Chapter XXV: Account of the Mandan Indians (1)

In communicating the information contained in the following chapters, in which I mean to treat especially of some tribes of the aborigines of North America, I shall take it for granted that the reader is acquainted with the interesting and important particulars which have been given us by Messrs. Edwin James, T. Say, and Schoolcraft. Dr. E. James speaks especially of the origin of the North American Indians, of their near affinity to each other; of the recently broached hypothesis of their descent from the Israelites, which he proves to be groundless, and which is contradicted by the bodily conformation of the Indians, and also of the injudicious and unjust treatment which they suffer from the Anglo-Americans. According to him many of the Indian nations would long since have been converted to the Christian religion, and have settled in fixed abodes, like the Cherokees, &c., if the earlier missionaries had better understood the work on which they were sent. It is notorious that this subject was treated, in early times, with the most unwarrantable want of discretion, and positive ignorance; that the greatest injustice was exercised towards the Indian population, and that, even now, wrongs untold are heaped on this much to be pitied and oppressed race. A large portion of those nations has entirely disappeared, and the accounts which have been preserved of them are extremely imperfect; others are expelled from their native seats, mixed together in small fragments of various tribes, half degenerated, and consequently now affording but little that can interest the inquirer. Such were the Indians whom Volney saw: only to the west and north-west of the Mississippi may the Indians be yet found in their original state. Before, however, I speak of them in general, I will describe more in detail a small tribe which has hitherto been very imperfectly known.

The Mandans (called by the Canadians, les Mandals),[207] by which name these Indians are generally known, though it was originally given them by the Sioux, were formerly a numerous people, who, according to the narrative of an aged man, lately deceased, inhabited thirteen, and {335} perhaps more villages.[208] They call themselves Numangkake (_i. e._, men), and if they wish to particularize their descent, they add the name of the village whence they came originally.[209] Some, for instance, call themselves Sipuske-Numangkake, the men of the pheasant or prairie hens, from the village Sipuska-Mihte, pheasant village; others, Mato-Numangkake, the men of the bear, from the village Mato-Mihte, bear village, &c. &c. Another general name of this people is Mahna-Narra, the sulky, because they separated from the rest of their nation, and went higher up the Missouri.

The early history of the Mandans is involved in obscurity; their own traditions and legends will be discussed in the sequel, when treating on their religious ideas. They affirm that they descend originally from the more eastern nations, near the sea-coast.[210] Though the above-named villages do not all exist at this time, these Indians still call themselves by their several names. They formerly dwelt near the Heart River:[211] when Charbonneau arrived here at the end of the last century, the two Mandan villages, which are still standing, were about six or eight miles further down the Missouri. The smallpox and the assaults of their enemies have so reduced this people, that the whole number now reside in two villages, in the vicinity of Fort Clarke. These two villages are Mih-Tutta-Hang-Kush (the southern village), about 300 paces above Fort Clarke, and on the same side of the river, and Ruhptare,[212] about three miles higher up, likewise on the same bank. The first had, at the time of our visit, sixty-five huts, and contained about 150 warriors; the other, thirty-eight huts and eighty-three warriors. According to this, the tribe had not more than 230 or 240 warriors; and, on the whole, scarcely 900 or 1000 souls; Dr. {336} Morse,[213] therefore, estimates the number of these people rather too high, when he states it at 1250 souls.

The Mandans are a vigorous, well-made race of people, rather above the middling stature, and very few of the men could be called short. The tallest man now living was Mahchsi-Karehde (the flying war eagle), who was five feet ten inches two lines, Paris measure (above six feet English). In general, however, they are not so tall as the Manitaries. Many of them are robust, broad-shouldered, and muscular, while others are slender and small limbed. Their physiognomy is, in general, the same as that of most of the Missouri Indians, but their noses are not so long and arched as those of the Sioux, nor have they such high cheek bones. The nose of the Mandans and Manitaries is not broad--sometimes aquiline, or slightly curved, and often quite straight. Their eyes are, in general, long and narrow, of a dark brown colour; the inner angle is often rather lower in childhood, but it is rarely so in maturer age. The mouth is broad, large, rather prominent, and the lower jaw broad and angular. No great difference occurs in the form of the skull: in general I did not find the facial angle smaller than in Europeans, yet there are some exceptions.[214] Their hair is long, thick, lank, and black, but seldom as jet and glossy as that of the Brazilians: that of children is often only dark brown, especially at the tips; and Bradbury speaks of brown hair among the Mandans. There are whole families among them, as well as among the Blackfeet, whose hair is grey, or black mixed with white, so that the whole head appears grey.[215] The families of Sih-Chida and Mato-Chiha are instances of this peculiarity. The latter chief was particularly remarkable in this respect: his hair grew in distinct locks of brown, black, silver grey, but mostly white, and his eyebrows perfectly white, which had a strange effect in a tall otherwise handsome man, between twenty and thirty years of age. They encourage the growth of their hair, and often lengthen it by artificial means. Their teeth, like those of all the Missouri Indians, are particularly fine, strong, firm, even, and as white as ivory. It is very seldom that you see a defect or a tooth {337} wanting even in old people, though, in the latter, they are often worn very short, which is chiefly to be attributed to their chewing hard, dry meat. The women are pretty robust and sometimes tall, but, for the most part, they are short and broad shouldered. They are but few who can be called handsome as Indians, but there are many tolerable and some pretty faces among them. It is usually said of the Mandan women that they, in some respects, have a natural conformation, such as Le Vaillant and Péron[216] ascribe to the Hottentot women; but it seems to be owing, in the Mandan women, less to nature than to artificial means.[217] The children have frequently slender limbs, and very prominent bellies. Deformed persons are very rare among the Mandans. I, however, saw a very little dwarf with a long, narrow face, and one man who squinted. Persons who had lost the sight of one eye, or with a cataract, are by no means uncommon. There were several deaf and dumb, among whom two brothers and a sister were all born with this defect. Some goîtres, or, rather, thick necks among the women, are, doubtless, caused by too great exertions in carrying burdens on their backs. Instances where joints of the fingers are wanting are frequent, but these come under the head of voluntary mutilations.

