An Indian Horse Fair.--Love of the Indians for Horses--
Scenes in the Arickara Village.--Indian Hospitality.--Duties
of Indian Women. Game Habits of the Men.--Their Indolence.
--Love of Gossiping.--Rumors of Lurking Enemies.--Scouts.--
An Alarm.--A Sallying Forth.--Indian Dogs.--Return of a Horse
--Stealing Party.--An Indian Deputation.--Fresh Alarms.--Return
of a Successful War Party.--Dress of the Arickaras.--Indian
Toilet.--Triumphal Entry of the War Party.--Meetings of
Relations and Friends.--Indian Sensibility.--Meeting of a
Wounded Warrior and His Mother.--Festivities and
Lamentations.
A TRADE now commenced with the Arickaras under the regulation and
supervision of their two chieftains. Lisa sent a part of his goods to
the lodge of the left-handed dignitary, and Mr. Hunt established
his mart in the lodge of the Big Man. The village soon presented the
appearance of a busy fair; and as horses were in demand, the purlieus
and the adjacent plain were like the vicinity of a Tartar encampment;
horses were put through all their paces, and horsemen were careering
about with that dexterity and grace for which the Arickaras are noted.
As soon as a horse was purchased, his tail was cropped, a sure mode of
distinguishing him from the horses of the tribe; for the Indians disdain
to practice this absurd, barbarous, and indecent mutilation, invented
by some mean and vulgar mind, insensible to the merit and perfections of
the animal. On the contrary, the Indian horses are suffered to remain in
every respect the superb and beautiful animals which nature formed them.
The wealth of an Indian of the far west consists principally in his
horses, of which each chief and warrior possesses a great number, so
that the plains about an Indian village or encampment are covered with
them. These form objects of traffic, or objects of depredation, and
in this way pass from tribe to tribe over great tracts of country. The
horses owned by the Arickaras are, for the most part, of the wild stock
of the prairies; some, however, had been obtained from the Poncas,
Pawnees, and other tribes to the southwest, who had stolen them from
the Spaniards in the course of horse-stealing expeditions into Mexican
territories. These were to be known by being branded; a Spanish mode of
marking horses not practiced by the Indians.
As the Arickaras were meditating another expedition against their
enemies the Sioux, the articles of traffic most in demand were guns,
tomahawks, scalping-knives, powder, ball, and other munitions of war.
The price of a horse, as regulated by the chiefs, was commonly ten
dollars’ worth of goods at first cost. To supply the demand thus
suddenly created, parties of young men and braves had sallied forth
on expeditions to steal horses; a species of service among the Indians
which takes precedence of hunting, and is considered a department of
honorable warfare.
While the leaders of the expedition were actively engaged in preparing
for the approaching journey, those who had accompanied it for curiosity
or amusement, found ample matter for observation in the village and its
inhabitants. Wherever they went they were kindly entertained. If they
entered a lodge, the buffalo robe was spread before the fire for them
to sit down; the pipe was brought, and while the master of the lodge
conversed with his guests, the squaw put the earthen vessel over the
fire well filled with dried buffalo-meat and pounded corn; for the
Indian in his native state, before he has mingled much with white men,
and acquired their sordid habits, has the hospitality of the Arab: never
does a stranger enter his door without having food placed before him;
and never is the food thus furnished made a matter of traffic.
The life of an Indian when at home in his village is a life of indolence
and amusement. To the woman is consigned the labors of the household
and the field; she arranges the lodge; brings wood for the fire; cooks;
jerks venison and buffalo meat; dresses the skins of the animals killed
in the chase; cultivates the little patch of maize, pumpkins, and pulse,
which furnishes a great part of their provisions. Their time for repose
and recreation is at sunset, when the labors of the day being ended,
they gather together to amuse themselves with petty games, or to hold
gossiping convocations on the tops of their lodges.
As to the Indian, he is a game animal, not to be degraded by useful or
menial toil. It is enough that he exposes himself to the hardships
of the chase and the perils of war; that he brings home food for his
family, and watches and fights for its protection. Everything else is
beneath his attention. When at home, he attends only to his weapons and
his horses, preparing the means of future exploit. Or he engages with
his comrades in games of dexterity, agility and strength; or in gambling
games in which everything is put at hazard with a recklessness seldom
witnessed in civilized life.
