USA > Minnesota > Dahkotah land and Dahkotah life [microform] : with the history of the fur traders of the extreme northwest during the French and British dominions > Part 3
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.73
THE WOODPECKER CHARM .- DRESS.
daughter's lodge and perceives her husband inside, she does not enter.
If a woman proves faithless to her husband, she is frequently shot or has her nose cut off. This latter practice was noticed by Le Sueur, in 1700. There is much system in relation to the place in which each should sit in a Dahkotah lodge. The wife always occu- pies a place next to the entrance on the right. The seat of honour, to which a white man is generally pointed, is directly opposite to the door of the lodge.
Like the rest of mankind, they are by no means insensible to flattery. When one thinks that he cannot obtain a horse, or some other article that he wishes, by a simple request, he will take a number of wood- peckers' heads, and sing over them in the presence of · the individual he hopes to influence, recounting the honourable deeds of the man to whom he gives the birds' heads. " This process acts like a charm, and is often successful.
A Parisian dandy is known the world over, but he is not to be compared with a Dahkotah fop. An Indian young man passes hours in attiring himself. That green streak of paint upon the cheek; those yellow circles around the eyes, and those spots upon the forehead, have cost him much trouble and frequent gazings into his mirror, which he always keeps with him. That head-dress, which appears to hang so carelessly, is all designed. None knows better than he how to attitudi- nize and play the stoic or majestic. No moustachioed clerk, with curling locks, and kid gloves, and cambric handkerchief, and patent-leather boots, and glossy hat,; is half so conscious as he who struts past us with his streaming blanket and ornamented and uncovered head,
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I would side. I overs me, er we will not wake
e polyga- ld as the an, when is friends e parents me of the s from the ty or fifty nd, but a and takes five guns, ty or forty
vives, who her father f age. It bride and ugh a son- ver names mother in ct in this his wife's the rear, family of meet him, ts for the
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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
holding a pipe or a gun in the place of a cane, and . wearing moccasins in the place of boots. . The rain upon his nicely decorated head and face, causes as much of a flutter as it does when it falls upon the hat of the nice young man who smokes his cigar and pro- menades in Broadway.
When the Dahkotahs are not busy with war, or the chase, or the feasts and dances of their religion, time hangs heavily, and they either sleep or resort to some game to keep up an excitement. One of their games is like " Hunt the Slipper ;" a bullet or plum-stone is placed by one party in one of four moccasins or mittens, and sought for by the opposite. There is also the play of "plum-stones." . At this game much is often lost and won. Eight plum-stones are marked with certain devices. This game is played by young men and females. If, after shaking in a bowl, stones bearing - certain- devices turn up, the game is won ..
The favourite and most exciting game of the Dahko- tahs is ball playing. It appears to be nothing more than a game which was often played by the writer in school- boy days, and which was called " shinny." A smooth place is chosen on the prairie or frozen river or lake. : Each player has a stick three or four feet long and crooked at the lower end, with deer strings tied across forming a sort of a pocket. The ball is made of a rounded knot of wood, or clay covered with hide, and is supposed to possess supernatural qualities. Stakes are set at a distance of a quarter or half mile, as bounds. Two parties are then formed, and the ball being thrown up in the centre, the contest is for one party to carry the ball from the other beyond one of the bounds. Two or three hundred men are sometimes engaged at once. On
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FOOT RACING .- DOG AND FISH DANCES.
a summer's day, to see them rushing to and fro, painted in divers colors, with no article of apparel, with feathers in their heads, bells around their wrists, and fox and wolf tails dangling behind, is a wild and noisy spectacle. The eye-witnesses among the Indians become more interested in the success of one or the other of the par- ties than any crowd at a horse race, and frequently. stake their last piece of property on the issue of the game.
On the 13th of July, 1852, the last great ball-play in the vicinity of Saint Paul took place. The ground selected was Oak Grove, in Hennepin county, and the. parties were, Shokpay's band, against the Good Road, Sky Man, and Gray Iron bands. The game lasted several days; about two hundred and fifty were parti- cipants, encompassed by a cloud of witnesses. About two thousand dollars' worth of property was won by Shokpay's band the first day. The second day they were the losers. On the third day Shokpay lost the first game, and the stake was renewed. Shokpay lost again ; but while a new stake was being made up, a dispute arose between the parties concerning some of the property which had been won from Shokpay's. band, but which they kept back. They broke up in a row, as they usually do. ,Gray Iron's band leaving the ground first, ostensibly for the reason above named, but really because Shokpay's band had just been reinforced by the arrival of a company from Little Crow's band. During the play four or five thousand dollars' worth of goods changed hands.
