Oh! “_horribile visu—et mirabile dictu!_” Thank God, it is over, that I
have seen it, and am able to tell it to the world.
The _annual religious ceremony_, of four days, of which I have so often
spoken, and which I have so long been wishing to see, has at last been
enacted in this village; and I have, fortunately, been able to see and
to understand it in most of its bearings, which was more than I had
reason to expect; for no white man, in all probability, has ever been
before admitted to the _medicine-lodge_ during these most remarkable
and appalling scenes.
Well and truly has it been said, that the Mandans are a strange and
peculiar people; and most correctly had I been informed, that this
was an important and interesting scene, by those who had, on former
occasions, witnessed such parts of it as are transacted out of doors,
and in front of the _medicine-lodge_.
Since the date of my last Letter, I was lucky enough to have painted
the _medicine-man_, who was high-priest on this grand occasion, or
conductor of the ceremonies, who had me regularly installed doctor or
“_medicine_;” and who, on the morning when these grand refinements
in mysteries commenced, took me by the arm, and led me into the
_medicine-lodge_, where the Fur Trader, Mr. Kipp, and his two clerks
accompanied me in close attendance for four days; all of us going to
our own quarters at sun-down, and returning again at sun-rise the next
morning.
I took my sketch-book with me, and have made many and faithful drawings
of what we saw, and full notes of everything as translated to me by
the interpreter; and since the close of that horrid and frightful
scene, which was a week ago or more, I have been closely ensconced
in an earth-covered wigwam, with a fine sky-light over my head, with
my palette and brushes, endeavouring faithfully to put the whole
of what we saw upon canvass, which my companions all agree to be
critically correct, and of the fidelity of which they have attached
their certificates to the backs of the paintings. I have made four
paintings of these strange scenes, containing several hundred figures,
representing the transactions of each day; and if I live to get them
home, they will be found to be exceedingly curious and interesting.
I shudder at the relation, or even at the thought of these barbarous
and cruel scenes, and am almost ready to shrink from the task of
reciting them after I have so long promised some account of them.
I entered the _medicine-house_ of these scenes, as I would have
entered a church, and expected to see something extraordinary and
strange, but yet in the form of worship or devotion; but alas! little
did I expect to see the interior of their holy temple turned into a
_slaughter-house_, and its floor strewed with the blood of its fanatic
devotees. Little did I think that I was entering a house of God, where
His blinded worshippers were to pollute its sacred interior with their
blood, and propitiatory suffering and tortures—surpassing, if possible,
the cruelty of the rack or the inquisition; but such the scene has
been, and as such I will endeavour to describe it.
The “_Mandan religious ceremony_” then, as I believe it is very justly
denominated, is an annual transaction, held in their _medicine-lodge_
once a year, as a great religious anniversary, and for several distinct
objects, as I shall in a few minutes describe; during and after which,
they look with implicit reliance for the justification and approval of
the Great Spirit.
All of the Indian tribes, as I have before observed, are religious—are
worshipful—and many of them go to almost incredible lengths (as will
be seen in the present instance, and many others I may recite) in
worshipping the Great Spirit; denying and humbling themselves before
Him for the same purpose, and in the same hope as we do, perhaps in a
more rational and acceptable way.
The tribes, so far as I have visited them, all distinctly believe in
the existence of a Great (or Good) Spirit, an Evil (or Bad) Spirit,
and also in a future existence and future accountability, according
to their virtues and vices in this world. So far the North American
Indians would seem to be one family, and such an unbroken theory
amongst them; yet with regard to the manner and form, and time and
place of that accountability—to the constructions of virtues and vices,
and the modes of appeasing and propitiating the Good and Evil Spirits,
they are found with all the changes and variety which fortuitous
circumstances, and fictions, and fables have wrought upon them.
If from their superstitions and their ignorance, there are oftentimes
obscurities and mysteries thrown over and around their system, yet
these affect not the theory itself, which is everywhere essentially
the same—and which, if it be not correct, has this much to command
the admiration of the enlightened world, that they worship with great
sincerity, and all according to one creed.
The Mandans believe in the existence of a Great (or Good) Spirit, and
also of an Evil Spirit, who they say existed long before the Good
Spirit, and is far superior in power. They all believe also in a
future state of existence, and a future administration of rewards and
punishments, and (so do all other tribes that I have yet visited) they
believe those punishments are not eternal, but commensurate with their
sins.
These people living in a climate where they suffer from cold in the
severity of their winters, have very naturally reversed our ideas of
Heaven and Hell. The latter they describe to be a country very far
to the north, of barren and hideous aspect, and covered with eternal
snows and ice. The torments of this freezing place they describe as
most excruciating; whilst Heaven they suppose to be in a warmer and
delightful latitude, where nothing is felt but the keenest enjoyment,
and where the country abounds in buffaloes and other luxuries of life.
The Great or Good Spirit they believe dwells in the former place for
the purpose of there meeting those who have offended him; increasing
the agony of their sufferings, by being himself present, administering
the penalties. The Bad or Evil Spirit they at the same time suppose to
reside in Paradise, still tempting the happy; and those who have gone
to the regions of punishment they believe to be tortured for a time
proportioned to the amount of their transgressions, and that they are
then to be transferred to the land of the happy, where they are again
liable to the temptations of the Evil Spirit, and answerable again at a
future period for their new offences.
Such is the religious creed of the Mandans, and for the purpose of
appeasing the Good and Evil Spirits, and to secure their entrance into
those “fields Elysian,” or beautiful hunting grounds, do the young
men subject themselves to the horrid and sickening cruelties to be
described in the following pages.
There are other three distinct objects (yet to be named) for which
these religious ceremonies are held, which are as follow:—
_First_, they are held annually as a celebration of the event of
the subsiding of the Flood, which they call _Mee-nee-ro-ka-ha-sha_,
(sinking down or settling of the waters.)
_Secondly_, for the purpose of dancing what they call,
_Bel-lohck-na-pic_ (the bull-dance); to the strict observance of which
they attribute the coming of buffaloes to supply them with food during
the season; and
_Thirdly_ and lastly, for the purpose of conducting all the young men
of the tribe, as they annually arrive to the age of manhood, through
an ordeal of privation and torture, which, while it is supposed
to harden their muscles and prepare them for extreme endurance,
enables the chiefs who are spectators to the scene, to decide upon
their comparative bodily strength and ability to endure the extreme
privations and sufferings that often fall to the lots of Indian
warriors; and that they may decide who is the most hardy and best able
to lead a war-party in case of extreme exigency.
This part of the ceremony, as I have just witnessed it, is truly
shocking to behold, and will almost stagger the belief of the world
when they read of it. The scene is too terrible and too revolting to
be seen or to be told, were it not an essential part of a whole, which
will be new to the civilized world, and therefore worth their knowing.
The bull-dance, and many other parts of these ceremonies are
exceedingly grotesque and amusing, and that part of them which has a
relation to the Deluge is harmless and full of interest.
In the centre of the Mandan village is an open, circular area of 150
feet diameter, kept always clear, as a public ground, for the display
of all their public feasts, parades, &c. and around it are their
wigwams placed as near to each other as they can well stand, their
doors facing the centre of this public area.
In the middle of this ground, which is trodden like a hard pavement,
is a curb (somewhat like a large hogshead standing on its end) made
of planks (and bound with hoops), some eight or nine feet high, which
they religiously preserve and protect from year to year, free from
mark or scratch, and which they call the “big canoe”—it is undoubtedly
a symbolic representation of a part of their traditional history of
the Flood; which it is very evident, from this and numerous other
features of this grand ceremony, they have in some way or other
received, and are here endeavouring to perpetuate by vividly impressing
it on the minds of the whole nation. This object of superstition,
from its position, as the very centre of the village is the rallying
point of the whole nation. To it their devotions are paid on various
occasions of feasts and religious exercises during the year; and in
this extraordinary scene it was often the nucleus of their mysteries
and cruelties, as I shall shortly describe them, and becomes an object
worth bearing in mind, and worthy of being understood.
