At last the party reached the residence of the great chief of the Assiniboins, whose name was “Great Road”.  These Amerindians received Henry and his people with the greatest respect, giving them a bodyguard, armed with bows and spears, who escorted them to the lodge or tent prepared for their reception.  This was of circular form, covered with leather, and not less than twenty feet in diameter.  On the ground within, bison skins were spread for beds and seats.

“One-half of the tent was appropriated to our use.  Several women waited upon us, to make a fire and bring water, which latter they fetched from a neighbouring tent.  Shortly after our arrival these women brought us water, unasked for, saying that it was for washing.  The refreshment was exceedingly acceptable, for on our march we had become so dirty that our complexions were not very distinguishable from those of the Indians themselves.”

Invited to feast with the great chief, they proceeded to the tent of “Great Road”, which they found neither more ornamented nor better furnished than the rest.  At their entrance the chief arose from his seat, saluted them in the Indian manner by shaking hands, and addressed them in a few words, in which he offered his thanks for the confidence which they had reposed in him in trusting themselves so far from their own country.  After all were seated, on bearskins spread on the ground, the pipe, as usual, was introduced, and presented in succession to each person present.  Each took his whiff, and then let it pass to his neighbour.  The stem, which was four feet in length, was held by an officer attendant on the chief.  The bowl was of red marble or pipe stone.

When the pipe had gone its round, the chief, without rising from his seat, delivered a speech of some length, after which several of the Indians began to weep, and they were soon joined by the whole party.  “Had I not previously been witness” (writes Henry) “to a weeping scene of this description, I should certainly have been apprehensive of some disastrous catastrophe; but, as it was, I listened to it with tranquillity.  It lasted for about ten minutes, after which all tears were dried away, and the honours of the feast were performed by the attending chiefs.”  This consisted in giving to every guest a dish containing a boiled bison’s tongue.  Henry having enquired why these people always wept at their feasts, and sometimes at their councils, he was answered that their tears flowed to the memory of their deceased relations, who were formerly present on these occasions, and whom they remembered as soon as they saw the feast or the conference being got ready.[15]

[Footnote 15:  The Assiniboins (whom Henry calls the Osinipoilles) are the Issati of older travellers, and have sometimes been called the Weeper Indians, from their tendency to tears.]

The chief to whose kindly reception they were so much indebted was about five feet ten inches high, and of a complexion rather darker than that of the Indians in general.  His appearance was greatly injured by the condition of his head of hair, and this was the result of an extraordinary superstition.