While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
The Kansas had confused and indefinite conceptions of the
future life. Mr. Say, of Long's Expedition, secured from
members of the tribe information on this point from which he
wrote the following:
The lodge in which we reside is
larger than any other in the town, and being that of the grand chief, it
serves as a council house for the nation. The roof is supported by two
series of pillars, or rough vertical posts, forked at the top for the
reception of the transverse connecting piece of each series; twelve of
these pillars form the outer series, placed in a circle; and eight longer
ones, the inner series, also describing a circle; the outer wall, or rude
frame-work, placed at a proper distance from the exterior series of
pillars, is five or six feet high. Poles, as thick as the leg at the base,
rest with their butts upon the wall, extending on the cross-pieces, which
are upheld by the pillars of the two series, and are of sufficient length
to reach nearly to the summit. These poles are very numerous, and
agreeably to the position which we have indicated, they are placed all
around in a radiating manner, and support the roof like rafters. Across
these are laid long and slender sticks or twigs, attached parallel to each
other by means of bark cord; these are covered by mats of long grass or
reeds, or with the bark of trees; the whole is then covered completely
with earth, which near the ground is banked up to the eaves.
A hole is permitted to remain in the middle of the roof to
give exit to the smoke. Around the walls of the interior a
continuous series of mats are suspended; these are of neat
workmanship, composed of a soft reed, united by bark cord,
in straight or undulated lines, between which lines of black
paint sometimes occur. The bedsteads are elevated to the
height of a common seat from the ground, and are about six
feet wide; they extend in an uninterrupted line around
three-fourths of the circumference of the apartment, and are
formed in the simplest manner, of numerous sticks or slender
pieces of wood, resting at their ends on cross-pieces, which
are supported by short notched or forked posts driven into
the ground
Bison skins supply them with
comfortable bedding. Several medicine or mystic bags are carefully
attached to the mats of the wall; these are cylindrical, and neatly bound
up. Several reeds are usually placed upon them, and a human scalp serves
for their fringe and tassels. Of their contents we know nothing.
The fire-place is a simple, shallow cavity, in the
center of the apartment, with an upright and a projecting arm for the
support of the culinary apparatus. The latter is very simple in kind and
limited in quantity, consisting of a brass kettle, an iron pot, and wooden
bowls and spoons. Each person, male as well as female, carries a large
knife in the girdle of the breech-cloth, behind, which is used at their
meals, and sometimes for self-defense. During our stay with these Indians
they ate four or five times each day, invariably supplying us with the
best pieces, or choice parts, before they attempted to taste the food
themselves.
They commonly placed before us a sort of soup,
composed of maize of the present season, of that description which, having
undergone a certain preparation, is appropriately named sweet-corn, boiled
in water, and enriched with a few slices of bison meat, grease, and some
beans, and, to suit it to our palates, it was generally seasoned with rock
salt, which is procured near the Arkansas river.
This mixture constituted an agreeable food. It was
served up to us in large wooden bowls, which were placed on bison robes or
mats, on the ground. As many of us as could conveniently eat from one bowl
around it, each in as easy a position as he could contrive, and in common
we partook of its contents by means of large spoons made of bison horn. We
were sometimes supplied with uncooked dried meat of the bison, also a very
agreeable food, and to our taste and reminiscence, far preferable to the
flesh of the domestic ox. Another very acceptable dish was called lyed
corn. This is maize of the preceding season, shelled from the cob, and
first boiled for a short time in a lye of wood ashes until the bard skin
which invests the grains is separated from them; the whole is then poured
into a basket, which is repeatedly dipped into clean water until the lye
and skins are removed; the remainder is then boiled in water until so soft
as to be edible. They also make use of maize roasted on the cob, of boiled
pumpkins, of muskmelons and watermelons, but the latter are generally
pulled from the vine before they are completely ripe. Ca-ega-wa-tan-ninga,
or the Fool Chief, is the hereditary principal chief, but he possesses
nothing like monarchical authority, maintaining his distinction only by
his bravery and good conduct. There are ten or twelve inferior chieftains,
or persons who aspire to such dignity, but these do not appear to command
any great respect from the people. Civil as well as military distinction
arises from bravery or generosity. Controversies are decided amongst
themselves; they do not appeal to their chief, excepting for counsel. They
will not marry any of their kindred, however remote. The females, before
marriage, labor in the fields, and serve their parents, carry wood and
water, and attend to the culinary duties; when the eldest daughter
marries, she commands the lodge, the mother and all the sisters; the
latter are to be also the wives of the same individual. When a young man
wishes to marry a particular female, his father gives a feast to a few
persons, generally old men, and acquaints them with his design; they
repair to the girl, who generally feigns an unwillingness to marry, and
urges such reasons as her poverty, youth, etc.—the old men are often
obliged to return six or seven times before they can effect their object.
