272 THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 



mounds of interminable green, changing to blue, as they vanish in distance) is built 

 the city, or principal town, of the Mandans. On an extensive plain (which is covered 

 with a green turf, as well as the hills and dales, as far as the eye can possibly range, 

 without tree or bush to be seen) are to be seen rising from the ground, and towards 

 the heavens, domes (not "of gold," but) of dirt, and the thousand epears (not 

 "spires") and scalp-poles, &c., of the eemi-subterraueous village of the hospitable 

 and gentlemanly Mandans. 



These people formerly (and within the recollection of many of their oldest men, 

 lived fifteen or twenty miles farther down the river, in ten contiguous villages, the 

 marks or ruins of which are yet plainly to be seen. At that period it is evident, as 

 well from the number of lodges which their villages contained as from their tradi- 

 tions, that their numbers were much greater than at the present day. 



There are other, and very interesting, traditions and historical facts relative to a 

 still prior location and condition of these people, of which I shall speak more fully 

 on a future occasion. From these, when they are promulged, I think there may be a 

 pretty fair deduction drawn that they formerly occupied the lower part of the Mis- 

 souri, and even the Ohio and Muskingum, and have gradually made their way up 

 the Missouri to where they now are. 



There are many remains on the river below this place (and, in fact, to be seen nearly 

 as low down as Saint Louis) which show clearly the peculiar construction of Man- 

 dan lodges, and consequently carry a strong proof of the above position. While de- 

 scending the river, however, which I shall commence iu a few weeks, in a canoe, this 

 will be a subject of interest, and I shall give it close examination. 



The ground on which the Mandan village is at present built was admirably se- 

 lected for defense, being on a bank forty or fifty feet above the bed of the river. The 

 greater part of this bank is nearly perpendicular, and of solid rock. The river, sud- 

 denly changing its course to a right angle, j)rotects two sides of the village, which is 

 built upon this promontory or angle. They have, therefore, but one side to protect, 

 which is efi'ectually done by a strong piquet, and a ditch inside of it, of three or four 

 feet in depth. The piquet is composed of timbers of a foot or more in diameter and 

 eighteen feet high, set firmly in the ground at sufficient distances from each other to 

 admit of guns and other missiles to be fired between them. The ditch (unlike that 

 of civilized modes of fortification) is inside of the piquet, in which theii; warriors 

 screen their bodies from the view and weapons of their enemies whilst they are re- 

 loading and discharging their weapons through the piquets. 



The Mandans are undoubtedly secure in their villages from the attacks of any In- 

 dian nation, and have nothing to fear, except when they meet their enemy on the 

 prairie. Their village has a most novel appearance to the eye of a stranger; their 

 lodges are closely grouped together, leaving but just room enough for walking and 

 riding between them, and appear from without to be built entirely of dirt. But one 

 is surprised when he enters them to see the neatness, comfort, and spacious dimen- 

 sions of these earth-covered dwellings. They all have a circular form, and are from 

 forty to sixty feet in diameter. Their foundations are prepared by digging some two 

 feet in the ground, and forming the floor of earth by leveling the requisite size for 

 the lodge. These floors or foundations are all perfectly circular, and varying in size 

 in proportion to the number of inmates, or of the quality or standing of the families 

 which are to occupy them. The superstructure is then produced by arranging, in- 

 side of this circular excavation, firmly fixed in the ground and resting against the 

 bank, a barrier or wall of timbers, some eight or nine inches in diameter, of equal 

 height (about six feet) placed on end, and resting against each other, supported by a 

 formidable embankment of earth raised against them outside ; then, resting upon the 

 tops of these timbers or piles, are others of equal size and equal in numbers, of 

 twenty or twenty-five feet iu length, resting firmly against each other, and seurtiug 

 their upper or smaller ends towards the center and top of the lodge, rising at angle 

 pf forty- five degrees to the apex or sky-light, which is about three or four feet in 



