INDIANS OF THE PRAIRIES
System of Chiefs -- Mode of Warfare -- War-Council -- The
Scalp-dance -- The Calumet or Pipe of Peace -- Treaties -- Public
News-criers -- Arms of the Indians -- Bow and Arrows, etc. --
Hunting -- Dancing -- Language of Signs -- Telegraphs -- Wigwams
or Lodges -- Pack-dogs -- Costumes -- Painting, Tattooing, etc.
-- Indian Dandies -- Manufactures, and Dressing the Buffalo
Rug -- Indian Diet, Feasting, etc. -- Primitive Thomsonians --
Their domestic Animals, the Dog and the Horse -- Wampum -- Their
Chronology.
Those savage hordes which may be considered as the Prairie Indians
proper, have made little or no perceptible progress in civilization.
They mostly live by plunder and the chase: a few eke out a subsistence
by agriculture. They consist of various distinct tribes, but among
whom there is a greater diversity of language than of habitudes. I
would not have it understood, however, that all the customs of every
band are entirely similar: it is this assumption, together with the
practice of setting down as standing customs what they have observed
on some particular occasions, that has frequently created such a
discrepancy between the accounts of transient travellers.
{277} There is scarcely a prairie tribe, however limited in numbers,
but is subdivided into petty bands, each under the immediate control
of its own chief. Their systems of government are frequently
compounded of the patriarchal and military. The most influential heads
of families exercise a petty rule, which often extends beyond their
own household to a circle of adherents. Several of these clans, bound
by the ties of consanguinity or friendship, are apt to come under the
control, by common consent, of some more influential chief, who may
have gained celebrity in their wars; but a regular hereditary descent
seems rarely established. These petty bands seldom unite under one
general leader, except for the common defence, when [Pg319]
threatened with danger. Occasionally there springs up a master
spirit--a great brave and a great sage, who is able to unite his whole
tribe, in which he is generally aided by a sufficient knack at
sorcerous tricks to give him the character of a great 'medicine-man.'
War seems to be the element of the prairie Indians, notwithstanding
but few possess much intrinsic bravery. They are, in fact, the most
cowardly savages east of the Rocky Mountains, bearing but little
similitude in this respect to the aborigines of the interior of the
United States. They rarely attack an enemy except with a decided
advantage; for the prospect of losing even a single warrior will often
deter them from undertaking the most flattering adventure. It is true
that, in addition {278} to their timidity, they are restrained by the
fact that the loss of a man often casts a gloom upon the most
brilliant victory, and throws a whole clan into mourning. On this
account they generally attack by surprise, and in the night, when all
are presumed to be asleep; having care, if against a formidable enemy,
that it be long enough before the morning dawn to allow them to retire
beyond reach of pursuit before daylight. When the moon rises at a late
hour, just before she appears, is a favorite time; for then they will
have a gleam of light by which to collect and drive off the prize of
stock which they may be able to frighten away. These prowling parties
around a camp sometimes employ a species of signals in imitation of
wolves, owls and other nocturnal animals, by which they communicate
with each other--mimicking so to the life as not to give alarm to
unsuspecting travellers.
War is seldom concluded upon, or even a campaign undertaken, without a
general council, in which all the chiefs and most distinguished braves
and sages assemble. After all are seated in a circle, the pipe is
passed around until their brains are sufficiently soothed to enable
them [Pg320] to consult the Great Spirit, and take freely into
advisement the important matters under consideration. Therefore the
tobacco smoke is usually blown upwards, as a propitiatory incense to
the invoked spirits or genii who dwell 'upon the sky.' In this
operation the smoke is generally inhaled into {279} the lungs, and
discharged in murky streams from the olfactories. If a council be
preparatory to a campaign, the warriors sometimes catch the tobacco
smoke in the hand, anointing their bodies with it; which they fancy
renders them, if not invulnerable, at least far more secure from the
darts of their enemies.
