FOOTNOTES:
[34] The fine collection of all these impressions and petrifications made on this occasion has, unfortunately, not reached Europe. See, on this subject, "Synopsis of the Organic Remains of the Cretaceous Groups of the United States," &c., by S. G. Morton, Philad., 1834; and "Transactions of the Geological Society of Philadelphia."—Maximilian.
[35] Probably identical with Beauchamp Creek. Just above this was the site of Fort Hawley, built in 1867 by the Northwestern Fur Company.—Ed.
[36] Coues, Lewis and Clark Expedition, i, p. 321, identifies Teapot as the present Yellow Creek, a northern affluent between Beauchamp and Rocky creeks. It is also called Kannuck.—Ed.
[37] For a general sketch of the Blackfeet, see our volume v, p. 225, note 120; for the Grosventres of the Prairies, Franchère's Narrative, in our volume vi, p. 371, note 183.—Ed.
[38] Little Rocky Mountains are a short range in Chouteau County, Montana, forming part of the watershed between the Milk and the Missouri. They are but thirty miles north of the latter, and rise to an altitude of about five thousand feet. Lewis and Clark called the range North Mountain.—Ed.
[39] According to the French edition of Maximilian's Travels, the names of these engagés were Croteau and Rondin.—Ed.
[40] This island no longer exists; it was below Cow Creek, in the present Chouteau County, Montana.—Ed.
[41] See Plate 68, figure 20, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv. Bighorn Island is not specifically mentioned in the text of the Original Journals, but it was passed on the day (May 25, 1805) when Drouillard first brought one of these animals to camp. See Original Journals, ii, pp. 71-76, with small drawing. In Clark's "Summary Statement of Rivers, etc.," it is named Ibex Island; op. cit., vi, p. 61.—Ed.
[42] See Plate 68, figure 28, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.
[43] Our author misread the name of this island on the map. Lewis and Clark named it "Goodriches Island," for one of the men of their party; see Original Journals, vi, p. 61.—Ed.
[44] Likewise named for one of the party, Richard Windsor. This is now Cow Creek, draining the western borders of Little Rocky Mountains, and entering the Missouri from the north.—Ed.
[45] See Plate 68, figures 21, 25, 26, in the accompanying atlas, volume xxv of our series.—Ed.
[46] Lewis calls these "Elk Rapids," but Clark gives the name as "Elk & Faun Riffle," since "in the rapid we saw a Dow Elk & hir faun." Coues thinks this the present Lone Pine Rapids.—Ed.
[47] Dauphin's Rapids became a prominent landmark on the upper river. They were located about six miles below Judith River, and formed a troublesome obstruction. According to Culbertson's reminiscences, they were named for Antoine Dauphin, who was here detected in a liaison with a Blackfoot woman. He was one of the first victims of smallpox in 1837.—Ed.
[48] For Brackenridge's Journal, see our volume vi. Maximilian here refers to the eminent Scottish naturalist, Sir John Richardson (1787-1865). He entered the navy about 1807, was in several naval battles, and finally joined Sir John Franklin in both his exploring expeditions. In 1848-49 Richardson commanded a search expedition for Franklin. His published works are many, the one here noticed being his Fauna Boreali Americana (London, 1829-37), which he issued in collaboration with two other scientists.—Ed.
[49] Now Birch Creek, named by Lewis and Clark for John B. Thompson, "a valuable member of our party. This creek contains a greater proportion of running water than common"—Original Journals, ii, p. 90. It is on the north side of the Missouri, rising in Bear Paw Mountain and running directly south.—Ed.
[50] Under the 2nd August, Softshell Turtle Creek is spoken of as forming this boundary.—H. Evans Lloyd.
[51] Bull Creek was so named by Lewis and Clark because (May 29, 1805) a buffalo bull charged through their camp then lying at the mouth of the stream. It is now Dog Creek, a southern affluent two miles and a half below Judith River. The latter is the largest southern branch west of the Musselshell. It rises between Sunny and Little Belt mountains, in what is known as Judith's Gap, and flows nearly north, on its way receiving many affluents. It was so named by William Clark for Miss Julia Hancock, who afterwards became his wife. Fort Chardon (or Fort F. A. C.) was built near its mouth in 1844, being destroyed the following year.—Ed.
[52] See Plate 74, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.
[53] Now Arrow River, rising in Baldy Range and flowing north-east, forming part of the boundary between Chouteau and Fergus counties. There is, however, an inadvertence in the use of this name. Lewis and Clark at first named Judith's River Bighorn, later abandoning this cognomen for its present name. The next stream above, on the south side, the explorers named Slaughter River for a herd of buffalo slaughtered by Indians below its cliffs. The published map, however, errs by placing here two rivers—Bighorn (which should be an alternate for Judith) and Slaughter Creek beyond the stone walls. Clark's "Summary Statement," Original Journals, vi, p. 62, gives this correctly.—Ed.
By a typographical error the Crow name for the Bighorn is given wrongly as "Ichpnaotsa" instead of "Ichpoa-tassa" (close articulation, ich guttural, tassa soft, short, and without emphasis).—Maximilian.
[54] See Plate 20, in accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.
[55] This was the same tribe, possibly the same band, with whom the battle of Pierre's Hole occurred the preceding summer. See our volume xxi, pp. 69-72.—Ed.
[56] Possibly the first is the massacre at St. John's house, referred to by John McLean in Notes of Twenty-Five Years' Service in the Hudson's Bay Territory (London, 1849), i, pp. 234-237.
For Meriwether Lewis's difficulties with the Grosventres of the Prairies, consult Original Journals, v, pp. 218-227.—Ed.
[57] For Sir Alexander Mackenzie see Franchère's Narrative, in our volume vi, p. 185, note 4. For the Blackfeet and Arapaho see our volume v, p. 225, note 120. The tribal affinity between the Grosventres of the Prairies and the Arapaho was recognized by frequent visits of the former to the land of the latter. Consult Chittenden, Fur-Trade, ii, pp. 852, 853.—Ed.
[58] See p. [105] for illustration of Grosventre dagger.—Ed.
[59] Most of the Grosventres used the Blackfoot language as well as their own, which is described as difficult by all travellers to this region.—Ed.
[60] The Original Journals speak of Stonewall Creek and "those imence nateral walls."—Ed.
