 | CHAPTER XXIX. Travels in the interior of North America. |  |
CHAPTER XXIX.
CONTINUATION OF OUR WINTER RESIDENCE AT FORT CLARKE, TILL OUR DEPARTURE, FROM
JANUARY 1ST TO APRIL 18TH, 1834.
Increase of the Cold in the beginning of January—The Arrival of our People from Picotte—Parhelia—Changes of Temperature—Sih-Chida's
Prayer—My Thermometer stolen—Reconciliation of Mato-Topé and Pehriska-Ruhpa—Consecration
of a Medicine Son at Ruphtare—Visit of some Yanktonans—Hunting of the Indians in the severe Cold—
Dance of the Women of the White Buffalo Cow at Ruphtare—Mr. Kipp's Return—Scarcity of Provisions—Enemies
in the Indian Village—Rapid Thaw—The Mandans kill an Assiniboin—Cunning and Boldness of the latter—The
Scalp Dance of the Manitaries—Superstition of the Indians—They remove to their Summer Village—The Arikkara,
Pachtuwa-Chta—Dance of the Meniss-Ochata—Blindness caused by the Snow—Commencement of my Illness—
Arrival of the Spring Birds—The Mad Dogs' Dance in the Fort—Dance of the Ischoha-Kakoschchata in the Fort—
Breaking-up of the Ice in the Missouri—Dance of the Berock-Ochata—Arrival of the People entered for my Service
—My Recovery by the use of Green Herbs—Preparations for our Departure.
January set in with increasing cold, which at eight in the morning was 18° Reaumur, and on
the 2nd, at the same hour, 25°, Reaumur, below freezing point. On the 3rd the mercury sank into
the ball, and was frozen; it remained there on the 4th, but on the 5th it rose, and at eight in the
morning was 9° below zero. During these cold days, some of our woodcutters had their noses
and cheeks frost-bitten. The horizon was hazy; the river smoked; neither man nor animal was
to be seen; yet a party of Mandans, with their wives, were in the prairie hunting buffaloes, of
which they killed forty. At night the cold was so intense, that we could not venture to put our
hands from our bodies, least they should be frozen. In the morning we could scarcely endure the
severity of the weather, till we had a blazing fire, for the bleak north-west wind penetrated
through all the seams of the building. We received information that Mr. Kipp had remained with
the Manitaries till the 2nd of January, and had not proceeded on his journey till the cold had
somewhat abated. Almost all his people had some part of their body frost-bitten, and eight of his
their hair, and even their eyelashes, covered with hoar frost and icicles. In our own room, the
boots and shoes were frozen so hard in the morning, that we could scarcely put them on; ink,
colours, and pencils were perfectly useless. During this cold we were visited by a deaf and dumb
Mandan, who had no covering on the upper part of his body under his robe. On the 3rd of
January, at noon, when the sunbeams, shining on the frozen snow, were extremely dazzling, the
thermometer being at 24° below zero, I saw no living creatures in the neighbourhood of the Indian
village, except flocks of the snow-bunting, and a few ravens, two species of birds which are
capable of enduring the severest cold. The Yanktonans, and the people whom we had sent to
Picotte, returned, on the 4th of January, with dried meat, as well as tallow for candles: they said
that, during the two coldest days, they had halted in the forest, but that, in the night, the wolves
had carried off part of their meat. On the 5th of January the air was misly, and at one o'clock
there were two parhelia at a considerable distance from the sun; they were, however, faint and
rather irregular. It was scarcely possible to obtain water from the river, and the water-casks in
our room were frozen to the bottom. Unfortunately, too, our woodcutters brought us only driftwood,
which had lain so long in the water that it would not burn. Picotte had sent a small cask
of wine by our people, as a present from Mr. Mc Kenzie for the Mandans, which was delivered to
the chiefs for distribution.
At eight o'clock in the morning of the 6th, there was a fall of snow; the temperature
in the open air was 29° Fahrenheit, in our room only 25°. The wind blew from the west,
and at noon the snow was mixed with rain, so that the water dripped on our books and
papers from the loft, which was covered with snow. The robes and hair of the Indians
were wet, and they very unceremoniously, therefore, came to dry themselves before our fire;
this was not very agreeable, nevertheless we were glad that we could resume our usual
occupations. At noon the temperature was 39½° Fahrenheit, and in the evening it became
considerably warmer, so that we could leave our hands at liberty during the night, without their
being affected by the cold. The night, however, was very stormy, and Sih-Chida laid himself
down to sleep on the ground before our fire. These changes of temperature were very remarkable.
