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Show 348 THE MANDANS-POLYGAMY----SKILL OF THE WOMEN. which is so favourite a dish among the northern Indians, is not much in use among the Mandans. Their only drink is water, for they are unacquainted with the method of preparing fermented liquors. They did not obtain any spirits, either from the American Fur Company, or the agents of Messrs. Soublette and Campbell; hence an intoxicated person is scarcely ever seen. They are extremely fond of sugar, and likewise of salt, which they procure from their lakes, and, if the supply is insufficient, purchase from the Whites. They are likewise fond of coffee and tea, well sweetened. It has been affirmed, that several North American nations, especially those which speak the Algonquin language, are cannibals, and more particularly the Chippeways and the Potawatomis; but I found no trace of this unnatural custom among the Missouri nations. Two, and sometimes three, families usually live together in an Indian hut, commonly the father, with his married sons or sons-in-law. Polygamy is everywhere practised, and the number of wives differs ; however, they have very seldom more than four, and, in general, only one. The women are very skilful lin various kinds of work, particularly in dyeing and painting the buffalo robes. They extract a red colour from the roots of the savoyenne, or from buffalo berries; yellow from a lichen of the Rocky Mountains ; black from helianthus, as well as from a black stone or clay; blue and green they extract from European substances. Among the Mandans, Manita-ries, and Arikkaras, the women, as Lewis and Clarke relate, manufacture beads from coloured glass. They powder those which they have obtained from the traders, and mould them into different shapes. This custom is, however, no longer common. The dyeing of the skins, of which many travellers have spoken, employs a great portion of the women's time. These three nations understand the manufacture of earthen pots and vessels, of various forms and sizes. The clay is of a dark slate colour, and burns a yellowish-red, very similar to what is seen in the burnt tops of the Missouri hills. This clay is mixed with flint or granite, reduced to powder by the action of fire. The workwoman forms the hollow inside of the vessel by means of a round stone which she holds in her hand, while she works and smooths the outside with a piece of poplar bark. When the pot is made, it is filled and surrounded with dry shavings, and then burnt, when it is ready for use. They know nothing of glazing. With respect to their boats, the North Americans are far more expert than the Brazilians, Patagonians, and other South Americans, who live on the banks of rivers, and yet have contrived no means to pass them. The Chippeways and other northern nations have handsome vessels of birch bark; the Esquimaux makes his kiack, which is curiously covered with seal skin ; and on the Missouri, especially among the Mandans, there are boats of buffalo skin, which are represented in the plates accompanying this work. They are very light, of a circular form, stretched on a frame of several pieces of wood crossing each other, and may be carried on the shoulder of a single individual. If a young Indian desires to marry, and has obtained the consent of the girl, he endeavours to procure that of her father; when he is certain of this, he brings two, three, nay, even eight or |