This exciting and appalling scene, then, which is familiarly (and no
doubt correctly) called the “Mandan religious ceremony,” commences,
not on a particular day of the year, (for these people keep no record
of days or weeks), but at a particular season, which is designated by
the full expansion of the willow leaves under the bank of the river;
for according to their tradition, “the twig that the bird brought home
was a willow bough, and had full-grown leaves on it,” and the bird to
which they allude, is the mourning or turtle-dove, which they took
great pains to point out to me, as it is often to be seen feeding on
the sides of their earth-covered lodges, and which, being, as they call
it, a _medicine-bird_, is not to be destroyed or harmed by any one, and
even their dogs are instructed not to do it injury.
On the morning on which this strange transaction commenced, I was
sitting at breakfast in the house of the Trader, Mr. Kipp, when at
sun-rise, we were suddenly startled by the shrieking and screaming
of the women, and barking and howling of dogs, as if an enemy were
actually storming their village.
“Now we have it!” (exclaimed _mine host_, as he sprang from the table,)
the grand ceremony has commenced!—“drop your knife and fork, Monsr. and
get your sketch-book as soon as possible, that you may lose nothing,
for the very moment of _commencing_ is as curious as anything else of
this strange affair.” I seized my sketch-book, and all hands of us
were in an instant in front of the medicine-lodge, ready to see and
to hear all that was to take place. Groups of women and children were
gathered on the tops of their earth-covered wigwams, and all were
screaming, and dogs were howling, and all eyes directed to the prairies
in the West, where was beheld at a mile distant, a solitary individual
descending a prairie bluff, and making his way in a direct line towards
the village!
The whole community joined in the general expression of great alarm,
as if they were in danger of instant destruction; bows were strung and
thrumed to test their elasticity—their horses were caught upon the
prairie and run into the village—warriors were blackening their faces,
and dogs were muzzled, and every preparation made, as if for instant
combat.
During this deafening din and confusion within the piquets of the
village of the Mandans, the figure discovered on the prairie continued
to approach with a dignified step and in a right line towards the
village; all eyes were upon him, and he at length made his appearance
(without opposition) within the piquets, and proceeded towards the
centre of the village, where all the chiefs and braves stood ready to
receive him, which they did in a cordial manner, by shaking hands with
him, recognizing him as an old acquaintance, and pronouncing his name
_Nu-mohk-muck-a-nah_ (the first or only man). The body of this strange
personage, which was chiefly naked, was painted with white clay, so as
to resemble at a little distance, a white man; he wore a robe of four
white wolf skins falling back over his shoulders; on his head he had a
splendid head-dress made of two ravens’ skins, and in his left hand he
cautiously carried a large pipe, which he seemed to watch and guard as
something of great importance. After passing the chiefs and braves as
described, he approached the _medicine_ or mystery lodge, which he had
the means of opening, and which had been religiously closed during the
year except for the performance of these religious rites.
Having opened and entered it, he called in four men whom he appointed
to clean it out, and put it in readiness for the ceremonies, by
sweeping it and strewing a profusion of green willow-boughs over its
floor, and with them decorating its sides. Wild sage also, and many
other aromatic herbs they gathered from the prairies, and scattered
over its floor; and over these were arranged a curious group of buffalo
and human skulls, and other articles, which were to be used during this
strange and unaccountable transaction.
During the whole of this day, and while these preparations were
making in the _medicine-lodge_, Nu-mohk-muck-a-nah (the first or only
man) travelled through the village, stopping in front of every man’s
lodge, and crying until the owner of the lodge came out, and asked
who he was, and what was the matter? to which he replied by relating
the sad catastrophe which had happened on the earth’s surface by the
overflowing of the waters, saying that “he was the only person saved
from the universal calamity; that he landed his big canoe on a high
mountain in the west, where he now resides; that he had come to open
the _medicine-lodge_, which must needs receive a present of some
edged-tool from the owner of every wigwam, that it may be sacrificed
to the water;” for he says, “if this is not done, there will be another
flood, and no one will be saved, as it was with such tools that the big
canoe was made.”
Having visited every lodge or wigwam in the village, during the day,
and having received such a present at each, as a hatchet, a knife, &c.
(which is undoubtedly always prepared and ready for the occasion), he
returned at evening and deposited them in the _medicine-lodge_, where
they remained until the afternoon of the last day of the ceremony,
when, as the final or closing scene, they were thrown into the river
in a deep place, from a bank thirty feet high, and in presence of the
whole village; from whence they can never be recovered, and where they
were, undoubtedly, _sacrificed_ to the Spirit of the Water.
During the first night of this strange character in the village, no
one could tell where he slept; and every person, both old and young,
and dogs, and all living things were kept within doors, and dead
silence reigned every where. On the next morning at sunrise, however,
he made his appearance again, and entered the _medicine-lodge_; and
at his heels (in “_Indian file_,” _i. e._ single file, one following
in another’s tracks) all the young men who were candidates for the
self-tortures which were to be inflicted, and for the honours that were
to be bestowed by the chiefs on those who could most manfully endure
them. There were on this occasion about fifty young men who entered
the lists, and as they went into the sacred lodge, each one’s body was
chiefly naked, and covered with clay of different colours; some were
red, others were yellow, and some were covered with white clay, giving
them the appearance of white men. Each one of them carried in his right
hand his _medicine-bag_—on his left arm, his shield of the bull’s
hide—in his left hand, his bow and arrows, with his quiver slung on his
back.
When all had entered the lodge, they placed themselves in reclining
postures around its sides, and each one had suspended over his head his
respective weapons and _medicine_, presenting altogether, one of the
most wild and picturesque scenes imaginable.
Nu-mohk-muck-a-nah (the first or only man) was in the midst of them,
and having lit and smoked his medicine-pipe for their success; and
having addressed them in a short speech, stimulating and encouraging
them to trust to the Great Spirit for His protection during the severe
ordeal they were about to pass through; he called into the lodge
an old medicine or mystery-man, whose body was painted yellow, and
whom he appointed master of ceremonies during this occasion, whom
they denominated in their language _O-kee-pah Ka-se-kah_ (keeper or
conductor of the ceremonies). He was appointed, and the authority
passed by the presentation of the medicine-pipe, on which they consider
hangs all the power of holding and conducting all these rites.
After this delegated authority had thus passed over to the
medicine-man; Nu-mohk-muck-a-nah shook hands with him, and bade him
good bye, saying “that he was going back to the mountains in the west,
from whence he should assuredly return in just a year from that time,
to open the lodge again.” He then went out of the lodge, and passing
through the village, took formal leave of the chiefs in the same
manner, and soon disappeared over the bluffs from whence he came. No
more was seen of this surprising character during the occasion; but I
shall have something yet to say of him and his strange office before I
get through the Letter.
To return to the lodge,—the medicine or mystery-man just appointed,
and who had received his injunctions from Nu-mohk-muck-a-nah, was left
sole conductor and keeper; and according to those injunctions, it was
his duty to lie by a small fire in the centre of the lodge, with his
medicine-pipe in his hand, crying to the Great Spirit incessantly,
watching the young men, and preventing entirely their escape from the
lodge, and all communication whatever with people outside, for the
space of four days and nights, during which time they were not allowed
to _eat_, to _drink_, or to _sleep_, preparatory to the excruciating
self-tortures which they were to endure on the fourth day.
