as soon as the music began they danced towards each other till they met
in the centre, when the rattles were shaken, and they all shouted and
returned back to their places. They have no step, but shuffle along the
ground; nor does the music appear to be anything more than a confusion
of noises, distinguished only by hard or gentle blows upon the
buffalo-skin; the song is perfectly extemporaneous. In the pauses of the
dance some man of the company comes forward and recites, in a sort of
low guttural tone, some little story or incident, which is either
martial or ludicrous, or, as was the case this evening, voluptuous and
indecent; this is taken up by the orchestra and the dancers, who repeat
it in a higher strain and dance to it. Sometimes they alternate, the
orchestra first performing, and when it ceases the women raise their
voices, and make a music more agreeable, that is, less intolerable, than
that of the musicians.
The dances of the men, which are always separate from those of the
women, are conducted very nearly in the same way, except that the men
jump up and down instead of shuffling; and in the war-dances the
recitations are all of a military cast. The harmony of the entertainment
had nearly been disturbed by one of the musicians, who, thinking he had
not received a due share of the tobacco we had distributed during the
evening, put himself into a passion, broke one of the drums, threw two
of them into the fire, and left the band. They were taken out of the
fire; a buffalo robe, held in one hand, and beaten with the other by
several of the company, supplied the place of the lost drum or
tambourine, and no notice was taken of the offensive conduct of the man.
We stayed till twelve o'clock at night, when we informed the chiefs that
they must be fatigued with all these attempts to amuse us, and retired,
accompanied by four chiefs, two of whom spent the night with us on
board....
The tribe which we this day saw are a part of the great Sioux nation,
and are known by the name of the Teton Okandandas: they are about two
hundred men in number, and their chief residence is on both sides of the
Missouri, between the Chayenne and Teton Rivers. In their persons they
are rather ugly and ill made, their legs and arms being too small, their
cheek-bones high, and their eyes projecting. The females, with the same
character of form, are more handsome; and both sexes appear cheerful and
sprightly; but in our intercourse with them we discovered that they were
cunning and vicious....
Their lodges are very neatly constructed, in the same form as those of
the Yanktons: they consist of about one hundred cabins (made of white
buffalo dressed hide), with a larger one in the centre for holding
councils and dances. They are built round with poles, about fifteen or
twenty feet high, covered with white skins. These lodges may be taken to
pieces, packed up, and carried with the nation wherever they go, by dogs
which bear great burdens. The women are chiefly employed in dressing
buffalo-skins; they seem perfectly well disposed, but are addicted to
stealing anything which they can take without being observed. This
nation, although it makes so many ravages among its neighbors, is badly
supplied with guns. The water which they carry with them is contained
chiefly in the paunches of deer and other animals, and they make use of
wooden bowls. Some had their heads shaved, which we found was a species
of mourning for their relations. Another usage on these occasions is to
run arrows through the flesh, both above and below the elbow.
While on shore to-day we witnessed a quarrel between two squaws, which
appeared to be growing every moment more boisterous, when a man came
forward, at whose approach every one seemed terrified and ran. He took
the squaws, and without any ceremony whipped them severely. On inquiring
into the nature of such summary justice, we learned that this man was an
officer well known to this and many other tribes. His duty is to keep
the peace; and the whole interior police of the village is confided to
two or three of these officers, who are named by the chief, and remain
in power some days, at least till the chief appoints a successor: they
seem to be a sort of constable or sentinel, since they are always on the
watch to keep tranquillity during the day, and guarding the camp in the
night. The short duration of their office is compensated by its
authority. Their power is supreme, and in the suppression of any riot or
disturbance no resistance to them is suffered; their persons are sacred;
and if, in the execution of their duty, they strike even a chief of the
second class, they cannot be punished for this salutary insolence.
THE GREAT FALLS OF THE MISSOURI
WILLIAM CLARKE.
