10th. By a recent occurrence, the late treaty of peace between the

Otoes and Konzas was on the eve of being infracted. The Otoes, who

were encamped for hunting near the mouth of the Platte, had four

horses stolen from them about two weeks since, and {166}

subsequently ten more. These robberies were immediately attributed

to the Konzas, and a war-party prepared themselves to march and

retaliate upon that nation. Hashea, however, prevented them from

going, saying that their father (Major O'Fallon) had been

instrumental in reconciling them to a peace with the Konzas, and

it would be highly improper for them to strike a blow, without

asking his opinion upon the subject. It seems more probable that

the horses have been taken either by the Sauks or Ioways. The

latter appears to be a faithless people; they obtained a

considerable quantity of goods on credit, last fall, from the

Missouri Fur Company, and now, we are informed, instead of

returning to discharge their debts, they are on their way down the

river to barter their beaver at Fort Osage. It is said they will

inhabit their old village, on the river Des Moines, the ensuing

season.

12th. Many Indians visited us yesterday and to-day, some of whom

brought jerked deer meat, mockasins, &c. to exchange for their

favourite drink, and for trinkets. But as we have none of the

latter, and as the former is interdicted from them by our laws, we

are not authorized to make any purchases. That they do contrive to

get whiskey elsewhere, perhaps of the traders, we have abundant

proof. Yesterday a squaw got drunk, and made much noise; but her

companions, after much ado, carried her off to their encampment.

As we were cutting up a log for fuel, one of the Omawhaws seeing a

knot or protuberance of the wood, suitable to form into a bowl,

requested us to cut it off for him; but not choosing to gratify

him in that manner, we offered the axe we were using, that he

might cut it in his own way; he, however, would not accept of it,

but pointed to the palm of his hand, giving us to understand that

such labour would make his hand sore and hard; he then called one

of his squaws, who immediately went to work, {167} and handled the

axe very dexterously. Observing several young Indians passing, I

indicated to her the propriety of requesting one of them to

assist her, but she laughed significantly, as if she would

say--you are ironical.

The Indians are very fickle in bargaining. An Indian, some time

since, exchanged his rifle for Mr. Dougherty's shot gun; yesterday

he reversed the bargain, giving a pair of mockasins in return; and

this morning he requested to exchange again, in which he was

gratified.

A squaw offered to exchange mockasins for a couple of our military

stocks. We could not conceive to what use she would apply them,

but, upon inquiry, we learned that she wished to ornament the

crupper of her horse with them.

The stone quarry, which supplied limestone for building chimnies

at camp Missouri, was situate at the distance of an hundred yards

below our cantonment. The labourers that were employed in this

quarry opened upon many large fissures, in which were found a

number of serpents that had entered there for the purpose of

hybernating. Of these, three species appear to be new.[194]

This morning three Omawhaws were fired upon by a war-party of five

Ioway Indians, and two were wounded; this occurred on the east

side of the river, nearly opposite to our cantonment. When they

fired, each one called out his name agreeably to the Indian

custom. A party of Omawhaws then assembled, and pursued them about

fifteen miles, but without success.

Two Oto warriors, and a boy, nephew of Ishta-gre-ja, Gray Eyes the

elder, visited us this afternoon. They have been hunting on Blue

Water creek, in the neighbourhood of the Konzas hunting camps, and

not distant from the village of the latter; they have been so

fortunate as to take one hundred and forty beavers, the skins of

which they left at {168} their village, under the care of the son

of Gray Eyes and their squaws; their business in this quarter is

to look out for the best market for their peltries. They say it

was certainly not the Konzas who stole the horses from their

brethren who are encamped near the confluence of the Platte. They

attribute that theft to the Ioways, who, they say, are still

fools, as they always have proved themselves to be.

30th. In the morning a nimbus from the north. An imperfect

parhelion appeared at sunrise, consisting of three luminous spots,

at about 22° distant from each other in the horizon; one of them

was the real place of the sun, and the others were to the north

and south of it. As the sun ascended towards the zenith, the mock

suns continued to ascend equally and parallel with it, but became

gradually fainter until they disappeared near the zenith.

Evening. A complete paraselene appeared about the moon, of the

diameter of 45 degrees.

The mercury was below Zero the greater part of the day, in

Fahrenheit's thermometer.

31st. Several Canadians in the employ of the Missouri Fur Company,

came this evening to dance and sing before us, agreeably to the

custom of their countrymen, in celebration of the termination of

the year. They were adorned with paint after the Indian manner,

clothed with bison robes, and had bells attached to different

parts of their dress. So completely were they disguised, that

three of their employers, who happened to be present, had much

difficulty in recognizing them. This dance is called _La

Gineolet_,[195] and may have had its origin in the same cause that

produced our _Belshnickles_, who make their appearance on

Christmas-eve. We gave them what was expected, whiskey, flour, and

meat.

January 6th, 1820. Mr. Graham and I measured the width of the

river in two places, a short distance below our cantonment, and a

short distance above; [158] the latter gave two hundred and

seventy-seven and one-third yards, and the former one hundred

yards.

We hear the barking of the prairie wolves every night about us;

they venture close to our huts; last night they ran down and

killed a doe, within a short distance of our huts; this morning

the remains of the carcass were found, consisting only of bones

and skin.

Mr. Fontenelle,[196] in the employ of the Missouri Fur Company,

who has been absent for some time trading with one of the bands of

the Omawhaws, called to-day on his return; this band had been much

necessitated for food, subsisting for some time upon the fruit of

the red haws, which the squaws sought for beneath the proper

trees, under the snow. He met with some of the nation of Sioux,

called Gens de Feuille[197] by the French. They have been much

thinned in numbers by a disorder, which, from the description

given of it, may be the quinsy. This same band is said to have

suffered much from the small-pox last autumn. They were also now

nearly starved for want of food; but they said if they could hold

out until they arrived at Min-da-wa-cong, or Medicine lake, (on

the maps, Spirit lake,)[198] they would do very well, as they had

there a considerable quantity of wild oats buried, or _caché_, as

the French say.

13th. Ietan,[199] an Oto, of whom we have before spoken, visited

us to-day for the purpose of getting two gun-locks mended. He left

his people at the Republican fork of the Konza river, and intends

as soon as he returns, to lead a party in pursuit of bisons, which

he says are in plenty on the Loup fork of the Platte, about sixty

miles distant from us.[200]

14th. Ietan called this morning, and as some of our party were

going to visit at Camp Missouri, he accompanied them in order to

obtain Major O'Fallon's permission for his nation to go to war

with the {170} Konzas. He informed the agent that individuals of

that nation had sometime since stolen horses from them. That one

of the losers, Big Soldier, had gone to the Konza village to

demand the horses; but seeing a number of horses belonging to that

nation when he arrived near the village, he could not resist the

temptation of immediately retaliating by seizing several, and

appropriating them to his own use. But, Ietan said, he thought the

honour of his nation still called for war, and he solicited the

acquiescence of the agent in that measure. The Major replied, that

his opinion ought to have been asked previously to the retaliatory

measure which had already been prematurely taken, as they were not

certain that the Konzas were the offenders, and that this ought to

have been ascertained before any depredation on the Konzas had

been committed. But the course which he would now advise them to

pursue was, to send a deputation to the Konzas, for the purpose of

ascertaining the fact, to return the Konzas' horses, and to demand

their own. This course seemed satisfactory to the warrior; who,

however, stated that if the Konzas attempted to steal horses from

them in future, he would certainly lead a war party himself

against them.

15th. Mr. Woods, of the Missouri Fur Company, has returned from a

trading excursion. He reports that he saw several of the Pawnee

_caches_, which had been broken open and robbed of their corn by

the Omawhaws. This is by no means a rare occurrence with the

Indians, but it does not appear that it has ever led to

hostilities between nations; they say that when a person is in

want of food, he has a right to take any he can find.

Corporal Norman, who went out this morning to kill rabbits,

returned about noon with twenty-seven, which he had killed with

single balls.

February 9th. Several Oto Indians have visited us within this day

or two, and one of them, Ca-he-ga-in-ya, {171} remained with us

last night; he was finely dressed, had on a chief's coat laced

with silver, and a profusion of wampum about his neck, and

suspended to his ears; he departed this morning on his way to the

Omawhaws, to trade for horses.

The ice on the Missouri is sixteen inches in thickness, that of

the Boyer creek fifteen and three-fourths.

12th. Messrs. Dougherty, Peel [Peale], and myself, with an

assistant, encamped at a pond near the Boyer to obtain fish; we

cut several holes in the ice of the pond, and obtained one otter

and a number of small fishes, amongst which three species appeared

to be new; several specimens were of the genus gasterosteus.

15th. Mr. Zenoni, of the Fur Company, who departed the twenty-seventh

ultimo on a trading expedition, returned and remained with us last

night. He and two men had ascended the Elk Horn about twenty-five

miles higher than Mr. Swift had been, but were not successful

in finding any Indians. And although they saw a few bisons and

antelopes, and elks, they were not so fortunate as to kill any game

for subsistence, excepting three turkeys; so that they returned in

a state of considerable exhaustion, having been for some time on an

allowance of a little maize per day. He found that the upper part

of the Elk Horn had not frozen during the severe weather, but still

remained open. This circumstance seems to indicate the flow of a

great quantity of spring water, or water of a medium temperature,

in that part of the stream, requiring time to cool in its passage,

before it can congeal.

19th. The sand is blown by the violence of the wind from the

sand-bars of the river, so as to resemble a dense fog. We have

been hitherto very well supplied with fresh meat, from game killed

principally by Mr. Peale, who, on one occasion, killed two deer at

a single shot and with one ball, but we are now reduced again to

salt pork of a very inferior quality. {172} The party, with the

exception of myself, continue to enjoy good health.

22d. Messrs. Dougherty and Peale returned from a hunt, having

killed twelve bisons out of a herd of several hundreds they met

with near Sioux river, and brought us a seasonable supply of meat.

They saw several herds of elk, and yesterday they saw swans,

geese, and ducks, flying up the river. A dinner and ball were

given at Camp Missouri, in honour of the day, to which our party

were invited.

24th. Mr. Graham and I endeavoured to ascertain the rapidity of

the current of this part of the Missouri, at the present low

water. We availed ourselves of a long vacancy in the ice to float

a porter bottle, to which the proper specific gravity was given,

by partially filling it with water, it was attached to a cord of

one hundred and twenty-two feet in length; it floated this

distance in six successive experiments in the following several

times 1′ 07″--1′ 04″--1′ 07-1/2″--1′ 05″--1′ 07″--1′ 07″, the mean

of which is 1′ 06-1/2″ nearly, giving a velocity of 1 mile 441

yards 1-1/2 feet per hour.

By these experiments, however, the superficial current or stratum

only was indicated, and as we had reason to suppose that this

stratum was more impeded by friction against the inferior surface

of the ice than it would be by the atmosphere, it became an object

to ascertain the average velocity of the different depths. With

this view a staff ten feet long was made to float vertically, by

means of a weight attached to its inferior extremity; a line of

one hundred and seventy-eight feet in length was run out by this

arrangement, during the following intervals of time, in four

experiments, viz. 1′ 21″--1′ 21″--1′ 19″--1′ 21″, of which the

mean is 1′ 20-1/2″, which would seem to indicate a current of the

velocity of 1 mile 893 yards 1 foot per hour. Thus the average

velocity of ten feet in depth of the current of the Missouri, is

greater by almost 452 yards in a single hour, than {173} that of a

superficial stratum of about six inches depth, during the

ice-bound state of the river. During these experiments the

atmosphere was nearly calm.