I mentioned that I had made four paintings of these strange scenes,
and the first one exhibits the interior of the medicine-lodge at
this moment; with the young men all reclining around its sides, and
the conductor or mystery-man lying by the fire, crying to the Great
Spirit (+plate+ 66). It was just at this juncture that I was ushered
into this sacred temple of their worship, with my companions, which
was, undoubtedly, the first time that their devotions had ever been
trespassed upon by the presence of pale faces; and in this instance had
been brought about in the following strange and unexpected manner.
I had most luckily for myself, painted a full-length portrait of this
great magician or high-priest, but a day previous to the commencement
of the ceremonies (in which I had represented him in the performance of
some of his mysteries), with which he had been so exceedingly pleased
as well as astonished (as “he could see its eyes move”), that I must
needs be, in his opinion, deeply skilled in magic and mysteries, and
well-entitled to a respectable rank in the craft, to which I had been
at once elevated by the unanimous voice of the doctors, and regularly
initiated, and styled _Te-ho-pee-nee-wash-ee-waska-pooska_, the _white
medicine_ (or Spirit) _painter_.
With this very honourable degree which had just been conferred upon me,
I was standing in front of the medicine-lodge early in the morning,
with my companions by my side, endeavouring to get a peep, if possible,
into its sacred interior; when this _master of ceremonies_, guarding
and conducting its secrets, as I before described, came out of the door
and taking me with a firm _professional_ affection by the arm, led me
into this _sanctum sanctorum_, which was strictly guarded from, even
a peep or a gaze from the vulgar, by a vestibule of eight or ten feet
in length, guarded with a double screen or door, and two or three dark
and frowning centinels with spears or war-clubs in their hands. I gave
the wink to my companions as I was passing in, and the potency of my
_medicine_ was such as to gain them a quiet admission, and all of us
were comfortably placed on elevated seats, which our conductor soon
prepared for us.
We were then in full view of everything that transpired in the lodge,
having before us the scene exactly, which is represented in the first
of the four pictures. To this seat we returned every morning at
sunrise, and remained until sun-down for four days, the whole time
which these strange scenes occupied.
In addition to the preparations and arrangements of the interior of
this sanctuary, as above described, there was a curious, though a very
strict arrangement of buffalo and human skulls placed on the floor of
the lodge, and between them (which were divided into two parcels),
and in front of the reclining group of young candidates, was a small
and very delicate scaffold, elevated about five feet from the ground,
made of four posts or crotches, not larger than a gun-rod, and placed
some four or five feet apart, supporting four equally delicate rods,
resting in the crotches; thus forming the frame of the scaffold, which
was completed by a number of still smaller and more delicate sticks,
transversely resting upon them. On the centre of this little frame
rested some small object, which I could not exactly understand from
the distance of twenty or thirty feet which intervened between it and
my eye. I started several times from my seat to approach it, but all
eyes were instantly upon me, and every mouth in the assembly sent forth
a hush—sh—! which brought me back to my seat again; and I at length
quieted my stifled curiosity as well as I could, upon learning the
fact, that so sacred was that object, and so important its secrets or
mysteries, that not _I_ alone, but even the young men, who were passing
the ordeal, and all the village, save the conductor of the mysteries,
were stopped from approaching it, or knowing what it was.
This little mystery-thing, whatever it was, had the appearance from
where I sat, of a small tortoise or frog lying on its back, with
its head and legs quite extended, and wound and tasselled off with
exceedingly delicate red and blue, and yellow ribbons or tassels, and
other bright coloured ornaments; and seemed, from the devotions paid
to it, to be the very nucleus of their mysteries—the _sanctissimus
sanctorum_, from which seemed to emanate all the sanctity of their
proceedings, and to which, all seemed to be paying the highest
devotional respect.
This strange, yet important _essence_ of their mysteries, I made every
enquiry about; but got no further information of, than what I could
learn by my eyes, at the distance at which I saw it, and from the
silent respect which I saw paid to it. I tried with the doctors, and
all of the _fraternity_ answered me, that that was “_great medicine_,”
assuring me that it “could not be told.” So I quieted my curiosity
as well as I could, by the full conviction that I had a _degree_ or
two yet to take before I could fathom all the arcana of Indian
superstitions; and that this little, seemingly wonderful, relic of
antiquity, symbol of some grand event, or “secret too valuable to be
told,” might have been at last nothing but a silly bunch of strings
and toys, to which they pay some great peculiar regard; giving thereby
to some favourite Spirit or essence an ideal existence, and which,
when called upon to describe, they refuse to do so, calling it “_Great
Medicine_,” for the very reason that there is nothing in it to reveal
or describe.
[Illustration: 67]
Immediately under the little frame or scaffold described, and on the
floor of the lodge was placed a knife, and by the side of it a bundle
of splints or skewers, which were kept in readiness for the infliction
of the cruelties directly to be explained. There were seen also, in
this stage of the affair, a number of cords of rawhide hanging down
from the top of the lodge, and passing through its roof, with which
the young men were to be suspended by the splints passed through their
flesh, and drawn up by men placed on the top of the lodge for the
purpose, as will be described in a few moments.
There were also four articles of great veneration and importance
lying on the floor of the lodge, which were sacks, containing in
each some three or four gallons of water. These also were objects of
superstitious regard, and made with great labour and much ingenuity;
each one of them being constructed of the skin of the buffalo’s neck,
and most elaborately sewed together in the form of a large tortoise
lying on its back, with a bunch of eagle’s quills appended to it as a
tail; and each of them having a stick, shaped like a drum-stick, lying
on them, with which, in a subsequent stage of these ceremonies, as will
be seen, they are beaten upon by several of their mystery-men, as a
part of the music for their strange dances and mysteries. By the side
of these sacks which they call _Eeh-teeh-ka_, are two other articles of
equal importance, which they call _Eeh-na-dee_ (rattles), in the form
of a gourd-shell made also of dried skins, and used at the same time
as the others, in the music (or rather _noise_ and _din_) for their
dances, &c.
These four sacks of water have the appearance of very great
antiquity; and by enquiring of my very ingenious friend and patron,
the _medicine-man_, after the ceremonies were over, he very gravely
told me, that “those four tortoises contained the waters from the
four quarters of the world—that these waters had been contained
therein ever since the settling down of the waters!” I did not think
it best to advance any argument against so ridiculous a theory, and
therefore could not even enquire or learn, at what period they had been
instituted, or how often, or on what occasions, the water in them had
been changed or replenished.
I made several propositions, through my friend Mr. Kipp, the trader
and interpreter, to purchase one of these strange things by offering
them a very liberal price; to which I received in answer that these,
and all the very numerous articles used in these ceremonies, being a
_society property_ were _medicine_, and could not be sold for any
consideration; so I abandoned all thoughts of obtaining anything,
except what I have done by the _medicine_ operation of my pencil, which
was applied to everything, and even upon that they looked with decided
distrust and apprehension, as a sort of theft or sacrilege.
Such then was the group, and such the appearance of the interior of the
medicine-lodge during the three first, and part of the fourth day also,
of the Mandan religious ceremonies. The medicine-man with a group about
him, of young aspirants who were under his sole controul, as was every
article and implement to be used, and the sanctity of this solitary and
gloomy looking place, which could not be trespassed upon by any man’s
presence without his most sovereign permission.
