Part 8 (1/2)
Thursday 8. The morning again cloudy; our huts advance very well, and we are visited by numbers of Indians who come to let their horses graze near us: in the day the horses are let loose in quest of gra.s.s, in the night they are collected and receive an armful of small boughs of the cottonwood, which being very juicy, soft and brittle, form nutritious and agreeable food: the frost this morning was very severe, the weather during the day cloudy and the wind from the northwest. We procured from an Indian a weasel perfectly white except the extremity of the tail which was black: great numbers of wild geese are pa.s.sing to the south, but their flight is too high for us to procure any of them.
November 10. We had again a raw day, a northwest wind, but rose early in hopes of finis.h.i.+ng our works before the extreme cold begins. A chief who is a half p.a.w.nee came to us and brought a present of half a buffaloe, in return for which we gave him some small presents and a few articles to his wife and son: he then crossed the river in a buffaloe skin canoe; his wife took the boat on her back and carried it to the village three miles off. Large flocks of geese and brant, and also a few ducks are pa.s.sing towards the south.
Sunday 11. The weather is cold. We received the visit of two squaws, prisoners from the Rock mountains, and purchased by Chaboneau. The Mandans at this time are out hunting the buffaloe.
Monday 12. The last night had been cold and this morning we had a very hard frost: the wind changeable during the day, and some ice appears on the edges of the rivers; swans too are pa.s.sing to the south. The Big White came down to us, having packed on the back of his squaw about one hundred pounds of very fine meat: for which we gave him as well as the squaw some presents, particularly an axe to the woman with which she was very much pleased.
Tuesday 13. We this morning unloaded the boat and stowed away the contents in a storehouse which we have built. At half past ten ice began to float down the river for the first time: in the course of the morning we were visited by the Black Cat, Poscapsahe, who brought an a.s.siniboin chief and seven warriors to see us. This man, whose name is Chechawk, is a chief of one out of three bands of a.s.siniboins who wander over the plains between the Missouri and a.s.siniboin during the summer, and in the winter carry the spoils of their hunting to the traders on the a.s.siniboin river, and occasionally come to this place: the whole three bands consist of about eight hundred men. We gave him a twist of tobacco to smoke with his people, and a gold cord for himself: the Sioux also asked for whiskey which we refused to give them. It snowed all day and the air was very cold.
Wednesday 14. The river rose last night half an inch, and is now filled with floating ice. This morning was cloudy with some snow: about seventy lodges of a.s.siniboins and some Knistenaux are at the Mandan village, and this being the day of adoption and exchange of property between them all, it is accompanied by a dance, which prevents our seeing more than two Indians to-day: these Knistenaux are a band of Chippeways whose language they speak; they live on the a.s.siniboin and Saskashawan rivers, and are about two hundred and forty men. We sent a man down on horseback to see what had become of our hunters, and as we apprehend a failure of provisions we have recourse to our pork this evening. Two Frenchmen who had been below returned with twenty beaver which they had caught in traps.
Thursday 15. The morning again cloudy, and the ice running thicker than yesterday, the wind variable. The man came back with information that our hunters were about thirty miles below, and we immediately sent an order to them to make their way through the floating ice, to a.s.sist them in which we sent some tin for the bow of the periogue and a towrope. The ceremony of yesterday seem to continue still, for we were not visited by a single Indian. The swan are still pa.s.sing to the south.
Friday 16. We had a very hard white frost this morning, the trees are all covered with ice, and the weather cloudy. The men this day moved into the huts, although they are not finished. In the evening some horses were sent down to the woods near us in order to prevent their being stolen by the a.s.siniboins, with whom some difficulty is now apprehended. An Indian came down with four buffaloe robes and some corn, which he offered for a pistol, but was refused.
Sat.u.r.day, November 17. Last night was very cold, and the ice in the river to-day is thicker than hitherto. We are totally occupied with our huts, but received visits from several Indians.