On the 7th we again had cold, with a tempestuous west wind; at noon, the thermometer stood at
12°, and in the afternoon it again snowed. Sih-Chida once more passed the night with us, and, when
all was silent, made a long address to the lord of life, in which he besought him to send buffaloes,
that they might not starve. He spoke in a rapid half-suppressed tone of reproach, and without
any gesticulation. On the following day, Dreidoppel went into the forest in quest of game, but
could not proceed on account of the drifted snow; he only saw some flocks of prairie hens. At
noon, when I went to look at the thermometer, I found that it had been stolen by the Indians. Our
her robe, and, to my great joy, brought it back to me. Bidda-Chohki (generally called La Chevelure
levée, the scalped man), visited us, and gave me some words of the Manitari language, but he was
not in a very good humour, because he could not get any brandy. The next day this man
dressed himself very handsomely in order to have his portrait taken, but the mercury was again
20° below zero, and it was too cold in our room to paint, for colours and pencils were frozen,
though standing close to the fire, and had to be thawed in hot water. We calculated that we
should burn in our chimney at least six cords of wood in a month, if this cold continued. Mato-Topé
had become reconciled to Pehriska-Ruhpa, and purchased a green blanket, which he showed
to us, as a present for him. We heard that a wolf had attacked three Indian women in the
forest, who had been obliged to defend themselves with their hatchets.
On the 14th of January, the cold was only 8° below 0, but there was such a high, piercing
wind, that our woodcutters complained more than when the cold was more severe. In these
prairies it is, for the most part, the wind which makes the cold intolerable; and though persons
who ventured out wore woollen caps which left only the eyes exposed, yet their faces were
frostbitten. Our provisions were very bad, for Picotte had sent us only tough, hard, stale meat,
besides which we had nothing but maize and beans, and the water of the river. Mato-Topé, in
his finest dress, accompanied by many Indians, visited us. He wore a large hood of red cloth,
adorned with forty long eagles' feathers, and was going to Ruhptare, where a medicine son was
to be adopted.
In the night of the 14th, the wind blew with such violence, that it scattered the heap of ashes
from the fire-place all over the room, so that our beds, benches, and clothes were completely covered
with them. Mato-Topé returned on this day from Ruhptare, and told us, with great satisfaction and
self-complacency, that he had enumerated all his exploits, and that no one had been able to surpass
him. Old Garreau, who was constantly with our engagés in the fort, complained to me, that, for a
long time, he had lived on nothing but maize boiled in water; and this was really the case with
many persons at this place, as game became more and more scarce. When Garreau first came to
these parts, game abounded, and beavers were heard in all the streams, striking with their tails;
now, however, even the Indians are often reduced to want of food. On the 21st of January,
while the Indians passed the night without fire, in the prairie, in order to hunt, the thermometer
was at 30° below 0 (27½° Reaumur); the wind was easterly, and pretty high. The land and the river
were covered by a dense mist, through which the sun penetrated when just above the horizon; on
either side was a large crescent, which rose as high as the upper surface of the mist, the eastern
one extending to the frozen surface of the river. They were at some distance from the sun,
woodcut). Sometimes we observed, in the light misty clouds on the horizon, two short, beautifully
stratum of clouds, did not rise to any great height. The snow was now frozen so hard, that it
could be broken into large pieces, which emitted a clear sound when struck with the foot. In the
sunshine the atmosphere sparkled with innumerable particles of floating ice. The Indians had
cut some holes in the ice on the Missouri, to procure water, and fenced them round with poles
and brushwood covered with buffalo hides, as a protection against the cold wind. At noon the
weather was rather milder, the temperature being 10½° below zero. Three Yanktonans came to
the fort with a view to persuade the Mandans to join in an expedition against another tribe.
Mr. Bodmer took a very excellent likeness (Plate XII.) of Psihdje-Sahpa, one of the three
Yanktonans.
On the 23rd of January information was brought that a herd of buffaloes was only six miles
from the fort: accordingly, three engagés, with the Arikkara, were sent in pursuit of them,
and returned at night with two cows and a young bull, two of which were given to the fort.
The Mandans had killed about fifty of this herd: our hunters had almost all their fingers frozen,
but they knew well how to restore circulation by rubbing the limbs with snow. The Indians did
not visit us so frequently at this time, because they were well supplied with meat: the Arikkara,
however, came to us to attend a feast in Belhumeur's apartment, where we were to be regaled
with buffalo flesh. On the 29th, the women of the band of the white buffalo cow, from
Ruhptare, came to the fort to perform their dance, on which occasion they were dressed in the
same manner as the women from Mih-Tutta-Hang-Kush, only they had not the bundles of brushwood.
The musicians were three men, who wore caps of white buffalo skin. Knives, tobacco,
and glass beads were laid on the ground as presents for them, after which they proceeded to the
lower Mandan village, from which they came back, the following day, in grand procession, over
the frozen river. Mr. Kipp soon afterwards arrived from Fort Union, with three or four dog
sledges, and six men: they were completely covered with ice, their noses and cheeks were
Mr. Kipp and his party had been twelve days on their journey to Fort Union. At the beginning
they had nothing to eat; and the poor dogs had been so completely starved for nine days,
that they could scarcely crawl along, so that no burden could be laid upon them, and the party
were obliged to travel the greater part of the way on foot, in deep snow. They encountered a
war party of nine Assiniboins, some of whom ran away, but the others were sent by Mr. Kipp to
hunt, by which means he procured meat, and the engagés, too, succeeded in killing a few
elks and deer. It was affirmed that the mercury of Fahrenheit's thermometer had been for a
whole fortnight at 45° below zero (77° below freezing point), at Fort Union. No buffaloes had
appeared in the vicinity, nor any Indians, who remained farther down the river. The hunters of
Fort Union had been absent nearly a month, in which time they killed only two bulls, two
cows, and a calf. Except in some few places, provisions were extremely scarce this winter on
the whole of the Missouri, from Fort Clarke upwards. No accounts had been received from
Fort Mc Kenzie. I had wished to receive several articles from Fort Union; but Mr. Hamilton
was not able to send them, the sledge being too heavily laden; he, however, promised to forward
them, without fail, in the spring, with the people who were to be sent to conduct us down the Missouri
to Fort Pièrre. Mr. Kipp had been eleven days on his journey back, and had again been
obliged to perform a considerable part of it on foot. The dogs had had nothing to eat for three
days, and now the poor beasts were fed with hides cut in pieces, for we had no meat.
