Indian Tribes of the Upper Missouri 68

Indian Tribes of the Upper Missouri 68

No. 8 is the rattle made out of deer and antelope hoofs scraped

thin and light, reduced in size, and a number of each attached to

small strings, so closely that they clash together when shaken. The

flute (9) is made of wood, and the whistle (10) is the wing bone of

a swan. These have before been described. From what has preceded it

will be understood that there are no verses in their songs evincing

their patriotism, or other chants representing their triumphs; that

all is chorus and tune. Their laments for the dead are of the same

description, adding a few words and calling upon the departed by

stating the degree of relationship, the few mournful words to deplore

their loss, and the rest of the chant is in meaningless ejaculations.

 

Their music is never recorded nor have they such things as music boards

or bark songs. In their bacchanalian songs they often repeat catches

of whatever comes into their minds at the time, adapting the words

to the song, but these words or any particular __EXPRESSION__s do not

properly belong to the songs, which in their original are of the same

description as the others.

 

Many lullabies are sung to children by their mothers, but as usual

but few words introduced, consisting mostly of humming of different

tunes to put them to sleep, adding sometimes, “Sleep, sleep, my pretty

child,” or “Red fox come here; you will get a marrow bone to eat”—this

when they are 2 or 3 years old.

 

There is nothing in their painting or sculpture worthy of notice.

All are rude drawings and carvings scarcely intelligible without

explanation.

 

 

PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS

 

The nations we write of are as yet in their savage state. But few

steps have been taken by them in the path of knowledge. Their original

manners and customs, if not entire, are but slightly changed, their

superstitions the same as their ancestors, and their minds deplorably

void of moral truth or useful science. Their idol worship remains

undisturbed by religious teachers, and the humane efforts in this

respect, extended to China and the South Seas, are withheld from the

coppered brethren residing next door.

 

There are some points not to be overlooked, inasmuch as they have a

general bearing upon the whole race, involving a subject of great

interest to which the foregoing details form but the prelude. The

principal of those to which we allude is this: “How far has knowledge,

art, and commerce, and the progress of civilization, affected the

improvement of the Indians, and changed or modified their original

manners, customs, and opinions?”

 

As art and knowledge are yet in their infancy among them and as has

been stated but little improvement in their moral condition is visible,

yet great and important changes have been brought about by the commerce

of trade, without which any plan for their future advancement would be

retarded a century, and by correct appreciation of which views can be

formed regarding contemplated measures for their prosperity.

 

In the foregoing pages, which present their savage life in detail,

nothing speculative has been ventured upon, no conjectures hazarded,

by us or by anyone well acquainted with the wild tribes, nor will any

new opinions be perceived. The whole is merely a collection of facts,

thrown together in the form of answers to certain questions without

further comment than necessary for their illustration and clothed in

the simplest garb of verbiage to facilitate their comprehension.

 

When we entered the fur trade in the spring of 1833, now 21 years

since, all the Indians herein treated of, from the Sioux to the

Blackfeet, inclusive, were much more ignorant in everything, degrading

in their habits, slovenly in appearance, and barbarous in their actions

than they now are. Life was then held by a slight tenure, crime was

frequent, atrocious disorder and family feuds were general, and their

occupations confined to slaughtering their enemies, murdering each

other, and providing for their families only in extremes of necessity.

 

The traders of the Columbia Fur Co. and after them those of the

American Fur Co. were men of ability, honesty, and truth. In the course

of their dealings, intermarriages, and conversations with the Indians,

the minds of the latter were enlarged, a different train of thought

and action engendered, new desires created which gave a stimulus to

industry, which raised the Indian from the level of the brute to the

standing of an intellectual being.

 

The enmities formerly existing between different bands of the same

nations, arising from the petty jealousies of chiefs or private family

animosities, were soldered up by the traders. To be sure their object

in this was personal gain, but that is immaterial, the beneficial

results arising from their traffic, etc., were consolidation of force

and interest of the Indians, unity of purpose and action, entailing

order in their government, a great diminution of family feuds and

private quarrels, and an application of their time to the comfort

and welfare of their families instead of its being spent in bloody

contention or domestic idleness or discord.

 

The introduction of firearms, metallic cooking utensils, and other

tools gave them a greater reliance on their own powers, increased

their hunting operations, and with them their domestic comfort, by

these means withdrawing their attention from their barbarous practices

and opening a new field for their exertions. With the substituting of

European instruments and clothing arose a different kind of pride than

that of olden time. The distinguishing features of the original savage

were fierceness, obstinate will, and bloody determination, leading to

barbarous and disgusting practices. Their women were worse than slaves,

the extent of their labor was more than they could bear. With the stone

ax, the bone awl, the clay pot, the rib knife, and all their primitive

tools, even their most pressing wants were met with great difficulty.

