Bows and arrows were the principal weapons of the Mandan. The heads of the arrows, at the time of Maximilian's stay among the people, were made of thin bits of iron, although persons then living remembered the use of stone. Lances and clubs were likewise made and used, and when mentioning the latter Maximilian said, "a simple, knotty, wooden club is called mauna-panischa," and gives, on page 390, a woodcut of such a weapon. It is of interest to know that an example of this peculiar form of weapon, which at once suggests the traditional club of Hercules, is preserved in the Museo Kircheriana, in Rome. It is one of four specimens now belonging to the museum which were collected by Maximilian, the other three being a knife sheath, a horse bridle, and a saddle blanket, all being beautifully decorated with colored quillwork. The club is shown in figure [9], after a drawing made for the writer in 1905 by Dr. Paribeni, of the museum. The smaller end is bound or braided with tanned skin, to serve as a handle, and around the upper end of the wrapping is a band of quillwork similar in workmanship to that on the other objects. All are remarkably well preserved, and several specimens in the Ethnological Museum in Florence may have belonged to the Maximilian collection.
Fig. 9.—Wooden club.
The Mandans, like other tribes of the upper Missouri Valley, were very expert in the art of dressing skins, especially those of the buffalo. They used two forms of implements, one of which is similar to those shown in plate [12], a; the second, rather more complicated, is represented in plate [34], c. This is a beautiful old specimen now in the National Museum. The handle is formed of a piece of elk antler; the blade is of clear, brownish flint, well chipped. Other similar objects are preserved in the collection.
How fortunate it was that Catlin and Maximilian chose to spend much time among the Mandan during the years 1832, 1833, and 1834. A few years later, in the spring of 1837, the dreaded smallpox swept away the greater part of this most interesting nation, and "when the disease had abated, and when the remnant of this once powerful nation had recovered sufficiently to remove the decaying bodies from their cabins, the total number of grown men was twenty-three, of women forty, and of young persons sixty or seventy. These were all that were left of the eighteen hundred souls that composed the nation prior to the advent of that terrific disease, and even those that recovered were so disfigured as scarcely to be recognized." (Hayden, (1), p. 433.) Soon those who survived deserted their old village near Fort Clark and removed a few miles above, and the town was, about this time, occupied by the Arikara. It is interesting to know that the small remnant of the Mandan continued to follow their own peculiar customs and to maintain their tribal unity although so reduced in numbers. It will not be necessary in the present sketch to trace the later history of the tribe.
In recent years the State Historical Society of North Dakota has caused surveys to be made of the more important village sites in that State. In addition to the plans of the sites, showing the position of the earth lodges, they have been fortunate in obtaining drawings of the Mandan and Hidatsa villages, made by a Mandan living on the Fort Berthold Reservation. In writing of the picture and plan of the "most important historical site of the Mandan tribe in the state, the one visited and described by Lewis and Clark, Catlin, and Maximilian," Libby said: "The Indian chart and the map of the village as it appears to-day are here shown. It is seen that the two representations are not essentially unlike. The grouping of the houses about a common center, at one side of which is the holy tepee, is the predominating characteristic of each." The Indian drawing, although crude, shows some details omitted by Catlin in his many sketches; but the map (fig. [10]) is of the greatest interest. It shows the site near Fort Clark as it appeared about the year 1908, and to quote from the description: "In the center of the tepees, on the space devoted by the old Mandans to the 'big canoe' and cedar post of the 'elder man,' stands now a large tepee (shown in dotted outline) which was placed there by the Arikara who occupied the village after the small-pox scourge of 1837 had killed or driven away the original inhabitants." The structures surrounding the open space were occupied by the principal men of the village, and the names as given by Libby were secured by him from "Bad Gun, Rushing War Eagle, son of the Ma-ta-to-pe or Four Bears, whose portrait Catlin painted." In the list of names "Tepee No. 1 was the holy tepee and was also used by Lance Shoulder," and "No. 2 was occupied by Four Bears." The list includes fifteen names. At the time the survey was made the entire ditch could not be traced, but its general course could be followed, thus indicating the approximate boundary of the town, "beyond which only a few tepees are located." (Libby, (1), pp. 498-499.)
Fig. 10.—Plan of the Mandan village at Fort Clark.