Although in their warfare they employ every wile and stratagem, and
faithless subterfuge, to deceive their enemies, and in battle are
relentless and cruel in the extreme, yet they seldom resort to those
horrid punishments and tortures upon their prisoners which were wont
to be inflicted by the savages of the interior of the United States,
during their early wars with the whites. The practice of burning their
captives alive, said to have prevailed many years ago among some
prairie tribes, seems now to have grown quite out of use.
Upon returning from a campaign after a defeat, the village resounds
for many days with the lamentations, the shrieks and wailings of the
women and children; in which, not only the bereft families, but all
the relatives and most of the friends of the deceased join. If, on the
contrary, the warriors have been successful, and bring home scalps of
their enemies, all join in their most famous festival, the
scalp-dance. In this fête the savage trophies are usually elevated
upon a pole in the centre of the dance; or perhaps the brave captors
retain them in their hands, tossing and swinging them about their
heads; at the same time vehemently apostrophizing these ghastly
representatives {280} of their enemies, with the most taunting and
insulting [Pg321] bravadoes; branding the nation with cowardice and
effeminacy; daring them to come forward and revenge the blood of their
slain; then concluding with scoffs and exulting yells at the dastardly
silence of their enemies, whom they represent as afraid to whisper a
note of vengeance against their superiors and masters, the triumphing
conquerors. After the warriors have become fatigued, the squaws and
children generally continue the barbarous festivity; in the midst of
which some vainglorious brave will rise perhaps, and repeat the
apostrophic fanfaronades, representing that the very squaws and
papooses hold them in cowering submission, and that henceforth these
only will be sent to subdue them; their warriors being reserved for
more noble enemies. These brutal rites and rodomontades being
concluded, the scalps are handed to their owners, who cure and paint
them for future war-dances and other kindred ceremonies.
When a tribe wishes to celebrate a treaty of peace with an enemy, a
number of their warriors, as ambassadors, or perhaps a whole band,
move to the neighborhood, and send the calumet or pipe of peace, which
supplies the place of the flag of truce among civilized nations:[205]
though, when the embassy {281} is to the whites, a flag usually
accompanies, as they have learned that this is our token of peace. The
overture being accepted, the chiefs and principals of each band meet
in council, sometimes in a wigwam, if there [Pg322] be a suitable
one, else in the open air, taking their seats, as usual, upon their
haunches in a circle proportioned to the number. If there be
presents--and these are an indispensable earnest of friendship from
the whites--the essence, the seal of the treaty, without which
negotiation is vain--these are laid in the centre. A personage in the
capacity of an orderly sergeant then lights the calumet, which he
hands to a principal chief, who, before smoking, usually points the
stem towards the four cardinal points, and towards the heavens and the
earth--then takes a certain number of whiffs (generally about three),
and passing it to the next, who draws an equal number of whiffs, it
thus continues around the circle, in the direction of the sun, each
sending fumid {282} currents upward from the nozzle. It seems looked
upon as sacrilege for a person to pass before the pipe while the
chiefs are smoking; and the heedless or impudent are sometimes
severely punished for the act. The 'big talk' follows, and the
presents are distributed by a chief who exercises the office of
commissary. But in the petty truces among each other, presents are
scarcely expected, except they be claimed by the more powerful party
as a matter of tribute.
Travellers and hunters are generally obliged to hold a treaty or 'big
talk' with every band of prairie Indians they may encounter, if they
wish to maintain friendly relations with them. Treaties have also been
held, at different periods, with most of the wild tribes, by agents of
the U. S. [Pg323] Government, yet for the most part with but very
little effect--they generally forget or disregard them by the time the
presents they may have received are consumed.
These treaties, as well as other council deliberations, are generally
promulgated by a sort of public crier, who proclaims the stipulations
and resolutions from lodge to lodge; and the event is preserved in the
memory of the sages to future generations. Among some of the tribes
their memory is assisted by the famous 'wampum belt,' which is a list
or belt made of wampum beads, so interwoven in hieroglyphic figures as
to form a record of important events. Others preserve the same by
hieroglyphic paintings on their buffalo rugs, and the like.