The process of procuring fuel alone was one of much toil, and occupied

most of the time of one female to a lodge. On account of their

inadequate instruments for dressing hides their clothing was wretched,

often insufficient to protect from cold or to cover with decency.

 

Commerce has changed all this by facilitating their means, and the

character of their women has risen from a state of intolerable slavery

to one of ordinary labor scarcely more servile than that of European

female operatives. Their persons are cleanly dressed, combed, and

adorned, a desire to appear genteel is manifested, a neatness in their

lodges and domestic arrangements perceptible, proving the transfer of

their time and ideas to these ends from those of original filth and

savage recklessness.

 

In former times the trade was carried on in their different camps by

paying a number of desperate men (Indians) to restrain the populace

from robbing the trader. This force was effective and necessary at the

time, because the wants of the Indians were so numerous and pressing,

their cupidity so great, that it was impossible for the trader publicly

to display his goods or deal with them on anything like fair terms.

And the Indians thus employed considered it an honorable station;

it flattered their pride to rely for protection on their bravery,

and no robberies could be committed nor the traders insulted without

killing these men at the door of the lodge, which was never attempted.

This gave rise to a body of men called soldiers, and the power first

invested in them by the traders formed a nucleus around which collected

a superior and coercive force, which, in the course of time, was

applied to their own civil organization, producing order in their

government, unity of action, and rendering effective the decisions by

council.

 

The original natural authority was centered in the chiefs of small

bands, supported only by their family connections, who could not or

would not enforce decrees for general welfare nor interfere in any

public differences not touching their private interests. Power being

thus confined and circumscribed, separations into small camps took

place and minor subdivisions into heads of families, resembling in

this elementary form of government that of the ancient patriarchs who

as their interests jarred or covetousness increased made war upon each

other and were insufficient for any general purpose. But when the body

of soldiers was established and their efforts united to support the

chief and council, they soon collected in large bands, from two to four

or six hundred lodges each, entered into effective measures of defense

from the surrounding tribes, regulated their hunts to advantage, and by

this consolidation of interest extinguished the principal sources of

private discord. This was a great step in advancement produced by the

traders and their commerce, for through the chief and council as the

organ of public opinion and soldiers as its support the nation could be

spoken to, their interest consulted, their feelings known, and the mass

made to advance toward a further point of improvement.

 

Property by means of commerce having been acquired, rates of exchanges

established, and hunting operations enlarged and facilitated, other

things besides scalps became valuable in the eyes of the Indians.

Each having something to lose, perceived the necessity of respecting

the rights of others, giving rise to a spirit of compromise in

difficulties, so that arms were less resorted to in settling disputes,

payment in most cases superseding that ancient and barbarous custom;

also they evinced a disposition to aid each other in times of need,

which minor obligations bound still closer their hitherto feeble bonds

of society.

 

These were some of the effects of the introduction of commerce. A still

further improvement is visible in their expansion of ideas arising

from association with white traders, exhibited in their amelioration

of manners, desire for knowledge, doubts of their own superstitions,

increase of their vocabulary and modes for expressing thought,

reason supplying the place of passion, and the general usefulness

of the whole, resulting in their minds having been made capable of

comprehending religious or scientific instruction and their time and

talents to be applied to either their moral or spiritual welfare.

 

This is the point to which these wild tribes are supposed by us to have

arrived, but no further. Their future condition depends more upon their

white allies than themselves. Traders have instilled education enough

to serve their purposes and let them alone. It would be inexpedient for

them to do more.

 

It is also apparent, if their present attainments be not improved

upon by those in power, that they must recede, and in case of a

discontinuance of trade or a worse influx of whites, their now to them

useful organization must dissolve. In this event they must become

more miserable than at first, because the desires and necessities

induced by their partial elevation can not be satisfied from their

original resources, these having been lost and abandoned during their

advancement, consequently their present support withdrawn, their

hunting ruined, distress, famine, and dissolution as nations must

certainly follow.

 

If they are left in their present condition until the tide of

emigration has reached their as yet undisturbed hunting grounds, and

the green plains, now covered with multitudes of buffalo, shall be

strewn with innumerable grog shops, occupied by nests of gamblers,

and hordes of outlaws, bringing with their personal vices a host of

infectious diseases, where will the poor Indian be then? Bitter would

and should be the reflections of our great national reformers that they

had not in time stretched out a saving arm to the aborigines.

 

It may be said, point out a way, state some feasible plan. Heretofore

our policy has been lame, and our efforts retarded by our being

but partially informed as to their capacity of improvement, or the practicability of bettering their condition.