The inhabitants occupy their village not longer than five months in the year. In April they arrive from their hunting excursions, and in the month of May they attend to their horticultural interests, and plant maize, beans, pumpkins, and water-melons, besides which they cultivate no other vegetable. They also at this season dress the bison skins, which have been procured during the winter hunt, for the traders, who generally appear for the purpose of obtaining them. The young men, in the mean time, are employed in hunting within the distance of seventy or eighty miles around for beaver, otter, deer, musk-rat, elk, &c.

When they have performed their part, the squaws give notice to the husband, who then calls two or three old public criers to his lodge; he invites them to be seated near him, and after the ceremony of smoking, he addresses them in a low voice, directing them to pass through the village, and invite the individuals whom he names to them, to honour him by their presence at the feast, which is now prepared, "Speak in a loud voice," says he, "and tell them to bring their bowls and spoons." The criers having thus received their instructions, sally out together, and in concert sing aloud as they pass in various directions through the village. In this song of invitation, the names of all the elect are mentioned. Having performed this duty, they return to the lodge, and are soon followed by the chiefs and warriors.

If the host is invested with the dignity of chief, he directs those who enter, where to seat themselves, so that the chiefs may be arranged on one side, and the warriors on the other; if he is a warrior, he seats the principal chief of the village by his side, who whispers in his ear the situation which those who enter ought to occupy; this intimation is repeated aloud by the host.

When the guests are all arranged, the pipe is lighted, and the indispensable ceremony of smoking succeeds.

The assembly then take the subject into consideration, and after much conversation, determine upon a route, which Ongpatonga proposed in his speech. This chief, previous to the council, is careful to ascertain the opinions and wishes of his people, and he speaks accordingly.

He sometimes, however, meets with opposition from persons who propose other hunting grounds, but their discourses are filled with compliments to his superior knowledge and good sense.

The proceedings of the council are uniformly conducted with the most perfect good order and decorum.

{185} Each speaker carefully abstains from militating against the sensibility of any of his hearers, and uncourteous expressions towards each other on these occasions, are never heard. Generally at each pause of the speaker, the audience testify their approbation aloud, by the interjection heh; and as they believe that he has a just right to his own opinions, however absurd they may appear to be, and opposite to their own, the expression of them excites no reprehension, and if they cannot approve, they do not condemn, unless urged by necessity.

During the council, the criers remain seated near the fire listening to the proceedings, and at the same time attending to the culinary apparatus, as neither the squaws nor the children are admitted.

They then serve out the food to the guests, placing the best portions of it before the chiefs. Each individual on the reception of his portion, returns his thanks to the host in such respectful expressions as become his relative consequence, as How-je-ne-ha—How-we-sun-guh—How-na-ga-ha, &c.; thank you father—thank you younger brother—thank you uncle, &c., after which they eat in silence. The criers help themselves out of the kettles, but are careful to leave a portion in those that are borrowed, to compensate for their use.

The feast terminated, the ceremony of smoking succeeds, after which, the business and enjoyments of the council being concluded, the guests rise up in {186} succession, and returning thanks to the host, pass out of the lodge in an orderly manner, first the warriors and afterwards the chiefs.

The criers now sing through the village in praise of the host, thanking him before the people for his hospitality, repeating also the names of the chiefs who were present, and thanking them for their kindness to the old criers, who, they say, are disqualified by age for any other occupations than those of eating, smoking, and talking; they also communicate to the people the resolutions of the council.

The men in the mean time amuse themselves with hunting, playing with the hoop and stick, cards, dancing, &c.; whilst at night the young warriors and beaux are occupied with affairs of gallantry, or contriving assignations. The young men also adorn themselves with paint, and do honour to chiefs and distinguished braves, by dancing in their respective lodges.

The day assigned for their departure having arrived, the squaws load their horses and dogs, and take as great a weight upon their own backs as they can conveniently transport, and, after having closed the entrances to their several habitations, by placing a considerable quantity of brushwood before them, the whole nation departs from the village.

