"Captain Clark with fifteen men went out and found the Indians
engaged in killing buffalo. The hunters, mounted on horseback
and armed with bows and arrows, encircle the herd and gradually drive
them into a plain or an open place fit for the movements of horse;
they then ride in among them, and singling out a buffalo,
a female being preferred, go as close as possible and wound her
with arrows till they think they have given the mortal stroke;
when they pursue another, till the quiver is exhausted.
If, which rarely happens, the wounded buffalo attacks
the hunter, he evades his blow by the agility of his horse,
which is trained for the combat with great dexterity.
When they have killed the requisite number they collect their game,
and the squaws and attendants come up from the rear and skin
and dress the animals. Captain Clark killed ten buffalo,
of which five only were brought to the fort; the rest, which could
not be conveyed home, being seized by the Indians, among whom
the custom is that whenever a buffalo is found dead without
an arrow or any particular mark, he is the property of the finder;
so that often a hunter secures scarcely any of the game he kills,
if the arrow happens to fall off."
The weather now became excessively cold, the mercury often going thirty-two
degrees below zero. Notwithstanding this, however, the Indians kept up
their outdoor sports, one favorite game of which resembled billiards.
But instead of a table, the players had an open flooring, about fifty
yards long, and the balls were rings of stone, shot along the flooring
by means of sticks like billiard-cues. The white men had their sports,
and they forbade the Indians to visit them on Christmas Day,
as this was one of their "great medicine days." The American flag
was hoisted on the fort and saluted with a volley of musketry.
The men danced among themselves; their best provisions were brought
out and "the day passed," says the journal, "in great festivity."
The party also celebrated New Year's Day by similar festivities.
Sixteen of the men were given leave to go up to the first Mandan
village with their musical instruments, where they delighted the whole
tribe with their dances, one of the French voyageurs being especially
applauded when he danced on his hands with his head downwards.
The dancers and musicians were presented with several buffalo-robes
and a large quantity of Indian corn. The cold grew more intense, and on
the tenth of the month the mercury stood at forty degrees below zero.
Some of the men were badly frost-bitten, and a young Indian, about thirteen
years old, who had been lost in the snows, came into the fort.
The journal says: -
"His father, who came last night to inquire after him very anxiously,
had sent him in the afternoon to the fort; he was overtaken
by the night, and was obliged to sleep on the snow with no
covering except a pair of antelope-skin moccasins and leggins,
and a buffalo-robe. His feet being frozen, we put them into cold water,
and gave him every attention in our power. About the same time
an Indian who had also been missing returned to the fort.
Although his dress was very thin, and he had slept on the snow
without a fire, he had not suffered the slightest inconvenience.
We have indeed observed that these Indians support the rigors
of the season in a way which we had hitherto thought impossible.
A more pleasing reflection occurred at seeing the warm interest
which the situation of these two persons had excited in the village.
The boy had been a prisoner, and adopted from charity; yet the distress
of the father proved that he felt for him the tenderest affection.
The man was a person of no distinction, yet the whole village
was full of anxiety for his safety; and, when they came to us,
borrowed a sleigh to bring them home with ease if they
had survived, or to carry their bodies if they had perished.
. . . . . . . . .
January 13. Nearly one half of the Mandan nation passed down the river
to hunt for several days. In these excursions, men, women, and children,
with their dogs, all leave the village together, and, after discovering a spot
convenient for the game, fix their tents; all the family bear their part in
the labor, and the game is equally divided among the families of the tribe.
When a single hunter returns from the chase with more than is necessary
for his own immediate consumption, the neighbors are entitled by custom
to a share of it: they do not, however, ask for it, but send a squaw, who,
without saying anything, sits down by the door of the lodge till the master
understands the hint, and gives her gratuitously a part for her family."
By the end of January, 1805, the weather had so far moderated that the
explorers thought they might cut their boats from the ice in the river
and prepare to resume their voyage; but the ice being three feet thick,
they made no progress and were obliged to give up the attempt.
Their stock of meat was low, although they had had good success when the cold
was not too severe to prevent them from hunting deer, elk, and buffalo.
The Mandans, who were careless in providing food for future supplies,
also suffered for want of meat, sometimes going for days without flesh food.
Captain Clark and eighteen men went down the river in search of game.
The hunters, after being out nine days, returned and reported
that they had killed forty deer, three buffalo, and sixteen elk.
But much of the game was lean and poor, and the wolves, who devour
everything left out at night, had stolen a quantity of the flesh.
Four men, with sleds, were sent out to bring into camp the meat,
which had been secured against wolves by being stored in pens.
These men were attacked by Sioux, about one hundred in number,
who robbed them of their game and two of their three horses.
Captain Lewis, with twenty-four men, accompanied by some of the Mandans,
set out in pursuit of the marauders.
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