OCR Text |
Show 358 THE MANDANS----FESTIVITIES----GAMES. particular description of the dress of this band is given in the sequel, and the representation of it in Vignette XXVIII. These unions, or bands, give occasion to many festivities, with singing, music, and dancing. But they have likewise other dances and diversions. One of these is the scalp dance, which may be more appropriately described among the usages of war. Their musical amusements are very simple. The mode of singing varies but little among all the American Indians ; it consists of broken, deep exclamations, often intercepted by loud shouts, and is accompanied by a violent beating of time on the drum, and the rattling of the schischikue. Besides these two instruments, the Mandans have long wooden pipes, at the lower end of which there is generally an eagle's feather hanging by a string. (See woodcut, page 180.) Other pipes are thicker, about twenty inches long, and are perforated with holes; in this respect they differ from the war pipe. They are sometimes ornamented with pieces of skin, &c. These are the only musical instruments of the Indians besides the war pipes. The Indians have also many games ; the game called billiards, by the French Canadians, is played by two young men, with long poles, which are often bound with leather, and have various ornaments attached to them. On a long, straight, level course, or a level path in or near the village, they roll a hoop, three or four inches in diameter, covered with leather, and throw the pole at it; and the success of the game depends upon the pole passing through it. This game is also practised among the Manitaries, and is described, in Major Long's Travels to the Rocky Mountains, as being played by the Pawnees, who, however, have hooked sticks, which is not the case with the tribes here mentioned. The women are expert at playing with a large leathern ball, which they let fall alternately on their foot and knee, again throwing it up and catching it, and thus keeping it in motion for a length of time without letting it fall to the ground. Prizes are given, and they often jplay high. The ball is often very neat and curiously covered with dyed porcupine quills. (See Plate XLVIII. Fig. 14.) Card-playing has not yet reached these Indians, though it is in use among the Osages and other tribes. The children of the Mandans and Manitaries play with a piece of stag's horn, in which a couple of feathers are inserted; this is thrown forward, the piece of horn being foremost. About the middle of March, when the weather is fine, the children and young men play with a hoop, in the interior of which strips of leather are interwoven ; its diameter is about a foot. This hoop is either rolled or thrown, and they thrust at it with a pointed stick ; he who approaches the centre most nearly is the winner. The hoop and the stick are represented in Plate XLVIII. - |