During the three first days of this solemn conclave, there were many
very curious forms and amusements enacted in the open area in the
middle of the village, and in front of the medicine-lodge, by other
members of the community, one of which formed a material part or
link of these strange ceremonials. This very curious and exceedingly
grotesque part of their performance, which they denominated _Bel-lohck
nah-pick_ (the bull-dance) of which I have before spoken, as one of
the avowed objects for which they held this annual fête; and to the
strictest observance of which they attribute the coming of buffaloes to
supply them with food during the season—is repeated four times during
the first day, eight times on the second day, twelve times on the third
day, and sixteen times on the fourth day; and always around the curb,
or “_big canoe_,” of which I have before spoken.
This subject I have selected for my second picture, and the principal
actors in it were eight men, with the entire skins of buffaloes thrown
over their backs, with the horns and hoofs and tails remaining on;
their bodies in a horizontal position, enabling them to imitate the
actions of the buffalo, whilst they were looking out of its eyes as
through a mask (+plate+ 67).
The bodies of these men were chiefly naked and all painted in the most
extraordinary manner, with the nicest adherence to exact similarity;
their limbs, bodies and faces, being in every part covered, either
with black, red, or white paint. Each one of these strange characters
had also a lock of buffalo’s hair tied around his ancles—in his right
hand a rattle, and a slender white rod or staff, six feet long, in the
other; and carried on his back, a bunch of green willow boughs about
the usual size of a bundle of straw. These eight men, being divided
into four pairs, took their positions on the four different sides of
the curb or big canoe, representing thereby the four cardinal points;
and between each group of them, with the back turned to the big canoe,
was another figure, engaged in the same dance, keeping step with them,
with a similar staff or wand in one hand and a rattle in the other, and
(being four in number) answering again to the four cardinal points. The
bodies of these four young men were chiefly naked, with no other dress
upon them than a beautiful kelt (or quartz-quaw), around the waist,
made of eagles quills and ermine, and very splendid head-dresses
made of the same materials. Two of these figures were painted entirely
black with pounded charcoal and grease, whom they called the “firmament
or night,” and the numerous white spots which were dotted all over
their bodies, they called “stars.” The other two were painted from
head to foot as red as vermilion could make them; these they said
represented the day, and the white streaks which were painted up and
down over their bodies, were “ghosts which the morning rays were
chasing away.”
[Illustration: 68]
These twelve are the only persons actually engaged in this strange
dance, which is each time repeated in the same form, without the
slightest variation. There are, however, a great number of characters
engaged in giving the whole effect and wildness to this strange and
laughable scene, each one acting well his part, and whose offices,
strange and inexplicable as they are, I will endeavour to point out
and explain as well as I can, from what I saw, elucidated by their own
descriptions.
This most remarkable scene, then, which is witnessed more or less often
on each day, takes place in presence of the whole nation, who are
generally gathered around, on the tops of the wigwams or otherwise,
as spectators, whilst the young men are reclining and fasting in the
lodge as above described. On the first day, this “_bull-dance_” is
given _once_ to each of the cardinal points, and the medicine-man
smokes his pipe in those directions. On the second day, _twice_ to
each; _three times_ to each on the third day, and _four times_ to each
on the fourth. As a signal for the dancers and other characters (as
well as the public) to assemble, the old man, master of ceremonies,
with the medicine-pipe in hand, dances out of the lodge, singing (or
rather crying) forth a most pitiful lament, until he approaches the big
canoe, against which he leans, with the pipe in his hand, and continues
to cry. At this instant, four very aged and patriarchal looking men,
whose bodies are painted red, and who have been guarding the four sides
of the lodge, enter it and bring out the four sacks of water, which
they place near the big canoe, where they seat themselves by the side
of them and commence thumping on them with the mallets or drumsticks
which have been lying on them; and another brandishes and shakes the
_eeh-na-dees_ or rattles, and all unite to them their voices, raised
to the highest pitch possible, as the music for the _bull-dance_,
which is then commenced and continued for fifteen minutes or more in
perfect time, and without cessation or intermission. When the music and
dancing stop, which are always perfectly simultaneous, the whole nation
raise the huzza! and a deafening shout of approbation; the master of
ceremonies dances back to the medicine-lodge, and the old men return to
their former place; the sacks of water, and all rest as before, until
by the same method, they are again called into a similar action.
The supernumeraries or other characters who play their parts in this
grand spectacle, are numerous and well worth description. By the
side of the big canoe are seen two men with the skins of grizzly
bears thrown over them, using the skins as a mask, over their heads.
These ravenous animals are continually growling and threatening to
devour everything before them and interfering with the forms of their
religious ceremony. To appease them, the women are continually bringing
and placing before them dishes of meat, which are as often snatched up
and carried to the prairie, by two men whose bodies are painted black
and their heads white, whom they call bald eagles, who are darting by
them and grasping their food from before them as they pass. These are
again chased upon the plains by a hundred or more small boys, who are
naked, with their bodies painted yellow and their heads white, whom
they call _Cabris_ or antelopes; who at length get the food away from
them and devour it; thereby inculcating (perhaps) the beautiful moral,
that by the dispensations of Providence, his bountiful gifts will fall
at last to the hands of the innocent.
During the intervals between these dances, all these characters, except
those from the medicine-lodge, retire to a wigwam close by, which they
use on the occasion also as a sacred place, being occupied exclusively
by them while they are at rest, and also for the purpose of painting
and ornamenting their bodies for the occasion.
During each and every one of these dances, the old men who beat upon
the sacks and sing, are earnestly chanting forth their supplications
to the Great Spirit, for the continuation of his influence in sending
them buffaloes to supply them with food during the year; they are
administering courage and fortitude to the young men in the lodge,
by telling them, that “the Great Spirit has opened his ears in their
behalf—that the very atmosphere all about them is peace—that their
women and children can hold the mouth of the grizzly bear—that they
have invoked from day to day O-kee-hee-de (the Evil Spirit)—that they
are still challenging him to come, and yet he has not dared to make his
appearance!”
But alas! in the last of these dances, on the fourth day, in the midst
of all their mirth and joy, and about noon, and in the height of all
these exultations, an instant scream burst forth from the tops of the
lodges!—men, women, dogs and all, seemed actually to howl and shudder
with alarm, as they fixed their glaring eye-balls upon the prairie
bluff, about a mile in the west, down the side of which a man was seen
descending at full speed towards the village! This strange character
darted about in a zig-zag course in all directions on the prairie,
like a boy in pursuit of a butterfly, until he approached the piquets
of the village, when it was discovered that his body was entirely
naked, and painted as black as a negro, with pounded charcoal and
bear’s grease; his body was therefore everywhere of a shining black,
except occasionally white rings of an inch or more in diameter, which
were marked here and there all over him; and frightful indentures of
white around his mouth, resembling canine teeth. Added to his hideous
appearance, he gave the most frightful shrieks and screams as he
dashed through the village and entered the terrified group, which was
composed (in that quarter) chiefly of females, who had assembled to
witness the amusements which were transpiring around the “big canoe.”
This unearthly looking creature carried in his two hands a wand or
staff of eight or nine feet in length, with a red ball at the end of
it, which he continually slid on the ground a-head of him as he ran.
All eyes in the village, save those of the persons engaged in the
dance, were centred upon him, and he made a desperate rush towards
the women, who screamed for protection as they were endeavouring to
retreat; and falling in groups upon each other as they were struggling
to get out of his reach. In this moment of general terror and alarm
there was an instant check! and all for a few moments were as silent as
death.
