AMUSEMENTS AND CUSTOMS.
427. Ball-play Dance, Choctaw.—Men and women dance around their respective stakes, at intervals, during the night preceding the play—four conjurors sit all night and smoke to the Great Spirit, at the point where the ball is to be started—and stakeholders guard the goods staked.
428. Ball-play of the Choctaws—ball up—one party painted white; each has two sticks with a web at their ends, in which they catch the ball and throw it—they all have tails of horse-hair or quills attached to their girdles or belts.
Each party has a limit or bye, beyond which it is their object to force the ball, which, if done, counts them one for game.
429. Ball-play—same as 428, excepting that the ball is down, which changes the scene.
430. Ball-play of the women, Prairie du Chien.—Calicoes and other presents are placed on a pole by the men—the women choose sides and play for them, to the great amusement of the men.
In this play there are two balls attached to the ends of a string eighteen inches in length: the women have a stick in each hand, on which they catch the string and throw it.
431. Game of “Tchung-kee” of the Mandans, the principal and most valued game of that tribe.
A beautiful athletic exercise, and one on which they often bet and risk all their personal goods and chattels.
432. Horse-Racing, Mandan, on a Race-Course back of the Village, in use on every fair-day.
433. Foot-Race, Mandans, on the same ground, and as often run.
434. Canoe-Race—Chippeways in Bark Canoes, near the Sault de St. Mary’s; an Indian Regatta, a thrilling scene.
435. Archery of the Mandans.
The strife is to prove who can get the greatest number of arrows flying in the air at a time, before the first one reaches the ground. The most of these are portraits closely studied from nature. I have seen some of them get eight arrows in the air at one time.
436. Dance of the Chiefs, Sioux.
A very unusual thing, as the dancing is generally left to the young men; given to me expressly as a compliment by the chiefs, that I might make a painting of it.
437. Dog Dance, Sioux.
The dog’s liver and heart are taken raw and bleeding, and placed upon a crotch; and, being cut into slips, each man dances up to it, bites off and swallows a piece of it, boasting, at the same time, that he has thus swallowed a piece of the heart of his enemy, whom he has slain in battle.
438. Scalp Dance, Sioux—Women in the centre, holding the scalps on poles, and warriors dancing around, brandishing their war-weapons in the most frightful manner, and yelping as loud as they can scream.
439. Begging Dance, Sacs and Foxes, danced for the purpose of getting presents from the spectators.
440. Buffalo Dance, Mandans, with the mask of the buffalo on.
Danced to make buffalo come, when they are like to starve for want of food. Song to the Great Spirit, imploring him to send them buffalo, and they will cook the best of it for him.
441. Ball-play Dance, Choctaws.
442. Dance to the Berdash, Sac and Fox.
An unaccountable and ludicrous custom amongst the Sacs and Foxes, which admits not of an entire explanation.
443. Beggars’ Dance, (Sioux,) for presents.
444. Dance to the Medicine Bag of the Brave, Sacs and Foxes.
Warriors returned from battle, with scalps, dance in front of the widow’s lodge, whose husband has been killed. They sing to his medicine-bag, which is hung on a bush, and throw presents to the widow.
445. Braves’ Dance, Boasting, &c., Sioux.
446. Green Corn Dance, Minnatarree—Sacrificing the first kettle to the Great Spirit.
Four medicine men, whose bodies are painted with white clay, dance around the kettle until the corn is well boiled; and they then burn it to cinders, as an offering to the Great Spirit. The fire is then destroyed, and new fire created by rubbing two sticks together, with which the corn for their own feast is cooked.
447. Bear Dance, Sioux—Preparing for a Bear Hunt—Song to the Great Spirit, praying for success.
448. Discovery Dance, Sacs and Foxes—A Pantomime; pretending to discover game, or an enemy.
A very picturesque and pleasing dance.
449. Eagle Dance, Choctaw—Holding the eagle’s tail in the hand, and bodies painted white.
Given in honour of that valiant bird.
450. Slave Dance, Sacs and Foxes.
A society of young men, who volunteer to be slaves for two years, and elect their chief or master; they are then exempt from slavish duties during the remainder of their lives, and are allowed to go on war-parties.
451. Snow-shoe Dance, Ojibbeway—danced at the first fall of snow, with snow shoes on the feet.
Song of thanks to the Great Spirit.
452. Brave’s Dance, Ojibbeway—bragging and boasting.
453. Pipe Dance, Assineboins.
Each dancer is “smoked” by the chief, who sits smoking his pipe, and then pulled up into the dance.
454. Straw Dance, Sioux.
Children made to dance with burning straws tied to their bodies, to make them tough and brave.
