The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1858-07-06

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hold three DAYS previous after paying a visi
Of three months, and were then huntin,
buffalo and awaiting the boats. The trib,
is quite numcrous-this being only one bant
and are rowing in their habits, living ii
skin tents and following the buffalo, AM
never remain long in one place. Only thre,
! tribes of the Indians in all the region hav,
stationary villages, viz: Aricarees, Gro:
Ventrcs and Nandans. The Assiniboine:
are friendly with the Indians at Fort Bert.
hold and Fort Clarke. Tattooing is prae.
ticed 10 a much greater extent among them
than any We have met, and they make great
use Of dogs, each squaw having fifteen OF
twenty. They had found no game, and
were very destitute. We stopped and gave
them corn and other provisions. rlUs
The water was very low all the way from
Fort Berthold to Fort Union, but owing to
the narrowness of the channel, was moro
easily nayigated than below. $50 tEt
For forty miles below. Fort Union the
Missouri is exceedingly crooked, curying
about upon itself fifteen times in that dis
tance. About twenty miles below the
mouth Of the Yellow Stone, we find on the
Nebraska side sprecipitous bare rising
nearly pcrpendicularly four hundred
feet above the river, and extending in an
unbroken line fer three miles or more.
They are sand, with three strata of Ignite,
about fifty feet apart, and running the
whole distance, parallel with each other, and
the surface of the liver. From this point to
the Yellow Stone we come several times
upon very steep hills, but always have low,
well wooded land just opposite, across the
river.
From Fort Pierre to Fort Clarke dis
lance OF four hundred and twenty-six miles,
there is great sameneSs in the country bor-
dering the river. Almost all the way il is
an elevated rolling prairie, with more prairi /,
bottom than is found between the beautiful
Vermillion river and Fort Pierre. The
steep, rugged hills are nowhere to be seen,
except about the mouth of Cannon-bali
river, where they almost deserve the name
OF mountains. Between the Big and Little
Cheyenne, the upland prairie is very level.
beautifully covered with green grass. and
apparently capable of yielding good crops
timber, which is rather scarce below the
Big Cheyenne, is abundant all the rest of
the way, except Immediately about Fort
Clarke. The rivers emptying into the Mis-
souri, between these two Forts, are quite nu-
merous, but small. -
On the evening of juno 9th, we reached
Fort Clarke-thc second trading post with
the Indans-nearly two thousand miles
above st. Louis. Like Fort Pierre, il does
not deserve the name of Fort, being merely
a few rude log and block houses, one low
story, and enclosed by a log fence, twelve
feet high. Most Of the houses are covered
and daubed with mud, which makes them
warm, but at the same time very dark.
dingy, dirty places, far inferior TO our negro
cabins in the South.
Tine Aricarec Indians are permanentlyen-
camped here, and have quite village lust
back of the Fort. They dwell in dirt lodp-
es, about forty feet in circumference and six
feet high, constructed as follows: first, poles
&c ssSSecpting iStt 92 al te door where they run out
into passage way the roof is also of poles,
with one end resting on the upright ones,
and the other on a rude frame work, rising
from the centre of the lodge. This frame
work is covered about eighteen inches with
dirt, and a clay chimney in one corner vents
the smoke. Inside of the lodge, all around
the circle are hunks for sleeping, made of
four upright posts, with willow slip or
bufialo-skin bottom. The floors are gener-
ally damp, and from their universal custom
of keeping horses and dogs inside, arc filthy.
Altogether, their establishments are warm
er and more comfortable than the skin wig
vans of the Sioux, but not near so neat or
wild in appearance.
A =. 4
other Indians on the Missouri, aud raise a
considerable quantity of corn and beans an
nually. As tribe they are the most de-
graded, filthy set we met have no regard
for virtue and are the greatest rogueS
known, stealing everything, useless or not,
that they can lay their hands on.
On our reaching the landing the display
of savages was nothing to comprae with
what we saw at st. Pierre, (all the warriors
having gone out to steal horses from
the Siouxs), none but old men, women and
children showing themselves. The women
were i'll clad and very dirty, the children
mostly 60 stark naked. The grave yard 10
the right of the village was extensive, and
many fresh mounds were to be seen on al
sides.
Mediciue Poles! Near the grave yard We
noticed several upright posts, about twenty
feet high, with thongs attached TO the ends
They are called Medicine Poles, and arr
places where ambitious young warriors suf
fer cruel torturing, in order TO test their ca
pacity for becoming Medicine Men, Th'
usual process is TO make long incissions OF
| the breast and back, passing Skewers undeI
the detached skin, and then making fast e
/ the rope they are hoiS:ed TO the top of tn
pole, where they struggle and jerk until b.
/ violence, they tear themselves loose. Some
times thay destroy life, and generally fain
/ from the hosrible pain inflicted, but the Ger
/ tainty of becoming great men, If, perchance
they survive the severe ordeal, makes many
anxious to undergo the trial.
Immediately about the junction of tn
1 Yellow Stone and Missouri tie country
very Hat. Every geographical feature Ell
titles the yellow Stone to he called the Mis-
souri,; il is in direct line with the lowe
river, aud its mouth is much the wider c
the two, but its water is much more turbid
very yellow, aud current extremely rapit
The Missouri now is diminished to nearl.
half its width below, but the water is SIM
lar in IFS character and channel deeper tina
that of the Yellow Stone.
On the evening of the lltn, we reache
Fort Union, the fourth and last, but on
trading post on the Missouri. IL Is 81
miles above the mouth of the Yellow Ston
on the Minnesota side, and by far the line
looking place above Fort Randall.
Quite a large encampment OF Blackfe'
Indians were here and some few Cree
whom our Gros Nentres and Assinniboin,