History of the Expedition under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark Part 9

Sunday 16. The morning is clear and cold, the mercury at sunrise 22 below 0. A Mr. Haney with two other persons from the British establishment on the a.s.siniboin, arrived in six days with a letter from Mr. Charles Chabouilles, one of the company, who with much politeness offered to render us any service in his power.

Monday 17. The weather to-day was colder than any we had yet experienced, the thermometer at sunrise being 45 below 0, and about eight o'clock it fell to 74 below the freezing point. From Mr. Haney, who is a very sensible intelligent man, we obtained much geographical information with regard to the country between the Missouri and Mississippi, and the various tribes of Sioux who inhabit it.

Tuesday 18. The thermometer at sunrise was 32 below 0. The Indians had invited us yesterday to join their chace to-day, but the seven men whom we sent returned in consequence of the cold, which was so severe last night that we were obliged to have the sentinel relieved every half hour. The northwest traders however left us on their return home.

Wednesday 19. The weather moderated, and the river rose a little, so that we were enabled to continue the picketing of the fort.

Notwithstanding the extreme cold, we observe the Indians at the village engaged out in the open air at a game which resembled billiards more than any thing we had seen, and which we inclined to suspect may have been acquired by ancient intercourse with the French of Canada. From the first to the second chief's lodge, a distance of about fifty yards, was covered with timber smoothed and joined so as to be as level as the floor of one of our houses, with a battery at the end to stop the rings: these rings were of clay-stone and flat like the chequers for drafts, and the sticks were about four feet long, with two short pieces at one end in the form of a mace, so fixed that the whole will slide along the board. Two men fix themselves at one end, each provided with a stick, and one of them with a ring: they then run along the board, and about half way slide the sticks after the ring.

Thursday 20. The wind was from the N.W. the weather moderate, the thermometer 24 above at sunrise. We availed ourselves of this change to picket the fort near the river.

Friday 21. The day was fine and warm, the wind N.W. by W. The Indian who had been prevented a few days ago from killing his wife, came with both his wives to the fort, and was very desirous of reconciling our interpreter, a jealousy against whom on account of his wife's taking refuge in his house, had been the cause of his animosity. A woman brought her child with an abscess in the lower part of the back, and offered as much corn as she could carry for some medicine; we administered to it of course very cheerfully.

Sat.u.r.day, 22d. A number of squaws and men dressed like squaws brought corn to trade for small articles with the men. Among other things we procured two horns of the animal called by the French the Rock mountain sheep, and known to the Mandans by the name of ahsahta. The animal itself is about the size of a small elk or large deer: the horns winding like those of a ram which they resemble also in texture, though larger and thicker.

Sunday, 23d. The weather was fine and warm like that of yesterday: we were again visited by crowds of Indians of all descriptions, who came either to trade or from mere curiosity. Among the rest Kogahami, the Little Raven, brought his wife and son loaded with corn, and she then entertained us with a favourite Mandan dish, a mixture of pumpkins, beans, corn, and chokecherries with the stones, all boiled together in a kettle, and forming a composition by no means unpalatable.

Monday, 24th. The day continued warm and pleasant, and the number of visitors became troublesome. As a present to three of the chiefs, we divided a fillet of sheepskin which we brought for spunging into three pieces each of two inches in width; they were delighted at the gift, which they deemed of equal value with a fine horse. We this day completed our fort, and the next morning being Christmas,

Tuesday, 25th, we were awaked before day by a discharge of three platoons from the party. We had told the Indians not to visit us as it was one of our great medicine days; so that the men remained at home and amused themselves in various ways, particularly with dancing in which they take great pleasure. The American flag was hoisted for the first time in the fort; the best provisions we had were brought out, and this, with a little brandy, enabled them to pa.s.s the day in great festivity.

Wednesday, 26th. The weather is again temperate, but no Indians have come to see us. One of the northwest traders who came down to request the aid of our Minnetaree interpreter, informs us that a party of Minnetarees who had gone in pursuit of the a.s.siniboins who lately stole their horses had just returned. As is their custom, they came back in small detachments, the last of which brought home eight horses which they had captured or stolen from an a.s.siniboin camp on Mouse river.

