And the party
were so exasperated when appraised of the sanguinary intentions
of the prisoners, that they were for shooting them on the spot.
Mr. Hunt, however, exerted his usual moderation and humanity, and
ordered that they should be conveyed across the river in one of
the boats, threatening them however, with certain death if again
caught in any hostile act.
On the 10th of May the party arrived at the Omaha (pronounced
Omawhaw) village, about eight hundred and thirty miles above the
mouth of the Missouri, and encamped in its neighborhood. The
village was situated under a hill on the bank of the river, and
consisted of about eighty lodges. These were of a circular and
conical form, and about sixteen feet in diameter; being mere
tents of dressed buffalo skins, sewed together and stretched on
long poles, inclined towards each other so as to cross at about
half their height. Thus the naked tops of the poles diverge in
such a manner that, if they were covered with skins like the
lower ends, the tent would be shaped like an hour-glass, and
present the appearance of one cone inverted on the apex of
another.
The forms of Indian lodges are worthy of attention, each tribe
having a different mode of shaping and arranging them, so that it
is easy to tell, on seeing a lodge or an encampment at a
distance, to what tribe the inhabitants belong.
