As soon as they advance to attack the enemy every one sounds his pipe, and all together utter the war whoop, a shrill cry, which they render tremulous by repeatedly and suddenly striking the mouth with the hand. Those who fast and dream, in order to perform an exploit, are entitled to wear a wolf's skin. A warrior has a right to wear as many eagles' feathers as he has performed exploits. All Indians, on their military expeditions, erect, in the evening, a sort of fort, in which they are, in some measure, secure against a sudden attack. In Major Long's expedition to the Rocky Mountains, it is stated, that they often make caches (hiding-places) in these forts; but we did not observe any such on the Missouri.[317] The Indians, on their expeditions, always set a watch by night as soon as they are near the enemy, and often send out scouts to considerable distances. At such a post the Indians are very vigilant and active; after an engagement they do not bury the dead, but, if they have not time to carry them away, leave them on the spot where they fell. The scalps, called, by the Canadians, les chevelures, are often preserved for a long time stretched upon small hoops, and the hair is afterwards used as an ornament to the dress of the men. The skin of the scalp is generally painted red. The Mandans, Manitaries, and Crows, never torture their prisoners like the Pawnees and the eastern nations. When a prisoner has arrived at the village, and eaten maize, he is considered as one of their own nation, and no person ever thinks of molesting him. Often, however, the women hasten out to meet {388} the prisoners ere they reach the village, and kill them; this is especially an act of revenge for their husbands or sons who may have fallen in the battle.
When a young man desires to become a leader, or partisan, he first gains, by gifts, the favour of the other young men, and then dedicates a medicine pipe, which is a plain, unornamented tube. This ceremony is accomplished by a four days' fast, and supplications for assistance to the lord of life, the first man, &c. &c., and other supernatural beings. He then addresses the young men, and calls upon them to give him their support in his undertakings. If a sufficient number testify their readiness to accompany him in a warlike expedition, and such an expedition is determined upon, they dance and feast in the medicine lodge for several successive nights, from whence, too, they generally march off by night.
The women never accompany these expeditions. On setting out the men are badly clothed, and not painted. They do not depart in a body, but, for the most part, singly, or in small detached parties. At a certain distance from the village they halt upon an isolated hill, open their medicine bags, and, after the men have sat down in a circle, the partisan produces his medicine pipe, which all present smoke; the person who smokes last, then spreads his medicines on the ground, or hangs them up, and from them foretells the fate of the expedition. The Indians manifest much gravity and decorum on solemn occasions like these.
When the warriors return from their expedition, the scalps are carried on in advance, on high poles: if they have performed any exploits, they paint their faces black; very frequently the whole body is thus disfigured. The women and children go out to meet them, and they enter the village performing the scalp dance. This dance is then repeated four successive nights in the medicine lodge, and is subsequently danced in the open space, in the centre of the village. If the campaign took place in the spring, it is danced, at intervals, till the fall of the leaf in autumn; if in the autumn, it is danced till spring, but should any of the nation be killed in the interim all festivities immediately cease. In the scalp dance the Indians paint themselves in various ways, form a semicircle, advance, and retreat amid the din of singing, the beating of the drum and schischikué. The wives of those men who have obtained the scalps carry them on long rods.[318]
All the distinguished deeds performed by a war party are placed to the account of the partisan. All the scalps that are taken belong to him, and also the horses that they have captured. He who has killed an enemy is a brave man, and reckons one exploit; but the partisan rises the highest on that account, even though he had not seen any of the enemies who have been slain. When he returns home, the old men and women meet, and sing the scalp song, on which he must make them all presents of value. He gives away all the captured horses, and valuable articles, and is afterwards a poor man, but his reputation is great. Successful partisans afterwards become chiefs, and are highly respected by their nation. The Indian youths go to war when they are only fourteen or fifteen years of age. Sometimes they make excursions on horseback in the winter.
{389} The Mandans and Manitaries make excursions as far as the Rocky Mountains, against their enemies, the Blackfeet, and against the Chippeways, to the country of Pembina.[319] Their other enemies are the Sioux, the Arikkaras, the Assiniboins, and the Chayennes (spelt, by the English, Shiennes). They are at peace with the Crows.
The weapons of the Mandans and Manitaries are, first, the bow and arrow. The bows are made of elm or ash, there being no other suitable kinds of wood in their country. In form and size they resemble those of the other nations; the string is made of the sinews of animals twisted. They are frequently ornamented. A piece of red cloth, four or five inches long, is wound round each end of the bow, and adorned with glass beads, dyed porcupine quills, and strips of white ermine. A tuft of horse-hair, dyed yellow, is usually fastened to one end of the bow. Pehriska-Ruhpa has such a weapon in his hand.[320] The quiver, to which the bow-case is fastened, is made of panther or buffalo skin; in the first case, with the hair outwards, the long tail hanging down, and, as among the Blackfeet, lined with red cloth, and embroidered in various figures with white beads. Their handsome quivers are made of otter skin, which are much esteemed. A very beautifully ornamented one, belonging to the Crows, is represented.[321] Narrow strips of skin hang down at both ends of the quiver. The arrows of the Mandans and Manitaries are neatly made; the best wood is said to be that of the service berry (Amelanchier sanguinea). The arrows of all the Missouri nations are much alike,[322] with long, triangular, very sharp, iron heads, which they themselves make out of old iron: it is but slightly glued to the shaft of the arrow, which is rather short, and generally remains in the body of the wounded animal. They know nothing of poisoning their arrows. The arrow-heads were formerly made of sharp stones: when Charbonneau first came to the Missouri, some made of flint were in use, and in the villages they are still met with, and in all those parts of the United States where the expelled or extirpated aborigines formerly dwelt. We were told that, in the prairie, near the Manitari villages, there is a sand hill, where the wind has uncovered a great number of such stone arrow-heads. Almost all the Mandans and Manitaries now have guns, which they ornament with bits of red cloth, on the brass rings of the ramrod, and at the butt-end {390} with brass nails. Besides the ramrod belonging to the gun, the Indians always carry another long ramrod in their hands, which they generally use. The pouch is made of leather, or cloth, often beautifully ornamented with beads, or porcupine quills, and is hung on the back by a piece of skin, or a broad strip of cloth of some lively colour. Their clubs and tomahawks are of various kinds. Many have a thick egg-shaped stone fastened to a handle, covered with leather, or without leather.[323] Others have small iron tomahawks,[324] but not tomahawks with pipes fixed to them. The large club with the broad iron point[325] is called manha-okatanha, or mauna-schicha. A simple, knotty, wooden club is called mauna-panischa.[326]
Stone club, with handle
A knotted wooden club
Arikkara bird-cage gourds
Many Mandans likewise carry lances, and I was told that they had a remarkably handsome one, of which, however, I did not obtain a sight. These Indians have shields, which do not differ from those of the tribes already mentioned. They all wear, in their girdle, behind, their large knife, which is indispensable to them in hunting and in war. Some use, for the handle of the knife, the lower jaw of a bear, with the hair and teeth remaining.[327] The bow and arrows are, even now, much esteemed by all the nations living on the Missouri, while those that have been entirely driven from that river (the Osages) greatly prefer the gun; the former, therefore, are capital archers, which cannot be affirmed of the Osages. The Mandans and Manitaries are said to fight well in their manner, and there have been frequent instances of individual bravery. One of their most distinguished warriors, at this time, is Mato-Topé, of whom we shall often have to speak in the sequel. He has killed more than five chiefs of other nations. The father of Mato-Topé, whose name was Suck-Schih (the handsome child), behaved exactly {391} in the same manner as the Manitari chief, Kokoahkis, mentioned by Say.[328] He went, one evening, wrapped up in his robe, into a hut of the hostile Arikkaras, as the young men of the village often do, ate with his face covered, so that he was taken for a young Arikkara; then laid himself down by the side of a woman, and afterwards cut off a lock of her hair, with which he retired. He might have killed the woman, as Kokoahkis did, but refrained from doing so.
