Indian Tribes of the Upper Missouri 57

Indian Tribes of the Upper Missouri 57

As has been frequently stated, there are no large mounds perceived on

the upper Missouri, the work of Indians, as have been discovered in

some of the western States, but were it an object or custom to bury the

dead in that manner we believe there is energy and power sufficient

among any of these tribes to accomplish a work of the kind, even with

the rude tools they have, in a loose soil, free of rock, and in the

summer season. These mounds have most probably been national or public

depositories for the dead of Indians in stationary huts; and as great

superstition is attached to all funeral rites, it is not improbable

they were excavated in a length of time by the united efforts of the

nation. Being a work in which both women and children could join, and

which could be executed with the most primitive tools, they no doubt

worked at it in favorable seasons, stimulated to exertion by the

directions and commands of the divining men. These marks of antiquity

only prove the nation to have been numerous, stationary, and unanimous

in the undertaking. The materials disinterred from these receptacles

must show beyond doubt the state of arts and advancement of the tribe

at the time the interment was made, supposing the articles thus

exhibited to be of their own manufacture and not traded from Europeans.

Bones reburied are not accompanied with a new deposit of instruments.

 

Those articles first enveloped with the body, if found, are reinterred

with it, which, having been the property of the deceased, are valuable,

but to none other. It is only when the corpses fall from scaffolds or

the bones of the dead by some means have become exposed that a second

burial takes place; otherwise no Indians disturb the repose of the dead.

 

 

ORPHANS AND THE AGED

 

The care of orphan children and the aged devolves upon the nearest

relatives of their deceased parents, but neither the chiefs nor any

other persons not of kin pay them the least attention, unless they

are adopted into their families. The aged and infirm are supported by

their sons and other relatives until they become helpless and a burden,

and are then left in some encampment to perish. There are no very old

people without some relatives. The fact of their being old presumes

that some of their lineal descendants are living, and it is with

these they reside; but should there be no kin whatever acknowledged

they would only the sooner die, as neither chiefs, hunters, nor any

others would take the least interest in them, much less furnish them

with provisions or be troubled by packing them along in traveling.

Should an aged person of this description die in camp the body would be

wrapped in the skins composing its bed and stuck on a tree by some of

the men, without the least symptom of mourning. The life of the aged

of both sexes, even with their own children, is one of drudgery and

misery, and when entirely helpless they are in a manner obliged to get

rid of them in some way, as their manner of traveling and conveniences

of lodging are not adapted to the infirm.

 

A very near and correct view of their means and disposition warrants

the opinion that it is more through extreme necessity than hardness

of heart that they resort to the inhuman alternative above mentioned.

Age without power is never venerated even by sedentary Indians, though

these can and do treat the infirm better than the roving tribes,

because, being better prepared with commodious lodges and not obliged

to travel, the burden of useless and aged persons is not so much felt.

They are therefore tolerated for their talents in story telling and

other qualifications, exciting more their laughter than their abuse

or neglect. But it is always a hard fate. The others will say they

have had their day, their youth, and their prime, have enjoyed much

and should now die and remove the burden of their care. They all know

and expect this to be their own fate if life be prolonged, and hence

we find the influence of chiefs, once renowned, declining with age or

debility. Their gallant acts and services are forgotten or laughed at,

later incidents of the same nature replacing theirs in the memory of

their friends; they are neglected, ridiculed, imposed upon, and, being

helpless, submit.

 

It does happen with some divining men that the older and uglier they

become the more they are feared for their supernatural powers, and

these, as long as they can sing and drum, are well off, because they

can always command property for their services and pay their way for

any attention or assistance, besides their supposed supernatural powers

prevent any practical jokes or petty torments from being inflicted as

on ordinary aged persons.

 

There are but few old people of either sex. Their lives are too

laborious, precarious, and exposed to secure an advanced age.[30]

 

[30] There is some tautology in treating the foregoing subject of death

and its incidents, but it could not be helped without omitting some

portions of the subject.

