THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 353 



THE BIG CANOE. 



In the center of the Mandan village (see No. 502), is an open, cirtnlar area of one 

 hundred and fifty feet diameter, kept always clear, as a public ground, for the display 

 of all their public feasts, parades, &c, and around it are their wigwams placed as 

 near to each other as they can well stand, their doors facing the center of this public 

 area. 



Iu the middle of this ground, which is trodden like a hard pavement, is a curb 

 (somewhat like a large hogshead standing on its end) made of planks (and bound 

 with hoops), some eight or nine feet high, which they religiously preserve and pro- 

 tect from year to year free from mark or scratch, and which they call the big canoe — 

 it is undoubtedly a symbolic representation of a. part of their traditional history of 

 the great Flood ; which it is very evident, from this and numerous other features 

 of this grand ceremony, they have in some way or other received, and are here en- 

 deavoring to perpetuate by vividly impressing it on the minds of the whole nation. 

 This object of superstition, from its position, as the very center of the village is the 

 rallying point of the whole nation. To it their devotions are paid on various occa- 

 sions of feasts and religious exercises during the year ; and in this extraordinary scene 

 it was often the nucleus of their mysteries and cruelties, as I shall shortly describe 

 them, and becomes an object worth bearing in mind, and worthy of being under- 

 stood. - 



TIME OF RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES. 



This exciting and appalling scene, then, which is familiarly (and no doubt correctly) 

 called the "Mandan religious ceremony," commences not on a particular day of the 

 year (for these people keep no record of days or weeks), but at a particular season, 

 which is designated by the full expansion of the willow leaves under the bank of the 

 river; for according to their tradition, "the twig that the bird brought home was a 

 willow bough, and had fullgrown leaves on it," and the bird to which they allude is 

 the mourning or turtle dove, which they took great pains to point out to me, as it is 

 often to be seen feeding on the sides of the earth-covered lodges, and which being as 

 they call it, a medicine bird, is not to be destroyed or harmed by any one, and even 

 their dogs are instructed not to do it injury. On the morning of the day on which 

 this strange transaction commenced, I was at breakfast in the house of the trader, 

 Mr. Kipp, when at sunrise we were suddenly startled by the shrieking and screaming 

 of the women, and barking and howling of dogs, as if an enemy were actually storm- 



COMMENCEMENT OF THE CEREMONY.— THE FIRST DAY. 



"Now we have it!" exclaimed mine host, as he sprang from the table, "the grand 

 ceremony has commenced! Drop your knife and fork, monsieur, and get your sketch- 

 book as soon as possible, that you may lose nothing, for the very moment of com- 

 mencing is as curious as anything else of this strange affair." I seized my sketch- 

 book, and all hands of us were in an instant in front of the medicine-lodge, ready to 

 see and to hear all that was to take place. Groups of women and children were gath- 

 ered on the tops of their earth-covered wigwams, and all were screaming, and dogs 

 were howling, and all eyes directed to the prairies in the west, where was beheld, at 

 a mile distant, a solitary individual descending a prairie bluff, and making his way 

 in a direct line towards the village. 



The whole community joined in the general expression of great alarm, as if they 

 were in danger of instant destruction; bows were strung and thrumed to test their 

 elasticity ; their horses were caught upon the prairie and run into the village ; war- 

 riors were blackening their faces, and dogs were muzzled, and every preparation rnad.fi 

 as if for instant combat. 

 6744—23 



