COLLECTIONS
OF THE
Minnesota Historical Society,
FOR THE YEAR 1867.

Saint Paul:
PIONEER PRINTING COMPANY.
1867.

OFFICERS.

President:

Vice Presidents:

Secretary:

Treasurer:

Executive Council:

[1]

CONTENTS.

[2]

Report of the Committee of Publication.

Hon. H. H. Sibley, President of the Minnesota Historical Society:

Your Committee of Publication, acting under instruction of the Executive Council, beg leave to lay before you the accompanying annual.

The limited means of the Society have compelled brevity; and most of the articles selected are of local, rather than of general interest.

The article on the “Mineral Regions of Minnesota” may be a matter of some general interest; but its chief interest will be with the people of our State.

The “Life of Constantine Beltrami” will be interesting to all readers; though his connection with Minnesota and the North-west will cause it to be read with peculiar interest by our own people.

The article on the “Dakota Superstitions,” coming from one most thoroughly acquainted with those children of the forest, must awaken the interest of all who care to enter into the study of the aboriginal character.

The brief sketch of the “History of the United States Land Office” contains facts well worth preserving.

The article on the “Geography of Perrot,” notwithstanding the world-wide reputation of Perrot, is rather of local, than of any general interest. Your committee would express their regret that the want of French type has compelled them to print the original in such style as to do great injustice to the author. They would fain have omitted the French, and printed only the translation, but for the earnest wish of Mr. Hill, that the fidelity of his translation might be apparent by comparison with the original.

[3]

ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
CORRESPONDING & RECORDING SECRETARY

Read at the Annual Meeting, Jan. 21, 1867.

CONTRIBUTIONS.

The contributions to the society since the last annual report, February 22, 1866, have been as follows:

Several works on the Sioux massacre of 1862, have been added by gift and purchase, and twenty-two volumes of Doddsley’s Annual Register, (comprising the whole set with the exception of two volumes,) a journal of the times from 1751 to 1780, published in London, have been purchased and placed in our library.

Gen. H. S. Sanford, U. S. Minister at Belgium, an honorary member of the society, and Hon. A. Goodrich, Secretary of Legation at the Belgian capital and an old member of this society, were appointed delegates to the International Archæological Congress to have been held at Antwerp in August last, but which was postponed in consequence of the prevalence of the cholera in that city. Both[6] gentlemen signified their acceptance, presented their credentials and agreed to represent this society at the adjourned meeting of the Congress which is to be held during this year.

The society in May last caused two of the mounds on Dayton’s Bluff to be opened. The work was superintended by Mr. W. H. Kelley, who made an able and elaborate report to the society, which proved the mounds to be of very great antiquity. It is contemplated to continue the work of excavation still farther, and it is hoped that discoveries may be made which may throw additional light on the “Mound Builders,”—a race whose history is shrouded in the deepest mystery and oblivion.

A vast deal may be accomplished for the furtherance of the objects of the society, which will otherwise remain undone, by standing committees who should be appointed by the council from its members.

Biographies, narratives and reminiscences of the early missionaries, fur-traders, voyageurs, government agents, explorers and old settlers, might now, with organized and well directed effort, be easily obtained (while the opportunities for such work are rapidly diminishing,) and would be of incalculable interest to the future historian and antiquary.

Although much has been written on the subject of the Indian tribes who have lived within the limits of the state, yet it is a fruitful field that is by no means exhausted.

Much remains to be done in the department of geology and mineralogy, in collecting specimens and properly classifying and arranging them.

The Natural History Department might become an interesting feature of the society if we had the means to enable us to employ a suitable person to procure and prepare specimens of the beasts and birds found within the borders of our state. This will soon become a labor attended with great difficulty and expense as the advance of settlements and the exterminating policy of the hunter and trapper will speedily cause many of the fur-bearing animals and rarer varieties of birds to disappear.

A very fine collection of the birds of Minnesota was not long since taken east and sold, which would have been secured for our society but for the lack of means.

[7]

Our sphere of usefulness is circumscribed by our poverty. If the legislature could be induced to increase the annual appropriation, we might publish our “Collections” annually, as we have an accumulation of interesting matter in manuscript, which we desire to put in more enduring and available form, and we are continually receiving favors from sister societies which we would be glad to reciprocate. We would like also to bind some of the newspapers which have been accumulating on our hands, to purchase books for the library, and to extend historical research into departments yet unfathomed.

All of which is respectfully submitted,

CHARLES E. MAYO, Secretary.

[8]

MINERAL REGIONS OF LAKE SUPERIOR,
AS KNOWN
FROM THEIR FIRST DISCOVERY TO 1865.

BY HON. H. M. RICE, OF SAINT PAUL.

One hundred and twenty-one years ago there were found, north Lake of Superior, several “large lumps of the finest virgin copper.” The finder wrote: “In the honest exultation of my heart at so important a discovery, I directly showed it to the Company, (Hudson’s Bay Company) but the thanks I met with may be easily judged from the system of their conduct. The fact, without any inquiry into the reality of it, was treated as a chimerical illusion, and a stop arbitrarily put to all farther search into the matter, by the absolute lords of the soil.”

The first attempt made to obtain copper from the Lake Superior region was by a company of adventurers from England, soon after the conquest of Canada, “but the distracted state of affairs in America obliged them to relinquish their scheme.” The next effort was made in 1771, by a company who petitioned for, and obtained, a charter from the British Government. The partners, in England, were His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester, Mr. Secretary Townsend, Sir Samuel Tutchet, Baronet; Mr. Baxter, Consul of the Empress of Russia, and Mr. Cruickshank; in America, Sir William Johnson, Baronet, Mr. Bostwick, Mr. Baxter and Alexander Henry.

“In 1770 (says Henry,) Mr. Baxter, who had sailed for England, returned, bringing with him papers by which, with Mr. Bostwick and himself, I was constituted a joint agent and partner, in, and for, a company of adventurers for working the mines of Lake Superior. We passed the winter together at the Sault de Sainte Marie, and built a barge, fit for the navigation of the lake; at the same time laying the keel of a sloop of forty tons. Early in May, 1771, the lake becoming navigable, we departed from Point aux Pius, our ship yard, at which there is a safe harbour, and of which the distance from the Sault is three leagues. We sailed for the Island of Yellow Sands, promising ourselves to make our fortunes, in defiance of its serpents.” After coasting about for five days, they returned to Point aux Pius, where they erected an air-furnace. The assayer made a report on the ores which had been collected, stating that the lead ore contained silver in the proportion of forty ounces to a ton, “but the copper ore, only in very small proportions indeed.” Facts developed by recent[9] explorations go far to show, that the day is not far distant when the silver mines of Lake Superior will rank among the most prolific in the world.

Soon after testing the ores at Point aux Pius, the expedition coasted westward for the mouth of the Ontouagon river. Henry says: “Proposing to ourselves to make a trial on the hill, till we were better able to go to work upon the solid rock, we built a house, and sent to the Sault de Sainte Marie for provisions. At the spot pitched upon for the commencement of our preparations, a green-colored water which tinged iron of a copper color, issued from the hill, and this the miners called a leader. Having arranged everything for the miners during the winter, we returned to the Sault. Early in the spring of 1772, we sent a boat load of provisions; but it came back on the 20th day of June, bringing with it, to our surprise, the whole establishment of miners. They reported, that in the course of the winter, they had penetrated forty feet into the hill; but, that on the arrival of the thaw, the clay on which, on account of its stiffness, they relied, and neglected to secure it by supporters, had fallen in;—that to recommence their search would be attended with much labor and cost;—that from the detached masses of metal which, to the last, had daily presented themselves, they supposed there might be, ultimately, reached some body of the same, but could form no conjecture of its distance.” They concluded that the work would require more men than could be fed, and their operations in that quarter ended.

A little over eighty-two years ago, the independence of the United States was acknowledged by Great Britain, in a treaty concluded at Paris, in which the boundaries were agreed upon. By reference to that instrument, it will be observed that the northern line, after striking the River St. Lawrence, follows up that stream to the great lakes, thence through the middle of the same, and their connecting rivers, to Lake Superior; thence through Lake Superior, northward of the Isles Royal and Philippean, to the Long Lake, now known as Pigeon River; thus securing to what is now Minnesota, about one hundred and fifty miles of the north shore of that inland sea, and believed to contain the richest copper and silver deposits known in the world. Benjamin Franklin was one of the commissioners to the treaty. It is supposed that he obtained information in France of the richness of that region; and, to his great foresight, we are mostly indebted for that valuable acquisition. In fact, he wrote that the time would come when the American people would consider the part he took in securing that vast mineral region to them as one of the greatest acts of his life. Seventy-five years after the death of that great and good man, the people of Minnesota are about to realize the importance of the vast interests secured by that far-seeing statesman.

On the 5th day of August, 1826, Lewis Cass and Thomas L. McKenney, commissioners on the part of the United States, made and concluded a treaty with the Chippewa Indians at Fond du Lac, Lake Superior, by which the Chippewas granted to the United States the right to search for, and[10] carry away, any metals or minerals from any part of their country. No efforts under this grant were ever made; but from that period (and even before,) explorations, from time to time, were made by individuals; and many indications of rich mines, (now within the limits of Minnesota,) were discovered. Licenses to trade with the Indians were obtained,—buildings for the ostensible purpose of trade were erected, and possession maintained for many years, in hopes the Government would extinguish the Indian title to the land, so that individual titles might be acquired. Time and expense caused the abandonment of most of these points, and a consequent dissipation of the bright visions raised by the knowledge of the wealth which was beyond the reach of the discoverers.

Under the old permit system, many locations, three miles square, were made on Lake Superior;—several on and near the Montreal river—some on Bad River, south of La Pointe—three on the main land, opposite La Pointe—two or three were made near Superior City, on the Nemadji, or Left Hand river, and one settler’s claim about twenty miles north of Superior. Several locations were made in the valley of the St. Croix river; explorations, to a limited extent, and recent developments, give great hopes that the Falls of the St. Croix may, at no distant day, compete with some of the towns of Lake Superior in the shipment of copper. Two of the mines south of Superior are being worked, both giving assurances that success will amply reward those engaged in the work. Last year, a New York company was formed for the purpose of working one of the locations on Bad River. The work was commenced, and has been vigorously prosecuted with flattering prospects. On the 30th of September, 1854, the Chippewa Indians, by a treaty made at La Pointe, ceded all their lands on the north shore of Lake Superior to the United States; thus removing all obstructions to the development of the rich mines within the limits of Minnesota. In the same year, an association was formed by gentlemen residing in this state and Ohio for the purpose of securing a title to several well known locations within the country ceded, which purpose they accomplished some four or five years afterwards. The association was known under the name of R. B. Carlton & Co. On the 28th day of September, 1858, a meeting of the persons composing the association was held in the city of Cleveland, Ohio, and, among others, the following actions were taken:

Hon. Henry B. Payne, of Cleveland, was appointed President, and Jas. Wade, jr., Secretary. Certificates of stock were issued. The next meeting of the stockholders was called by the trustees, and held at Bayfield, Wisconsin, July 27, 1863, which meeting adjourned to Du Luth, Minnesota, where it convened, July 31, 1863; and on the 3d of the next month, August, on motion of B. F. Paine, it was unanimously resolved, that they proceed to organize two companies under the laws of Minnesota. Hon. Geo. L. Becker presented drafts of articles of associations for a corporation to be known as the North Shore Mining Company; and, also, another corporation to be known as the French River Mining Company, which were approved, acknowledged by the corporators, and ordered to be placed on record as required by law. The capital stock in each company was $100,000, divided in 2,000 shares of $50 each. The first meeting of the corporators and stockholders of each of said new companies was held in Cleveland, Ohio, November 2, 1863, at which meeting the “French River Mining Company” and the “North Shore Mining Company” were organized by the election of boards of five directors each—three, residents of Ohio, one of the city of New York, and one of the State of Minnesota. The directors organized by appointing Hon. Henry B. Payne, president, and James Wade, jr., secretary and treasurer. The trustees of the Carlton & Co. association conveyed to the “French River Mining Company” the south-west[12] quarter, and lots Nos. 3 and 4 of section No. 17, in town 51 north of range 12, west, in Saint Louis county, Minnesota, containing 165 16-100 acres. The trustees conveyed to the “North Shore Mining Company” the south-east quarter of section 25, town 52, range 12, west, in same county. During the year 1864, a shaft was sunk, by the North Shore Company, to the depth of 20 feet, and by French River Company, 40 feet—both giving indications of valuable results.

At a meeting of the stockholders, held on the 6th of July, 1864, Gen. A. S. Sanford, of Cleveland, was chosen president, in place of H. B. Payne, resigned, but who still remains as one of the directors. The French River Company sent up men, tools, and supplies sufficient to prosecute the work, day and night, during the winter. The work is in charge of Frank Salisbury, who is sinking a shaft one hundred and fifty feet from the old one, with the intention of drifting from one to the other. I have, perhaps, gone too much into detail; but if the anticipations of those who have given this subject much attention shall be realized, the silent operations and large expenditures that have been made, will, hereafter, render any facts, connected with the first developments of the mineral wealth of Minnesota, interesting in the future. But a few years ago, those engaged in developing the copper mines on Lake Superior, within the state of Michigan, were looked upon as visionary speculators. The completion of the Sault St. Mary canal gave such facilities as enabled them to draw capital from all parts of the United States and to convince the most skeptical that the basin of that vast inland sea contained untold wealth. Of the many mines in successful operation, a single one—the Quincy, yielded, the past season, 3,102,532 pounds, or 1,551 tons, 532 pounds of copper, worth one million five hundred thousand dollars. When we have communication by railroad to the head of lake navigation, the most skeptical cannot over rate the mineral wealth that will be developed, nor the commercial advantages that will inure to the state—enriching and infusing new life into every city, town and hamlet.

[13]

CONSTANTINE BELTRAMI.

[By A. J. Hill, of St. Paul; at the request of the Minnesota Historical Society.]

§ 1. INTRODUCTORY.

Though narratives of the fortunes of early explorers of a country cannot, in general, throw any light upon its history, apart from their travels in the region itself, yet such recitals or biographies may still be useful in enabling us to form juster opinions of the accounts given by the travelers of their discoveries, from the knowledge afforded as to character, attainments and position.

