University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XVI.

FIRST STAY AT FORT UNION, FROM JUNE 24TH TO JULY 6TH.

Mr. Mc Kenzie had given us a comfortable lodging in his house, and we lived here very
pleasantly, in a plain style, suitable to the resources of so remote a place; for we could not hope
to meet with so good a table as we had had on board the steamer. We had, every day, fresh or
dried buffalo flesh, bread made of flour, and also a good supply of coffee and wine. The first
days passed rapidly in examining the fort and the immediate environs, while, on board the steamer,
they began already, on the 25th, to unload and convey the provisions and goods to the fort, so that
all was bustle and activity. Eight hundred packs of buffalo hides, each consisting of ten, were
immediately embarked, amid a heavy fall of rain, which did much injury to these hides, which are
tanned by the Indians. It was, therefore, necessary to open every one of the packs, and dry
them again. The furs in the interior of North America are free from a nuisance so common
among us, I mean insects, especially moths, which are unknown on the Upper Missouri. Besides
the buffalo hides, many beaver, bear, wolf, lynx, fox, and other skins were embarked. Of the
wolf and lynx, sixty-two packs, each consisting of 100 skins. Some of the Indians were very
troublesome while this was doing, continually asking and begging for various things, particularly
tobacco, which they were too indolent to prepare, or to get from the forest for themselves. The
tobacco which the Fur Company sells to them, to mix with their leaves or bark, is strong,
clammy, and black, and is in twists, six or eight inches long. Most of the Indians now present
looked wretchedly poor, and many of them had not even a pipe of their own. Several apartments
in the fort were assigned to these visitors, where they cooked and slept.

After we had made ourselves acquainted with the fort, we made excursions into the prairie,
especially to the chain of hills, and Mr. Bodmer took many views of the country. In all such
excursions it is not usual to go alone, at least not without being well armed, because the Indians,
especially war parties, can never be trusted. The Assiniboin having taken in its cargo, was to
depart on the afternoon of the 26th of June, and return to St. Louis; the Company, therefore,
assembled once more on board, to dine together. About three o'clock, when the whole population
of the place was assembled on the beach, we took leave of our travelling companions, Messrs.
Sandford and Pratte, with whom some of the Company's clerks had embarked to return to the
United States. In order to turn, the Assiniboin first went a little way up the river, and then passed
the fort with the rapidity of an arrow, while a mutual salute of a discharge of cannon and musketry
was re-echoed from the mountains, and handkerchiefs were waved till a bend of the river
hid the vessel, which we had so long inhabited, from our view. On this day the Assiniboins had
left the fort to go into the prairie; others, in part much better dressed, had arrived, but only as
harbingers of a great number of their people, and of Crees, who, in fact, came on the 27th of
June, singly, and in companies.

These Crees did not much differ, in appearance, from the Assiniboins; they are robust,
powerful-looking men, with lank hair falling over their shoulders, and a broad flat lock, cut off
straight over their eyes; one man, however, had it hanging down to his mouth. Some had their
long hair plaited in several tails; many wore skin caps adorned with feathers, and one had the
whole tail of a prairie hen; several of them wore the leather cases of their bows wound round
their heads, like a turban. Their faces were painted red, some with black stripes, and their dress
was like that of the Assiniboins. Several of them wore long wolf skins over their shoulders, with
the head of the animal on the breast, and the tail trailing on the ground. Their leggins had a
quantity of long leather fringe; the men are said to be often much tatooed, and Franklin says,
that this operation is painful, but we were assured that the contrary is the case. The women are
said to be well made, and, in the north, they understand how to dye a beautiful red with the
roots of Galium tinctorium and boreale, and black with the bark of the alder.

The chief of the Crees was Maschkepiton (the broken arm), who had a medal with the
effigy of the President hung round his neck, which he had received on a visit to Washington.
The present intention of these people, who had no skins to sell, was to welcome Mr. Mc Kenzie,
who is much beloved by the Indians, and frequently receives presents from them; and, on many
occasions, they have carried him about, as in triumph, to do him honour, and prove their
attachment to him. The Crees live in the same territory as the Assiniboins, that is, between the
Saskatschawan, the Assiniboin, and the Missouri. They ramble about in small bands with the
others, are poor, have many dogs, which carry their baggage, but only a few horses. They live,
like the Assiniboins, in leather tents, follow the herds of buffaloes, of which they sometimes kill

great numbers in their parks. The Crees are reckoned at 600 or 800 tents; consequently, assuming
the usual number of three men for each, there will be from 1,800 to 2,400 men for this tribe.
Their customs, games, and religious opinions, are said to agree with those of the Assimboins.
Their language has an affinity with that of the Ojibuas, but entirely different from that of the
Assiniboins, or Sioux, though many of the Crees learn the latter.

