Mandan Sioux Indian Burial Circles and Mounds

Mandan Sioux Indian Burial Circles and Mounds

George Catlin describes what he calls the “Golgothas” of the Mandans:

There are several of these golgothas, or circles of twenty or thirty feet in diameter, and in the center of each ring or circle is a little mound of three feet high, on which uniformly rest two buffalo skulls (a male and female), and in the center of the little mound is erected “a medicine pole,” of about twenty feet high, supporting many curious articles of mystery and superstition, which they suppose have the power of guarding and protecting this sacred arrangement.

Here, then, to this strange place do these people again resort to evince their further affections for the dead, not in groans and lamentations, however, for several years have cured the anguish, but fond affection and endearments are here renewed, and conversations are here held and cherished with the dead. Each one of these skulls is placed upon a bunch of wild sage, which has been pulled and placed under it. The wife knows, by some mark or resemblance, the skull of her husband or her child which lies in this group, and there seldom passes a day that she does not visit it with a dish of the best-cooked food that her wigwam affords, which she sets before the skull at night, and returns for the dish in the morning. As soon as it is discovered that the sage on which the skull rests is beginning to decay, the woman cuts a fresh bunch and places the skull carefully upon it, removing that which was under it.

Independent of the above-named duties, which draw the women to this spot, they visit it from inclination, and linger upon it to hold converse and company with the dead. There is scarcely an hour in a pleasant day but more or less of these women may be seen sitting or lying by the skull of their child or husband, talking to it in the most pleasant and endearing language that they can use (as they were wont to do in former days), and seemingly getting an answer back.

Mandan Sioux Indian Box-Scaffold Burials

Mandan Sioux Indian Box-Scaffold Burials

The following account of scaffold burial among the Gros Ventres and Mandans of Dakota is furnished by E. H. Alden, United States Indian agent at Fort Berthold:

The Gros Ventres and Mandans never bury in the ground, but always on a scaffold, made of four posts about eight feet high, on which the box is placed, or, if no box is used, the body wrapped in red or blue cloth if able, or, if not, a blanket of cheapest white cloth, the tools and weapons being placed directly under the body, and there they remain forever, no Indian ever daring to touch one of them. It would be bad medicine to touch the dead or anything so placed belonging to him. Should the body by any means fall to the ground, it is never touched or replaced on the scaffold. As soon as one dies he is immediately buried, sometimes within an hour, and the friends begin howling and wailing as the process of interment goes on, and continue mourning day and night around the grave, without food sometimes three or four days. Those who mourn are always paid for it in some way by the other friends of the deceased, and those who mourn the longest are paid the most. They also show their grief and affection for the dead by a fearful cutting of their own bodies, sometimes only in part, and sometimes all over their whole flesh, and this sometimes continues for weeks. Their hair, which is worn in long braids, is also cut off to show their mourning. They seem proud of their mutilations. A young man who had just buried his mother came in boasting of, and showing his mangled legs.

Dakota Sioux Platform Burials and Mourning Ceremony

Dakota Sioux Platform Burials and Mourning Ceremony

Before the year 1860 it was a custom, for as long back as the oldest members of these tribes can remember, and with the usual tribal traditions handed down from generation to generation, in regard to this as well as to other things, for these Indians to bury in a tree or on a platform, and in those days an Indian was only buried in the ground as a mark of disrespect in consequence of the person having been murdered, in which case the body would be buried in the ground, face down, head toward the south and with a piece of fat in the mouth. *** The platform upon which the body was deposited was constructed of four crotched posts firmly set in the ground, and connected near the top by cross-pieces, upon which was placed boards, when obtainable, and small sticks of wood, sometimes hewn so as to give a firm resting-place for the body. This platform had an elevation of from six to eight or more feet, and never contained but one body, although frequently having sufficient surface to accommodate two or three. In burying in the crotch of a tree and on platforms, the head of the dead person was always placed towards the south; the body was wrapped in blankets or pieces of cloth securely tied, and many of the personal effects 109of the deceased were buried with it; as in the case of a warrior, his bows and arrows, war-clubs, &c., would be placed alongside of the body, the Indians saying he would need such things in the next world.

I am informed by many of them that it was a habit, before their outbreak, for some to carry the body of a near relative whom they held in great respect with them on their moves, for a greater or lesser time, often as long as two or three years before burial. This, however, never obtained generally among them, and some of them seem to know nothing about it. It has of late years been entirely dropped, except when a person dies away from home, it being then customary for the friends to bring the body home for burial.

