FIRST STAY AT FORT UNION, FROM JUNE 24TH TO JULY 6TH [1833]
Departure of the Assiniboin Steamer--Excursions into the
Prairie--The arrival of several bands of Assiniboins--The
Crees, or Knistenaux--The Visits to the Camps of the
Indians--Their Departure--Death of Matsokui--Arrival of our
Keel-boat--Preparations for our Journey to Fort Mc Kenzie.
Mr. Mc Kenzie had given us a comfortable lodging in his house, and we
lived here very pleasantly, in a plain style, suitable to the resources
of so remote a place; for we could not hope to meet with so good a
table as we had had on board the steamer. We had, every day, fresh or
dried buffalo flesh, bread made of flour, and also a good supply of
coffee and wine. The first days passed rapidly in examining the fort
and the immediate environs, while, on board the steamer, they began
already, on the 25th, to unload and convey the provisions and goods to
the fort, so that all was bustle and activity. Eight hundred packs of
buffalo hides, each consisting of ten, were immediately embarked, amid
a heavy fall of rain, which did much injury to these hides, which are
tanned by the Indians. It was, therefore, necessary to open every one
of the packs, and dry them again. The furs in the interior of North
America are free from a nuisance so common among us, I mean insects,
especially moths, which are unknown on the Upper Missouri. Besides the
buffalo hides, many beaver, bear, wolf, lynx, fox, and other skins
were embarked. Of the wolf and lynx, sixty-two packs, each consisting
of 100 skins. Some of the Indians were very troublesome while this was
doing, continually asking and begging for various things, particularly
tobacco, which they were too indolent to prepare, or to get from the
forest for themselves. The tobacco which the Fur Company sells to them,
to mix with their leaves or bark, is strong, clammy, and black, and is
in twists, six or eight inches long. Most of the Indians now present
looked wretchedly poor, and many of them had not even a pipe of their
own. Several apartments in the fort were assigned to these visitors,
where they cooked and slept.
{199} After we had made ourselves acquainted with the fort, we made
excursions into the prairie, especially to the chain of hills, and Mr.
Bodmer took many views of the country. In all such excursions it is not
usual to go alone, at least not without being well armed, because the
Indians, especially war parties, can never be trusted. The Assiniboin
having taken in its cargo, was to depart on the afternoon of the 26th
of June, and return to St. Louis; the Company, therefore, assembled
once more on board, to dine together. About three o'clock, when the
whole population of the place was assembled on the beach, we took
leave of our travelling companions, Messrs. Sandford and Pratte, with
whom some of the Company's clerks had embarked to return to the United
States. In order to turn, the Assiniboin first went a little way up the
river, and then passed the fort with the rapidity of an arrow, while a
mutual salute of a discharge of cannon and musketry was re-echoed from
the mountains, and handkerchiefs were waved till a bend of the river
hid the vessel, which we had so long inhabited, from our view. On this
day the Assiniboins had left the fort to go into the prairie; others,
in part much better dressed, had arrived, but only as harbingers of a
great number of their people, and of Crees,[2] who, in fact, came on
the 27th of June, singly, and in companies.
These Crees did not much differ, in appearance, from the Assiniboins;
they are robust, powerful-looking men, with lank hair falling over
their shoulders, and a broad flat lock, cut off straight over their
eyes; one man, however, had it hanging down to his mouth. Some had
their long hair plaited in several tails; many wore skin caps adorned
with feathers, and one had the whole tail of a prairie hen; several
of them wore the leather cases of their bows wound round their heads,
like a turban. Their faces were painted red, some with black stripes,
and their dress was like that of the Assiniboins. Several of them wore
long wolf skins over their shoulders, with the head of the animal on
the breast, and the tail trailing on the ground. Their leggins had a
quantity of long leather fringe; the men are said to be often much
tattooed, and Franklin says, that this operation is painful, but we
were assured that the contrary is the case. The women are said to be
well made, and, in the north, they understand how to dye a beautiful
red with the roots of _Galium tinctorium_ and _boreale_, and black with
the bark of the alder.