Those affluent chiefs and warriors who are the owners of many horses, are enabled to mount their families on horseback, but the greater portion {187} of the young men and squaws are necessarily pedestrians.

The men scatter about in every direction to reconnoitre the country for enemies and game; but, notwithstanding the constant activity of the hunters, the people are often much necessitated for food previously to their arrival within view of the bisons, an interval of fifteen or twenty days.

When at length the highly welcome news is brought of the proximity of a herd of these animals, the nation proceeds to encamp at the nearest water-course.

The travelling huts, or as they are usually denominated, skin lodges, are neatly folded up, and suspended to the pack-saddle of the horse, for the purpose of transportation. The poles intended to sustain it are at one extremity, laid upon the neck of the horse, whilst the opposite end trails upon the ground behind. When pitched, the skin lodge is of a high conic form; they are comfortable, effectually excluding the rain, and in cold weather a fire is kindled in the centre, the smoke of which passes off through the aperture in the top; on one side of this aperture is a small triangular wing of skin, which serves for a cover {188} in rainy weather, and during the rigors of winter to regulate the ascent of the smoke. The doorway is a mere opening in the skin, and closed when necessary by the same material. They are often fancifully ornamented on the exterior, with figures, in blue and red paint, rudely executed, though sometimes depicted with no small degree of taste.

On perceiving these latter signals, the warriors of the nation cast the burdens from the horses, and with their martial weapons ride in full speed to meet them, exhibiting more the appearance of a race, than an ordinary advance to mortal combat.

The hunters, after making the signal for bisons, to induce the people to halt and encamp, return as expeditiously as possible, and on their approach are received with some ceremony. The chiefs and magi are seated in front of their people, puffing smoke from their pipes, and thanking the Master of life, with such expressions as "How-wa-con-da," "Thanks Master of life,"— "How-nin-e-shet-ta-wa-con-da-a-mah-pan-ne-nah-pa-e-wa-rat-a-cum-ba-ra."— "Thank you, Master of life, here is smoke, I am poor, hungry, and want to eat." The hunters draw near to the chiefs and magi, and in a low tone of voice inform them of the discovery of bisons. They are questioned as to the number, and reply by holding up to the view some small sticks in a horizontal position, {189} and compare one herd at a stated distance with this stick, and another with that, &c.

On all occasions of public rejoicings, festivals, dances, or general hunts, a certain number of resolute warriors are previously appointed, to preserve order, and keep the peace. In token of their office they paint themselves entirely black; usually wear the crow, and arm themselves with a whip or war-club, with which they punish on the spot those who misbehave, and are at once both judges and executioners. Thus, at the bison hunts, they knock down or flog those whose manœuvres tend to frighten the game, before all are ready, or previously to their having arrived at the proper point, from which to sally forth upon them.

Four or five such officers, or soldiers, are appointed at a council of the chiefs, held in the evening, to preserve order amongst the hunters for the succeeding day.

On the following morning, all the men, excepting the superannuated, depart early in pursuit of the favourite game. They are generally mounted, armed with bows and arrows. The soldiers of the day accompany the rapidly moving cavalcade on foot, armed with war-clubs, and the whole are preceded by a footman bearing a pipe.

On coming in sight of the herd, the hunters talk kindly to their horses, applying to them the endearing names of father, brother, uncle, &c.; they petition them not to fear the bisons, but to run well, {190} and keep close to them, but at the same time to avoid being gored.

The ceremony of smoking being performed, the word for starting is given by Ongpatonga. They immediately separate into two bands, who pass in full speed to the right and left, and perform a considerable circuit, with the object of enclosing the herd, at a considerable interval, between them.

They then close in upon the animals, and each man endeavours to kill as many of them as his opportunity permits.