Of the subject of this article, till within a few years, nothing was known to us, Minnesotians, beyond the little to be gleaned from his own books of travel and from the narrative of the expedition of Major Long; and even these works are so out of date that the name of Beltrami is unfamiliar to our ears. His life is like the bridge in the vision of Mirza—we see but the middle of it—the beginning and end are hid in obscurity. The recent publication, in Italy, of biographical notices of this traveler, has furnished the means of supplying the deficiency of information concerning him; and at the request of the Historical Society of Minnesota, the present memoir has been compiled, as a fitting contribution to its “Collections.”

§ 2. PUBLISHED KNOWLEDGE OF BELTRAMI BEFORE HIS DEATH.

No doubt, at the time our traveler visited the United States, more or less was said concerning him in the journals of the day; and that he was violently assailed by writers of that time is shown in his own books; but such accounts, appearing in fleeting papers, are now entirely inaccessible, and indeed would be of but little interest or value if they could be found.

Hitherto, therefore, our knowledge of Beltrami was derived from three books only, which were:

1. A work, published by himself at New Orleans in 1824, entitled “La Decouverte des Sources du Mississippi et de la Riviere Sanglante,” one vol., 8vo pp. 328. 2. “Keating’s Narrative of Long’s Expedition to the Sources of the St. Peter’s River, &c.,” Philadelphia, 1824; and 3. “A Pilgrimage in Europe and America, leading to the Discovery of the Sources of the Mississippi and Bloody River, with a description of the whole course of the former, and of the Ohio. By J. C. Beltrami, Esq., formerly judge of a royal court in the ex-kingdom of Italy.” London, 1828; 2 volumes. 8vo., pp. 1093.

The first of these is a narrative simply of his tour in the west, from Pittsburg to the head waters of the Mississippi, and thence to New Orleans, written in French, and in the form of letters addressed to a friend, the Countess Compagnoni born Passeri. Major Long’s book contains but one or two references to Beltrami, and those of a depreciating character. The exact nature of the disagreement between the two gentlemen is not[14] known, nor would it be right to exhume and display it, if it could be done. All familiar with the history of “expeditions” must have noticed how often coolness or rupture have occurred between leading men of such parties, arising from arrogance, jealousy, or incompatibility of temper. The “Pilgrimage” of Beltrami gives an account of his European travels previous to his coming to the United States, and then embodies his former work which he seems merely to have translated into English, without other alterations than a few verbal changes.

A synopsis of the personal history found in the above works is as follows:

He had been an official of the ex-kingdom of Italy, and was sent into exile without trial—traveled in France, Germany, and England, in 1821-2—went to the United States in 1823, and descended the Ohio river to its mouth; thence, in company with Major Taliaferro, embarked for the Upper Mississippi—reached Fort St. Anthony (Snelling) May 20, 1823, whence he had expected to accompany Major T. up the river St Peter—at that time unexplored—with the intention of proceeding further, toward the sources of the Mississippi, also unknown. But circumstances did not admit of that, and he was on the point of changing his direction for the south, by traversing by land, the wild tracts lying between the Fort and Council Bluffs, when Major Long and his party unexpectedly arrived. He accompanied this expedition, which left the Fort on the 7th of July, as far as Pembina, where he quitted it, on the 9th of August, and with a bois brule and the two Chippewas only, for companions, plunged into the wilderness lying to the south east, and struck “Robber’s” (Thief) river near its confluence with Red Lake River (which he calls “Bloody River,” and insists that it is the true Red River.) He then followed the course of the latter stream to Red Lake, whence, after visiting its south shore, he ascended the river of the Grand Portage to its sources at a small lake on a hill where he arrived on the 28th, and which, on “the theory of the ancient geographers, that the sources of a river which are most in a right line with its mouth, should be considered as its principal sources, and particularly when they issue from a Cardinal point and flow to the one directly opposite,” he maintained to be the head of the Red River of the North. This lake he also described as supplying the most northern sources of the Mississippi; and on that ground, and also that they had been previously unknown, rested his claims as a geographical discoverer. He named the lake “Julia,” from a dear friend of his, deceased, [Moroni says, “after the woman of his heart;”] and the stream issuing southwardly from it, the “Julian sources of the Mississippi.” The present Itasca Lake he referred to as called by the Indians “Bitch Lake,” (Lac la Biche—“Elk” Lake,) and as being most probably the “western sources of the Mississippi[1].” After[15] ascending Leech Lake River, and visiting the lake itself, he returned by the Mississippi to the Fort, (Fort Snelling) arriving there the 30th of September, and thence descended to New Orleans, where, in the spring of 1824, he published the French account of his travels.

He now disappears from our view.

§ 3. BIOGRAPHICAL FACTS FROM RECENT ITALIAN SOURCES.

Gabriele Rosa, of Bergamo, Lombardy, an author of note, furnished to the Review of Venice, (Revista Veneta) a couple of papers on this traveler, which appeared April 20 and 27, 1856, and were reprinted, at Bergamo, in 1861, under the title, “Of the Life and Writings of Constantine Beltrami of Bergamo, Discoverer of the Sources of the Mississippi;” (Della vita e degli scritti di Costantino Beltrami da Bergamo, scopritore delle fonti del Mississippi)—a pamphlet of 34 pages octavo. On being applied to, through the post, the author courteously sent several copies of his little work to the United States—to the writer of this paper—besides furnishing, in his letters, information in reply to inquiries.

In consequence of this correspondence, which took place in 1863-4, the municipality of the same city formed the plan of publishing, and dedicating to the Historical Society of Minnesota, a work which should be a proper memorial of him who was their countryman and so deserving of honor. This book was brought out in the beginning of 1865 and is entitled “Costantino Beltrami da Bergamo—Notizie e lettere pubblicate per cura del municipio di Bergamo e dedicate alla societa storica di Minnesota.” It is a small but handsome quarto of 134 pages and contains: 1. As a frontispiece, a photograph from the full length portrait of Beltrami, painted by Professor Enrico Scuri, and presented to the public. 2. An elegant dedicatory preface, addressed to the Society, and signed by the members of the city council. 3. The papers of Signore Rosa, before mentioned. 4. A lecture on the same subject as the preceding, delivered by Count Pietro Moroni, in 1856, before the Athenæum of Bergamo, and 5. Letters from Chateaubriand and other eminent men, addressed to him, also one from his own pen.

From these sources, our knowledge of Beltrami has been perfected, and the facts so obtained are now given—mostly in the form of a close translation.

J. C. Beltrami (Giacomo Costantino B.) was born at Bergamo, in 1779, his parents being Giambattista Beltrami of that city, and Catterina Carozzi of Pontita. His father was a man of fine presence, and of note from his position as custom-house officer of the Venetian republic, and also by reason of his courteous manners. There were ten children, of whom our hero, Constantine, was the youngest. It appears that there was a tradition in the family of its being derived from Beltrand des Goths, who fled from Paris at the time of St. Bartholomew in 1572, and took refuge at Bergamo under the sheltering wing of the Venetian republic—model in those times[16] of political and religions toleration. Constantine was bred to the law; and although he possessed a restless spirit, desirous of adventure, and that when he was just ten years old the great public commotions that afterwards shook all Europe were beginning, yet his natural talent prompted him to the acquisition of the Latin and Greek literature, to which afterwards, from his experience in public affairs, was added a rich store of geographical knowledge, and, finally, a familiarity with the modern languages. The courage and adventurous will that shone in him at forty-four impelled him, in his youthful vigor, to abandon the paternal house for military affairs; and being brought to the notice of men high in office, friends of the family, and shortly opening the way by his own abilities, he became vice-inspector of the armies; but, disgusted with occupations so far below his higher aspirations, he returned to civil pursuits. At the age of twenty-eight, in 1807, he became chancellor of the French departments of the Stura and the Tanaro, and soon after judge of the court at Udine. There, by his fine intellect and untiring zeal, he gained the praises of his superiors who testified to him their high satisfaction, as appears by many of their letters. Such expressions of approval were confirmed by his appointment as judge of the civil and criminal court of Macerata. In 1812, being afflicted with a severe disease, and having received permission, he left his post for a time, and visited Florence, where he formed relations with the Duke of Monteleone, and with the Countess of Albany—the friend of Alfieri and Foscolo—who afterwards, in time of danger, protected him by her counsels and influence. For the extraordinary activity shown by him in certain important matters the supreme judge, minister of justice, in a letter addressed to him in 1813, praised his zeal and acquirements, prophesying his promotion to the chair of the president of the court of Forli, for which the prince viceroy had proposed him for the imperial sanction of France. However, the cloud that shortly rose and darkened the political horizon of the Empire, and of the Italian kingdom, hindered any further transmission of names. From Florence he was hurriedly recalled by Poerio—at that time minister extraordinary of the King of the Two Sicilies, for the southern Italian departments. When the Austrians occupied the Marches, he retired to his estates at Filotrano, not far from Macerata, whence, from 1816 to 1819, he made excursions to Naples, Rome, and Florence. It appears that in some way he became involved in carbonarism; for in 1821, although sick, and hardly able to stand upon his feet, he had to leave the Romagna and go into exile.

Immediately after his travels in the region of the Upper Mississippi, he embarked at New Orleans, in 1824, for Mexico, and traversed that country from ocean to ocean. He returned from the United States to London in 1826 or 1827. The revolution of July called him to Paris, where we soon find him in amicable epistolary relations with the Count D’Apony, the Austrian embassador, to whom, in a letter written on the 10th of August,[17] 1830, a few days after the revolution, he offered his services towards ameliorating the condition of his native country. At the same time, he carried on a correspondence with Benjamin Constant, with Lafayette and Lafitte. He participated in the theories of the Napoleonists of his time, and aspired for the elevation of the nations, and especially for that of Italy. In 1834, the Scientific Congress at Stuttgard being in session, Beltrami was sent to it to represent the Historical Institute of France, accredited therefore by the perpetual secretary, Mons. de Monglave, who did not hesitate to style him one of the most honorable and distinguished of that scientific association. Shortly after, he went to Heidelberg, where he acquired a small landed estate which he lived on for two years. In 1837 we find him at Vienna; then, shortly, at Home, and so—now here, now there—he lived till 1850, when, finding himself bowed down by the weight of years, he returned to his property at Filotrano, where, amongst his early friends, he placidly passed the remainder of life, and where, in February, 1855, he died, having completed his seventy-fifth year.

Beltrami was a man of frank and sincere soul—an enemy of all flattery, and capable of unparalleled self denial. In proof of the latter, it is related that although he suspected that the cases of articles sent by him from America had been opened and plundered on their arrival at Florence, yet, to avoid the bitterness of certainty of such fact, he would never consent to their being examined during his lifetime, desiring that it should only be done by his heirs,—as so happened.

In the desire to be more generally read, he wrote everything in foreign languages, for which indeed he can hardly be blamed, having to print his works out of Italy. A complete list of his published writings is as follows:

The Indian curiosities and other articles brought by Beltrami to his native country from the region of our present Minnesota, together with his MS. papers &c., were presented by his heir, a nephew, shortly after his death, to the library of Bergamo, the municipality of which city caused them to be properly displayed in the vestibule of the building. Signore Rosa, his chief eulogist, says, in a private letter, that there is no genuine portrait of him extant;—the one by Professor Scuri being drawn from the engraving in the “Pilgrimage,” and from tradition.

[18]

§ 4. REMINISCENCES OF MAJOR TALIAFERRO.

Major Lawrence Taliaferro, of Beaufort, Penn., a soldier of 1812, who from the year 1819 to 1840, acted as Agent for Indian Affairs for the tribes of the north-west, and who yet lives in the memories of the Sioux, to whom he was known as Mahza Bakah or Iron Cutter, furnished, under date of the 4th of April, 1866, the following information concerning his friend Beltrami:

“I was in Washington in 1823 relative to my official connection with the north-western tribes of Minnesota; whilst on my return, in March, to my post, I found a note, or card, at a hotel in Pittsburg, from Beltrami, asking permission to bear me company to the Falls of St. Anthony. When I saw him, his presence and manner at once obtained my confidence, and leave was granted to do so. We passed together down the Ohio, and up the Mississippi to Fort Snelling. I divided my quarters with him; and Col. Snelling and lady invited him to take his meals at their hospitable table.

“Beltrami was six feet high, of commanding appearance and some forty-five years of age; proud of bearing, and quick of temper, high spirited, but always the gentleman. He expressed an earnest wish to explore the sources of the Mississippi. I gave him a passport to go where he pleased, and instructed the Chippewas of Otter Tail, and other lakes, to see him safely through their country, should he seek assistance. Shortly after this desire, Major Long, of the Topographical Engineers, with his corps, arrived. Beltrami was introduced to Major L. and permission granted Mr. B. to accompany the party to Pembina. At Pembina, a difficulty occurred between Major Long and Beltrami, when the latter sold his horse (my horse) and equipments, and in company with a half breed, passed near the line of 49° to the sources of the Mississippi. His sufferings were of no agreeable nature. Here, near Leech Lake, he fell in with a sub-chief, the ‘Cloudy Weather,’ most fortunately, who knew Mr. B., having seen him in one of my councils at the agency. This old man was given, by signs, to know that white man wanted to descend the river. The chief took our Italian friend in his canoe, and turned down stream. Indians are proverbially slow, hunting and fishing on the way; Beltrami lost all patience,—abused his Indian crew,—made many menaces, &c. The ‘Cloud’ tapped him on the hat with his pipe stem, as much as to say, ‘I will take you to my father safe if you will be still.’ The old chief told of this temper of my friend, but Mr. B. never made allusion to it, but was very grateful to his kind Pillager friends.

“Beltrami had been in the military service;—was judge of a court. I touched him at times with the appellation of Count; ‘Who is your dear Countess to whom you address many affectionate letters?’—‘Not my wife,’ said he; ‘but a lovely woman; and if you would replace the G in your name, [Tagliaferro] and come with me to Italy—the home of your ancestors—I would make you happy in her company.’

