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!
Arikara, A
tribe forming the northern group of the Caddoan linguistic
family. In language they differ
only dialectically from the
Pawnee. When the Arikara
left the body of their kindred in
the S. W. they were associated
with the Skidi, one ofthe tribes the Pawnee confederacy. Tradition
and history indicate that at some point the broad Missouri Valley the Skidi and Arikara parted,
the former settling on Loup River, Neb., the latter continuing
northeast building on the
bluffs of the Missouri the
villages of which traces have
been noted nearly as far south as Omaha. In their
northward movement they
encountered members
of the Siouan family making their
way westward. Wars ensued, with intervals
of peace and even of alliance
between the tribes. When the
whitereached the Missouri they found theregion inhabited by Siouan
tribes, who said that the old village sites had once
been occupied by the Arikara. In
1770 French
traders established relations with The Arikara, below
Cheyenne River, on the Missouri. Lewis and Clark met the tribe 35 years later,
reduced in numbers and living in
three villages between Grand and
Cannonball rivers, Dak. By 1851
they had moved up to the vicinity of Heart River. It is not probable that this rapid rate of movement obtained during
migrations prior to the
settlement of the Atlantic coast
by the English. The steady
westward pressure of the colonists, together with their policy of
fomenting intertribal wars, caused the continual displacement of many native communities, a condition that bore heavily on
the semi sedentary tribes, like
the Arikara, who lived in
villages and cultivated the
soil. Almost continuous warfare with aggressive
tribes, together with the ravages of smallpox during the latter half of
the 18th and the beginning of the
19th centuries, nearly
exterminated some of their
villages. The weakened survivors
consolidated to form new,
necessarily composite villages, so that much of their ancient
organization was greatly modified or
ceased to exist. It was daring this period of stress that the Arikara became close
neighbors and, finally, allies
of the Mandan and Hidatsa. In 1804, when Lewis and Clark
visited the Arikara, they were
disposed to be friendly to the United States, but, owing to intrigues
incident to the rivalry between trading companies, which brought suffering to the Indians,
they became hostile. In 1823 the Arikara attacked an American trader's
boats, killing 13 men and wounding others. This led to a conflict with the
United States, but peace was finally concluded. In consequence of these
troubles and the failure of crops for 2
successive years the tribe
abandoned their villages on the
Missouri and joined the Skidi on Loup River, Neb., where they
remained 2 years; but the animosity
which the Arikara displayed
toward the white race made them
dangerous and unwelcome neighbors, so that they were requested to go back to
the Missouri. They did so, and there they have remained ever since. Under
their first treaty, in 1825,
they acknowledged the supremacy
of the National Government over the land and the people,
agreed to trade only with American citizens,
whose life and property they were pledged to protect, and to refer all
difficulties for final settlement to
the United States. After the
close of the Mexican war a commission was sent by the Government
to define the territories claimed by the tribes living north of
Mexico, between the Missouri and the
Rocky Mountains. In the treaty made at Ft Laramie, in 1851, with
the Arikara, Mandan, and Hidatsa, the land claimed by these tribes is
described as lying west
of the Missouri, from Heart River, North. Dakota, to
the Yellowstone, and up the
latter to the mouth of Powder River, Montana thence southeastto the headwaters of the Little
Missouri in Wyoming, and skirting
the Black hills to the head of Heart River and down that stream to its
junction with the Missouri. Owing to the non-ratification of this
treaty, the landed rights of the Arikara remained unsettled until 1880, when, by Executive order, their present reservation was set apart; this includes the trading post, established in 1845, and named for Bartholomew
Berthold, a Tyrolese, one of
the founders of the American Fur
Company.
The Arikara,
Mandan, and Hidatsa together
share this land, and are
frequently spoken of, from the name of their reservation, as Ft
Berthold Indians. In accordance with the
act of Feb. 8, 1887, the Arikara
received allotments of land in
severalty, and, on approval of
the allotments by the Secretary of the Interior, July 10, 1900,
they became citizens of the United
States and subject to the laws of North Dakota. An industrial
boarding school and 3 day schools are maintained by the Government on
Ft Berthold reservation. A mission boarding
school and a church are supported by the Congregational Board of Missions.
In 1804 Lewis and Clark gave
the population of the Arikara as 2,600,
of whom more than 600 were warriors.
In 1871 the tribe numbered
1,650; by 1888 they were reduced
to 500, and the census of 1904 gives the population as 380.
As far back as their traditions
go the Arikara have cultivated the soil, depending for their staple
food supply oil crops of corn, beans, squashes, and pumpkins. In the sign language the Arikara are designated as "corn eaters," the movement of the hand simulating the act of
gnawing the kernels of corn
front the cob. They preserved the
seed of a peculiar kind of
small-eared corn, said to be very nutritious and much liked. It is also
said that the seed corn was kept
tied in a skin and hung up in the lodge near the fireplace, and
when the time for planting came only those kernels showing signs of germination were used. The Arikara bartered corn with the Cheyenne and other tribes for buffalo robes, skins, and meat,
and exchanged these with the traders for
cloth, cooking utensils, guns,
etc.
