Early Western Travels 1748-1846 Vol 27 Part 11

De Smet's alternative, "Bighorn," is not found elsewhere. See also Nebraska Historical Society _Transactions_, i, p. 73--ED.

[109] For the route of the first portion of the Oregon trail, over which De Smet went out, see Wyeth's _Oregon_, in our volume xxi, p. 49, note 30. There were several fording places for the South Platte, depending upon the state of the river. In subsequent pages, De Smet gives a vivid description of the difficulties and dangers of crossing this stream. See also Fremont's account in _Senate Docs._, 28 Cong., 2 sess., ii.--ED.

[110] See Was.h.i.+ngton Irving, _Astoria_ (Philadelphia, 1841), chapter xxii.--ED.

[111] Laramie River, one of the princ.i.p.al tributaries of the North Platte, rises in northern Colorado, flows north through Alba County, Wyoming, and breaking through the Laramie Mountains turns northeast into the Platte. The name is derived from a French Canadian trapper, Jacques Laramie, who about 1820 was killed upon its upper waters, by the Arapaho.--ED.

[112] This information as to the origin of the Cheyenne is derived from Lewis's _Statistical View_ (London, 1807). See _Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition_, vi, p. 100. It is now conceded that the Cheyenne, with their kindred tribe the Arapaho, probably once dwelt about the waters of the St. Croix River, in Wisconsin. Their tribal name (according to Lewis) was Sharha (Shaway), possibly a variant of the Sioux form Shaiela or Shaiena, whence their present name. Apparently they were driven northwestward from their Wisconsin habitat, and first settled upon Cheyenne River, North Dakota--a tributary of Red River of the North. It is conjectured that they were forced southwest by the Sioux. The Warreconne, where they made their final stand, is the present Big Beaver, in Emmons County, North Dakota. According to Cheyenne tradition, they were formerly an agricultural people, forced into nomadic habits by these various removals.

The term "Black Coasts" is an incorrect translation of "Cotes Noirs,"

Black Hills. See our volume xxiii, p. 244, note 204.--ED.

[113] For Red b.u.t.tes see Townsend's _Narrative_, in our volume xxi, p.

183, including note 31.--ED.

[114] For Independence Rock see Wyeth's _Oregon_, in our volume xxi, p. 53, note 34.--ED.

[115] For a sketch of this river see Wyeth's _Oregon_, in our volume xxi, p. 69, note 45.--ED.

[116] The Ute belong, as De Smet says, to the Shoshonean stock, and originally occupied the country directly south of the habitat of the Snake Indians, or Shoshoni proper, which extended from the Rocky Mountains to California. The Ute were divided into numerous bands, differently cla.s.sified by various authorities, and when first known to the whites numbered about four thousand souls. There are now over two thousand on two reservations--the Southern Ute in southwestern Colorado, and the other bands on the Unita reservation, in northeastern Utah.--ED.

[117] Although this mode of funeral exists amongst the Snakes, it is not, however, common to all the Indian tribes. Amongst the people who live on the borders of lake Abbitibbi, in Lower Canada, as soon as a warrior happens to die, they wrap the body in a shroud, lower it into a grave about a foot and a half deep, and place alongside it a pot, a knife, a gun, and such other articles as are of prime necessity to the savages. Some days after the burial, the relations of the deceased a.s.semble to smoke over his grave. They then hang presents upon the nearest tree, particularly tobacco for the soul of the deceased, which is to come occasionally and smoke upon the grave, where the body is laid. They suppose that the poor soul is wandering not far from thence, until the body becomes putrified; after which it flies up to heaven. The body of a wicked man, they say, takes a longer time to corrupt than that of a good man; which prolongs his punishment. Such, in their opinion, is the only punishment of a bad life.

