May ii, 1954.! 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
418 
the Migsour! on the Ice. A hole lay immediately m their 
course, which might easily have been aY9ided by going 
round. This the foremost df the band disdained to do, 
but went straight forward, and was lost. The others 
would have followed his example, but were forcibly pre- 
vented by the rest of the tribe. The young men sit, and 
encamp, and dance together, distinct from the rest of the 
nation ; they are generally about thirty or thirty-five years 
old, and such is the deference paid to courage, that their 
scats in council are superior to those of the chiefs, and 
their oersons more respected. But, as may be supposed, 
snrh indiscreet bravery will soon diminish the numbers 
cf those who practice it, so that the band is now reduced 
tG four warriors, who were among our visitors. These 
were the remains of twenty-two, who composed the so- 
ciety not long as-o; but, in a battle with the Kite Indians 
ot the Black Mountains, eighteen of them were killed, 
and these four were dragged from the field by their 
companions." . . , , .1 
The list of the Sioux tribes here given includes the 
Yanktons, the Tetons of the Burned Woods— now called 
Brules; the Tetons Okandandas— now known as Ogal- 
lalas- the Teton Minnakenozzo— Mmneconjous ; the 
Teton Saone— Santees ; Yanktons of the Plains— Yank- 
tonnaies; the Minda:warcarton— Minnewakaton ; the 
Wahpatoota— Wahpatones ; the Sistasoone— Sissetons. 
Not far beyond Calumet Bluffs were found extraor- 
dinary earth works, said by the explorers and French in- 
terpreters to be common on the Platte, the Kansas, and 
the James rivers. The Puncas were next passed, above 
La Riviere qui Court— the Niobrara. These are said to 
have been largely reduced in numbers by the attacks of 
their enemies, and to be now associating with the 
Omahas, and residing on the head of the Loup and the 
Running Water. Above here the first prairie dogs were 
seen; and not long after they were rejoined by one of 
their men who, twelve days before, had been sent off after 
lost horses, and, having found them, had been wandering 
along the river for twelve days, seeking his party. Men- 
■.tion is made on September 17 of a great prairie dog town, 
.and it is told that their presence here enticed to this place 
"wolves of a small kind, hawks, and polecats, all of which 
.animals we saw, and presume that they fed on the squir- 
rels." The whole country here had recently been burned, 
:and was now covered with young grass, on which herds 
lof antelope and buffalo were feeding. . 
On the 20th, the party had a narrow escape from being 
Iburied under a falling bank, undermined by the nver, 
(On this day a fort and a large trading house built by Mr. 
jLoizel for the purpose of trading with the Sioux was 
ipassed on Cedar Island, and the following day Indians 
Isiole one of their horses. They haid^npy/ come to the 
(country of the Teton Indians, and, holding a council with 
ithem, had more or less trouble, which would undoubtedly 
lhave resulted in fighting, had it not been for the prudence 
(of Captain Clark. The Indians were insolent, and were 
disposed to go just as far as permitted in annoying the 
white people. However, they were not allowed to im- 
;pose on the party, and a short distance above this the 
iinain Teton village was passed, and here Captains Lewis 
.and Clark were met at the river bank by ten young men, 
who carried them on buffalo robes to the large house 
where the council was to be held— an evidence of the 
Ihighest respect. In this shelter were about seventy men, 
sitting about the chief, before whom were placed a Span- 
iish flag and American flag which Lewis and Clark had 
(given him. Within the circle was the pipe, supported on 
two forked sticks, about six or eight inches from the 
jground, and beneath the pipe was scattered the down of 
a swan. Food was cooking over the fire, and near the 
Ikettle a large amount of buffalo meat, intended as a 
present. The feast consisted of a dog, pemitigon, and 
pomme blanche, and was ladled into wooden dishes with 
a horn spoon. After eating and smoking, a number of 
dances were performed. Concerning these, the very in- 
correct opinion is expressed: "Nor does the music ap- 
pear to be anything more than a confusion of noises, dis- 
tinguished only by hard or gentle blows upon a buffalo 
skin; the song is perfectly extemporaneous." It is, of 
• course, well known now that these songs and dances are 
: always the same, and never, by any chance, change. 