The old master of ceremonies, who had run from his position at the
big canoe, had met this monster of fiends, and having thrust the
_medicine-pipe_ before him, held him still and immoveable under its
charm! This check gave the females an opportunity to get out of his
reach, and when they were free from their danger, though all hearts
beat yet with the instant excitement, their alarm soon cooled down
into the most exorbitant laughter and shouts of applause at his sudden
defeat, and the awkward and ridiculous posture in which he was stopped
and held. The old man was braced stiff by his side, with his eye-balls
glaring him in the face, whilst the medicine-pipe held in its mystic
chains his _Satanic_ Majesty, annulling all the powers of his magical
wand, and also depriving him of the powers of locomotion! Surely no
two human beings ever presented a more striking group than these two
individuals did for a few moments, with their eye-balls set in direst
mutual hatred upon each other; both struggling for the supremacy,
relying on the potency of their medicine or mystery. The one held in
check, with his body painted black, representing (or rather assuming
to be) his sable majesty, O-kee-hee-de (the Evil Spirit), frowning
everlasting vengeance on the other, who sternly gazed him back with a
look of exultation and contempt, as he held him in check and disarmed
under the charm of his sacred mystery-pipe.
When the superior powers of the medicine-pipe (on which hang all these
annual mysteries) had been thus fully tested and acknowledged, and
the women had had requisite time to withdraw from the reach of this
fiendish monster, the pipe was very gradually withdrawn from before
him, and he seemed delighted to recover the use of his limbs again,
and power of changing his position from the exceedingly unpleasant and
really ridiculous one he appeared in, and was compelled to maintain,
a few moments before; rendered more superlatively ridiculous and
laughable, from the further information, which I am constrained to
give, of the plight in which this demon of terror and vulgarity made
his _entrée_ into the midst of the Mandan village, and to the centre
and nucleus of their first and greatest religious ceremony.
Then, to proceed: I said that this strange personage’s body was
naked—was painted jet black with charcoal and bear’s grease, with a
wand in his hands of eight feet in length with a red ball at the end
of it, which he was rubbing about on the ground in front of him as he
ran. In addition to this he had—_ung gee ah waheea notch,t oheks teha,
ung gee an ung hutch tow a tow ah ches menny. Ung gee ah to to wun nee,
ahkst to wan ee eigh’ s ta w._
In this plight, in which I have not dared fully to represent him in
the picture, he pursued the groups of females, spreading dismay and
alarm wherever he went, and consequently producing the awkward and
exceedingly laughable predicament in which he was placed by the sudden
check from the medicine-pipe, as I have above stated, when all eyes
were intently fixed upon him, and all joined in rounds of applause for
the success of the magic spell that was placed upon him; all voices
were raised in shouts of satisfaction at his defeat, and all eyes
gazed upon him; of chiefs and of warriors—matrons and even of their
tender-aged and timid daughters, whose education had taught them to
receive the _moral_ of these scenes without the shock of impropriety,
that would have startled a more fastidious and consequently
sensual-thinking people.
After repeated attempts thus made, and thus defeated in several parts
of the crowd, this blackened monster was retreating over the ground
where the buffalo-dance was going on, and having (apparently, par
accident) swaggered against one of the men placed under the skin of a
buffalo and engaged in the “bull dance,” he started back, and placing
himself in the attitude of a buffalo,—_hi ung ee a wahkstia, chee a
nahk s tammee ung s towa; ee ung ee aht gwaht ee o nunghths tcha ho a,
tummee oxt no ah, ughstono ah hi en en ah nahxt gwi aht gahtch gun ne.
Gwee en on doatcht chee en aht gunne how how en ahxst tchu!_
After this he paid his visits to three others of the eight, in
succession, receiving as before the deafening shouts of approbation
which pealed from every mouth in the multitude, who were all praying to
the Great Spirit to send them buffaloes to supply them with food during
the season, and who attribute the coming of buffaloes for this purpose
entirely to the strict and critical observance of this ridiculous and
disgusting part of the ceremonies.
During the half hour or so that he had been jostled about amongst man
and beasts, to the great amusement and satisfaction of the lookers-on,
he seemed to have become exceedingly exhausted, and anxiously looking
out for some feasible mode of escape.
In this awkward predicament he became the laughing-stock and butt for
the women, who being no longer afraid of him, were gathering in groups
around, to tease and tantalize him; and in the midst of this dilemma,
which soon became a very sad one—one of the women, who stole up behind
him with both hands full of yellow dirt—dashed it into his face and
eyes, and all over him, and his body being covered with grease, took
instantly a different hue. He seemed heart-broken at this signal
disgrace, and commenced crying most vehemently, when, _a l’instant_,
another caught his _wand_ from his hand, and broke it across her knee.
It was snatched for by others, who broke it still into bits, and then
threw them at him. His power was now gone—his bodily strength was
exhausted, and he made a bolt for the prairie—he dashed through the
crowd, and made his way through the piquets on the back part of the
village, where were placed for the purpose, an hundred or more women
and girls, who escorted him as he ran on the prairie for half a mile
or more, beating him with sticks, and stones, and dirt, and kicks, and
cuffs, until he was at length seen escaping from their clutches, and
making the best of his retreat over the prairie bluffs, from whence he
first appeared.
At the moment of this signal victory, and when all eyes lost sight of
him as he disappeared over the bluffs, the whole village united their
voices in shouts of satisfaction. The bull-dance then stopped, and
preparations were instantly made for the commencement of the cruelties
which were to take place within the lodge, leaving us to draw, from
what had just transpired, the following beautiful moral:—
That in the midst of their religious ceremonies, the Evil Spirit
(O-kee-hee-de) made his entrée for the purpose of doing mischief, and
of disturbing their worship—that he was held in check, and defeated
by the superior influence and virtue of the _medicine-pipe_, and at
last, driven in disgrace out of the village, by the very part of the
community whom he came to abuse.
At the close of this exciting scene, preparations were made, as above
stated, by the return of the master of ceremonies and musicians to the
medicine-lodge, where also were admitted at the same time a number
of men, who were to be instruments of the cruelties to be inflicted;
and also the chief and doctors of the tribe, who were to look on, and
bear witness to, and decide upon, the comparative degree of fortitude,
with which the young men sustain themselves in this most extreme and
excruciating ordeal. The chiefs having seated themselves on one side
of the lodge, dressed out in their robes and splendid head-dresses—the
band of music seated and arranged themselves in another part; and the
old master of ceremonies having placed himself in front of a small
fire in the centre of the lodge, with his “big pipe” in his hands,
and having commenced smoking to the Great Spirit, with all possible
vehemence for the success of these aspirants, presented the subject for
the third picture, which they call “_pohk-hong_,” the cutting scene
(+plate+ 68). Around the sides of the lodge are seen, still reclining,
as I have before mentioned, a part of the group, whilst others of them
have passed the ordeal of self-tortures, and have been removed out of
the lodge; and others still are seen in the very act of submitting
to them, which were inflicted in the following manner:—After having
removed the _sanctissimus sanctorum_, or little scaffold, of which I
before spoke, and having removed also the buffalo and human skulls
from the floor, and attached them to the posts of the lodge; and two
men having taken their positions near the middle of the lodge, for the
purpose of inflicting the tortures—the one with the scalping-knife, and
the other with the bunch of splints (which I have before mentioned)
in his hand; one at a time of the young fellows, already emaciated
with fasting, and thirsting, and waking, for nearly four days and
nights, advanced from the side of the lodge, and placed himself on his
hands and feet, or otherwise, as best suited for the performance of
the operation, where he submitted to the cruelties in the following
manner:—An inch or more of the flesh on each shoulder, or each breast
was taken up between the thumb and finger by the man who held the
knife in his right hand; and the knife, which had been ground sharp on
both edges, and then hacked and notched with the blade of another, to
make it produce as much pain as possible, was forced through the flesh
below the fingers, and being withdrawn, was followed with a splint or
skewer, from the other, who held a bunch of such in his left hand, and
was ready to force them through the wound. There were then two cords
lowered down from the top of the lodge (by men who were placed on the
lodge outside, for the purpose), which were fastened to these splints
or skewers, and they instantly began to haul him up; he was thus raised
until his body was suspended from the ground where he rested, until
the knife and a splint were passed through the flesh or integuments in
a similar manner on each arm below the shoulder (over the _brachialis
externus_), below the elbow (over the _extensor carpi radialis_), on
the thighs (over the _vastus externus_), and below the knees (over the
_peroneus_).