{283} The _arms_ of the wild Indians are chiefly the bow and arrows,
with the use of which they become remarkably expert. A dexterous
savage will lay a wager, at short shots, against many riflemen.
Indeed, there is hardly any more effective weapon than the bow and
arrow in the hands of an expert archer. While the musketeer will load
and fire once, the bowman will discharge a dozen arrows, and that, at
distances under fifty yards, with an accuracy nearly equal to the
rifle. In a charge, they are eminently serviceable; for the Indian
seems to discharge his arrows with about as much certainty when
running at full speed as when standing.
The usual length of the Indian bow is about three feet, though it is
sometimes as much as four. It is generally made of elastic wood, yet
elk's horn is occasionally used. Those of the latter are made of two
of the longest and straightest shafts, which, being shaved down to the
necessary proportions, are united by lapping their ends together and
binding them firmly with sinew. Bows have also been made, in the same
manner, of a pair of buffalo ribs; but as well these as those of
elk-horn, are rather items of [Pg324] curiosity than of service: at
least, they are not equal to bows of the bois-d'arc tree. Even the
backs of the _wooden_ bows are often lined the whole length with a
broad strip of sinew, and the whole wrapped with shreds of the same.
The arrows are generally about thirty inches long, and pointed with
iron, though the primitive {284} flint points are still met with among
some of the wildest tribes.
Besides these, the lance or spear, the use of which they may have
learned from the Mexicans, is an effective weapon in the charge as
well as the chase. Many are also provided with the Northwestern fusil,
and some have rifles. Very few, however, have acquired the dexterity
of our frontier Indians with this deadly weapon. But no Indian deems
his equipage complete without a 'scalping-knife;' yet among the
western prairie Indians the tomahawk is but little known. These
employ, in its stead, the war-club or 'war-hawk,' which are bludgeons
with an encased stone for a head in the former, and with a transverse
blade or spike in its place in the latter. Many are provided with
shields of raw buffalo or elk skin, upon which are frequently painted
some rude hieroglyphical devices representing the enemies they have
slain, as well as any other notable exploits of which they can boast.
Such as are without these have their titles to renown recorded
commonly upon the handles of their hatchets, their war-clubs, or
perhaps tattooed upon their breasts or arms.
Besides war, _hunting_ seems the only creditable employment in which a
warrior can engage. Every other labor is put upon the squaws; and even
when a party of hunters set out, they generally provide themselves
with enough of these 'menials' to take charge of the meat: the Indian
only deigns to shoot {285} down the game; the squaws not only have it
to cure and pack, but to skin and dress. [Pg325]
Except such tribes as are expert with the rifle, very few of the
prairie Indians hunt other game than the buffalo: not, as some have
presumed, because they deem all small game too ignoble for them, but
because the former is at once easiest taken, and affords the most
bounteous supply of food. The antelope is too wild and fleet for their
mode of hunting, and is only occasionally taken by stratagem; while
the deer, as difficult to take in the chase, is less easily entrapped.
But, mounted upon their trained steeds, and with the arrow or lance,
they are not to be excelled in the chase. A few of them, let loose
among a herd of buffalo, will soon have the plain strewed with their
carcasses.
Among the amusements of the Indians generally, _dancing_ is perhaps
the most favorite. Besides a war accompaniment, it is practised as a
recreation, and often connected with their worship. Their social
frolics, in which the squaws are commonly permitted to join, are
conducted with less ferocity of manner than their war dances; though
even these are accompanied with the wildest and most comical
gesticulations, and songs full at once of mirth and obscenity. In
these, as well as in the war and scalp dances, a sort of little drum
and a shrill squeaking pipe are their common instruments of music.
As so many tongues, entirely different, are spoken by the prairie
Indians, a 'language of {286} signs' has become the general medium of
communication between the different nations. This system of signs has
been brought to such perfection among them, that the most intricate
correspondence seems to be intelligibly conducted by such as have
acquired a proficiency in this 'dumb language.'
