Chapter XXV: Account of the Mandan Indians (2)

Many of them dispute, with great earnestness, on more elevated subjects; thus, they inquired our ideas of the various heavenly bodies, and of the origin of the universe, as they, themselves, declare their own silly traditions to be insufficient. Some, indeed, thought our ideas on these subjects much more silly than their own. They laughed outright, when we affirmed that the earth was round, and revolved about the sun. Others, however, would not reject our views, and were of opinion that, as the Whites could do so much which was incomprehensible to them, it was possible they might be right on this point also.

In all works that treat of these remarkable people, we find recorded very energetic and well-digested speeches of their chiefs. They frequently use very appropriate figures, and often said bitter truths to their white oppressors. Dr. Morse quotes some such phrases, used at the conclusion of treaties of peace, or declarations of war, which express much in a few words. Thus, in declarations of war: "The blood of our wives and children smokes on the ground! The bones of our warriors and old men are uncovered, and whiten the earth! The tomahawk is raised!" And on the conclusion of peace: "The bones of our warriors are buried! the tomahawk is buried! the blood of our women and children is covered! The path which leads to them must be kept clean; no weeds may grow there. The chain which binds us together must not become rusty." {353} Or, on the contrary: "The chain begins to rust," &c. &c. Though these people often manifest great energy of character, many have committed suicide on account of disappointments in love, or of wounded honour, of which Dr. Morse relates a remarkable instance, where an Indian killed himself because he was reproached with cowardice, after his mother had suffered death for him. Many travellers speak of the extraordinary memory of the Indians; several of them relate the entire history of their people in a continuous narrative.

The Mandans and Manitaries are proud, and have a high sense of honour. If a person expresses a wish to possess some article belonging to them, he generally receives it as a present, but a present of equal, or greater value, is always looked for in return. They estimate all their effects at a very high rate, ascribing to them an imaginary and far too great value; and a trifling thing is often paid for with one or two horses. Among the articles of great value is the skin of a white buffalo cow. Fifteen florins are paid for a small ermine skin; whereas, a wolf's skin may be purchased for a small quantity of tobacco. One or two horses are frequently given for a feather cap; a horse for 100 or 150 elks' teeth, or for a handful of dentalium shells.[254] The men are much given to indolence, when they cannot pursue their chief avocations, hunting and war. In general, the Mandans and Manitaries are not dangerous, and, though there are many rude and savage men among them, they are, on the whole, well-disposed towards the Whites: the former, especially, manifest this, and have many good and trustworthy men among them. Some of them are addicted to thieving, especially the women and children; and it is said, that many of the Manitaries, when they meet the Whites in the prairie, though they do not kill them, as they used to do, generally plunder them.

They have always free access to the forts of the trading companies; and, as at Fort Clarke, there was no separate apartment for the Indians, we were molested by them, during the whole day, in every room; nay, they often took the place of the owners, which, during the severe cold in the winter time, was quite intolerable, as they stood in front of the fire, with their large buffalo robes, and kept the warmth from coming into the apartment. They require to be always regaled, which is generally done, and it was estimated that in one year they smoked 200 lbs. of tobacco at the expense of the Company. A few among them, indeed, manifested a much greater delicacy of feeling than the mass of them, and left the dining-room when the dinner-hour approached; but only a very small proportion possessed this correct sense of propriety, for the others generally came just at our dinner time; it is true they had but little meat in the winter season, and fared but badly. Disputes and quarrels are very rare among them; but duels are frequent; and revenge for blood is still exercised.

Many of them are particularly cleanly in their persons, and bathe daily, both in winter and summer; their hands, however, are often smeared with colours and fat, nay, sometimes the whole body is bedaubed. The women are, in general, less cleanly, particularly their hands, {354} which arises from their continual and severe labour. They generally let their nails grow long.

The rude inhabitants of the prairies are extremely agile and hardy; they bathe, in the depth of winter, in the half frozen rivers, and wear no covering on the upper part of their body under the buffalo robe; they are very expert swimmers, even when quite young. I have already observed that all these nations swim in the same manner as the Brazilian Tapuyas, which is confirmed by other writers. They often practise riding on horseback without a saddle, and very swift horse-racing.[255] They are capital marksmen with the bow; all their senses are remarkably acute.

