In my former epistle I told you there were encamped about the Fort
a host of wild, incongruous spirits—chiefs and sachems—warriors,
braves, and women and children of different tribes—of Crows and
Blackfeet—Ojibbeways—Assinneboins—and Crees or Knisteneaux. Amongst
and in the midst of them am I, with my paint pots and canvass, snugly
ensconced in one of the bastions of the Fort, which I occupy as a
painting-room. My easel stands before me, and the cool breech of a
twelve-pounder makes me a comfortable seat, whilst her muzzle is
looking out at one of the port-holes. The operations of my brush are
_mysteries_ of the highest order to these red sons of the prairie, and
my room the earliest and latest place of concentration of these wild
and jealous spirits, who all meet here to be amused and pay me signal
honours; but gaze upon each other, sending their sidelong looks of
deep-rooted hatred and revenge around the group. However, whilst in the
Fort, their weapons are placed within the arsenal, and naught but looks
and thoughts can be breathed here; but death and grim destruction will
visit back those looks upon each other, when these wild spirits again
are loose and free to breathe and act upon the plains.
I have this day been painting a portrait of the head chief of the
Blackfoot nation; he is a good-looking and dignified Indian, about
fifty years of age, and superbly dressed (+plate+ 11); whilst sitting
for his picture he has been surrounded by his own braves and warriors,
and also gazed at by his enemies, the Crows and the Knisteneaux,
Assinneboins and Ojibbeways; a number of distinguished personages of
each of which tribes, have laid all day around the sides of my room;
reciting to each other the battles they have fought, and pointing to
the scalp-locks, worn as proofs of their victories, and attached to
the seams of their shirts and leggings. This is a curious scene to
witness, when one sits in the midst of such inflammable and combustible
materials, brought together, unarmed, for the first time in their
lives; peaceably and calmly recounting over the deeds of their lives,
and smoking their pipes upon it, when a few weeks or days will bring
them on the plains again, where the war-cry will be raised, and their
deadly bows will again be drawn on each other.
The name of this dignitary, of whom I have just spoken, is
Stu-mick-o-sucks (the buffalo’s back fat), _i. e._ the “hump” or
“fleece,” the most delicious part of the buffalo’s flesh. I have
also painted, of the Blackfeet, Pe-toh-pee-kiss (the eagle ribs),
and Mix-ke-mote-skin-na (the iron horn), and Wun-nes-tou (the
white buffalo), and Tcha-aes-sa-ko-mah-pee (the bear’s child), and
In-ne-o-cose (the buffalo’s child), and half-a-dozen others, and all in
rich and costly dresses.
There is no tribe, perhaps, on the Continent, who dress more
comfortably, and more gaudily, than the Blackfeet, unless it be
the tribe of Crows. There is no great difference, however, in the
costliness or elegance of their costumes; nor in the materials of which
they are formed; though there is a distinctive mode in each tribe, of
stitching or ornamenting with the porcupine quills, which constitute
one of the principal ornaments to all their fine dresses; and which
can be easily recognized, by any one a little familiar with their
modes, as belonging to such or such a tribe. The dress, for instance of
the chief whom I have just mentioned, and whose portrait I have just
painted, consists of a shirt or tunic, made of two deer skins finely
dressed, and so placed together with the necks of the skins downwards,
and the skins of the hind legs stitched together, the seams running
down on each arm, from the neck to the knuckles of the hand; this
seam is covered with a band of two inches in width, of very beautiful
embroidery of porcupine quills, and suspended from the under edge of
this, from the shoulders to the hands, is a fringe of the locks of
black hair, which he has taken from the heads of victims slain by his
own hand in battle. The leggings are made also of the same material;
and down the outer side of the leg, from the hip to the feet, extends
also a similar band or belt of the same width; and wrought in the same
manner, with porcupine quills, and fringed with scalp locks. These
locks of hair are procured from scalps, and worn as trophies.
