century ago, crossing the Ozarks and following the deep valleys which
separated the ridges, he encountered many deserted camps of the Osages
and frames of one or more habitations, the mat or bark covers often
having been removed, thus allowing the bare frames to remain. These had
been the temporary shelters occupied by small parties hunting away from
their home villages. On November 27, 1818, so he wrote, "night overtook
us, and we encamped in an Indian bark tent on the bank of the river,
which had not been occupied for one or two years." (Schoolcraft, (1), p.
28.) The river mentioned was the Great North Fork of White River, and
the latter was soon reached. Continuing their journey over the rough and
rugged hills, through tangled masses of vegetation, often advancing only
a few miles each day, and that with the greatest exertion, they arrived
December 30, 1818, in the region a short distance east of James River,
possibly in the present Christian County, Missouri. Here they
encountered several deserted camps, of which, fortunately, interesting
accounts are preserved in the narrative: "In pursuing up the valley of
Swan Creek, about nine miles, we fell into the Osage trace, a horse-path
beaten by the Osages in their hunting excursions along this river, and
passing successively three of their camps, now deserted, all very large,
arranged with much order and neatness, and capable of quartering
probably 100 men each. Both the method of building camps, and the order
of encampment observed by this singular nation of savages, are different
from any thing of the kind I have noticed among the various tribes of
aboriginal Americans, through whose territories I have had occasion to
travel. The form of the tent or camp may be compared to an inverted
bird's nest, or hemisphere, with a small aperture left in the top, for
the escape of smoke; and a similar, but larger one, at one side, for
passing in and out. It is formed by cutting a number of slender flexible
green-poles of equal length, sharpened at each end, stuck in the ground
like a bow, and, crossing at right angles at the top, the points of
entrance into the ground forming a circle. Small twigs are then wove in,
mixed with the leaves of cane, moss, and grass, until it is perfectly
tight and warm. These tents are arranged in large circles, one within
another, according to the number of men intended to be accommodated. In
the centre is a scaffolding for meat, from which all are supplied every
morning, under the inspection of a chief, whose tent is conspicuously
situated at the head of the encampment, and differs from all the rest,
resembling a half cylinder inverted. Their women and children generally
accompany them on these excursions, which often occupy three months."
Schoolcraft soon crossed the ridge separating Swan Creek from Findley's
River, the latter "running from the north-east, and tributary to James'
river, the main north-western branch of White River." (Op. cit., pp.
52-53.)
It must be understood that this description applies to a temporary
encampment of the Osage, not to a permanent village, although they would
probably not have differed greatly in appearance. The structures in a
camp were rather smaller than those in the villages, and the latter were
covered with mats or sheets of bark instead of the walls being composed
of the crude wattlework, as mentioned in the preceding account.
Throughout the region traversed by Schoolcraft are to be found traces of
ancient camps, some quite large, others small. The innumerable caves and
caverns occurring in the limestone formations through which the many
streams have cut deep valleys show evidence of long occupancy by the
natives. Great masses of wood ashes, intermingled with broken and lost
implements of bone and stone, fragments of pottery vessels, and charred
or broken bones of animals which had served as food, are to be found
accumulated near the opening, beneath the overhanging strata. The great
majority of such material should undoubtedly be attributed to the Osage,
whose hunters penetrated all parts of the Ozarks.
A beautiful example of a frame for an Osage habitation is shown in plate
32, _a_, a reproduction of a photograph made near Hominy, Oklahoma, in
1911. This was probably the form of structure seen by the early
travelers, which is more clearly described on the following pages. It is
interesting, showing as it does the manner in which the uprights were
placed in the ground, then bent over and bound in place. As the Osage
undoubtedly lived, generations ago, in the Ohio Valley, it is possible
the ancient village sites discovered in Ross County, Ohio, belonged
either to this or a related tribe, and the ground plan of the structures
revealed during the exploration of a certain site would agree with the
typical Osage habitation of recent years. A ground plan was prepared by
the discoverer of the ancient village site (Mills, (1)) and was
reproduced on page 139, Bulletin 71, of this Bureau.
