TXT | |
 | [...]1954. Sm: I have the honor to transmit herewith a manuscript entitle<l "The Horse in Blackfoot Indi[...]ial from Other Western Tribes," by John C. Ewers, and to recommend that it be published as a bulletin of the Bureau of American Ethnolo[...] |
| [...]20 Wea.1th in horses of other Plains and Plateau tribes_ _ ____ __ ______ __[...]47 Treatment of colic and distemper _____ ____ ___ __ ____ __ ___ ____ _•[...]_____ 49 A general tonic___________________ __ _____________[...]55 Care of gravid mares and colts _____·______ __ _____ ______ ______[...] |
| [...]PAGE Training of horses and riders _____ ___________ ________ ___ ___________[...]___ _____ __ ___ __ __ __ 65 Riding and guiding_ ________________________________________[...]93 Use of white men's saddles and accessories_________________ __ _[...]________ 95 Martingales and cruppers _______ ___ _______ __ ____ _____ ______[...]__ _____ ____ 100 Mane and tail ornaments___ _____ __________ ____ ___ _____[...]____ _____ _______ 101 The travois and transport gear_______ ______ _________ ___ ______[...]_ 105 Travois adjustment and repair_____ __________ ______ ___ ______[...]107 Distribution of the travois and methods of pole transport_ __ ___[...] |
| [...]V The travois and transport gear-Continued[...]____________ _ 124 |
| [...]e _____________________ _ 171 The horse as a cause of intertribal conflicts __________________[...]_______ ~ ____ _ 203 Use of the horse as a shield ________________________________ _[...] |
| [...]_____________________ _ 217 The horse as a standard of value ___________________________ _ 2[...]s in intra.tribal trade _____________________ _ 2{a- Horse values in buffalo robes _________[...]228 Intratribal and intertribal horse races _______________________ _[...]234 Horse racing among other Plains and Plateau tribes __ __ _______ _ 235 Horse symbolism in intersociety hoop and pole games __ ____ _______ _ 236 Sham ba[...]_____ __________________ _ 239 The horse as a factor in social relations ______________________[...]250 The horse in punishment of civil and criminal offenses _____ ________ _ 251 The horse in society organization and ceremonies _______________ ___ 253[...] |
| [...]257 Origin and history of the Piegan horse medicine cult _______[...]277 The South Piegan Black Horse Society ______________________ _[...]299 Horse acquisition as a stimulus to cultural innovation _____________ _[...]302 Influence on camp movements and possessions ___________________ _[...]316 The horse and the fur trade ___________________________________[...]331 The natural and cultural setting ______________________ ______ _[...]331 1. Period of diffusion and integration _______________________ _[...]332 2. Period of crystallization and maximum utilization _________ _[...]336 Old theories and new interpretations ______________________[...] |
| [...]PA.GE 14. Rigging of a woman's saddle, Blackfoot___________________________ 88 15. Construction of a "prairie chicken snare saddle," Blackfoot_________ 92 16. a, Simple rawhide martingale; b, simple rawhide cru[...]__________________ 98 18. Construction of a Blackfoot horse travoia _______________________ -[...]___________________________ ______ 113 21. a, Buffalo calfskin berry bags, Blackfoot__________________________ 117 22. Double saddlebag thrown over a woman's saddle for transportation, Black[...]___ 118 23. Rawhide cases transported on a woman's horse____________________ 120 24. Map showing the Blackfoot and their neighbors in 1850____________ 122 25. A common method of folding a lodge cover for transportation by pack h[...]__________________________________ 132 26. a, Placement of a willow backrest on the bottom of a travois load; b, method of transporting water in a paunch container____________ 135 27. Black[...]___ 183 29. Method of wielding the lance by a mounted warrior, Blackfoot______ 201 30. O[...]------------------ 225 32. Construction and use of a child's hobbyhorse, Blackfoot____________[...] |
| [...]) 1. (Frontispiece.) Blackfoot Indian pony. |
| [...]XII BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY jn a nomadic, buffalo-hunting, horse-using Plains Indi[...]ioned |
| [...]1867-ante-1951 Water-Bear-Chief Chewing-Black-Bones ____ _ Piegan ______ _____ _ Ca. 1867-[...]poke little English. The dates of birth of Piegan and some Blood informants were computed on the basis of · Blackfeet Agency census records for 1901 and 1908. I am greatly indebted to Reuben and Cecile Black Boy for their faithful services as interpreters o[...]servation, Mont., where all the Piegan informants and the able Blood informant vVeasel Tail were interviewed. Reuben's and Cecile's participating member- ship in the fullblood community, their outstanding skill in arts and . crafts, their thorough know ledge of horses, and their previous ex- perience in collecting and interpreting Blackfoot myths and stories for the Federal Writers' Project of Monta[...]Magee, John Old Chief, Jim Stingy, Jim ,valters, and Mae Williamson were especially helpful members of this group. I am indebted to Frank and Joseph Sherburne, Browning mer- chants, for helpf[...]Blackfeet Reservation, Mont., for more than half a century; to Archdeacon Samuel K. Middleton, princ[...]i- tating my field research on the Blood Reserve; and to Dr. Claude |
| [...]um of the Plains Indian since 1947, for checking a number of specific points with Piegan informants[...]pencil drawings carefully prepared by Calvin Boy, a young Piegan artist. To insure their accuracy, s[...]e taken. As elderly informants described objects and/or activities I desired to have illustrated Reuben Black Boy and I made rough sketches. We showed these to Calvin Boy and explained to him the content of the desired illustrations. He then drew pictures at a very large scale so that they could be seen read[...]or eyesight. The informants examined the drawings and in the presence of the artist made suggestions f[...]Then Calvin Boy prepared the final pencil or pen-and-ink drawings. The minority of the line illustrations were _prepared by the author from his field notes and sketches. I am indebted to the following insti[...]permission to repro- duce photographs of objects and scenes in this bulletin: American Museum of Natu[...]useum o:f Archaeology; Smith- sonian Institution; and Geological Survey, United States Department of th[...]ons. I endeavored to read widely in the scattered and largely unindexed literature on the Blackfoot and other horse-using tribes of the Great Plains and Plateau. In quest of dated materials and comparative data, I examined numerous collections[...]ll as collections of early drawings, paint- ings, and photographs. I sought to obtain comparative data[...]among the Flathead (1947), Oglala Dakota (1947), and Kiowa (1949) tribes as my limited opportunities f[...]ative data on Brule Dakota horse usages. Edith V. A.. Murphy of Covelo, Calif., formerly field botani[...]hed the larger problem of the definition, origin, and history of the Plains Indian horse complex[...] |
| [...]xv analysis of the Blackfoot complex and the inclusion of comparative data indicative of geographically and tribally more widespread oc- currences of[...] |
| [...]riod." This period can be defined more accurately and meaning- fully in cultural than in temporal terms[...]Period spanned the years between the acquisition and first use of horses and the extermination of the economically important b[...]ion in which that tribe lived. Anthropologists and historians have been intrigued by the problem of[...]orses, the rate of diffusion from tribe to tribe, and the conditions under which the spread took place.[...]es of the northwestern Plains, the Piegan, Blood, and North Blackfoot, were among those tribes that pos[...]To view their acquisi- tion in proper historical and cultural perspective it is necessary to con- side[...]of the diffusion of horses to the northern Plains and Plateau tribes. Critical study of this problem da[...]contributions two papers by Francis Haines (1938, a and b), based to a considerable extent upon data unavailable to Wissler a quarter of a century earlier, have been most influentia[...] |
| [...]Plains Indians acquired their first horses from a different source and at a considerably later date than Wissler had conside[...]e Spanish explor- ing expeditions led by De Soto and Coronado in 1541 (Wissler, 1914, pp. 9-10). The[...]r, another historian, Morris Bishop, who had made a critical study of early Spanish explorations, termed this theory, "a pretty legend" (Bishop, 1933, p. 31). Haines virtually laid the old theory to rest. After a careful review of the evidence he concluded that[...]remote that it should be discarded" (Haines, 1938 a, p. 117). This conclusion has been supported by more recent scholarship. John R. Swanton, who has been a thorough student of the De Soto Expedition over a period of years, concurred in Haines' interpretat[...]ter roll, commented significantly, "Five hundred and fifty-eight horses, two of them mares, are accounted for in the muster. The presence and separate listing of only two mares suggests that[...]o the Great Plains in the later years of the 16th and early years of the 17th century (Bolton, 1[...] |
| [...]ly contact through trade, ample supply of horses, and examples of the advantages of the new servants" (Haines, 1938 a, p. 117). DATING THE NORTHWARD SPREAD 01!...[...]so rapidly that they could have reached the Crow and |
| [...]und horses "very common," stating "there is not a cabin which has not four or five" (Cox, 1905, pp.[...]( near present Peoria, Ill.) brought with them a piebald horse taken from some Spaniards they had killed (Pease and Werner, 1934 a, p. 4). Deliette reported that prior to 1700 the Pawnee and Wichita obtained branded Spanish horses "of which[...]times to pursue the buffalo in the hunt" (Pease and Werner, 1934 b, p. 388). In the summer of 1700, Father Gabriel Marest included Missouri, Kansa, and Ponca, along with the Pawnee and Wichita, as possessors of Spanish horses (Garragh[...]nces suggest that by the end of the century most and probably all Plains Indian tribes living south of[...]mony, of the French explorers La Harpe, Du Tisne, and Bourgmont (Margry, 1886, vol. 6) in the first q[...]e among the tribes living eastward of the Apache and northward of the Caddo. In 1705, the Comanche[...]attacks upon New Mexico, riding off with horses and with goods intended by the Spanish for trade wit[...]Spanish records of one raid in which 3 Comanche and Ute Indians ran off 20 horses and a colt from an Apache rancheria in 1719. At that very time Governor Valverde was leading a punitive expedition against the troublesome Coman[...]105-109, 122). Plains tribes northeast of the Black Hills were met by white traders before they acqu[...]as did nomadic tribes living southwestward toward and beyond the Black Hills (La Veren- drye, 1927, pp. 108,337).[...] |
| [...]ir Comanche kinsmen. They may have been the Kiowa and Kiowa Apache, who were mentioned by La Salle as actively engaged in the northward diffusion of horses a half century earlier, and who were known to have traded horses to the horti[...]Missouri, through the Mandan to the peoples north and east of them. Hendry ( 1907, pp. 334-335) travele[...]) saw horses in some numbers among the Assiniboin and mentioned their use in mounted warfare. Umfrevill[...]in 1792, saw horses equipped with Mexican saddles and bridles among the Mandan in the first description of that tribe after the visits of the La Verendryes a half century earlier (Nasitir, 1927, p. 58). It is most probable that a trickle of tr.ade in Spanish horses through the Mandan to the Assiniboin and Plains Cree existed throughout the last half of t[...]ry. The third quarter of the century witnessed a rapid expansion of the horse frontier among tribe[...]ri. In 1768 Carver (1838, p.188) found no horses .a mong the Dakota of the Upper Mississippi, and placed the frontier of horse-using tribes some di[...]rs later he observed that the Yankton Dakota had "a Gr.ate Number of Horses" which they used for hunting buffalo and carrying baggage (Pond, 1908, pp. 335, 35[...] |
| [...]who lived on the Assiniboin River to the west, and commented significantly, "Those were the first and only two horses we had on Red river; the Saulteurs had none, but always used canoes" (Henry and Thompson, 1897, vol. 1, p. 47). In January, 180[...]Manitoba, hunting buffalo. They owned some horses and were planning to go to the Missouri to purchase more (Henry and Thomp- son, 1897, vol. 1, p. 286). These were th[...]ar to the northwest in larger numbers. The Lewis and Clark Expedition established first recorded whit[...]they had paid for horses obtained from Shoshoni and Flathead on their outward journey ( Coues, 1893,[...]ern limit of horse diffusion at that time. Lewis and Clark were impressed with the large numbers of ho[...]p. 569). The explorers found Spanish riding gear and branded mules among the Shoshoni. They believed t[...]e these Shoshoni may have begun to acquire horses a few years after Comanche raids were launched on t[...]ble herds of horses seen among the Lemhi Shoshoni and their neighbors by Lewis and Clark in 1805, presuppose an extended period of horse diffusion on a considerable scale toward the Northwest prior to that date. Haines (1938 b, p. 436) has postu- lated a route of diffusion west of the Continental[...] |
| [...]ay of the head waters of the Colorado, the Grand, and Green Rivers. This was the most direct route to t[...]through the country of Shoshonean tribes offering a peaceful highway for Comanche and Ute such as was unavailable on the western Plains, infested as that region was with hostile Apache and Kiowa. There was little incentive to divert horse[...]Plateau tribes. Tribal traditions of the Flathead and Nez Perce credit the Shoshoni with furnishing the[...]lene, Pend d'Orielle, Kalispel, Spokan, Colville, and Cayuse tribes of the north- western Plateau obtai[...]pplied by Shoshoni (Teit, 1930, p. 351). Although a Crow tradition recorded by Bradley (1923, p. 298)[...]rom the Upper Yellowstone eastward to the Hidatsa and Mandan villages on the Missouri. The Crow Indians of the Middle Yellowstone served as intermediaries in a flourishing trade in horses and mules, securing large numbers of these animals from the Flathead, Shoshoni, and probably also the Nez Perce on the Upper Yellowst[...]or objects of European manufacture. At the Mandan and Hidatsa villages they disposed of some of these horses and mules, at double their purchase value, in exchange for the European-made objects desired :for their own use and eagerly sought by the far-off Flathead and Shoshoni. Thus tribes of the Upper Yellowstone and Plateau began to receive supplies of knives, axes, brass kettles, metal awls, bracelets of iron and brass, a few but- tons worn as hair ornaments, some long metal lance heads, arrowheads of iron and brass, and a few fusils of Northwest Company trade type? |
| [...]their own terri..; tories. Thus also, horn bows and possibly other products of the western Indians reached the village tribes on the Missouri, and bridle bits and trade blankets of Spanish origin arrived at the Mandan and Hidatsa villages by a long and circuitous route. On their summer trading visits to the Mandan and Hidatsa the Crow also exchanged products of the chase ( dried meat, robes, leggings, shirts, and skin lodges) for corn, pumpkins, and tobacco of the villagers. In 1805, the Northwest Company trader Larocque, the first white man to spend a season with the Crow, reported that this trade w[...], 66, 71-72). This trade was also noted by Lewis and Clark (Cones, 1893, vol. 1, pp. 198-199; vol. 2, pp. 498, 554, 563), Henry (Henry and Thompson, 1897, vol. 1, pp. 398-399), Mackenzie (1889, p. 346), and Tabeau (1939, pp. 160-161).1 We cannot be sure[...]e first horses ever brought into their country,'' and that they obtained these horses from the Comanche[...]2 (Morgan, MS., bk. 9, p.12). Denig (1953, p. 19) and Bradley (1896, p. 179) independently dated the se[...]the Crow from the Hidatsa about the year 1776 or a few years earlier. It is probable that the Crow I[...]o make it practical for them to leave the Hidatsa and become nomadic hunters. The other major route[...]19th century I assume to have been an older one, and probably the route followed by the Comanche thems[...]It led from the Spanish settlements of New Mexico and Texas to the vicinity of the Black Hills in South Dakota via the western High Plains, thence eastward and northeastward to the Arikara, Hidatsa, and Mandan villages on the Missouri. The important mi[...]e nomadic Kiowa, Kiowa-Apache, Comanche, Arapaho, and Cheyenne. Antoine Tabeau, a French trader from St. Louis, who was among the A[...]kara were accustomed to transport tobacco, maize, and goods of European 1 Mackenzie (lS.89, p. 346), reported that 2·5 0 horses and 200 guns with 100 rounds of ammunition for each[...]lve |
| [...]9 manufacture "to the foot of the Black Hills" where they met the Kiowa, Kiowa-Apache, Comanche, Arapaho, and Cheyenne in a trading fair. There they secured dressed deerskin[...]ntelopeskin, moccasins, quantities of dried meat, and prairie turnip flour in exchange for their wares.[...]with the Ricaras. Most frequently it is given as a present: but, according to their manner, that is[...]restriction. This present is paid ordinarily with a gun, a hundred charges of powder a.n d balls, a knife and other trifles. [Tabeau, 1939, p. 158.] Tabeau[...]their discretion ( ibid., pp. 154-158). Lewis and Clark made brief mention of Kiowa, Kiowa-Apache, and possibly some Comanche as wandering tribes who "raise a great num- ber of horses, which they barter to th[...]summer of 1806, Henry accompanied the Hidatsa on a visit to the Cheyenne to trade guns and ammunition ( then scarce among the Cheyenne) for fine horses (Henry and Thompson, 1897, vol. 1, pp. 367-393). Although[...]was opened, it is most probable that the Arapaho and Cheyenne were not involved in it as inter- mediar[...]t of the sedentary horticultural life in favor of a nomadic existence. Cheyenne conversion to nomad- ism probably began no earlier than 1750, and some villages of that tribe clung to the horticul[...]n 1804, this leaves only the Kiowa-Apache, Kiowa, and Comanche as probable initiators of this trade. Si[...]entury, it is most probable that the Kiowa-Apache and Kiowa played more im- portant roles in the[...] |
| [...][Bull. 159 The Arikara, Mandan, and Hidatsa villages served as foci for the |
| [...]IAN CULTURE 11 A study of this map in conjunction with the precedi[...]ains at that ti:r,ne was almost without exception a trade be-[...]Plains before 1805. tween nomadic and horticultural peoples, and that this horse trade |
| [...]ronment of the western Plateau yielded wild foods and other natural resources which were not found on t[...]to the nomadic Crow, to the horticultural Hidatsa and Mandan, to the nomadic Assiniboin, Plains Cree, and Plains Ojibwa, with the same alternate rhythm as[...]e nomadic Kiowa, Kiowa-Apache, Comanche, Arapaho, and Cheyenne, to the horticultural Arikara, to the no[...]ts of their different economies between gardening and nomadic tribes was an old one in the Plains, and that it antedated the introduc- tion of the horse[...]ition in 1541 observed that the nomadi~ Querechos and Teyas of the southwestern Plains- . . . follow the cows, hunting them and tanning the skins to take to the settle- ments in[...]the settlement of Cicuye, others toward Quivera, and others to the settlements situated in the directi[...]the fall of 1599, Vicente de Saldivar Mendoca met a roving band of Plains Indians not far from the Canadian River- . . . coming from trading with the Picuries and Taos, populous pueblos of this New Mexico, where they sell meat, hides, tallow, suet, and salt in exchange for cotton blankets, pottery, maize, and some small green stones which they use. [Bolton,[...]y La Verendrye in 1739, reported the existence of a similar trade in words suggesting t.hat it had been active for a period of years: ... every year, in the beginning[...]he Mandan, several savage tribes which use horses and carry on trade with them; that they bring dressed skins trimmed and oroo- mented with plumage and porcupine quills, painted in various colors, also white buffalo skins, and that the Mandan give them in exchange grain and beans, of which they have ample supply.[...] |
| [...]had found that the Mandan offered not only grains and tobacco, but also colored buffalo robes, deerskins and buckskins care- fully dressed and ornamented with fur and feathers, painted feathers and furs, worked garters, headbands, and girdles to the Assiniboin jn return for guns, powder, balls, axes, knives, kettles, and awls of European manufacture ( ibid., pp. 323, 33[...]ite traders, were offering to the Mandan firearms and ammuni- tion as well as other trade goods obtaine[...]he diffusion of firearms to the Plains Indians as a factor related to and influencing the routes of trade fol- lowed in the[...]tribe possessing either without the other was at a distinct disadvantage in opposition to an_enemy owning both. British and French traders approaching the Plains from the north and east supplied guns to Indians. However, Spanish policy strictly prohibited the trading of firearms and ammunition to the natives. This placed those tribes in early contact with the British and French traders in an advantageous trading position. Having obtained fire- arms and ammunition directly from Europeans they were able[...]e tribes of the Upper Missouri ( Arikara, Mandan, and Hidatsa) were situated in a most admirable position for trading both to the northeast and the south- west. It was at those villages that th[...]ontier of the gun. Indians learned to equate guns and horses as standards of value, and a mutually profitable trade ensued by which the armed tribes of the Northeast secured mounts and the mounted tribes of the South and West secured firearms. Undoubtedly the demand for both firearms and horses far exceeded the supply. The need on the p[...]from Tabeau) firearms still were the most desired a-rticles sought in ex- change for horses by[...] |
| [...]anny horse traders then insisted that ammunition and some other articles be thrown into the scale to seal the bargain. So it was that during the 18th century a trade in Spanish horses for French and British firearms grew up alongside the earlier pat- tern of exchange of products betwoon horticultural and nomadic hunting tribes of the region. The trade i[...], appears to have been an historic elaboration of a prehistoric trade pattern among the Plains Indians. Another aspect of this trade is worthy of note as a factor determin- ing the direction of flow in the[...]ily with Hidatsa, Teton with other Dakota groups, and Comanche and Ute .with the North- ern Shoshoni. It may well ha[...]es to the Shoshoni. Recently Denhardt has made a further significant observation: . . . that the natives obtained their original horses, and always by far the greatest number, from the Spaniards or neighboring tribes and not from the wild herds. The Indians had mounts by the time the wild herds dotted the plains, and always preferred domesticated animals to the mestenos. Mustangs were hard to catch, and once caught, harder to tame. [Denhardt, 1947, pp.[...]prior to 1800, serves to support this observation and to suggest that the wild herds :furnished a negligible source of horses for those tribes prior to that time. But what of theft as a factor in the northward spread of horses 1 Certainly a considerable number of the horses that reached th[...]tribes occurred prior to that time. Nevertheless, and some native traditions to the contrary, it is har[...]of neighboring tribes who had acquired horses at a somewhat earlier date. I believe peaceful contact was a neces- sary condition of initial horse diffusion,[...]ht learn to overcome their initial fear of horses and learn to ride and manage those lively animals. The pr·e- existing[...]ed the most important medium of peaceful contacts and of initial diffusion of horses. The fact t[...] |
| [...]ns who had gained some knowledge of handling them and a realization of the superiority of their use over foot travel and trans- port of camp equipment, encouraged intertr[...]need not have been any prolonged interval between a tribe's first acquisition of horses and its initiation of horse-raiding op~rations. Some tribes may have begun raiding for horses within a decade after they acquired their first animals by[...]order to point out the unique factors involved in Black- foot acquisition in greater detail. Prior t[...]ates ranged from Wissler's previously men- tioned and impossibly early "1600" to Grinnell's impossibly[...]estimates have been based upon interpretations of a most remarkable account of some important events[...]t Saukamaupee was born no later than between 1707 and 1712. In dating the first episode of his story the old man pointed to a "lad of about sixteen years" in the camp and said that he had been about that boy's age when he went with a small group of Cree to aid the Piegan in a battle with the Snakes in which neither of the op[...]amaupee re- turned to his own people, "grew to be a man, became a skillful and fortunate hunter, and . . . procured ... a wife." Thompson noted that Piegan "young men seld[...]f 22 years or more." I£ the Cree, more than half a century earlier, followed that same custom[...] |
| [...]THNOLOGY (Bull. US9 and his marriage the Snakes had made use of a few horses in battle |
| [...]ackfoot acquired their first horses between 1732 and 1737. His error in interpretation may be the mor[...]ating the prior acquisition of horses by Shoshoni and Flathead. It seems to me that literal accepta[...]Hudson's Bay Company journeyed westward with Cree and Assiniboin guides to seek to open trade with Indi[...]tchewan Plains in October of that year he visited a camp of 200 lodges of Archithinue, and again in spring met several small bands of these[...]th the fact that these Indians pos- sessed horses and employed them skillfully in hunting buffalo. Al-[...]on that they were better sup- plied than his Cree and Assiniboin companions who used horses only as pac[...]hough he met only one small band of 2_2 lodges at a buffalo pound west of the Eagle Hills in present[...]nd as "Waterfall Indians" (the · Gros V entres), and he stated that the general term "Archithinue" also included the Blood, Piegan, and Blackfoot ( the three Blackfoot tribes) as[...] |
| [...]tres. I believe we may infer with reason that the Black- foot tribes, allies of the Gros Ventres, also po[...]e interval between Sauka- maupee's first sight of a dead horse and Hendry's contact with the Archithinue in 1754, or[...]r horses to have been diffused from the Blackfoot and Gros Ventres to the Assiniboin and Plains Cree during the latter half of the 18th ce[...]he, Kiowa, Kiowa-Apache, Ute, Comanche, Shoshoni, and Flathead re- ceived horses before they reached the Blackfoot. Probably the Arikara and all of the horticultural Plains Indians south of[...]. It seems most probable that the Crow, Cheyenne, and Teton Dakota obtained their first horses after th[...]heir first horses were received from the Shoshoni and Flathead. One tradition told me stated that a Blackfoot, Shaved Head by name, went west and obtained the first horses known to his people fr[...]er tradition told of Sits-in-the-Night, who lived a generation later, having led a war party southward to about the location o:f the present Blackfeet Reservation, Mont., where they stole a number of horses :from a Shoshoni or Crow camp. When the warriors mounted these horses and the animals began to walk, the riders became frightened and jumped off. They led the horses home. The people surrounded the new animals and gazed at them in wonder. I:f the horses began to jump about, they became frightened. After a time a woman said[...] |
| [...]19 "Let's put a travois on one of these big dogs just like we do on our small dogs." They made a large travois and attached it to one of the horses. The horse did n[...]s it was led around camp. It seemed gentle. Later a woman mounted the horse and rode it with travois attached. According to this[...]oubt that any Plains Indian tribe learned to ride and care for horses without the advantage of the example and instruction of other Indians who had some lmowled[...]hey were at war with their neighbors to the south and west. David Thompson observed that the Blackfoot tribes raided the Shoshoni, Flathead, and Kutenai for horses in 1787 (Thompson, 1916, p. 36[...]e Blackfoot tribes in 1790, as "the most numerous and powerful nation we are acquainted with. War is mo[...]to the enemies country, they frequently bring off a number of horses, which is their principal induce[...]throughout the first 86 years of the 19th century and until the buffalo were exterminated from their co[...]t informants when questioned regarding Blackfoot a cquisition of the horse either frankly ad'mltted they were not informed on th e subject or |
| [...]er of horses conditioned his use of these animals and helped to determine both the nature and degree of his participation in many aspects of th[...]individual wealth in horses among the Blackfoot, and to compare Blackfoot wealth in horses with that of other horse-using tribes of the Great Plains and Plateau in order to indicate their relative stand[...]lackfoot tribes prior to 183:0. Three quarters of a century ago, Lt. James Bradley, who obtained much[...]Blackfoot from the trader, Alexander Culbertson, and other white men who had known these Indians since[...]but never in considerable numbers in early times, and even as late as 1833 they were poorly mounted." H[...]n average of 10 horses per lodge, while the Blood and North Blackfoot averaged but 5 horses per lodge ([...]6 Blackfoot Agent Hatch estimated that the Piegan and Blood owned at least 10 horses per lodge, but the[...]es owing to frequent raids on their herds by Cree and Assiniboin (U.S. Comm. Ind. Affairs, 1856, p. 627). Four years later, Agent Vaughan made a more detailed estimate of Blackfoot horse[...] |
| [...]n the United States, owning 6,000 horses. This is a ratio of 1.1 horses per person. Certainly these round-number estimates of both human and horse populations are not exact. Nevertheless, th[...]iegan averaged about 8 to 10 horses per lodge, or a fraction over one horse per person. Majority testimony indicates that the North Blackfoot and Blood owned fewer horses than the Piegan in propo[...]or Blood Indians. After the buffalo were gone and the Blackfoot tribes settled down to a more sedentary life on reservations their horse n[...]oot in Montana, whose herds had been decreased by a serious epidemic, averaged but 0.55 horses per pe[...]Piegan of Montana averaged 3.8 horses per person, and by the turn of the century the proportion grew to[...]the discontinuance of inter- tribal horse raiding and reflected also the encouragement of horse breedin[...]nt years the number of Indian-owned horses on the Black- feet Reservation in Montana has decreased[...] |
| [...]en place." WEALTH I N HORSES OF OTHER PLAINS AND PLATEAU r.rRIBES I have searched the literatu[...]of the num- 'Such statements as[...]at the Blackfoot had m or e horses than |
| [...]er Plateau tribes. On the other hand, the nomadic and horticultural tribes on or near the Missouri ea.stward of the Black- foot were all relatively poor in horses. The nomadic Assiniboin and Cree were so poor they were compelled to make ext[...]amp equipment. The horticultural Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara were noted horse traders, but apparently[...]he meager evidence on the Teton Dakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho sug- gests that those tribes ranked with[...]d with horses than the nomadic southern Plainsmen and the Plateau Indians, but they were better supplied than any of the horticultural tribes (except the Osage) and all of the tribes east and northeast of the Missouri River. 6 The information in tables 2 and 3 shows no evidence of any tribe of the Plains or[...]bes approached their maximum numbers of horses at a relatively early date, at least as early as 1825, and possibly, in some instances, before 1800. Through[...]own herds, capture of enemy or wild horses, gift and barter, was offset and approximately balanced by the loss of horses through capture by enemy raiding parties, gift and barter, killing of horses as grave escorts on the death of important men, killings by animal predators, and death of horses from old age, sickness, battle wounds, hunting accidents, disease, and inability to survive severe winters. In the active and dangerous life of the Plains Indians horses were expendible assets. 6 The testimony of my elderly Piegan and Blood informants, who bad participated in horse-[...]es, with one exception. They claimed the Flathead and Crow |
| [...]tive data on horse popnlation of otlt er Pla in s and Plat eau trilJes[...]---- - _, __ __-· --- - Fewer horses than Kiowa and Comanche. Arlkara _________________ _ 1855 and[...]"own few horses and perform all Journeys[...]13. 7 Horses taken from Black Kettle's camp after Nye, 1943, pp. 63~9.[...]" ••. only a few horses." ___________________ Maximilian, 1906[...]a:, |
| [...]200 3.3 ..• a hunting camp seen by Gov. Stevens . . Stevens, 18[...]" ... everybody rides-men, women and Larocque, 1910, pp. 22, 64. ~[...]" ... great many mules and horses" .•..•..[...]" .•. average of 20 to a lodge" (Agent[...]1. 2 Camp visited by Lewis and Clark in Ross's Coues, 1893, vol. 2, p.[...](With Nez Perc6 and Pend d'Orielle) "pos• Irving, 1851, p[...]300+ 2. 9 .2 I Horse and lodge numbers .••................ Maxi[...] |
| [...]parative data on horse population of other Plains and Plateau tribes-Continued[...](With Flathead and Pend d'Oreille) "pos- Irving, 1851, p. 117.[...]-- - - - --- - -- - - . • affluent chiefs and warriors owners of James, 1823, vol. 1, p. 205.[...]men and squaws necessarily pedestrian."[...]10,000 ---- ------ 2.2 Great and Little Osage __ ..•.......•. _. _. ____ U. S.[...]1.8 Lemhi camp visited by Lewis and Clark Cones, 1893, vol. 1, pp. 553-[...]iver Shoshoni data summarized. ____ Shlmkin, 1947 a, p. 266. Teton Dakota .••...... __[...]0.4 At Whetstone Agency (Oglalla and Upper U. S. Comm. Ind. Affairs[...]11.8 and Cayuse. Upper Pend d'Orellle ____[...] |
| Ute (Yampa, and Uin- 1871 635[...]1854. pp. 95-96. 1 This was |
| [...]682 8,000 11. 7 Cayuse, Walla Walla, and Umatilla--··············[...]2,872 12,000 4.2 Osage (Great and Little)---··-··--······· · ··--·--[...]1,897 6,099 3.2 teka Comanche, and Pawnee.[...]2.8 Kiowa, Comanche, Apache, and Delaware_._ ..... . Kiowa[...]1,000 Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Apache ____ . --- _---------- Cheyenne and 4,024 5,475 1.4[...]Arapaho. Flathead, Pend d'Orellle, and KutenaL--- · ·· ----- Fla[...]1,800 2,500 1. 4 Bannock and Shoshoni _______ _.. __ - _--.. -... - -----.[...]3,120 3,000 1. 2 Piegan, Blood, and Blackfoot. __ ----•. --------• --- -[...]5,450 6,000 1.1 Lower Yank tonal and Lower Brule. -- --- -.. ---- -- -[...].9 Oto and MlssourL---------·-------·- · ----·--------[...]_------------- 453 400 Oglalla and Mlnloonjou Sioux, North Cheyenne,[...]--· · 12,103 10,000 .8 and North Arapaho. Bannock and Shoshoni.. _____ ----------.. --. - --. - --[...].7 Iowa, Sac, and Fox--·-------------·----------·-··--[...]0 .7 Two Kettle, Mlnlconjou, Sans Arc, and Blackfeet Cheyenne River[...]4,982 3,100 .6 Sioux. Upper and Lower Yanktonal, Hunkpapa, and Grand River _____[...]523 280 •5 Moache and Jlcarllla Apache _._ . . __ _______ .·-- __ -·-[...]750 400 •5 Asslnlboln, and Santee, Sisseton, Yanktonal,[...]7,307 3,000 .4 Hunkpapa, and Huncpatlna Sioux.[...].4 r=~~ J-ita~~~ii;aiia.· It required ingenuity and efl'ort on the part of men of these tribes |
| [...]29 specially trained war, hunting, and race horses were the property of men, women generally owned the animals they used for riding and transport duty. Women received gifts of horses, i[...]ed them in barter. These horses belonged to them, and they were free to give them away, trade them, or[...]ed of without their consent. As early as 1809, a few individuals owned large herds of horses. Alex[...]numbers ; I heard of one man who had 300" (Henry and Thompson, 1897, p. 526). How- ever, Maximilian's reference (1833) to a chief who owned between 4,000 and 5,000 horses appears to have been exaggerated. (See Ewers, 1943.) Indian Agent Hatch told of the visit of a Blood chief, "Chief Bird," who owned 100 horses,[...]n ever saw amongst the Blackfeet--having 10 wives and 100 horses" (Bradley, 1900, p. 258). Culbertson's[...]rles Larpenteur, wrote of the period 1860: "It is a fine sight to see one of those big men among the[...]es, five or six wives, twenty or thirty children, and fifty to a hundred horses ; for his trade amounts to upward of $2,000 a year" (Larpenteur, 1898, vol. 2, p. 401). Obvious[...]the late 1870's: "Horses were the tribal wealth, and one who owned a large herd of them held a position only to be compared to that of our multi[...]indi- viduals who owned from one hundred to three and four hundred." My informants agreed that the w[...]ddle Sitter), prin- cipal chief of the Piegan for a short time before his death in 1866. Although my[...]Horses died, several of them were related to him, and all had heard of him through their parents and other older Indians. Their esti- mates of the num[...]ought out his medicine bag filled with deer hoofs and rattled the |
| [...]nearly 500 horses in late buffalo days. Stingy, a blind Piegan, who died in 1918, aged about 78 years, then owned between 200 and 300 horses. Many-White- Horses ( ca. 1834-1905) a[...]100 horses at that time. Informants claimed that a man who possessed 40 or 50 horses in buffalo day[...]ellow tribesmen. 7 It is probable that less than a score of Piegan were entitled to that distinction[...]dult male populations was smaller among the Blood and North Black- foot. The majority of the Blackfoot had a difficult time meeting the needs of their nomadic existence with a limited number of horses. A fairly large proportion of Blackfoot families, possibly as many as 25 percent, owned less than a half dozen horses in buffalo days.8 The tradi[...]st that they could be purchased for from $2 to $5 a head (Denny, 1939, pp. 259-260). Frank Sherburne recalled with amusement that some 50 years ago, Owl Child, a Piegan who owned ubout 500 head of fine cattle and a great many horses, liked to brag about the size o[...]rds. Although most of these animals were unbroken and unused, their owners had no desire to sell them. Pos- session of horses made those Indians feel both wealthy and important. 7 Plegan remembered as wealthy hors[...]ose ( also known as Three Suns, who died in 1896, a prominent chief), Crow l!'eathers, Big Plume (bor[...]n ca. 1855), Horn, Tearing Lodge (born ca. 1834), and Curlew Woman (born ca. 1823). 'The last named was a woman. 8 lt is important t o qualify thes[...]Stingy, Bull Shoe, Many-White-Horses, Owl Child, and other former owners of many horses greatly increase the sizes or their herds, but a number of other Indians, who had previousl[...] |
| [...]Among other horse-using tribes of the Plains and Plateau, indi- vidual ownership of horses also se[...]been made regarding the Crow (Denig, 1953, p. 34) and Omaha (Fletcher and La Flesche, 1911, p. 363). In table 4 I have summ[...]on individual horse ownership among other Plains and Plateau tribes gleaned from the literature. Excep[...]taqle 4 correlates closely with those in tables 2 and 3. In the poorer tribes individual wealth in hors[...]g tribal members was the rule in the Great Plains and Plateau in buffalo days. The conception of wealth in horses differed among the tribes. While a Plains Cree owner of five horses would have been considered wealthy by his fellow tribesmen, a Crow, Nez Perce, or Comanche owner of five times[...]owned very few or no horses. There must have been a greater proportion of wealthy owners among the Plateau and southern Plains tribes than among the Blackfoot.[...]a on individual horse ownership in other Pla,i ns and Pla-t eau trib es Tribe Date[...]References Assiniboin __________ 1851 In a largo Assiniboin camp "at least one third of[...]bad twenty or thirty horses." Henry in Henry and[...]che __________ 1810 " ..• industrious and enterprising individuals Burnet, 1851, p.[...]head of horses and mules." |