[19]

“That the tour of Mr. B. was not altogether abortive, I have full reason to believe. He explained by his notes to me his whole route, put the discovery of the true sources correctly, as others have since done,—including the distinguished Nicollet. To learn the habits of the Indian tribes was almost a mania with him. He had every facility;—his greatest anxiety was, before he left Italy, as he stated to me, to explore the wildest portion of the continent, north and west,—to see as many of the noble North American Indians as possible. He seemed fond of adventure. I saw he was dispirited for the lack of means;—he did not deny it when questioned delicately on this point.

“In conversing of Italy and Italian affairs, he hesitated not to speak very broadly about the highest ecclesiastical dignitary, touching whom he often lost his patience. Beltrami was a patriot, and undoubtedly of note, and had suffered persecution.”

§ 5. CONCLUSION.

No further direct information concerning Beltrami, personally, can be added to the preceding; and enough undoubtedly has been said to fill the blank hitherto existing, and to place him properly before the people of Minnesota, to the majority of whom his name is totally unknown. There remains, however, to supplement this monograph, one more task to be performed, at some future time, when the territory he independently explored shall have been surveyed and mapped by the deputies of the General Land Office, and that is the examination and verification of the route traveled by him, and of the lakes and rivers he visited, in order to restore and bring into popular use, so far as practicable, the names he gave to many places; though he named only certain lakes, streams and islands, hitherto undistinguished.

The Legislature, last winter, at the instance of the Historical Society, and in conformity with the custom of naming some of the counties of a territory or state after its early explorers, established a county by the name of Beltrami; which extends from the first “range line” below the mouth of Turtle River, on the east, to the line between ranges 38 and 39 on the west, and from the line between townships 154 and 155 on the north to the north line of Beecher county, and to the Mississippi on the south. This county comprehends the region of the head of “Bloody River,” &c., and is in area about 4,000 square miles—subject to reduction and modification of boundary it is true; but, it is to be hoped, always to retain the same name, and to include the “Julian Sources of the Mississippi” within its limits. Of this act of legislation, his friend, Major Taliaferro says, “It is a high compliment;—one well deserved, and creditable to the movers and State;” and all lovers of justice who read Beltrami’s own words will rejoice that his claims have at last been officially recognized.

In reference to the opportunity he had of perpetuating his own name in the Indian territory by giving it an archipelago, as he terms it, of the Mississippi—the present “Thousand Islands,” situated a mile or two below[20] St. Cloud—he wrote, “After my death, men will dispose of my name as God will of my soul, according as I shall have well or ill deserved during my life; and I leave to my friends, and to those who have had opportunities of becoming acquainted with my heart, the charge of defending my memory, should it ever be attacked by injustice or prejudice.”

APPENDIX.
HYDROGRAPHY OF THE SOURCES OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.

In reference to the question as to which stream we should look to for the right source of the Mississippi, the following article has been prepared by Col. Charles Whittlesey—a man well known to the reading public, not only by his explorations and contributions to the stock of knowledge concerning the geology and physical geography of the North West, but by his writings on the earthworks and other relics of the aboriginal inhabitants of the same region:

[21]

HISTORICAL NOTES OF THE UNITED STATES LAND OFFICE.

[By Hon. H. M. Rice, of St. Paul.]

On the 26th day of January, 1796, when the American Congress was in session in Philadelphia, a Bill was reported for establishing land offices for the sale of lands in the North-western Territory. It was under discussion until April of the same year in the House of Representatives. A great diversity of opinion existed; some were in favor of selling in small tracts of fifty acres—others contended that none should be surveyed or sold in less than township tracts. Some favored a Bill that would retain the lands for actual settlers, others were for disposing of as much of the public domain as possible, and at the highest price, for the purpose of paying the public debt. For a long time, they could not agree upon the price. Mr. Williams, of New York, said “it was as necessary that the country should be settled as that the land should be sold. Or shall it be said that the honest, industrious settlers shall make roads, bridges, and other improvements, whilst the rich holders keep their lands in hand until these improvements are made, in order to increase the value of them?” Mr. Williams, undoubtedly, took a correct view of the case. The Bill, as finally agreed upon, established the office of Surveyor General, under the following title: “An Act providing for the sale of the Lands of the United States, in the Territory North-west of the river Ohio, and above the mouth of Kentucky river.” On the 18th of May, 1796, the Bill was approved by receiving the signature of George Washington. The office was first opened at Marietta, Ohio, under Rufus Putnam, Surveyor General. In 1804 it was removed to Vincennes;—in 1805 to Cincinnati;—in 1814 to Chillicothe;—in 1829 it was removed back to Cincinnati, where it remained until 1845, when it was removed to Detroit. In May, 1857, the office was again, and for the last time, removed to St. Paul. It now has in its custody the original correspondence for its establishment in 1796, which, undoubtedly, contains many important facts and reminiscences that would not only fully pay for their perusal, but might furnish historical points of great value. Through it, the past and present are connected. There can be found the workings under the original act under which no lands could be surveyed in tracts of less than 640 acres, nor sold for less than two dollars per acre; and out of this has grown our admirable system, which places within the reach of every man a home, be he rich, or be he poor.

[22]

THE GEOGRAPHY OF PERROT;
SO FAR AS IT RELATES TO MINNESOTA AND THE REGIONS IMMEDIATELY ADJACENT.

[Prepared by A. J. Hill, of St. Paul, and accepted for publication by the Minnesota Historical Society.]

§ 1. SHORT ACCOUNT OF PERROT AND HIS WRITINGS.

Nicolas Perrot, whose name is already well known to the readers of the early history of Minnesota, was born in 1644, and repaired, at an early age, to New France, where he resided, almost habitually, from 1665 to 1689, amongst the diverse races of its most distant part—the extremity of the angle formed by the valleys of the St. Lawrence and of the Mississippi. “At first simple coureur du bois by trade (1665-1684), and interpreter incidentally (1671-1701), he was at last, under the successive governments of M. M. de la Barre, Denonville and Frontenac (1684-1699), charged with a command analogous to that of our chiefs of Arab bureaux in Algeria.” In his capacity of interpreter, he was present at the convocation of the tribes at Sainte-Marie-du-Sault, where, on the 14th of June, 1671, the French government assumed the sovereignty of the regions beyond the Great Lakes. Nearly eighteen years later, on the 8th of May, 1689, he himself, acting as principal agent, took formal possession, in the name of the King of France, of all the country visited by him, or that might be visited, from Green Bay to the regions beyond the St. Croix and St. Peter. Subsequent to 1718, no information concerning him can be obtained.

The writings of Perrot are as follows:

1. Memoire sur les Outagamis, addresse au Marquis de Vaudreuil.

2. Plusieurs memoires tant sur les guerres des Iroquois contre les Illinois et les nations d’en haut, que sur les trahisons des sauvages, et en particulier, des Outaouais et des Hurons.

3. Memoire sur les moeurs, coustumes, et relligion des sauvages de l’Amerique Septentrionale.

Of these works, the last one only, the “Memoir upon the manners, customs and religion of the savages of Northern America,” which[23] must have been written some time between 1718, and 1721, has come down to us; though the “Plusieurs memoires” &c., is supposed to have been inserted, almost literally, by La Potherie, in the second volume of his history. It was not composed for publication, but for the confidential information of the Intendant of Canada, M. Begon, and remained in manuscript till 1864, when it appeared at Leipzig and Paris, being Part Three of the Bibliotheca Americana, edited by the Rev. Father J. Tailhan, of the Society of Jesus, on whose authority the preceding facts are stated. “There is only one copy of Perrot’s memoir in existence, of the last century; the same, probably, that Father Charlevoix used, and which he received from M. Begon, Intendant of Canada, in 1721. Our edition is a scrupulous reproduction of it.” [T.]

Scattered through this book are accounts of the Sioux and other tribes living in the region comprised within the limits of the present Minnesota, and between it and Lake Michigan; and, in the same connection, a description of the country of the former nation, and other geographical information of more or less direct reference. As an interesting addition to our knowledge of the historical geography of this region, all such notices have been carefully searched for, and are here given in a collected form for the use of the Historical Society of Minnesota. The extracts are purely in Perrot’s own words; no changes having been made, even in the orthography. In addition, though trenching somewhat on the domain of history, the episode of the disappearance of Father Menard is included;—partly by reason of the new and interesting version of the matter, and partly as showing that he should be considered as one of the very earliest European visitors to Minnesota. Our first desideratum being accurate texts, comments are best postponed; yet the notes of Father Tailhan are so well considered that this compilation would be incomplete without the insertion of such of them as correspond to the extracts from the original work. The translator has also ventured upon two or three explanatory remarks, or interpolations, of his own, distinguishable by being inclosed within brackets; except the dates, which are the Father’s.

§ 2. Extracts from his “Memoire sur les moeurs, &c.”

Car le pays du nord est la terre du monde la plus ingratte, puisque, dans quantitez d’endroits vous ne trouveriez pas un oiseau a chasser; on y ramasse cependant des bluets dans les mois d’aout et de septembre[2]....

[24]

Les Chiripinons ou Assiniboualas sement dans leurs marais quelques folles avoines qu’ils recueillent, mais ils n’en peuvent faire le transport chez eux que dans le temps de la navigation(1)....

Les Kiristinons qui hantent souvent le long des bords du Lac Superieur et des grandes rivieres, ou sont plus communement les elans(2)....

Les sauvages que l’on nomme Saulteurs [Chippewais] sont au sud du lac Superieur ... ils ont pour voysins et amis les Scioux, sur les limites desquels ils chassent, quand ils veulent....

Si on avance dans le nord, vers l’entree d’Ouisconching, l’hiver y est extremement froid et long. C’est la ou les castors sont les meilleurs, et le pays ou la chasse dure plus longtemps dans l’annee....

Ils tirent aussy l’hyver de dessous la glace dans les marests ou il y a beaucoup de vase et peu d’eau, une certaine racine, ... mais elle ne se trouve que dans la Louisianne, a quinze lieues plus haut que l’entree d’Ouisconching. Les sauvages nomme en leur langue cette racine Pokekoretch....

Mais les peuples plus avancez dans le nord, jusqu’a la hauteur d’Ouisconching, n’ont plus de ces nefles, et ceux qui sont encore plus loin manquent de ces noix semblables a celles de France....

Car ce pays [des sauvages des prairies] n’est que plaines; il y a seulement quelques islets ou ils ont coustume d’aller camper pour faire secher leurs viandes....

Quand touts les Outaouas se furent repandus vers les lacs [au Mechingan (3)], les Saulteurs et les Missisakis s’enfuirent dans le nord, et puis a Kionconan(4) faute de chasse; et les Outaouas craignants de n’estre pas assez forts pour soustenir les incursions des Iroquois, qui estoient informez de l’endroit ou ils avoient fait leur establissement, se refugierent au Micissypy, qui se nomme a present la Louisianne. Ils monterent ce fleuve a douze lieues ou environ d’Ouisconching, ou ils trouverent une autre riviere qui se nomme des Ayoes(5). Ils la suivirent jusqu’a sa source et y recontrerent des nations qui les receurent cordialement. Mais, dans toutte l’etendue de pays qu’ils parcoururent, n’ayant pas veu de lieu propre a s’establir, a cause qu’il n’y avait dutout point de bois, et qu’il ne paroissoit que prairies et rases campagnes, quoyque les buffles et autres bestes y fusses en abondance, ils reprirent leur mesme route pour retourner sur leurs pas; et, apres avoir encore une fois aborde la Louisianne, ils monterent plus haut.

Ils n’y furent pas longtemps sans s’ecarter pour aller d’un coste et d’autre a la chasse: je parle d’une partie seulement de leurs gens, que les Scioux rencontierent, prirent et ammenerent a leurs villages, ... et puis les rendirent a leurs gens.

Les Outaouas et Hurons les recurent fort bien a leur tour, sans neantmoins leur faire de grands presents. Les Scioux estant revenus chez eux avec quelques petites choses qu’ils avoient receues des Outaouas, en firent part aux autres villages leurs alliez, et donnèrent aux uns des haches et aux autres quelques cousteaux ou alaines. Touts ces villages envoyerent des deputez chez les Outaouas(6).—— ...

Les Scioux faisoient milles caresses aux Hurons et Outaouas partout ou ils estoient.—— ... Les Outaouas se determinerent enfin a choisir l’isle nommee Pelee pour s’establir; ou ils furent quelquees annees en repos. Ils y receurent souvent la visitte des Scioux....

Les Hurons, ayant assez d’audace pour s’imaginer que les Scioux estoient incapables de leur resister sans armes de fer et a feu, conspirerent avec les[25] Outaouas de les entreprendre et de leur faire le guerre, afin de les chasser de leur pays, et de se pouvoir estendre d’avantage pour chercher leur subsistance. Les Outaouas et les Hurons se joignirent ensemble et marcherent contre les Scioux. Ils crurent que sitost qu’ils paroistroient, ils fuiroient; mais ils furent bien trompez; car ils soustinrent leurs efforts, et mesme les repousserent, et s’ils ne s’estoient retirez ils auroient estez entierement deffaits par le grand nombre de monde, qui venoient des autres villages de leurs alliez a leur secours. On les poursuivit jusqu’a leur establissement, ou ils furent contraints de faire un mechant fort, qui ne laissa par d’estre capable de faire retirer les Scioux, puisqu’ils n’oserent entreprendre de l’attaquer.

Les incursions continuelles que les Scioux faisoient sur eux les contraignirent de fuir(7). Ils avoient eu connoissance d’une riviere qu’on nomme la Riviere Noire; ils entrerent dedans et, estant arrivez la ou elle prend sa source, les Hurons y trouverent un lieu propre pour s’y fortiffier et y establir leur village. Les Outaouas pousserent plus loin, et marcherent jusqu’au lac Superieur, et fixerent leur demeure a Chagouamikon. Les Scioux, voyant leurs ennemis partis, demeurerent en repos sans les suivre d’avantage; mais les Hurons n’en voulurent point demeurer la; ils formerent quelques partys contre eux, qui firent peu d’effect, leur attirerent de la part des Scioux de frequentes incursions, et les obligerent de quitter leur fort pour aller joindre les Outaouas a Chagouamikon, avec une grande perte de leurs gens. Aussytost qu’ils furent arrivez, ils songerent a former un party de cent hommes pour aller contre les Scioux, et s’en vanger.

