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LETTER-NO. 5.
MOUTH OF THE YELLOW STONE, UPPER MISSOURI.
In my former epistle, I told you there were encamped about the Fort a host of wild, incongruous spirits -- chiefs and sachems-warriors, braves, and women and children of different tribes -- or Crows and Blackfeet -- Ojibbeways -- Assinneboins -- and Crees or Knisteneaux. Amongst and in the midst of them am I, with my paint pots and canvass, snugly ensconced in one of the bastions of the Fort, which I occupy as a painting-room. My easel stands before, and the cool breech of a twelve-pounder makes me a comfortable seat, whilst her muzzle is looking out at one of the port-holes. The operations of my brush are mysteries of the highest order to these red sons of the prairie, and my room the earliest and latest place of concentration of these wild and jealous spirits, who all meet here to be amused and pay me signal honours; but gaze upon each other, sending their sidelong looks of deep-rooted hatred and revenge around the group. However, whilst in the Fort, their weapons are placed within the arsenal, and naught but looks and thoughts can be breathed here; but death and grim destruction will visit back those looks upon each other, when these wild spirits again are loose and free to breathe and act upon the plains.
I have this day been painting a portrait of the head chief of the Blackfoot nation; he is a good-looking and dignified Indian, about fifty years of age, and superbly dressed; whilst Sitting for his picture he has been surrounded by his own braves and warriors, anti also gazed at by his enemies, the Crows and the Knisteneaux, Assinneboins and Ojibbeways; a number of distinguished personages of each of which tribes, have laid all day around the sides of my room; reciting to each other the battles they have fought, and pointing to the scalp-locks, want as proofs of their victories, and attached to the seams of their shirts and leggings. This is a curious scene to witness, when one sits in the midst of such inflammable, and combnstible materials, brought together, unarmed, for the first time in their lives; peaceably and calmly recounting over the deeds of their lives, and smoking their pipes upon it, when a few weeks or days will bring them on the plains ajiain, where the war-cry will be raised, and their deadly bows will again be drawn on each other.
The name of this dignitary, of whom I have just spoken, is Stu-mick-o-such (the buffalo's back fat), i. e. the "hump" or "fleece", the most delicious part of the buffalo's flesh. I have also painted, of the Blackfeet, Pe-toh-pee-kiss (the eagle ribs), and Mix-ke-mote-skin-na (The Iron Horn), and Wun-nes-tou (the white buffalo), and Teha-aes-sa-ko-mah-pee (The Bear's Child), and In-ne-o-cose (The Buffalo's Child), and half-a-dozen others, and all in rich and costly dresses.
There is no tribe, perhaps, on the Continent, who dress more comfortably, and more gaudily, than the Blackfeet, unless it be the tribe of Crows. There is no great-difference, however, in the costliness or elegance of their costume; nor in the materials of which they are formed; though there is a distinctive mode in each tribe, of stitching or ol搖amenting with the porcupine quills, wllich constitute one of the principal ornaments to all their fine dresses; and which can be easily recognized, by any one a little familiar with their modes, as belonging to such or such a tribe. The dress, for instance of the chief whom I have just mentioned, and whose portrait I have just painted, consists of a shirt or tunic, made of two deer skills finely dressed, and so placed together with the necks of the skins downwards, and the skins of the hind legs stitched together, the seams running down on each arm, from the neck to the knuckles of the hand; this seam is covered with a band of two inches in width, of very beautiful embroidery of porcupine quills, and suspended from the under edge of this, from the shoulders to the hands, is a fringe of the locks of black hair, which he has taken from the heads of victims slain by his own hand in battle. The leggings are made also of the same material; and down the outer side of the leg, from the hip to the feet, estends also a similar band or belt of' the same width; and wrought and fringed with scalp locks. These locks of hair are ornaments from scalps and worn as trophies.
The wife (or squawl of this dignitary Eeh-nis-kin (the crystal stone), I have also placed upon my canvass; her countenance is rather pleasing, which is an uncommon thing amongst the Blackfeet -- her dress is made of skins, and being the youngest of a bevy of six or eight, and the last one taken under his guardianship, was smiled upon with great satisfdction, whilst he exempted her from the drudgeries of the camp; and keeping her continually in the halo of his own person, watched and guarded her as the apple of his eye. The grandson also of this sachem, a boy of six years of age, and too young as yet to have acquired; a name, has stood forth like a tried warrior; and I have painted him at full length, with his bow and quiver slung, and his robe made of a racoon skin. The history of this child is somewhat curious and interestillg; his father is dead, and in case of the death of the chief, of whom I have spoken, he becomes hereditary chief of the tribe. This boy has been twice stolen away by the Crows by ingenious stratagems and twice re-captured by the Blackfeet, at considerable sacrifice of life, and at present Ire is lodged with Mr. McKenzie, for safe keeping and protection, until he shall arrive at the proper age to take the office to which he is to succeed, and able to protect himself.