| [...]ata on individual horse ownership in other Plains and Plateau[...]References Flathead and Pend 1832 Many warriors and bunters of those tribes who Irving, 1851, p. 117.[...]20 to 30 horses ..•••.•.. Henry in Henry and[...]Kiowa ... . . --- -· -· -· Prob. ca. A few rich Kiowa counted their horses in hundreds;[...]Kiowa had 6 to 10 horses; "not a few" owned no[...]1833 Slh-Chida, son of a prominent chief, "dld not even Maximilian,[...]possess a horse," although some Mandan owned vol. 23[...]1845 Some Nez Peroo and Cayuse families possessed Ibid., vol. 2, p. 480.[...]..... 1819 "Those affluent chiefs and warriors who are owners James, 1823, vol. I,[...]the young men and squaws are necessarily[...]many braves and chiefs had eight to twelve, one[...]About 5 men among Skidi owned 9 to 10 horses; a Quoted in Mishkin,[...]Teton Dakota •.•... 1803 Black Bull, principal Brnle chief, lost all bis herd Ta[...]1833 "Many possess from 30 to 40 horses and are then Ma:timilian, 1006,[...] |
| [...]foot Indians in buffalo days were of smaller size and different type from those commonly seen on the se[...]any horse under 14.2 hands high at the withers is a pony, Black- foot horses were properly ponies. Today the Indi[...]animal or of skeletal materials has been made by a com- petent zoologist. Angel Cabrera's chapter on[...]f that animal by 19th century traders, travelers, and Army personnel stationed in the Indian Country. T[...]5, p. 287.) The Indian pony was close to being a type. Anthony Hendry, first to describe the horse[...]ne tractible animals, about 14 hands high; lively and clean made" (Hendry, 1907, p. 338). Mathew Cocking, 1'8 years later, termed them "lively and clean made, generally about 14 hands high and of different colors" ( Cocking, 1908, p. 106). Fr[...]d by the testimony of elderly informants, we gain a composite picture of the type. The adult male Indian pony averaged a little under 14 hands in height, weighed about 700 pounds, possessed a large head in proportion to its body, good eyes, "neck and head joined like the two parts of a hammer," large, round barrel, relatively heavy shoulders and hips; small, fine, strong limbs and small feet. Indian ponies exhibited a wide range of solid and mixed colors. ( See photograph of Indian pony in[...]cted in the southern Spanish provinces of Cordoba and Andalusia which retained the primary chara[...] |
| [...]ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 34 1493 and first carried to the mainland by Cortez's expedit[...]the Indians of the Southwest, the Great Plains, and the northwestern Plateau. Capt. W. P. Clark, as a cavalry officer stationed at various posts on th[...]nion that through hard usage, close inbreed- ing, and change in climate the Indian pony had become some[...]e Indian pony was no beautiful animal, but it was a tough, . turdy, long-winded beast that possessed[...]s those owned by other tribes of the Great Plains and the majority of the Plateau tribes. These horses[...]ains. "The Indian pony without stopping can cover a distance of :from sixty to eighty miles between sunrise and sunset, while most of our horses are tired out at[...]e movement of Indian horsemen is lighter, swifter and longer range than that of our cavalry, which mean[...], 1951, p. 64). The N e.z Perce Appaloosa, is a larger, heavier, characteristically spotted-rump animal (Denhardt, 1947, pp. 191-193). Eld~rly Black- foot informants said their people obtained a very few Appaloosa horses before the end o[...] |
| [...]they wanted heavy horses. That is what they got." A :few large mares and a number of stallions were distributed before 1890,[...]ions with their native mares, will soon give them a good grade of horses, instead o:f the small ponie[...]d horses were Morgans. There were some Percherons and other large, heavy breeds. As a result of interbreeding, the disposal of Indian ponies, and continued replacement by larger animals, the litt[...]th Indian Service Agricultural Exten- sion Agents and white stock raisers on the reservation with whom[...]ndians were reluctant to acknowledge the fact. A similar replacement of Indian ponies by heavier b[...]Klondike Gold Rush of 1896 offered those Indians a good opportunity to sell many of their small horses at from 10 to 20 dollars a head, and to replace them with larger animals (Macinnes, 19[...]into dog meat. Nevertheless as recently as 1947, a few Indian ponies were said to be living on the B[...]ns in the United States is doubtful. Enoch Smoky, a Kiowa, said there were none left among the Kiowa and their neighbors of southwestern Oklahoma.[...]cognize them." This was no mean accomplishment in a Sun Dance |
| [...]ew their horses by color, conformation, physical and action peculiarities. The wealthy Many Horses was[...]animal in his herd so well that he could describe a miss- ing animal in detail to the young man he s[...]ny of his horses by the sound of their hoofbeats, and to know all of them by feel. Brings-Down-the-Sun, chief of the North Piegan, claimed his father could tell a horse's age by its whinny (McClintock, 1910, p. 4[...]eats of recognition were exceptional. However, as a people who spent their lives in the company of ho[...]e herds named only those animals that were broken and in daily use in addition to a few good mares and stallions in their range herds maintained for bre[...]called by the old people were : White Black Buckskin Sorrel Gray[...]rkings also suggested such names as "Bald Face," "Black Legs" and "Two-White-Legs." Peculiarities of size and shape gave rise to "No Mane," "Big Pinto," "Little-Gray-Horse," "Crow Foot," "Flop Ears," and "Split Ears." Other factors less commonly suggested names, such as "Gray-Horse-Crazy," "Sits Down," and "Orphan." It is not dif- ficult to see that by employing a combination of descriptive terms, as was actually done (for example, "Black-Bald-Face" and "Bay- With-Star-on-Forehead"), it was possible to coin a great variety of names for horses. Men who[...] |
| [...]ility for the task. If there were several boys in a family the father usually delegated care of the horses to the most dependable and ambitious lad. Sometimes a younger brother cared for the horses of a young married man. Otherwise the latter looked af[...]adopted orphan boys to care for their horses. If a young, single man went on a raiding party to steal horses from the enemy, he chose a poor but reliable and ambitious boy to look after his horses while he was away from camp, rewarding the lad with a colt for his labors. If the young warrior had el[...]could not obtain food for themselves, he selected a youth in his late teens to care for his horses, rustle food for his parents in the hunt, and keep them well supplied with firewood. Some poor[...]where they had·been pastured the previous night and drive them to a nearby lake or stream for water. Then he drove them to good pasturage near camp and returned to his lodge for breakfast. The owner ge[...]to use during the day, perhaps petted his horses a while, and gave instruc- tions to the boy regarding pasturag[...]water again. Toward evening he watered the horses a third time and drove them to their night pasturage, where 0 T[...], 1941, p. 71) ; Cree (Mandelbaum, 1940, p. 197), and Hidatsa (Wilson-, 19-24, pp. 194-195); show a similar preference for color names among those tribes. Eagle Bird, Oglala, and Smoky, Kiowa, told me those tribes generally name[...]enhart (1947, p. 232) has pointed out that it was a favorite Spanish custom to name a horse according to the impression received[...] |
| [...]daily.10 At night the herd might be pastured in a coulee or valley at some distance from camp, wher[...]oncealed from pos- sible enemy raiders. Normally, and unless clear signs of enemy raiders in the vicini[...]aution, after they had been forewarned, sometimes a woke the next morning to find their horses gone, while those of the cautious owners remained. (A more detailed account of measures for the defense[...]ily care of the horses of his people. He selected a camp site afford- ing good pasturage nearby, but[...]HOBBLING When a Blackfoot herd was driven to a sheltered place at night |
| [...]CUL'l'URE 39 ing. A more lively animal was close-hobbled so that it h[...]d. The hobble generally was simply constructed of a length of soft-tanned buffalo skin or rawhide. Weasel Tail demon- strated a clever hobble that would neither tighten nor slip (fig. 2). As ]'IGUUE 2.-A simple r awhide hobble, Blackfoot. a rule hobbles were fastened loose enough to preven[...]prevent their slippiiig over the feet. |
| [...][Bull. 159 40 of the owners' best buffalo and war horses, and race horses ( if they owned any). Women aided the[...]ni~ht fo: the slightest sound that might indicate a clever enemy had slipped mto camp and was trying to cut loose these valuable mounts. The preferred picket pin was a forked length of serviceberry about 2 inches in diameter and 22 inches long. One end was driven about a foot into the ground. The line was tied below the[...]ff should the horse become restive or frightened. A mild-mannered horse was picketed with a rawhide line tied to one foreleg. A short line with neck fastening was used for picketing a lively animal (fig. 3) ,13 FrnuuE 3.-Methocls of picketing: a, Picketing a gentle horse; |
| [...]area eastward of the present reservation for fall and winter pasturage. The vicinity of the Sweetgrass[...]. 447) as the favorite fall pasturage for buffalo a century ago, was a section in which the grass remained green until late fall and in which clear lakes were plentiful. In the late decades of buffalo days a favorite wintering locality of the Piegan was the[...]ias which their people regarded as excellent fall and winter forage of horses. These are: "jointed wate[...]), the common horsetail; "weasel grass" ( Artemis1a cana), the silver sagebrush; "blue stick grass" ([...]real grass" (buffalograss, Buchloe dactyloides) ; and "jingle grass" (unidentified) .14 On the Marias River also was found a white clay streaked with yellow that "tasted like[...]were fond of it. Some people ate it also. In fall and winter the earth around alkali sinks was peeled off, broken up, and fed to animals. Indians believed it had the same[...]es which have been raised exclusively upon grass, and never have been fed on grain, or 'range horses,' as they are called in the West, are decidedly the best, and will perform more hard labor than those that have been stabled and groomed." The Blackfoot, in buffalo days, made no[...]uld be found. When the grass in the vicinity of a winter camp was consumed, it was necessary to mov[...]l- lection of specimens of some of these plants, and to Ellsworth P. Killip, formerly of the |
| [...]ecessarily entail movement of any great distance. A few miles, a short day's journey, might bring them to good pas[...]Blackfoot regarded certain actions o:f wild birds and animals as winter signs. If owls screamed at nigh[...]eways in flight, or if the peluge of otter, mink, and beaver appeared heavier than usual, they knew a hard winter was approaching, and were careful to establish winter camps in the vic[...]hs of cottonwood to gain protection from the cold and high winds and supplemental food for their horses. In winter[...]r Hudson's Bay blanket coats, hair-lined mittens, and moc- casins when leaving their lodges to tend the[...]the ani- mals thrice daily as they did in summer. A winter camp near a spring that did not freeze was a choice location. If a spring was not handy, men chopped waterholes in t[...]ally could rustle enough food in this way to gain a meager subsistence. Denny (1939, p. 53), recalled[...]an ponies which "were hardy, serviceable animals, and would find their own food under the snow by pawin[...]inter movements of all the nomadic Plains Indians and those horticultural tribes who spen t the winter[...]kee p horses from straying was not mentioned by Black fo ot informants (Mandelbaum, 1940, p. 196). |
| [...]ENTAL WINTER HORSE FOOD Blackfoot belief that "a horse will starve to death if it doesn't get were "feeding on willow tops'' in the winter of 1755. Lewis and Clark observed that the |
| [...]H. Ashley, in 1826, praised cotton- wood bark as a winter horse feed. "When the round leaf or sweet[...]little inconvenience. They are fond of this bark, and, judging by the effect produced from feeding it t[...]the winter of 1797-98, was unknown to the nomadic Black- foot who had no access to maize. NIGH'.r CARE The Blackfoot were a ware that the horticultural tribes :farther down[...]foot owners drove their horses in among the trees and thickets |
| [...]numbers of horses. In those years horses starved and froze to death in spite of all their owners could[...]cted, even under modern conditions, at least once a decade. There is no reason to believe winter loss[...]1943, p. 605) was told that the year 1842 brought a "hard winter when snows lay so deep that many of[...]r of 1875-76, as one during which the Blood tribe and the Grease Melters Band of Piegan suffered heavy[...]severe winters were recorded in 1906-7, 1919-20, and 1949-50. In the winter of 1919-20 no less than 60[...]generally were heaviest in the months of January and February and in May storms. 20 MAY STORMS A weather peculiarity of the Blackfoot Country is the annual "May which[...]ugh we have no record of losses |
| [...]as an ordeal for the best of them. They grew thin and weak on the food they could rustle. By spring they were a cadaverous lot. Yet most of them :fattened within a month on the rich, green, spring grasses. The hor[...]rapidly. He could afford to alternate his mounts and pack animals so as to give all of them sufficient rest to enable them to regain weight and strength. But the few horses of the poor man coul[...]of recovery were poor. Many of them remained thin and weak through most of the year. In the Blackfoot[...]gion of high altitude, strong winds, heavy snows, and rapid, treacherous changes in temperature taxed I[...]s problem were little more than simple expedients and could not prevent heavy losses in the most severe winters. It is more of a tribute to the hardiness of the Indian pony than[...]COMMON HORSE REMEDIES Although there was a Blackfoot cult of specialists in the treat- |
| [...]TREATMENT OF SA DDLE SORES Saddle sores were a seasonal problem to the wealthy horse owner. To repair a worn foot that caused a horse to limp with pain, the |
| [...]m of Natural History.) moved, the hoof examined, and fresh manure inserted. When the TREATMENT OF COLIC AND DISTEMPER The Blackfoot treated colic and distemper by the same means, i. e. |
| [...]CULTURE 49 was raised and the medicine poured into its mouth. A great many concoctions were tried by different in[...]ida, carrotleaf), "smell foot" ( V aleriana sp.), and bitterroot ( Lewisia rediviva) were employed sepa[...]PRECAUTIONS AGAINST CHILLS A sweaty horse that had been hard-ridden in winter was lead around A GENERAL TONIO Short Face said that a root having a strong odor that grows-·near A good horse with a broken leg was not shot. If the horse had :M The Dakota, Omaha, Ponca, and Pawnee used the narrow-leaved comb flower[...] |
| [...], for his services. Bear-Goes-East was considered a powerful doctor, but not a horse medicine man. Lazy Boy recalled that once, while on a war party, Bear-Goes-East's partner fell over a cliff and broke his leg. The Crow Indians were chasing them. Bear-Goes-East collected some mud from a nearby lake, applied it to his partner's leg, and "healed it right there." 26 TREATMENT OF UNKNOWN ILLNESSES In buffalo days i:f a horse suffered from an illness the owner was • A Kiowa informant stated that bis people used to treat horses with broken legs by |
| [...]51 no remedy could be procured, and because of it about half of the horses these Indians owned died. One chief lost sixty out of a band of eighty. The disease is again making its appearance, and by next spring most of the few horses left will p[...]ase. Nevertheless, losses were severe. It came at a time when the Blackfoot had not recovered their losses of the hard winter of the mid-70's, and at a time when buffalo were becoming very scarce. It worked a great hardship on the Indians, who needed good horses as never before to locate and kill buffalo for their subsistence. Many owners,[...]mounts through raiding forays on enemy tribes. At a time when ho1·se raiding should have been an anachronism in the or- ganized Territory of Montana, there was a resurgence of raiding activity, motivated by need[...]ANIMAL PREDATORS Animal predators killed colts and occasionally some adult horses LOSSES[...]e to horses on Montana ranges in 1900 |
| [...][BulL 1G9 moved or dropped dead in camp. A horse that died in camp was |
| [...]re to the more exciting topic of horse raiding as a source of Plains Indian wealth in horses that the[...]ality animals bred from their own herds comprised a goodly proportion of the horses owned by the Blac[...]uctive winter storms, diseases, animal predators, and other causes, as well as by theft on the part of[...]lackfoot horse population surely would have shown a steady decrease during 19th-century buffalo days.[...]edly in the attention they gave to horse breeding and in the success they achieved in building up their[...]through his skill in raising horses. Many Horses and Many-White-Horses were mentioned fre- quently in informants' discussions of breeding practices. The Black- foot believed that those men who were very successful in raising horses possessed a secret power that insured their success in that e[...]These were (1) acer- tain color, (2) large size, and ( 3) swiftness of foot. Although many of their me[...]The studs were permitted to mate with any mare in a man's herd. However, the most successful breeders were careful in the choice of their stallions. A man who desired to raise colts of a certain color chose a stallion of that color for a stud. If he wished large colts he selected a stallion of greater than average size. If[...] |
| [...][Bull.1ri9 animals above all else, he employed a stallion of demonstrated swift- Some men tried to build up herds of a single color. Three Calf said |
| [...]ers of large herds still specialized in horses of a particular color or conformation. He learned to r[...]es of different owners so that he could tell from a distance the ownership of many range horses by th[...]e herds was maintained both by selection of studs and by swapping of horses which failed to exhibit ·t[...]e birth of colts exhibiting desired qualities. If a man wanted a pinto colt he killed a magpie and tied its black and white :feathered body around the neck of his mare with a buckskin string in the fall of the year, saying, "Now, I want you to have a pinto colt next spring." The magpie was worn on t[...]id, "When spring came that mare would surely have a pinto colt, and thereafter all her colts would be pintos." No other color of horse was as popular with the old-time Black- foot as was that of the pinto. Many men were proud to be seen riding a two-colored horse.28 In order to get "a big colt," the Piegan Stingy is said to have made a practice of roasting a "big turnip" ( Leptotaenia multifida, carrot- leaf), slicing it with a knife, punching holes through the slices, string- ing them on a buckskin cord, and tying the cord around a mare.'s neck. The odor of the big turnip kept the[...]ne condition all winter. In spring she would bear a "big colt." Stingy is said to have employed M[...]ere~ (Ross, 1855, vol. 1, p. 307) preferred |
| [...]race horse of its time. To insure the birth of a fast colt a man killed a jackrabbit, cut off its front feet and strung them with sliced "big turnip" on a buckskin cord, which he tied around his mare's neck. "That mare would have a fast colt" ( color and size undetermined). CARE OF GRAVID MARES AND COLTS Although more colts were born in spring than in any other time of |
| [...]Buffalo Back Fat, head chief of the Blood tribe, a keen student of horses, is known to have advised[...]ng. Wait until he is four years old. Let him have a chance to chase mares. He will be a good runner, a good feeder, and an easily managed, fancy horse." Usually a number of horses were castrated the same day. The[...]ialists. Piegan informants mentioned the names of a half dozen men of their tribe who were expert gel[...]wealthy horse owners, Stingy, Many-White- Horses, and Bull Shoe. The specialists were paid for their services. If a man had several horses castrated, he might give the surgeon a horse. If he had one or two horses gelded he made[...]ankets, plain skin or cloth shirts, or arrows. A corral was not deemed necessary for castrating. T[...]One hind leg was drawn between the two front ones and the three legs tied securely with a rawhide rope. The other hind leg was trussed up and held by a second rope. Details of one common method of trus[...]ithout FIGUBE 5.-Method of tying a stallion for castrating, Blackfoot. prayer or ceremony of any kind the surgeon set to work. With a sharp |
| [...][BulL 169 When the horse was untied, and rose to its feet, the castrater told |
| TRAINING OF HORSES AND RIDERS CAPTURE OF WILD HORS[...]ds near the Rockies, especially on the west side, and told of |
| [...][Bull. U59 rubbed on their ropes. ( A description of their methods appears on |
| [...]61 were in their middle or late teens. A few fellows were afraid to break horses, and never did.33 The Blackfoot-owned horses usu- ally[...]:. ' \)t"' -- FIGURE 6.-Breaklng a bronco by "riding it in a pond or stream, Blackfoot.[...](FIG. 6) Sometimes a group of boys went to an owner of a large herd and 11 Among the Hidats[...] |
| [...]horse let go of the rope. The bronc tried to jump and buck, but as soon as bis bead became wet he quiet[...]f riding double into the water was not employed. .A single boy, riding a trained horse, led the bronco. When the water cam[...]of the bronco's legs or higher he rode alongside and changed mounts, allowing the trained animal to sh[...]were played out by the time they 1·eached shore and could be ridden on land without fear of bucking. When a group of boys took part in breaking a high spirited horse in the water some of them roped the bronco before it reached shore and held it so that it could not get to land before it was completely tired. Horses that showed a lot of spirit after one water treatment were take[...]BOGGY GROUND BREAKING This method was a variant of the pond and stream method. It Before a bronco could be broken on dry soil, it had to be[...]ds of doing |
| [...]63 around its neck while another man slipped a war bridle in his mouth, and the rider (a third person) jumped on his back. At other times[...]oted" (both front feet roped with rawhide lasso), and the horse was thrown down. The rider took his place as the horse started to rise and the rope was loosened. Still another method was to "front-foot" the bronco, lasso one hind leg and pull it slightly forward so the horse could not kick while the rider mounted, then l?osen the ropes. A fourth method called for first "front-footing" FIGURE 7.-Breaking a bronco by riding it with a surcingle, Blackfoot. the beast, then wrapping a rope around all four legs and blindfolding |
| [...]The horse was held as for the surcingle method, and a pad saddle was girthed quickly on its back, well forward. The rider mounted behind the saddle and held onto it to steady himself as the horse maneu[...]mpts to throw him. Three Calf claimed he had seen a blind man break a bronco by riding it in this way. My elderly Bla[...]ere of the opinion that the pond or stream method and the boggy-ground method were the oldest ways of b[...]Poor people could not be choosy in selecting a horse for travois serv- ice. Wealthier families p[...]horses for this work. The ideal travois horse was a large, heavily built, strong, 14 Considering the bulk of Plains Indian literature and the Importance many writers have attributed to t[...]rses. Wilson's |
| [...]ma.re over 4 years of age. Some people preferred a former saddle horse 8 or 9 years old to draw the travois. An unbroken horse would not haul a travois. The horse had to be specially trained fo[...]of training employed in buffalo days was to make a simple harness, consisting of a rawhide rope around the horse's neck with a long rawhide line at- tached to it at each side extending backward and tied to a dry buffalo hide on the ground a few feet back of the horse's hind legs. Some people preferred a single rawhide rope tied to the horse's tail and the buffalo hide. The rope was always long enough[...]the hide. While one or more men led the horse by a halter, one to three men or boys rode on the hide over a selected plot of ground relatively smooth and free from stones. The horse might jump and kick at first. It might even break away from the leaders and FIGURE 8.-Breaking a horse to the travois by training it to drag a weighted |
| [...]orseback. They became familiar with the motion of a walking horse, so that by the time they were old[...]g children to maintain their balance on horseback and to use the reins, and the proper horse commands to control the actions[...]o clear the camp of other riders or children when a child took his first lesson. FIGURE 9.-Teaching a child to ride by tying him in a woman's saddle In fact, other children watched and sometimes made fun of the awk- |
| [...]URE 67 pace, and the child was taught to use the reins and control his mount. When camp was moved, the child was tied in the saddle and the horse on which he rode was led by an adult. About the year 1869, a :fatal accident caused the Piegan to change their[...]ed, pulled the lead rope from Woman Shoe's grasp, and ran off. The saddle girth loosened, the saddle slipped, and the child was kicked to death. Thereafter most Pi[...]mel, without the aid of ties. In some families a girl was taught to ride a travois horse. A travois, unencumbered by baggage, was attached to a tra vois horse and the child placed on the horse's back in a woman's saddle. The mother led the horse.85 Informants claimed a Blackfoot child usually learned to ride alone in[...]ge.86 At the age of 6 or 7 most Blackfoot boys and girls were good riders. Some youngsters rode litt[...]heir fond mothers or grandmothers mad~ :for them. A small boy sometimes tied a short raw hide rope to his horse's mane. He employed a handhold on this rope as an aid in climb- ing ont[...]t was employed by many other tribes of the Plains and Plateau. Two Kiowa Informants told me they had le[...]ng on the part of other tribes. In 1805, Larocque and Mackenzie saw that Crow children, too young to ri[...]ie, 1889, p. 345). Gordon (Chardon, 1932. p. 347; and Denlg, 1933, p. 36) also reported this Crow pract[...]s of age are lashed firmly on top of their packs, and are often en- dangered by the horses running away[...]consequence." In 1839, Farnham (1906, p. 329) saw a lfttle Cayuse boy "but three years old" who rode[...]young to be able by their own strength to sit on a horse (were) lashed by their legs to the saddle"[...]at Crow children above the age of 6 could manage a horse. While Gordon (Chardon, 1932, p. 347) wrote[...]"At four or five years of age they wm ride alone and guide the horse." Tixier |
| [...][BulL 1G9 RIDING AND GUIDING MO[...]ost Blackfoot Indians mounted |
| [...]pregnancy advanced. This belt was worn for about a month after the birth of a child. Then it was thrown away, and the mother resumed wearing the narrower, decorate[...]es. To slow down or stop the horse he called "ka" a number of times. Both commands were nonsense soun[...]command given by men to keep their horses nearby and quiet after they dismounted in war or under other[...]ll. Women trained their best mares to stand still and submit to the bridle when their owners called "ka." Elderly men, who had stolen horses from the Cree, Crow, and Flat- head in their youth, said those tribes did[...]foot verbal commands. They said the commands "sh" and "ka" were employed by the three Blackfoot tribes and the Gros Ventres. Today all Blackfoot, whether or not they speak much English, employ the commands "whoa" and "giddap" to stop and start their horses. They began to make use of the[...]who made the first horse, used the commands "sh" and "ka" to control its action. ( See p. 296.) 89 The Piegan employed one other verbal horse command. A man could get his horse to drink by making a rapid clicking noise (tongue against upper teeth and release) in imitation of a drinking horse. If the horse refused to drink, bu[...]he rider knew the water was not good for drinking and that he must find a better watering place. 19 I asked a number of middle-aged Flathead, Wind River Shoshoni, and Cree Indians, who visited the Museum of the Plai[...]commands used |
| [...]wn thighs with their hands. However, that was not a Black- foot practice.[...]The Blackfoot employed no verbal commands to turn a horse to the right or left. The best trained buffalo and war horses, and the racers were so sensitive that they would turn[...]r the other. These horses could be ridden without a bridle, but they nearly always were bridled.40[...]ll trained. They had to be handled through use of a two-reined bridle. The rider slackened both reins[...]rse on the run; pulled both reins in stopping it; and pulled one rein to turn the horse to the side. (Bridle types and their uses are described on pp. 75-77.)[...]SE OF WHIP The Blackfoot Indians made no spurs and relatively few men em- Both men and women among the Blackfoot tribes rode with bent "In 1805,[...]their |
| [...]ND1AN CULTURE 71 and made it easier for him to weave his body from sid[...]t people who learned to ride in early child- hood and who spent' much of their time on horseback would[...]riders. Blackfoot boys learned to ride double at a fast pace, to throw their bodies on one side of a running horse using it as a shiela, and to shoot arrows from the bow rapidly and accurately from horseback. Girls also became exce[...]embered by Piegan informants was that of breaking a bronco while holding a baby in his arms, attributed to Dog Child, one of[...]nformants recalled the accomplishment of Owner-of-a-Sacred- White-Horse, a horse medicine man, who was said to have jumped his horse over a coulee more than 10 feet wide to a void being overtaken by the enemy. From the tim[...]emen. Cer- tainly no tribe or group of tribes had a monopoly on expert riders. Nevertheless, Captain Clark stated "the Comanches and Utes are con- sidered by many Indians the best ho[...]by far the most expert horsemen in the mountains, and course down their steep sides in pursuit of deer and elk at full speed, over places where a white man would dismount and lead his horse" (Ferris, 1940, p. 312). Cap- tain[...]had :for the riding ability of the Comanche.'2 a The Frenchman, Tixier, was impressed by the fact[...]1940, p. 168). Both Captain Clark (1885, p. 319) and James |
| [...][Bull.1G9 It is noteworthy that both Ute and Comanche were richer in horses "were inferior in the management of the[...]e nomadic Crow, who, of course, |
| [...]ackfoot horse culture. The strength, flexibility, and durability of buffalo rawhide made it pre- ferred[...]le rigging straps, stirrup straps, travois ropes, and cords used for wrapping bundles and tying them on pack animals or the travois. Wom[...]rial. Three Calf recalled that his grandmother and mother, both con- sidered clever workers in rawhi[...]one long, continuous strip from the green hide of a buffalo bull. Beginning at the outer edge, she cut a strip about 4 fingers wide all around the hide, including the leg and head projec- tions, working in a concentric spiral, ending at the center of the hide. Then she cut a slit near one end of the strip and drove a lodge peg through this slit into the ground. She stretched the rope as tight as possible and drove another peg into the ground through a similar slit at the other end of the line. Later she pulled up one peg, stretched the strip farther, and pegged it to the ground again. After the raw- hide dried, she took it off her simple stretcher a.nd began softening it by rubbing the inner (meat side) surface of the hide with a rock. Then she doubled the strip lengthwise, hair side out, and bit it with her teeth to hold the crease. She passed one end of the strip through the eye sockets of a buffalo skull, and standing with one foot on the skull to steady it, she used both hands to saw the strip back and forth through these eye holes to rub off the hair and further soften the hide. She knocked off any hair that remained with a rock. Taking her knife again she cut the strip down the center lengthwis[...]e ropes were intended for bridles she allowed for a short distance of rope 4 fingers wide at each end[...]rope, the other for the second rope, to serve as a honda for each. She trimmed each rope very[...] |
| [...]rent methods. Some cut the entire buffalo hide in a strip 2 fingers wide. They could cut one very long rope or two shorter ones this width from a hide. Some did not use a buffalo skull for dehairing, but removed all the hair with a rock. Some insisted on using coyote or badger fat[...]es. Others dragged the ropes on the ground behind a horse for a time to make them s9ft and slick." FIGURE 10.-A simple rawhide hackamore, Blackfoot. HACKAMORES The Blackfoot used a simple hackamore for halter breaking horses, |
| [...]Calf said his mother made ropes from the forehead and foreleg hair of the buffalo. She twisted the hair around a stick, pressed it under her bed for several nights, then retrieved it and braided it in 4 strands. This rope would not get stiff or heavy in water. It made a good bridle, but it was too light for use as a lasso on windy days. Ropes of braided horsehair w[...]ear as long as the braided ones. Some people made a chainstitch rope of a single strand no wider than a man's little finger. After it ·was pounded and rolled between two flat rocks it looked much like a braided rope. When finished it had a diameter of about three-quarters of an inch. Alth[...]ost commonly employed for wrapping medicine pipes and other sacred bundles. The most popular Blackfoo[...]ee- strand braided raw hide. This rope was strong and flexible. In daily use it would last many years. Some makers braided them around a honda ring tied to the trunk of a tree. A four-strand rope was braided of green rawhide 2 fingers wide looped around a peg in the ground. All of the rope except for the[...]t off. The four-strand rope was said to have been a white man's invention, first employed by the Pieg[...]1880's. The Piegan then made them for themselves and sold them to cowboys for roping cattle. So[...] |
| [...]OGY [BulLU9 hunting buffalo and for general riding purposes. It was a two-rein FIGURE 11.-Rlder using a. rawhide war bridle with the end of one re[...] |
| [...]r was thrown or forced to dismount hurriedly from a moving horse he might be injured or killed. Alt[...]ning, three half hitches were employed to control a spirited horse that was difficult to handle. When[...]he reins the rawhide swelled in the horse's mouth and made it uncomfortable for him. For race horses a single half hitch was preferred. It left the horse's mouth freer and made him less likely to become winded. The hond[...]ys. Some men simply pierced the rope near the end and strengthened the loop by wrapping sinew around it. Others used a ring made from a narrow cross seetion of a buffalo horn. Much preferred was a small metal ring obtained from white traders. If a ring was employed, the end of the rope was passed through the ring, doubled back and securely sewn with sinew. The honda served anothe[...]ein over the horse's neck, pull on the long rein, and hold his mount halter fashion. ( See fig. 12.) Wi[...]FIGURE 12.-Use of the war bridle as a halter, Blackfoot. this practice (Wissler, 1910,[...]at the honda or slightly forward of it. |
| [...]ough mentions of bridles employed by other Plains and Plateau tribes are numerous in the literature, ma[...]i.e. "They have no other bit to their bridle than a hair cord which passes into the horse's mouth," may refer to a bridle of the "war bridle" type, but we cannot be[...]ommon use among the tribes of the northern Plains and Plateau in the early years of the 19th century. Lewis and Clark (Coues, 1893, vol. 2, p. 562) observed that the Lemhi Shoshoni used both a six- or seven-strand buffalo-hair rope and a rawhide rope but much preferred the hair one. Ros[...]merely ropes made out of hair of the horse's tail and are tied round the jaw." Maximilian (1833) noted that Assiniboin used a rope "of buffalo hair, which is fastened to the lower jaw as a bridle," and that it was like the Hidatsa bridle (Maximilian,[...]ng the tribes of the Plateau west of the Flathead and Kutenai (Teit, 1900, p. 258; 1909, p. 535; 1930,[...]their adoption of horsehair bridles. Yet Flathead and Kutenai used the rawhide variety, and the latter claimed both horsehair and buffalo hair bridle were recent introductions by[...]1941, p. 108). The Comanche bridle ca. 1850 was "a simple rawhide noose" (Whipple, 1856, p. 28). Kiowa informants said their bridle was a two-reined buffalo rawhide rope looped around the[...]liar with "Spanish bridles" early through capture and trade in Spanish horses. The two Frenchmen of La[...]mer of 1739, were shown "Bridles of which the bit and curb are of one piece with very long branches, th[...]ican style" in 1792 (Nasitir, 1927, p. 58). Lewis and Clark made frequent mention of "Spanish bridles" in use among the Lemhi Shoshoni in 1805, and noted that those Indians preferred them to[...] |
| [...]David Thompson, in 1787, described the return of a Piegan war party from a raid far to the south, on which they had stolen d[...]still bore their Spanish trappings. "The bridles and snafile bits, heavy and coarse as if made by a black- smith with only his hammer. The weight and coarseness of the bits had made the Indians throw[...]hompson, 1916, pp. 371). Nevertheless, the Plains and Plateau tribes, Blackfoot in- cluded, used "Spani[...]1853, Whipple observed that the Comanche "are not a verse to using both saddle and bridle, when- ever in their marauding expeditions[...]In the paintings of George Catlin, Alfred Miller, and Rudolph Kurz the great majority of Indians pictur[...]" Among the Blackfoot the metal-bitted bridle was a luxury item. The simple "war bridle" remained in[...]The long rawhide bridle served the Blackfoot as a lariat as well. Buffalo hair ropes, because of th[...]rses of the enemy when on horse-steal- ing raids, and for roping horses for gelding or breaking to the[...]e by mounted men. Women did not use the lariat as a general rule. They trained their gentle horses to[...]of the long bridle line over their backs or necks and called "ka-ka-ka".45 "Early descriptions of the[...]y northern tribes appear tn the literature. Lewis and Clark (Coues, 1893, vol. 2, pp. 562-~63) observed[...]s Art Gallery Collection, Baltimore, Md., Nos. 80 and 137). The latter depicts a Shoshoni woman lassoing from horseback. (S[...] |
| [...]AGGING LINE George Catlin described the use of a long, dragging line tied around |
