Part 4

Several creeks fall into the Missouri below the point on the east side called Big Muddy, Little Muddy, Knife River, etc., all of which contain but little water and are of no consequence.

White Earth River, the last, is about 100 miles in length and at the mouth a little more than 100 yards wide, contains but little water, always fordable, and not navigable by anything, empties into the Missouri near the commencement of the Great Bend. None of these rivers being navigable except the Missouri, goods are only landed at the following points along that river, viz: Fort Pierre (Sioux), mouth of the Teton River; Fort Clarke (Arikara) at their village; Fort Berthold (Gros Ventres village); Fort Union (Assiniboin), mouth of Yellowstone. Steamboats have gone up the Missouri as high as the mouth of Milk River, but heretofore goods for Fort Benton (Blackfeet), near the mouth of Maria River, have been transported by keel boats from Fort Union.

We know of no large navigable lakes in this district, though along the northern boundary there are many small ones, or rather large ponds of water, without any river running through them or visible outlet, being fed by snows, rain, and springs, and diminished by evaporation and saturation. Lakes of this kind are to be met with in many places on the plains and differ in size from 100 yards to 2 or 3 miles or even more in circumference, are not wooded, and contain tolerably good water. Small springs are also common, most of them having a mineral taste, though none are large enough to afford water power.

SURFACE OF THE COUNTRY.—The whole country occupied by the Assiniboin is one great plain, hills and timber only occurring where rivers run, in the valleys of which good land for cultivation is found, but the general feature appears to be sterile as regards arable land, producing, however, grasses of different kinds, some of which are very nutritious, and particularly adapted to raising horses, cattle, and sheep. The prairies may be said to be interminable and destitute of the least particle of timber except along the banks of the few streams before mentioned, and even these but thinly wooded. Water, however, can always be found in the small lakes and rivers spoken of. The Assiniboin do not cultivate the soil in any way, though the Gros Ventres and Arikara raise corn and pumpkins to some extent on the Missouri bottoms. By experiments made at or near Fort Union, we find that oats, potatoes, corn, and all garden vegetables grow well if the season be favorable. The soil, being light and sandy, requires frequent rains to produce good crops, which happens about one year in three; the others fail from drought and destruction by grasshoppers, bugs, and other insects. The natural productions of the country are few and such as no one but an Indian could relish. A wild turnip called by them teep-see-na, and by the French pomme blanche, when boiled is eatable, is found in quantity everywhere on the plains, will sustain life alone for a great length of time either cooked or in its raw state, can be dried and preserved for years, or pulverized and made into passable bread.

Wild rhubarb is found and eaten either raw or cooked. It has rather a pleasant sweetish taste. Artichokes grow in quantities near marshes. Chokecherries, bullberries, service berries, buds of the wild rose, red plums, and sour grapes are the principal fruits and are greatly sought after by the Indians, preserved, dried, cooked, and eaten in various ways, and considered by them great luxuries. Wild hops are in abundance which possess all the properties of the cultivated hop. These are all of any note the country produces.

FACILITIES FOR GRAZING.—These Indians raise no stock of any kind, though judging from that raised at Fort Union it is one of the best grazing countries in the world. The supply of grasses of spontaneous growth is inexhaustible and very nutritious. The only difficulty is the severe cold winter and depth of snow, though if animals were provided for and housed during the severe cold we know that a hardier and better stock can be raised than in the States. As yet, however, no market being open for surplus stock and but few raised for the use of the fort, our attention has not been much directed to that business, but have no hesitation in advancing the opinion that horses, horned cattle, and sheep would thrive and increase well with proper care. We are not able to say whether water could at all times be had by digging on the high prairie and in the absence of springs or creeks, never having tried the experiment, though the country abounds in small lakes, cool springs, and creeks where good localities for grazing purposes could always be chosen. In the winter animals appear to want very little water and generally eat snow in its place.

EFFECTS OF FIRING THE PRAIRIES.—We presume there must be some mistake that any of the tribes residing on the plains set them on fire to facilitate the purposes of hunting. It has the contrary effect, driving the game out of their own country into that of their neighbors. Buffalo may pass through a burnt country covered with snow, but can not remain, and travel until they meet with suitable grazing. Consequently the greatest precautions are used by both Indians and whites to prevent their taking fire in the fall, when the grass is dry (the only time it will burn), and the most severe penalties short of death are imposed on any person, either white or red, who even by accident sets the prairie on fire. A good thrashing with bows and sometimes tomahawking is in store for the poor traveler who has been so forgetful as not to put out his camp fires and they extend to the plains. These fires are made mostly by returning war parties, either with the view of driving the buffalo out of their enemy’s country or as signals to their own people of success in their expedition, though sometimes they originate in accident or petty malice of individuals. With regard to its injuring the soil it has no such effects; on the contrary, the next crop of grass is more beautiful than the other, as the undergrowth and briars are by that means destroyed. The same, unfortunately, is not the case with the timber. There are no forests on the plains to burn, though where the fire passes through the bottoms of the Missouri it consumes and kills great quantities of timber, which dries and decays and is only replaced in time by younger saplings. Fruit bushes are also destroyed, though they recover its effects in three or four years.

