University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XIX.

During my forced sojourn with the Ogalallas, I had
abundant opportunity to observe the manners and customs
peculiar to a race of people living so near, and
yet of whom so little is known by the general reader.
A chapter devoted to this subject will doubtless interest
all who read this narrative.

Nothing can be more simple in its arrangement than
an Indian camp when journeying, and especially when
on the war path. The camping ground, when practicable,
is near a stream of water, and adjacent to timber.
After reaching the spot selected, the ponies are unloaded
by the squaws, and turned loose to graze. The tents,
or "tipis," are put up, and wood and water brought for
cooking purposes. All drudgery of this kind is performed
by the squaws, an Indian brave scorning as
degrading all kinds of labor not incident to the chase
or the war path.

An Indian tipi is composed of several dressed skins,
usually of the buffalo, sewed together and stretched
over a number of poles, the larger ones containing as

many as twenty of these poles, which are fifteen to
twenty feet long. They are of yellow pine, stripped
of bark, and are used as "travois" in traveling. Three
poles are tied together near the top or small ends, and
raised to an upright position, the bottoms being spread
out as far as the fastening at the top will permit. Other
poles are laid into the crotch thus formed at the top,
and spread out in a circular line with the three first
put up. This comprises the frame work, and when in
the position described is ready to receive the covering,
which is raised to the top by means of a rawhide rope,
when, a squaw seizing each lower corner, it is rapidly
brought around, and the edges fastened together with
wooden pins, a squaw getting down on all fours,
forming a perch upon which the tallest squaw of the
family mounts and inserts the pins as high as she
can reach. A square opening in the tent serves for
a door, and is entered in a stooping posture. A piece
of hide hangs loosely over this opening, and is kept
in position by a heavy piece of wood fastened at the
bottom.

When in position, the Indian tipi is of the same
shape as the Sibley tent. In the middle is built a fire,
where all the cooking is done, a hole at the top affording
egress for the smoke. The preparation for a meal
is a very simple affair. Meat was almost their only
article of diet, and was generally roasted, or rather
warmed through over the fire, though sometimes it was

partially boiled, and always eaten without salt or bread.
They have no set time for eating; will fast all of one
day, and perhaps eat a dozen times the next.

The outer edge of the tent contains the beds of the
family, which are composed of buffalo robes and
blankets. These are snugly rolled up during the day,
and do service as seats.

If there is reason to suppose an enemy near, no fire
is allowed in the camp; and in that case each one satisfies
appetite as best he or she can, but generally with
"pa-pa," or dried buffalo meat.

An Indian camp at close of day presents a most animated
picture. The squaws passing to and fro, loaded
with wood and water, or meat, or guiding the sledges
drawn by dogs, carrying their all; dusky warriors
squatted on the ground, in groups, around fires built
in the open air, smoking their pipes, or repairing
weapons, and recounting their exploits; half naked and
naked children capering about in childish glee, furnish
a picture of the nomadic life of these Indians of strange
interest. Not more than ten minutes are required to
set up an Indian village.

When it becomes necessary to move a village, which
fact is never known to the people, a crier goes through
the camp, shouting, "Egalakapo! Egalakapo!" when
all the squaws drop whatever work they may be
engaged in, and in an instant are busy as bees, taking
down tipis, bringing in the ponies and dogs, and loading

them; and in less than fifteen minutes the cavalcade
is on the march.

The squaws accompany the men when they go to
hunt buffalo, and as fast as the animals are killed, they
strip off their hides, and then cut off the meat in strips
about three feet long, three to four inches wide, and
two inches thick; and such is their skill that the bones
will be left intact and as free from meat as though they
had been boiled. The meat is then taken to camp
and hung up to dry. It is most filthy, being covered
with grass and the excrement of the buffalo.

The medicine men treat all diseases nearly alike.
The principal efforts are directed to expelling the spirit,
whatever it may be, which it is expected the medicine
man will soon discover, and having informed the friends
what it is, he usually requires them to be in readiness
to shoot it, as soon as he shall succeed in expelling it.

Incantations and ceremonies are used, intended to
secure the aid of the spirit, or spirits, the Indian worships.
When he thinks he has succeeded, the medicine
man gives the command, and from two to six or more
guns are fired at the door of the tent to destroy the
spirit as it passes out.

