VOYAGE FROM FORT PIERRE, ON THE TETON RIVER, TO FORT CLARKE, NEAR THE
VILLAGES OF THE MANDANS, FROM JUNE 5TH TO JUNE 19TH
Singular conformation of the Country--Traces of Fire--Chayenne
Island and River--Former abode of the Arikkaras--The Woodcutters
alarmed by the Indians--Cabris or Antelopes--Wolves and other
Animals--Little Chayenne River--Abundance of Game--Traces of the
Beaver, and of the breaking-up of the Ice--Moreau's River--Grand
or Wetarko River--Rampart River--The two abandoned Villages of
the Arikkaris--La Butte au Gres--La Butte de Chayenne--Murder of
Whites by the Arikkaras--Cannon-ball River, with its Sand-stone
Balls--Heart River--La Butte Carree--Interview with the
Yanktonans--Fort Clarke, near the Mandan Villages--The
Mandans--The Crows.
Our departure was delayed till ten o'clock on the 5th of June, when
three guns were fired, and we left the fort. The Assiniboin was
perfectly equipped for the voyage up the river, and had sixty men on
board. Mr. Mc Kenzie had remained behind in the fort, but overtook us
at noon with Mr. Laidlow, who was desirous to accompany us a little
way. We had stopped at an island called, by the Canadians, Isle au
Village de Terre, because, on the other side of the channel which
divides it from the continent, there was formerly a village of the
Sioux. This island was covered with an almost impenetrable thicket of
narrow-leaved willows, which was so dense and entangled, that one of
our large dogs caught an elk calf alive; we heard its moaning, but
were not able to find it. The next morning the thermometer was at
66-1/2 deg. We were obliged to unload some goods, and to lighten our
vessel, and our hunters brought us many interesting objects,
particularly several birds, among which was the grey butcher-bird
(_Lanius excubitoroides_), of which Richardson gives a representation,
and which we had not met with before. Though antelopes and a white
wolf had approached very closely to them, our hunters had not been
able to kill any large animals. The addition to our Flora was very
considerable. The hills all consisted of clammy, greasy, sterile clay,
which was burnt on the surface, and covered with pieces of stone; and
in many places we observed on them round masses, which looked as if
they had been [pg. 164] melted and formed by fire. We stayed here till
noon on the 7th of June, when we again proceeded with an agreeable
temperature of 77-1/2 deg. We ran aground several times, and at last took
in our goods, which we had deposited on the left bank. This delay gave
us time to make an excursion. In company with Mr. Bodmer, I ascended
the slippery, very steep eminences along the river, the singular
shapes of which often appeared to form perfect craters. The earth and
stones everywhere indicated that they had undergone change by fire.
The earth was hard, friable, with many crevices--the stones brown,
blackish, and often looking like scoriae. This clay, when wet, is
exceedingly clammy and tough. The conical summits, most of which were
perfectly round and pyramidal, were most singularly formed. At the top
there were always very regular, parallel, horizontal rings; the lower
parts of the pyramid had perpendicular furrows, or clefts, as the
annexed woodcut shows.[293] These conical hills have been evidently
elevated by fire, so that many crater-like hollows are seen between
and near them. In the furrows and clefts of these singular hills, many
low plants grow, and form regular net-like green stripes on the bare
black clay. These lines, intersecting each other, divide the surface
into regular beds. The lower part of these eminences is generally
covered with plants, particularly grasses, while the upper is bare, or
merely crossed with the transverse stripes of verdure, and often they
are entirely bare. The climbing up these high, slippery ascents in the
heat of the day was rather fatiguing. When we came into the clefts
between the pyramids, we found the ground, in general, slimy, and so
adhesive that we were almost compelled to leave our shoes behind. In
such places, some old red cedars, groups of the bird cherry, ashes,
roses, &c., were nourished by the moisture. Near the hills, and in the
plain, a cactus, with roundish, flat joints, grew in abundance. It was
not yet in blossom, and I cannot say whether it is the plant taken, by
Nuttall, for _Cactus opuntia_; probably it is _Cactus ferox_. We found
many traces of antelopes and of herds of buffaloes. The latter had
everywhere trodden broad paths on their way to the river to drink. No
beast of the chase presented itself as an object for our rifles, and,
as the sun was going down, we set out on our return. On the way we
[pg. 165] found the horns of an elk, with twelve antlers, and it was
late before we reached the Assiniboin. On the 8th of June, in the
morning, we received a farewell visit from Mr. Laidlow, and then saw
Mr. Fontenelle's party, consisting of sixty men and 185 horses, pass
along over the hills. They rode in our sight through the stream
called, by the Anglo-Americans, Breechcloth Creek, and, by the Sioux,
Tscheh-ke-na-ka-oah-ta-pah.[294] This stream, as well as most of the
small rivers of the prairie, not excepting even the Little Sioux
River, have, in general, a brackish taste when the water is low.
Frequently taking soundings, we proceeded but slowly in the shallow
Missouri, and, early in the afternoon, reached the place where the
timber for building Fort Pierre had been felled. From this place it is
fifteen miles to the mouth of the Chayenne River. Finding some cords
of wood ready piled up, we took them on board. At sunset, a high wind
arose, so that we could not reach the mouth of the Chayenne till about
seven o'clock on the following morning, after passing Chayenne Island.
