The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1876-09-21
Customs and characteristics of the
Sioux.
Sioux.


|
to 1866 fifty of their living chiefs had
been photographed. The Sioux, with
the exception of certain characters
tic Iankncss like all other American In
dams, is physically well made. He is
tall, muscular, and capable of enduring
any amount of fatigue and privation.
His forehead is narrow and retreating,
though backed by massive head, His
face is broad in proportion to its length,
the breadth being caused by the high
cheek-bones. His eyes are small, black,
and piercing; nose prominent, some
what aquiline and widespread, lips
thin. and chin somewhat prominent,
The complexion is uniformly clear,
pinkish-brown or copper color. The
women are much more inclined to fat
ness than the men, and while the latter
are very tall the former are usually the
reverse. Though as rule the females
are uglier, good faces and forms are
not wanting among them.
othsexes are addicted to the practice
oferadicating from Iheir persons all hair
except that ot!the head. They sometimes
tattoo, though of late this practice has
fallen into disuse. Paint, however, on
stated occasionsis still used in profusion.
Formerly it was a custom with young
men to cut the rim of the ear from top
to bottom, thus forming a sort of loop,
which, by means of weights or wires,
was gradually drawn down, in some
cases even to the shoulders. To this
loop ornaments of various kinds were
conveniently appended. they also
sometimes pierced the septum of the
nose, decorating it with hollow bones,
feathers, quilts, or any other material
which happened to strike them as or
namental.
Their food consists principally of
game, though the Indian corn and a
small variety of beans are cultivated
by them, and afford additional means
of subsistence. In former times their
principal mode of cooking was by roast
ing. All kinds of birds, beasts, and
reptiles were esteemed as food, and
even the Larvae ofsomespecies of insects.
Though when discovered they possessed
the art of manufacturing vessels of
clay, in which they sometimes cooked,
it is not impossible that at some period
of their existence they boiled by i'm
mersing heated stones in vessels of wa
ter containing the ingredients to be
cooked. The Assiniboines, dissenting
tribe of the Sioux, have even received
their name on account of this practice.
1t was not uncommon for them to cook
an animal in its own skin or pouch.
This was done by digging hole in the
earth into which the skin was pressed,
being firmly secured with pegs around
the edge. Water was then poured in,
and to this joints of the meat, berries,
roots and seeds were added. Into the
whole a few hot stones were dropped
until the mass was sufficiently cooked
or rather heated for the red mans pal
ate. If, when a meal of this mush was
concluded, any remained, and it was
desirable to preserve it, the sediment
was pressed into balls slightly fattened,
and these, roasted in the ashes or dried
in the sun, constituted their bread or
cake. Their beverages consisted of the
broth of meats and fermented liquors
prepared from the juice of fruits, from
maple sugar, from preparations of
starch Of seeds. A preparation
known as Knick knick, and formed
of tobacco, sumac leaves, and the
outer bark of the red willow, con-
stituted their smoking material. At
present they have substituted for their
rude vessels of clay and their still more
primitive boiling hollows, the metal
vessels Of the white man. The more
civilized of them use to a limited ex-
tent -four and pork. In addition to
their own mildly intoxicating liquors,
they have adopted the rum and foul
whisky OF the frontiers. Cakes and
coarse bread were also prepared from
the meal Of the Indian corn and other
seeds, formed into a paste, and baked
either on hot stones or in the ashes.
The Indian delicacy, marrow, was pre-
| pared for eating by roasting the larger
bones, breaking the ends and splitting
Il them. III was eaten while still hot