Part 18 (1/2)

His hair hung down to his shoulders, and was tied together in a queue

His countenance was good-natured and friendly; he wore a buffalo robe, had a bow and arrows on his back, and, in his hand, a large hussar sabre, which he had received as a present Major Bean gave him some tobacco, powder, lead, and ball; and after he had satisfied his craving appetite he returned, well satisfied, to his comrades In the afternoon the country was by no means attractive, rather flat, and not so verdant; our vessel sustained many violent shocks The chain of hills, in the distance, appeared inraain perfectly flat, like table-land An isolated, round, conical eminence, which is called the Tower, stands on theularly stunted woods and thickets, probably kept down by the cold winds of the prairie The soil and the whole character of the country was changed; on the Lower Missouri it was a blackto the height of forty or fifty feet, yet they were often withered, or, at least,143] On the following ation, and were even obliged to put back, so that the assiniboin overtook and passed us, and we followed it up the river on the north bank, and afterwards landed forty hten the vessel; ran happily over a sand bank, and again passed the assiniboin In the preceding year, the whole prairie was seen from the steamer to be covered with herds of buffaloes, but now there were no living creatures, except a feild geese and ducks, which had likewise becoreat forest below the La Platte River The monotony of this rude landscape was, however, soon interrupted by the appearance of a canoe, in which were four whitedown the river A boat was speedily manned, into which Mr

Mc Kenzie and Mr Sandford went, well armed, in order to speak to thees_ of the Co We were inforerous Indian tribe, had lately murdered three beaver hunters, one of as a man named Glass, well known in the country, of whom I shall have occasion to speak in the sequel[257]

Upon an island, to which we came, was a real wilderness; the beavers had for poplars; another island was re opposite to it, on the main land, the water of which has no mineral taste On the left bank, about five or six miles below Cedar Island, we observed the remains of Indian huts Mr Mc Kenzie hadyear, a camp of the Punca Indians On the steep banks were coloured stripes, or regular strata; some black, doubtless bituminous coal, others reddish brown, and, in several places, burnt black Some parts had burnt very lately, and, in many places, had fallen in Unhappily ere not able more closely to examine these reht to the western coast; and the lightning was very brilliant

On the following day, the 15th of May,in the thickets, behind which the prairie extended, s, and other animals, were scattered about; the marks of horses' feet were everywhere visible; and a practicable trodden path led through the thickets At noon, when the therain passed us, and, with the keel-boat Maria, vanished froht At four in the afternoon, we reached the place where we had stopped the preceding night, with the help of the keel-boat, which had returned, and at length succeeded in getting forward; but again had a stor The whole country, beyond the banks, consisted of hills, rising one above the other; some covered with verdure, some of a yellowish colour,flashed froain overtook the assiniboin, which had landed its wood-cutters to fell some cedars on the steep mountain We, too, landed 300 paces further up, to cut down cedars for fuel At this place there was the narrow deep ravine of a sht a pale yellow bat, and saw some snakes, and the scattered bones of buffaloes We cli 144] e plants, particularly the wild turnip Two species of cactus were not yet in blossom; they are, probably, not sufficiently known to botanists One of them has been taken for the _Cactus opuntia_; and Captain Back,[258] too, says, that it is found on an island in the Lake of the Woods; but this is certainly not the above-nahest elevation above the river, we enjoyed a remarkably fine prospect, while the sky was darkened by black thunder clouds Around us was the aularly-formed mountain-tops; at our feet lay the fine broad river, intersected by innumerable sand banks, which plainly showed us the difficulties of our navigation On the banks, at so great a distance froe vessels e volumes of steam We were lost in the contemplation of this vast wilderness, when the bell summoned us on board Our people had found a channel with five feet water, but it was so dark and foggy, that ere obliged to lie to early

On the following e of the prairie dogs, we reached, at nine o'clock, the Cedar Island, which is said to be 1,075 miles from thenarrow island, which lies near the south-west bank, there were thickets of poplars, s, and buffalo berry; the rest of the island is covered with a dark forest of red cedars, of which we iood number Their beautiful violet-coloured wood is traversed towards the edge by white veins, and is found very fit for shi+p-building We crossed, with great pleasure, this wilderness of lofty cedars, the rough bark of which peels off of itself, and hangs down in long slips; many of the on the ground, covered with moss and lichens The notes of nuloom of this cedar forest, into which no ray of the sun could penetrate