The country about the mouth of this river is open, the chain of hills
low, and the banks covered with forests. At its mouth, and for some
way up on both sides of the Missouri, the Arikkaras formerly dwelt,
till they were driven further up by the Sioux, and, at length, wholly
retired from the banks of the Missouri.[295] If we follow the course
of the Chayenne for a couple of hundred miles up to the Black Hills,
we come to the dwellings of the Chayenne Indians, who are hostile to
most of the tribes of the Missouri. They are said to be tall, slender
men, with long, narrow faces, and differing in their language from all
the other tribes in the country. They formerly lived at the mouth of
Chayenne River. They affirm that they came to the Missouri from the
north-east.[296] Dr. Morse states their number at 3,250 souls.
[Illustration: Hill of baked clay]
We made but slow progress to-day; and at two o'clock, after our boats
had taken soundings in all directions, we remained fast aground, and
had burnt all our fuel, so that we had to send wood-cutters into the
forests on the left bank. In about half an hour the boats suddenly
returned, bringing word that hostile Indians had been seen in the
forest, and the wood-cutters had, therefore, refused to begin their
work. To give them courage, and to protect them during their work, all
hands on board, that could be spared, armed themselves with rifles and
muskets, and, to the number of twenty-six persons, immediately went on
shore. They formed a line of outposts behind the trees, under whose
protection the wood-cutters pursued their work. But they were not
disturbed, for the Indians had retired, or it had been a false alarm.
We lay to for the night on the west bank; a strong wind had risen,
with a pretty high temperature, which continued till the following
morning, the 10th of June. Early on that day we reached an island,
which appears to be that called, by Lewis and Clarke, Caution Island,
where a couple of white wolves gazed at us without appearing to be at
all afraid. In the afternoon, we came to the mouth of Little Chayenne
River, on the east bank.[297] Elks are very numerous in these parts;
on the following morning we saw a herd of, at least, thirty of these
large animals, as well as a great many wolves, often three or four
together, most of them white. The wood, on the high bank, bore marks
of [pg. 166] the breaking up of the ice, the bark of the trees being
peeled off eight or ten feet above ground. At noon, Mr. Bodmer had
shot a very large male antelope, which we despatched some of the
people to bring on board; other hunters, who had gone out early to the
east bank, made signs that they had killed some game; and the boat
which we sent to them returned in the evening with four large elks. In
the thick forest, on the left bank, were many traces of beavers, which
are more numerous hereabouts than in most of the other parts on the
Missouri, because the trappers (beaver catchers) did not venture to
place their traps in the territory of the hostile Arikkara Indians.
Opposite to the mouth of Otter Creek,[298] in the woods and thickets
of the west bank, behind which rose the green hills of the prairie,
there were many elks, which were frightened by the noise of the
steamer. In this forest we found an uninhabited loghouse, 180 steps
from which runs a pretty river, called Moreau's River, from a man of
that name who passed the night here with a Chayenne Indian woman, who
had been taken by the Arikkaras and escaped.[299] She stabbed him
while he slept, and fled on his horse to her own nation. This river is
called the southern boundary of the territory of the Arikkaras, though
they often make excursions far beyond it. We stopped at the
above-mentioned loghouse to cut wood, but it was found more convenient
to pull down part of the old building and take it away. On the morning
of the 12th, our cannon, muskets and rifles were loaded with ball,
because we were approaching the villages of the hostile Arikkaras. We
came to Grand River, called in Lewis and Clarke's map Wetarko River.
As we here touched the bottom, we crossed to the east bank, and in
half an hour reached Rampart River,[300] which issues from a narrow
chain of hills, called Les Ramparts; and soon afterwards an island
covered with willows, which, on the large special map of Lewis and
Clarke, has an Arikkara village, of which there are now no
traces.[301] From the hills we had a fine prospect over the bend of
the river, on which the villages of the Arikkaras are situated, and
which we reached after a short run of only two miles.
The two villages of this tribe are on the west bank, very near each
other, but separated by a small stream. They consist of a great number
of clay huts, round at the top, with a square entrance in front, and
the whole surrounded with a fence of stakes, which were much decayed,
and in many places thrown down. It is not quite a year since these
villages had been wholly abandoned, because their inhabitants, who
were extremely hostile to the Whites, killed so many Americans, that
they themselves foresaw that they would be severely chastised by the
United States, and therefore preferred to emigrate. To this cause was
added, a dry, unproductive season, when the crops entirely failed; as
well as the absence of the herds of buffaloes, which hastened their
removal. It is said that these Indians now roam about on the road from
St. Louis to Santa Fe, and the late attacks on the caravans are
ascribed to them.[302] Mr. Bodmer made an accurate drawing of these
deserted villages. The principal chief of the Arikkaras, when they
retired from [pg. 167] the Missouri, was called Starapat[303] (the
little hawk, with bloody claws), and generally La Main pleine de Sang,
who will be mentioned in the sequel.
The Arikkaras, or, as they are called by the Mandans, Rikkaras or
Rees, Les Ris of the Canadians, are a branch of the Pawnees, from whom
they long since separated. Their language, which is very easy for a
German to pronounce, is said to be a proof of this affinity. Their
number is supposed to be still 4000 souls, among whom 500 or 600 are
able to bear arms. The wife of La Chapelle, the interpreter for that
nation, was an Arikkara; she had a round full countenance, and rather
delicate small features, with a very light yellowish complexion. It is
affirmed that the women of this nation are the handsomest on the
Missouri. Manoel Lisa, a well-known fur trader, had formerly built a
trading house in this country, of which nothing now remains; though
the place is still called Manoel Lisa's Fort.[304] The prairie was
to-day more verdant and pleasant than yesterday. A mountain, with some
remarkable summits, called La Butte au Gres, gave it some diversity.
