contrived in the top lets the smoke out and admits the light. Inside the lodge is surrounded with alcoves, resembling the bunks on a ship and concealed by skins in place of curtains. At the extremity of each lodge, or else upon the summit, you will see a kind of hunting or war trophy, consisting of two or more buffalo heads painted in an odd manner, and surmounted with shields, bows, quivers and other weapons.
'These Aricaras commonly wear no other garment than a loin-cloth. On feast days, they put on a handsome tunic, leggings and moccasins of gazelle-skin embroidered with porcupine quills of lively colors; then they envelope themselves in a buffalo robe loaded with ornaments and colors, throw their quiver filled with arrows over the left shoulder, and cover their head with a bonnet of eagle feathers. He who kills an enemy on his own ground is distinguished by tails of animals which he attaches to his legs. He who kills a grizzly bear wears the claws of that animal in the form of a collar, and it is the most glorious trophy of an Indian hunter. The warrior who returns from the enemy with one or several scalps, paints a red hand across his mouth, to show that he has drunk enemies' blood.
The warriors of the Aricaras and Grosventres, before starting on the warpath, keep a strict fast, or rather they abstain totally from drinking and eating for four days. In this interval their imagination is exalted to the point of delirium; whether it is the enfeebling of their organs or the natural effect of the warlike plans they are nursing, they claim to have strange visions. The elders and wise men of the tribe, being called in to interpret these dreams, draw from them auguries more or less favorable to the success of the enterprise; their explanations are received as oracles by which the expedition is to be regulated. While the preparatory fast continues, the warriors make incisions in their bodies, thrust pieces of wood into their flesh be-
8 Much of this is from Astoria, chapter XXI.