Among the Mandans, and all the nations of the Upper Missouri, as well as among most of the North American tribes, there are certain bands or unions or companies, which are distinguished from the others, and kept together by certain external badges and laws.[256] They have three kinds of war or signal pipes, which are hung round the neck, and are among the badges of the unions, which divide the men into six classes, according to their age. The first band or union is composed of "the foolish dogs," or "the dogs whose name is not known." They are young people from ten to fifteen years of age, and wear a pipe made of the wing bone of the wild goose, which is but small. When they dance, three of them have a long broad piece of red cloth hanging from the back of the neck to the ground. Like every distinct class they have a particular song to accompany their dance. Formerly old people likewise belonged to this band, but then they never dared to retreat before the enemy; this has since been changed to the present limited rule. If a boy desires to enter the first band in order to become a man, he goes to a member of it, addresses him by the appellation of father, and endeavours to purchase the rank, the dance, the song, and the war pipe belonging to it, for certain articles of value, such as blankets, cloth, horses, powder, ball, and the like, which the father pays for him. If this place is sold to him he has a right to all the distinctions and privileges of the band, and he who sold it thereby renounces all claim to it, and endeavours to purchase admission to a higher band. The dances of the several classes are in the main very similar, but there is a particular song belonging to each, and sometimes even a different step. The drum and schischikué must likewise be purchased at the same time. The latter, among this band, is spherical, with a handle, and is made of leather.

The second class or band is that of the crows or ravens; it consists of young men from twenty to twenty-five years of age. Frequently young people are in none of the bands for half a year or more. They then go to the band of the crows, and say, "Father, I am poor, but I wish to purchase from you." If the possessor agrees, they then receive the raven's feathers, which the band wear on their heads, a double war-pipe, consisting of two wing bones of a goose joined together, a drum, schischikué, the song and the dance. Each of these bands has a leader, called, {355} by the Americans, head-man, who decides on the sale of its rights and attributes. This head-man is chiefly applied to when any one wishes for admission; a festival then takes place in the medicine lodge, which is continued for forty successive nights, of which I shall speak in the sequel.[257] They dance, eat, and smoke there; the purchasers defray the expenses, and give up their wives every night to the sellers, till the fathers, as they are called, are satisfied, and transfer their rights to the purchasers, with which the festival concludes.

The third class or band is that of the soldiers, the most eminent and esteemed warriors. In their dances they paint the upper part of the face red, and the lower part black. Their war pipe is large, and made of the wing bone of a crane. Their badges are two long straight sticks bound with otter skin, to which owl's feathers are appended. When they go to war, they plant these sticks in the ground in front of the enemy, and, this done, they dare not leave them, not unlike the colours in a European army. They have a similar stick ornamented with raven's feathers.[258] They likewise have a dance and song peculiar to their band, and must purchase their admission into higher classes. Their schischikué or rattle is made of iron plate, in the form of a small kettle, with a handle. They likewise possess two tobacco pipes, which are used for smoking on special occasions. Two men keep and carry with them these pipes. All the higher classes may, at the same time, belong to the band of the soldiers, who act as police officers; it is, however, understood that all the members must be satisfied with the purchase. If but one object to the sale, the bargain cannot be concluded. It often happens that some individuals do not immediately give their consent, in order to raise the price and sell to more advantage afterwards. These soldiers, as they are called, form a kind of committee, which decides all the principal affairs, particularly general undertakings, such as changes of their places of abode, buffalo hunting, and the like. If the buffalo herds are in the vicinity, they watch them, and do not suffer them to be disturbed by individuals, till a general chase can be undertaken.

If, during this time, any one fires at a wolf or other animal, the soldiers take away his gun, ill-use, and sometimes beat him, to which he must submit; even the chiefs are not spared on these occasions. The Whites living in the neighbourhood are subject, during such a time, to the same laws, and the soldiers have often taken their hatchets from the woodcutters of the fort, or forbidden them to cut wood, that the buffaloes might not be disturbed by the noise.

The fourth band, that of the dogs, wear in their dance a large cap of coloured cloth, to which a great number of raven's, magpie's, and owl's feathers is fastened, adorned with dyed horse-hair and strips of ermine; they have a large war pipe of the wing bone of a swan. Three of them have the same strips of red cloth hanging down the back, as have been mentioned, when speaking of the first band. The head is generally adorned with a thick tuft of owl's, magpie's, and raven's feathers hanging down behind, and often all the three kinds of feathers are mixed together. {356} The three men before-mentioned, who wear the strips of red cloth (the dogs, properly so called), are obliged, if any one throws a piece of meat into the ashes, or on the ground, saying, "There, dog, eat," to fall upon it, and devour it raw, like dogs or beasts of prey. The schischikué of this band is a stick, a foot or a foot and a half long to which a number of animals' hoofs are fastened. The costume of these three dogs is shown in the portrait of Pehriska-Ruhpa.[259]