Wounds appear to be healed with remarkable ease. In cases of arrow wounds, they like to force the arrow quite through, that the iron head may not remain in the wound. Men and women are often scalped, in battle, who afterwards come to themselves, and are cured. Such a large wound on the head is rubbed with fat; the medicine man fumigates it, singing at the same time. Disorders are not uncommon among the Indians. The Mandans and Manitaries often suffer from diseases in the eyes; many are one-eyed, or have a tunicle over one eye. In inflammation of the eye they have a custom of scratching the inner eye with the leaf of a kind of grass, resembling a saw, which causes them to bleed very much, and this may often occasion the loss of the eye. Rheumatism, coughs, and the like, are frequent, because they go half naked in the severest cold, and plunge into ice water. Much benefit is often derived from their steam-baths, in a well closed hut, where a thick steam is produced by pouring water on hot stones. They then immediately go into the cold, roll themselves in the snow, or plunge into a river covered with drifting ice, but do not return to a warm hut, as the Russians do. Many Indians are said to have died on the spot by trying this remedy. Some suffer from gout; but all who survive these violent remedies are stronger and more hardy. Another remedy is trampling on the whole body, especially the stomach, as is practised also among the Brazilians. This operation is performed with such violence, as often to occasion hard swellings in the intestines, or ulcers, especially in the liver. The steam-bath is used as a remedy in all kinds of disorders. Vaccination, the application of which met with no difficulties among several nations on the great lakes, especially the Chippeways, is not yet practised among the Mandans and Manitaries. Spitting of blood is said to be frequent, but not pulmonary consumption. Gonorrhœa is very common; they affirm that all venereal disorders come to them from the Crows beyond the Rocky Mountains. For such disorders they often seat themselves over a heated pot, but very frequently burn themselves. They cut open buboes, lengthwise, with a knife, and then run for a couple of miles as fast as they can. The jaundice is said not to occur among them. It appears that they are not acquainted with emetics, but, if they feel anything wrong in the stomach, they thrust a feather down the throat, and thus produce vomiting. Their purgatives are obtained from the vegetable kingdom. The poison-vine often produces swellings, especially in children. As rattlesnakes are rare in the vicinity of the villages, it is, of course, seldom that any one is bitten by them; these Indians are said, however, to have very good remedies against the bite. Frozen limbs are rubbed with snow. {392} When blindness arises from the dazzling brightness of the snow, which it very frequently does in March, they bathe the eyes with a solution of gunpowder and water. They often have recourse to bleeding, which they perform with a sharp flint, or a knife. They often apply to the Whites for medicine, and willingly follow their prescriptions. These Indians have also various remedies for their horses; thus, when a horse has the strangury, they give it a piece of a wasp's nest.
When a Mandan or Manitari dies, they do not let the corpse remain long in the village; but convey it to the distance of 200 paces, and lay it on a narrow stage, about six feet long, resting on four stakes about ten feet high, the body being first laced up in buffalo robes and a blanket.[329] The face, painted red, is turned towards the east. A number of such stages are seen about their villages, and, although they themselves say that this custom is injurious to the health of the villages, they do not renounce it. On many of these stages there are small boxes, containing the bodies of children wrapped in cloth or skins. Ravens are usually seen sitting on these stages, and the Indians dislike that bird, because it feeds on the flesh of their relations. If you ask a Mandan why they do not deposit their dead in the ground, he answers—"The lord of life has, indeed, told us that we came from the ground, and should return to it again; yet we have lately begun to lay the bodies of the dead on stages, because we love them, and would weep at the sight of them." They believe that every person has several spirits dwelling in him; one of these spirits is black, another brown, and another light-coloured, the latter of which alone returns to the lord of life. They think that after death they go to the south, to several villages which are often visited by the gods; that the brave and most eminent go to the village of the good, but the wicked into a different one; that they there live in the same manner as they do here, carry on occupations, eat the same food, have wives, and enjoy the pleasures of the chase and war. Those who are kind-hearted are supposed to make many presents and do good, find everything in abundance, and their existence there is dependent on their course of life while in the world.[330] Some of the inhabitants of the Mandan villages are said not to believe all these particulars, and suppose that after death they will live in the sun or in a certain star.