The chief of the Crees was Maschkepiton (the broken arm), who had a
medal with the effigy of the President hung round his neck, which
he had received on a visit to Washington.[3] The present intention
of these people, who had no skins to sell, was to welcome Mr. Mc
Kenzie, who is much beloved by the Indians, and frequently receives
presents from them; and, on many occasions, they have carried him
about, as in triumph, to do him honour, and prove their attachment to
him. The Crees live in the same territory as the Assiniboins, that
is, between the Saskatschawan, the Assiniboin, and the Missouri. They
ramble about in small bands with the others, are poor, have many dogs,
which carry their baggage, but only a few horses. They live, like the
Assiniboins, in leather tents, follow the herds of buffaloes, of which
they sometimes kill {200} great numbers in their parks. The Crees are
reckoned at 600 or 800 tents; consequently, assuming the usual number
of three men for each, there will be from 1,800 to 2,400 men for this
tribe. Their customs, games, and religious opinions, are said to agree
with those of the Assiniboins. Their language has an affinity with that
of the Ojibuas, but entirely different from that of the Assiniboins, or
Sioux, though many of the Crees learn the latter.
On the 26th of June, the arrival of a numerous band of Assiniboins was
announced to us by several messengers; they intended to compliment Mr.
Mc Kenzie, who had long been absent. All on a sudden we heard some
musket-shot, which announced a very interesting scene; and all the
inhabitants of the fort went out of the gate to witness the arrival
of this savage horde. Towards the north-west, the whole prairie was
covered with scattered Indians, whose numerous dogs drew the sledges
with the baggage; a close body of warriors, about 250 or 300 in number,
had formed themselves in the centre, in the manner of two bodies of
infantry, and advanced in quick time towards the fort. The Indian
warriors marched in close ranks, three or four men deep, not keeping
their file very regularly, yet in pretty good order, and formed a
considerable line. Before the centre, where, in a European battalion,
the colours are carried, three or four chiefs advanced, arm in arm, and
from the ranks of this motley, martial, painted mass, loud musket-shot
were heard. The whole troop of these warriors now commenced their
original song, consisting of many abrupt, broken tones, like those of
the war-whoop, and having some resemblance to the song which we heard,
in the years 1813 and 1814, from the Russian soldiers. The loaded dogs,
guided by women and children, surrounded the nucleus of warriors, like
the sharp-shooters that hover about the line. Thus this remarkable body
advanced towards us, and many interesting features appeared the nearer
they approached. All these Indians were wrapped in their buffalo robes,
and dressed out in the most diverse and highly fantastical manner. Most
of them had their faces painted all over with vermilion; others, quite
black. In their hair they wore the feathers of eagles, or other birds
of prey. Some had wolf-skin caps, notwithstanding the great heat, and
these caps were partly smeared with red paint. Others had fastened
green leaves round their heads; long wolves' tails were hanging down
at their heels, as marks of honour for enemies they had killed, and
the part of their dress made of leather was new and handsome. They had
their guns in their arms, their bows and arrows on their shoulders,
and, in this manner, these robust men, who were, for the most part,
five feet eight or nine inches, and many six feet high, advanced with a
light, quick step, in an upright posture, which gave them a perfectly
military air; and this impression was heightened by the song which
sounded from their ranks, and the loud beating of their drums. They
advanced to within about sixty paces, then halted at a fosse running
from the Missouri past the fort, and waited, the chief standing in
front, for our welcome.
Mr. Mc Kenzie had sent two interpreters, Halero and Lafontaine, to
meet them, who shook hands with the chiefs, and then led them to the
gate of the fort, which was shut as usual, and a {201} guard set before
it, for too many Indians are never admitted at the same time, because
they can never be implicitly trusted. On this occasion, only the chiefs
and about thirty of the principal warriors were admitted, who sat down
around the apartment which was allotted to such meetings. All the other
Indians went first to the Missouri to drink, and then sat down to rest
in the shade.
It was natural that we, as strangers, constantly remained with the
assembled Indians, for there were many interesting subjects for our
observation. The thick stone pipes, with long flat tubes, were handed
round, and they showed us a remarkably handsome one, ornamented with
yellow horse-hair, which was intended as a present for Mr. Mc Kenzie.