The fifth band is that of the buffaloes. In their dance they wear the skin of the upper part of the head, the mane of the buffalo, with its horns, on their heads; but two select individuals, the bravest of all, who thenceforward never dare to fly from the enemy, wear a perfect imitation of the buffalo's head, with the horns, which they set on their heads,[260] and in which there are holes left for the eyes, which are surrounded with an iron or tin ring. This band alone has a wooden war pipe, and in their union they have a woman, who, during the dance, goes round with a dish of water, to refresh the dancers, but she must give this water only to the bravest, who wear the whole buffalo's head. She is dressed, on these occasions, in a handsome new robe of bighorn leather, and colours her face with vermilion. The men have a piece of red cloth fastened behind, and a figure representing a buffalo's tail; they also carry their arms in their hands. The men with the buffaloes' heads always keep in the dance at the outside of the group, imitate all the motions and the voice of this animal, as it timidly and cautiously retreats, looking around in all directions, &c.[261]

The sixth band is that of the black-tailed deer. It consists of all the men above fifty years of age, who, however, likewise dance. Two women belong to the band, who wait on them at the dance, cook, carry water round to refresh them, and the like. All the men of this band wear a garland of the claws of the grizzly bear round their heads, and all insignia of their warlike exploits about their bodies, such as feathers on their heads, tufts of hair on their arms and legs, scalps, painting, &c.[262]

All these bands, as well as the following dances, are bought and sold, and, as has been already observed, on these occasions, the buyer must give up his wife to the seller during the festivity. But if a young man is still unmarried, he will sometimes travel to a great distance to another village, to ask a friend or companion for his wife, who accordingly goes with him, and, on the evenings of the dance, gives up his wives for him. A man often brings three or four, and even more, wives, and gives them to his father, as he is called, as soon as the dancing, eating, smoking, and the relating of their exploits, are concluded. Thus one woman after the other comes, as will be described in the account of the buffalo medicines of the Manitaries, strikes, with her hand, the arm of the man whom she will favour, and goes to the entrance of the tent, where she waits till he follows her. The man so invited often keeps his seat, and bows down his head; the woman then goes home, brings articles of value, such as guns, robes, blankets, &c., which she lays, piece by piece, before him, till he is satisfied, stands up, and follows her.

{357} There are other dances which are bought and sold, among which are a second dance of the third band, and the dance of the half-shorn heads, which the lower class may buy before they are old enough to belong to the third band.

The medicine feast, the insignia, and the dance belonging to the half-shorn heads, will be described in the sequel. Another dance is that of the old dogs. The band of the dogs can buy it of the buffaloes before they can become buffaloes, or purchase their admission to the fifth band. In the dance of the old dogs they paint themselves white, the hands red and black, and wear a girdle of the skin of the grizzly bear, and a bunch of feathers hanging down at the back of the head.

What is called the hot dance is now danced at Ruhptare, and by the Manitaries, who bought it from the Arikkaras. It is executed by the little dogs, whose name is not known. A large fire is kindled on the occasion, and a quantity of live coals is scattered on the ground, about which the young men dance, quite naked and barefooted. The hands, with the lower part of the arms, and the feet and ankles, are painted red. A kettle, with meat cut in small pieces, is hung over the fire; and when the meat is done they plunge their hands into the boiling water, take out the meat, and eat it, at the risk of scalding themselves. The last comers are the worst off, having to dip their hands the deepest into the boiling water. During the dance they have in their hands their weapons and the schischikué.

There is another dance which will be described in one of the following chapters. The dance is accompanied with the schischikué and drum, and is generally performed in a circle: the dancers carry in their hands the bow-lance,[263] which is adorned with feathers and bears' entrails.

The Mandan women are divided precisely in the same manner as the men, into four classes, according to their age. The youngest band is called "the band of the gun." They wear in their hair some down feathers of the eagle, and have their peculiar dance.

The next class into which they obtain admission by purchase is "the river class." When they dance they wear an eagle's feather, fastened to the fore part of the head with a piece of white ribbon, which projects on the left side, and is entwined round the quill with grass.

The third class consists of the women of the hay, who, when they dance, put on their best clothes, and sing the scalp song.

The fourth and last class is the band of the white cow. They paint one eye with some colour according to their taste, generally sky-blue. On the chin, this class, mostly consisting of aged women, tattoo themselves with black lines; round their heads they wear a broad piece of the skin of a white buffalo cow, something like a hussar's cap, with a tuft of feathers in it. A more {358} particular description of the dress of this band is given in the sequel.[264]

These unions, or bands, give occasion to many festivities, with singing, music, and dancing, but they have likewise other dances and diversions. One of these is the scalp dance, which may be more appropriately described among the usages of war. Their musical amusements are very simple. The mode of singing varies but little among all the American Indians; it consists of broken, deep exclamations, often intercepted by loud shouts, and is accompanied by a violent beating of time on the drum, and the rattling of the schischikué. Besides these two instruments, the Mandans have long wooden pipes, at the lower end of which there is generally an eagle's feather hanging by a string.[265] Other pipes are thicker, about twenty inches long, and are perforated with holes; in this respect they differ from the war pipe. They are sometimes ornamented with pieces of skin, &c. These are the only musical instruments of the Indians besides the war pipes.[266]