WASTE LANDS.—In this section there are no deserts or barren land of any extent; though there are some marshes, pools, and swamps which, however, are not so close together or extensive as to form any formidable obstruction to roads. Even if they could not be drained or otherwise disposed of, they could be left on either side of the way. Neither do these appear to affect the health of any of the Indians more than being the cause of producing hosts of mosquitoes, which are very annoying to man and beast.

EFFECTS OF VOLCANIC ACTION.—We are not aware of any remarkable appearances of this kind,[4] neither are there to be found extensive sand plains or other tracts entirely destitute of herbage. The cactus is found everywhere, but not in such quantity as to destroy herbage or be a hindrance to animals traveling. A mile or two may occasionally be found where herbage is comparatively scarce. Still, even in these places there is sufficient for animals for a short time.

[4] There are portions of pumice stone and other things occasionally picked up that have undergone volcanic action; also burning hills, but no eruptions.

SALINE PRODUCTIONS.—We do not feel ourselves competent to state the properties of the mineral springs so common throughout all this country. Some of them no doubt contain Glauber salt, as they operate as a violent cathartic; others have the taste of copper, sulphur, etc. What the country would produce in the way of gypsum, saltpeter, etc., we can not say, never having witnessed any geological or mineral researches and being personally completely uninformed regarding this branch of science.

COAL AND MINERAL PRODUCTS.—Dr. J. Evans, who lately traveled through this country, can enlighten you on this subject. As for us, we must plead unadulterated ignorance.

CLIMATE

The climate is pure and dry and perhaps the healthiest in the world. In the months of May and June, when east winds prevail, much rain falls, but during the rest of summer and fall the season is generally dry and moderately warm, except a short time in July and August, when intensely hot. There are occasionally severe thunderstorms accompanied by rain or hail; not more, however, than three or four in a summer, and these in a few hours swell the smallest streams so as to overflow their banks, but with the ceasing of the rain they fall as suddenly as they rise, and do no damage, as there are neither crops nor fences to injure. Tornadoes we have never seen here, although they do happen on the Missouri far below this place. Severe gales are occasionally met with, lasting but a few minutes. With regard to temperature and other natural phenomena I refer you to the accompanying tables.

WILD ANIMALS

The most numerous and useful animal in this country is unquestionably the buffalo, both as regards the sustenance of all the Indians and gain of the traders. Any important decrease of this animal would have the effect of leaving the Indians without traders, no returns of smaller skins being sufficient to pay the enormous expense of bringing supplies so far and employing such a number of people. Buffalo are very numerous, and we do not, after 20 years’ experience, find that they decrease in this quarter, although upward of 150,000 are killed annually throughout the extent of our trade, without taking into consideration those swamped, drowned, calves frozen to death, destroyed by wolves, or in embryo, etc. It yet would appear that their increase is still greater than their destruction, as during last winter (1852-53) there were more found in this quarter, and indeed in the whole extent of our trade, than had been seen for many years before.

The buffalo is the Indian’s whole dependence. It serves him for all his purposes—meat, clothing and lodging, powder horns, bowstrings, thread and hair to make saddles. In the winter season the hides are dressed, made into robes and traded to whites, by which means they are able to buy all their necessaries and even some luxuries. Robes are worth about $3 each, and although the number sent to market is great, yet the high price paid for them to Indians and the danger of transportation is such that fortunes are more easily and often lost than made at the business. Beaver were formerly numerous and valuable, therefore much hunted by whites and Indians, but of late years the price of that fur being greatly reduced, and the danger of hunting considerable, does not induce either whites or Indians to hunt them. This animal has been trapped and killed to such an extent as to threaten their entire extinction, though for the last 10 or 12 years, since beaver trapping by large bodies of men has been abandoned, they have greatly increased, and are now to be found tolerably plentiful in all the small streams and in the Missouri and Yellowstone. These Indians do not and never did trap them much; though the Crow and the Cree still make good beaver hunts, they do not rely much on this either as a source of profit or food.

