218 EXPERIENCES IN A SICK CHAMBER. [1859. north side, or the Oporto on the west, criminals reached the Indian country beyond the reach of civil process. Deadly affrays were common; and the most trivial quarrels settled by pistol and bowie knife. During my stay a lad of fourteen became angry with a gentle man who taught a girls' singing school; and while the teacher was surrounded by pupils twice snapped a pistol at him. The caps failing he flung a bowlder which knocked the teacher down senseless and bleeding, among his terrified little singers. The young would-be murderer was held to bail. Two planters quarreled about a real estate trade, and the lie was passed. Two days later one lay in the woods several hours, and while his enemy was passing killed him with a shot gun. He was held to bail. In a drinking saloon a youth of eighteen wantonly murdered a Cherokee Indian. The city council offered two hundred dollars for his capture, and when taken he also was held to bail. For years no one had been punished for homicide. The carrying of concealed weapons was common; and a citizen assured me that he had seen a clergyman in the pulpit on Sunday with the handle of a bowie knife protruding from his pocket. My chief personal experience at Fort Smith came in the form of a typhoid fever, prostrating me for weeks. In that climate the disease often clings to a patient for five months. Producing a dull stupor with little perceptible pain, it is accompanied by malignant inflammation of the bowels. But nature provides a remedy. The green leaves of the bene plant, maturing at just the right season, after soaking in cold water, produce an agreeable glutinous syrup which rapidly replaces the lining of the intestines carried away by the dangerous disease. This tropical plant, grows in profusion, and is said to be identical with the Sesamum Orientale. Who knows but that it was the mysterious 'open sesame' of the Arabian robbers? I was among strangers and they ministered unto me. Good fortune threw me under the roof of a Maine family who nursed me with patient tenderness. After weary days, I escaped from the sick chamber to breathe again the blessed open air. The stifling cloud upon my brain passed away, and left me like one just awakened from a heavy slumber. In that humid climate I 1859.] ENTERING THE INDIAN TERRITORY. 219 convalesced but slowly, and longed for the inspiring air of the mountains. At last in open rebellion to my physician I parted from the new friends to whom I owed my life, rolling away in the overland stage which by a shaky ferry crossed the Oporto into the Indian Territory. On the rich bottom-lands, oak, cottonwood, sycamore and pecan were festooned by vines burdened with delicious grapes, and inclosed by dense canebrakes. The small canes are shipped North for pipe stems, the larger ones for fishing rods. Three soft blue mountains melted into the southern horizon. Fourteen miles out, I left the coach at the residence of Governor Walker, executive of the Choctaw nation. He was educated in Kentucky, intelligent and agreeable; nearly as white as myself, and with no betrayal of Indian origin in speech or features. His wife, a very dusky half-breed, did the honors of his table gracefully. His farm of one hundred acres was all inclosed and under high cultivation. His log house, long low and hospitable with broad portico in front, was surrounded by stately oaks and graceful locusts. Several out-buildings served for kitchen, executive office and negro quarters. Little darkeys were ubiquitous, decorating every niche and perch with nimble cupids in bronze; performing gum-elastic feats unequaled; visible suddenly from behind corners, over fences, through windows, and under one's feet; dropping down from every point of the compass as if scattered by some genie from his overflowing pockets; gathering themselves together with whoop and somersault; displaying rows of ivory, and wooly curls; then miraculously vanishing again. The Indian Territory contains sixty or seventy thousand inhabitants: Cherokees, Choctaws, Creeks, and Chickasaws. Each tribe resides on a separate tract, and has courts, legislatures, schools, and universities. Their physicians are great botanists, knowing the virtues of every green thing from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop upon the wall. They use a large horn for cupping, exhausting the air from it with the mouth through a little aperture, and piercing the spot with a sharp, neat lance, of ingeniously-ground glass. They are firm believers in the counter-irritant principle, and for every internal inflammation press a burning brand against the body. 220 AMONG THE CHEROKEES AND CHOCTAWS. [1859. The Cherokees lead in civilization. They are largely tinctured with white blood. In their most populous sections one may travel all day without seeing a person of unmixed Indian extraction. Slavery among them was farcical rather than tragical. The negroes, far more intelligent than their masters, did much A COUNTER-IRRITANT. as. they pleased, owning money, cattle and ponies; and as they made all purchases for the family, often feathering their own nests. John Ross, head chief of the Cherokees, was a very wealthy land and slave owner. He was nearly white, and had married a lady from Philadelphia. I was interested in a volume of Choctaw laws, a curious grafting of the forms of civilization upon a stock of barbarism. Each sta tute began: 'Be it enacted by the Warriors and chiefs in National Council asssembled." One was authenticated by the signatures of 'Black Fox, Principal Chief; Path Killer, Secretary.' Another was signed 'Turtleat-Home, Speaker of Council;' and a third 'Ennautanaueh, Speaker.' One legislator bore the name of 'Big Rattling Gourd '-appropriate for many a white Solon. Another was called 'The Dark;' I fancy he was full-blooded. One act was 'for the relief of Betsey Broom,' doubtless a good housewife-while she was new. Among other names in the volume were: Going Snake, The Hair, Sleeping Rabbit, Spirit, The Bark, Deer-in-Water, Bridge Maker, Woman Killer (unquestionably a dandy,) Walking Stick, Old |