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CHAPTER VI
The party increase in the favour of the Mandans—Description of a buffaloe dance—Medicine dance—The fortitude with which the Indians bear the severity of the season—Distress of the party for want of provisions—The great importance of the blacksmith in procuring it—Depredations of the Sioux—The homage paid to the medicine stone—Summary act of justice among the Minnetarees—The process by which the Mandans and Ricaras make beads—Character of the Missouri, of the surrounding country, and of the rivers, creeks, islands, &c.
Friday, 28th. The wind continued high last night, the frost severe, and the snow drifting in great quantities through the plains.
Saturday, 29th. There was a frost fell last night nearly one quarter of an inch in depth, which continued to fall till the sun had gained some height: the mercury at sunrise stood at 9° below 0: there were a number of Indians at the fort in the course of the day.
Sunday, 30th. The weather was cold, and the thermometer 20° below 0. We killed one deer, and yesterday one of the men shot a wolf. The Indians brought corn, beans, and squashes, which they very readily gave for getting their axes and kettles mended. In their general conduct during these visits they are honest, but will occasionally pilfer any small article.
Monday, 31. During the night there was a high wind which covered the ice with hillocks of mixed sand and snow: the day was however fine, and the Indians came in great numbers for the purpose of having their utensils repaired.
Tuesday, January 1, 1805. The new year was welcomed by two shot from the swivel and a round of small arms. The weather was cloudy but moderate; the mercury which at sunrise was at 18°, in the course of the day rose to 34° above 0: towards evening it began to rain, and at night we had snow, the temperature for which is about 0. In the morning we permitted sixteen men with their music to go up to the first village, where they delighted the whole tribe with their dances, particularly with the movements of one of the Frenchmen who danced on his head. In return they presented the dancers with several buffaloe robes and quantities of corn. We were desirous of showing this attention to the village, because they had received an impression that we had been wanting in regard for them, and they had in consequence circulated invidious comparisons between us and the northern traders: all these however they declared to captain Clarke, who visited them in the course of the morning, were made in jest. As captain Clarke was about leaving the village, two of their chiefs returned from a mission to the Grosventres or wandering Minnetarees. These people were encamped about ten miles above, and while there one of the Ahnahaways had stolen a Minnetaree girl: the whole nation immediately espoused the quarrel, and one hundred and fifty of their warriors were marching down to revenge the insult on the Ahnahaways. The chief of that nation took the girl from the ravisher, and giving her to the Mandans requested their intercession. The messengers went out to meet the warriors, and delivered the young damsel into the hands of her countrymen, smoked the pipe of peace with them, and were fortunate enough to avert their indignation and induce them to return. In the evening some of the men came to the fort and the rest slept in the village. Pocapsahe also visited us and brought some meat on his wife's back.
Wednesday, January 2. It snowed last night, and during this day the same scene of gayety was renewed at the second village, and all the men returned in the evening.
Thursday 3. Last night it became very cold, and this morning we had some snow: our hunters were sent out for buffaloe, but the game had been frightened from the river by the Indians, so that they obtained only one: they however killed a hare and a wolf. Among the Indians who visited us was a Minnetaree who came to seek his wife: she had been much abused and came here for protection, but returned with him; as we had no authority to separate those whom even the Mandan rites had united.
Friday 4. The morning was cloudy and warm, the mercury being 28° above 0: but towards evening the wind changed to northwest, and the weather became cold. We sent some hunters down the river, but they killed only one buffaloe and a wolf. We received the visit of Kagohami who is very friendly, and to whom we gave a hankerchief and two files.