On the 26th of June, the arrival of a numerous band of Assiniboins was announced to us by
several messengers; they intended to compliment Mr. Mc Kenzie, who had long been absent. All
on a sudden we heard some musket-shot, which announced a very interesting scene; and all the inhabitants
of the fort went out of the gate to witness the arrival of this savage horde. Towards
the north-west, the whole prairie was covered with scattered Indians, whose numerous dogs drew
the sledges with the baggage; a close body of warriors, about 250 or 300 in number, had formed
themselves in the centre, in the manner of two bodies of infantry, and advanced in quick time
towards the fort. The Indian warriors marched in close ranks, three or four men deep, not
keeping their file very regularly, yet in pretty good order, and formed a considerable line. Before
the centre, where, in a European battalion, the colours are carried, three or four chiefs advanced,
arm in arm, and from the ranks of this motley, martial, painted mass, loud musket-shot were
heard. The whole troop of these warriors now commenced their original song, consisting of
many abrupt, broken tones, like those of the war-whoop, and having some resemblance to the
song which we heard, in the years 1813 and 1814, from the Russian soldiers. The loaded dogs,
guided by women and children, surrounded the nucleus of warriors, like the sharp-shooters that
hover about the line. Thus this remarkable body advanced towards us, and many interesting
features appeared the nearer they approached. All these Indians were wrapped in their buffalo
robes, and dressed out in the most diverse and highly fantastical manner. Most of them had their
faces painted all over with vermilion; others, quite black. In their hair they wore the feathers
of eagles, or other birds of prey. Some had wolf-skin caps, notwithstanding the great heat, and
these caps were partly smeared with red paint. Others had fastened green leaves round their
heads; long wolves' tails were hanging down at their heels, as marks of honour for enemies they
had killed, and the part of their dress made of leather was new and handsome. They had their
guns in their arms, their bows and arrows on their shoulders, and, in this manner, these robust
men, who were, for the most part, five feet eight or nine inches, and many six feet high, advanced
with a light, quick step, in an upright posture, which gave them a perfectly military air; and this
impression was heightened by the song which sounded from their ranks, and the loud beating of
their drums. They advanced to within about sixty paces, then halted at a fosse running from
the Missouri past the fort, and waited, the chief standing in front, for our welcome.

Mr. Mc Kenzie had sent two interpreters, Halero and Lafontaine, to meet them, who shook
hands with the chiefs, and then led them to the gate of the fort, which was shut as usual, and a

guard set before it, for too many Indians are never admitted at the same time, because they can
never be implicitly trusted. On this occasion, only the chiefs and about thirty of the principal
warriors were admitted, who sat down around the apartment which was allotted to such meetings.
All the other Indians went first to the Missouri to drink, and then sat down to rest in the shade.

It was natural that we, as strangers, constantly remained with the assembled Indians, for
there were many interesting subjects for our observation. The thick stone pipes, with long flat
tubes, were handed round, and they showed us a remarkably handsome one, ornamented with
yellow horse-hair, which was intended as a present for Mr. Mc Kenzie. The whole company
received something to drink; and many Indians, before they raise the vessel to their lips, dip the
fore finger of their right hand into it, and sprinkle some of the liquid five or six times in the air,
doubtless as an offering to the higher powers.[1] They gazed on us with much curiosity, and the
interpreter gave them an account of the singular strangers, who hunted after animals, plants, and
stones, and prepared the skins of the former, of which they, of course, could not see the use.

