is not attended with any additional display or mark of distinction;
indeed, in that event their coups are seldom boasted of, that being
rendered unnecessary from the fact of the whole nation’s being aware
of the cause of his advancement, and although chiefs and councillors
generally have appropriate dresses, as already described, they
never wear them unless on the most important occasions, such as a
battle, council with other nations, great religious assemblies, or
an approaching dissolution. It is their greatest desire when arrived
at the head of the ladder of fame to receive a flag or medal from
some whites in power, which are worn or displayed on all ordinary
convocations and councils. In like manner a sword would be the mark of
a soldier in camp, but we see no other badges of office except what
have already been referred to as existing in kins, which are laid aside
as soon as the ceremonies which caused this display are concluded.
BEARD
As has before been observed, these tribes have naturally little or no
beard. What few hairs and down make their appearance on the face and
other parts of the body are extracted by small wire tweezers of their
own make. They have no method of killing or dyeing the hair; they
cultivate it, and consider to cut it a great sacrifice. It is only
clipped short or torn out by handfuls in excessive grief, but is never
shaved, and until modern times but seldom combed.
INTELLECTUAL CAPACITY AND CHARACTER
Laying aside the advantages of education, of knowledge acquired by
conversation with superior men, and the increase of ideas gained in
travel by the European, and drawing a comparison between the ignorant
white and the savage, we feel bound to award preference to the latter.
In all their conversation, manners, government of families, general
deportment, bargaining, and ordinary occupations they exhibit a
manliness, shrewdness, earnestness, and ability far superior to the
mass of illiterate Europeans. Even their superstitions and religion
present a connected, grand chain of thought, having for its conclusion
the existence of a Supreme Power, much more satisfactory and sublime in
the aggregate than the mixture of bigotry, infidelity, enthusiasm, and
profanity observed in the actions and language of the lower class of
Christians. An excellent opportunity offers in this country to draw a
comparison between the Indians and the engagees of the Fur Company, and
what can never fail to strike the mind of the observer is the superior
manliness and energy of the Indian in thought, word, and action, as
evinced in their patience, contempt of death and danger, reverses of
fortune, in their affection for their children, government of their
families, their freedom from petty vexations, and useless bursts of
impotent passion.
The Indian reverences his unknown God in his way. Though the principle
be fear and the object Creation, it leads to reliance and resignation
when his own resources fail, whereas the whites spoken of vent their
displeasure for most trifling grievances and accidents in eternal
curses on the Great Disposer, the Virgin Mary, and all other holy
persons and objects they deem worthy of their execration. These
Indians are capable of pursuing a logical train of reasoning to a just
conclusion. If the subject be one with which by experience they have
become acquainted, they can argue it point by point with any person.
Even the Assiniboin, who are the most ignorant of all these tribes,
can pursue a satisfactory mode of conversation. Clear sightedness is
more observable in matters touching their own personal or national
welfare, the utility and expedience of war or peace, camp regulations,
or the advantage of trade. Not many years since the Cree and Assiniboin
combined against the Hudson Bay Co. at Red River for the purpose of
forcing that powerful house into more reasonable prices for goods and a
less distressful policy of trade or to abandon the country.
The case was as follows: It was then and still is in a measure the
custom of that company to make credits to those Indians in the fall
for nearly the entire amount of their winter hunts, taking advantage
of their necessities in putting exorbitant prices on the supplies thus
advanced, so that when an Indian came to pay he found himself with
nothing left to clothe his family or meet his wants; in fact, as poor
as before, and consequently obliged to contract other debts on the
ensuing year, being in this way kept always poor, more especially so if
by some accident his hunt should fail.
Even those who were not indebted bought supplies at such enormous
rates as with difficulty to support themselves. In order, therefore,
to reform these proceedings they assembled in council at various
places, sent runners to all the camps in the two nations, and decided
to convene at the Hudson Bay Co.‘s fort and make known to them their
determination, which was to hunt no more at such prices, or if they
did hunt, to seek some other market for their furs on the Mississippi
or Missouri. The company being aware of their proceedings and knowing
the inexpedience of being forced into measures, besides dreading the
effect such a large body of discontented Indians might have on the
settlers and property, sent their half-breed runners to the different
camps on the advance toward the fort with orders to turn them back with
stories that the smallpox had appeared in the settlement. The fear of
this terrible infection disbanded the expedition, the Indians traveling
in haste the contrary direction, which gave the company time to alter
in detail their manner of dealing with them, apparently of their own
accord. Things of this kind prove the Indians to be capable of looking
into their own interests, also of acting in a body when they are
concerned, in cases where rank is not interfered with nor subordination
required, while gain is the object and public opinion unanimous.
