pleasant sweetish taste. Artichokes grow in quantities near marshes.
Chokecherries, bullberries, service berries, buds of the wild rose, red
plums, and sour grapes are the principal fruits and are greatly sought
after by the Indians, preserved, dried, cooked, and eaten in various
ways, and considered by them great luxuries. Wild hops are in abundance
which possess all the properties of the cultivated hop. These are all
of any note the country produces.
FACILITIES FOR GRAZING.—These Indians raise no stock of any kind,
though judging from that raised at Fort Union it is one of the best
grazing countries in the world. The supply of grasses of spontaneous
growth is inexhaustible and very nutritious. The only difficulty is the
severe cold winter and depth of snow, though if animals were provided
for and housed during the severe cold we know that a hardier and better
stock can be raised than in the States. As yet, however, no market
being open for surplus stock and but few raised for the use of the
fort, our attention has not been much directed to that business, but
have no hesitation in advancing the opinion that horses, horned cattle,
and sheep would thrive and increase well with proper care. We are not
able to say whether water could at all times be had by digging on the
high prairie and in the absence of springs or creeks, never having
tried the experiment, though the country abounds in small lakes, cool
springs, and creeks where good localities for grazing purposes could
always be chosen. In the winter animals appear to want very little
water and generally eat snow in its place.
EFFECTS OF FIRING THE PRAIRIES.—We presume there must be some mistake
that any of the tribes residing on the plains set them on fire to
facilitate the purposes of hunting. It has the contrary effect, driving
the game out of their own country into that of their neighbors. Buffalo
may pass through a burnt country covered with snow, but can not remain,
and travel until they meet with suitable grazing. Consequently the
greatest precautions are used by both Indians and whites to prevent
their taking fire in the fall, when the grass is dry (the only time it
will burn), and the most severe penalties short of death are imposed on
any person, either white or red, who even by accident sets the prairie
on fire. A good thrashing with bows and sometimes tomahawking is in
store for the poor traveler who has been so forgetful as not to put
out his camp fires and they extend to the plains. These fires are made
mostly by returning war parties, either with the view of driving the
buffalo out of their enemy’s country or as signals to their own people
of success in their expedition, though sometimes they originate in
accident or petty malice of individuals. With regard to its injuring
the soil it has no such effects; on the contrary, the next crop of
grass is more beautiful than the other, as the undergrowth and briars
are by that means destroyed. The same, unfortunately, is not the case
with the timber. There are no forests on the plains to burn, though
where the fire passes through the bottoms of the Missouri it consumes
and kills great quantities of timber, which dries and decays and is
only replaced in time by younger saplings. Fruit bushes are also
destroyed, though they recover its effects in three or four years.
WASTE LANDS.—In this section there are no deserts or barren land
of any extent; though there are some marshes, pools, and swamps
which, however, are not so close together or extensive as to form any
formidable obstruction to roads. Even if they could not be drained or
otherwise disposed of, they could be left on either side of the way.
Neither do these appear to affect the health of any of the Indians more
than being the cause of producing hosts of mosquitoes, which are very
annoying to man and beast.
EFFECTS OF VOLCANIC ACTION.—We are not aware of any remarkable
appearances of this kind,[4] neither are there to be found extensive
sand plains or other tracts entirely destitute of herbage. The cactus
is found everywhere, but not in such quantity as to destroy herbage or
be a hindrance to animals traveling. A mile or two may occasionally
be found where herbage is comparatively scarce. Still, even in these
places there is sufficient for animals for a short time.
[4] There are portions of pumice stone and other things occasionally
picked up that have undergone volcanic action; also burning hills, but
no eruptions.
SALINE PRODUCTIONS.—We do not feel ourselves competent to state
the properties of the mineral springs so common throughout all this
country. Some of them no doubt contain Glauber salt, as they operate
as a violent cathartic; others have the taste of copper, sulphur,
etc. What the country would produce in the way of gypsum, saltpeter,
etc., we can not say, never having witnessed any geological or mineral
researches and being personally completely uninformed regarding this
branch of science.
COAL AND MINERAL PRODUCTS.—Dr. J. Evans, who lately traveled through
this country, can enlighten you on this subject. As for us, we must
plead unadulterated ignorance.