Mourning ceremonies.—The mourning ceremonies before the year 1860 were as follows: After the death of a warrior the whole camp or tribe would be assembled in a circle, and after the widow had cut herself on the arms, legs, and body with a piece of flint, and removed the hair from her head, she would go around the ring any number of times she chose, but each time was considered as an oath that she would not marry for a year, so that she could not marry for as many years as times she went around the circle. The widow would all this time keep up a crying and wailing. Upon the completion of this the friends of the deceased would take the body to the platform or tree where it was to remain, keeping up all this time their wailing and crying. After depositing the body, they would stand under it and continue exhibiting their grief, the squaws by hacking their arms and legs with flint and cutting off the hair from their head. The men would sharpen sticks and run them through the skin of their arms and legs, both men and women keeping up their crying generally for the remainder of the day, and the near relatives of the deceased for several days thereafter. As soon as able, the warrior friends of the deceased would go to a near tribe of their enemies and kill one or more of them if possible, return with their scalps, and exhibit them to the deceased person’s relatives, after which their mourning ceased, their friends considering his death as properly avenged; this, however, was many years ago, when their enemies were within reasonable striking distance, such, for instance, as the Chippewas and the Arickarees, Gros Ventres and Mandan Indians. In cases of women and children, the squaws would cut off their hair, hack their persons with flint, and sharpen sticks and run them through the skin of the arms and legs, crying as for a warrior.

It was an occasional occurrence twenty or more years ago for a squaw when she lost a favorite child to commit suicide by hanging herself with a lariat over the limb of a tree. This could not have prevailed to any great extent, however, although the old men recite several instances of its occurrence, and a very few examples within recent years. Such was their custom before the Minnesota outbreak, since which time it has gradually died out, and at the present time these ancient customs are adhered to by but a single family, known as the seven brothers, who appear to retain all the ancient customs of their tribe. At the present time, as a mourning observance, the squaws hack themselves on their legs with knives, cut off their hair, and cry and wail around the grave of the dead person, and the men in addition paint their faces, but no longer torture themselves by means of sticks passed through the skin of the arms and legs. This cutting and painting is sometimes done before and sometimes after the burial of the body. I also observe that many of the women of these tribes are adopting so much of the customs of the whites as prescribes the wearing of black for certain periods. During the period of mourning these Indians never wash their face, or comb their hair, or laugh. These customs are observed with varying degree of strictness, but not in many instances with that exactness which characterized these Indians before the advent of the white man among them. There is not now any permanent mutilation of the person practiced as a mourning ceremony by them. That mutilation of a finger by removing one or more joints, so generally observed among the Minnetarree Indians at the Fort Berthold, Dak., Agency, is not here seen, although the old men of these tribes inform me that it was an ancient custom among 110their women, on the occasion of the burial of a husband, to cut off a portion of a finger and have it suspended in the tree above his body. I have, however, yet to see an example of this having been done by any of the Indians now living, and the custom must have fallen into disuse more than seventy years ago.

In regard to the period of mourning, I would say that there does not now appear to be, and, so far as I can learn, never was, any fixed period of mourning, but it would seem that, like some of the whites, they mourn when the subject is brought to their minds by some remark or other occurrence. It is not unusual at the present time to hear a man or woman cry and exclaim, “O, my poor husband!” “O, my poor wife!” or “O, my poor child!” as the case may be, and, upon inquiring, learn that the event happened several years before. I have elsewhere mentioned that in some cases much of the personal property of the deceased was and is reserved from burial with the body, and forms the basis of a gambling party. I shall conclude my remarks upon the burial customs, &c., of these Indians by an account of this, which they designate as the “ghost’s gamble.”