455. Sham Fight, Mandan Boys—School of practice every morning at sunrise, back of the village—instructed in it by the chiefs and braves.
456. Sham Scalp Dance, by the Mandan Boys—danced in the village when they come in, in honour of a sham victory.
457. War Dance of the Sioux.
Each warrior, in turn, jumps through the fire, and then advances shouting and boasting, and taking his oath, as he “strikes the reddened post.”
458. Foot War Party in Council, Mandan.
Stopping to rest and take a smoke; chief with a war-eagle head-dress on; their shields and weapons lying on the ground behind them.
459. Camanchee War Party—the Chief discovering the enemy and urging on his men, at sunrise.
460. Religious Ceremony; a Sioux, with splints through his flesh, and his body hanging to a pole, with his medicine-bag in his hand, looks at the sun from its rising to its setting.
A voluntary cruel self-torture, which entitles him to great respect for the remainder of his life, as a medicine or mystery man.
461. Dragoons on the March, and a band of Buffalo breaking through their ranks, in Texas, 1835.
462. Prairie Dog Village.
Myriads of these curious little animals sometimes are found in one village, which will extend several miles. The animals are about twice the size of a rat, and not unlike it in appearance and many of their habits. They dig holes in the ground, and the dirt which is thrown up makes a little mound, on which they sit and bark when danger approaches. They feed upon the grass, which is their only food.
463. “Smoking Horses,” a curious custom of the Sacs and Foxes.
Foxes, going to war, come to the Sacs, to beg for horses; they sit in a circle and smoke, and the young men ride around them, and cut their shoulders with their whips until the blood runs, then dismount and present a horse.
464. Mandans attacking a party of Riccarees, whom they had driven into a ravine, near the Mandan village, where they killed the whole number.
465. Chippeways making the portage around the Falls of St. Anthony, with two hundred bark canoes, in 1835.
466. Camanchees moving, and Dog Fight—dogs as well as horses drag the lodge-poles with packs upon them.
These fights generally begin with the dogs, and end in desperate battle; amongst the squaws, to the great amusement of the men.
467. White Wolves attacking a Buffalo Bull.
468. Ditto, ditto—a parley.
469. My horse “Charley” and I, at sunrise, near the Neosho, on an extensive prairie, encamping on the grass; my saddle for a pillow, two buffalo-skins for my bed, my gun in my arms; a coffee-pot and tin cup, a fire made of buffalo-dung, and Charley (a Camanchee clay-bank mustang) picketed near me.
With him alone I crossed the prairie from Fort Gibson, on the Arkansas, to St. Louis, 550 miles.
470. Sioux worshipping at the Red Boulders. A large boulder and two small ones, bearing some resemblance to a buffalo cow and two calves, painted red by the Indians, and regarded by them with superstitious reverence, near the “Coteau des Prairies.”
471. Camanchee Warrior lancing an Osage, at full speed.
472. Camanchees giving the Arrows to the Medicine Rock.
A curious superstition of the Camanchees: going to war, they have no faith in their success, unless they pass a celebrated painted rock, where they appease the spirit of war (who resides there), by riding by it at full gallop, and sacrificing their best arrow by throwing it against the side of the ledge.
473. “Bàtiste, Bogard, and I” approaching Buffalo, on the Missouri.
474. Wi-jun-jon (an Assinneboin Chief), going to and returning from Washington.
This man was taken to that city in 1832, in a beautiful Indian dress, by Major Sanford, the Indian agent, and returned to his country the next spring, in a Colonel’s uniform. He lectured a while to his people on the customs of the whites, when he was denounced by them for telling lies, which he had learned of the whites, and was, by his own people, put to death at the mouth of the Yellow Stone.
475. “Butte de Mort,” Upper Missouri, a great burial-place of the Sioux, called by the French “Butte de Mort,” Hill of Death.
Regarded by the Indians with great dread and superstition. There are several thousand buffalo and human skulls, perfectly bleached and curiously arranged about it.
476. “Rain-making,” amongst the Mandans, a very curious custom. Medicine-men performing their mysteries inside of the lodge, and young men volunteer to stand upon the lodge from sunrise until sundown, in turn, commanding it to rain.
Each one has to hazard the disgrace which attaches (when he descends at sundown) to a fruitless attempt; and he who succeeds acquires a lasting reputation as a Mystery or Medicine man. They never fail to make it rain! as this ceremony continues from day to day until rain comes.
477. “Smoking the Shield.” A young warrior, making his shield, invites his friends to a carouse and a feast, who dance around his shield as it is smoking and hardening over a fire built in the ground.
478. “The Thunder’s Nest” (Nid du Tonnerre), and a party of Indians cautiously approaching it, Coteau des Prairies.