CLIMATE
The climate is pure and dry and perhaps the healthiest in the world. In
the months of May and June, when east winds prevail, much rain falls,
but during the rest of summer and fall the season is generally dry and
moderately warm, except a short time in July and August, when intensely
hot. There are occasionally severe thunderstorms accompanied by rain or
hail; not more, however, than three or four in a summer, and these in a
few hours swell the smallest streams so as to overflow their banks, but
with the ceasing of the rain they fall as suddenly as they rise, and do
no damage, as there are neither crops nor fences to injure. Tornadoes
we have never seen here, although they do happen on the Missouri far
below this place. Severe gales are occasionally met with, lasting but a
few minutes. With regard to temperature and other natural phenomena I
refer you to the accompanying tables.
WILD ANIMALS
The most numerous and useful animal in this country is unquestionably
the buffalo, both as regards the sustenance of all the Indians and
gain of the traders. Any important decrease of this animal would
have the effect of leaving the Indians without traders, no returns
of smaller skins being sufficient to pay the enormous expense of
bringing supplies so far and employing such a number of people. Buffalo
are very numerous, and we do not, after 20 years’ experience, find
that they decrease in this quarter, although upward of 150,000 are
killed annually throughout the extent of our trade, without taking
into consideration those swamped, drowned, calves frozen to death,
destroyed by wolves, or in embryo, etc. It yet would appear that their
increase is still greater than their destruction, as during last winter
(1852-53) there were more found in this quarter, and indeed in the
whole extent of our trade, than had been seen for many years before.
The buffalo is the Indian’s whole dependence. It serves him for all his
purposes—meat, clothing and lodging, powder horns, bowstrings, thread
and hair to make saddles. In the winter season the hides are dressed,
made into robes and traded to whites, by which means they are able
to buy all their necessaries and even some luxuries. Robes are worth
about $3 each, and although the number sent to market is great, yet the
high price paid for them to Indians and the danger of transportation
is such that fortunes are more easily and often lost than made at the
business. Beaver were formerly numerous and valuable, therefore much
hunted by whites and Indians, but of late years the price of that fur
being greatly reduced, and the danger of hunting considerable, does
not induce either whites or Indians to hunt them. This animal has
been trapped and killed to such an extent as to threaten their entire
extinction, though for the last 10 or 12 years, since beaver trapping
by large bodies of men has been abandoned, they have greatly increased,
and are now to be found tolerably plentiful in all the small streams
and in the Missouri and Yellowstone. These Indians do not and never did
trap them much; though the Crow and the Cree still make good beaver
hunts, they do not rely much on this either as a source of profit or
food.
Elk, deer, bighorn, and antelope are numerous and afford a means of
living and profit to the Indians although they are not hunted to any
extent except in a great scarcity of buffalo. From this circumstance
they do not diminish and are found now in much the same numbers as 20
years back.
Wolves are very plentiful and of three kinds, the large white wolf,
the large grayback wolf, and the small prairie wolf, all a good deal
hunted and many killed, though they continue to increase. They follow
the buffalo in large bands, waiting an opportunity to pounce upon one
that has been wounded or mired. They also destroy a great many small
calves in the month of May when they are brought forth. The skins of
the larger kind are worth 70 cents to $1 each; the smaller about 50
cents each.
Red and gray foxes, hares, badgers, skunks, wild cats, otters, ermines,
and muskrats are found and killed when opportunity offers. Of all these
the red fox appears to be the only one that has diminished in numbers.
We are not aware that any animals have disappeared altogether, nor of
any perceptible decrease of any except the beaver and red fox. The
Indians kill only as many buffalo as are wanted for meat and hides.
Taking only as many hides as their women can dress, they do not destroy
them wantonly to any extent; consequently the destruction is limited,
and that not being equivalent to the increase, but little diminution,
if any, is perceptible, and the trade as long as this is the case can
not have the effect of exterminating them. It is different as regards
the beaver and fox. Their skins require no labor except drying, and
being slower to increase must of course be the first to disappear
if hunted. Grizzly bears are tolerably numerous on the Missouri and
Yellowstone and are not hunted often, although killed occasionally. The
animal being ferocious is not much sought after by the Indians.