The scalp of which I spoke above, is procured by cutting out a piece of the skin of the head, the size of the palm of the hand of less, containing the very centre or crown of the head, the place where the hair radiates from a point, and exactly over what the phrenologists call selfesteem. This patch then is kept and dried with great care, as proof positive of the death of an enemy, and evidence of a man's claims as a warrior: and after having been formally "danced", as the saying is, (i.e. after it has been stuck up upon a pole or held up by an "old woman", and the warriors have danced around it for two or three weeks at intervals,) it is fastened to the handle of a lance, or the end of a war-club, or divided into a great many small locks and used to fringe and ornament the victor's dress. When these dresses are seen bearing such trophies, it is of course a difficult matter to Purchase them of the Indiau, for they often hold them above all price I shall hereafter take occasion to speak of the scalp-dance; describirrg it in all its parts, and giving a long Letter, at the same time on scalps and scalping, an interesting and general custom amongst all the North American Indians.
In the chief's dress, which I am describing, there are his moccasins, made also of buckskin, and ornamented in a corresponding manner. And over all, his robe, made of the skin of a young buffalo bull, with the hair remaining on ; and on the inner or flesh side, beautifully garnished with Porcupine quills, and the battles of his life very ingeniously, though rudely, pourtrayed in pictorial representations. In his hand he holds a very beautiful pipe, the stem of which is four or five feet long, and two inches wide, curiously wound with braids of the porcupine quills of various colours; and the bowl of the pipe ingeniously carved by himself from a piece of red steatite of an interesting character, and which they all tell me is procured somewhere between this place and the Falls of St. Anthony, on the head waters of the Mississippi.
This curious stone has many peculiar qualities, and has, undoubtedly, but one origin in this country, and perhaps in the world. It is found hut in the hands of the savage, and every tribe, and nearly every individual in the tribe has his pipe made of it. I consider this stone a subject of great interest, and curiosity to the world; and I shall most assuredly make it a point, durin Indian rambles, to visit the place from whence it is brought. I have already got a number of most remarkable traditions and stories relating to the "sacred quarry"; of pilgrimages performed there to procure the stone, and of curious transactions that have taken place on that ground. It seems, from all I can learn, that all the tribes in these regions, and also of the Mississippi and tlie Lakes, have been in the habit of going to that place, and meeting their enemies there, whom they are obligred to treat as friends, under an injunction of the Great Spirit.
So then is this sachem (the buffalo's back fat) dressed; and in a very similar manner, and almost the same, is each of the others above named; and all armed with bow and quiver, lance and shield. These north western tribes are all armed with the bow and lance, and protected with the shield or arrow fender, which is carried outside of the left arm, exactly as the Roman and Grecian shield was carried, and for the same purpose.
There is an appearance purely classic in the plight and equipment of these warriors and "knights of the lance". They are almost literally always on their horses' backs, and they wield these weapons with desperate effect upon the open plains; where they kill their game while at full speed, and contend in like manner in battles with their enemy. There is one prevailing custon in these respects, amongst all the tribes who inhabit the great plains or prairier of these western regions. These plains afford them an abundance of wild ane fleet horses, which are easily procured: and on their backs at full speed, they can come alongside of any animal, which they easily destroy.
The bow with which they are armed is small, and apparently an insignificant weapon, though one of great and almost incredible power in the handt of its owner, whose sinews have been from childhood habituated to its usi and service. The length of these bows is generally about three feet, ane sometimes not more than two and a half. They have, ne doubt, studied to get the recjuisite power in the smallest compass possible as it is more easily and handily used on horseback than one of greater length. The greater number of these bows are made of ash, or of "bois d'arc" (as the French call it), and lined on the back with layers of buffalo or deer? Sinews, which are inseparably attached to them, and give them great elasticity. There are very many also (amongst the Blackfeet and the Crows) which are made of bone, and others of the horn of the mountain-sheep. Those made of bone are decidedly the most valuable, and cannot in this country be procured of a good cjnality short of the price of one or two horses. About these there is a mystery yet to be solved, and I advance my opinion against all theories that I Ilave heard in the coluntry where they are used and made. I have procured several very fine specimens, and when purchasing them have inquired of the Indians, what bone they were made of? nod in every instance, the answer was, "That's medicine", meaning tllat it was a mystery to them, or that they did not wish to be questioned about them. The bone of which they are made is certainly not the bone of any animial now ranging on the prairies, or in the mountains between this place and the Pacitic Ocean; for some of these bows are three feet in length, of; one solid piece of horn, and that as close-grained -- as hard -- as white, and as highly polislled as any ivory; it was elks' horn (as some have supposed), which is of a dark colour and porous: or it come from the buffalo. It is my opinion, therefore, that the Indians on the Pacitic coast procure the bone from the jaw of the sperm whale, which is stranded on that coast, and hringing the bone into the mountains, trade it to the Blackfeet and Crows, will manufacture it into these bows without knowing any more than we do, from what source it has been found.