Their systems of telegraphs are very peculiar, and though they might
seem impracticable at first, yet so thoroughly are they understood by
the savages, that it is availed of [Pg326] frequently to immense
advantage. The most remarkable is by raising smokes, by which many
important facts are communicated to a considerable distance--and made
intelligible by the manner, size, number or repetition of the smokes,
which are commonly raised by firing spots of dry grass. When
travelling, they will also pile heaps of stones upon mounds or
conspicuous points, so arranged as to be understood by their passing
comrades; and sometimes they set up the bleached buffalo heads, which
are everywhere scattered over those plains, to indicate the direction
of their march, and many other facts which may be communicated by
those simple signs.
Almost every tribe has some peculiarity in the construction of their
lodges or wigwams, in the manner of arranging their camps, and in the
different items of dress, by any or all which peculiarities the
experienced traveller is able to recognize the tribe of their owner.
If a moccasin, or other article of apparel be {287} found, he at once
designates the nation to which it belongs--even a track is often
sufficient to identify them.[206] Also by the 'sign,' and especially
the remains of fires, he determines the interval elapsed since their
departure, with remarkable accuracy.
The lodges are composed of a frame of small poles or rods, covered
usually with buffalo skins, which receive but little further
preparation than the currying off of the hair. Some give their lodges
a round wagon-top shape, as those of the Osages, which commonly
consist of a frame of bent rods, resembling wagon-bows, and covered
with skins, the bark of trees, or, as is generally the case in their
villages, with grass and earth. Again, some dispose the poles in two
parallel lines, and incline them against a ridge-pole, [Pg327] which
gives the wigwam the shape of a house-roof: others, planting small
rods in a circle, to swine the points together as to resemble, in some
degree, when covered, a rounded hay-mow: but by far the most general
style, among the wild tribes, of constructing their wigwams, is by
planting the lodge-poles so as to enclose a circular area of from ten
to twenty feet in diameter (the size depending upon the number of the
family); and the tops being brought together, it forms a conical
frame, which is closely covered with skins, except an aperture in the
apex for the escape of the {288} smoke. This is the style of the
Comanches and most other tribes of the great plains. The doors of the
lodges being closed with a skin, they are kept very comfortable in
winter with but little fire. This is kindled in the centre, and a hole
is left in the vertex of the lodge, through which the smoke is
discharged so freely, that the interior is but seldom infected by it.
These lodges are always pitched or set up by the squaws, and with such
expedition, that, upon the stopping of an itinerant band, a town
springs up in a desert valley in a few minutes, as if by enchantment.
The lodge-poles are often neatly prepared, and carried along from camp
to camp. In conveying them, one end frequently drags on the ground;
whereby the trail is known to be that of a band with families, as war
parties never carry lodge-poles. The Chayennes, Sioux and some other
northern tribes, often employ dogs for carrying and dragging their
lodge covers and poles; indeed for conveying most of their light
baggage: but, for ordinary travelling purposes and packing their more
weighty baggage, they use horses. So few navigable waters traverse the
Prairies, that none of the Indians of the high plains have learned the
use of canoes or water-craft of any kind.
There is some variety in the dress in vogue among the [Pg328]
different tribes; though they all use moccasins, leggins, flap or
breech-clout, and, when not in active pursuits, they generally wrap
their bodies in buffalo rugs, blankets or {289} mantles of strouding,
according to their wealth or opportunities. Some of the northern
tribes display considerable ingenuity and taste in the manufacture of
moccasins. But this is the work of the women, who often embroider them
with beads and colored porcupine quills, in a most beautiful manner.
The _leggin_ is a buckskin or cloth covering for the leg and thigh, as
of the pantaloon. A superfluous list is usually left outside the seam,
which, if of skin, is slitted into long tassels, or if of cloth, the
wide border remains entire, to dangle and flap upon the exterior of
the legs. A strip of strouding (that is, coarse broad-cloth) about a
foot in width and a yard or more long, constitutes the most usual
flap; which being passed betwixt the legs, the ends are secured under
the belt around the waist, whence the leggins are suspended. As the
flap is sometimes near two yards long, a surplusage of half a yard or
more at each end is sometimes left dangling down before and behind.