Il est a remarquer que le pays ou ils sont [les Sioux] n’est autre chose que lacs et marests remplis de folles avoines, separes les uns des autres par de petites langues de terre qui n’ont tout au plus d’un lac a l’autre que trente a quarante pas, et d’autres cinq a six ou un peu plus. Ces lacs ou marests contiennent cinquante lieues et d’avantage en carre, et ne sont separes par aucune riviere que par celle de la Louisianne, qui a son lit dans le milieu, ou une partie de leurs eaux viennent se degorger. D’autres tombent dans la riviere de Sainte Croix, qui est situee a leur egard au nord-est, et qui les range de pres. Enfin les autres marests et lacs situez a l’ouest de la riviere de Saint Pierre s’y vont jetter pareillement; si bien que les Scioux sont inaccessibles dans un pays si marecageaux, et ne peuvent y estre detruits que par des ennemis ayant des cannots comme eux pour les poursuivre; parceque dans ces endroits il n’y a que cinq ou six familles ensemble, qui forment comme un gros, ou une espece de petit village, et tous les autres sont de mesme eloignez a une certaine distance, afin d’estre a portee de se pouvoir prester la main a la premiere alarme. Si quelqu’une de ces petites bourgades est attaquee, l’ennemy n’en peut deffaire que tres peu, parceque tous les voysins se trouvent assemblez tout d’un coup, et donnent un prompt secours ou il est besoin. La methode qu’ils ont pour naviguer dans ces sortes de lacs est de couper dedans leur semences, avec leurs cannots, et, les portant de lac en lac ils obligent l’ennemy qui veut fuir a tourner autour; qui vont tousjours d’un lac a un autre, jusqu’a ce qu’ils les ayent tous passez, et qu’ils soient arrivez a la grand terre.

Les cent hommes Hurons s’engagerent dans le milieu de ces marests, sans cannots, ou ils furent decouverts par quelques Scioux, qui accoururent pour donner l’alarme par tout. Cette nation estoit nombreuse, dispersee dans toutte la circonference des marests, ou l’on recueilloit quantite de folles avoines, qui est le grain de cette nation, dont le goust est meilleur que celuy du riz.

Plus de trois mil Scioux se rendirent de touts costez, et investirent les Hurons, ... de tout ce party, il n’en echapa qu’un(8).

...

[26]

Les Hurons, se voyant fort peu de monde, prirent le party de ne pas songer a se venger et de vivre paisiblement a Chagouamikon pendant plusieurs annees. Pendant tout ce temps la, ils ne furent point insultez des Scioux, qui ne s’appliquerent uniquement qu’a faire la guerre aux Kiristinons, aux Assiniboules et a toutes les nations du nord, qu’ils ont detruits et desquels ils se sont aussy faits detruire respectivement....

Le Pere Mesnard qu’on avoit donne pour missionnaire aux Outaouas [1660], accompagne de quelques Francois qui alloient commercer chez cette nation, fust abandonne de touts ceux qu’il avoit avec luy, a la reserve d’un qui luy rendit jusqu’a la mort touts les services et les secours qu’il en pouvoit esperer. Ce Pere suivit les Outaouas au lac des Illinoets, et dans leur fuitte dans la Louisianne jusqu’au-dessus de la Riviere Noire. Ce fut la qu’il n’y eust qu’un seul Francois qui tint compagnie a ce missionnaire et que tous les autres le quitterent. Ce Francois dis je suivoit attentivement la route et faisoit son portage dans les mesmes endroits que les Outaouas; ne s’ecartant jamais de la mesme riviere qu’eux. Il se trouva, un jour [Aout 1661], dans un rapide qui l’entrainoit dans son cannot; le Pere pour le soulager debarqua du sien, et ne prit pas le bon chemin pour venir a luy; il s’engagea dans celuy qui estoit battu des animaux, et voulant retomber dans le bon, il s’embarrassa dans un labyrinthe d’arbres et s’egara. Ce Francois apres avoir surmonte ce rapide avec bien de la peine, attendit ce bon Pere, et comme il ne venoit point, resolut de l’aller chercher. Il l’appella dans les bois de touttes ses forces, pendant plusieurs jours, esperant de le decouvrir, mais inutilement. Cependant il fit rencontre en chemin d’un Sakis qui portoit la chaudiere du missionnaire; qui luy aprist de ses nouvelles. Il l’asseura qu’il avoit trouve sa piste bien avant dans les terres, mais qu’il n’avoit pas vue le Pere. Il luy dit qu’il avoit aussy trouve la trace de plusieurs autres qui alloient vers les Scioux. Il luy declara mesme qu’il s’imaginoit que les Scioux l’auroient pu tuer ou qu’il en auroit este pris. En effet, on trouva, plusieurs annees apres, chez cette nation, son breviaire et sa soutanne, qu’ils exposoient dans les festins en y vouant leurs mets, ... chasser du costez des Scioux, car Chagouamikon n’en est eloigne, coupant par les terres en ligne direct, que de cinquante a soixante lieues, ...

... on luy donna pour second M. de Lude [du Lhut] qu’il envoya avertir [1684] a Kamalastigouia, au fond du lac Superieur, ou estoit son poste(9)....

Je fus envoye a cette baye [des Puans, poste de Saint Francois Xavier], charge d’une commission pour y commander en chef et dans les pays plus eloignes du coste du ouest, et de ceux mesme que je pourrois decouvrir [1685]....

Je ne fus pas plustot arrive dans les endroits ou je devois commander, que je recus ordre de M. Denonville de revenir avec tous les Francois que j’avois ... Je me trouvais en ce temps-la dans le pays des Scioux ou la gelee avoit brise tous nos cannots; je fus contraint d’y passer l’este [1686]....

Je fus pas terre chez les Miamis qui estoient a soixante lieues environ de mon poste [dans le pays des Scioux], et m’ens revins par terre de mesme que j’y estoit alle....

Quelques jours apres je m’en fus a travers les terres a la Baye avec deux Francois. J’en rencontroit a tout moment qui m’enseignoient le meilleur chemin et me regaloient fort bien(10)....

[27]

TRANSLATION.

For the country of the north is the most ungrateful country in the world, since, in many places, you would not find a bird to hunt; still, blueberries are gathered there in the months of August and September....

The Chiripinons, or Assiniboines, sow wild rice in their marshes, which they afterwards gather, but they can only transport it home during the period of navigation(1)....

The Kiristinons, who often frequent the shores of Lake Superior and of the great rivers, where the elk are most commonly to be found(2)....

The savages, called Sauteurs, [Chippewas] are on the south of Lake Superior....

They have for neighbors and friends the Sioux, upon whose limits they hunt, when they wish....

Advancing to the north, towards the entry of the Wisconsin, the winter is extremely cold and long. It is there that the beavers are the best, and the country where hunting lasts the longest during the year....

They take, also, in winter, from under the ice, in marshes where there is much mud and little water, a certain root; ... but it is only found in Louisianne, fifteen leagues [4½ miles] above the entry of the Wisconsin. The savages name this root, in their language, Pokekoretch....

But the tribes the furthest advanced in the north, as far as the latitude of the Wisconsin, do not have these medlars, and those who are yet further, want also the nuts similar to the ones of France....

For this country [of the savages of the prairies] is entirely plains; there are only some islands [oases] where it is their custom to camp to dry their meat....

When the Ottowas had scattered towards the lakes [to Mechingan(3)], the Sauteurs and the Missisakis fled to the north, and then to Kionconan(4), for want of hunting; and the Ottowas, fearing they were not strong enough to resist the incursions of the Iroquois, who were informed of the place where they had made their establishment, took refuse on the Mississippi, called at present the Louisianne. They ascended this river to twelve leagues, or about [33 miles] from the Wisconsin, where they found another river that is called [river] of the Ioways(5). They followed it to its source, and there met nations who received them cordially. But, in all the extent of country which they overran, having seen no place proper to establish themselves, by reason that there was no wood there at all, and that prairies and level plains were all that appeared, although buffaloes and other animals were there in abundance, they returned upon their steps by the same route; and, after having once more reached the Louisianne, they ascended higher.

They were not there long without scattering, going from one side to another[28] for hunting: I speak of a portion, only, of their people, whom the Sioux met and led to their villages, ... and then returned them to the rest.

The Ottowas and Hurons received them very well in their turn, without, however, making them any great presents. The Sioux having arrived at home with some little matters that they had received from the Ottowas, divided portions of them with the other villages, their allies, and gave to the ones, hatchets, and to others, knives or awls. All these villages sent deputies to the Ottowas(6)....

The Sioux received the Ottowas and Hurons in the best manner, wherever they went.... The Ottowas at last resolved to choose the island called Bald, [Pelee] to settle on; where they were several years in repose. They often received there the visit of the Sioux....

The Hurons, having so much audacity that they imagined the Sioux were incapable of resisting them without fire-arms and weapons of iron, conspired with the Ottowas to make war upon them, in order to drive them from their country, so as to be able to spread themselves more, to procure means of subsistence. The Ottowas and the Hurons joined together and marched against the Sioux. They believed that as soon as they would appear, the others would fly; but they were much deceived, for their attacks were sustained, and they were even repulsed; and if they had not retreated, would have been entirely defeated by the great number of people who came from the other allied villages to the assistance of the Sioux. They were pursued to their settlement, where they were obliged to make a hasty fort, which, however, was sufficient to cause the Sioux to retire;—not daring to storm it.

The continual inroads that the Sioux made upon them constrained them to fly(7). They had known of a river called the Black River. This they entered; and, having arrived where it takes its source, the Hurons found there a place fit to fortify themselves in, and to establish their village. The Ottowas, however, pushed beyond, and reached Lake Superior, where they fixed their home at Chagouamikon. The Sioux, seeing their enemies fled, remained in peace, without following them any more. But the Hurons were not content to stop there; they sent some parties against them, which, however, making little impression, drew frequent incursions on the part of the Sioux, and caused them to quit their fort to join the Ottowas at Chagouamikon, with a great loss of their people. So soon as they arrived there, they thought of forming a war party of one hundred men to go against the Sioux, and to revenge themselves for their former defeats.

It is to be remarked that the country where they are [the Sioux] is nothing but lakes and marshes, filled with wild rice, separated, the ones from the others, by little tongues of land, which, at the most, from one lake to the other, are but thirty to forty steps, and, in many cases, only five to six or a little more. These lakes, or marshes, contain fifty or more leagues square, [19 or 20,000 square miles] and are divided by no river but the[29] Louisianne, which has its bed in the middle, and into which a part of their waters is emptied. Others fall into the river of Sainte Croix, which is situated, in respect to them, to the north-east, and flows near them. Finally, the other marshes and lakes, situated to the west of the river of Saint Peter, throw themselves similarly into it. Thus, the Sioux are inaccessible in that marshy country, and cannot be destroyed there, but by enemies having canoes, like themselves, to follow them; for, in these places, there are only five or six families together, which form a hamlet, or a kind of small village; and all the others are in the same way, at a certain distance, in order to be ready to help each other at the first alarm. If any one of these little villages is attacked, the enemy can hurt it but slightly; for all the neighbors assemble at once, and give prompt assistance where it is needed. The way they have of navigating these lakes is to strike into their [rice] fields with their canoes, and, carrying them from lake to lake, they force the flying enemy to turn round. Thus, they can go from one to another, till they have passed them all, and have arrived at the main land.

The hundred Hurons became entangled in the middle of these marshes, without canoes, where they were discovered by some Sioux, who hastened to give a general alarm. This nation [the Sioux] was numerous, scattered through all the extent of the marshes where they were gathering wild rice which is the grain of this people, and tastes better than rice.

More than three thousand Sioux approached, from all sides, and invested the Hurons, ... of all this party but one escaped(8).

...

The Hurons, seeing that they were so weak in numbers, concluded not to seek for revenge any more, but lived peaceably at Chagouamikon for many years. During all this time, they were not molested by the Sioux, who only applied themselves to making war on the Kiristinons, the Assiniboines, and all the other nations of the north, whom they have much injured, and by whom they have, on their part, been decimated....

Father Menard, who had been appointed missionary to the Ottowas, [in 1660, and who went to them], accompanied by some Frenchmen that were going to traffic with that nation, was abandoned by all who were with him, except one, who rendered to him, to the last, all the services and assistance that he stood in need of. The Father followed the Ottawas to the lake of the Illinois, and in their flight to Louisianne, as far as to above the Black River. There it was that this missionary had but one Frenchman for companion, and where all the rest had left him. This Frenchman, I say, followed carefully the route of the Ottawas, and made his portages in the same places that they had;—never leaving the same river that they were on. He found himself, one day [August, 1661], in a rapid that was carrying him away in his canoe. The Father, to relieve him, disembarked from his own, but did not take the proper road to come to him; he entered one that had been made by animals; and desiring to return to the right one, became embarrassed in a labyrinth of trees and was lost. The[30] Frenchman, after having ascended the rapid, with a great deal of trouble, waited for the good Father, and as he did not come, concluded to search for him. He called his name in the woods with all his strength, for several days, but in vain. However, he met, in the way, a Sauk who was carrying the camp kettle of the missionary; and who told him news of him. He informed him that he had found his track a long way on, in the woods, but that he had not seen the Father himself. He told him, too, that he had found the traces of several others going towards the Sioux. He even said that he thought the Sioux might have killed him, or taken him prisoner. Indeed, several years afterwards, there were found amongst this nation his breviary and cassock, which they exposed at their ceremonies, making offerings to them of their food....

... to hunt in the direction of the Sioux; for Chagouamikon is only fifty to sixty leagues [138 to 166 miles] distant from them, going across the country in a direct line....

... They gave him, for second. M. du Lhut, whom he sent word to [1684] at Kamalastiguoia, at the further side of Lake Superior, where was his post(9)....

I was sent to this bay [Green Bay, post of St. Francois Xavier], charged with the commission to have chief command there, and in the most distant countries on the side of the west, and even in any that I might discover [1685]....

I had no sooner arrived in the places where I was to command, than I received orders from M. Denonville to return, with all the Frenchmen that were with me.

... At that time, I was in the country of the Sioux, where the freezing [of the streams] had broken all our canoes; I was compelled to stay there during the summer [1686]....