The colour of these Indians is a fine brown, sometimes reddish, more or less dark, which might, sometimes, come under the denomination of copper colour. In some it is more of a greyish-brown, in others yellowish; after a thorough ablution the skin of some of them appears almost white, and even some colour in their cheeks.[218] They do not disfigure their bodies, only they make some apertures in the outer rim of the ear, in which they hang strings of beads, brass or iron rings of different sizes, or shells, the last of which they obtain from other Indian tribes. If they are questioned respecting these shells, they answer that they were brought from the sea. These Indians are vain, and in this respect childish, like all savage nations. They are very fond of ornament, and the young men have always a little looking-glass suspended from their wrists. The traders sell these looking-glasses in a pasteboard case, which, however, is immediately changed for a solid wooden frame, and attached to the wrist by a red ribbon or a leather strap. The looking-glasses are framed in various ways; the rude frame is often painted red, or with stripes of different colours, with footsteps of bears or buffaloes carved on it. Nay, sometimes these {338} frames are of a considerable size, divided at one end like a boot-jack, and ornamented with brass nails, ribbons, pieces of skin and feathers.[219] Some had very ingeniously fastened this important appendage to their fan made of an eagle's wing. The Indian dandy is constantly consulting his mirror, and, if he has been travelling, especially in the high winds so prevalent here, he immediately has recourse to his looking-glass, and his disordered dress is most carefully arranged.

It is remarkable that the men are far more vain than the women, and the latter are obliged to be greatly inferior to the lords of the creation in their attire and adornments. The costume of the Mandans is rather simple: by far the greatest attention is paid to the head-dress. Their hair is parted transversely across the middle of the head, the front hair combed smoothly down, and generally divided into three flat bands, two of which hang down on the temples, and are generally plaited. To these plaits they attach the ornament already mentioned, which consists of two strips of leather or cloth closely embroidered with white or azure glass beads, and intertwined with brass wire, as represented in the portrait of Pehriska-Ruhpa.[220] If the ground of this ornament is red or blue, it is studded with white beads, and if the ground is white the beads are blue. They put this ornament in their hair and pull it over the temples; a long string is fastened to the underpart, which reaches to the waist, and is adorned with alternate rows of blue beads and white dentalium shells. Between these two singularly decorated plaits there is, in the centre of the forehead, a smooth flat lock reaching to the nose, which is not ornamented, but only tied with a red ribbon. The back hair falls smoothly from the crown of the head to the waist, and is divided into many tails, an inch and a half or two inches broad, which are smeared with brownish or red clay. When the hair is not naturally long enough it is frequently lengthened with other human hair, often that of enemies whom they have killed, which is fastened on with rosin. At the back of the head they sometimes wear a long stiff ornament in the shape of a ruler, three or four fingers broad, made of small sticks entwined with wire, which is fastened to the hair, and reaches down to the shoulders. It is covered with porcupine quills, dyed of various colours, in very neat patterns. At the upper end of this ornament an eagle's feather is affixed horizontally, the quill end of which is covered with red cloth, and the tip is ornamented with a bunch of horse-hair dyed yellow. The lower white half of the feather is frequently dyed red with vermilion, and the quill covered with dyed porcupine quills.[221] When the Indians are not in their best dress, when they are travelling, or going to the chase, they fasten their long hair in a thick bunch. {339} When, however, they are full dressed, they put a variety of feathers in their hair, frequently a semicircle of feathers of birds of prey, like radii, or sunbeams, or a bunch of tail feathers of the raven placed in a similar manner. Sometimes they have a thick tuft of owl's feathers, or small rosettes made of broad raven's feathers, cut short, in the centre of which is the tail of a bird of prey spread out like a fan. These feather ornaments are frequently determined according to the several bands or unions, of which I shall speak in the sequel. They likewise wear the large horned feather cap; this is a cap consisting of strips of white ermine, with pieces of red cloth hanging down behind as far as the calves of the legs, to which is attached an upright row of black and white eagle's feathers, beginning at the head and reaching to the whole length. Only distinguished warriors, who have performed many exploits, may wear this head-dress.[222]

