New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-08-20
BLACK HILLS EXPEDITION.
ON THE MARCH IN SOUTHWESTERN
DAKOTA,

GEOLOGICAL STUDIES ALMOST ENTIRELY FRUIT
LEss-THE LEG-BoNE OF MAMMOTH FOUND.
fFRoM THE SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE 1RrBuSE.l
BLACK Hills EXPEDITION, DAKOTA, CAMP No. 10,
July l7,-The Sioux are people OF a great many
gods. The popular presumption that supposes them
with other Indians to be essentially monotheistic,
worshpers of the Great Spirit only entirely at
rance with the truth Their gods numerous, but
not always of the best quality. Some of them are
unique and peculiar. One of these, which addnce
simply as an illustration. is Ha-yoka know not
what else to call it in English but the God Of Paro-
dox, or the God Of Contradictions. 1t is god who
always thinks and feels by opposites. When 1t is
warm, Ha-yo-ka always conceives it to be cold;
when it is cold. Ha-yo-ka acts as If it were warm.
In the hot Summer noon be wraps himself in buffalo
robes and builds fire. and yeti teeth chatter and
he shivers with the cold In Winter the perspira-
ton rolls down his face in great heavy drops. and he
fans himself to keep COOL even when the mercury
is freezing He requires of his devotees this same
inversion or pretended inversion OF thought aud
feeling. They must always profess different mood
from that which Won would most naturally expect.
Their religious life is spent in trying to convince
the followers of other gods that December comes in
July and July in December-in short, that our
sensibilities all turned upside down.
CAPRICIOUs CLIMATE.
Such god very naturally originated in Dakota.
Dakota the land of contradictions and the Indians
who worship faults as well virtues, naturally rec
ognized and deifed the fact. Ha-yo-ka has visited
us of the expedition more than once this Summer.
At the close of long hot day. for instance, we drop
10 sleep soon after the sun goes down. The air is
close and sultry and even one blanket is too heavy
for coverlid. But in few hours Ha-yo-ka comes
around, and tries to persuade that it is nearly as
cold as ice. He easily converts the thermometer.
and, in its zeal for inversion. it drops down to
within eight degrees of freezing point IL is OF no
use to dispute the fact when rise in the morning.
It is of no use to look at the calendar. Ii is
tainly the middle of July; but. with the thermom-
eter at 40 degrees You are bound to shiver in spite
of yourself and somehow find yourself edging up to
the breakfast fire enveOped in thick blouse or
Winter overcOat. At noon you ere again in your
shirt seeves, and the repentant thermometer at 100
degrees completes the contradiction Dakota taking
it the year round, is very dry country. The UNI
brella trade would langush and utterly fail did it
depend on the rainfall of this latitude But every
now and then, when you would least expect il,
Ha-yo-ka summons the clouds, gorges them with
moisture and ills them with hail-stones, and then
suddenly cuts the tackling and drops them on the
earth like wet blanket loaded with bullets. When
the storm has subsidized, the question which the
farmer with tender growth in his field finds It most
difficult to decide is whether not the storm has
done more harm than good.
SHOWERS BY MOONLIGHT.
In studying Dakota climatology, have seen here
| what have never observed, to the same extent,
anywhere elsa moonshower or if you prefer it, q
| shower by moonlight. The dome of the heavens
was hung around with deep drapery OF black; the
wind blew nightly, and the rain descended in tor
rents With difficulty we kept our tent on its legs.
1t was not night that one would choose for
Al, half hofl NJ fI.a
storms duration, and at the time of its intensest
severity the full moon sweetly shining IN the
door of my tent long narrow avenue of perfectly
clear sky Just wide enough for the pathway Of the
moon had been clearly cut through the great black
bank of clouds from east TO west, and lett her
majesty space to move on unchallenged by even the
faintest haze
Ha-yo-ka it must be that furnishes the soil with
such strange contradictions, so that beautiful
plain of fertile grass is presently succeeded by a
great cactus farm, with perhaps an intervention or
an ntermiDg Cling OF sage brush Ii Is Hayo-ka per-
haps who places the solitary trees, here and there
dotting the timberess expanse to dispute the gen.
eral uniformity.
Ha-yo-ka for the benefit of emgrants at least. cer-
tainly deserves place therefore in any description
of Dakota. Any emgrant who is unprepared for the
anamolics as well the monotony OF Dakota may
suffer disappointment. If Abraham and Lot for in
stance with their cattle herds should enter Dakota
from the east crossing triumphantly the Red River
as their posterty crossed the Red Sea, undoubtedly
they would say, 1t is goody land;' perhaps IN
their first enthusiasm they might eXclau, Ii is q
land flowing with milk and honey" Il the same
patriarchs however to enter II from the west,
seeing its maze of Bad Lands" its alkali swamps,
its sage aud cactus fields, they would probably
apply to the whole country the expressive language
of Gen. Snlly: 1t is hell with the fires pat out"
Unfortunately for the information of the travelling
public the Northern Pacific Road has written its
circulars only from the east end presenting in its
ignorance perhaps, that the rather narrow strip Of
good land along the Red River is fair sample Of
the country further west.
TESTIMONIAL TO NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD
LANDS.
very much doubt even if the Road would be
willing to publish the testimony of one OF Its SET
tiers whose chosen place lay between both extremes
of Dakota latitude, viz, the Missouri RIVER. near
Bismarck. Joshua-for like the renowned Hebrew.
he was pioneer and military ieader-thGS summed
up his experience TOR year Il blitt hne
rsnche," said he, " and planted extensively. had
also large garden ntrusted 10 my care. asd plenty
of help to work it, l carried up water III barrels
from the Missouri aud irrigated the land. had the
satisfaction of seeing my crops come up. But no
sooner had they got fairly started than the potato
bug made fearful raid OH the young growths. A
terrible wlnd-.sorm and several extremely cold
nights Ha-yo-ka) jeoparded the whole crop An
immense army OF grasshoppers then and ase
up what the potatobu had left and last, but not
least, an extraordinary hail-storm beat to death
the remnant which had survived the Potatobug
and the grasshopper. To be sure, have some corn
1aSt butr OH shua taxi a