ANCIENT BONES AND TRADITIONS OF THE MONSTER ERA.—The Indians know
from bones found that such animals existed and were of immense size,
but their traditions never make mention of the living animal. To these
bones, etc., they assign the general name of Wan-wan-kah, which is
a creature of their own imagination, half spirit, half animal. Any
whirlwind or great tempest would be attributed to the movements of the
Wan-wan-kah, also any other natural phenomenon. Many stories are told
of its actions, but all are fabulous, although they profess to believe
in the existence of its powers, some even stating they have seen it
crossing the Missouri in the form of a large fish covering half the
breadth of that river.[5]
[5] See page 617 at the end of their oral tales.
ANIMALS USED AS ARMORIAL MARKS.—These armorial marks or symbols, such
as the eagle, owl, bear, serpent, etc., do not represent any tribal
organization but kinship occasionally. Neither do they refer to any
traditions of any early date, but are insignia adopted by themselves
as their medicine or charm. Most Indians have a charm of this kind,
either in consequence of some dream or of an idea that the figure has
some effect in carrying out his views regarding war, the chase, or the
health of his family. These are assumed for his own purposes, whether
real or imaginary, to operate on his own actions or to influence those
of other Indians. To these tangible objects, after Wakoñda, who is a
spirit, they address their prayers and invocations. Neither do these
symbols affect them regarding the killing of the same animals on all
occasions, though after he has killed it he will smoke and propitiate
[the spirit of] the dead carcass, and even offer the head small
sacrifices of tobacco and provisions.
THE HORSE
ERA OF THE IMPORTATION OF THE HORSE.—When the horse was first
introduced among them does not appear by any of the traditions of these
ignorant people. The name of the horse in Assiniboin is shunga (dog)
tunga (large), i. e., large dog. Among the Sioux it is named shunka
(dog) wakan (divining), i. e., divining dog, which would only prove
that the dog was anterior to the horse, inasmuch as they were obliged
to make a name for the strange animal resembling some known object with
which it could be afterwards compared.
PICTOGRAPHS
CHARTS ON BARK.—Their drawings of maps and sections of country are
in execution miserable to us but explanatory among themselves. Most
Indians can carve on a tree, or paint, who they are, where going,
whence come, how many men, horses, and guns the party is composed of,
whether they have killed enemies, or lost friends, and, if so, how
many, etc., and all Indians passing by, either friends or foes, will
have no difficulty in reading the same, though such representations
would be quite unintelligible to whites unless instructed. (Pl.
64.) Some Indians have good ideas of proportion and can immediately
arrive at the meaning of a picture, pointing out the objects in the
background, though others can not distinguish the figure of a man from
that of a horse, and as to their executions of any drawing they are
rude in the extreme. Where the natural talent exists, however, there is
no doubt they could be instructed.
ANTIQUITIES
From the Sioux to the Blackfeet, inclusive, there is not in all that
country any mounds, teocalli, or appearances of former works of defense
bearing the character of forts or any other antique structure. Not a
vestige or relic of anything that would form data, or be an inducement
to believe their grounds have ever been occupied by any other than
roving tribes of wild Indians; nor in the shape of tools, ornaments, or
missiles that would lead to any such inference. We have not been more
fortunate in searching their traditions in the hope of finding some
clue relative to these things. They do not believe that any persons
ever occupied their country except their own people (Indians), and we
can not say we have ever seen or heard anything to justify any other
conclusion regarding the extent of territory mentioned.
The elk-horn mound, mentioned elsewhere, is evidently of remote date
and the work of Indians, but proves nothing sought by these researches.
It might be stated that although no antique vessels of clay are found,
yet the Arikara now, and as long as the whites have known them, have
manufactured tolerably good and well-shaped clay vessels for cooking,
wrought by hand without the aid of any machinery, and baked in the
fire. They are not glazed, are of a gray color, and will answer for
pots, pans, etc., equally as well as those made by the whites, standing
well the action of fire and being as strong as ordinary potter’s ware.
