BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 1

DRYING BUFFALO MEAT—A TYPICAL CAMP SCENE
Ernest Henry Griset

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 77

VILLAGES OF THE ALGONQUIAN, SIOUAN,
AND CADDOAN TRIBES WEST OF
THE MISSISSIPPI

BY

DAVID I. BUSHNELL, Jr.

WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
1922

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

Smithsonian Institution,
Bureau of American Ethnology,
Washington, D. C., January 4, 1921.

Sir: I have the honor to transmit the accompanying manuscript, entitled "Villages of the Algonquian, Siouan, and Caddoan Tribes West of the Mississippi," by David I. Bushnell, jr., and to recommend its publication, subject to your approval, as a bulletin of this Bureau.

Very respectfully,

J. Walter Fewkes,

Chief.

Dr. Charles D. Walcott,
Secretary of the Smithsonian institution.

PREFACE

When Louisiana became a part of the United States the great wilderness to the westward of the Mississippi was the home of many native tribes, or groups of tribes, retaining their primitive manners and customs, little influenced by contact with Europeans. Their villages were scattered along the water courses or skirted the prairies, over which roamed vast herds of buffalo, these serving to attract the Indians and to supply many of their wants—food, raiment, and covering for their shelters. But so great are the changes wrought within a century that now few buffalo remain, the Indian in his primitive state has all but vanished, and even the prairies have been altered in appearance. The early accounts of the region contain references to the native camps and villages, their forms and extent, tell of the manner in which the habitations were constructed, and relate how some were often removed from place to place. Extracts from the various narratives are now brought together, thus to describe the homes and ways of life of the people who once claimed and occupied a large section of the present United States.

CONTENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS

TEXT FIGURES

VILLAGES OF THE ALGONQUIAN, SIOUAN, AND CADDOAN
TRIBES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI.

By David I. Bushnell, Jr.

THE TRIBES AND THEIR HABITAT.

The country occupied by the tribes belonging to the three linguistic groups whose villages are now to be described extended from south of the Arkansas northward to and beyond the Canadian boundary, and from the Mississippi across the Great Plains to the Rocky Mountains. It thus embraced the western section of the valley of the Mississippi, including the entire course of the Missouri, the hilly regions bordering the rivers, and the vast rolling prairies. The climatic conditions were as varied as were the physiographical features, for, although the winters in the south were comparatively mild, in the north they were long and severe.

The three linguistic families to be considered are the Algonquian, Siouan, and Caddoan. Many Algonquian and Siouan tribes formerly lived east of the Mississippi, and their villages have already been described (Bushnell, (1)),[1] but within historic times all Caddoan tribes appear to have occupied country to the westward of the river, although it is not improbable that during earlier days they may have had villages beyond the eastern bank of the stream, the remains of which exist.

[1] For citation of references throughout this bulletin, see "Authorities cited," p. 186.

The Algonquians included in this account comprise principally the three groups which may be termed the western division of the great linguistic family. These are: (1) The Blackfoot confederacy, composed of three confederated tribes, the Siksika or Blackfeet proper, the Piegan, and the Kainah or Bloods; (2) the Arapaho, including several distinct divisions, of which the Atsina, or Gros Ventres of the Prairie, who were closely allied with the Blackfeet, were often mentioned; (3) the Cheyenne, likewise forming various groups or divisions. Belonging to the same great family were the Cree or Kristinaux, whose habitat was farther north, few living south of the Canadian boundary; also the Ojibway, whose villages were scattered northward from the upper waters of the Mississippi. Some Sauk later lived west of the Mississippi, as did bands of the Foxes and some of the Illinois tribes.

The Siouan tribes were among the most numerous and powerful on the continent, and those to be mentioned on the following pages belonged to several clearly defined groups. As classified in the Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico,[2] these include:

I. Dakota-Assiniboin group: 1, Mdewakanton; 2, Wahpekute (forming, with the Mdewakanton, the Santee); 3, Sisseton; 4, Wahpeton; 5, Yankton; 6, Yanktonai; 7, Teton—(a) Sichangu or Brulés, (b) Itazipcho or Sans Arcs, (c) Sihasapa or Blackfeet, (d) Miniconjou, (e) Oohenonpa or Two Kettles, (f) Oglala, (g) Hunkpapa; 8, Assiniboin.

II. Dhegiha group: 1, Omaha; 2, Ponca; 3, Quapaw; 4, Osage—(a) Pahatsi, (b) Utschta, (c) Santsukhdhi; 5, Kansa.

III. Chiwere group: 1, Iowa; 2, Oto; 3, Missouri.

IV. Winnebago.

V. Mandan.

VI. Hidatsa group: 1, Hidatsa; 2, Crows.

[2] Bull. 30, Bur. Amer. Ethn., part 2, p. 579.

The Caddoan family is less clearly defined than either of the preceding, but evidently consisted of many small tribes grouped, and forming confederacies. Those to be mentioned later include: (1) The Arikara; (2) the Pawnee confederacy, composed of four tribes—(a) Chaui or Grand Pawnee, (b) Kitkehahki or Republican Pawnee, (c) Pitahauerat or Tapage Pawnee, (d) Skidi or Wolf Pawnee; (3) the Wichita confederacy, including the Waco and various small tribes; (4) the Caddo proper.

Although the latter are included in the same linguistic group with the Arikara, Pawnee, and others as mentioned above, they are regarded by some as constituting a distinct linguistic stock.

During the years following the close of the Revolution, the latter part of the eighteenth century, many tribes, or rather the remnants of tribes, then living east of the Mississippi, sought a refuge in the West beyond the river. Many settled on the streams in the southern part of the present State of Missouri and northern Arkansas, and, as stated by Stoddard when writing about the year 1810: "A considerable number of Delawares, Shawanese, and Cherokees, have built some villages on the waters of the St. Francis and White Rivers. Their removal into these quarters was authorized by the Spanish government, and they have generally conducted themselves to the satisfaction of the whites. Some stragglers from the Creeks, Chocktaws, and Chickasaws, who are considered as outlaws by their respective nations, have also established themselves on the same waters; and their disorders and depredations among the white settlers are not unfrequent." (Stoddard, (1), pp. 210-211.) And at about the same time another writer, referring to the same region, said: "Below the Great Osage, on the waters of the Little Osage, Saint Francis, and other streams, are a number of scattered bands of Indians, and two or three considerable villages. These bands were principally Indians, who were formerly outcasts from the tribes east of the Mississippi. Numbers have since joined from the Delawares, Shawanoes, Wayondott, and other tribes towards the lakes. Their warriors are said to be five or six hundred. They have sometimes made excursions and done mischief on the Ohio river, but the settlements on the Mississippi have suffered the most severely by their depredations." (Cutler, (1), p. 120.)

No attempt will be made in the present work to describe the habitations or settlements occupied by the scattered bands just mentioned.

It is quite evident that during the past two or three centuries great changes have taken place in the locations of the tribes which were discovered occupying the region west of the Mississippi by the first Europeans to penetrate the vast wilderness. Thus the general movement of many Siouan tribes has been westward, that of some Algonquian groups southward from their earlier habitats, and the Caddoan appear to have gradually gone northward. It resulted in the converging of the tribes in the direction of the great prairies occupied by the vast herds of buffalo which served to attract the Indian. Until the beginning of this tribal movement it would seem that a great region eastward from the base of the Rocky Mountains, the rolling prairie lands, was not the home of any tribes but was solely the range of the buffalo and other wild beasts, which existed in numbers now difficult to conceive.

THE BUFFALO.

(Bison americanus.)

With the practical extermination of the buffalo in recent years, and the rapid changes which have taken place in the general appearance of the country, it is difficult to picture it as it was two or more centuries ago. While the country continued to be the home of the native tribes game was abundant, and the buffalo, in prodigious numbers, roamed over the wide region from the Rocky Mountains to near the Atlantic. It is quite evident, and easily conceivable, that wherever the buffalo was to be found it was hunted by the people of the neighboring villages, principally to serve as food. But the different parts of the animal were made use of for many purposes, and, as related in an early Spanish narrative, one prepared nearly four centuries ago, when referring to "the oxen of Quivira ... Their masters have no other riches nor substance: of them they eat, they drink, they apparel, they shooe themselves: and of their hides they make many things, as houses, shooes, apparell and ropes: of their bones they make bodkins: of their sinews and haire, threed: of their hornes, maws, and bladders, vessels: of their dung, fire: and of their calves-skinnes, budgets, wherein they drawe and keepe water. To bee short, they make so many things of them as they neede of, or as many as suffice them in the use of this life." (Gomara, (1), p. 382.) A crude engraving of a buffalo made at that time is reproduced in figure [1].

Fig. 1.—The buffalo of Gomara, 1554

The preceding account describes the customs of the people then living in the southern part of the region treated in the present sketch, either a Caddoan or a neighboring tribe or group, and it suggests another reference to the great importance of the buffalo, but applying to the tribes of the north more than three centuries later.

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 2

"A BUFFALO HUNT ON THE SOUTHWESTERN PRAIRIES" J. M. Stanley, 1845

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 3

"BUFFALO HUNT" Carl Wimar, 1860

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 4

"BUFFALO HUNTING ON THE FROZEN SNOW"
Peter Rindisbacher, about 1825

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 5

a. "A Buffalo Pound." Paul Kane, 1845

b. Scene in a Sioux village, about 1870. Photograph by S. J. Morrow

"The animals inhabiting the Dakota country, and hunted more or less by them for clothing, food, or for the purposes of barter, are buffalo, elk, black- and white-tailed deer, big-horn, antelope, wolves of several kinds, red and gray foxes, a few beaver and otter, grizzly bear, badger, skunk, porcupine, rabbits, muskrats, and a few panthers in the mountainous parts. Of all those just mentioned the buffalo is most numerous and most necessary to their support. Every part of this animal is eaten by the Indian except the horns, hoofs, and hair, even the skin being made to sustain life in times of great scarcity. The skin is used to make their lodges and clothes, the sinews for bowstrings, the horns to contain powder, and the bones are wrought into various domestic implements, or pounded up and boiled to extract the fatty matter. In the proper season, from the beginning of October until the 1st of March, the skins are dressed with the hair remaining on them, and are either worn by themselves or exchanged with the traders." (Hayden, (1), p. 371.)

In the early days the tribes who occupied a region frequented by or in the vicinity of the range of the buffalo could and undoubtedly did kill sufficient numbers to satisfy their various wants and requirements, but hunting was made more easy in later times when horses were possessed by the Indian. Then it became possible for the bands of hunters, or even the entire village, to follow the vast herds, to surround and kill as many as they desired, and to carry away great quantities of meat to be "jerked," or dried, for future use. So intimately connected were the buffalo with the life of the tribes of the plains and the circumjacent country that frequent allusions will be made to the former when describing the camps and villages of the latter.

The various ways of hunting the buffalo and other wild beasts of the plains and mountainous country, as practiced by the different tribes, have been described by many writers. The several methods of hunting the buffalo were often forced through natural conditions, but nothing could have exceeded the excitement produced during the chase by well-mounted Indian hunters. This was the usual custom of the tribes of the plains after horses had become plentiful and the buffalo continued numerous. The paintings reproduced in plates [2] and [3] vividly portray this phase of the hunt. In the north the hunters were compelled during the long winters to attack the herds on the frozen, snow-covered prairies, and plate [4] shows a party of hunters, wearing snowshoes, mingled with the buffalo. This sketch, made about the year 1825, bears the legend: "Indian Hunters pursuing the Buffalo early in the spring when the snow is sufficiently frozen to bear the men but the Animal breaks through and cannot run." This graphic sketch may represent a party of Cree or Assiniboin hunters, probably the latter, and it will be noticed that they are using bows and arrows, not firearms, although other drawings by the same artist representing a summer hunt shows them having guns.

Another custom in the North was that of constructing inclosures of logs and branches of trees, leaving one opening through which the buffalo were driven, and when thus secured were killed. Such an inclosure, or pound, is shown in plate [5], a. This is a reproduction of the original painting made by Paul Kane, September, 1845. In describing it he wrote: "These pounds can only be made in the vicinity of forests, as they are composed of logs piled up roughly, five feet high, and enclose about two acres. At one side an entrance is left, about ten feet wide, and from each side of this, to the distance of half a mile, a row of posts or short stumps, called dead men, are planted, at the distance of twenty feet each, gradually widening out into the plain from the entrance. When we arrived at the pound we found a party there anxiously awaiting the arrival of the buffaloes, which their companions were driving in. This is accomplished as follows:—A man, mounted on a fleet horse, usually rides forward till he sees a band of buffaloes. This may be sixteen or eighteen miles distant from the ground, but of course the nearer to it the better. The hunter immediately strikes a light with a flint and steel, and places the lighted spunk in a handful of dried grass, the smoke arising from which the buffaloes soon smell and start away from it at the top of their speed. The man now rides up alongside of the herd, which, from some unaccountable propensity, invariably endeavour to cross in front of his horse. I have had them follow me for miles in order to do so. The hunter thus possesses an unfailing means, wherever the pound may be situated, of conducting them to it by the dexterous management of his horse. Indians are stationed at intervals behind the posts, or dead men, provided with buffalo robes, who, when the herd are once in the avenue, rise up and shake the robes, yelling and urging them on until they get into the enclosure, the spot usually selected for which is one with a tree in the centre. On this they hang offerings to propitiate the Great Spirit to direct the herd towards it. A man is also placed in the tree with a medicine pipestem in his hand, which he waves continually, chaunting a sort of prayer to the Great Spirit, the burden of which is that the buffaloes may be numerous and fat." (Kane, (1), pp. 117-119.) Quite similar to this is the description of a pound constructed by the Cree a few years later. This was some 120 feet across, "constructed of the trunks of trees, laced with withes together, and braced by outside supports," and within "lay tossed in every conceivable position over two hundred dead buffalo." Another pound erected at this time had the "dead men" extending for a distance of 4 miles from the entrance. (Hind, (1), I, pp. 356-359.) Maximilian, Lewis and Clark, and other explorers of the upper Missouri Valley refer to enclosures into which the Indians drove antelope. And that the custom was followed by the tribes far east of the Mississippi is proved by the writings of early explorers. Champlain in 1615 gave an account, accompanied by an interesting drawing, of such a hunt, and Lahontan nearly a century later presented an illustration bearing the legend: "Stags block'd up in a park, after being pursued by y^e Savages." Many other references could be quoted, as the ways of hunting followed by the Indians have always been of interest to the many writers who have described the manners and customs of the people.

