 | CHAPTER XXVII. Travels in the interior of North America. |  |
CHAPTER XXVII.
A FEW WORDS RESPECTING THE ARIKKARAS.
The Arikkaras on the Missouri are a tribe which, many years ago, separated from the
Pawnees, and settled on the Lower Missouri, where they inhabited two villages. At the time
of Lewis and Clarke's travels these Indians lived on friendly terms with the Whites; but, in
consequence of subsequent misunderstandings, they became their most inveterate enemies, and
killed all the traders who ventured into the vicinity of their territory. After they had defeated
the keel-boats of General Ashley, and the unsuccessful expedition of Colonel Leavenworth, they
became more insolent than ever; and, as they had no longer any prospect of trading on the
Missouri, and other circumstances unfavourable to them took place, they removed, in the year
1832, and settled at a great distance in the prairie, where they are said to dwell, on the road to
Santa Fé, above the sources of the river La Platte. Their villages on the Missouri have been
entirely abandoned and desolate since that time.
The Arikkaras are tall, robust, well-made men; some of them are nearly six feet (Paris
measure) in height. Their physiognomy does not materially differ from that of the neighbouring
tribes, especially of the Mandans and Manitaries, and their women are said to be the handsomest
on the Missouri, but also the most licentious. Their costume is likewise not very
different from that of the Mandans; their robes are mostly painted of a reddish-brown colour.
They have renounced the costume, and the greater part of the customs of the Pawnees. At the
time when they left the Missouri, they amounted to between 3000 and 4000 souls, of whom 500
were warriors, and possessed a great many horses and dogs; they can now bring 600 men into
the field, and are still a warlike people. Ross Cox, in his journey to the Columbia, calls them
a powerful tribe, which is, perhaps, rather too strong an expression. The most detailed accounts
respecting this people, with which I am acquainted, are in Brackenridge's and Bradbury's
travels; yet they are very meagre, though the former had opportunities of observing them for
language. I will state what I have learned from some Mandans, especially from Mato-Topé,
who lived a long time among the Arikkaras.
Brackenridge gives an imperfect description of the construction of their huts, which does
not much differ from that of the Mandans. This writer says that the villages of the Arikkaras
were very dirty, and compares them with some old European towns. As it must, however, be
supposed that Brackenridge had never seen European towns, where the police are more strict
than in American towns, his comparison does not hold good. Both Brackenridge and Bradbury
were very well received by these people, and some white men were living among them, who
served as interpreters. When a stranger was once in their villages he was hospitably treated,
and invited to many of their festivals. When he left, however, he had to be on his guard,
especially against the war parties, who seldom spared a white man.
The agriculture of the Arikkaras was the same as that of their neighbours. In the education
of their children they are said to have been more strict, for, when the children behaved ill, they
were severely corrected. Among the more northern nations, also, a better system prevails than
among the Mandans and Manitaries: it frequently happens, among the Chippeways, that, when a
boy rudely passes before the older men, they take him by the arm and give him a good thrashing.
If a young man is idle, and will not go hunting, his father has been known to drive him
before him a mile, beating him all the way, and then telling him that, if he returns without any
game, he shall be punished still more severely. Like most of the Indian tribes, the Arikkaras
have their bands, or unions, and likewise distinct dances. They are as follows:—
1. The band of the bears. It consists of old men, who, in their dance, wear some parts of
the bear's skin, a necklace of bears' claws, &c.
2. The mad wolves. They wear a wolf's skin on their back, with a slit, through which
they put the head and arm.
3. The foxes wear fox skins on different parts of their body.
4. The mad dogs carry a schischikué in their hand when they dance.
5. The mad bulls. These are the most distinguished men, and wear, in their dance, the
skin of a buffalo's head, with the horns.
6. The soldiers.
Besides these bands, the Arikkaras have, at least, seven different dances.
1. The hot dance, or the black arms.
2. The dance of the bird's egg. They wear, on the forehead, the skin of a screech-owl.
3. The dance of the youngest child. Both the young and the old bands may have this
dance, and wear, at the back of the head, a piece of swan's skin, with a crow's feather.
4. The dance of the prairie foxes. They wear a kind of apron of red or blue cloth; behind,
crows' tails crossed; and on their leggins, bells, which they make themselves out of tin
kettles.