The Indians have also many games; the game called billiards, by the French Canadians, is played by two young men, with long poles, which are often bound with leather, and have various ornaments attached to them. On a long, straight, level course, or a level path in or near the village, they roll a hoop, three or four inches in diameter, covered with leather, and throw the pole at it; and the success of the game depends upon the pole passing through it. This game is also practised among the Manitaries, and is described, in Major Long's Travels to the Rocky Mountains, as being played by the Pawnees, who, however, have hooked sticks, which is not the case with the tribes here mentioned.[267]

The women are expert at playing with a large leathern ball, which they let fall alternately on their foot and knee, again throwing it up and catching it, and thus keeping it in motion for a length of time without letting it fall to the ground. Prizes are given, and they often play high. The ball is often very neat and curiously covered with dyed porcupine quills.[268] Card-playing has not yet reached these Indians, though it is in use among the Osages and other tribes. The children of the Mandans and Manitaries play with a piece of stag's horn, in which a couple of feathers are inserted; this is thrown forward, the piece of horn being foremost.[269] About the middle of March, when the weather is fine, the children and young men play with a hoop, in the interior of which strips of leather are interwoven; its diameter is about a foot. This hoop is either rolled or thrown, and they thrust at it with a pointed stick; he who approaches the centre most nearly is the winner.[270] {359} As soon as the ice in the rivers breaks up, they run to the banks and throw this interlaced hoop into the water. In the summer time the Mandans and Manitaries often amuse themselves with races in the prairie, for which they have the best opportunity in the vicinity of their villages; twenty young men, or more, often run at once, and on these occasions there is always high betting. Some of them are very swift runners, and can hold out a long time.

The Mandans and Manitaries are extremely superstitious, and all their important actions are guided by such motives. They have most strange ideas of surrounding nature, believe in a multitude of different beings in the heavenly bodies; offer sacrifices to them; invoke their assistance on every occasion; howl, lament, fast, inflict on themselves cruel acts of penance, to propitiate these spirits; and, above all, lay very great stress upon dreams.[271] Some of their traditions have a resemblance to the revelations of the Bible; for instance, Noah's Ark and the Deluge, the history of Samson, &c. The question here arises whether these particulars have not been gradually introduced among them, from their intercourse with Christians, and this seems highly probable. If they have not yet embraced the Christian religion, it would, however, appear that they have adopted some portions which strike them as being either remarkable or interesting.[272] The belief in a future life, or a better state of things after death, exists among all the American nations; this is confirmed by D'Orbigny (Voyages, tom. iii. p. 90), who justly blames Azara for denying all religious ideas to the people of Paraguay.[273] In order to obtain correct information respecting all their traditions and ideas, we persuaded Dipauch[274] to enliven our long winter evenings by his narratives, which he readily agreed to do. He spoke with much seriousness and gravity, and I had a most excellent interpreter in Mr. Kipp. I give these narratives, which are often extremely silly, as they were written down from his communications, though I must beg my reader's patience and indulgence. It was not possible to curtail them or to choose only the more interesting parts, since all their traditions and legends have a certain connection, and really possess some influence on the actual mode of life of this people.

According to Dipauch, these Indians believe in several superior beings, of whom the lord of life, Ohmahank-Numakshi, is the first, the most exalted and the most powerful; who created the earth, man, and every existing object.[275] They believe that he has a tail, and appears sometimes {360} in the form of an aged man, and, at others, in that of a young man. The first man, Numank-Machana, holds the second rank; he was created by the lord of life, but is likewise of a divine nature. The lord of life gave him great power, and they, therefore, worship and offer sacrifices to him. He is nearly identical with Nanabush among the Chippeways, or the people of the Algonquin language, who, according to the notion of those tribes, acts as mediator between the creator and the human race. Nanabush and the creator frequently had disputes, and the Mandans have similar legends. Omahank-Chika, the evil one of the earth, is a malignant spirit, who has, likewise, much influence over men, but who is not as powerful as the lord of life and the first man. The fourth being is Rohanka-Tauïhanka, who lives in the planet Venus, and it is he who protects mankind on the earth; for without his care the race would have been long since extinct. A fifth being, who, however, has no power, is something like the wandering Jew, ever in motion, and walking on the face of the earth in human form. They call him the lying prairie wolf. Besides these there is a sixth being, Ochkih-Hadda, whom it is difficult to class, and of whom they have a tradition, that whoever dreams of him is doomed soon to die. He appears to figure in their traditions as a kind of devil, is said to have once come to their villages, and taught them many things, but has not since appeared. They are afraid of him, offer sacrifices to him, and have in their villages a hideous figure representing him.[276] They worship the sun, because they believe it to be the residence of the lord of life. All their medicines or sacrifices are offered chiefly to the sun, or rather to the lord of life, as inhabiting it. In the moon, say they, lives the old woman who never dies, and who wears a white band from the front to the back of the head; sacrifices and offerings are likewise made to her. They do not know who she is, but her power is great. She has six children, three sons and three daughters, who all live in certain stars. The eldest son is the day (the first day of the creation), the second is the sun, in which the lord of life has his abode. The third son is the night. The eldest daughter is the star that rises in the east, the morning star; and they call her, "the woman who wears a plume." The second daughter, called "the striped gourd," is a high star which revolves around the polar star; and, lastly, the third daughter is the evening star which is near to the setting sun.