I went by land to the Miamis, who were about sixty leagues [165½ miles] from my post [in the country of the Sioux], and returned from them the same way that I had gone....

Some days after, I went across the country to the Bay [Green] with two Frenchmen. I met, continually, with those who showed me the best road, and treated me very well(10).

§ 3. Extracts from the notes to the “Memoire sur les moeurs &c.”

(1) “Assinipoualaks, or warriors of the rock, now Assiniboines, a Sioux tribe, which, towards the commencement of the seventeenth century, having quarrelled with the rest of the nation, was obliged to secede, and took refuge amongst the rocks (assin) of the Lake of the Woods.”

(2) “The Kilistinons lived upon the banks of Lake Alimbegong, between Lake Superior and Hudson’s Bay.”

(3) “Mechingan—eastern Wisconsin and north-western Michigan.”

(4) “Kionconan—Kewenaw of the American maps.“ [Pronounced by the modern Chippewas It is like Ke-wa-yo-nahn-ing.—E. F. Ely.]

(5) “The Iowas, neighbors and allies of the Sioux, dwelt between the 44th and 45th degrees of north latitude, twelve days’ journey beyond the Mississippi: that they very likely belonged to the latter nation, is shown by the name of Nadouessioux Maskoutens, or Nadouessioux of the prairies, that the Algonquins had given them; for Maskoute, [Mush-ku-day,] the root of Maskoutens, signifies land destitute of trees, or prairie.”

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(6) “We know indeed that two Frenchmen visited, in 1659, the forty Sioux villages without crossing, or even seeing, the Mississippi, of which they have only spoken from hearsay, and from the descriptions that the Hurons of Black River gave them of it. The villages belonged, then, all to the eastern portion of the Sioux territory, situated on this side of the river; that is to say, in the half of the country really occupied by this nation. It may, however, be that in the infant Mississippi, disguised, too, under a Sioux name, our two travelers did not recognize the large and powerful river that the Hurons told them of under its Algonquin title. In this case, they must have been, though without their knowledge, the first to see again in the seventeenth century, the Mississippi, discovered in the sixteenth by Ferdinand de Soto.” ... “One of these travelers was called Des Groseillers, and lived many months with the Sioux. This we gather from the following passage of the M. S. Journal of the Jesuits of Quebec, (Aug., 1660).... “The Ottowas arrived on the 19th.... There were three hundred of them. Des Groseillers was in their company; he had gone to them the year before.... Des Groseillers has wintered with the nation of the Ox [nation du boeuf], which he makes to be 4,000 men. They are the sedentary Nadouesserons’ (Sioux of the East).”

(7) “From the commencement of 1660, the Ottowas inhabited Chegoimegon Point [Shah-gah-wah-mik-ong—Ely], as well as the islands adjacent to it on the southern shore of Lake Superior. The Hurons, at that time, were in hiding near the sources of the Black River, at six days distance (40 or 50 leagues), from the same lake, and at seven or eight from Green Bay. The two peoples were visited, in 1659, by two French traders, who, penetrating beyond, made alliance with the Sioux. It is then between the years 1657 [at which time the Hurons and Ottowas were living in Mechingan,] and 1660, that the events described by Perrot must have taken place; that is, from the flight of these tribes to the Mississippi, up to their first troubles with the Sioux, which were followed by a new migration—that was not their last one.” ... “In reckoning at forty or fifty leagues the six days journey that separated the residence of the Hurons from Lake Superior, I have only applied the rule given in the Relation of 1658 by Father Dreuillettes; ‘You will see also,’ he writes, ‘the new roads to go to the sea of the north, ... with the distance of the places, according to the days travel that the savages have made, which I put at fifteen leagues a day in descending, on account of the rapidity of the waters, and at seven or eight leagues in ascending.’” [The common league of France is equal to 2.76 miles.]

(8) “This disastrous expedition following the arrival of the Hurons at Chegoimegon, it could not, consequently, have taken place before 1662. On the other hand, it preceded, by many years perhaps, the visit that the Chief of the Sinagaux Ottowas paid the Sioux in 1665 or 1666; it is then very likely that the defeat of the Hurons by the Sioux occurred in one of the two years, 1662 or 1663.” ... “Two reasons have impelled me to place in 1665-1666, the arrival of the Sioux prisoners at Chegoimegon, followed by their return to their country with the chief of the Sinagaux and the four Frenchmen of whom Perrot speaks. The first is that, in this year, the Sioux very certainly visited the Point of the Holy Spirit; the second, that, according to the account of these events, as it is given by our author, four or five years at least, had passed away between this visit and the abandoning of Chegoimegon, in 1670-71, by the Hurons and the Ottowas.”

(9) “Kalamalastigouia—an application of DuLhut, made in 1693, in which he solicits the concession of this post, gives the name as Kamanastigouian.”

(10) “Perrot, who was recalled in 1685, from the country of the Sioux, received, four years later, express orders to take possession of it in the name of the king, as seen in the following document: ...

“‘Nicolas Perrot, commandant pour le roi au poste des Nadouesioux ... declarons a tous qu’il appartiendra etre venus a la baye des Puants et au lac des Outagamis, rivieres des dits Outagamis et Maskoutins, riviere de l’Ouiskonche et celle de Mississippi, nous etre transportes au pays des Nadouesioux, sur le bord de la riviere de Sainte Croix, a l’entree de la riviere de Saint Pierre, sur laquelle etaient les Mantantons, et, plus haut dans les terres, au nord-est du Mississippi, jusqu aux Menchokatouches, chez lesquels habitent la plus grande partie des Songeskitoux et autres Nadouesioux qui sont au nord-est du Mississippi, pour et au nom du Roy, prendre possession des terres et rivieres ou les dites nations habitent, et desquelles elles sont proprietaires ... fait au poste Saint-Antoine le dit jour et an que dessus’”—[le 8 Mai 1689.] See Neills’ History of Minnesota, pages 143 to 145, for translation of this “deed” in full.

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DAKOTA SUPERSTITIONS.

By G. H. Pond, of Bloomington.

The Dakota Indians are the tribes who are generally known by the name of Sioux, a name given them by early French explorers.

Of the Dakota there are several—seven—grand divisions who are, by their orators, sometimes spoken of as “seven fires.”

These again were divided into a great number of smaller tribes or clans, each having its little chief, who was simply the most influential individual in the clan, which was composed chiefly of blood relations.

The chief, for generations, seems to have had but little authority except that which he derived from the support of some medicine-man, who attached himself to him, or from the fact that government officers and traders transacted business with the clans through them.

The name Dakotah signifies much the same as confederacy. The word is often used as the opposite of enemy.

These divisions and subdivisions of Indians are all embraced under the comprehensive name Dakota, the name by which they call themselves. The Assinnaboines are said to have belonged originally to the Dakota family.

A few years ago, these Dakota tribes occupied the country along the Mississippi river, from about Prairie du Chien, to far above the Falls of St. Anthony, the whole of the Minnesota valley, and the immense plains extending westward to, and beyond the Missouri river.

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The language of all these tribes is the same, with unimportant dialectic differences, and seems to be entirely distinct from that of the tribes around, except, perhaps, that of the Winnebago tribe.

Being one in language they are alike in their civil polity, if indeed it can be said that they have any, alike in their religious belief and practice, and alike in all their manners, allowing for the modifications which have been produced by diversity of circumstances.

It is to the superstitions of these Dakotas that the following paper relates.

In the first place it seems to be necessary to define the very significant Dakota word wakan, for, in it is contained the quintessence of their religion. It is an epitome of the whole, containing its pith and marrow.

The word wakan, signifies anything which is incomprehensible. The more incomprehensible the more wakan. The word is applied to anything, and everything, that is strange or mysterious. The general name for the gods in their dialect is this, Taku-Wakan, i. e., that which is wakan.

Whatever, therefore, is above the comprehension of a Dakota, is God. Consequently, he sees gods everywhere. Not Jehovah every where, but Taku-Wakan.

This is the starting point in their superstitions, but it is not with ease that one can arrive at the other end of the subject. It runs out like the division of matter, to divinity. To use an expression of one of their own most intelligent men, “there is nothing that they do not revere as God.” Wakan is the one idea of divine essence. The chief, if not the only difference that they recognize to exist, among all the tens of thousands of their divinities, is the unessential one of a difference in the degree of their wakan qualities, or in the purposes for which they are wakan.

We speak of the medicine-man, medicine-feast, medicine-dance, and the great-spirit of the Indian, while he speaks of wakan-man, the wakan-feast, the wakan-dance, and the great-wakan.

Evidence is wanting to show that these people divide their Taku-Wakan into classes of good or evil. They are all simply wakan. The Dakotas have another word to represent spirit, or soul, or Jehovah, but the word wakan is never used in that sense, though a spirit might be wakan.

Evidence is also wanting to show that the Dakotas embraced[34] in their religious tenets, the idea of one Supreme Existence, whose existence is expressed by the term Great Spirit. If some of the clans, at the present time, entertain this idea, it seems highly probable that it has been imparted to them by individuals of European extraction. No reference to such a being is to be found in their feasts, or fasts, or sacrifices. Or if there is any such reference at the present time, it is clear that is of recent origin and does not belong to their system. Individuals of them may tell us that the worship of the great medicine-dance is paid to the Great Spirit, but it is absolutely certain that it is not, as will be seen as we proceed.

Mr. Carver tells us of a religious ceremony of a very singular nature—very wakan—in which a person is carefully bound hand and foot and mysteriously released by the gods—the performance of which he witnessed, and which he said had reference to the Great Spirit. Doubtless it had such reference in his opinion, but it will be shown in another place, that in fact, it had not.

It is indeed true, that Dakotas do sometimes appeal to the Great Spirit when in counsel with white men, but it is because they suppose him to be the object of the white man’s worship, or because they themselves have embraced the Christian doctrines. Still it is generally the Interpreter who makes the appeal to the Great Spirit, when the speaker really appealed to the Taku-wakan, and not to the wakan-Tanku.

Besides, the great struggle which at the present time exists between the heathen and the Christian Dakotas, is freely expressed to be a strife, between the old system of worship rendered to the Taku Wakan, and the new, which is rendered to the Wanku Tanku. The Christians are universally distinguished from the pagans, as being worshippers of Wakan Tanku, or as we speak, the Great Spirit.

One word more by way of introduction. It is true of all the Dakota gods, or wakans, that they are male and female, are subject to the same laws of propagation under which men and animals exist, and are mortal. They are not thought of as being eternal, except it may be by succession.

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DAKOTA GODS.

THE ONKTEHI.

It seems to be proper to allow this wakan object to take the precedence in our arrangement, as he does really in respectability. The literal signification of the name is probably lost, though it may, perhaps, signify extraordinary vital energies.

In their external form, the Onktehi are said to resemble the ox, only that they are of immense proportions. This god has power to extend his horns and tail so as to reach the skies. These are the organs of his power. The dwelling place of the male is in the water, and the spirit of the female animates the earth. Hence, when the Dakota seems to be praying, chanting or offering sacrifices to the water or to the earth, it is to this family of the gods that the worship is rendered. They address the male as grandfather, and the female as grandmother. Hence, also, it is probably, that the bubbling springs of water are called the “breathing places of the wakan.”

Though not the same in form, and though destitute of the trident, the horse, and the dolphin, yet, because he rules in the watery worlds as Neptune did in the Mediterranean sea, it may not be out of place to denominate him the Neptune of the Dakotas.

This god has power to issue from his body a wakan influence which is irresistible even by the superior gods. This missive influence is termed tonwan, which word will frequently recur as we proceed. This power is common to all the Taku-Wakan. This tonwan influence, it is claimed, is infused into each medicine-sack which is used in the medicine dance.

One of these gods, it is believed, dwells under the Falls of St. Anthony, in a den of awful dimensions, and which is constructed of iron.

A little to the left of the road leading from Fort Snelling to Minnehaha, in sight of the fort, is a hill which is used, at present, as a burial place. This hill is known to the Dakotas as “Taku wakan tipi,” the dwelling place of the gods. It is believed that one of this family of divinities dwells there.

Not many years since, at the breaking up of the ice in the Mississippi river, it gorged and so obstructed the channel between the falls and Fort Snelling, that the water in a few hours rose very high. When the channel was opened by pressure, of course, the rush of[36] water “carried all before it.” A cabin which stood on the low bank under the falls, was carried away with a soldier in it, who was never heard of afterwards. It is universally believed by the worshippers of the god in question, that the occurrence was caused by one of these gods passing down the river, who took the soldier for his evening meal, as they often feast on human spirits—wicanagi.

On the morning of July 4, 1851, at Traverse des Sioux, Robert Hopkins, a missionary of the American board to the Dakotas was drowned in the Minnesota river. It was the general belief and talk among the Dakotas, who were acquainted with the facts, that this god destroyed his life and ate his soul—nagi—because he had spoken against his worship in the medicine-dance.

It is related that as some Indians were once passing through Lake Pepin, they suddenly found themselves aground in the middle of the lake. Their god had risen to the surface, and they were lifted from the water on his back! Instantly they were enveloped in clouds, and a terrific tempest arose which chilled them with fear. Eagerly they offered their prayers and sacrifices to their venerable grandfather, when the wakan monster began “slowly to beat his drum the sound of which was the present thunder, while his eyes glistened like two moons. Soon the blows fell quicker and lighter, and the god chanted as follows:

TRANSLATION.

As the chant ceased, a calm succeeded, and one Indian with his wife, found himself safe and tranquil on the shore, but his companions had all perished. From that time he was a friend of this divinity, and was honored with the name of Onktehi-duta.”

Another chant of this god, may, with propriety, have a place here, because it is often used in the medicine-dance, and indicates the character of the god in the estimation of his worshippers:

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TRANSLATION.

The medicine-feast and the medicine-dance, have been received from this god, and the chants above are much used in both.

The sacrifices which are required by them, are the soft down of the swan rouged with vermilion, deer skins, tobacco, dogs, medicine-feasts and medicine-dances.

Their subordinates are the serpent, lizard, frog, ghosts, owl and eagle. These all obey their will. The Onktehi made the earth and men, and gave the Dakotas the medicine-sack, and also prescribed the manner in which some of those pigments must be applied, which are daubed over the bodies of his votaries in the medicine-dance, and on the warrior when he goes into action. They are believed to possess a wakan and an amuletic power.

