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

by Edwin Thompson Denig

The principal paints sold them are Chinese vermilion, chrome yellow and verdigris. Out of all these an Indian can please himself, and either buy such as are mentioned, or use the shells, feathers, furs, etc., their own country and labor produces.

The native dyestuffs for coloring porcupine quills and feathers are as follows: For yellow, they boil the article to be colored with the moss found growing near the root of the pine or balsam fir tree. For red, they in the same way use the stalk of a root called we-sha-sha, the English name of which is unknown to us. They have also some earths and ochers, which by boiling impart a dull red, violet, and blue color, but we are unacquainted with the process and their names in any other language except the Indian. Their native dyes, however, with the exception of the yellow, are superseded by those introduced by the traders, with all but the Crow Indians, who living near and in the Rocky Mountains find several coloring herbs and mineral substances unknown to the other tribes, which produce much better colors than these mentioned. At the present day they all mostly use the clippings of different colored blankets and cloth, which by boiling with the substance to be dyed, communicates the tint of the cloth to it in some degree. Thus rose, green, pale blue, and violet colors are obtained. For black they boil the inner papers in which Chinese vermilion is enveloped.

Tattooing

Tattooing is much practiced by all these tribes, and a great variety of figures are thus painted, sometimes in spots on the forehead, stripes on the cheeks and chin, rings on the arms and wrists; often the whole of the breast as low down as the navel, with both arms, is covered with drawings in tattoo. It is a mark of rank in the men, distinguishing the warrior when elaborately executed, and as the operation is one requiring the pay of one or two horses, it proves the person’s parents to have been sufficiently rich to afford that mark of distinction imprinted on their children, whether male or female. It is usually done on females at the age of 12 to 14 years, is only exhibited on them in the form of a round spot in the middle of the forehead, stripes from the corners and middle of the mouth down to the chin, occasionally transversely over the cheek, and rings around the wrist and upper parts of the arms. On them it is merely designed as ornament. Men are tattooed entire after having struck their first enemy, but smaller marks of this kind are also only ornamental. The material employed and the modus operandi are as follows: Red willow and cedar wood are burned to charcoal, pulverized, and mixed with a little water. This is the blue coloring matter. From four to six porcupine quills or needles are tied together with sinew. These are enveloped in split feathers; wrapping with sinew, until a stiff pencil about the size of a goose quill is had, with the quills or needles projecting at the end. One of the priests or divining men is then presented with a horse and requested to operate. At the same time a feast of dried berries is prepared, and a considerable number of elderly men invited to drum and sing. When all are assembled the feast is eaten with much solemnity and invocations to the supernatural powers.

The person to be tattooed is then placed on his back, being stripped naked, and the operator being informed of the extent of the design to be represented, proceeds to mark an outline with the ink, which, if correct, is punctured with the instrument above alluded to, so as to draw blood, filling up the punctures with the coloring matter as he goes along, by dipping the needles therein and applying them. The drumming and singing is kept up all the time of the operation which, with occasional stops to smoke or eat, occupies from two to two and a half days, when the whole of the breast and both arms are to be tattooed; and the price for the operation is generally a horse for each day’s work.

Badges of Office

There are no badges of office that we are aware of. These marks belong to kinships and appear only in their dress in the different dances, apart from which nothing is seen denoting official station. Rank is known by the devices drawn on their robes; that is, to a warrior who has struck an enemy and stolen horses is accorded the privilege of wearing a robe adorned with a representation of these acts; he is also entitled to make the impression of a hand dipped in red paint on his lodge or person, to wear hair on his shirt and leggings, and two war eagle’s feathers on his head. After making many coups he arrives at the degree of camp soldier[36] and is known on public occasions by the addition to the above of the war-eagle cap or bear’s claw necklace, which, together with the advantage of publishing his feats in the dances and other ceremonies, establishes his standing among his people.

A still further progress, so as to rank with chiefs or councillors, is not attended with any additional display or mark of distinction; indeed, in that event their coups are seldom boasted of, that being rendered unnecessary from the fact of the whole nation’s being aware of the cause of his advancement, and although chiefs and councillors generally have appropriate dresses, as already described, they never wear them unless on the most important occasions, such as a battle, council with other nations, great religious assemblies, or an approaching dissolution. It is their greatest desire when arrived at the head of the ladder of fame to receive a flag or medal from some whites in power, which are worn or displayed on all ordinary convocations and councils. In like manner a sword would be the mark of a soldier in camp, but we see no other badges of office except what have already been referred to as existing in kins, which are laid aside as soon as the ceremonies which caused this display are concluded.

Beard

As has before been observed, these tribes have naturally little or no beard. What few hairs and down make their appearance on the face and other parts of the body are extracted by small wire tweezers of their own make. They have no method of killing or dyeing the hair; they cultivate it, and consider to cut it a great sacrifice. It is only clipped short or torn out by handfuls in excessive grief, but is never shaved, and until modern times but seldom combed.