If they give away one or more of these head-dresses, which they estimate very highly, they are immediately considered men of great importance; the regular price of such a cap is a good horse; for a single eagle's feather is always valued at one or two dollars. On their buffalo robes they often represent this feather cap, under the image of a sun. Very celebrated and eminent warriors, when most highly decorated, wear in their hair various pieces of wood, as signals of their wounds and heroic deeds. Thus Mato-Topé[223] had fastened transversely in his hair a wooden knife, painted red, and about the length of a hand, because he had killed a Chayenne chief with his knife; then six wooden sticks, painted red, blue, and yellow, with a brass nail at one end, indicating so many musket wounds which he had received. For an arrow wound he fastened in his hair the wing feather of a wild turkey; at the back of his head he wore a large bunch of owl's feathers, dyed yellow, with red tips, as the badge of the Meniss-Ochata (the dog band). The half of his face was painted red, and the other yellow; his body was painted reddish-brown, with narrow stripes, which were produced by taking off the colour with the tip of the finger wetted. On his arms, from the shoulder downwards, he had seventeen yellow stripes, which indicated his warlike deeds, and on his breast the figure of a hand, of a yellow colour, as a sign that he had captured some prisoners. A warrior so adorned takes more time for his toilette than the most elegant Parisian belle. The colour with which they paint their bodies is mixed with grease. When in mourning they colour the face and hands white. The women and children paint only their faces red, leaving the hair its natural colour. The Mandans and Manitaries, and all the Indians of the Upper Missouri, often wear the handsome necklace made of the claws of the grizzly bear. These claws are very large in the spring, frequently three inches long, and the points are tinged of a white colour, which is much esteemed; only the claws of the fore feet are used for necklaces, which are fastened to a strip of otter skin, lined with red cloth, and embroidered with glass beads, which hangs down the back like a long tail. Such a {340} necklace is seldom to be had for less than twelve dollars; and very often the owners of them will not part with them on any terms. The Mandans adorn themselves with many other kinds of necklaces, such as strings of glass beads, scented roots, or fungi, elks' teeth, for 100 or 150 of which they will, in exchange, give a horse, or something equivalent. These Indians generally wear no covering on the upper part of the body; the leather shirt of the Assiniboins, Sioux, Crows, Blackfeet, and other nations that live more to the north and north-west, are seldom used among them; yet a few individuals have obtained them from those Indians, either as presents, or by barter. Even in the midst of winter, the Mandans wear nothing on the upper part of the body, under their buffalo robe.[224] They paint their bodies of a reddish-brown colour, on some occasions with white clay; and frequently draw red or black figures on their arms. The face is, for the most part, painted all over with vermilion, or yellow, in which latter case the circumference of the eyes and the chin are red. There are, however, no set rules for painting, and it depends on the taste of the Indian dandy; yet, still, a general similarity is observed. The bands, in their dances, and also after battles, and when they have performed some exploit, follow the established rule. In ordinary festivals, and dances, and whenever they wish to look particularly fine, the young men paint themselves in every variety of way, and each endeavours to find out some new mode. Should he find another dandy painted just like himself, he immediately retires and makes a change in the pattern, which may happen three or four times during the festival. If they have performed an exploit, the entire face is painted jet black. Sometimes, though seldom, the Mandans adorn the wrist and upper arm with polished steel bracelets, which they obtain from the merchants; often they wear many brass rings on their fingers, and are, on the whole, excessively fond of ornaments and finery. The chief article of their dress is the ample buffalo robe, called mahita, or mih-sha, which is often very elaborate and valuable. In dry weather these buffalo robes are worn with the hair inwards, and in rainy weather with the hairy side outwards. They are tanned on the fleshy side, and painted either white or reddish-brown, and ornamented with a transverse band of blue or white glass beads, and three large rosettes of the same beads, often of very tasteful patterns, at regular intervals. The centre is frequently red, surrounded with sky blue, embroidered with white figures, or sometimes the reverse. The transverse band is worked with variously dyed porcupine quills, and is then narrower. This, however, is now old-fashioned, and was worn before the coloured glass beads were obtained in such numbers from the Whites. Other robes are painted with a reddish-brown ground, and black figures, especially of animals; others have a white ground, with representations of their heroic deeds in black, or in gay colours, with the wounds they received, the loss of blood, the killed, the prisoners, the arms they have taken, the horses stolen (the number of which is indicated by the number of horseshoes), in black, red, green, or yellow figures, executed in their yet rude style of painting. The {341} nations on the Missouri are all in the habit of painting such robes; but the Pawnees, Mandans, Manitaries, and Crows, are the most skilful in this art.[225] Another mode of painting their robes is, to represent the number of valuable presents they have made. By these presents, which are often of great value, they acquire reputation and respect among their countrymen. On such robes we observed long red figures, with a black circle at the termination, placed close to each other in transverse rows; they represent whips, indicating the number of horses given, because the whip belonging to the horse is always bestowed with the animal. Red or dark blue transverse figures indicate cloth or blankets given; parallel transverse stripes represent fire-arms, the outlines of which are pretty correctly drawn. The robe is frequently cut, at the bottom, into narrow strips, like fringe, and ornamented on the sides with tufts of human hair, and horse-hair dyed yellow and green, and with glass beads. Formerly the Indians painted these robes more carefully than they now do, and it was possible to obtain one for five musket balls and some powder; now they are far inferior, and eight or ten dollars is not unfrequently paid for them. A robe handsomely painted is equal in value to two not painted.