What was probably a characteristic view in a Sioux village of half a century ago, after a successful hunt, is shown in the old photograph reproduced in plate [5], b. Here, in front of the group of skin tipis, are quantities of meat suspended and being "jerked" or dried in the air. Buffalo skins are stretched on the ground, and in the immediate foreground are two women scraping a skin. This is a picture of the greatest interest and rarity.

The sight of the great herds roaming unmolested over the far-reaching prairies proved of interest to all who saw them, and many accounts are left by the early travelers. One brief description of such a scene may be quoted. It refers to a place in the upper Missouri Valley, not far from a Mandan village, and was written June 22, 1811:

"We arrived on the summit of a ridge more elevated than any we had yet passed. From thence we saw before us a beautiful plain, as we judged, about four miles across, in the direction of our course, and of similar dimensions from east to west. It was bounded on all sides by long ridges, similar to that which we had ascended. The scene exhibited in this valley was sufficiently interesting to excite even in our Canadians a wish to stop a few minutes and contemplate it. The whole of the plain was perfectly level, and, like the rest of the country, without a single shrub. It was covered with the finest verdure, and in every part herds of buffaloes were feeding. I counted seventeen herds, but the aggregate number of the animals it was difficult even to guess at: some thought upwards of 10,000." (Bradbury, (1), pp. 134-135.) And this was but one of innumerable similar scenes to have been witnessed throughout the wide range of the vast herds.

"The Indians say ... that in travelling over a country with which they are unacquainted they always follow the buffalo trail, for this animal always selects the most practicable route for his road." (Warren, (1), p. 74.) This is a well-known fact, and many roads both east and west of the Mississippi which have now developed into important highways owe their origin to this cause.

The story of the buffalo will ever be one of interest, becoming more and more so as the years pass; and so it is gratifying to know that nearly all the available information bearing on the customs of the animal, the migration of the herds, their ancient habitat, and their rapid reduction in numbers was some years ago brought together and preserved in a single volume. (Allen, (1).) This was done while the buffalo were still quite numerous, and many facts recorded were derived from hunters or others acquainted with the customs of the times.

VILLAGES AND FORMS OF STRUCTURES.

The villages as well as the separate structures reared by the many tribes who formerly occupied the region treated in the present work presented marked characteristics, causing them to be easily identified by the early travelers through the wilderness of a century ago. The mat and bark covered wigwam predominated among the Algonquian tribes of the north, although certain members of this great linguistic family also used the skin tipi so typical of the Siouan tribes of the plains, while some of the latter stock constructed the earth lodge similar to that erected by the Caddoan tribes. Thus, it will be understood no one group occupied habitations of a single form to the exclusion of all others, and again practically all the tribes had two or more types of dwellings which were reared and used under different conditions, some forming their permanent villages, others, being easily removed and transported, serving as their shelters during long journeys in search of the buffalo. The villages of the several groups will now be mentioned in detail.

Algonquian Tribes.

The numerous tribes and the many confederated groups belonging to the great Algonquian linguistic family extended over the continent from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic coast, and from Labrador on the north southward to Carolina. They surrounded the Iroquoian tribes of the north, and, at various places came in contact with members of other stocks. The combined population of the widely scattered Algonquian tribes was greater than that of any other linguistic family in North America.

The native tribes of tidewater Virginia and those who were encountered by the New England colonists, tribes so intimately associated with the early history of the Colonies, belonged to this stock, as did the later occupants of the Ohio Valley and of the "country of Illinois." In the present work the villages of other members of the linguistic group will be considered, including those of the Ojibway and the related Cree, and of the Blackfoot confederacy, Arapaho, and Cheyenne, usually termed the western division of the stock. Several tribes whose villages stood east of the Mississippi in early historic times will also be mentioned.

ojibway.

The Ojibway (the Sauteux of many writers) formed the connecting link between the tribes living east of the Mississippi and those whose homes were across the "Great River." A century ago their lands extended from the shores of Lake Superior westward, beyond the headwaters of the Mississippi to the vicinity of the Turtle Mountains, in the present State of North Dakota. Thus they claimed the magnificent lakes of northern and central Minnesota—Mille Lac, Leech Lake, Cass Lake, and Red Lake—on the shores of which stood many of their camps and villages, serving as barriers against invasions and attacks by their inveterate enemies, the Sioux. The Ojibway are essentially a timber people, whose manners and customs were formed and governed by the environment of lakes and streams, and who were ever surrounded by the vast virgin forests of pine. While game, fish, and wild fowl were abundant and easily obtained, yet during the long winters when the lakes were frozen and the land was covered by several feet of snow there were periods of want when food was scarce.

The habitations and other structures of the Ojibway, which have already been described and figured (Bushnell, (2)), were of various forms, constructed of several materials, and varying in different localities, according to the nature of the available supply of barks or rushes.

In the north, on the shores of Lake Superior and westward along the lakes and streams, as in the valley of Red River and the adjacent region, the majority of structures were covered with sheets of birch bark, secured to frames of small saplings.

About the year 1804 Peter Grant, a member of the old North-West Company, and for a long period at the head of the Red River Department of the company, prepared an account of the Sauteux Indians, and when describing the habitations of the people, wrote: "Their tents are constructed with slender long poles, erected in the form of a cone and covered with the rind of the birch tree. The general diameter of the base is about fifteen feet, the fire place exactly in the middle, and the remainder of the area, with the exception of a small place for the hearth, is carefully covered with the branches of the pine or cedar tree, over which some bear skins and old blankets are spread, for sitting and sleeping. A small aperture is left in which a bear skin is hung in lieu of a door, and a space is left open at the top, which answers the purpose of window and chimney. In stormy weather the smoke would be intolerable, but this inconvenience is easily removed by contracting or shifting the aperture at top according to the point from which the wind blows. It is impossible to walk, or even to stand upright, in their miserable habitations, except directly around the fire place. The men sit generally with their legs stretched before them, but the women have theirs folded backwards, inclined a little to the left side, and can comfortably remain the whole day in those attitudes, when the weather is too bad for remaining out of doors. In fine weather they are very fond of basking in the sun.

"When the family is very large, or when several families live together, the dimensions of their tents are, of course, in proportion and of different forms. Some of these spacious habitations resemble the roof of a barn, with small openings at each end for doors, and the whole length of the ridge is left uncovered at top for the smoke and light." (Grant, (1), pp. 329-330.) And referring briefly to the ways of life of the people: "In the spring, when the hunting season is over, they generally assemble in small villages, either at the trader's establishment, or in places where fish or wild fowl abound; sturgeon and white fish are most common, though they have abundance of pike, trout, suckers, and pickerel. They sometimes have the precaution to preserve some for the summer consumption, this is done by opening and cleaning the fish, and then carefully drying it in the smoke or sun, after which it is tied up very tight in large parcels, wrapped up in bark and kept for use; their meat, in summer, is cured in the same manner.... Their meat is either boiled in a kettle, or roasted by means of a sharp stick, fixed in the ground at a convenient distance from the fire, and on which the meat is fixed and turned occasionally towards the fire, until the whole is thoroughly done; their fish is dressed in the same manner." (Op. cit., pp. 330-331.)

The method of cooking food, as mentioned in the preceding paragraph, is graphically illustrated in the old sketch made a century ago, now reproduced in plate [6], a. This shows a family gathered about a small fire where food is being prepared, and beyond is a bark-covered wigwam. The sketch bears the legend, "A family from the tribe of the wild Sautaux Indians on the Red River. Drawn from nature." It indicates the primitive dress and appearance of the people, and it is of interest to compare this with the photograph which is reproduced in plate [6], b, showing another small group of the people three-quarters of a century later. Such were the changes within that period.

Similar to the preceding were the habitations shown by Kane in a sketch made during the early summer of 1845, the original painting being reproduced as plate [7], a. This was described as "an Indian encampment amongst the islands of Lake Huron; the wigwams are made of birch-bark, stripped from the trees in large pieces and sewed together with long fibrous roots; when the birch tree cannot be conveniently had, they weave rushes into mats ... for covering, which are stretched round in the same manner as the bark, upon eight or ten poles tied together at the top, and stuck in the ground at the required circle of the tent, a hole being left at the top to permit the smoke to go out. The fire is made in the centre of the lodge, and the inmates sleep all round with their feet towards it." (Kane, (1), pp. 6-7.) The interesting painting could well have been made among the Ojibway camps or settlements of northern Minnesota instead of representing a group of wigwams located many miles eastward, but this tends to prove the similarity of the small villages in the region where large sheets of birch bark were to be obtained.

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 6

a. "A family from the tribe of the wild Sautaux Indians on the Red River." Drawn from nature, 1821

b. Ojibway wigwam. Leech Lake, Minnesota, 1896

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 7

a. "Encampment among the Islands of Lake Huron." Paul Kane, 1845

b. Ojibway camp on bank of Red River. Photograph by H. L. Hime, 1858

Between the loosely placed sheets of bark were necessarily many openings through which the wind could enter, and in addition was the open space at the top intentionally left as a vent through which the smoke could escape from the inside. In describing the appearance of the interior of such a structure it was told how—

"Around the fire in the centre, and at a distance of perhaps 2 feet from it, are placed sticks as large as one's arm, in a square form, guarding the fire; and it is a matter of etiquette not to put one's feet nearer the fire than that boundary. One or more pots or kettles are hung over the fire on the crotch of a sapling. In the sides of the wigwam are stowed all clothing, food, cooking utensils, and other property of the family." When referring to the great feeling of relief on arriving at such a shelter in the frozen wilderness the same writer continued:

"When one has been traveling all day through the virgin forest, in a temperature far below zero, and has not seen a house nor a human being and knows not where or how he is to pass the night, it is the most comforting sight in the whole world to see the glowing column of light from the top of the wigwam of some wandering family out hunting, and to look in and see that happy group bathed in the light and warmth of the life-giving fire ... and no one, Ojibway or white, is ever refused admission; on the contrary, they are made heartily welcome, as long as there is an inch of space." (Gilfillan, (1), pp. 68-69.) As a missionary among the Ojibway of northern Minnesota for a quarter of a century, Dr. Gilfillan learned to know and love the forests and lakes in the changing seasons of the year and to know the ways of life of the Ojibway as few have ever known them.

The structures just mentioned were of a circular form, with the ends of the poles which supported the bark describing a circle on the ground. Of quite similar construction were the larger oval wigwams, where two groups of poles were arranged at the ends in the form of semicircles, with a ridgepole extending between the tops of the two groups. Other poles rested against the ridgepole and so formed the sloping supports upon which the strips of bark were placed. One most interesting example of this form of primitive habitation was visited by the writer during the month of October, 1899. It formed one of a small group of wigwams which at that time stood near the Canadian boundary, north of Ely, Minnesota. It was about 18 feet in length and between 8 and 9 feet in width. There were two entrances, one at each end, with hanging blankets to cover the openings. Within, along the median line on the ground, burned four small fires. Beautiful examples of rush mats, made by the women, were spread upon the ground near the sloping walls, these serving as seats during the day and sleeping places at night. Many articles hung from the poles which sustained the bark covering, as small bags and baskets, and many bunches of herbs. In one corner was a large covered mokak, and on the opposite side was a carefully wrapped drum, owned by the old Ojibway, Ahgishkemunsit, the Kingfisher, who was sitting on the ground near by.

Quite similar to the preceding must have been the wigwam visited by Hind in 1858. This stood a short distance from Manitobah House, of the Hudson's Bay Company, and belonged to an Ojibway hunter. As Hind wrote: "His birch-bark tent was roomy and clean. Thirteen persons including children squatted round the fire in the centre. On the floor some excellent matting was laid upon spruce boughs for the strangers; the squaws squatted on the bare ground, the father of the family on an old buffalo robe. Attached to the poles of the tent were a gun, bows and arrows, a spear, and some mink skins. Suspended on cross pieces over the fire were fishing nets and floats, clothes, and a bunch of the bearberry to mix with tobacco for the manufacture of kinni-kinnik." (Hind, (1), II, p. 63.) Hind was accompanied on his second journey, in 1858, by a photographer, Humphrey Lloyd Hime, who made many interesting negatives while in the Indian country. Among the photographs made at this time are three views of bark wigwams of the Ojibway which stood near the banks of Red River. These are now reproduced in plates [7], b, and [8] a, b.

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 8

a. Ojibway camp west of Red River. Photograph by H. L. Hime, 1858

b. Ojibway camp on bank of Red River. Photograph by H. L. Hime, 1858

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 9

a. Wigwams covered with elm bark

b. Two types of wigwams covered with birch bark
OJIBWAY HABITATIONS, ABOUT 1865

While in the vicinity of Red River the year before (1857) Hind encountered several interesting Ojibway structures. At a point not far north of the Minnesota boundary his party crossed the Roseau a few miles east of Red River, and there "on the bank at the crossing place the skeletons of Indian wigwams and sweating-houses were grouped in a prominent position, just above a fishing weir where the Ojibways of this region take large quantities of fish in the spring. The framework of a large medicine wigwam measured twenty-five feet in length by fifteen in breadth; the sweating-houses were large enough to hold one man in a sitting position, and differed in no respect from those frequently seen on the canoe route between Lakes Superior and Winnipeg, and which have been often described by travelers." (Hind, (1), I, p. 163.) During the journey, when camping on an island in Bonnet Lake, the party encountered "an Indian cache elevated on a stage in the centre of the island. The stage was about seven feet above the ground, and nine feet long by four broad. It was covered with birch bark, and the treasures it held consisted of rabbit-skin robes, rolls of birch bark, a ragged blanket, leather leggings, and other articles of winter apparel, probably the greater part of the worldly wealth of an Indian family." (Op. cit., p. 120.)

The canoe route between the lakes mentioned by Hind was often broken by dangerous rapids, around which it was necessary to carry the canoes, as Catlin described the Ojibway party doing at the Falls of St. Anthony.

