Indian Tribes of the Upper Missouri / Edited with Notes and Biographical Sketch

by Edwin Thompson Denig

They usually eat three times a day, morning, noon, and night, if meat is plenty, but the number of meals depends altogether on the supply of food, as has already been stated. Clay pots and other earthen vessels are still in use among the Mandan, Gros Ventres, and Arikara, being of their own manufacture, though they also have metallic cooking utensils.

The flesh of buffalo and other animals is cut in broad, thin slices and hung up inside the lodges on transverse poles over the fire, but high up in the lodge and in the way of the smoke, which soon penetrates it, and in a few days the meat is dried and fit to pack away. In the summer it is dried by spreading it in the sun, being cut up as above, which soon cures it. They employ no salt in curing any meat.

The parts of the buffalo eaten in a raw state are the liver, kidneys, gristle of the snout, eyes, brains, marrow, manyplies, or the omasum, testicles, feet of small calves in embryo, and glands of the calf envelope. Meat when cooked is either boiled or roasted, principally the former, and always rare in either way, not overdone. They have no salt for seasoning, but are fond of a little in the bouillon. In former times meat was boiled in the rawhide, in holes in the ground smeared with mud, and heated stones dropped in, or in pots made of clay and soft stone, but metallic cooking utensils, consisting of kettles of every size and description, have entirely replaced these. Tin cups and pans, with some frying pans, wooden bowls, and horn spoons, are yet common.

The tongues of buffalo sent to market are salted by the traders, who secure them from the Indians during the winter in the hunting season, and when frozen, salting them before the spring thaw comes on. None of these tribes preserves meat in any other way than above mentioned, some of which when dried is pounded and mixed with berries and marrowfat. It is then called pemmican, or in Cree pim-e-tai´-gan. Dried meat will keep but one year if free of wet, as afterwards the fat turns rancid and the lean tasteless.

The tail of the beaver is first turned in the blaze of a fire, the outside skin scraped off, then incisions are made each side lengthwise along the bone, and it is held in boiling water for a few minutes to extract the blood. It is then hung up in the lodge or in the sun and left to dry.

All inquiries regarding fish are inapplicable to these Indians, as they take none in quantity. The few catfish that are hooked by the Gros Ventres and Arikara are boiled in water, no salt added, and a horrid mess of bones and fish mixed together is produced, which no one but an Indian could eat. They eat but do not relish them.

All the hunter tribes rely greatly on the spontaneous roots and fruits found in the country and collect, dry, and pack them away, to be used in times of scarcity of animal food. We have known hundreds of Indians to subsist for one or two months on the buds of the wild rose boiled with the scrapings of rawhides. At all times the different kinds of roots and berries are a great resource, are used in their principal feasts and medicine ceremonies, are of great assistance when game is not to be found, are easily packed, and contain considerable nourishment. The following is a catalogue of those found among all the nations of which we treat, though there are several others whose names in English are unknown to us, and some of these now named peculiar to the most northern latitudes.

English Name	Assiniboin name	Method of preparation
Prairie turnip (pomme blanche)	Teep-se-nah	Dried and pounded.
Service berries	We-pah-zoo-kah	Dried.
Bull berries (grains des boeufs)	Taque-sha-shah	Do.
Chokecherries	Cham-pah	Pounded with seeds and dried.
Red plums	Caun-tah	Stones extracted and dried.
Wild grapes	Chint-kah	Not preserved; eaten ripe.
Currants	Wecha-ge-nus-kah	Do.
Gooseberries	Chap-tah-ha-zah	Do.
Wild rhubarb	Chan-hn-no-ha	Tops eaten raw or boiled.
Fungus growing on trees	Chaun-no-ghai	Not dried; found in winter.
Artichokes	Pung-ghai	Eaten raw or boiled; not preserved.
Berries of the red willow	Chau-sha-sha	Eaten raw only in great need.
Antelope turnips	Ta-to-ka-na Teep-se-nah	Boiled and dried.
Wild garlic	Ta-poo-zint-kah	Raw; not preserved.
A berry called	Me-nun	Not dried; eaten ripe.
Acorns[31]	Ou-tah-pe	Roasted and dried.
Strawberries	Wa-zshu-sta-cha	Not dried.
Inner bark of cottonwood	Wah-chin-cha-ha	Resorted to in time of actual famine.
Berries of the smoking weed	She-o-tak-kah	Not preserved; eaten ripe.
A root resembling artichoke	Ske-ske-chah	Dried, pounded, and boiled.
Buds of the wild rose	We-ze-zeet-kah	Found everywhere all winter on the stalk.
Red haw berries	Tas-paun	Not dried; eaten in fall and winter.

Animals Eaten by Indians
Buffalo (wo-ta-cha)
{ bull	Ta-tun-gah.
{ cow	Petai.
Antelope	Tah-to-ka-nah.
Elk	Opoñ.
Deer	Tah-chah.
Bear	Wah-ghuñ-kseecha.
Wolf	Shuñkto-ka-chah.[32]
Foxes
{ red	Shunga shanah.
{ gray	To-kah-nah.
Porcupine	Pah-hee.
Badger	Kho-kah.
Skunk	Man-gah.
Rabbit	Mushtinchanah.
Hare	Mushtincha ska.
Ermine	E-toonka sun.
Otter	Petun.
Mink	E-koo-sa.
Beaver	Chap-pah.
Muskrat	Sink-pai.
Glutton	Me-nag-gzshe.
Lynx	Ega-mo´
Mouse	Pees-pees-anah.
Ground squirrel	Tah-she-ho-tah.
Water turtle	Kai-ah.
Terrapin	Pat-kah-shah.
Horns of elk in the velvet.	Tah-hai.
Horse	Shungatun-gah.
Mule	Sho-shonah.
Dog	Shunka.
Snake (not eaten except by Cree).
Birds Eaten
Crow	Ah-ah-nah.
Raven	Con-ghai.
Magpie	Eh-hat-ta-ta-na.
Owl	He-hun.
Duck	Pah-hon-tah.
Goose	Man-ghah.
Crane	Pai-hun.
Pelican	Mid-dai-ghah.
Small bird of any sort.	Sit-kap-pe-nah.
Eagles are not eaten.
Parts of Buffaloes Not Eaten
Glands of the neck.	Sinews.
Bull’s pizzle.	Horns, hoofs, and hair.

Every other part, inside and out, is eaten, even to the hide.