The whole company received something to drink; and many Indians, before
they raise the vessel to their lips, dip the fore finger of their right
hand into it, and sprinkle some of the liquid five or six times in the
air, doubtless as an offering to the higher powers.[4] They gazed on us
with much curiosity, and the interpreter gave them an account of the
singular strangers, who hunted after animals, plants, and stones, and
prepared the skins of the former, of which they, of course, could not
see the use.
While tranquillity was gradually restored within the fort, a new and
very interesting scene took place without. On the west side of the
fort the Indian women were engaged in erecting temporary travelling
or hunting huts, composed of poles, fixed in the ground, and the dog
sledges set up against them, and covered with green boughs, as they
had brought only a part of their baggage. Horses were everywhere
grazing, dogs running in all directions, and groups of the red men
dispersed all round. The scene was highly entertaining; and the various
occupations of cooking, gaming, and making preliminary arrangements,
diffused life and activity over the prairie. I was particularly struck
with one Assiniboin on account of his head-dress, which I frequently
saw afterwards, and the interpreter called him to us. He wore, across
his head, a leather strap, to each side of which a horn was fixed, and
between them, black feathers cut short. The horns, which were cut out
of those of an antelope, had, at their point, a tuft of horse-hair dyed
yellow, and on the side hung leather strings, with feathers at the end,
and bound with yellow porcupine quills. Mr. Bodmer made a very faithful
drawing of this man, as he wished to be taken in his full dress[5]. His
name was Noapeh (a troop of soldiers), and his countenance and whole
figure were characteristically Indian. We visited several of the newly
erected huts, where the fire was already burning in the centre; we
were everywhere asked for whisky and tobacco, of which only the last
was here and there given. If we wished to obtain anything by barter,
brandy was always demanded in payment, and, therefore, very little
could be done. Late in the evening, the singing and the drum of this
restless multitude were heard in the fort, and the noise and tumult
continued the whole night. On the 28th of June we were early in motion,
that we might lose no part of the new scenes around us. Noapeh was
{202} brought at an early hour, and stood with unwearied patience to
the painter, though his relations frequently endeavoured to get him
away. He had put on his best dress, and had, on his breast, a rosette
of dyed porcupine quills, eight or ten inches in diameter. On this day
there was a great crowd of Indians in the fort, to barter several
articles of their dress; part of them went away in the course of the
day, for when we went to their camp in the afternoon we found most
of the huts empty, and saw, at a distance, many Indians, seldom more
than two or three together, returning in three principal directions. A
great part of them went up the Missouri, parallel with the river, but
avoided the wood on the bank, and traversed the prairie in a western
direction; another part turned to the north-east, and these, about
an hundred in number, went to join in a military expedition against
the Mandans and the Manitaries. On occasions like the present, when
many Indians assemble about the trading posts of the Whites, they
are obliged to be constantly on their guard, because their enemies
endeavour to obtain information of these moments, and take advantage
of them for their sudden attacks. On the evening of this day, we had
a violent storm of thunder, lightning, and rain, and, as the rain
continued on the following day, the 29th of June, the expected arrival
of more Assiniboins was delayed; they do not willingly travel with
their leather tents in wet weather, because their baggage then becomes
very heavy; several Indians, however, soon appeared, wet through and
through, and covered with mud up to their knees, which, however, they
did not mind. A sketch was taken of a tall young warrior,[6] who
preserved a most inflexible gravity of countenance till Mr. Bodmer
set his musical snuff-box agoing, on which he began to laugh. Another
interesting young man of the branch of the Stone Indians,[7] whose
name was Pitatapiu, had his portrait taken at a later period. His hair
hung down like a lion's mane, especially over his eyes, so that they
could scarcely be seen; over each of them a small white sea shell was
fastened with a hair string; in his hand he carried a long lance, such
as they use only for show, to which a number of slips of the entrails
of a bear were fastened, and smeared with red paint. This slender
young man had his painted leather shield on his back, to which a small
packet, well wrapped up, his medicine or amulet in horse-stealing, was
fastened, and which he greatly prized. These people will not part with
such things on any terms. The handle of his whip was of wood, with
holes in it like a flute. He and several Indians brought word that
his countrymen, from the environs of the Fort des Prairies, on the
Saskatschawan River, would shortly visit us, to dispose of all their
beaver skins. It made us shiver to see the Indians, in the damp, cold
weather, run about barefoot the whole day in the deep mud, while we, in
our room, sat constantly by the fireside. They, too, greatly enjoyed
the warm room, and a number of them were always sitting with us, to
smoke their pipes, while Mr. Bodmer was drawing Pitatapiu's likeness.
