Part 16 (1/2)

[pg 129] It was near this place that aparty of twelve Joways lately crossed the river, and pursued a defenceless co overtaken them three miles off, killed and plundered all of them, except some ere desperately wounded, and whom they believed to be dead The victors returned by another way A woherty took leave of us at Belle Vue, intending to go to the Oeance of that tribe About five in the afternoon we also left, and were proceeding along the west bank, e met two Mackinaw[224] boats, which had been obtained for our vessel by a boat which we had sent before On the same bank we suddenly saw three O They were clothed in buffalo robes, and had boith quivers made of skin, on their backs About the nose and eyes they were painted white[225]

[Illustration: O these Indians there was a woman who had been severely wounded; na's ”Travels to the Rocky Mountains,” as an interesting instance ofher name She and her child had received many severe wounds, but were so fortunate as not to be scalped[226] The nearest village of the Omahas is twenty-five miles from Belle Vue[227] This country is the proper territory of this tribe, which lives on both sides of the Missouri, fro Sioux River, and hunts further up to Jacques River, as well as between Running Water River (l'eau qui court) and the La Platte

On theof the 4th of May, at half-past seven o'clock, the thermometer was at 69 We had all round us beautiful low prairie hills, before which was alluvial land, thrown up by the [pg 130] river, covered with fine grass The river had risen an inch during the night

The noise and seese and ducks flew off in all directions There was fore of the Joway Indians at this place, the inhabitants of which, on the death of their chief, returned to their countrymen further down On the left bank there hole tracts covered with dead poplars, which had been killed by the fires caused by the Indians in the forest and prairie We soon saw the white buildings of Mr

Cabanne's trading post, which we saluted with solad to see, at the landing-place, a number of Oroups, looked at us with much curiosity; all these people rapped in buffalo skins, with the hairy side outwards; some of them wore blankets, which they sometimes paint with coloured stripes In their features they did not materially differ from those Indians we had already seen, but they were not so well formed as the Saukies Many of them were much marked with the small pox Several had only one eye; their faces were marked with red stripes: some had painted their foreheads and chins red; others, only stripes down the cheeks Few only had aquiline noses, and their eyes were seldo, their eyes are sh there are exceptions They wore their hair loosely hanging down their backs; none had shaved their heads; and, on the whole, they looked very dirty and ly, but not quite so broad and flat as those of the Foxes and Saukies; their noses, in general, rather longer Their dress did not differ s of wampum in their ears The men carried in their hands their tobacco pipes, made of red or black stone (a hardened clay), adorned with rings of lead or tin, which they generally obtain fro post consists of a row of buildings of various sizes, stores, and the houses of the _engages_,which was that of Mr Cabanne, which is two stories high He is a proprietor of the American Fur Company, and director of this station[228] He received us very kindly, and conducted us over his premises From the balcony of his house was a fine view over the river, but the prospect is stillfrom the hills which rise at the back of the settleh banks, which rises from a pleasant valley, in which there are plantations of maize for the support of the inhabitants Mr

Cabanne had planted fifteen acres of land with this invaluable grain, which yield, annually, 2,000 bushels of that corn, the land here being extremely fertile The banks of the streah trees, and many of the plants were in flower, especially the beautiful blue lychnis, the white oak, &c A high wind prevailed throughout the day, but, within doors, the weather arm, 78 at four o'clock Our vessel reed all the tireeable heat in our cabins A 131] them was a Joway, called Nih-Yu-Mah-Ni (_la pluie qui marche_), who sold us several articles of his dress Mr Bodmer made a sketch of the boy of an Omaha, whom the father first daubed with red paint He took vermilion in the palm of the hand, spat upon it, and then rubbed it in the boy's face The head of this boy was shaved quite s a tuft of hair in front, and another at the back[229] A nuer curiosity I showed the Indians a rattlesnake in brandy, and they gave me to understand that a child had lately been bitten by one of these animals, and died in consequence The little child, lately wounded by the Joways, was brought to us; the wounds, though they had not been dressed and covered, were almost healed