They mourn for the dead a whole year; cut off their hair, cover their body and head with white or grey clay, and often, with a knife or sharp flint, make incisions in their arms and legs in parallel lines, in their whole length, so that they are covered with blood. For some days after death the relations make a loud lament and bewailing. Often a relative, or some other friend, covers the dead, as they express it: he brings one or two woollen cloths, of a red, blue, white, or green colour, and, as soon as the body is laid on the stage, mounts upon the scaffolding, and conceals the body beneath the covering. A friend who will do this is, in token of respect, presented, by the family of the deceased, with a horse. If it is known beforehand that a person intends doing this honour to the dead, a horse is at once tied near the stage, and the friend, having performed {393} this last office, unties the animal and leads it away. If a Mandan or Manitari falls in battle, and the news of his death reaches the family, who are unable to recover the body, a buffalo skin is rolled up and carried to the village. All those who desire to lament the deceased assemble, and many articles of value are distributed among them. The mourners cut off their hair, wound themselves with knives, and make loud lamentations. Joints of the fingers are not cut off here, as among the Blackfeet, as a token of mourning, but as signs of penance and offering to the lord of life and the first man.[331]
Map of neighborhood of Fort Clark
- a. Scaffolds for the dead, and poles with offerings. Plates 14 and 25 (see accompanying atlas, our volume xxv).
- b. The Mandan village—Mih-Tutta-Hang-Kush.
- c. The open space in the centre of the village.
- d. The ark of the first man.
- e. The stream in which the dishes are washed.
The English and French find the pronunciation of the Mandan language extremely difficult; while to a German, or a Dutchman, it is considerably easier, because it contains very many gutturals, like ach, och, uch, in German. The nasal sounds, on the contrary, are few, but they frequently speak in a very indistinct way, having the mouth scarcely opened. The vowels are often softened, and much depends on the way in which the accent falls. The vowels a and u are often only half pronounced, but occur very frequently. I collected many words, as specimens of the language, and wrote down phrases, and made an attempt to compile a grammar of the Mandan language, but the completion of it was, unfortunately, hindered by unfavourable circumstances.[332] Several old persons assured me that they perfectly remembered that, in their youth, many resemblances between the Mandan and Manitari languages did not then exist, which have since gradually crept in; the two languages being then quite different, which, indeed, they are still, in the main. As nations and allies, however, they have reciprocally adopted many words and expressions, and hence there is a better understanding among them now than heretofore, and their intercourse is greatly facilitated. Time will, undoubtedly, produce a still closer approximation.[333] It is a remarkable fact, and proves how easily the separation of single tribes, and even villages, of one and the same nation, leads to changes in the language, and transitions into other dialects. An example of this kind was presented in the two Mandan villages, where many diversities of language had already taken place. I collected several specimens of this kind, and, to me, it was highly interesting. The Mandans are more apt in learning foreign languages than many other nations. Thus, the majority of them speak the Manitari language, whereas but few of the latter understand the Mandan language. Most of the American nations, at least, those on the Missouri, are said to have no maledictory words or terms of abuse; the Mandans have nothing of the kind but the expression—"bad people." The article is wanting in the Mandan language, and there is no distinction of gender, except in addressing a man or a woman. For my observations on the Mandan language, I am chiefly indebted to the kindness and patience of Mr. Kipp, who had lived eleven years among that people, had married an Indian wife, and had attained a perfect knowledge of the language. The Mandan names always have a signification, and are often equivalent to whole sentences: all surrounding objects are made use of in giving {394} names. I subjoin a few singular specimens: "The bear which is a spirit;" "The bull which is a spirit;" "I hear somebody coming;" "There are seven of them married to old women," &c.
In conclusion I would say that some have affirmed that they have found, in North America, Indians who spoke the Gaelic language; this has been said of the Mandans; but it has long been ascertained that this notion is unfounded, as well as the assertion that the Mandans had a fairer complexion than the other Indians.[334]
FOOTNOTES:
[207] Maximilian must have been misinformed in regard to the Canadian-French form for the name of this tribe. Probably the earliest account is that of La Vérendrye, who visited them in 1738-39. See Douglas Brymner, Canadian Archives, 1889, pp. 2-29, for the journal of this expedition. La Vérendrye had been informed by the Assiniboin, that the Mandan, whom he called "Mantannes," were a different race from the Indians; he was therefore disappointed when upon meeting them he discovered their similarity to other known tribesmen. He was conducted in much state to their villages, of which there were five along the Missouri, and remained among them several weeks, reaching his fort on the Assiniboin January 10, 1739, upon the return journey.—Ed.
[208] There is evidence both from the number of deserted Mandan villages on the Missouri, and from the accounts of the early travellers—and this accords with Mandan tradition—that the numbers of the tribe had formerly been larger and their villages more numerous; Bougainville, in his Mémoire sur la Nouvelle France (1757), cited in Northern and Western Boundaries Ontario (Toronto, 1878), p. 83, speaks of seven fortified villages; and David Thompson, who visited them in 1797-98, found the same number. Lewis and Clark reported that forty years before their visit, there had been nine, and that the population had wasted before the attacks of the Sioux and the ravages of smallpox.—Ed.
[209] La Vérendrye (Canadian Archives, 1889, p. 5) gives their aboriginal name as Ouachipouanne.—Ed.
[210] Warden is mistaken when he says (Vol. III. p. 559), that the Mandans are descended from the Crows; for this is applicable to the Manitaries, of whom we shall speak afterward.—Maximilian.
[211] For Heart River see our volume v, p. 148, note 91. The modern North Dakota town of Mandan takes its name from the traditional Mandan village near its site.—Ed.
[212] Lewis and Clarke write this name Rooptahee, which is incorrect. (See Account of their Journey, Vol. I. p. 120.) These celebrated travellers passed the winter among the Mandans, and give many particulars respecting them, which, on the whole, are correct; but their proper names and words from the Mandan and Manitari languages are, in general, inaccurately understood and written. It is said, they derived their information from a person named Jessáume, who spoke the language very imperfectly, as we were assured everywhere on the Missouri. Of this kind are many of the names mentioned by those travellers, which neither the Indians nor the Whites were able to understand; for instance, Ahnahaways (Vol. I. p. 115), a people who are said to have formerly dwelt between the Mandans and the Manitaries; likewise Mahawha, where the Arwacahwas lived (ibid.); the fourth village is said to have been called Metaharta, and to have been inhabited by Manitaries (ibid.); of all these names, except, perhaps, Mahawha, which ought probably to be Machaha, nobody could give us the slightest information, not even Charbonneau, though he has lived here so many years. It is necessary to be much on your guard against bad interpreters, and I acted in this respect with much caution. All the information given by me, respecting Indian words and names, was carefully written down from the statements of sensible, well-informed men of these nations. I have endeavoured to write down their language exactly, according to its real pronunciation, in doing which, the German guttural sounds were of great assistance to me, as it is that of the Missouri Indians. Mr. Kipp and Charbonneau, with some of the others who have lived long among these Indians, daily assisted me, during a long winter, with much patience and kindness, in this work.—Maximilian.