We took care that their pipes should be constantly filled, and, in
general, tried every means to amuse them, that they might not lose
their patience during the operation.
{203} On the 30th of June, at noon, a band of Indians had arrived, and
twenty-five tents were set up near the fort. The women, who were short,
and mostly stout, with faces painted red, soon finished this work,
and dug up with their instruments the clods of turf, which they lay
round the lower part of the hut. One of these tents, the dwelling of a
chief, was distinguished from the rest. It was painted of the colour of
yellow ochre, had a broad reddish-brown border below, and on each of
its sides a large black bear was painted (something of a caricature it
must be confessed), to the head of which, just above the nose, a piece
of red cloth, that fluttered in the wind, was fastened, doubtless a
medicine.[8] We now saw the Indian women returning in all directions
from the forest, panting under the weight of large bundles of wood,
which were fastened on their backs. Their dogs lay about the tents;
they were large, quite like wolves, and of different colours, chiefly
of the colour of the wild grey wolf, and some spotted black and white.
Reduced to skeletons by want of food, they could not stretch out their
sharp backbone; but, for the most part, went crooked and contracted,
looked about for old bones, and growled at each other, showing their
white teeth. They were not so savage to strangers as the dogs of the
Crows, at Fort Clarke, and if one of them seemed inclined to bite us,
he was immediately very roughly kicked and beaten by the Indians.
We had not been long in this camp, when another band of Assiniboins
appeared at a distance. To the west, along the wood by the river-side,
the prairie was suddenly covered with red men, most of whom went
singly, with their dogs drawing the loaded sledges. The warriors, about
sixty in number, formed a close column. They came without music, with
two chiefs at their head, and proceeded towards the gate of the fort.
Among them there were many old men, one, especially, who walked with
the support of two sticks, and many who had only one eye.[9] The first
chief of this new band was Ayanyan (as translated by the Canadians,
_le fils du gros Français_), generally called General Jackson, because
he had made a journey to Washington.[10] He was a handsome man, in a
fine dress; he wore a beautifully embroidered black leather shirt, a
new scarlet blanket, and the great medal round his neck. The whole
column entered the fort, where they smoked, ate, and drank; and,
meantime, forty-two tents were set up. The new camp had a very pretty
appearance; the tents stood in a semicircle, and all the fires were
smoking, while all {204} around was life and activity. We witnessed
many amusing scenes; here, boys shot their arrows into the air; there,
a little, brown, monkey-like child was sitting alone upon the ground,
with a circle of hungry dogs round it. In one of the tents there was
a man very ill, about whom the medicine men were assembled, singing
with all their might. Many people had collected about this tent, and
were peeping through the crevices. After the conjuration had continued
some time, the tent was opened, and the men who had been assembled
in it went away by threes, the one in the middle always stepping
a little before the others, and they continued singing till they
reached their own tents. In another tent, belonging to a young married
couple, we found a child hung up in a leather pouch, of very beautiful
workmanship. These pouches, which serve instead of cradles, are so
large that only the head of the child is visible. This pouch had, on
the upper side, two broad stripes of dyed porcupine quills, and several
very pretty rosettes, with long strings of different colours, and was
lined with fur. I purchased it from the woman, but, with many other
interesting articles, it has never reached Europe.
On the 1st of July, in the morning, we heard that Matsokui, the young
Blackfoot Indian, who had come here with us, had been shot, during
the night, in the Indian camp. Berger, the Blackfoot interpreter,
who was charged to have a watchful eye over this young Indian, had
frequently warned him to keep away from the Assiniboins and the Crees,
or some mischief would certainly befall him; but he had suffered
himself to be deceived by their apparently friendly conduct, and had
remained in a tent till late at night, where he was shot by a Cree,
who had immediately made his escape. We saw the dead body of our poor
travelling companion, laced up in a buffalo's skin, lying in the
fort, and it was afterwards buried near the fort, in a coffin made by
the carpenter. Kiasax had been more prudent; he had not trusted the
Assiniboins, and had returned with the steam-boat to his family. Mr.