[Illustration: An O with Mr Cabanne; sitting in the balcony of his house, we enjoyed the delightful temperature and the fine scene around us The splendid sky was illuned around, interrupted only by the noise of the frogs, and the incessant cry of the whip-poor-will, in the neighbouring woods, till the Indians assembled round the house, and, at the request of Mr Cabanne, performed a dance About twenty Omahas joined in it; the principal dancer, a tall man, wore on his head an immense feather cap, like those of the Caer and of less elaborate work feathers of owls and birds of prey;[230] in his hand he held his bow and arrows The upper part of his body was covered only with a whitish skin, which fell over the right shoulder and breast, and was adorned with bunches of feathers; his arms, face, and the uncovered parts of his body, were painted hite stripes and spots His trousers were marked with dark cross stripes, and trie He also wore an apron He had a savage and reatly contributed Another er, of a very muscular frame--the upper part of whose body was naked, but painted white--had in his hand a war club, striped hite, ornamented at the handle with the skin of a polecat[231]

He wore on his head a feather cap, like that already described These two men, and several youths and boys, formed a line, opposite to which other Indians sat down in a row; in the middle of which row the drum was beat in quick ti with bells; and the whole co, ”Hi! hi! hi!” or ”Hey! hey! hey!” &c, so aloud Thetheir bodies forward, they leaped up with both feet at once, not rising high froround, and stamped loudly, while the drum beat in quick time, and their arms were rattled and occasionally lifted up into the air Thus they leaped opposite to each other, with great exertion, for about an hour; they perspired violently, till the usual presents, a quantity of tobacco stalks, were thrown on the ground before the toscene on the Missouri The bright light of the moon illurotesque band of Indians, uttering their wild cry, together with the loud call of the night raven, vividly recalled to my mind scenes which I had witnessed in Brazil We did not return to our vessel till late at night, after taking leave of our kind host, and of Major Pilcher; the for the superintendence of the trading post to Major Pilcher

[Illustration: Omaha war club]

The Omahas, or, as some erroneously call them, Mahas, were formerly a numerous tribe, but have been hbours; the ses, and there are now but few vigorous young e differs from that of the Otos, Missouris, and Joways; there is, however, an affinity between theiven by Mr Say in his Narrative of Major Long's ”Expedition to the Rocky Mountains,” to which I would refer my readers[232]

On the 5th of May, the Yellow Stone left Cabanne's trading house; the weather ar 133] and serene; we passed the mouth of Boyer's Creek on the east bank, where the Missouri makes a bend, and saw the ruins of the former cantonment, or fort, at Council Bluffs[233] This military post was established, in the year 1819, for 1,000 iarrison at Jefferson barracks In the year 1827, these troops ithdrawn and stationed at Leavenworth; the fort, or, rather, the barracks, forle, with a bastion or blockhouse, in two of the angles At present there were only the stone chimneys, and, in the centre, a brick storehouse under roof Everything of value had been carried away by the Indians We were told that nu the ruins The situation of Council Bluffs is said to have beenthe Indians than that at Leavenworth; and it was even conjectured that this post will be again occupied The military station was at first placed a little further inland, but the scurvy carried off 300 of the garrison in one winter

Mr Sandford, who had rejoined us, once found here the large grinders of a mastodon, which are now in the possession of General Clarke, at St Louis

At twelve at noon, we ran aground, but happily sustained no daerous place, where the left bank was blocked up with round The country was low and uniforain reached the hills, which were rather bare of wood, but of grotesque form, and covered with a fine verdant carpet

Near the ht letters from the assiniboin steaot upon a sand bank, and then ht; after which our people exerted theet off the bank, in the

The steaot afloat by daybreak on the 6th On both sides there was alluvial soil, thickly covered s and poplars, mixed, in some places, with other trees Here , on a sand bank, two large wolves, which seemed to look at us with surprise The Omaha Indians hunt on both banks of this part of the river; they are said to be the most indolent, dull, unintellectual, and cowardly of the Missouri Indians At two in the afternoon we landed on the prairie, which was covered with tall trees, and forty or fifty of our an to heood for fuel; there was abundance of grass, but not a single flohich was caused by the prairie having been set on fire; black burnt as scattered about, and the ground itself was discoloured in places by the effects of the fire