Among all the myriads of the Dakota gods, there are none more respectable, or more respected, than the one above mentioned.

MEDICINE DANCE.

The wakan dance is represented as having been received from the family of gods above considered.

The onktehi, immediately after the production of the earth and men, to promote his own worship among them, gave to the Indians the medicine sack, and instituted the medicine dance. He ordained that the sack should consist of the skin of the otter, the raccoon, the weazel, the squirrel, the loon, one variety of fish, and of serpents. It was also ordained that the sack should contain four species of medicines, of wakan qualities, which should represent fowls, medicinal herbs, medicinal trees, and quadrupeds. The down of the female swan represents the first and may be seen at the time of the dance, inserted in the nose of the sack. Grass roots represent the second, bark from the root of trees the third, and hair from the back or head of a buffalo, the fourth. These are carefully preserved in the sack.

From this combination proceeds a wakan influence so powerful, that no human being, unassisted, can resist it.

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At the institution of the dance, the god prepared a tent, four square, opening towards the east, with an extended court in front, and selecting four men for initiation, proceeded to instruct and prepare them for the reception of the mysteries. The rules of conduct which he gave them, were that “they should honor and revere the medicine sack, honor all who should belong to the dance, make frequent medicine feasts, refrain from theft, not listen to birds, (slander) and female members should not have a plurality of husbands.” The sum of the good promised to the faithful, was “honor from the members of the institution, frequent invitations to the feast, abundance of fowl, with supernatural assistance to consume it, and long life here, with a red dish and spoon in the life to come.”

The evils threatened against the unfaithful were as follows: “If unfaithful you cannot escape detection and punishment. If you enter the forest to hide yourself the black owl is there, if you descend into the earth serpents are there, if you flee into the air the eagle will pursue you, and if you go into the water there I am.”

The candidates thus instructed and charged were placed in the center of the tent to receive the tonwan of the sack, discharged at them by the god himself. It is said that they perished under the operation.

After consulting with his goddess, the god holding up his left hand, and pattering on the back of it with the other, produced myriads of little shells, whose virtue is to restore life to those who have been slain by the tonwan of the sack. (Each of the members of the medicine dance is thought to have one of these shells in his body.) After taking this precaution, the god selected four other candidates and repeated the experiment of initiation with success, following the discharge from the sack immediately with the shell cast into the vital parts, at the same time chanting the following words:

TRANSLATION.

[39]

Such, it is believed, was the origin of the medicine dance.

There are no officers, or superiority of rank, except that of age and experience, known in this pagan institution. The dance is celebrated; 1st, on account of the death of one of its members whose sack is given to a near relative of the deceased; 2nd, when a new sack is to be conferred on one who desires to become a member and who has proved himself worthy of the honor by making medicine feasts, and rendering due honor to the members; and 3rd, in the performance of a vow.

It is required of a candidate for admission, that he go through the ceremony of the “vapor bath” once each day, four days in succession. In the meantime some of the aged members instruct him in the mysteries of the institution, in imitation of the course of its author as already related. Besides, he is provided with a dish and spoon both of wood. On the side of the dish is often carved the head of some voracious animal, in which resides the spirit of the Iya—the god of gluttony. The dish will contain eight to ten quarts, or more, and is always carried by its owner to the medicine feast, and he is bound to eat all that is put in it, or pay a fine to the maker of the feast. A woman came to the writer on one occasion to ask for calico to make a short gown. She said she had lately had seven new ones, but had lost them all at medicine feasts, where she was unable to empty her dish. Grey Iron, of the Black Dog band, used to possess a dish on which was carved a bear entire, indicating that he could eat as much as a bear. The candidate is also instructed in the matter of painting his body for the dance. This paint is nearly all the covering that he wears on the occasion. He must always paint in the same manner for the ceremony of the dance. There is said to be wakan virtue in this paint, and the manner of its application, and those who have not been furnished with a better, by a war prophet, wear it into battle.

The candidate being thus prepared, and having made the requisite offerings for the benefit of the institution, on the evening of the day which precedes the dance, is taken in charge by ten or more of the more substantial brothers, who pass the night in devotional exercises, such as chanting, dancing, exhorting, eating, and smoking. Early in the morning the tent, in form like that which the god first erected for the purposes, is thrown open for the dance. The members[40] assemble painted and ornamented, each bringing his medicine-sack.

After a few preliminary ceremonies, appropriate to the occasion, including a row of kettles of large dimensions, well filled and arranged over a fire at the entrance of the court, guarded by sentries appointed for the occasion, the candidate takes his place on a pile of blankets which he and his friends have contributed. He is naked, except the breech cloth and moccasins, and well smeared with pigments of various hues. Behind him stands an aged and reliable member. Now, the master of the ceremonies, with the joints of his knees and hips considerably bent, advances with an unsteady, uncouth hitching, sack in hand, wearing an aspect of desperate energy, and uttering his “Heen, heen, heen,” with frightful emphasis, while all around are enthusiastic demonstrations of all kinds of wild passions. At this point the sack is raised near a painted spot on the breast of the candidate, at which the tonwan is discharged. At the instant the brother from behind gives him a push and he falls dead, and is covered with blankets.

Now the frenzied dancers gather around, and in the midst of bewildering and indescribable noises, chant the words uttered by the god at the institution of the ceremony, as already recorded. Then the master throws off the covering, and chewing a piece of the bone of the Onktehi, spits it over him, and he begins to show signs of returning life. Then as the master pats energetically upon the breast of the initiated person, he, convulsed, strangling, struggling and agonizing, heaves up the shell which falls from his mouth on a sack placed in readiness to receive it. Life is restored and entrance is effected into the awful mysteries. He belongs henceforth to the medicine-dance, and has a right to enjoy the medicine feast. Now comes the season of joy. The novice takes the wakan shell in his hand, and in the midst of savage demonstrations of the wildest kind, exhibits it to all the members, and to the wondering by-standers who throng the enclosure outside. The dance continues interspersed with “shooting each other,” rests, smoking, eating and drinking, till they have jumped to the music of four sets of singers.

The following chants, which are used in this dance, will sufficiently evince its character and tendency, and the character of its members,[41] especially when it is considered that this is the religion of immortal beings—men and women.

TRANSLATION.

Here is another of like significance:

TRANSLATION.

The celebration of the medicine-dance, is the extraordinary part of a system of Dakota superstition, of which the medicine-feast is the ordinary and every day part. A very large portion of the adults belong to this fraternity.

THE WAKINYAN.

This name signifies “flyer,” from kinyan, to fly. Lightning emanates from this flyer, and the thunder is the sound of his voice. This is the universal belief.

The existence of thunder is a matter of fact, apparent to all people. It must be explained and accounted for by the savage as well as by the sage, and by the first with as much confidence as by the latter, and more; for he who is not supported in his tenets by reason, must of necessity be confident or fail. He must evince seven times as much confidence as one who has the support of reason, which the wise man observed to be the case in his day. The Indian has no more doubt, apparently, of the correctness of his religious tenets, than he has that a hungry man wants to eat. He is as confident of the correctness of his theory, in relation to the thunder, as we are that it is caused by the passing of electricity from one cloud to another.

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The lightning, which is so terrible in its effects to destroy life, or to shiver the oak to atoms, is to the Dakota simply the tonwan of a winged monster, who lives and flies through the heavens shielded by thick clouds from mortal vision.

By some of the wakan-men, it is said that there are four varieties of the form of their external manifestation. In essence, however, they are but one.

One of the varieties is black, with a long beak, and has four joints in his wing. Another is yellow, without any beak at all, with wings like the first, only that he has but six quills in each wing. The third is of scarlet color, and remarkable, chiefly, for having eight joints in each of its enormous pinions. The fourth is blue and globular in form, and is destitute both of eyes and ears. Immediately over where the eyes should be, is a semi-circular line of lightning resembling an inverted half-moon, from beneath which project downward two chains of lightning, zigzaging and diverging from each other as they descend. Two plumes, like soft down, coming out near the roots of the descending chains of lightning serve for wings.

These thunderers, of course, are of terrific proportions. They created the wild rice and a variety of prairie grass, the seed of which bears some resemblance to that of the rice.

At the western extremity of the earth, which is presumed to be a circular plain surrounded by water, is a high mountain, on the summit of which is a beautiful mound. On this mound is the palace of this family of gods. The palace opens towards each of the four cardinal points, and at each doorway is stationed a watcher. A butterfly stands at the east entrance, a bear at the west, a reindeer at the north, and a beaver at the south. Except the head, each of these wakan sentries is enveloped with scarlet down of the most exquisite softness and beauty. (Indians are great admirers of scarlet, and to induce a child to take some nauseous drug, the mother has but to assure it that it is red.)

The Wakinyan gods are represented as ruthless, cruel and destructive in their disposition, and ever exert their powers for the gratification of this, their ruling propensity, at the expense of whatever may come in their way. They are ever on the “war path,” and are “sharp shooters.”

Once for all, it may be here stated, that a mortal hatred exists between[43] the different families of the gods, like that which exists between Indians of different tribes and languages. The two families already mentioned, like the Dakota and the Chippewa, are always in mortal strife. Neither has power to resist the tonwan of the other, if it strikes him. Their attacks are never open, and neither is safe, except as he eludes the vigilance of the other. The fossil remains of the mastodon are confidently believed to be the bones of the Onktehi which have been killed by the Wakinyan. These relics of the gods are carefully preserved and held in awful esteem, for their wakan virtues. The Wakinyan, in his turn, is often surprised and killed by the Onktehi. Many stories are told of the mortal combats of these divinities. The writer listened to the relation, by an eye witness, of a story in substance as follows: “A Wakinyan god was killed, and fell on the bank of the Blue Earth river, which was twenty-five or thirty yards between the tips of the wings.”

From the Wakinyan god, the Dakotas have received their war implements, (spear and tomahawk,) and many of those pigments, which, if properly applied will shield them from the weapons of their enemies. Dressed in these pigments, they feel as secure as did the fabled Greek, protected by the vulcanian shield.

It almost seems as if it were becoming to offer an apology before proceeding, but it is ventured to presume on the good nature of the reader and introduce

THE TAKU SKAN SKAN.

The signification of the term is, that which stirs. This god is too subtle in essence to be perceived by the human senses, and is as subtle in his disposition as in his being. Though invisible, he is ubiquitous. He is supposed to have a controlling influence over intellect, instinct and passion. His symbol is the boulder; and, hence, boulders are universally worshipped by the Dakotas. He lives, also, in what is termed “the four winds,” and the consecrated spear and tomahawk are animated by his spirit. He is much gratified to see men in trouble, and is particularly glad when they die in battle or otherwise.

He can rob a man of the use of his rational faculties, and inspire a beast with intelligence, so that the hunter, like an idiot, will wander and become bewildered on the prairie or in the forest, and the[44] game on which he hoped to feast his family at night, escapes with perfect ease. Or, if he please, he may reverse his influence, and the animal has not even brutal instinct to escape from its pursuer.

This god is passionate and capricious to the highest degree; and, hence, it is very difficult to retain his favor. Often he is likened to a passionate, whimsical child, taking offence at everything, while it is as necessary to secure his favor, on the part of the hunter or the warrior, as it is to procure food, or to prove one’s manhood by taking a scalp. Subordinate to this god are the buzzard, the raven, the fox, the wolf, and other animals of a similar nature. To him belong the “armor feast” and the “vapor bath.”

The “armor feast” is of ordinary occurrence when the provisions are of sufficient abundance to support it, in which the warriors assemble and exhibit the sacred implements of war, to which they burn incense around the smoking sacrifice.

THE HEYOKA.

This god is so curiously wakan that he is entitled to a brief notice.

Like the Wakinyan, there are four varieties of them, all of which assume, in substance, the human form, but it would be unnecessarily tedious to note the differences of form, especially as the differences are unimportant.

These objects of superstition, are said to be armed with the bow and arrows, and with the deer-hoof rattle, which things are charged with electricity. One of the varieties carries a drum, which is also charged with the same fluid. For a drumstick, he holds a small Wakinyan god by the tail, striking on the drum with the beak of the god. This would seem to us to be an unfortunate position for a god to be in, but it must be remembered that it is wakan, and the more absurd a thing is the more wakan.

One of these gods, in some respects, answers to the wreathed zephyr of Grecian mythology. It is the gentle whirlwind which is sometimes visible in the delicate waving of the tall grass of the prairie.

By virtue of their medicine and tonwan powers, they render aid to such men as revere them, in the chase, in inflicting and healing diseases, and especially in the gratification of their libidinous passions.

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That feast, in the observance of which the worshippers dip their hands into the boiling kettle and lifting the water in their hands, throw it over each other’s naked bodies with impunity, belongs to this god.

The nature of the Heyoka is not simply supernatural, it is the opposite of nature.

He expresses joys by sighs and groans, and by assuming a most doleful aspect, and sorrow and pain by opposite sounds and aspect. Heat causes their flesh to shiver, and their teeth to chatter, while cold makes them perspire and pant. It is said of them, that in the coldest weather of the Minnesota winter, when mercury congeals, they seek some prominence on the prairie, where they put up some bushes to shelter them from the rays of the sun, under which they sit naked and fan themselves as they swelter with heat, and in the oppressive heat of summer they fold around them robe on robe, and lean over a rousing fire, sniveling and shaking with cold like one in a fit of the ague.

They feel perfect assurance when beset with dangers, and quake with terror when safe. With them falsehood and truth are reversed, good is their evil and evil their good.

Years ago at Lac qui-parle, the mother of the tall, “curly-haired chief,” upizahdeya, was informed that it was required of her to make a feast to the Heyoka. She was so much opposed by some of her friends that she failed to comply with the wakan mandate, but she assured her friends, that as a penalty, they would be mortified by seeing her flesh become black, and her head bald, which came true. By degrees her flesh did become very dark, and her head bald, but to an intelligent observer, it was abundantly evident, that instead of being an infliction of the offended god, it was the result of neglecting to wash, even her face, for several years, and pulling out her own hair by little and little.

THE SUN.