25th. Cooked for dinner the entire hump of a bison, after the

manner of the Indians; this favourite part of the animal was

dissected from the vertebræ, after which the spinous processes

were taken out, and the denuded part was covered with skin, which

was firmly sewed to that of the back and sides of the hump; the

hair was burned and pulled off, and the whole mass exhibiting

something of a fusiform shape, was last evening placed in a hole

dug in the earth for its reception, which had been previously

heated by means of a strong fire in and upon it. It was now

covered with cinders and earth, to the depth of about one foot,

and a strong fire was made over it. In this situation it remained

until it was taken up for the table to-day, when it was found to

be excellent food. Mr. Lisa and family dined with us by

invitation. That we have sometimes food in great sufficiency, the

provision upon our table this day will sufficiently attest. It

consisted of the entire bison hump, above mentioned; the rump of a

bison roasted, boiled bison meat, two boiled bison tongues, the

spinous processes roasted in the manner of spare-ribs, sausages

made of minced tender loin and fat, &c. It is true that we have no

vegetables whatever, but having been so long estranged from them,

we scarcely regret their absence. Their place is supplied by

excellent wheat flour, of which our cook prepares us bread fully

equal, in point of excellence, to any that we have ever eaten. The

above repast was prepared for eleven persons, of whom two were

ladies.[201] The collation was succeeded by coffee as a desert.

February 28th. I ascertained the temperature of spring water,

which, however, was somewhat exposed to the atmosphere, but in a

shaded situation, and in a ravine, to be 47°; that of the

atmosphere being at {174} the same time 56°, and that of the river

32°, of Fahrenheit's scale.

Wednesday, March 8th. The Big Elk, Big Eyes, and Wash-co-mo-ne-a

visited us to-day on their way, with their attendants, to the

traders with jerked bison meat. They presented us with five large

pieces. The Big Elk, principal Omawhaw chief, is much pitted with

the smallpox, and is of commanding presence. He speaks with great

emphasis, and remarkably distinct. He observed that we must think

them strange people to be thus constantly wandering about during

the cold of winter, instead of remaining comfortably housed in

their village; "But," said he, "our poverty and necessities compel

us to do so in pursuit of game; yet we sometimes venture forth for

our pleasure, as in the present instance, to visit the white

people, whom we are always delighted to see." Big Eyes is a large

and remarkably muscular man. His nose is that of the European, the

opposite to the Roman curve; he is second chief of the Omawhaws.

The Omawhaw chiefs remained with us the greater part of the

following day, and presented us with eight more pieces of jerked

meat. We presented them in return with some tobacco, &c. The Big

Elk made us a considerable harangue, with all the remarkable

vivacity, fluency, and nerve of Indian eloquence, in which he said

that he would address me by the title of father; "And you," said

he, to Mr. Dougherty, "whom I know so well, I will call brother.

The Indians around," said he, "who tell the white people that they

love them, speak falsely, as is proved by their killing the white

people; but my nation truly love you, they have never stained

their hands with the blood of a white man, and this much cannot be

said by any nation of this land." He added a strong expression,

that such was his attachment to us, that he believed that he

should, at a future day, be a white man himself.

{175} When they took their leave, we advised them not to visit

Camp Missouri, telling them what, in fact, they had already been

informed of, that many of the soldiers were sick; (we did not wish

them to observe the extent of the malady, with which that camp was

afflicted,) but Big Elk remarked, that it had been his intention

to go there, and it was not fear that could prevent him; his life

was at the disposal of the great Wahconda only, and he could not

die before his time; "But," said he, "agreeably to your request I

certainly will not go."

Of all the objects which we exhibited to the view of the chiefs,

quicksilver (mercury) seemed to excite the most surprise; they

weighed the vessel, in which it was contained, in their hands,

dipped their fingers into it, and were surprised at the resistance

which it offered to the immersion, and what appeared most singular

was, that they should be withdrawn without any appearance of

moisture upon them; that they might not be deceived they repeated

the experiment again and again. A couple of iron nails were then

thrown upon the mercury, and as these did not sink to the bottom,

they pressed them down with their fingers; but finding that the

nails constantly arose again to the surface, the Big Elk returned

the vessel to me, saying, with a smile of pleasure strongly

impressed on his strongly marked countenance, that the fluid was

the Omawhaw's Wahconda.

The last load of stone, which was taken from the quarry early in

December last, was prevented from reaching Camp Missouri by the

floating ice; the boat was driven ashore and abandoned. It was now

observed floating down the river, with a large quantity of drift

ice; and, when opposite our cantonment, was readily secured by

Major Ketchum, without having received any injury whatever.[202]

Major Ketchum, with a detachment of men, has been engaged for two

or three days past in cutting out of the ice, three of the boats

from our harbour. These, together with {176} one, which is at Camp

Missouri, are intended to convey the sick from that camp down the

river to Fort Osage. Camp Missouri has been sickly, from the

commencement of winter; but its situation is at this time truly

deplorable. More than three hundred soldiers are, or have been

sick, and nearly one hundred have died. This fatality is

occasioned by the scurvy (scorbutus). Individuals who are seized

rarely recover, as they cannot be furnished with the proper

aliments; they have no vegetables, fresh meat, nor antiscorbutics,

so that the patients grow daily worse, and entering the hospital

is considered by them as a certain passport to the grave. Yet it

is some consolation to reflect that all the science, care, and

attention of the healing art have been exerted for the relief of

the sufferers by Doctors Gale and Moore, as far as their present

insulated situation will admit. The causes which have been

productive of all this disease, are not distinctly known, although

there are many supposed ones to which it has been imputed. But it

was generally remarked, that the hunters, who were much employed

in their avocation, and almost constantly absent from Camp

Missouri, escaped the malady.

On the 19th, Mr. Immel,[203] of the Missouri Fur Company,

returned from an expedition to the Sioux. During his stay in the

vicinity of the pseudo volcanoes, which occur on the banks of the

Missouri, a tremendous subterranean explosion occurred, which much

alarmed the Indians as well as the whites; the concussion was

succeeded by a large volume of dense smoke from the aperture of

the volcano, by the sinking in of a portion of the hill in the

rear, and by the cracking of the ice in the river. Messrs. Peale,

Swift, and Dougherty departed in a periogue yesterday, on their

way to the Bowyer Creek to hunt.

An igneous meteor, or jack-o'-lantern, was seen on the evening of

the 20th, near our cantonment; it was described to me as of the

size of a double fist, {177} with a caudate appendage, or tail, of

the length of about two feet; it emitted a light of the colour of

the flame of burning sulphur; it passed along the river shore

nearly over the observer's head, at but a very small elevation,

nearly in a right line, with an equable motion, about as rapid as

the flight of a bird, and with an audible sound like the blowing

of a moderate stream of air through a thicket; it was visible

about one half a minute, when it crossed the river, became paler,

and disappeared.

The waters of the Missouri have been as clear during the winter as

ordinary rivers; the earthy matter, which they hold in suspension

during the temperate and warm weather, and which every person who

views the river remarks as characteristic of its waters, subsides

as soon as the wintry temperature occurs, but is again renewed in

the spring. They have been gradually more and more turbid, these

two or three days past. The ice in the river broke up on the 29th

ult., and entirely disappeared on the 19th instant.

Great flights of geese, swans, ducks, brant, and cranes have been

passing up the river, at their usual migrating altitude above the

surface of the earth; but this migration of these aquatic birds

has nearly ceased.

April 5th. A war-party of Omawhaws arrived at the trading house of

the Missouri Fur Company. They are one of three parties, which

have been for ten days past in pursuit of a war-party of thirteen

Sauks who carried off a number of horses from near the Omawhaw

village. They pursued the trail of the Sauks, until they lost it

nearly opposite to this place; they, nevertheless, continued the

pursuit in the direction which they supposed the enemy had taken,

but are now returning unsuccessful; they say they are in hopes,

that one of the other parties may overtake them. It seems

probable, that it was this same {178} party of Sauks who fired

upon a soldier on the 30th ult.

6th. The war-party mentioned yesterday visited us this morning, on

their way home. They danced for us, and after receiving bread,

buffaloe meat, and tobacco, departed well pleased. In the

afternoon, another war-party of eleven Omawhaws, who had also been

in pursuit of the same Sauks, arrived. We were notified of their

proximity by hearing their war-song, and going out, we observed

them at a short distance arranged in a line, from the centre of

which were elevated two handsome streamers, which, upon their

approach, we found to be two long lances, to which feathers of

different colours, fancifully arranged, were attached. The

partizan advanced, and made us a speech as usual, in which he gave

an account of their adventures, and concluded by praising the

kindness of the whites, their hospitality, and their greatness in

arts and arms. This address being well understood to aim at food

and lodging, though neither of these were mentioned, we supplied

them with bison meat, bread, and maize, and invited them to remain

with us during the night to rest themselves in comfort and safety.

They immediately sat down, and, the food being portioned out by

one of the warriors, they proceeded to eat with the appearance of

such appetites as convinced us that their fast had been of long

duration. In conversation during the evening the partizan said,

that they had followed a considerable trail, supposing that the

Sauks had taken that direction; that they observed stakes stuck in

the ground at certain distances, and the trees _blazed_ as far as

they went upon that trail. He inquired if we knew the reason of

such marks; he was then informed, that it was to indicate the

course of a road which was to be made in that direction, and that

if he had travelled far enough upon the trail he would have met

with towns of white people, who would have treated him well. After

musing some time, he {179} observed, that they had travelled a

good distance on that route, and having occasion to deviate a

short distance from it, they found when they returned that a white

man and three horses had passed along during their absence; (this

was Lieutenant Fields, the express,) they immediately despatched

two of their young men back to follow him, and to learn if he had

met the fugitive Sauks; but they could not overtake him. "We

continued on," said Naugh-ken-ne (or the Left Hand), "with all

speed; but at length, being almost famished, we were necessitated

to halt and hunt; of course we gave over the pursuit. Not wishing

to return to our nation without obtaining some trophy, we resolved

to go to Nishnebottona, in order to strike upon the Ioways, who,

we had been informed, were at that place; but when we arrived

there, we had the mortification to learn that they were gone; we

must, therefore, return without these poor young men having any

opportunity to distinguish themselves." "Did you not," we asked,

"make peace with the Ioways last season?" "Yes, it is true we made

a kind of peace with them, but you know they are bad men; we do

not like them; the whites do not like them; perhaps it was a party

of that nation, and not Sauks, that stole our horses, and you know

it was very hard to be obliged, after all our difficulties and

starvations, to return to our people without either scalps or

horses. We wished to obtain some trophy that should repay us for

our toils." In the evening they sang for our amusement a number of

tunes, whilst two or three danced as well as they could in our

small chamber. A negro belonging to the Fur Company coming in on

an errand, they spoke of him as the _black white man_, and one of

them jokingly said, he was a Wasabajinga, or little black

bear.[204]

The Indians departed early on the 7th, with many thanks for the

attention they had received. Before they went, they presented to

us a wild cat, which {180} they had shot, but we advised them to

keep it to eat on the way home, upon which they thanked us for it,

as if they had never owned it.

11th. We learn that a third war-party of Omawhaws, who departed in

pursuit of the Sauks before either of the others, were met by a

strong party of that nation, who were on their way to the Omawhaw

village; they however escaped from them with the loss of one man

killed and several wounded; the loss of the Sauks is not known.

The party speak highly of one of their number, a boy of twelve

years, who, at a critical juncture of the engagement, ran up to

several of the enemy and flashed his gun three times at them; he

escaped unhurt.

FOOTNOTES:

[189] I. _Vespertilio pruinosus._--Ears large, short,

not so long as the head, hairy on the exterior side more than

half their length; _tragus_ very obtuse at tip, arcuated;

_canine teeth_ large, prominent; _incisors_, only one distinct

one on each side, placed very near the canine, conic, almost

on a line with it, and furnished with a small tubercle on its

exterior base; _nostrils_ distant; _fur_ of the back, long,

black brown at base, then pale brownish-yellow, then blackish,

then white; towards the rump dark ferruginous takes the place

of the brownish-yellow on the fur; _beneath_ the colours are

similar to those of the back; but on the anterior portion of

the breast the fur is not tipped with white, and on the throat

it is dull yellowish-white dusky at base; the brachial

membrane is densely hairy on the anterior margin beneath;

interfemoral membrane covered with fur: length nearly 4-1/2

inches.

This bat is common in this region, and was observed by Mr.

Thomas Nuttall at Council Bluffs. It is a fine large species,

and remarkable for its many-coloured fur. It has much affinity

with the New York bat, (V. novaboracensis,) but is more than

double its size, and is distinguished from it by many minor

characters.

The late professor Barton, presented a specimen of this bat to

the Philadelphia museum, that had been captured in Philadelphia.