On subjects in which their actual experience and observation are at
fault, even if supported with good arguments, they are suspicious
and incredulous. They listen, doubt, but say little. On all such
topics their minds receive a bias from their superstitions and lack
of appreciation of motive. They can not conceive of any efforts made
through motives of charity, benevolence, or pity, nor realize any other
disinterested action, even if it be for their benefit, because all
they do is in expectation of reward, and being destitute of the above
principles of actions are disposed to attribute interested views to
everyone else. In reviewing such subjects with them, and supporting the
moral principle by argument, they are silenced, though not convinced;
they do not grasp it, but will not contradict, for the thing may
be so. Hence their thoughtfulness and apparent apathy, also their
uninterrupted deliberations in councils and conversation, all arising
from a desire to hear the subject in all its bearings, either with the
view of forming an opinion or of the propriety of expressing it.
Regarding their temperament, it is peculiar and general. We see none
of those great differences in disposition observed among the European
races.
There appears to be a uniformity of individual feeling and action
among them. Being all the same on like occasions, it would seem a
national and natural feature, calling forth corresponding feelings and
actions with circumstances as they arise, exhibited in overwhelming
demonstrations of grief or joy, in seriousness in business, ceremonies,
and worship, excessive gayety in their amusements and lighter
conversation, with earnestness in matters of personal interest.
They have strong powers of memory and forecast, are of a reflective
habit, their physical propensities predominating over the moral, in
their general conduct grave, can be and are very gay on occasions,
but upon the whole are rather of a cold than a fervid temperament.
We are unable to say whether their reasoning powers are brought out
or strengthened by education, never having witnessed its application
to any of these tribes, but see no reason why they should not be as
capable of improvement in these respects as any other race of people.
Their ideas are by no means groveling, nor is their form of government
to be derided. Neither can we conscientiously assign to them a lower
place in the scale of creation; perhaps not so low as any other race of
uneducated sentient beings.
We are not well enough acquainted with the capacity and history of the
oriental stock to say whether these assimilate in any great degree;
most likely the inference can be drawn from what has been written in
these pages.
We may state that as yet no person has appeared among them noted for
his natural or acquired powers as a real physician, though many have
risen to eminence in this department from their supposed supernatural
powers in curing the sick. Neither does their history produce any
person who has evinced ability as a linguist,[37] moralist, or in the
cultivation of any of the exact or moral sciences.
[37] Denig seems to refer here to grammatic analyses rather than to the
mere learning of languages.
They use no studied maxims of expression in conversation, nor are there
observed any compositions partaking of the nature of laments, unless
the speeches made to departed spirits and the universal monotonous
mourning chant[38] would be construed in that light. Their ordinary
talk is pretty much the same as that of other men, though perhaps the
Indians use fewer words in conversation, selecting only those which
have a direct reference to the subject. They do not evince a quickness
in repartee, even in their jokes, and all conversation, except the
obscene, is carried on more deliberately and concisely than among
other races. The effect of their oratory is a great deal enhanced by
the position, bearing, and gesticulation of the speaker, yet it is not
without its merits; simplicity, clearness, and strength of language are
its distinguishing traits. We have heard and understood some hundreds
of speeches on every subject of interest among the Sioux, Assiniboin,
and Cree Nations, and must confess we can not discern the figures and
tropes attributed to their oratory by fiction writers. Metaphor is
sometimes used, but not often. Their eloquence lies in the few words,
bold assertions, and pointed questions with which they clothe their
ideas, added to fierce expression of countenance and earnestness of
gesticulation.
[38] The song for the dead contains a few words suitable to the
occasion.
Everything they say in a speech has a tendency to gain their object if
they have any, and Indians seldom speak otherwise. No set forms are
followed, their thoughts finding utterance as they arise, or rather
according to their feelings, and consequently make an impression on
their auditors. The principal aims of the Indian speeches we have
heard were to gain something or to impress the mass with the spirit of
emulation, a desire for war or peace, and for the better regulation of
their national affairs. One or two addresses of this kind have already
been inserted and now follow two more, both heard and interpreted by
myself and copied from our records. We fear in reading them, a woeful
disappointment on the part of novel writers and romantic authors of
Indian tales, but such as they are they exhibit true samples of Indian
eloquence at the present day, however much it may differ from that in
the time of the celebrated Logan and others. In interpreting these
speeches, the exact and entire ideas of the Indians are preserved,
though the words chosen to express them are not always the same. We
have had occasion to remark on this head before that no Indian language
admits of being translated word for word; to do so, the purport desired
by the Indian would fail, injustice be done to his ideas as realized by
him, and a futility of words presented so devoid of order as to make no
impression on the person for whom they are intended.
Nevertheless it is not to be inferred that the ideas have been improved
upon. They are entire, and only so because clothed in the only kind of
words sufficient to convey the real extent of their signification.