[The journals of Lewis and Clarke, descriptive of their
observations in the western United States during their journey
across the plains and mountains to the Pacific, are full of
interesting incident. They were the first intelligent travellers
through that vast region, and the story of their journey must
always possess a high value for this reason, the aborigines and
the animal life of that country being as yet undisturbed by the
presence of the whites. They had now reached the upper Missouri
and were within view of the Rocky Mountains. We quote from
McVickar's abridgment of their journals.]
On the north we passed a precipice about one hundred and twenty feet
high, under which lay scattered the remains of at least one hundred
carcasses of buffaloes, although the water, which had washed away the
lower part of the hill, must have carried off many of the dead.
These buffaloes had been chased down the precipice in a way very common
on the Missouri, and by which vast herds are destroyed in a moment. The
mode of hunting is to select one of the most active and fleet young men,
who is disguised by a buffalo-skin round his body; the skin of the head,
with the ears and horns, being fastened on his own in such a way as to
deceive the animal. Thus dressed, he fixes himself at a convenient
distance between a herd of buffaloes and any of the river precipices,
which sometimes extend for miles. His companions in the mean time get in
the rear and on the sides of the herd, and at a given signal show
themselves and advance towards them. The buffaloes instantly take the
alarm, and, finding the hunters beside them, they run towards the
disguised Indian or decoy, who leads them on at full speed towards the
river, when, suddenly securing himself in some crevice of the cliff
which he had previously fixed on, the herd is left on the brink of the
precipice. It is then impossible for the foremost to retreat, or even to
stop; they are pressed on by the hindmost rank, which, seeing no danger
but from the hunters, goad on those before them, till the whole are
precipitated over the cliff, and the shore is strewed with their dead
bodies.
Sometimes, in this perilous seduction, the Indian himself is either
trodden underfoot by the rapid movements of the buffaloes, or, missing
his footing in the cliff, is urged down the precipice by the falling
herd. The Indians then select as much meat as they wish, and the rest is
abandoned to the wolves, and creates a most dreadful stench. The wolves
which had been feasting on these carcasses were very fat, and so gentle
that one of them was killed with a spontoon.
[They were now on the foot-hills of the mountains, in the
country of the Minnetarees. Their journey met with obstructions
from precipitous cliffs.]
These hills and river cliffs exhibit a most extraordinary and romantic
appearance. They rise in most places nearly perpendicular from the river
to the height of between two and three hundred feet, and are formed of
very white sandstone, so soft as to yield readily to the action of
water, but in the upper part of which lie embedded two or three thin
horizontal strata of white freestone unaffected by the rain; and on the
top is a dark rich loam, which forms a gradually ascending plain, from a
mile to a mile and a half in extent, when the hills again rise abruptly
to the height of about three hundred feet more. In trickling down the
cliffs the water has worn the soft sandstone into a thousand grotesque
figures, among which, with a little fancy, may be discerned elegant
ranges of freestone buildings, with columns variously sculptured, and
supporting long and elegant galleries, while the parapets are adorned
with statuary. On a nearer approach they represent every form of elegant
ruins, columns, some with pedestals and capitals entire, others
mutilated and prostrate, and some rising pyramidally over each other
till they terminate in a sharp point. These are varied by niches,
alcoves, and the customary appearances of desolated magnificence. The
delusion is increased by the number of martins which have built their
globular nest in the niches, and hover over these columns as in our
country they are accustomed to frequent large stone structures.
As we advance there seems no end to the visionary enchantment that
surrounds us. In the midst of this fantastic scenery are vast ranges of
walls, which seem the productions of art, so regular is the workmanship.
They rise perpendicularly from the river, sometimes to the height of
one hundred feet, varying in thickness from one to twelve feet, being
equally broad at the top as below. The stones of which they are formed
are black, thick, and durable, composed of a large portion of
earth, intermixed and cemented with a small quantity of sand, and a
considerable proportion of talc or quartz. These stones are almost
invariably parallelopipeds of unequal sizes in the wall, but equally
deep, and laid regularly in ranges over each other like bricks, each
breaking and covering the interstice of the two on which it rests.
