The Mandans, like all other tribes, lead lives of idleness and
leisure; and of course, devote a great deal of time to their sports
and amusements, of which they have a great variety. Of these, dancing
is one of the principal, and may be seen in a variety of forms: such
as the buffalo dance, the boasting dance, the begging dance, the scalp
dance, and a dozen other kinds of dances, all of which have their
peculiar characters and meanings or objects.
These exercises are exceedingly grotesque in their appearance, and to
the eye of a traveller who knows not their meaning or importance, they
are an uncouth and frightful display of starts, and jumps, and yelps,
and jarring gutturals, which are sometimes truly terrifying. But when
one gives them a little attention, and has been lucky enough to be
initiated into their mysterious meaning, they become a subject of the
most intense and exciting interest. Every dance has its peculiar step,
and every step has its meaning; every dance also has its peculiar song,
and that is so intricate and mysterious oftentimes, that not one in ten
of the young men who are dancing and singing it, know the meaning of
the song which they are chanting over. None but the medicine-men are
allowed to understand them; and even they are generally only initiated
into these secret arcana, on the payment of a liberal stipend for their
tuition, which requires much application and study. There is evidently
a set song and sentiment for every dance, for the songs are perfectly
measured, and sung in exact time with the beat of the drum; and always
with an uniform and invariable set of sounds and expressions, which
clearly indicate certain sentiments, which are expressed by the voice,
though sometimes not given in any known language whatever.
They have other dances and songs which are not so mystified, but which
are sung and understood by every person in the tribe, being sung in
their own language, with much poetry in them, and perfectly metred, but
without rhyme. On these subjects I shall take another occasion to say
more; and will for the present turn your attention to the style and
modes in which some of these curious transactions are conducted.
My ears have been almost continually ringing since I came here, with
the din of yelping and beating of the drums; but I have for several
days past been peculiarly engrossed, and my senses almost confounded
with the stamping, and grunting, and bellowing of the _buffalo dance_,
which closed a few days since at sunrise (thank Heaven), and which I
must needs describe to you.
Buffaloes, it is known, are a sort of roaming creatures, congregating
occasionally in huge masses, and strolling away about the country from
east to west, or from north to south, or just where their whims or
strange fancies may lead them; and the Mandans are sometimes, by this
means, most unceremoniously left without any thing to eat; and being a
small tribe, and unwilling to risk their lives by going far from home
in the face of their more powerful enemies, are oftentimes left almost
in a state of starvation. In any emergency of this kind, every man
musters and brings out of his lodge his mask (the skin of a buffalo’s
head with the horns on), which he is obliged to keep in readiness
for this occasion; and then commences the buffalo dance, of which I
have above spoken, which is held for the purpose of making “buffalo
come” (as they term it), of inducing the buffalo herds to change the
direction of their wanderings, and bend their course towards the Mandan
village, and graze about on the beautiful hills and bluffs in its
vicinity, where the Mandans can shoot them down and cook them as they
want them for food.
For the most part of the year, the young warriors and hunters, by
riding out a mile or two from the village, can kill meat in abundance;
and sometimes large herds of these animals may be seen grazing in
full view of the village. There are other seasons also when the young
men have ranged about the country as far as they are willing to risk
their lives, on account of their enemies, without finding meat. This
sad intelligence is brought back to the chiefs and doctors, who sit in
solemn council, and consult on the most expedient measures to be taken,
until they are sure to decide upon the old and only expedient which
“never has failed.”
The chief issues his order to his runners or criers, who proclaim it
through the village—and in a few minutes the dance begins. The place
where this strange operation is carried on is in the public area in the
centre of the village, and in front of the great medicine or mystery
lodge. About ten or fifteen Mandans at a time join in the dance, each
one with the skin of the buffalo’s head (or mask) with the horns on,
placed over his head, and in his hand his favourite bow or lance, with
which he is used to slay the buffalo.
