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November 21, 1804
November 21st. The
weather was this day fine: the river clear of ice and rising
a little: we are now settled in our new winter habitation, and
shall wait with much anxiety the first return of spring to continue
our journey.
The villages near which we are established are five in number,
and are the residence of three distinct nations: the Mandans,
the Ahnahaways, and the Minnetarees. The history of the Mandans,
as we received it from our interpreters and from the chiefs
themselves, and as it is attested by existing monuments, illustrates
more than that of any other nation the unsteady movements and
the tottering fortunes of the American nations. Within the recollection
of living witnesses, the Mandans were settled forty years ago
in nine villages, the ruins of which we passed about eighty
miles [130]below, and situated seven on the west and two on
the east side of the Missouri. The two finding themselves wasting
away before the small-pox and the Sioux, united into one village,
and moved up the river opposite to the Ricaras. The same causes
reduced the remaining seven to five villages, till at length
they emigrated in a body to the Ricara nation, where they formed
themselves into two villages, and joined those of their countrymen
who had gone before them. In their new residence they were still
insecure, and at length the three villages ascended the Missouri
to their present position. The two who had emigrated together
still settled in the two villages on the northwest side of the
Missouri, while the single village took a position on the southeast
side. In this situation they were found by those who visited
them in 1796; since which the two villages have united into
one. They are now in two villages, one on the southeast of the
Missouri, the other on the opposite side, and at the distance
of three miles across. The first, in an open plain, contains
about forty or fifty lodges, built in the same way as those
of the Ricaras: the second, the same number, and both may raise
about three hundred and fifty men.
On the same side of the river, and at the distance of four miles
from the lower Mandan village, is another called Mahaha. It
is situated in a high plain at the mouth of Knife river, and
is the residence of the Ahnahaways. This nation, whose name
indicates that they were "people whose village is on a hill,"
formerly resided on the Missouri, about thirty miles below where
they now live. The Assiniboines and Sioux forced them to a spot
five miles higher, where the greatest part of them were put
to death, and the rest emigrated to their present situation,
in order to obtain an assylum near the Minnetarees. They are
called by the French, Soulier Noir or Shoe Indians; by the Mandans,
Wattasoons, and their whole force is about fifty men.
On the south side of the same Knife river, half a mile above
the Mahaha and in the same open plain with it, is a village
of Minnetarees surnamed Metaharta, who are about one hundred
and fifty men in number. On the opposite side of Knife river,
and one and a half mile above this village is a second of Minnetarees,
who may be considered as the proper Minnetaree nation. It is
situated in a beautiful low plain, and contains four hundred
and fifty warriors. The accounts which we received of the Minnetarees
were contradictory. The Mandans say that this people came out
of the water to the east, and settled near them in their former
establishment in nine villages; that they were very numerous,
and fixed themselves in one village on the southern side of
the Missouri. A quarrel about a buffalo divided the nation,
of which two bands went into the plains, and were known by the
name of Crow and Paunch Indians, and the rest moved to their
present establishment. The Minnetarees proper assert, on the
contrary, that they grew where they now live, and will never
emigrate from the spot; the great spirit having declared that
if they moved they would all die. They also say that the Minnetarees
Metaharta, that is Minnetarees of the Willows, whose language
with very little variation is their own, came many years ago
from the plains and settled near them, and perhaps the two traditions
may be reconciled by the natural presumption that these Minnetarees
were the tribe known to the Mandans below, and that they ascended
the river for the purpose of rejoining the Minnetarees proper.
These Minnetarees are part of the great nation called Fall Indians,
who occupy the intermediate country between the Missouri and
the Saskaskawan, and who are known by the name of Minnetarees
of the Missouri, and Minnetarees of Fort de Prairie; that is,
residing near or rather frequenting the establishment in the
prairie on the Saskaskawan. These Minnetarees indeed, told us
that they had relations on the Saskaskawan, whom they had never
known till they met them in war, and having engaged in the night
were astonished at discovering that they were fighting with
men who spoke their own language. The name of Grosventres, or
Bigbellies is given to these Minnetarees, as well as to all
the Fall Indians. The inhabitants of these five villages, all
of which are within the distance of six miles, live in harmony
with each other. The Ahnahaways understand in part the language
of the Minnetarees: the dialect of the Mandans differs widely
from both; but their long residence together has insensibly
blended their manners, and occasioned some approximation in
language, particularly as to objects of daily occurrence and
obvious to the senses.
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