Mc Kenzie told us, that he had witnessed a similar incident the year
before. A Blackfoot whom he brought with him, was shot by the Crees at
their departure, though he had previously been many times in their camp.
After the perpetration of this deed, a dead silence prevailed in the
Indian camp; but about noon, two of the chiefs, attended by other
Indians in procession, singing aloud, and among them General Jackson,
came as a deputation to make excuses to Mr. Mc Kenzie for this murder.
They brought, by way of present, a horse, and a couple of very
beautiful pipes, one of which was a real calumet, adorned with feathers
and green horse-hair. They made an address to Mr. Mc Kenzie, in which
they solemnly asserted their innocence of the death of the Blackfoot,
saying that the deed had been done by a Cree, who had immediately fled,
and whom they had pursued, but in vain. Ayanyan is said to have spoken
remarkably well on this occasion.
In the afternoon we again heard the Indian drum beating very loud in
the tent of the sick man, and we went there to see their conjurations.
We looked cautiously through the crevices in the tent, and saw the
patient sitting on the floor, his head, covered with a small cap,
sunk {205} upon his breast, and several men standing around him. Two
of the medicine men were beating the drum in quick time, and a third
rattled the Quakemuha (or Shishikue), which he waved up and down. These
people were singing with great effort; sometimes they uttered short
ejaculations, and were in a violent perspiration; sometimes they sucked
the places where the patient felt pain, and pretended they could suck
out or remove the morbid matter. Such jugglers are very well paid by
the patients, and always regaled with tobacco. Many of the Indians
went away this afternoon, because they could not find sufficient
subsistence. Among others, General Jackson had taken leave. It was
reported that some of the Crees had said they would take up the body
of the Blackfoot that was shot, because there had not been time to
scalp him; but such expressions were quite usual, and the grave was not
disturbed.
The keel-boat from Fort Cass had arrived, on board of which we were to
go to Fort Mc Kenzie. We had, therefore, a numerous company, but we
were in no want of provisions, as our hunters had brought home, from
their last excursion, the flesh of nineteen buffaloes. It was exactly
a year to-day, July 4th, since we had landed at Boston. Mr. Mc Kenzie
sent Berger, the interpreter,[11] and one Harvey, by land, to Fort
Mc Kenzie, to which they proceeded on horseback, before us, along the
north bank of the river. They had no baggage but their arms, their beds
of buffalo skin, and blankets. They took some dried meat with them, but
they chiefly depended for subsistence on their rifles. While the people
were employed in loading the keel-boat with the goods and provisions
for the tribes living higher up the river, we profited by this last
day's stay in this place, to make excursions into the neighbouring
woods on the river-side, and to the prairie. In a wood, below the fort,
we found a tree, on which the corpses of several Assiniboins were
deposited; one of them had fallen down, and been torn and devoured by
the wolves. The blankets which covered the body were new, and partly
bedaubed with red paint, and some of the branches and the trunk of the
tree were coloured in the same manner. Dreidoppel, who discovered this
tree, took up the skull of a young Assiniboin, in which a mouse had
made its nest for its young; and Mr. Bodmer made an accurate drawing
of the tree, under which there was a close thicket of roses in full
blossom, the fragrant flowers of which seemed destined to veil this
melancholy scene of human frailty and folly.[12]
The Flora keel-boat was laden, and there was only the baggage of the
travellers to be taken on board. This vessel was a strong-built sloop,
about sixty feet long by sixteen broad, with a deck, a mast, and sail.
The goods were deposited in the middle space; at the stern there was
a cabin, ten paces long and five or six broad, with two berths, one
of which was allotted to Mr. Mitchell, and the second to me; the
other persons, three in number, spread their beds, in the evening, on
the floor. At the back of this cabin there was a little window, with
a sliding shutter, and, on each side, a port-hole, which, in fine
weather, admitted light and air. Round the vessel there was a ledge,
about a foot and a half broad, on which the men walked backwards and
forwards {206} when, the water being low, they had to propel the boat
by means of poles. In the fore part of the vessel was the apartment for
the _engagés_, and, on the deck, an iron grate for cooking: here, too,
the game which we had taken was hung up. About half of our men were
destined to tow the vessel when there was no wind. Formerly this was
the only method of navigating the Missouri, till, about two years ago,
the first essay was made with the steam-boat which now goes regularly
to Fort Union. A voyage from Saint Louis to Fort Mc Kenzie used to take
eight months, and is now performed by the steam-boat in a little more
than a third of that time. The number of men, destined by Mr. Mc Kenzie
for the voyage to the Blackfeet, consisted of double the usual crew
of a keel-boat, and, including us travellers, amounted to fifty-two
persons. I had taken many things, necessary for a long journey, from
the Company's stores, but part of what I had brought from St. Louis
had been left at Fort Pièrre, on the Teton River, the want of which I
already felt, but had still more reason to lament in the sequel.