The old woman in the moon desired to find a wife for her son, and brought a girl, whom she desired to wait outside the door. When the old woman sent out to fetch her, they found in her place a toad; indignant at the exchange, the toad was boiled in a vessel, that it might be destroyed. But this could not be done, nor could it be eaten, and it was, therefore, cursed, on which it remained always visible as a spot in the moon. The narrator could not say whether the sun was large or small, but, at all events, it was glowing hot. The son married a woman whom they called "the narrow-leaved wormwood." They had a son, of great promise, who appeared destined to act an important part. He was very skilful in making arrows, and versed in all kinds of hunting and catching of animals. He shot birds for his mother, though she had {361} forbidden him to kill the prairie larks, yet he shot all his arrows at these birds, but he was unable to kill any. Upon this, one of the birds said to him, "Why will you kill me, since I am related to you?" He dug up in the moon the pomme blanche (_Psozalea esculenta_), for which his mother reproved him, because, through the hole which he had dug, they could see the Manitari villages in the earth beneath. And his mother said, "See, all those men are our relations; I did not intend to descend to the earth yet, but now we must go thither." The father once ordered the son to shoot a buffalo for him, and to bring him all the sinews of the animal; but the son twisted a rope with part of those sinews, in order thereby to let himself down to the earth. Accordingly he descended to the earth in the vicinity of the Little Missouri, but his rope reached only to the top of the trees. If he had had all the sinews of the buffalo, his rope would have reached the ground, but now remained suspended, and swung backwards and forwards. A large stone was thrown at him from the moon, which stone was in existence not very long since. The stone, however, could not kill him, he being medicine, that is, charmed.

The Mandans believe that the thunder is produced by the motion of the wings of a gigantic bird. When this bird flies softly, as is usually the case, he is not heard, but when he flaps his wings violently, he occasions a roaring noise. This huge bird is said to have only two toes on each foot, one behind and the other before. It lives in the mountains, where it builds an immense nest, as big as Fort Clarke. Its food consists of deer and other large animals, the horns of which are heaped up round the nest. The glance of its eyes produces lightning; it breaks through the clouds, the canopy of heaven, and makes a way for the rain. The isolated and peculiarly loud claps of thunder are produced by a gigantic tortoise, which lives in the clouds. When the lightning strikes, it is a sign of anger. They believe the stars to be deceased men. When a child is born, a star descends and appears on the earth in human form; after death it reascends and appears again as a star in the heavens.

The rainbow is a spirit accompanying the sun, and is especially visible at its setting. Many affirm that the northern lights are occasioned by a large assembly of the medicine men and distinguished warriors of several nations in the north, who boil their prisoners and slain enemies in immense cauldrons. The Chippeways are said to call this phenomenon "the dancing spirit," and the milky way, "the path of the ghosts."

Dipauch related a history of the creation and the origin of the Mandan tribe, in the following manner. Though this narrative is equally silly and tiresome, I subjoin it, as giving an idea of the intellectual condition of this people, and the nature of their conversations.