Numbers of the fowls in the forest perished in the cold. On the last day of January there was a
change in the weather; at eight in the morning, with a west wind, the mercury was at 22° Fahrenheit,
and we could scarcely bear the warmth of the fire in our apartment. Towards noon a
complete thaw set in, and the mild weather immediately brought us a number of Indian visitors.
On the 1st of February, Mr. Kipp sent three engagés, with two dog sledges, down the river,
to the post among the Yanktonans, which was under the superintendence of Picotte, to procure
meat, for we subsisted entirely on maize broth and maize bread, and were without tallow for
candles; the dogs that were sent with the engagés howled most piteously when they were
harnessed, their feet being still sore and bleeding from the effects of their late journey. On this
day news was received from Mih-Tutta-Hang-Kush, that three hostile Indians (Assiniboins), had
been in the village during the night, for the purpose of shooting somebody, for in the morning
the place where they had concealed themselves was discovered, from one of the party having left
his knee-band behind. They had not been able to fire through the wall of the hut, and had
retired at daybreak without attaining their object; traces were also found of some hostile Indians,
who had come over the river.
On the 2nd of February, one of the sledges sent to Picotte came back, having been broken
on the way. The man who came with it fell in with the Mandans, who were going to hunt
the Assiniboins had stolen three horses from the Manitaries, 150 of whom immediately mounted
their horses to pursue and kill them.
At eight o'clock on the morning of the 3rd, the thermometer stood at 39°; the face of the
country had assumed quite a different aspect; large tracts of land were wholly free from the snow,
which was fast melting away, and only the hills were partially covered; yet, with this rapid thaw,
the ground had not become wet, for it was immediately dried by the continual wind; but there
was a considerable quantity of water on the ice which covered the river. The ravens and magpies
again flew about in the prairie in quest of food.
In the afternoon news was received that the Manitaries, who had gone in pursuit of the
Assiniboins, had overtaken a small party, and killed a young man, whom they had found asleep,
cruelly awakened with whips, and then murdered in cold blood. These Assiniboins are very
daring, and often approach the villages of the Mandans and Manitaries, either singly or in small
parties, and sometimes surprise individuals and shoot them. Thus an Assiniboin suddenly fired
at a number of young people who were standing near the palisades of the village, and killed
one of them. The others raised an alarm, while the murderer took the scalp of the youth he had
killed, fled down the steep bank of the river, where many persons were bathing, and made his
escape through the very midst of all these people. Other Assiniboins stole eleven horses from
a Manitari hut, and were not even perceived till they were in the act of leading off the last of
the animals. They stole four horses from a hut in which Charbonneau was sleeping, and made
their escape with their booty, without being seen by any one. To-day arrows were found sticking
in the huts and posts of the village, which they had discharged at random during the night, in the
hope of killing one of their foes.
On the 4th and 5th, the weather was mild; the horses were again sent to graze in the prairie,
our waggons went to fetch grass, and, towards noon, the day was really quite warm. We were
still without meat, none of the parties whom we sent out having been able to procure any. Our
stock of tallow, too, was exhausted, and we were obliged to content ourselves with the light of the
fire. For several succeeding days, the weather being still mild, we were much interested in watching
the activity of the Indians on the river; among them a number of women brought heavy burdens,
especially of wood, from the lower forest village, to Mih-Tutta-Hang-Kush. They had to pass, opposite
the fort, a channel formed through the midst of the frozen river, which was covered with a thin
coat of ice; this they broke very deliberately with their long poles, and then waded through. Some
carried their small leathern boats to the channel, in this they deposited the wood, and then pushed
it along. The manner in which they took up the heavy burdens was remarkable. A woman lay
down on her back, upon the bundle of wood, while another raised her with the burden till she
was able to bend forward, and then stand upright with her load. A great many women were thus
too much scattered to be safe while the enemy was so near at hand.
On the 9th of February the inhabitants of Ruphtare had all removed from their winter to their
summer quarters; they were evidently afraid that the ice would break up early, and the water of
the Missouri rise considerably.