Saturday 5. We had high and boisterous winds last night and this morning: the Indians continue to purchase repairs with grain of different kinds. In the first village there has been a buffaloe dance for the last three nights, which has put them all into commotion, and the description which we received from those of the party who visited the village and from other sources, is not a little ludicrous: the buffaloe dance is an institution originally intended for the benefit of the old men, and practised at their suggestion. When buffaloe becomes scarce they send a man to harangue the village, declaring that the game is far off and that a feast is necessary to bring it back, and if the village be disposed a day and place is named for the celebration of it. At the appointed hour the old men arrive, and seat themselves crosslegged on skins round a fire in the middle of the lodge with a sort of doll or small image, dressed like a female, placed before them. The young men bring with them a platter of provisions, a pipe of tobacco, and their wives, whose dress on the occasion is only a robe or mantle loosely thrown round the body. On their arrival each youth selects the old man whom he means to distinguish by his favour, and spreads before him the provisions, after which he presents the pipe and smokes with him. Mox senex vir simulacrum parvæ puellæ ostensit. Tune egrediens eætu, jecit effigium solo et superincumbens, senili ardore veneris complexit. Hoc est signum. Denique uxor e turba recessit, et jactu corporis, fovet amplexus viri solo recubante. Maritus appropinquans senex vir dejecto vultu, et honorem et dignitatem ejus conservare amplexu uxoris illum oravit. Forsitan imprimis ille refellit; dehine, maritus multis precibus, multis lachrymis, et multis donis vehementer intercessit. Tune senex amator perculsus miserecordia, tot precibus, tot lachrymis, et tot donis, conjugali amplexu submisit. Multum ille jactatus est, sed debilis et effoetus senectute, frustra jactatus est. Maritus interdum stans juxta guadit multum honore, et ejus dignitati sic conservata. Unus nostrum sodalium multum alacrior et potentior juventute, hac nocte honorem quartour maritorum custodivit.
Sunday 6. A clear cold morning with high wind: we caught in a trap a large gray wolf, and last night obtained in the same way a fox who had for some time infested the neighbourhood of the fort. Only a few Indians visited us to-day.
Monday 7. The weather was again clear and cold with a high northwest wind, and the thermometer at sunrise 22° below 0; the river fell an inch. Shahaka the Big White chief dined with us, and gave a connected sketch of the country as far as the mountains.
Tuesday 8. The wind was still from the northwest, the day cold, and we received few Indians at the fort. Besides the buffaloe dance we have just described, there is another called medicine dance, an entertainment given by any person desirous of doing honour to his medicine or genius. He announces, that on such a day he will sacrifice his horses, or other property, and invites the young females of the village to assist in rendering homage to his medicine; all the inhabitants may join in the solemnity, which is performed in the open plain and by daylight, but the dance is reserved for the virgins or at least the unmarried females, who disdain the incumbrance or the ornament of dress. The feast is opened by devoting the goods of the master of the feast to his medicine, which is represented by a head of the animal itself, or by a medicine bag if the deity be an invisible being. The young women then begin the dance, in the intervals of which each will prostrate herself before the assembly to challenge or reward the boldness of the youth, who are often tempted by feeling or the hopes of distinction to achieve the adventure.
Wednesday 9. The weather is cold, the thermometer at sunrise 21° below 0. Kagohami breakfasted with us, and captain Clarke with three or four men accompanied him and a party of Indians to hunt, in which they were so fortunate as to kill a number of buffaloe: but they were incommoded by snow, by high and squally winds, and by extreme cold; several of the Indians came to the fort nearly frozen, others are missing, and we are uneasy, for one of our men who was separated from the rest during the chase has not returned: In the morning,
Thursday 10, however, he came back just as we were sending out five men in search of him. The night had been excessively cold, and this morning at sunrise the mercury stood at 40° below 0, or 72 below the freezing point. He had however, made a fire and kept himself tolerably warm. A young Indian, about thirteen years of age, also came in soon after. His father who came last night to inquire after him very anxiously, had sent him in the afternoon to the fort: he was overtaken by the night, and was obliged to sleep on the snow with no covering except a pair of antelope skin moccasins and leggings and a buffaloe robe: his feet being frozen we put them into cold water, and gave him every attention in our power. About the same time an Indian who had also been missing returned to the fort, and although his dress was very thin, and he had slept on the snow without a fire, he had not suffered the slightest inconvenience. We have indeed observed that these Indians support the rigours of the season in a way which we had hitherto thought impossible. A more pleasing reflection occurred at seeing the warm interest which the situation of these two persons had excited in the village, the boy had been a prisoner and adopted from charity, yet the distress of the father proved that he felt for him the tenderest affection, the man was a person of no distinction, yet the whole village was full of anxiety for his safety and when they came to us, borrowed a sleigh to bring them home with ease, if they survived, or to carry their bodies if they had perished.