They also have the art of melting beads of different colors and casting
them in molds of clay for ear and other ornaments of various shapes,
some of which are very ingeniously done. We have seen some in shape
and size as drawn in Plate 65, the groundwork blue, the figure white,
the whole about one-eighth inch thick, and presenting a uniform glazed
surface.
PIPES
No antique pipes are found, but many and various are now made by all
Indians.
VESSELS AND IMPLEMENTS
The Arikara and Gros Ventres, who raise corn, have other vessels as
alluded to, but not the roving tribes, except the utensils furnished by
whites. None of these things denote anything more than a people in the
rudest state of nature, whose only boiling pot was once a hollow stone,
or the paunch of a buffalo in which meat can be boiled and still is on
occasions, by filling the paunch with water and casting therein red-hot
stones until the water attains a boiling point, after which the stones
are taken out, and one added occasionally to continue the heat, or the
paunch suspended above a blaze at such a distance that the fire, though
heating, does not touch it. Their spoons are yet made of the horns of
the bighorn and buffalo, wrought into a good shape, some of which will
hold half a gallon with ease. These are dippers. Others for eating are
made smaller of horn and wood, yet large enough to suit their capacious
mouths. (Pl. 65.) In all this and in everything they do, but one idea
presents itself—that of crude, untutored children of nature, who have
never been anything else.
The only ancient stone implements we have ever seen are the hatchet,
stone war club, arrow point, buffalo shoulder-blade ax, hump-rib knife,
and elk-horn bow, the shapes of which we have endeavored to draw in
Plate 66, and all of which, except the knife, can yet occasionally be
seen among them.
There is a total absence of anything antique, any shell, metal,
wampum, or other thing formerly possessed by inhabitants supposed to
have occupied this country. Neither are there any hieroglyphics or
traditions to denote anything of the kind.
ASTRONOMY AND GEOLOGY
EARTH AND ITS MOTIONS.—Their knowledge on this subject is very
limited. They believe the earth to be a great plain containing perhaps
double the extent of country with which they are acquainted, and that
it is void of motion. They do not believe the stars are inhabited by
other people, but admit they may be abiding places of ghosts or spirits
of the departed. They are not fond of talking about these things,
neither do their opinions agree, each man’s story differing materially
from the other and all showing extreme ignorance and superstition.
They believe that Wakoñda created all things and this one idea appears
original and universal, further than which, however, they are at a loss.
If they can not be made to comprehend the extent of the earth and its
laws of motion, etc., there is much less likelihood that they can
have any reasonable idea of the field of space or other creations
therein further than superstitious notions according to the fancy of
the individual.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY FORTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT
PLATE 64
_Drawings by an Assiniboine Indian Fort Union Nov. 10. 1853._]
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY FORTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT
PLATE 65
CULINARY UTENSILS]
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY FORTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT
PLATE 66
CHARACTERISTIC IMPLEMENTS OF THE ASSINIBOINE]
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY FORTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT
PLATE 67
_a_, Comb root.
_b_, Cat-tail.]
THE SUN.—They take the sun to be a large body of fire, making its
daily journey across the plains for the purpose of giving light and
heat to all, and admit it may be the residence of Wakoñda; consequently
it is worshiped, venerated, smoked, and invocated on all solemn
occasions. We have often endeavored to explain the diurnal revolution
of the earth, representing the sun as stationary, but always failed.
They must first be brought to understand the attractions of cohesion
and gravitation, for, as a sensible Indian stated on one of these
occasions, “If at midnight we are all on the under side, what is to
hinder the Missouri from spilling out, and us from falling off the
earth? Flies, spiders, birds, etc., have small claws by which they
adhere to the ceiling and other places, though man and water have no
such support.”
THE SKY.—Those who take the trouble to explain state the sky to be a
material mass of a blue color, the composition of which they do not
pretend to say, and think it has an oval or convex form, as apparent to
the eye, resting for its basis on the extreme boundaries of the great
plain, the earth. Hence their drawing, which is almost the only form in
which they could represent it. Stars are small suns set therein, though
they think they may be large bodies appearing small by seeing through
space. Space is the intervening distance between earthly and heavenly
bodies.