On the 10th, two of our people came from Picotte, with a sledge drawn by two dogs, and
informed us that there were many buffaloes in the neighbourhood, consequently our fear of want
of provisions was dispelled. At Fort Pièrre, on the River Teton, the cold had been more intense
than had been known for many years, the mercury having remained for a considerable time
between 30° and 40° below zero. Three of Mr. Laidlow's people, who were travelling at the time,
had suffered so severely from the frost, that their lives were despaired of. The ice of the Missouri
had, for a few days, been very unfavourable for travelling, as it was covered to some depth with
water, and our people, consequently, had suffered much. In the afternoon of that day, the
Manitari chief, Lachpitzi-Sirish (the yellow bear), arrived, bringing on his horse a small supply of
meat, and a young buffalo calf, which he presented to us, this disgusting little black animal being
reckoned a great dainty by them. His robe was painted with suns, and on his back he carried
his bow, with a beautifully ornamented quiver of panther's skin. Charbonneau immediately
accommodated him in his bedroom. On the following day we sent a couple of our hunters to
Fort Union, with letters to Mr. Mc Kenzie. The fort was crowded with Manitaries who wished
to perform before us the scalp dance, in commemoration of having slain an enemy on the preceding
day. A number of tall, handsomely dressed men, having their faces blackened, soon filled
every apartment. Itsichaika (the monkey-face), and the other chiefs, had arrived, and these
Indians, who are not nearly so well behaved as the Mandans, very deliberately took possession
of all our seats and fire-places. We bolted the door of our own apartment, where we quietly
remained, permitting only a very few of the Indians to enter.
At two o'clock the Manitari women arrived in procession, accompanied by many children
and some Mandans. Eighteen women, marching two and two in a close column, entered the
court-yard of the fort, with a short-measured, slow pace. Seven men of the band of the dogs,
having their faces painted black, or black striped with red, acted as musicians, three of them
having drums, and four the schischikué. They were wrapped in their buffalo robes, and their heads
were uncovered, and ornamented with the feathers of owls and other birds. The faces of some of
the women were painted black, others red, while some were striped black and red. They wore
buffalo dresses, or blankets, and the two principal were enveloped in the white buffalo robe. The
greater part of them had the feather of a war eagle standing upright, and one only wore the
large handsome feather cap. In their arms they carried battle-axes or guns, ornamented with red
cloth and short black feathers, which, during the dance, they placed with the but-end on the
and weapons of the warriors. The right wing was headed by the wife of the chief, Itsichaika, who
carried in her hand a long elastic rod, from the point of which was suspended the scalp of
the young man slain on the preceding day, surmounted by a stuffed magpie with outspread wings
(Plate XXVII.); lower down on the same rod hung a second scalp, a lynx skin, and a bunch of
feathers. Another woman bore a third scalp on a similar rod. The women filed off in a semicircle;
the musicians, taking their stand on the left wing, now commenced a heterogeneous noise, beating
the drum, rattling the schischikué, and yelling with all their might. The women began to dance,
waddling in short steps, like ducks; the two wings, or horns of the crescent, advanced towards
each other, and then receded, at the same time singing in a shrill tone of voice. It was a complete
caterwaul concert. After awhile they rested, and then recommenced, and continued dancing
about twenty minutes. The director of the fort now caused tobacco, looking-glasses, and knives,
from the Company's stores, to be thrown on the ground in the middle of the circle. Hereupon
the women once more danced in quick time, the musicians forming themselves into a close
body, and holding their instruments towards the centre. This concluded the festivity, and the
whole band retired to the Mandan forest village.
There was a heavy fall of snow during the night, and the morning of the 12th again presented
the landscape clothed with its white covering. Mr. Bodmer had taken an excellent
portrait of Machsi-Nika, the deaf and dumb Mandan, in his war dress. He came to our
residence to-day with angry gestures, and evidently greatly enraged against us, so that
I was afraid that this half-witted, uncivilized man would attack the artist. Mr. Kipp was
requested to clear up the matter, and it appeared that his anger had been caused by a malignant
insinuation of the perfidious old Garreau, who had pointed out to him that Bodmer had drawn
him only in a mean dress, while all the other Indians were represented in their handsomest
robes. This ill-natured insinuation completely exasperated the poor man, and we in vain
endeavoured to pacify him, by assuring him that we intended to make him known to the world
in a truly warlike costume. Mr. Bodmer then thought of an expedient: he quickly and secretly
made a copy of his drawing, which he brought in, tore in half, and threw into the fire in the
presence of the Indian. This had the desired effect, and he went away perfectly satisfied.
In the afternoon the Manitaries returned from the Mandan village, and again took deliberate
possession of the various apartments in the fort. The Monkey-face, a cunning, perfidious Indian,
who wore a new red felt hat, is the chief who now takes the lead among the Manitaries. Accordingly,
as soon as he took leave, all the Indians followed him. One of the chiefs, with his family, sat
a long time in our room, and were much interested with Mr. Bodmer's drawings, and astonished
and delighted with our musical box. A Mandan who was present thought that a little white
man, who was making this pretty music, must be concealed in it. All of them asked for presents,
At length our door was opened, and a tall, heavy man, with a blackened face, entered, and, like all
the rest assembled there, demanded something to eat. We, however, gave him to understand,
that we had nothing to give them, as we were supplied by Mr. Kipp, and with this answer they
were obliged to be satisfied. Towards evening our provision store was replenished by three
sledges, laden with meat, sent by Picotte, which arrived in the fort.
On the following day, a very high, cold wind arose, which blew the snow off from the ice
that covered the river, and the Indian women, carrying their burdens, frequently fell down on
the slippery surface. The Mandans had found a dead buffalo cow in the prairie, and, although
it was in part decayed, they greedily devoured it.