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 32
[Illustration: _a._ Frame of an Osage habitation, near Hominy, Okla.,
1911]
[Illustration: _b._ An Iowa structure]
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 33
[Illustration: "OTO ENCAMPMENT, NEAR THE PLATTE, 1819"
Samuel Seymour]
On the plan of the ancient settlement which stood many generations ago
are several interesting features in addition to the outline of the oval
habitation. North of the space once occupied by the dwelling are many
comparatively large caches, with fireplaces between. On the opposite
side of the structure were encountered 30 burials, representing children
and adults. It would be of the greatest interest at the present time
to discover the exact location of one of the Osage villages of a century
ago, and to determine the position of the caches and burials, if any
exist, in relation to the sites of the habitations.
About the time of Schoolcraft's journey through the Ozarks another
traveler went up the valley of the Arkansas, and when far west of the
Mississippi came in contact with the Osage. Nuttall, on July 15, 1819,
wrote: "The first village of the Osages lies about 60 miles from the
mouth of the Verdigris, and is said to contain 7 or 800 men and their
families. About 60 miles further, on the Osage River, is situated the
village of the chief called White Hair. The whole of the Osages are now,
by governor Clark, enumerated at about 8000 souls. At this time nearly
the whole town, men, and women, were engaged in their summer hunt,
collecting bison tallow and meat. The principal chief is called by the
French Clarmont, although his proper name is the Iron bird, a species of
Eagle." (Nuttall, (1), p. 173.) Under date of August 5, 1819, he
referred to the women of the tribe, saying: "It is to their industry and
ingenuity, that the men owe every manufactured article of their dress,
as well as every utensil in their huts. The Osage women appear to excel
in these employments. Before the Cherokees burnt down their town on the
Verdigris, their houses were chiefly covered with hand-wove matts of
bulrushes. Their baskets and bed matts of this material were
parti-coloured and very handsome. This manufacture, I am told, is done
with the assistance of three sticks, arranged in some way so as to
answer the purpose of a loom, and the strands are inlaid diagonally.
They, as well as the Cherokees and others, frequently take the pains to
unravel old blankets and cloths, and reweave the yarn into belts and
garters." (Op. cit., pp. 192-193.)
Evidently it was not the custom of the Osage to entirely abandon their
villages when they went on their periodical hunts. Some remained, either
through choice or necessity. In the above quotation Nuttall spoke of
"nearly the whole town" being absent on their summer hunt, and one very
familiar with the habits of the tribe said: "The Osages and Kansas live
in villages, which, even during the hunting seasons, are never wholly
abandoned, as in the case with several tribes settled on the Missouri."
(Hunter, (1), p. 334.) Regarding the general appearance of the villages:
"Their lodges are built promiscuously, in situations to please their
respective proprietors: they are arranged to neither streets nor alleys,
and are sometimes so crowded, as to render the passage between them
difficult."
That some of the Osage constructed very long structures is told by
Morse, but if the dimensions given in his account are accurate they
refer to the unusual rather than to the usual form of habitation erected
by members of that tribe. He said: "The Osages of the Arkansaw occupy
several villages. The principal village contains about three hundred
lodges or huts, and about three thousand souls. The lodges are generally
from fifty to a hundred feet in length; and irregularly arranged, they
cover a surface of about half a mile square. They are constructed of
posts, matting, bark and skins. They have neither floors nor chimneys.
The fire is built on the ground, in the centre of the lodge, and the
family, and the guests, sit around in a circle, upon skins or mats."