One of these little bows in the hands of an Indian, on a feet and welltrained horse, with a quiver of arrows slung on his back, is a most effective and powerfrilweapon in the open plains. No one can easily credit the force with which these missiles are thrown, and the sanguinary effects produced by their wounds, until he has rode by the side of a party of Indians in chase of a herd of buffaloes, and witnessed the apparent ease and grace with which their supple arms have drawn the bow, and seen these huge animals tumbling down and gushing out their hearts' blood from their mouths and nostrils.
Their bows are often made of bone and sinews, and their arrows headed with flints or with bones, of their own construction, or with steel, as they are now chiefly fomished by the Fur Traders quite to the Rocky mountains. The quiver, which is uniformly carried on the back, and made of the panther or otter skins is a magazine of these deadly weapons, and generally contains two varieties. The one to be drawn upon an enemy, generally poisoned, and with long flukes or barbs, which are desi6搖ed to hang the blade in the wound after the shaft is withdrawn, in which they are but slightly glued; -- the other to be used for their game, with the blade firmly faslencd to the stlaft, and the flukes inverted; that it may easily be drawn from the wound, and used on a future occasion.
Such is the training of men and horses in this country, that this work of death and slaughter is simple and easy. The horse is trained to approach the animals on the tight side, enabling its rider to throw his arrows to the left; it runs and approaches without the use of the halter, which is hanging loose upon its neck bringing the rider witllin three or four paces of the animal, whem the arrow is thrown with great ease and certainty to the heart; and instances sometimes occur, wlrere the arrow passes entirely tllrough the animal's body.
An Indian, therefore, mounted on a fleet and well-trained horse, with his bow in his hand, and his quiver slung on his back, containing an hundred arrows, of which he can throw fifteen or swenty in a minute, is a formidable and dangerous enemy. Many of them also ride with a lance of twelve or fourteen feet in length, with blades of polished steel; and all of them (as a protection for their vital parts), with a shield or arrow fender made of the skin of the buffalo's neck, which has been smoked, and hardened with glue extracted from the hoofs. These shields are arrow-proof, and will glance off a rifle shot with perfect effect by being turned obliquely, which they do with great skill.
This shield or arrow-fender is, in my opmlon, made of similar materials, and used in the same way, and for the same purpose, as was the clypeus or small shield in the Roman and Grecian cavalry. They were made in those days as a means of defence on horseback only -- made small and light, of bull's hides; sometimes single, sometimes double and tripled. Such was Hector's shield, and of most of the Homeric heroes of the Greek and Trojan wars. In those days alao were darts or javelins and lances; the same were also used by the Ancient Britons; and such exactly are now in use amongst the Arabs and the North American Indians.
In this way then, are all of these wild red knights of the prairie, armed and equuppped -- and while nothing can possibly be more picturesque and thrilling than a troop or war-party of these fellows, galloping over these green and endless prairies; there can be no set of mounted men of numbers, so effective and so invincible in this country as they would be, could they be inspired with confidence of their own powers and their own superiority; yet this never can be done; -- for the Indian, as far as the name of white man has travelled, and long before he has to try his strength with him, is trembling with fright and fear of his approach; he hears of white man's arts and artifice -- his tricks and cunning, and his hundred instruments of death and destruction, he dreads his approach, shrinks from him with fear and trembling his heart sickens, and his pride and courage wither, at the thoughts of contending with an enemy, whom he thinks may war and destroy with weapons of medicine or mystery.
Of the Blackfeet, whom I mentioned in the beginning of this letter, and whose portraits are now standing in my room, there is another of whom I must say a few words; Pe-toh-pee-kiss, (the eagle ribs). This man is one of the extraordinary men of the Blackfoot tribe; though not a chief, he stands here in the Fort, and deliberately boasts of eight scalps, which he says he has taken from the heads of trappers and traders with his own hand. His dress is really superb, almost literally covered with scalp-locks, of savage and civil.
I have painted him at full length, with a head-dress made entirely of ermine skins and horns of the buffalo. This custom of wearing horns beautifully polished and surmounting the head-dress, is a very curious one, being worn only by the bravest of the brave; by the most extraordinary men in the nation. Of their importance and meaning, I shall say more in a future epistle. When he stood for his picture, he also held a lance and two "medicine-bags" in his hand; of lances I have spoken,-but" medicinebags" and "medicine" will be the text for my next Letter.
Besides the chiefs and warriors above-named, I have also transferred to my canvass the "looks and very resemblance" of an aged chief, who combines with his high office, the envied title of mystery or medicine-man, ie. doctor -- magician -- propIlet -- soothsayer -- or high priest, all combined in one person, who necessarily is looked upon as "Sir Oracle" of the nation. The name of this distinguished functionary is Wun-nes-tou, (the white buffalo); and on his left arm he presents his mystery drum or tarnbour, in which are concealed the hidden and sacred mysteries of his healing art.
And there is also In-ne-o-cose, the iron-horn, at full length, a splendid dress, with his "medicine-bag" in his hand; and Ah-kay-eepix-en, the woman who strikes many, in a beautiful dress of the mountain-goats' skin, and her robe of the young buffalo's hide.