[61] Similar sand-stone strata are said to occur in other parts of North America; and, in South America, Poeppig seems to have met with them, as he describes them in the following passage:—"Towards noon we approached the highest point on this road, the Alto de Lacchagual (4718 metres, according to Rivero). We were much struck with the sand-stone rocks, which we approached about the half way of the journey, after having already seen them ever since the morning, in different directions before us. As isolated masses, of the most varied forms, they extend in rows along the ridge of the far-stretching chain of hills, and form, in many places, really gigantic walls. Low groups, probably only broken fragments, lie scattered irregularly around, but high, apparently regular pillars rise far above them in the distance, that look partly like basalt, for which they are taken at Lima; partly like works constructed by art. By their symmetrical arrangement they sometimes seem to be the ruins of an immensely large building; at others, appear like large regular quadrangles with square gates, between what seem to be high bastions. The form of the inverted cone occurs here as among the rocks at Adersbach, only the proportions must be conceived as suitable to the Andes, for many of these dark pillars are, undoubtedly, several hundred feet high. The eye exerts itself in vain to discover the termination of these stony columns. They vanish at a great distance in the north-west, between similar lines, which appear to meet them at a certain angle. At one place only we approached them close enough to be able to examine at least the lowest fragments; we saw, however, little more than a very soft, coarse sand-stone, of a whitish colour, which has become black only by the action of the air, and decomposition of the surface. These remarkable groups have no particular name, and no popular tradition is connected with their romantic forms, as in the Hartz. The Peruvian possesses, in this respect, less imagination than the Chileno, who makes something out of every rock, the form of which is unusual; sees a church on the summit of the Andes of Santa Rosa, and, in a lateral valley of the road from Mendoza, fancies that he discovers a palace, and a long procession of monks performing penance."—(Reisebeschreibung, Vol. II. p. 48).—Maximilian.
[62] See Plate 67, figures 6-9, and Plate 68, figures 22-29, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.
[63] The extensive collection of all kinds of rock in this remarkable sand-stone valley, was unfortunately lost in the fire on board the Company's steam-boat in the year 1834, and I am, consequently, unable to determine more particularly the kind of the above-mentioned rock, standing out in narrow perpendicular walls. Lewis and Clark call it a conglomerate; but this expression seems to me not to be well chosen.—Maximilian.
[64] See Plate 67, figure 4, and Plate 68, figure 11, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.
[65] See Plate 18, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.
[66] See Plate 74, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.
[67] Represented in Plate 74 of the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.
[68] Figure 10 of Plate 68, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.
[69] Now Eagle Creek, rising in Bear Paw Mountains and entering the Missouri from the north-east.—Ed.
[70] Bear Paw Mountains are located in Chouteau County, west of the Little Rockies. They are not a continuous chain, but a group of high, steep, broken hills partly covered with timber, forming part of the watershed between Milk and Missouri rivers. The western end approaches within eight or ten miles of the Missouri. In these mountains occurred the battle of September 30-October 2, 1877, when United States troops captured Chief Joseph and the largest part of his band of Nez Percés.—Ed.
[71] This group is the Highwood Mountains, on the southern borders of Chouteau County, directly south of Fort Benton. These mountains rise to an altitude of 7,600 feet.—Ed.
[72] See Lewis's own description of his cure, by the use of this fruit, in Original Journals, ii, p. 142.—Ed.
[73] Maria's River rises in the main chain of the Rocky Mountains, and flows nearly due east into the Missouri, forming its largest northern tributary beyond Milk River. Upon reaching the mouth, Lewis and Clark were uncertain, until they had explored each branch, which was the main stream of the Missouri. They named the northern tributary for Captain Lewis's cousin, Miss Maria Wood, later Mrs. Clarkson.—Ed.
[74] For James Kipp see our volume xxii, p. 345, note 319. The site of this post was directly in the angle of the rivers on the west bank of the Missouri; it has since been swept away by the river. While the fort was building, Kipp requested the Indians to depart and return after seventy-five days, when to their surprise they found a completed structure. In the spring of 1832 most of the engagés declined to re-enter the service because of the hazardous situation of the post; moreover, the furs had to be transported to Fort Union. Kipp had, therefore, no alternative but to abandon the stockade, which the Indians soon burned. Three French-Canadians, having taken Blackfoot wives, remained with this tribe. See "Affairs at Fort Benton," in Montana Historical Society Contributions, iii, pp. 203-204.—Ed.
[75] Fort Mc Kenzie, whose founding is described by Maximilian in chapter xix, post, was situated about six miles above the mouth of Maria's River, a little below a cluster of small islands, on the west side of the river, opposite bold bluffs. It was maintained until 1844. In that year Culbertson having been transferred to another post, Chardon and Harvey, in command at Fort Mc Kenzie, took summary vengeance on the neighboring Indians for theft by discharging cannon at them as they came to trade at the post, and killing over thirty. Thereupon the traders were forced by native hostility to abandon this fort and retreat to the newly-constructed Fort Chardon, near Judith's River (see note 53, ante, p. [71]). The Indians burned Fort Mc Kenzie, which was thereafter spoken of as Fort Brulé, and its site as Brulé Bottom.—Ed.
[76] Those Indians are called soldiers at the trading posts who are employed as a kind of police to maintain order among their own people.—Maximilian.
Comment by Ed. Catlin painted a portrait of a Blackfoot chief and medicine man named White Buffalo. See his North American Indians, i, p. 34, Plate 15.
CHAPTER XIX
DESCRIPTION OF FORT MC KENZIE AND THE ENVIRONS, AND OF THE INDIAN POPULATION LIVING THERE
Fort Mc Kenzie—The Blackfeet; their Appearance, Head-dress, &c.
Fort Mc Kenzie, which, at the time of its first establishment in 1832, was called by Mr. Mitchell, its founder, Fort Piekann, is designed for carrying on the fur trade with the three branches of the Blackfoot Indians, and several other neighbouring nations, as the Gros Ventres des Prairies, the Sassis,[77] and the Kutanas, or Kutnehas.[78] As I have already said, the American Fur Company concluded, in the year 1831, a commercial convention with those tribes, and sent for that purpose the interpreter, Berger, a Canadian, who was pretty well acquainted with the language of the Blackfeet, who brought seventy Indians of those nations to a conference at Fort Union.