Sunday, November 18. To-day we had a cold windy morning; the Black Cat came to see us, and occupied us for a long time with questions on the usages of our country. He mentioned that a council had been held yesterday to deliberate on the state of their affairs. It seems that not long ago, a party of Sioux fell in with some horses belonging to the Minnetarees, and carried them off; but in their flight they were met by some a.s.siniboins, who killed the Sioux and kept the horses: a Frenchman too who had lived many years among the Mandans, was lately killed on his route to the British factory on the a.s.siniboin; some smaller differences existed between the two nations, all of which being discussed, the council decided that they would not resent the recent insults from the a.s.siniboins and Knistenaux, until they had seen whether we had deceived them or not in our promises of furnis.h.i.+ng them with arms and ammunition.
They had been disappointed in their hopes of receiving them from Mr.
Evans and were afraid that we too, like him, might tell them what was not true. We advised them to continue at peace, that supplies of every kind would no doubt arrive for them, but that time was necessary to organize the trade. The fact is that the a.s.siniboins treat the Mandans as the Sioux do the Ricaras; by their vicinity to the British they get all the supplies, which they withhold or give at pleasure to the remoter Indians: the consequence is, that however badly treated, the Mandans and Ricaras are very slow to retaliate lest they should* lose their trade altogether.
Monday 19. The ice continues to float in the river, the wind high from the northwest, and the weather cold. Our hunters arrived from their excursion below, and bring a very fine supply of thirty-two deer, eleven elk, and five buffaloe, all of which was hung in a smokehouse.
Tuesday 20. We this day moved into our huts which are now completed.
This place which we call Fort Mandan, is situated in a point of low ground, on the north side of the Missouri, covered with tall and heavy cottonwood. The works consist of two rows of huts or sheds, forming an angle where they joined each other; each row containing four rooms, of fourteen feet square and seven feet high, with plank ceiling*, and the roof slanting so as to form a loft above the rooms, the highest part of which is eighteen feet from the ground: the backs of the huts formed a wall of that height, and opposite the angle the place of the wall was supplied by picketing; in the area were two rooms for stores and provisions. The lat.i.tude by observation is 47 21' 47”, and the computed distance from the mouth of the Missouri sixteen hundred miles.
In the course of the day several Indians came down to partake of our fresh meat; among the rest, three chiefs of the second Mandan village.
They inform us that the Sioux on the Missouri above the Chayenne river, threaten to attack them this winter; that these Sioux are much irritated at the Ricaras for having made peace through our means with the Mandans, and have lately ill treated three Ricaras who carried the pipe of peace to them, by beating them and taking away their horses. We gave them a.s.surances that we would protect them from all their enemies.
November 21st. The weather was this day fine: the river clear of ice and rising a little: we are now settled in our new winter habitation, and shall wait with much anxiety the first return of spring to continue our journey.
The villages near which we are established are five in number, and are the residence of three distinct nations: the Mandans, the Ahnahaways, and the Minnetarees. The history of the Mandans, as we received it from our interpreters and from the chiefs themselves, and as it is attested by existing monuments, ill.u.s.trates more than that of any other nation the unsteady movements and the tottering fortunes of the American nations. Within the recollection of living witnesses, the Mandans were settled forty years ago in nine villages, the ruins of which we pa.s.sed about eighty miles below, and situated seven on the west and two on the east side of the Missouri. The two finding themselves wasting away before the small-pox and the Sioux, united into one village, and moved up the river opposite to the Ricaras. The same causes reduced the remaining seven to five villages, till at length they emigrated in a body to the Ricara nation, where they formed themselves into two villages, and joined those of their countrymen who had gone before them.
In their new residence they were still insecure, and at length the three villages ascended the Missouri to their present position. The two who had emigrated together still settled in the two villages on the northwest side of the Missouri, while the single village took a position on the southeast side. In this situation they were found by those who visited them in 1796; since which the two villages have united into one.
They are now in two villages, one on the southeast of the Missouri, the other on the opposite side, and at the distance of three miles across.
The first, in an open plain, contains about forty or fifty lodges, built in the same way as those of the Ricaras: the second, the same number, and both may raise about three hundred and fifty men.
On the same side of the river, and at the distance of four miles from the lower Mandan village, is another called Mahaha. It is situated in a high plain at the mouth of Knife river, and is the residence of the Ahnahaways. This nation, whose name indicates that they were ”people whose village is on a hill,” formerly resided on the Missouri, about thirty miles below where they now live. The a.s.siniboins and Sioux forced them to a spot five miles higher, where the greatest part of them were put to death, and the rest emigrated to their present situation, in order to obtain an a.s.sylum near the Minnetarees. They are called by the French, Soulier Noir or Shoe Indians; by the Mandans, Wattasoons, and their whole force is about fifty men.
