372 THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 



amongst them, who often advance diametrically opposite theories and traditions rela- 

 tive to history and mythology. 



And, however ignorant and ridiculous they may seem, they are yet worthy of a 

 little further consideration as relating to a number of curious circumstances con- 

 nected with the unaccountable religious ceremonies which I have just described. 



The Mandan chiefs and doctors in all their feasts, where the pipe is lit and about 

 to be passed around, deliberately propitiate the good- will and favor of the Great 

 Spirit by extending the stem of the pipe upwards before they smoke it themselves, 

 and also as deliberately and as strictly offering the stem to the four cardinal points in 

 succession, and then drawing a whiff through it, passing it around amongst the group. 



The annual religious ceremony invariably lasts four days, and the other following 

 circumstances attending these strange forms, and seeming to have some allusion to 

 the four cardinal points, or the four tortoises, seem to me to be worthy of further no- 

 tice. Four men are selected by Nu-mohh-muck-a-ndh (as I have before said) to 

 cleanse out and prepare the medicine-lodge for the occasion ; one he calls from the 

 north part of the village, one from the east, one from the south, and one from the 

 west. The four sacks of water, in form of large tortoises, resting on the floor of the 

 lodge, and before described, would seem to be typical of the same thing, and also the 

 four buffalo and the four human skulls resting on the floor of the same lodge, the four 

 couples of dancers in the " bull-dance," as before described, and also the four inter- 

 vening dancers in the same dance, and also described. 



The bull-dance in front of the medicine-lodge, repeated on the four days, is danced 

 four times on the first day, eight times on the second, twelve times on the third, and 

 sixteen times on the fourth (adding four dances on each of the four days), which, 

 added together, make forty, the exact number of days that it rained upon the earth, 

 according to the Mosaic account, to produce the Deluge. There are four sacrifices of 

 black and blue cloths erected over the door of the medicine-lodge — the visits of Oh- 

 kee-hee-^e (or Evil Spirit) were paid to four of the buffaloes in the buffalo-dance, as 

 above described, and in every instance the young men who underwent the tortures 

 before explained had four splints or skewers run through the flesh on their legs, four 

 through the arms, aud four through the body. 



Such is a brief account of these strange scenes which I have just been witnessing", 

 and such my brief history of the Mandans. I might write much more on them, giving 

 yet a volume on their stories and traditions; but it would be a volume of fables, and 

 scarce worth recording. A nation of Indians in their primitive condition, where there 

 are no historians, have but a temporary historical existence, for the reasons above ad- 

 vanced, and their history, what can be certainly learned of it, may be written in a 

 very small compass. • 



I have dwelt longer on the history and customs of these people than I have or shall 

 on any other tribe, in all probability, and that from the fact that I have found them 

 a very peculiar people-, as will have been seen by my notes. 



From these very numerous and striking peculiarities in their personal appearance, 

 their customs, traditions, and language, I have been led conclusively to believe that 

 they are a people of decidedly a different origin from that of any other tribe in these 

 regions. 



From these reasons, as well as from the fact that they are a small and feeble tribe, 

 against whom the powerful tribe of Sioux are waging a deadly war, with the pros- 

 pect of their extermination, and who, with their limited numbers, are not likely to 

 hold out long in their struggle for existence, I have taken more pains to portray their 

 whole character than my limited means will allow me to bestow upon other tribes. 



From the ignoraut and barbarous and disgusting customs just recited the world 

 would naturally infer that these people must be the most cruel and inhuman beings 

 in the world ; yet such is not the case, and it becomes my duty to say it. A better, 

 more honest, hospitable, and kind people, as a community, are not to be found in the 

 world.' No set of men that ever I associated with have better hearts than the Man- 