I mentioned that this dance always had the desired effect, that it
never fails, nor can it, for it cannot be stopped (but is going
incessantly day and night) until “buffalo come.” Drums are beating and
rattles are shaken, and songs and yells incessantly are shouted, and
lookers-on stand ready with masks on their heads, and weapons in hand,
to take the place of each one as he becomes fatigued, and jumps out of
the ring.
During this time of general excitement, spies or “_lookers_” are kept
on the hills in the neighbourhood of the village, who, when they
discover buffaloes in sight, give the appropriate signal, by “throwing
their robes,” which is instantly seen in the village, and understood by
the whole tribe. At this joyful intelligence there is a shout of thanks
to the Great Spirit, and more especially to the mystery-man, and the
dancers, _who have been the immediate cause of their success_! There is
then a brisk preparation for the chase—a grand hunt takes place. The
choicest pieces of the victims are sacrificed to the Great Spirit, and
then a surfeit and a carouse.
These dances have sometimes been continued in this village two and
three weeks without stopping an instant, until the joyful moment when
buffaloes made their appearance. So they _never fail_; and they think
they have been the means of bringing them in.
Every man in the Mandan village (as I have before said) is obliged by
a village regulation, to keep the mask of the buffalo, hanging on a
post at the head of his bed, which he can use on his head whenever he
is called upon by the chiefs, to dance for the coming of buffaloes.
The mask is put over the head, and generally has a strip of the skin
hanging to it, of the whole length of the animal, with the tail
attached to it, which, passing down over the back of the dancer, is
dragging on the ground (+plate+ 56). When one becomes fatigued of the
exercise, he signifies it by bending quite forward, and sinking his
body towards the ground; when another draws a bow upon him and hits
him with a blunt arrow, and he falls like a buffalo—is seized by the
bye-standers, who drag him out of the ring by the heels, brandishing
their knives about him; and having gone through the motions of skinning
and cutting him up, they let him off, and his place is at once supplied
by another, who dances into the ring with his mask on; and by this
taking of places, the scene is easily kept up night and day, until the
desired effect has been produced, that of “making buffalo come.”
The day before yesterday however, readers, which, though it commenced
in joy and thanksgiving to the Great Spirit for the signal success
which had attended their several days of dancing and supplication,
ended in a calamity which threw the village of the Mandans into
mourning and repentant tears, and that at a time of scarcity and great
distress. The signal was given into the village on that morning from
the top of a distant bluff, that a band of buffaloes were in sight,
though at a considerable distance off, and every heart beat with joy,
and every eye watered and glistened with gladness.
The dance had lasted some three or four days, and now, instead of the
doleful tap of the drum and the begging chaunts of the dancers, the
stamping of horses was heard as they were led and galloped through the
village—young men were throwing off their robes and their shirts,—were
seen snatching a handful of arrows from their quivers, and stringing
their sinewy bows, glancing their eyes and their smiles at their
sweethearts, and mounting their ponies. * * *
* * A few minutes there had been of bustle and boasting,
whilst bows were twanging and spears were polishing by running their
blades into the ground—every face and every eye was filled with joy and
gladness—horses were pawing and snuffing in fury for the outset, when
Louison Frénié, an interpreter of the Fur Company, galloped through the
village with his rifle in his hand and his powder-horn at his side; his
head and waist were bandaged with handkerchiefs, and his shirt sleeves
rolled up to his shoulders—the hunter’s yell issued from his lips and
was repeated through the village; he flew to the bluffs, and behind
him and over the graceful swells of the prairie, galloped the emulous
youths, whose hearts were beating high and quick for the onset.