The wife (or squaw) of this dignitary Eeh-nis-kin (the crystal stone),
I have also placed upon my canvass (+plate+ 13); her countenance is
rather pleasing, which is an uncommon thing amongst the Blackfeet—her
dress is made of skins, and being the youngest of a bevy of six or
eight, and the last one taken under his guardianship, was smiled upon
with great satisfaction, whilst he exempted her from the drudgeries of
the camp; and keeping her continually in the halo of his own person,
watched and guarded her as the apple of his eye. The grandson also
of this sachem, a boy of six years of age, and too young as yet to
have acquired a name, has stood forth like a tried warrior; and I
have painted him at full length (+plate+ 12), with his bow and quiver
slung, and his robe made of a racoon skin. The history of this child is
somewhat curious and interesting; his father is dead, and in case of
the death of the chief, of whom I have spoken, he becomes hereditary
chief of the tribe. This boy has been twice stolen away by the Crows
by ingenious stratagems, and twice re-captured by the Blackfeet, at
considerable sacrifice of life, and at present he is lodged with Mr.
M‘Kenzie, for safe keeping and protection, until he shall arrive at the
proper age to take the office to which he is to succeed, and able to
protect himself.
[Illustration: 13]
[Illustration: 12]
The scalp of which I spoke above, is procured by cutting out a piece
of the skin of the head, the size of the palm of the hand or less,
containing the very centre or crown of the head, the place where the
hair radiates from a point, and exactly over what the phrenologists
call self-esteem. This patch then is kept and dried with great care, as
proof positive of the death of an enemy, and evidence of a man’s claims
as a warrior; and after having been formally “danced,” as the saying
is, (_i. e._ after it has been stuck up upon a pole or held up by an
“old woman,” and the warriors have danced around it for two or three
weeks at intervals,) it is fastened to the handle of a lance, or the
end of a war-club, or divided into a great many small locks and used
to fringe and ornament the victor’s dress. When these dresses are seen
bearing such trophies, it is of course a difficult matter to purchase
them of the Indian, for they often hold them above all price. I shall
hereafter take occasion to speak of the scalp-dance; describing it in
all its parts, and giving a long Letter, at the same time on scalps
and scalping, an interesting and general custom amongst all the North
American Indians.
In the chief’s dress, which I am describing, there are his moccasins,
made also of buckskin, and ornamented in a corresponding manner. And
over all, his robe, made of the skin of a young buffalo bull, with
the hair remaining on; and on the inner or flesh side, beautifully
garnished with porcupine quills, and the battles of his life very
ingeniously, though rudely, pourtrayed in pictorial representations.
In his hand he holds a very beautiful pipe, the stem of which is four
or five feet long, and two inches wide, curiously wound with braids
of the porcupine quills of various colours; and the bowl of the pipe
ingeniously carved by himself from a piece of red steatite of an
interesting character, and which they all tell me is procured somewhere
between this place and the Falls of St. Anthony, on the head waters of
the Mississippi.
This curious stone has many peculiar qualities, and has, undoubtedly,
but one origin in this country, and perhaps in the world. It is found
but in the hands of the savage, and every tribe, and nearly every
individual in the tribe has his pipe made of it. I consider this stone
a subject of great interest, and curiosity to the world; and I shall
most assuredly make it a point, during my Indian rambles, to visit the
place from whence it is brought. I have already got a number of most
remarkable traditions and stories relating to the “sacred quarry;”
of pilgrimages performed there to procure the stone, and of curious
transactions that have taken place on that ground. It seems, from all
I can learn, that all the tribes in these regions, and also of the
Mississippi and the Lakes, have been in the habit of going to that
place, and meeting their enemies there, whom they are obliged to treat
as friends, under an injunction of the Great Spirit.
So then is this sachem (the buffalo’s back fat) dressed; and in a
very similar manner, and almost the same, is each of the others above
named; and all are armed with bow and quiver, lance and shield. These
north-western tribes are all armed with the bow and lance, and
protected with the shield or arrow fender, which is carried outside of
the left arm, exactly as the Roman and Grecian shield was carried, and
for the same purpose.
