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.
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