All necessary arrangements for our voyage being made, Mr. Mc Kenzie
caused some fire-works to be let off before the fort on the bank of the
Missouri, for the amusement of the people, which gave occasion to many
jokes. The serpents dispersed the crowds of young Canadians, who had
never seen anything of the kind before, and were called by their older,
more experienced comrades, _mangeurs de lard_.[13]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] This volume begins with chapter xvi of the London edition.--ED.
[2] For the Cree, consult our volume ii, p. 168, note 75.--ED.
[3] Catlin painted a portrait of this chief in 1832; and speaks of
his visit to Washington under the care of John A. Sanford (probably
in 1831-32), accompanied by several Assiniboin. See Catlin, _North
American Indians_, i, p. 56.--ED.
[4] Some of them assured me that the intention of this custom was, that
their deceased friends or relations might participate in the enjoyment
of this benefit.--MAXIMILIAN.
[5] See Plate 45, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.--ED.
[6] See background of Plate 65, in the accompanying atlas, our volume
xxv.--ED.
[7] For portrait of this Indian, see Plate 65, in the accompanying
atlas, our volume xxv.--ED.
[8] See Plate 16, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.--ED.
[9] I have spoken on this subject in the account of my "Travels in
Brazil," the above defect being very common among the Brazilians. On
the whole, it appears that there are more cripples among the North
American Indians than in Brazil. A dwarfish Assiniboin frequently
visited Fort Union, who was, at the most, between three and four feet
high; his legs were short, crooked, and deformed. His head, and the
upper part of his body, were perfectly well-formed; his countenance
animated and intelligent, as is frequently the case with such persons.
He wore a remarkably handsome dress, and rode his spirited horse
exceedingly well. In the course of this journey in North America, I met
with several Indian dwarfs; but not a single instance among the many
Brazilians whom I have seen. Governor Cass likewise mentions a deformed
Indian. On St. Peter's River there were two Sioux women, each of whom
was about two feet and a half high; and there were similar dwarfs among
the Blackfeet.--MAXIMILIAN.
[10] Catlin, _North American Indians_, i, pp. 56, 57, gives an account
of the reception of these Indians on their return from Washington
(1832). The stories of American sights at first created a sensation
among the tribesmen, but they soon began to doubt their authenticity,
and set down their narrator as a liar and impostor. "General Jackson"
killed himself the year after his return, partly because of illness.
Mc Kenzie had his remains interred at Fort Union. See _Larpenteur's
Journal_, ii, pp. 412-415.--ED.
[11] Berger (usually called "old man Berger") had in his early days
been in the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company. Going to the Missouri
with Kenneth Mc Kenzie, he rendered valuable service to the American
Fur Company. The daring with which he ventured among the hostile
Blackfeet, together with his knowledge of their language and customs,
succeeded in persuading a band of that tribe to visit Fort Union, and
make a treaty of amity (1831). Berger's salary as Blackfoot interpreter
was eight hundred dollars per annum. He was still living in 1845, when
he had a hostile encounter with Alexander Harvey.--ED.
[12] See Plate 63, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.--ED.
[13] The British companies distinguished between "winterers"--old
experienced employés, who devoted their entire time to the business
of the company, and who were hardened to privations--and _mangeurs de
lard_ ("pork-eaters"), who were employed only for the summer months,
chiefly in transporting the canoe loads from Montreal to the Upper
Country and return. See F. J. Turner, "The Fur Trade in Wisconsin," in
Wisconsin Historical Society _Proceedings_, 1889, pp. 78, 79.--ED.