[34] For a brief account of this expedition of 1825, see our volume xxiii, p. 227, note 182. The treaty is given in Treaties between the United States and the Several Indian Tribes 1778 to 1837 (Washington, 1837), pp. 356-359. Sih-Chida was son of the chief known commonly as Four Men.—Ed.
[35] See badges of Prairie-Dog and Raven bands in our volume xxiii, p 113.—Ed.
[36] For the dance of this band, see Plate 25, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.
[37] See illustration, p. [37], for heads of sledge dogs.—Ed.
CHAPTER XXIX
CONTINUATION OF OUR WINTER RESIDENCE AT FORT CLARKE, TILL OUR DEPARTURE, FROM JANUARY 1ST TO APRIL 18TH, 1834
Increase of the Cold in the beginning of January—The Arrival of our People from Picotte—Parhelia—Changes of Temperature—Sih-Chida's Prayer—My Thermometer stolen—Reconciliation of Mato-Topé and Pehriska-Ruhpa—Consecration of a Medicine Son at Ruphtare—Visit of some Yanktonans—Hunting of the Indians in the severe Cold—Dance of the Women of the White Buffalo Cow at Ruphtare—Mr. Kipp's Return—Scarcity of Provisions—Enemies in the Indian Village—Rapid Thaw—The Mandans kill an Assiniboin—Cunning and Boldness of the latter—The Scalp Dance of the Manitaries—Superstition of the Indians—They remove to their Summer Village—The Arikkara, Pachtuwa-Chta—Dance of the Meniss-Ochata—Blindness caused by the Snow—Commencement of my Illness—Arrival of the Spring Birds—The Mad Dogs' Dance in the Fort—Dance of the Ischoha-Kakoschochata in the Fort—Breaking-up of the Ice in the Missouri—Dance of the Berock-Ochata—Arrival of the People entered for my Service—My Recovery by the use of Green Herbs—Preparations for our Departure.
January set in with increasing cold, which at eight in the morning was 18° Reaumur, and on the 2nd, at the same hour, 25°, Reaumur, below freezing point. On the 3rd the mercury sank into the ball, and was frozen; it remained there on the 4th, but on the 5th it rose, and at eight in the morning was 9° below zero. During these cold days, some of our woodcutters had their noses and cheeks frostbitten. The horizon was hazy; the river smoked; neither man nor animal was to be seen; yet a party of Mandans, with their wives, were in the prairie hunting buffaloes, of which they killed forty. At night the cold was so intense, that we could not venture to put our hands from our bodies, lest they should be frozen. In the morning we could scarcely endure the severity of the weather, till we had a blazing fire, for the bleak northwest wind penetrated through all the seams of the building. We received information that Mr. Kipp had remained with the Manitaries till the 2nd of January, and had not proceeded on his journey till the cold had somewhat abated. Almost all his people had some part of their body frostbitten, and eight of his {437} dogs had run away. Some Indians who visited us presented rather a novel appearance, having their hair, and even their eyelashes, covered with hoar frost and icicles. In our own room, the boots and shoes were frozen so hard in the morning, that we could scarcely put them on; ink, colours, and pencils were perfectly useless. During this cold we were visited by a deaf and dumb Mandan, who had no covering on the upper part of his body under his robe. On the 3rd of January, at noon, when the sunbeams, shining on the frozen snow, were extremely dazzling, the thermometer being at 24° below zero, I saw no living creatures in the neighbourhood of the Indian village, except flocks of the snow-bunting, and a few ravens, two species of birds which are capable of enduring the severest cold. The Yanktonans, and the people whom we had sent to Picotte, returned, on the 4th of January, with dried meat, as well as tallow for candles: they said that, during the two coldest days, they had halted in the forest, but that, in the night, the wolves had carried off part of their meat. On the 5th of January the air was misty, and at one o'clock there were two parhelia at a considerable distance from the sun; they were, however, faint and rather irregular. It was scarcely possible to obtain water from the river, and the water-casks in our room were frozen to the bottom. Unfortunately, too, our woodcutters brought us only driftwood, which had lain so long in the water that it would not burn. Picotte had sent a small cask of wine by our people, as a present from Mr. Mc Kenzie for the Mandans, which was delivered to the chiefs for distribution.
At eight o'clock in the morning of the 6th, there was a fall of snow; the temperature in the open air was 29° Fahrenheit, in our room only 25°. The wind blew from the west, and at noon the snow was mixed with rain, so that the water dripped on our books and papers from the loft, which was covered with snow. The robes and hair of the Indians were wet, and they very unceremoniously, therefore, came to dry themselves before our fire; this was not very agreeable, nevertheless we were glad that we could resume our usual occupations. At noon the temperature was 39½° Fahrenheit, and in the evening it became considerably warmer, so that we could leave our hands at liberty during the night, without their being affected by the cold. The night, however, was very stormy, and Sih-Chida laid himself down to sleep on the ground before our fire. These changes of temperature were very remarkable. On the 7th we again had cold, with a tempestuous west wind; at noon, the thermometer stood at 12°, and in the afternoon it again snowed. Sih-Chida once more passed the night with us, and, when all was silent, made a long address to the lord of life, in which he besought him to send buffaloes, that they might not starve. He spoke in a rapid half-suppressed tone of reproach, and without any gesticulation.[38] On the following day, Dreidoppel went into the forest in quest of game, but could not proceed on account of the drifted snow; he only saw some flocks of prairie hens. At noon, when I went to look at the thermometer, I found that it had been stolen by the Indians. Our {438} friend Sih-Chida immediately ran out, and discovered the instrument concealed by a woman under her robe, and, to my great joy, brought it back to me. Bidda-Chohki (generally called La Chevelure levée, the scalped man), visited us, and gave me some words of the Manitari language, but he was not in a very good humour, because he could not get any brandy. The next day this man dressed himself very handsomely in order to have his portrait taken, but the mercury was again 20° below zero, and it was too cold in our room to paint, for colours and pencils were frozen, though standing close to the fire, and had to be thawed in hot water. We calculated that we should burn in our chimney at least six cords of wood in a month if this cold continued. Mato-Topé had become reconciled to Pehriska-Ruhpa, and purchased a green blanket, which he showed to us, as a present for him. We heard that a wolf had attacked three Indian women in the forest, who had been obliged to defend themselves with their hatchets.