The occasion which produced the following speech by the Crazy Bear
was this: In the summer of 1837 the Assiniboin, with other nations,
were invited to attend the treaty at Laramie. It was with great
difficulty any of them could be persuaded to go, as the road along
the Yellowstone was beset with Blackfeet war parties; but this man
with three others went in company with A. Culbertson, Esq., who was
authorized to conduct them. The Crazy Bear was, while at the treaty,
made chief of the Assiniboin Nation by Col. D. D. Mitchell, the United
States commissioner, and on his return to his people repeated to the
nation the stipulations of the treaty, together with the “talk” held at
the rendezvous, but, as usual with Indians, was not believed. It also
happened that in the ensuing spring, by some delay, the merchandise
intended for the Indians and promised them at the treaty did not
arrive in the West in time to be forwarded, so that summer passed and
the Missouri froze over without any appearance of presents forthcoming.
The Indians became dissatisfied, thought they had been trifled with,
abused Crazy Bear and me for deceiving them, raised war parties, and
bid fair to break the treaty and become more troublesome to whites than
ever.
Amidst all this clamor and disturbance the chief stood firm and, being
supported in office by the fort, all hostile demonstrations were for
the time averted. At this juncture, in January, 1853, Mr. Culbertson
arrived from St. Louis with orders from the superintendent to supply
the amount due the Indians as per treaty from the merchandise of the
fur company in this country. The nation therefore being called together
and placed in order in the interior of the fort, the goods as per
invoice laid in front of them, the Crazy Bear rose and said:
“My children and friends: The clouds that have hitherto obscured the
sky are brushed away and a fine day appears before you. The time has
arrived when all the turbulent and discontented must be convinced that
the whites have but one tongue; that our great father, the President,
is rich and powerful. But a few days since most of you were violent
in your reproaches against myself and the whites. If you have any
more abuse left, heap it on now, disburden your hearts at once of all
complaint, make the pile of your abuse as large as the pile of goods
before you. The whites have kept their word and your heads should hang
in shame.
“When you were invited to the treaty you were afraid to go, some to
leave their wives, others their children, others to cross the warpath
of the Blackfeet. I went. I appeared among nations in your name and am
the cause of the present smiling pile of goods being laid before you.
“When I returned from the treaty after an absence of three moons and
repeated to you the words of our Great Father, what was my reception?
How was I listened to? When, by some accident the goods promised did
not arrive, how did you act? What now do you think of yourselves?
“I hold in my hands the words of our Great Father. They are scored
on my heart, were poured into my ears, did not run out, and now is
the most fitting time to repeat what I have so often told you without
being believed. Your Great Father does not want your lands; he seeks
your welfare. You are a few poor miserable beings; he is rich, his
people are numerous as the leaves of the cottonwood. He desires to
stop the bloody wars heretofore existing between Indian tribes, to
make all one people, to enable all to hunt and visit together in peace
and friendship. He wishes you to refrain from all depredations on
whites, respect your chief as a chief, and listen to his words. For
this he sends you these presents which will be repeated every year for
15 years, unless by your misconduct you incur his displeasure. I have
heard the words; they are true. I have seen his soldiers and know he
has the power to punish those who have no ears.
“A great deal of what you do and say is foolishness, the work and talk
of children, not of men. Last fall in despite, you raised war parties,
made threats against myself and the whites, gave me trouble. You now
see the rashness of your proceedings. Who gives you these goods?
“Do you pay for them? Have you traded them? Do you intend to recompense
your Great Father in any way? If so, listen to his words. It has been
said I have sold you to the whites—bartered for your lands. I now tell
you it is no such thing. There are no stipulations made for your lands
in these papers. They were not even mentioned in the treaty. They are
too cold for any persons except Indians, or any animals other than
those with heavy hair.
“The Blackfeet are yet your enemies, but are to be spoken to by our
Great Father; therefore let us refrain from war upon them to advance
the views of our Great Father. Since the treaty I have had a son and a
son-in-law killed by these people, and all my horses stolen twice. I
can count seven times damage they have done me and my nation, but still
I am disposed to remain quiet so that our Great Father may be pleased.
All of you do the same. The day is coming when the Blackfeet will have
ears given them.
“There are many poor people in this assembly that will be greatly
benefited by this distribution of goods. Indians are born poor; they
are always poor. Whatever they get for nothing is a great help and they
should be thankful.
“I now appoint you six men, soldiers, for the equal distribution of
these goods. Let all have a fair share. Your duty as soldiers does not
end here. In the camp when you hear of war parties being assembled,
stop them.
“If any one breaks the treaty stipulations with regard to the whites or
other nations I desire you to punish them. If you are not able to do
so you are no soldiers, and such disturbers shall be taken down by the
whites in irons.
“The President of the United States has thought fit to appoint me your
chief. Here is my medal; there are my papers. This makes some of you
jealous. You should have thought of it before and plucked up courage
enough to be seen at the treaty, that he could have chosen a better man
than I, if there be one. As it is, as long as I can stand and my voice
holds good I shall never agree to what is wrong nor be deterred from
doing what is right.[39] I have spoken.”