Burial Ceremony of a Sioux Indian Warrior

Burial Ceremony of the Dakota Sioux

Sioux Indian Warrior Burial—After death they paint a warrior red across the mouth, or they paint a hand in black color, with the thumb on one side of the mouth and the fingers separated on the other cheek, the rest of the face being painted red. (This latter is only done as a mark of respect to a specially brave man.) Spears, clubs, and the medicine-bag of the deceased when alive are buried with the body, the medicine-bag being placed on the bare skin over the region of the heart. There is not now, nor has there been, among these Indians any special preparation of the grave. The body of a warrior is generally wrapped in a blanket or piece of cloth (and frequently in addition is placed in a box) and buried in the grave prepared for the purpose, always, as the majority of these Indians inform me, with the head towards the south. (I have, however, seen many graves in which the head of the occupant had been placed to the east. It may be that these graves were those of Indians who belonged to the church; and a few Indians inform me that the head is sometimes placed towards the west, according to the occupant’s belief when alive as to the direction from which his guiding medicine came, and I am personally inclined to give credence to this latter as sometimes occurring.) In all burials, when the person has died a natural death, or had not been murdered, and whether man, woman, or child, the body is placed in the grave with the face up. In cases, however, when a man or woman has been murdered by one of their own tribe, the body was, and is always, placed in the grave with the face down, head to the south, and a piece of fat (bacon or pork) placed in the mouth. This piece of fat is placed in the mouth, as these Indians say, to prevent the spirit of the murdered person driving or scaring the game from that section of country. Those Indians who state that their dead are always buried with the head towards the south say they do so in order that the spirit of the deceased may go to the south, the land from which these Indians believe they originally came.

Women and children.—Before death the face of the person expected to die is often painted in a red color. When this is not done before death it is done afterwards; the 108body being then buried in a grave prepared for its reception, and in the manner described for a warrior, cooking-utensils taking the place of the warrior’s weapons. In cases of boys and girls a kettle of cooked food is sometimes placed at the head of the grave after the body is covered. Now, if the dead body be that of a boy, all the boys of about his age go up and eat of the food, and in cases of girls all the girls do likewise. This, however, has never obtained as a custom, but is sometimes done in cases of warriors and women also.

Cremation has never been practiced by these Indians. It is now, and always has been, a custom among them to remove a lock of hair from the top or scalp lock of a warrior, or from the left side of the head of a woman, which is carefully preserved by some near relative of the deceased, wrapped in pieces of calico and muslin, and hung in the lodge of the deceased and is considered the ghost of the dead person. To the bundle is attached a tin cup or other vessel, and in this is placed some food for the spirit of the dead person. Whenever a stranger happens in at meal time, this food, however, is not allowed to go to waste; if not consumed by the stranger to whom it is offered, some of the occupants of the lodge eat it. They seem to take some pains to please the ghost of the deceased, thinking thereby they will have good luck in their family so long as they continue to do so. It is a custom with the men when they smoke to offer the pipe to the ghost, at the same time asking it to confer some favor on them, or aid them in their work or in hunting, &c.

There is a feast held over this bundle containing the ghost of the deceased, given by the friends of the dead man. This feast may be at any time, and is not at any particular time, occurring, however, generally as often as once a year, unless, at the time of the first feast, the friends designate a particular time, such, for instance, as when the leaves fall, or when the grass comes again. This bundle is never permitted to leave the lodge of the friends of the dead person, except to be buried in the grave of one of them. Much of the property of the deceased person is buried with the body, a portion being placed under the body and a portion over it. Horses are sometimes killed on the grave of a warrior, but this custom is gradually ceasing, in consequence of the value of their ponies. These animals are therefore now generally given away by the person before death, or after death disposed of by the near relatives. Many years ago it was customary to kill one or more ponies at the grave. In cases of more than ordinary wealth for an Indian, much of his personal property is now, and has ever been, reserved from burial with the body, and forms the basis for a gambling party, which will be described hereafter. No food is ever buried in the grave, but some is occasionally placed at the head of it; in which case it is consumed by the friends of the dead person. Such is the method that was in vogue with these Indians twenty years ago, and which is still adhered to, with more or less exactness, by the majority of them, the exceptions being those who are strict church members and those very few families who adhere to their ancient customs.

Mandan Sioux Indian Photos, Pictures and Images

Mandan Sioux Indian Photoa and Pictures

Mandan Sioux skull circle as part of their ancestral worship

Mandan Sioux Indian Boy

Mandan Sioux Indian Woman's Dress Clothes

Mandan Sioux Indian Princess

Mandan Sioux Indian Chief with Headress

Mandan Sioux Indian Village

Mandan Sioux Indian Games

Mandan Sioux Indian Warrior

Mandan Sioux Indian Warrior

Mandan Sioux Indian Earth Lodges or Hidastas

The Mandan Sioux Indian Village does the Buffalo Dance

Mandan Sioux Indian Chief Shahaka

Mandan Sioux Indians on the North Dakota Reservation

Omaha Sioux Indian Weapons

Sioux Indian History

Clubs.

Fig. 320.—Omaha club (jaⁿ-[p]áɔna).