Many of these medicine men depend wholly on conjuring,
sitting by the bedside of the patient, making
gestures and frightful noises, shaking rattles, and
endeavoring, by all means in their power, to frighten
the evil spirit. They use fumigation, and are very fond

of aromatic substances, using and burning cedar and
many different plants to cleanse the tent in which the
sick person lies.

The native plants, roots, herbs, and so forth, are used
freely, and are efficacious.

They are very careful to conceal from each other,
except a few initiated, as well as from white men, a
knowledge of the plants used as medicine, probably
believing that their efficacy, in some measure, depends
on this concealment.

There is a tall, branching plant, growing abundantly
in the open woods and prairies near the Missouri River,
which is used chiefly by the Indians as a purgative, and
is euphorbia corrallata, well known to the botanist.

Medicines are generally kept in bags made of the
skin of some animal.

All the drinks which are given the sick to quench
thirst are astringent, sometimes bitter and sometimes
slightly mucilaginous.

The most common is called red-root (ceanothus
canadensis), a plant abounding in the western prairies,
although they seem to have more faith in some ceremony.

A dance peculiar to the tribe where I was, called the
pipe dance, is worth mentioning, and is called by the
Indians a good medicine. A small fire is kindled in
the village, and around this the dancers, which usually
consist of young men, collect, each one seated upon a
robe.

The presiding genius is a chief, or a medicine man,
who seats himself by a fire, with a long pipe which
he prepares for smoking. Offering it first to the Great
Spirit, he then extends it toward the north, south,
east, and west, muttering unintelligibly. Meanwhile
an equally august personage beats a drum, singing and
leaping and smoking. The master of ceremonies sits
calmly looking on, puffing away with all the vigor
imaginable.

The dance closes with piercing yells, and barking
like frightened dogs, and it lasts an hour or more.

When the mother gives birth to her child, it is not
uncommon for no other person to be present. She
then lives in a hut or lodge by herself until the child
is twenty-five or thirty days old, when she takes it to
its father, who then sees his child for the first time.

Females, after parturition, and also in other conditions,
bathe themselves—swim, as they express it—in
the nearest river or lake.

This is, no doubt, a most efficacious means of imparting
strength and vigor to the constitution, and it
is certain that Indian females are less subject to what
are termed female complaints than white women.

It is an uncommon occurrence that an Indian woman
loses her life in parturition.

When the child is old enough to run alone, it is
relieved of its swathings, and if the weather is not too
cold, it is sent off without a particle of clothing to protect

it or impede the action of its limbs, and in this
manner it is allowed to remain until it is several years
old, when it receives a limited wardrobe.

Despite the rugged and exposed life they lead, there
are comparatively few cripples and deformed persons
among them. It is said that deformed infants are
regarded as unprofitable and a curse from the Great
Spirit, and disposed of by death soon after birth.
Sometimes, at the death of a mother, the infant is also
interred. An incident of this kind was related to me.
A whole family had been carried off by smalĺ-pox except
an infant. Those who were not sick had as much
to do as they could conveniently attend to, consequently
there was no one willing to take charge of the little
orphan. It was placed in the arms of its dead mother,
enveloped in blankets and a buffalo-robe, and laid upon
a scaffold in their burying-place. Its cries were heard
for some time, but at last they grew fainter, and finally
were hushed altogether in the cold embrace of death,
with the moaning wind sounding its requiem, and the
wolves howling in the surrounding gloom, a fitting
dirge for so sad a fate.

The Indians believe that God, or the Great Spirit,
created the universe and all things just as they exist.

They believe the sun to be a large body of heat, and
that it revolves around the earth. Some believe it is a
ball of fire. They do not comprehend the revolution
of the earth around the sun. They suppose the sun

literally rises and sets, and that our present theory is
an invention of the white man, and that he is not sincere
when he says the earth moves around the sun.

They say that paradise, or the happy hunting-grounds,
is above, but where, they have no definite
idea, though all think the future a happier state. They
regard skill in hunting or success in war as the passport
to eternal happiness and plenty, where there is no
cold or wet season. Still they all acknowledge it is the
gift of the "Wa-hon Tonka," the Great Spirit.

The manner of disposing of their dead is one of the
peculiar customs of the Indians of the plains which
impresses the beholder for the first time most forcibly.
Four forked posts are set up, and on them a platform
is laid, high enough to be out of reach of wolves or
other carniverous animals, and on this the body is
placed, wrapped in buffalo-robes or blankets, and sometimes
both, according to the circumstances of the deceased,
and these are wound securely with a strip of
buffalo hide. If in the vicinity of timber, the body is
placed on a platform, securely fixed in the crotch of a
high tree. The wrappings of buffalo-robe or blankets
protect the body from ravenous birds that hover around,
attracted by the scent of an anticipated feast.