(Morse, (1), p. 219.) These various statements appear grossly
exaggerated, and on page 225 of the same work appears the statement that
"Their villages are nothing more than what they can remove on the
shortest notice, one horse being capable of carrying house, household
furniture, and children all at one load." Morse included in his notes on
the Osage several letters written by missionaries then working among the
tribe. One communication from Dr. Palmer, dated at Union, March 18,
1820, contained a note on their habitations: "Their houses are made of
poles, arched from fifteen to twenty feet, covered by matting made of
flags. At the sides they set up rived planks, lining the inside with
neatly made flagg matting. They build several fires in the lodge,
according to its size, or the number of wives the owner has. For a
fire-place, they dig a hole about as big as a bushel-basket, leaving the
smoke to ascend through a hole in the roof. Around the fire they spread
their mats to sit or eat." And when visiting the settlement, "Having
entered the lodge, and had our horses turned out, we took a humble seat
around the fire. Presently there was brought to us a wooden bowl, filled
with food made of corn. In a short time we were invited to eat at
another lodge, and before we had finished, at another, and another." And
another letter, from W. C. Requa, dated February 3, 1822, told of the
native dwellings. He wrote at that time: "I live at present among the
Osages, at one of their villages about fifty miles from Union. This
unhappy people live in low huts, covered with long grass or flag, but so
badly put together that they leak considerably in a storm of rain. They
have very little furniture, merely a few pots or kettles in which they
boil their provisions. The art of cooking their meat in any other way
than boiling is unknown among them, except roasting it on a stick before
the fire. They have very little variety in their food. Wild game, corn,
dried pumpkins, and beans constitute about all on which they subsist.
With this, however, they are contented. They have wooden bowls, out of
which they eat, drink, wash themselves." (Op. cit., pp. 227-233.) Union,
where the two communications were written, was probably Union Agency,
which stood on the right bank of the Arkansas River, just southwest of
Fort Gibson, in the present Muskogee County, Oklahoma. The settlement
"about fifty miles from Union" may have been on the Verdigris, near the
center of the present Rogers County, Oklahoma.
An interesting description of a deserted camp of the Osage was prepared
by Irving, as it appeared, standing near the banks of the Arkansas,
October 11, 1832. On that day, so he wrote: "We came in sight of the
Arkansas. It presented a broad and rapid stream, bordered by a beach of
fine sand, overgrown with willows and cotton-wood trees. Beyond the
river, the eye wandered over a beautiful champaign country, of flowery
plains and sloping uplands.... Not far from the river, on an open
eminence, we passed through the recently deserted camping place of an
Osage war party. The frames of their tents or wigwams remained,
consisting of poles bent into an arch, with each end stuck into the
ground; these are intertwined with twigs and branches, and covered with
bark and skins. Those experienced in Indian lore, can ascertain the
tribe, and whether on a hunting or warlike expedition, by the shape and
disposition of the wigwams. Beatte pointed out to us, in the present
skeleton camp, the wigwam in which the chiefs had held their
consultations round the council fire; and an open area, well trampled
down, on which the grand war-dance had been performed." (Irving, W.,
(1), pp. 38-39.) The frames probably resembled the example shown in
plate 32, _a_.
This mention of a dance by Irving suggests the description of a ceremony
witnessed at the village of the Little Osage during the same year. The
account of a "war-dance" was prepared July 25, 1832: "Much of the
ceremony consisted in a sort of dancing march round the streets of the
village between their lodges.... In their marching round the settlement,
the warriors were followed by a band of musicians, some drumming on a
piece of deer skin, stretched over the head of a keg, and others singing
their wild songs. Among the retinue I observed a great many youths, who
appeared to be young disciples, catching the spirit of their seniors and
fathers. Another group followed, who appeared to be mourners, crying for
vengeance on their enemies, to reward them for the death of some
relative." (Colton, (1), pp. 299-300.)
A brief but interesting sketch of the manners and ways of life of the
Osage of a century ago is to be found in Morse's work already quoted.
Although the notes were prepared to apply to several neighboring tribes,
they referred primarily to the tribe now being discussed. First speaking
of their gardens: "They raise annually small crops of corn, beans, and
pumpkins, these they cultivate entirely with the hoe, in the simplest
manner. Their crops are usually planted in April, and receive one
dressing before they leave their villages for the summer hunt, in May.
About the first week in August they return to their villages and gather
their crops, which have been left unhoed and unfenced all the season.