[213] See Dr. Morse's Report, p. 252. He speaks (p. 349) of the Mandans, Blackfeet, Rapid (Fall) Indians, and Assiniboins. His tables of the Indian population of the United States are in page 362.—Maximilian.
[214] Say, who, in general, gives a very accurate description of the North American Indians (see Major Long's Travels), lays too much stress, as it appears to me, on the character of the receding of the forehead; for, by a comparison of a great many skulls, I have fully convinced myself of the contrary. Say affirmed, also, that the facial angle is not so small as Professor Blumenbach supposes. The Indian features, as far as my experience reaches, cannot be called either Mongol or Malay, the latter of which is more perceptible in the Brazilians, notwithstanding the manifest affinity with the North Americans. The learned traveller, Augustus de St. Hilaire, even attributes to the Brazilians a conformation of the skull, according to which those people are endowed with inferior intellectual faculties. (See Voyages dans les Districts de Diamande). The missionary, Parker, in his Travels to the Columbia River, p. 155, expresses himself, in this respect, entirely in accordance with my views; and D'Orbigny confirms them in respect to the South Americans, in the conformation of whose skulls he found considerable diversities.—Maximilian.
[215] La Vérendrye (Canadian Archives, 1889, p. 21) says, "This nation is mixed white and black. The women are fairly good-looking, especially the white, many with blond and fair hair." All later travellers, also, note the presence of grey eyes and hair among the Mandan. If this arose from admixture with Caucasians, it probably was due to French coureurs des bois, who ranged far among the Western tribes. See, however, on this subject, Matthews, Hidatsa, pp. 43-45, who thinks fairness of skin but a variation of the usual Indian type.—Ed.
[216] François le Vaillant (1753-1824) was born in Dutch Guiana, where his father held an official position. Returned to Holland at the age of ten, he completed his education in Paris, and embarked (1780) for the exploration of Africa. His two journeys lasted five years, but their results were more valuable to the other natural sciences than to geographic discovery. He published Voyages dans l'interior de l'Afrique (Paris, 1790-96).
François Péron (1775-1810), a younger naturalist, served first in the Revolutionary armies (1792-95). In 1800-04 he accompanied Baudin on his voyage to Southern lands and waters, publishing the results as Voyage de découvertes aux terres australes (Paris, 1811-16). His collections of natural history, both plants and animals, were noted.—Ed.
[217] Haec deformitas a viris ipsis ut dicunt, tractibus sæpe repetitis producitur. In nonnullis labia externa in orbem tres ad quatuor digitis transversos prominent; in aliis labia interna valde pendent; immo virorum ars in partibus ipsis figuras artificiose fictas format.
Fœmina hac raritate curens parvi œstimata, et neglecta est.
Moris est in Mandans, Mœnnitarris, et in Crows, magis autem in Mœnnitarris; in Mandans, a mulieribus dissolutis, magis quam ab uxoribus hic mos perversus adhibitur.—Maximilian.
[218] Volney has many inaccuracies in what he says of the colour of the Indians (Vol. II. p. 435). According to him, the children are born quite white like the Europeans; that the women are white on the thighs, hips, and lower parts of the body, where the skin is covered by the clothing; that it is wholly erroneous to suppose that the copper colour is natural to them, &c. Mr. Von Humboldt has long since refuted all these assertions.—Maximilian.
[220] See Plate 50, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.
[221] Such feathers are represented in Plate 54, figures 13, 14, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.
[222] See Plate 46, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv, "which," Maximilian says, "is the best representation hitherto given of it."—Ed.
[223] See his portrait, Plate 47, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.
[224] See journal of La Vérendrye, Canadian Archives, 1889, p. 13: "I acknowledged that I was surprised [upon meeting the Mandan], expecting to see a different people from the other Indians, especially after the account given me. There is no difference from the Assiniboines; they are naked, covered only with a buffalo robe, worn carelessly without a breech clout."—Ed.
[225] There is a print of such a robe in Major Long's Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, and another in Plate 54, Fig. 1., of my atlas [See our volume xxv]. The original was painted by Mato-Topé himself, and the figures on it represent some of his principal exploits, in which he killed, with his own hand, five chiefs of different nations.—Maximilian.
Comment by Ed. See James's Long's Expedition, in our volume xiv, p. 202. See also group of painted robes in Catlin, North American Indians, ii, pp. 240-249; on the entire subject see Garrick Mallery, "Picture Writing of American Indians," in Bureau of Ethnology Report, 1888-89.
[226] For description of this ornament see our volume xiv, p. 235.—Ed.
[227] See our volume xv, p. 71.—Ed.
[228] The early travellers speak of the fortifications of the Mandan villages. La Vérendrye (Canadian Archives, 1889, p. 17) mentions "ramparts" and "trenches." Bougainville (Northern and Western Boundaries of Ontario, p. 83) says the villages are surrounded by staked earthworks with a moat; Catlin (North American Indians, i, p. 81) describes this village as picketed upon one side only—that exposed to the prairie.—Ed.
[229] See p. 267 for illustration of this peculiar cylinder of planks, used as a religious emblem. Catlin, North American Indians, i, p. 88, says it was called the "Big Canoe."—Ed.
[230] See p. 267 for illustration of Mandan huts. Alexander Henry (Henry-Thompson Journals, i, pp. 337-339) gives an account of the process of building these huts. The Mandan houses were the most elaborate Indian dwellings north of New Mexico, and characterized the tribal stage of industrial development. The energy required to cut and prepare the timbers with the rude implements in vogue, indicates an advance upon the industry of the wandering prairie tribes. See L. H. Morgan, "Houses and House Life of American Aborigines," in Geographical and Geological Survey of the Territories, Contributions to Ethnology, 1881, iv, pp. 125-130. A few of these huts may still be seen on the Fort Berthold reservation, North Dakota. See O. D. Wheeler, "Last of the Mandans," in Wonderland, 1903, who suggests that these Mandan dwellings were the forerunners of the sod-houses of the early settlers.—Ed.
[231] See Bodmer's drawing of the interior of the hut of Dipauch, Plate 52, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.