The force of the arrow, when discharged by a dexterous and athletic Indian, is very great, and we were even credibly informed, that under favourable circumstances, it has been known to pass entirely through the body of a bison, and actually to fly some distance, or fall to the ground on the opposite side of the animal.

Notwithstanding the apparent confusion of this engagement, and that the same animal is sometimes feathered by arrows from different archers, before he is despatched, or considered mortally wounded, yet as each man knows his own arrows from all others, and can also estimate the nature of the wound, whether it would produce a speedy death to the animal, quarrels respecting the right of property in the prey seldom occur, and it is consigned to the more fortunate individual, whose weapon penetrated the most vital part.

The chase having terminated, each Indian can trace back his devious route to the starting-place, so as to recover any small article he may have lost.

This surrounding chase the Omawhaws distinguish by the name of Ta-wan-a-sa.

When the herd has escaped, and those that are {192} only wounded or disabled are secured, the hunters proceed to flay and cut up the slain.

Formerly, when the chiefs possessed a greater share of power than they now do, one of them would advance towards a carcass which struck his fancy, either from its magnitude or fatness, and the rightful owner would relinquish it to him without a word; but they now seldom put the generosity of the people thus to the test.

Some individual will usually offer his bison to the medicine, either voluntarily, or at the request of a chief, and on the succeeding day it is cooked, and all the distinguished men are invited to partake of the feast.

In the operation of butchering, a considerable knowledge of the anatomical structure of the animal is exhibited, in laying open the muscles properly, and extending them out into the widest and most entire surfaces, by a judicious dissection.

If they are much pressed by hunger, they in the first place open the flank in order to obtain the kidneys, which are then eaten without waiting for the tardy process of culinary preparation.

A hunter who has been unsuccessful, assists some one in skinning and cutting up, after which he thrusts his knife in the part he wishes for his own share, and it is given to him.

The slaughtered animals are chiefly, and almost exclusively, cows selected from the herd; the bulls being eatable only in the months of May and June.

Every eatable part of the animal is carried to the camp and preserved, excepting the feet and the head; but the brains are taken from the skull for the purpose of dressing the skin, or converting it into Indian leather. Those skins which are obtained during this season are known by the name Summer skins, and {193} are used in the construction of their skin lodges, and for their personal cloathing for summer wear.

Three squaws will transport all the pieces of the carcass of a bison, excepting the skin, to the camp, if the latter is at any moderate distance; and it is their province to prepare the meat, &c. for keeping.

The vertebræ are comminuted by means of stone-axes, similar to those which are not unfrequently ploughed up out of the earth in the Atlantic states; the fragments are then boiled, and the rich fat or medulla which rises, is carefully skimmed off and put up in bladders for future use. The muscular coating of the stomach is dried; the smaller intestines are cleaned and inverted, so as to include the fat that had covered their exterior surface, and then dried; the larger intestines, after being cleaned, are stuffed with meat, and cooked for present eating.

The meat, with the exception of that of the shoulders, or hump, as it is called, is then dissected with much skill into large thin slices, and dried in the sun, or jerked over a slow fire on a low scaffold.

The meat, in its dried state, is closely condensed together into quadrangular packages, each of a suitable size, to attach conveniently to one side of the packsaddle of a horse. The dried intestines are interwoven together into the form of mats, and tied up into packages of the same form and size. They then proceed to cache, or conceal in the earth these acquisitions, after which they continue onward in pursuit of other herds of their favourite animal.

The nation return towards their village in the month of August, having visited for a short time the {194} Pawnee villages, for the purpose of trading their guns for horses.

They are sometimes so successful in their expedition, in the accumulation of meat, as to be obliged to make double trips, returning about mid-day for half the whole quantity which was left in the morning. When within two or three days journey of their own village, runners are despatched to it, charged with the duty of ascertaining the safety of it, and the state of the maize.