As the sun is visible to all men, and as it has been an object of superstitious regard on the part of almost all pagan nations of past generations, it will not be thought worth while, perhaps, to mention the fact that the Dakota too, worships the sun. It will not, however, be quite out of place to put on record a few facts in relation to this part of Dakota worship, by which they presume to honor this[46] glorious object; facts which evince the sentiments of the deluded worshippers. The following, from the pen of Rev. S. R. Riggs, is to the point.

DAKOTA SUN DANCE.

The Sun is, from many circumstances, a natural object of worship among the unenlightened nations of men. With the Dakotas, the sun is sometimes appealed to as a witness. Sometimes they pray to it, generally with the honorable title of Hunkayapi. Sometimes, as a god, it communicates with men in dreams and visions. But the nature of the communication is that the men should dance the wiwanyagwacipi, with the promise of success in hunting or war. Generally the object of dancing to the sun is to secure victory over enemies. In this aspect it is a waihdusna or self-immolation to the sun; it is an offering up of one’s strength and manhood to secure the aid of the sun in the day of battle. The Bible says, “the stars in their courses fought.”

There are occasions, also, when a man dances the sun dance as a thank-offering. He is sick and apprehends he will die. He makes a vow that if his life is spared he will dance to the sun. Or, he is on the war path and he prays to the great hunkayapi for success, promising in that event to dance to his honor. These are said to be the occasions and reasons for the Wiwanyag-wacipi.

More than a quarter of a century has passed since I witnessed this ceremony, and I was there only a couple of hours about the middle of the day. On the north side a couple of tents, fastened together, were stretched around poles, forming a large semicircle. In the focus of the radii stood three dancers, with their eyes turned towards the sun, which was then in the south. Their faces and the upper part of their bodies were gaily painted, and their heads were adorned with feathers. A blue or red blanket was strapped around their waist, and hung down like a woman’s skirt. Each one had a fife made of the bone of a swan’s wing, on which they kept up a toot-toot-toot-ing, varied by the measures of the dance and the song. Behind them in the shadow of the tent sat the singers and players on instruments—the drums and rattles. A few women sat still farther back, who formed a part of the choir, and joined in the chorus.

The chief dancer on this occasion, if I remember rightly, was Mahipiya[47] sua, who afterwards shot himself. The dancers always make incisions in their flesh, in which they insert swan’s down or horse hair. These incisions are commonly made on the shoulders and arms. When the sacrifice is intended to be as complete as possible, an incision is made in the back, through which a cord of horse hair is passed, and a buffalo head is attached to the lower end, so that every time the body moves up and down, a slight motion is given to the buffalo head which lies on the ground behind him. At the close, if his strength remains sufficient, he drags the buffalo head around the place.

Occasionally a man inflicts still more torture on himself than this. He makes an incision in his breast, and passing a cord through it he draws it tight and fastens the other end to a pole which stands immediately in front of him.

The ceremonies of the sun dance commence in the evening. I have been under the impression that the time of the full moon was selected, but I am now informed that it is not essential. The singers and players on instruments practice their songs in the night, and there is some dancing. There is also feasting. Before morning the company generally lie down and sleep awhile.

The real dance commences when the Hunkayapi makes his appearance. Then the dancers begin and continue without eating, drinking, or resting, until nature is quite exhausted. Some join in the dance as particular friends of the dancer. They may occasionally sit down and smoke, but if the maker of the dance falls down or is observed to be quite exhausted, a friend may step forward and make a valuable present to some one. In this case the dancer may rest awhile and begin again. Some give out entirely before the sun goes down, when the dance is concluded. Others are able to continue into the night.

A man who dances to the sun is expected to make a song of his own, which embodies the god-communication to him.

SUN DANCE SONGS.

MAHIPIYA SUA’S SONG.

TRANSLATION.

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He was to take four scalps in battle.

This is sung by the singers when the man is almost dying of thirst. The brave man pays no attention to it.

The following is from the pen of Major General Curtis, dated Fort Sully, June 2, 1866:

The object of these rites is to obtain the favor of the god to whom they relate.

In these divinities which have been mentioned, and innumerable others like them, as various as the wildest imaginations, maddened by passion, can create, or their circumstances and felt wants demand, the Dakotas find all that they desire of a religious nature. These divinities communicate with mortals through the medium of

THE MEDICINE-MAN.

These men are the representatives of the gods on earth, to men. They are the gods in human form, though in diminished proportions. They are essentially different from other men—wakan.

The original essence of these men and women, for they appear under both sexes, first wakes into existence floating in ether. As the winged seed of the thistle, or of the cottonwood, floats on the air, so they are gently wafted by the “four winds”—“Taku-skan-skan”—through the regions of space, until, in due time, they find themselves in the abode of some one of the families of the superior gods, by whom they are received into intimate fellowship. There the embryotic medicine-man remains till he becomes familiar with the characters, abilities, desires, caprices, and employments of the gods. He becomes essentially assimilated to them, imbibing their spirit, and becoming acquainted with all the chants, feasts, fasts, dances and sacrificial rites which it is deemed necessary to impose on men.

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Some of the more favored of these men are privileged to pass through a succession of such inspirations, with various families of the divinities, until they are completely wakanized, and prepared for human incarnation.

In particular, they are invested with the irresistable powers of the gods to do good or evil, with their knowledge and cunning, and their everywhere present influence over mind, instinct and passion. They are instructed how to inflict diseases and to heal them, to discover things concealed from common men, to foretell future events, to manufacture implements of war, and infuse into them the missive virtue—the tonwan—of the gods, and to perform all sorts of wonders.

Thus qualified for his mission, this germ of wakan, to become incarnate, is again committed to the direction of the “four winds.” From his elevated position, he selects a place which is to be the scene of his service, and enters the body of an unborn infant. Thus he effects an entrance into the world and into the sympathies of mortals.

When one of them dies, he returns to the abode of his gods, where he receives a new inspiration and a new commission, to serve a new generation of men in some other portion of the world. In this manner he passes through four inspirations and incarnations, and then returns to his primitive nothingness. These characters, however, do not always appear in human form, but enter the bodies of beasts, as the wolf, the bear, and the buffalo.

To establish their claims to inspiration, these characters must, of course, perform things that are wakan, in a manner to satisfy those on whom they purpose to impose their superstitions.

For this purpose, they artfully lay hold of all that is strange and mysterious, and if possible turn it to their own advantage. To do this is the one object and effort of their lives. It is their study day and night, at all times and on all occasions. They think about it when awake, and dream about it when asleep. They make use of all the means in their power, and their zeal never grows cold.

They assume familiarity with whatever astonishes other people, with a degree of self complacency, and an air of impudence and assurance which strikes the observers with amazement. They foretell future events with a degree of accuracy or of ambiguity which is sufficient for their purpose. Those at one village affect to be familiar with what is transpiring at another village leagues distant[51] They predict the result of a war expedition as if they had already been there; and if the prediction is not fulfilled they find no difficulty in setting the failure to the account of the sins of their followers.

They inflict diseases and heal them. They kill and make alive. When occasion requires they seem to calm the tempest, or to raise the storm, and converse with thunder and lightning, as with a familiar friend and equal. In their devotional exercises, at times, they wrangle with the gods, charge them with duplicity, and are defiant. If one of them is killed by the electric fluid, which sometimes happens, it only proves the truth, to the living, of all he had taught them concerning the Wakinyan, and that he had provoked their anger by his sins.

The medicine man is not only familiar with the superior gods who are out of him, but he also has inferior gods dwelling in him, to satisfy whose cravings he frequently, and in the most public manner, tears off with his teeth and eats the raw, quivering, bleeding flesh of newly-slaughtered animals, like a starving beast or bird of prey, devouring parts of dogs or fish entire, not excepting bones and scales.

RAW FISH FEAST.

In the summer of 1852, a feast of this kind was observed at Shakopee. It was made by Anoginajin, second chief of the Little Six band and others.

After two days spent in introductory ceremonies, including “vapor bath” and “armor-feast,” a tent was prepared opening towards the east, with a spacious court in front constructed of bushes. Within the court each of those who were to participate, had a bush set in which was prepared a nest. Two pikes, each about one foot long, rouged with vermilion and ornamented with down from the swan, were placed on some branches of trees in the enclosure. The fishes were entire as they had been taken from the water. Near the fishes were placed dishes of birch bark filled with sweetened water. The implements of war, belonging to the participants, were solemnly exhibited in the tent. The dancers, who were naked, except the breech cloth and moccasins, were fantastically smeared with pigments of various colors, and otherwise ornamented with down, white and red. Four ranks of chanters and musicians were in attendance. The dancers claimed to be inspired by the cormorant. They danced to the music of three ranks of the singers, till their chants closed,[52] taking little seasons for rest and smoking. When the fourth rank struck the drum and “lifted up their voices,” the inspiration was poured out and the welkin trembled, and the dancers approached the fishes in a rage, like starving beasts, and without using their hands, tore off piece after piece, scales, bones, entrails and all, and swallowed them, drinking at the same time from their bark dishes. Nothing remained at the close except the heads, fins and large bones, which they had deposited in their nests. To end the ceremony, what few articles of clothing had been worn on the occasion, were offered in sacrifice to the gods.

Thus, while the favor of the Taku Wakan was secured, the fact that the dancers were inspired, was demonstrated to most of the six hundred wondering spectators. By performances of thousands of wakan things, such as have been hinted at, these men triumphantly substantiate their claims to inspiration, and they are fully believed to be “the great powers of the gods,” and, among their people, hold a position like that of the Thugs of India. The wakan qualities which these persons possess, or assume to possess, qualify them to act in any capacity and in any emergency.

THE MEDICINE MAN A PRIEST.

As a priest, with all the assurance of an eye-witness—of an equal and of intimate and long continued communion, he bears testimony for the divinities. He gives a minute description of their physical appearance, their dwelling place, and their attendants. He reveals their disposition, their powers and their employments, as one who has been with them. He dictates prayers and chants, institutes fasts and feasts, dances and sacrifices. He defines sin and its opposite and their respective consequences. In short, he imposes upon the people a system of demonism and superstition, to suit their depraved tastes and passions, and caprices, and circumstances, and interests as savages, with an air of authority and with a degree of cunning which does seem to be almost superhuman—a system so artfully devised, so well adapted to them, so congenial to them, that it readily weaves itself into, and becomes a part of them, as really as the woof becomes a part of the texture, ensuring their most obsequious submission to its demands. It becomes part of their body, soul and spirit. They breathe and speak, and sing and live it. It is not something that can be assumed and laid off at pleasure.

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In the character of a priest, the influence of these demons in human form is so complete and universal, that thirty years ago, scarce an individual could be found among them who was not a servile religionist. Every individual was trained to it from early infancy. Mothers put the consecrated offering into the little unconscious hand of their babes at the breast, and caused them to cast the present to the god. As soon as the little tongue could articulate, it was taught to say, “grandfather befriend me;” or “grandmother befriend me.” On one occasion the writer witnessed a whole band, old and young, male and female, march out to the lake shore in Indian file, and perform their acts of devotion, and offer their prayers at the back of the medicine man, who was at the same time officiating between them and the god—each individual was obliged to the performance—the mothers fixing the little mouths of unconscious infants carefully, reverently, on the stem of the consecrated pipe, which the priest extended to them backward over his shoulder.

Much as the savage loves ease and self-indulgence he will cheerfully subject himself to almost any privation, discomfort and toil, for days, weeks, or even months together, in order to procure the necessary provisions for a sacrifice which the priest assures him the gods demand. If he fails he fully believes that the penalty may be the infliction of any, or all the evils to which an Indian is exposed. A man made a trip on foot from the “Little Rapids,” on the Minnesota river, to Big Stone Lake, and purchased and brought on his back, a pack of dried buffalo meat, weighing, probably, sixty or seventy pounds, a distance of nearly two hundred miles, to be used in the medicine-dance—a sacrifice to the Onktehi and to the souls of the dead. This he did because the priest had assured him that it was the will of the Taku-Wakan.

THE WAR PROPHET.

In this capacity the wakan-man is an indispensable necessity. Every Dakota man sixteen years old and upward, is a soldier, and is formally and wakanly enlisted into his service.

From him he receives the implements of war, as the spear and tomahawk, carefully constructed after a model furnished from the armory of the gods, painted after the divine prescription and charged with the missive virtue—the tonwan—of the divinities. From him also he receives those paints which serve as an armature for the body.

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To obtain these necessary articles from the Mde Tahunka—the War Prophet—the proud applicant is required, for a time, to abuse himself and serve him, while he goes through a series of painful and exhausting performances, which are necessary on his part to enlist the favorable notice of the gods. These performances consist chiefly of “vapor-baths,” fastings, chants, prayers, and nightly watching.

The spear and tomahawk being prepared and duly consecrated and rendered wakan, the person who is to receive them, with a most piteous wail and suppliant aspect, approaches the god-man and reverently presents to him the pipe of prayer. He then lays his trembling hand on the head of his master, and sobs out his desires in substance as follows:

“Pity thou me, poor and helpless—a woman—and confer on me the ability to perform manly deeds.”

The prophet then, with the majestic mien of a god, places in his hand the desired weapons, as he says, “Go thou and test the swing of this tomahawk, and the thrust of this spear; but when in triumph thou shalt return—a man—forget not thy vows to the gods.”

In this manner every man, it is said, is enlisted into the service of the war prophet, and enlisted for life.

The weapons thus received, are preserved by the Dakota warrior, as sacredly as was the “ark of the covenant” by the pious Hebrew of ancient times. They are carefully wrapped in cloth, together with sacred pigments, and in fair weather are every day laid outside of the lodge, and may never be touched by an adult female.

Every warrior feels that his success, both on the battle-field and in the chase, depends entirely upon the strictness, promptness and constancy with which he adheres to the rules which are imposed upon him by the wakan war leader.

The influence of the medicine-man in this capacity, permeates the whole community, and it is hardly possible to over-estimate it. Those who are led by him will be murderers, it is their trade. They are commissioned for this. Those who are bound to these war-prophets, by such rites, will be led by him unless they renounce their religion.