While tranquillity was gradually restored within the fort, a new and very interesting scene
took place without. On the west side of the fort the Indian women were engaged in erecting
temporary travelling or hunting huts, composed of poles, fixed in the ground, and the dog
sledges set up against them, and covered with green boughs, as they had brought only a part of
their baggage. Horses were everywhere grazing, dogs running in all directions, and groups of
the red men dispersed all round. The scene was highly entertaining; and the various occupations
of cooking, gaming, and making preliminary arrangements, diffused life and activity over the
prairie. I was particularly struck with one Assiniboin on account of his head-dress, which I
frequently saw afterwards, and the interpreter called him to us. He wore, across his head, a
leather strap, to each side of which a horn was fixed, and between them, black feathers cut short.
The horns, which were cut out of those of an antelope, had, at their point, a tuft of horse-hair
dyed yellow, and on the side hung leather strings, with feathers at the end, and bound with
yellow porcupine quills. Mr. Bodmer made a very faithful drawing of this man, as he wished to
be taken in his full dress. (See Plate XII.) His name was Noapeh (a troop of soldiers), and
his countenance and whole figure were characteristically Indian. We visited several of the
newly erected huts, where the fire was already burning in the centre; we were everywhere asked
for whisky and tobacco, of which only he last was here and there given. If we wished to
obtain anything by barter, brandy was always demanded in payment, and, therefore, very little
could be done. Late in the evening, the singing and the drum of this restless multitude were
heard in the fort, and the noise and tumult continued the whole night. On the 28th of June
we were early in motion, that we might lose no part of the new scenes around us. Noapeh was

brought at an early hour, and stood with unwearied patience to the painter, though his relations
frequently endeavoured to get him away. He had put on his best dress, and had, on his breast, a
rosette of dyed porcupine quills, eight or ten inches in diameter. On this day there was a great
crowd of Indians in the fort, to barter several articles of their dress; part of them went away
in the course of the day, for when we went to their camp in the afternoon we found most of the
huts empty, and saw, at a distance, many Indians, seldom more than two or three together,
returning in three principal directions. A great part of them went up the Missouri, parallel with
the river, but avoided the wood on the bank, and traversed the prairie in a western direction;
another part turned to the north-east, and these, about an hundred in number, went to join in a
military expedition against the Mandans and the Manitaries. On occasions like the present,
when many Indians assemble about the trading posts of the Whites, they are obliged to be
constantly on their guard, because their enemies endeavour to obtain information of these
moments, and take advantage of them for their sudden attacks. On the evening of this day, we
had a violent storm of thunder, lightning, and rain, and, as the rain continued on the following
day, the 29th of June, the expected arrival of more Assiniboins was delayed; they do not
willingly travel with their leather tents in wet weather, because their baggage then becomes
very heavy; several Indians, however, soon appeared, wet through and through, and covered
with mud up to their knees, which, however, they did not mind. A sketch was taken of a tall
young warrior (Plate XXXII., in the back-ground), who preserved a most inflexible gravity of countenance
till Mr. Bodmer set his musical snuff-box agoing, on which he began to laugh. Another
interesting young man of the branch of the Stone Indians (see Plate XXXII.), whose name was
Pitatapiu, had his portrait taken at a later period. His hair hung down like a lion's mane,
especially over his eyes, so that they could scarcely be seen; over each of them a small white sea
shell was fastened with a hair string; in his hand he carried a long lance, such as they use only
for show, to which a number of slips of the entrails of a bear were fastened, and smeared with
red paint. This slender young man had his painted leather shield on his back, to which a small
packet, well wrapped up, his medicine or amulet in horse-stealing, was fastened, and which he greatly
prized. These people will not part with such things on any terms. The handle of his whip was
of wood, with holes in it like a flute. He and several Indians brought word that his countrymen,
from the environs of the Fort des Prairies, on the Saskatschawan River, would shortly visit us, to
dispose of all their beaver skins. It made us shiver to see the Indians, in the damp, cold weather, run
about barefoot the whole day in the deep mud, while we, in our room, sat constantly by the fire-side.
They, too, greatly enjoyed the warm room, and a number of them were always sitting with us,
to smoke their pipes, while Mr. Bodmer was drawing Pitatapiu's likeness. We took care that their
pipes should be constantly filled, and, in general, tried every means to amuse them, that they
might not lose their patience during the operation.