Here, too, we found everywhere traces of the elks and stags, and sahere they had rubbed off the bark with their antlers This may be considered as the limit to which the wild turkey extends on the Missouri It is true that this bird is, now and then, found higher up, even on the Yellow Stone River; but these are exceptions, for beyond this place the woods are too open and exposed The Indians, on the Upper Missouri, very readily barter for the tails of these fine birds, to use thely, took a good supply with hied to stop longer than we intended at Cedar Island, and took advantage of the delay to send out our hunters with their fowling-pieces They brought back some birds, and a quadruped which was new to me The wood-cutters had found, in a hollow tree, a nest of the large wood-rat, with four young ones This fine animal has a tuft of hair at the end of its tail, and sometimes the whole tail is covered with hair In colour and shape it resembles our Norway rat, and has not yet been mentioned as found on the Missouri, unless a couple of passages in Lewis and Clarke's Travels, which say, ”very large rats were found here,” refer to it

[pg 145] On theof the 17ththe first antelopes, or cabris, half a dozen of which fled over the hills, but at so great a distance that we could not well distinguish the one of these ani on the summit of the bank that we could very plainly observe it nearer at hand It gazed for a long time at the steaain, and disappeared behind the hills The antelope becomes more and more common in this part of the country, andseveral to-day, but the wishes of our hunters were disappointed The Indians use the skin of these anier in the chase of the antelope, except where the buffalo is scarce As, on sounding the channel, only four feet of water were found, the stea-pieces With difficulty we penetrated through the thickets of poplar andon the bank, where the large tracks of the elks and of the Virginian deer were everywhere deeply imprinted in the soft soil We then reached the prairie, which is perfectly level, and extends for 300 or 400 paces to the hills It was covered with high grass, and clusters of many different plants Our people traversed the prairies in all directions, looking for the pomme blanche, which was very coeon, seeking its food on the ground, but, e approached, all the birds ie in the recesses of the thickets We had a fine, starlight, cool evening

On the 18ththe first buffaloes that we had e Several of our hunters were immediately landed to pursue them

They ascended into a ravine, and disappeared behind the hills We also landed, at noon, when the thermometer was at 68 Beyond the thickets on the bank, there were some old isolated trees in the prairie, in which, as well as in the tall plants, bushes, and grass, there were nu the day, the mosquitoes (_Tipula_) were so troublesome in the wood, that we could scarcely load our pieces; it is said that, in the height of summer, this nuisance is still more intolerable The buffalo hunters returned to the vessel at the same time with us; they had, indeed, e buck antelope, as well as a great s, the heads of which were all mutilated by the rifle balls As these little anie object, and only put out their heads, the Aenerally hit the theht back the skin and the head, as well as the flesh of the antelope which they had killed: they likewise brought le and a serpent (_Col exi so shalloere not able to proceed on the following day, and continued our excursions on shore I often passed my time in the lofty and shady forest which extended beyond thethickets on the banks, at the border of the open prairie Sitting on an old trunk, in the cool shade, I could observe at leisure the surrounding scene I saw the turkey buzzards, that hovered above the hills, contending against the high wind, while a couple of falcons frequently146] their nest A couple of ravens likewise flew about them The red-eyed finch, the beautiful _Sylvia aestiva_, the _Sylvia striata_, and the wren, flew aroundvery prettily If I passed beyond the prairie hills, I found the ground, on the long-extended ridge, covered with the blue flowers of the _Oxitropis Lah There, too, I saw dens of the foxes and wolves I saw a fine bird which we had not before met with, namely, the prairie hen (_Tetrao phasianellus_), a pair of which rose before me, and of which I first shot the cock These birds are found in considerable numbers from this place up to the Rocky Mountains In the daytireat heat in these excursions, while there was also a high wind, and the ground was hard and dry; the soles of our shoes becarass, that it was difficult and fatiguing to walk on the slopes We were forced to remain herethis time, we had several violent thunder-storms It is a peculiarity of this part of the country that, in spring, rain, storms, and teeneral, very dry All the small streaeneral want of water, except in the vicinity of the large rivers