In Columbia we find that a different custom prevails. There, so soon as the person expires, his eyes are bound with a necklace of gla.s.s beads; his nostrils filled with aiqua (a sh.e.l.l used by the Indians in place of money), and he is clothed in his best suit and wrapped in a winding-sheet. Four posts, fixed in the ground, and joined by cross beams, support the aerial tomb of the savage: the tomb itself is a canoe, placed at a certain height from the ground, upon the beams I have just mentioned. The body is deposited therein, with the face downwards, and the head turned in the same direction as the course of the river. Some mats thrown upon the canoe finish the ceremony.

Offerings, of which the value varies with the rank of the deceased, are next presented to him; and his gun, powder-horn and shot-bag are placed at his sides.

Articles of less value, such as a wooden bowl, a large pot, a hatchet, arrows, &c. are hung upon poles fixed around the canoe. Next comes the tribute of wailing, which husbands and wives owe to each other, and to their deceased parents, and also to their children: for a month, and often longer, they continually shed, night and day, tears, accompanied with cries and groans, that are heard at a great distance. If the canoe happen to fall down in course of time, the remains of the deceased are collected, covered again with a winding-sheet, and deposited in another canoe.--_Extract of a letter from M. Demers, Missionary among the Savages._

Some individuals of other tribes, seen by Father de Smet on his tour, are the following: The Kootenays and the Carriers, with a population of 4,000 souls, the Savages of the Lake, who are computed at about 500, the Cauldrons 600, the Okinaganes 1,100, the Jantons and Santees 300, the Jantonnees 4,500, the Black-Feet Scioux 1,500, the Two-Cauldrons 800, the Ampapas 2,000, the Burned 2,500, the Lack-Bows 1,000, the Minikomjoos 2,000, the Ogallallees 1,500, the Saoynes 2,000, the Unkepatines 2,000, the Mandans, Big-Bellies, and Arikaras, who have formed of their remnants one tribe, 3,000, the Pierced-Noses, 2,500, the Kayuses 2,000, the Walla-Wallas 500, the Palooses 300, the Spokanes 800, the Pointed-Hearts 700, the Crows, the a.s.sinboins, the Ottos, the p.a.w.nees, the Santees, the Renards, the Aonays, the Kikapoux, the Delawares, and the Shawanons, whose numbers are unknown.

The following are the names of the princ.i.p.al chiefs, who received the Missionary in their tents: The Big-Face and Walking-Bear, the Patriarchs of the Flat-Heads and Ponderas; the Iron-Crow, the Good-Heart, the Dog's-Hand, the Black-Eyes, the Man that does not eat cow's flesh, and the Warrior who walks barefooted; the last named is chief of the Black-Feet Scioux.--DE SMET.

[118] "Sampeetch" was a term applied to a small band of Ute dwelling in central Utah along the river now known as San Pitch, with a valley and mountain ranges of the same designation. The name was frequently used in descriptions of Ute bands until about 1870, when these Indians, reduced in number to less than two hundred, were segregated upon the Unita reservation and lost their distinctive appellation.--ED.

[119] In _Voyages aux Montagnes Rocheuses_, containing the French original of this letter, Father de Smet cla.s.ses the Paiute and Yampah Ute with the Sampeetches as the tribes called by the French _les Dignes de pitie_.--ED.

[120] The following account of the religious beliefs relates to the mountain tribes with whom De Smet was most familiar, chiefly those of the Salishan stock.--ED.

[121] A Canadian Missionary, who lived for a long time among the savages, gives the following account of the popular tradition of the Indians respecting the creation of the world:--"Water, they say, was every where formerly; and Wiskain, a spirit, or subordinate deity, commanded the castor to dive into it, in order to procure some earth.

The castor obeyed the order, but he was so fat that he could not possibly descend to the bottom, and he had to return without any earth. Wiskain, nothing discouraged, charged the musk-rat with the commission which the castor was unable to perform. The new messenger having remained a long while under water, and with as little success as the castor, returned almost drowned. The rat expected that he should not be required a second time, as he had already nearly lost his life. But Wiskain, who was not discouraged by obstacles, directed the rat to dive again, promising him, that if he should happen to be drowned, he (Wiskain) would restore him to life. The rat dived a second time, and made the greatest efforts to comply with Wiskain's orders. After remaining a considerable while under the water, he arose to the surface, but so exhausted by fatigue that he was insensible.