It is noted that these Indians, who appear to have been 
'Ogallalas, had then a fashion of dressing the hair dif- 
)ferent from anything recently known. The journal says: 
"The men shaved the hair off their heads, except a small 
ituft on the top, which they suffered to grow, and wore in 
]p]aits over the shoulders. To this they seemed much at- 
ttached, as the loss of it is the usual sacrifice at the death 
lof near relations." The dress of men and women is 
'described, and it is noted that the fire-bags of these Sioux 
were made of the dressed skins of skunks. The women's 
dresses were not very unlike that of recent times. 
After four days spent with these Indians, preparations 
were made to prpceed up the river; but the Indians did 
not seem willing to let them go. They did not show any 
particular hostility, but were extremely irritating, and 
put the white men to so much trouble that they were 
obliged to threaten them with fighting. Even after they 
had at last succeeded in starting on their journey, these 
Sioux followed them along the river, and continued to 
annoy them. 
Not very far above the point where they were troubled 
iby the Sioux, they came on a village of Arikaras, with 
-whom some Frenchmen were living, and among them a 
;M. Gravelines. This man brought together the Arikara 
.chiefs for a conference, in which speeches were made to 
,them similar to those already uttered to the Indians down 
nthe river. Some presents were given, but the offer of 
iliquor was declined, the Indians saying that they were 
ssurprised that their father should present to them a 
iliquor which would make them fools. From the Indians 
were received presents of corn, beans and squashes. The 
following day other councils were had at other villages 
of the Rees; and the explorers finally left them to go up 
the river. The history of this tribe is given with sub- 
stantial accuracy, and much is said about their habits and 
their good disposition. 
Further up the river a camp of Sioux was passed, and 
beyond them a stream called Stone-Idol Creek. This 
name was given from the discovery that "a few miles 
back from the Missouri there are two stones resembling 
human figures, and a third like a dog; all of whicli are 
objects of great veneration among the Arikaras;." ; ^ ; , 
While nothing is said about the size of these figures, 
olle wonders whether they have arty possible relation to 
that stone figure known as the Standing Rock, concern- 
ing which the Yankton Sioux have a tradition. We have 
not heard of the figure of a man in connection With the 
Standing Rock, but there was certainly the figttre of a 
woman and of a dog, and the woman, who owtled the dog, 
is said to have been a Ree woman. The Yankton tradi- 
tion, however, is quite different from that given by Lewis 
and Clark. Their two stone figures are a lover and a 
girl whose parents declined to permit the marriage; and 
tliese two young persons, the man accompanied by his 
dog, met on the prairie, and, after wandering about, were 
at last turned to stone. The Standing Rock, which is 
now at Standing Rock Agency, in North Dakota, is said 
to have been a Ree woman, who, after having long been 
tlie only wife of her husband, became jealous when he 
took another wife, and, lagging behind the traveling body 
of the Rees, was finally turned to stone, and remains to 
this day, a warning to all jealous women. 
A little later during the day's journey they saw great 
numbers of "goats" (antelope) coming to the banks of 
the river. No doubt these animals were then migrating 
toward the mountains, or perhaps to the broken hills of 
the Little Missouri. On October 18 they passed the 
Cannon-ball River, referred to as Le Boulet; and here 
they met two Frenchmen who had been robbed by the 
Mandans, but who turned about and proceeded north 
again with the white men, in the hope of recovering their 
possessions. Game was extremely abundant— buffalo, elk, 
?nd deer. An Indian who was with them pointed out to 
them a number of round hills, in which he declared the 
calumet birds — probably the thunder bird — had their 
homes. Geo. Bird Grinnell. 
[to be continued.] 
Halcyon Days on the South Branch. 
BY 0. WARREN SMITH. 
It rained, and it had been raining for three weeks; 
but, nothing daunted, we hitched the horses to the plat- 
form wagon and started. We were the deacon, my wife 
and I and our little girl, and we were in search of a 
trout brook of which we had often heard but had never 
fished— the South Branch of the Oconto River, in Wis- 
consin. The deacon was boss and driver, _my wife was 
cook, I was a hewer of wood and a carrier of water, 
while the little girl was in every one's way and had the 
best time of all. 