At his first meeting with these dangerous people they were going to kill him, and he was saved by a certain chief, after many disputes. The convention which Mr. Mc Kenzie concluded with the Indians, after those negotiations, will be found in the Appendix.[79] As soon as it was agreed to by both parties, Mr. Kipp was sent with a keel-boat laden with goods to Maria River, and Fort Piekann, now in ruins, was founded. The sight of the numerous assemblage of different {243} Indian nations collected here on that occasion is said to have been highly interesting. As the situation of the fort was subsequently found to be unfavourable, Major Mitchell, who succeeded Mr. Kipp, transferred the trading post to its present situation, where an extensive prairie was better suited to the meeting of numerous Indians. When the Company's people landed at this place in 1832, the present fort was erected in a few days. While the work was going on, they lived in the keel-boat, and were actually blockaded by at least 4000 or 5000 men; and, on the whole, by an Indian population of 10,000 or 12,000 persons, extremely dangerous, in whom no confidence could be placed, and whose perfidious, sanguinary, and predatory character was sufficiently known. In fact, some insignificant disputes nearly produced a breach of the peace, which would have inevitably led to the destruction of the crew of the boat, and was prevented only by the decision and resolute conduct of Mr. Mitchell. The Indians had already cut the rope which held the keel-boat, the only hope of the Americans, to the bank, whose situation at this time was extremely critical, as the Blood Indians in particular had always been the declared enemies of the Whites. As soon as the traders got into the fort, which was quickly completed, their situation was much changed. They were secure from the attacks of the Indians, and had sufficient provisions, powder, and ball, for a considerable time. The Indians were no longer admitted indiscriminately; suitable precautions were adopted; and the Piekanns, who were the principal tribe inhabiting the surrounding country, and some families of whom are found here at all seasons of the year, set up their tents in the vicinity.
The present fort is 120 paces from the north bank of the Missouri, which a little below makes a large bend. From this to the highest chain of the Rocky Mountains is about 100 English miles; but to the beginning of the mountains, not more than fifteen or twenty miles, and a good day's journey to the Falls of the Missouri.
The fort itself is built in the same manner as the other trading posts already described; it forms a quadrangle, the sides of which are forty-five or forty-seven paces in length, and is defended by two block-houses, with some pieces of cannon. It is much smaller than Fort Union, and worse and more slightly built. The dwellings are of one story, and low; the rooms small, generally without floorings, with a chimney, a door, a small window with parchment instead of glass, and a very flat roof covered with green sods, where the inhabitants post themselves, when, in case of being attacked, they have to fire over the high pickets. The flagstaff stands in the centre of the court-yard. The gate is strong, double, and well protected; and, when the trade with the Indians is going on, the inner gate is closed: the entrance to the Indian store, between the two gates, is then free, a strong guard being stationed at the store. We had brought with us the glass windows, and other necessary materials, for the proposed new fort. Before our arrival, the inhabitants of the fort were twenty-seven white men, and several Indian women, married to them, to whom our arrival made an addition of fifty-three persons. All these people, excepting the {244} first table for six persons, lived entirely on meat, so that we may assume that two buffaloes daily were required for their consumption. When we consider the generally very good appetites of the Canadians, of whom it is proverbially said that two of them will nearly devour a whole side of a buffalo, it is evident how necessary it is to have good hunters, and also to purchase large quantities of meat from the Indians. They generally receive twenty balls and the necessary powder for all the flesh of a buffalo cow, or even less when these animals are numerous; but as many as forty charges for a gun are paid them when the buffaloes are at a distance.
A level prairie surrounds this fort; and, about 800 paces beyond it, the chain of hills, about 80 to 100 feet high, runs in the direction from south to north, and about 2000 paces above the fort reaches the Missouri, and then runs along its bank. The banks of the river, and the low islands on it, are here and there bordered with wood and bushes, and some islands are entirely covered with them. On ascending to the top of the chain of hills, you look over a level dry prairie, in which, at a small distance, are the pretty deep beds of two rivers, Maria River, and Teton River, called, by Lewis and Clarke, Tansy River.[80] The latter, which is a small river, flows through a beautifully verdant valley, the bottom of which is covered with tall, shady poplars; there is good pasture of high grasses, and other plants. It falls into the Maria not far above its mouth, after having flowed for some distance almost parallel to the Missouri, to which it approaches so nearly, at between three and four miles from the fort, that the piece of land which separates the two rivers, is not more than 500 or 600 paces broad.[81]
Below the fort, in the first bend of the river, is an island, called Horse Island, where the horses belonging to the fort are sent to graze in the winter. They never have any other food than grass in summer; and in the winter, the bark of poplar trees, which they gnaw off. They never enter a stable. The south bank of the Missouri consists of high clay walls, in which there are doubtless strata of sand-stone, because numbers of beautiful impressions of shells are found immediately at the edge of the bank. These high walls must be very dangerous to the fort, in case of an attack by the Indians, because an effective fire may be made from them into the internal quadrangle of the fort. This dangerous position was one of the causes which led to the resolution of founding a new settlement further up the river.[82]
The Missouri itself does not abound in fish in the neighbourhood of Fort Mc Kenzie, yet soft shell turtles are sometimes caught, as well as cat-fish, of the two species already mentioned, one of which we obtained during our stay, and which, as proof of the voracity of these animals, had in its stomach a stone polished by the action of the water, five inches long and four and a half broad. A sturgeon, of a species which, we were told, is not found in the Mississippi, was caught here, and universally considered as an extraordinary rarity.
{245} The prairie of which I have already spoken was now animated, in the vicinity of the fort, by the camp of the Piekanns, which was set up in four divisions at about 400 paces from the pickets. The grass was trodden down or fed off by the people and numerous horses, and on every side were horsemen, groups of pedestrians and dogs, besides the horses belonging to the fort, which were brought out in the morning, under the care of four well armed horsemen, and conducted back in the evening at sunset. As we shall have frequent occasion in the sequel to come in contact with the Indians of this part of the country, this may be the best place to speak of the Blackfeet, who are the original population of the prairies.
The Blackfeet form a numerous nation, which is divided into three tribes, speaking one and the same language. These tribes are—
1. The Siksekai or Seksekai, the Blackfeet properly so called.[83]
2. The Kahna or Kaënna, the Blood Indians.[84]
3. The Piekanns.
All together they can bring into the field 5000 or 6000 warriors, and, doubtless, amount to 18,000 or 20,000 souls, which number is assumed by Dr. Morse, though he thinks it below the truth. Warden estimates the number of the Blackfeet at only 5000 souls, of whom the half, he says, are warriors; this is unquestionably far too low an estimate. We shall have the number of 18,000 or 20,000 souls, if we reckon only three women, children, and old men, for one warrior, and this is certainly a very low estimate. The Blackfeet move about in the prairies near the Rocky Mountains, and partly live among those mountains, but especially they dwell between the three forks of the Missouri, of which Jefferson River is the most northerly; the Madison River, the western or central; and the Gallatin the most southerly or easterly. They live, however, especially the Piekanns, as far down as Maria River, in the prairies of which they move about, and where all the three tribes sometimes meet to trade with the American Fur Company. They likewise trade with the Hudson's Bay Company, and with the Spaniards of Santa Fe, as appears from the Spanish blankets, crosses, &c., which they wear. There is, probably, no reason to doubt that they take most of these things in war, for the rifles, compasses, &c., which we found in their possession, were marked with the names of the owners. They are always dangerous {246} to white men who are hunting singly in the mountains, especially to the beaver hunters, and kill them whenever they fall into their hands; hence the armed troops of the traders keep up a continual war with them. It was said that in the year 1832 they shot fifty-eight Whites, and a couple of years before that time, above eighty. In the neighbourhood of the forts they keep the peace, and the Piekanns, in particular, behave well and amicably to the Whites, whereas the Blood Indians and the Siksekai can never be trusted. They are all great adepts in horse stealing, even in the vicinity of the trading posts. All these Indians are comprehended, by the Whites, under the general name of Blackfeet, which they themselves do not, however, extend so far, but know each of the three tribes only by its own proper name. As they speak only one language, keep together, and differ but little in their external appearance, they are justly considered as one and the same nation, and I shall always speak of them as such by this general name.