On the 17th, at eight in the morning, with a temperature of 1° below 0, the woods were
covered with hoar frost; the wind blew from the south, and veered to the south-west; the river
had risen considerably, and, in some places, overflowed its banks. The sledges had much
difficulty in crossing the river without getting into the water, and the ice broke under one of
them. At noon, the temperature was 10°, and afterwards there was a fall of snow. Dreidoppel
shot a beautiful red fox in the prairie, but had no success against the wolves. The Mandans told
us, that they had gone, some days before, to hunt buffaloes, and had driven a herd of them
towards the mountains, where there is a good opportunity to use the bow and arrows; they had,
therefore, pursued the animals rapidly, but, on reaching them, they found but a very few buffaloes,
the others, as they affirmed, having sunk into the ground: they had, doubtless, taken refuge in
the nearest ravines. They assigned, as the cause of this suddend isappearance of the buffaloes,
that their party was headed by a man who, in the preceding year, had caused five Assiniboins,
who had come to them as messengers of peace, to be killed, and that, on account of this unjust
act, he was now always unsuccessful in hunting.
The mercury remained now a little above or below zero, but at noon the sun had much
power, and the reflection from the snow was very dazzling, which induced our hunters to make
for themselves wooden snow spectacles, in the manner of the Esquimaux. The dumb Mandans
had been successful in hunting, and brought several horseloads of meat, which we bought of them.
In the afternoon, when the temperature was 8° or 9°, I heard an Indian child crying at the door
of our room; it had touched a piece of iron with its tongue, and the skin immediately came off.
At daybreak, on the 27th, in the morning, the mercury was at 26°, Fahrenheit, below zero,
or 59° below freezing point; and at 8 o'clock, when the sun shone brightly, at 11° below zero,
with a west wind. During the night, the horses had broken a window in Mr. Kipp's room, so that
we had a very cold breakfast there. In our apartments everything fluid was frozen, and the quilts
on the beds were covered with hoar frost. We had now some fresh meat, but our stock of
sugar was at an end, and we had to sweeten our coffee with treacle. We were visited by the three
is not so afflicted: there is, likewise, a deaf and dumb child in the village. Kiasax, the Blackfoot,
who had accompanied us to Fort Union, visited us to-day for the first time, and we showed
him the portraits of his countrymen, with which he was much pleased. The Indians were busy
in conveying many things to the summer village, though the prairies were covered with snow;
and numerous horses were seeking a scanty subsistence by scraping it away with their hoofs to
get at the dry grass.
On the 27th of February, Mr. Kipp had pieces of ice hewn on the river to fill his ice cellar.
A high west wind increased the cold, but the snow melted away because the thermometer
was at 38° at noon. We saw the Indian boys pursue and catch the snow-buntings, of which
there were large flocks in the neighbourhood of the villages; and the prairie wolves now prowled
about in couples: in the evening there was a heavy fall of snow. The Indians removed to their
village: all their horses, even the foals, were loaded: they likewise cut blocks of ice from the
river, which the women carried home on their backs, in leather baskets, in order to melt them
to obtain water. The Indian children amused themselves with ascending the heaps of snow,
and gliding down on a board, or a piece of the back-bone of a buffalo, with some of the ribs
attached to it. Mato-Topé paid us a visit in a very strange costume; his head-dress was much
more suitable for an old woman than for a warrior. His head was bound round with a strip of
wolf's skin, the long hairs of which stood on end, and which hung down behind. Some feathers,
standing upright, were placed among the hair, which, except at the tip, were stripped, and painted
red. This chief, indeed, had on a different dress almost every time he came to see us. Sometimes
he wore a blue uniform, with red facings, which he had obtained from the merchants.
Mr. Bodmer took the portrait of a handsome Manitari partisan to-day. (Plate XXVII., the
second figure from the left hand). He was not pleased that we intended to keep his portrait,
as he was going on a military expedition, and said that Mr. Bodmer ought, at least, to give
him a copy of the drawing. This being refused, he drew a portrait of the artist, and his performance
showed that he possessed some talent for the art.
On the evening of the 28th of February, Picotte sent up the letter-bag from St. Louis, and
I had the pleasure of receiving despatches from Germany, with very agreeable intelligence. This
post was forwarded, on the 2nd of March, to Fort Union, by two of the engagés in dog-sledges.
Bodmer drew the portrait of an old Manitari, whose proper name was Birohka (the
robe with the beautiful hair), but the Mandans called him "Long Nose," on account of the prominence
of that feature. He wore a cap of white buffalo skin, and an ample brown robe painted
with wreaths of feathers; before he would suffer his portrait to be taken, he demanded a black
silk neckerchief as a recompense, which was given him. This portrait is in Plate XXVII., the
third figure on the left hand. As all the Indians had now removed to their summer village,
against the importunities of the women and children; they were Mato-Topé, Dipauch, Berock-Itainu,
and another whose name I do not know. The first never smoked his pipe in another
person's room, if anybody stirred from his place or looked at him. We had some interesting
conversations with several sensible and inquiring Indians, especially with the soldiers of the fort.
