dbkio] the assiniboin 529 



Strength and Endurance 



Their powers in lifting weights, handling an ox or rowing a boat 

 can not compare to Europeans, yet they equal them in carrying 

 burdens and surpass them in running. It would seem that they have 

 but little strength in their arms, but considerable in the back and 

 limbs. This may be owing to the manner in which the}' have exer- 

 cised in their youth. An ordinary Indian can not lift more than 

 125 to 150 pounds at most, though there are a few very strong men 

 who might be able to raise double that weight, yet most of them will 

 carry a large deer on their backs, traveling at a swift pace for miles 

 without stopping, and this is equal to 170 to 185 pounds weight. The 

 manner in which they put it on their back is by tying the legs 

 together, lying down with their back on the deer, slipping the legs 

 across the forehead, and rising up with the load. The Assiniboin 

 have frequently in this neighborhood and once in our company tired 

 down in a da} 7 or two running on foot the best horses we could pro- 

 duce. 22 In running they never. " lose their breath " as it is called, 

 do not pant or respire very quickly. 



They can not understand why " whites lose their wind in running " 

 and have no name for the idea in their language. They say their legs 

 sometimes fail them in several days running, but their wind never. 

 They are not fast, but constant runners, keeping always at the same 

 pace over hills or on a level, in a kind of short trot about 12 or 15 

 miles without stopping. They will then rest a few minutes, smoke 

 a pipe, and make as much more at the same rate, and so on, for three 

 or four days and nights in succession if necessary, their speed on these 

 occasions being about 5% miles an hour. In an emergency, sending 

 an Indian express to the fort to carry a letter for myself, he went 95 

 miles and returned, being 190 miles, in two nights and one day. 



They can not walk as well as strong white men, and never do walk 

 when in haste to get forward. The muscles of their arms do not 

 appear to be formed for very hard work, but it may be that the na- 

 ture of their labors does not develop them. Upon the whole the 

 European would stand much more hard work in every way, but the 

 Indian would be his superior in active exercise, abstemiousness, and 

 loss of sleep. The greatest burden we have known an Indian to 

 carry any distance, say 3 or 4 miles, was two entire antelope, about 

 225 pounds. 



Spirituous Liquors 



No spirituous liquors have been distributed among these nations for 

 many years past, but should it be given them in quantity it would 



22 W J McGee noted similar racing ability among the Seri Indians. See Seventeenth 

 Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Etna. 