Their leggins are fastened with straps to their leathern girdles, and are embroidered at the outer seam with stripes, one or two inches in breadth, of porcupine quills, of beautiful various colours, and often with blue and white beads, and long leathern fringes, which form at the ankle a thick bunch, which trails upon the ground. The leather of which their leggins are made is, for the most part, stained of a reddish-brown, or pale red, usually with clay, sometimes white, and often marked below the knee with black transverse stripes. They, as well as all the tribes of North America, use what the English call a breechcloth (Nokka), which is a narrow strip of woollen cloth, striped black and white, which passes between the thighs under the girdle, before and behind, where it hangs down. Their shoes, which are made of buck skin, or buffalo leather, are generally plain, or very slightly ornamented; but, in full dress, they are embroidered with coloured rosettes, or strips of dyed porcupine quills or beads. Those men who have performed exploits wear, round the ankles, wolf's tail, or pieces of otter skin, which are lined with red cloth, and trail on the ground. In the summer, when the men are at home, and go about in state, they carry the fan of eagle's feathers in their hands, which we have before described. What the Anglo-Americans call "the crow," which is worn by the warriors of the nations of the Mississippi, and the Lower Missouri, is wholly unknown among the tribes of the Upper Missouri, the Sioux, Assiniboins, Crows, Mandans, Arikkaras, Manitaries, and Blackfeet.[226]

The boys are generally naked, and in winter merely have a robe thrown over them; the girls are dressed in leather in summer as well as winter. The women wear a long leather {342} garment, with open sleeves, and a girdle round the waist; the hem of this dress is often scolloped and fringed; they ornament the wrists with iron rings, and tie strings of glass beads round their necks, and sometimes in their ears. Their leggins, called, by the Canadians, mitasse, are short, reaching only from the ankle to the knee. Their shoes are simple, and without any ornament.

Tattooing is in use among these people, but by no means general. Most commonly only the left half of the breast and the corresponding arm are marked with black parallel stripes, and a few other figures. The lower arm and some of the fingers are occasionally marked; the men do not tattoo their faces, and they are far inferior in this art to the New Zealanders and other nations of the South Seas. Among the women such designs are sometimes seen, but not frequently, and they are chiefly among the women's band of the white buffalo cow. The point of the needle is dyed a dark blue with the bark of the willow soaked in water.

In Major Long's Travels to the Rocky Mountains it is stated that the Crows rub their bodies with castoreum, on account of its pleasant scent.[227] I must observe, however, that the custom is not confined to one nation, but is practised by the Mandans, Manitaries, Crows, and Blackfeet, and most of the other tribes of the Upper Missouri. They mix the castoreum with a red colour, and with it rub their face and frequently their hair.

Having obtained a clear idea of the outward appearance of these Indians, we will next consider their habitations, villages, and domestic life. Their villages are assemblages of clay huts, of greater or less extent, placed close to each other, without regard to order. Mih-Tutta-Hang-Kush, the largest of the Mandan villages, was about 150 or 200 paces in diameter, the second was much smaller. The circumference forms an irregular circle, and was anciently surrounded with strong posts, or palisades, which have, however, gradually disappeared as the natives used them for fuel in the cold winters. At four places, at nearly equal distances from each other, is a bastion built of clay, furnished with loop-holes, and lined both within and without with basket-work of willow branches. They form an angle, and are open towards the village; the earth is filled in between the basket-work; and it is said that these bulwarks, which are now in a {343} state of decay, were erected for the Indians by the Whites.[228] There is nothing of the kind at Ruhptare. The huts, as I have before remarked, stand close to each other, leaving, in the centre, an open circular space, about sixty paces in diameter, in the centre of which (among the Mandans) the ark of the first man is set up, of which we shall speak in the sequel. It is a small cylinder, open above, made of planks, about four or five feet high, fixed in the ground, and bound with climbing plants, or pliable boughs, to hold them together.[229]

At the north end of this circular space is the medicine lodge, in which festivals are celebrated, and certain customs practised, which are connected with the religious notions of this people, which we shall treat of in the sequel. At the top of a high pole, a figure is here placed, made of skins, with a wooden head, the face painted black, and wearing a fur cap and feathers, which is intended to represent the evil spirit, Ochkih-Hadda (corresponding with the devil), or a wicked man, as they affirm, who once appeared among them, had neither wife nor child, and vanished, and whom they now stand greatly in dread of. Other grotesque figures, made of skins and bundles of twigs, we saw hanging on high poles, most of them being offerings to the deity. Among the huts are many stages of several stories, supported by poles, on which they dry the maize. The huts themselves are of a circular form, slightly vaulted, having a sort of portico entrance. When the inmates are absent the entrance is shut up with twigs and thorns; and if they wish merely to close the door they put up a skin stretched out on a frame, which is shoved aside on entering. In the centre of the roof is a square opening for the smoke to find vent, over which is a circular sort of screen made of twigs, as a protection against the wind and rain, and which, when necessary, is covered with skins.[230]