Friday 11. We despatched three hunters to join the same number whom we had sent below about seven miles to hunt elk. Like that of yesterday the weather to-day was cold and clear, the thermometer standing at 38° below 0. Poscopsahe and Shotahawrora visited us, and past the night at the fort.
Saturday 12. The weather continues very cold, the mercury at sunrise being 20° below 0. Three of the hunters returned, having killed three elk.
Sunday 13. We have a continuation of clear weather, and the cold has increased, the mercury having sunk to 34° below 0. Nearly one half of the Mandan nation passed down the river to hunt for several days; in these excursions men, women and children, with their dogs, all leave the village together, and after discovering a spot convenient for the game, fix their tents; all the family bear their part in the labour, and the game is equally divided among the families of the tribe. When a single hunter returns from the chase with more than is necessary for his own immediate consumption, the neighbours are entitled by custom to a share of it: they do not however ask for it, but send a squaw, who without saying any thing, sits down by the door of the lodge till the master understands the hint, and gives her gratuitously a part for her family. Chaboneau who with one man had gone to some lodges of Minnetarees near the Turtle mountain, returned with their faces much frostbitten. They had been about ninety miles distant, and procured from the inhabitants some meat and grease, with which they loaded the horses. He informs us that the agent of the Hudson bay company at that place, had been endeavouring to make unfavourable impressions with regard to us on the mind of the great chief, and that the N.W. company intend building a fort there. The great chief had in consequence spoken slightly of the Americans, but said that if we would give him our great flag he would come and see us.
Monday 14. The Mandans continue to pass down the river on their hunting party, and were joined by six of our men. One of those sent on Thursday returned, with information that one of his companions had his feet so badly frostbitten that he could not walk home. In their excursion they had killed a buffaloe, a wolf, two porcupines and a white hare. The weather was more moderate to-day, the mercury being at 16° below 0, and the wind from the S.E. we had however some snow, after which it remained cloudy.
Tuesday 15. The morning is much warmer than yesterday, and the snow begins to melt, though the wind after being for some time from the S.E. suddenly shifted to N.W. Between twelve and three o'clock A.M. there was a total eclipse of the moon, from which we obtained a part of the observation necessary for ascertaining the longitude.
We were visited by four of the most distinguished men of the Minnetarees, to whom we showed marked attentions, as we knew that they had been taught to entertain strong prejudices against us; these we succeeded so well in removing, that when in the morning,
Wednesday 16, about thirty Mandans, among whom six were chiefs came to see us, the Minnetarees reproached them with their falsehoods, declaring that they were bad men and ought to hide themselves. They had told the Minnetarees that we would kill them if they came to the fort, yet on the contrary they had spent a night there and been treated with kindness by the whites, who had smoked with them and danced for their amusement. Kagohami visited us and brought us a little corn, and soon afterwards one of the first war chiefs of the Minnetarees came accompanied by his squaw, a handsome woman, whom he was desirous we should use during the night. He favoured us with a more acceptable present, a draft of the Missouri in his manner, and informed us of his intention to go to war in the spring against the Snake Indians; we advised him to reflect seriously before he committed the peace of his nation to the hazards of war; to look back on the numerous nations whom war has destroyed, that if he wished his nation to be happy he should cultivate peace and intercourse with all his neighbours, by which means they would procure more horses, increase in numbers, and that if he went to war he would displease his great father the president, and forfeit his protection. We added that we had spoken thus to all the tribes whom we had met, that they had all opened their ears, and that the president would compel those who did not voluntarily listen to his advice. Although a young man of only twenty-six years of age, this discourse seemed to strike him. He observed that if it would be displeasing to us he would not go to war, since he had horses enough, and that he would advise all the nation to remain at home, until we had seen the Snake Indians, and discovered whether their intentions were pacific. The party who went down with the horses for the man who was frostbitten returned, and we are glad to find his complaint not serious.