Here we suddenly saw, on the bank, a man, who fired his musket three
times, and at first took him for an Indian; but another soon appeared,
in a small leathern boat, and we learnt that both were _engages_ or
travellers of the Company, who were dispatched from the Upper
Missouri, with letters for Mr. Mc Kenzie. We took them in, and the
little leathern boat was left lying on the beach. In the distance, on
the left, there was a chain of mountains, with numerous summits, near
which Cannon-ball River flows; and, nearer to the Missouri, a chain of
flat hills, level at the top, with many clefts, called La Butte de
Chayenne.[305] In this neighbourhood we saw a high tree in a poplar
wood, entirely covered with turkey buzzards, as in Brazil; towards
evening we passed Beaver Creek (Riviere au Castor), the Warananno[306]
of Lewis and Clarke.[307]
On the 14th, in the morning, the sky was clouded, and the wind very
bleak. On the west bank of the river a ravine was shown us, where,
seven or eight years before, the Arikkaras had shot seven white men,
who were towing a loaded Mackinaw boat up the river.
After we had passed an island, which is not marked in Lewis and
Clarke's map, we observed two isolated table mountains in the prairie,
on the west bank, which are not far from Cannon-ball River; and we
then came to an aperture in the chain of hills, from which this
river, which was very high, issues.[308] On the north side of the
mouth, there was a steep, yellow clay wall; and on the southern, a
flat, covered with poplars and willows. This river has its name from
the singular regular sand-stone balls which are found in its banks,
and in those of the Missouri in its vicinity. They are of various
sizes, from that of a musket ball to that of a large bomb, and lie
irregularly on the bank, or in the strata, from which they often
project to half their thickness [pg. 168] when the river has washed away
the earth; they then fall down, and are found in great numbers on the
bank. Such sand-stone balls are met with in many places on the Upper
Missouri; and former travellers have spoken of them. Many of them are
rather elliptical, others are more flattened, and others flat on one
side, and rather convex on the other. Of the perfectly spherical
balls, I observed some two feet in diameter. On the steep bank of the
Missouri we saw many such balls projecting from the narrow strata of
the yellow sand-stone. A mile above the mouth of the Cannon-ball
River, I saw no more of them. The Missouri had risen considerably;
and, during the night, our people were obliged to keep off, with long
poles, the trunks of trees that came floating down the river, without
being able to prevent our receiving shocks which made the whole vessel
tremble.
[Illustration: Antlers of deer]
On the 15th, the river had risen nine inches, and brought down much
wood and foam, which was expected, for it is reckoned that, in the
month of June, the Missouri is twice much swollen from the melting of
the snow in the Rocky Mountains. The weather was serene and warm. As
early as half-past five o'clock we saw, on the eastern bank, a chain
of table hills, quite flat at the top, which extends to a pretty
considerable distance. The river turns, to the westward, towards this
interesting chain, which is called the Mountains of the Old Mandan
Village, because, at the place where it is traversed by the river,
such a village is said to have formerly stood. At nine o'clock we
stopped on the western bank to repair the damage the vessel had
sustained, which gave our hunters time to make an excursion a few
miles into the prairie. Towards eleven o'clock the bell gave the
signal for departure. The current of the river was now very strong, so
that we could proceed but slowly. We came to the site of the old
Mandan village, which was situated, at the foot of the hills, in a
fine meadow near the river; some poles, that were still standing, were
the only remains of it; there was no village here at the time of Lewis
and Clarke's journey. Dry, yellow grass now covered the place which
had once been the scene of busy Indian life: only a colony of
swallows, that had built their nests in the neighbouring hills, gave
some animation to the scene. We were now in the territory of the
Indian tribe of the Mandans.[309] A little further up, we saw four of
our hunters sitting on the level ground, which was covered with
poplars; one of them, Ortubize, the Sioux interpreter, had killed a
Virginian deer, and wounded a large elk, which had escaped; soon
after, Messrs. Bodmer and Harvey[310] arrived quite fatigued and
heated; they had gone a great way, and very nearly missed the
steamer. Mr. Harvey had killed a black-tailed or mule deer.[311] They
had met with four of these animals, and brought the [pg. 169] head and
skin, with some of the flesh of the one killed. At the next place,
where we reached the hills, an isolated summit rose above the rest,
which is called Bald Eagle Head; these hills were beautifully
illumined with the setting sun; we saw the white wolves trotting about
on them, and some swans were swimming in the river. On the eastern
bank we saw the ruins of an old trading house, and many traces of
beavers. Near the mouth of Apple Creek we took in wood, and saw, on
the left hand, the continuation of a chain of hills, of very singular
forms.[312] The night swallows flew over the river at an early hour,
and a large beaver appeared among the willows, which we shot at
without success. The 16th of June set in with a high northeast wind,
accompanied with rain. We soon reached the mouth of Heart River,[313]
but the wind drove our vessel towards the bank, and we were obliged to
lay to at six o'clock; and it was not till the evening that the wind