From this place the country becomes more and more level, and bare of wood, and the eye roves over the boundless prairie Behind a -tree I saw some remains of Indian huts, in front of one of which a pole was set up, with a piece of red cloth attached to the top The forest, which had been inundated, was likewise destitute of flowers; nuht a man deserted, whom Mr Mc Kenzie had so uttered vehe 134] departure from Germany, was very fine We soon reached the chain of hills on the left bank, at a place where the yellow limestone rock was nearly perpendicular, and in which innumerable ss had built their nests; these are called Wood's Hills, and do not extend very far On one of therave of the celebrated Oa-Sahba (the blackbird) In Ja's Expedition, is a circumstantial account of this remarkable and powerful chief, as a friend to the white man: he contrived, by means of arsenic, to ician, because he put his enemies and rivals out of the hen it suited hireat part of his nation, in the year 1800, and he was buried, sitting upright upon a live , he gave orders that they should bury him on that hill, with his face turned to the country of the white men[234] The Omahas have been since so reduced by their enemies, the Sioux, Saukies, and Foxes, that they are now quite powerless and insignificant, not being able to a-Sahba was so feared by his own people, that nobody ventured to wake him when he slept: it is said that they used then to tickle his nose with a blade of grass The present chief of the Oreat elk), of whoood portrait He lives on the Horn River, which falls into the La Platte, about twentyday (the 8th of May) we caeant of that name was buried by Lewis and Clarke The bank on either side is low The left is covered with poplars; on the right, behind the wood, rises a hill like the roof of a building, at the top of which Floyd is buried A short stick marks the place where he is laid, and has often been renewed by travellers when the fires in the prairie have destroyed it A little further up is Floyd's River, and on Floyd's Hills there were a few fir trees, over which the kite hovered in the air[236] About half a league beyond Floyd's River is thefro the boundary of the territory of the Dacota, or Sioux nation Its breadth, at the able by Mackinaw boats for 100 miles About 120 miles up this river, a tribe of the Sioux reside, which is known by the name of Wahch-Pekute; this, and another tribe of this people on the Mississippi, and near Lake Pepin, are the only ones of their nation who plant maize; all the other hordes of the Sioux are hunters The territory of these people formerly extended further to the south, till the before-mentioned treaty for the purchase of land was concluded with the Indians[237]

At noon, with a temperature of 75, there was such a violent wind, that the fine sand from the banks penetrated into the inneritated by the wind, that the pilot could not distinguish the sand banks, and ere obliged to lie to In a siant footsteps of the elks, and likewise of the coly have followed had not a rising te flashed in the horizon, the rain soon poured down in torrents, and at night a storht have felt some alarm, had not our vessel been so well protected by the bank The storm frequently forced open the doors of the upper cabin, and the rain beat into the room Towards daybreak the tehtning and the claps of thunder were incessant during the twilight, and everybody thought that the vessel must be struck

The 9th of May set in with rain, a cloudy sky, and high wind; the therh, fell, at half-past seven o'clock, to 56

When the storm had passed over, our vessel quitted the place where it had taken shelter We passed along wild, desolate banks, then a green prairie, by a chain of steep hills, partly bare, partly covered with forests, or with isolated fir trees and picturesque ravines, with dark shadows, into which the close thicket scarcely allowed the eye to penetrate We here saw, for the first time, a plant which now became more and entea_, Nutt), with pale, bluish-green, narrow leaves At the mouth of the Joway River, which runs into the Missouri, on the south bank, at a very acute angle, clay-slate appeared to stand out on the bluffs, divided into narrow, horizontal strata, the lower of which were blackish-blue, and those above of yellowish-red colour[238] Our hunters and wood-cutters landed, on which occasion we lost a hound, which had strayed too far into the forest Five or six hundred paces further up, , awam,[239] near which the red , mixed with the common as in blosso, rose at ten o'clock, when the sun broke through the clouds