Like the ancient Greeks, they also practise foot racing. Before proceeding to other topics, it is well to give & brief account of the dog dance and the fish dance. The
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ne, and . he rain uses as the hat und pro-
, or the n, time to some games is stone is mittens, the play ten lost certain en and bearing
. Dahko- ore than school- smooth or lake. ong and d across de of a ide, and Stakes bounds. thrown carry the Two or ce. On
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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
first is seldom performed, and is said to be peculiar to this nation. A dog being thrown into the midst of the crowd of dancers, is speedily "tomahawked" by one of the sacred men. The liver is then extracted and cut into slices, after which it is hung upon a pole. Now the dancers hop around, their mouths apparently water- ing with the desire for a bite. After a time some one dances up to the pole and takes a mouthful of the raw " liver. He is then succeeded by others, until the whole is devoured. If another dog is thrown into the circle, the same process is repeated.
" Not long since a Dahkotah chief was sick, and the gods signified to him that if he would make a raw fish feast, he would live till young cranes' wings are grown. So he must make the feast or die. Fifteen or twenty others, who, like himself, were inspired by the cormorant, joined with him in the ceremonies of the feast, of which the chief was master.
" After one or two days spent in 'vapour baths' and 'armour feast's,' a tent is prepared, opening towards the east. The railing extending from the tent is composed of bushes. Within the enclosure each of those who are to participate in the feast has a bush set, in which is his nest. Early in the morning, on the day of the feast, the master informs two others where the fish are to be taken, and sends them forth to spear and bring them in, designating the kind and number to be taken. On this occasion two pike, each about one foot in length, were taken, and after having been painted with vermil- lion and ornamented with red down about the mouth and. along the back, were laid on some branches in the enclosure, entire, as they were taken from the water. Near the fish were placed birch-bark dishes filled with
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CORMORANT DANCE.
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sweetened water. Their implements of war were sol- emnly exhibited in the tent, and the dancers, who were naked, except the belt, breech-cloth, and moccasins, and fantastically painted and adorned with down, red and white, being in readiness, the singers, of whom there are four ranks, commenced to sing, each rank in its turn. The singing was accompanied with the drum and rattle. " The cormorant dancers danced to the music, having a little season of rest as each rank of singers ended their chant, until the fourth rank struck the drum and made the welkin ring with their wild notes; then, like starving beasts, they tore off pieces of the fish, scales, bones, entrails, and all, with their teeth, and swallowed it, at the same time drinking their sweetened water, till both the pike were consumed, except the heads and fins and large bones, the latter of which were deposited in the nests. Thus the feast ended, and the chief will of course live till the young cranes can fly. At the close of the ceremony, whatever of clothing is worn on the occasion is offered in sacrifice to the gods." >
Sufficient has been said to show that the Dahkotahs are Odd Fellows; but not the half has been told. Among the Ojibways there are totems, or family syol- bols, of the name of some ancestor, which is honoured as much as the coat of arms among the nobility of Eu- rope. If a man dies, his totem is marked upon his grave post with as much formality as the heraldic design of an English nobleman. It was this custom among the Algonquin Indians, that led the unscrupu-" lous La Hontan to publish engravings of the fabulous · coats of arms of the various savage nations of the north- west. That of the "Outchipoues" (Ojibways) is an eagle perched upon a rock, devouring the brain of an
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culiar to Ist of the y one of and cut e. Now ly water- ome one the raw" he whole ne circle,
and the e a raw rings are ifteen or d by the es of the
aths' and vards the posed of ho are to ich is his the feast, are to be ing them ken. On n length, h vermil- e mouth es in the e water. lled with
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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
owl. That of the Sioux, or Dahkotahs, is a squirrel perched upon a citron or pumpkin, and gnawing its rind. . While the Dahkotahs do not appear to have totems or family designs, like the Ojibways, yet, from time immemorial, secret clans, with secret signs, have existed among them. It is impossible to force any member of these clans to divulge any of their proceed- ings, Culbertson, who visited the Dahkotahs of the Missouri, at the request of the Smithsonian Institution, was struck with this peculiarity. His remarks, for the entire accuracy of which we do not vouch, are as fol- lows:
The Sioux nation has no general council, but each tribe and band determines its own affairs. These bands have some ties, of interest analogous to the ties of our " secret societies. The 'Crow-Feather-in-Cap' band are pledged to protect each others' wiyes, and to refrain from violating them. If the wife of one of their num- ber is stolen by another of their number, she is returned, the band either paying the thief for returning the stolen property, or forcing him to do it, whether he will or not. * * * * The 'Strong-Heart' band is pledged to protect each other in their horses. Should a 'Strong-Heart' from a distance steal some horses, and they be claimed by a brother 'Strong-Heart,' his fellows would tell him that he must give them up, or they would give the robbed man some of their own horses, regarding it as the greatest disgrace to themselves to allow him to go away on foot. And thus I suppose that all these bands have some common object that unites them together, and here we have the origin of this system of banding. In the absence of law, it takes the place of our system of justice.".