We do not, at present, possess any accurate and detailed account of these people, for the American Fur Company, who trade with them, and therefore have had the best opportunity of becoming acquainted with them, seldom take any interest in scientific researches. How little has hitherto been known of these people is proved by the fact that Brackenridge declares them to be Sioux, though a comparison of some words of their language immediately proves the contrary.[85] In their exterior, the Blackfeet do not much differ from the other Indians of the Upper Missouri. They are robust, generally well made men, and some of the women and girls are very pretty. The men are partly broad shouldered and muscular, partly of middle stature, and thickset. One of the Blood Indians measured six feet eleven inches English measure. Several Piekanns were nearly six feet, French measure. The Big Soldier was five feet ten inches two lines, French measure. Their arms and legs are more slender than those of the Whites, but this is by no means a general rule. Their hands and feet are, for the most part, small, of a blackish-brown colour, with prominent veins, exactly like the Botocudos and other Brazilians, with whom, as I have already observed, evident traces of this affinity appear in all the North American Indians. Their features are in the main the same as those of the other Indians which have been before described. The nose is often slightly curved or bent downwards, frequently long and thin, almost like those of the Jews, and the nostrils not extended, which is more frequently, though not always seen in the Brazilians. Their eyes are mostly hazel, yet I saw one Piekann with a light bluish-grey circle round the iris. Their hair is jet black, and generally stiff, yet often not so shining a black as that of the Brazilians; their beard is not thin, but is carefully plucked out, for which purpose they have a twisted wire, or a piece of tin bent together like a pair of tweezers. Old people often have grey hair, but some young men are seen whose hair is dyed of a dark brown. A whole family of Piekanns, near Fort Mc Kenzie, had such hair mixed with a good deal of grey. I never saw any with bald heads. The colour of the skin of these Indians is mostly a fine bright reddish-brown, often really copper colour, and generally darker than in the Brazilians. {247} Even little children have the dark brown colour, but newly born infants are rather paler. Children, as in Brazil, have, in general, prominent bellies and thin limbs, and often the navel large and swollen.
The Blackfeet do not disfigure their bodies; none of the nations of the Missouri bore the nose and lips, except a tribe in the Rocky Mountains, who are known by the name of Pierced Nosed Indians, because they bore a hole through the gristle of the nose. It is only in the ear that the Blackfeet pierce one or two small holes, in which they wear various ornaments, such as strings of glass beads, alternating with white cylinders, which they get from the Dentalium, which they barter from the nations on the west side of the Rocky Mountains, especially the Kutanas.[86] Many Blackfeet do not wear anything in their ears, which are generally concealed by their long thick hair. I have never seen any tattooing among them. On the other hand, many had, upon their arms, parallel transverse incisions, which were cicatrized, and most of them wanted one or two joints of a finger, of which I shall have occasion to speak by-and-by. They paint their faces red with vermilion; this colour, which they procure by barter from the traders, is rubbed in with fat, which gives them a shining appearance. Others colour only the edge of their eyelids, and some stripes in the face, with red; others use a certain yellow clay for the face, and red round the eyes; others, again, paint the face red, and the forehead, a stripe down the nose, and the chin, blue, with the shining earth from the mountains which I have before mentioned, and which, being analyzed by Professor Cordier,[87] at Paris, he found to be mixed with an earthy peroxide of iron, probably mixed with some clay. Others colour the whole face black, and only the eyelids and some stripes red. The women and children paint the face only of a uniform red. The vermilion costs the Indians very dear, for the Company supply it from their stores at ten dollars a pound. The Blackfeet do not paint the body—at least, I have never seen it, and it is generally covered. Their hair hangs down straight and stiff, often in disorder over the eyes and round the head. Young people, however, who pay more attention to neatness, part it regularly over the forehead, and comb it smooth. A small sea-shell is often fastened to a tuft of hair on each side, close to the temples; others were on one side, and often on both sides of the forehead, and a lock of hair with brass and iron wire twisted round it; lastly, a few adopted the ornament usual among the Manitaries and Mandans, which forms a long string on each side of the forehead, and will be particularly described when we are treating of the latter. Such a one was worn by the son of the old Kutona, Makuie-Poka, and by a few other Blackfeet, who had had intercourse with the Manitaries. Some distinguished Blackfeet warriors had a tuft of the feathers of owls, or birds of prey, hanging at the back of the head; sometimes ermine skin, with little stripes of red cloth, adorned with bright buttons; or, on the top of the head, broad black feathers, cut short, like a brush, as represented in the portrait of the Assiniboin, Noapeh.[88] Some braid the hair in a long thick queue behind, and many, especially the {248} medicine men, or jugglers, wear it, like the Mandans and Manitaries, divided into several thick queues all round, and generally bind them all together with a leather strap, in a thick knot over the forehead. Many bind a narrow strip of skin, or a leather strap, round the head, and stick one or two feathers in it; several fasten large bears' claws in their hair; most of them, when in full dress, wear the large necklace of these claws, which is a costly and handsome ornament; or else one made of certain roots, which smell like Fœnum Græcum, which they obtain from the Kutanas.[89] Very often they adorn themselves with a braided necklace, composed of a sweet-smelling grass, probably anthoxanthum, with others of glass beads, which they buy of the Company for three or four dollars a pound, and which the women in particular highly value. Some Piekanns hang round their necks a green stone,[90] often of various shapes, or the teeth of buffaloes, stags, elks, horses, &c., or large round flat pieces cut out of shells. On their fingers they wear rings, mostly of brass, which they purchase, by dozens, of the Company—often six or eight on each finger, often only one or two on the whole hand. They generally let their finger nails grow long, always, at least, the thumb nail, which is often crooked like a claw.