On the 30th of June, at noon, a band of Indians had arrived, and twenty-five tents were set
up near the fort. The women, who were short, and mostly stout, with faces painted red, soon
finished this work, and dug up with their instruments the clods of turf, which they lay round the
lower part of the hut. One of these tents, the dwelling of a chief, was distinguished from the
rest. It was painted of the colour of yellow ochre, had a broad reddish-brown border below, and
on each of its sides a large black bear was painted (something of a caricature it must be confessed),
to the head of which, just above the nose, a piece of red cloth, that fluttered in the wind,
was fastened, doubtless a medicine. (See Vignette XVI.) We now saw the Indian women returning
in all directions from the forest, panting under the weight of large bundles of wood, which
were fastened on their backs. Their dogs lay about the tents; they were large, quite like wolves,
and of different colours, chiefly of the colour of the wild grey wolf, and some spotted black and
white. Reduced to skeletons by want of food, they could not stretch out their sharp back-bone; but,
for the most part, went crooked and contracted, looked about for old bones, and growled at each
other, showing their white teeth. They were not so savage to strangers as the dogs of the Crows,
at Fort Clarke, and if one of them seemed inclined to bite us, he was immediately very roughly
kicked and beaten by the Indians.

We had not been long in this camp, when another band of Assiniboins appeared at a distance.
To the west, along the wood by the river-side, the prairie was suddenly covered with red men,
most of whom went singly, with their dogs drawing the loaded sledges. The warriors, about
sixty in number, formed a close column. They came without music, with two chiefs at their
head, and proceeded towards the gate of the fort. Among them there were many old men, one,
especially, who walked with the support of two sticks, and many who had only one eye.[2] The
first chief of this new band was Ayanyan (as translated by the Canadians, le fils du gros Français),
generally called General Jackson, because he had made a journey to Washington. He was a
handsome man, in a fine dress; he wore a beautifully embroidered black leather shirt, a new
scarlet blanket, and the great medal round his neck. The whole column entered the fort, where
they smoked, ate, and drank; and, meantime, forty-two tents were set up. The new camp had a
very pretty appearance; the tents stood in a semicircle, and all the fires were smoking, while all

around was life and activity. We witnessed many amusing scenes; here, boys shot their arrows
into the air; there, a little, brown, monkey-like child was sitting alone upon the ground,
with a circle of hungry dogs round it. In one of the tents there was a man very ill, about whom
the medicine men were assembled, singing with all their might. Many people had collected
about this tent, and were peeping through the crevices. After the conjuration had continued
some time, the tent was opened, and the men who had been assembled in it went away by threes,
the one in the middle always stepping a little before the others, and they continued singing till
they reached their own tents. In another tent, belonging to a young married couple, we found a
child hung up in a leather pouch, of very beautiful workmanship. These pouches, which serve
instead of cradles, are so large that only the head of the child is visible. This pouch had, on the
upper side, two broad stripes of dyed porcupine quills, and several very pretty rosettes, with long
strings of different colours, and was lined with fur. I purchased it from the woman, but, with
many other interesting articles, it has never reached Europe.

On the 1st of July, in the morning, we heard that Matsokui, the young Blackfoot Indian,
who had come here with us, had been shot, during the night, in the Indian camp. Berger, the
Blackfoot interpreter, who was charged to have a watchful eye over this young Indian, had frequently
warned him to keep away from the Assiniboins and the Crees, or some mischief would
certainly befall him; but he had suffered himself to be deceived by their apparently friendly conduct,
and had remained in a tent till late at night, where he was shot by a Cree, who had immediately
made his escape. We saw the dead body of our poor travelling companion, laced up in a
buffalo's skin, lying in the fort, and it was afterwards buried near the fort, in a coffin made by the
carpenter. Kiasax had been more prudent; he had not trusted the Assiniboins, and had returned
with the steam-boat to his family. Mr. Mc Kenzie told us, that he had witnessed a similar incident
the year before. A Blackfoot whom he brought with him, was shot by the Crees at their
departure, though he had previously been many times in their camp.

After the perpetration of this deed, a dead silence prevailed in the Indian camp; but about
noon, two of the chiefs, attended by other Indians in procession, singing aloud, and among them
General Jackson, came as a deputation to make excuses to Mr. Mc Kenzie for this murder. They
brought, by way of present, a horse, and a couple of very beautiful pipes, one of which was a real
calumet, adorned with feathers and green horse-hair. They made an address to Mr. Mc Kenzie, in
which they solemnly asserted their innocence of the death of the Blackfoot, saying that the deed
had been done by a Cree, who had immediately fled, and whom they had pursued, but in vain.
Ayanyan is said to have spoken remarkably well on this occasion.