[Illustration: 56]
In the village, where hunger had reigned, and starvation was almost
ready to look them in the face, all was instantly turned to joy and
gladness. The chiefs and doctors who had been for some days dealing
out minimum rations to the community from the public crib, now spread
before their subjects the contents of their own private _caches_, and
the last of every thing that could be mustered, that they might eat a
thanksgiving to the Great Spirit for his goodness in sending them a
supply of buffalo meat. A general carouse of banqueting ensued, which
occupied the greater part of the day; and their hidden stores which
might have fed an emergency for several weeks, were pretty nearly used
up on the occasion—bones were half picked, and dishes half emptied and
then handed to the dogs. _I_ was not forgotten neither, in the general
surfeit; several large and generous wooden bowls of pemican and other
palatable food were sent to my painting-room, and I received them in
this time of scarcity with great pleasure.
After this general indulgence was over, and the dogs had licked the
dishes, their usual games and amusements ensued—and hilarity and mirth,
and joy took possession of, and reigned in, every nook and corner of
the village; and in the midst of this, screams and shrieks were heard!
and echoed everywhere. Women and children scrambled to the tops of
their wigwams, with their eyes and their hands stretched in agonizing
earnestness to the prairie, whilst blackened warriors ran furiously
through every winding maze of the village, and issuing their jarring
gutturals of vengeance, as they snatched their deadly weapons from
their lodges, and struck the reddened post as they furiously passed
it by! Two of their hunters were bending their course down the sides
of the bluff towards the village, and another broke suddenly out of a
deep ravine, and yet another was seen dashing over and down the green
hills, and all were goading on their horses at full speed! and then
came another, and another, and all entered the village amid shouts and
groans of the villagers who crowded around them; the story was told
in their looks, for one was bleeding, and the blood that flowed from
his naked breast had crimsoned his milk white steed as it had dripped
over him; another grasped in his left hand a scalp that was reeking in
blood—and in the other his whip—another grasped nothing, save the reins
in one hand and the mane of the horse in the other, having thrown his
bow and his arrows away, and trusted to the fleetness of his horse
for his safety; yet the story was audibly told, and the fatal tragedy
recited in irregular and almost suffocating ejaculations—the names
of the dead were in turns pronounced and screams and shrieks burst
forth at their recital—murmurs and groans ran through the village, and
this happy little community were in a moment smitten with sorrow and
distraction.
Their proud band of hunters who had started full of glee and mirth in
the morning, had been surrounded by their enemy, the Sioux, and eight
of them killed. The Sioux, who had probably reconnoitred their village
during the night, and ascertained that they were dancing for buffaloes,
laid a stratagem to entrap them in the following manner:—Some six
or eight of them appeared the next morning (on a distant bluff, in
sight of their sentinel) under the skins of buffaloes, imitating the
movements of those animals whilst grazing; and being discovered by
the sentinel, the intelligence was telegraphed to the village, which
brought out their hunters as I have described. The masked buffaloes
were seen grazing on the top of a high bluff, and when the hunters had
approached within half a mile or so of them, they suddenly disappeared
over the hill. Louison Frénié, who was leading the little band of
hunters, became at that moment suspicious of so strange a movement, and
came to a halt * * *
* “Look”! (said a Mandan, pointing to a little ravine to the right, and
at the foot of the hill, from which suddenly broke some forty or fifty
furious Sioux, on fleet horses and under full whip, who were rushing
upon them); they wheeled, and in front of them came another band more
furious from the other side of the hill! they started for home (poor
fellows), and strained every nerve; but the Sioux were too fleet for
them; and every now and then, the whizzing arrow and the lance were
heard to rip the flesh of their naked backs, and a grunt and a groan,
as they tumbled from their horses. Several miles were run in this
desperate race; and Frénié got home, and several of the Mandans, though
eight of them were killed and scalped by the way.
So ended that day and the hunt; but many a day and sad, will last the
grief of those whose hearts were broken on that unlucky occasion.
_This_ day, though, my readers, has been one of a more joyful kind, for
the Great Spirit, who was indignant at so flagrant an injustice, has
sent the Mandans an abundance of buffaloes; and all hearts have joined
in a general thanksgiving to Him for his goodness and justice.
[Illustration: 57]
LETTER—No. 19.