On the 21st of May it was so cool that ere obliged to have fires in the cabins; the river had risen a little, and we endeavoured to proceed Captain Pratte, of the assiniboin, came on board with a man named May, a beaver hunter, who had left Fort Union, on the Yellow Stone, in March He confirmed the account of the murder of the threeintelligence, that thirteen of the Coes_ had been killed by the Blackfoot Indians He said that the herds of buffaloes had left the Missouri, and had been followed by the Sioux Indians, so that we must expect to see only a few of them on the river The keel-boat of the assiniboin had taken part of our cargo on board on the 22nd, and, as there was rather ot afloat, after a delay of five days in this shallow place We happened to be on the hills when the bell summoned us on board, and hastened as quickly as possible to the bank, but came too late, and were co over fragh thickets full of thorns and burrs, or to wade through et on board The hills on both sides of the river were of singular for ancient towers and ruins The e strata of coal Many of these strata had been on fire, and one of the burnt more than three years Such a thick stratum of bituminous coal ran in a well-defined stripe on both sides of the river, at an equal elevation, along all the hills, as far as the eye could reach; and it is not difficult to follow this stratum for many hundred miles; it is only interrupted, at intervals, by ravines Some lofty hills, hereabouts, are called Bijoux Hills, after a person of that na 147] The nextwe found the assiniboin at the foot of these hills Our steamer could not be moved till noon, and then did not proceed far, but lay to near a sand bank On theof the 24th, Major Bean left us, accoency, or Fort Lookout, where he intended to wait for us He had procured saddle-horses frohten the shi+p, we had tio ashore and make an excursion inland At eleven o'clock the bell summoned us to return The vessel was made to drop about 2,000 paces down the river, and then, withthe north-east bank, where we found the Maria keel-boat, which had likewise run aground, but had been got afloat by its creho laboured up to their waists in water, while the people were lightening our steamer Mr Mc Kenzie andey andThe surface consists of clay of various colours, partly reseypsum were scattered around, and seemed to stand out in the clay When we reached the bare sterile heights which belong to the black burnt stratifications, I found the soil quite different from what it had appeared to me when I looked at it froone the effects of fire, and is partly burnt black on the surface We saw no living creatures on these bare heights, except the finch (_Fringilla grammaca_), first described by Say Several caves or dens of wolves, foxes, and marmots, were observed in the declivities of the hills Between four and five o'clock, the keel-boat having been sent on before, the Yellow Stone proceeded along the northeast bank Near the Shannon, or Dry River, the sun sank behind the poplar wood on the bank, and we lay to for the night From the Shannon, the mouth of which is on the west side, the territory of the Sioux nations is reckoned to extend up the Missouri

On the east bank, as I have observed, it begins , the 25th of May, we had already reached the White River,[261] and at noon ca post of the Missouri Fur Company, had formerly stood When the Company was dissolved, this and other settlements were abandoned, and demolished by the Indians[262]

Directly opposite, on the east bank, a stratue portion of a hill fell, and now stands isolated before the bank; it is seventy or eighty feet high, and 150 feet long In the course of the day we cae had fore of the hills, which was destroyed by the Sioux, and the inhabitants expelled

Opposite to this was Fort Lookout, where the French Fur Trading Company had a post A little further up the river , on the hills, so-places of the Sioux Indians; h platform, on four stakes, on which the corpse, sewn up in skins, lies at full length; others consisted of stakes and brushwood, like a kind of hedge, in the round We were told that the son of a chief was buried in one of the latter, in a [pg 148] standing posture On a point of land, at the left hand, round which the Missouri turns to the west,the buildings of Sioux Agency; the Yellow Stone saluted the post with several guns, and elco, while the whole population, about fifty in nu of Sioux Indians, were assereeted our friends Major Bean and Mr Bodmer, and proceeded a mile further, to an extensive forest, where we took in wood, and stopped for the night In order to get acquainted with the Sioux, in whoh the bushes and high grass, to the agency, where Major Bean receivedto the fashi+on of the place, was rudely constructed, and he was incoency, or, as it is now usually called, Fort Lookout, is a square, of about sixty paces, surrounded by pickets, twenty or thirty feet high, made of squared trunks of trees, placed close to each other, within which the dwellings are built close to the palisades

