Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 V13.djvu/244

 the village. Like most of the rulers among the aborigines, he neither affects nor supports any shadow of pomp or distinction beyond that of his office as supreme commander, and leader of the council. His influence is, however, so great as to be prudentially courted by all who would obtain any object with the village. He appeared to be shrewd and sagacious, and no way deficient in Indian bravery and cunning.

The Osages at this time entertained a considerable jealousy of the whites, in consequence of the emigration of the Cherokees to their frontiers; they considered it as a step of policy in the government to overawe them, and intended to act in concert with the establishment of the garrison. This consideration, as well as the power and wealth of the whites, which have been witnessed by their chiefs on their deputation to Washington, has, within these two years back, had a salutary tendency to restrain their pretensions. Still the white hunters and trappers are frequently insulted and chastised by them. And, on the other hand, we have surely no just reason to expect from the Indians an unstipulated licence to rob their country of that game, which is necessary to their convenience and subsistence.

From the Osage interpreter, of whom I made the inquiry, I learned, that, in common with many other Indians, as might be supposed from their wandering habits and exposure to the elements, they are not unacquainted with some peculiar characters and configurations of the stars. Habitual observation had taught them that the pole star remains stationary, and that all the others appear to revolve around it; they were acquainted {175} with the Pleiades, for which they had a peculiar name, and remarked the three stars of Orion's belt. The planet Venus