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WANT OF CLEANLINESS.
{ The heathen, in their manner of life, are essentially the same all over the world. They are all given up to uncleanness. As you walk through a small village, in' a Christian land, you notice many appearances of thrift and neatness. ; The day-labourer has his lot fenced, and his rude cabin .white-washed. The widow, dependent upon her own exertions, and alone in the world, finds pleasure in training the honeysuckle or the morning- glory to peep in at her windows. The poor seamstress, though obliged to lodge,in some upper room, has a few flower-pots upon her window-sill, and perhaps a canary bird hung in a cage outside. But if an Indian village all is filth and litter. . There are no fences around their bark huts. White-washing is a lost art if it was ever known. Worn-out 'moccasins, tattered blankets, old breech-cloths, and pieces of leggins are strewn in con- fusion all over the ground: Water, except in very warm weather, seldom touches their bodies, and the pores of their skins become filled with grease and the paint with which they daub themselves. Neither Monday, or any other day, is known as' washing-day. , Their cooking utensils are incrusted with dirt, and used for a variety of purposes. A few years ago, a band of Indians, with their dogs, ponies, women, and children, came on board of a steamboat on the Upper Mississippi, on which the writer was travelling. Their evening meal, consisting of beans and wild meat, was prepared on the lower deck, beneath the windows of the ladies' cabin. After they had used their fingers in the place of forks, and consumed the food which they had cooked in a dirty> iron pan, one of the mothers, removing the blanket from one of her children, stood it up in the same pan, and then, dipping some water out of the river, began to
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squirrel
1 wing its to have et, from ns, have orce any proceed- s of the stitution, s, for the e as fol-
but each se bands es of our band are o refrain eir num- returned, he stolen will or band is Should rses, and is fellows or they n horses, selves to suppose ject that origin of law, .it
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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
wash it from head to foot. The rest of the band looked on with Indian composure, and seemed to think that . an iron stew-pan was just as good for washing babes as for cooking beans. Where there, is so much dirt, of course vermin must abound. They are not much dis- tressed by the presence of those insects which are so nauseating to the civilized man. Being without shame, a common sight, of a summer's eve, is a woman or child with her head in another's lap, who is kindly killing the fleas and other vermin that are burrowing in the long, matted, and uncombed hair.
The Dahkotahs have no regular time for eating. Dependent, as they are, upon hunting and fishing for subsistence, they vacillate from the' proximity of star- vation to gluttony .. It is considered uncourteous to refuse an invitation to a feast, and a single man will sometimes attend six or seven in a day, and eat intem- perately. Before they came in contact with the whites, they subsisted upon venison, buffalo, and dog meat. The latter animal has always been considered a deli- cacy by these epicures. In illustration of these remarks, I transcribe an extract from a journal of a missionary, who visited Lake Traverse in April, 1839 :-
"Last evening, at dark, our Indians chiefly returned, having eaten to the full of buffalo and dog meat. I asked one how many times they were feasted. He said, 'Six, and if it had not become dark so soon, we should have been called three or four times more.'