In the afternoon we again heard the Indian drum beating very loud in the tent of the sick
man, and we went there to see their conjurations. We looked cautiously through the crevices
in the tent, and saw the patient sitting on the floor, his head, covered with a small cap, sunk

upon his breast, and several men standing around him. Two of the medicine men were beating
the drum in quick time, and a third rattled the Quakemuha (or Shishikue), which he waved up
and down. These people were singing with great effort; sometimes they uttered short ejaculations,
and were in a violent perspiration; sometimes they sucked the places where the patient felt
pain, and pretended they could suck out or remove the morbid matter. Such jugglers are very
well paid by the patients, and always regaled with tobacco. Many of the Indians went away
this afternoon, because they could not find sufficient subsistence. Among others, General
Jackson had taken leave. It was reported that some of the Crees had said they would take up
the body of the Blackfoot that was shot, because there had not been time to scalp him; but
such expressions were quite usual, and the grave was not disturbed.

The keel-boat from Fort Cass had arrived, on board of which we were to go to Fort Mc Kenzie.
We had, therefore, a numerous company, but we were in no want of provisions, as our hunters
had brought home, from their last excursion, the flesh of nineteen buffaloes. It was exactly a year
to-day, July 4th, since we had landed at Boston. Mr. Mc Kenzie sent Berger, the interpreter,
and one Harvey, by land, to Fort Mc Kenzie, to which they proceeded on horseback, before us,
along the north bank of the river. They had no baggage but their arms, their beds of buffalo
skin, and blankets. They took some dried meat with them, but they chiefly depended for subsistence
on their rifles. While the people were employed in loading the keel-boat with the goods
and provisions for the tribes living higher up the river, we profited by this last day's stay in this
place, to make excursions into the neighbouring woods on the river-side, and to the prairie. In
a wood, below the fort, we found a tree, on which the corpses of several Assiniboins were deposited;
one of them had fallen down, and been torn and devoured by the wolves. The blankets
which covered the body were new, and partly bedaubed with red paint, and some of the branches
and the trunk of the tree were coloured in the same manner. Dreidoppel, who discovered this
tree, took up the skull of a young Assiniboin, in which a mouse had made its nest for its young;
and Mr. Bodmer made an accurate drawing of the tree, under which there was a close thicket of
roses in full blossom, the fragrant flowers of which seemed destined to veil this melancholy
scene of human frailty and folly. (See Plate XXX.)

The Flora keel-boat was laden, and there was only the baggage of the travellers to be taken
on board. This vessel was a strong-built sloop, about sixty feet long by sixteen broad, with a
deck, a mast, and sail. The goods were deposited in the middle space; at the stern there was a
cabin, ten paces long and five or six broad, with two berths, one of which was allotted to Mr.
Mitchell, and the second to me; the other persons, three in number, spread their beds, in the
evening, on the floor. At the back of this cabin there was a little window, with a sliding shutter,
and, on each side, a port-hole, which, in fine weather, admitted light and air. Round the vessel
there was a ledge, about a foot and a half broad, on which the men walked backwards and forwards

when, the water being low, they had to propel the boat by means of poles. In the
fore part of the vessel was the apartment for the engagés, and, on the deck, an iron grate for
cooking: here, too, the game which we had taken was hung up. About half of our men were
destined to tow the vessel when there was no wind. Formerly this was the only method
of navigating the Missouri, till, about two years ago, the first essay was made with the
steam-boat which now goes regularly to Fort Union. A voyage from Fort Louis to Fort
Mc Kenzie used to take eight months, and is now performed by the steam-boat in a little more
than a third of that time. The number of men, destined by Mr. Mc Kenzie for the voyage to
the Blackfeet, consisted of double the usual crew of a keel-boat, and, including us travellers,
amounted to fifty-two persons. I had taken many things, necessary for a long journey, from the
Company's stores, but part of what I had brought from Fort St. Louis had been left at Fort
Pièrre, on the Teton River, the want of which I already felt, but had still more reason to lament
in the sequel.

All necessary arrangements for our voyage being made, Mr. Mc Kenzie caused some fireworks
to be let off before the fort on the bank of the Missouri, for the amusement of the
people, which gave occasion to many jokes. The serpents dispersed the crowds of young
Canadians, who had never seen anything of the kind before, and were called by their older, more
experienced comrades, mangeurs de lard.