Wiskain, upon a careful and minute examination, finds at length in the claws of the poor animal a little earth, upon which he breathes with such effect, that it begins to augment rapidly. When he had thus blown for a long time, feeling anxious to know if the earth was large enough, he ordered the crow, which at that period was as white as the swan, to fly round it, and take its dimensions. The crow did accordingly, and returned, saying that the work was too small. Wiskain set about blowing upon the earth with renewed ardour, and directed the crow to make a second tour round it, cautioning him, at the same time, not to feed upon any carca.s.s that he might see on the way. The crow set off again without complaint, and found, at the place which had been pointed out, the carca.s.s which he was forbidden to touch. But, having grown hungry on the way, and being also, perhaps, excited by gluttony, he filled himself with the infected meat, and on his return to Wiskain, informed him that the earth was large enough, and that he need not, therefore, resume his work. But the unfaithful messenger, at his return, found himself as black as he had been white at his setting out, and was thus punished for his disobedience, and the black colour communicated to his descendants." The above tradition, which bears some striking vestiges of the tradition respecting original sin, and several circ.u.mstances of the deluge, makes no mention whatever of the creation of man and woman; and, however illogical it may be, it is, perhaps, not more ridiculous than the systems of certain pretended philosophers of the last century, who, in hatred of revelation, have endeavoured to explain the formation of the earth, by subst.i.tuting their extravagant reveries for the Mosaic account.--DE SMET.

[122] For Pierre's Hole (Peter's Valley) see Wyeth's _Oregon_, in our volume xxi, p. 63, note 41. Concerning the hostile and implacable character of the Blackfeet tribes consult Bradbury's _Travels_, in our volume v, p. 220, note 120; also Maximilian's _Travels_, in our volume xxiii, pp. 90-92.--ED.

[123] For a description of these hats, woven chiefly by the Pacific coast Indians, and an article of traffic with the interior, see _Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition_, iii, pp. 294, 296, 359-361.--ED.

[124] Compare with this the description of the Flatheads given in 1814 by Ross c.o.x, _Adventures on the Columbia River_ (New York, 1832), pp.

121-127.--ED.

[125] Probably our author here refers to the sage-brush of the Western plains, _Artemisia tridentata_.--ED.

[126] De Smet had accompanied the Indians in their journey from Pierre's Hole westward and then northward along the Teton River to its junction with the Henry; thence they proceeded up that stream to its source in Henry Lake, the northeastern corner of Idaho. As the source of a chief fork of the Snake, this is one of the mountain origins of the Columbia. It was named for Andrew Henry, an adventurous trader, for whom see our volume xv, p. 246, note 107.--ED.

[127] Probably the stream that runs into Red Rock Lake, in southwestern Montana, the source of Jefferson River, the main branch of the Missouri.--ED.

[128] This was the main chain of the Rockies, on the boundary between Idaho and Montana, just above the present Reynolds Pa.s.s.--ED.

[129] In this letter, Father de Smet does not describe his movements with the Flatheads, who having crossed to Red Rock Lake advanced slowly down the Jefferson until August 21, where they camped at the Three Forks of Missouri, and prepared to lay in their winter's supply of buffalo meat. There he left them for his return to St. Louis.--ED.

[130] As a beautiful specimen of an affecting farewell address, we take from the journal of a Canadian Missionary the following discourse spoken by one of the savages of the Red River, to the Black-Gown who had converted them, when he was about leaving them. After expressing, in the name of all the Indians of his locality, the grief which they felt at the Missionary's departure, he added the following words, which prove their grat.i.tude to the worthy Priest, who had brought to them the truths of salvation, and to the members of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, whose charity had procured them so great a benefit:--

"Dear Father, you are going to leave us, but we hope to see you again.

