A devotee caused two stout arrows to be passed through the muscles of his breast, one on each side, near the mammæ. To these arrows cords were attached, the opposite ends of which were affixed to the upper part of a post, which had been firmly implanted in the earth for the purpose. He then threw himself backward, into an oblique position, his back within about two feet of the soil, so as to depend with the greater portion of his weight by the cords. In this situation of excruciating agony, he continued to chaunt and to keep time to the music of the gong, until, from long abstinence and suffering, he fainted. The bystanders then cried out, "Courage, courage," with much shouting and noise; after a short interval of insensibility he revived, and proceeded with his self-inflicted tortures as before, until nature being completely exhausted, he again relapsed into insensibility, upon which he was loosed from the cords, and carried off amidst the acclamations of the whole assembly.
Another Minnetaree, in compliance with a vow he had made, caused a hole to be perforated through the muscles of each shoulder; through these holes cords were passed, which were, at the opposite ends, attached by way of a bridle to a horse, that had been penned up three or four days without food or water. In this manner, he led the horse to the margin of the river. The horse, of course, endeavoured to drink, but it was the province of the Indian to prevent him, and that only by straining at the cords with the muscles of the shoulder, without resorting to the assistance of his hands. And notwithstanding all the exertions of the horse to drink, his master succeeded in preventing him, and returned with him to his lodge, having accomplished his painful task.
{257} The Wolf chief,[16] one of the most eminent of the warriors of the upper village of the Minnetarees, on one occasion, sat five days, singing and lamenting, without food, on a small insulated and naked rock in the Missouri river. And it is firmly believed that he did not even palliate his urgent wants by tasting the water during this long probation.
Many of the Minnetarees believe that the bones of those bisons, which they have slain and divested of flesh, rise again clothed with renewed flesh, and quickened with life, and become fat, and fit for slaughtering the succeeding June. They assert that some of their nation, who were formerly on a hunting excursion, lost one of their party, a boy, and returned to the village lamenting his loss, and believing him to have been killed by the Sioux nation, with whom they were then at war. Some time afterward, a war party was assembled, that departed to revenge the supposed murder of the boy. During their journey, they espied a bison, which they pursued and killed. When lo! on opening the abdomen of the animal, what was their astonishment to observe the long-lost boy, alive and well, after having been imprisoned there one entire year. Relieved from his animated prison-house, he informed them, that, when he left his hunting companions, he proceeded onward a considerable distance, until he was so fortunate as to kill this bison. He removed the flesh from one side of the animal, and as a rainy inclement night was approaching, he concluded to take shelter within the body of the animal, in place of the viscera, which he had taken out. But during the night, whilst he slept, the flesh of the bison that he had cut off, grew over the side again, and effectually prevented his getting out, and the animal being restored to life, he had thus been pent up ever since.
Such anecdotes, however puerile and absurd they may be, if characteristic, lead us to a more accurate {258} and complete knowledge of the manners and habits of the people, than still more copious general remarks and reflections.
The Minnetarees, in common with several other nations of our Indians, have the strange tradition of their origin, that they formerly lived underground. "Two boys," say they, "strayed away from them, and absented themselves several days. At length they returned and informed the nation that they had discovered another world, situate above their present residence, where all was beautiful and light. They saw the sun, the earth, the Missouri, and the bison. This account so delighted the people, that they immediately abandoned their subterranean dwelling, and, led by the boys, arrived on the surface of the earth, at the spot which their villages now occupy, and where they have dwelt ever since.
"Soon after they had established themselves in this new world, a party of strange men appeared mounted on horses. They attacked these wonderful Centaurs with their bows and arrows, and succeeded in killing one of them, on which the others fled. Not at first perceiving that the man and horse were two distinct animals, they were surprised to see the former fall to the earth, as if one part of the compound animal was dead and the other part still active, having received no injury. They at length succeeded in securing the horse, and after admiring the beauty of his form, and becoming familiar with him, they proceeded to tie one of their young men upon his back with cords, that he might not fall off; the horse was then led cautiously by the bridle, until finally he became sufficiently fearless to ride alone."
They seem to have full faith in the notion that, at their death, they will be restored to the mansions of their ancestors under ground, from which they are intercepted by a large and rapid watercourse. Over this river, which may be compared to the Styx of the ancients, they are obliged to pass on a very narrow {259} footway. Those Indians who have been useful to the nation, such as brave warriors or good hunters, pass over with ease, and arrive safely at the A-pah-he, or ancient village. But the worthless Indians slip off from the bridge or footway, into the stream that foams beneath in the swiftness of its course, which hurries them into oblivion, or Lethe. The Mandans, according to Lewis and Clarke, have a tradition somewhat similar, and it strongly reminds us of the Alsirat of Mahomet, over which, it was supposed, that great leader was to conduct his Moslems to the bliss of futurity, whilst the unworthy were precipitated into the gulf which yawned beneath it.[17]