[232] See p. 285 for illustration of a Mandan bed. La Vérendrye (Canadian Archives, 1889, p. 21) speaks of these beds as "made like tombs surrounded with skins." Catlin gave a more detailed description, in North American Indians, i, pp. 82, 83. A buffalo skin stretched upon the poles, with the fur side uppermost, made a comfortable reclining place. The curtains were frequently adorned with Indian embroidery or picture writing.—Ed.
[233] See our volume xiv, pp. 188-190, 208.—Ed.
[234] It was into these caches, which he speaks of as "caves," that La Vérendrye's bag of Indian presents disappeared upon his first visit to their villages in 1738-39; Canadian Archives, 1889, p. 17. Furthermore he says (p. 21), "Their fort is full of caves, in which are stored such articles as grain, food, fat, dressed robes, bear skins."—Ed.
[235] For such a sledge drawn by dogs see Plate 29, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.
[236] See Plate 54, figure 4, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.
[239] I brought to Europe specimens of the several kinds of maize grown among the Mandans; these have been sown, but only the early species were ripe in September, 1835. The heads have by no means attained the same size, on the Rhine, as in their native country. There the plant attains a height of five or six feet, and the colours of the grains are very various, bright, and beautiful: while, on the Rhine, the plant grew to the height of four or four and a half feet. The later sorts grew to the height of ten feet, and were not quite ripe at the end of October. (See Bradbury, [our volume v, p. 158, note 96], for an account of the maize of the Mandans.)
According to Tanner (page 180), an Ottowa Indian first introduced the cultivation of maize on the Red River, among the Ojibuas, or Chippeways.—Maximilian.
[240] La Vérendrye presumably first introduced the tobacco of the whites to these people. Upon first meeting the Mandan chief, he "presented me with a gift of Indian corn in the ear, and of their tobacco in rolls, which is not good, as they do not know how to cure it like us. It is very like ours, with this difference, that it is not cultivated and is cut green, everything being turned to account, the stalks and leaves together. I gave him some of mine, which he thought very good."—Ed.
[241] For a good description of pemmican see Franchère's Narrative, our volume vi, p. 380, note 197.—Ed.
[242] The only form of cannibalism practiced among the North American Indians, after they were known to the whites, was the custom of eating the heart or the flesh of a brave enemy, in order to acquire the victim's courage or other desirable qualities. As torture of prisoners was more common among Eastern than Western tribes, this practice may be the one referred to by Maximilian. Consult Livingston Farrand, Basis of American History (New York, 1904), pp. 226, 243.—Ed.
[243] Catlin (North American Indians, i, pp. 118-120) finds apologies for the custom of polygamy, which he says is chiefly confined to the chiefs and medicine men of the tribe.—Ed.
[244] Lewis and Clark describe this process of primitive bead-making, related to them by Garreau, the Arikkara interpreter, in Original Journals, i, pp. 272-274; see also Catlin, North American Indians, ii, p. 261. If the Mandan acquired this art from the Snake Indians, as tradition avers, their pounded glass was probably obsidian from the cliffs of the upper Yellowstone. See also Matthews, Hidatsa Indians, pp. 22, 23.—Ed.
[245] The Mandan art of ceramics, with its similarity to the productions found in the mounds of the Eastern states, has been frequently noted. Compare Henry-Thompson Journals, i, p. 328; Catlin, North American Indians, i, p. 116; ii, pp. 260, 261; and W. H. Holmes, "Aboriginal Pottery of the Eastern United States," in United States Bureau of Ethnology Report, 1898-99, pp. 197-201, with illustrations.—Ed.
[246] See Plate 48, with buffalo boats in the foreground, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv. For a description of the process of making these bull-boats, see Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, v, pp. 325, 326; for a vivid account of the manner of navigating them, see Henry-Thompson Journals, i, pp. 331, 332.—Ed.
[247] Consult on the subject of courtship and marriage, Catlin, North American Indians, i, pp. 120, 121. Matthews, Hidatsa Indians, pp. 52-54, claims that the custom of the more reputable families is not mere wife-purchase, but is based upon mutual respect, and the ability of the husband as a hunter and provider.—Ed.
[248] Matthews, Hidatsa Indians, p. 15, criticises Maximilian for this statement, saying "Why boast of a deed which was no great achievement?" Catlin likewise extols the chastity of girls in respectable families. The evidence of Alexander Henry is in the opposite direction. Consult also Bradbury, in our volume v, p. 166.—Ed.
[249] See Plate 54, figure 6, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.
[250] Consult Matthews, Hidatsa Indians, pp. 54-57. Communication with the mother-in-law was formerly considered improper.—Ed.
[251] The berdash was noted by most early travellers among Western Indians. Marquette found them among the Illinois (Thwaites, Jesuit Relations, lix, p. 129). See also Henry-Thompson Journals, i, pp. 53, 348.
For Mc Kenzie see Franchère's Narrative, in our volume vi, p. 185, note 4. Tanner is noted in our volume xxii, p. 390, note 367. George Henry, Baron von Langsdorff (1774-1852), was a German scientist and traveller who entered Russian service, making several journeys in the interest of that power. In 1803-07, he visited Kamschatka and Russian America as far as California, returning overland through Siberia. Maximilian here refers to his description of this journey, published first as Bemerkungen auf einer Reise um die Welt in 1803-07 (Frankfort, 1812), and translated as Voyages and Travels in various parts of the World during the years 1803-07 (London, 1813-14). Langsdorff later visited Brazil under the auspices of the Russian government.—Ed.
[252] For these two savants see our volume xxii, notes 27 and 87 respectively.—Ed.
[253] See Plate 55, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv, and p. 285 for illustration of Mandan letter in hieroglyphics.—Ed.
[254] The dentalium shells were by intertribal exchange brought from the Pacific Ocean; the Mandan prized them so highly that white traders began to import them, and Matthews reports (Hidatsa, p. 28) that ten of these shells would buy a superior buffalo robe.—Ed.
[255] See the amusing description by Catlin (North American Indians, i, pp. 197, 198) of a horse-race in which he participated.—Ed.
[256] The following account by Maximilian of the societies or bands among the Mandan is the most complete description by any early traveller, of these peculiar social organizations. J. O. Dorsey, "Omaha Sociology," in United States Bureau of Ethnology Report, 1881-82, pp. 342-355, classifies these societies or corporations according to their purpose—as those organized for sacred ends, for bravery or war, or simply for social pleasure. According to Maximilian's account these purposes would appear to be commingled, and several of the bands to have been organized for general police and governmental purposes.—Ed.
