Travels in North America, From Modern Writers / With Remarks and Observations; Exhibiting a Connected View of the Geography and Present State of that Quarter of the Globe

by William Bingley

The soil of a plain over which the two commanders and some of the men walked, on the 25th, was exceedingly fine; and was encumbered with but little timber, except immediately on the banks of the Missouri. They found delicious plums, grapes, and blue currants. The musquitoes, and other insects which here abounded, seem, however, to have occasioned them some inconvenience.

On the 29th they were joined by five chiefs and seventy men of the Yanktons, a tribe belonging to the Sioux Indians. The camps or huts of this people are of a conical form: they are covered with buffalo robes, painted with various figures and colours, and have an aperture at the top for the smoke to pass through. Each hut is calculated to contain from ten to fifteen persons, and the interior arrangement is compact and handsome: the kitchen or place for cooking is always detached. Captain Lewis delivered to these people a speech containing, as he says, the usual advice and counsel with regard to their future conduct towards the government and the "great father" (as the Indians are taught to call the president) of the United States. He gave to the grand chief a flag, a medal, a certificate, a laced uniform coat of the United States artillery corps, a cocked hat and a red feather; and to the other chiefs medals, tobacco, and clothing. Among the inferior men were distributed knives, tobacco, bells, tape, binding, and other articles of trifling value. After this the Indian chiefs, and Captains Lewis and Clarke, smoked together the pipes of peace. These chiefs begged the strangers to have pity on them, as they were very poor; to send traders to them, as they wanted powder and ball: they were also anxious to be supplied with some of "the great father's milk," by which they meant rum, or other ardent spirits. This people are stout and well proportioned, and have a peculiar air of dignity and boldness: they are fond of decorations, and use, for this purpose, paint, porcupine-quills, and feathers. Some of them wear a kind of necklace of white bear's claws, three inches long, and closely strung together round their necks. They had among them a few fowling-pieces, but they were, in general, armed with bows and arrows.

Beyond the village of the Yanktons the country, on both sides of the river, was low, and, for the most part, destitute of timber; but, in some places, it was covered with cotton-wood, elm, and oak. The weather had been intensely hot; but, in the beginning of September, the wind was violent, and the weather cold and rainy. On the second of this month, the hunters killed four elks, and the whole party was supplied with an abundance of grapes and plums, which grew wild near the river. They this day observed, on the south side of the Missouri, the remains of an ancient Indian fortification, formed chiefly of walls of earth.

On the 7th of September the weather was very cold. The voyagers, this evening, encamped at the foot of a round mountain, about three hundred feet in height, which, at a distance, had the appearance of a dome. In this part of the country the hunters chiefly killed elks, deer, and squirrels: and they occasionally brought in beavers, porcupines, and foxes. On the 12th they passed an island covered with timber; and they had great difficulty in struggling through the sand-bars, the water being both rapid and shallow. The weather was now becoming so cold, that it was requisite to give out flannel-shirts to the men; and several animals were killed, for the sake of their skins to cover the boats. In many places the strong current of the river had worn away the banks, to considerable extent.

An interview took place, on the 25th, with some chiefs of the Tetons, a tribe of the Sioux Indians: nearly the same ceremonies and agreements were used and entered into, as with the preceding tribes; and similar presents were made. They promised obedience to the "great father," but they soon showed how little dependance could be placed on the promises of uncivilized nations. As they were going away, a party of them endeavoured to seize one of the boats, declaring that they had not received presents enough. On being told they should receive no more, they drew their arrows from their quivers, and were bending their bows, when the swivel-gun in one of the boats was levelled at them. Perceiving from this that the most determined resistance would be made, they at length ceased from their claims.

On the ensuing day these Indians approached the banks of the river, accompanied by their wives and children, and by a great number of their friends. Their disposition now seemed friendly, and the voyagers accepted an invitation to remain, during the night, on shore, to witness a dance which was preparing for their entertainment.