There is an appearance purely classic in the plight and equipment of
these warriors and “knights of the lance.” They are almost literally
always on their horses’ backs, and they wield these weapons with
desperate effect upon the open plains; where they kill their game
while at full speed, and contend in like manner in battles with their
enemy. There is one prevailing custom in these respects, amongst all
the tribes who inhabit the great plains or prairies of these western
regions. These plains afford them an abundance of wild and fleet
horses, which are easily procured; and on their backs at full speed,
they can come alongside of any animal, which they easily destroy.
The bow with which they are armed is small, and apparently an
insignificant weapon, though one of great and almost incredible power
in the hands of its owner, whose sinews have been from childhood
habituated to its use and service. The length of these bows is
generally about three feet, and sometimes not more than two and a half
(+plate+ 18 _a_). They have, no doubt, studied to get the requisite
power in the smallest compass possible, as it is more easily and
handily used on horseback than one of greater length. The greater
number of these bows are made of ash, or of “bois d’arc” (as the
French call it), and lined on the back with layers of buffalo or
deer’s sinews, which are inseparably attached to them, and give them
great elasticity. There are very many also (amongst the Blackfeet
and the Crows) which are made of bone, and others of the horn of the
mountain-sheep. Those made of bone are decidedly the most valuable, and
cannot in this country be procured of a good quality short of the price
of one or two horses. About these there is a mystery yet to be solved,
and I advance my opinion against all theories that I have heard in the
country where they are used and made. I have procured several very fine
specimens, and when purchasing them have inquired of the Indians, what
bone they were made of? and in every instance, the answer was, “That’s
medicine,” meaning that it was a mystery to them, or that they did not
wish to be questioned about them. The bone of which they are made is
certainly not the bone of any animal now grazing on the prairies, or
in the mountains between this place and the Pacific Ocean; for some
of these bows are three feet in length, of a solid piece of bone, and
that as close-grained—as hard—as white, and as highly polished as
any ivory; it cannot, therefore be made from the elks’ horn (as some
have supposed), which is of a dark colour and porous: nor can it come
from the buffalo. It is my opinion, therefore, that the Indians on
the Pacific coast procure the bone from the jaw of the sperm whale,
which is often stranded on that coast, and bringing the bone into the
mountains, trade it to the Blackfeet and Crows, who manufacture it into
these bows without knowing any more than we do, from what source it has
been procured.
[Illustration: 14]
One of these little bows in the hands of an Indian, on a fleet and
well-trained horse, with a quiver of arrows slung on his back, is a
most effective and powerful weapon in the open plains. No one can
easily credit the force with which these missiles are thrown, and the
sanguinary effects produced by their wounds, until he has rode by
the side of a party of Indians in chase of a herd of buffaloes, and
witnessed the apparent ease and grace with which their supple arms have
drawn the bow, and seen these huge animals tumbling down and gushing
out their hearts’ blood from their mouths and nostrils.
Their bows are often made of bone and sinews, and their arrows headed
with flints or with bones, of their own construction (+plate+ 18, _c_),
or with steel, as they are now chiefly furnished by the Fur Traders
quite to the Rocky Mountains (+plate+ 18, _d_). The quiver, which is
uniformly carried on the back, and made of the panther or otter skins
(+plate+ 18, _e_) is a magazine of these deadly weapons, and generally
contains two varieties. The one to be drawn upon an enemy, generally
poisoned, and with long flukes or barbs, which are designed to hang the
blade in the wound after the shaft is withdrawn, in which they are but
slightly glued;—the other to be used for their game, with the blade
firmly fastened to the shaft, and the flukes inverted; that it may
easily be drawn from the wound, and used on a future occasion.
Such is the training of men and horses in this country, that this work
of death and slaughter is simple and easy. The horse is trained to
approach the animals on the _right_ side, enabling its rider to throw
his arrows to the left; it runs and approaches without the use of the
halter, which is hanging loose upon its neck bringing the rider within
three or four paces of the animal, when the arrow is thrown with great
ease and certainty to the heart; and instances sometimes occur, where
the arrow passes entirely through the animal’s body.