On the morning of the 5th of March, the mercury being at 29°, we had a very severe snow
storm from the north, which continued till near ten o'clock. On the following day, Mato-Topé
introduced to us a tall, robust Arikkara, named Pachtuwa-Chta, who lived peaceably among the
Mandans. He was a handsome man, but not to be depended upon, and was said to have killed
many white men. (See Vignette XXVII.) Another tall man of the same nation frequently visited
us, generally observing that he was not like Pachtuwa, as he had never killed a white man.
Mato-Topé, after repeated solicitations, prevailed on Mr. Bodmer to paint for him a whiteheaded
eagle, holding in his claws a bloody scalp, to which he, doubtless, attached some superstitious
notion, but I could not see exactly what it might be. Mato-Topé gave me very accurate
information respecting his own language, and that of the neighbouring Indian nations, and took
great pleasure in communicating to me some words of the Mandan and Arikkara languages, the
latter of which he spoke fluently.
On the 7th of March, the band of the Meniss-Ochata (dog band), from Ruhptare, danced in
the medicine lodge at Mih-Tutta-Hang-Kush. Mr. Bodmer went to see the dance, and met
Mato-Topé, who, however, puffed up by his high dignity as a dog, would not notice him. Sih-Chida,
who also belonged to this band, went into the lodge, where he discharged his gun. In
the afternoon the band approached the fort, and we heard the sound of their war pipes at the
gates. A crowd of spectators accompanied the seven or eight and twenty dogs, who were all
dressed in their handsomest clothes. Some of them wore beautiful robes, or shirts of bighorn
leather; others had shirts of red cloth; and some blue and red uniforms. Others, again, had
the upper part of their body naked, with their martial deeds painted on the skin with reddish-brown
colour. The four principal dogs wore an immense cap hanging down upon the shoulders,
composed of raven's or magpie's feathers, finished at the tips with small white down feathers.
In the middle of this mass of feathers, the outspread tail of a wild turkey, or of a war eagle, was
fixed. These four principal dogs wore round their neck a long slip of red cloth, which hung
down over the shoulders, and, reaching the calf of the leg, was tied in a knot in the middle of the
back. These are the true dogs, who, when a piece of meat is thrown into the fire, are bound
immediately to snatch it out and devour it raw. A very admirable likeness of Pehriska-Ruhpa,
in this strange costume, is represented in Plate XXIII. Two other men wore similar colossal caps
of yellow owl's feathers, with dark transverse stripes, and the rest had on their heads a thick
tuft of raven's, magpie's, or owl's feathers, which is the badge of the band. All of them had the
bow and arrows, or war club; and in their right hand the schischikué peculiar to their band. It
is a stick adorned with blue and white glass beads, with buffalo or other hoofs suspended to it,
the point ornamented with an eagle's feather, and the handle with slips of leather embroidered
with beads.
The warriors formed a circle round a large drum, which was beaten by five ill-dressed men,
who were seated on the ground. Besides these, there were two men, each beating a small drum
like a tambourine. The dogs accompanied the rapid and violent beat of the drum by the whistle
of their war pipes, in short, monotonous notes, and then suddenly began to dance. They
dropped their robes on the ground, some dancing within the circle, with their bodies bent forward,
and leaping up and down with both feet placed close together. The other Indians danced
without any order, with their faces turned to the outer circle, generally crowded together; while
the war pipe, drum, and schischikué made a frightful din.
On the 10th of March, two engagés, sent by Picotte, arrived, with letters and a sledge
laden with dried meat. One of these men was blinded by the snow, a circumstance very usual
in this month, from the dazzling reflection of the sun from an expansive surface of snow. He
was obliged to get his companion to lead him by taking hold of the end of his stick.
On the 11th of March I felt the first symptoms of an indisposition, which daily increased,
and soon obliged me to take to my bed. It began with a swelling in one knee, and soon
extended to the whole leg, which assumed the colour of dark, extravasated blood. A violent fever
succeeded, with great weakness, and, having neither medical advice nor suitable remedies, my
situation became daily more helpless and distressing, as there was nobody who had any knowledge
of this disorder. The other inhabitants of the fort were likewise indisposed, and our
provisions were very bad and scanty. To economize our stock of coffee we were forced to make
it wretchedly weak, and, for want of sugar or treacle, to sweeten it with honey, of which we had
about twenty pounds. Our beverage was, generally speaking, the water from the river; and,
as our supply of beans was very low, our diet consisted almost exclusively of maize boiled in
water, which greatly weakened our digestion.
The man blinded by the snow was so far recovered on the 13th, that he was able to return
to Picotte. The first wild ducks were seen on this day, flying up the Missouri, and Mr. Kipp
immediately set about making shot, to go in pursuit of these birds, which we had been most
anxiously expecting. On the 14th, a store (cache) of maize was opened in the fort, the contents
of which were perfectly dry, and in good preservation. Pehriska-Ruhpa spent several days
with us, in order to have his portrait taken in his dress of one of the chiefs of the dog band.
When the sitting was over, he always took off his ponderous feather cap, and rubbed it twice on
each side of his head, a charm or precaution which he never neglected. He then seated himself
always turning round first, and making everybody in the room sit down. During the tedium of
my confinement to bed, I was enlivened by the frequent visits of the Indians, and I never
neglected to continue my journal, which, from fever and consequent weakness, was often very
fatiguing. Mr. Kipp kindly sent me some new-laid eggs every day, as well as rice, which he had
reserved for me, and from which I derived great benefit. The inmates of the fort had nothing
to eat but doughy maize bread and maize boiled in water; but Mr. Kipp, who did not like the
latter, was obliged to fast.