5. The white earth dance. They wear a cap made of ermines' tails, hanging down; at the
back of their head, two war eagles' feathers crossed; at the small of the back, a piece of leather
like a tail, ornamented with strips of ermine and bells; they carry a large bow-lance, decorated
with the feathers of the war eagles. Their robe is trimmed with fox skin and strips of ermine.
6. The dance of the spirits. A large cap of owls' feathers hangs down behind, and goes even
round the body. They have a war pipe suspended round the neck, and in their hands the skin
of their medicine animal.
7. The dance of the extended robe. If anything is given to them during this dance, they
receive it with their guns pointed at the giver. They dress as if they were going to battle, and
only the bravest warriors are admitted among them. If any one accepts a present, another, who
has performed more exploits, pushes him away, enumerates his own deeds, till another comes and
treats him in the same manner, and so on, till, at length, the bravest takes possession of the gift.
They imitate in their dance the various attitudes of fighting, and, with one arm, hold their robe
before them like a shield, as if to defend themselves. All the wounds they have received are
marked on the body with red paint. These bands and dances are bought and sold in the same
manner as among the Manitaries, Crows, and Mandans. The purchasers are obliged to offer and
give up their wives to the discretion of the fathers, that is, the sellers.
Their games are nearly the same as among the other tribes. The skin of a young white
buffalo cow is likewise highly valued by them. They have the same distinctions as the Mandans
for their military exploits, and the partisans observe the same ceremonies, only the Arikkara
partisan has a head of maize at his breast, which they consider as a great medicine. If they are
obliged to retreat they never throw aside their girdle, as the other nations do, however hot the
weather may be. It is said that when many Arikkaras are together they do not fight very well,
but when there are only a few they show much more bravery. No tribe has killed so many
white men as the Arikkaras. The Pawnees formerly tortured their prisoners, till their chief,
Petulescharu, as Say relates, abolished the custom,[1]
and the Arikkaras likewise renounced it
when they separated from the Pawnees.
Their religious ideas and traditions are in general the same as those of the Mandans. They
give to the first man a name which is likewise the appellation of the wolf. They formerly
reverenced the ark of the first man, but they have given up that custom. Like all the Indians
on the Missouri, they have their medicine feasts and all manner of superstitious practices. The
Okippe, properly speaking, is not known among them; they torture themselves, however, though
they choose it as the other tribes do. They never fast so long as the Mandans and the Manitaries;
at the most for one day. When they would do penance and kill buffaloes, they never
load their horses with the flesh of the animals they may have killed, but often bring home a large
quantity, on their head and back, from a great distance. He who bears the greatest burden
sometimes gives the flesh to a poor old man, who then sings medicine songs for him, in order that
he may have much success in hunting and in war, and by such actions he acquires great esteem.
The lord of life told the Arikkaras that, if they gave to the poor in this manner, and laid burdens
upon themselves, they would be successful in all their undertakings. It is said that they have
given up all their former religious traditions except the last. This may, perhaps, be partly ascribed
to the influence of the Whites—a conjecture which occurs to unprejudiced persons when they consider
the simple mythology of the Mandans. The maize is one of the principal medicines of the
Arikkaras, for which they show their reverence in various ways. One of their greatest medicine
feasts is that of the bird case, which they have faithfully retained; they esteem this medicine as
highly as Christians do the Bible. It is the general rule and law, according to which they govern
themselves. This instrument is hung up in the medicine lodge of their villages, and accompanies
them wherever they go. It consists of a four-cornered case, made of parchment, six or seven feet
long, but narrow, strengthened at the top with a piece of wood. It opens at one end, and seven
schischikués of gourds are fixed at the top, ornamented with a tuft of horse-hair dyed red. See
the annexed woodcut, designed by Mato-Topé. Inside of the box there are stuffed birds of all
these the box contains a large and very celebrated medicine pipe, which is smoked only on extraordinary
occasions and great festivals. If an Arikkara has even killed his brother, and then smoked
this pipe, all ill-will towards him must be forgotten. With this singular apparatus a ceremony is
performed as soon as the seed is sown and the first gourds are ripe. The blossoms of the gourd
are guarded, that no one may injure them; and, as soon as the first fruit is ripe, some distinguished
warriors are chosen, who must come to the assembly. Articles of value are presented to them;
the first fruit is cut and given them to eat. For this they must take down and open the bird
case, on which occasion medicine songs are sung, and the large pipe is smoked. In the summertime,
and paint it with blue, red, and white rings, and then plant it before the medicine lodge; the
case is taken down, and the ceremony performed. This bird case is of special efficacy in promoting
the growth of the maize and other plants; and he who carries this magic case to a great
distance, and with considerable exertion, obtains the highest place in the favour of the lord of life.