The ceremonial lodge of the Ojibway, where the Mĭdé rites were enacted, was often 100 feet or more in length and about 12 feet in width. The frame was made of small saplings, bent and fastened by cords, similar to the frames of wigwams which were to be covered with mats or sheets of bark, but the coverings of the ceremonial lodges were usually of a more temporary nature, boughs and branches of the pine and spruce being sometimes used, which would soon fall away, although the rigid frame would stand from year to year, to be covered when required. Somewhat of this form was the "medicine lodge," described by Kane. This stood in the center of a large camp of the "Saulteaux" or Ojibway, not far from Fort Alexander, which was about 3 miles above Lake Winnipeg, on the bank of Winnipeg River. The camp was visited June 11, 1846, and in referring to the lodge: "It was rather an oblong structure, composed of poles bent in the form of an arch, and both ends forced into the ground, so as to form, when completed, a long arched chamber, protected from the weather by a covering of birch bark.... On my first entrance into the medicine lodge ... I found four men, who appeared to be chiefs, sitting upon mats spread upon the ground gesticulating with great violence, and keeping time to the beating of a drum. Something, apparently of a sacred nature was covered up in the centre of the group, which I was not allowed to see.... The interior of their lodge or sanctuary was hung round with mats constructed with rushes, to which were attached various offerings consisting principally of bits of red and blue cloth, calico, &c., strings of beads, scalps of enemies, and sundry other articles beyond my comprehension." (Kane, (1), pp. 68-71.)

It is quite evident the frame of the large lodge encountered by Hind was similar to the structure described by Kane a few years before. Both stood in the northern part of the Ojibway country, a region where birch bark was extensively used as covering for the wigwams, and where it was easily obtained.

The temporary, quickly raised shelters of the Ojibway were described by Tanner, who learned to make them from the people with whom he remained many years. Referring to a journey up the valley of the Assiniboin, he wrote: "In bad weather we used to make a little lodge, and cover it with three or four fresh buffaloe hides, and these being soon frozen, made a strong shelter from wind and snow. In calm weather, we commonly encamped with no other covering than our blankets." (Tanner, (1) p. 55.) On another occasion fire destroyed the wigwam and all the possessions of the family with whom he lived, and then, so he said: "We commenced to repair our loss, by building a small grass lodge, in which to shelter ourselves while we should prepare the pukkwi for a new wigwam. The women were very industrious in making these.... At night, also, when it was too dark to hunt, Wa-me-gon-a-biew and myself assisted at this labour. In a few days our lodge was completed." (Op. cit., p. 85.) And again when near Rainy Lake, "I had no pukkwi, or mats, for a lodge and therefore had to build one of poles and long grass." (p. 214.) It is quite evident the shelters of poles and grass, as mentioned by Tanner, were similar to those erected by the Assiniboin as described on another page, and as indicated in the painting by Paul Kane, which is reproduced as plate [25], a.

Two very interesting old photographs, made more than half a century ago, are shown in plate [9]. One, a, represents clearly the elm-bark covering of the wigwams, and in this picture the arbor suggests a Siouan rather than an Ojibway encampment; b is more characteristic of the Ojibway.

The structures encountered in the Ojibway country farther south differed from those already mentioned, the majority of which were covered with sheets of birch bark, a form which must necessarily have been restricted to the northern country. But the type was widely scattered northward, and undoubtedly extended eastward to the Atlantic, especially down the valley of the St. Lawrence into northern Maine and the neighboring Provinces. South of this zone were the dome-shaped mat or bark covered wigwams, varying in different localities according to the available supply of barks, or of rushes to be made into mats, which served to cover the rigid, oval-topped frame. Most interesting examples were standing in the Ojibway settlements on the shore of Mille Lac, Minnesota, during the spring of 1900. One, which may be accepted as a type specimen, was of a quadrilateral rather than oval outline of base, and measured about 14 feet each way, with a maximum height of 6 feet or more. The saplings which formed the frame were seldom more than 2 inches in diameter, one end being set firmly in the ground, the top being bent over and attached to similar pieces coming from the opposite side. Other small saplings or branches were tied firmly to these in a horizontal position about 2 feet apart, thus forming a rigid frame, over which was spread the covering of mats and sheets of bark, the latter serving as the roof. In this particular example the covering was held in place by cords which passed over the top and were attached to poles which hung horizontally about a foot above the ground. A second row of mats was fastened to the inside of the frame and others were spread on the ground near the walls. A small fire burned within near the center of the open space, although the cooking was often done outside, just beyond the single entrance.

Although the Ojibway were numerous, they had few large villages or settlements. They lived for the most part in small, scattered groups, and often moved from place to place. However, there were some long-occupied sites, as at Red Lake, Sandy Lake, on the shores of Leech Lake, where the Pillagers gathered, and the more recently occupied villages at Mille Lac, sites once covered by the settlements of the Mdewakanton. These villages, which should more properly be termed "gathering places," at once suggest the various descriptions and accounts of the great village of the Illinois, which stood on the banks of the upper Illinois during the latter part of the seventeenth century and was many times visited by the French.

When the Ojibway and Sioux gathered at Fort Snelling, at the mouth of the Minnesota River, during the summer of 1835 in the endeavor to establish peace between the two tribes or groups, they were encamped on opposite sides of the fort. Catlin, who was there at the time, wrote of the temporary camp of the Ojibway: "their wigwams made of birch bark, covering the frame work, which was of slight poles stuck in the ground, and bent over at the top, so as to give a rooflike shape to the lodge, best calculated to ward off rain and winds." (Catlin, (1), II, p. 137.) Unfortunately, the original painting of the camp does not exist in the great collection of Catlin paintings now belonging to the National Museum, Washington. In the catalogue of the collection printed in London, 1848, it appears as "334, Chippeway Village and Dog Feast at the Falls of St. Anthony; lodges built with birch-bark; Upper Mississippi."

An outline drawing of the picture was given as plate 238 to illustrate the account quoted above, but how accurate either description or sketch may be is now quite difficult to determine. However, it is doubtful if the structures had flat ends, as indicated, and mats may have formed part of the covering. Catlin continued his narrative and told of the removal of the camp (p. 138): "After the business and amusements of this great Treaty between the Chippeways and Sioux were all over, the Chippeways struck their tents by taking them down and rolling up their bark coverings, which, with their bark canoes seen in the picture, turned up amongst their wigwams, were carried to the water's edge; and all things being packed in, men, women, dogs, and all, were swiftly propelled by paddles to the Falls of St Anthony." They reached "an eddy below the Falls, and as near as they could get by paddling." Here the canoes were unloaded and the canoes and all else carried about one-half mile above the Falls, where they again embarked and continued on their way. It is interesting to contemplate this scene and to realize it was enacted within the limits of the present city of Minneapolis so short a time ago. A beautiful example of the light birch-bark canoe of the Ojibway is shown in plate [10], a, and a photograph of two old Ojibway Indians with similar canoes is reproduced in plate [10], b. The canoes indicated by Kane in his painting (pl. [7], a) were of this form, probably the most graceful and easiest propelled craft ever devised.

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 10

a. Ojibway birch bark canoe. Northern Minnesota, 1899

b. Ojibway Indians with birch bark canoes. North of Ely, Minn., 1899

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 11

a. Trader's store at the village of the Pillagers, Cass Lake in the distance on the right. November 26, 1899

b. Outside an elm-bark structure. At the Ojibway village of Sagawamick, on south shore of Mille Lac, Minnesota. May 21, 1900

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 12

a. Hammer, bag, and two skin-dressing tools

b. Section of a rush mat, as used to form covering for a wigwam
OBJECTS OF OJIBWAY MAKE

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 13

a. Ojibway mortar and pestle

b. Delaware mortar and pestle

c. Ojibway birch bark dish

The various structures in an Ojibway village do not appear to have been erected or placed with any degree of order. Certainly this is true of conditions in recent times, and whether any accepted or recognized plan was followed in the past is not known. The small wigwams formed an irregular group on the shore of a lake or the bank of a stream surrounded by the primeval forest.

In the month of May, 1900, a council house which had been erected by the Ojibway some years before stood on a high point of land in the midst of dense woods, about 1 mile north of the outlet of Mille Lac—the beginning of Rum River—and about 200 yards from the lake shore. It was oriented with its sides facing the cardinal points, about 20 feet square, with walls 6 feet in height and the peak of the roof twice that distance above the ground. The heavy frame was covered with large sheets of elm bark, which had evidently been renewed from time to time during the preceding years. No traces of seats remained and grass was again growing on the ground which had served as the floor. This was the scene of the treaty of October 5, 1889, between the Ojibway of Mille Lac and the United States Government. Within a short time this very interesting primitive structure had disappeared and two years later no trace of it remained. Whether this represented an ancient type of building could not be ascertained.

The Ojibway villages were supplied with the usual sweat houses, a small frame covered with blankets or other material, so often described. Resembling these were the shelters prepared for the use of certain old men who were believed to possess the power of telling of future events and happenings. Such a lodge was seen standing on the shore of Lake Superior, about 18 miles from Fond du Lac, July 27, 1826. As described by McKenney: "At this place, Burnt river is a place of divination, the seat of a jongleur's incantations. It is a circle, made of eight poles, twelve feet high, and crossing at the top, which being covered in with mats, or bark, he enters, and foretells future events." (McKenney, (1), p. 269.) Interesting, indeed, are the many accounts of the predictions believed to have been made by these old men.

A remarkable performance of this nature was witnessed by Paul Kane. When returning from the far West during the summer of 1848 the small party of which he was one arrived at Lake Winnipeg and on July 28 had advanced about midway down the eastern shore. On that day Kane made this entry in his journal: "July 28th.—About 2 o'clock P.M., we endeavoured to proceed, but got only as far as the Dog's Head, the wind being so strong and unfavourable, that it was thought useless to run any risk for the short distance we would be able to make against it. In the evening our Indians constructed a jonglerie, or medicine lodge, the main object of which was to procure a fair wind for next day. For this purpose they first drive ten or twelve poles, nine or ten feet long, into the ground, enclosing a circular area of about three feet in diameter, with a boat sail open at the top. The medicine-man, one of which is generally found in every brigade, gets inside and commences shaking the poles violently, rattling his medicinal rattle, and singing hoarse incantations to the Great Spirit for a fair wind. Being unable to sleep on account of the discordant noises, I wrapped a blanket round me, and went out into the woods, where they were holding their midnight orgies, and lay down amongst those on the outside of the medicine lodge, to witness the proceedings. I had no sooner done so than the incantations at once ceased, and the performer exclaimed that a white man was present. How he ascertained this fact I am at a loss to surmise ... The Major, [M'Kenzie] ... with many other intelligent persons, is a firm believer in their medicine." (Kane, (1), pp. 439-441.)

In addition to the several forms of structures erected by the Ojibway, as already described, they reared the elm-bark lodge which resembled in form the log cabin of the early settlers. Three of these were standing on the south shore of Mille Lac, Minnesota, during the spring of 1900, and the outside of one, showing the manner in which the bark covering was placed, is indicated in plate [11], b. This was similar in shape to the Sauk and Fox habitation reproduced in plate [19], although the Ojibway structure was more skillfully constructed. Habitations of a like nature were found among the Sioux villages on the banks of the Mississippi in the vicinity of Fort Snelling, and others were erected within a generation by the Menomini in northern Wisconsin, but whether this may be considered a primitive form of structure has not been determined.

A trader's store standing near the Ojibway village on the shore of Cass Lake, Minnesota, during the late autumn of 1899 is shown in plate [11], a. Similar cabins were occupied by some of the Indian families, these having taken the place of the native wigwams.

Various objects of primitive forms, made and used by the Ojibway within a generation, are shown in plates [12] and [13].

cree.

The Cree (the Knisteneaux of Mackenzie) were closely related to the Ojibway; they spoke the same language, and had many customs in common. As Hayden wrote: "The Cree nation was originally a portion of the Chippewa, as the similarity of language proves; and even now they are so mingled with the latter people as with difficulty to be considered a distinct tribe, further than a slight difference in language and their local position." (Hayden, (1), p. 235.) Formerly they occupied the forest region to the eastward of the country which they later claimed. There they were probably accustomed to the mat or bark covered structures, similar to those of the neighboring Ojibway, but in more recent times, after having been attracted to the prairies by the buffalo, they followed the customs of the prairie tribes and for the most part made and used the typical conical skin-covered lodge.

After reaching the open country, and becoming more accustomed to the life of roving hunters, they were necessarily less sedentary in their habits than formerly, and their camps probably seldom remained long in any one place. They became scattered over a wide region, and in 1856 it was said: "They number about ten or eleven hundred persons. Like most of the tribes in the Northwest Territory, they are separated into clans or bands, and live in different districts for greater advantages in hunting." Here is given a list of the several bands, with the number of skin lodges claimed by each group, but the "Pis-ka-kau-a-kis, or 'Magpies,' are about thirty lodges; are stationed at Tinder Mountain; live in dirt lodges and log-cabins; cultivate the soil to some extent, and raise considerable quantities of corn and potatoes; hunt buffalo during the winter, and trade also with the Hudson's Bay Company." (Hayden, (1), p. 237.) The same writer continues (p. 238): "Besides the foregoing there are about two hundred lodges more who are not formed into bands, but scattered along Lac de L'Isle Croix, and live by hunting reindeer, moose, fish, and wild fowl. They live in skin tents in the summer, but sometimes build log and bark huts in winter, and seldom more than one cabin is found in the same place. These are the poorest of the Crees."

Thus it will be understood how scattered bands of the same tribe often reared and occupied several forms of habitations, influenced by their natural surroundings and requirements. And here are references to the use of the bark-covered lodge, the skin-covered lodge of probably a different shape, the structure covered with earth or sod, and, lastly, the log cabin, by widely dispersed bands of the Cree.

A simple form of temporary shelter was constructed by the Cree and Ojibway to serve during certain ceremonies. This was described about a century ago when recounting the customs of the "Sauteaux and the Crees." It was told that in public feasts "Several chiefs unite in preparing a suitable place, and in collecting sufficient provisions, for the accommodation of a numerous assemblage. To provide a place, poles are fixed obliquely into the ground, enclosing a sufficient space to hold several hundred, and at times, nearly a thousand people. On these poles, skins are laid, at the height of twelve or fifteen feet, thus forming a spacious court, or tent. The provisions consist both of dried and of fresh meat, as it would not be practicable to prepare a sufficient quantity of fresh meat, for such a multitude, which, however, consists only of men. At these feasts, the guests converse only on elevated topics, such as the public interests of the tribe, and the noble exploits of their progenitors, that they may infuse a publick and an heroic spirit, into their young men. Dancing always forms the concluding ceremony, at these festivals; and the women, who are not permitted to enter the place where they are celebrated, dance and sing around them, often keeping time with the music within." (Harmon, (1), p. 362.) It is to be regretted that these early accounts are often so lacking in detail, and that so much is left to imagination. In this instance the form of the large structure was not mentioned, but it was probably extended, resembling to some degree the Mĭdé lodge of the Ojibway. Among the latter the large ceremonial lodge was covered with mats, sheets of bark, or sometimes with skins or boughs of pine or spruce. Like customs may have prevailed among the Cree.