The jaⁿ-wétiⁿ, "striking-wood," is a four-sided club. It is made of ash, and is as long as from the elbow to the tips of the fingers. The ja^n-dáona, "wood with a smooth head," is a club made of ironwood, which is very hard. According to the late Joseph La Flèche, the Omaha form of this weapon had a steel point projecting from the ball.

Fig. 321.—Omaha club (jaⁿ-dáɔna).

Figures 320 and 321 are forms of the jaⁿ-[p]áɔna which may be seen in the National Museum (nos. 2649 and 22419). The weaqȼade, another kind of war club, is made of some kind of hard wood. There are two varieties, one of which is shown in figure 322 (National Museum no. 23729). The other has a ball carved at the end of a straight handle, with a wooden point (of one piece with the ball and handle) projecting from the ball, making an angle of about 130° with one side of the handle. There is a steel point inserted in the ball, forming an angle of about 110° with the other side of the handle. The iⁿ′-wate-jiñ′ga is something like a slung shot. A round stone is wrapped in a piece of hide which is fastened to a wooden handle about 2 feet long.

Fig. 322.—Omaha Sioux club (weaqȼade).

Tomahawks.

The heads of tomahawks as well as of battle-axes were at first made of stone; but within the last century and a half they have been fashioned of iron.

Spears.

Lances, darts, or spears are designated by the general term man′dĕhi. The jaⁿ′-man'dĕhi are made of ash, and are from 6 to 8 feet long. There [are two kinds, of one of which the handle is round, and about an inch in diameter, and the point is flat and about the width of three fingers at its juncture with the handle.

Besides these there are the lances, called waqȼexe-ȼáze, of which there are two varieties. One consists of a straight pole, which has been thrust through a piece of buffalo hide that has its long end sewed together, forming a sort of covering. To this hide are fastened feathers of the crow and miⁿ′xa-saⁿ, or swan, in alternate rows or bunches. Between the feathers are fastened square pieces of blanket. About the middle of the pole a space of nearly 6 inches is left without feathers, and this is the place where the spear is grasped. When the pole was not set into a metal point the lower end was cut very sharp.1 The other variety, or mandĕhi ȼiguje, "bent spear," is the weapon which the Dakota call "wahukeza." It is ornamented with eagle feathers placed at intevals, one being at the end of the curved part; and it generally terminates at the bottom in an iron point. It is possible for one of these waqȼexeȼaze to reach a man about 6 feet distant; and even mounted men have been killed by them. Spears are used also in some of the dances. Around the shaft is wrapped the skin of a swan or brant. The end feather at the top is white; the other feathers are white or spotted. The bent spear is no longer employed by the Omaha, though the Osage, Pawnee, and other tribes still use it to a greater or lesser extent.

1See First Annual Report of Bureau of Ethnology, 1879-'80; 1881, Pl. X, "Tolkotin cremation."

Bows.

Fig. 323.—Omaha Sioux bow (zaⁿzi-mandĕ).

Fig. 324.—Omaha Sioux bow (ʇaʞaⁿ-mandĕ)

Bows (man-dĕ) are of two kinds. One is the man-dĕ or zaⁿzi-mandĕ (bow-wood bow), having an unbroken curve past the grip to within an inch or two of each nock. The other kind is the ʇaʞaⁿ-mandĕ, so called because it has deer sinew glued on its back. Bows were made of hickory, ash, ironwood, or zaⁿzi, the last being greatly preferred. It is a wood resembling that of the Osage orange, with which some persons confound it; but it is black and much harder than the former, the Osage orange wood being yellow, soft, and easily cut. The zaⁿzi is probably that which Dougherty called "bow-wood (Maclura aurantiaca of Nuttall)."

[

Bowstrings were made of the twisted sinew of the elk and buffalo, as among other tribes.

2This may be the "self-bow" mentioned in the American Naturalist for July, 1886, p. 675.

This is the sinew-backed bow above mentioned.

Long's Expedition, op. cit., vol. I, p. 290.

Arrows.

Fig. 325.—Omaha hunting arrow.

The arrows (maⁿ) used in former days were of several kinds. The hunting arrow, used for killing the buffalo, was generally about 2 feet long, of the usual cylindric form, and armed with an elongate triangular point, made at first of flint, afterward of sheet iron. The shoulders of the arrow were rounded instead of angular, as in the ordinary barbed form. The point, or head, was firmly secured to the shaft by deer sinew wrapped around the neck of the point, and over that was spread some cement, made in a manner to be afterward explained. The flight of the arrow was equalized by three half-webs of feathers, neatly fastened near its base in the usual manner.