The Indians can not rationally account for an eclipse, supposing it
to be a cloud, hand, or some other thing shadowing the moon, caused
by Wakoñda to intimate some great pending calamity. Many are the
prophecies on these occasions of war, pestilence, or famine, and
their predictions are often verified. Predicting an eclipse does not
appear to excite their wonder as much as would be supposed. The writer
predicted the eclipse of the moon on December 25, 1852, months before,
but received no further credit than that of having knowledge enough
from books to find out it was to take place.
Their year is composed of four man-ko´-cha or seasons, viz., wai-too
(spring), min-do-ka´-too (summer), pe-ti-e-too (autumn), wah-nee-e-too
(winter). These are only seasons and do not each contain a certain
number of days, but times—a growing time, a hot time, a leaf-falling
time, and a snow time. These four seasons make a year which again
becomes man-ko´-cha or the same as a season. This is difficult to
explain. They count by the moon itself and its different phases, not
computing so many days to make a moon, nor so many moons to a year.
They give each moon its name, beginning, say, with the March
moon whenever it appears either in February or March, when it
would be wee-che´-ish-ta-aza, sore eye moon; next would follow
Ta-pa´-ghe-na-ho-to, frog moon; next pe-tai-chin-cha´-ton, buffalo
calf moon; next wee-mush-tu, hot moon; next wah-pa´-ze-ze,
yellow-leaf moon; next wah-pa-ich-pa´-ah, leaf-falling moon; next
yo-ka´-wah-how-wee, first snow moon; next we-cho-kun, middle moon;
next om-hos-ka-sun-ka-koo, lengthening days moon’s brother; and next
om-has-ka, lengthening of days moon. Their year has no beginning nor
end. They count and name the moons as they come, and these names are
also varied. Any annual remarkably known fact respecting the season can
be applied to the name of the same moon. Thus the sore-eyed moon can
be called the snow-melting moon, and the falling-leaf moon be termed
the moon when the buffaloes become fat. These moons suffer no divisions
of time except their phases, viz., new moon, increasing moon (first
quarter), round moon (full moon), eaten moon (second quarter), half
moon, dead moon (invisible). Among themselves they have no division of
time equal to a week, although they are aware that we count by weeks,
or divining days (Sundays), and will often ask how many divining days
(or Sundays) there are to a given period.
An Indian in counting any period less than a year will say 3 moons and
a full (3½ moons), 4 moons and an eaten one (4¾ moons), 6 moons
and an increasing one (6½ moons), etc. These serve all his purposes
and when wishing to be more minute and exact he must notch each day on
a stick. For a year or four seasons they say a winter. A man may say
“I am 40 winters old and one summer.” Yet sometimes the same man will
say, “I am 40 seasons old.” This is still right. He will also say that
he is 80 seasons old, or 160 seasons old. All of these are correct and
understood immediately, as in the one case you mentally take the half,
and in the other the quarter. This is often done among themselves,
but with whites they generally name the winter only to designate the
year, yet man-ko´-cha (season) is the right name for a year and would
be received as such by all the Assiniboin. The day is divided into the
following parts: hi-ak-kane (daylight), umpa (morning), wee-he-num-pa
(sunrise), wee-wa-kan-too (forenoon), wi-cho-kun (midday),
we-coo-cha-nu (afternoon), we-coh-pa-ya (sunset), hhtie-too (twilight),
eoch-puz-za (dark), and haw-ha-pip-cho-kun (midnight). Any intermediate
space of time would be indicated by pointing the finger to the place
the sun is supposed to have been at that time. They know nothing of the
division of hours and minutes, yet some of the squaws living a long
time in the fort can tell the hour and minute by the clock.
They know that the minute hand makes the revolution of the dial plate
before it strikes and know the figures from 1 to 12; also that each
figure is five minutes apart, and will say it wants so many fives to
strike 9, or it has struck 10 and is 5 fives past. This they pick up
nearly of their own accord, which proves that some are susceptible of
intelligence and education. They know nothing of the solstices nor have
any period such as a cycle or century, neither do they believe the
world will come to an end or that their priests or any others have the
power to destroy or rebuild it.