The interior of the hut is spacious, tolerably light, and clean. Four strong pillars towards the middle, with several cross beams, support the roof. The inner circumference of the hut is formed by eleven or fifteen thick posts, four or five feet in height, between which other rather shorter ones are placed close to each other. On these shorter posts, which are all of an equal {344} height, are long rafters, inclining to the centre; they are placed near each other, and bear the roof. On the outside the huts are covered with a kind of mat, made of osiers, joined together with bark, and now the skeleton of the hut is finished. Over this hay is spread, and the outer covering is of earth. The men and women work together in erecting these huts, and the relations, neighbours, and friends, assist them in the work. The building of the huts, manufacturing of their arms, hunting, and wars, and part of the labours of the harvest, are the occupations of the men; every other kind of work is left to the women, who, though in general well treated, are obliged to perform all the really laborious work. The women fetch fuel, in heavy loads, frequently from great distances, carry water, and, in winter, blocks of ice into the huts, cook, tan the skins, make all the clothing, lay out the plantations, perform field labour, &c. &c. In the centre of the hut a circular place is dug for the fire, over which the kettle is suspended. This fire-place, or hearth, is often enclosed with a ledge of stones. The fuel is laid, in moderately thick pieces, on the external edge of the hearth, crossing each other in the middle, when it is kindled, and the pieces gradually pushed in as they burn away. The Indians are not fond of large fires. The inmates sit round it, on low seats, made of peeled osiers, covered with buffalo or bear skin. Round the inner circumference of the hut lie or hang the baggage, the furniture, and other property, in leather bags, the painted parchment travelling bags, and the harness of the horses; and on separate stages there are arms, sledges, and snow-shoes, while meat and maize, piled up, complete the motley assemblage.[231] The beds stand against the wall of the hut; they consist of a large square case, made of parchment or skins, with a square entrance, and are large enough to hold several persons, who lie very conveniently and warm on skins and blankets.[232]

In the winter huts they place, at the inside of the door, a high screen of willow boughs, covered with hides, which keeps off the draught of air from without, and especially protects the fire.

The summer huts are very cool, and, generally speaking, have no unpleasant smell. Mr. Say gives a very good description, and a tolerably accurate print, of a Konza lodge, or hut,[233] and, with {345} some slight differences, the mode of building resembles, in the main, those of the Mandans, Manitaries, and Arikkaras. Among these differences are the mats which are fastened all round in the first hut, and which I did not observe among the tribes that I visited. The beds, too, are arranged in a different manner. The Mandans and Manitaries are seen in their huts, sitting round the fire, employed in all kinds of domestic labour. The man has, generally, no clothing except the nokka, and is often merely smoking, but the women are never idle. In winter, that is, at the beginning or middle of November, these Indians remove, with the greater part of their effects, to the neighbouring forest, where their winter huts are situated. These consist of precisely similar huts, of rather smaller dimensions. Their departure from the summer huts is determined by the weather, but, as before-said, is generally about the middle of November; and their return, in the spring, is usually about the latter end of February, or the beginning of March, so that we may reckon that they may pass above eight months in their summer quarters. Inside of the winter huts is a particular compartment, where the horses are put in the evening, and fed with maize. In the daytime they are driven into the prairie, and feed in the bushes, on the bark of poplars. There are, probably, above 300 horses in the two Mandan villages; some of the people, indeed, do not possess any, while others, again, have several. The Mandans and Manitaries, like all the other Indians of this country, sometimes make what are here called caches, or hiding-places, in the vicinity of their villages. These caches are holes, or magazines, underground, often so artfully contrived that it is very difficult to discover them.[234] The Indians frequently go from their winter to their summer village, to fetch any articles they may happen to want, as they invariably leave part of their property behind. When they quit their huts for a longer period than usual, they load their dogs with the baggage, which is drawn in small sledges, made of a couple of thin, narrow boards, nine or ten feet in length, fastened together with leather straps, and with four cross-pieces, by way of giving them firmness. Leather straps are attached in front, and drawn either by men or dogs. The load is fastened to the sledge by straps.[235] When the snow is deep, they use snow-shoes,[236] which are described by Captain Franklin, only those of the Mandans are much smaller, about two feet and a half long; whereas in the north their length is from four to six feet. The Mandans and Manitaries have not, by any means, so many dogs as the Assiniboins, Crows, and Blackfeet. They are rarely of the true wolf's colour, but generally black, or white, or else spotted with black and white. Among the nations further to the north-west they more nearly resemble the wolf, but here they are more like the prairie wolf (_Canis latrans_).[237] We likewise found, among these animals, a brown race, descended from European pointers, hence the genuine bark of the dog is more frequently heard here, whereas among the western nations they only howl. The Indian dogs are worked very hard, have hard blows, and hard fare; in fact, they are treated just as this fine animal is treated among the Esquimaux.

{346} The Mandans are hospitable, and often invite their acquaintance to come and see them. Their pipes are made of the red-stone, or of black clay. They obtain the red pipe-heads chiefly from the Sioux; sometimes they have wooden heads lined with stone; the tube is plain, long, round or flat, on the whole, of the same shape as among the Sioux, but they are not so fastidious about ornamenting their pipes as other tribes. They smoke the leaves of the tobacco plant, which is cultivated by them; the bark of the red willow (_Cornus sericea_), which they obtain from the traders, is sometimes mixed with the tobacco, or the latter with the leaves of the bearberry (_Arbutus uva ursi_). The tobacco of the Whites, unmixed, is too strong for the Indians, because they draw the smoke into their lungs; hence they do not willingly smoke cigars.