Before the existence of the earth, the lord of life created the first man, Numank-Machana, who moved on the waters, and met with a diver or duck, which was alternately diving and rising again. The man said to the bird, "You dive so well, now dive deep and bring up some earth." {362} The bird obeyed, and soon brought up some earth, which the first man scattered upon the face of the waters, using some incantations, commanding the earth to appear, and it appeared. The land was naked; not a blade of grass was growing on it; he wandered about and thought that he was alone, when he suddenly met with a toad. "I thought I was here alone," said he, "but you are here, and who are you?" It did not answer. "I do not know you, but I must give you a name. You are older than I am, for your skin is rough and scaly; I must call you my grandmother, for you are so very old." He went further and found a piece of an earthen pot. "I thought I was here alone, but men must have lived here before me." Thereupon he took the potsherd and said, "I will give you also a name, and, as you were here before me, I must, likewise, call you my grandmother." On going further he met with a mouse: "It is clear," said he to himself, "that I am not the first being; I call you also my grandmother." A little further on he and the lord of life met. "Oh, there is a man like myself," exclaimed he, and went up to him. "How do you do, my son?" said the man to Omahank-Numakshi; but he answered, "I am not your son, but you are mine." The first man answered, "I dispute this." But the lord of life answered, "You are my son, and I will prove it; if you will not believe me, we will sit down and plant our medicine sticks which we have in our hands in the ground; he who first rises is the youngest, and the son of the other." They sat down and looked at each other for a long time, till, at length, the lord of life became pale, his flesh dropped from his bones, on which the first man exclaimed, "Now you are surely dead." Thus they looked at each other for ten years, at the end of which time, when the bare bones of the lord of life were in a decomposed state, the first man rose, exclaiming, "Now he is surely dead." He seized Omahank-Numakshi's stick, and pulled it out of the ground; but at the same moment the lord of life stood up, saying, "See here, I am your father, and you are my son," and the first man called him his father. As they were going on together, the lord of life said, "This land is not well formed, we will make it better." At that time the buffalo was already on the earth. The lord of life called to the weasel, and ordered him to dive and bring up grass, which was done. He then sent him again to fetch wood, which he brought in like manner. He divided the grass and the wood, giving one half to the first man. This took place at the mouth of Heart River. The lord of life then desired the first man to make the north bank of the Missouri, while he himself made the south-west bank, which is beautifully diversified with hills, valleys, forests, and thickets. The man, on the contrary, made the whole country flat, with a good deal of wood in the distance. They then met again, and, when the lord of life had seen the work of the first man, he shook his head and said, "You have not done this well: all is level, so that it will be impossible to surprise buffaloes or deer, and approach them unperceived. Men will not be able to live there. They will see each other in the plain at too great a distance, and will be unable to avoid each other, consequently they will destroy each other."

{363} He then took the first man to the other side of the river, and said, "See here, I have made springs and streams in sufficient abundance, and hills and valleys, and added all kinds of animals and fine wood; here men will be able to live by the chase, and feed on the flesh of those animals." They then both proceeded to the mouth of the Natke-Passaha (Heart River), in order, according to the directions of the lord of life, to make medicine pipes. He himself made them of ash, lined with stone. The man, on the contrary, made his pipes of box-alder, a soft wood. They placed these pipes together, and the lord of life said, "This shall be the heart, the centre of the world; and this river shall be the Heart River." Each of them had now his pipe in his hand, and when they met any creature, the lord of life laid the pipe down before it: on doing this to a buffalo, it said, "This is not enough; there must be something to smoke in the pipe." And the lord of life said, "Then do you get something to smoke." On which the buffalo cleared a spot on the ground with his fore foot, and said, "When the rutting time of the buffaloes approaches, come here and you will find something to smoke." The lord of life accordingly sent at the time appointed to fetch tobacco, but it was not yet dry and prepared; he therefore ordered the buffalo to be called, which at once spread out the leaves and dried them; and the lord of life smoked, and found the tobacco very good. The bull then taught him to pull off and smoke the flowers and the buds, for these are the best parts of the plant.

The lord of life and the first man were now resolved to create the human race. They began their operations near the bank of the Missouri; and, in order to promote the increase of the species, they placed the part necessary for that purpose in the forehead; but the frog came up out of the water, and said, "How foolish you are!" and altered the situation of the part. "What business have you to speak?" said the lord of life, and struck the frog upon the back with his stick, and since that time the frog has had a humped back. God had made man, and told him he should increase and multiply, but not live longer than a hundred years; since, otherwise, there would not be room enough for all. The first man now said to his father, "When buffaloes are hunted, the skins of the animals killed must be immediately taken off to wear as robes, the stomach must be emptied, and pemmican made of the flesh." The lord of life, however, answered, "This would not be advisable. Men would then quarrel and destroy each other. Let them rather take the animals home, and tan the hides, then they will have robes for their own use, and for sale." And it appeared that the lord of life was always right.