These dwellings consisted of only three block-houses, with several apartments Close to the fort, in a northern direction, the Fur Co-house, with a store; and, in the opposite direction, was a sireeably situated on a green spot, near the river, partly covered with bushes, and partly open, bounded by hills, beyond which the prairie extends, first, with a few old trees, and so its peculiar bare character

About ten leather tents or huts of the Sioux, of the branch of the Yanktons or Yanktoans, were set up near the fort[264]

The Dacotas, as they call themselves, or the Sioux of the French, called by the Ojibuas or Chippeways, Nandoesi (which has been corrupted into Nadowassis), are still one of the most numerous Indian tribes in North America Pike stated their number at 21,575 souls, and they are still reckoned at 20,000; nay, some even affirm, that they are still able to furnish 15,000 warriors, which seeivesthis people, calculates their number at 28,100, of which 7,055 are warriors, the nation possessing 2,330 tents, which agrees pretty nearly with the statements we received on the Missouri If we add the assiniboins, who are of the sain, and who are estimated at 28,000, we shall have for all the Dacotas, 56,100 souls, of whom 14,055 are warriors, and the nu is of opinion that they cannot be calculated at less than 25,000 souls, and 6,000 warriors; 20,000 is, therefore, not too high an esti Sioux River, between the Missouri and the Mississippi, down the latter to Rock River, and northwards to Elk River; then ards, in a line which includes the sources of St Peter's River, and reaches the Missouri below the Mandan villages, stretches down it, crosses it near Heart River, and includes the whole country on the western bank, to the Black Hills about Teton River, as far as Shannon River The Sioux are divided into several branches, which all speak the sa 149] Three principal branches live on the Missouri, viz, the Yanktons, or Yanktoans, the Tetons, or titoans, and the Yanktonans, or Yanktoanons The Mende-Wakan-Toann, or the people of the Spirit Lake, and soether are, as Major Long says, divided by the traders into two great classes--the Gens du Lac and the Gens du Large; _ie_, those who live near the Spirit Lake, and are now chiefly found on the banks of the Mississippi, and those who roam about in the prairies

The Yanktoanons are said to constitute one-fifth of all the Dacotas, and the Tetons the half of the whole nation[265]

The Dacotas roam as far as the territory of the Puncas, over the Black Hills, to the Arkansa, and ards to the Rocky Mountains, into the territory of the Crows, on the Yellow Stone River, &c Pike makes them, as well as the pawnees, descend from the Tartars; but many objections may be made to this notion, as the affinity of the North Americans and the people of Asia is not proved, and the reseeneral, these Indians have her cheek-bones than many other tribes on the Missouri, nor are their features so regular or pleasing, yet there is no considerable difference in their physiognomy Bradbury says they are es, Mandans, and Puncas, and by no means so robust; but this assertion must be verythe Dacotas The Yanktons live in Sioux Agency, or the furthest down the Missouri, a which tribe ere All these Dacotas of the Missouri, as well as most of those of the Mississippi, are only hunters, and, in their excursions, always live in portable leather tents Only two branches of them are exceptions to this rule, especially the Wahch-Pe-Kutch, on the Mississippi, who cultivate es All these Indians have great nus, the latter of which often serve theerous enees; whereas noith the exception of the Yanktonans, they bear a very good character, and constantly keep peace with the Whites Pike seeh an idea of their valour; at least, this is the opinion now entertained on the Missouri Such of these Indians as reside near the Whites, are frequently connected with thees, and depend on theent hunters, indolent, and, consequently, poor This was partly the case at Sioux Agency, where they rarely possessedtheeli, called the Big Soldier, a tall, good-looking h aquiline nose, and large animated eyes Besides hi eneral, a rather narrow, oval countenance, narrow, long eyes, and aquiline, or straight, well-formed noses; their colour was a dark brown They wore their hair hanging down long over the shoulders, and often plaited _en queue_; the olderloosely, cut off a little below the [pg 150] neck, and turned back froenerally wore it parted, a large lock hanging down on the nose; young e white or painted buffalo hides They had long strings of blue and white wampum shells in their ears; some of them wore one, two, or three feathers, which were partly stripped till towards the point[266]