On the return of the nation, which is generally early in September, a different kind of employment awaits the ever-industrious squaws. The property buried in the earth is to be taken up and arranged in the lodges, which are cleaned out and put in order. The weeds which, during their absence, had grown up in every direction through the village, are cut down and removed.

They also pound it into a kind of small hominy, which when boiled into a thick mush, with a proper proportion of the smaller entrails and jerked meat, is held in much estimation.

When the maize which remains on the stalk is fully ripe, it is gathered, shelled, dried, and also packed away in leathern sacks. They sometimes {195} prepare this hard corn for eating, by the process of leying it, or boiling it in a ley of wood-ashes for the space of an hour or two, which divests it of the hard exterior skin; after which it is well washed and rinsed. It may then be readily boiled to an eatable softness, and affords a palatable food.

The hard ripe maize is also broken into small pieces between two stones, one or two grains at a time, the larger stone being placed on a skin, that the flying fragments may not be lost. This coarse meal is boiled into a mush called Wa-na-de. It is sometimes parched previously to being pounded, and the mush prepared from this description of meal is distinguished by the term Wa-jun-ga. With each of these two dishes, a portion of the small prepared intestines of the bison, called Ta-she-ba, are boiled, to render the food more sapid.

A singular description of food is made use of by some tribes of the Snake Indians, consisting chiefly, and sometimes wholly of a species of ant, (formica, Lin.) which is very abundant in the region in which they roam. The squaws go in the cool of the morning to the hillocks of these active insects, knowing that then they are assembled together in the greatest numbers. Uncovering the little mounds to a certain depth, the squaws scoop them up in their hands, and put them into a bag prepared for the purpose. When a sufficient number are obtained, they repair to the water, and cleanse the mass from all the dirt and small pieces of wood collected with them. The ants are then placed upon a flat stone, and by the pressure of a rolling-pin, are crushed together into a dense {196} mass, and rolled out like pastry. Of this substance a soup is prepared, which is relished by the Indians, but is not at all to the taste of white men. Whether or not this species of ant is analogous to the vachacos, which Humboldt speaks of, as furnishing food to the Indians of the Rio Negro and the Guainia, we have no opportunity of ascertaining.

The Indians, like the Hottentots, Negroes, and monkeys, eat the lice which they detect in each others heads. The squaws search for these parasites; and we have often seen them thus occupied with activity, earnestness, and much success. One of them, who was engaged in combing the head of a white man, was asked why she did not eat the vermin; she replied, that "white men's lice are not good."

Although the bison cow produces a rich milk, yet the Indians make no use of that of the individuals they kill in hunting.

During these active employments, which the squaws cheerfully and even emulously engage in, the occupations of the men are chiefly those of amusement or recreation.

Numbers of the young warriors are very officious in offering their services to the squaws, as protectors during their field labours; and from the opportunities they enjoy of making love to their charge in the privacy of high weeds, it is extremely common for them to form permanent attachments to the wives {197} of their neighbours, and an elopement to another nation is the consequence.

The men devote a portion of their time to card-playing. Various are the games which they practise, of which one is called Matrimony; but others are peculiar to themselves: the following is one, to which they seem to be particularly devoted.

Four small sticks are then laid upon the robe, and the cards are shuffled, cut, and two are given to each player, after which the trump is turned. The hands are then played, and whoever gains two tricks takes one of the sticks. If two persons make each a trick, they play together until one loses his trick, when the other takes a stick. The cards are again dealt, and the process is continued until all the sticks are taken, If four persons have each a stick, they continue to play, to the exclusion of the unsuccessful gamesters. When a player wins two sticks, four cards are dealt to him, that he may take his choice of them. If a player wins three sticks, six cards are dealt to him, and should he take the fourth stick he wins the stake.

They are so inveterately attached to the heinous vice of gambling, that they are known to squander in this way every thing they possess, with the solitary exception of their habitation, which, however, is regarded more as the property of the woman than of the man.