The first man was once on the banks of the Missouri, when a dead buffalo cow, in the side of which the wolves had eaten a hole, floated down the stream. A woman was on the bank, who called to her daughter, "Make haste, pull off your clothes, and bring the cow on shore." The first man heard this, and brought the cow to the spot. The girl eat some of the flesh, which the first man gave her, and became pregnant. She was ashamed, and said to her mother, that "she could not tell how she came into this state, as she had had no intercourse with any man," and her mother was {364} ashamed with her. The daughter was afterwards delivered of a son, who grew with extraordinary rapidity, and soon became a robust young man.[277] He was immediately the first chief of his people--a great leader among men. The first thing he did was to build a boat, which understood whatever he said to it. He filled it with men, ordered it to cross the river and come back, and in this manner he sent it over several times. The new chief was of the nation of the Numakshi (the Mandans). A saying was then current among these people, that on the other side of the great water, or the sea, there lived white men, who possessed wampum shells. Bodies of fifteen or twenty men were frequently sent thither, but they were all killed. Hereupon the chief said, "I will send my boat thither, with eight men; this is the right number." And the boat went, arrived at the right place, and brought to the white men the red mouse hair (beaver hair), which they highly valued. They were well received, feasted in the dwellings, and materials for smoking were given them. Each received buffalo skins filled with wampum shells, and the boat returned quickly. The boat then went, for the second time, with eleven men, and the lord of life accompanied it. He had dressed himself in mean apparel, and took with him a large hollow cane. On their arrival they went into a village, but the first man remained sitting near the boat, and dug a deep hole, over which he seated himself. The inhabitants of the village agreed to kill the strangers by overfeeding them, and, with this view, gave them abundance of food. The first man, to whom the overplus of the provisions was brought, let them drop through his cane into the hole, and the white men were astonished at the quantity of provisions consumed. They then agreed to kill them by smoke; but the first man made the smoke pass through his cane, and their plan was again defeated. They now thought of killing them by means of women, all of whom they left at their disposal.[278] As they could not kill the strangers either by eating, smoking, or women, they gave them as many wampum shells as they could take in their boat, and sent them away. When the children learnt that the boat understood what was said to it, they ordered it to go down the river to the white people; it obeyed, and was never afterwards seen.

The first man now said to the Numangkake that he should leave them, and never return; that he was going to the west; but that, in case of need, they might apply to him, and he would assist them. They were living in a small village, on Heart River, when their enemies surrounded them, and threatened to destroy them. In this great distress they resolved to apply to their protector; but how were they to get to the first man? One man proposed to send a bird to him; but birds could not fly so far. Another thought that the eyesight must be able to reach him; but the prairie hills were in the way. At last, a third said that thought would undoubtedly be the best means of reaching the first man. He wrapped himself in his robe and fell to the ground. Soon afterwards he said, "I think!--I have thought!--I return!" He threw off his {365} robe, and was in a profuse perspiration all over. "The first man will quickly come," he exclaimed; and he was soon there, fell furiously on the enemy, drove them away, and immediately vanished. Since that time he has not been again seen.

The lord of life once told the first man, that if the Numangkake should go over the river they would be devoured by the wolves; on which they both crossed the river, and killed all the old wolves. They ordered the young wolves not to devour men in future, but to confine themselves to buffaloes, deer, and other wild animals. They threw the old wolves into the north ocean, where they became putrid, and their hair swam on the surface of the water, from which the white men originated. The lord of life also told the Numangkake, that when they had boiled their maize they should keep up only a small fire for the rest of the day; and this they still do. When the fire would not burn, they were to take the larger brands from below, and lay them on the top. When the lord of life was a little below Heart River, in the spring, when the first wild geese flew past, he told them to wait, because he would fly with them, and assumed the form of a goose. The Indians are accustomed to shout and halloo when they see the flocks of geese, by which they are frightened, and thrown into confusion. So it happened on this occasion to the lord of life, and he fell to the ground. He was carried into the hut of the chief, who sent for the youngest woman to pluck the goose, but it bit her, and she gave it to the oldest, who was likewise bitten; so that the lord of life escaped. He then flew to the Manitaries. A young woman, who refused to marry, was here whipped and beaten by him. She went to the lower village, and complained that God had punished her, because she would not marry. A young man, who wished to have her for his wife, took the dress of the lord of life, as she was resolved to marry none but him. She now desired to know whether her lover was really what he pretended to be, and with this view placed some pointed stakes in the ground, on which he must wound himself in the night, if he were not of a superior nature. He came and wounded himself, on which she fell on him, took away all his clothes and hid them, so that he looked for a long time both for them and his weapons. When day came, two long lines, like fishing lines, were hanging down from the sun to the earth, and near to the place where the girl was. A voice called to her, from above, to climb up by the lines; that the clothes were no longer in the place where she had hidden them; it was, therefore, the lord of life who had appeared to her under the form of the young man. The girl took hold of the lines, and the sun seemed to come down. Several of her relations, and other men, pulled the lines, but could not draw the sun down, while the lord of life lay quietly in it. A very strong man, who was able to pull up the largest trees by the roots, and cast them from him, was not able to do anything on this occasion; the line turned round his shoulders. "I can pull up the largest trees," said he, "and my strength is greater than that of all other men united, and yet I cannot break this small line." To which the lord of life answered, "If you reach and kill me, the human race will be destroyed from the face of the earth."