| [...]king was women's work among the Blackfoot. It was a - somewhat specialized craft. Some older women wh[...]make saddles.46 Saddle making was not strictly a seasonal occupation, but Blackfoot women generall[...]nconvenience of working wet rawhide in winter. To a limited extent saddles were tailor-made. If the person for whom the saddle was intended was a large, heavy man or woman, the pommel and cantle were spaced a greater distance apart than was usual in frame sa[...]Saddles were highly valued, private property. A good horse was paid for with a fancy pad saddle or a high-horned woman's saddle. When a couple married their parents might give them saddles. How- ever, some poor families owned no saddles. If a young man was am- bitious, wanted to hunt and go to war, his father or another close relative had a saddle made for him. A lazy young man of poor family might never own a saddle. At night, or in the daytime when not i[...]ored inside the owner's lodge behind the beds. If a man had several wives it generally was the duty of the one who slept nearest the door to care for his saddle and other riding gear left in the lodge. The several types of pad and frame saddles used by the Blackfoot in buffalo da[...]n active man's saddle, which was little more than a soft, skin pillow stu:ffed with hair, was known as ''pad saddle." To make a pad saddle two pieces of soft tanned buffalo, dee[...]kin made the longest wearing pad saddle. Although a man might cut the pattern to suit his desire, he turned the skins over to a woman to as- "Women were also the saddlemakers among the Wind River Shoshoni and Kiowa (Shim- kin, 1947 b, p. 294; communication f[...]men were specialists to the extent that they made and traded saddles for lodge covers, dried meat, and other articles. However, Opler (1941, p. 395) fou[...]d older women of that tribe made saddles for boys and girls. 287944-55-7 |
| [...]enter. She then began to sew the edges of the top and bottom skins together with sinew thread, le[...]. The pad saddle illustrated in plate 2, a, shows the basic pattern and decoration. This specimen (U. S. N. M. No. 2656) was collected by Capt. Howard Stansbury in 1849, and labeled "Black Feet Indians of the Rocky Mountains." It measures 16% inches long and 14 inches wide through the center and weighs 1 pound 5 ounces. In 1947, I showed p[...]ronounced it typical of pad saddles used by Blood and Piegan men in their youth. This specimen is decorated with porcupine-quill rosettes and quilled lozenges in each corner. Pendent from the[...]kin thongs. The edge seam joining the bottom and top skins is covered with quiilwork. Informants r[...]he girth to the saddle. The most common girth was a raw- hide strap 2 to 4 fingers wide, doubled over the tab on the left side of the saddle and sewn with sinew, passed under the barrel of the horse and secured to the tab on the right side of the saddle with a rawhide latigo strap. Less common girthing w[...]sus- pending soft skin straps from each tab and tying them under the horse's belly. Informan[...]ps. Some Blackfoot pad saddles were equipped with a second pair of small tabs, located forward o[...]irrup straps were suspended. Many pad saddles had a rectangular, transverse piece of rawhide 4 inches or more in width across the center of the saddle and sewn to the skin base. This piece hung down at[...]al the girth tabs. In some cases holes '8 A Piegan "sattel mlt qulll," collected by Maximllla[...]Audubon to the Upper Missouri in 1843, collected a Blackfoot |
| [...]straps were hung. Fully rigged, with stirrups and girth, the pad saddle weighed less than 3 pounds. It was no heavier than a modern American racing saddle. The experienced Indian trader, W. T. Hamilton, claimed a horse could travel 20 miles farther in a day under a pad than under a frame saddle (Hamilton, 1905, p. 37). The pad sad[...]alo hunting, fighting on horseback, horse racing, and general riding. Its specialized use in breaking broncos has been described (p .. 64). Children, older men, and women rarely rode pad saddles, unless they did not have access to a frame saddle. DISTRIBUTION O[...]The pad saddle is an old type among the Blackfoot and their neighbors. In his tantalizingly brief desc[...]of the pad saddle by the Blackfoot, Assiniboin, and Cree prior to 1809 (Henry and Thompson, 1897, vol. 2, pp. 526--527). The artists Paul Kane (1847) and Frederich Kurz (1852) pictured Blackfoot ponies[...]of use soon ·after they settled on reservations and obtained ample numbers of white men's stock saddles which were sturdier and were equipped with pommels needed for working cattle. Reuben Black Boy (born 1883) recalled having seen but one pad[...]was ridden by younger men jn buffalo days. Lewis and Clark saw young Lemhi Shoshoni men riding pad sa[...]ima, Shuswap, Thompson, Coner d'Alene, Flathead, and Sanpoil (U. S. Comm. Ind. Affairs, 1854, p. 227;[...]lathead seldom used stirrups with the pad saddle. A variant of the pad saddle from the Klamath of Ore[...]pad saddle of the .Assiniboin, Atsina, Blackfoot, and Mandan and their neighbors ' 1n |
| [...]19th century, "On the back of the horse, they put a dressed buffalo skin, on the top of which they place a pad, from which are suspended stirrups, made of wood and covered with the skin of the testicles of the buffalo" (Harmon, 1903, p. 291). Kurz ob- served and illustrated Crow pad saddles in midcentury (Kurz,[...]Later writers described pad saddle use by Hidatsa and Mandan (Mathews, 1877, p. 19; Boller, 1868, p. 225; Wilson, 1924, p. 190), and Cheyenne ( Grinnell, 1923, vol. 1, pp. 206, 208;[...]s National Museum. These collections also contain a pad saddle from the Yanktonai (No. 8415) collected in 1869, and one from the Sisseton (No. 9062) received that sa[...]g," which appeared in the "American Turf Register and Sporting Magazine" for Octo- ber 1829 ( opp. p. 7[...]rge Catlin's tribally unidentified hunting scenes and in his painting of a grizzly bear hunt on horseback. Bodmer's litho- graph of a buffalo hunt on horseback (1833) shows the pad saddle in use. Kurz drew a number of fine sketches of pad-saddled horses see[...]books from the period of his trip up the Missouri and Yellowstone in 1858 ( now in the City Art Museum,[...]of the most detailed of these early illustrations and of museum specimens indicates that tribal differences in construction and decoration of the pad saddle among the Upper Missouri tribes were negligible. I have seen a single pad saddle specimen from a southern Plains tribe. It was collected by Jarvis prior to September 1848, and was labeled "Comanche" in Jarvis' own hand (Acc.[...]g gear in 1714, "their stirrups are suspended by a cord . . . of hair which is fastened to doe skin doubled into four thicknesses and serving them as a saddle" (Swanton, 1942, p. 147). Apache[...] |
| [...]AN CULTURE 85 have ridden with a "skin serving them for a saddle" (Whipple, 1856, p. 117). These early r[...]the more complex frame saddle passed northward at a slower rate. Although the origin of the pad saddl[...]as two cushions of tanned cowhide, four-cornered and stuffed with hay, attached to one another in the[...]ddle were described by aged Blackfoot informants. A very simple saddle was made from a single thickness of hide from a buffalo bull's neck. The hide was placed on the horse, hair side down, and held in place by straps pendent from each side, tied under the horse's belly. A rawhide cord, sewn together at the ends to make a continuous belt was suspended over the top of the[...]etimes made saddles of this type if they had time and oppor- tunity to kill buffalo en route. The saddl[...]second variant of the pad saddle was composed of a pair of horizontal, cottonwood sideboards, like t[...]by flexible skin pads stuffed with grass in front and back in lieu of pommel and cantle. This made a light saddle that could be folded easily and carried under the owner's arm when not in use. It[...]"WOOD SADDLE" The typical woman's saddle was a frame of cottonwood covered |
| [...]t tight. Th~s frame rises about ten inches before and behind; the tops are bent over hori- zontally and spread out, forming a flat piece about six inches in di- ameter." He be[...]saddle type was older than the pad saddle (Henry and Thompson, 1897, vol. 2, p. 527). In 1833, Maximilian ob- served this saddle and noted that both pommel and cantle "frequently has a leather fringe hanging from it" (Maximilian, 1906[...]to be riding pad saddles. ( Pl. 4.) In making a wood saddle a woman split a green cottonwood log and trimmed two pieces to equal size about one-half inch thick, 16 to FIGURE13.-Construction of a woman's "wood saddle," Blackfoot. a, ·wooden 20 inches long, and 3 or 4 inches wide, for the sideboards. Three |
| [...]used for covering the frame was first soaked in a pond or stream for several days until it became green and foul smell- ing. It was then stretched on the ground, hair side up, boiling water was thrown upon it, and the hair was taken off with a rock. The woman then turned the hide over and scraped the flesh from the under- side with a hide scraper. The hair side was not scraped, as t[...]en stretched over the sad- dle frame, fitted, cut and finally sewn with rawhide cord. The stitches were[...]saddle did not warp as the tough raw- hide dried and shrunk. Two methods of preventing warping were described. Three Calf said his grandmother placed a newly sewn saddle over a log about the size of a horse's back and tied it down ~ntil the rawhide dried. Lazy Boy's mother rolled up an old lodge cover tightly and forced it between the side bars of the saddle, then she wrapped a cord around the saddle and cover to bind them securely until the rawhide sad[...]e grass-stuffed soft skin pads which ran parallel and underneath the sideboards and (2) the raw- hide rigging straps fastened to the outside of the sideboards. A fully rigged saddle is shown in figure 14. 'rhe r[...]whide. The ring shown in figure 14 was considered a very strong one. It was made by coiling narrow rawhide cord, wrapping the coils with more ·rawhide cord, and covering the circle thus formed with a tubing of rawhide. Another type of ring was of tw[...]d to be as strong as possible. Lazy Boy said that a.bout the year 1860 (i.e. "when the first steamboa[...]began to obtain metal girth rings :from traders. A metal girth ring was expensive, being worth, at that time, a coyote or fox skin in trade. Only rich people could afford them. But the Black- foot recognized their superior strength. Before the buffalo disap- peared the metal rings declined in value and most Blackfoot 'YOmen procured them £or their sa[...]se metal girth 49 George Catlin's mustratlon of a Crow lodge shows a saddle drying beside the lodge. The saddle ls st[...]er, 1915, fig. 1); shows this same drying |
| [...]lso began to be offered in trade. The cinch was a band of rawhide about 4 inches wide. One end was doubled and tied around the girth ring on the left side of the saddle. The band passed under the horse's belly and was fastened to the rawhide or metal ring suspend[...]hods of fastening were FiouBE 14.-Rigging of a woman's saddle, Blackfoot. a, View, left side; employed. The simplest method was to punch a hole near the loose |
| [...]es always were saddled from the right side.60 A feature of the wood saddle that puzzled some info[...]Cree Medicine claimed the spike served solely as a hook on which to hang the whip. Three Calf though[...]plained the use of the hook for the suspension of a rawhide seat which was attached at the back of the cantle by a wooden pin passed through a loop in the rawhide cover. He said "the hook has[...]is found on saddles where the support is not used and the eye is wanting, though these are said to be d[...]der informants regarding the function of the hook and the absence of any mention of the eye or seat, it[...]kin fringes pendent from the disks of both pommel and cantle, or with long, triangular beaded or quille[...]driving round-headed brass tacks into the pommel and cantle. Blackfoot and Blood informants regarded the wood saddle as a woman's saddle. It was used on the travois, and sometimes on pack horses, as well as on riding ho[...]tics of the "wood saddle" are found in the pommel and cantle. They are of carved wood, and are of the same design, the cantle being the same form as the pommel in reverse. A characteristic of the Blackfoot "wood saddle," th[...]sk-shaped, . horizontal projections of the pommel and cantle, is also found in the "wood saddles'' of o[...]which the rigging ls attached shows that this was a widespread Plains Indian custom. a With this feature ln mind, I have examined the sa[...]the U. S. National Museum known to have been made and collected before the buffalo disappeared. The maj[...]the pommels. Since Indian women generally placed a buffalo robe over their saddles before mounting, the need for a suspended rawhide seat seems questionable. |
| [...]OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull.159 and Plateau tribes. Lewis and Clark's description of Lemhi Shoshoni |
| [...]). Yet I have seen no specimen or illustration of a specimen of a well-documented Mexican frame saddle dating prior[...]of the 19th century. I have found no reference to a Mexican saddle exhibiting the distinc- tive characteristic of the Plains and Plateau Indian woman's saddle (i. e. pommel and cantle of like shape, reversed). Unless and until proof can be found that this general featur[...]le'' was not copied directly from Whites, but was a remodeled adaptation of the white man's wooden fr[...]THE "PRAIRIE CHICK.EN SN ARE SADDLE" A frame saddle with low-arched horn pommel and cantle was known |
| [...][Boll.1G9 FIGURE 15.-Construction of a "prairie chicken snare saddle," Blackfoot. hide flaps to the centers of pommel and cantle. Holes were punched |
| [...]mples of this saddle type from the Crow, Northern and Southern Cheyenne, and Kiowa. Kiowa informants spoke of its use by that tribe both as a man's riding saddle and pack saddle. Pierre Pichette said the Flathead commonly used this type as a pack saddle. Certainly the type differed markedly from the pack saddle with crossed wooden pommel and cantle commonly employed by American fur traders on the Plains and in the Rockies in the period 1837- 51 (see Miller[...]iding. In 1809, Alexander Henry observed that the Black- foot "stirrup attached to the frame by a leather thong, is a piece o:f bent wood, over which is stretched raw buffalo hide, making it firm and strong" (Henry and Thompson, 1897, vol. 2, p. 527). Informants said[...]wide, looped over the side bars of frame saddles and through the centre openings in the stirrups. Gen-[...]t common. USE OF WHITE MEN'S SADDLES AND ACCESSORIES Aged Blackfoot informants readily admitted that "white men's |
| [...]ssed buffalo skin, to keep the horse from getting a sore back" (Henry and Thompson, 1897, vol. 2, p. 527). In my informants' youth the Blackfoot preferred a saddle blanket made from the shoulders of a buffalo where the hair was long, or the breast wh[...]extended 2 or 3 inches beyond the saddle at front and back. Blankets placed under pack saddles were lon[...]he dou- bled blanket sometimes was ridden without a saddle. Some saddle blankets of single thickness were decorated with red-flannel edging all around, or a double edging comprising an outer border of red flannel about 3 fingers wide and an inner border of white cloth 1 finger wide. 113 52 Other Plains and Plateau tribes appear to have followed the practi[...]n saddles whenever they could procure them. Lewis and Clark found some Spanish saddles among the Lemhi[...]t the saddles were purchased for the Indian trade and not merely for the use of field employees of the[...]s obtain saddles from the whites, which they line and ornament with red and blue cloth" (Mnximtuan, 1906, vol. 23, p. 345). T[...]e of the mountain men (Marcy, 1859, pp. 118-120), and which seems to have been pictured in a number of Kurz' drawings of fur traders and a few Indians of the Upper Missouri in 1861-52 (Kur[...]n the collections of the U. S. National Museum is a U. S. Cavalry saddle reported to have been taken[...]had stripped it of Its commercial leather rigging and equipped it with Indian-made stirrup straps, stirrups, and cinch (Cat. No. 59,741). However, many Plains Ind[...]days have parts (rigging straps, stirrup straps, and/or girths) of commercial leather or cloth, in add[...]could afford. If they had not the means to obtain a trade saddle, perhaps they could at least acquire[...]re used by the Teton Dakota, Crow, Cheyenne, Ute, and Shoshoni |
| [...]mount he throws his buffalo robe over the saddle, and rides on it," wrote Alexander Henry of the Black- foot in 1809 (Henry and Thompson, 1897, vol. 2, p. 526). This practice was continued until the end of buffalo days. A buffalo robe was folded and placed over the center of the "prairie chicken sn[...]ing was added to the wood saddle the lofty pommel and cantle did not appear so high. The buffalo robe s[...]tock saddle in Fourth of July parades have thrown a large, trade blanket over the saddle and modestly tucked the pendent ends around their leg[...]In my informants' youth young men liked to drape a mountain- lion skin over their pad saddles as a housing. This showy skin was arranged so that the[...]e housings. He noted that the skin was edged with a broad band of scarlet cloth, and that the Blackfoot valued it at a good horse or seldom less than $60. Bodmer's excellent lithograph of a Blackfoot man on horseback illustrates the use of[...]at that time (Maximilian, 1906, vol. 23, p. 107, and Atlas, pl. 19) ." MARTINGALES AND CRUPPERS Martingales and cruppers had both practical and ostentatious value |
| [...]hose objects were indices of their owner's wealth and status. Bod.mer illustrated a fancy crupper on a Blackfoot man's horse in 1833 (Maximilian, 1906,[...]sentation of the elaborately decorated martingale and crup- per combination I have seen appears in Soh[...]h, "The Bloods Come in Council" (pl. 4) . In size and shape the pieces por- trayed by Bod.mer and Sohon resemble specimens collected in more recent[...]that the Blackfoot woman's ornamental crupper had a fringe of horsehair to the lower ends of which li[...]ringes were also used. The ornamental crupper had a soft skin or trade flannel base. It was decorated[...]skin) in angular painted designs "something like a parfleche design." In more recent times (since ca[...]Much more common in buffalo days were martingales and cruppers of narrow bands of rawhide, used on the riding horses of both sexes and on pack animals. The martingale was a rawhide band about 3 fingers wide, tied to the pr[...]the wood saddle by rawhide cords. The crupper was a single or double strip about the same width throughout most of its length, extended by means of a grass-padded loop, strengthened with soft skin bi[...]. 16). Some women painted the sur- FroURE 16.-a, Simple rawhide martingale; b, simple rawh[...] |
| [...]97 faces of these rawhide martingales and cruppers in geometric designs. Weasel Tail said the first crupper he used as a young man ( ca. 1875) was a white man's harness crupper obtained in trade.55[...]33) observed, "In general every Blackfoot carries a whip as well as weapons in his hand" (Maximilian,[...]ote, "They were unacquainted with spurs, but used a whip consisting of a wood, bone or horn handle, some fifteen inches long, and a double lash of rawhide, from twenty to twenty-four inches long. A loop of skin was attached to the handle of the wh[...]with Wissler's measurements of Blackfoot handles and lashes on specimens collected a half century ago (Wissler, 1910, p. 96). Infor[...]ians at all times. They might serve as weapons in a fight. Men also found their whips useful implemen[...]their wives if they misbehaved. Generally men and women made their own whips. Thoughtful makers per[...]elaborately beaded horse collar made by the Crow and some Plateau tribes· in the late years of the 1[...]g. 12; Telt, 1930, |
| [...]he handle cracked they could turn the whip around and use the hanger end for the lash until they had an opportunity to make a new whip. Women generally made whip handles of serviceberry. A hole was burned through the handle about 2 inches from the lash end, and shallow channels were cut in each side leading from this hole to the lash end of the handle. A nar- row rawhide lash was pushed through the hole and passed through a longitudinal slit in the rawhide at the end of the handle. The two ends were then braided a few times. The remainder of the lashing hung loos[...]t the front end of the handle was burned out with a hot wire. A small hole was then burned at one side of the han[...]m the front. The rawhide lashing was then doubled and the folded end pushed into the front hole far enough so that a wooden or antler plug could be driven into the si[...]GURE 17.-Methods of whip construction, Blackfoot. a, Plug attachment of lash in an elkhorn-handled whip; b, channel attachment of lash in a. wooden- handled whip. These were the most co[...]pes. However, |
| [...]pretty." However, most horse decorations were of a more temporary char- acter, employed on special o[...]re: ( 1) in the "riding big dance" preliminary to a raid for scalps, (2) in battle, (3) on return to camp from a successful horse raid, (4) on visiting other tribes, (5) in sham battles honoring visitors, and (6) in the ritual camp movements immediately prec[...]ere orna- mented with dashes of paint on the face and body and with feathers fastened to the mane and tail and sometimes by a mask made of the head of the buffalo, the horns a[...]Blackfoot, Old Sun, seen by Wilson in 1887, was- a very elaborate headgear for a horse to wear when going into battle. One part of it covered the head like a mask, holes being left for the eyes, and was fitted with a pair of horns; the other part wa.s a sort of banner, to be suspended to the 141 The common Blackfoot types of elkborn and wooden-handled whips were wldely dif- fused in the Plains and Plateau. Maximilian (1833) mentioned both wood and elkhorn- |
| [...]parts were profusely decorated with red, yellow, and blue feathers. We were told that such a headdress as this was, in Indian estimation, worth a couple of horses. [Wilson, 1887, p. 190.] In the[...]eric Remington, the artist, saw "the equipment of a Blackfoot war pony, composed of a mask and bonnet gorgeous with red flannel, brass tack heads, silver plates and feathers ... " (Remington, 1889, p. 340). Wissle[...]riding big dance" by the Piegan.67 I have seen a singlo example of Blackfoot horse headgear. It was a beautiful mask made of a single piece of skin entirely covered with porcupine-quill work, which fitted over the forehead and face of a horse. Holes were cut for the eyes. This specimen[...]both hips of their horses solely for ornament. If a man ran over an enemy while riding in battle he was privileged to paint a hand on both shoulders of his war horse. Just before a returning horse-raiding party entered their home[...]es. Wissler (1913, p. 457, fig. 29) has described and reproduced native drawings of body painting on ho[...]big dance." 68 MANE AND TAIL ORNAMENTS A Blackfoot on the warpath braided the tail of his horse part way, |
| [...]egan tie two feathers in the tail of the horse of a middle-aged man which was to be ridden in the Fou[...]- seum, Cat. No. FBl-95-G.) The old man then said a short prayer that the horse might not fall or thr[...]DECORATION OF WOMEN'S HORSES A wealthy Blackfoot took pride in providing his fav[...]iting tails of their horses with feathers (Coues, 1893[...]). Omaha young |
| THE TRAVOIS AND TRANSPORT GEAR In addition to their riding gea[...]previous section, |
| [...]Wissler (1910, pp. 88-91, fig. 56) has described and figured the Blackfoot dog travois, made with ladd[...]e ladder-type platform was preferred for both dog and horse travois by the Blackfoot. They considered the netted platform a Cree type. The dog and horse travois differed primarily in size, apex construction, and the hitch. Among the Blackfoot the horse travois was made and owned by women. If a man had several wives, all worked together in mak[...]ily made its own. However, the wealthy husband of a woman who was not skilled at this work would get her one in trade. He might give a horse for a travois. Poorer people would pay no more than 4 robes. The travois was made entirely of wood and rawhide. Figure 18 illustrates the construction, and the travois in place on the horse's back. The shafts ( a and a') were two stout poles of lodgepole pine. General[...]ally about 4 to 5 inches in diameter at the base, a little larger than lodgepoles, although the Black[...]fts as "lodgepoles." Usually the shafts were made a little longer than necessary to allow for shorten[...]ttle spring. The tie ( b) generally was made with a wet tendon from the back of the buffalo's neck wrapped with soft-tanned skin rope. The hitch was composed of a flat strip of rawhide ( c) about 4 fingers wide. Each end of this strip was wrapped under and around one of the shafts, doubled back upon itself and sewn with 1·awhide cord. Through transverse slits in the center of this rawhide piece was passed a long rawhide line about 2 fingers wide ( d). One end of this line was carefully and tightly wrapped around each shaft as far down as[...]ly it carried the weight of the pull in transport and also kept the shafts from split- ting. Three Calf[...]remove all the buffalo hair from the rawhide with a rock, if she had made the line in one continuous strip, and if she had cut it an even width throughout its length, she was a skilled craftsman. However, if she left bi[...] |
| [...]~ FIGURE 18.-Construction of a Blackfoot horse travois. a, a', Shafts; b, forward tie; c, rawhide hitch pad; d, rawhide ~ |
| [...]DIAN CULTURE 105 gather she was a lazy or incompetent worker. The Blackfoot referred to the hitch as "my load." In addition to the rawhide pad and pole wrapping line, the hitch included a cinch (e) of narrow rawhide rope tied to one shaft, passed under the horse's belly and tied to the shaft on the other side. This cinch w[...]uncomfortable to the horse. Two rawhide cords (/ and /') were wrapped around the shafts, forward of the hitch and tied to the prongs of the saddle to complete the[...]re notched near each end, fitted over the shafts, and lashed in place with rawhide line. Secondary stru[...]e primary struts, by wet tendons from the neck of a buffalo. These secondary struts in many cases wer[...]cribed above weighed about 50 pounds. Some- times a cage of bent willows was added to give protection[...]orm on hot, sunny days. These willows were arched and tied to the loading platform at the ends and sides. The willow :framework was covered with buffalo robes to keep out the sun. Either a "wood saddle" or ''prairie chicken snare saddle" was used on the travois horse. A martingale and crupper were employed to hold the saddle in place. The former was a plain strip of rawhide 3 fingers wide, tied at ea[...]portion passed under the rear horn of the saddle and tied to the prongs of the :front horn ( fig. 18). TRAVOIS ADJUSTMENT AND REPAIB Generally a travois lasted about a year in service over rough ground. |
| [...]g the base ends of travois shafts to prevent wear and splintering. CARE OF THE TRAV[...]a vois was propped at an angle, base end down, by a single long pole support, as illustrated by the early photograph, plate 5, a. It could then be used as a stage for drying meat, or as a sun shelter covered with buffalo robes or skins,[...]turned with the daily movement of the sun. Beaver and medicine pipe bundle owners generally leaned thei[...]them during the day. The travois served women as a step- ladder in the erection and taking down of the lodge. A woman leaned it against the front of the lodge and climbed upon the loading plat- form to place or e[...]e Government began to issue wagons to the Montana Black- foot prior to 1893. In that year Agent Steele reported the issuance of 35 wagons, and added that about 300 were then in use by the In-[...]ue wagons were narrow gage, with thin spokes like a buggy and of rather weak construction. They would not stand[...]ese wagons, combined with poor roads, often muddy and deeply rutted, encouraged the retention of the tr[...]Indians brought travois to Browning to haul food and supplies from the traders' stores until 1902 or 1[...]display in the Fourth of July parade at Browning and have occasionally been employed for hauling wood in rough country where wagons could not be used. Reuben and Cecile |
| [...]NDIAN CULTURE 107 Black Boy made a horse travois for the permanent collections of th[...]THE LODGEPOLE HITCH A specialized gear, which I shall term the lodgepol[...]le hitch. mule, the number varying with the size and weight of the poles em- |
| [...]the holes. Poor people, who owned :few horses and small lodges with short, light poles, sometimes t[...]ding platform, to the bundles of poles dragged by a horse. These cross- pieces were placed in the app[...]ing plat- form of the true travois. Buffalo robes and bedding generally were transported on this makeshift travois, but children, the aged, and mis- cellaneous camp equipment also could be carried upon it. Too heavy a load, however, would spring the poles and render them useless as foundation supports for lodge covers. DISTRIBUTION OF THE TR.A VOIS AND METHODS OF POLE TRANSPORT It is well to consi[...]g. 3, p. 66) reproduces an old |
| [...]109 on cross bars so as to form a bed for each of the sufferers" (Ferris, 1940, p. 334). In 1854, W. B. Parker (1856, p. 193) saw a Southern Comanche chief, crippled with rheumatism and disease of the spine, transported in the same manner. The Wind River Shoshoni and Crow used the travois for transporting wounded (Lowie, 1922 a, p. 220, 1924 b, p. 249). · A photograph, believed to have been taken be- fore[...]the Crow method of transporting an injured man on a travios (pl. 5, b). This specialized use of the t[...]household goods in moving camp seems to have had a more Umited distribution. Because of lack of deta[...]eriods (ibid., p. 354). Turney-High (1937, p.105) and my Flathead informant, Pierre Pichette, claimed t[...]ch are strapped to the saddles of their ponies in a manner peculiar to themselves" may refer to the i[...]nt has been vigorously denied by both Lowie (1922 a, p. 220) and Curtis (1909, vol. 4, p. 21) . That they did use a makeshift "drag" of lodgepoles ~'on which they pl[...]ruction. Although the shafts crossed at the front and were tied together with thongs and sinew, and the loading platform had primary struts of transv[...]thongs took the place of secondary wooden struts. A rawhide line around the horse's belly tied to the shafts served as a hitch (Mandel- |
| [...]travois like their dog travois, which he said had a netted hoop loading platform. Haupt's drawing of a Dakota horse travois (reproduced in Win- chell, 1911, p. 434) shows the shafts crossed and tied, a loading plat- form of five primary struts only, while the hitch is made simply by wrapping and tying the shafts to the base of the saddle pommel[...]ping such as was typical of the Blackfoot hitch. A photograph of a Teton travois in the Bureau of American Ethnology (neg. No. 3, 711-K) portrays long shafts and a platform of the netted hoop type; similar to that[...]dog travois illustrated in Wissler (1910, fig. 56a). Another Teton photograph in the same collection[...]shows still another variant. The shafts are short and do not cross. The platform is like the one in Hau[...]ta horse travois which combines short shafts with a netted hoop-type platform. These examples show a consider- able range of variation in the details[...]) Probably the best comparative description of a horse travois is that of the Hidatsa by Wilson (1924, pp. 275-276, figs. 98-101). This is a much simpler contrivance than that of the Blackfo[...]ly 8 inches forward of the hitch, which is simply a rawhide line wrapped around one shaft, carried over the animal's back and tied to the other shaft. The platform is an oval[...]g their lodge poles together, one on each side of a horse with cross pieces" (Evans, 1927, p. 210). A photograph entitled "Arapaho Ra- tion Issue 1870" (Bureau of American Ethnology neg.No. 49-b) shows a number of true travois with platforms of the netted hoop type. The excellent old photograph of a Cheyenne true travois reproduced on plate 6, a, shows short shafts and netted hoop platform. The hitch is hidden by the[...]or carrying camp equipment. The shafts were short and did not cross in front. They -were made of[...] |
| [...]imary struts only laid transversely of the shafts and parallel to one another. The hitch was two rawhide cords. Each was passed through a hole burned in a shaft, similar to the holes burned in Blackfoot lodgepoles, and tied to the saddle pommel. Positive informatio[...]d throughout the area. Variants in shafts, hitch, and loading platform occurred. Even among related Dak[...]nt. The simplest construction involved the use of a few primary struts for a loading platform and a hitch achieved by tying the shafts to the prongs of .the saddle pommel. The Black- foot type gives the impression of being the strongest and most care- fully planned travois. Its hitch and loading platform were relatively complex. Its use apparently was shared by the Sarsi. Curiously enough a photograph of a Gros Ventres horse travois, taken by Dan Dutro on[...]y) resembles the Hidatsa type in its short shafts and netted hoop plat- form, although its pole wrappin[...]e travois the Blackfoot type appears to have been a specialized one, presumably of later development. It is possible that the Blackfoot themselves may have used a simpler form of travois prior to the middle of th[...]ms to have been only slightly more specialized as a transport vehicle than the improvised travois com[...]d between bundles of lodgepoles on which children and/or camp equipment were carried. Catlin's painting of a Teton Dakota camp on the move, executed in 1832,[...]. No. 386460). It also appears in his painting of a Comanche camp on the move, done 2 years later (U[...]bert apparently saw the im- provised travois with a "basket" fixed between the lodgepoles in use by a[...]ved Southern Cheyenne moving camp near Fort Bent. A "tray shaped basket or hoop, lat- ticed with hide[...]dles of trailing lodgepoles for carrying children and household articles ( Garrard, 1927, p. 52). Altho[...]the travois, his description of their vehicle as a means of moving "tipis bundled on their own poles[...]e use of the improvised travois among the Hidatsa and pointed out the danger of |
| [...]indicate that the improvised travois probably had a wider distribution than the true travois, and that a number of tribes used both, just as the Blackfoo[...]orm of either the true or improvised travois had a wide distribution. It is shown in the illustrations of Cheyenne and Dakota travois pre- viously mentioned. It was me[...]ided into equal bundles suspended at the sides of a horse or mule, their butt ends dragging on the gr[...]was similar to that of the Blackfoot. Both Oglala and Kiowa informants stated that their tribes burned[...]were strung with rawhide lines. The Hidatsa used a red-hot iron about the size of a lead pencil to burn the holes about 2 feet from t[...]THE PARFLECHE The parfleche was much used as a container for carrying possessions |
| [...]-' l◄'rnunE 20.-The Blackfoot parfleche. a, Form and construction; b, b', old Blackfoot method[...] |
| [...][Bull. um pairs, identical in size and decoration. Wissler (1910, p. 81) found |
| [...]N BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 115 and carried on the platform of the dog travois. He said his mother still owned a Gros Ventres bag when he was a boy. She used it for transporting pemmican on the travois. Wilson obtained a description and a native drawing of a large buffaloskin bag of similar shape, although the top was folded over and tied rather than closed by a drawstring. In the youth of his informants the Hidatsa used this bag for transporting ripe corn on the ear and dried squash. It. was also carried on the dog travois platform as a general packing case (Wilson, 1924, fig. 95, pp.[...]fleche, used both rawhide bags ·with flap covers and soft skin drawstring bags, "averaging per- haps two feet wide and one foot deep" (Mandelbaum, 1940, p. 213). These two Cree types are suggestive of the early Blackfoot and the Hidatsa ones previously described. Possibly the drawstring one is a survival among the conservative Plains Cree from[...]the west of the Blackfoot, the Flathead claimed "a sack to be folµed and laced was in use before the advent of the horse for carrying purposes" and that the parfleche "came into vogue with the intr[...]of the horse" (Teit, 1930, p. 354). Both Okanagon and Coeur d'Alene had traditions to the effect that t[...]ibid., pp. 50, 221). The Wind River Shoshoni had a similar tradition (Lowie, 1924 b, p. 309). Th[...]absence of the parfleche in the northern Plains and Plateau in pre-horse times is bolster·ed by the lack of any detailed descriptions of this very useful and handy container in 18th-century accounts of the Plains Indians. Frederic H. Douglas has kindly shown· me a colored drawing of an original parfleche in the[...]epresented in those collections. Its construction and painted decoration is like that of later parflec[...]but secured them in trade. Spier (1925', p. 96) and Douglas (1942, pp. 107-108) have listed i[...] |
| [...]claimed it would have been an arduous task to cut and trim large areas of tough rawhide with the stone[...]cts with Europeans. It is probable that the metal knife stimulated the in- vention of the parfleche and/or encouraged its wide use. · The maker of the e[...]doubtedly was ac- quainted with both metal knives and horses. In Maximilian's time ( 1833) the Blackfoot were making and using "many kinds of painted parchment bags, some of them in semicircular form, with leather strings and fringes" (Maximilian, 1906, vol. 23, p. 104, and illus. p. 105). By that time the Blackfoot had been using metal knives for more than a half century. THE DOUBLE-BAG Wissler collected and briefly described a buffalohide container com- • Wilson's aged Hfda[...] |
| [...]117 suspect that it had a wider distribution in the northern Plains. I desc[...]been adapted from saddlebags employed by trappers and traders in the Indian Country.[...]h )j~oURE 21.-a, Buffalo calfskin berry bag; b, berry bag transported in the pocket of a double-bag on saddle of a packhorse, Blackfoot. PRINCIPAL ITEMS OF LUGGAGE[...]enerally these were placed on the horse |
| [...]ide. This piece was doubled on the long dimension and the edges sewn together. Alon- gitudinal slit, cu[...]FIGURE 22.-Double saddlebag thrown over a woman's saddle for tr8:[...]nt manufacture have these panels in beadwork over a background of red or black flannel. Double saddlebags were transported in[...]distance at each side (fig. 22). The rider threw a buffalo robe over the bag then mounted on top of it. Thus the distance between the pommel and cantle of the woman's saddle determined the prope[...]hrough the slit opening at the center of the bag. A little over half its width then rested on[...] |
| [...]le. The Blackfoot considered the double saddlebag a woman's piece of luggage. Men did not carry these[...]women's horses. The rectangular bag was made from a single piece of rawhide, folded at the bottom and laced together along the sides. It was closed by a flap at the top. The side exposed to view ( when the case was hung over a saddle horn, by a skin cord passed through two holes burned in the back a short distance below the top flap) generally was[...]ges pendent from the side seams. The construction and decoration of this type of bag is described and illustrated by Wissler (1910,pp.76-78) andEwers ([...]ces of rawhide. The largest piece was rolled into a tube and the overlapping long edges laced together. The ot[...]e seam. ( See illus. in Wissler, 1910, pp. 78-79, and Ewers, 1945 b, p. 18). This tubular case was susp[...]n traveling. Two holes were burned in the tube at a point opposite the seam, and a skin cord was passed through them and over the saddle horn. Painted, geometric designs[...]common than the rectangu- lar form 66 ( fig. 23, a) . If the rawhide parfleche was a post-metal-knife development among the Plains tribes, as has been[...]. 111, 354) recorded its use by the Couer d'Alene and Flathead. The double saddlebags of the .Apache ar[...]res, Kutenai, Yakima, Nez Perce, Arapaho, Dakota, and Thompson. Teit hos described and illustrated them from the Flathead and Coeur d'Alene (Teit, 1930, pp. 111, 354). • Similar cases were employed by other Plains and Plateau tribes. Wissler (1~10, p. 79) reports the[...]parated tribes as the Nez Perre, Ute, Assiniboln, and Comanche. .Ktowa informants told me members of th[...]rly used the cylindrical rawhide case for storing and transporting feather bonnets exclusively. |
| [...].1:J9 FrouRE 23.-Rawhide cases transported on a woman's horse. a, Cylindrical case |
