iOURNAL. 
2sf 
nearly a quarter of a mile. I might enumerate a variety of other 
particulars, in which this strange self punishment is carried to 
the greatest lengths. They have frequent holy days, when the 
greater part of the village appears to desist from labor, and dress 
out unusually line. On these occasions, each One suspends his 
private magic on a high pole before his door; the painted shields, 
quivers of a variety of colors, scarlet cloth, and highly ornament¬ 
ed buffaloe robes, which compose those trophies, produce a ve¬ 
ry lively effect. 1 several times observed articles of sortie va¬ 
lue, suspended in the woods. I was told they often leave their 
property in this manner, without being under any apprehension 
that any of the same tribe will touch it, provided that there be 
the least sign to shew that it is not lost. A kind of superstition 
similar to that of the Druids, which protected their offerings 
hung up in the woods. 
Since the affair of lieut Prior, whb commanded the party 
despatched by the United States, to take home the Mandan chief, 
these people have been friendly to the whites. They speak of 
the occurrence with regret, and declare that it was done by bad 
people whom they could not restrain. 
To give an account of the vices of these people would be to 
enumerate some of the more gross, prevalent amongst us.— 
The savage state, like the rude uncultivated waste, is contem¬ 
plated to most advantage at a distance. They have their rich 
and their poor, their envious, their proud, overbearing, their 
mean and grovelling, and the reverse of theses In some respects 
they appear extremely dissolute and corrupt—whether the re¬ 
sult of refinement, or vice, or the simplicity of nature, I am not 
able to say. It is part of their hospitality, to offer the guest, 
their wife, sister, or maid servant, according to the estimation, 
in which the giiest is held, and to refuse, is considered as treat¬ 
ing the host with contempt. It appeared to me while we re¬ 
mained at the village, that their females had become mere ar¬ 
ticles of traffic: I have seen fathers bring their daughters, bro¬ 
thers their sisters, and husbands their wives, to be disposed of 
for a short time, to the highest bidder. I was unable to account 
for this strange difference from all other people I had ever read 
of, unless from the inordinate passion which seized them for 
s i 