[257] See our volume xxiv.—Ed.
[259] See Plate 56, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.
[260] See Plate 51, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.
[261] See account of buffalo dance of the Omaha (Dorsey, op. cit., in note 256, pp. 347, 348), also in James's Long's Expedition, our volume xv, p. 127. This is not the same ceremony as that intended to attract the buffalo, or the buffalo-medicine dance, for which see post.—Ed.
[262] A similar dance was practiced among the Omaha, by whom it was known as the grizzly bear dance. See Dorsey, op. cit., p. 349.—Ed.
[263] The bow-lance is a large bow, to one end of which the iron point of a lance is fastened. It serves only for show, and is never used in serious combat. It is very handsomely adorned with eagle's feathers, frequently with red cloth also, and, when completely decorated, is worth from 100 to 250 florins. It descends from father to son, and cannot be obtained except at a high price. Sometimes a horse or more must be given for it.—Maximilian.
[264] For a representation of this dance see Plate 28, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.
[265] See our volume xxii, p. 361, for illustrations of Mandan pipes.—Ed.
[266] For Indian music compare Bradbury's Travels, in our volume v, p. 116, and accompanying note.—Ed.
[267] See Dorsey's description of this game, op. cit., pp. 337, 338; Catlin also speaks of it as "Tchung-kee," and remarks upon the grace and agility developed by it. For a description of this game as practiced among the Pawnee, see our volume xv, pp. 214, 215.—Ed.
[268] See Plate 81, figure 14, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.
[270] The hoop and the stick are represented in Plate 81, figure 15, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.
[271] The North American Indians are conceded to have been in that state of religious or superstitious development known as "animism;" consult Farrand, Basis of American History, pp. 248-250; and E. B. Tylor, Primitive Culture (New York, 1871). For the primitive cults of the Mandan and Minitaree, Maximilian is an approved authority; consult on this subject, J. O. Dorsey, "Study of Siouan Cults," in United States Bureau of Ethnology Report, 1889-90, particularly chapter vi.—Ed.
[272] This conjecture is adopted by Dr. Edwin James, the learned author of Tanner's Life among the Indians, p. 357 of that work. I refer to this interesting book for the remarkable hieroglyphics of the people of the Algonquin tribe.—Maximilian.
[273] Alcide Dessalines D'Orbigny (1802-57), a French naturalist and palæontologist. In 1826 he was sent to South America, where for eight years he travelled and made observations, which were embodied in his Voyages dans l'Amérique méridionale (1834-47); he also published L'Homme Américain consideré sous ses rapports physiologique et moreaux (Paris, 1839). In 1853 he was appointed to the chair of palæontology in the Jardin des Plantes, Paris.
Felix d'Azare (1746-1811), a Spanish soldier, traveller, and naturalist, spent twenty years (1781-1801) in South America. His published work was Voyage dans l'Amérique méridionale (1809). Tylor calls attention to D'Orbigny's strictures on Azare's statements.—Ed.
[274] Dipauch is a very distinguished man, and might have been a chief long ago if he had pleased, as he possesses all the necessary qualifications. His father was shot by the Sioux during Lewis and Clarke's winter residence among these Indians. Those travellers offered to assist the Mandans against their enemies, and to take the field with them, to which, however, they would not consent.—Maximilian.
Comment by Ed. See Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, i, pp. 229-232. It is somewhat misleading to say that the Mandan would not accept the aid of the explorers. The snow was too deep, and the cold too severe to permit pursuit of the Sioux.
[275] Brackenridge, p. 71, is very much mistaken in believing that the Mandans and Manitaries worship only buffalo heads, for, if the latter are medicine, it is incontrovertibly true that they believe in a number of superior beings who make a figure in their mythology.—Maximilian.
Comment by Ed. Our author is citing Brackenridge, Views of Louisiana (Pittsburgh, 1814).
[276] Catlin calls this spirit Okeeheedee, and identifies him as the devil. It is he who creates the great disturbance on the third day of the Okippe; see post.—Ed.
[277] Catlin gives a variant of this legend, in North American Indians, i, pp. 179-180.—Ed.
[278] Numank-Machana autem, partis naturalis loco cauda vacuna usus erat: incolæ loci, valde stupefacti præstantes et assiduas primi hominis vires admirarunt.—Maximilian.
[279] Deluge-myths are very widespread among the American aborigines. D.G. Brinton, Myths of the New World (Philadelphia, 3rd ed., 1896), pp. 234-249, finds over thirty-four tribes among whom distinct traces of deluge myths were prevalent.—Ed.
[280] See variants of this tradition in Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, v, pp. 346, 347; Catlin, North American Indians, i, pp. 178, 179.—Ed.
[281] This is not White Earth River of North Dakota, but the one in South Dakota now usually known as White River; see our volume xxii, p. 302, note 259. For Moreau River consult Bradbury's Travels, in our volume v, p. 127, note 82.—Ed.
[282] The Minitaree had a creation-myth similar to that of the Mandan, by which they were represented as climbing from a lake when a tree broke, the remainder of the tribe being left below.—Ed.
[283] See Plate 49, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv, for a view of Mih-Tutta-Hang-Kush, of which the ground plan is found on p. 363, ante.—Ed.
[284] This belief in the influence of dreams and in a guardian spirit was widespread among the aborigines of North America; consult J. Long's Voyages, in our volume ii, pp. 123-126; also J. O. Dorsey, "Siouan Cults," p. 475.—Ed.
[285] See Plate 54, figure 3, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.
[286] For sacred pipes among the Omaha, see Dorsey, "Omaha Sociology," pp. 221-224.—Ed.
[287] The ceremony of adoption was frequent among North American Indians. It was of vast service in preserving the lives of white captives, and in promoting intercourse between whites and Indians. For typical instances consult Lewis H. Morgan, League of the Iroquois (Rochester, 1851), pp. 341-346; J. Long's Voyages, in our volume ii, pp. 82-86; and Henry-Thompson Journals, i, pp. 388-390.—Ed.
[288] Consult on this subject, Brinton, Myths of the New World, pp. 304-334.—Ed.
[289] See Catlin's description of the purchase of a white buffalo robe from the Blackfeet—a matter of public concern to the entire tribe—and its dedication to the Great Spirit, in North American Indians, i, pp. 133, 134.—Ed.