It rained, but with everything and every one cov- 
ered with canvas, we pulled out of the city of Shawano, 
to the great amusement of clerks and the omnipresent 
small boy. But the running fire of remarks which 
our appearance called forth had no more effect on us 
than did the patter-patter of the raindrops. Why will 
people insist upon staying indoors when it rains, just 
because it rains? Nature, like woman, is never more 
beautiful than when in tears. The leaves upon the 
trees seem to hold themselves so that the raindrops may 
caress them when falling. And how the birds enjoy the 
downpour! We see them hopping about, chirping con- 
tentedly, or sitting on the branch of a tree with ruffled 
feathers; enjoying a bath without exertion. Then there 
is no dust, and one almost has the world to himself, so ; 
few people get out when it rains. We enjoyed the ride 
■to the utmost, and we started out with the idea of 
enjoying whatever nature sent us. 
Eight miles out of Shawano we came to Keshena, 
which is a small town upon the edge of the Keshena 
Indian Reservation. Here are located the Government 
schools, and the home of the Indian Agent, who kindly 
gave us a permit to fish upon the Indian lands. From 
Keshena we drove out to Keshena Falls, and stopped 
long enough to take a picture. Here the Wolf River 
tumbles over a granite wall twenty feet high, and after 
churning itself to foam, flows on calmly until it unites 
with the Fox River, some fifty odd miles to the south. 
But above Keshena Falls, rapid follows rapid, and 
falls follow falls in quick succession. I made a canoe 
trip down the Wolf some ten years ago, and I know 
all about it. 
From the' falls we journeyed northeast. The rain 
ceased, and the sun came out scorching hot. The sand 
was deep, and being wet, clung to the wheels; and to 
ease the horses, we got out and walked. The delight 
of the little one over every wild flower and wilder rab- 
bit was contagious, and we surprised ourselves by 
singing some long forgotten hymn, learned in boy- 
hood. Somehow, when we come in close touch with 
nature, we seem to reach back and get hold of child- 
hood's faith, hope and love. Near to nature's heart 
the harsh word dies upon the lip unuttered, and the 
mean , thought vanishes away. 
At 4 o'clock we reached the river, and I must say I 
was disappointed. I had looked for a river, and this 
stream, as it seemed to me, was little better than a 
creek; but ere twenty-four hours had passed, I was 
willing to call it a river. Before sundown, the tents 
were up, the horses quartered in a near-by Indian's 
barn, and my wife had scraped acquaintance with the 
Indian's wife, and took her picture as she sat dream- 
ing On the western porch of her little home. 
We were up with the sun the next morning, and 
breakfast disposed of, we jointed our rods and began 
the battle. The deacon scored the first victory, with 
my wife a close second. I managed to snarl my line, 
so the little one won third place, and I was obliged to 
be content with fourth. So we four fished pool after 
pool, until the deacon called a halt with, "See, here, 
we have all we can eat for dinner, and a man is greedy 
if he takes more than he needs!" All agreeing with 
the sentiment, we returned to the tent. The day was 
perfect, so I rigged up the camera on a convenient 
stone, fastened a string to the release, and took a 
picture of our camp. To-night the snow is falling and 
the wind is sighing about the house; but as I sit at 
the desk writing, I have the picture of our camp be- 
fore me, and hear only the sighing of the wind in the 
. hemlocks back of the tent, and the rush of the trout 
, creek below. 
' , After dinner, leaving the wife to talk with the Indian 
womari, who had come to visit her, the deacon and I 
hit the stream higher up. Entering the stream about 
three miles above the camp, we proceeded to fish down 
side by side. This method of fishing has the advantage 
of companionship, and rivalry. Each seeks to outcast 
and outcatch the other. Standing at the head of quite 
a fall, we both cast into the pool below. My line ran 
out with a rush, and I realized that I had hooked a 
big one. Irtsthictively, I knew that I could not reel the 
fish up through the rapid water, so I proceeded to Walk 
down to net my fish. My eyes were fixed upon the fish 
leaping and straining in the pool beloW as I 
stepped over the little fall, and losing my bal- 
ance, down, down, down, I went, heels over head, 
into the pool. Foolish thing to do, I hear you 
say, and I am willing to agree with you; but I 
offer as an excuse my eagerness to capture the trout 
and the fact that I didn't think there could be so deep a 
pool in the stream. Coming to the surface after what 
seemed an hour under water, I struck out for shore, 
still clinging to my rod. Climbing out on the bank, t 
looked back up at the deacon. You can imagine his 
mirth, but I could not join him in it. I began to reel 
in, and to my surprise I found the trout still fast. 
