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Show Ahketahnasha or Chief of the Town, acc~mpanicd us to the M d At two o'clock we left the lndmns, who crowded an ans. . to the shoi·e to take leave of us, and after makmg seven and a half miles landed on the north side, and bad a clear, cool, pleasant evening. . 'rbe three villages which we have JUSt left, are there-sidence of a nation callt>d the Ricaras. Th~y w<'re origi· n~lly colonies of Pawnees, who established themselves ~n the Missouri, below the Chaycnne, where the t.radet·s stJJl rem ember that twenty years ago they occupied a numbe.r of villages. From that situation a part of the Ricaras enu-rated to the neighbourhood of the l\1andans, with whom they gw ere then in alliance. 'fbe rest of the nat1· 0n con rm ue d near the Chayenne till the year 1797, in tlac course of which, distressed by their wars with the Sioux, they joined their countrymen near the Mantlans. Soon after a new war arose bet ween the Riearas and the Man dans; in conse· quence of which the former came down the river to their present position. In this migration those who bad fit·st gone to tbe Mandans kept together, and now live in the ~wo lower vilJages, which may thenc~ be c.onsidered as the Ricaras proper. The third village was composed of such rem· nants gf the villages as had survived the wars, and as these were nine in number a difference of' pronunciation and some difference of language may be observed between them and the Rica1·as proper, who do not understand all the 'vords of these wanderers. The villages are within the distance of four miles of each other, the two lower ones consisting of between one hundred and fifty an<l tw~ hundred men each, the third of three hundred. The Ricaras are tall and well proportioned, the women handsome and lively, and as among other savages to them falls all the drudgery of the field and the labours of procuring subsistence, except that of bunting: both sexes are poor, but kind and generous, and a1though they receive with thankfulness what is given to them, do not beg as the Sioux did, though this praise should be •1ualified Up tlte Missou1>i. · 105 by mentioning that an axe was stolen last night f1·om our coo.ks. 'l'he dress of the men is a simple pail· of moccasins, legmgs, and a cloth round the middle, ovel• which a buffaJoe J•oiJe is occasionally thrown, with theh' hair, arms and ears dec.o rated w. ith different ornaments · 'IC'lhe women wca1• moc-cas~ ns, Jcgm~s., a long shirt made of goats' skins, generally white and ~rmgcd. whjch is tied •·ound the waist; to tbese they add, like the men, a butfaloe robe without the hair, in summe.l'• These women are laandsomer than the Sioux; both of them are howcvcl·, disj)Osed to he amorous, and our ~en found no difficulty in p1·ocuring companions for the mg. ht IJy means ol'the intel'}lL'etel'S . 'l"'l•cse •. n t ervu. nvs wore clucfly clandestine, and were of course to be kept a secret ~rom the husband or relations. The point of honour indeed, Js cor~plet.ely reversed among tlae Ricat•as; that the wife or tbe Sister should submit to a str·anger's cmh•·aces without tJ~e consent of her husiJand or bl'otber, is a cause of gl·eat dl.S P?" .I 'ace and o mcn cc, es1~ec1•a ]l y as for many (>Ut'poses of CIVIlity or gratitude the husiJand and brother will them· selves .present to a stranger these females, and be gt·atificd by atte. ntio.n s to th. mn • 'l'he s·w ux 11 ad offet•ed us Sf)uaws, but w.Jule we remamed there having declined, they followed us With offers of females for t\\'0 da.·• s • rrh c R'~ ear·as h a d be en equally. accommodatiug; we JJad equally withstood their temptatwn· but su , l • t} . d . . ' Cll was 1e1r es1re to obhge that two v. ery handsome .,, .0 ung squaws wer·e sent on boat·d this eveu-mg, .a~d persecuted us with civilities. The black man York p.a rtJCJ}Jated lar·g c·I Y I· n t h ese t•a vours; for m. stead of ins})i· r.m g any pt•e.,i udI' ce, 1u ·s co1 o ur seemed to JH'Ocure him addi-tional advantaP"es f', th I d' . . o I om e n mns, who dc!}Jred to preserve amonooo them some memorJ. aI o 1' t h"I s wonderful stranger. ~moug othet• instances of attention, a Rica1·a invited him mto his house and p 1•e sen t"u tg 1u ·s W·ivle to Ju. m, l"etH. 'cd to the outside of the doo1·: w bile the1·e one of Y 01·k • s conu·ades who was lookinr". . for l.t"J m c•a me t o t h e d oor, but the gaUaut hus· VOL. I. p |