Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 6).djvu/133

 buffaloe robes, which compose these trophies, produce a very lively effect. I several times observed articles of some value suspended on the trees. I was told, they often leave their property in this manner without being under any apprehension that any of the same tribe will touch it, provided that there be the least sign to shew that it is not lost. A kind of superstition similar to that of the Druids, which protected their offerings hung up in the woods.

Since the unfortunate affair of lieutenant Prior, these people have shewn themselves friendly to the whites. Lieutenant Prior had been sent in a boat, with twenty or thirty men, to convey the Mandan chief to his village, after his visit to the United States, in company with Lewis and Clark. On arriving at the Arikara village, he was set upon, and made his escape with great difficulty, one half of his little party being killed or wounded. The expedition of the Missouri company, which ascended the next year, demanded satisfaction for this outrage, and every concession having been made {162} by the Arikaras, the matter was adjusted. Since that time they have endeavored to keep a good understanding with the whites, and express much regret at the unfortunate occurrence, which, as is usual, they disavow as the act of the nation, but declare it to have been perpetrated by a bad chief, who would not listen to their councils.

During my short stay amongst them, I endeavored to form a vocabulary of such words as are most likely to be primitive.[48] I found a great diversity in the pronunciation, which I discovered to be partly owing to the circumstance of the present population being composed of the fragments or remains of different tribes; but I was also informed by the chief, that amongst the principal families there was