In some instances they remained in a reclining position on the ground
until this painful operation was finished, which was performed, in all
instances, exactly on the same parts of the body and limbs; and which,
in its progress, occupied some five or six minutes.
Each one was then instantly raised with the cords, until the weight of
his body was suspended by them, and then, while the blood was streaming
down their limbs, the bystanders hung upon the splints each man’s
appropriate shield, bow and quiver, &c.; and in many instances, the
skull of a buffalo with the horns on it, was attached to each lower arm
and each lower leg, for the purpose, probably, of preventing by their
great weight, the struggling, which might otherwise have taken place to
their disadvantage whilst they were hung up.
When these things were all adjusted, each one was raised higher by the
cords, until these weights all swung clear from the ground, leaving
his feet, in most cases, some six or eight feet above the ground. In
this plight they at once became appalling and frightful to look at—the
flesh, to support the weight of their bodies, with the additional
weights which were attached to them, was raised six or eight inches by
the skewers; and their heads sunk forward on the breasts, or thrown
backwards, in a much more frightful condition, according to the way in
which they were hung up.
[Illustration: 69]
The unflinching fortitude, with which every one of them bore this part
of the torture surpassed credulity; each one as the knife was passed
through his flesh sustained an unchangeable countenance; and several of
them, seeing me making sketches, beckoned me to look at their faces,
which I watched through all this horrid operation, without being able
to detect anything but the pleasantest smiles as they looked me in
the eye, while I could hear the knife rip through the flesh, and feel
enough of it myself, to start involuntary and uncontroullable tears
over my cheeks.
When raised to the condition above described, and completely suspended
by the cords, the sanguinary hands, through which he had just passed,
turned back to perform a similar operation on another who was
ready, and each one in his turn passed into the charge of others,
who instantly introduced him to a new and improved stage of their
refinements in cruelty.
Surrounded by imps and demons as they appear, a dozen or more, who seem
to be concerting and devising means for his exquisite agony, gather
around him, when one of the number advances towards him in a sneering
manner, and commences turning him around with a pole which he brings
in his hand for the purpose. This is done in a gentle manner at first;
but gradually increased, when the brave fellow, whose proud spirit
can controul its agony no longer, burst out in the most lamentable
and heart-rending cries that the human voice is capable of producing,
crying forth a prayer to the Great Spirit to support and protect him
in this dreadful trial; and continually repeating his confidence
in his protection. In this condition he is continued to be turned,
faster and faster—and there is no hope of escape from it, nor chance
for the slightest relief, until by fainting, his voice falters, and
his struggling ceases, and he hangs, apparently, a still and lifeless
corpse! When he is, by turning, gradually brought to this condition,
which is generally done within ten or fifteen minutes, there is a close
scrutiny passed upon him among his tormentors, who are checking and
holding each other back as long as the least struggling or tremour can
be discovered, lest he should be removed before he is (as they term it)
“entirely dead.”
When brought to this alarming and most frightful condition, and the
turning has gradually ceased, as his voice and his strength have given
out, leaving him to hang entirely still, and apparently lifeless; when
his tongue is distended from his mouth, and his _medicine-bag_, which
he has affectionately and superstitiously clung to with his left hand,
has dropped to the ground; the signal is given to the men on top of the
lodge, by gently striking the cord with the pole below, when they very
gradually and carefully lower him to the ground.
In this helpless condition he lies, like a loathsome corpse to look
at, though in the keeping (as they call it) of the Great Spirit, whom
he trusts will protect him, and enable him to get up and walk away.
As soon as he is lowered to the ground thus, one of the bystanders
advances, and pulls out the two splints or pins from the breasts and
shoulders, thereby disengaging him from the cords by which he has been
hung up; but leaving all the others with their weights, &c. hanging to
his flesh.
In this condition he lies for six or eight minutes, until he gets
strength to rise and move himself, for no one is allowed to assist or
offer him aid, as he is here enjoying the most valued privilege which a
Mandan can boast of, that of “trusting his life to the keeping of the
Great Spirit,” in this time of extreme peril.
As soon as he is seen to get strength enough to rise on his hands and
feet, and drag his body around the lodge, he crawls with the weights
still hanging to his body, to another part of the lodge, where there is
another Indian sitting with a hatchet in his hand, and a dried buffalo
skull before him; and here, in the most earnest and humble manner, by
holding up the little finger of his left hand to the Great Spirit, he
expresses to Him, in a speech of a few words, his willingness to give
it as a sacrifice; when he lays it on the dried buffalo skull, where
the other chops it off near the hand, with a blow of the hatchet!
Nearly all of the young men whom I saw passing this horrid ordeal,
gave in the above manner, the little finger of the left hand; and I
saw also several, who immediately afterwards (and apparently with very
little concern or emotion), with a similar speech, extended in the same
way, the _fore_-finger of the same hand, and that too was struck off;
leaving on the left hand only the two middle fingers and the thumb;
all which they deem absolutely essential for holding the bow, the only
weapon for the left hand.
One would think that this mutilation had thus been carried quite far
enough; but I have since examined several of the head chiefs and
dignitaries of the tribe, who have also given, in this manner, the
little finger of the right hand, which is considered by them to be a
much greater sacrifice than both of the others; and I have found also
a number of their most famous men, who furnish me incontestible proof,
by five or six corresponding scars on each arm, and each breast, and
each leg, that they had so many times in their lives submitted to this
almost incredible operation, which seems to be optional with them;
and the oftener they volunteer to go through it, the more famous they
become in the estimation of their tribe.
No bandages are applied to the fingers which have been amputated, nor
any arteries taken up; nor is any attention whatever, paid to them or
the other wounds; but they are left (as they say) “for the Great Spirit
to cure, who will surely take good care of them.” It is a remarkable
fact (which I learned from a close inspection of their wounds from day
to day) that the bleeding is but very slight and soon ceases, probably
from the fact of their extreme exhaustion and debility, caused by want
of sustenance and sleep, which checks the natural circulation, and
admirably at the same time prepares them to meet the severity of these
tortures without the same degree of sensibility and pain, which, under
other circumstances, might result in inflammation and death.
During the whole of the time of this cruel part of these most
extraordinary inflictions, the chiefs and dignitaries of the tribe are
looking on, to decide who are the hardiest and “stoutest hearted”—who
can hang the longest by his flesh before he faints, and who will be
soonest up, after he has been down; that they may know whom to appoint
to lead a war-party, or place at the most honourable and desperate
post. The four old men are incessantly beating upon the sacks of water
and singing the whole time, with their voices strained to the highest
key, vaunting forth, for the encouragement of the young men, the power
and efficacy of the _medicine-pipe_, which has disarmed the monster
O-kee-hee-de (or Evil Spirit), and driven him from the village, and
will be sure to protect them and watch over them through their present
severe trial.