When her consent is obtained, the parents of the young man take two or
three blankets and some meat to the parents of the female, that they may
feast, and immediately return to their lodge. The parents put on the meat
to cook, and place the same quantity of meat and merchandise on two
horses, and dress their daughter in the best garments they can afford; she
mounts one of the horses, and leads the other, and is preceded by a crier,
announcing with a loud voice the marriage of the young couple, naming them
to the people; in this way she goes to the habitation of her husband,
whose parents take from her everything she brings, strip her entirely
naked, dress her again in clothes as good as she brought, furnish her with
two other horses, with meat and merchandise, and she returns with the
crier to her parents. These two horses she retains as her own, together
with all the articles she brings back with her. Her parents then make a
feast, to which they invite the husband, his parents, and friends; the
young couple are seated together, and all then partake of the good cheer,
after which the father of the girl makes a harangue, in which he informs
the young man that he must now assume the command of the lodge, and of
everything belonging to him and his daughter. All the merchandise which
the bride returned with is distributed in presents from herself to the
kindred of her husband in their first visit. The husband then invites the
relatives of his wife to a feast. Whatever peltries the father possesses
are at the disposal of the son, to trade with on his own account; and in
every respect the parents, in many instances, become subservient to the
young man.
After the death of the husband the widow
scarifies herself, rubs herself with clay, and becomes negligent of her
dress until the expiration of a year, when the eldest brother of the
deceased takes her to wife without any ceremony, considers her children as
his own, and takes her and them to his house; if the deceased left no
brother, she marries whom she pleases. They have in some instances, four
or five wives, but these are mostly sisters; if they marry into two
families the wives do not harmonize well together, and give the husband
much inquietude; there is, however, no restriction in this respect, except
in the prudence of the husband. The grandfather and grandmother are very
fond of their grandchildren, but these have very little respect for them.
The female children respect and obey their parents, but the male are very
disobedient, and the more obstinate they are and the less readily they
comply with the commands of their parents, the more the latter seem to be
pleased, saying, “He will be a brave man, a great warrior—he will not be
controlled.”
The attachment of fraternity is as strong, if not
stronger, than with us. The niece has great deference for the uncle. The
female calls her mother's sister mother, and her mother's brother uncle.
The male calls his father's brother father, his father's sister aunt, his
mother's sister mother, and his mother's brother uncle. Thirteen children
have occurred in one family. A woman had three children at a birth; all
lived.
The young men are generally coupled out as
friends; the tie is very permanent, and continues often through life.
They bear sickness and pain with great fortitude,
seldom uttering a complaint; bystanders sympathize with them, and try
every means to relieve them. Insanity is unknown; the blind are taken care
of by their friends and the nation generally, and are well dressed and
fed. Drunkenness is rare, and is much ridiculed; a drunken man is said to
be bereft of his reason, and is avoided. As to the origin of the nation,
their belief is, that the master of life formed a man, and placed him on
the earth; he was solitary, and cried to the master of life for a
companion, who sent him down a woman; from the union of the two proceeded
a son and daughter, who were married, and built themselves a lodge
distinct from that of their parents; all the nations proceeded from them,
excepting the whites, whose origin they pretend not to know. When a man is
killed in battle the thunder is supposed to take him up, they do not know
where. In going to battle each man traces an imaginary figure of the
thunder on the soil; and he who represents it incorrectly is killed by the
thunder. A person saw this thunder one day on the ground, with a beautiful mockasin on each side of it; having much need of a pair, he took them
and went his way; but on his return to the same spot the thunder took him
off, and he has not been since heard of. They seem to have vague notions
of the future state. They think that a brave warrior, or good hunter, will
walk in a good path; but a bad man or coward will find a bad path.
Thinking the deceased has far to travel, they bury with his body mockasins,
some articles of food, etc., to support him on the journey. Many persons,
they believe, have become reanimated, who had been, during their apparent
death, in strange villages; but as the inhabitants used them ill they
returned. They say they have never seen the master of life, and therefore
cannot pretend to personify him; but they have often heard him speak in
the thunder; they wear often a shell which is in honor, or in
representation of him, but they do not pretend that it resembles him, or
has anything in common with his form, organization or dimensions.