 

 

LODGES

 

The lodges of the Sioux, Crows, Assiniboin, Cree, and Blackfeet are

made of buffalo skins, hair shaved off and dressed, then sewed together

in such a manner that when placed upright on poles it presents the form

of an inverted funnel. The skins are dressed, cut out, and the lodge

made up altogether by the women. When cut and sewed and laid on the

ground it is in shape nearly three-quarters of a circle, with the two

wings of skins at the small end to serve as vanes, which are changed

by moving the outside poles with the wind, to prevent the lodge from

smoking. The tent is stretched on poles from 12 to 20 feet in length

according to the size of it, each family making one to suit the number

of persons to be accommodated or their means of transporting it;

therefore their sizes vary from 6 to 23 skins each, the one being the

smallest, and the other the largest size in general use, the common

or medium size being 12 skins, which will lodge a family of eight

persons with their baggage, and also have space to entertain two or

three guests. The area of a lodge of 12 skins when well pitched is a

circumference of 31 feet, and the space each grown inmate requires

for bed and seat would be about 3 feet in width. People seldom stand

upright in a lodge. They enter in a stooping posture, and moving

forward in this way to the seat opposite, sit there until they leave.

(Pls. 74, 75.)

 

When sleeping the feet of every one is turned toward the center of the

lodge, where the fire is made, the smoke escaping at the opening in

the top. The material will last with some repairs about three years,

not longer. They usually make new lodges every third summer and cut

up their old ones for leggings and moccasins. Their lodges are always

carried along when they travel with the camp, being packed on a horse

in summer, or on a travaille in winter, in default of horses, and when

the snow is deep they keep out wind and rain and answer all their

purposes, but are cold, smoky, and confined. Families of from 2 to

10 persons, large and small, occupy tents of different dimensions,

say, one of 6 skins for the former and one of 16 skins for the latter

number. Lodges of 36 skins are sometimes found among the Sioux, owned

by chiefs or soldiers. These when carried are taken apart in the middle

in two halves and each half packed on a separate horse. When erected,

the halves are again joined by wooden transverse pins, the poles are

dragged on the ground, being tied together in equal-sized bundles, and

slung to each side of the horses. A tent of this size will accommodate

50 to 80 people on an occasion of feast or council, as they can sit in

rows three or four deep; about 30 persons, however, could sleep therein

with ease, independent of the space required for baggage, provisions,

and utensils. The females, young and old, aid in making them, and the

eldest of them erects, removes, and arranges the locations of the

interior in the manner described in a former answer.

 

They are never vacated and left standing, but are needed wherever they

go to protect themselves and property from the weather. The skins are

put up when sewed together in proper form without being smoked, as

the smoke from the fire in the inside soon penetrates them and

renders them impervious to rain. The men have nothing to do with the

construction, erection, removal, or internal arrangement of the lodges.

 

[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY FORTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT

PLATE 73

 

Four sticks 12 inches long, flat and rounded at the ends, about 1 inch

broad and one-eighth inch thick, are used. Two of them have figures of

snakes burned on one side, and two the figure of a bear’s foot burned

on. All the sticks are white on the sides opposite the burned sides.

 

THROWS

 

Two painted or marked sides and two white count 2

All the white sides turned up count 10

Three burned sides up and one white count nothing 0

Four burned sides up count 10

 

NOTA BENE.—Three white sides up and one burned side up counts nothing.

 

THE CHUN-KAN-DEE´ GAME]

 

[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY FORTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT

PLATE 74

 

_Lodge Poles set up._

 

_Lodge Erected_

 

A LODGE FRAME AND A COMPLETED LODGE]

 

[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY FORTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT

PLATE 75

 

THE INTERIOR OF A LODGE AND ITS SURROUNDINGS]

 

[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY FORTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT

PLATE 76

 

_An Assiniboine stabbing a Blackfoot._

 

_Drawn by an Assiniboine Warrior._

 

_Fort Union Jan. 16. 1854._]

 

The Mandan, Gros Ventres, and Arikara live in dirt cabins made by

planting four posts in the ground, with joists on the top. From this

square descend rafters to the ground in angular and circular shape, the

interstices being filled with smaller sticks and willows; then grass

is laid on, which is covered with mud, over which is thrown earth, and

the whole beaten solid. An opening is left in the top for the smoke and

a door in the side, which is extended into a covered passage of a few

steps and will admit a man upright. These are large and roomy huts,

will accommodate 30 or 40 persons each, but are generally occupied by

one family, who frequently have their beds and bedsteads, corn cellar,

provision room, and often a horse or two under the same roof. They are

said to be damp and unhealthy.

 

The figures and representations of animals, etc., painted on their skin

lodges are those of monsters seen by them in their dreams; also the

hand is dipped in red paint mixed with grease and its impression made

in many places over the tent. This denotes the master of the lodge to have struck an enemy. The same impression is also made on their naked bodies in some of their dances and has the same signification.