so far abated as to allow us to continue our voyage. The next morning,
early, we came in sight of the Butte Carree.[314] In the willow
thickets, on the bank, a very fine buffalo bull stood within half
musket-shot; our people fired, but to no purpose. Soon after, we saw,
in the prairie, two more very large animals of this species; and, in
the course of the day, perceived a great number of them. The river
brought down several dead buffalo cows. A little before the mouth of
Lewis and Clarke's Hunting Creek,[315] the Missouri is half a mile
broad, but soon becomes narrower. At eight o'clock we reached the
place where a Mandan village had formerly stood.[316] The Sioux, from
St. Peter's River, surprised it about forty years ago, killed most of
the inhabitants, and destroyed the huts. The prairie hills formed, in
this part, long, flat, naked ridges, perfectly resembling the walls of
a fortress. The oaks and ashes, at the edge of the thickets, were but
just [pg. 170] beginning to unfold their buds. It is probable, however,
that they had suffered by a fire in the prairie. After we had passed,
alternately, prairies, with their hills, steep clay banks, and stripes
of forest, we prosecuted our voyage till dusk, and lay to near a large
willow thicket, on the eastern bank, when some musket shots were
suddenly heard, the flashes of which were evidently seen. Mr. Mc Kenzie
immediately supposed that it was an Indian war party, which people, in
general, avoid, as they do not much trust them. We consulted what was
to be done. Many shots followed, which made a very loud report, it
being the custom of the Indians to use a great deal of powder; and we
soon perceived, among the dark thickets, the figures of the Indians in
their white buffalo robes. As nobody knew the intentions of these
people, we looked forward to the meeting with some anxiety. The
Indians broke silence first, calling out that they were come with
peaceable intentions, and wished to be taken on board. Ortubize, the
interpreter, telling us that they were Sioux, of the branch of the
Yanktonans, we conferred some time with them, while a kind of bridge
of planks was thrown across to the shore. Twenty-three, for the most
part tall men, came on board, and were made to sit down, in a row, on
one side of the large cabin. They came from a camp of the Yanktonans,
consisting of 300 tents, which was in the neighbourhood; they
generally lived on the banks of the Chayenne, which falls into the Red
River, near the Devil's Lake, and the sources of St. Peter's
River.[317] They had been hunting in the neighbourhood, and shot some
buffaloes. The Yanktonans are represented as the most perfidious and
dangerous of all the Sioux, and are stated frequently to have killed
white men, especially Englishmen, in these parts. They generally come
to the Missouri in the winter, but at this season it was a mere chance
that we met with them. They were mostly robust, slender, well-shaped
men, with long dishevelled hair, in which some wore feathers as
indications of their exploits. The upper parts of their bodies were
generally naked, merely covered with the buffalo's skin, or blanket;
but their whole dress was plain and indifferent, as they only came out
for a hunting excursion. The chief of these people was Tatanka-Kta
(the dead buffalo), a man of middling stature, with a very dark brown,
expressive countenance, and his hair bound together over the forehead
in a thick knot; he was dressed in a uniform of red cloth, with blue
facings and collar, and ornamented with silver trimmings, such as the
traders are used to give, or to sell to such chiefs as they desire to
distinguish. In his hand he had the wing of an eagle for a fan.
After we had smoked with these Yanktonans all round, the chief opened,
before Mr. Mc Kenzie, a bag, with old pemmican (dry meat powdered), by
way of present, and then rose to make a speech. After shaking hands,
successively, with all persons present, he said, with much
gesticulation, and in short sentences, between which he appeared to be
reflecting, "that the whole body of the 300 huts was under the
principal chief, Jawitschahka; that his people had been formerly on
good terms with the Mandans, but had been at variance with them for
about a year, on account of the murder of a Sioux, and now wished to
make peace again; that with this view [pg. 171] they had sent three of
their people to the Mandan villages, but did not know the result; and,
therefore, were very desirous of the mediation of Mr. Mc Kenzie; that
they happened to be near the river, when they perceived their father's
ship, and were come to visit him; that to be able to supply the Fur
Company with more beaver skins, they wished to have liberty to hunt on
the Missouri, and on that account peace with the Mandans was of
importance to them. They hoped, therefore, that Mr. Mc Kenzie would
intercede for them, and allow them to accompany him." The answer
was--"That if, like the other tribes of their nation, who lived
constantly on the Missouri, they would, in future, conduct themselves
properly, and never kill white men, he would attempt all that lay in
his power; but he bade them consider what would be the best for them,
whether to come on board with him, or to go alone by land to the
Mandan villages, as he did not know how they might be received by the
young men of the Mandan tribe." These Indians showed us a beautiful
skin of a young, white, female buffalo, which they intended as a
present for the Mandans, by whom such skins are highly valued. They
had already sent them a white buffalo calf. Our visitors were
afterwards taken into another apartment, where refreshments were set
before them, and they were lodged for the night. The next morning,
however, they went ashore, and proceeded to Fort Clarke on foot.
