Hakatton informed us, that he had lately returned from the garrison, where, in concert with a fellow chief and the commander, they had succeeded in rescuing from bondage some unfortunate prisoners and females of the Caddoes,[103] of whom about 15 or 20 had been killed by the Osages. The former reside on the banks of Red river, into whose territory the Osages occasionally carry their depredations. This chief warned me from trusting myself alone amongst the {95} Osages, who, if they spared my life, would, in all probability, as they had often done to the hunters, strip me naked, and leave me to perish for want. But in his nation, he took a pride in assuring me, if I was found destitute, I should be relieved to the best of their ability, and conducted, if lost, to the shelter of their habitations, where the stranger was always welcome. His late journey to the seat of government, appeared to have inspired him with exalted ideas of the wealth and power of civilized society.
To my inquiries, respecting the reputed origin of the O-guah-pas,[104] he answered candidly, that he was igno-*
- [Footnote: cession line passed up the Arkansas and the Canadian Fork to the source,
thence south to Red River, and down its middle to the "Big Raft," thence directly to a spot on the Mississippi thirty leagues in a straight line below the mouth of the Arkansas. All claims to lands north of the Arkansas and east of the Mississippi were also abandoned. The reservation, lying within the limits specified, was bounded by a line running due southwest from Arkansas Post to the Ouachita, thence up the river and the Saline Fork to a point directly southwest from Little Rock, from that point to Little Rock, and down the right bank of the Arkansas to the point of beginning. See American State Papers: Indian Affairs, ii, p. 165. This reservation was ceded by the treaty of November 15, 1824.—Ed.]
