lower villages, which may thence be considered as the Ricaras proper.
The third village was composed of such remnants of the villages as had
survived the wars, and as these were nine in number a difference of
pronunciation and some difference of language may be observed between
them and the Ricaras proper, who do not understand all the words of
these wanderers. The villages are within the distance of four miles of
each other, the two lower ones consisting of between one hundred and
fifty and two hundred men each, the third of three hundred. The Ricaras
are tall and well proportioned, the women handsome and lively, and as
among other savages to them falls all the drudgery of the field and the
labours of procuring subsistence, except that of hunting: both sexes are
poor, but kind and generous, and although they receive with thankfulness
what is given to them, do not beg as the Sioux did, though this praise
should be qualified by mentioning that an axe was stolen last night
from our cooks. The dress of the men is a simple pair of moccasins,
legings, and a cloth round the middle, over which a buffaloe robe is
occasionally thrown, with their hair, arms and ears decorated with
different ornaments. The women wear moccasins, legings, a long shirt
made of goats' skins, generally white and fringed, which is tied round
the waist; to those they add, like the men, a buffaloe robe without the
hair, in summer. These women are handsomer than the Sioux; both of them
are however, disposed to be amorous, and our men found no difficulty in
procuring companions for the night by means of the interpreters. These
interviews were chiefly clandestine, and were of course to be kept a
secret from the husband or relations. The point of honour indeed, is
completely reversed among the Ricaras; that the wife or the sister
should submit to a stranger's embraces without the consent of her
husband or brother, is a cause of great disgrace and offence, especially
as for many purposes of civility or gratitude the husband and brother
will themselves present to a stranger these females, and be gratified by