During the night there was a violent tempest, and the next morning,
the 18th June, was gloomy, damp, and windy. We left at an early hour
the place of the meeting, from which it was twelve miles to Fort
Clarke. The Yanktonans, keeping in sight of us, walked through the
prairie, where they frightened a herd of ten or twelve wolves, which
had long amused us by their gambols. At half-past seven we passed a
roundish island covered with willows, and reached then the wood on the
western bank, in which the winter dwellings of part of the Mandan
Indians are situated; and saw, at a distance, the largest village of
this tribe, Mih-Tutta-Hang-Kush, in the vicinity of which the whole
prairie was covered with riders and pedestrians.[318] As we drew
nearer the huts of that village, Fort Clarke, lying before it,
relieved by the back-ground of the blue prairie hills, came in sight,
with the gay American banner waving from the flagstaff.[319] On a
tongue of land on the left bank were four white men on horseback;
Indians, in their buffalo robes, sat in groups upon the bank, and the
discharge of cannon and musketry commenced to welcome us. The
Assiniboin soon lay to before the fort, against the gently sloping
shore, where above 600 Indians were waiting for us. Close to the
beach, the chiefs and most distinguished warriors of the Mandan nation
stood in front of the assembly of red men, among whom the most eminent
were Charata-Numakschi (the wolf chief), Mato-Tope (the four
bears),[320] Dipauch (the broken arm), Berock-Itainu (the ox neck),
Pehriska-Ruhpa (the two ravens), and some others. They were all
dressed in their finest clothes, to do us honour. As soon as the
vessel was moored, they came on board, and, after having given us
their hands, sat down in the stern cabin. The pipe went round, and the
conversation began with the Mandans, by the assistance of Mr. Kipp,
clerk to the American Fur Company, and director of [pg. 172] the trading
post at Fort Clarke;[321] and with the Manitaries, by the help of the
old interpreter, Charbonneau, who had lived thirty-seven years in the
villages of the latter people, near this place.[322] Mr. Mc Kenzie
caused the proposal of the Yanktonans to be submitted to these
Indians, but the latter, after long deliberation, replied that they
could not possibly accept these proposals of peace, because the
Yanktonans were much too treacherous; that, however, no harm should
now be done to them, and that they might depart unmolested.
Most of the Indians in our cabin were stout, tall men, except
Mato-Tope, who was of middle stature, and rather slim. I shall have
occasion to say more, in the sequel, of this brave and distinguished
chief. They had their weapons, such as muskets, bows, war clubs, and
battle axes, in their hands, and also fans of eagles' wings, and wore
buffalo robes, which, on the inner side, are painted reddish-brown, or
white, and adorned with coloured figures. They let their hair hang
down at length, considering it as an ornament. Sometimes it is divided
into plaits, and daubed with a reddish clay. However, I refrain, at
present, from describing these Indians, of whom I shall have occasion
to speak more at length. The Mandans, Manitaries, and Crows, of which
tribe there were now seventy tents about the fort, differ very little
from each other in their appearance and dress; they are, however,
taller than the Indians on the Missouri whom we had before seen, and
their features more regular than those of the Sioux.
We soon went on shore, and examined the numerous assemblage of brown
Indian figures, of whom the women and children, in numerous groups,
were sitting on the ground; the men, some on horseback, some on foot,
were collected around, and making their observations on the white
strangers. Here we saw remarkably tall and handsome men, and fine
dresses, for they had all done their utmost to adorn themselves. The
haughty Crows[323] rode on beautiful panther skins, with red cloth
under them, and, as they never wear spurs, had a whip of elk's horn in
their hand. These mounted warriors, with their diversely painted
faces, feathers in their long hair, bow and arrows slung across their
backs, and with a musket or spear in their hands, the latter of which
is merely for show, were a novel and highly interesting scene. This
remarkable assembly gazed at the strangers with curiosity, and we
conversed with them by signs, but soon proceeded to the fort, which is
built on a smaller scale, on a plan similar to that of all the other
trading posts or forts of the Company. It is about the size of the
Sioux Agency, but more rudely constructed. Immediately behind the fort
there were, in the prairies, seventy leather tents of the Crows, which
we immediately visited.[324]
The tents of the Crows are exactly like those of the Sioux, and are
set up without any regular order. On the poles, instead of scalps,
there were small pieces of coloured cloth, chiefly red, floating like
streamers in the wind. We were struck with the number of wolf-like
dogs of all colours, of which there were certainly from 500 to 600
running about. They all fell upon the strangers, and it was not
without difficulty that we kept them off by throwing stones, in which
[pg. 173] some old Indian women assisted us. We then proceeded about 300
paces in a north-west direction from the fort, up the Missouri, to the
principal village of the Mandans, Mih-Tutta-Hang-Kush.[325] This
village consisted of about sixty large hemispherical clay huts, and
was surrounded with a fence of stakes, at the four corners of which
conical mounds were thrown up, covered with a facing of wicker-work,
and embrasures, which serve for defence, and command the river and the
plain. We were told that these cones or block-houses were not erected
by the Indians themselves, but by the Whites. Three miles further up
the river, and on the same bank, is the second village of the
Mandans, called Ruhptare, consisting of about thirty-eight clay huts,
which we could not then visit for want of time. In the immediate
vicinity of the principal village, the stages, on which these Indians,
like the Sioux, place their dead, lay scattered.[326]
[Illustration: Sioux burial stages]
Around them were several high poles, with skins and other things
hanging on them, as offerings to the lord of life, Omahank-Numakshi,
or to the first man, Numank-Machana.[327] The three villages of the
Manitaries (_gros ventre_) nation, whose language is totally different
from that of the Mandans, are situated about fifteen miles higher up
on the same side of the river, and most of their inhabitants had come
on this day to the Mandan villages.[328]
The view of the prairie around Fort Clarke was at this time highly
interesting. A great number of horses were grazing all round; Indians
of both sexes and all ages were in motion; we were, every moment,
stopped by them, obliged to shake hands, and let them examine us on
all sides. This was sometimes very troublesome. Thus, for example, a
young warrior took hold of my pocket compass which I wore suspended by
a ribbon, and attempted to take it by force, to hang as an ornament
round his neck. I refused his request, but the more I insisted in my
refusal, the more importunate he became. He offered me a handsome
horse for my compass, [pg. 174] and then all his handsome clothes, and
arms into the bargain, and as I still refused, he became angry, and
it was only by the assistance of old Charbonneau, that I escaped a
disagreeable and, perhaps, violent scene. On returning to the steamer
we there found a numerous company of Indians, some smoking, others
wrapped in their blankets, and asleep on the floor.