Early dealings with the traders were carried on
by the women. The Arikara hunted the
buffalo in winter, returning to their village
in the early spring, where they spent
the time before planting in
dressing the pelts. Their fish supply was obtained by means
of basket traps. They were expert
swimmers, and ventured to capture buffaloes that were disabled in the water as the
herd was crossing the river.
Their wood supply was obtained from the river; when the ice broke
up in the spring the Indians leaped on
the cakes, attached cords to the
trees that were whirling down the rapid current, and hauled them ashore.
Men, women, and the older
children engaged in this exciting work, and although
they sometimes fell and were swept
downstream, their dexterity and
courage generally prevented
serious accident. Their boats
were made of a single buffalo skin stretched, hair side in, over a frame of
willows bent round like a basket
and tied to a hoop 3 or 4 feet in
diameter. The boat could easily
be transported by a woman and,
according to Hayden, "would
carry 3 men across the Missouri with tolerable
safety."
Before the coming of traders the Arikara made their
cooking utensils of pottery; mortars for
pounding corn were made with much
labor from stone; hoes were
fashioned from the shoulder-blades of the buffalo and the elk;
spoons were shaped from the horns of the
buffalo and the mountain sheep; brooms and brushes were made of stiff, coarse
grass; knives were chipped front
flint, and spear, and arrowheads from horn and flint; for splitting
wood, wedges of horn were used. Whistles were constructed
to imitate the bleat of the
antelope or the callof the elk, and served as decoys; popguns
and other toys were contrived for
the children and flageolets for the amusement of young men.
Garments were embroidered with dyed
porcupine quills; dentalium shells from the Pacific were
prized as ornaments. Matthews
andothers mention the skill of the Arikara
in melting glass and pouring it
into molds to forum ornaments; they disposed of the highly colored beads furnished by the traders in this manner.
They have preserved in
their basketry a weave that has
been identified with one practiced by former
tribes in Louisiana--a probable survival of the method learned when with their kindred in the far southwest. The Arikara
were equally tenacious of their language,
although next-door neighbors of
Siouan tribes for more than a century, living on terms of intimacy and
intermarrying to a great
extent. Matthews says that
almost every member of each
tribe understands the language of the other tribes, yet speaks his own most
fluently; hence it is not uncommon to hear
a dialogue carried on in two tongues.
Until recently the Arikara
adhered to their ancient force of
dwellings, erecting, at the cost
of great labor, earth lodges that were generally grouped about an open
space in the center of the
village, often quite close
together, and usually occupied by
2 or 3 families. Each village generally
contained a lodge of unusual size, in which ceremonies, dances, and other
festivities took place. The
religious ceremonies, in which
each subtribe or village had its
special part, bound the people
together by common beliefs, traditions, teachings, and supplications that
centered around the desire for
long life, food, and safety.
In 1835 Maximilian of Wied
noticed that the hunters did not load
on their horses the meat
obtained by the chase, but
carried it on their heads and
backs, often so transporting it from a great distance. The man who could carry
the heaviest burden sometimes gave his meat to the poor, in deference to
their traditional teaching that
"the Lord of life told the
Arikara that if they gave to the
poor in this manner, and laid burdens on themselves, they would be
successful in all their undertakings."
In the series
of rites, which began in the early spring when the thunder first sounded, corn
held a prominent place. The ear
was used as an emblem and was
addressed as "Mother." Some of
these ceremonial ears of corn had
been preserved for generations
and were treasured with reverent
care. Offerings were made, rituals sung, and feasts held when the ceremonies
took place. Rites were observed when the maize was planted, at certain
stages of its growth, and when it
was harvested. Ceremonially
associated with maize were other
sacred objects, which were kept in a special case or shrine. Among these
were the skins of certain birds
of cosmic significance, also 7
gourd rattles that marked the
movements of the seasons.
Elaborate rituals and ceremonies
attended the opening of this shrine and the exhibition
of its contents, which were symbolic of the forces that make and
keep all things alive and fruitful.
Aside from these ceremonies
there were other quasireligious gatherings in which feats of
jugglery were performed, for the Arikara, like their kindred the Pawnee,
were noted for their skill in
legerdemain. The dead were placed in a sitting
posture, wrapped in skins, and
buried in mound graves. The property, except such personal
belongings as were interred with the body, was distributed among the
kindred,the family tracing descent
through the mother. A
collection of Arikara
traditions, by G. A. Dorsey, has been published by
the Carnegie Institution (1903). The Arikara
were a loosely organized confederacy of subtribes, each of which had its separate village and distinctive name.
Few of these names have been preserved. Lewis and Clark (Exped., i, 97, 1814) mention Lahoocat, a village
occupied in 1797, but abandoned about
1800. How many subtribes were
included in the confederacy can not now be determined.
Lewis and
Clark speak of the Arikara as the
remnant of 10 powerful Pawnee
tribes, living in 1804 in 3 villages. The inroads of disease and war have so
reduced the tribe that little
now remains of their former
divisions. The following names
were noted during the middle of the last century:
Hachepiriinu ('young
dogs')
Hia ('band of
Cree')
Hosukhaunu
('foolish dogs')
Hosukhaunukarerihu
('little foolish dogs')
Sukhutit ('black mouths')
Kaka ('band of
Crows') Okos ('band of
bulls')
Paushuk ('band of cut-throats')
Some of these may
refer to military and other
societies; others seem to be nicknames, as "Cut-throats."
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