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Show THE INDIANS REMOVE TO THEIR SUMMER VILLAGE. 445 deaf and dumb Mandans, whose fourth brother, Berock-Itainu, whom we have before mentioned, is not so afflicted : there is, likewise, a deaf and dumb child in the village. Kiasax, the Black-foot, who had accompanied us to Fort Union, visited us to-day for the first time, and we showed him the portraits of his countrymen, with which he was much pleased. The Indians were busy in conveying many things to the summer village, though the prairies were covered with snow; and numerous horses were seeking a scanty subsistence by scraping it away with their hoofs to get at the dry grass. On the 27th of February, Mr. Kipp had pieces of ice hewn on the river to fill his ice cellar. A high west wind increased the cold, but the snow melted away because the thermometer was at 38° at noon. We saw the Indian boys pursue and catch the snow-buntings, of which there were large flocks in the neighbourhood of the villages; and the prairie wolves now prowled about in couples: in the evening there was a heavy fall of snow. The Indians removed to their village : all their horses, even the foals, were loaded: they likewise cut blocks of ice from the river, which the women carried home on their backs, in leather baskets, in order to melt them to obtain water. The Indian children amused themselves with ascending the heaps of snow, and gliding down on a board, or a piece of the back-bone of a buffalo, with some of the ribs attached to it. Mato-Tope paid us a visit in a very strange regalia; his head-dress was much more suitable for an old woman than for a warrior. His head was bound round with a strip of wolf's skin, the long hairs of which stood on end, and which hung down behind. Some feathers, standing upright, were placed among the hair, which, except at the tip, were stripped, and painted red. This chief, indeed, had on a different dress almost every time he came to see us. Sometimes he wore a blue uniform, with red facings, which he had obtained from the merchants. Mr. Bodmer took the portrait of a handsome Manitari partisan to-day. (Plate XXVII., the second figure from the left hand). He was not pleased that we intended to keep his portrait, as he was going on a military expedition, and said that Mr. Bodmer ought, at least, to give him a copy of the drawing. This being refused, he drew a portrait of the artist, and his performance showed that he possessed some talent for the art. On the evening of the 28th of February, Picotte sent up the letter-bag from St. Louis, and I had the pleasure of receiving despatches from Germany, with very agreeable intelligence. This post was forwarded, on the 2nd of March, to Fort Union, by two of the engages in dog-sledges. Bodmer drew the portrait of an old Manitari, whose proper name was Birohka (the robe with the beautiful hair), but the Mandans called him ". Long Nose," on account of the prominence of that feature. He wore a cap of white buffalo skin, and an ample brown robe painted with wreaths of feathers ; before he would suffer his portrait to be taken, he demanded a black silk neckerchief as a recompense, which was given him. This portrait is in Plate XXVII., the third figure on the left hand. As all the Indians had now removed to their summer village, |