The two tribes drove a brisk trade in
furs, which the northern Indians offered, and painted plumes, which the
Mandans displayed to the envy of Assiniboine warriors.
On the 3d of December, De la Verendrye's sons stepped before the ragged
host of six hundred savages with the French flag hoisted. The explorer
himself was lifted to the shoulders of the Mandan _coureurs_. A gun
was fired and the strange procession set out for the Mandan villages.
In this fashion white men first took possession of the Upper Missouri.
Some miles from the lodges a band of old chiefs met De la Verendrye and
gravely handed him a grand calumet of pipestone ornamented with eagle
feathers. This typified peace. De la Verendrye ordered his fifty
French followers to draw up in line. The sons placed the French flag
four paces to the fore. The Assiniboine warriors took possession in
stately Indian silence to the right and left of the whites. At a
signal three thundering volleys of musketry were fired. The Mandans
fell back, prostrated with fear and wonder. The command "forward" was
given, and the Mandan village was entered in state at four in the
afternoon of December 3, 1738.
The village was in much the same condition as a hundred years later
when visited by Prince Maximilian and by the artist Catlin. It
consisted of circular huts, with thatched roofs, on which perched the
gaping women and children. Around the village of huts ran a moat or
ditch, which was guarded in time of war with the Sioux.
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