Another kind of hunting arrow was the hidé nazíȼĕ, which was altogether of wood. About 6 inches from the point the shaft was triangular or quadrangular; and the point was made by holding the shaft close to a fire and turning it round and round till the heat had reduced it to the proper shape and had hardened it. This was used for killing fish, deer, and small game.

Fig. 326.—Omaha Sioux war arrow.

The war arrow (b) differed from that used in hunting in having a barbed point, which was very slightly attached to the shaft, so that if it penetrated the body of an enemy it could not be withdrawn without leaving the point in the wound.

Children used the hidé-ʇece, or target arrow, when they began to learn the use of the bow. With this a boy could kill small birds and animals.

The Ponka used to make arrowshafts (maⁿsa) of jaⁿ-′qude-hí, "gray wood," juneberry wood, which grew in their country, but is not found among the Omaha. Most of the Omaha made their shafts of the maⁿʹsaqtihí, or "real arrow-wood," (Viburnum) as that was the wood best suited for the purpose. Sometimes they were made of chokecherry wood; and Joseph LaFlèche informs me that he has made them of ash and hickory.

Arrowshafts were held lengthwise directly in a line with the eyes of the workman, who sighted along them to see if they were straight. If one was bent, he held one end of it between his teeth, while he pressed against the rest of it with his hands. They were polished by means of the polishers, or maⁿ′-ȼiqȼáde, two pieces of sandstone, each of which had [a groove in the middle of one side. These grooves were brought together, and the arrow was drawn between them.

Fig. 327.—Omaha Sioux style of hidé-ʇáce

War arrows had crooked lines drawn along the shafts from the points to the other ends, down which, so I was informed by the Indians, it was intended that the blood of a wounded foe should trickle.

Arrowheads (máhiⁿ-sí), when made of flint, as at the first, were called "iⁿ′ߵĕ mahiⁿsí," stone arrowheads. In more recent times, they were manufactured of pieces of sheet iron; as, for example, hoops of pails and barrels.

Arrow cement (hiⁿ′pa), for attaching the heads to the shafts, was usually made from the skin taken off a buffalo or elk head. This was boiled a long time, till ready to fall to pieces. When the gelatinous matter forming the cement rose to the top of the water, a stick (called hiⁿpá-jaⁿjiñ′ga) was thrust in and turned round and round, causing the material to be wrapped around it. When cooled it was smoothed with the hand. Then the act was repeated till a large quantity was collected on the stick. When needed for use, it was warmed by placing either in the mouth or in hot water. The skin of the big turtle was also used for making cement.

A set of arrows were called, collectively, "maⁿwiⁿ′daⁿ." A set generally consisted of ten arrows, but the number varied; sometimes there were two, four, or even twenty. When a man had arrows left in his quiver, he compared them with that which was in the slain animal. When he had none left, he appealed to some one who knew his style of arrow.

There were no clan or gentile marks on arrows. One set was distinguished from another by the order of the paint stripes on them, by the kind of feathers used, by the mode in which the arrowheads were made, etc. The Oto made bad arrows; those of the Pawnee were better, but they were inferior to those made by the Dakota, Ponka, and Omaha.

The feathers, half-webs generally, put on arrows were those of the eagle, buzzard, wild turkey, great owl, and goose. Sometimes hawk or crow feathers were employed.

Quivers.

Quivers (maⁿ′jiha) for men were made of buffalo hide; but boys' quivers were made either of otter skins or of the skins of cougars, with the tail of the animal hanging down from the upper extremity. A skin case was attached to the quiver for carrying the bow when not in use. The wrist was defended from the percussion of the bowstring by the leather wristguard or áqande-[p]a.

Shields and Armor.

Shields (ʇaháwagȼe) were made of the hides of buffalo bulls. They were round and very thick, reaching to the waist of the bearer. Arrows did not penetrate them. Joseph La Flèche never heard of the use of defensive armor, such as helmet and mail, among the Omaha and Ponka.

[

 heard of a Pawnee who made a coat from four elk skins, two forming the front and two the back. Between each pair of skins was placed sand. A helmet was made in like manner. It covered the back of the head and extended over the forehead, coming down as far as the eyes. When the Pawnee noticed an arrow coming toward him, he bowed his head forward.

Omaha Sioux Indian Musical Instruments

Musical Instruments.

Battles were of five kinds, [P]exe were generally gourds; wataⁿ′ [p]exe, gourd rattles, were always round, and were partially filled with seed, fine shot, or gravel, [T]ahánuʞa [p]éxe, green-hide rattles, were of two sorts, one of which is "ȼigúje," bent a little. Specimens of this form are in the National Museum.