A great part of the idle leisure of the Indians when at home is passed
in groups, squatted together on the bank of a river, on the top of
a mound on the prairie, or on the roof of one of their earth-covered
lodges, talking over the news of the day, the affairs of the tribe, the
events and exploits of their last hunting or fighting expedition; or
listening to the stories of old times told by some veteran chronicler;
resembling a group of our village quidnuncs and politicians, listening
to the prosings of some superannuated oracle, or discussing the contents
of an ancient newspaper.
As to the Indian women, they are far from complaining of their lot. On
the contrary, they would despise their husbands could they stoop to any
menial office, and would think it conveyed an imputation upon their own
conduct. It is the worst insult one virago can cast upon another in a
moment of altercation. “Infamous woman!” will she cry, “I have seen your
husband carrying wood into his lodge to make the fire. Where was his
squaw, that he should be obliged to make a woman of himself!”
Mr. Hunt and his fellow-travellers had not been many days at the
Arickara village, when rumors began to circulate that the Sioux had
followed them up, and that a war party, four or five hundred in number,
were lurking somewhere in the neighborhood. These rumors produced
much embarrassment in the camp. The white hunters were deterred from
venturing forth in quest of game, neither did the leaders think it
proper to expose them to such a risk. The Arickaras, too, who had
suffered greatly in their wars with this cruel and ferocious tribe, were
roused to increased vigilance, and stationed mounted scouts upon the
neighboring hills. This, however, is a general precaution among the
tribes of the prairies. Those immense plains present a horizon like
the ocean, so that any object of importance can be descried afar, and
information communicated to a great distance. The scouts are stationed
on the hills, therefore, to look out both for game and for enemies,
and are, in a manner, living telegraphs conveying their intelligence by
concerted signs. If they wish to give notice of a herd of buffalo in the
plain beyond, they gallop backwards and forwards abreast, on the summit
of the hill. If they perceive an enemy at hand, they gallop to and fro,
crossing each other; at sight of which the whole village flies to arms.
Such an alarm was given in the afternoon of the 15th. Four scouts were
seen crossing and recrossing each other at full gallop, on the summit of
a hill about two miles distant down the river. The cry was up that the
Sioux were coming. In an instant the village was in an uproar. Men,
women, and children were all brawling and shouting; dogs barking,
yelping, and howling. Some of the warriors ran for the horses to gather
and drive them in from the prairie, some for their weapons. As fast as
they could arm and equip they sallied forth; some on horseback, some
on foot. Some hastily arrayed in their war dress, with coronets of
fluttering feathers, and their bodies smeared with paint; others naked
and only furnished with the weapons they had snatched up. The women and
children gathered on the tops of the lodges and heightened the confusion
of the scene by their vociferation. Old men who could no longer bear
arms took similar stations, and harangued the warriors as they passed,
exhorting them to valorous deeds. Some of the veterans took arms
themselves, and sallied forth with tottering steps. In this way, the
savage chivalry of the village to the number of five hundred, poured
forth, helter-skelter, riding and running, with hideous yells and
war-whoops, like so many bedlamites or demoniacs let loose.
After a while the tide of war rolled back, but with far less uproar.
Either it had been a false alarm, or the enemy had retreated on finding
themselves discovered, and quiet was restored to the village. The white
hunters continuing to be fearful of ranging this dangerous neighborhood,
fresh provisions began to be scarce in the camp. As a substitute,
therefore, for venison and buffalo meat, the travellers had to purchase
a number of dogs to be shot and cooked for the supply of the camp.
Fortunately, however chary the Indians might be of their horses, they
were liberal of their dogs. In fact, these animals swarm about an Indian
village as they do about a Turkish town. Not a family but has two or
three dozen belonging to it, of all sizes and colors; some of a superior
breed are used for hunting; others, to draw the sledge, while others, of
a mongrel breed, and idle vagabond nature, are fattened for food. They
are supposed to be descendant from the wolf, and retain something of his
savage but cowardly temper, howling rather than barking; showing their
teeth and snarling on the slightest provocation, but sneaking away on
the least attack.
