{430} On the 16th the mercury was at 2°, Fahrenheit, below zero. For some time past the water in our room was frozen every day, notwithstanding the large fire which we kept up. Towards the 19th of December, the weather was again fine; in a few days there was snow, and the Missouri rose so high that it partly overflowed the ice that covered it. Some of Mr. Soublette's people arrived from St. Louis, which they had left on the 14th of October, and confirmed the accounts which we had already received of the cessation of the cholera. They told us that, in October, the snow was fifteen inches deep on the banks of the Konzas River, and that the party escorting the caravan from Santa Fé had been so closely hemmed in by the Indians (probably Arikkaras), that they had been compelled, by want of provisions, to slaughter fourteen of their horses.[27]
On the 22nd of December, a number of white maggots were found under a piece of poplar bark, which were completely enclosed in ice, but all came to life when they were warmed at the fire. On the 23rd, the mercury was at 10° Fahrenheit, above zero; the sky was bright and clear, the wind blew from the east, the icy covering of the river smoked and the woods were covered with hoar frost. The ravens came near to the fort to pick up food; the wolves, in consequence of our frequent excursions, had retired to a greater distance.
On this day, at noon, we heard the drums of the Indians, and a crowd of their people filled the fort. At their head were fourteen men of the band of the bulls, from Ruhptare, distinguished by their strange costume.[28]
{431} The whole head was covered with a wig, consisting of long plaits of hair, which hung down on every side, so that even the face was completely concealed. The appearance of these men was very singular in the cold weather, for their breath issued from between the plaits of hair like a dense vapour. They wore in their heads feathers of owls, ravens, and birds of prey, each of which had at the tip a large white down feather. One of them had a very handsome fan of white feathers on his head, doubtless the entire tail of a swan, each of the feathers having at the tip a tuft of dyed horsehair. They were closely enveloped in their robes, and had bow-lances ornamented with feathers, coloured cloth, beads, &c., and most of them had foxes' tails at their heels. Some of these men beat the drum, while they all formed a circle, and imitated the bellowing of the buffalo bulls. After they had danced awhile, some tobacco was thrown to them, and they proceeded to the village in the forest further down the river, taking off their wigs. The frozen Missouri was covered with Indians on this occasion, and presented an interesting scene. At this time the Sioux stole from the prairie thirty-seven horses belonging to the Mandans. On this day Dreidoppel had dragged the entrails of a hare about the prairie, and then concealed himself; he soon saw six wolves follow the scent and approach him; but it was so cold that he could not wait for them. Our cook, a negro, had a violent dispute with an Indian from Ruhptare, who had taken a piece of meat out of his pot, and the affair might have led to unpleasant consequences. The Indians of that village are the worst of the Mandans. Several articles had been stolen, which was nothing uncommon among our worthy neighbours, for even the wife of Mato-Topé had pilfered something in our room.
On the 24th of December, and on the preceding night, there was a very strong cold wind from the northwest (Fahrenheit's thermometer +12½°), which blew all the hoar frost from the trees. Many Indians knocked violently at our door, and attempted to force it, as we did not open it immediately. About four o'clock Papin and three other engagés, with seven horses, arrived from Picotte's post among the Yanktonans, which they had left two days before, and told us that they had there found 200 tents of the Yanktonans. At midnight the engagés of the fort fired a volley to welcome Christmas day, which was repeated in the morning: the 25th of December was a day of bustle in the fort. Mr. Kipp had given the engagés an allowance of better provisions, and they were extremely noisy in their Canadian jargon. The poor fellows had had no meat for some time, and had lived on maize, boiled in water, without any fat. Pehriska-Ruhpa, a robust Manitari, who had long lived among the Mandans, visited us, and soon afterwards Mato-Topé, but they took no notice of each other, as they were not on good terms, and the former immediately withdrew. He promised to have his portrait taken in his handsome dress.[29]
At noon there was a concourse of Indians in the fort: the woman's band of the white buffalo cow came to perform their dance.[30] The company consisted of seventeen, mostly old women, {432} and two men, with the drum and schischikué; the first of these two men carried a gun in his hand. A stout elderly woman went first; she was wrapped in the hide of a white buffalo cow, and held, in her right arm, a bundle of twigs in the form of a cornucopia, with down feathers at the top, and at the lower end an eagle's wing, and a tin drinking vessel. Another woman carried a similar bundle. All these women wore round their heads a piece of buffalo's skin in the form of a hussar's cap, with a plume of owl's or raven's feathers in front, some of which were dyed red; only two of them wore the skin of a polecat; all the men were bare-headed. The women were uniformly painted; the left cheek and eye were vermilion, and they had two blue spots on the temple near the right eye.[31] All except the first wore painted robes, and two of them only had the hairy side outwards. When they had formed a circle the music began in quick time; the men sung, and the women who were dancing responded in a loud shrill voice. In their dances they rock from side to side, always remaining on the same spot. After they had been dancing for some time there was a pause, when the dance recommenced. Only the oldest of these women, most of whom were exceedingly plain, had the tattooed stripes on the chin which are peculiar to this band.
