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Show 1 1 i 11 I L 1 ¥ 1 ¥ 11 ft [V *« V I I Hi 1 ¦III i 364 THE MANDANS-SUPERSTITIOUS NOTIONS. ashamed with her. The daughter was afterwards delivered of a son, who grew with extraordinary rapidity, and soon became a robust young man. He was immediately the first chief of his people- a great leader among men. The first thing he did was to build a boat, which understood whatever he said to it. He filled it with men, ordered it to cross the river and come back, and in this manner he sent it over several times. The new chief was of the nation of the Numakshi (the Mandans). A saying was then current among these people, that on the other side of the great water, or the sea, there lived white men, who possessed wampum shells. Bodies of fifteen or twenty men were frequently sent thither, but they were all killed. Hereupon the chief said, " I will send my boat thither, with eight men ; this is the right number." And the boat went, arrived at the right place, and brought to the white men the red mouse hair (beaver hair), which they highly valued. They were well received, feasted in the dwellings, and materials for smoking were given them. Each received buffalo skins filled with wampum shells, and the boat returned quickly. The boat then went, for the second time, with eleven men, and the lord of life accompanied it. He had dressed himself in mean apparel, and took with him a large hollow cane. On their arrival they went into a village, but the first man remained sitting near the boat, and dug a deep hole, over which he seated himself. The inhabitants of the village agreed to kill the strangers by overfeeding them, and, with this view, gave them abundance of food. The first man, to whom the overplus of the provisions was brought, let them drop through his cane into the hole, and the white men were astonished at the quantity of provisions consumed. They then agreed to kill them by smoke; but the first man made the smoke pass through his cane, and their plan was again defeated. They now thought of killing them by means of women, all of whom they left at their disposal.* As they could not kill the strangers either by eating, smoking, or women, they gave them as many wampum shells as they could take in their boat, and sent them away. When the children learnt that the boat understood what was said to it, they ordered it to go down the river to the white people ; it obeyed, and was never afterwards seen. The first man now said to the Numangkake that he should leave them, and never return; that he was going to the west; but that, in case of need, they might apply to him, and he would assist them. They were living in a small village, on Heart River, when their enemies surrounded them, and threatened to destroy them. In this great distress they resolved to apply to their protector; but how were they to get to the first man ? One man proposed to send a bird to him; but birds could not fly so far. Another thought that the eyesight must be able to reach him ; but the prairie hills were in the way. At last, a third said that thought would undoubtedly be the best means of reaching the first man. He wrapped himself in his robe and fell to the ground. Soon afterwards he said, " I think!-I have thought!-I return!" He threw off his * Numank-Machana autem, partis naturalis loco cauda vacuna usus erat: incolae loci, valde stupefacti preestantes et assiduas primi hominis vires admirarunt. |