As soon as six or eight had passed the ordeal as above described,
they were led out of the lodge, with their weights hanging to their
flesh, and dragging on the ground, to undergo another, and a still
more appalling mode of suffering in the centre of the village, and in
presence of the whole nation, in the manner as follows:—
The signal for the commencement of this part of the cruelties was
given by the old master of ceremonies, who again ran out as in
the buffalo-dance, and leaning against the big canoe, with his
_medicine-pipe_ in his hand, began to cry. This was done several times
in the afternoon, as often as there were six or eight who had passed
the ordeal just described within the lodge, who were then taken out in
the open area, in the presence of the whole village, with the buffalo
skulls and other weights attached to their flesh, and dragging on the
ground! There were then in readiness, and prepared for the purpose,
about twenty young men, selected of equal height and equal age; with
their bodies chiefly naked, with beautiful (and similar) head-dresses
of war-eagles’ quills, on their heads, and a wreath made of willow
boughs held in the hands between them, connecting them in a chain or
circle in which they ran around the big canoe, with all possible speed,
raising their voices in screams and yelps to the highest pitch that was
possible, and keeping the curb or _big canoe_ in the centre, as their
nucleus.
Then were led forward the young men who were further to suffer, and
being placed at equal distances apart, and outside of the ring just
described, each one was taken in charge of two athletic young men,
fresh and strong, who stepped up to him, one on each side, and by
wrapping a broad leather strap around his wrists, without tying it,
grasped it firm underneath the hand, and stood prepared for what they
call _Eh-ke-nah-ka-nah-pick_ (the last race, +plate+ 69). This, the
spectator looking on would suppose was most correctly named, for he
would think it was the last race they could possibly run in this world.
In this condition they stand, pale and ghastly, from abstinence and
loss of blood, until all are prepared, and the word is given, when
all start and run around, outside of the other ring; and each poor
fellow, with his weights dragging on the ground, and his furious
conductors by his side, who hurry him forward by the wrists, struggles
in the desperate emulation to run longer without “dying” (as they
call it) than his comrades, who are fainting around him and sinking
down, like himself, where their bodies are dragged with all possible
speed, and often with their faces in the dirt. In the commencement of
this dance or race they all start at a moderate pace, and their speed
being gradually increased, the pain becomes so excruciating that their
languid and exhausted frames give out, and they are dragged by their
wrists until they are disengaged from the weights that were attached
to their flesh, and this must be done by such violent force as to
tear the flesh out with the splint, which (as they say) can never be
pulled out endwise, without greatly offending the Great Spirit and
defeating the object for which they have thus far suffered. The splints
or skewers which are put through the breast and the shoulders, take
up a part of the pectoral or trapezius muscle, which is necessary for
the support of the great weight of their bodies, and which, as I have
before mentioned, are withdrawn as soon as he is lowered down—but all
the others, on the legs and arms, seem to be very ingeniously passed
through the flesh and integuments without taking up the muscle, and
even these, to be broken out, require so strong and so violent a force
that most of the poor fellows fainted under the operation, and when
they were freed from the last of the buffalo skulls and other weights,
(which was often done by some of the bystanders throwing the weight of
their bodies on to them as they were dragging on the ground) they were
in every instance dropped by the persons who dragged them, and their
bodies were left, appearing like nothing but a mangled and a loathsome
corpse! At this strange and frightful juncture, the two men who had
dragged them, fled through the crowd and away upon the prairie, as if
they were guilty of some enormous crime, and were fleeing from summary
vengeance.
Each poor fellow, having thus patiently and manfully endured the
privations and tortures devised for him, and (in this last struggle
with the most appalling effort) torn himself loose from them and his
tormentors, he lies the second time, in the “keeping (as he terms it)
of the Great Spirit,” to whom he issues his repeated prayers, and
entrusts his life: and in whom he reposes the most implicit confidence
for his preservation and recovery. As an evidence of this, and of the
high value which these youths set upon this privilege, there is no
person, not a relation or a chief of the tribe, who is allowed, or who
would dare, to step forward to offer an aiding hand, even to save his
life; for not only the rigid customs of the nation, and the pride of
the individual who has entrusted his life to the keeping of the Great
Spirit, would sternly reject such a tender; but their superstition,
which is the strongest of all arguments in an Indian community, would
alone, hold all the tribe in fear and dread of interfering, when
they consider they have so good a reason to believe that the Great
Spirit has undertaken the special care and protection of his devoted
worshippers.
In this “last race,” which was the struggle that finally closed their
sufferings, each one was dragged until he fainted, and was thus left,
looking more like the dead than the living: and thus each one laid,
until, by the aid of the Great Spirit, he was in a few minutes seen
gradually rising, and at last reeling and staggering, like a drunken
man, through the crowd (which made way for him) to his wigwam, where
his friends and relatives stood ready to take him into hand and restore
him.
In this frightful scene, as in the buffalo-dance, the whole nation was
assembled as spectators, and all raised the most piercing and violent
yells and screams they could possibly produce, to drown the cries of
the suffering ones, that no heart could even be touched with sympathy
for them. I have mentioned before, that six or eight of the young men
were brought from the medicine-lodge at a time, and when they were
thus passed through this shocking ordeal, the medicine-men and the
chiefs returned to the interior, where as many more were soon prepared,
and underwent a similar treatment; and after that another batch, and
another, and so on, until the whole number, some forty-five or fifty
had run in this sickening circle, and, by leaving their weights, had
opened the flesh for honourable scars. I said _all_, but there was one
poor fellow though (and I shudder to tell it), who was dragged around
and around the circle, with the skull of an elk hanging to the flesh
on one of his legs,—several had jumped upon it, but to no effect, for
the splint was under the sinew, which could not be broken. The dragging
became every instant more and more furious, and the apprehensions for
the poor fellow’s life, apparent by the piteous howl which was set up
for him by the multitude around; and at last the medicine-man ran, with
his medicine-pipe in his hand, and held them in check, when the body
was dropped, and left upon the ground, with the skull yet hanging to
it. The boy, who was an extremely interesting and fine-looking youth,
soon recovered his senses and his strength, looking deliberately at
his torn and bleeding limbs; and also with the most pleasant smile of
defiance, upon the misfortune which had now fallen to his peculiar lot,
crawled through the crowd (instead of walking, which they are never
again at liberty to do until the flesh is torn out, and the article
left) to the prairie, and over which, for the distance of half a mile,
to a sequestered spot, without any attendant, where he laid three days
and three nights, yet longer, without food, and praying to the Great
Spirit, until suppuration took place in the wound, and by the decaying
of the flesh the weight was dropped, and the splint also, which he dare
not extricate in another way. At the end of this, he crawled back to
the village on his hands and knees, being too much emaciated to walk,
and begged for something to eat, which was at once given him, and he
was soon restored to health.
These extreme and difficult cases often occur, and I learn that in such
instances the youth has it at his option to get rid of the weight that
is thus left upon him, in such way as he may choose, and some of those
modes are far more extraordinary than the one which I have just named.
Several of the Traders, who have been for a number of years in the
habit of seeing this part of the ceremony, have told me that two years
since, when they were looking on, there was one whose flesh on the arms
was so strong that the weights could not be left, and he dragged them
with his body to the river by the side of the village, where he set a
stake fast in the ground on the top of the bank, and fastening cords
to it, he let himself half-way down a perpendicular wall of rock, of
twenty-five or thirty feet, where the weight of his body was suspended
by the two cords attached to the flesh of his arms. In this awful
condition he hung for several days, equi-distant from the top of the
rock and the deep water below, into which he at last dropped and saved
himself by swimming ashore!