* This morning, 'Burning-Earth' (chief of the Sissetonwan Dahkotahs), came again to our encampment, and re- moving we accompanied him to his village at the south- western end of the lake. * * In the afternoon, I visited the chief; found him just about to leave for
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أصالة متـ
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1
IRREGULAR MODE OF LIFE.
a dog feast to which he had been called. When he had received some papers of medicine I had for him, he left, saying, 'The Sioux love dog meat as well as white people do pork.'" .
In this connection, it should be'stated that the Dah- kotahs have no regular hours of retiring. Enter a New England village after nine o'clock, and all is still. Walk through Philadelphia after the State House clock has struck eleven, and everybody and thing, hacks, hack- men, and those on foot, appear to be hastening to rest; the lamp in the store, the entry and parlour, is extin- guished, and lights begin to flicker in the chambers and. in the garrets, and soon all are quiet, except rogues and disorderly persons, and those who watch and you can hear the clock tick in the entry, and the watchman's slow stepl as he walks up and down the street. But there is nothing like this in an Indian village. They sleep whenever inclination prompts; some by day and some by night.
If you were to enter a Dahkotah village, at midnight, you might, perhaps, see some few huddled round the fire of a teepee, listening to the tale of an old warrior, who has often engaged in bloody conflict with their ancient and present enemies, the Ojibways; or you , might hear the unearthly chanting of some medicine man, endeavouring to exorcise some spirit from a si man; · or see some lounging about, whiffing out of their sacred red stone pipes, the smoke of kinnikinnick, a species of willow bark; or some of the young men sneaking around a lodge, and waiting for the lodge-fire to cease to flicker before they perpetrate some deed of sin ; or you might hear a low, wild drumming, and then a group of men, all naked, with the exception of a 6
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ad looked ink that ¿ babes as dirt, of much dis- ch are so ut shame, n or child lly killing ing in the
or eating. fishing for ty of star- ırteous to man will eat intem- he whites, dog meat. red a deli- se remarks, missionary, -
y returned, at. I asked said, 'Six, hould have * This Sissetonwan nt, and re- t the south- afternoon, to leave for
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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
girdle round the Ioins, daubed with vermillion and other paints, all excited, and engaged in some of their grotesque dances; or a portion may be firing their guns into the air, being alarmed by some imaginary evil, and supposing that an enemy is lurking around."
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CHAPTER III.
DARKOTAH females deserve the sympathy of every tender heart. From early childhood they lead " worse than a dog's life." Like the Gibeonites of old, they are the hewers of wood, and the drawers of water for the camp. On a winter's day, a Dahkotah mother is often obliged to travel five or eight or ten miles with the ' lodge, camp-kettle, axe, child, and small dogs upon her back. Arriving late in the afternoon at the appointed camping-ground, she clears off the snow from the spot upon which she is to erect the teepee. She then, from the nearest marsh or grove, cuts down some poles about ten feet in length. With these she forms a frame work for the tent. Unstrapping her pack, she unfolds the tent-cover, which is seven or eight buffalo skins stitched together, and brings the bottom part to the base of the frame. She now obtains a long pole, and fastening it to the skin covering, she raises it. The ends are drawn around the frame until they meet, and the edges of the covering are secured by wooden skewers or tent pins. The poles are then spread out on the ground, so as to make as large a circle inside as she desires. Then she,
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THE HARDSHIPS OF DAHKOTAH FEMALES.
or her children, proceed to draw the skins down so as to make them fit tightly. An opening is left where the poles meet at the top, to allow the smoke to escape. The fire is built upon the ground in the centre of the lodge. Buffalo skins are placed around, and from seven to fifteen lodge there through a winter's night, with far more comfort than a child of luxury upon a bed of down. Water is to be drawn and wood cut for the night. The camp-kettle is suspended, and preparations made for the evening meal. If her lord and master has not by this time arrived from the day's hunt, she is busied in mending up moccasins. Such is a scene which has been enacted by hundreds of females this very winter in Minnesota .. How few of the gentle sex properly ap- preciate the everlasting obligations they are under to the Son of Mary, after the flesh, who was the first that taught the true sphere and the true mission of woman !
