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Show 306 ARRIVAL OF SEVERAL ASSINIBOIN CHIEFS----PTEH-SKAH. them, beforehand, that a horseman would arrive upon a grey horse, and be killed; and not long afterwards some Chayenne Indians arrived, of whom one, riding a grey horse, was taken and killed. This circumstance is still quoted as a proof that Le Sonnant has intercourse with supernatural powers, His medicine or charm, which the enchanter upon such occasions wears upon his head, is the skin stripped off the head of a bear. So much is certain, that many of these Indian jugglers are very dextrous in sleight-of-hand, and, by their adroitness and artful tricks, know how to deceive the ignorant multitude. On the 20th of October, several distinguished men of the Assiniboins arrived at the fort, among whom were Ajanjan (the son of the tall Frenchman), generally called General Jackson ; Manto-Uitkatt (the mad bear); Huh-Jiob (the wounded foot) ; all three tall, handsome men. Ajanjan, as we were told, was not to be trusted. He showed us, on his body, the scars of several wounds, such as of an arrow in his breast, and a musket-ball in his arm. The handsomest of the three warriors was the Mad Bear. The upper part of his face was painted red, his chin and lower part of the face black, and his breast strongly marked with black tatooed stripes, while on the upper arm and wrist he wore bright metal armlets ; his dress was, on the whole, extremely handsome. All these people were Stone Indians (Gens de Roche). Several Assiniboins, whom we had not seen before, arrived successively, so that, on the 21st, General Jackson, with twenty-three of his warriors, was able to make his entry in due form into the fort. They advanced in a line, and were conducted to the Indian apartment, where they smoked their pipes. Among them was a man wearing his winter dress, having on his head a badger's skin, by way of cap, and gloves, which are very rare among the Indians. His name was Pasesick-Kaskutau (nothing but gunpowder), and Mr. Bodmer took an admirable full-length portrait of him. Many women arrived with their loaded dogs, and I never saw such miserable, starved animals. Their backs were quite bent, and they could hardly walk, yet they were cruelly beaten. One of them was lame, and could not go on, and at every blow the poor animal howled most lamentably; another, quite starved, fell down dead near the tent. The Indians themselves frequently suffer hunger, and their dogs, of course, suffer still more; so that the poultry in the fort was in constant danger. Many of these dogs were very handsomely marked; a pale yellow, with greyish-blue, or blackish stripes; there were some of all colours. The Indians at this time fared very well with us ; for the opposition of Fort William, in our neighbourhood, induced our people to pay them higher prices for their goods, in order to draw them away. Endeavours were made by each party to outdo the other in entertaining them, in which the more powerful and firmly established American Fur Company could hold out the longest. The Indians who came to us had, generally, been already treated at Fort William; they were, therefore, extremely merry, and their singing and beating the drum were incessant. A tall chief, Pteh-Skah (the white cow), visited us, and a very good portrait was taken of him. His |
