These languages abound with sounds strange to our ears, and in the noisy loquacity of some squaws, who held an animated debate near our tents yesterday, we distinguished pre-eminently a sound which may be expressed by the letters koo, koo, koo.
The Shiennes, or Shawhays, who have united their destiny with these wanderers, are a band of seceders from their own nation; and some time since, on the occurrence of a serious dispute with their kindred on Shienne river of the Missouri, flew their country, and placed themselves under the protection of the Bear Tooth.
These nations have been for the three past years wandering on the head waters and tributaries of Red river, having returned to the Arkansa only the day which preceded our first interview with them, on their way to the mountains at the sources of the Platte river. They have no permanent town, but constantly rove, as necessity urges them, in pursuit of the herds of bisons in the vicinity of the sources of the Platte, Arkansa, and Red rivers.
They are habitually at war with all the nations of the Missouri; indeed, martial occurrences in which they were interested with those enemies formed the chief topic of their conversation with our interpreters. They were desirous to know of them the names of particular individuals whom they had met in battle, and whom they described; how many had been present at a particular engagement, and who were killed or wounded. The late battle, which we have before spoken of, with the Loup Pawnees, also occupied their inquiries; they denied that they were on that occasion aided by the Spaniards, as we understood { 54} they had been, but admitted their great numerical superiority, and the loss of many in killed and wounded. Their martial weapons are bows and arrows, lances, war-clubs, tomahawks, scalping-knives, and shields.[98]
Tobacco being very scarce, they do not carry with them a pouch for the convenience of having it always at hand, an article of dress invariably attendant on the Missouri Indian. Bijeau informed us, that the smoking of tobacco was regarded as a pleasure so sacred and important, that the females were accustomed to depart from the interior of a lodge when the men indulged themselves with the pipe. The Shienne chief, in consequence of a vow he had made against using the pipe, abstained from smoking whilst at our council, until he had the good fortune to find a small piece of paper which some one of our party had rejected; with this he rolled up a small quantity of tobacco fragments into the form of a segar, after the manner of the Spaniards, and thus contented himself with infringing the spirit of his vow, whilst he obeyed it to the letter.