[290] These are represented in Plate 58, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.
[291] The author refers to a letter on this subject, written by Mr. Catlin, and published in a New York paper; but this is by no means so complete as that given in his valuable work published last year.—H. Evans Lloyd.
Comment by Ed. Catlin's letter, dated at the Mandan village, August 12, 1832, was published in the New York Spectator, and a German translation incorporated in the first edition of Maximilian's work published at Coblentz in 1841 (ii, pp. 658-667). Upon the issue of Catlin's North American Indians, (1841), the fuller account of Okippe therein given caused Maximilian's English translator to omit from his work Catlin's first description. Catlin's veracity in this description was impugned both by Schoolcraft and David D. Mitchell, and their criticism was embodied in an authorized government publication. Catlin thereupon (1866) appealed both to Kipp and Maximilian, who both unhesitatingly endorsed his account as correct. See evidence in Smithsonian Institution Report, 1885, part ii, pp. 368-383. Catlin then published O-kee-pa (London, 1867), with colored illustrations of the ceremony.
[292] The ceremony of Okippe was for many years celebrated annually; but as the numbers of the tribe decreased it occurred less frequently, and has now with the progress of missionary work become extinct. See, however, description of the celebration in Henry A. Boller, Among the Indians, Eight Years in the Far West (Philadelphia, 1868), pp. 100-111.—Ed.
[293] According to Catlin these drums were supposed to be filled with water enclosed in them at the time of the deluge, and thus were objects of much veneration. For one of them he offered goods to the amount of one hundred dollars, but was refused, they being deemed "medicine" or mystery objects. Captain Maynardier, who witnessed this ceremony in 1860, and thought he was the first to describe it (see Senate Ex. Docs., 40 Cong., 1 sess., No. 77, pp. 149-151), also testifies that the drums were supposed to be filled with water; but he believed they were stuffed with hair.—Ed.
[294] According to Catlin, "the first man" collects an edged tool from each lodge, since the "big canoe" was made therewith, and in another deluge these would be needed.—Ed.
[295] That is, they dance twice to each of the four quarters of the globe, four being a sacred number. See plates of the costume in Catlin, O-kee-pa, nos. v, vi.—Ed.
[296] See O-kee-pa, plate viii, for the rattlesnake man.—Ed.
[297] An exact description of the representation by Catlin, op. cit., plate ix. According to the painter, this evil spirit does not appear until the fourth day of the ceremony.—Ed.
[298] When these Indians fast for three or four days together, they dream very frequently of the devil, and, in this case, they believe that they have not long to live. The narrator had once fasted for a long time at this festival, and suffered himself to be hung up by the back. During the night he dreamed of the devil, who appeared far more frightful and taller than he could ever be represented. His plume of feathers reached to the clouds, and he ran about as quick as lightning. On several other occasions he dreamed of this devil, but now he is resolved not to fast any more, that he might not die prematurely. He added, that he had often looked without apprehension, and with pleasure, on the mask representing the devil; but he now regarded the matter in a different light, for, the more he thought of him, the taller and the more frightful did he appear to him, and, under these circumstances, the spirit had been very near him, and, if he had but once touched him, he certainly should have been dead already.—Maximilian.
[299] See O-kee-pa, plate viii, for a representation of the masker imitating the beaver.—Ed.
[300] Represented in O-kee-pa, plate vii; also another, intended to symbolize the dawn, or the rays of the morning.—Ed.
[301] Catlin's account of the tortures is more detailed than that of Maximilian, but presents similar features. Upon inquiry, the former learned that but one young man was known to have died from the exhaustion consequent thereupon. Consult also the Henry-Thompson Journals, i, pp. 364, 365.—Ed.
[302] Compare Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, i, p. 245; and James's Long's Expedition, in our volume xv, pp. 129, 130.—Ed.
[303] See our volume xiv, pp. 127, 128.—Ed.
[304] Compare Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, i, pp. 257, 258, on the use of rattlesnake joints as medicine.—Ed.
[305] For the mention by Lewis and Clark see Original Journals, i, p. 264; also our volume xv, pp. 57-59.—Ed.
[306] See Plate 14, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.
[307] See Plate 58, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.
[308] Matthews, Hidatsa Indians, pp. 71, 72, takes exception to this list, and from his own observation thinks that the Mandan and Minitaree have no formal names for the lunar periods, and that they are aware that twelve do not quite complete the year.—Ed.
[309] For representation of a buffalo hunt, see Plate 64, in the accompanying atlas,' our volume xxv.—Ed.
[310] The economy of the buffalo in the life of the plains Indians is well known; its flesh was the staple for food, its skin for shelter, dress, and utensils of many sorts, its horn for implements, and its sinews for strings and thread. The sedentary aborigines of the Missouri were scarcely less dependent upon this animal than their plains kinsmen, their agricultural products forming but a small supplement to the food supply. Hunting the buffalo was thus the chief employment of the male Indians. For this purpose guns were but little used, they being reserved for war or occasional encounters with grizzly bears. Compare descriptions of Mandan buffalo hunts in Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, i, pp. 234, 278; Henry-Thompson Journals, i, pp. 336, 337; Palliser, Solitary Rambles (London, 1853), pp. 111-114; and Boller, Among the Indians, pp. 78-80.—Ed.
[311] H. M. Brackenridge, Views of Louisiana, p. 56.—Ed.
[312] For this method of taking antelope compare Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition i, pp. 313, 314; and H. M. Chittenden and A. T. Richardson, Life, Letters, and Travels of Father De Smet, iv, pp. 1396, 1397. Frequently Indians pursued the antelope on swift horses, driving them in zig-zags until they were exhausted. See Original Journals, ii, pp. 345, 346.—Ed.
[314] See Matthews, Hidatsa Indians, p. 58. This is the eagle sometimes known as Aquila canadensis, although it has a wide range of habitat. It is the royal or calumet eagle of Lewis and Clark—one of the two North American eagles, the other being the bald-headed (Haliætus leucocephalus).—Ed.
[315] See a good description of war-parties led by partisans in our volume xv, pp. 78-85.—Ed.
[316] See Plate 54, figure 9, and Plate 81, figure 14, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.
[317] See our volume xv, p. 92. These hiding places are described as prepared by the squaws in case of an unexpected attack, warriors only retreating thereto if hard-pressed.—Ed.