On the 16th of March, the first wild swans were seen flying towards the north-west. Ducks
were in the pools of water in the maize plantations of the Mandans; and Dreidoppel had
observed the Fringilla Canadensis, as a harbinger of spring. Violent storms from the northwest
had prevailed for some days; the Missouri was much swollen, but the breaking-up of the ice
could not be yet expected, and we had repeated falls of snow. Mato-Topé and Pehriska-Ruhpa,
who had gone out to hunt, succeeded in killing five buffaloes, and from them we obtained some
meat; for, to show their liberality, they gave away a great deal of it, together with several
coloured blankets. The first white-headed eagle (Aquila leucocephala) was seen to-day; and I
received the first prairie dog, which was also a sign of the approach of spring, as these animals
leave their burrows at this season. On the 27th of March, the band of the mad dogs danced in
the fort; and, towards evening, an Indian from Ruhptare, who had had a dispute with Mr. Kipp
about a beaver skin, revenged himself by breaking a pane of glass in our room. Our people
pursued, but could not overtake him. As it was feared that he might commit greater acts of
violence, the soldiers of the fort were sent to Ruhptare, on the 28th, to protect a fur trader who
resided there.
On the 30th, the first flock of fifteen or twenty wild geese passed over: the wind was high,
and, on the following day, a good deal of ice broke up in the river. On the 1st of April the wind
blew stormy, with a thermometer of 33° at noon. On the 2nd, the women at Mih-Tutta-Hang-Kush
celebrated the spring corn feast, of which Mr. Bodmer made a sketch. This feast is
always observed on the return of the wild geese, which are the messengers of the old woman
who never dies. The Indians had already killed some of these birds. The festival was over at
eleven o'clock in the forenoon, but some of the women remained the whole day, reclining near
the offerings hung up in the prairie. Great numbers of young men were running races, and all
was animation about the village.
On the 3rd of April, the band of the Ischoha-Kakoschochata, eighteen in number, danced in
the fort, led by Mato-Topé, on horseback, in full dress, wearing his splendid feather cap. The ice
broke up so rapidly in the river, that it was necessary to set a watch over our boats during the
night, lest the rising water should carry them away. On the following day the icy covering of
and geese, as well as a plover, appeared on the ice. On the 5th of April, the weather being
stormy in the morning, and the temperature 59½° Fahrenheit, the river had risen about a foot, and
towards noon it suddenly rose between three and four feet more, so that, at twelve o'clock, the ice
on the surface began to move, the temperature being 68°. But in the night the river again fell
a foot, and there was a slight frost. At nine in the evening the temperature was 55°, and we had
a storm of thunder and lightning.
On the 7th of April there was but little floating ice on the river, which had fallen during the
night. We saw several swans. On the 8th the Manitaries danced the scalp dance in the fort,
and the Indians amused themselves in the prairie with races and various games. At one o'clock
in the afternoon, the ice in the Upper Missouri suddenly broke up, and brought down many
trunks of trees, which endangered our boats. The Indians immediately availed themselves of
this opportunity to land a good deal of the wood; they also brought ashore a drowned elk,
which, though already in a state of decomposition, they actually ate, and the smith of the fort, a
Canadian, did not disdain to partake of it with them. Some dead buffaloes likewise floated by,
and the Indians followed them, for the same purpose. In the evening, though the quantity of
ice was considerably diminished, yet some people who were to have gone down the river were
obliged to defer their voyage.
The morning of the 9th of April being fine and serene, and the ice having almost entirely
disappeared from the river, seven men were sent down to Picotte in Indian leather boats. The
grass began to sprout, and some young plants appeared in the prairie, even a pulsatilla, with purple
blossoms, apparently the same as the P. vulgaris of Europe; the Indians call this plant the red
calf-flower. At noon the thermometer stood at 65°, with a north-east wind, and the river was free
from ice. Towards evening, nine men of the band of the buffalo bulls came to the fort to perform
their dance, discharging their guns immediately on entering. Only one of them wore the entire
buffalo head (see Plate XVIII.); the others had pieces of the skin of the forehead, a couple of fillets
of red cloth, their shields decorated with the same material, and an appendage of feathers, intended
to represent the bull's tail, hanging down their backs. They likewise carried long, elegantly ornamented
banners in their hands. After dancing for a short time before us, they demanded presents.