Two kinds of rattles were called ʇa-cáge, i.e., "deers-claws," from the composition of one variety, though the other was made of molars of the elk.

Fig. 317—Skin drum.

The Omaha used three styles of drums. The ȼéxe-gaʞú bȼáska, or flat drum, is illustrated by a specimen (no. 21675) in the National Museum. The ȼéxe-gaʞú gadáje is made of buffalo hide, cowhide, or the skin of a horse. An example of this drum (no. 24682) is also in the National Museum, and is illustrated by the accompanying figure 317. The jaⁿ′ ȼéxe-gaʞú, or ʞúge ȼéxe-gaʞú, is a wooden or box drum, represented by the accompanying figure 318, also from a specimen (no. 58610) in the National Museum.

Fig. 318—Box drum.

Whistles were made of elder (baʇúci-hi, or popgun wood) by pushing out the pith. No holes were made in the sides of the tube.

Nisúde ʇañ′ga, or large flutes, were made of red cedar. A branch was cut off, rounded, split open with a knife, and hollowed out; then six holes were made in the side of one of them, and the halves were stuck together again. When one of these instruments is blown it produces quavering notes. The best specimens were made by [P]áȼiⁿ-ʇañ′ga, Big Pawnee.

The large flute is illustrated in figure 319.1 Wahí nisúde, or bone flutes, were made of the long bones from the eagle wing. These small flutes have only one hole. Reed flutes, ȼíqȼe nisúde, were made of a kind of reed which grows south of the Omaha territory, probably in Kansas. The Omaha obtained the reeds from some of the southern tribes and made them into flutes having but one hole each.

Fig. 319.—Omaha large flute.

Omaha Sioux Indian Pipes

Smoking Paraphernalia.

Fig. 315.—Omaha calumet

The pipes in use among the Omaha are of three kinds: the sacred pipe (niniba waqube, mysterious pipe), including the war pipes and those used by the chiefs in making peace; the niniba weawaⁿ or calumet (illustrated in figure 315), used in the calumet dance or dance of adoption,1 and the hatchet pipe or maⁿzepe niniba, introduced since the coming of the white man. One form of the pipe used on ordinary [Tobacco pouches (niniújiha) were made of deer or antelope skin, and were ornamented with porcupine quills or a fringe of deerskin. Sometimes buffalo bladders were used for this purpose. The women used them as receptacles for their porcupine quills.

occasions is shown in figure 316. This pipe has a bowl of catlinite, and the stem is decorated with horsehair.

Fig. 316.—Omaha pipe used on ordinary occasions.

See "Omaha Sociology," Third Ann. Rept. Bur. Ethnology, chap. vi.

American Indian (houses) or Lodges of Bark or Mats

American Indian (houses) or Lodges of Bark or Mats.

Ojibwa indians bark and matt house. This type of house was common to the algonquin tribes

The Omaha sometimes make bark lodges for summer occupancy, as did the Iowa and Sak. [T]iu′ȼipu jiñ′ga, or low lodges covered with mats, were used by the Omaha in former days. Such lodges are still common among the Winnebago, the Osage, and other tribes. The ground plan of such a lodge forms an ellipse. The height is hardly over 7 feet from the ground. The tent poles are arranged thus: Each pole has one end planted in the ground, the other end being bent down and fastened to the pole immediately opposite; a number of poles thus arranged in pairs formed both wall posts and rafters.

Fig. 307.—Ground plan of Osage lodge.

Generally there was one fireplace and one smokehole in such a lodge; but when I visited the Osage in 1883, I entered a low lodge with two fireplaces, each equidistant from its end of the lodge and the entrance, each fireplace having its smokehole.

Kansa Sioux Indian lodge of matts and bark.

Omaha and Kansa Sioux Earth Lodges

Omaha Indian Earth Lodge

The primitive domiciles of the Omaha were chiefly (1) lodges of earth or, more rarely, of bark or mats, and (2) skin lodges or tents. It may be observed that there were no sacred rites connected with the earth lodge-building or tent-making among the Omaha and Ponka.

Omaha Indian Earth Lodges.

When earth lodges were built, the people did not make them in a tribal circle, each man erecting his lodge where he wished; yet kindred commonly built near one another.