2. _Vespertilio arquatus._--_Head_ large, _ears_ rather shorter

than the head, wide, and at tip, rounded, hairy at base,

posterior edge with two slight and very obtuse emarginations;

the anterior base distant from the eye; _tragus_ arquated,

obtuse at tip; interfemoral membrane naked, including the tail

to one half of the penultimate joint.

Total length 5 inches: tail 1-1/2 inches.

Expansion more than 13 inches.

This bat might be readily mistaken for the Carolina bat,

(V. carolinensis, Geoff.) which it resembles in colour, but

differs from it in being of a larger size, the ears broader and

proportionally shorter, and an arquated tragus, curving in an

almost luniform manner towards the anterior portion of the ear,

like that of the V. _serotinus_, Daub. Geoff., though not so

broad. The upper incisor teeth, like those of several of our

species of bats, are not prominent; they are very much inclined

forward, and do not rise at their tips above the level of the

intermediate callosity.--JAMES.

[190] 1. _Canis latrans._--Cinereous or gray, varied with

black above, and dull fulvous, or cinnamon; _hair_ at base

dusky plumbeous, in the middle of its length dull cinnamon,

and at tip gray or black, longer on the vertebral line; _ears_

erect, rounded at tip, cinnamon behind, the hair dark plumbeous

at base, inside lined with gray hair; _eyelids_ edged with

black, superior eyelashes black beneath, and at tip above;

supplemental lid margined with black-brown before, and edged

with black-brown behind; _iris_ yellow; _pupil_ black-blue;

spot upon the lachrymal sac black-brown; rostrum cinnamon,

tinctured with grayish on the nose; _lips_ white, edged with

black, three series of black seta; _head_ between the ears

intermixed with gray, and dull cinnamon, hairs dusky plumbeous

at base; _sides_ paler than the back, obsoletely fasciate with

black above the legs; _legs_ cinnamon on the outer side, more

distinct on the posterior hair: a dilated black abbreviated line

on the anterior ones near the wrist; _tail_ bushy, fusiform,

straight, varied with gray and cinnamon, a spot near the base

above, and tip black: the tip of the trunk of the tail, attains

the tip of the os calcis, when the leg is extended; _beneath_

white, immaculate; _tail_ cinnamon towards the tip, tip black;

posterior feet four-toed, anterior five-toed.

ft. in.

Total length (excepting the hair at tip of tail) 3 9-1/2

Trunk of the tail 1 0-1/2

Hind foot os calcis to tip of claw 0 7-1/5

Fore foot elbow to tip of claw 1 0-3/4

Ears from top of head 0 4

Rostrum from anterior can thus of the eye 0 3-3/4

Taken in a trap, baited with the body of a wild cat.

The line on the anterior side of the anterior feet, near the

wrist, is wanting in a second specimen.

This species varies very much in size; another specimen

measured--

ft. in.

In total length (excepting the hair at tip of tail) 3 2-1/2

Tail (excepting the hair at tip of tail) 0 11-3/4

Ear from top of head to tip 0 3-5/8

The snout was narrower than in the preceding specimens, but in

colour similar.

Another specimen was destitute of the cinnamon colour,

excepting on the snout, where it was but slightly apparent;

the general colour was, therefore, gray with an intermixture

of black, in remote spots and lines, varying in position and

figure with the direction of the hair.

2. _Canis nubilus._--Dusky, the hair cinereous at base, then

brownish-black, then gray, then black; the proportion of black

upon the hair is so considerable as to give to the whole

animal a much darker colour than the darkest of the _latrans_;

but the gray of the hairs combining with the black tips, in

the general effect, produce a mottled appearance; the gray

colour, predominates on the lower part of the sides; _ears_

short, deep brownish-black, with a patch of gray hair on the

anterior side within; _muzzle_ blackish above; _superior

lips_, anterior to the canine teeth, gray; _inferior jaw_ at

tip, and extending in a narrowed line backwards, nearly to the

origin of the neck, gray; _beneath_ dusky ferruginous,

greyish, with long hair between the hind thighs, and with a

large white spot on the breast; the ferruginous colour is very

much narrowed on the neck, but is dilated on the lower part of

the cheeks; _legs_ brownish-black, with but a slight admixture

of gray hairs, excepting on the anterior edge of the hind

thighs, and the lower edgings of the toes, where the gray

predominates; the _tail_ is short, fusiform, a little tinged

with ferruginous black above, near the base and at tip, the

tip of the trunk hardly attaining to the os calcis; the longer

hairs of the back, particularly over the shoulders, resemble a

short sparse mane.

ft. in.

Length from the tip of the nose to the origin of the tail 4 3-3/4

Length of the trunk of the tail 1 1

Ear, from anterior angle to the tip 0 3-3/4

From the anterior angle of the ear, to the posterior

canthus of the eye, 0 4-3/4

From anterior canthus of the eye, to the middle of the

tip of the nose, 0 5-1/2

Between the anterior angles of the ears, rather more than 0 3

The aspect of this animal is far more fierce and formidable than

either the common red wolf, or the prairie wolf, and is of a

more robust form. The length of the ears and tail distinguish

it at once from the former, and its greatly superior size,

besides the minor characters of colour, &c., separate it from

the prairie wolf. As the black wolf (C. lycaon,) is described to

be of a deep and uniform black colour, and his physiognomy is

represented to be nearly the same as that of the common wolf, it

is beyond a doubt different from this species. It has the mane

of the _mexicanus_. It diffuses a strong and disagreeable odour,

which scented the clothing of Messrs. Peale and Dougherty, who

transported the animal several miles from where they killed it

to the cantonment.

1. _Sylvia celatus._--_Above_ dull greenish-olive; _rump_ and

_tail coverts_ purer greenish-olive; _primaries_ and _tail

feathers_ blackish-brown, olive-green on the exterior margins,

and white on the interior margin; _head_ very slightly and

inconspicuously crested; _crest_ with the feathers orange at

base; _bill_ horn colour, slender, base of the inferior

mandible whitish beneath; _beneath_ olivaceous yellow;

_inferior tail coverts_ pure yellow; _legs_ dusky.

Length 5-1/4 inches.

Shot at Engineer Cantonment early in May. This bird is

distinguished by the colour of the feathers on the crown of

the head, which are of a fulvous colour, tipped with the same

colour as that of the neck and back, so that the fulvous

colour does not appear at first sight. The wings are destitute

of any white band, and the margins of the six exterior

primaries are much paler than those of the others. We cannot

find any description of this bird; it seems, however, to

approach nearest to the S. _leucogastra_, Steph., Nashville

warbler of Wilson; but in our specimen the belly is not white,

neither does Wilson's description of the colour of the head of

his Nashville warbler agree at all with that of our bird.

2. _Sylvia bifasciata._--Above bluish; all beneath white;

_head_ highly varied with darker; between the eyes and bill

blackish; _bill_ black; _interscapulars_ lineate with

blackish; _wings_ blackish; _shoulders_ bluish; _wing coverts_

with two white bands; _primaries_ margined with white on the

inner side, and with plumbeous on the exterior side; _tail_

black; _feathers_ blackish, white on the inner margin, and

plumbeous on the exterior margin; and, excepting the two

middle ones, with a white spot on the inner side, near the

tip; _flanks_ spotted with plumbeous; _feet_ black.

Length rather more than 4-3/4 inches.

Shot in May, near Engineer Cantonment. This species seems to

approach very closely to S. cærulea.

_Genus Limosa_, CUV.

_Limosa scolopacea._--Dusky cinereous; _bill_, straight; upper

mandible a little longer, and very slightly arquated towards

the tip; the grooves continue to near the tip, about as long

again as the head, yellowish green; _tip_ black, dilated,

rugose, with a dorsal groove; _palate_ with reflected,

cartilaginous spines; _head_ with a line from the upper

mandible, passing over the eye and inferior orbit; white

_cheeks_, _chin_, _throat_, and origin of the _breast_,

cinereous; the plumage margined with dull whitish; _back_

beneath the interscapulars, white; _rump_, plumage white,

fasciate with black; _tail coverts_, and _tail_ white fasciate

with black, which latter colour is more abundant; _lesser wing

coverts_ margined with whitish; _greater wing coverts_ black,

terminal margin white: _secondaries_ black, margin and

submargin white; _primaries_ black, interior ones very

slightly edged with white; _outer shaft_ white, a little

longer than the second; _breast_ and _belly_ white; _sides_

spotted or undulated with blackish cinereous; _inferior tail

coverts_ with black abbreviated bands, the white prevailing;

_feet_ dirty greenish; _toes_ webbed at base, the exterior one

reaching the first joint of outer toe, the interior one very

short; _hind toe_ rather long.

inches.

Length from tip of bill to that of the tail, 11-3/4

Length of bill, 2-3/4

Length of feet, 5-3/4

Length from the knee to the origin of the feathers, 1-1/10

Tail projecting more than one inch beyond the tip of the wing.

Several specimens were shot in a pond near the Bowyer creek.

Corresponds with the genus scolopax, Cuv. in having the dorsal

grooves at the tip of the upper mandible, and in having this

part dilated and rugose; but the eye is not large, nor is it

placed far back upon the head; which two latter characters,

combined with its more elevated and slender figure, and the

circumstance of the thighs being denudated of feathers high

above the knee, and the exterior toe being united to the middle

toe by a membrane, which extends as far as the first joint,

and the toes being also margined, combine to distinguish this

species from those of the genus to which the form and characters

of its bill would refer it, and approach it more closely to

_limosa_. In one specimen the two exterior primaries on each

wing were light brown, but the quills were white. It may perhaps

with propriety be considered as the type of a new genus, and

under the following characters, be placed between the genera

scolopax and limosa.

_Bill_ longer than the head, dilated and rugose at tip: _tip_

slightly curved downwards, and with a dorsal groove: _nasal

groove_ elongated; _feet_ long, an extensive naked space above

the knee; _toes_ slightly margined, a membrane connecting the

basal joints of the exterior toes; first of the primaries

rather longest.

_Genus Pelidna_, CUV.

1. _Pelidna pectoralis._--_Bill_ black, reddish-yellow at

base; upper mandible with a few indented punctures near the

tip; _head_ above black, plumage margined with ferruginous, a

distinct brown line from the eye to the upper mandible;

_cheeks_ and _neck_ beneath cinereous very slightly tinged

with rufous, and lineate with blackish; _orbits_ and line over

the eye white; _chin_ white; _neck_ above dusky, plumage

margined with cinereous, _scapulars_, _interscapulars_, and

_wing coverts_ black, margined with ferruginous, and near the

exterior tips with whitish; _primaries_ dusky, slightly edged

with whitish, outer quill shaft white; _back_, (beneath the

interscapulars, _rump_) and _tail coverts_ black, immaculate;

_tail feathers_ dusky, margined with white at tip, two

intermediate ones longest, acute, attaining the tip of the

wings, black, edged with ferruginous: _breast_, _venter_,

_vent_ and _inferior tail coverts_ white, plumage blackish at

base; _sides_ white, the plumage towards the tail slightly

lineate with dusky; _feet_ greenish-yellow; _toes_ divided to

the base.

Length nearly 9 inches.

Bill 1-1/8 inches.

This bird in many respects resembles _cinclus_, but as the

average size of that bird is stated at seven inches and one or

two lines, ours is doubtless a distinct species. Many flocks

of them were seen at Engineer Cantonment, both in the spring

and autumn, the individuals of which corresponded in point of

magnitude: we add a description for the information of

ornithologists. It is described from a specimen in the

autumnal plumage. In the spring dress, the colour of the

superior part of the bird is much paler, almost destitute of

black, and the feathers are brownish, margined with pale

cinereous; the superior part of the head is always darker than

any part of the neck, and margined with ferruginous; the

plumage of the neck beneath, and the breast, does not appear

to be subject to so much change, as that of the superior part

of the body.

