Page:Don Coronado through Kansas.djvu/306

289 THE PAWNEK INDIANS. 280, dead run and picking up some article; the most im- portant thing is to be sure and have the cinches tight, for otherwise when the reach is made for the object, the saddle may turn and then the best rider in the world would lose his balance. But let us desist from further reci'.al along tHe line of sports, and conclude this chapter with a brief account of the Pawnees: Is it not a remarkable thing that these people speak a different language from any other known tribe? Does it not cause the query: Where did they come from? "Were they or the Kan- sas or Osages fixst to occupy Quira? None of the interrogatories can be answered. The first mention of the Pawnees was by Coronado; then after 132 years Pather Marquette teUs of them, but very little of their history is known. Quoting from the work much used in the preparation of this book, the 14th Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, the following will demonstrate the fact that they took part in things: "In the early part of 1800, during the constant wars of the Indians, several of the Wisconsin tribes were in the habit of making captives of the Pawnees, Osages and Missouris, and these were consigned to servitude. The Menomonees had Pawnee slaves. Al- though called Pawnees, there were to my knowledge three Osages, two Missouris, who were slaves but called Pawnees." It should also be mentioned that Mas-caw, a Pawnee, was not treated or regarded as a slave, for he married a chief's daughter. In the 18th century in Canada, the term "Pani" meant slave, and was like the use of the word "nigger. " As you may know, "Pani" m3ans Pawnee. There is no doubt but