History of the Indians, of North and South America

by Samuel G. Goodrich

The Arrapahoes reside on the western side of the Rocky Mountains, and are said to number about 3,000 souls. They wander, in the winter season, around the head-waters of one branch of the Colorado of the West, and in summer hunt the buffalo farther east. They are said to be a brave, thrifty, and hospitable people. They derive their name, which signifies dog-eaters, from fattening and eating that animal. They admit whites, who desire it, to the privilege of citizenship on certain conditions.

The Shoshonies, or Snakes, reside north of the Arrapahoes, and are also a wandering tribe, who inhabit that part of the Rocky Mountains which lies on the Grand and Green River branches of the Colorado of the West, the valley of the Great Bear River, the habitable shores of the Great Salt Lake, and a tract of country on the Snake River. Some of them subsist principally on roots; while others live on fish. They are said to own many horses, and, from their first acquaintance with the whites, to have been averse to war and cruelty. They have, however, been obliged to fight with the Blackfeet, Crows, Sioux, and Eutaws, to defend portions of their territory; and these tribes have formerly been much accustomed to send parties to rob them of their horses. They are described as being an intelligent race, possessing many domestic comforts, and opposed to immorality. They refuse the use of intoxicating liquor, saying, “It unmans us for the hunt and for defending ourselves against our enemies; it causes unnatural divisions among ourselves; it makes the chief less than his Indian; and by its use, imbecility and ruin would come upon the Shoshonie tribe.”

The Nezpercés and Chinnooks, or Flatheads, with the Skyuse Indians, are found near the mouth and branches of the Columbia River. Catlin thinks the Chinnooks are related to the Choctaws, and tells a tradition of the latter which seems to favor this opinion. The Nezpercés excited much interest a few years ago, in consequence of a delegation which came from them across the Rocky Mountains, saying they had heard from a white man that the religion of the whites was better than theirs, and they would be lost if they did not embrace it, and they came to inquire for teachers. Missionaries were sent among them, who are said to be in some measure successful in their efforts.

The code of laws existing among this tribe, as given in the last report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, is very strict, and exhibits a determination on the part of the people to have justice truly administered. Murder and arson are punished with death; the burning of an outbuilding with six months’ imprisonment, fifty lashes, and the payment of all damages. Careless burning of a house subjects the person doing it to the payment of damages.

The Chiens are a small tribe, about 3,000 in number, neighbours to the Sioux on the west. They are a fine race of men, scarcely a man in the tribe being less than six feet in height. They are said to be the richest in horses of any tribe on the continent, living, as they do, where the greatest herds are grazing on the prairies; these they catch in great numbers, and vend to the Sioux, Mandans, and other tribes, as well as to the fur-traders. They are described as dexterous horsemen and fierce warriors, having carried on an unceasing contest with the Pawnees and the Blackfeet.

The Crows are a wandering tribe, usually found in the upper plains around the head-waters of the Great Platte, Snake, and Yellowstone Rivers. They are variously estimated at from 5,500 to 7,000. The general opinion seems to be, that they are the most arrant rascals among the western mountains. The traders say, “They have never been known to keep a promise, or do an honorable act.” No white man or Indian trusts them. Murder and robbery are their principal employments. Catlin is disposed to modify this view of the tribe, though he admits that such is their reputation. He says they are distinguished for their elegant lodges, and their beautiful skin dresses. They are always at war with the Blackfeet, in consequence of which they suffer greatly in battle.

The Blackfeet are a well known numerous and warlike tribe of Indians residing on the branches of the Missouri above the Great Falls. Various estimates have been made of their numbers. Catlin supposes that they may reckon as many as 40,000 or 50,000. In the year 1828, they suffered very severely by the small-pox, which was introduced among them in consequence of their stealing a blanket from the steamboat of the American Fur Company on the Yellowstone, which had belonged to a man who had died of that disease. The infected article, being carried to their encampment upon the left fork of the Missouri, spread the dreadful infection among the whole tribe. They were amazed at the appearance of the disease. The red blotch, the bile, the congestion of the lungs, liver, and brain, were all new to their medicine-men; and the corpse, falling in pieces while they buried it, struck horror into every heart. In their frenzy and ignorance, they increased the number of their sweat-ovens upon the banks of the stream; and whether the burning fever or the want of nervous action prevailed, whether frantic with pain, or tottering in death, they were placed in them, sweated profusely, and plunged into the snowy waters of the river. The mortality which followed this treatment was like that of the great plague in London. They endeavoured for a time to bury the dead, but these were soon more numerous than the living. Mad with superstition and fear, brother forsook sister; father his son; mother her sucking child. They fled to the elevated vales among the western heights, where the influences of the climate, operating on the already well-spent energies of the disease, restored the remainder of the tribe to health. To this hour do the bones of seven or eight thousand Blackfeet lie unburied among the decaying lodges of their deserted village on the banks of the Yellowstone.

The Blackfeet are a ferocious tribe, numbering among their enemies all the nations within their reach. They roam about, seeking their foes wherever they are to be found. To show the hostility of the other tribes to the Blackfeet, Catlin relates the following event as having occurred when he was present. A party of Knistenaux came from the north for the purpose of making their summer’s trade at the station of one of the fur companies; and whilst there, a party of Blackfeet came from the west, also to trade. They encamped on opposite sides of the fort, and spent some weeks together in apparent good-fellowship, their arms, according to the regulation at the fort, being locked up in the arsenal. The Knistenaux had completed their trade, yet loitered about the premises, until all, both Indians and white men, were getting tired of their company, and wished them quietly away. When they were ready to start, with their goods packed on their backs, their arms were given them, and they started, bidding every body, both friends and foes, a hearty farewell. They went out of the fort, and though the party gradually moved off, one of them, undiscovered, loitered about, until he got an opportunity to poke the muzzle of his gun between the pickets. He then fired it at one of the chiefs of the Blackfeet, who stood within a few paces, talking with Mr. McKenzie, and shot him with two musket-bullets through his body! The Blackfeet and the Frenchmen in the fort ran forth with their arms, and, after several shots were exchanged, drove off the Knistenaux, they having lost one man, and having several others wounded.

The Blackfeet are described as of a Herculean make, though of middling stature; they have broad shoulders, and great expansion of chest. They probably acquired their name from the black leggins or moccasins which they wear. They are divided into four bands or families, the Pe-a-gans, of five hundred lodges, the Blackfoot band, of 450 lodges, the Blood band, of 450 lodges, and the Small Robes, of 250 lodges. These four bands comprise about 1,650 lodges, and, probably averaging ten to a lodge, amount to about 16,500 souls. There are also, in the vicinity, the Grosventres des Prairies, 430 lodges; Circees, of 220 lodges; and Cotornés, of 250 lodges. These have languages distinct from each other and from the Blackfeet, yet they seem to be their confederates, and hunt, eat, fight, and intermarry with them.

The Minetarees, a small tribe of about 1,500 souls, reside in three villages, consisting of earth-covered lodges, on the banks of the Knife River, a branch of the Missouri. This people are supposed to be a part of the Crows, who, at some remote period, being cut off by their enemies, and unable to return, threw themselves upon the hospitality of the Mandans, with whom they became, in a measure, joined. In language and customs they are said much to resemble the Crows, though they have also become somewhat assimilated to the Mandans. They have a tradition to the following effect. They came to the vicinity of the Mandans, poor, and without wigwams or horses. They were nearly all women, as their warriors had been killed off in fight; the Mandans would not take them into their village, nor let them come nearer than where they are now living, but they assisted them to build wigwams.