THE MISSOURI RIVER JOURNALS 



45 



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continued its fearful ravages, and the Indians grew fewer 

 and fewer day by day. For a long time the Riccarees 

 did not suffer; the Mandans became more and more as- 

 tounded at this, and became exasperated against both 

 whites and Indians. The disease was of the most viru- 

 lent type, so that within a few hours after death the 

 bodies were a mass of rottenness. Men killed themselves, 

 to die a nobler death than that brought by the dreaded 

 plague. One young warrior sent his wife to dig his 

 grave; and she went, of course, for no Indian woman 

 dares disobey her lord. The grave was dug, and the war- 

 rior, dressed in his most superb apparel, with lance and 

 shield in hand, walked towards it singing his own death 

 song, and, finding the grave finished, threw down all 

 his garments and arms, and leaped into it, drawing his 

 knife as he did so, and cutting his body almost asunder. 

 This done, the earth was thrown over him, the grave filled 

 up, and the woman returned to her lodge to live with her 

 children, perhaps only another day. A great chief, who 

 had been a constant friend to the whites, having caught 

 the pest, and being almost at the last extremity, dressed 

 himself in his fineries, mounted his war-steed, and, fevered 

 and in agony, rode among the villages, speaking against 

 the whites, urging the young warriors to charge upon 

 them and destroy them all. The harangue over, he went 

 home, and died not many hours afterward. The exposure 

 and exertion brought on great pains, and one of the men 

 from the fort went to him with something that gave him 

 temporary relief; before he died, he acknowledged his 

 error in trying to create trouble between the whites and 

 Indians, and it was his wish to be buried in front of the 

 gate of the fort, with all his trophies around and above 

 his body; the promise was given him that this should be 

 done, and he died in the belief that the white man, as he 

 trod on his grave, would see that he was humbled before 

 him, and would forgive him. Two young men, just sick- 