We are quite sensible that you naturally wish to see your relations and friends, your towns and country--we shall find the time of your absence very long, but the winter is soon over.--We conceived it to be our duty to a.s.semble before your departure, and to express our feelings. We shall only say these few words: we formerly led very wicked lives, and we know this day to what destruction we were hastening. There was a thick cloud before our eyes; you have dispersed it; we see the sun. We shall never forget what you have done and suffered for us.--Go now, go and tell the Prayers, those kind Prayers, who take pity on us; who love us without knowing us; and who send us priests; go and tell them that savages know how to remember a benefit; go and tell them that we also pray for them, in the desire which we feel to know them, one day, in the abode of our common Father. Set out, but return and instruct those whom you have baptized: leave us not forever in affliction; depart, and in the meanwhile remember that we are counting the days."--DE SMET.

[131] De Smet thus describes his route: "For two days we were going up the Gallatin, the southern fork of the Missouri; thence we crossed by a narrow pa.s.s (Bozeman's) thirty miles in length to the Yellowstone river, the second of the great tributaries of the Missouri."--Chittenden and Richardson, _De Smet_, i, p. 234.--ED.

[132] On the mourning habits of the Western Indians, see our volume xxiii, p. 362, note 331.--ED.

[133] For references on the Indian sign language see our volume xix, p. 221, note 56 (Gregg); also our volume xxiv, pp. 300-312.--ED.

[134] In prehistoric times, the horse was indigenous in America.

Evidence thereof was collected by Professor O. C. Marsh, and has recently been corroborated by the results of the Whitney Exploring Expedition; see H. F. Osborn, "Evolution of the Horse in America," in _Century Magazine_, lxix, pp. 3-17. Why this animal became extinct on the western continent is unknown; but it seems certain that the Spanish discoverers found no trace thereof among the American Indians, and that the horses of the plains Indians were derived from those lost or abandoned by or stolen from the Spanish conquerors of Mexico. These soon reverted to a wild state and became what De Smet calls "the Maroon race of the prairies." Upon the changes in the economy of life among American aborigines, brought about by their possession of the horse, consult A.

F. Bandelier, "Investigations in the Southwest," in Archaeological Inst.i.tute of America _Papers_, American Series, iii, p. 211.--ED.

[135] Absaroka (Upsahroku) is the name by which the Crows know themselves, although according to Lewis and Clark it designated but one band of the tribe. Its significance is uncertain, although usually thought to be a certain species of hawk. The name "Crow"--literally raven, but translated "Corbeaux" by the French--is an Anglicized form of the name given to this tribe by the surrounding Indians, and may refer to their pilfering tendencies. See our volume v, p. 226, note 121.--ED.

[136] For a sketch of this fort see Maximilian's _Travels_, in our volume xxii, p. 373, note 349.--ED.

[137] For these two animals, the latter of which is commonly known as the black-tailed or mule deer, see our volume xix, p. 327, note 137 (Gregg).--ED.

[138] On these ceremonies, see our volume xxiii, p. 324, note 292, and p. 378, note 350.--ED.

[139] On the subject of cannibalism see our volume xxiii, p. 278, note 242.--ED.

[140] Consult references cited in our volume xxiii, p. 279, note 245.--ED.

[141] See the brief account of Arikara jugglers in Maximilian's _Travels_, our volume xxiii, pp. 393, 394--ED.

[142] Juggleries are much practised among the savages, although many of them consider them as so many impostures. Mr. Belcourt, who witnessed a great many of them, always succeeded in discovering the deception. One of the most celebrated jugglers acknowledged, after his conversion to Christianity, that all their delusion consists in their cleverness in preparing certain tricks, and in the a.s.surance with which they predict to others what they themselves know not, and, above all, in the silly credulity of their admirers. They are like our own calculators of horoscopes.--_Extract from the Journal of a Missionary in Canada._--DE SMET.

[143] For references on burial customs among the Indians of the Missouri, see Maximillian's _Travels_, in our volume xxiii, p. 360, note 329.--ED.

[144] For a sketch of Independence, Missouri, see Gregg's _Commerce of the Prairies_ in our volume xix, p. 189, note 34.--ED.

LETTER III