Mr. Sandford, the sub-agent of the Mandans, Manitaries, and Crows, had
a conference with Eripuass (the rotten belly), the distinguished chief
of the latter. We accompanied Mr. Sandford to this meeting. Eripuass,
a fine tall man, with a pleasing countenance, had much influence over
his people; being in mourning he came to the fort in his worst dress,
his hair cut close, and daubed with clay. Charbonneau acted as
interpreter in the Manitari language. Mr. Sandford recommended to the
chief continued good treatment of the white people who should come to
his territory, hung a medal round his neck, and, in the name of the
government, made him a considerable present of cloth, powder, ball,
tobacco, &c., which this haughty man received without any sign of
gratitude; on the contrary, these people consider such presents as a
tribute due to them, and a proof of weakness. The Crows, in
particular, as the proudest of the Indians, are said to despise the
Whites. They do not, however, kill them, but often plunder them. At
nightfall we visited Eripuass in his tent. The whole camp of the Crows
was now filled with horses, some with their foals, all which had been
driven in, to prevent their being stolen. This nation, consisting of
400 tents, is said to possess between 9,000 and 10,000 horses, some of
which are very fine. The dogs were partly taken into the tents, and we
were less exposed to their attacks than in the day time, yet still we
had to fight our way through them. The interior of the tent itself had
a striking effect. A small fire in the centre gave sufficient light;
the chief sat opposite the entrance, and round him many fine tall men,
placed according to their rank, all with no other covering than a
breech-cloth. Places were assigned to us on buffalo hides near the
chief, who then lighted his Sioux pipe, which had a long flat tube,
ornamented with bright yellow nails, made each of us take a few puffs,
holding the pipe in his hand, and then passed it round to the left
hand. After Charbonneau had continued the conversation for some time
in the Manitari language, we suddenly rose and retired, according to
the Indian customs.
The Crows are called by the Mandans, Hahderuka, by the Manitaries,
Haideroka; they themselves call their own tribe Apsaruka. The
territory in which they move about is bounded, to the north or
north-west, by the Yellow Stone River, and extends round Bighorn
River, towards the sources of Chayenne River and the Rocky Mountains.
These Indians are a wandering tribe of hunters, who neither dwell in
fixed villages, like the Mandans, Manitaries, and Arikkaras, nor make
any plantations except of tobacco, which, however, are very small.
About six years ago, the Crows are said to have had only 1,000
warriors, at present they are reckoned at 1,200. They roam about with
their leather tents, hunt the buffalo, and other wild animals, and
have many horses and dogs, which, however, they never use for food.
They are said to possess more [pg. 175] horses than any other tribe of
the Missouri, and to send them in the winter to Wind River, to feed on
a certain shrub, which soon fattens them. The Crow women are very
skilful in various kinds of work, and their shirts and dresses of
bighorn leather, embroidered and ornamented with dyed porcupine
quills, are particularly handsome, as well as their buffalo robes,
which are painted and embroidered in the same manner. I shall speak,
in the sequel, of their large caps of eagles' feathers, and of their
shields, which are ornamented with feathers and paintings,[329] and
other articles. The men make their weapons very well, and with much
taste, especially their large bows, covered with the horn of the elk
or bighorn, and often with the skin of the rattle-snake. I have
represented a beautiful quiver of this nation, adorned with rosettes
of porcupine quills.[330] In stature and dress these Indians
correspond, on the whole, with the Manitaries, both having been
originally one and the same people, as the affinity of their languages
proves. Long hair is considered as a great beauty, and they take great
pains with it. The hair of one of their chiefs, called Long Hair, was
ten feet long, some feet of which trailed on the ground when he stood
upright.[331] The enemies of the Crows are the Chayennes, the
Blackfeet, and the Sioux; their allies are the Mandans and Manitaries.
With the latter they bartered their good horses for European goods,
but the American Fur Company has now established a separate trading
post for them on the Yellow Stone River, which is called Fort
Cass.[332]
Though the Crows look down with contempt upon the Whites, they treat
them very hospitably in their tents, yet their pride is singularly
contrasted with a great propensity to stealing and begging, which
makes them very troublesome. They are said to have many more
superstitious notions than the Mandans, Manitaries, and Arikkaras; for
instance, they never smoke a pipe when a pair of shoes is hung up in
their tent; when the pipe circulates none ever takes more than three
puffs, and then passes it in a certain manner to his left-hand
neighbour. They are skilful horsemen, and, in their attacks on
horseback, are said to throw themselves off on one side, as is done by
many Asiatic tribes. They have many bardaches,[333] or hermaphrodites,
among them, and exceed all the other tribes in unnatural practices.
As among all the Missouri Indians, the Crows are divided into
different bands or unions. A certain price is paid for admission into
these unions and their dances, of which each has one peculiar to
itself, like the other Missouri tribes; on which occasion the women
are given up to the will of the seller in the same manner, as will be
more particularly mentioned when speaking of the other tribes. Of the
female sex, it is said of the Crows, that they, with the women of the
Arikkaras, are the most dissolute of all the tribes of the Missouri.