The Indian, if he can, will kill a foe, whoever he be, as long as he is a pagan. He is as apt to do it as a duck is to swim. The favor of the gods, and even his very manhood, depends upon it. He is not a man till he has killed a foe. Till their hands have been dipped in[55] blood they are liable to be abused and insulted in the most outrageous manner. Young men, in sight of St. Paul, have been obliged to assume the petticoat and exhibit themselves as women in the public dance, because they had not killed a foe. The pagan Indian, in a sense, is obliged to be a murderer.

THE MEDICINE MAN A DOCTOR.

The power of the Doctor “caps the climax.” In him all the powers of the gods meet, as the colors blend in the rain-bow. The doctor is revered as much, perhaps, as the superior gods themselves. The subordinate gods dwell in them and confer on them the power to suck out disease from the human body. If long without practice, it is said that the gods in them become restless, and subject them to much inconvenience. To pacify them it is represented that they sometimes obtain and drink considerable quantities of human blood.

When one of these doctors has been called, with due respect, to administer relief to a sick person, the patient is placed on a blanket on the ground, in a lodge vacated for the purpose, with the body chiefly naked. The doctor also lays off his own clothes, except the breech cloth. After chants and prayers, the rattling of the sacred shell, and numerous other noisy ceremonies, with an air and attitude of self-conceit and impudence, which only a devil could inspire, he mutters out the following, or something similar: “The gods told me that having this, I might approach the bones of a dead man even, and set him on his feet.” He then drops on his knees, at the patient’s side, and applying his mouth to the part of the body immediately over what is supposed to be the seat of the disease, he sucks with frenzy, at the same time rattling the shell with the utmost violence. In this manner, the god which is in the doctor, draws the disease from the sufferer. After a considerable time spent in this manner, like an enraged beast, he suddenly starts to his feet in apparent agony. He utters dreadful, indescribable sounds, in variety, and groans which may be distinctly heard for a mile or more, at the same time violently striking his sides with his hand, and the earth with his feet, twisting the whole body into the most hideous contortions. He now grasps a dish of water with his left hand, and proceeds, with a disgusting sing-song bubbling, with his mouth in the water, to deposit the disease in the dish, keeping time still with the sacred rattle which he continues to shake with great energy.

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This operation is continued with brief intervals for smoking, for hours and sometimes day after day and night after night. This process sometimes effects a cure at once. At other times extra demonstrations are deemed necessary. The doctor ascertains the sin which has been committed, and the particular god which has been offended and inflicted the disease. Then he makes an image of the offended god, which he hangs on a pole and which is shot by three or four persons in rapid succession. As the image falls the spirit of the god which is in the doctor, leaps out, and falling upon the spirit represented by the image, kills it. On this it is expected that the sick one will recover. But it is not absolutely certain that even this will prove effectual. After repeated experiments, the doctor often discovers that the god who inflicts the disease is mightier than the one by whom he is inspired, and he desists. Now, unless another doctor is found, competent to expel the demon, death ensues. The wakan-men are wakan to a degree corresponding to the strength of the gods by whom they are respectively inspired.

If the higher doctor can be found, health will be restored, but it is difficult to obtain their aid. If not duly respected at all times, and on all occasions, and in all their relations, and well remunerated for their services, in advance, they may let the patient die without exerting their powers, or perform their work deceitfully. This seems to be a necessary provision of their system, as it affords ample room to account satisfactorily for all failures. This operation is termed Wapiyapi, or renovation. There are instances where the doctor prevails on the gods to come in person and perform the operation for him. The following description of such a scene was obtained from an Indian who was present on the occasion. The doctor was named Red Bird, of the Lake Calhoun band, who was killed with his son by the Chippewas in the memorable battle of Rum River, in the summer of 1839. The sack of Red-Bird, which contains the symbols of the gods, and which was used on the occasion to which the narrative relates, has since providentially fallen into the hands of the writer, and will be herewith forwarded as a relic of superstition worthy of preservation. The gods employed were the Taku-skan-skan:

“A man had been sick a considerable time, and many of the wakan-men had attempted, to the extent of their ability, to exorcise him, but without any favorable results. Red-Bird had in his service many of the gods called Taku-skan-skan. It was decided in council[57] that the case should be referred to them. Accordingly, in the evening, a feast was prepared for the gods, to which they were called by chants, on the part of the medicine-men. A tent of parchment was prepared for them. The doctor was bound, by carefully weaving strings and tying them firmly in all his fingers and toes. Then his arms were bound behind his back and he rolled up in a buffalo robe, and carefully bound in it by cords around it outside. He had a little boulder in his bosom, a symbol of the gods. He charged those who bound him to do it thoroughly, assuring them that his boys—his gods—would come and release him. He was so bound that he could not stir and then was rolled into the tent, and the sick man was placed by his side. Over him was hung a drum and a deer-hoof rattle; a large number of spectators were in attendance—men, women, and children. Red Bird ordered that certain men present should chant to the gods, which they did. The doctor, in the mean time, was very demonstrative with his wakan jargon. A young man, who had been appointed for that purpose, then gave a wild yell, and all lights were suddenly extinguished. At the instant, a strong wind struck the tent, and the doctor cried out, as if he were in great fear, “Boys come carefully, your father is very weak, be careful.” But the gods did not seem to regard the admonition and beat the drum, shook the rattle and heaved the tent furiously. The tent seemed to be full of them and they were very talkative and rude, but their voices were so fine, so soft, that we could not comprehend their meaning. They performed the ceremony of exorcising the sick man. The sounds they made were so different from what we had been accustomed to hear, and so ludicrous that we could scarcely refrain from laughter, though we had been forewarned that if any one should laugh he should be knocked down. The gods called for a pipe and smoked many pipe’s-full, indicating a large number of them, but it was dark and they could not be seen. Suddenly the gods were all gone, and the doctor ordered the torches to be lighted. All expected to see him still bound, as he was thrust into the tent; but, to their surprise, he was out of the robe, and all of his fingers and toes slipped out of their fastenings, though not a single knot had been untied. The sick man began from that time to recover, though all sick persons who are treated in this manner do not recover. All were confirmed in their faith and confidence in the Taku-Wakan.”

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In some cases the sick are cured by obtaining a new blanket, and consecrating it to this class of gods, and then wrapping the sick person in it.

VAPOR BATH.

As frequent allusion has been made to this ceremony, and as it is a rite which is so frequently observed, it seems necessary that it should be explained. The following description of this rite is furnished by Rev. S. R. Riggs:

SIMON’S INIPI.

“He took eight poles about the size of hoop-poles, of any wood that would bend readily, and putting the large ends in the ground, at proper distances in a circle, bent them over and tied them together at the top. This frame-work he then covered with robes and blankets, leaving a small hole for a door at one side. It was a little higher than a man’s head, when seated within. Before the door, he built a fire, and having selected four round stones (or nearly round) about as big as a man’s head (size not essential), he placed them in the fire. He called Wamdiokiya to be high priest on the occasion. The high priest then ordered him to call so many to be his helpers—the number determined by the size of the tabernacle—from two to five. With these he entered into the wokeya, all entirely naked.

Simon stands at the door without, by the fire, to attend the stones. He has made two paddles about twelve inches long and painted them red. These are to be used by the man within to move the stones with. He covers the ground, between the tent door and the fire, with nice feathers and cut tobacco. When the stones are heated, the chief within calls to him to roll in the first one. This he does, with a brand, putting tobacco upon it and praying to it—“Turkan wahipani mada wo, toka wahte kta wacia.” So he rolls one after another of the stones over the tobacco and feathers and prays to each one. The men within receive them and roll them to the middle with the painted paddles—singing, hi, hi, hi, hi.

They then commence their songs; each one has a song. They all pray to the Tankan to give Simon help in the day of battle, to make him strong and furious and successful. The chief then says to his fellows: “Have mercy on me, I will cool these stones.” And he proceeds to pour water on them. The steam fills the tent, which has[59] been closed entirely after the stones were rolled in. Then they pray to the Taku skan-skan or to the Wasican. All their gods are called Wasican.

Simon, this while, stands without crying and praying. The chief wakan man receives an encouraging communication from the stone god which he delivers to Simon. When the stones are cold, they all cry and come out of the booth. So ends this sacrifice to the stone god.”

The doctors count much on the efficacy of this “vapor bath.” Perhaps no other one rite is in more general use than this, on the part of all who wish to become conspicuously wakan.

As regards the medicine man as a doctor, or exorcist, or juggler, it is not only believed that he can cure diseases, but that he can inflict them at his pleasure, on any person who may dare to offend him. It only requires a purpose on his part. They are feared, if possible, more than the gods themselves, for they are present in the camp and in the lodge.

If a person is sick, he will give all he possesses and all he can obtain on credit, to secure the services of one of them, and will cheerfully give a horse, in advance, for a single performance such as has been described. In almost innumerable instances, families sacrifice all that they have on these pretenders, and to be abandoned by them is felt to be a dire calamity. Parents are as careful to train their children to respect and revere them, as was an early Puritan to inspire his children with reverence for the divine institutions of Christendom. They are respected. They sit in the highest and have the best of everything. If some among them are thought to be mere pretenders, this circumstance only serves to enhance the importance of those who are believed to be true.

Thus, by imposing on an ignorant, savage people, “gods many,” gods of life and gods of death, gods of hate and revenge and lust, gods of cold and of heat, gods of all the various passions, gods of lying, deceit and wrong, gods of gluttony and drunkenness, gods of lasciviousness and impurity, gods of conception and abortion, gods innumerable—hideous and horrid monsters, which are the creation of the inflamed and bedeviled imaginations of these Thugs—these wakan men—they exert an influence over them, in the various official capacities which they assume, which is absolute and which pervades[60] Dakota society—an influence which bears with all its force on each individual of their victims, which tends to crush him down still deeper, if indeed there are depths below them, in ignorance, superstition, degradation and misery of soul and body, and force them into an unreserved surrender to their own whims and caprices. Of these wakan men there are from five to twenty five in each of the little clans of Dakotas.

Alkalies and acids mingled produce effervescence. A like result attends the contact of any opposing influences. Nothing can exceed the antagonism that lies between truth and the system of superstition which is the subject of the foregoing paper. Root, trunk, branches and leaves there is not the smell of truth to be found on it. It is plainly opposed to truth and truth is opposed to it. It is opposed by the truth of history, the truth of science, the truth of “animated nature,” social truth, political truth and spiritual truth. All truth tends directly to its destruction. A little boy was one day listening to a missionary who was endeavoring to explain to him the workings of the magnetic telegraph. The little half naked fellow seemed to catch an idea of natural truth, and starting up, excitedly exclaimed. “If that is true, then all our religion is false.” A glimpse of truth broke the spell that bound his mind, and shook their whole system of superstition to its foundations. It never recovered its hold on him. For more than thirty years, truth, in variety, has been held to the Dakota mind. With a keen and jealous eye, these wakan men have watched its workings. It has mortified and pained them to see their cords of error snapped by it, one after another, and their hold on their blind victims loosened. Their “craft was in danger.” They have cried with voice and soul, these thirty years, “Great is the Taku-Wakan—the Taku-Wakan is wakan, and I am their prophet.”

They have done all they could and dare do, in the circumstances, to oppose the progress of truth among their people, by slanders and snares, gibes and abuse, and violence, and even murder. But in spite of their vigilance and efforts to oppose, truth advanced with slow but steady step, and worked like “leaven in the meal.” Old men and young men, old women and young women, boys and girls, left them, and by open profession of regard for truth, stood boldly up in the face of their lies. The symbols of the gods, which the priests, war prophets and doctors had painted, wreathed and paraded “on[61] every hill,” were defiantly spurned from their places by the feet of those who had been used to obey their caprices and crouch to their authority. The feasts and dances were less fully attended, the medicine-sack cast away, while hundreds of their former dupes, emancipated, read daily in their Bibles, sung the song of Zion, and prayed, in their houses, to their “Father in heaven;” and on the Sabbath assembled in the Christian church, erected by their own hands, and seriously, reverently, joined in the holy worship of the God of heaven. At sight of this, the rage of these demons in human form boiled over. The effervescence was mighty. Threats were fulminated and nothing but opportunity was wanting for them to rise, and re-establish by violence, the waning power of the Taku-Wakan, and to return, wading through the blood of Christians, if need be, to the homes of their pagan fathers. They hoped to be able to roll back the providential wheels of the Almighty God.

That opportunity, they deemed, had arrived when all our young men were being marched off to the South, probably to be swept away by the great rebellion. Hence, the “out-break” of 1862. True, it has been said that the Christian Indians were our worst enemies, but where is the evidence of this? Were not those Christian Indians, at least by profession, who rescued companies of our people from death, and conducted them, through perils, to a place of safety? Which is the exception? Were not those Christian Indians who, in a considerable number of cases sacrificed their little all and risked their lives to protect individuals and conduct them to safety? Were there any exceptions? Which was the pagan Indian who performed such a deed? Were not those Christian Indians, who, encouraged by General Sibley, effected the deliverance from bondage and death, or treatment worse than death, of hundreds of captives at “Camp Release?” Did not the leaders of that band bear Christian names, given to them in the holy ordinance of baptism? Who are they who have composed the band of faithful “scouts,” three long years standing on our frontiers to protect our citizens from the scalping-knife of the worshippers of the Taku-wakan, but Christian Indians? Was there an exception here? It is not claimed for these Indians that they were model Christians, but they were Christians by profession, and their names and the names of their wives and children stood enrolled on the records of the Christian church.

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On the other hand, who led the murderous bands in work of the destruction? “Little Crow” and his Wakan associates, who, from old time, had been the open and determined enemies of the Christian religion, and most zealous and devoted worshippers of the Taku-wakan. It is not denied that individuals, professing Christians, were involved in the wrong and fled with the pagans to the plains. We could name a few such.

Even those of the pagan party who surrendered themselves to our military authorities, felt that the Wood Lake battle was the result of the strife between their Medicine-men and “God Almighty;” and from that day, in their minds, the doom of their gods and of their representatives was sealed. They soon cast away even the symbols of their divinities, and a large portion of them began to seek to know how to worship the God of the Bible.

Those wakan-men will never suffer their people to enter into an honest treaty of peace with us while they are wakan-men. They can never be trusted. Circumstances may render them harmless, but by their own showing, they are essentially wakan. They are devils incarnate.