Proving the wandering, roving disposition of the Cree, and the consequent lack of permanent villages, Maximilian wrote from Fort Union, at the mouth of the Yellowstone, during the latter part of June, 1833: "The Crees live in the same territory as the Assiniboins, that is, between the Saskatschawan, the Assiniboin, and the Missouri. They ramble about in small bands with the others, are poor, have many dogs, which carry their baggage, but only a few horses. They live, like the Assiniboins, in leather tents, follow the herds of buffaloes, of which they sometimes kill great numbers in their parks. The Crees are reckoned at 600 or 800 tents." (Maximilian, (1), pp. 199-200.)

The dog travois, such as was used by the Cree and mentioned in the preceding account, was of very ancient origin, having been seen and described by the first Spanish explorers to traverse the prairie lands of the Southwest. In Relacion Postrera de Sivola, prepared in the year 1541, appears this interesting note:

"These people have dogs like those in this country, except that they are somewhat larger, and they load these dogs like beasts of burden, and make saddles for them like our pack saddles, and they fasten them with their leather thongs, and these make their backs sore on the withers like pack animals. When they go hunting, they load these with their necessities, and when they move—for these Indians are not settled in one place, since they travel wherever the cows [buffalo] move, to support themselves—these dogs carry their houses, and they have the sticks of their houses dragging along tied on to the pack-saddles, besides the load which they carry on top, and the load may be, according to the dog, from 35 to 50 pounds." (Winship, (1), pp. 510-571.) This description could easily refer to conditions and customs among the tribes three centuries and more later.

A very graphic sketch of a dog travois was made at Fort Union, October 10, 1851, by the Swiss artist, Friedrich Kurz, and is now reproduced in plate [26], b, showing the method of attaching the poles, and how the load was rolled and placed upon the latter. The use of the horse for a similar purpose in later years followed as a natural sequence.

Among the many paintings by Paul Kane, now preserved in the Royal Ontario Museum of Archæology, at Toronto, is one bearing the legend: "Cree Indians Travelling." It represents a small party of Indians, some walking, others mounted on horses, with several horse and dog travois. The latter show long poles attached to the sides of the dogs, one end of the poles dragging on the ground, while about midway of their length is a small pack upon which a child is seated. The broken, rolling land of the north is represented with a few clumps of small trees. The picture is one of much beauty and interest, depicting as it does some of the primitive customs of the Cree.

During the summer of 1858 the Hind expedition into the region far west of the Red River encountered many small groups of Cree hunters and also observed the ancient camp sites of the same tribe. They wrote in part: "Immediately on the banks of the Qu'appelle Valley near the 'Round Hill' opposite Moose Jaws Forks, are the remains of ancient encampments, where the Plain Crees, in the day of their power and pride, had erected large skin tents, and strengthened them with rings of stones placed round the base. These circular remains were twenty-five feet in diameter, the stones or boulders being about one foot in circumference. They wore the aspect of great antiquity, being partially covered with soil and grass. When this camp ground was occupied by the Crees, timber no doubt grew in the valley below, or on the prairie and ravines in detached groves, for their permanent camping grounds are always placed near a supply of fuel.

"Making an early start in search of wood, we came suddenly upon four Cree tents, whose inmates were still fast asleep; about three hundred yards west of them we found ten more tents, with over fifty or sixty Indians in all. They were preparing to cross the valley in the direction of the Grand Coteau, following the buffalo. Their provisions for trade, such as dried meat and pemmican, were drawn by dogs, each bag of pemmican being supported upon two long poles, which are shaft, body, and wheels in one. Buffalo Pound Hill Lake, sixteen miles long, begins near Moose Jaws Forks, and on the opposite or south side of this long sheet of water, we saw eighteen tents and a large number of horses. The women in those we visited on our side of the valley and lake, had collected a great quantity of the mesaskatomina berry which they were drying." And not far beyond we "began to find the fresh bones of buffalo very numerous on the ground, and here and there startled a pack of wolves feeding on a carcas which had been deprived of its tongue and hump only by the careless, thriftless Crees. On the high banks of the valley the remains of ancient encampments in the form of rings of stones to hold down the skin tents are everywhere visible, and testify to the former numbers of the Plain Crees.... The largest ancient encampment we saw lies near a shallow lake in the prairie about a mile from the Qu'appelle valley. It is surrounded by a few low sandy and gravelly hills, and is quite screened from observation. It may have been a camping ground for centuries, as some circles of stones are partially covered with grass and embedded in the soil." (Hind, (1), I, pp. 338-341.)

This is a simple explanation of the origin of small circles of stones now encountered in different parts of the country, but in other localities, where stones were not obtainable, masses of sod were used for the same purpose, and these in turn may have caused the small earth circles which are now discovered in the lower Mississippi Valley and elsewhere.

cheyenne.

As has been remarked by the most observant student of this tribe: "Information as to the region occupied by the Cheyenne in early days is limited and for the most part traditional. Some ethnologists declare that Indian tradition has no historical value, but other students of Indians decline to assent to this dictum. If it is to be accepted, we can know little of the Cheyenne until they are found as nomads following the buffalo over the plains. There is, however, a mass of traditionary data which points back to conditions at a much earlier date quite different from these. In primitive times they occupied permanent earth lodges and raised crops of corn, beans, and squashes, on which they largely depended for subsistence." (Grinnell, (1), p. 359.)

According to tradition, which in part is verified by the accounts of early explorations, the Cheyenne at one time lived in the valley of the Minnesota, whence they gradually moved westward. Thus at least a part of the tribe removed from the edge of the timbered region to the plains, a movement which probably took place during the latter part of the eighteenth century.

While living in the vicinity of the Minnesota the villages and camps of the Cheyenne undoubtedly resembled those of the Sioux of later days; the conical skin-covered lodge, or possibly the mat or bark structure of the timber people, as used by the Ojibway and others. But during the same period it is evident other bands of the tribe lived quite a distance westward, probably on the banks of the Missouri, and there the habitations were the permanent earth lodge, similar to those of the Pawnee, Mandan, and other Missouri Valley tribes. Sioux traditions refer to Cheyenne villages on the banks of the Missouri near Fort Yates, Sioux County, North Dakota. These were visited and described by Dr. Grinnell, during the spring of 1918, who wrote: "The Teton Sioux, now allotted and scattered over the Standing Rock Indian reservation, declare that on the west bank of the Missouri river, not far from Fort Yates, there were formerly two Cheyenne villages.... I visited the two sites. The most northerly one is situated on a bluff above the Missouri river on the south side of Porcupine creek, less than five miles north of Ft. Yates. The village has been partly destroyed by the Missouri river, which has undermined the bank and carried away some of the house rings reported to have been well preserved, but a number remain. Of these a few are still seen as the raised borders of considerable earth lodges, the rings about the central hollow being from twelve to fifteen inches above the surrounding soil, and the hollows noticeably deep. In most cases, however, the situation of the house is indicated merely by a slight hollow and especially by the peculiar character of the grass growing on the house site. The eye recognizes the different vegetation, and as soon as the foot is set on the soil within a house site, the difference is felt between that and the ground immediately without the site. The houses nearest both Porcupine creek and the Missouri river stand on the bank immediately above the water, and it is possible that some of those on the Porcupine have been undermined and carried away by that stream when in flood. This settlement must have been large. It stands on a flat, now bisected by a railroad embankment, slightly sloping toward the river, and the houses stood close together." More than 70 large house sites were counted, "one at least being 60 feet in diameter," and in addition to these were a large number of smaller ones. "On the gently rising land to the west of the Porcupine village the Cheyenne are said to have planted their corn, as also on the flats on the north side of the Porcupine river. The village site now stands on the farm of Yellow Lodge, a Yankton Sioux, who stated that he had always been told by the old people that this was a Cheyenne village and that in plowing he had often turned up pottery from the ground." And in reference to the age of this interesting site: "Sioux tradition declares that the village on the Porcupine river was established about 1733 or a little earlier, perhaps 1730; they fix the date as about one hundred years before the stars fell, 1833. It was a large village and was occupied for fifty years or more and then the people abandoned it and moved over to a point on Grand river twenty miles above its mouth. The date of the removal is given as about the time of a great flood at this point, which, it is said, took place about 1784." (Grinnell, Op. cit.) This later village existed until about 1840 and appears to have been composed of skin lodges, not the permanent earth structures. Sioux tradition also places the earlier home of the people who erected the village on the Porcupine at some point in the Valley of the Minnesota.

The second of the two sites mentioned stood some 2 miles below Porcupine Creek, and it is the belief of Dr. Grinnell that these were the villages to which Lewis and Clark referred in their journals as having been passed by the expedition on the 15th and 16th of October, 1804. At that time game was abundant and several hunting parties of the Arikara were encountered, and an entry in the journal dated October 15, 1804, reads: "We stopped at three miles on the north a little above a camp of Ricaras who are hunting, where we were visited by about thirty Indians. They came over in their skin canoes, bringing us meat, for which we returned them beads and fishhooks. About a mile higher we found another encampment of Ricaras on the south, consisting of eight lodges: here we again ate and exchanged a few presents. As we went we discerned numbers of other Indians on both sides of the river; and at about nine miles we came to a creek on the south, where we saw many high hills resembling a house with a slanting roof; and a little below the creek an old village of the Sharha or Cheyenne Indians.... At sunset we halted, after coming ten miles over several sandbars and points, above a camp of ten Ricara lodges on the north side." (Lewis and Clark, (1), pp. 108-109.) Such was the nature of the country a little more than a century ago.

Another ancient village site presenting many interesting features stands on the bank of an old bed of the Sheyenne River, near Lisbon, Ransom County, N. Dak. This would have been about midway between the Minnesota River and the village on the Missouri near Porcupine Creek. A plan of this village made a few years ago is now preserved in the Historical Society of North Dakota and was reproduced by Dr. Grinnell in the article cited. It shows a large number—70 or more—earth-lodge sites, varying in size, but closely grouped, and protected by a ditch except on the river side. There is a remarkable similarity between this site and others east of the Mississippi, where structures of a like form evidently stood in the centuries before the coming of Europeans. The ditch may have been accompanied by an embankment, in turn surmounted by palisades. The river served to protect the settlement on the north, the encircling embankment and ditch reaching the bank of the stream both above and below the occupied area.

Unfortunately no sketch or picture of any sort of a Cheyenne earth lodge is known to exist, but the villages just mentioned must necessarily have resembled in appearance those of the Pawnee of a later generation, remarkable photographs of which have been preserved and which are shown in the present work. And as Dr. Grinnell has said in a recent communication (February 2, 1920) when referring to the places long ago occupied by the camps of the Cheyenne: "I have walked about on the sites of these old villages, and the grandmother of a woman of my acquaintance, and probably the father of that woman, lived in earth-lodge houses, presumably very similar to those occupied in my time by the Pawnees and the Mandans. I have never seen one, however, and do not know anyone who has seen one. Many years ago, I might have procured from old Elk River a description of such houses, though he was even then very old and growing feeble. It is too late to lament that now."

The conical skin lodge of the Cheyenne resembled that of other plains tribes, and they must in earlier times, when buffalo were so numerous and easily secured, have been rather large and commodious structures. When Lewis and Clark descended the Missouri, on their return from the far west, they reached on August 21, 1806, an encampment of the Cheyenne on the bank of the Missouri, opposite the upper village of the Arikara, not far below the old Cheyenne village mentioned in the journal of the expedition on October 15, 1804. To quote from the entry made August 21, 1806: "... arrived opposite to the upper Ricara villages. We saluted them with the discharge of four guns, which they answered in the same manner; and on our landing we were met by the greater part of the inhabitants of each village, and also by a band of Chayennes, who were encamped on a hill in the neighbourhood...." After conversing with all concerning the Mandans, "The sun being now very hot, the chief of the Chayennes invited us to his lodge, which was at no great distance from the river. We followed him, and found a very large lodge, made of twenty buffaloe skins, surrounded by eighteen or twenty lodges, nearly equal in size. The rest of the nation are expected to-morrow, and will make the number of one hundred and thirty or fifty lodges, containing from three hundred and fifty to four hundred men, at which the men of the nation may be computed. These Chayennes are a fine looking people, of a large stature, straight limbs, high cheek-bones and noses, and of a complexion similar to that of the Ricaras." (Lewis and Clark, (1), II, pp. 413-414.)

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 14

CHEYENNE. STUMP HORSE AND FAMILY

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 15

"ENCAMPMENT OF THE PIEKANN INDIANS"
Karl Bodmer, 1833

The photograph reproduced in plate [14] shows a Cheyenne family group, an interesting example of a travois, and part of a lodge. The latter differs from all described on the preceding pages and evidently resembles those erected by the Pawnee in their temporary camps. This form may have been used in later times in the place of the conical skin lodge, although the latter was not abandoned, but, as among other tribes, the Cheyenne appear to have erected several types of shelters or habitations, governed by the available supply of materials necessary for their construction.

Large lodges, evidently tipis, set up for special purposes by the Cheyenne, are mentioned by Grinnell. In the spring of 1853 the main village of that tribe, so he wrote, stood "at the mouth of Beaver Creek on the South Platte. There a large lodge was set up as a meeting-place for each of the soldier bands. To each such place came the relations of those killed the year before to implore the soldier bands to take pity on them and to help to revenge their injuries." And at this time many presents were given the warriors. (Grinnell, (2), p. 80.)

This was before many of the primitive customs of the tribe had been changed through contact with the whites.

blackfoot confederacy.

The tribes forming this group are the Siksika, or Blackfeet proper, the Piegan, and the Kainah, or Bloods. Closely allied and associated with these were the Atsina, a branch of the Arapaho, but who later became incorporated with the Assiniboin. These tribes roamed over a wide territory of mountains, plains, and valleys.

Early accounts of the manners and ways of life of the Blackfeet are to be found in the journals kept by traders belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company, who penetrated the vast, unknown wilderness southwestward from York Factory during the eighteenth century. Although the records are all too brief and leave much to be desired, nevertheless they are of the greatest interest, referring as they do to the people while yet in a primitive state, with no knowledge of the customs of Europeans.

