The custom of sacrifice obtains among all Indian tribes and is performed in various ways and upon many occasions. Cruel as the Indian is reputed to be, none of the tribes, except the Pawnees, have ever made human sacrifices; and these many years since abandoned the inhuman custom.

Their offerings to the Great Spirit must consist of the best of their possessions: the choicest piece of buffalo meat, the finest arrow, the most costly piece of cloth, the favorite horse or dog, and sometimes their own fingers. Such offerings are erected over the great medicine lodge in the centre of the village. When Mr. Catlin was among the Mandans there was placed there beside other gifts a beautiful skin of a buffalo, the history of which he gives as follows:—“A few weeks since a party of Mandans returned from the mouth of the Yellow Stone with information that a party of Blackfeet were there on business with the American Fur Company, and that they had with them a white buffalo robe. Such a robe is a great curiosity, even in the country of buffaloes, and will always command an incredible price. Being the most costly article in the region it is usually converted into a sacrifice, being offered to the Great Spirit as the rarest and most acceptable gift that can be procured. Among the vast herds of buffaloes there is not one in a hundred thousand, perhaps, that is white; and when such is obtained it is considered a great medicine or mystery.

“Receiving the intelligence above mentioned the chiefs convened in council and deliberated on the propriety of procuring this valuable robe. At the close of their deliberation eight men were fitted out on eight of their best horses, who took from the Fur Company’s store, on the credit of the chief, goods exceeding the value of the horses. They arrived in due time, made the purchase, and leaving their horses and all the goods carried, returned on foot, bringing the coveted robe, which was regarded as vastly curious and containing (as they express it) something of the Great Spirit. This wonderful anomaly lay several days in the chief’s lodge, till public curiosity was gratified; then it was taken by the high priests, and with a great deal of ceremony consecrated and raised on the top of a long pole over the medicine lodge, where it stands and will stand as an offering to the Great Spirit, until it decays and falls to the ground.”

2. Openings.

INDIAN PIPES. (From my collection.)
(See [pages 1313], [1314].)

CHAPTER CXXXIX.
THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS—Continued.
SOCIAL LIFE.

MARRIAGE — AN ENTERPRISING BRIDEGROOM, AND HIS SUDDEN ELEVATION TO RANK — TREATMENT OF WOMEN — TREATMENT OF CHILDREN — PORTRAIT OF PSHAN-SHAW — OF INDIAN BOY — THE CRADLE — THE FLAT-HEADED TRIBES — AFFECTION OF THE MOTHERS — THE COUCH OF MOURNING — ABANDONING THE SICK AND OLD — DANCES OF THE TRIBES — GAMES — THE SPEAR AND RING GAME — PAGESSAN, OR THE BOWL GAME — THE BALL PLAY — THE BALL DANCE — STARTING THE GAME, AND EXCITING SCENES — THE WOMEN’S BALL PLAY — HORSE-RACING — CANOE-MAKING — THE CANOE RACE — PRIMITIVE SAILS — SWIMMING — THE LEAPING ROCK — QUILL ORNAMENTS — BARK-BITING — WIGWAMS — MUSIC — PLEDGE OF FIDELITY — DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD — BURIAL OF BLACKBIRD — REFLECTIONS UPON CHARACTER AND DESTINY OF THE INDIANS.

The ordinary social life of these interesting tribes now comes before us. As to marriage, there is little to distinguish it from the same ceremony among other uncivilized tribes, the girl being in fact purchased from her father, and her affections not necessarily, though generally, considered. A man may have as many wives as he can afford to keep, and when he can purchase four or five, their labor in the field is worth even more to the household than his exertions in the hunting field.

Mr. Catlin relates one rather amusing wedding.