Each family, if lucky, can save from ten to twenty bags of corn and
beans, of a bushel and a half each; besides a quantity of dried
pumpkins. On this they feast, with the dried meat saved in the summer,
till September, when what remains is _cashed_, and they set out on the
fall hunt, from which they return about Christmas. From that time, till
some time in February or March, as the season happens to be mild or
severe, they stay pretty much in their villages, making only short
hunting excursions occasionally, and during that time they consume the
greater part of their _cashes_. In February or March the spring hunt
commences; first the bear, and then the beaver hunt. This they pursue
till planting time, when they again return to their village, pitch their
crops, and in May set out for the summer hunt, taking with them their
residue, if any, of their corn, &c. This is the circle of an Osage life,
here and there indented with war and trading expeditions; and thus it
has been, with very little variation, these twelve years past." (Morse,
(1), pp. 203-205.)
The cornfields were left without watchers and were probably often
destroyed by roving parties of the enemy or by wild beasts. On August
18, 1820, a hunter belonging to a division of the Long expedition
"returned with the information of his having discovered a small field of
maize, occupying a fertile spot at no great distance from the camp, it
exhibited proofs of having been lately visited by the cultivators; a
circumstance which leads us to believe that an ascending column of smoke
seen at a distance this afternoon, proceeded from an encampment of
Indians, whom, if not a war party, we should now rejoice to meet. We
took the liberty, agreeable to the custom of the Indians, of procuring a
mess of corn, and some small but nearly ripe watermelons, that were also
found growing there, intending to recompense the Osages for them, to
whom we supposed them to belong." The following morning, August 19, they
encountered several small cornfields near a creek along which they were
passing, and that day discovered "an Indian camp, that had a more
permanent aspect than any we had before seen near this river. The
boweries were more completely covered, and a greater proportion of bark
was used in the construction of them. They are between sixty and seventy
in number. Well worn traces or paths lead in various directions from
this spot, and the vicinity of the cornfields induce the belief that it
is occasionally occupied by a tribe of Indians, for the purpose of
cultivation as well as of hunting." (James, (1), II, pp. 220-221.)
The encampment just mentioned may have resembled the one described by
Schoolcraft the preceding year, though many miles away in the heart of
the Ozarks.
Although it is quite probable that hunting parties of the Osage, during
their wanderings, reached all parts of the Ozarks, and occupied camps on
banks of many streams in distant regions far away from their more
permanent villages, nevertheless all sites do not present the same
characteristic features. Thus in the central and eastern sections of the
hill country, as in the valleys of the Gasconade and its tributary, the
Piney, and along the courses of the streams farther eastward quantities
of fragmentary pottery are to be found scattered over the surface of the
many village and camp sites, and here it may be remarked that seldom are
traces of a settlement not to be discovered at the junction of two
streams, however small or large they may be.
A great many caves, some rather large, occur in the limestone formation,
often in the cliffs facing or near the streams. As previously mentioned,
these show evidence of long or frequent occupancy by the Indians. At the
openings are masses of wood ashes and charcoal, filling the space
between the sides to a depth of several feet, and in the caves
encountered in the vicinity of the Gasconade quantities of broken
pottery are found, with bones of animals which served as food, various
implements, shells, etc., all intermingled with the accumulated ashes. A
short distance from the bank of the Piney, several miles above its
junction with the Gasconade, a cave of more than usual interest is met
with in the high cliff. This is in Pulaski County. Flowing from the cave
is a small stream of clear, very cold water. It enters the main chamber
through an opening not more than 4 feet in height and about the same in
width, the stream, when the cave was visited some years ago, being 3 or
4 inches in depth. A few yards up the watercourse the channel widens
several feet and so continues for a short distance. This widening was
caused by pieces of chert having been removed from the mass, this
evidently having been one of the sources whence the Indians secured
material for the making of their implements. The bed of the stream was
strewn with flakes and roughly formed rejected pieces of stone.
Thus, as has been shown, vessels of earthenware were made and used by
the people who occupied or frequented this part of the Ozark country,
but conditions appear to have been different in the western sections.