2. _Pelidna cinclus._ VAR.--Above blackish-brown, plumage

edged with cinereous, or whitish; _head_ and _neck_ above

cinereous with dilated fuscous lines; _eyebrows_ white; a

brown line between the eye and corner of the mouth, above

which the front is white; _cheeks_, _sides of the neck_, and

_throat_, cinereous, lineate with blackish-brown; _bill_

short, straight, black; _chin_, _breast_, _belly_, _vent_, and

_inferior tail coverts_ pure white, plumage plumbeous at base;

_scapulars_ and _lesser wing coverts_ margined with white;

_greater wing coverts_ with a broad white tip; _primaries_

surpassing the tip of the tail, blackish, slightly edged with

whitish, exterior shaft white, shafts whitish on the middle of

their length; _rump_ blackish, plumage margined at tip with

cinereous tinctured with rufous; _tail coverts_ white,

submargins black; _tail feathers_ cinereous margined with

white, two middle ones slightly longer, black, margined with

white; _legs_ blackish. A male.

Length to tip of tail 7 inches.

Bill 7/8 of an inch.

This bird was shot in November, near Engineer Cantonment, and

it is probably a variety of the very variable _cinclus_ in its

winter plumage.--JAMES.

[191] A sketch of Big Elk is given in Bradbury's _Travels_,

volume v of our series, note 52.--ED.

[192] Some reminiscences of White Cow (or White Buffalo), will

be found in Nebraska Historical Society _Transactions_, i, p. 79

_et seq._--ED.

[193] Joshua Pilcher was a Virginian who came to St. Louis when

a young man, during the War of 1812-15, and there plied his

trade of hatter. He became a director of the bank of St. Louis,

and entered the Missouri Fur Company upon its organization,

succeeding Manuel Lisa as president upon the latter's death.

Upon the dissolution of this company, he was for a time

at Council Bluffs in charge of the American Fur Company's

interests. He succeeded William Clark as superintendent of

Indian affairs (1838), holding the position until his death, in

1847.--ED.

[194] _Coluber flaviventris._--Olivaceous, beneath yellow;

inferior jaw beneath white; scales destitute of carina.

Description. _Body_ above, olivaceous; tinged with brown on the

vertebræ; _scales_ impunctured at tip, posterior edges and basal

edge black; _skin_ black, beneath yellow, rather paler behind;

_inferior jaw_ beneath white to the origin of the plates; _head_

with nine plates above, two longitudinal series, of about four

large scales each, intervening on each side between the two

posterior plates and the three posterior supermaxillary plates;

intermaxillary plate somewhat heptagonal, dilated, emarginate at

the mouth, superior angle obtusely pointed; _eye_ black-brown,

pupil deep black, surrounded by a whitish line, posterior

canthus with two plates.

Plates 176, scales 84

Plates 174, - ——

ft. in.

Total length 3 4-1/2

Tail 8-5/8

Head, to the tip of the maxillary bones 1-3/20

Another specimen, plates 130, scales 91.

Total length 3 11-3/8

Tail 11-1/2

Three specimens were found. The inferior surface of one was

immaculate, but that of the smaller one had on each side of

the plates an obsolete double series of reddish-brown spots,

irregularly alternate on each side; these were so indistinct

as not to be noticed at the first glance of the eye. The tip

of the tail in this last is deficient.

2. _Coluber parietalis._--Above blackish, with three yellowish

fillets, and about eighty red concealed spots; beneath bluish;

a series of black dots each side.

Description. _Body_ above black-brown, a vertebral greenish

yellow vitta, and a lateral pale yellow one, beneath which is

a fuliginous shade; between the dorsal and lateral vitta are

about eighty concealed red spots or semifasciæ, formed upon the

skin and lateral margins of the scales, obsolete towards the

cloaca, at which the series terminates; _scales_ elongated,

all carinate, and slightly reflexed at the lateral edges;

_head_ dark olive, beneath white, _parietal plates_ with a

double white spot at the middle of the suture; _intermaxillary

plate_ subhexagonal, emarginate at the mouth, and at tip hardly

angulated, almost rounded in that part, transverse diameter

nearly double the longitudinal; _superior maxillary plates_

white, intermediate sutures blackish; _eye_ yellowish, pupil

black, posterior canthus two-scaled, beneath bluish green, a

longitudinal series of black dots each side at the base of the

scuta, terminating at the cloaca.

Plates 165, scales 88.

ft. in.

Total length 1 3-3/10

Tail 4-9/10

This is a common serpent in this section of country. In order

to render the lateral red spots very apparent, it is necessary

to dilate the skin, when they exhibit a very striking

character, being of a vermilion red. It varies in having the

lateral series of red spots alternating with a series of

smaller red spots nearer to the dorsal line.

In common with _ordinatus_ it has a double common white spot

on the parietal plates, and a series of black spots on each

side of the interior surface of the body; but in addition to

the proportions of plates, and scales, and length of tail, the

red colour of the lateral concealed spots very sufficiently

denotes its specific dissimilarity from that most common of

the serpents of the United States.

3. _Coluber proximus._--Body above black, trilineate,

vertebral line ocraceous, lateral one yellowish, a double

white spot on the parietal plates.

Description. _Body_ above black, with three vittæ; vertebral

vitta ocraceous, occupying the dorsal series of scales and a

moiety of each one of the second series each side; lateral

vitta greenish-yellow, occupying more than the moiety of the

seven and eight series of scales: beneath the lateral vitta

the black is tinged with greenish-blue; _head_ with seven

olivaceous plates above; parietal ones with a double, white,

longitudinal spot: _intermaxillary plate_ pentangular, the

superior termination obtusely rounded; _posterior canthus of

the eye_ three-scaled, of which the two inferior ones are

white; _anterior canthus_ white; _supermaxillary plates_

bluish-green; _maxillary angles_ with a small black dot;

_inferior maxilla_ white beneath; beneath pale greenish-blue.

Plates 178, scales 86.

Total length 2 ft. 7-1/4 in.

Tail 7-3/4 in.

Resembles _Coluber saurita_, _ordinatus_ and _parietalis_.

Numerous longitudinal, abbreviated white lines, may be

observed by dilating the black portion of the skin as in

_ordinatus_; these lines or spots are obsolete upon the neck

and upon the posterior portion of the body. The extreme tip of

the tail is wanting in this specimen.

It differs from _saurita_ in the numerical proportion which

its subcaudal scales bear to its plates; from _ordinatus_ it

may be distinguished by being destitute of the two series of

black points beneath; it is a much more slender serpent than

_parietalis_, and the tail is proportionally longer.--JAMES.

[195] The name of this dance is apparently a derivative of the

Canadian-French _gingue_ (_se mettre en_), meaning to engage in

the gaiety of a lively company. The verb _ginguer_ means to run

or jump hither and thither; it is a derivative of the Norman

_giguer_, which has the same meaning.--ED.

[196] Lucien Fontenelle, born in New Orleans of French parents,

fled from his home when fifteen years of age, and engaged in the

fur-trade at St. Louis. Later he became a leader in the mountain

explorations of the American Fur Company. His wife was an Omaha

woman, and some of his descendants were prominent in the history

of Nebraska; a son, Logan Fontenelle, became a chief of the

Omaha tribe. Fontenelle is supposed by some to have committed

suicide at Fort Laramie, about 1836, but the manner of his death

is uncertain.--ED.

[197] The Gens des Feuilles (People of the Leaves) were the

Assiniboin tribe of the Siouan family. Lewis and Clark reported

their numbers at two hundred and fifty men. At that time they

lived on White River, in South Dakota.--ED.

[198] In Dickinson County, Iowa.--ED.

[199] Sha-mon-e-kus-se.--JAMES.

[200] Loup (Wolf) River is a large northern tributary of

the Platte, which empties into the latter a few miles below

Columbus, Platte County. It rises in the arid sand hills of

northwestern Nebraska, and flows southeast for three hundred

miles to the confluence. It is sometimes called the Pawnee Loup

River, from the dominant Indian tribe on its waters.--ED.

[201] One of the ladies was Madam Lisa; the name of the other is

not known. They are supposed to have been the first white women

to ascend the Missouri to this point.--ED.

[202] Daniel Ketchum owed his title of major to a brevet awarded

for distinguished services at the battle of Niagara Falls.

He entered the army early in the war as second lieutenant in

the 25th Infantry, and rose through a first lieutenancy to a

captaincy in 1813. He died in 1828.--ED.

[203] Little is recorded concerning this individual. His name

was probably Michael, and he had been a United States army

officer. The circumstances of his death are better known than

the incidents of his life, he having been killed by the Indians

(1823) on the Yellowstone.--ED.

[204] Compare the astonishment of the Indians at the appearance

of Captain Clark's negro servant York, in Thwaites, _Original

Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition_, index.--ED.

{181} CHAPTER X[205]

Account of the Omawhaws--Their manners and customs, and

religious rites--Historical notices of Black Bird, late

principal chief.

A great portion of the information contained in the following

pages, respecting the Missouri Indians, and particularly the

Omawhaws, was obtained from Mr. John Dougherty, deputy Indian

agent for the Missouri, who had an excellent opportunity of making

himself acquainted with the natives, by residing for a time in the

Omawhaw village, and by visiting all the different nations of this

river.

This gentleman with great patience, and in the most obliging

manner, answered all the questions which I proposed to him,

relating to such points in their manners, habits, opinions, and

history, as we had no opportunity of observing ourselves. And we

have much to regret that it is not in our power to present the

reader with a biographical sketch of this amiable and intrepid

traveller.

The permanent Omawhaw village is situate on Omawhaw Creek, within

two and a half miles of the Missouri river, and about one hundred

miles by water above Engineer Cantonment, and seventy by land. It

consists of dirt lodges, similar to those of the Konzas already

described. Omawhaw creek takes its rise from the bluffs in the

rear of the village, and discharges into the river at the distance

of seven miles below. About two miles from the town it dilates

into a large pond, which is filled with luxuriant {182} aquatic

plants, amongst which the zizania and nelumbium, are particularly

worthy of note both for their beauty and importance for economical

purposes. A fertile prairie, of the length of four miles by one

mile and three quarters wide, is outspread in front of the

village, and is bounded near the river by a narrow line of timber.

The inhabitants occupy their village not longer than five months

in the year. In April they arrive from their hunting excursions,

and in the month of May they attend to their horticultural

interests, and plant maize, beans, pumpkins, and water-melons,

besides which they cultivate no other vegetable. They also at this

season dress the bison skins, which have been procured during the

winter hunt, for the traders, who generally appear for the purpose

of obtaining them. The young men, in the mean time, are employed

in hunting within the distance of seventy or eighty miles around

for beaver, otter, deer, musk-rat, elk, &c.

When the trading and planting occupations of the people are

terminated, and provisions begin to fail them, which occurs

generally in June, the chiefs assemble a council for the purpose

of deliberating upon the further arrangements necessary to be

made. This assembly decrees a feast to be prepared on a certain

day, to which all the distinguished men of the nation are to be

invited, and one of their number is appointed to have it prepared

in his own lodge. On the return of this individual to his

dwelling, he petitions his squaws to have pity on him, and proceed

to clean and adjust the apartment, to spread the mats and skins

for seats, and to collect wood and bring water for cooking. He

requests them to provide three or four large kettles, to prepare

the maize, and to kill their fattest dog for a feast. The squaws

generally murmur at this last proposition, being reluctant to

sacrifice these animals, which are so serviceable to them in

carrying burdens, like the dogs of the oberrating Tartars; but

when they are informed {183} of the honour that awaits them, of

feasting all the distinguished men, they undertake their duties

with pride and satisfaction.

When they have performed their part, the squaws give notice to the

husband, who then calls two or three old public criers to his

lodge; he invites them to be seated near him, and after the

ceremony of smoking, he addresses them in a low voice, directing

them to pass through the village, and invite the individuals whom

he names to them, to honour him by their presence at the feast,

which is now prepared, "Speak in a loud voice," says he, "and tell

them to bring their bowls and spoons." The criers having thus

received their instructions, sally out together, and in concert

sing aloud as they pass in various directions through the village.

In this song of invitation, the names of all the elect are

mentioned. Having performed this duty, they return to the lodge,

and are soon followed by the chiefs and warriors.

The host seats himself in the back part of the lodge facing the

entrance, where he remains during the ceremony.

If the host is invested with the dignity of chief, he directs

those who enter, where to seat themselves, so that the chiefs may

be arranged on one side, and the warriors on the other; if he is a

warrior, he seats the principal chief of the village by his side,

who whispers in his ear the situation which those who enter ought

to occupy; this intimation is repeated aloud by the host.