All that pertained to the dead while living, in the
way of furs, blankets, weapons, cooking utensils, etc.,
are also deposited with the body. In some instances,
the horse belonging to the deceased is shot. They believe

that the spirit wanders off to distant hunting-grounds,
and as it may have to pass over a country
where there is no game, a quantity of dried buffalo
meat is usually left with the body for its subsistence.
While on a journey, these burial places are held sacred
as those of a Christian nation, and when a tribe is passing
such localities they will make a detour rather than
go the more direct road by the resting-place of their
dead, while the relatives leave the trail and go alone to
the spot, and there renew and repeat their mourning as
on the occasion of his death. They also leave presents
for the dead of such little trinkets as he most prized
before he departed to his new hunting-grounds.

The boys are early taught the arts of war. A bow
and arrows are among the first presents that an Indian
youth receives from his parents, and he is soon instructed
in their use. Indeed, the skill of a hunter
seems to be a natural endowment, and, although some
are more accurate and active than others, they all shoot
with wonderful precision and surprising aptitude, seeming
to inherit a passionate love for the sports of the
chase.

The Indian boy receives no name until some distinguishing
trait of character or feat suggests one, and
changes it from time to time as more fitting ones are
suggested. Some of their names are very odd, and
some quite vulgar.

The wife is sometimes wooed and won, as if there

was something of seatiment in the Indian character,
but oftener purchased without the wooing. When the
desired object is particularly attractive, and of a good
family, the courting and purchasing both may be required.
When a young brave goes courting, he decorates
himself out in his best attire, instinctively divining
that appearances weigh much in the eyes of a forest
belle, or dusky maiden, who receives him bashfully,
for a certain kind of modesty is inherent in Indian
girls, which is rather incongruous when considered in
connection with their peculiar mode of life. Discretion
and propriety are carefully observed, and the
lovers sit side by side in silence, he occasionally producing
presents for her acceptance. These express a
variety of sentiment, and refer to distinct and separate
things; some signifying love; some, strength; some,
bravery; others allude to the life of servitude she is
expected to live if she becomes his wife. If they are
accepted graciously, and the maiden remains seated, it
is considered equivalent to an assurance of love on her
part, and is acted upon accordingly. Although no
woman's life is made less slavish by the marriage connection,
and no one is treated with respect, it is scarcely
known in Indian life that a girl has remained unmarried
even to middle age.

When a chief desires to multiply the number of his
wives, he often marries several sisters, if they can be
had, not because of any particular fancy he may have

for any but the one who first captivated him, but because
he thinks it more likely to have harmony in the
household when they are all of one family. Not even
squaws can live happily together, when each may have a
part interest in the same man as their husband jointly.
Polygamy is inconsistent with the female character,
whether in barbarism or civilization.

As many skins as they can transport on their ponies,
of the game killed while on their hunts, are dressed by
the squaws, and then taken to some trading post, military
station, or agency, and bartered off for such articles
as are most desired by them, such as beads, paints, etc.,
and powder, lead, and caps. They are willing to allow
much more proportionately for ammunition than any
other articles. They are most outrageously swindled
by the traders whom our Government licenses to trade
with them. A buffalo-robe which the trader sells for
from ten to fifteen dollars, is bought from the Indians
for a pint cup of sugar and a small handful of bullets,
while furs of all kinds are exchanged for paints and
trinkets at equally disproportionate rates. The Indians
know they are cheated whenever they barter with the
white traders, but they have no remedy, as there is no
competition, and hence much of their disaffection.

Buffalo-robes, bearskins, and deer, and antelope skins
are brought in in great numbers; they shoot and trap
the beaver and otter expressly for their furs.

The Indians are almost universally fond of whisky,

and have a strong propensity for gambling. They will
risk at cards almost every thing they own, and if unsuccessful
appear quite resigned to their loss, resting in
the gambler's hope of "better luck next time."