The Indians use no head-dress, but support the bleakest rains and
hottest suns of those bare plains with naked heads. Nevertheless,
their coarse black hair seems 'fertilized' by exposure; for they
rarely become gray till an exceeding old age; and I do not recollect
to have ever seen a bald Indian. Their eyesight also, they retain in
extraordinary vigor, notwithstanding the want of protection even of
the eye-lashes and brows (which are plucked out), and in spite of the
constant use of apparently deleterious paints around the edges {290}
of the lids. Though using no regular head-dress, they sometimes wear,
as a temporary ornament, a fantastic cap of skins; and it is not
unusual to see a brave with the entire shaggy frontlet of a buffalo,
[Pg329] horns and all, set upon his head--which, with his painted
face, imparts a diabolical ferocity to his aspect.
The Indians of the Plains, almost without exception, wear long hair,
which dangles in clotted tresses over the shoulders--besmeared with
gum, grease and paints, and ornamented with feathers and trinkets. But
most of those intermediate tribes nearer our border, trim their hair
in a peculiar manner.
Vermillion seems almost indispensable to the Indian's toilet; but in
default of this they paint with colored earths. When going to war,
they bedaub their bodies with something black--mud, charcoal or
gunpowder, which gives them a frightful appearance. But 'ornamental'
painting is much more gay and fanciful. The face, and sometimes arms
and breast are oddly striped and chequered, interspersed with shades
of yellow and white clay, as well as occasional black, though the
latter is chiefly appropriated to war. Especial pains are taken to tip
the eyelids most gaily with vermillion.
Besides painting, most of the tribes tattoo--some sparingly, while
others make their faces, breasts, and particularly their arms,
perfectly piebald. This seems practised to some extent by all the
savages from the Atlantic {291} to the Pacific. Figures are pierced in
the skin with any sharp pointed instrument--often the keen prickles of
the cactus--and pulverized charcoal or gunpowder, or sometimes the
coloring juice of a plant, is rubbed into the fresh punctures, which
leaves a lasting stain.
The most usual female dress is of the style worn by the Comanche
squaws, which is described in speaking of that nation. With respect to
dress and other ornaments, however, the order of the civilized world
is reversed among the Indians. The 'fair sex' paint less than the
men--use fewer ornaments generally, and particularly, wear [Pg330] no
pendants in the ears. While a savage beauty pays but little attention
to her person, a 'brave' will spend as much time at his toilet as a
French belle, in the adjustment of his ornaments--his paint, trinkets,
beads and other gewgaws. A mirror is his idol: no warrior is equipped
without this indispensable toilet companion, which he very frequently
consults. He usually takes it from its original case, and sets it in a
large fancifully carved frame of wood, which is always carried about
him. He is also rarely without his tweezers, whether of a fold of tin,
of hardened wood, or of spirally twisted wire, with which he carefully
eradicates, not only his beard, eye-lashes and brows, but every
villous particle from his body, as fast as it appears; for everything
of the kind is considered as extremely unbecoming a warrior. It is on
this account that Indians {292} have frequently been represented as
naturally beardless.
