[51] Aricará. This tribe is by descent a branch of the great Pawnee nation, to whose language their own still bears a close resemblance; they are usually known among western travellers by the name of Riccarees, and the French call them “Les Ris;” they are a very predatory, wild, and thievish race.
[52] The Indians in the Missouri constantly carry a short whip of bull or cow–hide suspended from their wrist, with which, when in pursuit of buffalo or any other game, they lash their horses most unmercifully.
[53] Upsaroka, the Indian name of the tribe usually designated in Rocky Mountain travels as the “Crows;” a fierce roving nation, who were then, as they still are, at deadly enmity with their neighbours the Black–feet, and agree with them only in the propensity to plunder or kill white men, whenever opportunity offers.
[54] By this name the milky way is known among some of the Indian tribes.
[55] Merchant of Venice, act v.
[56] In the travels of Major Long and others, who have described the Indians of the Far–western prairies, the “brave” who leads a war–party is usually designated a “partisan.”
[57] It has before been mentioned, that among the roving tribes of the Great Missourian wilderness every one has its distinctive national sign: these are well known to each other, and to white men who are experienced in the life of the Far–west: the sign mentioned in the text is that adopted by the Upsarokas, as they intend, by the motion of their extended arms, to imitate the wings of a crow in flight. The Sioux, Black–feet, Pawnees, Snakes, Aricarás, Comanches, &c., have all their distinctive national signs; but an enumeration of them would be tedious, and out of place here.
[58] It is unnecessary to inform the reader that neither the date nor the description of this solar eclipse is intended to challenge scientific criticism. Merely the general features are preserved of that kind of solar eclipse which is termed “annular,” and which takes place when the eclipse, though central, is not total, on account of the moon not being near enough to hide the whole of the sun, in which case part of the latter is seen as a bright ring round the part hidden by the moon.
[59] When a trail is made by a party on a march, the grass is of course trodden down in the same direction as that in which they are going. A party travelling along it from the opposite quarter, are said to take the back–foot of the trail. The author heard the expression used by an experienced Western hunter, but is not aware whether it is in common use; at all events it explains its own meaning significantly enough.
[60] The herbs mingled by the Indians with a small proportion of tobacco, are frequently of a light and fragrant flavour; sometimes, too, they have some narcotic properties. In order fully to enjoy their qualities after the Indian fashion, the smoker must inhale the smoke by the mouth and expel it through the nostril, in which operation the nerves and small vessels of the latter experience a pungent sensation, which some consider highly agreeable, and is not unlike that which is caused by a pinch of mild or perfumed snuff.