Thursday 17. The day was very windy from the north; the morning clear and cold, the thermometer at sunrise being at 0: we had several Indians with us.
Friday 18. The weather is fine and moderate. Messrs. Laroche and M‘Kenzie, two of the N.W. company's traders, visited us with some of the Minnetarees. In the afternoon two of our hunters returned, having killed four wolves and a blaireau.
Saturday 19. Another cloudy day. The two traders set out on their return, and we sent two men with the horses thirty miles below to the hunting camp.
Sunday 20. The day fair and cold. A number of Indians visit us with corn to exchange for articles, and to pay for repairs to their household utensils.
Monday 21. The weather was fine and moderate. The hunters all returned, having killed during their absence three elk, four deer, two porcupines, a fox and a hare.
Tuesday 22. The cold having moderated and the day pleasant, we attempted to cut the boats out of the ice, but at the distance of eight inches came to water, under which the ice became three feet thick, so that we were obliged to desist.
Wednesday 23. The cold weather returned, the mercury having sunk 2° below 0, and the snow fell four inches deep.
Thursday 24. The day was colder than any we have had lately, the thermometer being at 12° below 0. The hunters whom we sent out returned unsuccessful, and the rest were occupied in cutting wood to make charcoal.
Friday 25. The thermometer was at 25° below 0, the Wind from N.W. and the day fair, so that the men were employed in preparing coal, and cutting the boats out of the ice. A band of Assiniboins headed by their chief, called by the French, Son of the Little Calf, have arrived at the villages.
Saturday 26. A fine warm day: a number of Indians dine with us: and one of our men is attacked with a violent pleurisy.
Sunday 27. Another warm and pleasant day: we again attempted to get the boat out of the ice. The man who has the pleurisy was blooded and sweated, and we were forced to take off the toes of the young Indian who was frostbitten some time since. Our interpreter returned from the villages, bringing with him three of Mr. Laroche's horses which he had sent in order to keep them out of the way of the Assiniboins, who are very much disposed to steal, and who have just returned to their camp.
Monday 28. The weather to-day is clear and cold: we are obliged to abandon the plan of cutting the boat through the ice, and therefore made another attempt the next day,
Tuesday 29, by heating a quantity of stones so as to warm the water in the boat, and thaw the surrounding ice: but in this too we were disappointed, as all the stones on being put into the fire cracked into pieces: the weather warm and pleasant: the man with the pleurisy is recovering.
Wednesday 30. The morning was fair, but afterwards became cloudy. Mr. Laroche the trader from the northwest company paid us a visit, in hopes of being able to accompany us on our journey westward, but this proposal we thought it best to decline.
Thursday 31. It snowed last night, and the morning is cold and disagreeable, with a high wind from the northwest: we sent five hunters down the river. Another man is taken with the pleurisy.
Friday, February 1. A cold windy day: our hunters returned having killed only one deer. One of the Minnetaree war chiefs, a young man named Maubuksheahokeah or Seeing Snake, came to see us and procure a war hatchet: he also requested that we would suffer him to go to war against the Sioux and Ricaras who had killed a Mandan some time ago: this we refused for reasons which we explained to him. He acknowledged that we were right, and promised to open his ears to our counsels.
Saturday 2. The day is fine: another deer was killed. Mr. Laroche who has been very anxious to go with us left the fort to-day, and one of the squaws of the Minnetaree interpreter is taken ill.
Sunday 3. The weather is again pleasant: disappointed in all our efforts to get the boats free, we occupied ourselves in making iron spikes so as to prize them up by means of long poles.
Monday 4. The morning fair and cold, the mercury at sunrise being 18° below 0, and the wind from the northwest. The stock of meat which we had procured in November and December being now nearly exhausted, it became necessary to renew our supply; captain Clarke therefore took eighteen men, and with two sleighs and three horses descended the river for the purpose of hunting, as the buffaloe has disappeared from our neighbourhood, and the Indians are themselves suffering for want of meat. Two deer were killed to-day but they were very lean.