The squaws sometimes become so highly interested in this game as to neglect their food and ordinary occupations, sitting for a whole day, and perhaps night also, solely intent upon it, until the losers have nothing more to stake.

Having now a plentiful store of provisions, they content themselves in their village until the latter part of October, when, without the formality of a council or other ceremony, they again depart from the village, and move in separate parties to various situations on both sides of the Missouri, and its tributaries, as far down as the Platte.

Their primary object at this time, is to obtain, on credit from the traders, various articles indispensably necessary to their fall, winter, and spring hunts: such as guns, particularly those of Mackinaw, powder, ball, and flints; beaver-traps, brass, tin, and camp-kettles; knives, hoes, squaw-axes, and tomahawks.

This hunt continues until towards the close of December, and during the rigours of the season they experience an alternation of abundance and scarcity of food. The men are very much exposed to the cold, and, in trapping, to the water. They are also frequently obliged to carry heavy burdens of game from considerable distances.

The assiduous hunter often returns to his temporary residence in the evening, after unsuccessful exertions continued the live-long day: he is hungry, cold, and fatigued; with his mockasins, perhaps, frozen on his feet. His faithful squaw may be unable to relieve his hunger, but she seats herself by his side near the little fire, and after having disposed of his hunting apparatus, she rubs his mockasins and leggings, and pulls them off, that he may be comfortable; she then gives him water to drink, and his pipe to smoke. His children assemble about him, and he takes one of them upon his knee, and proceeds to relate to it the adventures of the day, that his squaw may be informed of them. "I have been active all day, but the Master of life has prevented me from killing any game; but never despond, my children and your mother, I may be fortunate to-morrow." After some time he retires to rest, but the wife remains to dry his clothing. He often sings until midnight, and on the morrow he again sallies forth before the dawn, and may soon return with a superabundance of food. Such is the life of the Indian hunter, and such the privations and pleasures to which his being is habitually incident.

With the skins of the animals obtained during this hunt, the natives again repair to the traders to compensate them for the articles which they had obtained on credit. But owing to the intrigues of rival traders, the Indians are, with, however, numerous exceptions, not remarkable for any great degree of punctuality in making their returns to cancel their debts. Many obtain credit from one trader, and barter their peltries with another, to the great injury of the first.

Thus the Missouri traders are repaid for hardly more than half the value of the merchandize which they credit; but should they obtain peltries for one-third of the amount, they clear their cost and charges.

After having discharged their debts wholly, or in part, the Indians exchange the remainder of their skins, for strouding for breech-clouts and petticoats, blankets, wampum, guns, powder and ball, kettles, vermilion, verdigrise, mockasin-awls, fire-steels, looking-glasses, knives, chiefs' coats, calico, ornamented brass finger-rings, arm-bands of silver, wristbands of the same metal, ear-wheels and bobs, small cylinders for the hair, breast brooches, and other silver ornaments for the head; black and blue handkerchiefs, buttons, tin cups, pans and dishes, scarlet cloth, &c.

The man is the active agent in this barter, but he avails himself of the advice of his squaw, and often submits to her dictation.

In trade, the largest sized beaver skin is called by the French a plus, and constitutes the chief standard of value. Thus as many of any other description of skins as are considered of equal value with this large beaver skin, are collectively denominated a plus; and the number of deer, raccoon, otter, &c. that shall respectively constitute a plus, is settled between the parties, previously to the commencement of the exchanges.

Brass kettles are usually exchanged for beaver skins, pound for pound, which weight of the latter is worth about three dollars at St. Louis.

The beaver skins are embodied into neat packs by the traders, each weighing one hundred pounds, and consisting of seventy or eighty skins, according to their magnitude.

The business of this hunt having terminated with the year, the Omawhaws return to their village, in order to procure a supply of maize from their places of concealment, after which they continue their journey in pursuit of bisons.