This people have a superstitious fear of a white buffalo cow; when a
Crow meets one he addresses the sun in the following words: "I will
give her (_i.e._ the cow) to you." He then [pg. 176] endeavours to kill
the animal, but leaves it untouched, and then says to the sun, "Take
her; she is yours." They never use the skin of these white buffalo
cows, as the Mandans do, of which I shall, by-and-by, speak at length.
The most sacred objects in the eyes of this people are the sun, the
moon, and tobacco, that is, the leaves of the genuine tobacco
(_Nicotiana_); and, therefore, all their children wear a small portion
of this herb, well wrapped up, round their necks, by way of amulet.
They do not bury their dead in the ground, but, like the Mandans,
Manitaries, Sioux, and Assiniboins, lay them on stages in the
prairie.[334] A Crow woman, who was on the point of death, was very
apprehensive and uneasy in her mind lest she should be interred in the
ground, according to the custom of the Whites. This was her sole
concern, though she did not otherwise express any fear of death; as
soon as she was made easy on this point, she died perfectly
satisfied.
FOOTNOTES:
[293] See p. 323, for illustration of hill of baked clay.--ED.
[294] Called "No Timber Creek," by Lewis and Clark. It is now Chantier
in Stanley County, a term clipped from its Siouan name.--ED.
[295] For the Cheyenne River see our volume v, p. 126, note 81.
Cheyenne Island, about three miles long, below the river's
embouchment, was called "Pania" by Lewis and Clark. They note also an
old Arikara village, of which only a circular wall remained.--ED.
[296] For the Cheyenne, see our volume v, p. 140, note 88. Their
migration was from the northeast, the habitat of the Algonquian
stock.--ED.
[297] Coues, in his edition of Biddle's Lewis and Clark, identifies
the island called "Caution" by the explorers, as the present Plum
Island. The Little Cheyenne is a prairie stream coming into the
Mission from the northeast, in Potter County, South Dakota.--ED.
[298] Called Beaver (or Otter) Creek by Lewis and Clark; probably the
present Swan Creek, in Walworth County, with the town of Lebeau at its
mouth.--ED.
[299] For this stream, see our volume v, p. 127, note 82.--ED.
[300] For these rivers, see our volume v, p. 127, note 83.--ED.
[301] In Lewis and Clark's time there were three Arikara villages on
the Missouri. The lower village on the island, headed by the chief
Kakawissassa, had been abandoned by 1811. See Bradbury's _Travels_,
our volume v, p. 127.--ED.
[302] A party returning from Santa Fe in the winter of 1832-33, was
attacked January 1, on the Canadian River, lost all of their property,
and had one man killed. The Arikara apparently never reoccupied their
village permanently. Audubon found them in 1843 in one village with
the Mandan, where they lived until removed to Fort Berthold
reservation.--ED.
[303] Known to the traders as "Old Star" present at Fort Clark in
1847; see _Larpenteur's Journal_, ii, p. 246.--ED.
[304] For the Arikara and Lisa see our volume v, p. 113, note 76, and
p. 97, note 64, respectively. Fort Manuel, Lisa's post, erected in
1800, was near the Arikara villages, the site not being definitely
determined.--ED.
[305] These are now called Cheyenne Hills. Lewis and Clark speak of
one with a top resembling the slanting roof of a house.--ED.
[306] Lewis and Clark give this as Warraconne (Elk shed their horns)
Creek; now Beaver (or Sand) Creek, in Emmons County, North
Dakota.--ED.
[307] On a careful investigation, I have not been able to discover
from what source Lewis and Clarke procured a part of their singular
denominations for the affluents of the Missouri; for, in the languages
of the neighbouring Indian nations, they have entirely different
names.--MAXIMILIAN.
[308] The French form for this river was Le Boulet. It rises somewhat
north of the Black Hills, flows east in two branches across North
Dakota, and empties into the Missouri in Morton County.--ED.
[309] For a brief sketch of the Mandan, see our volume v, pp. 113,
114, note 76. Maximilian is a chief authority for the customs of this
interesting tribe. See our volume xxiii.--ED.
[310] Alexander Harvey was a clerk of the American Fur Company. Born
and reared in St. Louis, he quarrelled with his first employers while
still a minor, and ran away to join the fur company. He was for
several years at Fort McKenzie, and one of the participants in the
Blackfoot massacre of 1843-44. Harvey was a bold and desperate
character, and tales of his atrocities are narrated by Larpenteur, a
fellow employe. In 1845 he left the company's employ, and organized a
rival concern, of which he was head. He was living at Fort Yates as
late as 1896.--ED.
[311] The black-tailed or mule deer of the Americans (_Cervus
macrotis_, Say), has been described, by later zoologists, from an
imperfect skin; I will, therefore, give an imperfect description from
nature. It is larger than the Virginian deer, not so light, has a
larger hoof, much longer ears, and does not run so swiftly--not
quicker than a buffalo cow. It casts its horns in March, and throws
off the rough skin of them in August. They have, generally, only one
young one--sometimes two; they are marked with white spots, on a pale
yellowish-red ground. One of these animals, of three or four years
old, in shape nearly resembled the Virginian deer; the hair of the
body was hard and scanty; the whole of a pale yellowish-red; the
breast greyish-brown, and, on the belly, yellowish-white. In winter,
the colour nearly resembles that of our deer in the same season. Each
of the horns of this deer had four antlers, nearly as in _Cervus
elaphus_. Woodcut B represents the horns of a large deer of this
species.--MAXIMILIAN.