The first of the journals to be mentioned is that of Anthony Hendry, who left York Factory June 26, 1754. He ascended Hayes River many miles, thence, after crossing numerous lakes and streams and traversing forests and plains, arrived on Monday, October 14, 1754, at a point not far northeastward from the present city of Calgary, Alberta. This was in the country of the Blackfeet, mentioned in the journal as the Archithinue Natives. That same day, so the narrative continues: "Came to 200 tents of Archithinue Natives, pitched in two rows, and an opening in the middle; where we were conducted to the Leader's tent; which was at one end, large enough to contain fifty persons; where he received us seated on a clear [white] Buffalo skin, attended by 20 elderly men. He made signs for me to sit down on his right hand: which I did. Our Leader set on several grand-pipes, and smoked all round, according to their usual custom: not a word was yet spoke on either side. Smoking being over, Buffalo flesh boiled was served round in baskets of a species of bent, and I was presented with 10 Buffalo tongues." The following day he again visited the lodge of the chief, where he received as a gift "a handsome Bow & Arrows," and the journal continues: "I departed and took a view of the camp. Their tents were pitched close to one another in two regular lines, which formed a broad street open at both ends. Their horses are turned out to grass, their legs being fettered: and when wanted, are fastened to lines cut of Buffalo skin, that stretches along & is fastened to stakes drove in the ground. They have hair halters, Buffalo skin pads, & stirrups of the same."

Although Hendry mentioned the encampment to consist of 200 lodges it is quite evident others were in the vicinity, or came soon after his arrival, for three days later, on October 17, he noted in his journal "322 tents of Archithinue Natives unpitched and moved Westward." (Hendry, (1), pp. 337-340.) They did not have permanent villages, and "never wanted food, as they followed the Buffalo & killed them with the Bows and Arrows. They were unacquainted with the canoe, would not eat fish, and their garments were finely painted with red paint." Such were the Blackfeet about the middle of the eighteenth century.

On June 27, 1772, Matthew Cocking, second factor at York Factory, started on a journey quite similar to that performed by Hendry just eighteen years earlier. He ascended Hayes River, passed north of Lake Winnipeg, and continued in a southwestwardly direction to some point not far north of the South Saskatchewan River in the extreme western part of the present Province of Saskatchewan. When near this position on December 1, 1772, they encamped not far from a "Beast pound," which had probably stood from year to year. That day, so he entered in his journal, "our Archithinue friends came to us and pitched a small distance from us; on one side the pound 21 tents of them, the other seven are pitched another way." And the following day, "the Archithinue Natives repairing the pound, the repair we gave it on our arrival not being sufficient." Two days later "the Archithinue Natives drove into the pound 3 male & one female Buffalo, & brought several considerable droves very near. They set off in the Evening; & drive the Cattle all night. Indeed not only at this Game, but in all their actions they far excell the other Natives. They are all well mounted.... Their Weapons, Bows & Arrows. Several have on Jackets of Moose leather six fold, quilted, & without sleeves." Cocking evidently visited many of the tents, and on December 5 wrote: "Our Archithinue Friends are very Hospitable, continually inviting us to partake of their best fare; generally berries infused in water with fat, very agreeable eating. Their manner of showing respect to strangers is, in holding the pipe while they smoke: this is done three times. Afterwards every person smokes in common; the Women excepted.... The tobacco they use is of their own planting.... These people are much more cleanly in their cloathing, & food, than my companions: Their Victuals are dressed in earthen pots, of their own Manufacturing; much in the same form as Newcastle pots, but without feet: their fire tackling a black stone used as flint, & a kind of Ore as a steel, using tuss balls as tinder, (i. e.) a kind of moss." December 6, 1772: "No success in pounding: the Strangers say the season is past." On December 21 "we were joined by ten tents of Asinepoet Indians," and the following day "by five tents of Nehetheway Indians." The former were Assiniboin and the latter Cree. (Cocking, (1), pp. 110-112.)

One of the reasons which inspired Cocking to undertake the long journey into the wilderness was the desire to win the Blackfeet away from the French interests, and to persuade them to carry their furs to the posts of the Hudson's Bay Company. Soon the English were successful in their endeavors, and for several generations secured the furs and robes collected by the people of the ever-shifting camps, who followed the buffalo as the vast herds moved from place to place with the changing seasons of the year. Later, traders from another people penetrated the country to the upper waters of the Missouri, and certain of the Blackfeet began trading at the posts erected by these newcomers. The various tribes wandered over a wide region, and 60 years ago it was said:

"The Blood Indians range through the district along Maria, Teton, and Belly Rivers, inclining west and northwest far into the interior. In this section, wood is more abundant, pasturage excellent, and, consequently, buffalo almost always abound there. The Blackfeet inhabit a portion of country farther north than the Bloods, extending to the banks of the Saskatchewan, along which they often reside. They have never altogether abandoned their English friends, and more frequently dispose of their furs to them than to the American traders on the head branches of the Missouri. The Piegans roam through the Rocky Mountains on the south side of Maria River, on both banks of the Missouri.... They also hunt as far down the Missouri as the Mussel-shell River, and up that stream to the borders of the Crow country. The three divisions ... constitute the Blackfoot nation proper, whose name has become notorious for their fierce and deadly struggles with all the neighboring tribes, and in former times struck terror to all white men who travelled in any district from the Saskatchewan to the Yellowstone, and from the Yellowstone to the Columbia.... These bands all live in skin tents, like the rest of the prairie tribes, follow the chase for a subsistence, and in former years were famous for their war excursions against neighboring tribes." (Hayden, (1), pp. 249-250.)

The region mentioned would have included the central portion of the present State of Montana and northward. Marias River flows into the Missouri just below Fort Benton.

Maximilian, who visited the Blackfeet during the summer of 1833, has left a very concise and interesting account of the appearance of their camps:

"The leather tents of the Blackfeet, their internal arrangement, and the manner of loading their dogs and horses, agree, in every respect, with those of the Sioux and Assiniboins, and all the wandering tribes of hunters of the upper Missouri. The tents, made of tanned buffalo skin, last only for one year; they are, at first, neat and white, afterwards brownish, and at the top, where the smoke issues, black, and, at last, transparent, like parchment, and very light inside. Painted tents, adorned with figures, are very seldom seen, and only a few chiefs possess them. When these tents are taken down, they leave a circle of sods, exactly as in the dwellings of the Esquimaux. They are often surrounded by fifteen or twenty dogs, which serve, not for food, but only for drawing and carrying their baggage. Some Blackfeet, who have visited the Sioux, have imitated them in eating dogs, but this is rare. Near the tents they keep their dog sledges, with which they form conical piles resembling the tents themselves, but differing from them in not being covered with leather. On these they hang their shields, travelling bags, saddles and bridles; and at some height, out of the reach of the hungry dogs, they hang the meat, which is cut into long strips, their skins, &c. The medicine bag or bundle, the conjuring apparatus, is often hung and fastened to a separate pole, or over the door of the tent. Their household goods consist of buffalo robes and blankets, many kinds of painted parchment bags, some of them in a semicircular form, with leather strings and fringes; wooden dishes, large spoons made of the horn of the mountain sheep, which are very wide and deep.... In the center of the tent there is a small fire in a circle composed of stones, over which the kettle for cooking is suspended." (Maximilian, (1), pp. 250-251.)

A painting of a Piegan camp was made at that time by Bodmer, who accompanied Maximilian, and served as an illustration in the latter's work. It is here reproduced as plate [15]. It shows clearly the many skin lodges forming the encampment, the numerous dogs and horses, with some of the Indians wrapped in highly decorated buffalo robes. Some of the lodges are decorated, but the great majority are plain, thus conforming with the description.

Maximilian again wrote while at Fort McKenzie, in August, 1833:

"Having made our arrangements on the first day of our arrival, and viewed the Indian camp, with its many dogs, and old dirty leather tents, we were invited, on the following day, together with Mr Mitchell, to a feast, given by the Blackfoot chief, Mehkskehme-Sukahs (the iron shirt). We proceeded to a large circle in the middle of the camp, enclosed with a kind of fence of boughs of trees, which contained part of the tents, and was designed to confine the horses during the night, for the Indians are so addicted to horse stealing that they do not trust each other. The hut of the chief was spacious; we had never before seen so handsome a one; it was full fifteen paces in diameter, and was very clean and tastefully decorated. We took our seats, without ceremony, on buffalo skins, spread out on the left hand of the chief, round the fire, in the centre of the tent, which was enclosed in a circle of stones, and a dead silence prevailed. Our host was a tall, robust man, who at this time had no other clothes than his breechcloth; neither women nor children were visible. A tin dish was set before us, which contained dry grated meat, mixed with sweet berries, which we ate with our fingers, and found very palatable. After we had finished, the chief ate what was left in the dish, and took out of a bag a chief's scarlet uniform, with blue facings and yellow lace, which he had received from the English, six red and black plumes of feathers, a dagger with its sheath, a coloured pocket-handkerchief, and two beaver skins, all of which he laid before Mr Mitchell as a present, who was obliged to accept these things whether he liked or not, thereby laying himself under the obligation of making presents in return, and especially a new uniform. When the chief began to fill his pipe, made of green talc, we rose and retired (quite in Indian fashion) in silence, and without making any salutations." (Op. cit., pp. 261-262.)

As Maximilian had already visited and seen many skin lodges as he ascended the Missouri, his remarks concerning this one which belonged to the Blackfeet chief are most interesting. It was between 40 and 50 feet in diameter, very clean and well decorated, probably a remarkable example.

The circles of earth which indicated the former positions of lodges were noticed by Maximilian, and he again mentioned them while at Fort Union, at the mouth of the Yellowstone, October 16, 1833. He said (p. 305): "The little prairie fox was so hungry, and, therefore so tame, that it often visited the environs of the fort, and we found these pretty little animals among the circles of turf which were left on the removal of the Indian tents."

Another visit to the Piegan, in the same region, was made just 20 years later, during the month of September, 1853. J. M. Stanley, who accompanied Gov. Stevens as the artist of the expedition, left camp on the banks of Marias River and three days later, September 14, 1853, reached the divide between Milk and Bow Rivers: "From this divide I had a view of the Bull's Head, forming the base of Cypress mountain.... At 1 o'clock I descended to a deep valley, in which flows an affluent of Beaver river. Here was the Piegan camp, of ninety lodges, under their chief Low Horn, one hundred and sixty-three miles north, 20° west, of Fort Benton.

"Little Dog conducted me, with my party, to his lodge, and immediately the chief and braves collected in the 'council Lodge,' to receive my message...." This was conducted with customary formality, and the next day, September 15, "At an early hour a town crier announced the intention of the chief to move camp. The horses were immediately brought in and secured around their respective lodges, and in less than one hour the whole encampment was drawn out in two parallel lines on the plains, forming one of the most picturesque scenes I have ever witnessed.

"Preparation for their transportation is made in the following manner: The poles of the lodges, which are from twenty to thirty-five feet in length, are divided, the small ends being lashed together and secured to the shoulders of the horse, allowing the butt-ends to drag upon the ground on either side; just behind the horse are secured to cross-pieces, to keep the poles in their respective places, and upon which are placed the lodge and domestic furniture. This also serves for the safe transportation of the children and infirm unable to ride on horseback—the lodge being folded so as to allow two or more to ride securely. The horses dragging this burden—often of three hundred pounds are also ridden by the squaws, with a child astride behind, and one in her arms, embracing a favorite young pup.

"Their dogs (of which they have a large number) are also used in transporting their effects in the same manner as the horses, making, with ease, twenty miles a day, dragging forty pounds. In this way this heterogeneous caravan, comprising of a thousand souls, fell into line and trotted quietly until night, while the chiefs and braves rode in front, flank, or rear, ever ready for the chase or defence against a foe.... Like other tribes in this region, the Piegans retain all their primitive customs, adhering with faithful pertinacity to the ceremonies of their forefathers." (Stanley, (1), pp. 448-449.) At that time the Piegan were estimated to have had 430 lodges, the average number of persons occupying each being 10.

During this brief but interesting journey Stanley made many sketches of the Indians with whom he came in contact, but not one of the drawings is known to exist at the present time. His beautiful painting of a buffalo hunt, shown in plate [2], is one of his five pictures now in the National Museum at Washington.

The Blackfeet allies often moved in great numbers from place to place when searching for the herds of buffalo or tracking some enemy tribe. Such a war party was encountered on the banks of the River Saskatchewan, two days' journey below Fort Pitt, about the present town of Battleford, Saskatchewan, on June 1, 1848. Among the party then going from Fort Pitt to Norway House, the Hudson's Bay Company's post on the northeast shore of Lake Winnipeg, was the Canadian artist Kane, who entered in his journal: "We saw a large party of mounted Indians, riding furiously towards us. On their nearer approach they proved to be a large war party, consisting of Blackfoot Indians, Blood Indians, Sur-cees, Gros Ventres, and Paygans.... We instantly put ashore to meet them.... They told us they were a party of 1,500 warriors, from 1,200 lodges, who were then 'pitching on' towards Fort Edmonton; that is, they were making short journeys, and pitching their tents on towards Edmonton, leaving few behind capable of bearing arms. They were in pursuit of the Crees and Assiniboines, whom they threatened totally to annihilate, boasting that they themselves were as numerous as the grass on the plains. They were the best mounted, the best looking, the most warlike in appearance, and the best accoutred of any tribe I had ever seen on the continent during my route.... After our smoke several of the young Braves engaged in a horse race, to which sport they are very partial, and at which they bet heavily; they generally ride on those occasions stark naked, without a saddle, and with only a lasso fastened to the lower jaw of the horse as represented in Sketch No. 16." (Kane, (1), pp. 417-420.) The "sketch No. 16" is here reproduced in plate [16], a. It shows, in addition to the horses, several conical skin-covered lodges, the one on the right being highly decorated.

