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Show 86 Lewis and ClaJ•kt' s Expedition Sometimes they alternate; the orchestra first performiug, and when it ceases, the women raise their voices and make a music more agreeable, that is, h•ss intolerable than that of the musicians. The dances of the men, which are always separate from those of the women, are c~nducted very nearly in the same way, except that the men Jump up and down instead ofslm:ftling; and in the war dances thereQitations are all of a military cast. The harmony of the entertainment had nearly been disturbed by one of the musicians, who thinking he had not received a due share of the tobacco we had distributed during the evening, put himself into a passion, broke one of the drums, threw two of them into the fire, and left the band. They wet·e taken out of the fire: a buftaloe robe held in one hand and beaten with the other, by several of the company, supplied the lllace of the lost drum or tambourin, and no notice was taken of the offensive conduct of the man. We staid till twelve o'clock at night, when we informed the chiefs that they must be fatigued with all these attempts to amuse us, and retired ac· eompanied by four chiefs, two of whom spent the night with us on board. While on shore we saw twenty-five squaws, and about the same number of children, who had been taken prisoners two weeks ago, in a battle with their countrymen the Mabas. In this engagement the Sioux destroyed forty lodges, killed seventy-five men, of which we saw many of the scal11s, and took these prisoners; their appearance is wretched and dejected; the women too seem low in stature, coarse and ugly; though their present condition may diminish their bc.auty. 'Ve gave them a variety of small articles, such as awls and needles, and interceded for them with the chiefs, to whom we J•ecommcnded to follow the advice of their great father, to restore the prisoners and live in peace with the Mahas, which they promised to do. The tribe which we this day saw, are a part of the great • Sioux nation, and are known by the name of the Teton Okan· Up tht .Missolu·i. S7 dandas: they are about two hundred men in number, and tbeit· chief residence is on both sides of the Missouri, between the Chayenne and Teton rivers. In their persons they are rather ugly and ill made, their legs and arms being too small, their cheekbones high, and their eyes p1•ojecting. 'rhe females, with the same character of form, are more handsome· and both sexes appear cheerful and sprightly; but in our in-' tercourse with them we discovered that they were cunning and vicious. The men shave the hair off their heads, except a small tuft on the top, which they suffer to grow and wear in plaits over the shoulders; to this they seem much attached, as the loss of it is the usual sacrifice at the death of near relations. In full dress, the men of consideration wear a hawk's feather, or calumet feathe1· worked with 11orcupine quills, and fastened to the top or the head, f•·orn which it falls back. The face and body are generally painted with a mixture of grease and coal. Over the shoulders is a loose robe or mantle of buffaloe skin dressed white, adorned with porcullinc quills loosely fixed so as to make a gingling noise when in motion, and painted with various uncouth figures unintelligible to us, but to them emblematic of military exploits, or any othet• incident; the hair of the robe is worn next the skin in fair weather, bot when · it rains the hair is put outside, and the robe is either thrown over the arm, or wrapped round the body, all of whicb it may eoTer. Under this in the winter season they wear a kind of shirt resembling ours, and made either of skin or cloth, and covering the arms and body. Round the middle is fixed a girdle of cloth ot• procured dressed elk-skin, about an inch in width and closely tied to the body, to this is attached a piece of cloth or blanket or skin about a foot wide, which passes between the legs and is tucked under the girdle both before and behind; f1·om the hip to the ancle he is covered by leggings of dressed antelope skins, with seams at the sides two inches in width, and ornamented by little tufts of hair t11e pt·oduce of the scalps |