All Indians are passionately fond of beads, trinkets and gewgaws of
every kind. The men often cut up the rim of the ears in a frightful
manner to admit their pendants of beads, plate, shells, etc.; and even
strips of lead are sometimes twined around the separated rim, by the
weight of which the detached portion of the ear is frequently swagged
down some inches. It is not unusual to see near half a pound even of
beads and 'jewelry' swung to each ear; and among some tribes, also a
large quantity to the nose. The hair is likewise garnished with the
same, and the neck with strings of beads, bear's claws, and the like;
while the arms are profusely ornamented with bracelets of wire or
plated metal. The 'braves' are those who commonly deck themselves with
the most gaudy trappings, and would usually be taken by a stranger for
the chiefs of the band, who, on the other hand, are often apparelled
in the most ordinary manner. [Pg331]
The squaws are, in every sense of the word the slaves of the men. They
are called upon to perform every toilsome service--to carry wood and
make fires--to skin and dress the meat and prepare the food--to herd,
drive up, saddle and unsaddle their lords' horses--to pitch and strike
the lodges--to pack up the baggage, and often indeed to carry heavy
loads during travel--in short, everything else pretty much but fight
and hunt, which the {293} Indian boasts of, as being his peculiar, if
not his sole vocations.
What little of manufacturing is done among the Indians is also the
work of the women. They prepare the different articles of apparel. In
embroidering moccasins and their leathern petticoats, etc., their
greatest skill, particularly among the northern tribes, is exhibited.
But the most extensive article of their manufacture is the _buffalo
rug_, which they not only prepare for their own use, but which
constitutes the largest item of their traffic with the Indian traders.
These are dressed and cured exclusively by the squaws.
To dress a buffalo rug, the first step is to 'flesh' the skin, or
neatly scrape from the inner surface every carneous particle. This is
generally done with an instrument of bone, cut something in the shape
of a small adz, with a serrate edge. For this operation the skin is
sometimes suspended in a frame upon the branch of a tree, or a fork of
the lodge--though more commonly, perhaps, stretched with pegs upon the
smooth ground, with the flesh-side up. After it dries, the spongy
surface of the skin is neatly curried off with another adz-shaped bone
or handle of wood, with a flat bit of iron transversely set for the
blade, which is edged after the manner of a currier's instrument. The
surface is then besmeared with brains (which the Canadians call
_mettre à la cervelle_), and rolled up with the flesh-side in, in
which condition it is left for two or three days. The brains of the
same {294} animals are generally used; those [Pg332] of a buffalo
being more than sufficient to dress his own hide. The pores of the
skin being fully penetrated by the brains, it is again wetted, and
softened by continual working and rubbing till it dries. To facilitate
this last operation, it is sometimes stretched in a frame and
suspended before a fire, when the inner surface is scraped with the
serrated adz before mentioned, and finished off by assiduous rubbing
with a pumice-stone, if that article can be had; if not, by passing
the skin by small sections rapidly back and forth over a slack cord.
Buffalo rugs are often observed with a seam in the middle. This is
caused by cutting them in two, partly for convenience in dressing
them, and partly to take out the hollow occasioned by the hump,
particularly of the bulls. The hump of the cow being less, their skins
generally bear dressing without being cut. The hide is frequently
split in two, however, in skinning the animal, the Indians preferring
to commence on the back.
The buffalo skin is often dressed without the wool. To this end the
hide is soaked in water till the hair is loosened, when it is
'curried' and 'brained,' and softened as above. Of these dressed
buffalo skins (known among Mexicans as _anta blanca_) is made a
considerable portion of the Indian clothing for both sexes--even the
petticoats of the females; though these prefer buckskin when they can
procure it.
The chief aliment of the Prairie Indians is {295} flesh, though in
default of this they often sustain themselves for weeks together upon
roots, herbs and fruits. The buffalo are the common herds of these
savages, affording them 'food, raiment and shelter.' It seems there
were anciently occasional cannibal tribes[207] in those regions, but
not a [Pg333] vestige of cannibalism, as I believe, now remains;
except such an inhuman appetite may be ascribed to some of the more
savage warriors, who, as I have heard, in the delirium of exultant
victory, have been known to devour the hearts of their bravest
victims, at once to satiate their blood-thirsty propensities, and to
appropriate to themselves, as they fancy, the valor of the slain
enemy.