| [...]s other than the possession of horses conditioned Black- foot nomadism in historic times. These factors were geographic, climatic, and bionomic as well as cultural. Before considering[...]es Government in 1855, the territory of the three Black- foot tribes extended :from the North Saskatchewa[...]this area lie the headwaters of both the Missouri and the Saskatchewan Rivers, comprising numerous swif[...]s, Little Rocky Mountains, Little Belt Mountains, and Big Belt Mountains) served as landmarks to the Indians and fur- nished timber, found elsewhere only in the stream valleys and on the slopes of the Rockies. Near the mountains[...]rich grasses afford excellent grazing for buffalo and horses. Wild life abounded in this region. Gre[...]Plains. Antelope, deer, elk, bighorn, bear (both black and grizzly), beaver, otter, mink, muskrat, wolves, foxes, badgers, weasels, and rab- bits offered a variety of animal foods and materials for use in Indian handicrafts. Recently[...]birds. Although fish were abundant in the streams and lakes, they were rarely eaten by the Blackfoot. E[...]he spring roots of the prairie turnip, bitterroot and camass, and the :fall berries of the chokecherry, buf-[...] |
| [...]AND THEIR NEIGHBORS ~~ ~$~[...]URE 24.- Map showing the Blackfoot and their neighbors in 1850. faloberry (bullberry), and sarvisberry. Of these plants only bitter- |
| [...]ills in present Sas- katchewan toward the Rockies and the valley of the Missouri. Pres- sure from Cree and Assiniboin moving westward in their rear and the attraction of fine buffalo hunting grounds to[...]were important factors influencing this late 18th and early 19th cen- tury movement. However, it should[...]in the direction of their best sources of horses and away from the white men's trading posts on the Sa[...]the Missouri near the mouth of the Marias in 1831 and subsequent years tended to en- courage most of the Piegan and many Blood Indian bands to range sout_h of the in[...]hat river before then. In the mid-19th century and earlier the friendly Sarsi and Gros Ventres occupied part of the country claimed by the Blackfoot in the far north and east, while hostile tribes disputed their right to hunt in portions of their claim. The Cree and Assiniboin impinged on Black- foot territory in the northeast, the Crow in the[...]s claimed by the Blackfoot east of the mountains, and especially south of the Missouri. The rights of t[...]ackfoot claim, south of the Musselshell River, as a common hunting ground for the western tribes and the Blackfoot, in which none of the tribes might[...]season of the winter camp, (2) the spring hunting and root-gathering season, (3) the sum- |
| [...]OLOGY (Bull.159 mer hunting and Sun-Dance season, and ( 4) the fall hunting and A century ago ( 1853) Gov. Isaac I. Stevens wrote o[...]everal bands of this tribe to locate in sheltered |
| [...]ources were too great to allow all the members of a tribe to winter in one large village. The band[...]in different years. The winter count of Elk Horn, a Piegan (reproduced in Wissler, 1911, pp. 45-46),[...]spent on the Marias. The valley of the Marias was a favorite winter camp ground for Piegan bands :fro[...]e convenience of the Blackfoot on both the Marias and Milk Rivers. They were occupied annually until 18[...]). In 1853 Governor Stevens mentioned these posts and added, "the winter homes of the Blackfeet, some six to seven thousand strong are on the Teton, the Marias, and Milk Rivers (Stevens, 1860, vol. 12, p. 239). The[...]n, 1900, p. 58). In the late seventies James Kipp and James Willard Schultz operated Fort Conrad near t[...]y bridge over the Marias. At that time some Blood and even North Blackfoot bands, as well as the Piegan[...]pp. 60, 105). Schultz wrote that "the Marias was a favorite stream with the Blackfeet for their winter encampments, for its wide and by no means deep valley was well timbered. In the[...]rth blizzards, there was an ample supply of fuel, and there was fine grass for the horses. There were also great numbers of deer, elk, and mountain sheep in the valley and its breaks" ( ibid., p. 37). My elderly Piegan informants recalled the Marias valley as a favorite winter location. They said the several b[...]les down the Marias from the junction of Cut Bank and Two Medicine Creeks, is portrayed in plate 7. The Willow Rounds locality was nearly ideal as a winter campsite. There the valley floor is broad, a:ffording several square miles of grassland for ho[...]ds, while Abbott Coulee to the southwest affords a gentle ascent to the grassy plains beyond.[...] |
| [...]rter of the 19th century. It also was the site of a winter trading post operated by Baker and Bro. of Fort Benton, licensed Indian traders in 1[...]ier times ( ca. 1833) the Piegan wintered on Sun and Teton Rivers and sometimes as far south as the Three Forks of the[...]ndians wintered on the Marias or on Belly River, and the North Blackfoot on Belly and Bow Rivers (Bradley, MSS., Mont. Hist. Soc., book A, p. 179). There is no indication that the Piegan[...]ave their winter camps. Beaver bundle owners kept a sort of calendar on notched sticks, one notch rep[...]ghted in the spring. When the river ice broke up, and before leav- ing winter camp, the beaver ceremony[...]ves began to develop hair he knew spring was near and calves would soon drop. Breakup of the winter cam[...]upon the severity of the winter. Thus the nomadic Black- foot spent at least 5 months of the year in relatively fixed residences. SPRING HUNTING AND COLLEVI'ING SEASON March was remembered by elderly Indians as a difficult month on the South Fork of Cheyenne River, S.[...]winter camps because of its natural advantages: "A bottom |
| [...]CULTURE 127 horses, thinned · and weakened by winter, fattened on the spring grasses. Toward the end of spring women and children dug prairie turnips and sometimes bitterroot and camass with fire-hardened, birch digging sticks. These roots provided a welcome change in diet after a winter of eating meat and dried foods. This spring season, during which the separate bands hunted and collected plant foods, may be regarded as a transitional period of relatively short duration between the breakup of the long winter camps and the formation of the tribal summer encampment. Ge[...]amps shortly before the birth of calves in spring and the time when buffalo bulls became prime in June. SUMMER HUNTING AND SUN DANOE SEASON Informants claimed the long[...]the tribal summer hunt. |
| [...]t. The n·eighborhood of the Sweetgrass Hills was a :favorite site for the Piegan Sun Dance in late b[...]decorated their horses with their best trappings, and the men rode with their weapons and shields exposed to view. The medicine woman who had vowed the ceremony rode a travois horse. She was careful not to hang anythi[...]er. The sacred tongues were packed on her travois and on top of them was placed a fringed, raw- hide bag holding her ceremonial paints, badger skins, and pipe. The t.hree sticks used later to support her ceremonial bonnet ( a part of the bundle) were tied alongside one of th[...]at the end of which the camp circle was dissolved and the bands separated for the fall hunt. This su[...]of the tribe camped in one village in the form of a circle of lodges. ( See pl. 8.) At other seasons[...]angement of lodges. FALL HUNTING AND COLLECTING SEASON In the fall, buffalo cows,[...]season, when |
| [...]ter camp, the Blackfoot continued to hunt buffalo and prepare meat for eating in the severe winter months during the months of November and Decem- ber or until heavy snows and bitter cold restricted this activity. In the year[...]gests that the Blackfoot were less "nomadic" than a literal interpretation of that word would imply. Blackfoot nomadism varied with the seasons and was conditioned by the food supply, the weather, and the Sun Dance ceremony. Some five months were spent in winter quarters. Nearly a month was required for assembly of the tribal enc[...]ckfoot were most "nomadic" in spring, mid-summer, and fall. 68 MOVEMENT OF A BLACKFOOT BAND CAMP PREPARATION FOR MOVEMENT Preparations for movement of a Blackfoot band camp were similar |
| [...]the next morning.69 In planning the movement of a Blackfoot band, the band chief con- sulted other[...]n individuals in the band to act as scouts, side, and rear guards. Among the Blackfoot the medicine p[...]le at some distance from it if the move was to be a long one; he left it standing on its tripod near the lodge if the move was to be a short one. He took pains to point his pipe in the[...]. Before he set out, the medicine pipe owner made a smudge and prayed :for the safe journey of the camp, that no accident would befall any member and that no enemies would be encountered en route. Th[...]he morning camp was to move. Ex~ept for the lodge and bedding most items were packed ready for transpor[...]ng of lodges nnd furnishings was women's work. In a household of several wives the husband's favorite[...]sing the work of the other wives, the aged women, and grown girls of the 811 Larocque's description[...]f consulted the other chiefs before deciding upon a move, then Issued the order. That chief's lodge w[...]camp the night before the Osage bunting camp made a move during the summer of 1940. As early as 1776,[...]ugh his announcer the night before camp movement, and that this chief led the procession when camp was under way. 70 Perhaps the Mandan and Hidatsa had a very similar custom. Alexander Henry (1897, vol. 1, p. 369), who accompanied these tribes on a visit to the Cheyenne in 1806, observed that Le B[...], p. 277) noted that Poor Wolf "carried the pipe" and led the line of march when the Mandan-Hidatsa mov[...]p. 3-6) credited the Crow with being able to pack and start on the march lu "less than 20 minutes." |
| lllwers] '1'HE HORSE IN BLACK.FOO'!' INDIAN CULTURE[...]belongings. _Eyery article had its assigned place and means of transportation.[...]E LODGE The lodge was the bulkiest, heaviest, and most complex possession |
| [...]1 t J1"'IoUBE 25.-A common method of folding a lodge cover for transportation by pack-[...]ned during cooler weather. Near Fort McKenzie, |
| [...]AN CULTURE 133 and continued to fold the skin on this axis until the[...]h of the saddle, then folded or rolled up the top and bottom ends. Figure 19 shows the lodge cover in p[...]prevented shifting of the load.73 The cover of a 12- to 14-hide lodge weighed from about 90 to 105[...]he Blackfoot transported the cover on the back of a packhorse. In winter they preferred to place the[...]being taken down, were divided into equal bundles and tied to the sides of packhorses, through holes bu[...]of the poles, by the hitch described on page 107 and illustrated in figure 19. The average-size lodge[...]ach horse could transport to 5 or 6 each side, or a total of 10 or 12. Consequently it required two h[...]he average lodge. 711 Larger lodges, requiring a greater number of longer and heavier poles, needed more than two horses to move them. Schultz (1919 a, p. 50) claimed one horse could transport only 2[...]x.) In many families certain horses were selected and reserved for the sole service of hauling the lodg[...]the cover employed by Wilson's Hidatsa informant and illustrated by him (Wilson, 1924, figs. 106, 107)[...]al rather than tribal preference. 74 My Oglala and Kiowa informants also stated that those tribes pr[...]ig. 35) indicated that was also Hidatsa practice, and Grinnell (1889, p. 279) stated that it was the Pa[...]eir conic lodge covers of skin "neatly folded up, and suspended to the pack-saddle" (James, 1823, vol.[...]d the Blackfoot. Grinnell (1923, vol. 1-, p. 226) and Wilson ( 1924, pp. 193, 272) described Cheyenne and Hldatsa use of two horses to transport the[...] |
| [...]for their small lodges, unless they could borrow a horse or horses to help them move camp. Sometimes[...]around the lower edge of the cover to anchor it, and wooden pins used to fasten the cover together at the front. The Black- foot generally carried these accessories in two[...]) tied together over the saddle, one each side of a pole-dragging horse or the cover-carrying animal. Draught screens or lodge linings of skins were folded and packed on top of the lodge cover on the packhorse[...]____ ______ __ ____ ____ 60 Pegs and pins _____ __ ______ ____ _______ _____ ____ ____[...]It required three horses to transport the lodge and its accessories when camp was moved. If a family possessed a painted lodge, its accompanying sacred bundle generally was carried in a rectangular fringed rawhide case over the rear ho[...]EHOLD FURNITURE Buffalo robes used for bedding and decorated willow bacla,.'ests were "Boller (ca. 1860) observed a camp of Canoe Asslnlboln: "Owing to the scarcity of |
| [...]135 FIGURE 26.-a, Placement of a willow backrest on the bottom of a tra vols load the load making it "look pretty" ( fig. 26, a). 11 All of the items placed Dry meat, tallow, and pemmican in quantity were transported |
| [...]OLOGY [Bull.159 and fig. 21.) Tobacco ( usually a mixture of dried bearberry leaves Dress clothing and extra articles of ordinary wear not worn on the[...]rried either in the double saddlebag (see p. 117 SOCIETY AND MEDICINE PARAPHERNALIA All society and sacred paraphernalia among the Blackfoot were skin-dressing tools, wooden bowls, and horn spoons in "square" rawhide bags slung[...] |
| [...]137 over the saddle horn of a wife's saddle. Drums usually were wrapped in the[...]travois to prevent damage to them. War bonnets and small medicine bundles were carried in cylindrical rawhide cases (p. 119 and fig. 23, a), over the rear horn of a woman's saddle by the wife of the owner. 82 Larger bundles, such as the natoas and beaver bundles were carried on the travois, led b[...]owever, in my informant's youth it was carried on a separate horse led by the pipe owner, or even on[...]ed by any baggage, carried their fighting weapons and ammum- tion, ready to meet any unexpected attack.[...]CIDLDREN The elaborately decorated cradle was a luxury item among the |
| [...]l.1~9 The travois also served the Blackfoot as a vehicle for transporting WEIGHTS AND LOADS In 1908, H. W. Daly, chief packer, Office of the Quartermaster-- We are now in a position to estimate the riumber of horses requir[...]mily would number 2 grown males, 3 grown females, |
| [...]nimals in case of their death, injury, or theft. A well-balanced herd would require 4 or 5 additiona[...]place future losses, in order to give the family a sense of security.87 When we compare the numb[...]in the mid- 19th century (see p . .21), we find a noticeable discrepancy. In the year 1860 the pers[...]erage :family had to cut corners to get by with·a smaller number o:f horses. 'l'his was done in a number o:f ways: ( 1) by overloading a smaller num- ber of pack animals (2) by employing a smaller number of common riding horses (3) by making use of a single buffalo horse, a~d/or (4) utilizing dog travois to carry meat and light equipment. By employ- ing a smaller number of transport and buffalo hunting horses the :family restricted its possibilities of obtaining meat and of transport- ing food surpluses, something of s[...]ent of winter camp. Informants indicated that a young married couple with a baby or no children could make out with as few as 5 horses: 1 common saddle horse and 1 buffalo runner for the husband, 2 pack horses to transport the cover, poles, and accessories of a small lodge, and 1 travois horse for the wife.88 However, a large family, comprising more than 5 adults and grow- ing children "should have had" 15 to 20 or[...]at in the average family all horses ex- cept bufl'a_lo runners were pressed into service when camp wa[...]household animals used for transporting the lodge and pack and travois horses were regularly assigned to those d[...]s moved. MOVING CAMP ON THE PART OF A WEALTHY FAMILY A wealthy family of average size owning 30, 50, or[...]ng of the household equipment. She generally rode a |
| [...]Her horse was richly decorated with fine crupper and martingale. If the family possessed a large or important medicine bundle she transported it on a travois, leading the travois horse behind her. Each of the other wives had a travois which she rode or led behind her from a saddle horse. Packhorses were available to tmnsport large quantities of meat and plant foods when moving to winter camp. Horses as[...]family group. Informants said the loose horses of a wealthy man sometimes were "spread out as wide as[...]e owner had no boys of his own or had not adopted a young man to help him with his horses he would gi[...]MOVING C,HIP ON THE PART m~ A POOR FAMILY Weasel Tail cited the case of a poor Blood Indian who owned but 8Q The Nez Perce (Haines, 1939, p. 288) and Southern Cheyenne (Garrard, 1007, p. ~3) |
| [...]orse owners among the Piegan, such as Many Horses and Stingy, were well remembered for their generosity in loaning horses to the poor. According to a family tradi- tion, Buffalo Back Fat, head chief[...]ously handicapped. Short Face said that the chief and other wealthy men of his band then went ahead with some other families of the camp and, about noon, sent their horses back to transport[...]ogs were exten- sively used :for transport duties and many people walked. 01 COMP[...]horses among other tribes in moving camp. Lewis and Clark wrote of the Lemhi Shoshoni in 1805 : . .[...]only two horses, be would ride the best of them, and leave the other for his wives and children and their baggage; if he bad too many wives or too mu[...]may own. In one instance, in the year 1832, I saw a mare loaded with, first-two large bales containin[...]securely to the saddle by strong cords; secondly-a lodge, with the necessary poles dragging on each side of her ; thirdly-a kettle, axe, and sundry other articles of domestic economy; fourthly-a colt too young to bear the fatigue of travelling was lashed to one side; and finally-this enormous load was sur- mounted by a woman with three young children; making in all su[...]t large loads, in like manner surmounted by women and children, colts and puppies, are often observed on their moving jaunt[...]of horses to the poor for use In -moving camp was a common practice among wealthy Kiowa. n In 1819 the Long expedition reported a similar procedure among the Omaha, a tribe relatively .poor In horses. "They ar[...] |
| [...][Bull.159 Boller ( 1868, pp. 124-125) was· a member of a camp of Hidatsa 92 |
| [...]in two parallel lines on the plains." The "chiefs and braves rode in front, flank and rear, ever ready :for the chase or defense agains[...]use of advance guards scouting for signs of game and the enemy, and of side and rear pickets was common in the movement of tribal and band camps among Blackfoot tribes in their youth.[...]raveled as far as 3 miles ahead of the main body, and flanking and rear guards sometimes were nearly as far distant from it. Scouts ascended hills and rising ground the better to look out for game and foes. The main body was led by the medicine pipe man and the chief or chiefs with their families. Other ca[...](including travois, pack animals, riding animals, and loose horses). Sometimes the main body moved in s[...]signed to guard duty traveled with their families and assi_sted the women in retrieving any baggage that might become untied and fall to the ground. Not in- frequently lodgepoles wore through their suspension holes and had to be retied. However, Weasel Tail stated[...]egan chief, told McClintock (1910, p. 473 ff.) of a case when the camp was protected by front and rear guards only while passing through hilly country. The Crow Indians attacked on the unprotected flanks and killed or captured many Piegan. On another occasion the Crow suffered a serious defeat we return" (Margry, 1876-86, vol.[...]er it." Omaha women (In 1819) loaded their horses and dogs, |
| [...][Bull. 159 at the hands 0£ the Blackfoot as a result of neglect of adequate scout- "' The guarding of a moving camp by advance scouts, side pickets, and rear guard seems |
| [...]lodge covers were rolled up at the sides, baggage and children placed in them, and the women swam along behind pushing the covers wh[...]pes. The lodgepoles were placed under the travois and bound to them to form crude rafts on which backrests and other luggage were transported over the water. Horses towed these improvised rafts. Crossing a wide river, such as the Missouri, provided the Indians a noisy time. Horses whinnied, dogs yelped, people[...]enerally stopped for the day to dry their clothes and gear and to feast. In the absence of any contemporary draw[...]'s original sketch of Flathead Indians traversing a stream as plate 10. The Flathead method was essen[...]pt in the employment of horses in "swimming broad and deep rivers," in 1755. Yet Weasel Tail stated that in his youth a man was careful to choose a horse known to behave well in water, if he attempted to ride across a stream. Otherwise he preferred to swim or to let[...]SE OF RAIN If the moving camp was overtaken by a hard, sudden rainstorm en Mandan[...]imming horses across the Missouri. "They fastened a llne to the |
| [...][Boll. 1~9 day's camp, and availability of wood, water, and wild grass. When |
| [...]ain traversed (whether hilly or relatively level, and the number and sizes of watercourses to be crossed), availabilit[...]for hurry, all influenced the speed of move- ment and distance covered. Informants said that on some da[...]more than 5 miles, stopping for the day at noon. A normal day's march was about 10 to 15 miles. Yet[...]at, they made ·as far as the Sweetgrass Hills in a day, a distance of at least 18 miles. Mrs. Cree Medicine reealled that her band, in a hurry to obtain rations at Old Agency, traveled f[...]of Choteau to Old Agency on Badger Creek in 1 day and about 6 hours. The country traversed is hilly and crossed by several small streams. Yet they made this journey of nearly 50 miles in less than 2 days. If a band believed there was danger from the enemy they traveled rapidly, continued after dark, and made 25 or more miles a day. 99 91 Although Turney-High (1937, p. 116) reported that the Flathead traveled 30 mnes a day, average estimates for the Crow (Denlg, 1953, p. 36), Nez Perce (Haines, 1939, p. 68), |
| [...]fall of 1754 (Hendry, 1907, pp. 329-337). Lewis and Clark, the first American explorers of the Blackf[...]he Missouri to the Gates of the Mountains in June and July, 1805 (Coues, 1893, vol. 2, pp. 364-418). Ca[...]mense quantities of buffalo that the whole seemed a single herd" on his quick trip northward to the vicinity of the present Blackfeet Reservation in July 1806. A few days earlier he had seen buffalo on Sun River[...]here could not have been fewer than 10,000 within a circuit of two miles" ( ibid., vol. 3, pp. 1081,[...]imed "the quantity of buffalo" between Fort Union and the Rockies was "almost inconceivable" (Stevens,[...]mer- ous herds" grazing near the Sweetgrass Hills and northward to Milk River (Stevens, 1860, p. 123; S[...]River in March, 1870, Peter Koch noted that "for a distance of forty miles I do not think we were ev[...]summer of 1874, W. J. Twining, chief astrono- mer and surveyor for the International Boundary Survey, observed that the Plains between the Sweetgrass Hills and the Rockies and southward to Fort Benton was "literally black" with buffalo. He considered the Sweetgrass Hills[...]adian portion of the Blackfoot Country except for a few small bands of stragglers (Denny, 1939[...] |
| [...]d buffalo in the Blackfoot Country were killed by a party of Piegan hunters near the Sweetgrass Hills[...]lackfoot Country in their youth ( the late 1860's and early 1870's). As Horna- day's historical map of[...]BLACKFOOT USES OF THE BUFFALO Nearly a century ago Indian Agent Vaughan wrote that the b[...]hout their known history the Blackfoot have |
| [...]NOLOGY [Bull. 1G9 In a sense many of the materials employed were byprodu[...]. The Blackfoot hunted buffalo primarily for food and hides. |
| [...]ULTURE 151 Tools, utensils, and crafts media-Continued Fuel (dung). Fly[...]hallus). Skin softening agents (brains, fat, and liver). Thread (sinew, occasionally rawhide)[...]ushes (hip bone or shoulder blade). Quill fl.a ttener (horn). Tool for deb airing rope, (skull) . Riding and transport gear : Frame-saddle covering (rawh[...]s rawhide). Ball stuffing (hair) . Hoop and pole game hoop netting (rawhide). Ceremonial and religious paraphernalla: Sun Dance altars (s[...]( strips of hide with hair). Rattles (hoofs and rawhide). Horse masks ( skin and horn). Winding sheets for dead ( skin[...] |
| [...]nized seasonal differences in the quality of meat and the utility of hides. Throughout most of the year the meat of bulls was tough and unpalatable compared with that of cows. For that reason the Indians showed a marked preference for killing cows save in the ea[...]hair was short, skins were taken for lodge covers and the numerous other articles made from soft-dresse[...]when "spear grass" (probably Stipa comata, needle-and-thread) was spread out. This was the period of in[...]the approach of heavy winter (i. e., in November and December). It was only during the cold months, No[...]illing buffalo to obtain robes ;for the fur trade and for Indian use in making cold weather garments and bedding. Calves, generally born in May, were hunt[...]rted from hunting for two short periods in spring and fall. In spring and early summer roots were dug; in :fall berries wer[...]horticultural Oto, Omaha, Pawnee, Kansa., Osage, and Sauk and Fox of the 19th century were absent from their pe[...]to their villages in fall to harvest their crops and again set out on the long winter hunt. These tribes' practice of agriculture and seasonal occupation of semiperma- nent villages d[...]Omaha (James, 1823, vol. 1, pp. 201-202; Fletcher and La F1escbe, 1911, pp. 270-271) ; Pawnee (James, 1[...]e, 1822, p. 205; Cooke, 1857, pp. 121-122) ; Sauk and Fox (Morse, 1822, pp. 126-127; Forsyth in[...] |
| [...]reat care was taken by the Blackfoot in selecting and training a buffalo hunting horse. This animal was the man's primary charger, ridden only in hunting, to war, and on dress occasions. Informants named five qualities sought in a buffalo runner: ( 1) enduring speed (the ability to retain speed over a distance of several miles); (2) intel- ligence ([...]3) agility ( ability to move quickly along- side a buffalo, to avoid contact with the larger animal, and to keep clear of its horns); (4) sure-footedness[...]n swiftly over uneven ground without stumbling) ; and ( 5) courage (lack of fear of buffalo). Usually a man selected the horse he wished to train as a buffalo hunter on the basis of its demonstrated swiftness and alertness. A 4-year-old was preferred, but a man who owned few horses might select a horse a year younger. T}le horse's courage could be deter[...]vercame their fear of those large, shaggy beasts, and could not be trained as hunters. It took patient practice and use of the whip to train a horse to run close beside a buffalo. 2 The courageous horse, through experi- ence, learned to follow the buffalo, move in close and "do its work" with little urging from its owner, so that the latter could concentrate upon making his kill. A well-trained buffalo horse would turn as the ride[...]would not trade them or give them away. In trade a buffalo runner of known ability would bring sever[...]lo March to plant "the grain,'' then embarked on a hunting trip. The De Gannes Memoir (Pease and Werner, 1934 b, p. 839-344) described the same se[...]1794, "he delights In the pleasure of the chace, and ls so animated at the sight of a Band of animals that be can scarcely be restraine[...]iven by Sergeant Pryor sighted n herd of buffalo, and "having bee'U trained by the Indians to hunt, immediately set off in pursuit of them, and surrounded the herd with almost as much sk[...] |
| [...][Bull. U9 horses or transport animals. .Only a race horse of tested speed would "They hunt on horseback with arrows and spears; they surround a herd of cattle, and but |
| [...]s. It made it easier for the hunter to single out a buffalo for the kill and to get an unobstructed shot at that animal. It could also be practiced by any number of hunters, from a single rider to the able male population of a large village. Apparently the chase was practiced[...]r 16, 1754, "with the Leader's permission, I rode a hunting with twenty of his young men. They killed[...]expert that with one or two arrows they will drop a Buffalo. As for me I had sufficient employ to man[...]frequently required three or more arrows to kill a buffalo in their time, we may judge that the "Arc[...]hod of buffalo hunting throughout the Plains.7 A detailed description of the chase, the favored Bl[...]PREPARATIONS Before a chase the principal chief ( of a tribal summer camp) or the |
| [...]not to accompany the hunters to aid in butchering and packing meat hack to camp were left in camp. S[...]In leaving camp for the hunt each hunter rode a common horse ( to be later used for packing meat, if his horses were few) and led his buffalo horse in order to save its strength for the chase.8 Women and boys followed with the pack animals. Altho[...]d the pad saddle. Weasel Tail said he always rode a pad saddle when hunting buffalo because it added little weight to his mount while providing him with a firm seat with feet braced in the stirrups to permit a steadier aim. A few hunters rode "prairie chicken snare saddles." Generally hunters wore leggings, a breechcloth and moccasins, and a shirt with short sleeves which would not get in t[...]ere desirable for the bloody business of killing and especially of butchering. Before the introdu[...]he buffalo chase. It was too difficult to reload a muzzle-loading musket on a fast-moving horse to make its use practical. Mos[...]g on the run. However, the very great majority of Black- foot Indian hunters preferred the bow and arrow for the buffalo chase. This bow was short,[...]time of my informants. Some men preferred to use a short, metal-headed, ash-poled lance. How- ever,[...]not recall ever having seen the lance carried by a buffalo hunter of his tribe. Even as early as 183[...]emarked, "I saw few • This seems to have been a common Plains Indian practice, reported for the C[...], p. 191), Plains Ojibwa (Skinner, 1914, p. 494), and Hldatsa-Mandan (Boller, 1868, p. 77). |
| [...]ire breechloading firearms they discarded the bow and arrow as a buffalo-hunting weapon. However, the new guns were expensive, and poor people of necessity continued to employ the bow and arrow. Among all the buffalo-hunting tribes the bow and arrow seems to have been the favorite hunting wea[...]usly, trying to keep out of sight of the buffalo, and always approaching from down wind of the herd to[...]e terrain permitted, the approach was from behind a hill or from the mouth of a coulee where the hunters could be concealed :from[...]nters dis- mounted, mounted their buffalo horses, and left their common riding animals in the hands of the women and boys who remained with the pack animals in concea[...]d them up to give them all an equal chance. 10 At a signal from him, they whipped their buffalo runners into a run, each hunter being eager to be the first to make a kill. Sometimes they approached the game in two g[...]right of the herd, others (including the lancers and left-handed bowmen) riding on the left. This appr[...]buffalo became aware of the approach- ing hunters and started to run in the opposite direction. Healthy cows could run faster than bulls. In a small running herd the cows generally took the le[...]prime, Blackfoot hunters, confident of the speed and ability of their 11 The former use of the lanc[...]3, vol. 1, p. 263), Osage (Tixier, 1940, p. 192), and Kansa (Farnham, 1906, p. 85). 10 This p[...] |
| [...]horse close ~longside, fixed an arrow to his bow and aimed at the fatal spot, which Hornaday ( 1889, p. 471) described as "from 12 to 18 inches in circumference, and lies immediately back of the foreleg with its lowest point on a line with the elbow." The arrow was shot without sighting, generally with the bow held a little off vertical, the top tilted to the right.[...]employ the same method of arrow re- lease. As the a1Tow left the bow the trained buffalo horse swerve[...]ually required three or more arrows to bring down a running cow. The quiver was carried on the back w[...]lder (if he was right-handed), so he could easily and quickly take another arrow from it with his right hand, fit it to the bow held in his left hand, and shoot rapidly. On the run the hunter carried the long end of his bridle rope coiled and tucked under his belt ( fig. 11), so that should[...]uld grab the free end of this line as it paid out and retrieve his horse, possibly in time to mount and continue the chase (p. 76). Blackfoot la~cers[...]· NUMBER OF BUFFALO KILLED IN A SINGLE CHASE Testimony of my Blackfoot inform[...]tion of Tixier (1940, p. 191), written more than a century ago, that in |
| [...]ost informants could recall having been killed on a single chase by the best Blackfoot marksman with[...]ers rarely killed more than one or two buffalo at a chase. Men with inferior buffalo horses had to be[...]th killing the slower running bulls. The owner of a poorly trained or short-winded horse could not ho[...]s from spring through fall. After the men started a herd and rode after it the boys, on 1- or 2-year-old colts[...]ated the actions of their elders, riding in close and shooting the calves with bows and arrows. In this way they gained skill and confidence so that in their middle teens they cou[...]the Blackfoot Country. Three Calf said that as a boy he helped hunters pack meat to camp and was also given the task of cleaning buffalo intes[...]r were gored by wounded bulls. Riders were thrown and injured or killed. Lazy Boy recalled that Lame Bu[...]Lame Bull's horse did not move adroitly enough to a void an old bull that attacked him. The horse fell on Lame Bull breaking his neck and crushing his ribs. Generally the less intelligent and well- trained the horse, the greater was the chan[...]TWer (1940, p. 193) among the Osage found that "a good horse can overtake three or four cows in one[...]pert hunters will klll from three to five cows In a chase." 1' Grinnell ( 1923, vol. 1, p. 118 ).[...]falo calves. He wrote that "If on bis first chase a boy killed a calf, hls father was greatly pleased, and if a well-to-do man, he might present a good horse to some poor man·, and In addition might give a feast and invite poor people to come and eat with him." 11 Writers on the Cheyenne (Hamilton, 1905, p. 29), Hidatsa-Mandan (Boller, 1868, p. 234),, and Pawnee (Dunbar, 1880, p. 331), have mentioned the frequency and seriousness of accidents that occurred amo[...] |
| [...]ll. 11>9 BUTCHERING AND PACKING When the men had finished their killi[...]the marks on their arrows in the tribes packing the meat of an entire bu1falo, and Alexander .Qenrr wrote of a l'eturnlnJ |
| [...]s wife took charge of the pack animals. There was a strong belief among the Blackfoot that the buffal[...]little choice. The Blackfoot never packed meat on a race horse. 17 LOANING OF BUFFAW H[...]f few horses among the Blackfoot rarely possessed a good buffalo runner. They tried to borrow trained[...]the poor but enhanced the prestige of the loaner and proved his right to leadership. Some wealthy men[...]they might loan to poor relatives. How- ever, if a man found that his wife had loaned one of his buffalo runners without his knowledge, he might give her a sound beating. Horses were loaned for the duration of a chase. If the hunt was near camp they would be re[...]loaned horses for buffalo hunting in this way: A man asked my father for the loan of a horse. Father told him, "Yes, get that pinto (pointing out a buffalo runner in bis herd), and another horse to pack with if you need it." There[...]he loan. If the borrower was appreciative he gave a lot of the best meat from the buffalo be killed to my father. If tht: man was selfish and offered my father no meat, the next time he wishe[...]he buffalo runner met with an accident ( suffered a broken leg or a rupture) while hunting on loan, and the borrower was known to be a reliable, earnest fellow, father told him, "That[...]ower was an irresponsible fellow, father gave him a rough talking to, and made him replace the lost horse. Informants agr[...]he loan of buffalo horses. Payments depended upon a number of factors, including (1) whether meat was[...]06 in which each horse was loaded with about half a buff'alo plus the weight of a rider (Henry and Thompson, 1897, vol. 1, p. 336). Either such refe[...]to have shared the taboo against carrying meat on a buff'alo horse. James (1823, vol. 1, p. 210). wro[...]1940, p. 193) observed among the Osage that "when a pack animal follows the hunter, the bunting horse[...]oned the Flathead taboo against pacltlng m,eat o~ a bulfalo hotse, i87944-5.5.--1i |
| [...]of the hunt, (2) whether the owner himself hunted and whether he was successful in this particular hunt, (3) the size and food needs of both the owner's and borrower's families, and (4) the generosity of owner and borrower. Some owners were themselves able hunters and generally would not accept meat or hides from the[...]horses. If game was scarce the loaner ex- pected a share of the meat killed by riders of his horses.[...]alf the kill. The loaning of buffalo horses was a widespread Plains Indian custom.18[...]the poor. Mrs. Cree Medicine told the story of a young man who was found lying beside a partly butchered buffalo by an old couple who had[...]uple thought he was dead. They threw water on him and he did not move. Then they started back to camp to tell the people of his death. When they had gone a short distance they turned around and saw 11 Tixier (1940, p. 184), wrote of the Osage, "The more horses that are owned by a savage, the more hunters he can send to the buffalo bunt.'' Llewellyn and Hoebel (1941, p. 2291) |
| [...]-beside-the-Buffalo. As David Thompson ob- served a century and a half ago, stinginess was a trait detested by the Blackfoot. He noted that the ''tent of a sick man is well supplied" after a chase, and that deaths from hunger were very rare (Thompson,[...]FALO HUNT In summer, when all of the bands of a tribe gathered prior to the |
| [...]s offense seems to have been to teach the culprit a lesson that would discourage his repetition of the antisocial act. By and large, punishment seems to have been lightest among the wealthy Comanche and most severe among the poor Ponca and Plains Cree. The wholesale destruction of the culprit's property by Ponca and Plains Cree policemen, and the later restitution of his losses seems to have been a prodigal waste of limited tribal resources. Undoubtedly, the offense was more harm- ful to the .welfare of a tribe poor in horses that would have difficulty in catching up with the disturbed herd than to a tribe possessing larger numbers of horses and much greater mobility.19 TABLE 5.[...]ence Plains Cree ____ ______ __ Offender's lodge and all possessions destroyed; gener- Man[...]ol. 1, p. Individual hunting like that of t[...]ull speed, leaving |
| [...]or over relatively low embankments into corrals, and (3) driving them over high cliffs so that the ani[...]was used only by the North Blackfoot. The second and third methods were then employed by the Blood and Piegan. Blackfoot drives have been described by Henry (Henry and Thompson, 1897, pp. 576-577) ; Maximilian (1906,[...]( 1892, pp. 228-232) ; Wissler (1910, pp. 34-38); and Barrett {1922, pp. 22-27). These writers considered the drive a winter method of buffalo hunting among the Blackf[...]stablishment of winter camps ( i. e., in November and December). In historic times the Blackfoot emp[...]59). Wissler claimed that Blackfoot use of horses and guns caused the drives to fall into disuse (Wiss[...]e relationship between poverty in horse ownership and continued use of buffalo drives is borne out by t[...]e after about 1850 were the horse-poor Assiniboin and Plains Cree.20 The midwinter season, comprising the months of January and Feb- ruary, provided the most severe test of Blac[...]abreast of their needs. Indian ingenuity devised a num- ber of methods of hunting under cold weather[...], "We know of no nation now except the Assiniboin and Cree who practice it [the drive], because[...] |