But, though the perpendicular interstice be destroyed, the horizontal
one extends entirely through the whole work. The stones, too, are
proportioned to the thickness of the wall in which they are employed,
being largest in the thickest walls. The thinner walls are composed of
a single depth of the parallelopiped, while the thicker ones consist
of two or more depths. These walls pass the river at several places,
rising from the water's edge much above the sandstone bluffs, which they
seem to penetrate; thence they cross in a straight line, on either side
of the river, the plains, over which they tower to the height of from
ten to seventy feet, until they lose themselves in the second range of
hills. Sometimes they run parallel in several ranges near to each other,
sometimes intersect each other at right angles, and have the appearance
of walls of ancient houses or gardens.
[After advancing some distance farther, the proper course to
pursue became doubtful, and Captains Lewis and Clarke set out in
different directions with exploring parties. Lewis's journey
proved an adventurous one.]
In passing along the side of a bluff at a narrow pass, thirty yards in
length, Captain Lewis slipped, and, but for a fortunate recovery by
means of his spontoon, would have been precipitated into the river over
a precipice of about ninety feet. He had just reached a spot where, by
the assistance of his spontoon, he could stand with tolerable safety,
when he heard a voice behind him cry out, "Good God, captain, what shall
I do?" He turned instantly, and found it was Windsor, who had lost his
foothold about the middle of the narrow pass, and had slipped down to
the very verge of the precipice, where he lay on his belly, with his
right arm and leg over it, while with the other leg and arm he was with
difficulty holding on, to keep himself from being dashed to pieces
below.
His dreadful situation was instantly perceived by Captain Lewis, who,
stifling his alarm, calmly told him that he was in no danger; that he
should take his knife out of his belt with the right hand, and dig a
hole in the side of the bluff to receive his right foot. With great
presence of mind he did this, and then raised himself on his knees.
Captain Lewis then told him to take off his moccasins, and come forward
on his hands and knees, holding the knife in one hand and his rifle in
the other. He immediately crawled in this way till he came to a secure
spot. The men who had not attempted this passage were ordered to return,
and wade the river at the foot of the bluff, where they found the water
breast-high.
This adventure taught them the danger of crossing the slippery heights
of the river; but, as the plains were intersected by deep ravines almost
as difficult to pass, they continued down the stream, sometimes in the
mud of the low grounds, sometimes up to their arms in water, and, when
it became too deep to wade, they cut footholds with their knives in the
sides of the banks. In this way they travelled through the rain, mud,
and water, and, having made only eighteen miles during the whole day,
encamped in an old Indian lodge of sticks, which afforded them a dry
shelter. Here they cooked part of six deer they had killed in the course
of the route, and, having eaten the only morsel they had tasted during
the whole day, slept comfortably on some willow-boughs.
[A few days afterwards, Captain Lewis reached the Falls of the
Missouri, which he eloquently describes.]
To the southwest [says the journalist] there arose from this plain two
mountains of a singular appearance, and more like ramparts of high
fortifications than works of nature. They are square figures, with sides
rising perpendicularly to the height of two hundred and fifty feet,
formed of yellow clay, and the tops seemed to be level plains. Finding
that the river here bore considerably to the south, and fearful of
passing the falls before reaching the Rocky Mountains, they now changed
their course to the south, and, leaving those insulated hills to the
right, proceeded across the plain.
In this direction Captain Lewis had gone about two miles, when his ears
were saluted with the agreeable sound of a fall of water; and, as he
advanced, a spray, which seemed driven by the southwest wind, arose
above the plain like a column of smoke, and vanished in an instant.
Towards this point he directed his steps, and the noise, increasing as
he approached, soon became too tremendous to be mistaken for anything
but the Great Falls of the Missouri.
Having travelled seven miles after first hearing the sound, he reached
the Falls about twelve o'clock. The hills, as he approached, were
difficult of access, and two hundred feet high; down these he hurried
with impatience, and, seating himself on some rocks under the centre
of the Falls, enjoyed the sublime spectacle of this stupendous object,
which since the creation had been lavishing its magnificence upon the
desert, unknown to civilization.
