262 SPORT IN NORTH AMERICA. 



had quite a picturesque aspect. This camp had an 

 extraordinary appearance to the eyes of a European. 

 The conical-roofed tents made of deer-skins and 

 adorned with quaint devices, were arranged in a 

 semicircle, in the midst of which was a tent much 

 larger and more ornamented than those which sur- 

 rounded it, 



Mr. Simonton, after heing introduced to the 

 chief, showed him the cabalistic talisman which 

 he had obtained at Washington at the office of the 

 Indian Commissioners, and the chief gave orders 

 immediately that we should be treated as friends 

 and brothers. Faithful to the traditions of his 

 fathers and to the customs of his people, the chief 

 filled a pij^e, the bowl of which was made of a red 

 stone, with odoriferous tobacco, and having solemnly 

 smoked a few puffs, passed it on to Mr. Simonton, 

 thus ratifying an oath of friendship which nothing 

 could release him from. The calumet was then 

 passed round to each guest in turn. 



The tribe of Sioux with whom we found ourselves 

 are known as Whapatookas, and numbered four 

 hundred warriors, with five hundred women. Their 

 language was the Narcotah, a primitive dialect 

 which, according to certain linguists, bears some 

 resemblance to the Tartar Mantchou. Indeed, there 

 is a legend, which was narrated to me during my 

 stay among the Eed Skins, and which attributes the 

 origin of the Sioux race to a horde of Tartars who 