The squaws play a game with small bones of oblong
shape, which seems to have a great fascination for
them, as I have known them to spend whole days and
nights at it, and in many instances gambling away
every thing they owned. Five of these pieces are used,
each possessing a relative value in the game, designated
by spots from one to five on one side, the other
being blank. They are placed in a dish or small
basket, which is shaken and then struck upon the
ground with a jar, tossing the pieces over, and according
to the number of spots up, so is the game decided,
very similar, I imagine, to the white man's game of
"high-die."

They have a peculiar way of defining time. When
they wish to designate an hour of the day, they point
to the position the sun should be in at that time. The
number of days is the number of sleeps. Their next
division of time is the number of moons, instead of our
months; and the seasons are indicated by the state of
vegetation. For instance, spring is when the grass
begins to grow, and the autumn when the leaves fall
from the trees, while years are indicated by the season
of snows.

There is a language of signs common to all the tribes,

by which one tribe may communicate with another
without being able to speak or understand its dialect.
Each tribe is known by some particular sign.

The Indian is noted for his power of endurance of
both fatigue and physical pain. I have thought much
upon the fear manifested by these reputed brave barbarians;
they seem to be borne down with the most
tormenting fear for their personal safety at all times, at
home or roaming for plunder, or when hunting, and
yet courage is made a virtue among them, while cowardice
is the unpardonable sin. When compelled to
meet death, they seem to muster sullen, obstinate defiance
of their doom, that makes the most of a dreaded
necessity, rather than seek a preparation to meet it with
submission, which they often dissemble, but never
possess.

Instinct, more than reason, is the guide of the red
man. He repudiates improvement, and despises manual
effort. For ages has his heart been imbedded in
moral pollution.

The blanket, as worn by the Indian, is an insuperable
barrier to his advance in arts or agriculture.
When this is forever dispensed with, then his hands
will be free to grasp the mechanic's tools or guide the
plow. It is both graceful and chaste in their eyes, and
to adopt the white man's dress is a great obstacle, a
requirement too humiliating, for they have personal as
well as national pride. No hat is worn, but the head

is covered with feathers aud rude ornaments. A heavy
mass of wampum, often very expensive, adorns the
neck. Frequently the entire rim of each ear is pierced
with holes, and adorned with jewels of silver, or
something resembling it.

The Indian does every thing through motives of
policy. He has none of the kindlier feelings of
humanity in him. He is as devoid of gratitude as he
is hypocritical and treacherous. He observes a trèaty,
or promise, only so long as it is dangerous for him to
disregard it, or for his interest, in other ways, to keep
it. Cruelty is inherent in them, and is early manifested
in the young, torturing birds, turtles, or any little animal
that may fall into their hands. They seem to
delight in it, while the pleasure of the adult in torturing
his prisoners is most unquestionable. They are
inveterate beggars, but never give, unless with a view
to receive a more valuable present in return.

The white man, he has been taught, is his enemy, and
he has become the most implacable enemy of the white
man. His most fiendish murders of the innocent is his
sweetest revenge for a wrong that has been done by
another.

The youth are very fond of war. They have no
other ambition, and pant for the glory of battle, longing
for the notes of the war song, that they may rush
in and win the feathers of a brave. They listen to the
stories of the old men, as they recall the stirring scenes

of their youth, or sing their war songs, which form
only a boasting recapitulation of their daring and
bravery. They yearn for the glory of war, which is
the only path to distinction. Having no arts or industrial
pursuits, the tribes are fast waning from war,
exposure, and disease.

But few of the tribes cultivate the soil, the nature of
the Indian rendering in his eyes as degrading all labor
not incident to the chase or the war-path; and notwithstanding
the efforts of missionaries, and the vast
sums of money expended by the Government to place
them on reservations and teach them the art of agriculture,
the attempts to civilize the Indian in that way
may be considered almost a total failure. The results
bear no comparison to their cost.

Their ideas of the extent and power of the white
race are very limited, and after I had learned the language
sufficiently to converse with them, I frequently
tried to explain to them the superior advantages of the
white man's mode of living. They would ask me
many questions, as to the number of the white men on
this side of the big water, and how far that extended;
and on being told of two big oceans, they would ask
if the whites owned the big country on the other
side, and if there were any Indians there. Many of
my statements were received with incredulity, and I
was often called a liar, especially when I told of the
number and rapid increase of the white race; sometimes

the older ones would get angry. The younger
ones were often eager listeners, and especially in times
of scarcity and hunger would they gather around me to
learn about the white man, and then would I endeavor
to impress them with the advantages of a fixed home
and tilling the soil over their wild, roaming life.