When the guests are all arranged, the pipe is lighted, and the

indispensable ceremony of smoking succeeds.

The principal chief, Ongpatonga, then rises, and extending his

expanded hand towards each in succession,[206] gives thanks to

them individually by name, for the honour {184} of their company,

and requests their patient attention to what he is about to say.

He then proceeds somewhat in the following manner. "Friends and

relatives: we are assembled here for the purpose of consulting

respecting the proper course to pursue in our next hunting

excursion, or whether the quantity of provisions at present on

hand, will justify a determination to remain here to weed our

maize. If it be decided to depart immediately, the subject to be

then taken into view will be the direction, extent, and object

of our route; whether it would be proper to ascend Running-Water

creek, (Ne-bra-ra, or Spreading water), or the Platte, (Ne-bres-kuh,

or Flat water), or hunt the bison between the sources of those two

streams; or whether we shall proceed farther, towards the black

hills of the south-west, in pursuit of wild horses, &c."

Having thus disclosed the business of the council, he is

frequently succeeded by an old chief, who thanks him for his

attention to their wants, and advises the assembly to pay great

attention to what he has said, as he is a man of truth, of

knowledge, and of bravery; he further assures them, that they have

ample cause to return thanks to the great Wahconda or Master of

life, for having sent such a man amongst them.

The assembly then take the subject into consideration, and after

much conversation, determine upon a route, which Ongpatonga

proposed in his speech. This chief, previous to the council, is

careful to ascertain the opinions and wishes of his people, and he

speaks accordingly.

He sometimes, however, meets with opposition from persons who

propose other hunting grounds, but their discourses are filled

with compliments to his superior knowledge and good sense.

The proceedings of the council are uniformly conducted with the

most perfect good order and decorum.

{185} Each speaker carefully abstains from militating against the

sensibility of any of his hearers, and uncourteous expressions

towards each other on these occasions, are never heard. Generally

at each pause of the speaker, the audience testify their

approbation aloud, by the interjection _heh_; and as they believe

that he has a just right to his own opinions, however absurd they

may appear to be, and opposite to their own, the expression of

them excites no reprehension, and if they cannot approve, they do

not condemn, unless urged by necessity.

During the council, the criers remain seated near the fire

listening to the proceedings, and at the same time attending to

the culinary apparatus, as neither the squaws nor the children are

admitted.

When the food is sufficiently cooked, the criers remove the

kettles from the fire, and, at the proper time, one of them takes

up a portion of the soup in a spoon, and after presenting it

towards each of the cardinal points with one hand, whilst the

other is elevated, and the palm extended, he casts it into the

ashes of the fire; a small piece of the choice part of the meat is

also sacrificed to the great Wahconda with the same formality, and

is doubtless intended as an impetratory oblation.

They then serve out the food to the guests, placing the best

portions of it before the chiefs. Each individual on the

reception of his portion, returns his thanks to the host in

such respectful expressions as become his relative consequence,

as How-je-ne-ha--How-we-sun-guh--How-na-ga-ha, &c.; thank you

father--thank you younger brother--thank you uncle, &c., after

which they eat in silence. The criers help themselves out of the

kettles, but are careful to leave a portion in those that are

borrowed, to compensate for their use.

The feast terminated, the ceremony of smoking succeeds, after

which, the business and enjoyments of the council being concluded,

the guests rise up in {186} succession, and returning thanks to

the host, pass out of the lodge in an orderly manner, first the

warriors and afterwards the chiefs.

The criers now sing through the village in praise of the host,

thanking him before the people for his hospitality, repeating also

the names of the chiefs who were present, and thanking them for

their kindness to the old criers, who, they say, are disqualified

by age for any other occupations than those of eating, smoking,

and talking; they also communicate to the people the resolutions

of the council.

The prospect of a journey is highly grateful to the squaws, who

lose no time in preparing for the day of departure, by actively

and assiduously occupying themselves in mending mockasins and

other clothing, preparing their pack-saddles and dog-sleds, and

depositing in the earth, for safe keeping, all the moveables which

are not to be transported with them on the journey.

The men in the mean time amuse themselves with hunting, playing

with the hoop and stick, cards, dancing, &c.; whilst at night the

young warriors and beaux are occupied with affairs of gallantry,

or contriving assignations. The young men also adorn themselves

with paint, and do honour to chiefs and distinguished braves, by

dancing in their respective lodges.

The day assigned for their departure having arrived, the squaws

load their horses and dogs, and take as great a weight upon their

own backs as they can conveniently transport, and, after having

closed the entrances to their several habitations, by placing a

considerable quantity of brushwood before them, the whole nation

departs from the village.

Those affluent chiefs and warriors who are the owners of many

horses, are enabled to mount their families on horseback, but the

greater portion {187} of the young men and squaws are necessarily

pedestrians.

Many of the latter, besides the heavy load upon their backs,

surmounted perhaps by an infant, lead a horse with one hand, on

the load of which another child is often placed, and properly

secured there in a sitting posture. In the other hand they often

bear a heavy staff of wood, sharpened to a broad edge at one end

for the purpose of digging up the _Nu-ga-re_, or ground-apple,

called by the French _Pomme blanche_; a root resembling a long

turnip, about the size of a hen's egg, with a rough thick skin,

and hard pith. It is sometimes eaten raw, and has a sweet taste,

but is rather dry; or it is dried in the sun, and pulverized; in

this state it furnishes the chief ingredient of an excellent soup.

The men scatter about in every direction to reconnoitre the

country for enemies and game; but, notwithstanding the constant

activity of the hunters, the people are often much necessitated

for food previously to their arrival within view of the bisons, an

interval of fifteen or twenty days.

When at length the highly welcome news is brought of the proximity

of a herd of these animals, the nation proceeds to encamp at the

nearest water-course.

The travelling huts, or as they are usually denominated, skin

lodges, are neatly folded up, and suspended to the pack-saddle of

the horse, for the purpose of transportation. The poles intended

to sustain it are at one extremity, laid upon the neck of the

horse, whilst the opposite end trails upon the ground behind. When

pitched, the skin lodge is of a high conic form; they are

comfortable, effectually excluding the rain, and in cold weather a

fire is kindled in the centre, the smoke of which passes off

through the aperture in the top; on one side of this aperture is a

small triangular wing of skin, which serves for a cover {188} in

rainy weather, and during the rigors of winter to regulate the

ascent of the smoke. The doorway is a mere opening in the skin,

and closed when necessary by the same material. They are often

fancifully ornamented on the exterior, with figures, in blue and

red paint, rudely executed, though sometimes depicted with no

small degree of taste.

The hunters, who are in advance of the main body on the march,

resort to telegraphic signals, from an elevated position, to

convey to the people information respecting their discoveries. If

they see bisons, they throw up their robes in a peculiar manner,

as a signal for a halt; another disposition of the robe intimates

the proximity of an enemy; and if one of their party has been

killed, two of the survivors communicate the intelligence by

running towards each other from a little distance, and on passing,

one of them casts himself upon the earth.

On perceiving these latter signals, the warriors of the nation

cast the burdens from the horses, and with their martial weapons

ride in full speed to meet them, exhibiting more the appearance of

a race, than an ordinary advance to mortal combat.

The hunters, after making the signal for bisons, to induce the

people to halt and encamp, return as expeditiously as possible,

and on their approach are received with some ceremony. The chiefs

and magi are seated in front of their people, puffing smoke from

their pipes, and thanking the Master of life, with such

expressions as "How-wa-con-da," "Thanks Master of life,"--

"How-nin-e-shet-ta-wa-con-da-a-mah-pan-ne-nah-pa-e-wa-rat-a-cum-ba-ra."--

"Thank you, Master of life, here is smoke, I am poor, hungry, and

want to eat." The hunters draw near to the chiefs and magi, and in

a low tone of voice inform them of the discovery of bisons. They

are questioned as to the number, and reply by holding up to the

view some small sticks in a horizontal position, {189} and compare

one herd at a stated distance with this stick, and another with

that, &c.

It is then the business of some old man or crier to harangue the

people, informing them of the discovery, requesting the squaws to

keep in good heart, telling them they have endured many hardships

with fortitude, that there is now a termination to their

difficulties for the present, and that on the morrow the men will

go in pursuit of the bisons, and without doubt bring them plenty

of meat.

On all occasions of public rejoicings, festivals, dances, or

general hunts, a certain number of resolute warriors are

previously appointed, to preserve order, and keep the peace. In

token of their office they paint themselves entirely black;

usually wear the _crow_, and arm themselves with a whip or

war-club, with which they punish on the spot those who misbehave,

and are at once both judges and executioners. Thus, at the bison

hunts, they knock down or flog those whose manœuvres tend to

frighten the game, before all are ready, or previously to their

having arrived at the proper point, from which to sally forth upon

them.

Four or five such officers, or soldiers, are appointed at a

council of the chiefs, held in the evening, to preserve order

amongst the hunters for the succeeding day.

On the following morning, all the men, excepting the superannuated,

depart early in pursuit of the favourite game. They are generally

mounted, armed with bows and arrows. The soldiers of the day

accompany the rapidly moving cavalcade on foot, armed with

war-clubs, and the whole are preceded by a footman bearing a pipe.

On coming in sight of the herd, the hunters talk kindly to their

horses, applying to them the endearing names of father, brother,

uncle, &c.; they petition them not to fear the bisons, but to run

well, {190} and keep close to them, but at the same time to avoid

being gored.

The party having approached as near to the herd as they suppose

the animals will permit, without taking alarm, they halt, to give

the pipe-bearer an opportunity to perform the ceremony of smoking,

which is considered necessary to their success. He lights his

pipe, and remains a short time with his head inclined, and the

stem of the pipe extended towards the herd. He then smokes, and

puffs the smoke towards the bisons, towards the heavens, and the

earth, and finally to the cardinal points successively. These last

they distinguish by the terms _sunrise_, _sunset_, _cold country_,

and _warm country_ or they designate them collectively, by the

phrase of the _four winds_, _Ta-da-sa-ga-to-ba_.

The ceremony of smoking being performed, the word for starting is

given by Ongpatonga. They immediately separate into two bands, who

pass in full speed to the right and left, and perform a

considerable circuit, with the object of enclosing the herd, at a

considerable interval, between them.

They then close in upon the animals, and each man endeavours to

kill as many of them as his opportunity permits.

It is upon this occasion that the Indians display their

horsemanship, and dexterity in archery. Whilst in full run they

discharge the arrow with an aim of much certainty, so that it

penetrates the body of the animal behind the shoulder. If it

should not bury itself so deeply as they wish, they are often

known to ride up to the enraged animal and withdraw it. They

observe the direction and depth to which the arrow enters, in

order to ascertain whether or not the wound is mortal, of which

they can judge with a considerable degree of exactness; when a

death-wound is inflicted, the hunter raises a shout of exultation,

to prevent others from pursuing the individual of which {191} he

considers himself certain. He then passes in pursuit of another,

and so on, until his quiver is exhausted, or the game has passed

beyond his further pursuit.

The force of the arrow, when discharged by a dexterous and

athletic Indian, is very great, and we were even credibly

informed, that under favourable circumstances, it has been known

to pass entirely through the body of a bison, and actually to fly

some distance, or fall to the ground on the opposite side of the

animal.

Notwithstanding the apparent confusion of this engagement, and

that the same animal is sometimes feathered by arrows from

different archers, before he is despatched, or considered mortally

wounded, yet as each man knows his own arrows from all others, and

can also estimate the nature of the wound, whether it would

produce a speedy death to the animal, quarrels respecting the

right of property in the prey seldom occur, and it is consigned to

the more fortunate individual, whose weapon penetrated the most

vital part.

The chase having terminated, each Indian can trace back his

devious route to the starting-place, so as to recover any small

article he may have lost.

This surrounding chase the Omawhaws distinguish by the name of

Ta-wan-a-sa.