Tradition of the Sioux is that in this little bunch of bushes the thunders are hatched out by quite a small bird, about as large (say their Medicine-men, who profess to have seen it) as the end of a man’s thumb. She sits on her eggs, and they hatch out in claps of thunder. No one approaches within several rods of the place.
479. Sac and Fox Indians sailing in canoes, by holding up their blankets.
480. Grand Tournament of the Camanchees, and a Sham Fight in a large encampment, on the borders of Texas.
481. Bogard, Bàtiste, and I, travelling through a Missouri bottom, grass ten feet high.
482. Band of Sioux, moving.
483. Bogard, Bàtiste, and I, descending the Missouri River.
484. Bogard, Bàtiste, and I, eating our breakfast on a pile of drift wood, Upper Missouri.
485. Medicine Buffalo of the Sioux, the figure of a buffalo cut out of the turf on the prairie, and visited by the Indians going on a buffalo-hunt.
486. Bogard, Bàtiste, and I, chasing a herd of buffalo in high grass, on a Missouri bottom.
487. Feats of Horsemanship.
Camanchees throwing themselves on the side of their horses, while at full speed, to evade their enemies’ arrows—a most wonderful feat.
488. Camanchee War Party meeting the Dragoons; and one of their bravest men advancing to shake hands with Colonel Dodge, with a piece of white buffalo-skin on the point of his lance. On the Mexican frontier, 1835.
489. An Indian Wedding, Assinneboin—young man making presents to the father of the girl.
490. Crow at his Toilette, oiling his long hair with bear’s grease.
491. Crow Lodge, of twenty-five buffalo-skins, beautifully ornamented.
This splendid lodge, with all its poles and furniture, was brought from the foot of the Rocky Mountains.
492. Pawnee Lodge, thatched with prairie grass, in form of a straw beehive.
493. Camanchee Lodge, of buffalo-skins.
494. Dog Feast, Sioux; a religious feast.
Given to Mr. Sanford (Indian agent), Mr. Chouteau, Mr. M'Kenzie, and myself, in a Sioux village, 1400 miles above St. Louis, 1833. The only food was dog’s meat, and this is the highest honour they can confer on a stranger.
495. An Indian Council, Sioux—Chiefs in profound deliberation.
496. Camanchee War Party, mounted on wild horses, armed with shields, bows, and lances.
497. Scalping, Sioux; showing the mode of taking the scalp.
498. Scalping, Mandans—“Conqueror conquered.”
From a story of the Mandans—took place in front of the Mandan village.
499. Wild Horses at Play, Texas, of all colours, like a kennel of hounds.
500. Throwing the Laso, with a noose, which falls over the horse’s neck.
501. Breaking down the Wild Horse, with hobbles on his fore feet, and the laso around his under jaw.
502. A Bird’s-Eye View of the Mandan Village, 1800 miles above St. Louis, on the west bank of the Missouri River.
The lodges are covered with earth, and so compactly fixed by long use, that men, women, and children recline and play upon their tops in pleasant weather.
These lodges vary in size from forty to fifty feet in diameter, and are all of a circular form. The village is protected in front by the river, with a bank forty feet high, and on the back part by a piquet of timber set firmly in the ground. Back of the village, on the prairie, are seen the scaffolds on which their dead bodies are laid to decay, being wrapped in several skins of buffalo, and tightly bandaged.
In the middle of the village is an open area of 150 feet in diameter, in which their public games and festivals are held. In the centre of that is their “Big Canoe,” a curb made of planks, which is an object of religious veneration. Over the Medicine (or mystery) Lodge are seen hanging on the tops of poles several sacrifices to the Great Spirit of blue and black cloth, which have been bought at great prices, and there left to hang and decay.
503. The Interior of a Mandan Lodge, showing the manner in which it is constructed of poles, and covered with dirt. The Chief is seen smoking his pipe, and his family grouped around him.
At the head of each warrior’s bed is seen a post with his ornaments hanging on it, and also his buffalo-mask, which every man keeps to dance the buffalo-dance. Some of these lodges contain thirty or forty persons, and the beds are seen extending around the side of the lodge, all with sacking bottoms, made of a buffalo-skin, and the frames of the bed covered with dressed skins.
⁂ Reader, the hospitable and friendly Mandans, who were about 2000 in number when I was amongst them and painted these pictures, have recently been destroyed by the small-pox. It is a melancholy fact, that only thirty-one were left of the number, and these have been destroyed by their enemy, so that their tribe is extinct, and they hold nowhere an existence on earth.
Nearly twenty of their portraits can be seen on the walls, and several other paintings of their games and amusements.