* Moved by Richard Smith
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 Area : HOLYSMOKE
 Date : May 21 '98, 00:14
 From : Day Brown                                               1:270/615
 To   : all
 Subj : Osage
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 From: Indians of the Ozark Plateau by Elmo Ingenthron 74 ed.
 :::Despite the inroads into their social order by the demons of
 alcohol they withstood it's onslaught much better than many of the
 other tribes.  The Osages had long been imbued with a burning
 ambition to be the super-race of men pre-eminent, who walked on
 mother earth.  The false feeling of pre-eminence created by fire-
 water (pe-tsa-ni) was no doubt a topic of much discussion in the
 Lodge of Mystery among the division of chiefs and the wise old men
 of the tribe.  In their deliberations they problably considered
 drunkeness next to insanity and a potent deterrent to building a
 super-race.  In their long struggle for greatness their progress had
 seldom been thwarted by deformity, insanity, or suicide which were
 characteristic of a weaker race.:::
 He offers a lotta support for this, here is some...
 :::The Wedding ceremony of the Osages was in some respects, a grand
 manifestation or display of synmbolism. About all of the mysterious
 and powerful unseen forces were reprented by symbols. Some designed
 to please the spirits of good and other designed to ward off the
 powers of evil.
   Fortunate was the maiden who was chosen as the bride of the tallest
 and mightiest of the warriors.  But once the marriage was consum-
 mated the warrior fell heir to all his wife's sisters which he could
 espouse as additional wives to bear his progeny or bestow upon others.
 For what better way, the tribe reasoned, could the race perpetuate
 it's strong physique and long life?
   In keeping with their tradition of tribal strength the Osages for-
 bid the marriage of their young men who had shown weakness or coward-
 liness in their first warring engagement.  These were compelled to
 live out the remainder of their lives as 'squawmen' dressed like
 squaws and doing the work of squaws, never getting a chance to
 redeem themselves. 'Squawmen' were forbidden to marry lest they
 beget cowardly sons who might endanger the survival of the tribe.
    The Osages put such strong emphasis upon the attainment of height
 and manly appearance that they followed the practice of tying
 their infant's heads tightly to boards.  This resulted in flatten-
 ing the back portion of their heads, but caused a more than nat-
 ural elevation to the top of their heads, thus adding to their
 height and unique appearance.:::
 I originally say that the Osage had a eugenics program that the
 Nazis wouldda been proud of.  Richard took offense; called me a
 liar; I may be misinformed, but Elmo looks creditable; and as a
 matter of fact, the policy seems to have been effective, as the
 Osage were known for their stature and bearing.
 :::The Osages, like the Christians, strongly suspected they were
 guilty of transgressions against the commandments of the Great
 Spirit and they expected punishment for it.:::
 Wonder why? Well-
 :::Before embarking upon a slave stealing, horse stealing or warring
 expedition, they sometimes fasted, prayed, mourned and sacrificed
 much to invoke the favors of the Great Spirit in their endeavors.:::
 I don't spoze it wouldda occurred to them to work for a living.
 :::There is little superficial evidence to indicate a prolonged
 period of Osage occupation in the hinterland of the Ozark plateau.:::
 And, there is a damn good reason for that.  From Amerind's point
 of view, the Ozarks were a wasteland.  Primordial climax forests
 support squirrels and a few razorbacks.  Deer and bear, the main
 prey, requires brush and berries.  In the east, the forests were
 set ablaze, and the resultant clearings supported good habitats.
 In my neck of the Ozark woods, the soil's so thin, that it takes
 forever for even the weeds to grow back.  But if you need a spot
 to hide a moonshine still, avoid a posse like the James gang, or
 setup an Amerind tribal base for predatory action and evasion of
 Amerind pursuers, well- these hills will do nicely.
 Now, I went a little further than Elmo, crudely saying that they
 would attack a village, kill the men, and use some women to haul
 the loot back to the base, raping as convenient.  This is SOP of
 super-races: rape, pillage, and burn, in that order.  Richard is
 apparently of the opinion the Osage were different.
 :::On Nov 17, 1823, while returning from a raid on their Caddo and
 Choctaw enemies, they came upon the hunting camp of more than twenty
 American anf French white me.  A sneak attack was made killing
 several white men and an old Negro servant named Ben.  Their heads
 were cut off and their bodies mangled.  Their camp equipment, pelts,
 and about thirty horses were stolen:::
 To be sure, these Choctaw, Caddo, Kickapoo, Delawares, Arkansas,
 or others were not all sterling characters, and many tried to do
 what *they* saw as just to the Osage, with small, or no, excuse.
 By the 1830's things were getting out of hand; for the Caddo, it
 looked like the end of the road, as evidenced by the abandonment
 shown in the digs on the Arkansas river of their civilization; a
 lot of Amerind widows married white men who were abundant.  But,
 as we see here, the Osage were not above making new enemies that
 would replace those they had already vanquished.
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 Naturam expellas furca,
 tamen usque recurret.
 Richard Smith
--- timEd 1.01
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