The valley of the Saskatchewan and southward to the waters of the Missouri was a region frequented by many tribes, rich in game, and one from which the Hudson's Bay Company derived quantities of furs. The Blackfeet, who, as already mentioned, occupied in recent years the country about the headwaters of the Missouri, formerly lived farther north, and about the close of the eighteenth century were encountered near the Saskatchewan, neighbors of the Assiniboin and Cree. About the year 1790 Mackenzie traversed the country, and wrote, regarding the number and distribution of the tribes then claiming that northern region: "At Nepawi, and South-Branch House, about thirty tents of Knisteneaux, or ninety warriors; and sixty tents of Stone-Indians, or Assiniboins, who are their neighbors, and are equal to two hundred men; their hunting ground extends upwards to about Eagle Hills. Next to them are those who trade at Forts George and Augustus, and are about eighty tents or upwards of Knisteneaux: on either side of the river, their number may be two hundred. In the same country are one hundred and forty tents of Stone-Indians; not quite half of them inhabit the West woody country; the others never leave the plains, and their numbers cannot be less than four hundred and fifty men. At the Southern headwaters of the North branch dwells a tribe called Sarsees, consisting of about thirty-five tents, or one hundred and twenty men. Opposite to those Eastward, on the head-waters of the South Branch, are the Picaneaux, to the number of from twelve to fifteen hundred men. Next to them, on the same water, are the Blood-Indians, of the same nation as the last, to the number of about fifty tents, or two hundred and fifty men. From them downwards extend the Black-Feet Indians, of the same nation as the two last tribes; their number may be eight hundred men. Next to them, and who extend to the confluence of the South and North branch, are the Fall, or Big-bellied Indians, who may amount to about six hundred warriors." (Mackenzie, (1), p. lxx.) "South-Branch House" of this narrative stood between the north and south branches of the Saskatchewan, near the present town of Dalmeny, in the Province of Saskatchewan. The Picaneaux, who probably possessed from 200 to 300 skin-covered lodges, were the Piegan, the Piekann Indians of Maximilian, whose village as it appeared in 1833 was painted by Bodmer. Likewise the Fall or Big-bellied Indians, whose habitat about the year 1790 was near the junction of the two branches of the Saskatchewan, were the Atsina, the Gros Ventres of the Prairie, and their village or camp in 1790 was probably quite similar to the one visited by Maximilian 43 years later, when it was sketched by Bodmer.

By reason of the roving disposition of the northern tribes, those mentioned in the preceding quotations and their neighbors, it was not possible for them to erect and maintain permanent villages. The skin-covered lodge served as a shelter easily and quickly raised and readily transported from place to place as requirements and desires made necessary. But many bark-covered structures were probably to have been found scattered throughout the wooded sections.

Something of the manners and ways of life of these people may be gathered from another passage in Mackenzie's narrative: "In the fall of the year the natives meet the traders at the forts, where they barter the furs or provisions which they may have procured; then they obtain credit, and proceed to hunt the beavers, and do not return till the beginning of the year; when they are again fitted out in the same manner and come back the latter end of March, or the beginning of April. They are now unwilling to repair to the beaver hunt until the waters are clear of ice, that they may kill them with fire-arms, which the Chepewyans are averse to employ. The major part of the latter return to the barren grounds, and live during the summer with their relations and friends in the enjoyment of that plenty which is derived from numerous herds of deer. But those of that tribe who are most partial to these desarts, cannot remain there in winter, and they are obliged, with the deer, to take shelter in the woods during that rigorous season, when they contrive to kill a few beavers, and send them by young men, to exchange for iron utensils and ammunition." (Mackenzie, (1), pp. xc-xci.)

The large ceremonial lodges erected by the Blackfeet were among the most interesting structures reared by the tribes of the Northwest. A remarkable example was encountered by the Fisk party September 1, 1862, near the banks of Milk River, a short distance from Fort Benton. As described in the journal: "We passed this afternoon an abandoned camp of some three thousand or four thousand Blackfeet Indians. A large 'medicine lodge,' in which they had celebrated their superstitious rites, was left standing, although its covering had been mostly stripped from its frame-work. It was circular, and about one hundred feet in diameter and forty feet high in the centre, the roof poles running from the top down to and around a tree, which was erected for a centre pole. This, in time of occupancy, is covered with dressed buffalo skins, and constitutes the Indian's highest achievement in the architectural line." (Fisk, (1), p. 24.) The entire ceremony attending the selection of a site for the structure, the cutting of the poles, the erection of the associated sweat lodges, and the final raising of the medicine lodge, has been recorded by Grinnell, (3), pages 263-267, and is one of the most complete accounts of a native ceremony ever prepared.

arapaho.

The ancient habitat of the Arapaho, according to tradition, was once far northeast of the country which they later occupied. It may have been among the forests of the region about the headwaters of the Mississippi, the present State of Minnesota, where their villages would have stood on the shores of lakes and streams. But later, like the related Cheyenne, with whom they have been closely allied during recent generations and probably for a long period, they reached the prairies, through what causes may never be known, and there, with different environments, their manners and ways of life changed. While a people of the timbered country, they undoubtedly reared and occupied the forms of habitations so characteristic of the forests, as exemplified by the wigwams of the Ojibway and other tribes in recent times, but after reaching the prairie country, where buffalo were obtained in such vast numbers, their villages or camps assumed the appearance of those of the Siouan tribes, conical skin lodges taking the place of the mat or bark covered structures.

The Atsina, a detached division of the Arapaho, closely associated with the Blackfeet, were often mentioned by the early writers as the Gros Ventres of the Prairie, and in certain English narratives as the Fall or Rapid Indians. In other journals they were mentioned under the name Minnetarees of Fort de Prairie. Thus they were called by the early American explorers.

On May 29, 1805, just two weeks before arriving at the Great Falls of the Missouri, the Lewis and Clark party reached Judith River, and a short distance above its junction with the Missouri "We saw the fires of one hundred and twenty-six lodges, which appeared to have been deserted about twelve or fifteen days, and on the other side of the Missouri a large encampment, apparently made by the same nation. On examining some moccasins which we found there, our Indian woman said that they did not belong to her own nation the Snake Indians, but she thought that they indicated a tribe on this side of the Rocky mountains, and to the north of the Missouri; indeed it is probable that these are the Minnetarees of fort de Prairie." (Lewis and Clark, (1), I, p. 234.) The following year, when the expedition was returning from the west, the tribe was again mentioned. On July 15, 1806, the expedition passed Shields River, and two days later reached Brattons River (now Bridger Creek), a tributary of the Yellowstone in the present Sweetgrass County, Montana. Here, "In one of the low bottoms of the river was an Indian fort, which seems to have been built during the last summer. It was built in the form of a circle, about fifty feet in diameter, five feet high, and formed of logs, lapping over each other, and covered on the outside with bark set up on end, the entrance also was guarded by a work on each side of it, facing the river. These intrenchments, the squaw informs us, are frequently made by the Minnetarees and other Indians at war with the Shoshonees, when pursued by their enemies on horseback." Another similar work was encountered the next day. (Lewis and Clark, (1), II, pp. 379-380.)

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 16

a. Blackfoot camp. Paul Kane, 1848

b. Arapaho village, Whitewood Canyon, Wyoming, about 1870

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 17

"CAMP OF THE GROS VENTRES OF THE PRAIRIES" ON THE UPPER MISSOURI Karl Bodmer, 1833

The preceding references to fortified camps are of great interest, but similar works were mentioned by other explorers of the upper Missouri Valley. During the summer of 1833 several were encountered by Maximilian, and on July 18 of that year he wrote: "On this day at noon, we reached, on the south bank, an Indian fort ... it is a kind of breastwork, which Indian war-parties construct in haste of dry trunks of trees.... This fort consisted of a fence, and several angles, enclosing a rather small space, with the open side towards the river. In the center of the space there was a conical hut, composed of wood. Near this fort, on the same bank of the river, there was a beaver's den made of a heap of brushwood." (Maximilian, (1), p. 216.) Six days before, on July 12, they had encountered several huts probably similar to that which stood within the "fort." In the narrative it is said: "Just at the place where our vessel lay, were four old Indian huts, of some war or hunting party, composed of trunks and boughs of trees piled together in a square, in which some of our party made a fire to cook their meat. Scarcely 100 paces above these huts, was the Indian Fort Creek of Lewis and Clark." (Op. cit., p. 212.)

Elsewhere in this sketch other native "forts" will be mentioned. The erection of such works appears to have been quite common among the widely scattered tribes.

Fortunately, a very interesting picture of a skin lodge village or camp of the Atsina has been preserved, a painting made by Bodmer during the summer of 1833, when it was visited by Maximilian. It stood on the bank of the Yellowstone, at the mouth of the Big Horn, near the dividing line between Rosebud and Yellowstone Counties, Montana. Describing the settlement as it appeared on the evening of August 3, 1833. Maximilian wrote: "On the left was the mouth of Bighorn River, between considerable hills, on which numbers of Indians had collected. In the front of the eminence the prairie declined gently towards the river, where above 260 leather tents of the Indians were set up; the tent of the principal chief was in the foreground, and, near it, a high pole, with the American flag. The whole prairie was covered with Indians, in various groups, and with numerous dogs; horses of every colour were grazing round, and horsemen galloping backwards and forwards, among whom was a celebrated chief, who made a good figure on his light bay horse." These were the Gros Ventres, "called by the English, Fall Indians." (Maximilian, (1), pp. 231-232.) Bodmer's painting, or more correctly, an engraving made from the painting, is reproduced in plate [17].

On July 8, 1842, Fremont, while on his journey to the Rocky Mountains, reached a village of the Arapaho and Cheyenne. But before arriving at the village the party came in contact with a large number of Indians belonging to the two tribes, who were chasing a herd of buffalo. Of the exciting scene presented by these many mounted Indians and the rushing buffalo, he left a vivid account: "We were too far to hear the report of the guns, or any sound; and at every instant, through the clouds of dust, which the sun made luminous, we could see for a moment two or three buffalo dashing along, and close behind them an Indian with his long spear, or other weapon, and instantly again they disappeared. The apparent silence, and the dimly seen figures flitting by with such rapidity, gave it a kind of dreamy effect, and seemed more like a picture than a scene of real life. It had been a large herd when the cerne commenced, probably three or four hundred in number; but, though I watched them closely, I did not see one emerge from the fatal cloud where the work of destruction was going on. After remaining here about an hour, we resumed our journey in the direction of the village.

"Gradually, as we rode on, Indian after Indian came dropping along, laden with meat; and by the time we had neared the lodges, the backward road was covered with the returning horsemen. It was a pleasant contrast with the desert road we had been traveling. Several had joined company with us, and one of the chiefs invited us to his lodge. The village consisted of about one hundred and twenty-five lodges, of which twenty were Cheyennes; the latter pitched a little apart from the Arapahoes. They were disposed in a scattering manner on both sides of a broad, irregular street, about one hundred and fifty feet wide, and running along the river. As we rode along, I remarked near some of the lodges a kind of tripod frame, formed of three slender poles of birch, scraped very clean, to which were affixed the shield and spear, with some other weapons of a chief. All were scrupulously clean, the spear-head was burnished bright, and the shield white and stainless. It reminded me of the days of feudal chivalry; and when, as I rode by, I yielded to the passing impulse, and touched one of the spotless shields with the muzzle of my gun, I almost expected a grim warrior to start from the lodge and resent my challenge. The master of the lodge spread out a robe for me to sit upon, and the squaws set before us a large wooden dish of buffalo meat. He had lit his pipe in the mean while, and when it had been passed around, we commenced our dinner while he continued to smoke. Gradually, five or six other chiefs came in, and took their seats in silence. When we had finished, our host asked a number of questions.... A storm had been gathering for the past hour, and some pattering drops on the lodge warned us that we had some miles to our camp.... We found our companions under some densely foliaged old trees, about three miles up the river.... Nearly opposite was the mouth of one of the most considerable affluents of the South fork, la Fourche aux Castors, (Beaver fork,) heading off in the ridge to the southeast." (Fremont, (1), pp. 29-30.) This would have been near the eastern boundary of the present Morgan County, Colorado, a region approaching the western edge of the great prairie, in the midst of the range of vast herds of buffalo. The entire description of the events of the day as prepared by Fremont reads more like fiction than fact and is one of the clearest and most concise accounts extant of a buffalo hunt by native tribes under such conditions. The paintings by Stanley and Wimar, as reproduced in plates [2] and [3], would serve to illustrate Fremont's narrative.

The following year (1843) Fremont, on his second expedition, reached St. Vrain's Fort; thence continuing up the South Fork of the Platte he soon arrived in the vicinity of the present city of Denver, and at some point not far below the mouth of Cherry Creek discovered a large Arapaho village. This was on July 7, 1843, and to quote from his journal: "We made this morning an early start, continuing to travel up the Platte; and in a few miles frequent bands of horses and mules, scattered for several miles round about, indicated our approach to the Arapaho village, which we found encamped in a beautiful bottom, and consisting of about 160 lodges. It appeared extremely populous, with a great number of children; a circumstance which indicated a regular supply of the means of subsistence. The chiefs, who were gathered together at the farther end of the village, received us (as probably strangers are always received to whom they desire to show respect or regard) by throwing their arms around our necks and embracing us.... I saw here, as I had remarked in an Arapaho village the preceding year, near the lodges of the chiefs, tall tripods of white poles supporting their spears and shields, which showed it to be a regular custom.... Though disappointed in obtaining the presents which had been evidently expected, they behaved very courteously, and after a little conversation, I left them, and, continuing up the river, halted to noon on the bluff, as the bottoms are almost inundated; continuing in the afternoon our route along the mountains, which are dark, misty, and shrouded." (Fremont, (1), pp. 111-112.)

A photograph of a small Arapaho village, standing in Whitewood Canyon, Wyoming, about the year 1870, is reproduced in plate [16], b. The skin-covered lodges shown in this photograph were probably similar to those sketched by Bodmer a generation before.

sauk and foxes.

It is not the purpose of the present sketch to trace the early migrations of the two related tribes, or to refer to their connection, linguistically or socially. However, it is evident their villages were similar in appearance, and both had two distinct forms of habitations which were occupied during different seasons of the year. The summer villages of both tribes consisted of bark houses, and near by were gardens in which they raised corn, squashes, beans, and some tobacco, but with the coming of autumn the families scattered and sought the more protected localities where game was to be secured, and there erected the dome-shaped, mat-covered lodge, resembling the structures of other tribes of the region.