We frequently observed the wild geese, which endeavoured to take their young, of which they never had more than four or six, to some place on shore, where they would be safe from us When we came very near, the mother fluttered anxiously to a little distance, and called thee, but soon lay to at the prairie, on the right bank, because Mr Mc Kenzie wished to form a plantation at this place

The whole plain was covered with high, dry grass On the bank of the river there was a fine border of tall timber trees, in which the turtle-dove cooed, and flocks of blackbirds were flying about The hills of the prairie were covered with the finest verdure, and the singular for subject of observation on the otherwise uniforht near the high trees that bordered the prairie, where there were nu ive us the pleasure of seeing how the fire spread, but the atte 136] no wind Mr Mc Kenzie left soricultural i theave occasion to iven to the kingdo day, the 10th, we had been exactly four weeks since we left St Louis At the spot where ere, it is said that large herds of buffaloes are seen in the winter, but we had not yet met with one of these anied; it is, for the most part, naked, and without woods The trees which are found here are no longer lofty and vigorous, as on the Lower Missouri; yet the wild vines are still seen clih this, too, entirely ceases further up the river Near the reen hills of the prairie approach very near the water; and here , on the back of one of the hills, a grave surrounded with poles, which was that of so in a violent thunder-storeese, of which a pair of the latter, with six young ones, anxiously endeavoured to escape us The fe ones, while theday (the 11th of May) brought us to the mouth of Jacques River, which was concealed from our view by a sand bank The steep banks, which in Lewis and Clarke's map are called Calurey colour at the base, and yellow above We reached the island called by those travellers Sego Island, where we found very little water, and then came to Lewis and Clarke's White Bear Bluffs, of which Mr Bod[240] At noon the thermometer was at 63 After dinner , at a distance, the assiniboin steamer, hich we came up in half an hour It had not been able to proceed any further for want of a sufficient depth of water After we had saluted the master of the vessel, Mr Pratte, son of the General of that name at St Louis, and a member of the American Fur Company, ent on board his vessel[241] In this steahter and more pleasant than those in the Yellow Stone; the stern cabin had ten berths, and the fore cabin twenty-four, and between decks was the large apartes_ The crew had lately killed a she-bear--the young ones were alive on board While ere visiting the assiniboin, we suddenly perceived, on the left or southern bank, a number of Indians, between fifteen and twenty of whom rolled down the hills As our people did not see to do with theh a telescope, we took advantage of the fine weather to make an excursion into the prairie

The chain of hills, bounding the valley of the Missouri on the north, crossed the verdant prairie, in a straight line, at a distance of about 1,000 paces froular, with perpendicular, yellow, calcareous walls, which indicated that the [pg 137] river must, formerly, have flowed in that direction; and the cylindrical hollow marked the ancient bed of the river In the prairie itself there wereplants, a roots like carrots, especially the yelloering _Batschia longiflora_ (Pursh), and the _Oxitropis Lareat yellow-breasted lark (_Sturnella_, Vieill), was everywhere seen in pairs, and its short, coy call, and its pleasing, whistling note, were heard froreat long-billed curlews (_Nuirostris_), of which we shall speak hereafter Skeletons of buffaloes were scattered in the plain, especially many skulls, but very fehich were entire

When I returned to the vessel, I found there three Punca Indians, the chief of the tribe Shudegacheh,[242] his brother Passitopa,[243] and Ha-cha-ga They were all robust, good-looking ly-h cheek-bones, aquiline noses, and ani down as far as the shoulders, and part of it lower; that of the chief was shorter, and fastened together in a plait The upper part of the body of these Indians was naked, only they wore round the neck an ornae slit in their ears: from those of the chief an ornament of shell as suspended His beard below the chin consisted of scanty hairs, which had been suffered to grow very long[244] They wore a narrow bracelet of white metal round the wrist, very plain, leather pantaloons, and large buffalo robes; the chief, however, rapped in a white blanket