The dress of the Blackfeet is made of tanned leather, and the handsomest leather shirts are made of the skin of the bighorn, which, when new, is of a yellowish-white colour, and looks very well. A narrow strip of the skin with the hair is generally left at the edge of such a skin. These shirts have half sleeves, and the seams are trimmed with tufts of human hair, or of horse-hair dyed of various colours, hanging down, and with porcupine quills sewn round their roots. These shirts generally have at the neck a flap hanging down both before and behind, which we saw usually lined with red cloth, ornamented with fringe, or with stripes of yellow and coloured porcupine quills, or of sky-blue glass beads. Some have all these fringes composed of slips of white ermine; this is a very costly ornament, these little animals having become scarce. Many of the distinguished chiefs and warriors wore such dresses, which are really handsome, ornamented with many strings hanging down, in the fashion of an Hungarian tobacco pouch. When these leather shirts begin to be dirty, they are often painted of a reddish-brown colour; but they are much handsomer when they are new. Some of these Indians wear on the breast and back round rosettes like the Assiniboins, but this is only a foreign fashion, and the genuine Blackfoot costume has no such ornament. Their leggins are made like those of the other Missouri Indians, and ornamented, in the same manner, with tufts of hair or stripes of porcupine quills; the shoes, of buffalo or elk leather, are also adorned with porcupine quills, each having a ground of a different colour for its ornaments; thus, if one is white, the other is yellow—a fashion which does not exist lower down the Missouri, where both shoes are of the same colour. The chief article of their dress, {249} the large buffalo robe, is, for the most part, painted on the tanned side, but less skilfully than among the other nations. In general, there are black parallel lines mixed with a few figures, often with arrow heads, or other bad arabesques; others, again, are painted with representations of their warlike exploits, in black, red, green, and yellow. The figures represent the taking of prisoners, dead or wounded enemies, captured arms and horses, blood, balls flying about in the air, and such subjects. Such robes are embroidered with transverse bands of porcupine quills of the most brilliant colours, divided into two equal parts by a round rosette of the same. The ground of the skin is often reddish-brown, and the figures on it black. All the Missouri Indians wear these robes, and it is well known that those of the Manitaries and the Crows are the most beautifully worked and painted. In the description of Major Long's first expedition, there is a representation of such a skin,[91] but it is the only one of this kind which has come to my knowledge, and I have, therefore, had a drawing made of such a one.[92] The Company gives the value of six to ten dollars for such a skin. During the summer, the fur is worn outside, and in winter inside. The right arm and shoulder are generally bare. It might be thought that this dress was too hot in summer, and too cold in winter, but custom reconciles us to everything, and they dress pretty nearly in the same manner in the opposite seasons.
The Blackfeet, like the other tribes, carry in their hands the wing of an eagle or a swan, the tail of an owl or bird of prey, as a fan, the handle of which is covered with leather, or coloured cloth. The Company now sends to its trading posts the tails of wild turkeys, which are much in request. In general, every Blackfoot carries a whip, as well as his weapons, in his hand; a gun and his bow and arrows on his shoulder, the latter in a quiver or bag made of skin or leather, to which a bow case of the same is fastened. On his shoulder he likewise has his pouch, containing his powder-horn, and a large knife, in a sheath, is stuck behind in his leathern girdle. In the summer, and even frequently in the winter, these Indians wear their buffalo robe without any underclothing. The dress of the women is the same as among the other Missouri Indians: it is a long leather shirt, coming down to their feet, bound round the waist with a girdle, and is often ornamented with many rows of elks' teeth, bright buttons, and glass beads. The dress wraps over the breast, and has short, wide sleeves, ornamented with a good deal of fringe, which often hang down nearly in the same manner as in the national Polish dress, but not below the elbows. The lower arm is bare. The hem of the dress is likewise trimmed with fringes and scolloped. The women ornament their best dresses, both on the hem and sleeves, with dyed porcupine quills and thin leather strips, with broad diversified stripes of sky-blue and white glass beads. The Indians do not like beads of other colours, for instance, red, next the skin; and their taste in the contrast of colours is very correct, for in their black hair they generally wear red, and on their brown skins, sky-blue, white, or yellow. The women are very skilful in making their clothes and tanning the leather; the men only make their arms and smoking apparatus. The women, {250} who, on the whole, have not an uncomfortable lot, are obliged, as among the other tribes, to perform the heavy work. They are likewise very skilful in the art of dyeing; and, to produce the beautiful yellow colour, they employ a lemon-coloured moss from the Rocky Mountains, which grows in the fir trees, my specimens of which are unfortunately lost. A certain root furnishes a beautiful red dye, and they extract many other bright colours from the goods procured from the Whites. With them they dye the porcupine quills and the quills of the feathers, with which they embroider very neatly. The girls are dressed in the same manner as the women, and their dresses are generally ornamented with elks' teeth, for which the Indians pay a high price.
The leather tents of the Blackfeet, their internal arrangement, and the manner of loading their dogs and horses, agree, in every respect, with those of the Sioux and Assiniboins, and all the wandering tribes of hunters of the Upper Missouri. The tents, made of tanned buffalo skin, last only for one year; they are, at first, neat and white, afterwards brownish, and at the top, where the smoke issues, black, and, at last, transparent, like parchment, and very light inside. Painted tents, adorned with figures, are very seldom seen, and only a few chiefs possess them. When these tents are taken down, they leave a circle of sods, exactly as in the dwellings of the Esquimaux. They are often surrounded by fifteen or twenty dogs, which serve, not for food, but only for drawing and carrying their baggage. Some Blackfeet, who have visited the Sioux, have imitated them in eating dogs, but this is rare. Near the tent they keep their dog sledges, with which they form conical piles resembling the tents themselves, but differing from them in not being covered with leather. On these they hang their shields, travelling bags, saddles and bridles; and at some height, out of the reach of the hungry dogs, they hang the meat, which is cut into long strips, their skins, &c. The medicine bag or bundle, the conjuring apparatus, is often hung and fastened to a separate pole, or over the door of the tent. Their household goods consist of buffalo robes and blankets, many kinds of painted parchment bags, some of them in a semicircular form, with leather strings and fringes;[93] wooden dishes, large {251} spoons made of the horn of the mountain sheep, which are very wide and deep;[94] similar drinking vessels made of horn, kettles, and sometimes tin utensils, which they obtain from the merchants, clothes, &c. In the centre of the tent there is a small fire in a circle composed of stones, over which the kettle for cooking is suspended. Among their household goods we may reckon the harness of their horses. The horse has, generally, only a long rope, made of buffalo hair, fastened to the lower jaw, with which it is tied in the meadow. The saddle consists of two broad flat boards, inclining towards each other at an angle, which lie along the sides of the horse's back; it has before and behind an upright piece, which frequently has a leather fringe hanging to it. It is covered with a skin, and has another under it, and these skins serve the rider, at night, for a bed. The Blackfeet are fond of a handsome housing, made of a large panther's skin, which they generally obtain from the Rocky Mountains. As these animals have now become more scarce, a high price is often given for the skin; sometimes a good horse, and even several, and seldom less than sixty dollars in value. The panther's skin is so laid across the horse that the long tail hangs down on one side, and has scarlet cloth laid under it, which forms all round a broad border, as well to the fore legs as at the head and tail.[95]
A Grosventre dagger
Horn drinking cup
Blackfoot parchment bags
Talc pipes
One of the most necessary articles to the men is the tobacco-pipe; those made by themselves are not so handsome as those of the Sioux, which they highly prize, and readily obtain by barter. The true Blackfoot pipes are made of the talc, of which I have already spoken, or of a blackish stone, which is found in the Rocky Mountains. Their shape is shown in the annexed woodcuts;[96] {252} it is often in the form of a ball, or a pear, and rests upon a cubical foot. The tube is made of wood, broad, flat, or round, and sometimes carved in imitation of a serpent. The handsomest are the large medicine pipes, the calumets of the French.[97] They are adorned with the red heads of the woodpecker, bills, and a large fan made of feathers, and are used in all the solemn treaties and festivals of the North American tribes, more or less ornamented, but, on the whole, always in the same manner. When the Blackfeet smoke, they put a piece of dried earth, or a round mass made of the filaments and pods of certain water plants, on the ground, to rest the pipe on. Their tobacco consists of the small, roundish, dried leaves of the sakakomi plant (Arbutus uva ursi). When you visit an Indian in his tent, the pipe is immediately taken up, and passes round in the company, each person handing it to his left-hand neighbour. The master of the tent often blows the smoke towards the sun and the earth; every one takes some puffs and hands it on; the last man sends the pipe back again, but gives it to the person sitting opposite to him, in another row, and it circulates as before. The Blackfeet, like most of the tribes of the Upper Missouri, sow the seeds of the Nicotiana quadrivalvis, having first burnt the place where they intend it to grow: it is only on solemn occasions that they smoke this tobacco.