A fleet horse well trained to the hunt, runs at the proper

distance, with the reins thrown upon his neck, parallel with the

bison, turns as he turns, and does not cease to exert his speed

until the shoulder of the animal is presented, and the fatal arrow

is implanted there. He then complies with the motion of his rider,

who leans to one side, in order to direct his course to another

bison. Such horses as these are reserved by their owners

exclusively for the chase, and are but rarely subjected to the

drudgery of carrying burdens.

When the herd has escaped, and those that are {192} only wounded

or disabled are secured, the hunters proceed to flay and cut up

the slain.

Formerly, when the chiefs possessed a greater share of power than

they now do, one of them would advance towards a carcass which

struck his fancy, either from its magnitude or fatness, and the

rightful owner would relinquish it to him without a word; but they

now seldom put the generosity of the people thus to the test.

Some individual will usually offer his bison to the medicine,

either voluntarily, or at the request of a chief, and on the

succeeding day it is cooked, and all the distinguished men are

invited to partake of the feast.

In the operation of butchering, a considerable knowledge of the

anatomical structure of the animal is exhibited, in laying open

the muscles properly, and extending them out into the widest and

most entire surfaces, by a judicious dissection.

If they are much pressed by hunger, they in the first place open

the flank in order to obtain the kidneys, which are then eaten

without waiting for the tardy process of culinary preparation.

A hunter who has been unsuccessful, assists some one in skinning

and cutting up, after which he thrusts his knife in the part he

wishes for his own share, and it is given to him.

If the squaws should arrive, the knife is resigned to them, whilst

the men retire a short distance from the scene, to smoke and rest

themselves.

The slaughtered animals are chiefly, and almost exclusively, cows

selected from the herd; the bulls being eatable only in the months

of May and June.

Every eatable part of the animal is carried to the camp and

preserved, excepting the feet and the head; but the brains are

taken from the skull for the purpose of dressing the skin, or

converting it into Indian leather. Those skins which are obtained

during this season are known by the name _Summer skins_, and {193}

are used in the construction of their skin lodges, and for their

personal cloathing for summer wear.

Three squaws will transport all the pieces of the carcass of a

bison, excepting the skin, to the camp, if the latter is at any

moderate distance; and it is their province to prepare the meat,

&c. for keeping.

The vertebræ are comminuted by means of stone-axes, similar to

those which are not unfrequently ploughed up out of the earth in

the Atlantic states; the fragments are then boiled, and the rich

fat or medulla which rises, is carefully skimmed off and put up in

bladders for future use. The muscular coating of the stomach is

dried; the smaller intestines are cleaned and inverted, so as to

include the fat that had covered their exterior surface, and then

dried; the larger intestines, after being cleaned, are stuffed

with meat, and cooked for present eating.

The meat, with the exception of that of the shoulders, or hump, as

it is called, is then dissected with much skill into large thin

slices, and dried in the sun, or jerked over a slow fire on a low

scaffold.

The bones of the thighs, to which a small quantity of flesh is

left adhering, are placed before the fire until the meat is

sufficiently roasted, when they are broken, and the meat and

marrow afford a most delicious repast. These, together with the

tongue and hump, are esteemed the best parts of the animals.

The meat, in its dried state, is closely condensed together into

quadrangular packages, each of a suitable size, to attach

conveniently to one side of the packsaddle of a horse. The dried

intestines are interwoven together into the form of mats, and tied

up into packages of the same form and size. They then proceed to

_cache_, or conceal in the earth these acquisitions, after which

they continue onward in pursuit of other herds of their favourite

animal.

The nation return towards their village in the month of August,

having visited for a short time the {194} Pawnee villages, for the

purpose of trading their guns for horses.

They are sometimes so successful in their expedition, in the

accumulation of meat, as to be obliged to make double trips,

returning about mid-day for half the whole quantity which was left

in the morning. When within two or three days journey of their own

village, runners are despatched to it, charged with the duty of

ascertaining the safety of it, and the state of the maize.

On the return of the nation, which is generally early in September,

a different kind of employment awaits the ever-industrious squaws.

The property buried in the earth is to be taken up and arranged

in the lodges, which are cleaned out and put in order. The weeds

which, during their absence, had grown up in every direction

through the village, are cut down and removed.

A sufficient quantity of sweet corn is next to be prepared for

present and future use. Whilst the maize is yet in the milk or

soft state, and the grains have nearly attained to their full

size, it is collected and boiled on the cob; but the poor who

have no kettles, place the ear, sufficiently guarded by its husk,

in the hot embers until properly cooked; the maize is then dried,

shelled from the cob, again exposed to the sun, and afterwards

packed away for keeping, in neat leathern sacks. The grain

prepared in this manner has a shrivelled appearance, and a sweet

taste, whence its name. It may be boiled at any season of the year

with nearly as much facility as the recent grain, and has much the

same taste.

They also pound it into a kind of small hominy, which when boiled

into a thick mush, with a proper proportion of the smaller

entrails and jerked meat, is held in much estimation.

When the maize which remains on the stalk is fully ripe, it is

gathered, shelled, dried, and also packed away in leathern sacks.

They sometimes {195} prepare this hard corn for eating, by the

process of leying it, or boiling it in a ley of wood-ashes for the

space of an hour or two, which divests it of the hard exterior

skin; after which it is well washed and rinsed. It may then be

readily boiled to an eatable softness, and affords a palatable

food.

The hard ripe maize is also broken into small pieces between two

stones, one or two grains at a time, the larger stone being placed

on a skin, that the flying fragments may not be lost. This coarse

meal is boiled into a mush called Wa-na-de. It is sometimes

parched previously to being pounded, and the mush prepared from

this description of meal is distinguished by the term Wa-jun-ga.

With each of these two dishes, a portion of the small prepared

intestines of the bison, called Ta-she-ba, are boiled, to render

the food more sapid.

Their pumpkins, Wat-tong, are boiled, or rather steamed, as the

pot is filled with them cut in slices, with the addition of a very

small quantity of water. But the greater number of these

vegetables are cut into long slips, and, as well as the smaller

intestines and stomach of the bison, cut in pieces, are interwoven

as before mentioned into a kind of network.

A singular description of food is made use of by some tribes of

the Snake Indians, consisting chiefly, and sometimes wholly of a

species of ant, (formica, Lin.) which is very abundant in the

region in which they roam. The squaws go in the cool of the

morning to the hillocks of these active insects, knowing that then

they are assembled together in the greatest numbers. Uncovering

the little mounds to a certain depth, the squaws scoop them up in

their hands, and put them into a bag prepared for the purpose.

When a sufficient number are obtained, they repair to the water,

and cleanse the mass from all the dirt and small pieces of wood

collected with them. The ants are then placed upon a flat stone,

and by the pressure of a rolling-pin, are crushed together into a

dense {196} mass, and rolled out like pastry. Of this substance a

soup is prepared, which is relished by the Indians, but is not at

all to the taste of white men. Whether or not this species of ant

is analogous to the vachacos, which Humboldt speaks of, as

furnishing food to the Indians of the Rio Negro and the Guainia,

we have no opportunity of ascertaining.

We could not learn that any one of the nations of the Missouri

Indians are accused, even by their enemies, of eating human flesh

from choice, or for the gratification of a horrible luxury:

starvation alone can induce them to eat of it. An Ioway Indian,

however, having killed an Osage, compelled some children of his

own nation to eat of the uncooked flesh of the thigh of his

victim. And a Sioux of the St. Peter's dried some of the flesh of

a Chippeway whom he had killed, and presented it to some white

men, who ate it without discovering the imposition.

The Indians, like the Hottentots, Negroes, and monkeys, eat the

lice which they detect in each others heads. The squaws search for

these parasites; and we have often seen them thus occupied with

activity, earnestness, and much success. One of them, who was

engaged in combing the head of a white man, was asked why she did

not eat the vermin; she replied, that "white men's lice are not

good."

Although the bison cow produces a rich milk, yet the Indians make

no use of that of the individuals they kill in hunting.

During these active employments, which the squaws cheerfully and

even emulously engage in, the occupations of the men are chiefly

those of amusement or recreation.

Numbers of the young warriors are very officious in offering their

services to the squaws, as protectors during their field labours;

and from the opportunities they enjoy of making love to their

charge in the privacy of high weeds, it is extremely common for

them to form permanent attachments to the wives {197} of their

neighbours, and an elopement to another nation is the consequence.

The men devote a portion of their time to card-playing. Various

are the games which they practise, of which one is called

_Matrimony_; but others are peculiar to themselves: the following

is one, to which they seem to be particularly devoted.

The players seat themselves around a bison robe spread on the

ground, and each individual deposits in the middle the articles

he intends to stake, such as vermilion, beads, knives, blankets,

&c., without any attention to the circumstance of equalizing its

value with the deposits made by his companions.

Four small sticks are then laid upon the robe, and the cards are

shuffled, cut, and two are given to each player, after which the

trump is turned. The hands are then played, and whoever gains two

tricks takes one of the sticks. If two persons make each a trick,

they play together until one loses his trick, when the other takes

a stick. The cards are again dealt, and the process is continued

until all the sticks are taken, If four persons have each a stick,

they continue to play, to the exclusion of the unsuccessful

gamesters. When a player wins two sticks, four cards are dealt to

him, that he may take his choice of them. If a player wins three

sticks, six cards are dealt to him, and should he take the fourth

stick he wins the stake.

They are so inveterately attached to the heinous vice of gambling,

that they are known to squander in this way every thing they

possess, with the solitary exception of their habitation, which,

however, is regarded more as the property of the woman than of the

man.

A game, to which the squaws are very much devoted, is called by

the Omawhaws _Kon-se-ke-da_, or plumstone-shooting. It bears some

resemblance to that of dice. Five plumstones are provided, three of

which are marked on one side only with a greater {198} or smaller

number of black dots or lines, and two of them are marked on both

sides. They are, however, sometimes made of bone, of a rounded and

flattened form, somewhat like an orbicular button-mould; the dots

in this case being impressed. A wide dish, and a certain number

of small sticks, by the way of counters, are also provided. Any

number of persons may play at this game, and agreeably to the

number engaged in it, is the quantity of sticks or counters. The

plumstones or bones are placed in the dish, and a throw is made by

simply jolting the vessel against the ground to cause the dice to

rebound, and they are counted as they lie when they fall. The party

plays round for the first throw. Whoever gains all the sticks in

the course of the game, wins the stake. The throws succeed each

other with so much rapidity, that we vainly endeavoured to observe

their laws of computation, which it was the sole business of an

assistant to attend to.

The squaws sometimes become so highly interested in this game as

to neglect their food and ordinary occupations, sitting for a

whole day, and perhaps night also, solely intent upon it, until

the losers have nothing more to stake.

Having now a plentiful store of provisions, they content

themselves in their village until the latter part of October,

when, without the formality of a council or other ceremony, they

again depart from the village, and move in separate parties to

various situations on both sides of the Missouri, and its

tributaries, as far down as the Platte.

Their primary object at this time, is to obtain, on credit from

the traders, various articles indispensably necessary to their

fall, winter, and spring hunts: such as guns, particularly those

of _Mackinaw_, powder, ball, and flints; beaver-traps, brass, tin,

and camp-kettles; knives, hoes, squaw-axes, and tomahawks.

Having obtained these implements, they go in pursuit {199} of

deer, or apply themselves to trapping for beaver and otter. Elk

was sometime since an object of pursuit, but these animals are

now rather rare in the Omawhaw territories.

This hunt continues until towards the close of December, and

during the rigours of the season they experience an alternation of

abundance and scarcity of food. The men are very much exposed to

the cold, and, in trapping, to the water. They are also frequently

obliged to carry heavy burdens of game from considerable

distances.

The assiduous hunter often returns to his temporary residence in

the evening, after unsuccessful exertions continued the live-long

day: he is hungry, cold, and fatigued; with his mockasins,

perhaps, frozen on his feet. His faithful squaw may be unable to

relieve his hunger, but she seats herself by his side near the

little fire, and after having disposed of his hunting apparatus,

she rubs his mockasins and leggings, and pulls them off, that he

may be comfortable; she then gives him water to drink, and his

pipe to smoke. His children assemble about him, and he takes one

of them upon his knee, and proceeds to relate to it the adventures

of the day, that his squaw may be informed of them. "I have been

active all day, but the Master of life has prevented me from

killing any game; but never despond, my children and your mother,

I may be fortunate to-morrow." After some time he retires to rest,

but the wife remains to dry his clothing. He often sings until

midnight, and on the morrow he again sallies forth before the

dawn, and may soon return with a superabundance of food. Such is

the life of the Indian hunter, and such the privations and

pleasures to which his being is habitually incident.