However, they make food of nearly every animal of their country, and
often of insects and even the filthiest vermin. By some tribes,
grasshoppers, locusts and the like are collected and dried for future
use. Among nearly all the northern tribes, the flesh of the dog[208]
is considered as the greatest delicacy; so much so, indeed, that when
a favorite visitor is expected to dine, they are sure to have served
up for him the choicest pieces from some one of the many fat whelps
which pertain to every lodge. In this way travellers have often been
{296} constrained to eat Indian dog-meat, and which, prejudice apart,
is by no means an unsavory viand; but the flesh of the wolf, and even
the American dog, is generally said to be ill-flavored and sometimes
insupportable. The polecat is also a favorite food among the Indians;
and though the celebrated Irving, during a "Tour on the Prairies,"
seems to claim a deal of credit for having "plumped into the river" a
dressed polecat, whereby he prevented an Osage from "disgracing" their
fire by the cooking of it, yet all travellers who have tasted the
flesh of this animal have pronounced it fine, and of exquisite
relish.[209] "The flesh of the skunk," observes Dr. James, in his
account of Maj. Long's Expedition, "we [Pg334] sometimes had dressed
for dinner, and found it remarkably rich and delicate food."
These wild tribes are without other kitchen utensils than an
occasional kettle. They sometimes broil their meats, but often eat
them raw. A savage will feast upon the warm carcass of the buffalo;
selecting bits of the tenderloin, liver, etc., and it is not uncommon
to see him use the gall as sauce! Feasting is one of their favorite
enjoyments; though their ability to endure hunger almost exceeds
belief. They will fast a week and yet retain their strength and vigor:
but then when they do procure food again, it seems as if they never
would be satiated.
The Indians of the Prairies have become acquainted with the medical
virtues of many of their indigenous plants, which are often {297} used
in connection with the vapor sweat, and cold bath: wherefore we may
consider them as the primitive Thomsonians.[210] After a profuse
sweating, assisted by decoctions of sudorific herbs, in a tight lodge
filled with vapor by pouring water over heated stones, and while still
dripping, they will leap into a pool of cold water, and afterwards
wrap themselves in a buffalo rug. This course has proved successful in
some diseases, and extraordinary cures have thus been performed: but
in other cases, and especially in the small-pox, it has been attended
with horrible fatality. They frequently let blood for disease, which
is oftenest performed with the keen edge of a flint: and though they
sometimes open a vein, they more commonly make their incisions
indiscriminately. They have great faith in their 'medicine men,' who
pretend to cure the sick with conjurations and charms; and the
Comanches and many others often keep up an irksome, monotonous singing
over the diseased person, to frighten away [Pg335] the evil spirit
which is supposed to torment him: all of which, from its effect upon
the imagination, often tends, no doubt, to hasten recovery.
These Indians keep no domestic animals, except horses, mules, and
dogs. With the latter every lodge is abundantly supplied; yet, as has
already been shown, they are more useful appendages than the annoying
packs which so often infest the country cabins, and frequently the
villages, in the United States. {298} Horses, however, constitute the
chief wealth of the prairie Indian. These are the incentives to most
of their predatory excursions. The tribes of the north in particular,
as well as the white trappers, frequently maintain their horses,
during winter, upon the tender bark of the sweet cottonwood, the
_populus angulata_ of the Mississippi valley.
The western savages know nothing of the value of money. The wampum
bead, it is true, among a few tribes, somewhat resembles a currency:
for, being generally esteemed, it acquires a value in proportion to
size, and sometimes passes from hand to hand, in exchange for
necessaries. The legitimate wampum is only of shells, and was of
aboriginal manufacture; being small long tubes with an ovate surface,
or sometimes simply cylindrical; and handsomely polished: but
imitations of glass or porcelain seem now the most common. The color
is generally white, though sometimes blue or striped.
These Indians have no knowledge of the divisions of time, except by
palpable distinctions; as days, moons and years; which last they
commonly represent as so many springs, or falls of the leaves, or as
often by winters, that is, frosts or snows. Distances are represented
by days' journey, which are oftener designated by camps or 'sleeps.'
When a day's journey is spoken of in general terms, it is meant that
of a band in regular travel, which rarely exceeds twenty miles.