The food and clothing of these people are chiefly derived from the herds of buffaloes, which they pursue, and for which they make, in the winter season, large parks, into which they are driven. The antelopes and the mountain sheep, especially the latter, furnish them with leather for their finer articles of dress; but the skins of the buffalo cow are indispensable for their large robes, tents, and for barter with the Whites. They feed on almost every kind of animal except the grizzly bear; the black bear is not found in their prairies, and they have an aversion to amphibious animals. The Blood Indians hunt wolves for the sake of their skins, which they sell. All these Indians are very expert in the use of the bow, and this weapon is dangerous in their hands; with the gun, on the contrary, they are said to be indifferent marksmen, their pieces being by no means good. From the vegetable kingdom they obtain many roots; the pomme blanche, or white turnip, is very common in their prairies. The women and children dig them up with a particular kind of wooden instrument, and bring them in strings to the Whites for sale.
Another root is bitter; it is boiled in broth, and is then very nutritious. It is said that when you are accustomed to the taste, it is not disagreeable. Another turnip-like root, called, by the Canadians, racine à tabac, is buried in the earth with hot stones, and is said to become black, like tobacco, as soon as it is fit to eat; it has a sweetish taste, like parsnips. The other wild fruits of the prairies are gathered by the women and children. Little children are obliged very early, even as soon as they have cut their teeth, to chew meat, or more properly speaking, to suck it; while older children are seen at the mother's breast. The Blackfeet are very fond of their {253} children, and, at their birth, give them names after animals, and other things, remarkable events, and all kinds of occurrences.
Brandy is the greatest luxury of these Indians, as of all the other North Americans, for which they will willingly part with everything they possess, and have about them. They will even offer their wives and children for sale in order to obtain it. It is said that, when intoxicated, they are often less dangerous than other people. Many of the men have often six or eight wives, whom they are very ready to give up to the Whites: even very young little girls are offered. On the other hand, they generally punish infidelity in their wives very severely, cutting off their noses in such cases; and we saw, about Fort Mc Kenzie, a great many of these poor creatures horribly disfigured. When ten or twelve tents were together, we were sure to see six or seven women mutilated in this manner.
The husband also cuts off the hair by way of punishment, and they then avoid showing their heads, which they seek to cover. During our stay, the Whites had punished their Indian wives in the same way. The woman whose nose is cut off, is immediately repudiated by her husband; nobody will take her as his wife; and such women generally work for wages, or for their subsistence, in other tents; attend on the children, tan hides, or perform other household work. There have been frequent instances of a husband immediately killing his wife, when she has had intercourse with others; often he avenges himself on the paramour, takes away his horse or other valuable property, to which he must submit quietly.
There is no particular marriage ceremony among the Blackfeet; the man pays for the wife, and takes her to him; the purchase-price is announced to the father of the girl by a friend or some other man. If he accepts it, the girl is given up, and the marriage is concluded. If the wife behaves ill, or if her husband is tired of her, he sends her home without any ceremony, which does not give occasion to any dispute. She takes her property and retires: the children remain the property of the husband. These Indians often have many children, who generally run and play about quite naked, and swim in the river like ducks. The boys go naked till they are thirteen or fourteen years old, but the girls have a leather dress at an early age. In their domestic life, the Blackfeet, like all the North Americans, are quiet and peaceable; they are said, however, to be more passionate than other nations. Duels sometimes take place, and vengeance is executed in most cases. If an Indian is killed, his relations avenge themselves, if possible, on the murderer; but, if they have no opportunity to do this, they take revenge on the first member of his family that they meet with; often, however, their vengeance is bought off with some articles of value.
In their camp and tents, these Indians, even the dangerous Blood Indians, are hospitable. White men, who visited them in the cold month of October, were immediately lodged in the tent {254} of a chief, while the owner, with his whole family, slept in the open air: nobody dared to molest the guests. The horses were well taken care of, and there was no need to look after them, for, under these circumstances, they were perfectly safe, as well as all the effects of the strangers, which, in other cases, would certainly have been stolen. It is not difficult for the Indians to feed a few Whites; on the other hand, it is impossible for the latter to do the same for their Indian visitors, and yet they expect it. These Indian visits are so numerous, and of such long continuance, that it is absolutely impossible to procure the necessary victuals for them. This is, doubtless, a chief cause of the animosity of the Indians to the Whites; and, though the disproportion in the numbers on both sides is shown them ever so clearly, they never understand it. Mr. Mitchell once received a severe lesson on this subject among the Sioux on the Mississippi. He was invited to a tent, and, though he was very hungry, did not get a morsel to eat. On the following morning, the Sioux came to him and said that, "though he had made him suffer hunger, he had not done so from any ill-will; but that the same thing had lately happened to him in the house of Mr. Mitchell, and, therefore, he meant only to give him a hint, not to be wanting in this respect for the future." The Blackfeet are inveterate beggars, that is, they are frequently troublesome by their constant importunities, but they are inferior in this respect to the Gros Ventres des Prairies. Horse stealing is an eminent art among them, and a dexterous horse stealer is a person of distinction. They have invented many games for their amusement. At one of them they sit in a circle, and several little heaps of beads, or other things, are piled up, for which they play. One takes some pebbles in his hand, moving it backwards and forwards in measured time, and singing; while another endeavours to guess the number of pebbles. In this manner considerable sums are lost and won.