The squaws, in addition to their occupation of flaying the animals

which their husbands entrap, and of preparing and preserving the

skins, are often necessitated to dig the pomme de terre, _noo_;

and to {200} scratch the groundpea, _himbaringa_, (the same word

is also applied to the bean,) from beneath the surface of the

soil. This vegetable is produced on the roots of the apios

tuberosa, they also frequently find it hoarded up in the quantity

of a peck or more in the brumal retreats of the field mouse, (mus

agrarius, Var?) for its winter store. The seeds of the nelumbium

luteum, analogous to the sacred bean of the Brahmins, also

contribute to their sustenance; these are distinguished by the

name Te-row-a, or bison-beaver, [_te_, bison; and _row-a_, beaver;

in the Oto dialect,] and when roasted are much esteemed. The root

of this plant is also an article of food during the privations of

this portion of the year; it is either roasted or boiled; and is

prepared for keeping by boiling, after which it is cut up in small

pieces and dried: in taste it is somewhat similar to the sweet

potato.

With the skins of the animals obtained during this hunt, the

natives again repair to the traders to compensate them for the

articles which they had obtained on credit. But owing to the

intrigues of rival traders, the Indians are, with, however,

numerous exceptions, not remarkable for any great degree of

punctuality in making their returns to cancel their debts. Many

obtain credit from one trader, and barter their peltries with

another, to the great injury of the first.

Like genuine traders, the Omawhaws endeavour, by various

subterfuges, to make the best of their market. An artful fellow

will assure a trader that he has a number of skins, but that he

does not wish to bring them forward, until he assembles a still

greater number; but, in the meantime, he must have a keg of

whiskey, otherwise he will barter his skins with another trader.

Another knave owes his trader, perhaps, twenty skins; but in

consequence of the unlucky occurrence of many circumstances, which

he proceeds to particularize, he can at present pay but half that

number, and the other ten, which he {201} brings with him, he

wishes to trade for other articles of merchandize. The trader

submits to the imposition thus practised, rather than lose their

custom; and is thus deservedly punished for his own deceptive

proceedings with respect to his rivals, and for the habit of

practising on the ignorance of the natives, in which many of them

freely indulge.

Thus the Missouri traders are repaid for hardly more than half the

value of the merchandize which they credit; but should they obtain

peltries for one-third of the amount, they clear their cost and

charges.

After having discharged their debts wholly, or in part, the

Indians exchange the remainder of their skins, for strouding for

breech-clouts and petticoats, blankets, wampum, guns, powder and

ball, kettles, vermilion, verdigrise, mockasin-awls, fire-steels,

looking-glasses, knives, chiefs' coats, calico, ornamented brass

finger-rings, arm-bands of silver, wristbands of the same metal,

ear-wheels and bobs, small cylinders for the hair, breast

brooches, and other silver ornaments for the head; black and blue

handkerchiefs, buttons, tin cups, pans and dishes, scarlet cloth,

&c.

The man is the active agent in this barter, but he avails himself

of the advice of his squaw, and often submits to her dictation.

Each nation of Indians practises every art they can devise, to

prevent white traders from trafficking with their neighbours, in

order to engross as much as possible of the trade themselves, and

to be the carriers at second hand to the others. For this purpose

they sometimes intrigue deeply, and resort to artful expedients.

"You do not treat your traders as we do," said a cunning Oto to

some Pawnees; "we dictate to them the rate of exchanges; and if

they persist in refusing to comply, we use force to compel them;

we flog them, and by these means we obtain our articles at a much

lower rate than you do:"--thus endeavouring to induce those people

{202} to banish traders from their village by ill treatment.

In trade, the largest sized beaver skin is called by the French a

_plus_, and constitutes the chief standard of value. Thus as many

of any other description of skins as are considered of equal value

with this large beaver skin, are collectively denominated a

_plus_; and the number of deer, raccoon, otter, &c. that shall

respectively constitute a plus, is settled between the parties,

previously to the commencement of the exchanges.

Brass kettles are usually exchanged for beaver skins, pound for

pound, which weight of the latter is worth about three dollars at

St. Louis.

The beaver skins are embodied into neat packs by the traders, each

weighing one hundred pounds, and consisting of seventy or eighty

skins, according to their magnitude.

The business of this hunt having terminated with the year, the

Omawhaws return to their village, in order to procure a supply of

maize from their places of concealment, after which they continue

their journey in pursuit of bisons.

On this occasion they divide into two parties, one of which

ascends the Missouri, and the other the Elkhorn rivers. The party

which discovers a herd, gives notice of the fact to the other

party, by an especial messenger, and invites them to join in the

pursuit of it.

This expedition continues until the month of April, when they

return to their village, as before stated, loaded with provisions.

It is during this expedition that they procure all the skins, of

which the bison robes of commerce are made; the animals at this

season having their perfect winter dress, the hair and wool of

which are long and dense.

The process of preparing the hides for the traders falls to the

lot of the squaws. Whilst in the green {203} state, they are

stretched and dried as soon as possible; and, on the return of the

nation to the village, they are gradually dressed during the

intervals of other occupations. The hide is extended upon the

ground; and with an instrument resembling an adze, used in the

manner of our carpenters, the adherent portions of dried flesh are

removed, and the skin rendered much thinner and lighter than

before. The surface is then plastered over with the brains or

liver of the animal, which have been carefully retained for the

purpose, and the warm broth of meat is also poured over it. The

whole is then dried, after which it is again subjected to the

action of the brains and broth, then stretched in a frame, and

while still wet, scraped with pumice-stone, sharp stones, or hoes,

until perfectly dry. Should it not yet be sufficiently soft, it is

subjected to friction, by pulling it backwards and forwards over a

twisted sinew. This generally terminates the operation. On the

commencement of the process, the hides are almost invariably each

divided longitudinally into two parts, for the convenience of

manipulation, and when finished, they are again united by sewing

with sinew. This seam is almost always present in the bison robe;

but one of the largest that we have seen, is used as a covering

for one of our humble beds at this cantonment, and has been

dressed entire, being entirely destitute of a seam.

The brain of an animal is sufficient to dress its skin, and some

persons make two-thirds of it suffice for that purpose.

The skins of the elk, deer, and antelopes are dressed in the same

manner; but those that are intended to form the covering of their

travelling lodges, for leggings, and summer mockasins, &c. have

the adze applied to the hairy side in dressing, instead of the

flesh side.

Great numbers of these robes are annually purchased by the

traders; and Mr. Lisa assured us, that {204} he once transported

fifteen thousand of them to St. Louis in one year.

The Indian form of government is not sufficiently powerful to

restrain the young warriors from the commission of many excesses

and outrages, which continually involve the nations in protracted

wars; and, however well disposed the chiefs may be, and desirous

to maintain the most amicable deportment towards the white people,

they have not the power to enable them to compel those restless

spirits, greedy of martial distinction, to an observance of that

pacific demeanour which their precepts inculcate.

To accomplish this object, much depends upon the course pursued by

the agents of the United States. If the character of these is

dignified, energetic, and fearless, they will certainly meet that

respect from the natives which is due to the importance of their

missions. But, on the contrary, if their conduct is deficient in

promptness, energy, and decision; if their measures are paralyzed

by personal fear of the desperadoes, whom they must necessarily

encounter in the execution of their duties, their counsels will

fall unheeded in the assemblies which they address.[207]

The power of some of the former rulers of the Omawhaws is said to

have been almost absolute. That of the celebrated Black

Bird,[208] Wash-ing-guh-sah-ba, seems to have been actually so,

and was retained undiminished until his death, which occurred in

the year 1800, of the smallpox, which then almost desolated his

nation. Agreeably to his orders, he was interred in a sitting

posture, on his favourite horse, upon the summit of a high bluff

of the bank of the Missouri, "that he might continue to see the

white people ascending the river to trade with his nation." A

mound was raised over his remains, on which food was regularly

placed for many years afterwards; but this rite has been

discontinued, and the staff, that {205} on its summit supported a

white flag, has no longer existence.

This chief appears to have possessed extraordinary mental

abilities, but he resorted to the most nefarious means to

establish firmly the supremacy of his power. He gained the

reputation of the greatest of medicine men; and his medicine,

which was no other than arsenic itself, that had been furnished

him for the purpose, by the villany of the traders, was secretly

administered to his enemies or rivals. Those persons who offended

him, or counteracted his views, were thus removed agreeably to his

predictions, and all opposition silenced, apparently by the

operation of his potent spells.

Many were the victims to his unprincipled ambition, and the nation

stood in awe of him, as of the supreme arbiter of their fate.

With all his enormities he was favourable to the traders; and

although he compelled them to yield to him one half of their

goods, yet he commanded his people to purchase the remainder at

double prices, that the trader might still be a gainer.

He delighted in the display of his power, and, on one occasion,

during a national hunt, accompanied by a white man, they arrived

on the bank of a fine flowing stream, and although all were

parched with thirst, no one but the white man was permitted to

taste of the water. As the chief thought proper to give no reason

for this severe punishment, it seemed to be the result of caprice.

One inferior, but distinguished chief, called Little Bow, at

length opposed his power. This man was a warrior of high renown,

and so popular in the nation, that it was remarked of him, that he

enjoyed the confidence and best wishes of the people, whilst his

rival reigned in terror. Such an opponent could not be brooked,

and the Black Bird endeavoured to destroy him.

{206} On one occasion the Little Bow returned to his lodge, after

the absence of a few days on an excursion. His wife placed before

him his accustomed food; but the wariness of the Indian character

led him to observe some peculiarity in her behaviour, which

assured him that all was not right; he questioned her concerning

the food she had set before him, and the appearance of her

countenance, and her replies, so much increased his suspicions,

that he compelled her to eat the contents of the bowl. She then

confessed that the Black Bird had induced her to mingle with the

food a portion of his terrible medicine, in order to destroy him.

She fell a victim to the machination of the Black Bird, who was

thus disappointed of his object.

With a band of nearly two hundred followers, the Little Bow

finally seceded from the nation, and established a separate

village on the Missouri, where they remained until the death of

the tyrant.

On one occasion, the Black Bird seems to have been touched by

remorse, or perhaps by penitence, in his career of enormity. One

of his squaws having been guilty of some trifling offence, he drew

his knife, in a paroxysm of rage, and stabbed her to the heart.

After viewing her dead body a few moments, he seated himself near

it, and covering his face with his robe, he remained immovable for

three days, without taking any nourishment. His people vainly

petitioned that he would "have pity on them," and unveil his face;

he was deaf to all their remonstrances, and the opinion prevailed

that he intended to die through starvation. A little child was at

length brought in by its parent, who gently raised the leg of the

chief, and placed the neck of the child beneath his foot. The

murderer then arose, harangued his people, and betook himself to

his ordinary occupations.

Towards the latter part of his life, he became very {207}

corpulent, the consequence of indolence and repletion. He was

transported by carriers, on a bison robe, to the various feasts to

which he was daily invited; and should the messenger find him

asleep, they dared not to awaken him by a noise or by shaking, but

by respectfully tickling his nose with a straw.

The successor of Black Bird was the Big Rabbit, Mush-shinga. He

possessed considerable authority, but he lived only a few years to

enjoy it.

Ta-so-ne, or the White Cow, the hereditary successor of

Mush-shinga, being governed by an unambitious wife, remained

inactive; whilst the next important man, Ong-pa-ton-ga, or the Big

Elk, more distinguished for his vigorous intellect than for any

martial qualities, attained to the supreme dignity, which he still

retains.

The power of this amiable and intelligent chief was very

considerable during the early part of his administration; and

although not so absolute as his predecessors, yet it is believed

that he could then inflict the punishment of death upon an

individual with his own hands, with impunity. Five years ago he

informed a stranger, in the presence of his people, that he could

compel any one of them to lie down before him, that he might place

his foot upon his neck; this assertion was assented to by his

hearers.