Standing upon the bank, I fought the battle out. Drip- 
ping, but triumphant, I brought the fish to net, and my 
joy knew no bounds when he pulled the pocket scales 
down at three pounds six ounces, .My camera was 
wet, so the deacon tried to get a picture of the falls 
for me, but the woods were so dense that the picture 
is not altogether satisfactory. Nevertheless, it serves 
to remind me of a defeat and victory. 
We fished down to camp, reaching it just as the sun 
sank behind the treetops, and an ideal day was ended. 
That night it rained hard, and I for one lay awake 
just to listen to the rain dashing against the canvas. 
The next morning I found the following lines penciled 
on a bit of birch bark lying by the fire, showing that 
the "stilly night" had got in its work upon some one 
beside myself: 
"Far from the haunts of striving man, , 1 .i 
With my tent, my gun and my rod; " i- ' il 
What care I for society's ban? 1 > 
I dwell in the Temple of God. 
"My thoughts are not of the mart and pelf, 
But with nature's god so near, 1 ■ 1 
I commune as self with self, ' ' ■ ^ 1 
I have no fear." 
The next day was rainy, and we remained in camp, 
reading some back numbers of Forest and Stream, 
which the deacon had thoughtfully purchased while in 
town. I for one do not believe in killing myself with 
work while out for a rest. I had one "pleasure exer- 
tion," the time I took the canoe trip up the Wolf 
River, and that was enough for me. The day following 
the rain, the river was so high that fishing was out of 
the question, and we spent the day. studying the birds 
and hunting ladyslippers, finding fifteen of the latter 
growing in one bunch. 
The second day after the rain, the water having 
cleared, we began fishing, and whipped a mile of the 
stream befoi-e our baskets warned us that it was time 
to stop if we wished to retain our self respect. Return- 
ing to the tent, my wife displayed a two and a half 
pound trout, taken at a pool just below camp. 
So the days came and went; each seemed more en- 
joyable than the last, and all too soon the deacon said, 
"To-morrow we will have to pull out for the town. I 
have been away from business too long already.'' So 
the ghost of civilized man entered the woods and inter- 
rupted our halcyon days. Instead of complaining, I 
should be thankful that the ghost had left us alone 
for two weeks. How dear every moss-grown tree-trunk 
had become! Then there was that great boulder by the 
river's edge, upon which L stood to draw water for the 
camp; standing there, I would fall to dreaming and 
forget all about the water until my wife's voice would 
remind me, "If we are to have any tea for dinner, bring 
that water along." Yes, every tree and stone had be- 
come a personal friend, and we were loth to part. 
Once more the horses were before the platform 
wagon, and we pulled out. All too soon we reached 
Shawano. The team was placed in the ,barn. We saw 
the deacon take a north bound train, and soon after a 
south bound carried us home and to "business." 
Passing of the English Spatfow. 
Pittsburg, Pa. — Editor Forest and Stream: In a re- 
cent Scientific American Supplement, Harold Bolce, in 
an interesting article, "The Passing of the English Spar- 
row," gives the following facts, which may interest all 
the lovers of native bird life among the grand fraternity 
cf Forest and Stream readers and admirers. Among 
the most active natural enemies of the English sparrow 
in North America is the little screech owl (Megascops 
asio), the Canada little saw-whet or Acadian owl {Nyc- 
iala acadica), and the great northern shrike or butcher 
bird (Lanius borealis). The bluejay also destroys their 
eggs and nestlings. 
All these birds should be protected, and a wide pub- 
licity given to their good qualities in this respect, as 
there exists a prej udice against the owls and shrike among 
the farmers and country people. These pigmy members 
of the family are too small to destroy game birds, and 
Viill rather feed on sparrows than sojig birds because 
there are more of them and they are just as succulent 
morsels. It appears also that the shrike has learned to 
imitate the distress call of the sparrow, and so decoys 
them. A medical scientist with the United States army, 
conjointly with observations made by English scientists 
in Australia, etc., has also found that a certain species of 
mosquito infects the sparrow with the malarial parasite. 
All these enemies combined should succeed in reducing 
the ranks of the pestiferous sparrow army and make our 
old friends, the wrens, mockingbirds, swallows, martins, 
chipping sparrows, Baltimore and orchard orioles, phoebe 
birds, warblers, yellow and bluebirds, and a host of other 
departed feathered friends, to return to their old haunts 
and resume their minstrelsy in their native parks and 
woods. Amen ! Julian P. the Fox Hunter. 
