Southport telegraph. [volume] (Southport, W.T. [i.e. Kenosha, Wis.]) 1840-1850, 1842-06-14

DOctor among lnein, oi, III '"ei. Wv"
phrase, Big double medicine These
Mandans are, or rather, as we must say
acere, the most polished and advanced ma
tive nation to be found in North America:
they were milder in their manners re-
ceived strangers with less suspicion and
had always been known as I" the hosplta-
BILE and polished Mandans." Mr.. Catlln's
account Of this people is exceedingly PIC
uresque--exhibting mode of lie which
could by no possibility became what an
European would call biviized-but yet
digaifed and agreeable; rich, with all ne
cessary and many luxurious articles OF ex-
istence; and well adapted 10 call into ex-
istence, and rear to perfectiou, those pow
ers of mind and body which their position
demanded. Witnsss their careful system
Of instruction for their children, who are
every morning trained in all the discip-
line Of Indian sarlare;--ali armed with a
small bow and grass arrow, and dlstrlbu-
ted into two armies, who go through the
manGUvres of battle. When any one
is struck by an arrow he is obliged to fail,
and the conquerer, rushing up, snatches
away his mimic scalp slock, which he ex-
hibits afterwards in proof of his victory.
Witness, too, the appalling ceremonies re-
qusite for the youths who wish TO be
numbered among the 50 braves; gin which
the aspirants, after four days fasting and
watching, are subjected to a course Of VOL
untary torture, the half of which no Euro
pean could survive bit whose extremity
only tests the Mandan's power of endur-
rance, and assigns the station he is to hold
among the warriors. Every year this GER
emony is performed, at the period when
the willow leaf first buds-for no other re-
cord OF the seasons is kept than such to-
kens Of nature-and forms q part of the
grand solemnity, supposed by Mr.. Catlin
to bear some alusion TO their traditions Of
the fall Of man and the deluge; in which
a representation of the evil spirit rushes
into their village, and after trying all his
powers of destruction. is paralysed and ex-
PEELED by the powerful rod of the chief
{" medicine men," the whole exhibition be-
ing accompanied by dances. These, here,
as in every other nation of unclvillzed
men, are ranked as ceremonies Of worship,
and varied to fit the expression of the diff
terent causes of praise or prayer;-as IN
the buffalo dance, used when the game is
scarce, and food falls off; the scalp dance
of victory, whose chief spols are offered
to the Great Spirit; the snow dance of
thanksgiving for the first fall Of snow, so
acceptable 10 the hunter, who can pass
lightly in his snow-shoes over the drifts
which entangle the buffalo in their soft
depths, and leave him an easy prey.
Between Fort Gibson and ST. Louis were
to be found, in 1886, the melancholy relics
Of the tribes which once composed the for
mdabIe confederacy known as the ''Six
Nations;., who slcnced all private ieuds
in the dete termination 10 resist the lncurslon
Of the White Men. The result has
been what we see-the White Man has
destroyed them; few Of them can number
more than five hundred individuals; and
all have, since the author visited them,
been removed or exled to new reg ions
west of the Mississippi, after the usual
plan of the Americans; who, whenever
they fancied the Indians 100 near, or wanted
their lands, have exchanged their territory
for some other more safely dislant--think-
ing that, if only so many square miles
were given, all the rights of old possession,
and all the ties Of home and nationality,
might be dsregerded Among these tribes
with only three hundred left to bear the
name, were the'once renowned Mo-heecan-
1euhs--the Mohecans of CoobeI' s romance.
When treating ofthe general conditions
Of the Indians at the period of their first
discovery, some writer's have chosen TO
them as a decaying peoplc;-
'alling gradually into more and more
savage, and diminishing in actual numbers.
We see no foundation for either SUPPOSE
ion. The first is derived entirly from
,undry native traditions of former genera |
ions, of courage more high and greater
powers than their own-traditions which J
exist in every nation upon the face Of the -,
earth who tell a similar tale, with equal |
lntru,h.
Very strong and striking is their rever-
snce for the dead. The Mandans, for
example, select place of sepulture in the
hick boughs OF trees, or built it on high |
'cafod, where the corpse is carefully de-
posted, wrapped in skins; and for coffin,
| covering of soft grass and twigs is used.
Food is provided. and the arms and orna-
nents, the medicine bag and tobacco pouch,
during life, are all included in
he funeral garment. When corruption
las mouldered the whole away. the bones
ire collected and inferred in a spot set
apart. aud the skull is placed on the ground
lbove them; few Of these skulls being with
out the anxious tendance of some wife or
child, who bring food every evening. and
n the day may be seen lying by its side,
holding converse with it, as if the spirit
still lowered near, and could appreciate
he signs of living affection. When an in
'ant of the Sioux dies, the mother carries
or a whole year what is called the 'mour-
n u n radio no tho - oh |