The middle of the eighteenth century found the two tribes established in villages near the mouth of Rock River, on the left bank of the Mississippi, in the present Rock Island County, Illinois. Here they were visited by Long and his small party August 1, 1817, at which time the Fox settlement "containing about thirty cabins, with two fires each," stood on the left bank of Rock River, at its junction with the Mississippi. The Sauk village was 2 miles up Rock River and consisted "of about one hundred cabins, of two, three, and in some instances, four fires each," and it was, so Long wrote, "by far the largest Indian village situated in the neighborhood of the Mississippi between St. Louis and the Falls of St. Anthony." (Long, (1), pp. 68-69.) This was the birthplace, in the year 1767, of the great Sauk leader Black Hawk. At the time of Long's visit the people of the two villages had several hundred acres of corn, "partly in the low ground and extended up the slopes of the bluffs," and were in a very prosperous condition.

The village was destroyed by the militia June 15, 1831, and those who escaped soon after crossed the Mississippi. In 1837, having ceded their hunting grounds in Iowa to the Government, they removed to a tract in Kansas beyond the Missouri, where they continued to reside for some 20 years as practically one tribe. Later the majority of the Foxes returned to Iowa and secured a small tract of land near Tama, in Tama County, on the left bank of Iowa River, where a mixed group continues to dwell. In 1867 the remaining Sauk ceded their lands in Kansas and removed to the Indian Territory.

As already mentioned, the tribes erected two distinct types of habitations. The mat-covered lodge is shown in plate [18]. The bare frames, ready for the mat coverings, are indicated in a, while the completed structure is represented in b of the same plate. Both photographs were made near Tama within the past few years.

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 18

a. Frames of structures ready to be covered with mats or sheets of bark

b. Mat-covered lodges
SAUK AND FOX HABITATIONS

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 19

SAUK AND FOX HABITATION COVERED WITH ELM BARK

During the summer of 1820 Schoolcraft was on the upper Mississippi and stopped at the village of the Sioux chief "La Petit Corbeau," which stood on the bank of the river a few miles below the present city of St. Paul. He was conducted to the lodge of the chief, which, so he wrote, "is spacious, being about sixty feet in length by thirty in width—built in a permanent manner of logs, and covered with bark." (Schoolcraft, (2), p. 318.) A few days later, on August 6, 1820, he left the mouth of the Wisconsin, passed the mouth of Turkey River, which joins the Mississippi from the west, and 1 mile below the mouth of Turkey River arrived at a Fox village which stood on the left bank of the Mississippi. This would have been near the present village of Cassville, Grant County, Wisconsin. Here were twelve lodges, "large, and built of logs, in the same substantial manner practised among the Narcotah bands." This refers to the village of La Petit Corbeau and others which he had recently visited. And continuing the narrative, "The cause of their being now deserted, is the fear entertained of an attack from the Sioux, in retaliation for the massacre lately perpetrated upon the banks of the St. Peter's. The desertion appears to have taken place after they had planted their corn, and from the order in which the village is left, it may be concluded that its re-occupation is kept in view. I found several small gardens and corn fields adjoining the village, in which squashes, beans, and pumpkins were abundant, but the corn had been nearly all destroyed, probably by wild animals. Walking back from the river half a mile ... I was surprised to find an extensive field of water- and musk-melons, situated in the midst of a grove of small, scattering trees, but without any inclosure. Some of the fruit had been destroyed by animals, but a great abundance still remained." (Op. cit., pp. 340-341.)

The preceding references would seem to apply to summer habitations, as distinguished from the mat-covered structures already mentioned. The descriptions are rather vague, and the lodges encountered by Schoolcraft may have been similar in form to that shown in plate [19]. This most interesting and valuable photograph was made in the Indian Territory probably 40 years or more ago, and represents a rather large dwelling. It shows clearly the manner in which sheets of bark were placed and secured to serve as roof and sides, and in this instance the bark appears to be that of the elm.

Interesting notes on the manners and ways of life of the Sauk and Foxes just a century ago are to be found in a communication from Maj. M. Marston, of the Fifth Infantry, to Morse. Marston was commanding officer at Fort Armstrong, from which place the letter was written during the month of November, 1820. At that time the Fox village standing on the bank of the Mississippi, opposite Fort Armstrong, consisted of "thirty-five permanent lodges," and this may refer to the type of structures shown in plate [19]. As Marston then wrote: "There is also a small Sauk village of five or six lodges on the west bank of the Mississippi, near the mouth of Des Moin river, and below Fort Edwards; and a Fox village near the lead mines (about a hundred miles above this place,) of about twenty lodges; and another near the mouth of the Wapsipinica of about ten lodges." Thus the villages and camps of the two tribes were to have been seen on both banks of the Mississippi, but undoubtedly the greater part of their hunting was done westward from the river, within the present State of Iowa. A century ago the people of the village would leave "as soon as their corn, beans, &c., are ripe and taken care of, and their traders arrive and give out their credit, (or their outfits on credit,) and go to their wintering grounds; it being previously determined in council, on what particular ground each party shall hunt. The old men, women, and children, embark in canoes; the young men go by land with their horses; on their arrival, they immediately commence their winter's hunt, which lasts about three months." The traders would follow and remain in convenient places. During the winter most of the Indians would pay their debts, get many necessary articles, and at the same time reserve the more valuable skins. These, "such as beaver, otter, &c., they take home with them to their villages, and dispose of for such articles as they may afterwards find necessary." The winter of 1819-20 was evidently a very prosperous one for the two tribes as well as for the traders, and Marston wrote: "These traders, including the peltries received at the United States Factory, near Fort Edwards, collected of the Sauk and Fox Indians during this season, nine hundred and eighty packs. They consisted of 2,760 beaver skins; 922 Otter; 13,440 Raccoon; 12,900 Musk Rat; 500 Mink; 200 Wild Cat; 680 Bear Skins; 28,600 Deer. Whole number, 60,082."

At the close of the winter hunt "they return to their villages, in the month of April, and after putting their lodges in order, commence preparing the ground to receive the seed. The number of acres cultivated by that part of the two nations, who reside at their villages in this vicinity, is supposed to be upwards of three hundred. They usually raise from seven to eight thousand bushels of corn, besides beans, pumpkins, melons, &c. About one thousand bushels of the corn they annually sell to traders and others; the remainder (except about five bushels for each family, which is taken with them,) they put into bags, and bury in holes dug in the ground, for their use in the spring and summer. The labor of agriculture is confined principally to the women, and this is done altogether with a hoe. In June, the greatest part of the young men go out on a summer hunt, and return in August. While they are absent the old men and women are collecting rushes for mats, and bark to make into bags for their corn, &c.

"The women usually make about three hundred floor mats every summer.... The twine which connects the rushes together, is made either of basswood bark, after being boiled and hammered, or the bark of the nettle; the women twist or spin it by rolling it on the knee with the hand." (Morse, (1), App., pp. 124-127.) Some men, as well as women, of these tribes are often employed in and about the lead mines on the Mississippi, not far from their villages.

The customs of the tribes, as related in the preceding notes, their hunts away from the villages during certain seasons of the year, their return to plant and care for their fields and gardens, and the placing of the surplus grain in caches, had probably been followed by native tribes of the Mississippi Valley and adjacent regions for generations before the coming of the Europeans.

illinois.

Although the tribes of the loosely constituted Illinois confederacy claimed and occupied a wide region east of the Mississippi, in later years centering in the valley of the Illinois River, nevertheless certain villages are known to have crossed and recrossed the great river. Thus, in the early summer of 1673, Père Marquette arrived at a village of the Peoria then standing on the right or west bank of the Mississippi, at or near the mouth of the Des Moines. Two months later it had removed to the upper Illinois. A few weeks after passing the Peoria Marquette discovered another of the Illinois tribes, the Michigamea, living near the northeastern corner of the present State of Arkansas, and consequently west of the Mississippi. On the map of Pierre van der Aa, circa 1720, two small streams are shown flowing into the Mississippi from the west, a short distance south of the Missouri. The more northerly of the two is probably intended to represent the Meramec and a dot at the north side of the mouth of the stream bears the legend: "Village des Ilinois et des Caskoukia," probably the Cahokia. This stream forms the boundary between Jefferson and St. Louis Counties, Missouri, and a short distance above its junction with the Mississippi are traces of a large village, with many stone-lined graves, probably indicating the position of the Illinois village of two centuries ago. Also, on the d'Anville map, issued in the year 1755, an "Ancien Village Cahokias" is shown at a point corresponding with the mouth of the small Rivière des Pères, a stream which joins the Mississippi and there forms the southern boundary of the city of St. Louis. Until covered by railroad embankments many small mounds were visible near the mouth of the Rivière des Pères, indications of the old settlement were numerous, and graves were encountered on the neighboring hills. These were evidently the remains of the "Ancien Village Cahokias." The many salt springs found on the Missouri side of the Mississippi served to attract the Indians from the eastern shore. Establishing their camps in the vicinity of the springs, they would evaporate the waters and so obtain a supply of salt, a process which continued long after the French had settled in this part of upper Louisiana.

The villages of the Illinois tribes have been described in a former publication (Bushnell, (1)).

About the close of the eighteenth century many scattered bands of various tribes whose habitat was east of the Mississippi sought new homes to the westward. Especially was this true after the signing of the treaty of Greenville, Ohio, August 3, 1795. But two years before the signing of this important treaty small groups of Shawnee and Delaware crossed the river, and by the year 1793 had established a village on Apple Creek, near the Mississippi and some 40 miles south of the French settlement of Ste. Genevieve. A few years later these, or others of the same tribes, had small towns not far west of St. Louis and only a short distance south of the Missouri. Within another generation many of the remaining tribes were removed from east of the Mississippi by the Government to lands set apart for them just west of the western boundary of Missouri. But for many years after the beginning of the nineteenth century the western part of the Ozarks was occupied, or frequented, by bands of several tribes.

It seems quite evident that with the removal of the tribes from the east came certain changes in their customs and ways of life. And it is doubtful whether all attempted to erect their native form of habitations. Again, before leaving the east they had seen and constructed the log cabin of the pioneers, and it is evident similar structures were reared by them in their new homes, or at least by some of the tribes, among them the Delaware. An interesting account of one of these later settlements has been preserved, but it is very brief. It was mentioned in the journal of a dragoon, one of the command then crossing the wilderness from St. Louis to the valley of the Arkansas, and was prepared about the beginning of December, in the year 1833: "It was drawing towards the close of the day, when at a little distance we descried a cluster of huts that we imagined might be a squatter settlement, but upon a nearer approach, found it to be the remains of a log-town long since evacuated, that had formerly been the settlement of a tribe of the Delawares.... The site was a beautiful one; and the associations that were connected with it, as well as the many vestiges of rude art that remained about it, invested this spot with many pleasing sources of reflection. As we entered the town, our regiment slackened their pace, and slowly rode through this now silent ruin. A small space of cleared land encompassed the settlement, but scarce large enough to relieve it from the deep gloom of the lofty and surrounding forest of aged oaks.... The huts were small, containing but one apartment, built of logs, many of which had become so decayed as to have fallen to the ground, and the whole was covered with a rich coat of moss." (Hildreth, (1), pp. 70-71.) Scattered throughout the settlement, near and between the ruined houses, stood many large oaks. On the trunks of some of these had been cut various figures and symbols by the Indians.

This Delaware village evidently stood not far from the present town of Springfield, Green County, Missouri. Just beyond it began the "Kickapoo prairie, which is the commencement of that immense chain of prairie land that extends in broken patches to the Rocky Mountains." (Op. cit., p. 70.)

The preceding reference to various figures cut on the trees near the deserted village tends to recall a somewhat similar allusion by Irving. On November 2, 1832, during his "Tour on the Prairies," so he wrote: "We came out upon an extensive prairie, and about six miles to our left beheld a long line of green forest, marking the course of the north fork of the Arkansas. On the edge of the prairie, and in a spacious grove of noble trees which overshadowed a small brook, were traces of an old Creek hunting camp. On the bark of the trees were rude delineations of hunters and squaws, scrawled with charcoal; together with various signs and hieroglyphics, which our half-breeds interpreted as indicating that from this encampment the hunters had returned home." (Irving, Washington. (1), p. 187.)

It is to be regretted that all such figures should so soon have disappeared, as did the frail structures of the native villages, leaving only fragments of pottery and bits of stone, ashes, and occasional animal bones to indicate where they had once stood.

Siouan Tribes.

The numerous and widely scattered tribes belonging to the Siouan linguistic family formerly had a combined population which caused this to rank as the second largest stock north of Mexico, being exceeded only by the Algonquian.

All evidence tends to prove that during past centuries the many tribes who were found living west of the Mississippi when the great central valley of the continent first became known to Europeans had, within a few generations, migrated from the eastward. This is likewise indicated by certain tribal traditions. Many had undoubtedly occupied the upper parts of the Ohio Valley, and were probably the builders of the great earthworks discovered in that region. What impelled the westward movement of the tribes may never be determined. Whether they were forced to abandon their early habitat by stronger forces, by the lack of food which made it necessary for them to seek a more plentiful supply, or by reason of causes distinct from either of these can never be definitely known.

But some remained in the east; all did not join in the migration, and the native tribes encountered by the colonists living in the piedmont region of Virginia and extending southward into Carolina belonged to this linguistic family. Their villages have been mentioned in a former publication. (Bushnell, (1), pp. 92-94.)

It is more than probable that while living east of the Mississippi all reared and occupied structures similar to those of the Algonquian tribes of later generations, mat and bark covered lodges, such as continued in use by the Osage, Quapaw, and others even after they had reached their new homes, but some through necessity were compelled to adopt other forms of dwellings. Thus many were found occupying the conical skin tipi, while some had learned the art of building the large earth-covered lodges, an art which had evidently been derived from the Caddoan tribes coming from the Southwest.

dakota-assiniboin group.

The Dakota constitute the largest division of the great Siouan linguistic family. To quote from the Handbook, this group includes the following tribes, a classification which is recognized by the people themselves: "1. Mdewakanton; 2. Wahpeton; 3. Wahpekute; 4. Sisseton; 5. Yankton; 6. Yanktonai; 7. Teton, each of which is again subdivided into bands and subbands." These seven principal divisions are often referred to as the Seven Council Fires of the Dakota. The first four groups as given in this classification formed the eastern division, and their home, when first encountered by Europeans, was in the densely forested region about the headwaters of the Mississippi. The others lived westward, reaching far into the plains. The Assiniboin, in historic times a separate tribe, was originally a part of the Yanktonai, from whom they separated and became closely allied with the Algonquian Cree. Thus some of the Dakota as first known to history were a timber people, others lived where the forest and prairie joined, with a mingling of the fauna and flora of the two regions, and in later years the Oglala, the principal division of the Teton, extended their wanderings to and beyond the Black Hills, crossing the great buffalo range.