The Dahkotah wife is subject to all of the whims of her husband, and woe unto her when he is in bad humour! As a consequence, the females of this nation are not possessed of very happy faces, and frequently resort to suicide to put an end to earthly troubles. Uncultivated, and made to do the labour of beasts, when they are desperate, they act more like infuriated brutes than creatures of reason. Some years ago a lodge was pitched at the mouth of the St. Croix. The wife, fear- ing her husband would demand the whiskey keg, when he came from hunting, hid it. Upon his return, she refused to tell him where it was, and he flogged her. In her rage, she went off and hung herself. At Oak · Grove, a little girl, the pet of her grandmother, was whipped by her father. The old woman, sympathizing with the child, flew into a passion and went off. At
illion and ne of their their guns y evil, and
y of every ead " worse ld, they are ater for the her is often es with the ' gs upon her e appointed om the spot e then, from poles about frame work unfolds the kins stitched base of the fastening it ds are drawn edges of the or tent pins. und, so as to . Then she,
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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
last, the screaming of the grandchild was heard, for she had discovered her "grandma'" hanging by a portage collar from a burial scaffold. An assistant. female teacher in the mission school, being attracted by the noise, went and cut the "old granny" down before life had fled. On another occasion, at the same place, a son-in-law refused to give his mother some whiskey, and in a rage she went on to the burial scaffold, tied the portage strap around her neck, and was about to jump yoff, when Mr. Pond came up to her and cut the strap. Still she did not relinquish her intention of suicide. At last, he climbed on to the scaffold and told her he would stay there as long as she. Other females from the village then came out, and succeeded in persuading her to live a little while longer. In this connexion, an incident may be told, which, for romantic interest, can- not be surpassed. The girl, since the occurrence, which we substantially narrate as we find it in the " Pioneer," without being responsible for every particular, be- came a pupil in the Rev. Mr. Hancock's mission school at Remnica or Red Wing Village.
In the spring of 1850, a young girl, fourteen years of age, shot another girl with whom she was quarrelling. The deceased was a daughter of a sullen man by the name of Black Whistle. The affrighted girl, after she fired the gun, fled to the trader's house, and was by him aided to make her escape down to Wapashaw's village. While stopping at Red Wing's village, some hundred miles from the place where the deed was committed, the incensed father overtook her. His first plan was to .. carry her home and sacrifice her at his daughter's burial scaffold; but, through the influence of some of the whites, he changed his plan, and resolved to make her
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THE DISGUISED GIRL .- WANT OF. LAW.
· his slave or his wife, For some time she endured what to her was a living death, but on one night she suddenly disappeared. Not many days after, there appeared at Good Road's village, a young Indian boy, stating that he was a Sisseton, and had just arrived from the plains. He was well received, no one dreaming that he was the Indian maid. While in this disguise, she went out one day to spear fish, when her husband and enemy, the revengeful father of the girl she had shot, met her, and inquired for her, and avowed his intention to kill her. She very coolly assented to the justice of what he said, and left. At last, her real sex being suspected, she came down to Little Crow or Kaposia village. Here she passed herself off as a Winnebago orphan, which disguise succeeded for a time. But soon she was sus- pected, and was again obliged to seek safety in flight, and at last took up her residence at Red Wing's village, though for a long time no one knew what had become of her.
It is an erroneous idea that chiefs have any authority. Popularity is the source of power, and they resort to ineasures which vie with those of the modern dema- gogue, to gain the ear of the people. They never express an opinion on any important point, until they have canvassed the band over which they preside, and their opinions are always those of the majority.
The Dahkotahs suffer much for want of law. The individual who desires to improve his condition is not only laughed at, but maltreated. Moreover, if he ac- quires any property, there is no law which secures it to him, and it is liable to be taken away at any time by any ill-disposed person. Until this state of things is altered by the interposition of the United States govern-
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rd, for she a portage nt. female ed by the before life e place, a hiskey, and d, tied the ut to jump t the strap. uicide. At er he would from the suading her nexion, an terest, can- ence, which " Pioneer," rticular, be- ission school
een years of quarrelling. man by the irl, after she I was by him aw's village. me hundred mmitted, the plan was to ghter's burial some of the I to make her
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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
ment, or the interposition of Providence in some unfore- seen way, there is little hope of elevating this tribe. Their missionary will be forced to look upon this degra- dation, and say, in view thereof, "My whole head is sick, my whole heart faint."
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