The meals of the Mandans are served in wooden dishes. The spoons are generally large and deep; they are made of the horn of the bighorn;[238] sometimes they are yellow, or else they are shallow, made of black buffalo's horn. They have a considerable variety of dishes. The Indians residing in permanent villages have the advantage of the roving hunting tribes, in that they not only hunt, but derive their chief subsistence from their plantations, which afford them a degree of security against distress. It is true, these Indians sometimes suffer hunger when the buffalo herds keep at a great distance, and their crops fail; but the distress can never be so great among the Missouri Indians, as in the tribes that live further northwards. The plants which they cultivate are maize, beans, French beans, gourds, sunflowers, and tobacco (_Nicotiana quadrivalvis_), of which I brought home some seeds, which have flowered in several botanic gardens.

Of maize there are several varieties of colour, to which they give different names. The several varieties are:--1. White maize. 2. Yellow maize. 3. Red maize. 4. Spotted maize. 5. Black maize. 6. Sweet maize. 7. Very hard yellow maize. 8. White, or red-striped maize. 9. Very tender yellow maize.[239]

The beans are likewise of various sorts--small white beans, black, red, and spotted beans. The gourds are--yellow, black, striped, blue, long, and thick-shelled gourds.

The sunflower is a large helianthus, which seems perfectly to resemble that cultivated in our gardens. It is planted in rows between the maize. There are two or three varieties, with red, and black, and one with smaller seeds. Very nice cakes are made of these seeds. The tobacco {347} cultivated by the Mandans, Manitaries, and Arikkaras, attains a great height, and is suffered to grow up from the seeds, without having any care whatever bestowed upon it. It is not transplanted. When it is ripe the stalks are cut, dried, and powdered; or the leaves, with the small branches, are cut into little pieces. The taste and smell are disagreeable to an European, resembling camomile rather than tobacco. The plant is not now so much cultivated as formerly, being superseded by the more pleasant tobacco of the Whites; but the species is still preserved.[240] It is only on solemn occasions, for instance, in negotiations for peace, that this tobacco is still smoked; the seed is, therefore, preserved in the medicine bag of the nation, that the plant may never be lost. When they mean to smoke this tobacco, a small quantity of fat is rubbed on it.

The cultivation of the maize and other fields, of which each family prepares three, four, or five acres, takes place in the month of May. Rows of small furrows are made, into which the grains of maize are thrown singly, and covered with earth. Three times in the summer the plants are hoed, and the earth heaped up against them, that the moisture may have better access to them. The harvest takes place in October, when men, women, and children, each lend a helping hand. At present the women use, in their field labour, a broad iron hoe, with a crooked wooden handle, which they obtain from the merchants. Charbonneau recollected the time when they used the shoulder blade of the buffalo for this purpose. The fields are never fenced, but lie quite open and exposed.

The wild plants of the prairie are used by the Mandans, and other people of the Upper Missouri; and to those before-mentioned, I can only add the feverolles (_Faba minor equina_), a fruit resembling the bean, which is said to grow in the ground, but which I did not see; there are many other roots in the prairie, which are used for food. The gourds are eaten fresh as well as dry. The beans are seldom eaten of one kind, but many sorts are mixed together. The maize is boiled or roasted, then pounded, mixed with fat, and made up into small cakes and baked. There are, of course, many other ways of dressing it. The sweet maize has a very pleasant taste, especially when it is in what is called the milky state; it is then boiled, dried, and laid by for use.

All kinds of animals serve the Mandans for food; the bear, when it is young and fat, the wolf, the fox, in short, everything except the horse; the ermine is not eaten by many; and of birds they dislike the turkey-buzzard, and the raven, because they feed on the dead bodies deposited on the stages. They have a great aversion from serpents, but eat the turtle; the buffalo is the chief object of their chase, as it supplies them with skins, meat, tallow, marrow-bones, sinews, and many other necessaries. Next to the buffalo the beaver is the most indispensable to them, since it not only furnishes them with valuable skins, but supplies them with delicate food, the fat tail, especially, being considered quite a dainty morsel by the Indians. Pemmican,[241] {348} which is so favourite a dish among the northern Indians, is not much in use among the Mandans. Their only drink is water, for they are unacquainted with the method of preparing fermented liquors. They did not obtain any spirits, either from the American Fur Company, or the agents of Messrs. Soublette and Campbell; hence an intoxicated person is scarcely ever seen. They are extremely fond of sugar, and likewise of salt, which they procure from their lakes, and, if the supply is insufficient, purchase from the Whites. They are likewise fond of coffee and tea, well sweetened. It has been affirmed, that several North American nations, especially those which speak the Algonquin language, are cannibals, and more particularly the Chippeways and the Potawatomis; but I found no trace of this unnatural custom among the Missouri nations.[242]