The strongest men among these Indians are said sometimes to carry a whole buffalo, without the
head and the intestines, to present it as an offering to the bird case. This offering is considered
very meritorious; and, when they have made it four times, it is believed that they will never be
in want of buffaloes. At the beginning of the world, the Mandans, it is said, inhabited the village
of Ruhptare, together with the Arikkaras. At that time the lord of life came to them in the form
of a child, and directed them to celebrate the Okippe every year, like the Mandans, but not their
ceremony with the bird case. Quarrels and affrays arose on this subject between the Mandans of
Ruhptare and the Arikkaras, during which the lord of life remained among the former. He
thought of going to the other party, which he was advised not to do, because they would kill
him; to which he answered, "They cannot kill me." He then went to a stream, took out of it
a piece of salt, with which he rubbed his whole body, and threw a part of it among the Arikkaras,
by which a great many of them were poisoned. The two parties afterwards separated; the
Arikkaras retained their bird case, the Mandans the Okippe, as the lord of life had enjoined them.
In consequence of this event the Arikkaras were angry with the lord of life, and called him "the
prairie wolf."
This bird case is likewise a calendar for the Arikkaras, for they reckon the seven cold months
by the seven schischikués, beginning to count by the middle one for the coldest month. On the
left hand they reckon three months till the warm weather, which lasts five months, and which
they pass over, to begin at the end of the schischikués with the other cold months, proceeding to
the centre where the greatest degree of cold recurs. Leaving out the five months of warm
weather, May, June, July, August, and September, those which are reckoned by the
schischikués are—
1. The month in which the leaves fall; October.
2. The month of the nose of the little serpent; November.
3. The month of the nose of the great serpent; December.
4. The month of the seven cold nights; January.
5. The month which kills or carries off men; February.
6. The month in which the wild geese return; March.
7. The month in which vegetation begins; April.
The Arikkaras practise a number of strange tricks and juggleries. They are remarkably
dexterous in sleight-of-hand performances, which they are said to have learned from a celebrated
instance, disguised in a bear's skin, with the head and claws, imitates the motions and the voice of
the animal so accurately that he cannot be distinguished from a real bear. He is shot; the
wound is plainly to be seen, and blood flows; he drops down and dies; the skin is stripped off,
and at last the man appears safe and sound. On another occasion, a man's head is cut off with
a sabre and carried out. The body remains bleeding, without the head, and this headless trunk
dances merrily about. The head is then replaced, but with the face at the back. The man
continues to dance, but the head is seen in its right position, and the man who was beheaded
dances as if nothing had happened to him. The bleeding wound is rubbed with the hand, it
disappears, and all is in order again. Men are shot; the blood flows; the wounds are rubbed, and
they come to life again. The Arikkaras perform all these tricks with such consummate address,
that the illusion is complete, so that most of the French Canadians believe in the reality of all these
wonders. No Arikkara will break a marrow-bone in his hut; this must always be done in the
open air; they believe that, if they neglect this precaution, their horses will break their legs in the
prairie.
These people have at present a great many enemies. The Mandans, the Manitaries, the
Crows, the Sioux, the Blackfeet, the Assiniboins, the Arrapahos, and the Pawnees.
The Arikkaras affirm that God said to them that they were made of earth, and must return
to earth; on which account they bury their dead in the ground. Various things are sometimes
cast into the grave of eminent men; the corpse is dressed in the best clothes, the face painted
red, and sometimes a good horse is killed on the grave. If the deceased has left a son, he
receives his father's medicine apparatus; if not, it is buried with him in the grave.
The language of the Arikkaras differs totally from those of the Mandans and Manitaries;
there is more harshness in the sound; the guttural ch occurs frequently, and there are very
many German terminations, such as natsch, ratsch, ass, oss, uss, &c. &c., which are much harsher
than the terminations of the Manitari language. Germans pronounce it easily and correctly.
Many words again end with the syllable, hahn, rahn, wahn, pronounced as in German. Their
manner of giving names to their children does not differ from that of the Mandans and other
Indians of the Missouri, and the western plains at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. They are
often harmonious, and are changed on special occasions, such, for instance, as having performed
some feat of valour, when arrived at manhood.
| CHAPTER XXVII. Travels in the interior of North America. | |