On the south side of the same Knife river, half a mile above the Mahaha and in the same open plain with it, is a village of Minnetarees surnamed Metaharta, who are about one hundred and fifty men in number. On the opposite side of Knife river, and one and a half mile above this village is a second of Minnetarees, who may be considered as the proper Minnetaree nation. It is situated in a beautiful low plain, and contains four hundred and fifty warriors. The accounts which we received of the Minnetarees were contradictory. The Mandans say that this people came out of the water to the east, and settled near them in their former establishment in nine villages; that they were very numerous, and fixed themselves in one village on the southern side of the Missouri. A quarrel about a buffaloe divided the nation, of which two bands went into the plains, and were known by the name of Crow and Paunch Indians, and the rest moved to their present establishment. The Minnetarees proper a.s.sert, on the contrary, that they grew where they now live, and will never emigrate from the spot; the great spirit having declared that if they moved they would all die. They also say that the Minnetarees Metaharta, that is Minnetarees of the Willows, whose language with very little variation is their own, came many years ago from the plains and settled near them, and perhaps the two traditions may be reconciled by the natural presumption that these Minnetarees were the tribe known to the Mandans below, and that they ascended the river for the purpose of rejoining the Minnetarees proper. These Minnetarees are part of the great nation called Fall Indians, who occupy the intermediate country between the Missouri and the Saskaskawan, and who are known by the name of Minnetarees of the Missouri, and Minnetarees of Fort de Prairie; that is, residing near or rather frequenting the establishment in the prairie on the Saskaskawan. These Minnetarees indeed, told us that they had relations on the Saskaskawan, whom they had never known till they met them in war, and having engaged in the night were astonished at discovering that they were fighting with men who spoke their own language. The name of Grosventres, or Bigbellies is given to these Minnetarees, as well as to all the Fall Indians. The inhabitants of these five villages, all of which are within the distance of six miles, live in harmony with each other. The Ahnahaways understand in part the language of the Minnetarees: the dialect of the Mandans differs widely from both; but their long residence together has insensibly blended their manners, and occasioned some approximation in language, particularly as to objects of daily occurrence and obvious to the senses.
November 22. The morning was fine, and the day warm. We purchased from the Mandans a quant.i.ty of corn of a mixed colour, which they dug up in ears from holes made near the front of their lodges, in which it is buried during the winter: this morning the sentinel informed us that an Indian was about to kill his wife near the fort; we went down to the house of our interpreter where we found the parties, and after forbidding any violence, inquired into the cause of his intending to commit such as atrocity. It appeared that some days ago a quarrel had taken place between him and his wife, in consequence of which she had taken refuge in the house where the two squaws of our interpreter lived: by running away she forfeited her life, which might have been lawfully taken by the husband. About two days ago she had returned to the village, but the same evening came back to the fort much beaten and stabbed in three places, and the husband now came for the purpose of completing his revenge. He observed that he had lent her to one of our serjeants for a night, and that if he wanted her he would give her to him altogether: we gave him a few presents and tried to persuade him to take his wife home; the grand chief too happened to arrive at the same moment, and reproached him with his violence, till at length they went off together, but by no means in a state of much apparent love.
November 23. Again we had a fair and warm day, with the wind from the southeast: the river is now at a stand having risen four inches in the whole.
November 24. The wind continued from the same quarter and the weather was warm: we were occupied in finis.h.i.+ng our huts and making a large rope of elk-skin to draw our boat on the bank.
Sunday, November 25. The weather is still fine, warm and pleasant, and the river falls one inch and a half. Captain Lewis went on an excursion to the villages accompanied by eight men. A Minnetaree chief, the first who has visited us, came down to the fort: his name was Waukera.s.sa, but as both the interpreters had gone with captain Lewis we were obliged to confine our civilities to some presents with which he was much pleased: we now completed our huts, and fortunately too, for the next day,
Monday, November 26, before daylight the wind s.h.i.+fted to the northwest, and blew very hard, with cloudy weather and a keen cold air, which confined us much and prevented us from working: the night continued very cold, and,