The river, immediately at its cascade, is three hundred yards wide, and
is pressed by a perpendicular cliff on the left, which rises to about
one hundred feet, and extends up the stream for a mile; on the right the
bluff is also perpendicular for three hundred yards above the fall. For
ninety or a hundred feet from the left cliff the water falls in one
smooth, even sheet over a precipice of at least eighty feet. The
remaining part of the river precipitates itself with a more rapid
current, and, being received as it falls by the irregular and somewhat
projecting rocks below, forms a splendid spectacle of perfectly white
foam, two hundred yards in length and eighty in perpendicular elevation.
This spray is dissipated into a thousand shapes, sometimes flying up in
columns of fifteen or twenty feet, which are then oppressed by larger
masses of the white foam, on all which the sun impresses the brightest
colors of the rainbow.
Below the fall the water beats with fury against a ledge of rocks, which
extends across the river at one hundred and fifty yards from the
precipice. From the perpendicular cliff on the north to the distance of
one hundred and twenty yards the rocks are only a few feet above the
water, and, when the river is high, the stream finds a channel across
them forty yards wide, and near the higher parts of the ledge, which
rise about twenty feet, and terminate abruptly within eighty or ninety
yards of the southern side. Between them and the perpendicular cliff on
the south the whole body of water runs with great swiftness.
A few small cedars grow near this ridge of rocks, which serves as a
barrier to defend a small plain of about three acres, shaded with
cottonwood; at the lower extremity of which is a grove of the same
trees, where are several Indian cabins of sticks; below which the river
is divided by a large rock, several feet above the surface of the water,
and extending down the stream for twenty yards. At the distance of three
hundred yards from the same ridge is a second abutment of solid
perpendicular rock, about sixty feet high, projecting at right angles
from the small plain on the north for one hundred and thirty-four yards
into the river. After leaving this the Missouri again spreads itself to
its previous breadth of three hundred yards, though with more than its
ordinary rapidity....
_June 14._--This morning one of the men was sent to Captain Clarke with
an account of the discovery of the Falls; and, after employing the rest
in preserving the meat which had been killed yesterday, Captain Lewis
proceeded to examine the rapids above. From the Falls he directed his
course southwest up the river. After passing one continued rapid and
three cascades, each three or four feet high, he reached, at a distance
of five miles, a second fall. The river is here about four hundred yards
wide, and for the distance of three hundred rushes down to the depth of
nineteen feet, and so irregularly that he gave it the name of the
Crooked Falls. From the southern shore it extends obliquely upward about
one hundred and fifty yards, and then forms an acute angle downward
nearly to the commencement of four small islands close to the northern
side. From the perpendicular pitch to these islands, a distance of more
than one hundred yards, the water glides down a sloping rock with a
velocity almost equal to that of its fall; above this fall the river
bends suddenly to the northward.
While viewing this place, Captain Lewis heard a loud roar above him,
and, crossing the point of a hill a few hundred yards, he saw one of the
most beautiful objects in nature: the whole Missouri is suddenly stopped
by one shelving rock, which, without a single niche, and with an edge
as straight and regular as if formed by art, stretches itself from one
side of the river to the other for at least a quarter of a mile. Over
this it precipitates itself in an even, uninterrupted sheet, to the
perpendicular depth of fifty feet, whence, dashing against the rocky
bottom, it rushes rapidly down, leaving behind it a sheet of purest foam
across the river. The scene which it presented was indeed singularly
beautiful; since, without any of the wild, irregular sublimity of the
lower falls, it combined all the regular elegancies which the fancy of a
painter would select to form a beautiful waterfall.