Elk, deer, bighorn, and antelope are numerous and afford a means of living and profit to the Indians although they are not hunted to any extent except in a great scarcity of buffalo. From this circumstance they do not diminish and are found now in much the same numbers as 20 years back.

Wolves are very plentiful and of three kinds, the large white wolf, the large grayback wolf, and the small prairie wolf, all a good deal hunted and many killed, though they continue to increase. They follow the buffalo in large bands, waiting an opportunity to pounce upon one that has been wounded or mired. They also destroy a great many small calves in the month of May when they are brought forth. The skins of the larger kind are worth 70 cents to $1 each; the smaller about 50 cents each.

Red and gray foxes, hares, badgers, skunks, wild cats, otters, ermines, and muskrats are found and killed when opportunity offers. Of all these the red fox appears to be the only one that has diminished in numbers. We are not aware that any animals have disappeared altogether, nor of any perceptible decrease of any except the beaver and red fox. The Indians kill only as many buffalo as are wanted for meat and hides. Taking only as many hides as their women can dress, they do not destroy them wantonly to any extent; consequently the destruction is limited, and that not being equivalent to the increase, but little diminution, if any, is perceptible, and the trade as long as this is the case can not have the effect of exterminating them. It is different as regards the beaver and fox. Their skins require no labor except drying, and being slower to increase must of course be the first to disappear if hunted. Grizzly bears are tolerably numerous on the Missouri and Yellowstone and are not hunted often, although killed occasionally. The animal being ferocious is not much sought after by the Indians.

ANCIENT BONES AND TRADITIONS OF THE MONSTER ERA.—The Indians know from bones found that such animals existed and were of immense size, but their traditions never make mention of the living animal. To these bones, etc., they assign the general name of Wan-wan-kah, which is a creature of their own imagination, half spirit, half animal. Any whirlwind or great tempest would be attributed to the movements of the Wan-wan-kah, also any other natural phenomenon. Many stories are told of its actions, but all are fabulous, although they profess to believe in the existence of its powers, some even stating they have seen it crossing the Missouri in the form of a large fish covering half the breadth of that river.[5]

[5] See page 617 at the end of their oral tales.

ANIMALS USED AS ARMORIAL MARKS.—These armorial marks or symbols, such as the eagle, owl, bear, serpent, etc., do not represent any tribal organization but kinship occasionally. Neither do they refer to any traditions of any early date, but are insignia adopted by themselves as their medicine or charm. Most Indians have a charm of this kind, either in consequence of some dream or of an idea that the figure has some effect in carrying out his views regarding war, the chase, or the health of his family. These are assumed for his own purposes, whether real or imaginary, to operate on his own actions or to influence those of other Indians. To these tangible objects, after Wakoñda, who is a spirit, they address their prayers and invocations. Neither do these symbols affect them regarding the killing of the same animals on all occasions, though after he has killed it he will smoke and propitiate [the spirit of] the dead carcass, and even offer the head small sacrifices of tobacco and provisions.

THE HORSE

ERA OF THE IMPORTATION OF THE HORSE.—When the horse was first introduced among them does not appear by any of the traditions of these ignorant people. The name of the horse in Assiniboin is shunga (dog) tunga (large), i. e., large dog. Among the Sioux it is named shunka (dog) wakan (divining), i. e., divining dog, which would only prove that the dog was anterior to the horse, inasmuch as they were obliged to make a name for the strange animal resembling some known object with which it could be afterwards compared.

PICTOGRAPHS

CHARTS ON BARK.—Their drawings of maps and sections of country are in execution miserable to us but explanatory among themselves. Most Indians can carve on a tree, or paint, who they are, where going, whence come, how many men, horses, and guns the party is composed of, whether they have killed enemies, or lost friends, and, if so, how many, etc., and all Indians passing by, either friends or foes, will have no difficulty in reading the same, though such representations would be quite unintelligible to whites unless instructed. (Pl. 64.) Some Indians have good ideas of proportion and can immediately arrive at the meaning of a picture, pointing out the objects in the background, though others can not distinguish the figure of a man from that of a horse, and as to their executions of any drawing they are rude in the extreme. Where the natural talent exists, however, there is no doubt they could be instructed.

ANTIQUITIES

From the Sioux to the Blackfeet, inclusive, there is not in all that country any mounds, teocalli, or appearances of former works of defense bearing the character of forts or any other antique structure. Not a vestige or relic of anything that would form data, or be an inducement to believe their grounds have ever been occupied by any other than roving tribes of wild Indians; nor in the shape of tools, ornaments, or missiles that would lead to any such inference. We have not been more fortunate in searching their traditions in the hope of finding some clue relative to these things. They do not believe that any persons ever occupied their country except their own people (Indians), and we can not say we have ever seen or heard anything to justify any other conclusion regarding the extent of territory mentioned.