But the influence of the grand chief of the Omawhaws has very

much diminished, in consequence of the improper distribution of

medals by the whites; so that, although one of the most

intelligent leaders that the nation has probably ever had, yet he

could hardly do more at this time than inflict a blow for the most

serious offence. Still, however, he maintains a supremacy over six

or seven medalled rivals, in despite of the intrigues of the

traders.[209] He does not now attempt to coerce any of his people,

but substitutes advice and persuasion.

{208} By his influence and pacific councils, he has rendered the

Omawhaws a peaceful people, who limit their warfare to the

punishing of war-parties that depredate on them or their

possessions; and he exultingly affirms, that his hands are

unstained with the blood of white men.

FOOTNOTES:

[205] The succeeding chapters [the last in this volume, and the

first five in the next], which relate to the manners and customs

of the Indians, chiefly the Omawhaws, are from the notes of Mr.

Say.--JAMES.

_Comment by Ed._ With the account of the Omaha here given,

compare Dorsey, "Omaha Sociology," in Bureau of Ethnology

_Report_, 1881-82, p. 205.

[206] See No. 43 in Language of Signs, Appendix B, volume

xvii.--ED.

[207] In corroboration of the remarks given in the text, we

add the following account of an interview which Major O'Fallon

had with Indians of the Mississippi,[B] whose agent has been

hitherto unable to restrain them from carrying on warlike

operations against the Missouri Indians.

In St. Louis, on the 3d April, 1821, B. O'Fallon, agent for

Indian affairs on Missouri, met a deputation from the Saukee

nation of Indians, on the subject of a most destructive war,

carried on by them against the Otoes, Missouries, and Omawhaws

of his agency, and spoke to them as follows:--

"SAUKEES,

"I am glad you have arrived, before my departure for the

Council Bluff, as it affords me an opportunity to address

you on a subject that has agitated my mind for some time

past. Yes, Saukees, for some time past I have wished to

speak to you on a subject that even now makes the blood run

warm in my veins.

"In addressing you upon this important subject, I shall not

speak to please your ears, but to strike your hearts.

"Saukees, you must recollect to have seen me frequently; but

you do not know me, and I know you well. I recollect when I

first visited your land, your balls whistled round my ears.

I was then a boy, and wished to be a man--I am now a man,

with a heart as strong as my strength.

"A few winters since, I was a chief to the red skins of the

upper Mississippi (Sioux and Foxes); I am now chief to the red

skins of Missouri, some of whose blood you have spilt. Listen

that you may hear me; dispose your minds to understand me; and

remember well what I am now going to tell you, and carry my

words to your nation, that they may not deceive themselves.

"When I first climbed the rapid Missouri, I found the red

skins as wild as wolves. Without ears they roved through the

plains, only thirsting for each other's blood. They could

only see the storm as it gathered around them; they could

only see the clouds when they obscured the sun, and hear it

thunder when it rained: but when I sat down on their land,

they assembled around me; they listened to my words; I

settled the difference that existed between them, and gave

peace to the land. They then sat down to rest; but they

could not rest long, for the Saukees of the Mississippi, you

whom the Big Knives, like fools, have suffered to live, came

and disturbed them in their sleep. When disturbed, not like

women did they mourn their misfortunes; but like men, they

rose in arms and came to me. I did not consult my feelings;

I consulted the feelings of my nation, and I was for peace.

I told them to sit down, and they did so. Keep your ears

open that you may hear me, and raise your eyes that you may

see me, for I have saved your blood. Yes, Saukees, I

restrained their arms, and they sat down in tears. But you

were not satisfied: you presumed upon their forbearance, and

came again; but they were not asleep, and you did not spill

their blood, but you stole their horses: you stole horses

from the whites, who, like fools, had still suffered you to

live; and you murdered some traders, who were also white.

They again raised their arms; every body who were there at

the time, both whites and red skins, raised their arms, and

looked around them; but they could not see you; for, like

the timid wolf, you had sought the wood, where they could

not follow you, until they had consulted me--I, whose blood

began to boil in my veins. Saukees, my heart was for war;

but my nation was too much for peace, and it was my business

to promote peace; therefore I gave them some tobacco, and

told them once more to sit down, and endeavour to restrain

their feelings: they did so; and I left them smoking their

pipes, and came away to see the great American Chief. After

I left them, you returned again to their land: you found

them asleep; you stole their horses, murdered their women

and children, took their scalps, and carried some of them

prisoners to your villages.

"How long, how long, Saukees, will you continue to disturb

the repose of other nations? How long will you (like the

serpent creeping through the grass) continue to disturb the

unsuspecting stranger passing through your country? Be

cautious how you disturb the red skins of Missouri; or your

women and children shall mourn the loss of husbands and

fathers--husbands and fathers shall mourn the loss of wives

and children.

"Yes, Saukees, the Otoes, Missouries, and Omawhaws, are

unwilling to be disturbed any longer. They will no longer

suffer you to make slaves of their children, and dance their

scalps in your villages.

"Saukees, be cautious; you live in the woods, and the game

of your country is nearly exhausted. You will soon have to

desert those woods in which the red skins of Missouri cannot

find you, and follow the buffalo in the plains, where the

red-skins are not less brave than you, and as numerous as

the buffalo. As long as you have the wood to conceal your

warriors, you may continue to disturb the women and children

of Missouri; but when hunger drives you from those woods,

your bodies will be exposed to balls, to arrows, and to

spears. You will only have time to discharge your guns,

before, on horseback, their spears will spill your blood. I

know that your guns are better than those of Missouri, and

you shoot them well: but when you reach the prairies, they

will avail you nothing against the Otoes, Missouries,

Omawhaws, and Pawnees. As you have seen the whirlwind break

and scatter the trees of your woods, so will your warriors

bend before them on horseback. (Here B. O'Fallon paused, to

give the Saukees an opportunity to reply; when one of their

most distinguished partisans arose and spoke with energy and

animation, recounting many of his feats in war. He mentioned

how often he had struck upon the tribes of Missouri, and

that the Otoes had killed his brother, whom he loved as a

father, and whose spirit could not be appeased as long as an

Oto walked erect upon the earth. He also spoke of the

difficulty of restraining his young warriors, who were

unwilling to die in obscurity. To which B. O'Fallon spoke to

the following effect:)

"Saukees, one of your partizans, forgetting to whom he was

speaking, has had the presumption to recount his feats in

war, how often he had struck the red skins of Missouri, and

to insinuate that he was unwilling to restrain his young

men. I believe him to be a man of sense; but he has spoken

without reflection, he has spoken like a fool.

"Saukees, it has always been, and still is, my business to

prevent (if possible) the effusion of human blood--to give

peace and happiness to the land: but when I cannot stop the

running of blood, I will probe the wound, and make it run

more fast.

"I wish you to understand that the Otoes and Missouries,

though few in number, and much exposed, do not beg for

peace; and I do not ask it for them. They have not as yet

revenged the death of some of their murdered countrymen: the

spirits of these dead are not satisfied. No, Saukees, these

red skins, whom you persecute, have opened their ears to my

words, and are constantly looking towards me. They do not

wish a dishonourable peace. I would sooner see you drink

their blood, than suffer them to make a dishonourable peace.

You have a few of their children as prisoners among you; if

you consult the interest of your nation, you will send them

to their mothers: if you do not deliver them up, the

red-skins of Missouri will go after them; and in hunting

them they may find some of yours.

"I tell you to be cautious, Saukees, how you disturb the red

skins of Missouri. They call themselves my children: be

cautious how you disturb my children, or I will no longer

look to the pacific disposition of my nation, but consult my

own feelings, and probe the wound which I cannot heal.

"I am not like many white chiefs whom you have been

accustomed to see. I never act an humble part. I am one of

those white men who never fear a red skin--when I move

amongst them, it is not like a dog with his tail between his

legs, but as becomes a man; and when I speak, I feel the

strength of my nation.

"On the Missouri I have guns, powder and balls, blankets,

breech-clouts, and leggings, and I am now getting more. I

know where you have your village, and I know the face of the

country over which you stretch your limbs. I know how and

where you are scattered on hunting excursions. I know where

you are most exposed, and what I do not know I can easily

learn from the whites, and other red skins of the Mississippi.

"I have every thing that a red skin wants; and you all know

he wants only the means of war. You know that all red skins

are fond of war, and that I can make brother fight brother.

"Saukees; you are a strong nation of red skins; but if you

don't endeavour to restrain the ungovernable disposition of

some of your young men, they will expose your hearts in the

midst of your strength.

"Yes, Saukees, be cautious how you offend me; lest I

assemble an army of red skins, and from some high peak on

Missouri, show them where to find your village, and your

exposed and scattered lodges. I know that the red skins of

Missouri cannot destroy you directly; but they can give you

unpleasant dreams. Be cautious, Saukees, how you deceive

yourselves, or suffer others to deceive you, or the day will

come when some of your children will have the misfortune to

behold the dogs fighting over the bones of their fathers

upon this land; and as I may have many years to live, I

don't intend to sit still; and if I continue to increase in

strength as I have done, I may live to see the day when I

can make you smile, or shed tears of blood. Saukees, I have

done, I am going to the Council Bluff."

The Chief of the Saukees, after consulting each warrior

separately, replied, (in substance) as follows:--

"American Chief, I have been attentive, and I have heard

your words, and those of the _red head_ (Gov. Clark). Yours

entered one ear, and his the other: they shall not escape

until my nation hears them. I feel the truth of all you have

said, and have never been more for peace than now. All those

braves have expressed their wish for peace with the red

skins of Missouri. This partizan, who without reflection

spoke exultingly of his feats, since he has heard your words

is also for peace; not from any fear of those whom he has

bled, but from an unwillingness to displease you, whom he

conceives to be a man of truth.

"At our village on Rock river, and encampment at the De

Moyen, we have five Oto prisoners, whom I will promise to

deliver up, when you send for them.

"My brother, I only regret that my nation was not present on

this occasion, to have heard your words. The wisdom of my

nation, all the reflecting men, are for peace; but we have

many young men difficult to restrain, whose ears, (I

believe,) would open to words coming from your mouth, when

mine, for the want of strength, may fail.

"My brother, I wish you to pause--I wish you to forbear

until I disclose your words to my people, and you hear from

them.

"My brother, we receive you as the son of the _red head_;

and inasmuch as we love him, we love you, and do not wish to

offend you."--JAMES.

[B] Of the Sauk nation; they call themselves Sauke-waw-ke.

[208] For a sketch of Blackbird, see Bradbury's _Travels_, in

our volume v, note 48.--ED.

[209] On the custom of giving medals to chiefs in recognition of

their leadership, see Thwaites, _Original Journals of the Lewis

and Clark Expedition_, index.--ED.

* * * * *

Transcriber's note:

Original spelling, hyphenation, and grammar has been mostly

retained, with a few exceptions.

Page numbers from the 1905 Edition have been omitted herein,

but may be available in other editions of this ebook.

The Illustration "Facsimile of title-page to Volume I of James's

_Account_" on page 31 has been replaced by text, as there were

no graphics on the page.

Hyphenation questions, when the hyphen occurred at the end of

a line, were settled in favor of internal consistency whenever

possible.

Footnotes were moved from the bottoms of pages to the ends of

chapters. Footnotes in the Preface have only one or two digits,

e.g. "[11]"; footnotes in the body of the book have three

e.g. "[011]".

In tables, "ditto", "do." were replaced with repetitive text for

clarity. Sometimes blank space represents repetition in a table.

The first table in Footnote 187 is an example, wherein the words

"Length" and "inches." occurred on the first line only, in the

original, but are repeated on each line in this ebook. Whenever it

was perfectly clear to the transcriber that repetition was indeed

meant by white space, text was substituted for the blank.

In the Illustration on page 202 "INDIAN RECORD [...]", The

notation "^{x}" means that "x" should be superscript.

Footnote 055: two periods inserted, to end the sentence, and at the

end of the footnote.

Page 248: "permisssion" changed to "permission".

Page 307: comma inserted after "hoes" in "camp-kettles; knives,

hoes squaw-axes,".

Page 308: period deleted from "having disposed of his hunting

apparatus,. she rubs his".