The Blackfeet have various dances; for instance,—1. The mosquito dance. 2. The dog dance. 3. The dance of the buffalo, with thin horns. 4. The dance of the prairie dogs. 5. The dance of those who carry the raven. 6. The soldiers' dance. 7. The old bulls' dance. 8. The dance of the imprudent. 9. The medicine dance. 10. The scalp dance. The first seven are all danced in the same manner, the only difference is in the singing. This is usually sometimes loud, sometimes soft, now high, now low, always consisting of short, frequently repeated tones, and extremely monotonous, often interrupted by loud exclamations of "re, ri," or "hey, hey, hey," repeated three times, nearly the same among all the Missouri tribes, and interrupted by the war cry. The medicine dance of the women does not occur every year. It is a medicine feast for the latter, at which, however, some men likewise appear. A large wooden hut is erected, the women dress themselves as handsomely as they can, and all wear a large feather cap. Some of the women take no part in the dance, and these, with the men, are spectators. Men beat the drum, and shake the schischikué, the last day of the feast; when the dance is finished, the buffalo {255} park is imitated; the men, the children, and the remaining women form two diverging lines, b and c,[98] which proceed from the medicine lodge, out of which the women creep, crawling on all-fours, and endeavour to imitate the manners of the buffalo cows. Several men represent buffalo bulls, and are at first driven back by the women; but then, as is the practice in this kind of hunting, a fire is kindled to windward, and the women, or buffalo cows, as soon as they smell the smoke, retreat into the medicine lodge, which concludes the festival. They sometimes perform this dance in the summer, when the fancy takes them.
Plan of women's medicine dance
Badge of Prairie-dog band
Badge of Raven band
Pipe-lighting stick
The scalp dance, or, properly speaking, to dance the scalp, is performed when they have killed their enemies. The women then dress like the men, and likewise carry their arms. If women have taken part in the warlike expedition in which enemies have been slain, they paint their faces black. A woman sometimes carries the scalp, or several, according to the number they may have; sometimes it is carried by an old woman, who then remains aside and dances alone, and drums and schischikué, played by men, accompany the dance. There is likewise a dance of the brave, or warriors, who form a circle, within which several dance, imitating all the movements of a battle, and firing their guns, on which occasion their faces are painted so as to give them a fierce expression.
The bands, unions, or associations, mentioned when we were speaking of the Assiniboins, are found among the Blackfeet, as well as all the other American tribes. They have a certain name, fixed rules and laws, as well as their peculiar songs and dances, and serve in part to preserve order in the camp, on the march, in the hunting parties, &c. Seven such bands, or unions, among the Blackfeet, were mentioned to me, and to which the first seven dances above-mentioned belong. They are the following:—1. The band of the mosquitoes. This union has no police business to do, but consists of young people, many of whom are only eight or ten years of age; there are also some young men among them, and sometimes even a couple of old men, in order to see to the observance of the laws and regulations. This union performs wild, youthful pranks; they run about the camp whenever they please; pinch, nip, and scratch men, women, and children, in order to give annoyance like the mosquitoes. They do not even spare old, distinguished men. If any man offends one of them, he has to do with all of them, for they hold closely together. The young people begin with this union, and then gradually rise higher, through the others. As the badge of their band, they wear an eagle's claw, fastened round the wrist with a leather strap. They have also a particular mode of painting themselves, like every other band, and their peculiar songs and dance. 2. The dogs. Its badge is not known to me: it consists of young married men, and {256} the number is not limited. 3. The prairie dogs. This is a police union, which receives married men: its badge is a long hooked stick, wound round with otter skin, with knots of white skin at intervals, and a couple of eagle's feathers hanging from each of them.[99] 4. Those who carry the raven. Its badge is a long staff, covered with red cloth, to which black ravens' feathers, in a long thick row, are fastened from one end to the other.[100] They contribute to the preservation of order, and the police. 5. The buffalo, with thin horns. When they dance, they wear horns on their caps. In camp, the tents of the unions are in the middle of the circle, which has a free space in the centre. If disorders take place, they must help the soldiers, who mark out the camp, and then take the first place.
6. The soldiers. They are the most distinguished warriors, who exercise the police, especially in the camp and on the march; in public deliberations they have the casting vote, whether, for instance, they shall hunt, change their abode, make war, or conclude peace, &c. They carry, as their badge, a wooden club, the breadth of a hand, with hoofs of the buffalo cow hanging to the handle. They are sometimes forty or fifty men in number. Their wives, when they dance the medicine dance, are painted in the same manner as the men. 7. The buffalo bulls. They form the first, that is, the most distinguished of all the unions, and are the highest in rank. They carry in their hand a medicine badge, hung with buffalo hoofs, which they rattle when they dance, to their peculiar song. They are too old to attend to the police, having passed through all the unions, and are considered as having retired from office. In a certain degree they have descended from the union of active and distinguished soldiers. In their medicine dance they wear on their head a cap, made of the long forelock and mane of the buffalo bull, which hangs down to a considerable length. New members are chosen into all these unions, who are obliged to pay entrance; medicine men, and the most distinguished men, have to pay more than other people. If a woman, whose husband is in one of the unions, has had any intercourse with another, the union meets in one of the tents, where they smoke, and, in the evening, when all around are buried in sleep, they penetrate into the woman's tent, drag her out, ill-treat her as they please, and cut off her nose. {257} These Indians are often very cruel. The man cannot make any opposition; he must repudiate such a woman. He is then told why she has been treated in this manner, and he may have his revenge on the seducer, from whom he generally takes some horses.
We saw the Blackfeet ride to battle half naked, but some, too, in their finest dresses, with the beautifully ornamented shield obtained from the Crows, and their splendid crowns of feathers,[101] and, on these occasions, they all have their medicines, or amulets, open and hung about them. The battle, of which we were witnesses, and of which I shall give an account in the next chapter, enabled us to form a pretty correct notion of their mode of fighting, which does not differ from that of the other North Americans. Small parties, almost naked, approach the enemy by stealth, and endeavour to gain the advantage of him by stratagem, ambuscade, or surprise; and the attack is generally made at daybreak. They formed long lines, and fired from a great distance; but they are indifferent marksmen. The women and children were very attentive to the wounded, over whom they cried and lamented, as we shall see in the next chapter. The enemy, with guns, arrows, spears, and knives, killed and wounded men, women, and children indiscriminately, and scalped even the women, who are often taken prisoners, and carried off as slaves, but afterwards not usually ill-treated. I shall have occasion to speak also, in the next chapter, of the fury with which they mutilate the dead, every one, as he passes, venting his rage by firing his gun, or throwing stones at them, or by blows. No trace is now to be found, at least among the Blackfeet, of the tortures inflicted on the prisoners, as formerly practised by the American Indians.