This expedition continues until the month of April, when they return to their village, as before stated, loaded with provisions.

It is during this expedition that they procure all the skins, of which the bison robes of commerce are made; the animals at this season having their perfect winter dress, the hair and wool of which are long and dense.

The brain of an animal is sufficient to dress its skin, and some persons make two-thirds of it suffice for that purpose.

The skins of the elk, deer, and antelopes are dressed in the same manner; but those that are intended to form the covering of their travelling lodges, for leggings, and summer mockasins, &c. have the adze applied to the hairy side in dressing, instead of the flesh side.

Great numbers of these robes are annually purchased by the traders; and Mr. Lisa assured us, that {204} he once transported fifteen thousand of them to St. Louis in one year.

The Indian form of government is not sufficiently powerful to restrain the young warriors from the commission of many excesses and outrages, which continually involve the nations in protracted wars; and, however well disposed the chiefs may be, and desirous to maintain the most amicable deportment towards the white people, they have not the power to enable them to compel those restless spirits, greedy of martial distinction, to an observance of that pacific demeanour which their precepts inculcate.

This chief appears to have possessed extraordinary mental abilities, but he resorted to the most nefarious means to establish firmly the supremacy of his power. He gained the reputation of the greatest of medicine men; and his medicine, which was no other than arsenic itself, that had been furnished him for the purpose, by the villany of the traders, was secretly administered to his enemies or rivals. Those persons who offended him, or counteracted his views, were thus removed agreeably to his predictions, and all opposition silenced, apparently by the operation of his potent spells.

Many were the victims to his unprincipled ambition, and the nation stood in awe of him, as of the supreme arbiter of their fate.

With all his enormities he was favourable to the traders; and although he compelled them to yield to him one half of their goods, yet he commanded his people to purchase the remainder at double prices, that the trader might still be a gainer.

He delighted in the display of his power, and, on one occasion, during a national hunt, accompanied by a white man, they arrived on the bank of a fine flowing stream, and although all were parched with thirst, no one but the white man was permitted to taste of the water. As the chief thought proper to give no reason for this severe punishment, it seemed to be the result of caprice.

{206} On one occasion the Little Bow returned to his lodge, after the absence of a few days on an excursion. His wife placed before him his accustomed food; but the wariness of the Indian character led him to observe some peculiarity in her behaviour, which assured him that all was not right; he questioned her concerning the food she had set before him, and the appearance of her countenance, and her replies, so much increased his suspicions, that he compelled her to eat the contents of the bowl. She then confessed that the Black Bird had induced her to mingle with the food a portion of his terrible medicine, in order to destroy him. She fell a victim to the machination of the Black Bird, who was thus disappointed of his object.

With a band of nearly two hundred followers, the Little Bow finally seceded from the nation, and established a separate village on the Missouri, where they remained until the death of the tyrant.

Towards the latter part of his life, he became very {207} corpulent, the consequence of indolence and repletion. He was transported by carriers, on a bison robe, to the various feasts to which he was daily invited; and should the messenger find him asleep, they dared not to awaken him by a noise or by shaking, but by respectfully tickling his nose with a straw.

The successor of Black Bird was the Big Rabbit, Mush-shinga. He possessed considerable authority, but he lived only a few years to enjoy it.

Ta-so-ne, or the White Cow, the hereditary successor of Mush-shinga, being governed by an unambitious wife, remained inactive; whilst the next important man, Ong-pa-ton-ga, or the Big Elk, more distinguished for his vigorous intellect than for any martial qualities, attained to the supreme dignity, which he still retains.

The power of this amiable and intelligent chief was very considerable during the early part of his administration; and although not so absolute as his predecessors, yet it is believed that he could then inflict the punishment of death upon an individual with his own hands, with impunity. Five years ago he informed a stranger, in the presence of his people, that he could compel any one of them to lie down before him, that he might place his foot upon his neck; this assertion was assented to by his hearers.