as hostages, and they were immediately
conveyed to the safe-keeping of the ships.