The earth lodges were made by the women, and were intended principally for summer use, when the people were not migrating or going on the hunt. Those built by the Omaha and Ponka were constructed in the following manner: The roof was supported by two series of vertical posts, forked at the top for the reception of the transverse connecting pieces of each series. The number in each series varied according to the size of the lodge; for a small lodge only four posts were erected in the inner series, for an ordinary lodge eight were required, and ten generally constituted the maximum. When Mr. Say1 visited [P]the Kansa Indians, he occupied a lodge in which twelve of these posts placed in a circle formed the outer series, and eight longer ones constituted the inner series, also describing a circle. The wall was formed by setting upright slabs of wood back of the outer posts all around the circumference of the lodge. These slabs were not over 6 feet in height, and their tops met the cross timbers on which the willow posts rested. Stocks of hard willow about 2 inches in diameter rested with their butts on the tops of the upright slabs and extended on the cross timbers nearly to the summit. These poles were very numerous, touching one another and extending all around in a radiating manner, supporting the roof like rafters. The rafters were covered with grass about a foot thick; and over the whole lodge, including the sides or slabs, earth was piled from a foot to 2 feet in depth. Such a covering lasted generally about twenty years. A hole in the middle served as an exit for the smoke.

Making an Earth Lodge

In addition to the lodge proper there was a covered way about 10 feet long and 5 feet wide, the entrance to which had a covering of tanned or dried buffalo hides. This covering consisted of two hides hanging side by side, with the inner borders slightly overlapping. They were fastened to the passageway at the top and at the outer sides, but were loose at the bottom where they overlapped. This part was raised by a person entering the lodge. A similar covering was placed at the interior end of the passageway.

Subsequently to 1855, the Omaha dwelt in three villages composed of earth lodges, as follows: (1) Biku′de, a village near the agency; (2) Windja′ge, Standing Hawk's village, near the Presbyterian mission house; and (3) Jaⁿȼa′te ("Wood Eaters,") named after an insect found []under the bark of trees Sanssouci's village, near the town of Decatur, Nebraska.

Earth lodges were generally used for large gatherings, such as feasts, councils, or dances. Occasionally there was a depression in the center of the lodge which was used as a fireplace; but it was not over 6 inches deep. Each earth lodge had a ladder, made by cutting a series of deep notches along one side of a log. On a bluff near the Omaha agency I found the remains of several ancient earth lodges, with entrances on the southern sides. Two of these were 75 feet and one was 100 feet in diameter. In the center of the largest there was a hollow about 3 feet deep and nearly 4 feet below the surface outside the lodge.

1James' account of Long's Expedition to the Rocky Mountains in 1819-'20.

About Mandan Indian Houses

About Mandan Indian Houses

The Mandans and Minnetarees of the Upper Missouri constructed a timber-framed house, superior in design and in mechanical execution to those of the Indians north of New Mexico. In 1862 I saw the remains of the old Mandan village shortly after its abandonment by the Arickarees, its last occupants. The houses, nearly all of which were of the same model, were falling into decay—for the village was then deserted of inhabitants, but some of them were still perfect, and the plan of their structure easily made out. The above ground-plan of the village was taken from the work of Prince Maximilian, and the remaining illustrations are from sketches and measurements of the author. It was situated upon a bluff on the west side of the Missouri, and at a bend in the river which formed an obtuse angle, and covered about six acres of land. The village was surrounded with a stockade made of timbers set vertically in the ground, and about ten feet high, but then in a dilapidated state.

[Illustration: Fig. 16.—Mandan Village Plot.]

The houses were circular in external form, the walls being about five feet high, and sloping inward and upward from the ground, upon which rested an inclined roof, both the exterior wall and the roof being plastered over with earth a foot and a half thick. For this reason they have usually been called "dirt lodges."

Mandan House.

These houses are about forty feet in diameter, with the floor sunk a foot or more below the surface of the ground, six feet high on the inside at the line of the wall and from twelve to fifteen feet high at the center. Twelve posts, six or eight inches in diameter, are set in the ground, at equal distances, in the circumference of a circle, and rising about six feet above the level of the floor. String-pieces resting in forks cut in the ends of these posts, form a polygon at the base and also upon the ground floor. Against these an equal number of braces are sunk in the ground about four feet distant, which slanting upward, are adjusted by means of depressions cut in the ends, so as to hold both the posts and the stringers firmly in their places. Slabs of wood are then set in the spaces between the braces at the same inclination, and resting against the stringers, which when completed surrounded the lodge with a wooden wall. Four round posts, each six or eight inches in diameter, are set in the ground near the center of the floor, in the angles of a square, ten feet apart, and rising from ten to fifteen feet above the ground floor. These again are connected by stringers resting in forks at their tops, upon which and the external wall the rafters rest.

