[319] Pembina is said to mean the fruit of the high-bush cranberry. The river of that name, an affluent of Red River from the west, disembogues near the British-American boundary line, its mouth being the site of several early trading-posts and settlements. Between 1790 and 1796 Peter Grant, a Nor' Wester, built a trading-post opposite the mouth of the river, near the site of the present St. Vincent, Minnesota. Charles Chaboillez, another trader for the same company, wintered (1797-98) at the mouth of Pembina River on the south-west side. Four years later Alexander Henry built a post in the north-west angle, the site of the modern town of Pembina, North Dakota, where he made his headquarters until 1808, and whence (1806) he visited the Mandan villages. In 1812 Lord Selkirk had a post built at this site, which from one of his titles was named Fort Daer. This being on the verge of the timber-land, and hence convenient to buffalo herds, was the wintering place of his Red River colonists. The North West Company had a rival post in the near vicinity. After the troubles of the Red River colonists with the North West employés (1814-16), a company of troops, guided by John Tanner, was sent (1817) by Selkirk to avenge his settlers. These captured the North West fort at Pembina, and restored Fort Daer, which was maintained until 1823; when, on being found to be south of the international boundary, it was dismantled and removed some miles farther north. Meanwhile a small settlement of métis had grown up on the site; Long (1823) found here about sixty log-cabins, and three hundred and fifty people. Communication was maintained both with Fort Garry, lower down on Red River, and with Fort Snelling, at St. Paul. About 1842 the agents of the American Fur Company established a cart-route to Pembina, where in 1870 the United States government erected a fort, but the place is no longer occupied by troops.—Ed.
[320] See his portrait in Plate 56, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.
[321] See Plate 81, figure 16, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.
[322] Though all their arrows appear, at first sight, to be perfectly alike, there is a great difference in the manner in which they are made. Of all the tribes of the Missouri the Mandans are said to make the neatest and most solid arrows. The iron heads are thick and solid, the feathers glued on, and the part just below the head, and the lower end, are wound round with very even, extremely thin sinews of animals. They all have, in their whole length, a spiral line, either carved or painted red, which is to represent the lightning. The Manitaries make the iron heads thinner, and not so well. They do not glue on the feathers, but only tie them on at both ends, like the Brazilians. The Assiniboins frequently have very thin and indifferent heads to their arrows, made of iron-plate. Mr. Say (Major Long's Expedition) says, that the arrow-wood (viburnum) is used for their arrows by the Indians on the Lower Missouri and the neighbouring prairies. I conjecture that this shrub is the alistier (Cratægus torminalis) of the Upper Missouri, which is sometimes used for bows, but very seldom for arrows.—Maximilian.
[323] See p. [355] for illustration of stone club, with handle.—Ed.
[324] See portrait of Mato-Topé, Plate 47, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.
[325] Ibid., Plate 81, figure 4.—Ed.
[326] See p. [355] for illustration of a knotted wooden club.—Ed.
[327] See p. [105] for illustration of a Grosventre dagger.—Ed.
[328] Concerning Mato-Topé see our volume xxii, p. 345, note 318. For this incident see our volume xv, p. 97. Kakoakis was Le Borgne, for whom see our volume v, p. 162, note 98.—Ed.