Tuesday 5. A pleasant fair morning with the wind from northwest: a number of the Indians come with corn for the blacksmith, who being now provided with coal has become one of our greatest resources for procuring grain. They seem particularly attached to a battle axe, of a very inconvenient figure: it is made wholly of iron, the blade extremely thin, and from seven to nine inches long; it is sharp at the point and five or six inches on each side, whence they converge towards the eye, which is circular and about an inch in diameter, the blade itself being not more than an inch wide, the handle is straight, and twelve or fifteen inches long; the whole weighing about a pound. By way of ornament, the blade is perforated with several circular holes. The length of the blade compared with the shortness of the handle render it a weapon of very little strength, particularly as it is always used on horseback: there is still however another form which is even worse, the same sort of handle being fixed to a blade resembling an espontoon.
Wednesday, February 6. The morning was fair and pleasant, the wind N.W. A number of Indian chiefs visited us and withdrew after we had smoked with them contrary to their custom, for after being once introduced into our apartment they are fond of lounging about during the remainder of the day. One of the men killed three antelopes. Our blacksmith has his time completely occupied, so great is the demand for utensils of different kinds. The Indians are particularly fond of sheet iron, out of which they form points for arrows and instruments for scraping hides, and when the blacksmith cut up an old cambouse of that metal, we obtained for every piece of four inches square seven or eight gallons of corn from the Indians, who were delighted at the exchange.
Thursday 7. The morning was fair and much warmer than for some days, the thermometer being at 18° above 0, and the wind from the S.E. A number of Indians continue to visit us; but learning that the interpreter's squaws had been accustomed to unbar the gate during the night, we ordered a lock put on it, and that no Indian should remain in the fort all night, nor any person admitted during the hours when the gate is closed, that is from sunset to sunrise.
Friday 8. A fair pleasant morning, with S.E. winds. Pocopsahe came down to the fort with a bow, and apologized for his not having finished a shield which he had promised captain Lewis, and which the weather had prevented him from completing. This chief possesses more firmness, intelligence, and integrity, than any Indian of this country, and he might be rendered highly serviceable in our attempts to civilize the nation. He mentioned that the Mandans are very much in want of meat, and that he himself had not tasted any for several days. To this distress they are often reduced by their own improvidence, or by their unhappy situation. Their principal article of food is buffaloe-meat, their corn, beans, and other grain being reserved for summer, or as a last resource against what they constantly dread, an attack from the Sioux, who drive off the game and confine them to their villages. The same fear too prevents their going out to hunt in small parties to relieve their occasional wants, so that the buffaloe is generally obtained in large quantities and wasted by carelessness.
Saturday 9. The morning was fair and pleasant, the wind from the S.E. Mr. M‘Kenzie from the N.W. company establishment visited us.
Sunday 10. A slight snow fell in the course of the night, the morning was cloudy, and the northwest wind blew so high that although the thermometer was 18° above 0, the day was cooler than yesterday, when it was only 10° above the same point. Mr. M‘Kenzie left us, and Chaboneau returned with information that our horses loaded with meat were below, but could not cross the ice not being shod.
Monday 11. We sent down a party with sleds, to relieve the horses from their loads; the weather fair and cold, with a N.W. wind. About five o'clock one of the wives of Chaboneau was delivered of a boy; this being her first child she was suffering considerable, when Mr. Jessaume told captain Lewis that he had frequently administered to persons in her situation, a small dose of the rattle of the rattlesnake which had never failed to hasten the delivery. Having some of the rattle, captain Lewis gave it to Mr. Jessaume who crumbled two of the rings of it between his fingers, and mixing it with a small quantity of water gave it to her. What effect it may really have had it might be difficult to determine, but captain Lewis was informed that she had not taken it more than ten minutes before the delivery took place.