| [...]. When buffalo were not found near the band camp, a few lodges of men, sometimes accompanied by a woman or two to do the cooking, went out on short hunting expedi- tions of less than a week's duration, or until they located and killed as many buffalo as they could pack back to camp. Possibility of these small groups being overtaken and massacred by enemy war parties made prosecution o[...]ting animals. The ideal winter buffalo runner was a male, at least 8 years of age, fully developed, solidly built, broad backed, long winded, and sure footed. It had to be a horse that did not mind the strong, cold, west wi[...]ads when running against the fierce winter blasts and so were of little value for hunting at that season. A colt that would break the ice of a stream and go into the water to drink was thought to be one that would later become a good winter hunting horse. Winter hunting horses generally were fed on cottonwood bark and received special care during the cold months. In spring, when most other horses were weak and thin, these horses were strong. As soon as other buffalo runners fattened, the owner of a winter hunter let that horse run. It was not comm[...]ression that good winter hunting horses were rare and that they were owned by wealthy Indians only.[...]ffalo on horse- back. He recalled one winter when a rapid thaw was followed by a quick freeze. "Everything was ice. The only way w[...]lo was to sneak up on them on foot." There were a number of methods of stalking buffalo in winter.[...]d be found in the river bottoms near winter camps and killed |
| [...]167 without difficulty with bows and arrows or guns. Firearms were very useful to the[...]inter.21 Hunters sometimes covered their heads and bodies with buffalo- skins or wolfskins in stalki[...]he severe winter of 1847-48. Weasel Tail recalled a Blood Indian method in which two men inside a buffalo robe shaped much like a· buffalo in :form moved close to a herd. When they came within arrow range a third man, who had :followed close behind them, h[...]view of the grazing herd, stepp·ed quickly aside and shot the buf- falo. Paul Kane both observecl and practiced a more fatiguing method of winter hunting at Fort Edmonton. A group of hunters crawled on their bellies, one behind another, in a winding course sim- ulating the movement o:f a great snake. Approaching :from leeward, they got within a few yards o:f a buffalo herd before rising and open- ing fire ( ibid., p. 268).[...]f no avail if the buffalo drifted away :from camp and beyond range of footmen during weather unfavorabl[...]but under heavy snow conditions their horses were a handicap. Yet Lazy Boy, my eldest Piegan informant, could recall only one winter when buffalo disappeared at a time when the weather was too bad to use horses.[...]emembered that year as "when we ate dogs winter." A number of dogs were killed :for food before buffalo drifted in from the north and meat again could be obtained. Mrs. Cree Medicine, of the Lone Eaters Band, could also remember but a single winter when members of her band were force[...]eir food with the poor. Meals were reduced to one a day to conserve the dwindling supply. Then, if a hunter or group of hunters managed to kill one or two buffalo and/ or several smaller animals, they brought the meat to the band chief. He had it cut up and divided so that each family head in the ca[...] |
| [...]again proctm~d its meat according to its ability and its needs. 22 MEAT CONSUMPTION[...]f 3 pounds per person in those days appears to be a conservative estimate. In 1806, the fur trader, Alexander Henry (Henry and Thompson, 1897, vol. 2, p. 446) weighed 150 buffalo cows, killed from September 1 to February 1, and found they averaged 400 pounds exclusive of the o[...]as much as 800 pounds. Since the Blackfoot showed a decided prefer- ence for cow meat except during t[...]eed our hypothetical average Blackfoot family for a period of 16 days, provided none of the meat was wasted, and the meat could be trans- ported until it was all[...]quately supplied the meat needs of the family for a whole year. However, such neat mathematical for[...]e average family for transporting meat surpluses, and the demands of the fur trade for buffalo robes en[...]ed amon _g o ther Pin ins In din n tribes. Lew ls and Clark observed that n ea rly one-half the :\(an<l[...]ol. l, p. 224). Boller (l S6 8, p, 298) vi s ited a camp of Arlknra , a large rnrt of whose horse~ llad been stolen, whic[...]haring the limited proceeds of th e hunt nt the r a te of one meal per person per day. 211[...] |
| [...]of the Saskatchewan Plains took only the tongues and other choice pieces, leaving the rest to the wolv[...]e- back could kill enough buffalo to provide over a ton of meat in a matter of minutes on a single chase. Yet the average family pos- sessed only enough pack animals to transport about a quarter of that weight in meat, in addition to ho[...]oved. These factors encouraged "Light butchering" and use of only the choice parts of the buffalo in good times. Then feasting and the consumption of enormous quantities of meat within a short period of time were common. Then there was plenty of meat for rich and poor alike. Yet at other times, especially in lat[...]of limited food supplies on the basis of one meal a day. IMPROVIDENT FOOD HABl'l'S OF OTHER[...]her Plains were the Blackfoot tribes and th e Gros Ventres, hu,·lng a combined population of about |
| [...], "IDien there is plenty of meat, the large bones and coarse pieces are always thrown aside, but in tim[...]urces, hastened the extermination of the buffalo, and thus contributed to the disintegration of their t[...]MAMMALS ON HORSEBACK The hides of deer, elk, and antelope were very useful to the Black- ,. However, Raynolds (1868, p. 62) wltne sed two Crow Indians ch a e an elk on horse- |
| [...]aders recognized the Blackfoot as the most potent and aggressive military power in the northwestern Pla[...]e Teton Dakota ( allied with the Northern Arapaho and Northern Cheyenne), and the Comanche ( allied with the Kiowa and Kiowa-Apache). Allies of the Blackfoot were the Sarsi and ( until 1861) the Gros Ventres. Blackfoot war parties operated in a vast theater of warfare extend- ing far beyond th[...]unted (fig. 24). In 1787, David Thompson reported a Piegan raid from the vicinity of present Edmonton[...]bers of that party returned with spoils in horses and riding gear captured directly from the Spanish (T[...]id that has been reported. Against the Assiniboin and Cree the Black- foot raided eastward beyond the South Saskatchewan and beyond Fort Union at the mouth of the Yellowstone[...]Bitter- root Valley homeland west of the Rockies, and frequently warred upon the Kutenai of Tobacco Pla[...]honean enemies carried them westward to Fort Hall and the Boise Valley on Snake River and as far southwestward as Utah Lake, in present Uta[...]outhern Plains in 1829- 31. These were members of a group of "Blackfeet" and Gros Ventres who joined the Cheyenne and Arapaho near the Black Hills some time prior to 1826, and moved south of the Pl atte River with them (Grin- ne], 1923, vol. 1, pp. 39-40). Colonel Dodge found "a small band of Blackfeet proper, consisting of abo[...]e Treaty Council 16 years later (Bradley MS., bk. A, p. 184).[...] |
| [...]es. According to Saukamappee's account some Cree and Assiniboin warriors aided the Piegan in fighting[...]s Isham, in 1743, reported that "the Sinne-poets and other Indians" were going to war against the "Earchethinues" (perhaps both Gros Ventres and Blackfoot), while Graham recorded Assiniboin rai[...]ses in 1775 (Isham, 1949, pp. 113, 311). Probably Black- foot-Cree warfare also was initiated soon after the Blackfoot acquired horses. Assiniboin and Cree, well armed by white traders and covetous of Blackfoot horses and hunting grounds, continued to exert pressure on[...]After the Blackfoot tribes acquired both horses and firearms they pushed the Shoshoni southward and westward and forced the Flat- head and Kutenai from their hunting grounds on the Plains[...]30, pp. 316-321) . L'lcking firearms the Shoshoni and Salishan tribes were inadequately equipped to oppose the aggres- sive and numerous Blackfoot. By the end of the first decade of the 19th century the Salishan tribes and the Nez Perce began to acquire firearms. They uni[...]oot (Ewers, 1948, pp. 14-17). The Salishan tribes and the Shoshoni remained enemies of the Blackfoot until the end of buff a lo days. Blackfoot-N cz Perce conflicts were rare[...]met prior to that date. Yet, in 1811 Henry (Henry and Thompson, 1897, vol. 2, p. 726) found that the Cr[...]endangered the Catholic Mi s ion to the Flathead and were an important cause of its abandonment[...] |
| [...]challenge of their old friends the Gros Ventres, and added them to their list of enemies. A number of the more distant tribes which came in l[...]ot enemies. Maximilian found the Hidatsa, Mandan, and Arikara referred to the Blackfoot as enemies in 1[...]d in the middle of the century. When Sitting Bull and his followers fled to Canada in the spring of 187[...]incidence of small-scale conflicts between Teton and Blackfoot until those Sioux returned to the United States in 1881. Blackfoot relations with the Cheyenne and Arapaho were generally friendly during the first[...]9th century. However, Blackfoot raids on Cheyenne and Arapaho horse herds were reported in 1858 (U.S. Comm. Ind. Affairs, 1858, p. 447). In the youth and young manhood of my informants ( ca. 1865-85) the Blackfoot tribes raided the Flathead, Pend d'Oreille, and Kutenai west of the Rockies, the Cree, Assiniboin, Gros Ventres, and Teton Dakota on the east, and the Crow on the south. Raids against the Shoshoni and other more distant tribes were infrequent. The Pi[...]Cree, Sioux l perhaps in- cluding both Assiniboin and Teton), Plains Ojibwa, Gro~ Ventres, Flathead, Nez Perce, and Crow. The last great battle, involving large forc[...]rses continued until 1885-86. THE HORSE A'S A CAUSE OF INTERTRlBAL CONFLICTS The Blackfoot and neighboring tribes regarded the horse raid |
| [...]er tribes with whom their own tribe was at peace. A horse raid directed against a tribe previously at peace with that of the raiders was recognized as a legitimate cause for retaliation in kind or in f[...]sors' tribe. If the raid was carried out against a tribe previously hostile, the raid tended to prolong war between the tribes involved and to nullify any peace negotiations that might be[...]ibes. Indians who lost horses through capture by a small party of raiders invariably blamed not onl[...]intertribal wars in which the Blackfoot engaged, and which were initiated prior to 1810, cannot be sp[...]iding in the intertribal warfare of the late 18th and early 19th century as emphasized in fur traders'[...]ndians' need for horses to use in hunting buffalo and transporting food and domestic articles furnished a major motive for that early warfare. Our know le[...]ong the tribes of this region in the 18th century and of the relative wealth in horses of these tribes at a somewhat later date would suggest that the Blackf[...]in their early wars with the tribes to the south and west, while the horse-poor Cree and Assiniboin were the aggressors in their conflicts[...]f raiding for horses. Prior to 1861 the Blackfoot and Gros Ventres had been allies. In the fall of that year a Pend d'Oreille raiding party stole horses from th[...]left some of the stolen horses in the vicinity of a Piegan camp on the Marias. The Gros Ventres, in h[...]e of their horses near the Piegan, concluded that a party of that tribe had stolen them, and attacked the Piegan camp. In this action a Piegan chief is said to have been killed, and the Piegan were roused to retaliation against the Gros Ventres. Thereafter, despite a record of more than a century of peaceful relations prior to the misunder- standing, the Piegan and Gros Ventres were at war. Their warfare continued[...]pite of repeated Government attempts to negotiate a peace between these former allies (Bradley, 1923, pp. 313-315; Curtis, 1928, vol. 1 , p. 177; and informants). |
| Ewers] '.rHE HORSE IN BLACK.FOOT INDIAN CULTURE 175 The influence of horse raiding as an obstacle to the making and maintenance of peace between warring tribes can b[...]foot written in the Hlth century tell of at least a dozen truces negotiated between Blackfoot tribes and one or more of the neighboring tribes with whom t[...]or 10 years prior to 1808. In the spring of 1808, a Piegan war party crossed the Rockies, stole 35 Kutenai horses and killed a Kutenai in the action. Thompson (ibid., p. 389) c[...]shortest recorded peace was that between the Crow and Blackfoot attested at the 1855 Blackfoot Treaty Council. Agent Hatch reported that a Blood Indian war party went against the Crow less[...]aty proclaimed peace between the Blackfoot tribes and Flathead by common agreement among the chiefs in[...]ons to the dif- ferent Camps from ( on) this Side and have run off many horses" ( Owen, 1927, vol. 2, p. 215). In 1858 Cree and Blackfoot leaders tried to arrange a truce in their long warfare. Their efforts were n[...]hout the century prior to 1885, peace between the Black- foot tribes and their neighbors ( other than Sarsi and Gros Ventres) was the exception, war the rule. Pe[...]stilities. They were always of uncertain duration and usually short lived. Older and wiser men, tired of continual war- fare, sought p[...]. But ambitious young men, needing horses to gain a degree of economic security, social prestige, and politi- cal recognition, negated the best efforts[...]impossible until after the Blackfoot passed from a mobile, buffalo-hunting economy to a sedentary life based primarily upon the issuance of Government rations and secondarily upon the raising of livestock[...] |
| [...]kfoot were "all great adepts at stealing horses" and that "horse stealing is an eminent art among the[...]acknowledged by their bitterest enemies, the Crow and the Flathead (Marquis, 1928, p. 205; Teit, 1930[...]agreed that most horses owned by the As- siniboin and Cree were relatively poor. Consequently many raid[...]ts. The Gros Ventres, they said, owned some fine and some poor horses, as did the Piegan themselves. Their nearness to the Piegan made Gros Ventres camps a frequent target of Piegan horse raiders after 186[...]in 1877. However, the distance between Blackfoot and Teton vil- lages tended to make raiding of the la[...]st horses were owned by enemy tribes living south and west of the Piegan. Most of them credited the tri[...]the Flathead, Kutenai, Pend d'Oreille, Nez Perce, and Shoshoni-with ownership of the best horses. A century ago a Blackfoot Indian told Governor Stevens, "he stole the first Flathead horse he came across-it was sure to be a good one" (Stevens, 1860, p. 148). My informants[...]ones (Marquis, 1928, pp. 48-49). In the youth and young manhood of my informants the tribes of the Rockies and the Crow, possessing both more and better horses than neighboring tribes to the east[...]ackfoot war parties (Cadotte's Pass, Marius Pass, and Crow's Nest Pass) necessitated strenuous and prolonged expedi- tions, rarely undertaken except[...]ravel over the Plains to the Crow was both easier and quicker. There was 110 closed season on mi[...] |
| [...]ents their best opportunity for economic security and social advancement. Consequently many of the mos[...]horse raids were young men in their upper teens and early twenties. On rare occasions men in their fo[...]expeditions of 50 or more members were reported, and daring thefts of enemy horses by a lone Blackfoot also occurred. But they were rare.[...]cesses inspired confidence in his ability to lead a group to the enemy, capture horses, and return with- out loss of party members. Often the leader himself organized a raiding party, inviting certain of his young frie[...]m. At other times young men desirous of making up a party requested an acknowledged leader to lead it. It was common practice for members of a horse-raiding party to drum on a piece of buffalo rawhide in accompaniment to thei[...]g men of the camp, upon hearing their performance and wish- ing to volunteer to accompany them, would j[...]ere many war songs appropriate for this occasion. A song especially liked by vVeasel Tail had the wor[...]g home." As the singers moved about camp, friends and relatives gave them presents of food and moccasins for their journey. The members might disperse to meet at a spot agreed upon outside the camp and set out that night, or they might decide to wait[...]PREPARATIONS A war party might have been planned for several days or it might :ze The[...]ldom |
| [...]ions involving the assembling of necessary sacred and secular equipment for the journey.[...]own sacred war medicine to protect him from harm and bring him luck in his undertaking. These medicin[...]h they received instructions for the preparation and ritual manipulation of these medicines, or they were received from older men who had been successful in war and whose medicines were highly respect€d by their[...]Tail alone of my informants claimed to have used a war medicine originating in his own dream. He had a vision of a wolf cap and wolf robe and a song having the words, "I am a wolf. I am going to eat a person." He always wore the cap and robe and sang this song before he went into an enemy camp[...]ed this medicine. It was much more common for a young man to go to an old man before he embarked on his first raid and ask him for some of his power. Usually, but not always, the older man was a relative of the younger one. The request was preceded by the offering of a pipe and gifts. Usually the young man also made a sweat bath for the older one. Some Blackfoot elde[...]assistance because of their known success in war and/or because younger men who had obtained their hel[...]arkable success. The Piegan elders On-Lucky-Trail and Under Bull were such men. The former was also con[...]y prayed for the young warrior who sought his aid and gave him a war song and a medicine object to carry on his expedition. It was common practice for the recipient of a war medicine to give the <lonor one or more horses after a safe return from a successful raid. Some young men were eclectic in[...]described in the literature: 11 by Wissler ( 1912 a, pp. 92-95), 2 by McClintock (1930, pp.12, 29), and 1 by Uhlenbeck (1911, p. 67). From informants I o[...]ese 40 medicines reveals that variety was limited and the great |
| [...]179 majority of them tended to follow a definite pattern. The majority of war medicines consisted simply of a feather or bunch of feathers worn in the hair. Undoubtedly the lightness and compactness of feathers made them practical objec[...]of the Blackfoot in placing their trust in tried and proved medicines obtained from successful elderly[...]TABLE 6.-Some war medicines of Black!oot warriors Owner Trib[...]___ Blood____ ___ Own dream __________ _ Wolf cap and wolf robe. |
| [...]as "the song of the horse-stealing" was actually a prayer to the sun, "Sun look at us, have pity on[...]e night I am not seen, the dogs are my partners." A third song, rendered when the sound of enemy firi[...]nemy to steal horses I carried my war medicine in a small, cylindrical rawhide case. This medicine could never be put down. In a lodge it always bad to be hung up. When my party got near the enemy camp, I made a little fire, took charcoal and sweetgrass and made a smudge. I sang the song given me with my medicine and prayed before donning my medicine plume. In my prayers I asked Sun for horses, to get away safely and not to have to return on foot. Sometimes I prayed to the sun, "See me. The rain is holy and the wind is holy." Then it was bound to blow, and the sleeping enemy would not hear us when we went into their camp and took their horses. It was not uncommon for an[...]of the potency of his own war medicine to "call a help" on an older man of the war party just prior[...]y horses. The more experienced man would give him a feather from his own medicine or other token of his own medicine power. A fearful young warrior might make a vow before the other men of his party to feast th[...]e of Calf Shield, whose power came from Big Lake, a noted Piegan chief. On the way to take horses fro[...]cine or its giver if the recipient took too great a risk." Thus repeated losses of po sessors of reno[...]the power of these medi- cines. There were always a number of brave warriors able to testify t[...] |
| [...]e outcome of horse raids. 1Veasel Tail said Takes-a-Gun, a Piegan, had a for- mula for such prediction. When he joined a raiding party he called upon the sun, "Sun, tell[...]are sun dogs on one side only, we shall get only a few." In dreams any member of an outgoing party m[...]ack. There was no stigma attached to desertion of a raiding party as a result of supernatural warning. Indeed should some of the men persist in the enterprise and meet loss of personnel or failure to capture hors[...]ed, soft-soled moccasins, leggings, breechclouts, and shirts. Shirts were needed even in summer to protect their wearers from sunburn by day and chill by night. In winter, raiders wore Hudson's[...]e coats were predominantly white, which served as a camouflage against a background of snow and overcast sky. Blankets had black, red, or yellow stripes. Makes-Cold-Weather said[...]w stripes, as they could be seen less easily from a distance than black ones. Other specialized winter garments were mitt[...]o hide, h air inside, which were tied together by a skin cord passing from wrist to wrist over the wearer's shoulders and underneath his blanket coat; and a pair of soft-soled, hair- lined, buffalohide mocc[...]ar medicine had Its counterpart among other Plain.a Indian tribes. Larocque (1910, p. 66) wrote of th[...]arty does, when they have found out their enemies and on the point of beginning the attack the bag of medicine ls opened, they sing a few airs but very shortly smoke and then attack." Zenas Leonard (1904, P, 256) briefl[...](1868, p. 324) told of an Hldatsa chief who gave a young Crow warrior haJf hi s medicine, after whic[...]It was common practice among the Pl ains Cree for a young man to obtain bl.s war medicine with accompanying songs and ritual from an older success- tul wa rrior (Mande[...]pp. 108-1.25) s tressed the use of bird feathers and ski ns as war medicines by the Cheyenne. Certain[...]outcome of war adventures. Enoch Smoky told me of a Kiowa who, by the screeching of owls, coul[...] |
| [...]ss to give greater warmth to the feet. Figures 27 and 28 illustrate the summer and winter costumes of Blackfoot horse raiders. 29[...]sually withstood but 2 FIGURE 27.-Black!oot horse raiders in warm-weather dress. days of[...]irs of moccasins, as well as aw ls, sinew thread, and extra • The blanket coat was a favorite winter garment of warriors among neighbo[...]or white |
| [...]ds, lances, or war clubs. Their weapons were bows and arrows, guns, and knives. The knives, carried at the waist in rawhide sheaths, were sharp and heavy enough to cut firewood and timber for temporary shelters. They served as axes as well as knives, useful in skinning and cutting up animals for food, cutting loose picketed horses from the enemy camp, and as weapons for hand-to-hand fighting if ne[...] |
| [...]THE PACK Each Blackfoot warrior carried a pack containing : ( 1) extra |
| [...]Crow. The mounted party could travel much faster and could more easily evade white authorities who at[...]the Crow camps south of the Yellowstone; whereas a mounted party could make the journey in 8 to 12 d[...]." While foot war parties averaged about 25 miles a day in good weather, mounted parties traveled mor[...]y, when danger of en- countering the enemy was at a minimum, raiding parti es usually traveled by day, moving at a steady pace, in no particular order, and stopping occasionally to rest and smoke. But as they neared the enemy country they moved more cautiously, traveling at night and hiding out during the day light hours. A party nearing enemy country halted to kill game f[...]eir journey. They built one or more war lodges in a heavily timbered bottom or on a thickly wooded height. The war lodge usually had a framework of fallen or cut timbers covered with brush or bark, set in a conical form with an angular covered entrance- way. (See Ewers, 1944 a, pp. 183-186 and plate.) It served a five- fold purpose, as a protection against the enemy ( concealing the fire from view and serving as a fort in case of surprise attack) , as pro- tecti[...]er ( especially in winter or rainy weather) , as a base for scouting operations, as a supply base, and as an information center to which members of homeward-bound parties could return and leave pictographic messages to others of their party telling of their actions and movements (ibid., pp.189-190) .83 From the war lodge the leader sent ahead a small number of picked men as scouts to locate t[...]re suspi- cious of any sudden movements of game, and they examined burned- 12 Lleotenant Carleton (1[...]rties customarily wen t on foot against the Crow and Blackfoot 1n 1846. Denlg (1930, p. 546) claimed I[...]issouri tribes to leave camp afoot In tbe |
| [...]ETHNOLOGY (Bull. 159 out fires and tracks made by horses, travois, and footmen and noted |
| [...]187 took the picketed animals. It was a common practice for men who went after the picketed horses to rub cottonwood sap on their bodies and hands. The cottonwood odor would tend to quiet the horses and make them willing to :follow the strangers who le[...]came aware of the actions of the raid- ing party, a quick getaway was important in order to get as mu[...]eir pursuers as possible. It was not unusual :for a successful Blackfoot raiding party to take as many as 40 to 60 horses on a single raid. However, the great majority of my in[...]lty of driving that number of animals homeward at a fast pace, over uneven country, through timber and across streams for hundreds of miles resulted in[...]s' backs in riding over rough, un- even ground at a fast clip. Yet sometimes men became so sore and blistered during this part of the journey they had to dismount and walk. This not only slowed their progress but inc[...]by the enemy. The return journey was made at a much faster pace than the out- ward one. Rides-at-the-Door said that 4 days and nights after he took horses from the Crow south o[...]Reservation, Montana). For the first 2 or 3 days and nights raiders rode steadily, switching from one mount to another as their horses tired. If a horse played out so that it could not keep up with the rest, it was usually turned loose. If it was a very good horse, the raiders might shoot it, to pre- vent the enemy from retalring it. Usually a party returnin(l' from the Crow reached the vicin[...]ing off about 2 ,000 bead of stock- borses, mules and cattle." This mar bal'"e referred to a series of carefully organized raldl! In which the[...]onl7 active hl lndtv1dual ratd11 by the Blackfoot and neighboring Opper Mhsourl tribes. |
| [...][Bull. 159 stopped to rest, overnight, and continued homeward at a more lei- |
| [...]AMP Upon nearing the home village, members of a successful Blackfoot To prevent a captured horse from straying from its new herd the |
| [...][Bull. 1CS9 the trimming with dirt and water, and rubbing the strong-odored con- It was not uncommon :for a childless young woman to accompany James Doty ( 1854, p. 7), in a brief description of Blackfoot horse |
| [...]URE 191 of cooking, carrying wood and water, and carrying the m~n's ( or at least the leaders') pa[...]int out to them how the raids should be conducted and why they employed the tactics followed on these e[...]watching the skilled actions of their elders. If a raid was successful the older men might give a horse to a boy who accom- panied them. Through this on-the-j[...]F HORSE RAIDS All evidence from the literature and informants indicates that the |
| [...]e Quiver started going on war parties while still a boy. He grew to be a tall, strong man of remarkable physical stamina, who could ride 3 days and nights without food while driving captured horses[...]nder White Quiver's leadership, remembered him as a generous, easy-going, fun- loving man. He described White Quiver's appearance as "tall, very dark, and ugly." The Crow Indians, who suffered most from h[...]enemy 40 times to steal horses, yet his career as a horse raider ended before he was 30 years of age.[...]laimed White Quiver had made 11 trips to the Crow and each time came home with horses. He also took horses from the Gros V entres, Cree, Assiniboin, and Sioux. White Quiver considered the Flathead his f[...]White Quiver. White Quiver's war medicine was a plume from the medicine pipe bundle owned by Under Bull, and known as the Arapaho pipe. In the 1940's this medicine pipe bundle was owned by my interpreter, Reuben Black Boy (pl. 11, a, right) . When White Quiver returned with horses[...]or said every time he accompanied White Quiver on a raid he went mounted.) White Quiver was always the party leader and insisted on taking the greatest risks himself. Often he left the others of his party in a secluded spot some distance from the enemy camp, entered the camp alone, and brought horses out to them. Rather than follow th[...]rses out he told each member of the party to take a good one to ride. When a stop was made on the return journey, he told each[...]on which 30 men killed all the enemy of 5 lodges and took all their horses. The other, com- prising 17 men, was a raid on the Gros Ventres during which the |
| [...]193 enemy discovered their presence and only White Quiver got away with a horse. Among his successful raids against the Crow were : 38 horses and 6 mules taken by 11 men ; 80 horses taken by 10 men; 48 horses captured by 6 men; 34 horses taken by 4 men; and about 20 horses captured by 4 men. No less than[...]more times. White Quiver's last raid was made at a time when white authorities in both Montana and Alberta were actively trying to put an end to intertribal horse raiding. Leading a party of 8 men to the Crow, White Quiver made of[...]thorities from Fort Benton apprehended the party and took the stolen horses from them. White Quiver restole the horses from the authorities and drove them to Canada. There the Mounted Police a[...]. But White Quiver managed to recapture at least a part of the herd and succeeded in bringing them to the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana. This was a whirlwind finish to an extraordinary raiding car[...]citment of raiding to the business of building up and managing a large herd of his own. Many of the horses receive[...]his party reached the home camp. He never became a wealthy horse owner. In the spring of 1921, not l[...]Butte district, who owned much larger herds . .A. complex of factors help to explain White Quiver's preeminence as a horse raider. His father's murder gave him an ini[...]tion of the strongest kind. His physical strength and stamina enabled him to lead the hyperactive and strenuous life of almost continuous raiding. His[...]himself, coupled with his reputation for success and gen- erosity in distribution of captured horses, made him a popular war party leader who never wanted for followers. Finally, his generosity in giving away horses, and his lack of ejther social or political ambi- tion, made him a popular hero whose deeds h ave been r emembered by the many beneficiaries of his liberality and by their rel atives.30 18 It there were Blac.k[...]However, Thaddeus Cul bertson, (1851, p. 122) met a ha l fbreed Crow In dian at Fort Union In the sum[...]s, always returning with balr (scalps) or horses, and getting hJs party back safely." In 1855 Horse Guard was chief of a band of some 5-0 lodges (McDonnen, 1940, p[...] |
| [...]HE RAID FOR SCALPS Denig (1930, pp. 548-551) and Wissler (1910, p. 155) have properly |
| [...]ourl River. and Crow. retire in order after heavy fig[...]Henry and Thompson, ~[...]"Several slain and wounded Thompson, 1916 pp. 551-552;[...]party Over 40 Piegan scalps and 6 Maximilian, 1906, vol. 23, pp. ::ti[...]nz.Je. and 100 Cree. of ca. 30 Plegan lodges near fort;[...]cue and forced enemy with•[...]•• • ••• . •••••.• . 200 "Black!eet".·-···· 60 Flathead .••..•. Lasted[...]1846 . ....• . .. do ... . . ... .•.••. . A "Blackfeet" camp •. Ca. 30 Flathead Blackfoot d[...]and 40 Pend d'[...]Blood, 90 lodges of Orce•. I Only Sarsl, Blood and N. Black• 10 Blackfoot lost; 19 Cree Kane, 1925, pp. 303[...]foot portion of force engaged killed and 40 wounded. trcs, and Sarsl war•[...]and afoot; repulsed. losses greater. N[...]eet." to a grove; burned out by Ku.[...]tenai and forced to flee.[...]... I Canadian Plains .•.. I Ca. 5.0 lodges N. Black I Cree . .... . . . . . •... Oree attacked at n[...]essHUls .. l Piegnn............... . Oros Ventrcs and Plegan charged, routed and chased 360 to 400 enemy killed; ca. Ortnnell, 189[...]ll 1870 . .. . . • 1 Near present Leth- I Blood and Plegan . ... . l Cree . ..•..... . . . .[...] |
| [...]lp raids may have averaged one every 2 years over a half-century period. Although horse raiding conti[...]rs. None of my elderly in- formants had fought in a large-scale intertribal battle. In discussing sca[...]An impressive preliminary to the departure of a scalp-raiding party was the riding big dance, ref[...]epresentations of their coups on their war horses and decorated them with masks, bells, martingales, and feathers in their tails. Then they mounted and converged upon the camp from the four cardinal directions, carrying their weapons. As a number of old men and women stood in the center of the camp beating drums and singing a song with a lively rhythm, the warriors circled the camp on horseback. Then they shouted, dismounted, and danced on foot, imitating the prancing of their h[...]at the Sun Dance encampment. Thus it survived as a spectacle after its discontinuance as a prelude to a war party. Informants said the Piegan had not obs[...]of them expressed the wish that this picturesque and exciting dance might be revived that younger Indi[...]s its "chief function ... the arrousal of courage and enthusiasm for war," as Wissler (ibid., p. 456) h[...]horses as war horses. The same qualities of speed and endurance, intelligence, sure-footedness and courage re- quired of the buffalo runner were demanded of the war horse. The winter hunting horse was a favorite mount for war when snow was on the ground. Through experience in hunting a rapport was estab- lished between man and mount that enabled the rider to know the |
| [...]197 peculiarities and capabilities of his mount and the horse to under- stand the wishes of his rider[...]uffalo runners used in war were trained to run at a steady pace while the rider slipped to one side using the horse as a shield. They were trained to stop quickly, to carry men riding double, and to stay close to their masters when the latter dismounted. Both Weasel Tail and Chewing Black Bones stressed the importance of the last attribute. If the horse became panicky and ran away when the rider dismounted one or both might be killed. In training a horse to stand still near its master the rider stopped his running horse, jumped off, holding a slack line tied to the horse's neck, and when the horse started to move away be gave the line a violent jerk. After repeated experiences with thi[...]spare the valuable war horse as much as possible and to save its strength for the action in which it was most needed, the Blackfoot warrior rode a common saddle horse to the field of battle, leadi[...]er their shoulders containing their war medicines and any articles of war costume they possessed. Men of wealth and distinction as warriors carried elaborately worked war shirts and leggings. Some owned straight-up feather bonnets[...]. When the enemy was sighted the war medicines and war costumes were donned before attacking, jf tim[...]he Jlcarllla Apache horse raid starting out afoot and the scalp raid proceeding mounted. Even among the[...]buft'alo chase as well as for "going into battle" and "on state occasions." The Flathead war horse was also ''used exclusively for bl on hunting and fighting" (Turney-High, 1987, p. 109). 41 Hamilton (1905, p. 86) who accompanied a Teton Dn.k ota party against the Pawnee In 1842, noted that the Teton led their war horses and did not mount them un til they were ready to char[...]oky told me it was Kiowa cUBtom to ride to war on a less valuable horse and eave the war horse for the c.b arge. Thie[...] |
| [...]medicine feathers, bandoliers or necklaces, face and body paint, breechcloth, and moccasins. Maximilian, who witnessed the battle between the Piegan and a large Assiniboin-Cree force outside Fort McKenzie in the summer of 1833, "saw the Black- feet ride into battle half naked, but some, too[...]ifully ornamented shield obtained from the Crows, and their splendid crown of feathers, and on these occasions they all have their medicines or amulets open and hung about them" (Maximilian, 1906, vol. 23, p. 118). Maximilian did not comment on the wealth factor as a determinant of war costume, although his descript[...]kfoot were deficient in the employment of planned and coordinated cavalry tactics under fire. They seem[...]successful, .fighting usually disintegrated into a large number of contests between indi- vidual Ind[...]ed battle, that against the combined Gros Ventres and Crow in the summer of 1866, the Blackfoot, madden[...]ferocity that the enemy became demoralized, broke and ran. The Blackfoot fol1owed and cut th em down man by man in an extended series o[...]ormer charged the latter, who were pro- tected by a rude r ampart composed of their baggage. F ailing[...]eated. Two more mounted charges were made "but in a weak manner," aft er which the Piegan dismounted and advanced in a series of ineffective assaults on foot until even[...]1916, pp. 423--425). Father Mengarini witnessed a fight between the Flathead and the Blackfoot in the spring of 1846. He described the action : Firing had already begun on both sides, and the plain was covered with horse- men curvetting an d str iving to get a chance to kill some one of the enemy. An India n ba ttle consists ot a multitude of single combats. There are no ranks, |
| [...]"Every man for himself" is the ruling principle, and victory depends upon personal bravery and good horsemanship. There is no random shooting, e[...]eir bodies from side to side to confuse the enemy and prevent his taking accurate aim.42 Wissler ( 1[...]formed that the Blackfoot charge on horseback was a "rush in a compact body, scattering along the front of the e[...]ants claimed the charging force sometimes formed a line scattered over a considerable distance. The riders bent low over t[...]ding on both feet, weapons in hand ready to fight a hand-to-hand combat. Upon overtaking a mounted enemy the Blackfoot tried to unhorse him[...]enemy was still active, the Blackfoot dismounted and sought to finish him off afoot. I asked Lazy B[...]s that would effectively dispose of an enemy from a distance. He made the expected reply, "A man made a name for himself as a brave waITior by killing his enemy close up where[...]ds of loose horses, in an attempt to run them off and throw the enemy into a panic. The Flathead chief Pelchimo won a signal honor in a battle with the Blackfoot in 1840, while saving t[...]05, vol. 1, pp. 319-320). Again in an attack upon a Kutenai village on the move, October 27, 1858, th[...]parties were those used by horse raiders-the gun and bow and arrows. Even in my inform- ants' youth many Indians did not own guns. Certainly, prior to their time the bow and arrow was the most common fire weapon. Rifles[...]145, Hl5) told ot the Crow practlce of almtng at a mounted enemy's body "where It sits on his horse" and of a Teton horseman throwing bis body from aide to side In a running tlghL These data suggest these two[...] |