_Comment by Ed._ See p. 347, for illustration of antlers of deer.
[312] Marked on Lewis and Clark's map as Shepherd River; it is now
Apple Creek, flowing from the east in Bismarck County, North
Dakota.--ED.
[313] For Heart River, see our volume v, p. 148, note 91.--ED.
[314] On the west bank; Square Butte Creek takes its name
therefrom.--ED.
[315] Lewis and Clark here met a party of Mandan on a hunting
excursion. This creek has not been certainly identified, the river's
bed having changed in the vicinity. It is probably Deer Creek, in
Oliver County.--ED.
[316] Old Mandan villages had been scattered all along this reach of
the river, Lewis and Clark noting the first remains below Heart
River.--ED.
[317] The Cheyenne River of North Dakota--not to be confused with the
Missour affluent in South Dakota--is the largest western tributary of
Red River of the North. Devil's Lake, a large body of fresh water in
Halsey County, was a favorite habitat of the Sioux. South of it is now
an Indian reservation, chiefly for Sisseton and Wahpeton Sioux. St.
Peter's River is the present Minnesota; its source is in Big Stone
Lake, on the boundary of Minnesota and South Dakota.--ED.
[318] Lewis and Clark called the first Mandan village Ma-too-ton-ka.
This was in a wooded bend, three miles below the site of Fort
Clark.--ED.
[319] Fort Clark, named in honor of General William Clark, was built
in 1831 as the American Fur Company's post among the Mandan. An
earlier post near by, had been the company's home since 1822. Fort
Clark was second in importance only to Forts Union and Pierre. A
trusted employe was kept as chief factor, and the post was maintained
until the close of the fur-trading era. Its site was eight miles below
the mouth of Big Knife River, on the west bank, some eighty or ninety
paces back from the river, and about three-quarters of a mile lower
down and on the opposite side of the river from Fort Mandan, Lewis and
Clark's wintering place (1804-05).--ED.
[320] The Wolf chief, called by the French traders Chef de Loup, and
by Catlin Ha-na-ta-nu-mauk, was head chief of the nation. Of an
austere and haughty nature, he was feared rather than beloved by the
tribe, whose idol was Four Bears, the second chief. Bodmer painted
this chief in two ways (see Plates 46 and 47, in the accompanying
atlas, our volume xxv). Catlin also secured his likeness both in full
dress and in mourning. Catlin describes in detail a buffalo robe
covered with paintings representing his exploits; see Catlin, _North
American Indians_, i, pp. 145-154.--ED.
[321] James Kipp was born in Canada in 1788. When about twenty years
of age he entered the fur-trade, as hunter and trapper in the Red
River region. By 1818 he was on the upper Missouri, and became the
agent of the Columbia Fur Company at its Mandan post. Later, he became
a trusted employe of the American Fur Company, building Fort Piegan
among the Blackfeet (1831). For many years he was chief factor at Fort
Clark, transferring (1835) to Fort McKenzie. Audubon found him in
charge of Fort Alexander, on the Yellowstone, in 1843, and two years
later he was entrusted with the important post at Fort Union. He
retired from the fur-trade in 1865, and settled upon his Missouri
farm, which he had acquired many years before. As late as 1876 he once
more visited the Mandan, whose language he was said to have been the
first white man to master.--ED.
[322] For Toussaint Charbonneau, see Brackenridge's _Journal_, in our
volume vi, p. 32, note 3.--ED.
[323] For the Crow Indians, see our volume v, p. 226, note 121.--ED.
[324] See Plate 13, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.--ED.
[325] See Plate 49, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.--ED.
[326] See p. 347, for illustration of Sioux burial stages.--ED.
[327] For the traditions of the first man, Nu-mohk-muck-a-nah, consult
Catlin, _North American Indians_, i, pp. 178-181.--ED.
[328] For the Minitaree, see our volume v, pp. 113, 114, note 76. An
extended account is given by Washington Matthews, "Ethnography and
Philology of the Hidatsa Indians," in United States Geological and
Geographical Survey of the Territories, _Miscellaneous Publications_,
No. 7 (Washington, 1877). Maximilian classes with the Minitaree
villages that of the Ahnahaway, or Gens des Souliers, also called
Wetersoon, whom Lewis and Clark considered a separate though allied
tribe.--ED.
[329] See Plate 81, figures 5 and 6, in the accompanying atlas, volume
xxv of our series.--ED.
[330] _Ibid._, figure 10.--ED.
[331] Catlin says that Long Hair was the head chief of the tribe,
having received his office from the circumstance of having the longest
hair in the tribe. Campbell and Sublette stated that they had lived in
his lodge and examined his hair, which measured ten feet and seven
inches of natural growth.--ED.
[332] Fort Cass was built by the American Fur Company in the autumn of
1832, on the right bank of the Yellowstone, two or three miles below
the mouth of the Bighorn. It was intended for the Crow trade, and
frequently was called Tulloch's fort from its founder, a company
employe. Wyeth, on his famous voyage, passed this fort in a bull-boat,
August 18, 1833. See Irving, _Rocky Mountains_, ii, pp. 159-161. About
1838 Fort Cass was abandoned in favor of Fort Van Buren farther down
the Yellowstone.--ED.
[333] The bardaches will be spoken of when we are treating of the
customs of the Mandans.--MAXIMILIAN.
[334] See p. 347, for illustration of Sioux burial stages.--ED.