Two, and sometimes three, families usually live together in an Indian hut, commonly the father, with his married sons or sons-in-law. Polygamy is everywhere practised, and the number of wives differs; however, they have very seldom more than four, and, in general, only one.[243] The women are very skilful in various kinds of work, particularly in dyeing and painting the buffalo robes. They extract a red colour from the roots of the savoyenne, or from buffalo berries; yellow from a lichen of the Rocky Mountains; black from helianthus, as well as from a black stone or clay; blue and green they extract from European substances. Among the Mandans, Manitaries, and Arikkaras, the women, as Lewis and Clarke relate, manufacture beads from coloured glass. They powder those which they have obtained from the traders, and mould them into different shapes.[244] This custom is, however, no longer common. The dyeing of the skins, of which many travellers have spoken, employs a great portion of the women's time. These three nations understand the manufacture of earthen pots and vessels, of various forms and sizes. The clay is of a dark slate colour, and burns a yellowish-red, very similar to what is seen in the burnt tops of the Missouri hills. This clay is mixed with flint or granite, reduced to powder by the action of fire. The workwoman forms the hollow inside of the vessel by means of a round stone which she holds in her hand, while she works and smooths the outside with a piece of poplar bark. When the pot is made, it is filled and surrounded with dry shavings, and then burnt, when it is ready for use. They know nothing of glazing.[245] With respect to their boats, the North Americans are far more expert than the Brazilians, Patagonians, and other South Americans, who live on the banks of rivers, and yet have contrived no means to pass them. The Chippeways and other northern nations have handsome vessels of birch bark; the Esquimaux makes his kiack, which is curiously covered with seal skin; and on the Missouri, especially among the Mandans, there are boats of buffalo skin, which are represented in the plates accompanying this work.[246] They are very light, of a circular form, stretched on a frame of several pieces of wood crossing each other, and may be carried on the shoulder of a single individual.

If a young Indian desires to marry, and has obtained the consent of the girl, he endeavours to procure that of her father; when he is certain of this, he brings two, three, nay, even eight or {349} ten horses, and fastens them to the hut of the young woman, who gives them to her father. The latter then takes other horses, and if he has them not himself, his relations assist him, and these horses are fastened, in return, to the hut of the intended son-in-law. In such a case an estimate is previously made of the number of horses possessed by the woman's relations, for all presents are returned in equal number. The bride next boils some maize, and daily carries a kettle or dish filled with it to the hut of the bridegroom. After some time has elapsed, the young man repairs to the hut of his bride, where he passes the night with her, and the marriage is considered as complete. The young couple often continue to reside in the hut of the father-in-law, but they more frequently build a new hut for themselves; sometimes, however, they afterwards separate. The father-in-law is, subsequently, the principal person in the hut; everything depends on him, and is done on his account, and for him; if game is killed, the flesh is first presented to him, &c.[247] There are often many children in these Indian families; some had as many as ten; yet, on the whole, the Indians have not so many children as the Whites, doubtless because they keep them longer at the breast. They are extremely fond of them, but the children are often weak and sickly, in consequence, it is supposed, of the hard labour which the women have to perform. I was universally assured that the new-born children are of a reddish colour. The births are, in general, extremely easy, and the mother bathes in the river immediately afterwards, even if it is frozen; in ten days the child is considered as safe, having got over the most dangerous period. A person is paid to give it the name chosen by the parents and relations. The child is held up, then turned to all sides of the heavens, in the direction of the course of the sun, and its name proclaimed. They have cradles for their infants, consisting of a leather bag, which is suspended by a strap to a cross beam in the hut. These cradles of the Mandans are not so elegant and beautifully worked as those which we saw among the Sioux and Assiniboins. The children of these Indians are subject to no kind of discipline whatever; they may do and say whatever they please, and nobody finds fault with them. Everything is done to excite a spirit of independence and self-will in the boys; if the mother speaks to one of them, he will very likely slap her face, or kick her, nay, sometimes he will do the same to his father, who says, coolly, bowing his head, this boy will one day become a famous warrior. The men sometimes treat their wives very brutally; and it has not unfrequently happened, that a woman, after such treatment, has left the hut and hanged herself on a tree. This lately happened in the case of an aged woman, whose grown-up son had ill-treated her. She was missed, and was afterwards found suspended from a tree. The women have nothing to indemnify them for their incessant and laborious work, not even good clothing, for this right of the fair sex in Europe is claimed among the Indians by the men. It is singular that these women, who are condemned constantly to work like slaves, refuse to do any work whatever if they marry a white man, and, the Whites being entirely in the power of the Indians, and the relations of their wives, they are obliged to submit to this. Sisters have great {350} privileges among these Indians. All the horses which a young man steals, or captures in war, belong to them. If an Indian returns from an expedition on horseback, and meets his sister, he will immediately alight, and give her the horse; on the other hand, if he wishes to possess some object of value belonging to his sister, for instance, a dress, he goes and abruptly demands it, and immediately receives it; even should it be the very dress she is wearing, she will take it off at once, and give it to her brother.