[39] Literally “my road shall be in a straight line with my talk and
not frightened to one side.”
It is the custom of most of the upper Missouri tribes when at the fort
for trading purposes for the principal men to make what are called
presents; that is, a portion of the buffalo robes are brought into
the office and with much ceremony laid at the feet of the gentleman
in charge of the fort, which action is followed by a speech. To a
spectator only viewing the act as a gift, and only understanding the
literal meaning of their speeches on the occasion, they would appear
to be the most liberal people in the world, as often 100 to 150
buffalo robes are laid down and carried out to the store without any
merchandise being produced in payment at the time, besides each Indian
distinctly states many times in his speech that it is absolutely for
nothing he makes the present.
But unfortunately for this generous appearance it has quite the
contrary signification. The trader during the course of this harangue
receives hints enough as to the compensation for the present and the
Indian fully expects both the honor done to the trader and the skins
given to be paid for; in fact, requiring in return nearly double the
amount in value had the skins been handed, as is usual by the mass of
the Indians, to the clerk of the store without any ceremony. It is at
these times that the principal men make the speeches, such as the one
which follows, which, though not distinguished for beauty of allegory
or force of argument, may serve to show their shrewdness and cunning,
also their reliance on flattery to gain their ends. It was necessary
to premise this much so that the speech could be understood in all its
bearings.
SPEECH OF LE CHEF DU TONNERRE TO THE GENTLEMAN IN CHARGE OF FORT UNION,
JANUARY, 1850
“My friend, my Father, look at me. You see standing before you one of
the poorest of his nation, but one who has a good heart and open hand.
Our Great Grandfather, the Earth, is the parent of us all—Indians
and whites. When Wakoñda created man he made two sorts; one clothed,
comfortable, rich, plenty to eat, and endowed with wisdom; these were
the white men. The other he produced naked, in a cold climate, poor,
ignorant, obliged to hunt for their meat, to labor, to starve, to
suffer, to die; these were the red men.
“Who receives the profits of their labor? The whites. Who protects them
from their enemies? Themselves. When your Great Grandfather across
the sea sent you to reside with Indians, what did he say? Did he pour
no good words into your ears? Did he not tell you, you will behold a
poor, naked, starved nation, have pity on them? I believe he did, he
was a chief, a man of sense, a rich man, and no doubt said, ‘Give away
a portion of your good things to the Indian, let him feel something
soft on his back. He is not an animal, his body is not covered with
hair like the buffalo, but he is a man like yourself and requires
clothing to protect himself from the cold. Are you not aware Indians
freeze to death?’[40]
[40] Four Indians had at this time been frozen to death near his camp
in a snowstorm.
“When this big fort was built, when the first whites opened the road
tip the Missouri, they found us with bone knives, stone axes, clay
pots, stone arrow points, bone awls, and nothing but the bow and arrow
to kill game; they had pity on us, and exchanged for our skins iron
arms and utensils.[41] In this they did well; they bettered the Indian;
they made themselves rich. They had sense. They also gave us good
words, and I have recollected them; they have been handed down to us
when children, and all good Indians remember. I was told if you meet a
white man give him your hand, take him to your lodge, give him to eat,
let him have lodging, show him the road. I have done so.
[41] When the trade of the Missouri was opened the Assiniboin were the
poorest of all nations, and have remained so to this day.
“If you meet him while on the warpath, do not steal his horse or rob
him of his property. If others steal his horses, bring them back;
if any of the fort property is damaged, pay for it. I have done so.
I was told to hunt, make robes, trade the skins for blankets, arms,
and ammunition. All this I have continued to do from my youth to the
present time. My part has been fulfilled. Yet you see me before you
still a poor man. I stand nearly alone in the village, like an aged
tree whose tops are dead. The bones of my friends and relatives are
piled around the fort or scattered over the plains. All the good,
all the wise, all the handsome, all the brave were rubbed out by the
smallpox. Young men are growing, but they are not like those of the old
stock.
“The road to the fort gates has been swept free of grass by the feet of
my people in coming to trade. Each year we have loaded your boats with
the skins of our animals, and I now bring a few more. The 10 robes laid
before you are a present, for which I desire nothing. I wish to make
your heart glad and to have my name remembered on the large books.[42]
I know very well you are a chief and will have pity on me. Let me feel
something soft over my shoulders.[43] Bestow some glittering mark on
my back,[44] cover my bare head[45] and let something gay[46] appear
there, that my young men may know that I am respected at the fort.
[42] It is customary to keep a list of men who behave well and make
large trades.
[43] A blanket is wanted.
[44] Hint for a chief’s coat.
[45] Hat desired.
[46] Feathers desired.