The engraving exhibits a cross-section, as described. Poles three or four inches in diameter are placed as rafters from the external wall to the string-pieces above the central parts, and near enough together to give the requisite strength to support thee earth covering placed upon the roof. These poles were first covered over with willow matting, upon which prairie grass was overspread, and over all a deep covering of earth. An opening was left in the center, about four feet in diameter, for the exit of the smoke and for the admission of light. The interior was spacious and tolerably well lighted, although the opening in the roof and a single doorway were the only apertures through which light could penetrate. There was but one entrance, protected by what has been called the Eskimo doorway; that is, by a passage some five feet wide, ten or twelve feet long, and about six feet high, constructed with split timbers, roofed with poles, and covered with earth. Buffalo-robes suspended at the outer and inner entrances supplied the place of doors. Each house was comparted by screens of willow matting or unhaired skins suspended from the rafters, with spaces between for storage. These slightly-constructed apartments opened towards the central fire like stalls, thus defining an open central area around the fire-pit, which was the gathering place of the inmates of the lodge. This fire-pit was about five feet in diameter, a foot deep, and encircled with flat stones set up edgewise. A hard, smooth, earthen floor completed the interior. Such a lodge would accommodate five or six families, embracing thirty or forty persons. It was a communal house, in accordance with the usages and institutions of the American aborigines, and growing naturally out of their mode of life. I counted forty-eight houses, winch would average forty feet in diameter, all constructed upon this plan besides several rectangular log houses of later erection and of the American type.

[Illustration: Fig. 19.—Mandan house.]

These houses, of which a representation is given in Fig. 19, were thickly studded together to economize the space within the stockade, so that in walking through the village you passed along some circular foot-paths. There was no street, and it was impossible to see in any direction except for short distances. In the center there was an open space, where their religious rites and festivals were observed. [Footnote: The war post, which stood in the center, and a number of stone and bone implements I brought away with me, as mementoes of the place. They are now in my collection.]

Not the least interesting fact connected with these creditable structures was the quantity of materials required for their erection and the amount of labor required for their transportation for long distances down the river, and to fashion them, with the aid of fire and stone implements, into such comfortable dwellings. The trees are here confined to the bottom lands between the banks of the river, the river being bordered for miles by open prairies, and the trees growing in patches at long distances apart. To cut the timber without metallic implements, and to transport it without animal power, indicate a degree of persevering industry highly creditable to a people who, at this stage of progress, are averse to labor on the part of the males. Habitual male industry makes its first appearance in the next or the Middle Status of barbarism. The men here did the heavy work.

In the spaces between the lodges were their drying-scaffolds (Fig. 20), one for each lodge, which were nearly as conspicuous in the distance as the houses themselves. They were about twenty feet long, twelve feet wide, and seven feet high to the flooring, made of posts set upright, with cross-pieces resting in forks. Other poles were then placed longitudinally, upon which was a flooring of willow mats. These scaffolds, mounted with ladders (Fig. 21), were used for drying their skins, and also their maize, meat, and vegetables.

The Indians knew the use of the ladder, and some of them made an excellent article before the discovery of America. When Coronado visited and captured the seven so-called cities of Cibola in 1540-1542, he found the people living in seven or eight large joint-tenement houses, each capable of holding about a thousand persons. These houses were without entrances from the ground, but they mounted to the first terrace by means of ladders, and so to each successive story above. "The ladders which they have for their houses," Coronado says in his relation, "are all in a manner movable and portable as ours be." [Footnote: Hakluyt, Coll. of Voyages, London ed., 1812, vol. 5, p. 498.]

The ladders at the Mandan village were made of two limbs growing nearly parallel and severed below the junction, as shown in the figure, and set with the forked end upon the ground, and the ends against the scaffold. Depressions were sunk in the rails to receive the rounds, which were secured by rawhide strings. They were usually from ten to twelve feet long, and one or two at each scaffold.

Situated thus picturesquely on a bluff, at an angle of the river, with houses of this peculiar model and with such an array of scaffolds rising up among them, the village was strikingly conspicuous for some distance both above and below on the river, and presented a remarkable appearance.

Afterwards, at the present Minnetaree and Mandan village about sixty-five miles above on the east side of the Missouri, and also at the new Arickaree village on the west side, and quite near it, I had an opportunity to see houses precisely similar to those described in actual occupation by the Indians, with their interior arrangements and their mode of life.