{366} At the time that the first man had incensed the Whites by his voracity, the latter made the water rise so high that all the land was overflowed. On this, the first man advised the ancestors of the Numangkake to build a wooden tower, or fort, upon an eminence, assuring them that the water would not rise higher than that point. They followed his advice, and built the ark, on the lower side of Heart River, on a large scale, and a part of the nation was preserved in this building, while the remainder perished in the waves. In remembrance of the kind care of the first man, they placed in each of their villages a miniature model of this ark, one of which still exists in the village of Mih-Tutta-Hang-Kush. The waters afterwards subsided, and they still celebrate the festival of Okippe in honour of this ark, of which we shall have to speak in the sequel.[279]

Before the first great deluge, the Numangkake lived below ground, but a band of them (the same of which we have been speaking) took up their abode above ground at an earlier period. They believe that there are four stories below ground and as many above, and they now inhabit the fourth from below. The band which first came above ground is called by them Histoppa (those with the tattooed countenance), and these, for the most part, perished in the great deluge. Those who lived under ground one day perceived a light over their heads, which made them desire to ascertain what was above. They accordingly sent up a mouse, which looked about, returned, and reported that the land above was similar to that which they inhabited. They then sent up a certain animal, called by them, Nahsi, about the size of a polecat, and distinguishable by black stripes on its face and legs. Perhaps this was the racoon, which is not now to be found in this part of the country. This animal, when he came back, said that it was much more pleasant above than below. They, therefore, ordered the badger to dig a larger opening, as the present issue was too small. After the badger had performed his task, the black-tailed deer was ordered to go up and enlarge the opening by means of his horns. He ran about the whole day, ate service berries, and returned in the evening. His tail was at that time white, but as this deer returned at sunset, and the sun went down at the very moment when his tail only was above ground, that was ever afterwards black.

The Numangkake now resolved to go up. The great chief, with his medicine and his schischikué in his hand, went first. They climbed up, one after another, by the aid of a branch of a vine; and when exactly half their number had ascended, and a corpulent woman was halfway up the vine, it broke, and the remainder of the nation fell to the ground.[280] This happened in the neighbourhood of the sea-shore. Those who had reached the surface went on till they came to the Missouri, which they reached at White Earth River. They then proceeded up the Missouri to Moreau's River.[281] At that time they knew nothing of enemies. Once, when a Mandan woman was scraping a hide, a Chayenne Indian came and killed her. The Mandans followed the traces of this new enemy till they came to a certain river, where they all turned {367} back with the exception of two, the husband and the brother of the woman who was killed. These two men went on till they discovered the enemy, killed one of them, and took his scalp with them. Before they got back to their village they found some white clay which they had never seen before, and took a portion of it with them. When they came to their great chief, the first who had climbed up the vine, and whose skull and schischikué they still preserve, as a relic, in the medicine bag of the nation, they gave him the white clay, with which he marked some lines on his schischikué. The name of this chief was, at first, Mihti-Pihka (the smoke of the village), but when he ascended to the surface of the earth he called himself the Mihti-Shi (the robe with the beautiful hair). When he had received the clay and the scalp, he commanded all his people to shoot buffaloes, but only bulls, and to make shields of the thickest part of the hide, which they did. When this was done, they asked the chief what were his next commands? To which he replied, "Paint a drooping sunflower on this shield" (as a sort of medicine, or amulet), on which the sister of the chief said, "You are fools! paint a bean on it; for what is smoother than a bean to ward off the arrows?"

The chief now introduced the establishment of the bands or unions, and founded first that of "the foolish dogs." He made four caps of crow's feathers, and commissioned the Mandans to make a number of similar ones. He then gave them the war pipe and song, and exhorted them to be always valiant and cheerful, and never to retreat before the point of the arrow. He also gave them the strips of red cloth which hang down behind, and added that, if they would follow his directions, they would always be esteemed as brave and worthy men. The chief then made two of the bent sticks covered with otter skins, and gave them the kana-kara-kachka, and then two others adorned with raven's feathers, which he also presented to them. The first represent the sunflower, and the latter the maize. "These badges," said he, "you are to carry before you when you go against the enemy; plant them in the ground, and fight to the last man, that is to say, never abandon them." He next founded the band of "the little foolish dogs," and assembled many young men, whom he ordered to paint their faces of a black colour, and gave them a song of their own, with the war whoop at the end, and said he would call them "the blackbirds." He afterwards went to war with his people against the Chayennes. They reached the enemy and laid all their robes in a heap together. The chief wore a cap of lynx skin, and had his medicine pipe on his arm. He did not join in the action, but sat apart on the ground during the whole time that it lasted. They fought almost the whole day, drove the enemy into their village, and were then repulsed, which happened three or four times, and one of the Numangkake was killed. When the chief was informed of this, he ordered them to go to the river and bring him a young poplar with large leaves, which he planted in the ground near to the enemy, and challenged the Chayennes to attack him; but they answered, they would wait for his attack. As {368} he would [not] commence the combat, the enemy shot at him, but their arrows only grazed his arm and robe. He then held up the poplar, which suddenly shot up to a colossal size, was thrown, by a violent storm which arose, among the enemies, crushed many of them, and obliged the Chayennes to retreat across the Missouri.