The excitement of the village continued from day to day. On the day
following the alarm just mentioned, several parties arrived from
different directions, and were met and conducted by some of the braves
to the council lodge, where they reported the events and success of
their expeditions, whether of war or hunting; which news was afterwards
promulgated throughout the village, by certain old men who acted as
heralds or town criers. Among the parties which arrived was one that had
been among the Snake nation stealing horses, and returned crowned with
success. As they passed in triumph through the village they were cheered
by the men, women, and children, collected as usual on the tops of the
lodges, and were exhorted by the Nesters of the village to be generous
in their dealings with the white men.
The evening was spent in feasting and rejoicing among the relations of
the successful warriors; but the sounds of grief and wailing were heard
from the hills adjacent to the village--the lamentations of women who
had lost some relative in the foray.
An Indian village is subject to continual agitations and excitements.
The next day arrived a deputation of braves from the Cheyenne or Shienne
nation; a broken tribe, cut up, like the Arickaras, by wars with the
Sioux, and driven to take refuge among the Black Hills, near the sources
of the Cheyenne River, from which they derive their name. One of these
deputies was magnificently arrayed in a buffalo robe, on which various
figures were fancifully embroidered with split quills dyed red and
yellow; and the whole was fringed with the slender hoofs of young fawns,
that rattled as he walked.
The arrival of this deputation was the signal for another of those
ceremonials which occupy so much of Indian life; for no being is more
courtly and punctilious, and more observing of etiquette and formality
than an American savage.
The object of the deputation was to give notice of an intended visit of
the Shienne (or Cheyenne) tribe to the Arickara village in the course
of fifteen days. To this visit Mr. Hunt looked forward to procure
additional horses for his journey; all his bargaining being ineffectual
in obtaining a sufficient supply from the Arickaras. Indeed, nothing
could prevail upon the latter to part with their prime horses, which had
been trained to buffalo hunting.
As Mr. Hunt would have to abandon his boats at this place, Mr. Lisa
now offered to purchase them, and such of his merchandise as was
superfluous, and to pay him in horses to be obtained at a fort belonging
to the Missouri Fur Company, situated at the Mandan villages, about a
hundred and fifty miles further up the river. A bargain was promptly
made, and Mr. Lisa and Mr. Crooks, with several companions, set out
for the fort to procure the horses. They returned, after upwards of a
fortnight’s absence, bringing with them the stipulated number of horses.
Still the cavalry was not sufficiently numerous to convey the party and
baggage and merchandise, and a few days more were required to complete
the arrangements for the journey.
On the 9th of July, just before daybreak, a great noise and vociferation
was heard in the village. This being the usual Indian hour of attack and
surprise, and the Sioux being known to be in the neighborhood, the camp
was instantly on the alert. As the day broke Indians were descried in
considerable number on the bluffs, three or four miles down the river.
The noise and agitation in the village continued. The tops of the lodges
were crowded with the inhabitants, all earnestly looking towards the
hills, and keeping up a vehement chattering. Presently an Indian warrior
galloped past the camp towards the village, and in a little while the
legions began to pour forth.
The truth of the matter was now ascertained. The Indians upon the
distant hills were three hundred Arickara braves, returning home from a
foray. They had met the war party of Sioux who had been so long hovering
about the neighborhood, had fought them the day before, killed several,
and defeated the rest with the loss of but two or three of their own men
and about a dozen wounded; and they were now halting at a distance until
their comrades in the village should come forth to meet them, and swell
the parade of their triumphal entry. The warrior who had galloped past
the camp was the leader of the party hastening home to give tidings of
his victory.
Preparations were now made for this great martial ceremony. All the
finery and equipments of the warriors were sent forth to them, that they
might appear to the greatest advantage. Those, too, who had remained at
home, tasked their wardrobes and toilets to do honor to the procession.
The Arickaras generally go naked, but, like all savages, they have their
gala dress, of which they are not a little vain. This usually consists
of a gray surcoat and leggins of the dressed skin of the antelope,
resembling chamois leather, and embroidered with porcupine quills
brilliantly dyed. A buffalo robe is thrown over the right shoulder, and
across the left is slung a quiver of arrows. They wear gay coronets of
plumes, particularly those of the swan; but the feathers of the black
eagle are considered the most worthy, being a sacred bird among the
Indian warriors.
