Volume 1

CHEYENNE TRAITS—GESTURE-SPEECH. 383
pretend to say is, that the Schians formerly resided N. of
the Missourie, on the river that still bears their name, and
empties into Red river below Otter Tail lake. But from
which direction they came to settle on Schian river I cannot
say. They were formerly at peace with the Crees and
Saulteurs, being considered their greatest friends. In general
the men are tall, stout, and well-proportioned ;
their
manners and customs appear to me to be nearly the same
as those of the Sioux of the Plains. We found them much
more cautious than the Big Bellies, or even the Mandanes.
They keep their tents, dishes, and spoons very clean ; the
latter are made out of the horns of the Rocky Mountain
ram. They are much more decent and modest than their
neighbors ; all the men, and even boys, wear breech-clouts.
They are very hard people to trade with. What few beaver
skins they had were purchased without much trouble ;
but
grizzly bearskins they value highly, and will take and return
payment ten times before you can get one. It is a very
hard task to deal with them ; all must go by signs, unless
one understands the Assiniboine language, and then he
must get a Sioux to interpret. But some of them understand
the Pawnee tongue, and as some of our party spoke
that language, their conversation between one another was
principally by means of an interpreter. The natives themselves
can very well dispense with that, and communicate
by signs; both parties being so accustomed to this manner
of conversation that they comprehend each other with the
greatest ease. I saw Le Borgne hold a conference with
some of the Schians for more than an hour, during which
not a word was spoken by either party, and all appeared to
comprehend perfectly well every question and answer. The
dress of these people, like that of all other natives of the
plains, consists of leather. Many of the European dresses I
saw were of Spanish manufacture. They generally pass the
winter S. of the Black hills, about 20 encampments hence,
which I suppose may be 80 or 100 leagues. Here, they
say, is the source of two large rivers ; one runs to the N. E.