I need record no more of these shocking and disgusting instances,
of which I have already given enough to convince the world of the
correctness of the established fact of the Indian’s superior stoicism
and power of endurance, although some recent writers have, from motives
of envy, from ignorance, or something else, taken great pains to cut
the poor Indian short in everything, and in _this_, even as if it were
a virtue.
I am ready to accord to them in this particular, the palm; the credit
of outdoing anything and everybody, and of enduring more than civilized
man ever aspired to or ever thought of. My heart has sickened also
with disgust for so abominable and ignorant a custom, and still I
stand ready with all my heart, to excuse and forgive them for adhering
so strictly to an ancient celebration, founded in superstitions and
mysteries, of which they know not the origin, and constituting a
material part and feature in the code and forms of their religion.
Reader, I will return with you a moment to the medicine-lodge, which is
just to be closed, and then we will indulge in some general reflections
upon what has passed, and in what, and for what purposes this strange
batch of mysteries has been instituted and perpetuated.
After these young men, who had for the last four days occupied the
medicine-lodge, had been operated on, in the manner above described,
and taken out of it, the old medicine-man, master of ceremonies,
returned, (still crying to the Great Spirit) sole tenant of that sacred
place, and brought out the “edged tools,” which I before said had been
collected at the door of every man’s wigwam, to be given as a sacrifice
to the water, and leaving the lodge securely fastened, he approached
the bank of the river, when all the medicine-men attended him, and all
the nation were spectators; and in their presence he threw them from a
high bank into very deep water, from which they cannot be recovered,
and where they are, correctly speaking, made a sacrifice to the water.
This part of the affair took place just exactly at sun-down, and closed
the scene, being the end or finale of the _Mandan religious ceremony_.
[Illustration: 70]
[Illustration: 71]
_The reader will forgive me for here inserting the Certificates which
I have just received from Mr. Kipp, of the city of New York, and two
others, who were with me; which I offer for the satisfaction of the
world, who read the above account._
“_We hereby certify, that we witnessed, in company with Mr. Catlin, in
the Mandan Village, the ceremonies represented in the four paintings,
and described in his Notes, to which this Certificate refers; and that
he has therein faithfully represented those scenes as we saw them
transacted without any addition or exaggeration._
“+J. Kipp+, _Agent Amer. Fur Company_.
+L. Crawford+, _Clerk_.
“_Mandan Village, July 20, 1833._ +Abraham Bogard+.”
The strange country that I am in—its excitements—its accidents and
wild incidents which startle me at almost every moment, prevent me
from any very elaborate disquisition upon the above remarkable events
at present; and even had I all the time and leisure of a country
gentleman, and all the additional information which I am daily
procuring, and daily expect to procure hereafter in explanation of
these unaccountable mysteries, yet do I fear that there would be
that inexplicable difficulty that hangs over most of the customs and
traditions of these simple people, who have no history to save facts
and systems from falling into the most absurd and disjointed fable and
ignorant fiction.
What few plausible inferences I have as yet been able to draw from the
above strange and peculiar transactions I will set forth, but with
some diffidence, hoping and trusting that by further intimacy and
familiarity with these people I may yet arrive at more satisfactory and
important results.
That these people should have a tradition of the Flood is by no means
surprising; as I have learned from every tribe I have visited, that
they all have some high mountain in their vicinity, where they insist
upon it the big canoe landed; but that these people should hold an
annual celebration of the event, and the season of that decided by such
circumstances as the full leaf of the willow, and the medicine-lodge
opened by such a man as Nu-mohk-muck-a-nah (who appears to be a white
man), and making his appearance “from the high-mountains in the West;”
and some other circumstances, is surely a very remarkable thing, and
requires some extraordinary attention.
This Nu-mohk-muck-a-nah (first or only man) is undoubtedly some mystery
or medicine-man of the tribe, who has gone out on the prairie on the
evening previous, and having dressed and painted himself for the
occasion, comes into the village in the morning, endeavouring to keep
up the semblance of reality; for their tradition says, that at a very
ancient period such a man did actually come from the West—that his
body was of the white colour, as this man’s body is represented—that
he wore a robe of four white wolf skins—his head-dress was made of two
raven’s skins—and in his left hand was a huge pipe. He said, “he was at
one time the only man—he told them of the destruction of every thing on
the earth’s surface by water—that he stopped in his _big canoe_ on a
high mountain in the West, where he landed and was saved.”
“That the Mandans, and all other people were bound to make yearly
sacrifices of some edged-tools to the water, for of such things the
big canoe was made. That he instructed the Mandans how to build
their medicine-lodge, and taught them also the forms of these annual
ceremonies; and told them that as long as they made these sacrifices,
and performed their rites to the full letter, they might be assured of
the fact, that they would be the favourite people of the Almighty, and
would always have enough to eat and drink; and that so soon as they
should depart in one tittle from these forms, they might be assured,
that their race would decrease, and finally run out; and that they
might date their nation’s calamity to that omission or neglect.”
These people have, no doubt, been long living under the dread of such
an injunction, and in the fear of departing from it; and while they are
living in total ignorance of its origin, the world must remain equally
ignorant of much of its meaning, as they needs must be of all Indian
customs resting on ancient traditions, which soon run into fables,
having lost all their system, by which they might have been construed.
This strange and unaccountable custom, is undoubtedly peculiar to the
Mandans; although, amongst the Minatarees, and some others of the
neighbouring tribes, they have seasons of abstinence and self-torture,
somewhat similar, but bearing no other resemblance to this than a mere
feeble effort or form of imitation.
It would seem from their tradition of the willow branch, and the dove,
that these people must have had some proximity to some part of the
civilized world; or that missionaries or others have been formerly
among them, inculcating the Christian religion and the Mosaic account
of the Flood; which is, in this and some other respects, decidedly
different from the theory which most natural people have distinctly
established of that event.
There are other strong, and almost decisive proofs in my opinion, in
support of the assertion, which are to be drawn from the diversity
of colour in their hair and complexions, as I have before described,
as well as from their tradition just related, of the “_first or only
man_,” whose body was white, and who came from the West, telling them
of the destruction of the earth by water, and instructing them in the
forms of these mysteries; and, in addition to the above, I will add
the two following very curious stories, which I had from several of
their old and dignified chiefs, and which are, no doubt, standing and
credited traditions of the tribe.
“The Mandans (people of the pheasants) were the first people created
in the world, and they originally lived inside of the earth; they
raised many vines, and one of them had grown up through a hole in
the earth, over head, and one of their young men climbed up it until
he came out on the top of the ground, on the bank of the river, where
the Mandan village stands. He looked around, and admired the beautiful
country and prairies about him—saw many buffaloes—killed one with his
bow and arrows, and found that its meat was good to eat. He returned,
and related what he had seen; when a number of others went up the vine
with him, and witnessed the same things. Amongst those who went up,
were two very pretty young women, who were favourites of the chiefs,
because they were virgins; and amongst those who were trying to get up,
was a very large and fat woman, who was ordered by the chiefs not to go
up, but whose curiosity led her to try it as soon as she got a secret
opportunity, when there was no one present. When she got part of the
way up, the vine broke under the great weight of her body, and let her
down. She was very much hurt by the fall, but did not die. The Mandans
were very sorry about this; and she was disgraced for being the cause
of a very great calamity, which she had brought upon them, and which
could never be averted; for no more could ever ascend, nor could those
descend who had got up; but they built the Mandan village, where it
formerly stood, a great ways below on the river; and the remainder of
the people live under ground to this day.”
The above tradition is told with great gravity by their chiefs and
doctors or mystery-men; and the latter profess to hear their friends
talk through the earth at certain times and places, and even consult
them for their opinions and advice on many important occasions.