An Indian, therefore, mounted on a fleet and well-trained horse, with
his bow in his hand, and his quiver slung on his back, containing an
hundred arrows, of which he can throw fifteen or twenty in a minute, is
a formidable and dangerous enemy. Many of them also ride with a lance
of twelve or fourteen feet in length (+plate+ 18, _b_), with a blade
of polished steel; and all of them (as a protection for their vital
parts), with a shield or arrow-fender made of the skin of the buffalo’s
neck, which has been smoked, and hardened with glue extracted from the
hoofs (+plate+ 18). These shields are arrow-proof, and will glance off
a rifle shot with perfect effect by being turned obliquely, which they
do with great skill.
This shield or arrow-fender is, in my opinion, made of similar
materials, and used in the same way, and for the same purpose, as was
the clypeus or small shield in the Roman and Grecian cavalry. They were
made in those days as a means of defence on horseback only—made small
and light, of bull’s hides; sometimes single, sometimes double and
tripled. Such was Hector’s shield, and of most of the Homeric heroes of
the Greek and Trojan wars. In those days also were darts or javelins
and lances; the same were also used by the Ancient Britons; and such
exactly are now in use amongst the Arabs and the North American Indians.
In this wise then, are all of these wild red knights of the prairie,
armed and equipped,—and while nothing can possibly be more picturesque
and thrilling than a troop or war-party of these fellows, galloping
over these green and endless prairies; there can be no set of mounted
men of equal numbers, so effective and so invincible in this country
as they would be, could they be inspired with confidence of their own
powers and their own superiority; yet this never can be done;—for the
Indian, as far as the name of white man has travelled, and long before
he has to try his strength with him, is trembling with fright and fear
of his approach; he hears of white man’s arts and artifice—his tricks
and cunning, and his hundred instruments of death and destruction—he
dreads his approach, shrinks from him with fear and trembling—his
heart sickens, and his pride and courage wither, at the thoughts of
contending with an enemy, whom he thinks may war and destroy with
weapons of _medicine_ or mystery.
Of the Blackfeet, whom I mentioned in the beginning of this Letter, and
whose portraits are now standing in my room, there is another of whom
I must say a few words; Pe-toh-pee-kiss, the eagle ribs (+plate+ 14).
This man is one of the extraordinary men of the Blackfoot tribe; though
not a chief, he stands here in the Fort, and deliberately boasts of
eight scalps, which he says he has taken from the heads of trappers and
traders with his own hand. His dress is really superb, almost literally
covered with scalp-locks, of savage and civil.
I have painted him at full length, with a head-dress made entirely
of ermine skins and horns of the buffalo. This custom of wearing
horns beautifully polished and surmounting the head-dress, is a very
curious one, being worn only by the bravest of the brave; by the most
extraordinary men in the nation. Of their importance and meaning, I
shall say more in a future epistle. When he stood for his picture, he
also held a lance and two “medicine-bags” in his hand; of lances I have
spoken,—but “medicine-bags” and “medicine” will be the text for my next
Letter.
Besides the chiefs and warriors above-named, I have also transferred
to my canvass the “looks and very resemblance” of an aged chief,
who combines with his high office, the envied title of mystery or
medicine-man, _i. e._ doctor—magician—prophet—soothsayer—jongleur—and
high priest, all combined in one person, who necessarily is looked
upon as “Sir Oracle” of the nation. The name of this distinguished
functionary is Wun-nes-tou, the white buffalo (+plate+ 15); and on
his left arm he presents his mystery-drum or tambour, in which are
concealed the hidden and sacred mysteries of his healing art.
And there is also In-ne-o-cose, the iron-horn (+plate+ 16), at full
length, in a splendid dress, with his “medicine-bag” in his hand;
and Ah-kay-ee-pix-en, the woman who strikes many (+plate+ 17), in a
beautiful dress of the mountain-goats’ skin, and her robe of the young
buffalo’s hide.
[Illustration: 15]
[Illustration: 17]
[Illustration: 16]
LETTER—No. 6.