| [...]arm in use before 1870 was the Northwest Gun, a light smooth-bore, flintlock o:f %-inch bore firing a lead ball. Most Northwest Guns were made in England (some in Pennsylvania) and were traded to the Indians by both American and Canadian companies. They were gen- erally supplied with a barrel length of 2 feet 6 inches to 3 feet 6 inches, but the Indians commonly filed off a piece of the barrel to shorten the gun and make it easier to use on horseback. Governor Stev[...]an inferior kind of shot gun." He said this gun and the bow and arrow were the "principal arms of the Blackfeet"[...]It seems to have been used primarily in firing at a distance of 100 yards or more before closing wit[...]t with shock weapons. It was more _: v aluable as a foot soldier's weapon. This was a factor in causing many battles to be fought on foot. Thus, when the Flathead and Piegan fought an engagement on the Plains in the[...]movements. The Flat- head took their position on a grassy ridge with sloping ground behind it. The Piegan advanced on foot in a single line, members of the party about 3 feet ap[...]pp. 551-552). Both Thompson ( ibid., p. 411) and Maximilian ( 1906, vol. 23, p. 109) said the Blac[...]re- loading, encouraged the retention of the bow and arrow as the principal fire weapon employed by th[...]weapons. In earlier times it was not uncommon for a Blackfoot warrior to carry both gun and bow and arrows. U SE OF SHOCK[...]ers in the 19th century were the lance, war club, and knife. Of |
| [...]NDIAN CULTURE 201 a small party of "Archithinue" warriors with "Bows and Arrows, & bone spears and darts.'· Informants described the war lance as 5[...]d 6 inches to 12 inches long, bound to the end of a wooden shaft. At intervals the shaft was wrapped with otter fur to serve as grips, and pendent feathers were attached to the end of the[...]with both hands the warrior brought it down with a quick, oblique down- ward stroke, which combined thrusting and swinging. The weapon could kill or cripple an opp[...]FIGURE 29.-1\:Iethod of wielding the lance by a mounted warrior, Blackfoot. ants said the lance[...]the Piegan in their ~ Weasel Tatl was told the Crow bad a similar attitude. He cited the Instance of a |
| 202 BUREAU OF A.."1\1:ERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. um the most common club was one consisting of a round stone sewn in a skin cover, an extension of the cover forming the sheathing of a wooden handle. The type is figured in Wissler (19[...]club was in common use :for fighting both on foot and horseback. Warriors tried first to cripple the en[...]ill him with another well- aimed blow or with the knife. Weasel Tail described the use of the club in fighting on foot, "If an enemy tries to stab you with a knife, hit him on the arm or wrist and make him drop it. Then hit him over the head with your club." 45 Both single and double-edged knives were employed in hand-to- hand combat. The broad, sharp, double-edged knife, known to the Blackfoot as a "stabber" or "beaver tail knife" was a favorite of many warriors for hand-to-hand fighti[...]lade protruded from the heel of his fist. He used a powerful downward chopping motion to penetrate the opponent's body above the clavicle or a sidewise sweep to strike him between ths ribs or in the stomach. It was a deadly weapon for close infighting afoot, of little use in opposition to a mounted enemy armed with war club or lance. It was a favorite weapon for finishing off a wounded or disabled enemy and served as the scalping tool.~[...]pe was observed among the Lemhi Shoshoni by Lewis and Clark In 1805 (Coues, 1897, vol. 2, p. 561), and among the Crow by Charles McKenzie In the same ye[...]owever, the elder Henry (1809, p. 298) described a quite different stone-headed weapon In use among mounted A88inlboln In 1776. "In using It the stone ts whirled round the handle, by a warrior setting on horseback, and attacking at full speed. Every stroke which takes etfect brings down a man, or horse." Carver ( 1838, p. 188 )1 was told of a handleless shock weapon sJmtlarly employed by mounted warriors of the northeastern PlaJ.n s a decade earlier. He called it "a stone of mtddllng size curiously wrought, which they fasten by a string, about a yard and a half long, to their right arms, a llttle above the elbow. These stones they conveni[...]the mounted Shoshoni who "dashed at the Peeagans, and with their stone Pukamoggan knocked tl.iem on the head,'' In the earliest encounters of the Black.toot with a mounted enemy, used a weapon of this kind or a true war club ca nnot be determJned from this bri[...]p. 330). The weapon variantly described by Henry and Carver, appears to have resembled the bola[...] |
| [...]TURE 203 Piegan and Shoshoni before the former obtained horses. He me[...]at the Shoshoni shields were fully 3 feet across, and those of the Piegan, similarly employed to hide[...]de of the neck of the buffalo bull, shrunken over a fire to a thickness of a half inch or more, trimmed into circular form, and ornamented with painted protective designs and a border of eagle feathers. In native belief the shield's power resided primarily in the medicine paintings and the blessings bestowed upon the shield by medicin[...]e. However, it was sturdy enough to stop an arrow and to deaden or deflect the force of a ball from a muzzle-loading flintlock. The horseman carried the shield on his left arm (if he was right-handed) in such a way as to cover his vital parts, leaving his left hand and right arm free to handle his offensive weapons.[...]t poor men did not possess them. It cost at least a horse to obtain a shield, ceremonially blessed by medicine men. In lieu of a shield the poor man sometimes carried a buffalo robe ( with the hair) folded several time[...]been deprived of an important source of revenue, and the superstitious feelings of the Indians induced[...]wn which alone could undergo religious dedication and enjoy the favor of the Great Spirit." •1[...]EARLY USE OF PROTECTIVE ARMOR Shimkin (1947 a, p. 251) found that the modern Wind l{jver Sho- u The use of a rawhide shield by the Spanish horsemen or old Mex[...]cour- |
| [...], quilted, & without sleeves." He was also shown "a Coat without sleeves six fold leather quilted, us[...]freville (1790, pp. 188-189) stated that the Cree and their enemies (who certainly would have included[...]common enemies of the Blackfoot appears in Lewis and Clark's description of the Lemhi Shoshoni in 1805, "they have a kind of armor like a coat of mail, which is formed of a great many folds of dressed antelope-skins, united by means of a mixture of glue and sand. With this they cover their own bodies and those of their horses, and find it impervious to arrows" ( Coues, 1893, vol.[...]r by any Plains Indian tribe refers to both body and horse types. In 16.90, Tonty (Cox, 1905, p. 55) ,[...]overings of several skins, one over the other, as a protection from |
| [...]05 USE OF THE HORSE AS A SHIELD Wissler (1910, p. 155) reported that t[...]over the back o:f the animal with which to take the Coeur d'Alene, Okanagon, and Flathead of the wearing of elk.hide bodr armor by[...]er the intro- |
| [...][Bull. 159 offensive tactic. It was a display of horsemanship, tremendously The ceremonies following the return of a successful scalp raid also |
| [...]e. 'l'his was done by stretching each scalp upon a hoop, the hoop being attached to a small pole, six or eight feet long, a separate pole for each scalp. Each pole is borne by a squaw, usually a relative of the warrior who took it, who leads in the dance, the warriors and squaws all arrayed in their best attire following her in single file in a circle of a size proportioned to the number of dancers. The step of the dance is little more than a march in quick time, to the music of a song peculiar to the dance. Where the number of[...]rings are formed in different parts of the tent and the dance is frequently kept up with intervals o[...]en days. [Bradley, 1923, pp. 269-270.] 60 If a member of a raiding party had had a brother, a son, or other close relative killed by the enemy[...]revenge. Informants said it was common for such a man to cut off the hand of the enemy, pierce a hole in it, pass a cord through the hole and tie the trophy to the bridle of his horse. Thus[...]camp. The hand was carried in the scalp dance as a symbol implying that revenge had been taken for[...]ibes, the Blackfeet never f ortifled their camps, and it was rare that they chose them with any refere[...]defense . . . It was not their custom to maintain a guard about the camp either day or night, so that, contrary to popular belief, the surprise of a village was not difficult ... When no danger was apprehended, bands of horses were sometimes driven to a secluded place and left for days together without a guard. It is thus seen why a daring war party could successfully approach within the vicinity of a village and drive off the outlying bands of horses which were ever such a temptation to the enterprising and adventurous brave. [Bradley, 1923, pp. 286-287.][...]nses with my two eldest male informants, Lazy Boy and Weasel Tail. They acknowledged that neither the P[...]They also relied heavily upon their dogs to bark and waken them if enemy raiders entered the camp at night. ,. Both Mulmtllan (1906, vol. 23, 115) and Scllults (1007, p. 223) have written accou[...] |
| [...]l Tail said the Indians could distinguish between a dog's snort- ing at night (which the people termed "barking at spirits") and its barking at approaching strangers. The Blood Indians also knew that Cree raiders had a custom of signaling to each other by coyote howls[...]in view of the fact that their warriors were well a ware of the ineffective- ness of dogs in enemy ca[...]said that if the enemy dogs started barking when a Blackfoot horse-raiding party approached the camp, the raiders backtracked, circled the camp and approached from another direction after the dogs[...]d of any man of his tribe having been bit- ten by a dog while attempting to take horses from an enemy[...]men had been out scouting for game during the day and found signs suggesting that an enemy war party mi[...]lackfoot were more careful. Some band chiefs made a practice of sending out scouts in winter to look[...]an individual lodge watch, (2) construc- tion of a corral or corrals for horses, and (3) organization of an am- bush. THE INDIVIDUAL LODGE WATCH This was a guard, organized on a family basis, usually employed if |
| [...]ssembled." Maximilian (1906, vol. 23, p. 123) saw a horse corral in the Piegan camp near Fort McKenzie in August 1833, which he de- scribed as "a kind of fence of boughs of trees, which contained part of the tents and was designed to confine the horses during the nig[...]n the chief was convinced that the possibility of a raid was great. Often corrals were made of posts set in the ground to a height of about 6 feet, lashed or nailed to crossrails and provided with a crude gate. Two guards were stationed at the corral during the night. Sometimes other guards were placed at a little distance from the corral. The guards were[...]Lazy Boy recalled that Woman Shoe, while guarding a corral in the camp of his band near present Choteau, saw a man approach, take down a gate pole, and rope a horse inside the corral. Woman Shoe challenged him, but the man made no reply. Woman Shoe shot and killed him. Upon close examination the intruder was found to be a Flathead bent on captur- ing Piegan horse..s. Laz[...]of horse corrals by Plains Indians was widespread and can be traced back to the early years of the 19th[...]of corral (Low1e, 1908, p. 208). Although Mandan and Hldatsa custo- marily etabled horses Inside their[...]orses to keep In the lodge built corrals of posts and poles under the drying stage beside the lodge, to[...]ckets In the ground, the same as we do In bnUdlng a stockade ; are circular, with a bole on one side for the lngre s and egress of the animals, which ls securely fastened[...]At the Rc publlcan village known u the Hlll site and believed to hnve been the village visited by Pike fn 1806, the post mold Pattern of a probable bone corral was found by arch eologlsta[...]8, p. 60) ob erved that enemies stole between 400 and CSOO horses from "pens" In the center of the vlJlage of more than 700 lodges of Kiowa, Comanche, Arapaho, and Cheyenne on the Arkansaa, Indicating the e[...] |
| [...]in con- cealment upon the outskirts of the camp, and were vigilant and ef- fective sentinels" (Bradley, 1923, p. 287). W[...]the unsuspecting enemy approached they jumped up and opened fire at close range. Some- times the men in ambush went so far as to picket a fine-looking horse near them to lure some horse-c[...]Schultz ( 1907, pp. 218-222) described in detail a Piegan ambush of a Crow raiding party which resulted in the killing[...]easel Tail said it was customary for the chief of a Blood band, on hearing a gun shot near camp, to order a count of all members of the camp to determine if[...]sent he ordered the horses to be brought in close and a guard set in antici- pation of a possible attack. 114 OWNERSHIP OF H[...]es they were succesful in overtaking "Schultz (1907, p. 30) described a similar Gros Ventres ambu sh witnessed by him ca.[...]that the enemy Is near at hand , or that there is a probabillty of an attack, they |
| [...]he was not obliged to do that. If the owner was a close friend or relative he would be more likely[...]he enemy on their return journey. The literature and many accounts of horse raids told by Blackfoot in[...]ng to the relative numbers of the opposing forces and the terrain. The first impulse of the members of a small party on sighting a superior force seems to have been to run for shel[...]ear. In woods or thick brush they could hold off a superior enemy force and escape when darkness came on. Informants' testim[...]r these conditions. The enemy was loath to pursue a smaller force into wooded areas where the men cou[...]times threw up hastily built breastworks of logs and brush to fur- ther strengthen their position. If the smaller force was overtaken on the open Plains at a distance from timber it hastily dug shallow pits[...]d using knives for excavating. If there were only a few men in the party they made only a single pit. If forced to defend themselves in ope[...]force usually took the offensive. In approaching a for- tified position on foot the members o[...] |
| [...]ttacking force managed to storm the fortification and wipe out the defenders, but not without considera[...]the historic period prior to 1885, warfare caused a heavy drain on Blackfoot population. Although th[...]he ratios between casualties in mod- ern warfare and national populations. There must have been a number of years in which more than 1 percent of the total Piegan population died in battles large and small. - The demonstrable effect of war losses w[...]appear to be about three men to every five women, and yet the births appear in favour of the boys." In[...]t tribes outnumbered the men two or three to one, and attributed this disproportion to war losses (De Smet, 1905, vol. 3, p. 952). Eleven years later A.gent Vaughan estimated 2,060 men and 3,100 women in the four Blackfoot tribes (includi[...]portion between the sexes to losses of men in war and hunting accidents, and added, "This differ- ence in the number of the male and the female doubtless suggested and sustained the prevailing custom of polygamy among[...]s, 1858, pp. 432-433). Thus warfare, which was to a large extent initiated and perpetuated through raiding for horses, in- fluenced both population trends and family organization among the Blackfoot.156[...]The various exploits of war are denominated coups and reflect honor upon their performers according to a certain fixed scale of merit. To capture an enemy's arms ls a coup of the first class; to touch him alive, of t[...]d body or secure his scalp, of the third; to make a successful theft of an enemy's horses, of the fou[...]greater among some of the enemies of the powerful and a ggressive Blackfoot. The small Flathead tribe was greatlY reduced by 1855 (Ewers, 1948 a , p. 23). The Crow, attacked by the more n[...] |
| [...]My older informants agreed that the taking of a weapon, especially a gun, from the enemy was the highest Blackfoot war[...]ke an enemy scalp was the honor of second rank, and to capture a horse from the enemy was one of the third rank.[...]ng the scalp, others did not mention killing as a recognized honor. The Blackfoot system of gra[...]oth the degree of daring displayed by the warrior and upon the relative commonness of performance of t[...]e Blackfeet Reservation in Montana who had taken a gun from an enemy in a hand-to-hand combat. There were three veterans of the intertribal wars who had taken scalps. More than a dozen elderly men had captured enemy horses.[...]fare shows clearly that the scalp was regarded as a valuable war trophy before the introduction of f[...]horse capture to the hierarchy of war honors was a historic innovation. Possibly it replaced the ca[...]ignificance to be memorialized in the painting of a warrior's robe, their capture was not ranked in i[...]the deeds above mentioned. It was considered only a minor honor for a man to be wounded in battle. Nevertheless, a maimed or disabled warrior was well cared for by his people. Lazy Boy told of a young Piegan who was shot in the leg in a fight with the Crow. An Army surgeon at Fort Bent[...]utee returned to camp hls friends gave him horses and a lodge. Fellow members of his band brought food to[...]Capture of enemy horses recelved recognition as a war honor among other Plains Indian tribes 1n the[...]ry, although the r elative ranking of this act as a war honor differed from tribe to tribe. Tabeau (1[...]es. He was permitted to wear hair on his leggings and a string on his arm symbolic of his achievement. Lewis and Cla rk (Cones, 1898, vol. 2, p. 559) understood t[...]es of the enemy" of nearly equal honor to leading a successful war party or scalping an nemy. The Om[...]r of t he fourth rank, Preceded by the capture or a prisoner, strlklng a live enemy, and striking a dead or di s- abled opponent (James, 1828, Toi. 1[...]arded the theft of an enemy horse "as an u:plolt, and u much, nay more honored than the killing of an e[...]agle feathers "to tho11e who have etolen at least a horee from the enemy." |
| [...]ir buffalo robes, lodge linings, or lodge covers. A warrior might call upon another man more skilled[...]record- ings. As Wissler has noted, the taking of a picketed horse was some- times illustrated merely by a representation of a picket pin, while horses taken in an open fight w[...]ys (pl. 12). They were always painted in profile, and generally in solid colors without outlines. The c[...]the captured horse depicted. Red paint signified a bay or sorrel, yellow a buckskin, blue a blue horse, black a black, etc. Pintos were first painted black, then white spots were added. The figures were ex[...]cks about 4 inches long, "pointed at one end like a pencil" served for brushes. Informants believed t[...]iled horse figures painted on skins in the 1880's and later years at the request of white men were the[...]e placed upon warlike deeds in Blackfoot culture, and so obvious were the rewards of successful theft o[...]d young men refrained from participation. When a boy was born it was customary for his father to hold him up toward the sun, and pray, "Oh Sun ! Make this boy strong and brave. May he die in battle rather than from old age or sickness." As he grew older the boy's father and other male relatives pointed out to him the most distinguished warriors at the Sun Dance encampments and recited their deeds of valor to him as an encoura[...]est road to fame. As one elderly informant said, "A young man's best way to get his name up was throu[...]inti ngs of horses neve r ev idenced th e llvel y a ction and decorative quality or th e outlined, polychrome fig ures r endered by Te ton Dakota and Cheyenne artis ts (Ewers, |
| [...]are. Only the physically handicapped, the craven, and some favorite sons of wealthy men whose parents t[...]ho were ambitious to maintain the family prestige and to follow in the footsteps of courageous forebears, joined the sons of poor and middle-class families in r aiding the enemy. |
| [...]baskets, shells, pipes, pipestone, flat wallets, and horses, and probably bows and saddles to the Blackfoot. In the fall of 1846, Father De Smet made a peace between the Flathead and Piegan. During the brief period this peace was in[...]everal months after conclusion of the peace, made a drawing of Blackfoot-Flathead trading opera- tion[...]ading activities such as were typical of the Crow and village tribes on the Upper Missouri in the early[...]n were primarily members of the Small Robes band, a group traditionally friendly to the Flathe[...] |
| [...]nge for skin lodges, guns, Hudson's Bay blankets, and quilled or beaded, weaselskin fringed suits. The Piegan gave a 12- or 14-skin lodge for the best Flathead horse.[...]elves. There was also some trade between Piegan and Nez Perce in the last decade of buffalo days, dur[...]to trade their fine Appaloosas, but did part with a few for buffalo products. They were in need of buffalo robes and gave a horse for as few as four robes. They gave 5 or 6 horses for a buffaloskin lodge, and 1 horse for a braided rawhide rope, or for 2 parfleches filled with dried meat plus a buffalo calfskin.[...]ckfoot tribes. THE HORSE AS A STANDARD OF VALUE Actually the horse was a very flexible standard of value. The worth |
| [...]sed markedly in com- parison with other items. A third factor encouraged flexibility in horse values. Rich men, as a rule, were expected to pay more dearly for what t[...]ge Blackfoot might give no more than 2 horses for a dress shirt and leggings in the youth of my informants, a rich man would be expected to show his generosity[...]JUDGMENT OF HORSES The Blackfoot were keen and careful horse traders. In many in- |
| [...]ue in trade with fur traders in the United States and was employed in intratribal transactions as well.[...]er obtained 2 good horses in exchange for 16 head and tail buffalo robes. Several informants regarded t[...]for 1 horse as fairly common in the late sixties and seventies. Yet Weasel Head remembered a trade of two large thin, well-tanned robes for a "good horse." 61 HORSE VALUE IN WEAPONS Chewing Black Bones claimed a ''good horse" was exchanged for In my informants' youth the Piegan gave a horse for a horned bon- |
| [...][Bull. Ui9 feathers, enough to make a feather bonnet, were worth "the best Grinnell stated that the Blackfoot valued a woman's dress profusely HORSE-PIPE RELATIVE VALUES Weasel Head and others claimed the Piegan sometimes e.xchanged a Crow ca. 1854. He reported a sk1n sh.l rt and leggings garnished wtth human hair and or 80 elk teeth. In 1833 Maxlmlllan (1906, vol. 23, pp. 289, 262) reported Mandan trade |
| [...]tion Period when horses were much more plentiful and much less valuable than in buffalo days. Prolong[...]ost highly valued Blackfoot medicine bundles were and still are the medicine pipe, the natoas ( or Sun Dance) bundle, and the beaver bundle. Bradley ( in the 1870's) stat[...]ers involving pay- ments of as little as 1 horse and a number of buffalo robes and as much as 10 horses. Green Grass Bull claimed the owner of one medicine pipe had been told in a dream to ask no more than 7 horses for it. However, at the turn of the century it was not uncommon for a Piegan to give 30 or more horses to gain possession of a medicine pipe bundle. Informants' testimony corro[...]they now often go for thirty head" (Wissler, 1912 a, p. 277). Thirty-nine horses was remembered as the top price paid for a medicine pipe bundle by a Piegan. However, Goldfrank (1945, pp. 29, 45) was[...]4-19U>, although it was transferred for 20 horses and other goods in 1939. Lazy Boy claimed there we[...]over 30 horses. Goldfrank (1945, p. 45) reported a payment of 10 horses, 1 heifer, a set of harness and a saddle for the Blood natoas bundle in 1929.[...]dead. The Blackfoot rarely killed hor es for food and virtually never killed them to obtain mate[...] |
| [...]ing that practice to the neighboring Gros Ventres and Cree. They claimed their people loved horses too[...]rse raids west of the Rockies sometimes strangled a captured colt and ate it rather than risk being overtaken by the en[...]called instances of hungry Piegan raiders killing and eating colts under similar circumstances. During[...]USE OF HORSEHIDE Deerhides and horsehides were favored by the Blackfoot for |
| [...]68 In my informants' youth older people skinned and tanned the hide of a year old colt that had died for use as a medicine bundle wrapping. They believed this wrap[...]haking water on hot rocks to produce steam in the Black- foot sweat lodge was made of a horse's tail bound to a wooden handle (fig. 30, a). Horse tails served as tipi decorations only if[...]known as the chest- nut, was cut away, powdered, and mixed with powdered plant ma- terials to make a perfume which was rubbed on clothing to give it a pleasant odor.69 HO[...]e said some men believed it would bring |
| [...][Bull.1~9 a USE OF HORSB MANURE The maµure of a newborn colt was used as a yellow paint rubbed |
| [...]THE HORSE IN RECREATION The horse played a prominent role in the leisure time activities FIGURE 31.-Black:foot girl playing "moving camp," with a conventionalised stick |
| [...]Bull. 159 Lazy Boy recalled that when he was a small boy he and his sister |
| [...]~ FIGURE 32.-Construction and use of a child's hobbyhorse, Blackfoot. Lazy Boy said[...]ndoned play with toy horses for the more serious |
| [...]heir first horses. The earliest description of a Blackfoot horse race refers to one held in the combined Blackfoot, Blood, Piegan, Sarsi, and Gros Ventres camp, seen by Paul Kane on June 1, 1[...]he trader William T. Ham- ilton briefly described a match race between horses of the Crow and Piegan witnessed by him in 1858 (Hamilton, 1900, pp. 66-68). J. Wil- lard Schultz described a match race between horses owned by Piegan and Kutenai ca. 1878 (Schultz, 1907, pp. 134-136). Th[...]nts. RACEHORSES A winning race horse was the most valuable horse a Blackfoot INTRATRIBAL AND INTERTRIBAL HORSE RACES Although the Blackfoot participated in both intratribal and inter- |
| [...]en the various Blackfoot men's societies in games and sports. These included the hoop and pole game, the hand or stick game, foot racing, and horse racing. Although there was no estab- lish[...]mple, members of one society lost to another in a hand game one evening, they might challenge the winning society to a horse race the following day. Detailed descriptions by five in- formants (both Piegan and Blood) revealed that the challenge was issued according to a set procedure. The society wishing to make the c[...]he had dressed when he counted coup on an enemy and decorated his horse as it had appeared at that time. He made a round of the camp on horseback, rode up to the lo[...]iety, sang his personal war song, lifted his gun and fired at the lodgepoles just above their crossing. Then he shouted his society's challenge to a horse race. The rival society's leader, upon hearing the challenge, rushed out of his lodge, gun in hand, and fired his weapon in the air, shouting his accepta[...]h boast as, "I killed an enemy, knocked him down and scalped him. You are not going to scalp me." The[...]t day the leader of the challenged society called a meeting of its members. They chose a delegation to visit the leader of the challeng- i[...]leaders of the two societies there generally .was a great deal of joking and bantering back and forth before· they settled down to the business[...]for the race. Then they decided upon the location and distance of the course, time of the race, the horses to be run, and the starters and judges. Intersociety races were almost always[...]rse would win all the bets. The course usually wa a f irly le 1 stretch of plain near the encampment, permi ing th runnin of th race on a raightway. Howev r, occasions w r r m mb r d h n[...]h r was run from the starting point around a low di nt hill nd b k to the starting poin[...] |
| [...]the hill out of sight of the crowd at the start and finish mark. The distance to be run always was me[...]istance was "about as far as you could barely see a horse on the open plain." Some courses were longe[...]point could be seen from the finish only through a spy glass. Generally the distance was from 2 to 4[...]hat Blackfoot horse races generally were run over a course of "three or :four miles" (Brad- ley, 1923, p. 276). There was a strict rule requiring each horse entered by a society to be the property of a member of that society. Usually each society had[...]ses. The greatest precaution was taken to prevent a horse medicine man from coming near the race hors[...]the method of selection of the jockeys. Some said a jockey was selected by the owner of the race horse. Others claimed the society as a body chose the jockey. However, it is clear that[...]in races. Jockeys usually wore only breechclouts and tied their hair behind their heads to keep it fro[...]r faces. Gen- erally they rode bareback with only a war bridle (a two-reined raw- hide rope looped once about the horse's lower jaw) and a whip to control the horse. The finish line of the race was sometimes just a furrow scraped in the earth across the course. At[...]finish line where the crowd gathered to view them and place bets on their favorites. Betting usually wa[...]horses bet against each other were tied together and held by some lad. Guns, robes, blankets, and food were common stakes. A man might wager his pad saddle against another's bow, arrows, and |
| [...]n the outcome of races. However, the winner of a painted lodge was required to submit to the cerem[...]e lodge, he was expected to give the former owner a horse at the time of formal transfer. On the other hand, if it was discovered that the loser of a painted lodge attempted to hold back any sacred a[...]at lodge, the winner might rub his face in manure and the loser would have no cause for anger. Before[...]iles of articles wagered stood near the finish. A man might risk any or all of his material posse[...]ves on horse races, both Bradley (1923, p. 276) and my informants denied this was ever done. My informants claimed a man did not bet any of his wife's personal prop[...]ing point (as- suming the race was to be run on a straightaway) members of the competing societies drummed, sang their society songs, and engaged in good-natured horse play, pretending t[...]heir coups against members of the rival society. A man who had taken a scalp in war would run up to a member of the rival society, knock him down, and pretend to scalp him. If a man had stolen a horse of the same color and appearance as one entered in the race by the rival society he might cry out, "I stole a horse like that one of yours; I had complete powe[...]way down the course, they walked their horses in a wide circle, side by side, around the starters.[...]the starters gave the verbal signal "Ok'i" (now), and the jockeys whipped their horses into a run. Lazy Boy said races sometimes were started by a shot from a gun instead of a verbal signal. The starter, in that case, must have been a man who had shot an enemy in warfare. If the star[...]ow the race was progressing, two horsemen, one on a dark- and one on e. light-colored horse, each representing[...]the lead at that point would weave his horse back and forth. There were two judges at the finish, o[...]e was nothing to judge, for the winning hor e was a hundred yards or more in the lead. Not inf[...] |
| [...][Bull. um played out and was unable to finish. Rarely was it a close race all the way. Then it was the judge's duty to determine the winner. They might agree upon a winner, disagree and start an argument, or de- clare the race a tie. In the last instance, the leaders of the two[...]the_race that day after the horses had rested for a while, or whether the race would be re-run at som[...]claimed the articles they won in the betting. If a loser became angry because he thought the race ha[...]nest, men of the winning society.knocked him down and rubbed dirt or manure on him. With the winning horse in the lead, members of the winning society formed a procession back to camp. They proceeded once arou[...]care of an old man, who tied it outside the lodge and sang to it. That night members of the winning society sang, danced, and rejoiced until a late hour. When all returned to their lodges afte[...]losing society might challenge the winning one to a foot race or other contest. That challenge was less :formal than the horse-race challenge. Members of a society who had just lost a horse race con- sidered it a good time to organize a raiding party in quest of a better horse in an enemy camp-one that would enab[...]the tables on their rivals the next year. Chewing Black Bones told of the per- sistent attempts of one society to capture a fast race horse. The a~- tion occurred in his youth. A member of a Piegan society that had been beaten in a horse race told his friends, "I am going to get a horse from the enemy that will beat that winner." He took a big, fast bay from the Crow. But it was beaten the next year. Then he went to the Gros Ventres and captured a little gray horse. When the re- turning party was far enough from the Gros Ventres camp to rest and divide the horses, they raced the horses they bad[...]us. You set the distance." Their rivals, thinking a long course would tire the little gray horse, proposed a longer distance than was usually run. Most Plegan[...]se was stlll holding htm back, while his rival on a big bay was whipping his mount hard. Then the rider on the little gray horse gave him the whip. He won by a long distance. |
| [...]S BETWEEN BLACKFOOT TRIBES Lazy Boy described a race between horses owned by a Piegan and a |
| [...]ll. 159 Schultz (1907, pp. 134-136) described a match race between a |
| [...]235 HORSE RACING AMONG OTHER PLAINS AND PLATEAU TIUBES Although horse racing was an[...]mation on this topic. |
| [...]Indians' preference for long races. Endurance was a quality the Plains Indians required of their war and hunting horses. It should not seem strange that t[...]p. 95-96). HORSE SYMBOLISM IN INTERSOCIETY HOOP AND POLE GAMES The series of competitions between[...]es |
| [...]s own past war deeds. One might call out, "I took a white horse from the Flathead. I shall shoot for the white beads." The other might declare, "I took a sorrel horse from the Crow. I shoot for the red beads." It was thought that if a player lied in declaring his coup he would sure[...]Some men preferred to roll it so they would have a better know ledge of its speed and course. Others preferred to let their opponent roll the hoop and concentrated their attention upon throwing the p[...]rrow. Then the roller lifted the hoop to the sun and rolled it toward the log at the far end of the course. Both men ran after it and cast their poles before the hoop struck the log.[...]e the winning point was scored. Each society had a judge stationed at each end of the course, to de[...]ntioned the horse symbolism of beads in the hoop and pole games played between Blackfoot so- cieties.[...]symbolized, the several informants (both Piegan and Blood) who de- scribed this game to me did not k[...]fact. Blackfoot tradi- tions claim that the hoop and pole game was known to these Indians long before[...]f the game between N api, the Blackfoot trickster and creator, and a Kutenai on the Oldman River in the dateless past. They played for control of the buffalo. Napi won, and "that is why there were no buffalo west of the Ro[...](1916, p. 359) re- ported the playing of the hoop and pole game by the Piegan before 1800, although he[...]n my informants' youth many young men played hoop and pole simply as a gambling game. Such games were less form al than[...]ts. There was no counting of coups prior to play, and the contestants simply denoted their targets by t[...]on of hoi;se symbolism into the intersociety hoop and |
| [...][Bull. 159 pole game was a historic modification of a game played by the Black- pole game among the North American Indians, anot[...]is (1940, pp. 94-96) said the Flat- |
| [...]HORSES AS STAKES IN GAMBLING Games and gambling were almost synonymous among the Black- |
| THE HORSE AS A FACTOR IN SOCIAL RELATIONS SOCIAL STATUS A century and a half ago David Thompson (1916, p. 363) observed A man who owned some 40 or more horses was consider[...]l |
| [...]t- ing surplus foods, one or more large lodges, and many other bulky possessions. His surplus of ro[...]posts for the most improved weapons, metal tools and household utensils, ornaments and trade cloth. He and members of his family dressed well. They owned several changes of clothing including expensive and elaborately decorated dress outfits. Their saddles and riding gear were well made and showy. He possessed the means to purchase member[...]ant sacred bundles through ceremonial transfers, and to pay leading medicine men to care for sick mem[...]medicine woman in the Sun Dance of the tribe. He and his sons could marry well, could have a large choice of mates and could support several wives. Before he died he could make a verbal will dividing his wealth among his childre[...]breeding stock he could increase his horse herds and hence his wealth. Yet he lived in constant fear o[...]raiding party. His father died not long afterward and friends said his death was due to his grief over[...]tolen animals or to his feeling of loss of status and lowered standard of living after the horses were[...]of his family. It was re- membered by Three Calf, a descendant of that chief: Don't put all your w[...]ine, clean clothing, good weapons, sacred bundles and other valuable goods. Then, if some enemy takes a[...]obtain the horses you need. Call in the son of a man who owns a lot of fine horses. Offer the lad some- thing valuable-a shield, a beautiful suit of clothes or some sacred object.[...]which to start your herd anew. You know that when a man seeks to ob- tain n bundle or other valuable[...]s rirnls as well as his relatives, knows about it and watches to see what he is offering in exch[...] |
| [...][Bull. 159 So he will make a show of liberality by offering the best horses he[...]robes, guns or other articles. |
| [...]t imperceptibly into the wealthy class at the top and the poor class at the bottom. Loss of a portion of their herd from an enemy raid could reduce many a middle-class family to poverty.[...]lodges discarded by wealthy owners, cut down to a size the poor people could transport. The poor[...]easily recognized by the smallness of its lodge and the shabby appearance of its clothing, transport gear, household utensils, and weapons. Generally the poor owned no fancy dress clothing. Their parfleches were old, worn, and greasy; their rectangular rawhide bags unfringed[...]d one, was generally an old muzzle-loader, broken and tied to- gether with buckskin cord. Undoubte[...]t he did not starve. Yet he realized that he made a poor appearance among his people and that he owned none of the desirable possessions of members of the upper and middle classes. His self- respect suffered throu[...]urchase important sacred bundles or membership in a society. His desires and opinions carried no weight in decisions involving band and tribal movements. His marriage prospects were ver[...]t than among the majority of other nomadic tribes and the horticul- tural tribes as well. 77 Ferris[...]kies prior to 1835, stated : 17 Dorsey and Murie (1940, p. 115), estimated that the poor am[...]ut Influ ence or power, their lodges were smalJer and not so completely furnished, th ey bad few or no[...]rved tbnt among the Osage "there are poor people; and those who are poor have no ho1'8et!, no me[...] |