When the warriors come near their camp, after a battle, they sing; and one rides or runs before, often in serpentine lines, backwards and forwards about the tents, holding up and shaking the scalp, and displaying it at a distance. If any one has taken a weapon, he displays it in the same manner, loudly proclaiming his name as having taken it. After a successful engagement, the men sing the song which they call aninay, that is, "they are painted black." On these occasions, they assemble in the open air about their tents, with their faces painted black, their leggins and robes spotted with black, and then sing, without the accompaniment of any instrument, nor are the scalps displayed. There are no words to this song, which consists only of the usual notes.
The weapons of the Blackfeet do not much differ from those of the other Indians on the Missouri; but they are not so handsome and well made as those of the Crows, Manitaries and Mandans. They do not themselves make bows of the horn of the elk, or of the mountain sheep, which are consequently not common among them. Their country does not produce any wood suitable for bows; and they endeavour to obtain, by barter, the bow wood, or yellow wood (Maclura aurantiaca), from the River Arkansas. For their quivers, they prefer the skin of the cougar (Felis concolor, Linn.), for which they give a horse. The tail hangs down from the quiver, is trimmed with red cloth on the inner side, embroidered with white beads, and ornamented {258} at the end or elsewhere, with strips of skin, like tassels. I saw few lances among the Blackfeet, but many war clubs, most of which they had taken from the Flatheads. Many have thick leather shields, which are usually painted green and red, and hung with feathers and other things, to which some superstitious belief is attached. When they are going to battle, they twist the leather case of their gun round their head, like a turban. Wolf skins are then useful to them, especially when they want to observe the enemy. They wear them across their shoulders, and, when they wish to approach the enemy unperceived, they throw them over their head, and lie down behind an elevation, or rising of the ground, in such a manner as to have the appearance of a white wolf.
The medicine men or physicians of the Blackfeet are very unskilful. We always saw them take water in their mouths, which they spit out over the wounded. They never wash or cleanse the wounds, and the coagulated blood was still on them on the second day. The recovery of all the severely wounded, without any proper care, shows the vigorous constitutions of these men, of which, indeed, there are many other proofs. Drums and rattles (schischikué) were daily used in their attendance on the sick, in the closed tent. Children mortally wounded lay on the ground without covering, and without any kind of attention, exposed to the burning sun, and they all died in a short time. These Indians are said to have successfully healed some severe wounds; but, as far as my observation goes, those cures were chiefly to be ascribed to the good constitutions of the patients. Among almost all the tribes of the Missouri there were individuals who had been scalped, and cured, and who wore caps; and we were told that there were some such among the Blackfeet. These Indians have some efficacious remedies derived from the vegetable kingdom, one of which is a whitish root from the Rocky Mountains, which is called, by the Canadians, rhubarb, which is said to resemble our rhubarb in its effect and taste, and likewise to act as an emetic. Another root is esteemed to be a powerful remedy against the bite of serpents. In all cases they have recourse to the drum and the rattle, and have great confidence in the intolerable noise caused by those instruments. The Blackfeet make their rattles of leather, wood, or bladder, because they do not grow any calabashes. It is well known that this remarkable instrument is in use among most of the different tribes or nations of the American race, as well in the northern as the southern half of this vast continent. They have great confidence in the medicines of the Whites, and often apply for them; but many were in such a desperate state from diseases of long standing, that a cure was quite out of the question. If Indians are cured by their doctors (which sometimes happens), they make them considerable presents, or the medicine man makes a heavy charge. Last spring several Blackfeet died very suddenly from colic, accompanied with vomiting, and the disease appears very closely to have resembled the cholera.
When a Blackfoot dies, they do not bury him in the ground if they can avoid it, but sew him up in a buffalo robe, dressed in his best clothes, his face painted red, but without his {259} weapons, and lay him in some retired place, in ravines, rocks, forests, or on a high, steep bank, and often cover the body with wood or stones, that the wolves may not get at it. Frequently, when they cannot find a solitary spot, the corpse remains above ground in a kind of wooden shed, and they were often obliged to bury it, or to give it to the Whites as a desirable present, which cannot be refused. The relations cut off their long hair, smear it, as well as their faces and clothes, with whitish-grey clay, and, during the time of mourning, wear their worst clothing. Often, too, they cut off a joint of a finger. They believe the dead go into another country, where they will have lack of nothing; and that they have often been heard when they were summoned to smoke a pipe together. At the funeral of rich Indians, several horses are often killed upon the spot; and we were told of instances when twelve or fifteen horses were killed in this manner at the funeral of a celebrated chief. On the death of Sachkomapoh (the child), a rich and distinguished chief, who is said to have possessed between 4000 and 5000 horses, 150 were killed with arrows.[102] The relations assemble at the residence of the deceased, and even the men lament and wail. The corpse is generally buried on the first day, and in case of death during the night, it is removed on the following morning.
The Blackfeet, like all the other American Indians, are superstitious, and it is rare to see a man who has not some strange custom or habit which he adopts as a charm, and on which he imagines that the success of his plans and undertakings depends. Many rattle with bells before they smoke; others spit in different directions before they drink; others, again, mutter a certain phrase, or a kind of prayer, &c. &c. We saw one man who never lighted his pipe at the fire, but made use of a stick about two feet long, and twice as thick as the ramrod of a gun, which was ornamented with feathers and bells, and painted red and black.[103] It was hollow at the end to receive another thinner stick, which he always kindled when he wanted to light his pipe. On inquiring the cause of this strange custom, he answered that he was afraid of iron, and must, therefore, light his pipe with this stick. Most of these people have such singular customs, but, unfortunately, they do not like to communicate to others their notions on such subjects, and it is, consequently, very difficult to get at the bottom of them.
{260} Mr. Berger, the interpreter, who was otherwise well acquainted with the Blackfoot Indians, could not give me any information respecting their religious ideas, further than that they worship the sun (Natohs or Nantohs); and it is probable that, like the Mandans, they look upon it either as the lord of life, or his dwelling-place. We did not observe, in their camps, either offerings for the heavenly powers, hung upon poles, as among the Mandans and Manitaries, or any other indications of the exercise of some kind of worship.[104]