Tuesday 12. The morning is fair though cold, the mercury being 14° below 0 the wind from the S.E. About four o'clock the horses were brought in much fatigued; on giving them meal bran moistened with water they would not eat it, but preferred the bark of the cottonwood, which as is already observed forms their principal food during the winter. The horses of the Mandans are so often stolen by the Sioux, Ricaras, and Assiniboins, that the invariable rule now is to put the horses every night in the same lodge with the family. In the summer they ramble in the plains in the vicinity of the camp, and feed on the grass, but during cold weather the squaws cut down the cottonwood trees as they are wanted, and the horses feed on the boughs and bark of the tender branches, which are also brought into the lodges at night and placed near them. These animals are very severely treated; for whole days they are pursuing the buffaloe, or burdened with the fruits of the chase, during which they scarcely ever taste food, and at night return to a scanty allowance of wood; yet the spirit of this valuable animal sustains him through all these difficulties, and he is rarely deficient either in flesh or vigour.
Wednesday 13. The morning was cloudy, the thermometer at 2° below 0, the wind from the southeast. Captain Clarke returned last evening with all his hunting party: during their excursion they had killed forty deer, three buffaloe, and sixteen elk; but most of the game was too lean for use, and the wolves, who regard whatever lies out at night as their own, had appropriated a large part of it: when he left the fort on the 4th instant, he descended on the ice twenty-two miles to New Mandan island, near some of their old villages, and encamped, having killed nothing, and therefore without food for the night.
Early on the 5th, the hunters went out and killed two buffaloe and a deer, but the last only could be used, the others being too lean. After breakfast they proceeded down to an Indian lodge and hunted during the day: the next morning, 6th, they encamped forty-four miles from the fort on a sand point near the mouth of a creek on the southwest side, which they call Hunting creek, and during this and the following day hunted through all the adjoining plains, with much success, having killed a number of deer and elk. On the 8th, the best of the meat was sent with the horses to the fort, and such parts of the remainder as were fit for use were brought to a point of the river three miles below, and after the bones were taken out, secured in pens built of logs, so as to keep off the wolves, ravens and magpies, who are very numerous and constantly disappoint the hunter of his prey: they then went to the low grounds near the Chisshetaw river where they encamped, but saw nothing except some wolves on the hills, and a number of buffaloe too poor to be worth hunting. The next morning 9th, as there was no game and it would have been inconvenient to send it back sixty miles to the fort, they returned up the river, and for three days hunted along the banks and plains, and reached the fort in the evening of the twelfth much fatigued, having walked thirty miles that day on the ice and through the snow in many places knee deep, the moccasins too being nearly worn out: the only game which they saw besides what is mentioned, was some growse on the sandbars in the river.
Thursday 14. Last night the snow fell three inches deep; the day was, however, fine. Four men were despatched with sleds and three horses to bring up the meat which had been collected by the hunters. They returned however, with intelligence that about twenty-one miles below the fort a party of upwards of one hundred men, whom they supposed to be Sioux, rushed on them, cut the traces of the sleds, and carried off two of the horses, the third being given up by intercession of an Indian who seemed to possess some authority over them; they also took away two of the men's knifes, and a tomahawk, which last however they returned. We sent up to the Mandans to inform them of it, and to know whether any of them would join a party which intended to pursue the robbers in the morning. About twelve o'clock two of their chiefs came down and said that all their young men were out hunting, and that there were few guns in the village. Several Indians however, armed some with bows and arrows, some with spears and battle-axes, and two with fusils, accompanied captain Lewis, who set out,
Friday 15, at sunrise with twenty-four men. The morning was fine and cool, the thermometer being at 16° below 0. In the course of the day one of the Mandan chiefs returned from captain Lewis's party, his eye-sight having become so bad that he could not proceed. At this season of the year the reflexion from the ice and snow is so intense as to occasion almost total blindness. This complaint is very common, and the general remedy is to sweat the part affected by holding the face over a hot stone, and receiving the fumes from snow thrown on it. A large red fox was killed to-day.
Saturday 16. The morning was warm, mercury at 32° above 0, the weather cloudy: several of the Indians who went with captain Lewis returned, as did also one of our men, whose feet had been frostbitten.
Sunday 17. The weather continued as yesterday, though in the afternoon it became fair. Shotawhorora and his son came to see us, with about thirty pounds of dried buffaloe meat and some tallow.