As will be shown in the sketches of the dwellings and other structures of the Dakota tribes, those who lived in the timbered region, occupying much of the present State of Minnesota, erected the type of habitation characteristic of the region, but in the villages along the Minnesota both bark and skin covered lodges were in use, and the more western villages were formed exclusively of the latter type, the conical skin tipi of the plains. There appears to have been very little variation in the form of structure as erected by the widely scattered bands.

Mdewakanton.

When preparing a sketch of the villages and village sites of the Mdewakanton, it is quite natural to begin with a brief description of the site of the village to which Father Hennepin was led captive, during the early spring of the year 1680. On the afternoon of April 11 of that year, while ascending the Mississippi with two companions, he was taken by a war party of the Sioux, and after much anxiety and suffering reached the Falls of St. Anthony, which he so named. Thence, going overland through the endless forests, they arrived at the village of their captors. Soon Indians were seen running from the village to meet them, and then it was that "One of the principal Issati chiefs gave us his peace-calumet to smoke, and accepted the one we had brought. He then gave us some wild rice to eat, presenting it to us in large bark dishes." From this place they were later taken in bark canoes "a short league ... to an island where their cabins were." (Shea, (1), pp. 224-225.)

The Mdewakanton "mystery lake village," of the Santee or eastern division of the Dakota, were considered by some as "the only Dakota entitled to the name Isanyati (`Santee'), given them from their old home on Mille Lac, Minnesota, called by them Isantamde, 'Knife Lake.'" There is no doubt of the Mdewakanton being the Issati of Hennepin, to whose principal village he was taken, and where he remained for some weeks during the year 1680. It has always been acknowledged that the village stood on or near the shore of Mille Lac, but not until 1900 was a site discovered which appears without doubt to indicate the position of that ancient settlement. The outlet of Mille Lac is Rum River, which enters the Mississippi at Anoka. The stream soon after leaving the lake expands into a series of small lakes, usually designated as the First, Second, and Third Lake, from the outlet at Mille Lac. Rum River leaves Mille Lac near the southwest corner, but soon turns eastward, therefore the three lakes are rather parallel with the south shore of the great lake. At the upper end of Third Lake is an isolated mass, rising some feet above the highest stage of water, and having a superficial area of several acres. On May 29, 1900, this spot was surrounded by a marsh, in places overgrown with rushes, with pools of water, more numerous on the north side. But a short time has elapsed since all the lakes were somewhat deeper and more water flowed in Rum River. And at that time the waters surrounded this elevated mass and it stood as an island at the head of Third Lake. When the surface of this island was examined it was found to be strewn with innumerable fragments of pottery, some fractured stones, and a few stone implements. The amount of pottery was greater than is often found on any site, in any part of the country, and it was quite evident this island was once occupied by a large, permanent native settlement. Without doubt this was the site of the village to which Hennepin was taken in a bark canoe, "an island where their cabins were." At present this is in Sec. 25, T. 42, R. 27, Mille Lacs County, Minnesota.

No description of the ancient village has been preserved, but it undoubtedly resembled the settlements of other tribes living in the midst of the great forests. The structures were probably bark or mat covered, many of an oval form quite similar to those of the Ojibway, who later occupied the near-by sites on the shores of Mille Lac. And like the Ojibway, the Mdewakanton may have had more than one type of dwelling in the same village, or structures of different forms may have served different purposes.

The shores of Mille Lac, one of the most beautiful sheets of water in Minnesota, abound in traces of the ancient settlements which stood generations or centuries ago. Near several of the sites are groups of a hundred or more burial mounds, all of which may be attributed to the Siouan tribes. One village, the site of which is marked by a large number of mounds, stood on the shore of the bay in the northwestern part of the lake, shown in the photograph reproduced in plate [20], a.

The sacred or mysterious island, known as such to the Sioux and later to the Ojibway, is in the southern part of the lake, several miles from the south shore. It is a remarkable spot, one to be looked upon by the Indian as a place of mystery. So small that often it is not visible from the shore, it consists of a great quantity of blocks of granitic formation which are piled to a height of 20 feet or more upon a ledge which comes to within a foot or less of the surface of the lake. The island is about 250 feet in length from east to west, the width from north to south being about one-half the length. Some of the great blocks are 10 or 12 feet in length, 4 or 5 feet in thickness and width, and would weigh many tons. The ledge extends for a distance of about 150 feet to the north and east of the island, covered by a foot or more of water. There is no soil on the island, no vegetation, and its only occupants are numbers of gulls. A photograph of this most interesting spot, made by the writer May 20, 1900, is reproduced as plate [20], b.

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 20

a. Northwest shore of Mille Lac, 1900. Site of an ancient Sioux settlement

b. The Sacred Island in the southern part of Mille Lac. May, 1900

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 21

"KAPOSIA, JUNE 19TH, 1851" F. B. Mayer

According to the stories of the old Ojibway who were still living on the shore of Mille Lac during the spring of 1900, the Mdewakanton were driven from that region about the middle of the eighteenth century, and moving southward settled along the banks of the Mississippi. Descendants of these were occupying well-known villages on the Mississippi and Minnesota during the summer of 1823, when Major Long and his party ascended the rivers from Prairie du Chien.

Before leaving Prairie du Chien to discover the course of the Minnesota, or St. Peters, as it was then designated, the members of the expedition were divided into two groups, one to go overland to the mouth of the St. Peters, the other to convey the supplies by boat to that point. Both parties visited the principal villages on the way. First following the route of those who went overland, on June 26, 1823, they encountered a village of five lodges, evidently on the Iowa River, in the present Winneshiek County, Iowa. Two days later, June 28, they arrived at the more important village of Wapasha, in the present Wabasha County, Minnesota, and as told in the narrative: "Whatever might be the reveries in which the party were indulging, they were soon recalled to the dull realities of travelling, by the howling and barking of a band of dogs, that announced their approach to an Indian village consisting of twenty fixed lodges and cabins. It is controlled by Wa-pa-sha, an Indian chief of considerable distinction. In his language, (Dacota,) his name signifies the red leaf. A number of young men fantastically decorated with many and variously coloured feathers, and their faces as oddly painted, advanced to greet the party. One of them, the son of the chief, was remarkable for the gaudiness and display of his dress, which from its showy appearance imparted to his character foppishness.... The chief is about fifty years of age, but appears older.... His disposition to the Americans has generally been a friendly one." (Keating, (1), I, pp. 249-250.) Hennepin's reception by the ancestors of the same people, in their ancient village near Mille Lac, about a century and a half earlier, may have been quite similar to this accorded the members of the Long expedition in 1823.

On the evening of June 30 the party going by land arrived "at an Indian village, which is under the direction of Shakea, (the man that paints himself red;) the village has retained the appellation of Redwing, (aile rouge,) by which the chief was formerly distinguished." This was on the site of the present Red Wing, Goodhue County, Minnesota. There the party remained overnight, and on the following morning, July 1, 1823, the boat bearing the supplies belonging to the expedition, on its way from Prairie du Chien to Fort St. Anthony, reached the village, and "The whole party being again united, the chief invited them to his lodge, with a view to have a formal conversation with them.... As a compliment to the party, the United States' flag was hoisted over his cabin, and a deputation of some of his warriors waited at our encampment to invite us to his lodge. We were received in due ceremony; the chief and his son, Tatunkamane, (the walking buffalo,) were seated next to the entrance. We took our stations near them, on the same bed-frame, while his warriors seated themselves on the frame opposite to us." This was followed by handshaking, and the smoking of the pipe of peace. (Op. cit., pp. 251-252.) The two parties again separated and those passing overland arrived at the fort the following evening.

The boat party, ascending the Mississippi, arrived at "Wapasha's village" on June 29, soon after the departure of the others who were going overland. They left Redwing early in the afternoon of July 1, and on the following day passed the St. Croix. Continuing, they "passed an Indian village consisting of ten or twelve huts, situated at a handsome turn on the river, about ten miles below the mouth of the St. Peter; the village is generally known by the name of the Petit Corbeau, or Little Raven, which was the appellation of the father and grandfather of the present chief.... As the village was abandoned for the season, we proceeded without stopping. The houses which we saw here were differently constructed from those which we had previously observed. They are formed by upright flattened posts, implanted in the ground, without any interval except here and there some small loopholes for defence; these posts support the roof, which presents a surface of bark. Before and behind each hut, there is a scaffold used for the purpose of drying maize, pumpkins, &c." Late in the same day they arrived at the fort. (Keating, (1), I, pp. 288-289.) Whether the method of constructing lodges by forming the walls of upright posts or logs was of native conception or was derived from the French is now difficult to determine. In referring to the customs prevailing in the Mississippi Valley, particularly the French portions, about the year 1810, Brackenridge said: "In building their houses, the logs, instead of being laid horizontally, as ours, are placed in a perpendicular position, the interstices closed with earth or stone, as with us." (Brackenridge, (1), p. 119.) The old courthouse at St. Louis was built after this method. Again, among some tribes along the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, as will be told on another page, were to have been found small, well-protected lodges formed of upright poles, and in this instance there is no reason to suspect European influence. Therefore it is not possible to say definitely whether the structures standing on the banks of the Mississippi during the summer of 1823 were of a primitive, native form, or if they represented the influence of the early French who had penetrated the region many years before.

Just three years before the Long expedition passed up the Mississippi and prepared the preceding descriptions of the Sioux settlements Schoolcraft went down the river, and in his journal are to be found brief references to the same villages. To quote from the journal, August 2, 1820: "Four miles below Carver's cave, we landed at the village of Le Petit Corbeau, or the Little Raven. Here is a Sioux band of twelve lodges, and consisting of about two hundred souls, who plant corn upon the adjoining plain, and cultivate the cucumber, and pumpkin. They sallied from their lodges on seeing us approach, and gathering upon the bank of the river fired a kind of feu-de-joie, and manifested the utmost satisfaction on our landing.... We were conducted into his cabin which is spacious, being about sixty feet in length by thirty in width—built in a permanent manner of logs, and covered with bark." (Schoolcraft, (2), pp. 317-318.) The following day at noon the party arrived "at the Sioux village of Talangamane, or the Red wing, which is handsomely situated on the west banks of the river, six miles above Lake Pepin. It consists of four large, and several small lodges, built of logs in the manner of the little Raven's village. Talangamane is now considered the first chief of his nation.... Very few of his people were at home, being engaged in hunting or fishing. We observed several fine corn fields near the village, but they subsist chiefly by taking sturgeon in the neighbouring lake, and by hunting the deer. The buffalo is also occasionally killed, but they are obliged to go two days journey west of the Mississippi, before this animal is found in plenty. We observed several buffalo skins which were undergoing the Indian process of tanning." (Op. cit., p. 323.) The third settlement was reached during the afternoon of August 4, 1820, at which time, to quote from the journal, "we made a short halt at the Sioux village of Wabashaw, which is eligibly situated on the west bank of the Mississippi, sixty miles below Lake Pepin. It consists of four large lodges, with a population of, probably, sixty souls. A present of tobacco and whiskey was given, and we again embarked at twenty minutes before five o'clock." (Op, cit., p. 334.) The question now arises, Were the various structures seen by Schoolcraft, those "built in a permanent manner of logs," constructed of "upright flattened posts," as mentioned in the Long narrative? If so, it is evident similar habitations were reared by the Foxes and were encountered by Schoolcraft at the Fox village standing on the left bank of the Mississippi, below the mouth of the Wisconsin, August 6, 1820. However, the statements are rather vague, and the various dwellings may have been quite similar to the bark houses more clearly described in later narratives. But it is beyond question that some of the structures were strongly built, and Long on July 16, 1817, wrote: "Passed a Sioux village on our right containing fourteen cabins. The name of the chief is the Petit Corbeau, or Little Raven.... One of their cabins is furnished with loop holes, and is situated so near the water that the opposite side of the river is within musket-shot range from the building.... The cabins are a kind of stockade buildings, and of a better appearance than any Indian dwellings I have before met with." (Long, (1), p. 31.)

One of the most interesting accounts of the villages just mentioned is contained in the journal of a traveler who visited them in 1849, the year the Territory of Minnesota was created. On May 16 of that year he "passed Wapasha's Prairie ... a beautiful prairie in Minnesota, about nine miles long and three miles wide, occupied by the chief Wapasha (or Red-Leaf) and his band of Sioux, whose bark lodges are seen at the upper end of the prairie." (Seymour, (1), p. 75.) And later in the day, after leaving Lake Pepin, "an Indian village, called Red Wing, inhabited by a tribe of Sioux is seen on the Minnesota shore. It appears to contain about one dozen bark lodges, and half as many conical lodges, covered with buffalo skins; also, a log or frame house, occupied by a missionary. Indian children were seen running, in frolicsome mood, over the green prairie, and Indian females were paddling their canoes along the shore. This village is near the mouth of Cannon River." On the following day, May 17, 1849, Seymour passed the village of Kaposia, occupied by the chief Little Crow, or Little Raven. It stood on the west bank of the river about 5 miles below the then small town of St. Paul. The Indian village at that time consisted of about 40 lodges, having a population of some 300. A few days later he went to the village, and regarding the visit wrote: "During the time I visited them, the Indians were living in skin lodges, such as they use during the winter, and when traveling. These are formed of long, slender poles, stuck in the ground, in a circle of about eight feet in diameter, and united at the top, and covered with the raw hide of the buffalo, having the hair scraped off. They are in the form of a cone, and can be distinguished from those of the Winnebagos and other Indians as far as they can be seen. During the summer they live in bark houses, which are more spacious, and when seen from a distance, resemble, in form and appearance, the log cabins of the whites. When passing in sight of the village, a few days afterward, I noticed that they had removed their skin lodges, and erected their bark houses. The population of this village, as I before remarked, is from 250 to 300 souls." He entered one of the small skin-covered lodges. "An iron kettle, suspended in the center, over a fire, forms the principal cooking utensil. Blankets spread around on the ground, were used as seats and beds." (Op. cit., pp. 137-138.) A cemetery, with its scaffold burials, stood on the bluffs in the rear of the village. There is reason to believe these were the first skin-covered tipis encountered by Seymour while ascending the Mississippi.

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 22