| [...]of the poorer classes, who do not possess horses, and are consequently unable to follow the buffalo in the prairies, ascend the mountains where deer, and sheep are numerous, and pass their lives in single families-are never vis[...]men of the plains, but sometimes descend to them, and exchange the skins of those animals for robes, and other articles of use and ornament. Probably Ferris was re:ferring to horseless Shoshoneans. N everthe- less, Alexander Henry (Henry and Thompson, 1897, vol. 2, p. 723) in describing the[...]along the foot of the monntains, where they kill a few beavers, and being industrious, they are of course better prov[...]e ancestors of the North Piegan who now reside on a separate reserve west of Macleod, Alberta. The "North Piedgans" were named as a distinct band in 1850 (Culbertson, 1851, p. 144). In late buffalo days they still held thefr own S'un Dance and were recognized as skilled hunters and trappers of small game. Although by Henry's time these Indians were profiting from the fur trade and no longer appeared poor in comparison with the ot[...]wealthy. Overnight, as result of an enemy raid or a severe winter storm the rich man might lose his w[...]rtunity for the poor boy, who was also courageous and ambitious, to better his status. As Wissler (1912[...]he warpath, captured horses, bought fine clothes, and medicine bundles and become leaders among their people." Informants sa[...]y age, were frequent participants in horse raids, and were inclined to take the most desperate chances. A few of these men became wealthy, many became resp[...]never were suc- cessful in acquiring many horses, and others lost their lives in skir- mishes with the[...]m rags to riches via the horse- capture route was a long and perilous one. |
| [...]ancement for the poor boy was through service to a wealthy man, in caring for his horses, and helping him in hunting in return for his own food and care. Orphans commonly were taken into this service ( Grinnell, 1892, p. 219). Adoption into a family of wealth and distinction offered another means of advancement for the poor boy. Three Calf cited the case of a little boy found by Boy, a chief of the Small Robes band of Piegan, in an a[...]ared for Boy's horses. Later he helped in hunting and went on horse-raiding parties. He was successful in taking enemy horses and once took a gun from an enemy. He began to raise a herd of his own. He married a girl of good family, set up a medium-sized lodge, and raised fine pinto horses. He began to acquire the best of clothing and horse gear. Finally, after he had acquired 2 wives and some 30 or more horses, he became a subchief of the Small Robes band. As an old man h[...]efactor, Boy. The practice of medicine offered a specialized medium of advance- ment for young women as well as men. A number of highly respected women practitioners were remembered by informants. Through their own visions and/or the teachings of established doctors young people learned the use of various medicinal plants and techniques of their administration. The person wh[...]ble to demand payments for his services in horses and other valuables. Some men and women were able to better their condition through[...]s or her skill in crafts. However, there were men and women of the middle class whose incomes were materi- ally enhanced through their ability to manufacture bows and arrows or pipes of high quality ( in the case of men), or lodges, clothing, riding and transport gear ( in the case of women) . Many fin[...], p. 22) properly considered the band "the social and political unit" among the Blackfoot. In 1856, Bl[...]d into bands, which are governed or led by either a chief or a band-leader, the former office is hereditary, the latter depends upon the bravery of the individual and his success in war" (U. S. Comm. of Ind. A[...] |
| [...]lackfoot chieftancy in the 1870's, is more exact and detailed : The position of a chief was neither hereditary nor elective, but wh[...]distinction sought to be conspicuous for energy and daring in war, intelligence in council, and liberality in giving feasts and providing tobacco for the guests of his lodge. Th[...]re than ordin~ry degree would win him the respect and confidence of one after another of his band, who were ready to follow his guidance and accept his council. When this point was reached he began to have in- fluence and be regarded as a leader or chief. Practice in obtaining popularity was usually productive of skill in retaining it, and once a chief the distinction was pretty certain to attach for life. The greatness or authority of a chief depended wholly upon his popularity, upon the proportion of the tribe whose confidence could be won and adhesion secured. The number of chiefs that might be in a band was dependent simply upon the number who cou[...]s system did not necessarily array the members of a band into opposing factions, for several chiefs m[...]all. But besides the general respect in which a chief was held he had his purely personal followers, consisting usually of his relatives and nearer friends. [Brad- ley, 1923, pp. 280-281.][...]ors among the Blackfoot, Grinnell (1892, p. 219) and Wissler (1911, pp. 22-23), con- firm Bradley's k[...]rship were (1) an outstanding, proved war record and (2) a reputation for generosity. Some contended that no man was recognized as a band chief unless he had taken a gun from the enemy in hand-to-hand combat, the highest war honor. Lazy Boy could recall a single excep- tion to this requirement among the[...]as not out- standing. He brought home many horses and distributed them lib- erally among the members of his band. He was very generous and well liked, and became a band chief by popular demand. It is certain t[...]that men who rose to power in the band were brave and experienced warriors qualified to lead in the formulation of plans for the protection of the band and revenge of enemy action against it. In an atmosph[...]means of secondary importance in the selection of a band chief. A stingy warrior was not recognized in spite[...] |
| [...]is how you get your leadership. When people want a chief they select a good hearted man." 78 To dispense patronage the ambitious man required a degree of wealth. Probably this helps to explain[...]hieftaincy -appeared to run in families. Provided a member of a chief's family had a good war record he possessed a distinct advantage in the reputation of his famil[...]elder brother. The Blackfoot band, the social and political unit throughout the greater part of the year, was a fluid organization. Both the number of bands and the membership of each was subject to almost cont[...]neous. Heavy losses attendant upon war casualties and severe epidemics necessitated combinations and regroupings of bands, to provide camps of sufficient strength to withstand and revenge enemy attacks~ Population growth tended t[...]since ca. 1840-50) it has become not uncommon for a man and his family, or even two or three families, on acc[...]f the chief of their own gens (band), to leave it and join another band. Thus the gentes (bands) often[...]he situation was similar among the Southern Ute, "A man would be wanted for chief if he gave[...] |
| [...][Bu)]. 150 who seemed to be most able and willing to supply them with their |
| [...]ncy has descended in the family of Seen-from-Afar and Red Crow to the present (1951) chief, Shot-on-Bot[...]hief rose to office through distinction gained as a prominent band chief. The basic requirements of out- standing war record and generosity, therefore, were essential to his adva[...]ved indirectly -to limit the power of both tribal and band chiefs in intertribal relations. Older chiefs, who had amassed con- siderable wealth, and who no longer went to war themselves, would lose[...]arital opportunities of the poor were restricted. A boy of a poor family, who was not very ambitious, had little chance of marriage except to a girl of his own social class. However, the father of a girl of rather loose morals, "who chased around w[...]er," might tell her, "You marry that poor fellow, and settle down." There were also orphan girls in cam[...]ontracted between persons of nearly equal status. A poor young man who had been successful in amassing a herd of 8 or 10 horses might be recognized as a young man with a future and might marry into a family of higher status. On the other hand, a wealthy man was besieged with offers of the daugh[...]resented any implication of bride purchase in the Black- foot marriage ceremony, insisting there was an exchange of gifts between the families of the bride and groom. This exchange of gifts has been men[...] |
| [...][Bull. 159 (1923, pp. 272-273) and Grinnell (1892, pp. 211-216). The initial |
| [...]ackfoot. 81 THE HORSE IN PUNISHMENT OF CIVIL AND CRIMINAL OFFENSES Bradley ( 1870's) reported[...]er grade were purely private wrongs for which the Black- |
| [...]ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 15!) a written code of laws, April 23, 1875. A copy of this code is in the |
| [...]ULTURE 253 Rape, selling of a daughter, wife, mother, sister or other woman to[...]other Indian; theft or sale of horses stolen from a white man; and the buying, selling, or keeping of intoxicating l[...]at to kill) payment of the fine in "horses, robes and peltries" was specified. These were the Indian po[...]document. THE HORSE IN SOCIETY ORGANIZATION AND CEREMONIES Green Grass Bull cited a Piegan tradition to the effect that the |
| [...]ckfoot personal names, stated, "The use of horses and the capture of horses from other tribes having been a prominent :feature of their life, it was but natural that the word horse was used in a great variety of name combinations." Actually a study of two extended lists of names of male signers of important documents reveals a limited use of personal names including the word[...]rt-Buffalo-Horse First Rider Black-Horse-Rider Many-White-Horses[...]he same list includes 94 names referring to birds and animals other than the horse, including 22 buffalo names and 17 bear names. Bird names alone totaled 33. Eighteen names referred to guns and/or their use (Agreement etc., 1896, pp. 23-27).[...]Many-White-Horses Bob-Riding-Black-Horses Riding-in-the-Door Day Rider Owns-Di:fferent-Horses Black Horses Charles Goodrider Mik[...]e Blood list includes 70 names referring to birds and animals other than the horse, including 16 buffalo names, 12 wolf, and 11 eagle names (Wilson, 1921, pp. 38-40). Both[...]were recorded after Agency rolls were established and family .surnames were fixed in the early R[...] |
| [...]255 hers of earlier generations was a check upon the coining of new names and tended to perpetuate the old ones from generation[...]cKenzie in the summer of 1833. It was the name of a band chief in the mid-19th century, and was assumed by the Gros Ventres boy whom that chi[...]her of the young artist, Calvin Boy, who executed a number of the illustrations in this publication.[...]s denoting· that fact. Examples were Many Horses and Many White Horses, prominent Piegan. It appears certain, however, that Black- foot acquisition and use of horses did not strongly influence their pat- tern of name selection. Names referring to wild animals and birds of the Blackfoot Country have continued to[...]HORSES AS GIFTS Because of its value and usefulness the Blackfoot considered a horse a Tixier (1940, p. 200) . observed a slmllar action among the Osage In 1840. When a |
| [...]Starr School, Old Agency, Browning, etc.) to give a social dance periodically to which those of other[...]ad received gifts when visiting other communities and felt duty-bound to make presents in return. 84[...]ses commonly were given at these times by wealthy and many .middle-class men. Relatives presented gifts to the first child of a marriage. Presents were-given to the man or woman[...]his son had learned to ride was the recipient of a horse, a robe, or other gifts. It was customary for warrio[...]aids to give away some of the ani- mals captured. A warrior whose name was changed :following a successful scalp raid commonly gave a horse to the older man who performed the naming ceremony in his honor. A specialized form of give-away by relatives of a deceased man is described on page 288. 85 Payme[...]of Indian doctors were not uncommon in his youth. A stingy man who had paid for the treatment of a relative mjght demand his horses back if the patient died. 86 81 The give-away was a widespread Plains Indian custom. Tixier (1940, p.[...]p. 1-8). remarked that the Arapaho considered it a greater honor to present a horse to a stranger than to another Arapaho. 83 G[...]st buffalo. Kroeber mentioned Arapaho presents of a horse to the man who pierced a child's ears (Kroeber, 1902-7, pp. 18-19). 88[...]erality was encouraged by Crow belief that should a person be niggardly in his payments the pa[...] |
| [...]INE CULT Horse medicine (ponokamita saam) was and still is considered the |
| [...]entury Wolf Calf was the leader. In recent years, and until his death, Wallace Night Gun held that position. ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE PIEGAN HORSE MEDICINE CULT Wallace Night Gun and most older informants regarded Wolf Calf, |
| [...]n-Different-Brush, appeared to him in his dream, and said, "Father, tell that man to let me alone. Don't let him abuse me any more. Help me and I shall give you great power that you can use all[...]"Don't harm that horse any more. I'll catch him and break him." Wolf Calf broke the stallion and always was careful to treat him well, petting him and giving him special attention. About a year later the stallion again appeared to Wolf Calf in a dream. "Father," he said, "I am grateful for your kindness to me. I want to repay you. You will always have a lot of horses. Wherever you are I shall be with y[...]after that he saw paint on it. The horse grew old and Wolf Calf continued to dream of it. It became so[...]Then Wol! Calf cut some of the dead horse's mane and the soft chestnut from one leg and kept them in a bundle in his lodge as a remembrance of his favorite horse. Wolf Calf felt badly and continued to think of that horse. A few months later he had a dream in which the wild horse he had kept in his[...]t kill me, but let me go. Father, I am Sitting-on-a-Hill. I shall give you my power. I'll give you al[...]for the first time. "I have dreamed of this power a long time. Through my horses and these men I was given secret power. I am going to[...]ater Wolf Calf was watching horses grazing beside a river. As he approached he saw them pawing with their forefeet, digging up roots. He found a root partly unearthed and picked it up. It was about 6 inches long. When he[...]s root you found will be good for many things. If a horse is sick take some of this root, grind it into a powder and mix it with sage. Then give it to the sick horse. Put it in water, throw the horse down and let him drink it. The horse will be able to eat and you will save it." Then Wolf Calf gave another dance and gathered the people around. He told them of his new power. They agreed, "This is a very powerful dance." Wolf Calf tried all the[...]was told of in dreams. Some were for sickness. If a man couldn't eat, a certain root would restore his appetite. If someone felt lazy a little powdered medicine would make him feel energetic again. There was also a medicine to turn a fine day into a raging blizzard or to make rain come on a dry day. Then Wolf Calf told the people, "If a[...]secret horse dance. It will pull him through. If a war party is surrounded by the enemy and one of that party vows to give me a feast and invite me to dance, that man will escape u[...] |
| [...]d then began to have dreams of horse medicine. He and Wolf Calf decided to pool their know ledge. Lazy[...]Child's primary contribution was his discovery of a medicine for stimulating an exhausted horse. Lazy[...]oy (born ca.1848), the Gros Ventres brought up by a Piegan chief. Boy dreamed of a whip and a rope. These sacred articles were added to the leader's bundle and have been em- ployed in the horse dance ceremony[...]of his power to Stingy, the blind man renowned as a breeder of horses, who in turn transferred at least a part of his paraphernalia, "the double whip," to[...]lso transferred some of his power to White Grass, a band chief. In his last illness Fish Child gave his power to his son, Black Coyote (born ca. 1831). Weasel Head (who died in[...], by giving him one of the plumes from his bundle and explaining how it could be used to bring stormy w[...]capture horses. Wolf Calf also gave some medicine and a plume to Iron Shield. Little Plume received some of Wolf Calf's medicine, and shortly before his death gave it to his brother,[...]father, Wolf Calf, carefully taught him the songs and ritual of the horse dance and the uses of some horse medicines. Wolf Calf inten[...]cred horse medicine bundle. There was an argument and Mike Short Man and White Antelope split the bundle. White Antelope l[...]living) should be given some of the paraphernalia and medicines. This was done. When Mike- |
| [...]ed this bundle, said to contain paints, feathers, and some horse medicines. These data indicate that[...]originated in the visions of one man, Wolf Calf, and was elaborated by the con- tributions of at least[...]ers were transferred to many other men. There was a tendency for them to be transferred in fullblood[...]nt years the posses- sion of horse medicine songs and paraphernalia, entitling the owner at attend and participate in the horse dance, has been coveted,[...]wn. In the early 1940's, only Wal- lace Night Gun and Phillip Arrowtop were thought to be capable of us[...]urpose of curing sick humans. That this is not a comprehensive history of the Piegan horse medi- c[...]scoveries. My eldest male informants, Lazy Boy and Weasel Tail, claimed that Water-Old-Man, a Blood Indian, older than vVolf Calf, possessed and used horse medicine before Wolf Calf originated t[...]n the Blood tribe, as among the Piegan, there was a tendency for horse medicine power to be transferr[...]bered practitioners in that tribe, Water-Old-Man and Owner-of-a- Sacred-White-Horse, were said to have bee[...] |
| [...]three Blackfoot tribes. Scraping White told of a contest between Water-Old-Man, the noted Blood practitioner, and Berry Eater, a leading North Black- foot horse medicine man, which took place in his[...]ive powers by racing on horseback over the ice of a frozen river. Members of both tribes placed bets on the outcome of the race. Water-Old-Man rode a buckskin, Berry Eater a sorrel. Neither horse was an ex- perienced racer.[...]er-Old-Man's horse finished strong, won the race, and the Blood Indians collected their winnings. Probably this was the contest referred to by Wissler (1912, a, p. 111). TRANSFER OF HORSE MED[...], in the life- |
| [...]f his power by singing the songs of that medicine and the sleight-of-hand performance just described. I[...]ow- ever, the horse dance has served primarily as a ceremony for curing sick humans. Invitations t[...]ce were extended to recognized horse medicine men and to medicine pipe men who possessed horse medicine songs by presenting each with a feather from the leader's bundle (pl. 16, A, a). The person who requested the ceremony was respo[...]stribution he chewed some of his horse medi- cine and blew some of it on the feathers, then toward the messenger. Then he told him who was to receive each feather and reminded him that on presenting the feather he was to tell the recipient only the place and time of meeting. I£ a man failed to attend after receiving a feather, he must, on the next day, tie a rock to it and throw it into a lake or stream to avoid bad luck. The leader later added a new feather to the bundle to replace the one thus[...]cts of the ritual :furnished by Wallace Night Gun a few days later.88 The horse dance was performed on that occasion in the combined living room and kitchen of the frame home o:f my interpreters, Reuben and Cecile Black Boy, in the Moccasin Flat section of Browning on[...]attended, stating that they were not cult members and hence did not think it proper that they should at[...]roper ceremonial context. There were less than a dozen witnesses other than the participants. Among them was a young woman who had been in poor health all 88[...]at Red Plume, W lssler 's ln for mnn t, w:u1 no t a member .of tll e h or se medi cin e cnlt. |
| [...]ughly 12 feet wide by 25 feet long, extending in a general north-south direction. "'Val- lace Night[...]was flanked by members of the cult, 6 in number, and one medicine-pipe owner who had been invited to attend. They formed a wide arc :facing north. In the center of the west wall stood the wood stove, and opposite it on the floor in front of the east wa[...]in front of Night Gun. The assistant first spread a square piece of cloth on the floor and emptied a sack o:f fine gray earth upon it. Following the leader's instructions he smoothed the earth into a flat circular area about 30 inches in diameter with a cylindrical red-painted stick, 7 inches in length, from the leader's bundle (pl. 16, A, f). He then carefully picked out all the bits of[...]Next, the leader told him to draw the outline of a square in the earth with the stick. He marked out a square a little over a foot on a side and ran a line in a north-south direction down the center of the squa[...]. He then extended from each corner of the square a zigzag furrow in the earth more than 6 inches long. Next he made a small depression in the earth about 4 inches nort[...]Night Gun requested the second assistant to take a live coal :from the fire in the wood stove and place it in the depression. This he did with the wooden fire tongs shown on plate 16, A, c. Then he placed sweetgrass on the coal to make a sweet-smelling smudge. Night Gun then handed the first helper a packet of charcoal which he sprinkled evenly over[...]alf of the square so as to blacken it completely, and extended black lines in the two zigzag furrows on the west side. Similarly he colored the east rectangle and the two zigzag furrows on that side with red earth paint. Next Night Gun handed the assistant two red and two black plumes, and he inserted them upright in the four corners of the square, beginning with the northwest corner (black) and continued in a clock- wise order, i. e., northeast (red), southeast (red), and southwest (black). |
| [...]Construction of this ceremonial altar was slow and deliberate. Wallace Night Gun told me Wolf Calf[...]Night Gun said the red rectangle symbolized day and the black one night. The zigzag furrows represented "the th[...]nce they were renewed :from time to time (pl. 16, A, b). The completed altar appeared as sketched in[...]ear the center of the room. In :front of her was a smudge in a tin pan. She made two passes with one hand toward the smudge before drawing longitudinal black lines with charcoal on each tongue, followed by[...]bout 2 inches square. Wallace explained that only a woman who had been given this power could cut the tongues. If no such woman was in attendance at a horse dance, the leader would paint the face of one of the cult member's wives and instruct her in the ritual of tongue cutting. At[...]lled the young woman who had been in poor health, and for whose benefit the ceremony was given, to come to him. She knelt before him, as he uttered a prayer for her welfare. Then he painted her entire face and a band about one-half inch wide around each of her[...]ing the paint with his thumbs. Next he prayed for and painted each of his two assistants and the owner of the medicine pipe bundle who was pre[...]ld me it was customary for those who were blessed and painted to give him presents either before the ce[...]der might also call upon any other wit- ness, not a member of the cult, to come forward to be blessed[...]witnessing the ceremony, listening to the songs, and studying the ritual he might eventually de[...] |
| [...]aring tobacco for the cult members. He placed his knife on the smudge near the altar, then shaved a plug of commercial tobacco and mixed it with dried bear- berry leaves ( a common Blackfoot smoking mixture). The cult mem- bers then passed a pipe, consisting of a plain stem and a small black- |
| [...]inted three stripes of red paint on the inside of a large kettle and placed the tongues in it, making two feints towar[...]fore drop- ping it in the kettle. Water was added and the kettle was placed on the stove to boil. The leader then drew from his bundle a little rawhide cutout fig- ure of a horse in profile, 6½ inches long (pl. 16, B, a). He placed it on the earth south of the rectangular altar. He gave his second as- sistant a red-painted rock about the size of a fist, which the man car- ried to the front door o[...]de two passes at the door frame, then hit it with a resounding rap with the rock, and returned to his place. Night Gun said this was a caution to the horse medicine men never to fall over or bump a rock. There followed praying, singing, and drumming by the horse medi- cine men. This was th[...]d portion of the ritual. First the leader offered a prayer to the spirit of the rawhide horse, then s[...]ied by the beating of three drums held by himself and the two members of the cult nearest him on the le[...]his drum to the man on his left who in turn gave a prayer and sang three medicine songs owned by him. This combination of praying, drumming, and sing- ing was continued until each cult member ha[...]es. Night Gun said that if one of the singers was a new member who possessed only one song he was pri[...]care- fully to the others. The leader might loan a fellow member one of his songs for a particular ceremony, but it "went back to the bun[...]s were repeated many times. Some singers inserted a prayer between each song. At the conclusion of this ritual a meal was served to all persons present. It consisted of bread, crackers, boiled ribs, and coffee. It was then well past midnight. There followed a second session of singing, by the cult members, and after a brief rest, a third session. These were exact duplicates[...] |
| [...]lace Night Gun, the leader, covered his head with a blanket and sang three songs. Then, pipe in hand, he prayed to the spirits of Wolf Calf's horses, Sitting-on-a- Hill and Gone-in-Different-Brush, the horses that had give[...]wer. Night Gun then took from his bundle the mane and chestnut of Wolf Calf's sacred stallion and prayed :for the sick who had requested the ceremony. Then, as other cult members drummed, he rose and danced, holding a braided raw hide rope, noosed at one end, and a whip over his wrist. Both were taken from his bun[...]en he repeated these gestures with his left hand, and again with his right hand extended. Night Gun dan[...]ays facing the altar. The leader then sat down and called upon the tongue cutter to ask if the tongu[...]e the altar. First he picked up the rawhide horse and wrapped it. Then his first assistant removed the plumes from the altar, one at a time, handed them to him, and he wrapped them. Finally he asked :for volunteers to destroy the remainder of the altar. His first assistant and one of the cult members stepped :for- ward with b[...]d about their waists. Night Gun gave each of them a bit of horse medicine which they chewed and rubbed on the soles of their moccasins. The leade[...]ainting three times; on the third time step on it and smash it down flat." In accompaniment to the beat[...]stepped upon the altar, turned their feet upon it and destroyed the painting. Next the leader addres[...]oor opposite the stove. Two women rose, each with a cup in hand, and danced to- ward the kettle on the stove, which ha[...]told them to place three pieces of the tongue in a cup and to set it in front of him. With a stick covered with red paint he speared a piece of tongue, prayed for the sick woman, and gave her the first piece. In succession he removed the other pieces and gave one to each of his assistants. The leader[...]men to take the earth that had composed the altar and the remains of the smudge outside, pray to them, and bury them where people would not step. Next he pi[...]rock, prayed no one would be hurt by stepping on a rock |
| [...][Bull. 159 on the way home and that none of their horse's feet would be harmed l!U Wissler (1912 a, p. 257) 1 hns pointed out the occurrence of dry painting among the Da kota, Ch eyenn e, and Arapah o or the Plains, ns well as among t[...] |
| [...]lf's methods in treating distemper. He first told a young man to throw the afflicted horse down. Then the old man placed a slim wire in a fire until it became red hot and touched it to the horse's nose. Meanwhile his medicine was boil- ing. He threw the horse's head back and poured the medicine down its nose. When the horse was turned loose it sneezed, pus ran from its nose, and it recovered. Wolf Calf did not attempt to treat horses with broken bones. How- ever, Calf Tail, a Blood horse medicine man was a specialist in that treatment. Weasel Tail recalled that Calf Tail once was called upon to doctor a fine horse with a broken leg. He asked the owner to bring him the shank of a buffalo or horse. After receiving the shank, Calf Tail sang a song and rubbed dirt on it. Then he tied the shank to the horse's broken leg and told the boy not to bother it for four (three?) d[...]d of that period Calf Tail washed the horse's leg and the bone tied to it. He untied the bone and rubbed dirt on it. The horse rose and walked away "without even a limp." Weasel Tail recalled two instances of t[...]tle wounds by horse medicine men: Yellow Lodge, a North Blackfoot horse medicine man, rode his hors[...]ines of the Cree enemy three times. The Cree shot and wounded the horse in the chest. After the battle Yellow Lodge dismounted, burned some sage, mak- ing a grea.t deal of smoke, rubbed some horse medicine[...]h sides of the wound where the bullet had entered and left the horse's body. Then he rubbed medicine on his hands and slowly tapped the horse on the kidneys four (thre[...]prove. The last time it pulled away from its rope and began eating grass. The horse recovered completely. Many-Spotted-Horses had a fine animal, Double-Blue-Horse, shot above the kidneys in a battle with the Gros Ventres. Many-Spotted-Horses got the horse home alive. His old father went to the horse and said to it, "You are a fine l1orse, but I am more powerful than you. It[...]the horse's breast with red earth paint. He tied a plume to the horse's forehead and a rabbit's tail to its tail. Then he rubbed his hor[...]'s nose. Next he rubbed the medicine on his bands and tapped the horse four (three?) times on the back. The horse was cured and lived many years longer. Despite the mir[...] |
| [...]dicap one of the competing horses, never to give a favored horse unusual speed or stamina. This use[...]erous to the horse medicine man. If the owner of a horse that had lost a race learned that horse medicine had been used a[...]y. Yet .W olf Calf, Generous Woman, Ghost Woman, and Head Carrier, the fatter a North Piegan, were well known as persons who were[...]icine powers. Night Gun said that if the owner of a race horse came to Wolf Calf and asked him to use his medicine against his opponent's horse, Wolf Calf painted a rock with his medicine, pre- pared the ceremonial altar and placed his rawhide horse upon it. He asked the m[...]on the horse's shoulders; if he wanted it to run a short distance, kick up, and refuse to run, he put the rock on the horse's hin[...]f the horse belong- ing to the man he was helping a willow stick with horse medicine on it, with inst[...]ad the jockey was to drop the stick in its tracks and that horse would surely falter. Informants credited both Head Carrier and Ghost Woman with use of the medicine-cov- ered-st[...]as able to assist contestants in other sports. If a young man came to him for help in playing the hoop and pole game, vVolf Calf told him to shout a certain phrase when he cast his pole. His opponent's pole would be sure to strike the ground and break. Wolf Calf gave a foot racer who sought his aid some of his medicine and told him to chew it, rub it on his feet just before the race, always run to the right of his opponent, and he surely would win. Horse medicine had a number of important uses in war. Wolf Calf sometimes was petitioned to help a young warrior in horse raid- ing. If ·wolf Calf accepted the man's pipe and gift when offered, he gave him a plume from the ceremonial altar and explained, "If you can't get near the enemies' horses take this dirt (from the ceremo- nial altar) and mix it with water. Dip the plume in the mixture. It will rain, the enemy will stay inside their lodges and you will have no trouble taking their horses." Or he would give the man some plant medicine and tell him to rub it on his rope just before[...] |
| [...]amp. "The enemy's horse will come right up to you and you can rope it." He might offer further help, s[...]give you, take some of this medicine I give you and rub it on the horse's nose or teeth or place it[...]d on your hand. The exhausted horse will perk up and move along." Wolf Calf expected that the recipie[...]icine he received, Wolf Calf told him to keep it and use it as long as any remained. In a running fight, a man who possessed horse medicine might rub some of it on his whip, point the whip at his enemy, and drop it in the tracks of the enemy's horse. "Tha[...]e to falter or fall." Fish Child, Calf Tail, and Ghost ·woman also were said to have employed ho[...]host Woman gave it to her son to rub on his rope and body when on horse raids. She is also credited w[...]lone when an enemy party surprised her. She sang a song, took some medicine from a pouch at the side of her dress, threw it on the ground, and the enemy was unable to overtake her. However, t[...]redited to the Blood horse medicine man, Owner-of-a-Sacred-White- Horse. Once he was chased by the enemy. He employed his medicine to enable his mount to leap a wide, washed out coulee ( estimated by various informants at from 10 to 40 feet across) and escaped death at the hands of a superior force. Some men were credited with p[...]n hunt- ing buffalo. Short Face cited the case of Black Plume, a member of a hunting party which sighted a white buffalo but could not catch it. He asked the party to stop while he took a piece of black root, laid it on a rock, and placed the rock on one of the footprints of the white buffalo. That buffalo slackened its speed. Black Plume re- mounted, caught up with the buffalo, and killed it. The white robe was dressed and given to the sun. Black Plume was a medicine pipe man rather than a horse medicine man. Wissler's informant may have[...]horse medicine in hunting buffalo (Wissler, 1912 a, p. 111). In winter, when the footing was snow[...]us, one who had the power sang his medicine songs and prayed that the horses of his party would not fall. He took a black root, chewed it, and sprinkled it on the horses 287944--55- ]9 |
| [...]without mishap, no matter how bad the footing. A man who possessed horse medicine :for use in catching wild horses rubbed it on his hands, feet, and rope. Then he circled the wild horse up wind so t[...]ine it came to him. He roped it by the front feet and threw it down. Only horse medicine men were said[...]ently few of them exercised this power. To keep a horse that had a tendency to stray in its proper herd, one who possessed horse medicine might neck it together with a gentle horse, and rub horse medicine on its nose. .After a time it was untied and permitted to graze unfettered. "It would never st[...]Boy mentioned one more use of horse medicine. If a horse medicine man became jealous of another Indi[...]d that Wolf Calf had been warned in his dreams of a number of actions he should avoid and which should be avoided in his presence. These ta[...]home. Any one who ignored this taboo would suffer a broken leg or rib. If anyone places a knife or other sharp object upright in the ground inside a lodge when a horse medicine man is present he will surely get a sliver in one of his feet or one of his horses will suffer a foot injury. No child should play at riding a wooden stick horse in a lodge while a horse medicine man is present, or the child will sufl'er misfortune. If a horse medicine man should go into any home and see a child carelessly throwing a feather around, he must tell him to stop it at on[...]dicine songs very attractive. uo Wissler (1912 a, pp. 10&--111) mentioned Blackfoot use of horse m[...]rses of the colic, revive exhausted horses, cause a horse to lose a horse race, capture |
| [...]who had not the horse medicine power should sing a horse dance song while on horseback his horse wou[...]ployed by the Blackfoot as horse medicines poses a difficult problem. It is certain that some of the[...]Nevertheless, his voluntary recital of the origin and use of Wolf Calf's horse medicines ( related abov[...]ackfoot use of sweet pine in poultices for fevers and colds in the chest in the treatment of humans. On[...]stated that the root of this plant was boiled as a Blackfoot medicine for coughs and colds. Each of the other five pouches contained b[...]). However, each of these pouches was marked with a different-colored bead. It is possible that some[...]k (1910, p. 526) listed Artemisia frigida tops as a Blackfoot remedy for heartburn and mountain fever. A century and a half ago David Thompson {1916, p. 365) observed that the Indians of the Plains collected "scented grasses, and the gums that exude from the shrubs that bear berries and a part of these is for giving to their horses to ma[...]an by horse medicine men. Short Face, who was not a member of the horse medicine cult, believed some[...]he same ones administered to ei Wissler ( 1912 a, pp. 108, 1.1.1) cited the taboos ngalnst breaking a shin bone In the lodge |
| [...]he root of Townsendia excapa, which laymen boiled and poured into the mouths or noses of tired horses to revive them. He believed a root similar to baneberry, and known to the Blackfoot as "strong root," which laymen smashed and fed to horses at any time of year to make them hardy, was another horse medicine ingredient. He claimed ( and as we have seen above, correctly) that the root o[...]edicines. Three Calf understood that the roots of a plant that grew around alkali lakes and of which horses were very fond (possibly the mat[...]ergia squarrosa) (U. S. Forest Service, 1937) was a horse medicine ingredient. Weasel Tail thought a weed that grew on the Plains which horses often pawed up while grazing was ground to a powder and mixed with the ground heart and feet of a beaver to form a horse medicine. Another informant knew of a medicine used by the Kutenai for attracting wild horses, which he believed was employed by Black- foot horse medicine men for the same purpose. It[...]from the lachrymal glands of the elk, which have a strong odor, especially if the animal is taken in[...]rse medicine with E. C. Moran of Stanford, Mont., a collector of Montana drug plants for commercial u[...]nts, known for their drug proper- ties, Olemati.s and E quisetum, which would be likely ingredients in Blackfoot horse medicines. Clematis has been reported as a horse medicine among both the Nez Perce and Teton Dakota, but I have no evidence of its use a[...]ing tribes of the West. I am indebted to Edith V. A. Mur.phy, botanist, employed by the United States Indian Bureau, for field data on Arapaho, Nez Perce, and Ute usages. Eugene Barrett, forester, Rosebud Res[...]h grows in the Blackfoot habitat, was employed as a horse stimulant by more than one other tribe.[...]the Blackfoot country, was available in ,vyoming and Idaho, at no great_distance from the Black[...] |
| [...]. Murphy informed me that Ute medicine men placed a root (un- identified) in the mouth of an opponent[...]eported that the Ute formerly fed sleepy grass to a horse as a depressant, although details of this usage were not obtainable. The Montana ranges contain a number of stock-poisoning plants in- jurious to horses, including larkspur, locoweed, lupines, and death camass. However, we have no proof that Indi[...]by Mrs. E. V. A. Murphy. Cheyenne _______ AnaphaliB maroarilacea var. sub- Dried and powdered flowers placed on sole of each[...]hoof and blown between horse's ears to make it[...]long-winded and untiring (Grinuell, 1923, vol. 2,[...]_________ _ Dried and ground to fine powder, adminlstered by[...]mouth to make horse spirited, long winded, and[...]winded and stimulate a tired horse (ibid., p. 139). Gros Ventres____ Nll[...]Given horses to strengthen and refresh them root." Unidentif[...]Scraped end of root held in nostrils of a Callen horse.[...]Chewed root placed in horse's mouth and mouth[...]exhausted horse (Mrs. E. V. A. Murphy). Omaha__________ Laciniaria scariosa ___[...]____ _ Oorm chewed and blown into horse's nostrils to[...]Bulbs pounded and fed to horses to make them and Xanthoxalia stricta, yellow[...]ta ___ Clematis douolassiL ______________ _ Dried and powdered root adminlstered by nostrils[...]__________ "Ewuhigare" (native name). Un- Pounded and rolled with grass and administered identified.[...]Paeonia brownil, wlld peony _____ _ Root chewed and placed 1n horse's mouth to give It[...]long wind (Mrs. E. V. A. Murphy). RELATIONSHIP OF HORSE MEDICINE TO OTHER BLACKFOOT MEDICINES Wissler (1912 a, pp. 107-108) pictured and described an attachment |
