Volume 1

l62
REAL INDIAN GRIEF—NEW YEAR FESTIVITIES.
left him to care for his two young children, one five and
the otlier seven years of age. In a drinking match a few
days ago one of the women bit an Indian's finger off.
She came to me for salve to cure it as best I could. On
the 31st an Indian woman arrived, who is a near relation
of Charlo's deceased wife. She sat down by him, screaming
and howling in a terrible manner, calling on the
deceased by name, and frequently sobbing, " Oh, my relation
! my relation "
! I began to feel for the poor woman,
but she soon after dried her tears, and was the merriest
one we had in the house. This is real Indian grief, but
does not affect the heart. This evening I was offered a
bed-fellow, but refused. The Indians are very officious
in wishing to provide me with a wife, but my inclination
does not agree with theirs in the least.
Sunday, Jan. ist, 1801. The new year was ushered in by
several volleys, which alarmed a camp of
Indians near by.
The men came running in armed, having ordered the
women to hide themselves. But they were agreeably deceived,
and got a share
of what was going—some sherub '°
and cakes. Every woman and child was soon at the fort ;
all was bustle and confusion. I gave my men some high
wine, flour, and sugar ;
the Indians purchased liquor, and by
sunrise every soul of them was raving drunk—even the children.
Buffalo in great abundance ; some within gunshot of
the fort. The plains were entirely covered ; all were moving
in a body from N. to S.
An Indian who pretended to be a medicine man was employed
by Maymiutch to cure his sick brother. The fellow
came accordingly with his drum and medicine bag, half
drunk, and began to make a terrible noise, beating the
'''
An unusual spelling of our word shrab or shrub, a beverage, but one etymologically
preferable, as being nearer the Arabic and Hindu sharab, whence
are also derived sherbet and syrup. But, no doubt, the drink by any other name
would have made them just as drunk as they were, when they celebrated the
new year with such orgiastic and ithyphallic rites as Henry refrains from fully
describing. (For the medicine story, compare Tanner, p. 90.)