[318] Brackenridge (1811) witnessed the return of an Arikkara war-party and the subsequent scalp-dance, which he vividly describes in volume vi of our series, pp. 142-145.—Ed.
[319] Pembina is said to mean the fruit of the high-bush cranberry. The river of that name, an affluent of Red River from the west, disembogues near the British-American boundary line, its mouth being the site of several early trading-posts and settlements. Between 1790 and 1796 Peter Grant, a Nor' Wester, built a trading-post opposite the mouth of the river, near the site of the present St. Vincent, Minnesota. Charles Chaboillez, another trader for the same company, wintered (1797-98) at the mouth of Pembina River on the south-west side. Four years later Alexander Henry built a post in the north-west angle, the site of the modern town of Pembina, North Dakota, where he made his headquarters until 1808, and whence (1806) he visited the Mandan villages. In 1812 Lord Selkirk had a post built at this site, which from one of his titles was named Fort Daer. This being on the verge of the timber-land, and hence convenient to buffalo herds, was the wintering place of his Red River colonists. The North West Company had a rival post in the near vicinity. After the troubles of the Red River colonists with the North West employés (1814-16), a company of troops, guided by John Tanner, was sent (1817) by Selkirk to avenge his settlers. These captured the North West fort at Pembina, and restored Fort Daer, which was maintained until 1823; when, on being found to be south of the international boundary, it was dismantled and removed some miles farther north. Meanwhile a small settlement of métis had grown up on the site; Long (1823) found here about sixty log-cabins, and three hundred and fifty people. Communication was maintained both with Fort Garry, lower down on Red River, and with Fort Snelling, at St. Paul. About 1842 the agents of the American Fur Company established a cart-route to Pembina, where in 1870 the United States government erected a fort, but the place is no longer occupied by troops.—Ed.
[320] See his portrait in Plate 56, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.
[321] See Plate 81, figure 16, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.
[322] Though all their arrows appear, at first sight, to be perfectly alike, there is a great difference in the manner in which they are made. Of all the tribes of the Missouri the Mandans are said to make the neatest and most solid arrows. The iron heads are thick and solid, the feathers glued on, and the part just below the head, and the lower end, are wound round with very even, extremely thin sinews of animals. They all have, in their whole length, a spiral line, either carved or painted red, which is to represent the lightning. The Manitaries make the iron heads thinner, and not so well. They do not glue on the feathers, but only tie them on at both ends, like the Brazilians. The Assiniboins frequently have very thin and indifferent heads to their arrows, made of iron-plate. Mr. Say (Major Long's Expedition) says, that the arrow-wood (viburnum) is used for their arrows by the Indians on the Lower Missouri and the neighbouring prairies. I conjecture that this shrub is the alistier (Cratægus torminalis) of the Upper Missouri, which is sometimes used for bows, but very seldom for arrows.—Maximilian.
[324] See portrait of Mato-Topé, Plate 47, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.
[325] Ibid., Plate 81, figure 4.—Ed.
[328] Concerning Mato-Topé see our volume xxii, p. 345, note 318. For this incident see our volume xv, p. 97. Kakoakis was Le Borgne, for whom see our volume v, p. 162, note 98.—Ed.
[329] These burial scaffolds were noted by most travellers on the Missouri, and Catlin gives a drawing of a Mandan cemetery, in North American Indians, i, pp. 89-92. Bradbury, in our volume v, p. 160, describes a scaffold in detail. According to James's Long's Expedition, our volume xv, pp. 66, 67, the Omaha buried their dead. The burial customs of all the Dakotan tribes would appear to have been fluctuating, inclining to aerial sepulture. Of late years, on the Fort Berthold reservation, this method is declining; and during the smallpox epidemic of 1838 the Mandan buried their dead; see Audubon's Journals, ii, pp. 14, 15. On the entire subject consult H. C. Yarrow, Introduction to Study of Mortuary Customs among the North American Indians (Washington, 1880); and "Further Contributions to the study of Mortuary Customs among the North American Indians," in United States Bureau of Ethnology Report, 1879-80, pp. 87-203.—Ed.
[330] The belief in the plurality of souls appears to have been widespread among Dakotan tribes. Matthews (Hidatsa, p. 50) says that the Minitaree believe in four for each person, and that he has heard this faith disputed with the Assiniboin, who believe in but one. The Teton Sioux think one spirit is of the body and dies with it; the second remaining with or near the body—hence the offering of food to the deceased; the third goes to the spirit home in the south; and the fourth abides with the lock of hair cut from the head of the corpse—if this is thrown into an enemy's camp, the ghost harasses the hostiles in time of war. See Dorsey, "Siouan Cults," p. 484. The belief in a home of spirits is indefinite and ill-defined—most Dakotan people think of an ancestral home to which spirits return, but the distinction between abodes for the good and the wicked appears imported, not indigenous.—See Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, v, p. 347.—Ed.
[331] Compare the accounts of mourning in James's Long's Expedition, our volume xv, pp. 66-68, and Boller, Among the Indians, p. 70. Mutilation was practiced by many tribes as a sign of mourning; see Yarrow, "Further Contributions to the Study of Mortuary Customs."—Ed.
[332] See Indian Vocabularies, in our volume xxiv.—Ed.
[333] Compare on this point Matthews, Hidatsa, pp. 18, 84, who claims that on the Fort Berthold reservation there appears no tendency to coalescence, and that Mandan, Minitaree, and Arikkara are still linguistically distinct.—Ed.
[334] A tradition of white-bearded Indians living far to the westward was rife among the French traders and explorers in the early eighteenth century, and when he visited the Mandan in 1738 La Vérendrye sought "that nation of whites so much spoken of." The variation in color of complexion, hair, and eyes among the Mandan (see note 215, ante) led to various theories of their origin. Among these that of Welsh derivation gained much currency. The alleged American adventure in the twelfth century of Prince Madoc from Wales, and the consequent blending of his followers with the aborigines was a current theory among English ethnographers in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Catlin enthusiastically adopted it to account for Mandan peculiarities; see his North American Indians, i, pp. 205-207; ii, pp. 259-261. For a bibliography of this theory, which Maximilian's scientific sense rejected, see Justin Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America (Boston, 1889), i, pp. 109-111; see also B. F. Bowen, Welsh in North America (Philadelphia, 1876), especially chapter xi.—Ed.