Bits of pottery do not occur on the surface of the camp sites, and it is
evident it was neither made nor used by the occupants of certain
settlements. Fragments of pottery are not encountered on these
particular sites, but large stone mortars are often found, objects which
do not seem to have been very frequently used farther east.
The valleys of the James and White Rivers, in Stone and Taney Counties,
Missouri, were visited some years ago and many interesting sites were
discovered. Traces of a comparatively extensive village were encountered
on the E. 1/2 of lot 1, S. W. 1/4 of Sec. 9, T. 22, R. 23, Stone County,
on the left bank of White River. Within a radius of a few feet, on a
level spot near the center of the once occupied area, were found four
large sandstone mortars, the concavity of the largest being about 15
inches in diameter and 6 inches in depth, while the entire block of
stone was more than 2 feet in thickness. When discovered, June 11, 1901,
the mortars gave the impression of not having been touched since they
were last used by some of the inhabitants of the ancient village, and
from the surrounding surface, an acre or more in extent, were collected
several hundred stone implements, but not a fragment of pottery was
encountered. This site, although rather larger and more extensive than
the majority, was, nevertheless, typical of the 20 or more which were
discovered during that interesting journey through the valleys
mentioned. Quantities of stone implements were gathered from the surface
of the sites, and many mortars were found, but no pottery.
While the material recovered from the sites in the valley of the
Gasconade is similar to that found to the eastward, the finding of
mortars and the lack of pottery on the James and White River Valley
sites suggests a different culture, and it is possible the latter owe
their origin to parties of the Wichita or neighboring tribes who entered
the western valleys of the Ozarks from the prairie lands.
QUAPAW.
This, the southernmost tribe of the Dhegiha group, occupied several
villages west of the Mississippi, near the mouth of the Arkansas. When
the closely allied tribes had removed from their ancient habitat in the
upper valley of the Ohio, and had arrived at the mouth of that stream,
the Quapaw are believed to have turned southward while the others went
northward. The name of the tribe, Quapaw, signifies "downstream people;"
Omaha being translated "those going against the wind or current." As a
people they seem to have been known to the members of the De Soto
expedition about 1541, probably occupying villages on or near the sites
of the settlements visited by the French during the latter part of the
next century.
Pere Marquette, while on his memorable journey down the Mississippi, in
the year 1673, went as far as the mouth of the Arkansas, where he
lingered a few days before returning northward on July 17. The villages
of the Quapaw, designated the Arkansa, were reached, but the habitations
were only briefly described: "Their cabins, which are long and wide,
are made of bark; they sleep at the two extremities, which are raised
about two feet from the ground. They keep their corn in large baskets,
made of cane, or in gourds, as large as half barrels." They used both
wooden dishes and "plates of baked earth. Their cooking was done in
large earthen pots, of their own make." (Shea, (2), p. 48.) But the most
interesting early account of the villages is contained in Joutel's
narrative of La Salle's last expedition, when he attempted to reach the
Illinois country overland from the Gulf coast. Through jealousy and
intrigue of members of the expedition he was murdered by one of their
number, March 20, 1687; but others continued eastward, and on July 24,
1687, arrived at the four villages of the Quapaw, and to quote from the
narrative of the expedition: "The Nation of the _Accancea's_ consists of
four Villages. The first is call'd _Otsotchove_, near which we were; the
second _Toriman_, both of them seated on the River; the third
_Tonginga_; and the fourth _Cappa_, on the Bank of the _Missisipi_.
These Villages are built after a different Manner from the others we had
seen before, in this Point, that the Cottages, which are alike as to
their Materials and Rounding at the Top, are long, and cover'd with the
Bark of Trees, and so very large, that several of them can hold two
hundred Persons, belonging to several Families. The People are not so
neat as the _Cenis_ [Caddo], or the _Assonis_ [Caddo], in their Houses,
for some of them lie on the Ground, without any Thing under them but
some Mats, or dress'd Hide. How ever, some of them have more
Conveniencies, but the Generality has not. All their Movables consist in
some Earthen Vessels and oval wooden Platters, which are neatly made,
and with which they drive a Trade."