When Captains Lewis and Clarke landed, they were met by ten young men, who took each of them up in a robe highly decorated, and carried him to a large council-house, where he was placed on a dressed buffalo-skin, by the side of the grand chief. The hall or council-room was in the shape of three quarters of a circle, and covered, at the top and sides, with skins sewed together. Under this sate about seventy men, forming a circle round the chief. In the vacant part of the circle, between these men and the chief, the pipe of peace was raised, on two forked sticks, six or eight inches from the ground, and having the down of the swan scattered beneath it. At a little distance was a fire, at which some of the attendants were employed in cooking provisions. As soon as Captains Lewis and Clarke were seated, an old man rose up, and stating that he approved of what they had done, begged of their visitors to take pity on them. Satisfactory assurances of amity were made by both parties; and the chief, after some previous ceremony, held up the pipe of peace, first pointed it toward the heavens, then to the four quarters of the globe, and then to the earth, made a short speech, lighted it, and presented it to the strangers. They smoked it, and he harangued his people, after which the repast was served up. It consisted of the body of a dog, a favourite dish among the Sioux; to this was added a dish made of buffalo-meat dried, pounded, and mixed raw with grease, and a kind of potatoe. Of this the strangers ate freely, but they could not relish the roasted dog. The party ate and smoked till it was dark, when every thing was cleared away for the dance. A large fire was lighted in the centre of the room, for the purpose of giving, at the same time, light and warmth. The music was partly vocal and partly instrumental. The instruments consisted chiefly of a sort of tambourine, formed of skin stretched across a hoop; and a small skin bag with pebbles in it. The women then came forward, highly decorated: some with poles in their hands, on which were hung the scalps of their enemies; and others with guns, spears, or different trophies, taken in war by their husbands, brothers, or connexions. Having arranged themselves in two columns, one on each side of the fire, they danced towards each other till they met in the centre, when the rattles were shaken, and they all shouted and returned to their places. They had no step, but shuffled along the ground. The music appeared to be nothing more than a confusion of noises, distinguished only by hard or gentle blows upon the skin; and the song was extemporaneous. In the pauses of the dance, any man in the company, who chose it, came forward and recited, in a sort of low guttural tone, some story or incident: this was taken up by the orchestra and the dancers, who repeated it in a higher strain, and danced to it. These amusements continued till midnight, when the voyagers retired on board their vessels, accompanied by four of the chiefs.

In their persons these Indians were rather ugly and ill made, their legs and arms being peculiarly slender, their cheek-bones high, and their eyes projecting. The females, with the same character of form, were somewhat more handsome. Both sexes appeared cheerful and sprightly, but afforded many indications of being both cunning and vicious. The men shave the hair off their heads, except a small tuft on the top, which they suffer to grow, so as to wear it in plats over the shoulders. In full dress, the principal chiefs wear a hawk's feather, worked with porcupine-quills, and fastened to the top of the head. Their face and body are generally painted with a mixture of grease and coal. The hair of the women is suffered to grow long, and is parted from the forehead, across the head; at the back of which it is either collected into a kind of bag, or hangs down over the shoulders. This people seem fond of finery. Their lodges are very neatly constructed: they consist of about one hundred cabins, made of white buffalo hides, supported on poles fifteen or twenty feet high; and, having a larger cabin in the centre, for councils and for dances. These lodges may be taken to pieces, packed up, and carried from place to place. The beasts of burden are dogs. Some of these Indians had their heads shaved, and others had arrows stuck through their flesh above and below the elbow: these were indications of mourning.

On Friday the 28th of September, Captains Lewis and Clarke pursued their voyage up the river; and on the ensuing day, they passed a spot where a band of Ricara Indians had had a village, about five years before: but there were now no remains of it, except a mound which encircled the town.

Beyond this, the country, on the north side of the river, presented an extensive range of low prairie, covered with timber: on the south were high and barren hills; but, afterwards, the land assumed the same character as that on the opposite side. A great number of Indians were discovered on the hills at a distance: they approached the river, and proved to be Tetons, belonging to the band which the voyagers had just left. In the course of this day the navigation was much impeded by logs and sand-bars. The weather was now very cold. The voyagers next passed the Chayenne river, which flowed from the south-west, and the mouth of which was four hundred yards wide. On both sides of the Missouri, near this river, are richly timbered lowlands, with naked hills behind them. In this part of the country the hunters observed a great numbers of goats, white bears, prairie-cocks or grouse; and a species of quadrupeds described to resemble a small elk, but to have large, circular horns.