Indian Tribes of the Upper Missouri 58

Indian Tribes of the Upper Missouri 58

CANOES

 

Skin canoes are the only watercraft used by these tribes, and these

are only to be found among the Mandan, Gros Ventres, and Arikara. They

are made of the skins of one or two buffaloes with the hair on, not

dressed, and stretched over a basketwork of willows. The women make,

carry, and propel them with paddles, one person only paddling in front.

A canoe of one buffalo skin will contain four persons and cross the

Missouri, but they must sit very quiet or they will upset. The women

carry these canoes on their backs along the bank to the place where

they wish to cross, and on their return bring them to the village and

turn them upside down to dry. A canoe of this kind is made in two or

three hours and will last a year. Bark canoes are used by the Chippewa,

but we are not well enough acquainted with their construction to

describe them. When no skin can be found to make a boat war parties

will cross any river on a raft.

 

 

MENTAL AND ETHICAL ADVANCEMENT

 

There is no doubt but most of these nations are disposed to advance

from the barbaric type, though as yet they have made but little

progress. Indeed, when we consider their mode of life, wants, and

situation with regard to each other we can not imagine how they

can well be anything more than what they are. Harassed by internal

wars, pinched by necessities that compel them to constant exertion,

discouraged by the ravages of diseases, and overwhelmed by innumerable

superstitious fears, their condition is not one calculated to prepare

either mind or body for the arts and habits of civilization. The whole

tenor of an Indian’s life, and the sum and substance of all his labors

is to live, to support his family, and rear his children, and he must

bring them up in such a way that they in their turn can do the same.

For this all is risked, and to this end the whole of their occupations,

even their amusements, tend. They would be most willing to embrace any

mode of life by which this main object could be realized with less risk

and toil than the one they now pursue, but they must first be convinced

of the certainty of success in the strange pursuit to which their

formed habits must give way before they would apply themselves.

 

Their present manner is certainly precarious, but they would not

abandon it unless some better way to live was made manifest, not by

tales and speeches but by actual experiment. Indians (men) will not

work. Even the slight attempt at agricultural labor by the few nations

on the upper Missouri who raise corn and other vegetables devolves

solely upon the women to perform them, and the men hunt as the other

tribes. Meat must be had, and as yet no relish has been formed by

any of them, except the Sioux, for the flesh of domestic animals.

Notwithstanding all this, we see in many things a desire to change

for the better, exhibiting itself in a general feature of improvement

when compared with that of 20 years since. Within that time and within

our acquaintance with these people the Sioux, Assiniboin, and other

nations were much more savage than they now are. At the period to which

we allude it was almost impossible for even the traders, much less

strangers, to travel through their country without being robbed and

often killed. Horses were stolen from whites on all occasions; every

person outside the fort was liable to be abused, imposed upon, flogged,

or pillaged, and even their dealings with each other were no better.

Murders upon slight provocation, robberies, and misdemeanors of all

kinds were common among them. Even whole bands armed against each other

and skirmishes took place whenever they met.

 

All these things now, if not obsolete, are very rare. Whites move

about among most of the nations with security of life and property,

and the Indians are better clothed, provided for, armed and contented

than formerly. For these happy results so far we are indebted to the

unmitigated exertions and good counsel of a few white traders of the

old stock, some good Indian agents, the entire abolishment of the

liquor trade, and lately the humane endeavors on the part of the

Government by the treaty at Laramie in 1851.

 

 

MEDICINE; DRUGS

 

Most of them are beginning to see the superiority of drugs and

treatment of the sick as exhibited to them by whites and are becoming

aware that their drummings and superstitions are of no avail, but it is

only a perception of truth, not as yet leading to any change in their

superstitions, because no person instructs them in aught better. As it

stands at present and to come to the point of this matter, we would

say a disposition to emerge from barbarism is apparent among most of

these tribes, though as yet no great advancement has been made. The

small improvements alluded to only show the desire to exist, but their

present organization, knowledge, and relative positions to each other

as nations do not admit of further improvement, which must necessarily

unfit them for their ordinary pursuits and successful contention with

enemies.

 

 

FOOD

 

Their provisions, cooking utensils, manner of cooking, serving the

meal and eating assimilates yearly more to that of the whites. Their

conversation, desires, and willingness to listen to counsel for their

benefit all convince of a disposition to advance toward civilization

and exchange their present mode of life for one more certain in its

resources, provided they could follow these employments secure from the

depredations of neighboring tribes yet their enemies; but here is the

difficulty, they are obliged to be always in readiness for war, also to

make excursions on their foes to replace their stolen horses or revenge

the death of their relatives.