Besides the strange figures of this dance, Mr. Bodmer painted the chief, Mato-Topé, at full length,
in his grandest dress. The vanity which is characteristic of the Indians induced this chief to stand
stock-still for several days, so that his portrait (Plate XIII.) succeeded admirably. He wore on this
occasion a handsome new shirt of bighorn leather, the large feather cap, and, in his hand, a long
lance with scalps and feathers. He has been so often mentioned in my narrative, that I must here
subjoin a few words respecting this eminent man, for he was fully entitled to this appellation,
being not only a distinguished warrior, but possessing many fine and noble traits of character.
danger, he conducted to Fort Clarke a numerous deputation of the Assiniboins, who had
come to Mih-Tutta-Hang-Kush to conclude peace, while his countrymen, disregarding the proposals,
kept firing upon the deputies. Mato-Topé, after having in vain exerted himself to the
utmost to prevent these hostilities, led his enemies, with slow steps, amidst the whistling balls and
the arrows of his countrymen, while he endeavoured to find excuses for their culpable conduct. He
had killed many enemies, among whom were five chiefs. Plate XXII. gives a fac-simile of a representation
of one of his exploits, painted by himself, of which he frequently gave me an account. He
was, on that occasion, on foot, on a military expedition, with a few Mandans, when they encountered
four Chayennes, their most virulent foes, on horseback. The chief of the latter, seeing that
their enemies were on foot, and that the combat would thereby be unequal, dismounted, and the
two parties attacked each other. The two chiefs fired, missed, threw away their guns, and
seized their naked weapons; the Chayenne, a tall, powerful man, drew his knife, while Mato-Topé,
who was lighter and more agile, took his battle-axe. The former attempted to stab Mato-Topé,
who laid hold of the blade of the knife, by which he, indeed, wounded his hand, but wrested the
weapon from his enemy, and stabbed him with it, on which the Chayennes took to flight. Mato-Topé's
drawing of the scene in the above-named plate, shows the guns which they had discharged
and thrown aside, the blood flowing from the wounded hand of the Mandan chief, the footsteps of
the two warriors, and the wolf's tail at their heels—the Chayenne being distinguished by the fillet
of otter skin on his forehead. The buffalo robe, represented in Plate XXI. Fig. 1, painted by
Mato-Topé himself, and which I have fortunately brought to Europe, represents several exploits
of this chief, and, among others, in the lower figure on the left hand, the above-mentioned adventure
with the Chayenne chief.
The 10th of April was warm and fine, the thermometer at noon at 80°, the wind south, and
the river had fallen three feet. Several of our Indian friends, among whom was Sih-Chida, had
taken leave, intending to assist a large party of Manitaries and Mandans in a military expedition.
They set out on their march about this time, and we afterwards learnt that a war party of the Manitaries
had completely plundered a couple of beaver hunters, white men; and that their partisan,
whose name was Pierce Iron, had acted the principal part on this occasion. On the other
hand, the Assiniboins had stolen thirty-four horses from the Manitaries, who shot one of the
thieves.
On the afternoon of the 14th of April, the people whom Mr. Mac Kenzie had promised to
send to accompany me down the river to Fort Louis, at length arrived from Fort Union. There
were, however, many others with them, and the whole party amounted to twenty men, among
whom were Belhumeur, and Mr. Chardon as leader. The violent storm on the preceding days
had hindered them from travelling, and they were obliged to halt. They brought us letters from
the arrival of Picotte, who, with many men, was to go up to Fort Union, as, without the help of
his men, my Mackinaw boat could not be caulked. A main point now was my recovery, which
was singularly rapid. At the beginning of April I was still in a hopeless condition, and so very
ill, that the people who visited me did not think that my life would be prolonged beyond three
or, at the most, four days. The cook of the fort, a negro from St. Louis, one day expressed his
opinion that my illness must be the scurvy, for he had once witnessed the great mortality among
the garrison of the fort at Council Bluffs, when several hundred soldiers were carried off in a
short time; of this there is an account in Major Long's expedition to the Rocky Mountains.
He said that the symptoms were in both cases nearly similar; that, on that occasion, at the
beginning of spring, they had gathered the green herbs in the prairie, especially the small white
flowering Allium reticulatum, with which they had soon cured the sick. I was advised to make
trial of this recipe, and the Indian children accordingly furnished me with an abundance of this
plant and its bulbs: these were cut up small, like spinage, and I ate a quantity of them. On the
fourth day the swelling of my leg had considerably subsided, and I gained strength daily. The
evident prospect of speedy recovery quite reanimated me, and we carried on with pleasure the
preparations for our departure, though I was not yet able to leave my bed.
On the 15th of April, Picotte arrived with about twenty men, and had his boat laden with
maize, which he was to carry to Fort Union. They immediately set about preparing the
Mackinaw boat for our voyage down the river, and Picotte set out on the 16th, notwithstanding
a heavy rain. Every preparation was completed on the following day; the boat was brought to
the landing-place, furnished on the deck with a spacious Indian tent covering, and all was made
ready for our voyage, Mr. Chardon resolving to accompany me to Fort Pièrre on the
Teton River.
On the 18th of April, at noon, the boat was loaded; and, after we had partaken of our last
frugal dinner at Fort Clarke, we took a cordial farewell of Mr. Kipp, with whom we had passed
so long a time in this remote place, and who had done everything for me that was possible in
his circumscribed condition. Accompanied by the inhabitants of the fort, and many of our Indian
friends, among whom was Mato-Topé and Pehriska-Rhupa, all of whom shook hands at parting,
we went on board our boat. The weather was favourable, though there was a strong wind from
the south-west. Some cannon-shot were fired by the fort as a farewell salute, and we glided
rapidly down the beautiful stream of the Missouri.
| CHAPTER XXIX. Travels in the interior of North America. | |