[Illustration: Method of wearing hair]

Mr Bod expressed a wish, i Soldier, to paint his portrait at full length, he appeared in his complete state dress His face was painted red with vermilion, and with short, black, parallel, transverse stripes on the cheeks On his head he wore long feathers of birds of prey, which were tokens of his warlike exploits, particularly of the enemies he had slain They were fastened in a horizontal position with strips of red cloth In his ears he wore long strings of blue glass beads, and, on his breast, suspended froreat silver ins, painted with dark crosses and stripes, were very neatly ornamented with a broad eures, consisting of dyed porcupine quills, and his shoes were adorned in the same manner His buffalo robe was tanned white, and he had his tomahawk or battle-axe in his hand[267] He appeared to stand very willingly as a [pg 151] model for Mr Bodmer, and reeneral, the Indians find it difficult to do The remainder of these people were now entirely without ornaments, naked, and the upper parts of their bodies not at all painted, but only wrapped in their buffalo robes On their backs they carried their quivers, which were made of leather, in which their arrows are kept; they carry their bows in their hands[268]

[Illustration: Bows, arrows, and quiver]

The features of the women resembled, on the whole, those we have already described, yet their faces, for the most part, were not so broad and flat as those of the Saukies, or Musquake woh pointed cones,poles, covered with buffalo skins, closely sewed together

These skins are scraped on both sides, so that they becoive free adht At the top, where the poles , to let out the smoke, which they endeavour to close by a piece of the skin covering of the tent, fixed to a separate pole standing upright, and fastened to the upper part of the covering on the side from which the wind blows The door is a slit, in the front of the tent, which is generally closed by another piece of buffalo hide, stretched upon a frame[269] A small fire is kept up in the centre of the tent Poles are stuck in the ground, near the tent, and utensils of various kinds are suspended fro the newly-tanned hides; others, with gaily-painted parch their bows, arrows, quivers, leather shi+elds, spears, and war clubs

[Illustration: Tents of the Sioux]

We paid a visit to Wahktageli in his tent, and had so into the narro entrance, after pulling aside the skin that covered it The inside of this tent was [pg 152] light, and it was about ten paces in diaround, upon which we sat down Between us and the side of the tent were a variety of articles, such as pouches, boxes, saddles, ar arrohich were finished very neatly, and with great care Wahktageli iravity, handed the tobacco-pipe round, and seeht His as present; their children were married The conversation was carried on by Cephier, the interpreter kept by the Agency, who accompanied us on this visit It is the custo a visit, to enter in perfect silence, to shake hands with the host, and unceremoniously sit down beside hi Soldier could not do, as he himself stood in need of food After this the pipe circulates The owner of a neighbouring tent had killed a large elk, the skin of which the wo They had stretched it out, by round near the tent, and the wo off the particles of flesh and fat with a very well-contrived instrument

It is made of bone, sharpened at one end, and furnished with little teeth like a saw, and, at the other end, a strap, which is fastened round the wrist The skin is scraped with the sharp side of this instrument till it is perfectly clean[271] Several Indians have iron teeth fixed to this bone Besides this operation, we took particular notice of the harness of the dogs and horses, hanging up near the tent, both these anigage on their journeys Even the great tent, with , heavy poles, is carried by horses, as well as the selobular, transparent wicker panniers, under which the little children are protected against sun and rain, by spreading blankets and skins over thes, as we shall relate in the sequel Many of the Sioux are rich, and have twenty or inally from the Spaniards on the Mississippi, and the frontier of New Mexico on the Oregon, but which are now found in great nu the several Indian nations One of their most important employments is to steal horses, and the theft of one of these animals, from another nation, is considered as an exploit, and as s, whose flesh is eaten by the Sioux, are equally valuable to the Indians In shape they differ very little fro Some are of the real wolf colour; others black, white, or spotted with black and white, and differing only by the tail being rather , but a howl, like that of the wolf, and they partly descend from wolves, which approach the Indian huts, even in the dayti the peculiar customs of the Sioux is their treat 153] at home are sewed up, as I have before stated, in blankets and skins, in their complete dress, painted, and laid with their are, supported by four poles, till they are decomposed, when they are sometimes buried