INDIAN TRIBES OF THE MISSOURI VALLEY. 429 
that surround them are taken into consideration. The fact that a ceremony of this kind 
exists among savages, tending to promote virtue and discourage vice, is of itself sufficient 
evidence of their mental as well as moral superiority. 
Both males and females of every age, especially the young, were very cleanly in their 
persons and neat in their dress. It was their custom, and still is, growing out of some 
ancient tradition, to bathe in the river every morning. Even in the winter season they 
cut holes in the ice, immerse the body, and it is no uncommon thing to see them after 
taking their cold bath sit naked on the ice, comb their hair, and paint themselves in a 
snow-storm, the thermometer from 10° to 30° below zero. This constant ablution at all 
seasons had the effect of inuring the system to cold, for they never shiver, be the weather 
ever so severe, and sometimes they seem to prolong the making of their toilet in propor- 
tion as the air is intensely cold. At all events the practice was a good one for the In- 
dians, inasmuch as it kept their bodies free from most diseases and eruptions incident to 
their manner of life, and it was remarked that they were uniformly healthy and vigorous. 
As a general rule the females despised the promiscuous and illicit intercourse with the 
other sex, so much practised by some of the other tribes, and consequently they were free 
from syphilitic diseases. 
The great object of the young of both sexes was to dress well; and everything they 
could get was lavished on their persons in clothing and ornament. Some of their dresses 
were very costly, particularly those of a young brave, the war-eagle feathers of which 
alone would equal the price of two horses, or one hundred dollars. ‘They were, as a 
nation, fond of amusements; dances were frequent, and different clans required separate 
costumes, some of which, although made of skin wrought with figures of beads and por- 
cupine quills, cost six months’ labor to complete them. The taking of the war-eagle, 
whose tail furnishes the most costly ornament of a warrior’s dress, requires great patience, 
and is thus accomplished. About sixty-five or seventy miles above the Mandan village, 
there is a river called the Little Missouri, which takes its rise in the Black Hills and 
empties into the Missouri at the lower end of the Great Bend. Along the whole course 
of this stream the surface is much broken, resembling that described as Mauvaises Terres 
in the Dakota country. It is a wild region, seldom visited by any persons except passing 
war-parties, and is the secure abode of the grizzly bear, big-horn, and war-eagle. A 
Mandan wishing to make an eagle hunt, goes through several days’ fasting, offers sacrifices 
to the Great Spirit, and implores His protection and aid in the success of his expedition. 
When, by a propitious dream, he believes the time favorable, he proceeds alone to the 
place above mentioned, killing some animal on his way, the meat of which he will need 
as bait. When he reaches the wildest and most solitary spot, he digs a hole in the ground 
large enough to contain his body in an upright position; over this hole is placed a cover- 
