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Show 212 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF said the heroine, as she saw the ornaments fall; "but never fear; the Great Spirit will not let them harm us." I took a very pretty young woman prisoner, but was obliged to give her up to one of the braves, who had my promise before the battle that if I took one I would give her to him, and if he took one he should give her to me. When a warrior (of the Crow tribe) takes a woman prisoner, she is considered his sister, and he can never marry her. If she marries, her husband is brother-in-law to her captor. Our prisoners soon forgot their captivity; they even seemed pleased with the change, for they joined with great alacrity in our scalpdance over the scalps of their own people. All Indian women are considered by the stronger sex as menials: they are thoroughly reconciled to their degradation, and the superiority of their "lords and masters" is their chiefest subject of boast. They are patient, plodding, and unambitious, although there are instances in savage life of a woman manifesting superior talent, and making her influence felt upon the community. During my visit at Fort Union I engaged to build a fort for M'Kenzie to store his goods in safety at the mouth of the Big Horn River, one of the branches of the Yellow Stone. Accordingly, I repaired to the place to .s~lect a good site and commence operations. On arnv1ng at the spot, I found the bo~ts close by, but as there was no secure quay at the junction of the streams I selected a site about a mile below. There were fift; men, who had arrived with the boats, hired to assist me in erecting the fort. The stipulated dimensions were one hundred and twenty yards for each front the building to be a solid square, with a block-hous~ at JAMES P. BECKWOURTH. 213 opposite corners. The fort was erected of hewn logs planted perpendicularly in the ground; the walls were eighteen feet high. As soon as the pickets were up, we built our houses inside, in order to be prepared for the approach of winter. When I had been engaged about six weeks upon its construction, four hundred lodges of Crows moved into our immediate vicinity, thus affording us plenty of company, and a sufficient force to protect us against .the attacks of hostile tribes. When we had completed our building we unloaded the boats, and commenced trading with the Indians. During the first year the company was very unsuccessful, sinking over seventeen thousand dollars in the undertaking. This, however, was principally attributable to the outlay upon the fort (the wages of the fifty men engaged in constructing it ran for twelve months), and to the number of presents which it is customary, on such occasions, to distribute among the Indians. After the Crows had removed to the fort, they were repeatedly annoyed with attacks from different hostile tribes. I was engaged in two small encounters during the winter, in both of which we were completely victorious. The Crows were fully occupied in protecting their own horses, or levying contributions upon their neighbors. D~ring the winter we accumulated a large amount of peltry, which in the spring I sent down to Fort Union in five Mackinaw boats, built by ourselves for the purpose. I sent a sufficient number of men to take good care of the boats, and to return up stream with a fresh supply of goods. I then left the for~ in charge of Winters, leaving him thirty men for a guard. I also had provided an ample stock of dried meat, so |