He who has killed an enemy in his own land, is entitled to drag at
his heels a fox-skin attached to each moccasin; and he who has slain a
grizzly bear, wears a necklace of his claws, the most glorious trophy
that a hunter can exhibit.
An Indian toilet is an operation of some toil and trouble; the
warrior often has to paint himself from head to foot, and is extremely
capricious and difficult to please, as to the hideous distribution of
streaks and colors. A great part of the morning, therefore, passed away
before there were any signs of the distant pageant. In the meantime a
profound stillness reigned over the village. Most of the inhabitants
had gone forth; others remained in mute expectation. All sports and
occupations were suspended, excepting that in the lodges the painstaking
squaws were silently busied in preparing the repasts for the warriors.
It was near noon that a mingled sound of voices and rude music, faintly
heard from a distance, gave notice that the procession was on the march.
The old men and such of the squaws as could leave their employments
hastened forth to meet it. In a little while it emerged from behind a
hill, and had a wild and picturesque appearance as it came moving over
the summit in measured step, and to the cadence of songs and savage
instruments; the warlike standards and trophies flaunting aloft, and the
feathers, and paint, and silver ornaments of the warriors glaring and
glittering in the sunshine.
The pageant had really something chivalrous in its arrangement. The
Arickaras are divided into several bands, each bearing the name of some
animal or bird, as the buffalo, the bear, the dog, the pheasant. The
present party consisted of four of these bands, one of which was the
dog, the most esteemed in war, being composed of young men under thirty,
and noted for prowess. It is engaged in the most desperate occasions.
The bands marched in separate bodies under their several leaders. The
warriors on foot came first, in platoons of ten or twelve abreast; then
the horsemen. Each band bore as an ensign a spear or bow decorated with
beads, porcupine quills, and painted feathers. Each bore its trophies of
scalps, elevated on poles, their long black locks streaming in the wind.
Each was accompanied by its rude music and minstrelsy. In this way
the procession extended nearly a quarter of a mile. The warriors were
variously armed, some few with guns, others with bows and arrows, and
war clubs; all had shields of buffalo hide, a kind of defense generally
used by the Indians of the open prairies, who have not the covert of
trees and forests to protect them. They were painted in the most savage
style. Some had the stamp of a red hand across their mouths, a sign that
they had drunk the life-blood of a foe!
As they drew near to the village the old men and the women began to meet
them, and now a scene ensued that proved the fallacy of the old fable
of Indian apathy and stoicism. Parents and children, husbands and wives,
brothers and sisters met with the most rapturous expressions of joy;
while wailings and lamentations were heard from the relatives of the
killed and wounded. The procession, however, continued on with slow
and measured step, in cadence to the solemn chant, and the warriors
maintained their fixed and stern demeanor.
Between two of the principal chiefs rode a young warrior who had
distinguished himself in the battle. He was severely wounded, so as with
difficulty to keep on his horse; but he preserved a serene and steadfast
countenance, as if perfectly unharmed. His mother had heard of his
condition. She broke through the throng, and rushing up, threw her
arms around him and wept aloud. He kept up the spirit and demeanor of a
warrior to the last, but expired shortly after he had reached his home.
The village was now a scene of the utmost festivity and triumph. The
banners, and trophies, and scalps, and painted shields were elevated
on poles near the lodges. There were warfeasts, and scalp-dances, with
warlike songs and savage music; all the inhabitants were arrayed in
their festal dresses; while the old heralds went round from lodge to
lodge, promulgating with loud voices the events of the battle and the
exploits of the various warriors.
Such was the boisterous revelry of the village; but sounds of another
kind were heard on the surrounding hills; piteous wailings of the women,
who had retired thither to mourn in darkness and solitude for those who
had fallen in battle. There the poor mother of the youthful warrior who
had returned home in triumph but to die, gave full vent to the anguish
of a mother’s heart. How much does this custom among the Indian woman of
repairing to the hilltops in the night, and pouring forth their wailings
for the dead, call to mind the beautiful and affecting passage of
Scripture, “In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping,
and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be
comforted, because they are not.”