The eye had scarcely been regaled with this charming prospect, when, at
the distance of half a mile, Captain Lewis observed another of a similar
kind. To this he immediately hastened, and found a cascade stretching
across the whole river for a quarter of a mile, with a descent of
fourteen feet, though the perpendicular pitch was only six feet. This,
too, in any other neighborhood, would have been an object of great
magnificence; but after what he had just seen, it became of secondary
interest; his curiosity being, however, awakened, he determined to go
on, even should night overtake him, to the head of the falls. He
therefore pursued the southwest course of the river, which was one
constant succession of rapids and small cascades, at every one of which
the bluffs grew lower, or the bed of the river became more on a level
with the plains. At the distance of two and a half miles he arrived at
another cataract of twenty-six feet. The river is here six hundred yards
wide, but the descent is not immediately perpendicular, though the river
falls generally in a regular and smooth sheet; for about one-third of
the descent a rock protrudes to a small distance, receives the water in
its passage, and gives it a curve.
On the south side is a beautiful plain, a few feet above the level of
the falls; on the north the country is more broken, and there is a
hill not far from the river. Just below the falls is a little island
in the middle of the river well covered with timber. Here, on a
cottonwood-tree, an eagle had fixed her nest, and seemed the undisputed
mistress of a spot to contest whose dominion neither man nor beast would
venture across the gulfs that surround it, and which is further secured
by the mist rising from the Falls. This solitary bird could not escape
the observation of the Indians, who made the eagle's nest a part of
their description of the Falls, and which now proves to be correct in
almost every particular, except that they did not do justice to their
height. Just above this is a cascade of about five feet, beyond which,
as far as could be discerned, the velocity of the water seemed to abate.
Captain Lewis now ascended the hill which was behind him, and saw from
its top a delightful plain, extending from the river to the base of the
Snowy Mountains to the south and southwest. Along this wide, level
country the Missouri pursued its winding course, filled with water to
its smooth, grassy banks, while about four miles above it was joined by
a large river flowing from the northwest, through a valley three miles
in width, and distinguished by the timber which adorned its shores. The
Missouri itself stretches to the south in one unruffled stream of water,
as if unconscious of the roughness it must soon encounter, and bearing
on its bosom vast flocks of geese, while numerous herds of buffaloes are
feeding on the plains which surround it.
Captain Lewis then descended the hill, and directed his course towards
the river, falling in from the west. He soon met a herd of at least a
thousand buffaloes, and, being desirous of providing for supper, shot
one of them. The animal immediately began to bleed, and Captain Lewis,
who had forgotten to reload his rifle, was intently watching to see
him fall, when he beheld a large brown bear which was stealing on him
unperceived, and was already within twenty steps. In the first moment of
surprise he lifted his rifle, but remembering instantly that it was not
charged, and that he had no time to reload, he felt there was no safety
but in flight. It was in the open, level plain; not a bush nor a tree
within three hundred yards, the bank of the river sloping, and not more
than three feet high, so that there was no possible mode of concealment.
Captain Lewis therefore thought of retreating with a quick walk, as fast
as the bear advanced, towards the nearest tree; but as soon as he
turned, the bear rushed open-mouthed and at full speed upon him. Captain
Lewis ran about eighty yards, but finding that the animal gained on him
fast, it flashed on his mind that by getting into the water to such a
depth that the bear would be obliged to attack him swimming, there was
still some chance for his life; he therefore turned short, plunged into
the river about waist-deep, and, facing about, presented the point of
his spontoon. The bear arrived at the water's edge within twenty feet of
him; but as soon as he put himself in this posture of defence he seemed
frightened, and, wheeling about, retreated with as much precipitation as
he had advanced.
Very glad to be released from his danger, Captain Lewis returned to the
shore, and observed him run with great speed, sometimes looking back, as
if he expected to be pursued, till he reached the woods. He could not
conceive the cause of the sudden alarm of the bear, but congratulated
himself on his escape, when he saw his own track torn to pieces by the
furious animal; and he learned from the whole adventure never to suffer
his rifle to be for a moment unloaded.
HUNTING SCENES IN THE CANADIAN WOODS.
B. A. WATSON.