Prudery is not a virtue of the Indian women; they have often two, three, or more lovers: infidelity is not often punished. There was only one woman among the Mandans, a piece of whose nose was cut off, a circumstance which is very common among the Blackfeet. If an Indian elopes with a married woman, the husband whom she has abandoned avenges himself by seizing the seducer's property, his horses and other things of value, to which the latter must quietly submit. Such a woman is never taken back. If a man has the eldest daughter of a family for his wife, he has a right to all her sisters. A chief business of the young men among these Indian tribes is to try their fortune with the young maidens and the women, and this, together with their toilet, fills up the greater part of their time. They do not meet with many coy beauties.[248] In the evening, and generally till late at night, they roam about the villages, or in the vicinity, or from one village to the other. They have a singular mode of displaying their achievements in this field, especially when they visit the women in their best dresses. On these occasions they endeavour to gain credit by the variety of their triumphs, and mark the number of conquered beauties by bundles of peeled osier twigs, painted red at the tips. These sticks are of two kinds. Most of them are from two to three feet in length, others five or six feet. The latter, being carried singly, are painted with white and red rings alternately, which indicates the number of conquests. The shorter sticks are only painted red at the tips, and every stick indicates an exploit, the number of which is often bound up into a pretty large bundle. Thick fasces of this kind are carried about by the dandies in their gallant excursions. Among the Mandans these sticks are generally quite plain; among the Manitaries, on the contrary, there is, usually, in the middle of the bundle, one larger stick, at the end of which there is a tuft of black feathers. These feathers indicate the favourite, and the dandies tell everybody that she is the person for whom this honour is intended.[249]

If these people have had familiar intercourse with a person who wore the white buffalo robe, a piece of skin of that colour is fastened to the stick; if she wore a red blanket, or buffalo robe, a piece of red cloth is fastened to the stick. This custom, which is well known among the Mandans and Manitaries, has not, to my knowledge, been mentioned by any traveller.

They have distinct names for the several degrees of relationship. The father's brother is called father, and the mother's sister, mother; cousins are called brothers and sisters. The {351} mother-in-law never speaks to her son-in-law; but if he comes home, and brings her the scalp of a slain enemy, and his gun, she is at liberty, from that moment, to converse with him.[250] This custom is found among the Manitaries, who have, doubtless, borrowed it from the Mandans, but not among the Crows and Arikkaras. Among the Chippeways, and the Algonquins in general, the name must not be changed; and persons with the same name must not marry, but consider each other as brothers and sisters. Among all the North American Indian nations there are men dressed and treated like women, called by the Canadians, Bardaches, of whom Mc Kenzie, Tanner, Langsdorff, and others, have spoken;[251] but there was only one such among the Mandans, and two or three among the Manitaries.

Volney, and some other writers, have spoken rather too unfavourably of the moral character of the aborigines of North America, and their domestic habits. According to them, distrust and hostile feeling prevail among them, for which reason they never leave their huts unarmed; but I can bear witness that they are frequently seen in their villages, as well as in the environs, without arms, and that it is only at greater distances, and when they appear in state, that they carry their weapons in their hands. I have never observed any disputes among them, but, on the contrary, much more unity and tranquillity than in civilized Europe. It has often been asserted that the Indians are inferior in intellectual capacity to the Whites; but this has been now sufficiently refuted; and Harlan is not wrong in saying that, among the races of men, of which Blumenbach reckons five,[252] the American should be ranked immediately after the Caucasian. If man, in all his varieties, has not received from the Creator equally perfect faculties, I am, at least, convinced that, in this respect, the Americans are not inferior to the Whites. Many of the Mandans manifest a great thirst for knowledge, and many desire to hear something of objects of a higher order; and if they were not so much attached to the prejudices inherited from their ancestors, many of them might be very easily instructed. The bad examples which they so often observe in the white men, who roam about their country in quest of gain, are not calculated to inspire them with much respect for our race, or to improve their morality. And if they have not been found inclined to the Christian religion, this is, certainly, in some measure, the consequence of the bad conduct of the Whites, who call themselves Christians, and are often worse, and more immoral, than the most uncivilized of the Indians. Many American and foreign works have taken notice of the striking good sense and wit, the correct judgment of the Indians, in all the occurrences of daily life, and it would be mere repetition here to quote examples. One is often at a loss to answer their questions, founded on correct and natural judgment. The inactive mode of life natural to the Indians, which disdains all laborious exertion, is a great obstacle to their adopting a different system. But they are not deficient in talent for drawing, music, &c., and this is quite manifest at first sight. Several Mandans not only took much pleasure in drawing, but had a decided talent for it. The hieroglyphics are well known, which the Indians employ {352} instead of writing; for instance, the figures on their robes, the drawing of Mato-Topé, and the subjoined Indian letter from a Mandan to a fur trader.[253]

The following is the explanation of the hieroglyphic figures contained in it:

The cross signifies, "I will barter, or trade." Three animals are drawn on the right hand of the cross: one is a buffalo; the two others, a weasel (_Mustela Canadensis_), and an otter. The writer offers, in exchange for the skins of these animals (probably meaning that of a white buffalo), the articles which he has drawn on the left side of the cross.

He has, in the first place, depicted a beaver very plainly, behind which there is a gun; to the left of the beaver are thirty strokes, each ten separated by a longer line; this means, I will give thirty beaver skins and a gun for the skins of the three animals on the right hand of the cross.