Lewis And Clark Discovered Here A Species Of Ermine Before
Unknown To Science.
They called it "a weasel, perfectly white
except at the extremity of the tail, which was black."
This animal, highly prized on account of its pretty fur,
was not scientifically described until as late as 1829.
It is a species of stoat.
The wars of some of the Indian tribes gave Lewis and Clark much trouble
and uneasiness. The Sioux were at war with the Minnetarees (Gros Ventres,
or Big Bellies); and the Assiniboins, who lived further to the north,
continually harassed the Sioux and the Mandans, treating these as
the latter did the Rickarees. The white chiefs had their hands full
all winter while trying to preserve peace among these quarrelsome and
thieving tribes, their favorite game being to steal each other's horses.
The Indian method of caring for their horses in the cold winter was
to let them shift for themselves during the day, and to take them
into their own lodges at night where they were fed with the juicy,
brittle twigs of the cottonwood tree. With this spare fodder the animals
thrive and keep their coats fine and glossy.
Late in November, a collision between the Sioux and the Mandans became
almost certain, in consequence of the Sioux having attacked a small hunting
party of the Mandans, killing one, wounding two, and capturing nine horses.
Captain Clark mustered and armed twenty-four of his men, crossed over into
the Mandan village and offered to lead the Indians against their enemies.
The offer was declined on account of the deep snows which prevented a march;
but the incident made friends for white men, and the tidings of it had
a wholesome effect on the other tribes.
"The whole religion of the Mandans," like that of many other savage tribes,
says the journal, "consists in the belief of one Great Spirit presiding over
their destinies. This Being must be in the nature of a good genius, since it
is associated with the healing art, and `great spirit' is synonymous with
`great medicine,' a name applied to everything which they do not comprehend.
Each individual selects for himself the particular object of his devotion,
which is termed his medicine, and is either some invisible being,
or more commonly some animal, which thenceforward becomes his protector
or his intercessor with the Great Spirit, to propitiate whom every
attention is lavished and every personal consideration is sacrificed.
`I was lately owner of seventeen horses,' said a Mandan to us one day, `but I
have offered them all up to my medicine and am now poor.' He had in reality
taken all his wealth, his horses, into the plain, and, turning them loose,
committed them to the care of his medicine and abandoned them forever.
The horses, less religious, took care of themselves, and the pious votary
travelled home on foot."
To this day, all the Northwest Indians speak of anything that is highly
useful or influential as "great medicine."
One cold December day, a Mandan chief invited the explorers to join
them in a grand buffalo hunt.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 27 of 201
Words from 14105 to 14626
of 110166
