INDIAN TRIBES OF THE MISSOURI VALLEY. 300 
the river is alive with them from shore to shore, leaping from one cake of ice to another, 
sometimes falling in and whirling by in the rapid current. It is very dangerous employ- 
ment, yet they are so nimble, so expert swimmers, and such good judges of the solidity 
of the ice-cakes, that comparatively few accidents occur. Such are some of their resources 
for living, and poor as they are they are better than those of the Dakotas and other wan- 
dering tribes. 
The Arikaras, though stupid in many respects, show considerable ingenuity in making 
tolerably good and well-shaped vessels for cooking purposes. ‘They are wrought by hand 
out of clay, and baked in the fire, though not glazed. They consist of pots, pans, por- 
ringers, and mortars for pounding corn. ‘They are of a gray color, stand well the action 
of fire, and are nearly as strong as ordinary potter’s ware. For pounding corn and other 
hard substances, they make also mortars of stone, working the material into shape with 
great labor and perseverance. ‘These utensils, though clumsy, seem to be preferred by 
them to metallic ones, for though the latter can now be had at a trifling cost, they con- 
tinue their manufacture, and will scarcely exchange them for others, to us, more conve- 
nient and durable. They also possess the art of melting beads of different colors, and 
casting them in moulds of clay for ornaments, some of which are very handsome. In 
common with the Mandans and Minnetarees, they make skin canoes, which are of great 
service to them. ‘The body of the boat is made of willows, bent round like a basket, and 
tied to a hoop at the top, which forms a circle about three or four feet in diameter. The 
hide of a buffalo, either fresh from the animal, or if dry, well soaked in water, is stretched 
over the frame, the hair side within. It is then turned upside down, dried, and sometimes 
smeared with tallow. The whole is made of a single skin, can be carried easily by a 
woman from place to place, and will convey three men across the Missouri with tolerable 
safety. 
The domestic character and habits of the Arikaras are decidedly more filthy than those 
of any other tribe on the Upper Missouri. In their dress, they are greasy and slovenly, 
both men and women, and their hair is seldom untangled by a comb, though frequently 
amongst the men stuck together in tufts with gum, and then plastered over with clay, 
grease, and paint, affording excellent pasture-ground for vermin, which grow to a great 
size, multiply and spread over the cranium and clothes, and even into every nook and 
corner of their cabins. ‘There are neither handsome men nor women among them; the 
former have sharp, sneaking, thieving looks, shabby in their dress, and ungraceful in their 
general deportment, and the latter coarse features, thick lips, short and thick-set persons, 
and both young and old are often more or less tainted with syphilitic diseases. 
Many of the Arikara families are said to sleep indiscriminately together, the father 
beside the daughter, the brother with the sister, and this is the only nation in which 
incest is not regarded as disgraceful and criminal. 