They had scarcely left us, after receiving a present, when three engagés arrived with letters from Fort Union. They informed us that Mr. Mc Kenzie had built a new fort at the mouth of the Rivière aux Trembles, which he had called Fort Jackson, and appointed Mr. Chardon director.[32] Up to the 15th, when these messengers left Fort Union, the weather had been very mild; the river was quite free from ice, and no snow had fallen. Mr. Mc Kenzie invited me to visit him at Fort Union, but the inclemency of the weather rendered such a journey extremely unpleasant. The wind had blown down all the pickets at Fort Union, and some Indians, probably Gros Ventres des Prairies, had shot a white man on the Yellow Stone. Information had been brought by some Indians that Doucette, when on a journey from Fort Mc Kenzie to the Kutanas, had been shot by the Blood Indians.[33]
On the 26th of December the wind blew the snow into the air and obscured the sky. With a temperature of 12°, Fahrenheit, early in the morning we observed a rainbow among the clouds of snow, with a parhelion in the centre. We dispatched a number of letters, which were forwarded on the 27th by engagés, from station to station, down the river. Four men, with two sledges, and a number of horses, were sent from the fort, two of whom were to receive a supply of fresh meat for use at the trading post of the Yanktonans, from which they were expected to return in four days. Sih-Chida brought us the paper which his father, at that time the first chief of the Mandans, had received from General Atkinson and Major O'Fallon, several years before, when a treaty of friendship and commerce was concluded with the Indians.[34] This document was written on large paper in the English and Manitari languages. Most of the Indian names, which were doubtless given by Charbonneau, were incorrectly written. As we had now {433} no meat, our breakfast consisted of coffee and maize bread, and our dinner of maize bread and bean soup. Our people caught an Indian dog in the fort, intending to put him in a sledge, but he was so wild and unruly, bit and howled so furiously, that it was long before they could obtain the mastery. An engagé then knelt upon him to put on the harness, but when this was done he discovered that he had killed the poor dog. These dogs, if they are not broken in, are quite unfit for the sledge; when, however, they are accustomed to the work, they draw a sledge over the snow more easily than the best horse. If the snow is frozen, they run over it, where the horse sinks in, and they can hold out much longer. They can perform a journey of thirty miles in one day; and if they have rested an hour on the snow, and had some food, they are ready to set out again. A horse must have sufficient food, frequent rest, and a good watering place, and when it is once tired it cannot be induced to proceed. I have been assured by some persons that they had made long journeys, for eight successive days, with dogs, during which time the animals did not taste any food. In the winter, when the Indians go to hunt the buffalo, they drive, in light sledges, over the frozen snow, into the midst of the herd; the Indian, with his bow and arrows, sits or kneels down in the sledge; and dogs that have been trained, cannot be held back when they perceive the buffalo herd. In the north three good dogs are seldom to be purchased for less than 100 dollars. A single dog, when it is very good and strong, costs sixty or seventy dollars; on the Missouri, however, they are by no means so dear.