Thursday, 27th. A little fine snow fell this morning and the air was colder than yesterday, with a high northwest wind. We were fortunate enough to have among our men a good blacksmith, whom we set to work to make a variety of articles; his operations seemed to surprise the Indians who came to see us, but nothing could equal their astonishment at the bellows, which they considered as a very great medicine. Having heretofore promised a more particular account of the Sioux, the following may serve as a general outline of their history:

Almost the whole of that vast tract of country comprised between the Mississippi, the Red River of Lake Winnepeg, the Saskaskawan, and the Missouri, is loosely occupied by a great nation whose primitive name is Darcota, but who are called Sioux by the French, Sues by the English.

Their original seats were on the Mississippi, but they have gradually spread themselves abroad and become subdivided into numerous tribes. Of these, what may be considered as the Darcotas are the Mindawarcarton, or Minowakanton, known to the French by the name of the Gens du Lac, or People of the Lake. Their residence is on both sides of the Mississippi near the falls of St. Anthony, and the probable number of their warriors about three hundred. Above them, on the river St. Peter's, is the Wahpatone, a smaller band of nearly two hundred men; and still farther up the same river below Yellow-wood river are the Wahpatootas or Gens de Feuilles, an inferior band of not more than one hundred men; while the sources of the St. Peter's are occupied by the Sisatoones, a band consisting of about two hundred warriors.

These bands rarely if ever approach the Missouri, which is occupied by their kinsmen the Yanktons and the Tetons. The Yanktons are of two tribes, those of the plains, or rather of the north, a wandering race of about five hundred men, who roam over the plains at the heads of the Jacques, the Sioux, and the Red river; and those of the south, who possess the country between the Jacques and Sioux rivers and the Desmoine. But the bands of Sioux most known on the Missouri are the Tetons. The first who are met on ascending the Missouri is the tribe called by the French the Tetons of the Boise Brule or Burntwood, who reside on both sides of the Missouri, about White and Teton rivers, and number two hundred warriors. Above them on the Missouri are the Teton Okandandas, a band of one hundred and fifty men living below the Chayenne river, between which and the Wetarhoo river is a third band, called Teton Minnakenozzo, of nearly two hundred and fifty men; and below the Warreconne is the fourth and last tribe of Tetons of about three hundred men, and called Teton Saone. Northward of these, between the a.s.siniboin and the Missouri, are two bands of a.s.siniboins, one on Mouse river of about two hundred men, and called a.s.siniboin Menatopa; the other, residing on both sides of White river, called by the French Gens de Feuilles, and amounting to two hundred and fifty men. Beyond these a band of a.s.siniboins of four hundred and fifty men, and called the Big Devils, wander on the heads of Milk, Porcupine, and Martha's rivers; while still farther to the north are seen two bands of the same nation, one of five hundred and the other of two hundred, roving on the Saskaskawan. Those a.s.siniboins are recognised by a similarity of language, and by tradition as descendents or seceders from the Sioux; though often at war are still acknowledged as relations. The Sioux themselves, though scattered, meet annually on the Jacques, those on the Missouri trading with those on the Mississippi.

CHAPTER VI.

The party increase in the favour of the Mandans--Description of a buffaloe dance--Medicine dance--The fort.i.tude 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 quant.i.ties through the plains.

Sat.u.r.day, 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 quant.i.ties 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.

Sat.u.r.day 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 inst.i.tution 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 parvae puellae ostensit. Tune egrediens eaetu, jecit effigium solo et superinc.u.mbens, 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 a.s.sist 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 inc.u.mbrance 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 a.s.sembly 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.

Sat.u.r.day 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 pa.s.sed 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 ent.i.tled 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 pa.s.s 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 s.h.i.+fted 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 amus.e.m.e.nt.

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.

Sat.u.r.day 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.