The elk-horn mound, mentioned elsewhere, is evidently of remote date and the work of Indians, but proves nothing sought by these researches. It might be stated that although no antique vessels of clay are found, yet the Arikara now, and as long as the whites have known them, have manufactured tolerably good and well-shaped clay vessels for cooking, wrought by hand without the aid of any machinery, and baked in the fire. They are not glazed, are of a gray color, and will answer for pots, pans, etc., equally as well as those made by the whites, standing well the action of fire and being as strong as ordinary potter’s ware. They also have the art of melting beads of different colors and casting them in molds of clay for ear and other ornaments of various shapes, some of which are very ingeniously done. We have seen some in shape and size as drawn in Plate 65, the groundwork blue, the figure white, the whole about one-eighth inch thick, and presenting a uniform glazed surface.

PIPES

No antique pipes are found, but many and various are now made by all Indians.

VESSELS AND IMPLEMENTS

The Arikara and Gros Ventres, who raise corn, have other vessels as alluded to, but not the roving tribes, except the utensils furnished by whites. None of these things denote anything more than a people in the rudest state of nature, whose only boiling pot was once a hollow stone, or the paunch of a buffalo in which meat can be boiled and still is on occasions, by filling the paunch with water and casting therein red-hot stones until the water attains a boiling point, after which the stones are taken out, and one added occasionally to continue the heat, or the paunch suspended above a blaze at such a distance that the fire, though heating, does not touch it. Their spoons are yet made of the horns of the bighorn and buffalo, wrought into a good shape, some of which will hold half a gallon with ease. These are dippers. Others for eating are made smaller of horn and wood, yet large enough to suit their capacious mouths. (Pl. 65.) In all this and in everything they do, but one idea presents itself—that of crude, untutored children of nature, who have never been anything else.

The only ancient stone implements we have ever seen are the hatchet, stone war club, arrow point, buffalo shoulder-blade ax, hump-rib knife, and elk-horn bow, the shapes of which we have endeavored to draw in Plate 66, and all of which, except the knife, can yet occasionally be seen among them.

There is a total absence of anything antique, any shell, metal, wampum, or other thing formerly possessed by inhabitants supposed to have occupied this country. Neither are there any hieroglyphics or traditions to denote anything of the kind.

ASTRONOMY AND GEOLOGY

EARTH AND ITS MOTIONS.—Their knowledge on this subject is very limited. They believe the earth to be a great plain containing perhaps double the extent of country with which they are acquainted, and that it is void of motion. They do not believe the stars are inhabited by other people, but admit they may be abiding places of ghosts or spirits of the departed. They are not fond of talking about these things, neither do their opinions agree, each man’s story differing materially from the other and all showing extreme ignorance and superstition.

They believe that Wakoñda created all things and this one idea appears original and universal, further than which, however, they are at a loss.

If they can not be made to comprehend the extent of the earth and its laws of motion, etc., there is much less likelihood that they can have any reasonable idea of the field of space or other creations therein further than superstitious notions according to the fancy of the individual.

[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY FORTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 64

_Drawings by an Assiniboine Indian Fort Union Nov. 10. 1853._]

[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY FORTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 65

CULINARY UTENSILS]

[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY FORTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 66

CHARACTERISTIC IMPLEMENTS OF THE ASSINIBOINE]

[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY FORTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 67

_a_, Comb root.

_b_, Cat-tail.]

THE SUN.—They take the sun to be a large body of fire, making its daily journey across the plains for the purpose of giving light and heat to all, and admit it may be the residence of Wakoñda; consequently it is worshiped, venerated, smoked, and invocated on all solemn occasions. We have often endeavored to explain the diurnal revolution of the earth, representing the sun as stationary, but always failed. They must first be brought to understand the attractions of cohesion and gravitation, for, as a sensible Indian stated on one of these occasions, “If at midnight we are all on the under side, what is to hinder the Missouri from spilling out, and us from falling off the earth? Flies, spiders, birds, etc., have small claws by which they adhere to the ceiling and other places, though man and water have no such support.”

THE SKY.—Those who take the trouble to explain state the sky to be a material mass of a blue color, the composition of which they do not pretend to say, and think it has an oval or convex form, as apparent to the eye, resting for its basis on the extreme boundaries of the great plain, the earth. Hence their drawing, which is almost the only form in which they could represent it. Stars are small suns set therein, though they think they may be large bodies appearing small by seeing through space. Space is the intervening distance between earthly and heavenly bodies.