 

They usually eat three times a day, morning, noon, and night, if meat

is plenty, but the number of meals depends altogether on the supply of

food, as has already been stated. Clay pots and other earthen vessels

are still in use among the Mandan, Gros Ventres, and Arikara, being of

their own manufacture, though they also have metallic cooking utensils.

 

The flesh of buffalo and other animals is cut in broad, thin slices and

hung up inside the lodges on transverse poles over the fire, but high

up in the lodge and in the way of the smoke, which soon penetrates it,

and in a few days the meat is dried and fit to pack away. In the summer

it is dried by spreading it in the sun, being cut up as above, which

soon cures it. They employ no salt in curing any meat.

 

The parts of the buffalo eaten in a raw state are the liver, kidneys,

gristle of the snout, eyes, brains, marrow, manyplies, or the omasum,

testicles, feet of small calves in embryo, and glands of the calf

envelope. Meat when cooked is either boiled or roasted, principally

the former, and always rare in either way, not overdone. They have no

salt for seasoning, but are fond of a little in the bouillon. In former

times meat was boiled in the rawhide, in holes in the ground smeared

with mud, and heated stones dropped in, or in pots made of clay and

soft stone, but metallic cooking utensils, consisting of kettles of

every size and description, have entirely replaced these. Tin cups and

pans, with some frying pans, wooden bowls, and horn spoons, are yet

common.

 

The tongues of buffalo sent to market are salted by the traders, who

secure them from the Indians during the winter in the hunting season,

and when frozen, salting them before the spring thaw comes on. None of

these tribes preserves meat in any other way than above mentioned, some

of which when dried is pounded and mixed with berries and marrowfat.

It is then called pemmican, or in Cree pim-e-tai´-gan. Dried meat will

keep but one year if free of wet, as afterwards the fat turns rancid

and the lean tasteless.

 

The tail of the beaver is first turned in the blaze of a fire, the

outside skin scraped off, then incisions are made each side lengthwise

along the bone, and it is held in boiling water for a few minutes to

extract the blood. It is then hung up in the lodge or in the sun and

left to dry.

 

All inquiries regarding fish are inapplicable to these Indians, as they

take none in quantity. The few catfish that are hooked by the Gros

Ventres and Arikara are boiled in water, no salt added, and a horrid

mess of bones and fish mixed together is produced, which no one but an

Indian could eat. They eat but do not relish them.

 

All the hunter tribes rely greatly on the spontaneous roots and fruits

found in the country and collect, dry, and pack them away, to be

used in times of scarcity of animal food. We have known hundreds of

Indians to subsist for one or two months on the buds of the wild rose

boiled with the scrapings of rawhides. At all times the different

kinds of roots and berries are a great resource, are used in their

principal feasts and medicine ceremonies, are of great assistance when

game is not to be found, are easily packed, and contain considerable

nourishment. The following is a catalogue of those found among all the

nations of which we treat, though there are several others whose names

in English are unknown to us, and some of these now named peculiar to

the most northern latitudes.

 

ROOTS, BERRIES, ETC., EATEN BY THE INDIANS OF THE UPPER MISSOURI

 

---------------------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------------------

English Name | Assiniboin name | Method of preparation

---------------------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------------------

Prairie turnip (pomme blanche) | Teep-se-nah | Dried and pounded.

Service berries | We-pah-zoo-kah | Dried.

Bull berries (grains des boeufs) | Taque-sha-shah | Do.

Chokecherries | Cham-pah | Pounded with seeds and dried.

Red plums | Caun-tah | Stones extracted and dried.

Wild grapes | Chint-kah | Not preserved; eaten ripe.

Currants | Wecha-ge-nus-kah | Do.

Gooseberries | Chap-tah-ha-zah | Do.

Wild rhubarb | Chan-hn-no-ha | Tops eaten raw or boiled.

Fungus growing on trees | Chaun-no-ghai | Not dried; found in winter.

Artichokes | Pung-ghai | Eaten raw or boiled; not preserved.

Berries of the red willow | Chau-sha-sha | Eaten raw only in great need.

Antelope turnips | Ta-to-ka-na Teep-se-nah | Boiled and dried.

Wild garlic | Ta-poo-zint-kah | Raw; not preserved.

A berry called | Me-nun | Not dried; eaten ripe.

Acorns[31] | Ou-tah-pe | Roasted and dried.

Strawberries | Wa-zshu-sta-cha | Not dried.

Inner bark of cottonwood | Wah-chin-cha-ha | Resorted to in time of actual famine.

Berries of the smoking weed | She-o-tak-kah | Not preserved; eaten ripe.

A root resembling artichoke | Ske-ske-chah | Dried, pounded, and boiled.

Buds of the wild rose | We-ze-zeet-kah | Found everywhere all winter on the stalk.

Red haw berries | Tas-paun | Not dried; eaten in fall and winter.