Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1927-03-11

dan women at the time of his visit to their
villages in 1893, Catlin says:
The principal occupations of the women
In this village, consist in procuring wood
and water. in cooking, dressing robes and
other skins, In drying meat and wild fruit.
and raising corn (maize). The Mandans
are somewhat of agriculturists, as they
raise a great deal OF corn and some pump
kins and squashes. This is all done by the
women, who make their hoes of the Shout
der-blade OF the buffalo or the elk, and dig
the ground over instead of p%loughing it,
which is consequently done with a vast
deal of labour. They raise a very small
sort of corn. the ears of which are not
longer than a mans thumb. This variety
is we'll adapted to their climate, as II rip
ems sooner than other varieties, which
would not mature is so cold a latitude.
The green corn season is one of great fes-
tivity with them, and one of much i'm
%pOrtance. The greater part of their crop
is eaten during these festivals, and the re-
mainder is gathered and dried on the cob
before it has ripened, and packed away in
caches" (as the French call them), holes
dug In the ground, some six or seven feet
deep, the insides of which are somewhat
in the form OF a jug, and tightly closed at
the top. The corn, and even dried meat
and pemmican. are placed In these caches.
being packed tight around the sides with
prairie grass, and e~ffectually preserved
through the seyerest winters.
Corn and dried meat are generally laid
In, in the fall, In sufficient quantities to
support them through the winter. These
are the principal articles of food during
that long and inclement season; and In
addition to them, they oftentimes have In
store great quantities of dried squashes
and dried pommes hlanches, a kind of tur-
nip which grows In great abundance in
these regions, and of which ] have before
spoken. These are dried In great qnanti-
ties and pounded into a sort of meal, ard
cooked with the dried meat and corn.
Great quantities also of wild fruit OF diff
ferent kinds are dried and laid away In
store for the winter season, such as buff
falo berries, service berries, strawberries,
and wild prums."
Physically Above Average
The Mandans were physically above the
average Indians in stature, although not
the equals in this respect of the Crows
or Blackfeet. They were strong and broad
shouldered. Their faces were not so strik-
ing in the aquiline nose and high cheek
bone as the other Siouan tribes. The eyes
were dark brown, the mouth and jaw
broad, the hair long and black and worn
very long. A grayish mixture was com
mon in the hair of many, even in youth,
and was a Characteristic feature. The
complexion was of the usual brown, cop
| perish tinge of the Indian, although in
many individuals 1t approached white very
nearly, and this before the white man had
ever been among them. The women were
short, strongly built and not handsome as
a rule. The men were VIGOROUSLY vain in
VI bitFof ~ - -
genuity in ornamentation.
The writer who would undertake to en-
body the entire history of such q people
as the Mandans, with all their misfor-
tunes and calamities, must needs have un
limited space and time allotted TO him. II
would be this historians task to paint q
| picture which would reach far back into
forgotten ages, portraying the varied ex-
| ~istence, the travels, the customs of tbs
people: and, to do them Justice, he would
need to be careful that his pen would sci
at right theories and opinions which have
been biased by a mercenary ana cruel
world. ;.
So far as the Mandans are concerned, II
is sufficient here to state that these pecul
lar people have rendered through the years
, in which this race lived on the Upper Mis-
souri,, an inestimable service to mankind
Not a single white explorer or trader wh'
! came into the wilderness manifesting un
selfish and friendly motives was ever IL
treated at their hands. Sierre de La Veren
drye, David Thompson. Jean Baptiste Tru
, deau, Lewis and Clark, Manuel Lisa, ant
even the representatives Of the not-alto