| [...]these bundles. If the lay dreamer wished to make a bundle like the one seen .in his dream he went to a horse medicine man and asked for help. The latter then told him to make the bridle just as it appeared in his dream and to bring it to him to give it power. Upon payment[...]make the horse lively, to keep it :from falling, and to keep enemy bullets from hitting it. Night Gun[...]e I saw on the Blackfeet Reservation was owned by a cult member. Wissler ( 1912 a, p. 111) noted the introduction of horse medicine[...]ckfoot. Night Gun said it was common practice for a medicine-pipe owner to ask a horse medicine man to insure that the horse used[...]move. The horse medicine man used his sacred rope and whip in the ceremony of bless- ing the horse of the medicine pipe man. He sang and transferred three horse medicine songs to the pipe owner. He also transferred some of his power to the whip and rope of that man. It is noteworthy that a whip and rope are among the objects in the typical Blackfoot medicine pipe bundle, and that horse medicine songs appear in that ceremonial ritual. McClintock ( 1948, pp. 56-60) described a medicine pipe transfer he witnessed in which not only the whip and rope but also the saddle, bridle, and horse used to transport the pipe were trans- ferr[...]by its owner "lest some of his horse-herd sicken and die," and that the medicine pipe owner "must not strike a dog or horse, nor cut a horse's tail." The medicine-pipe owner who had pu[...]lt songs was privileged to attend the horse dance and to sing those three songs during the ceremony. Less certain is the relationship between horse medicine and the horse-painted lodge formerly found among the Piegan. Wissler and Duvall (1908, p. 94) have published Head Carrier'[...]ted lodge. It is noteworthy that Head Carrier was a North Piegan horse medicine man. John Old Chief |
| [...]Wolf Call formerly owned the horse-painted lodge and trans- ferred it to a North Blackfoot medicine man before he died. Othe[...]ntres origin. THE SOUTH PIEGAN BLACK HORSE SOCIETY Jim Walters said that Mountain Chief (who died in 1942) orig- EVIDENCES OF THE HORSE M[...]lodge the trader resided, as the most influential and highly re- |
| [...][Bull. 159 tion on Kutenai, Flathead, and Nez Perce horse medicine concepts |
| [...]nts were secret, used for reviving tired horses and curing sick horses and humans. In former times the horse medicine bundle was opened only when out- siders gave a feast in honor of the medicine. An account of Cro[...]Important points of resemblance between the Crow and Blackfoot cults appear to confirm Lowie's traditi[...]. Analysis of available information on Assiniboin and Crow horse medicine cults indicate that the form[...]ed of persons who had dreamed of horse medicines and who held ceremonies in a tipi followed by a spectacular parade around camp. One of Wissler's[...]grandfather originated the cult among the Oglala and recited the origin tale. The Oglala ceremony incl[...]orse medicine to make horses swift, to cure sick and wounded horses, to revive ex- hausted horses, to calm a balky horse, and to influence the outcome of horse races. Brood ma[...]aid to have possessed power to doctor both horses and people. Eugene Barrett (letter of Sept. 21, 1943) wrote me that he was told a Nez Perce Indian, who formerly lived with the Bru[...]icine to assist in breaking wild horses. He built a fire and placed some of his secret herbs in it to produce a smoke that had a soothing effect upon the horse to be broken. Densmore (1948, p. 181) reported that a Teton named Jaw carried little bags of horse medi[...]e. He employed his medicine in curing sick horses and tied one bag to his horse's bridle before going i[...]se medicine, approached the horses from windward, and caused them to prick up their ears and be attracted to him. The available evidence on Te[...]ficient to indicate both its extensive employment and its many similarities to Blackfoot concepts and usages. Kroeber (1902-7, pp. 424, 431-[...] |
| [...]d man who had horse-medicine taught it to his son and several other young men. In teaching it to them[...]art of the tent might be removed, lest there be aand to revive exhausted ones. Other medicines were used to rub on the body of a man who was about to break a horse, or to moderate the swelling caused from being kicked by a horse. Perhaps if we had more detailed data on Ar[...]t of ailing horses, together with special taboos, and spe- cial costume, face paint, and songs for use during treatment." Un- fortunately[...]nell (1923, vol. 2, pp. 139-143) denied there was a guild of horse doctors among the Cheyenne, claim[...]rses. He :found that Cheyenne doctors recognized a number of taboos, including the one against breaking a bone in their lodge (unless upon arising the woma[...]ffalo hunt, to treat persons thrown from horses, and to handicap an opponent's race horse. Grinnell's[...]enne procedure involved ritual rubbing, blowing, and moving about the horse, medicine was administered by mouth and/or nose in the course of the ceremony. Grinnell stated that Gland, a very old medicine man in 1862, claimed to possess the original medicine of Minhik, a celebrated Cheyenne medicine man of an earlier pe[...]g horse races was adopted by the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache. Two Kiowa informants told me of the for-[...]informed me that Kiowa horse shamans did not form a society. Each acted in obedience to his own dreams. They possessed a wide variety of paraphernalia and songs. She said that among the Kiowa only[...] |
| [...]conically reported that the Kiowa-Apache '·have a 'horse medicine' of' their own of considerable repute." Miss Marriott learned that a famous Kiowa-Apache horse medicine man was activ[...]early 1890's). The Chiricahua Apache believed a mistreated horse had super- natural power to cause the owner sickness which could be cured only by a doctor who specialized in the horse ceremony ( Op[...]conducted to bring luck to horse raiders. Songs and prayers were included in the ceremony. Horse doct[...]horse medicine to assist rather than to handicap a race horse. As among the Kiowa, these Apache brou[...]ton, Marion Smith (1940, p. 68) found vestiges of a horse medicine cult. The man possessing horse power "was good with horses. They liked him. He doctored them and made saddles for a business." In view of the geographically widespread, scattered evidence of belief in and practice of horse medicine among the horse-using tribes of the Plains and Plateau summarized above, it would be strange indeed if such beliefs and usages were not known to other tribes of the Plains and to many Plateau tribes concerning whose practice[...]western North Amer- ica than was the much studied and much better known Sun Dance. It may not be too la[...]occurrence among some of the tribes of the Plains and Northwest, from which reports of horse medicine a[...]ta indicate that tribal differences in the nature and degree of organization of practitioners, in ceremonial rituals, in associated taboos, and in specific uses of horse medicines |
| [...]Arikara, Teton Dakota, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Kiowa, and Chiricahua Apache indicate a common substratum of beliefs and usages which strongly suggests that the horse med[...]ative testimony to the effect that the Assiniboin and Crow derived their horse-medicine cults from the Blackfoot suggests that the Blackfoot were at least a secondary center of diffusion of the cult. However, native traditions also suggest that the Oglala and Cheyenne as well as the Blackfoot possessed activ[...]orse-medicine cult certainly appears to have been a native invention. Possibly it began to develop sh[...]in secrecy, blessed with supernatural sanctions, and embellished with elaborate ritual, their powers f[...]rol of the actions of horses in the hunt, in war, and in horse races, and added some of the functions of the earlier cult o[...]ve been persons who had previously treated humans and/or dogs, and who already possessed considerable know ledge of[...]their tribal habitats. Through processes of trial and error they may have discovered additional medicin[...]cious in the treatment of horses. Although ritual and magical factors played prominent roles in the use[...]ICE OF HORSES AFTER THE DEATH OF THEIR OWNERS A Blackfoot Indian felt a strong attachment for his favorite horse, |
| [...]who cut the hair of her head. Sometimes the mane and tail of a woman's favorite pack or travois horse were cut a[...]fifteen horses were killed ... at the funeral of a celebrated chief." However, his mention of 150 h[...]coupled with an elaborate ceremony of burial in a death lodge. Among the great chiefs honored with[...]the United States Government (who died in 1858) and Many Horses, the wealthiest Piegan (who died in 1866). Lesser chiefs and prominent warriors received this honorary burial on a less grandiose scale. When one of these leader[...]just as it had been when he was alive, with beds and backrests in place and his favorite equipment displayed as it had been w[...]odge. His body was dressed in his finest clothing and laid on a bed in the lodge, or preferably on a pole platform erected in the center of the lodge,[...]to be killed, decorat- ing th:iem with elaborate and costly riding gear. The dead man's favorite horse[...]the owner's coups. That horse's tail was braided and tied in a ball, and a feather pendant was tied in it. His mane was braided and feathers were tied in it also. Everyone in cam[...]the death lodge. Each horse in turn was shot with a gun, pressed against its head and fired by a relative of the deceased. After all the horses we[...]d man's favorite horse sometimes was stripped off and placed inside the death lodge. At other ti[...] |
| [...]er the owner's death was followed by other Plains and Plateau Indian tribes. The destruction of horses appears to have been greatest after the death of a wealthy member of a tribe that was relatively rich in horse~. Thus ov[...]were said to have been killed after the death of a leading Kiowa chief (Yarrow, 1881, p. 143). On th[...]ree, notoriously poor in horses, were content to·clip the manes and tails of the horses of the deceased (Mandelbaum,[...]ed the horses by strangling them (Omaha-Fletcher and La Flesche, 1911, p: 83; Kansa-Bushnell, 1927, p. 53; Oto and Missouri-Yarrow, 1881, p. 96). Chiricahua Apache[...]p. 474). While the Assiniboin, Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Teton Dakota shot them, as did the Blackfoot (Den[...]owever, the Coeur d'Alene skinned the dead horses and hung the skins at the grave. Hthe skins were need[...], pp. 173-174). On occasion the Nez Perce skinned and stuffed the horses and set them up as grave monuments (Spinden, 1908, p.[...]vol. 2, p. 133; Yarrow, 1881, p. 99}, Wind River and Lemhi Sho- shoni (Lowie, 1909,'p. 215; 1924 b, p. 282}, Bannock (Marquis, 1928, p. 105), and Flathead (Mengarini, 1871-72, p. 82). This custom[...]112 Denig (1930, p. 573,) wrote that very brave and renowned Asslnlboln warriors some· times reques[...]ed chief of the Rock Band of Assiniboin, received a death-lodge burial |
| [...]ul to them in the afterlife. Cropping the mane and tail of a dead man's horse or horses pro- vided a method of honoring the dead without sacrificing v[...]ty. Probably it was much more common among Plains and Plateau tribes than the few, scattered references in the literature indi- cate. The wealthy Comanche and the Chiricahua Apache cut the manes and tails of those horses of the deceased man which h[...]Sarsi clipped the hair of horses that belonged to a warrior killed in battle (Jenness, 1938, p. 39).[...]g period for the dead ended when the clipped mane and tail of the dead man's horse grew out (Turney-Hig[...]6). Other tribes re- ported to have cut the manes andand Lemhi Shoshoni (Lowie, 1909, p. 215). D[...]ORSES AFTER THE DEATH OF OWNER If the head of a Blackfoot family knew he was about to die he |
| [...]This orderly distribution of horses following a death intestate was possible only in cases where the decea~ed was a man of prominence who had been well liked and highly respected by his people during his life. I[...]er or not they were related to the deceased, made a run for his property as soon as they learned of his death through the loud weeping and wailing of his close relatives. Men of the camp r[...]he men might take all the good horses in his herd and leave the poor ones for the widow. Close relative[...]mourn- ing, did not attempt to prevent this raid, and custom decreed that they should not do so. The ra[...]to those people ran with the dead man's herd. On a woman's death people might raid her horses and other property. Informants recalled that these raids were made with particular relish upon the property 0£ a man of some wealth who had had a reputation for stinginess. As one informant stated, "Even his wife would be glad to be rid of him, and she would remarry shortly after his death." Wi[...]escription of Cul- bertson (1851, p. 126), penned a century ago.93 SECONDARY ASSOCIATIONS OF THE HORS[...]IN BUNDLE TRANSFERS Wissler (1012 a, pp. 253-254) expressed the opinion that the asso[...]edicine bun- |
| [...]the horse." Lack of information on the occurrence and transfer of bundles in early times makes it impos[...]hypothesis. Native tradition claims the Sun Dance and beaver bundle originated before the introduction of horses. There is also a tradition that the Blood Indians' Long Time Pipe[...]dle against his gain through the acquisi- tion of a number of fine horses offered in payment.[...]ed paraphernalia to the Sun Dance encamp- ment on a horse travois. War honors, most commonly acquired[...]utter of the tree to be used for the center pole, and by men who cut the thongs to bind the rafters to[...]latter rite was trans- ferred through payment of a horse and other property. Before cut- ting the hide the cutter was required to raise his knife and publicly declare four personal coups, which commo[...]men or women who paid to cut the hide. Plate 17, a, portrays Makes-Cold-Weather ( ca. 1866-19[...] |
| [...]hey entered enemy camps to steal horses. There is a possibility that the Blackfoot tribes borrowed th[...]torture from the Arapaho in the historic period, and hence since the introduction of horses (Ewers, 1948 b, pp. 167-168, 171-172). Three quarters of a century ago Bradley ( 1923, pp. 267-268) wrote of[...]lege of recounting their coups must first present a horse to someone at tbe door of the medicine lodge (an irrevocable gift), when he may enter the lo.dge and in his turn relate his exploits, illustrating the[...]rs, however, are not required to make tbe gift of a horse at tbe door but bring witb tbem a bundle of sticks, .and casting one .into a fire kept burning in tbe lodge, say : "At ·such a time I stole so many horses at such a place, from some enemies." Tben casting in anothe[...]d tribal ritual were colored by Indian regard for and preoccupation with horses. BELIEFS CONCERNING THE SUPERNATURAL POWERS OF HORSES There was a general belief among the Blackfoot that horses po[...]ce, that miraculously escaped from battle |
| [...]291 They went after him and found he was Heavenly Colt. He was alive and in good condition. Heavenly Colt was returned to[...]eath as spirits pos- sessing the·power to return and make their spirit presences known to the living.[...]s own strong belie£ in horse spirits by relating a personal experience. About 50 years ago I visited the lodge of Steel, a Blood Indian. I knew Steel thought his father's s[...]er, Many 'Spotted Horses?" While I talked I heard a horse whinny far away. Then I heard a horse at the back of the lodge shaking and its stirrups rattling. .Then I heard someone talk[...]3. In the summer of 1947, my interpreters, Reuben and Cecile Black Boy, said that during the intervening years Dog Child, a North Piegan, had told them another version of this myth. Sh~rt Face's version, which I have given a title to, follows. T[...]hen people used dogs for moving camp, there lived a Piegan |
| [...]AN ETHNOLOGY [Bull.159 a circle of feathers standing straight up, with a feather trailer down the back. |
| [...]ld him to look only ahead. After they had climbed a long time they reached - a level place. It was another world. Then the stranger turned to Wise Man and said, "This is Thunder's home. After you have walked a way you will be surrounded by horses. They are[...]n until he saw the horses. One of them spied him, and all came toward him and surrounded him. At first Wise Man was afraid. But[...]e animals did not harm him. He soon lost bis fear and began to pet them. They were so thick around hi[...]proceed. But when night came they all lay down and went to sleep. Then Wise Man crawled away from them and walked on toward the lights of two camps in the d[...]they were beautifully painted lodges, each with a medicine pipe in front of it. He walked inside on[...]Man he told him to sit down. Then Thunder made a smudge and began to show Wisc Man the ritual of the medicine[...]in my clothes. I want you to tell me what to do and how to do it. That is what is on my mind." Thunder replied, "My boy, come with me and I shall show you." Outside the lodge Thunder pointed to a porcupine and told Wise Man, "Kill it." This Wise Man did. Th[...]w to flatten them, to dye them different colors and to sew them on garments. When he had finished,[...]I ride. Because you did not frighten my horses and they were not afraid of you I shall give you some of them. I'll show you the songs of my pipe and my painted lodges and give them to you also. I'll show you bow to pack the pipe on a horse's back. But before I give you all these t[...]"What shall I give you?" Thunder said, "Give me a woman from your people, and give me a white buffalo robe." Wise Man asked, "How are you[...]ur help.'' Wise Man then said, "I shall get you a woman. But the white buffalo is very fast. I'll try to get you a white buffalo robe, but it will be very difficult." Then Thunder went to his herd and selected 10 head of horses, and ga ve them to Wise Man saying, "Now, my boy, take these. They will raise colts for you and increase. I shall put a porcupine on earth. It too will increase. You can kill porcupines, eat them, and use their quills. Generation after generation of[...]to them. I want you to take the medicine pipe, and in the spring of the year when the leaves begin t[...]ill hear me rumbling. Gather your friends quickly and dance to the medicine pipe as I have shown you. I shall see you then and know tha t You have heard my call. Until the en[...]her. When you have done that you will be on earth a gain. To- night there will be a strong wind. If your lodges fall down or if your[...]the power, will dream of animal-painted lodges and sacred pipes." The night after Wise Man's return to earth there was a storm and a very high wind. But the horses were not fri ghtened and U1e lodges did not fall. Wi e |
| [...]have porcupines, painted lodges, medicine pipes, and horses. In March 1943, Chewing-Black-Bones recited another myth ex- plaining the origin of horses. He claimed that Head Carrier, who died half a century earlier, told him the following story, wh[...]WATER SPmIT's GIFT OF HORSES A long time ago there was a poor boy who tried to obtain secret power so |
| [...]n for the horses.he had given them. They gave him a fine lodge also. Until that time the people ha[...]se them for packing, how to break tbem for riding and for the travois, and he gave tbe horse its name, elk dog. 0.t;le day t[...]horseback. He also showed them how to make whips and other gear for their horses. Once when they came to a river the boy's friends asked him, "These elk dog[...]horses in crossing streams. The boy grew older and became a great chief, a leader of his people. Since that time every chief has owned a lot of horses. The third horse origin myth was[...]thing was fl.int. There was no iron. One night a Piegan invited all the chiefs to his lodge. He to[...]with the baby." Her sister sa~ her sitting there and asked her what she was doing outside alone. She r[...]e was very unhappy. Later she looked into the sky and saw the bright morning star. She said, "I wish I[...]e went to pick up buffalo chips for fuel. She saw a young man approaching her. He said, "Now I have c[...]wanted to marry me, the bright star. I heard you and now I have come for you." She replied, "Yes, that[...]p your eyes shut." She did as she was told. After a ti~e the young man told her to open her eyes. Whe[...]as the girl's wish. So I went after her." After a time Morning Star and this woman had a little boy. Old grandfather Sun said, "I shall give the boy something to play with." He gave him a crooked tree which was every bit the shape of a little horse, and said, "Now, my boy, Play with this." When Morning[...]n't it look better if this plaything had fur like a deer?" She agreed. So they put fur on it. Then Morning Star said, "Another thing it should have is a tail." So he put a black tall on it and added some ears as well. Then he said, "Now let's take some black dirt and rub its hoofs so they Will shine." So it was done. |
| [...]shied. 'Ihen Morning Star called "ka-ka-ka-ka," and the horse stood still. Morning Star cut a piece of rawhide for a bridle. The boy had great fun with his little horse. Later, when the boy's brothers and sisters went to dig wild turnips, his mother ask[...]joined the party. She saw the big-leafed turnip and began to dig around it. At last she dug it up. D[...]n the dust cleared away she looked into the hole and way below she saw her own camp and her parents. She began to cry. When she returned to Morning Star's lodge he saw her swollen eyes and knew what had happened. He asked her, "Why are y[...]tructed his people to cut rawhide rope. They made a great IJile of it. Then he told his wife,"l'll t[...]horse down by my own power." He wrapped his wife and son in buffalo robes, tied them to the rope, and lowered them through the turnip hole. Two you[...]r backs near the camp of the woman's parents saw a strange opject descending from the sky. They were frightened and started to run away when the bundle reached the[...]oman called to them, "Untie me." They untied her and went to camp to tell the woman's husband that sh[...]was watched so closely she couldn't help her son. A half-brother took pity on the little boy. He hid some of his own food and gave it to the little boy to keep him from starvi[...]ther took the boy into the brush hunting they saw a strange man. They were afraid and started to run when the man called, "Stop!" They halted and sat down beside the man. He told the little boy, "You are my son. I know your brother loves you and has fed you. But I have come after you because yo[...]The second morning the older brother tried again and failed. The third morning all of the horse[...] |
| [...]CULTURE 297 his dream and said, "Now, my boy, I told you to catch that shag[...]again. This time he singled out the little colt and roped him with a rawhide line. All the other horses stampeded tow[...]re the little buckskin whinnied. They all turned and ran back toward him. On the fifth night Mor.n in[...]with those horses give everyone but your father a horse. Because be abused you, he shouldn't have any." When the boy returned to camp and distributed the horses, his father became very a[...]oy, with Morning Star's power, struck his father and killed him. Morning Star then told the boy, "[...]camp sent word to the boy that be wanted him for a son-in-law. He gave the boy his two daughters and offered him his place as bead chief. More than 40 years ago Duvall obtained a condensed version of this third myth, which was[...]s the origin of horses with the woman-who-married-a-star episode, although details of the creation[...]star differ from Mrs. Cree Medicine's version, and the episode explaining the later acquisition of[...]cquisition of the first horse from the waters of a lake have been published. One account was told to Geo1·ge Bird Grinnell by A.lmost-a-Dog, a Piegan. It most nearly approximates the episode of the acquisition of horses from a lake by the elder brother contained in Mrs. Cree[...]hoshoni first obtained horses from the waters of a large, salt water lake "away south" (Wilson, 1887, p. 185). The number and variety of Blackfoot myths explaining the origin[...]rator to elaborate the basic theme as he sees fit and to link the story of the origin of horses with po[...]the other of these spirit sources. The Sun Dance and medicine pipe are repre- sented in Blackfoot mythology as gifts of Sun and Thunder, two of the most feared and revered sky spirits. The beaver bundle and buffalo painted lodges are represented as[...] |
| [...]evidence that to the native mind the horse ·was a godsend of importance comparable to that of their[...]1111 In the 1870's Lieutenant Bradley recorded a Crow myth to the effect that their first horses[...]water (Bradley, 1923, pp. 298-299). Possibly Crow and Piegan |
| [...]e period immediately preceding their acquisition and use of horses, a period which, for purposes of con- trast with th[...]Period. No European is known to have visited the Black- foot during that period. Therefore, the literat[...]n. These are : ( 1) the testimony of aged Piegan and a Cree Indian living among the Piegan regarding conditions and events of the Pedestrian Culture Period, in the l[...]eriod written by white observers of those tribes; and (4) apparent · survivals of Pedestrian Culture traits among the Blackfoot, and/or neighboring tribes to the eastward, who were[...]alo days, as reported by 19th-century observeri, and more recent ethnologists. Our picture of Blackfoot life before the acquisition of horses must be a composite based upon a careful and logical weighting of the information derived fro[...]anges wrought in the culture of the Blackfoot as a result of their acquisition and use of horses, we must locate them and characterize their Pedestrian Culture economy in[...]ackfoot. Our interest lies in their geographical and cultural position in the years immediately[...] |
| [...]plains or rather of the foothills of the Rockies and the plains tributary thereto." However, David Tho[...]found that the testimony of elderly Piegan (born and raised in the Pedestrian Culture Period) clea:rl[...]after the Blackfoot tribes obtained both horses and guns that they pushed southwestward to the foothills of the mountains and the area that became their historic homeland (Th[...]nt is also attested by traditions of the Flathead and Kutenai, w horn the Blackfoot drove from the eastern foothills of the Rockies in present .Alberta and Montana (Ferris, 1940, pp. 90-92; Thomp- son, 191[...]suming that the Piegan lived near the Eagle Hills and the Blood and North Blackfoot resided at no great distance from[...]raised food crops. They were ,-hunters of buffalo and smaller game and collectors of wild plant 'foods in season. Tho[...]rians. Presumably th_e ·walked over the Plai».s,A, carry: ing ~heir~,po~ s io s qa tran~ort and on their ow~ backs, in quest of buffalo, in warmer weather and""retreated 'to timbe:i;:ed river valleys or to ma[...]endence upon the buffalo for food, some clothing, and shelter (lodge covers), antedated the Horse Culture Period. HORSE ACQUISITION AS A STIMULUS TO CULTURAL INNOVATION Y The horsa..differed..ho.tlLphysically ...and-behav:ioxly.-from_th[...]h had been the Indian's only_domesticat~q. animal and .only beast |
| [...]301 The fact that the horse was a grass- rather than a meat-eater as was the do ) compelled the Indians[...]ge requirements. Good grass for the horses became a determin- ing factor in the selection of campsites and the duration of occupa- tion of those sites. When horses consumed the grass in the neighbor- hood of a camp, that camp had to be moved. Eventually the Indians gained practical knowledge of the grasses and tree bark affording the best horse feed. They end[...]ence of strangers, presented problems in the care and protection of domesticated animals such as were u[...]ds of herding, hobbling, picketing, cor- ralling, and specialized winter care were developed in attempt[...]e very nature of the horse itself. The daily care and breeding of sizable herds of horses gave to the old hunt- ing culture something of a pastoral quality unknown to the cultures of most[...]g peoples. ---T ct that the horse was larger and stronger than the dog and that ·t cou _d be taught quickly to drag or bear heavy burdens or to carry a grown.. man on its back erved to condition its functions in Indian culture. Methods of training horses and 0£ teaching Indians to ride and manage these lively animals had to be perfected.[...]he part of the Indians. The manufacture of riding and transport gear became a new home industry requiring specialized manual sk[...]o the three primary uses of hunting, moving camp, and warfare presented numerous problems of varying co[...]themselves or whether they bor- rowed the methods and techniques of other horse-using tribes, it is certain that every Blackfoot born and raised in the Horse Culture Period was required to learn motor and manual habits, owing to the presence of th[...] |
| [...]by their keen judgment of the relative values and merits of horses; and by their discrimination of some 10 types of horses on the basis of their ability and/or training-to perform specialized services, i. e. : ( 1) the primary charger (buffalo hunting and war horse), (2) the winter hunting horse, (3)[...]ace horse, ( 8) the stud, ( 9) the brood mare, and ( 10) the lead mare of a gra-zing herd. That the horse, which litera[...]off his feet, broad- ened his concepts of area and distance, shortened his concepts of travel time, altered his opinions of the difficulties of moving camp and making a living, and that it quickened the tempo of his life and made that life more exciting, cannot be denied[...]psychological influences of the acquisi- tion and use of horses upon the Indians.[...]uired horses. Grinnell (1892, p. 234) obtained a tradition to that effect more than 60 years ago. Weasel Tail described a method of surrounding the buffalo which he had[...]horses : -----.. After swift-running men located a herd of buffalo, the chief told all the women to get their dog travois. Men and women went out together, approach· ing the[...]own wind so the animals would not get their scent and run off. The women were told to place their[...]so that they could be tied together, forming a semicircular fence. Women and dogs hid behind them while two fast-running men circled the buffalo herd, approached them from up wind, and <lrove them toward the travois fence. Other[...]heir positions along the sides of the route and closed in as the buffalo neared the travois enclosure. Barking dogs and shouting women kept the buffalo back. The men rushed in and killed the buffalo with arrows and lances. After the butialo were killed the[...]of the enclosure, counted the dead animals, and divided the meat equally among the participating[...]heyenne ( Grinnell, 1923, vol. 1, pp. 264 ff.) and Kiowa (Mishkin, 1940, p. 20). Further-[...] |
| [...]303 Sieur Pierre Deliette, who accompanied a village of the Illinois on a buffalo hunt in 1688, not only described their su[...]f their property "without the man or woman saying a single word" (Pease and Werner, 1934 b, pp. 307-311). Henry Kelsey, the[...]hese Beasts on ye Barren ground is when they seek a great parcel of them together they surround them with men which done they gather themselves into a smaller Compass Keeping ye Beasts still in Ye middle and so shooting ym till they break out at some place or other and so get away from ym. [Kelsey, 1929, p.13.] Nic[...]raditions also refer to the impounding of buffalo and driving them over cliffs. They credit the mytholo[...]for Spanish explorers witnessed the construction and use of a cottonwood corral by a village of 50 lodges of foot Indians near the Can[...]. The survival of impounding among the Assiniboin and Cree, eastern neigh- bors of the Blackfoot, until[...]hunting before they acquired horses, we then have a clue to their community organization at that time[...]family groups. The cooperative hunt necessitated a band or village organization of 10 or preferably[...]parate for hunting in pre-horse times, as well as a large gathering of some 350 warriors who feasted and danced :for several days before starting to battl[...]sed into small camps of 10 to 20 lodges in winter and united in large |
| [...]9 camps of 100 to 200 lodges in summer (Henry and Thompson, 1897, A.ssinlboin In 1738, mention their organization into sizable bands. In the fall of that |
| [...]o. This new hunting technique was more efficient and adaptable than any method previ- ously employed. Not only did it require a fraction of the time and energy but it was less dangerous and more certain of success than other methods. It could be employed by a single hunter or the men of an entire village. Within a few minutes a skilled hunter, mounted on a fleet, intelligent, buffalo horse could kill at c[...]s. Yet the chase required no new weapon. The bow and arrow, and lance, both cer- tainly known to their pedestria[...]e introduction of breech- loading rifles, barely a decade before the extermination of the buffalo.[...]horses were prized possessions. Their selection and training became important men's activities. Once a considerable number of tribal members acquired buffalo hunting horses, hunting on foot became obsolete as a warmer weather technique. As the trader, Nathaniel J. Wyeth, shrewdly observed a century ago, "It is a well-established fact that men on foot cannot li[...]he latter reach the game, secure what they want, and drive it beyond the reach of the former" (Wyeth,[...]the tribal summer hunt, which we have noted was a characteristic of pre-horse communal buffalo hunt[...]y in the camp par- ticipated actively in the hunt and shared of its spoils, unless special provisions w[...]ng of bu:ffalo horses to the poor by the wealthy, and ( 2) the presentation of outright gifts of meat t[...]successful hunters. Undoubtedly the quickness and ease with which buffalo could be dispatched by mounted hunters released active men's time and ~on- served their energies for other activities such as warfare, feastmg, and ceremonies. A relatively small number of hunters could supply meat for a band while other young men of the camp jou[...] |
| [...]animals than the Indians needed for subsistence and hastened buffalo ex- termination. INFLUENCE ON CAMP MOVEMENTS AND POSSESSIONS "In the old days, before the Bl[...]ing camp with dog-travois." So reads the start of a Blackfoot "These estimates are· based upon a survey of noinerous estimates of the wetgb[...] |
| [...]r female dogs, for fighting among them- selves, and for running into streams to drink while in harnes[...]k, or infirm adults. Informants esti- mated that a train of heavily loaded dogs would travel no more than 5 or 6 miles a day. Limited transport facilities inevitably[...]ge that could be carried by the pre-horse nomads, and thus limited their possessions. In 1599, Onate o[...]expedition were transported by medium-sized dogs and weighed less than "two ar- robas" (50 pounds) (B[...]hich those covers were made were dressed thinner, and therefore were lighter in weight than the bu:ffa[...]eces, each transported on the back or travois o:f a single dog. But the necessity for dragging the lodgepoles, which increased in length and weight with the size of the lodge, must have enco[...]ces. · One aged Blackfoot informant had heard a tradition to the efi'ect that some of his pre-horse ancestors did not use a tipi at all but 5tr~tched bu:ffaloskins over upended dog travois to form a shelter. The use of such a shelter would have eliminated the necessity of tr[...]Wilson (1924, pp. 223-224, figs. 51-55) described and pictured this type o:f structure as employ[...] |
| [...]g temporary traveling huts of poles, dog travois, and brush near Fort Union in 1833. There is, therefore, ample proof of the use of a dog tra vois foundation shelter by northern Plain[...]All available .information, both traditional and comparative, points to the relative smal[...]hat two or more families may have shared a single lodge in order to minimize the load to be[...]oux near present Mankato, Minn. Three quarters of a century later the elder Henry (1809, p.[...]d that two to four fam- ilies resided in a lodge among the horse-poor Assiniboin. The baggage that could be carried by dogs and women, over and above the lodge itself, must have been v[...]lies of fresh or dried meat, wild fruits and vegetables would have been excess bag- g[...]kfoot. So probably would have been large and bulky medicine bundles, such as the natoas, medicine pipe, and beaver bundles of the late 19th century r[...]poor family of 19th century buffalo days, and for the same basic reason-lack of facilities[...]ent enabled the Blackfoot to move farther and faster with heavier loads. The horse, pac[...]ravois, could move four times the load of a heavily burdened dog twice as far in a day's march. Thus, animal for animal the horse_was e·ght times . as efli?~ent... as the d?g as a burden,._bearer. Horse transport permitted tlie manufacture, '1Se, and movement of lodges with larger and heavier covers and longer poles-larger Indian homes. Not only could the family of average means have a home of its own, but the wealthy family o[...]to carry backbreaking burdens, but rode horseback and con- served thej r energies for other tasks. The aged and the physically handicapped could be carried on travois, and were no longer in danger of abando[...] |
| [...]IAN CULTURE 309 Possession of a herd of horses was the prime requisite of the family that would enjoy these advantages of a higher standard of living. In historic Blackfoot culture that meant :families of wealth and of the middle class. Poor families not only lacke[...]enough horses to move their meager possessions at a more rapid rate. Enlightened self-interest motiva[...]e acquisition of horses. The dog travois remained a useful contrivance for gathering wood near camp and for auxiliary transport in carrying light article[...]e heavily burdened horses. Finally, possession of a number of dogs trained for travois duty served as insurance against some evil day when a family horse herd might be stolen by enemy raider[...]-332) of large- scale battles between the Piegan and Shoshoni in pre-horse times, in which the opposi[...]he length of which came to their chins). This was a fire fight which continued until darkness put an end to the battle. Casualties were few and there was no close contact if the numbers of the[...]al. Although the warriors carried lances, knives, and battle axes, they apparently made no use of these[...]close with the enemy. The acquisition of guns and horses rendered that old, static, pri- marily defensive, pitched battle obsolete. No longer could a warrior hide behind his shield in safety. Accent[...]ve mobility. Defensive weapons, the 3-foot shield and body armor, which impe~ed movement on horseback, were discarded. Only a small, rawhide shield, just large enough to cover the vital organ~ of a mounted war- rior, was used for protection[...] |
| [...]LOGY [Bull. 159 ing them on a running horse. The old reliable bow and arrows (the |
| [...]iding procedures, but the De_Gannes memoir (Pease and ·werner, 1934 b, pp. 375-388) gives a very clear account of Illinois slave raids against the Pawnee and · Quapaw ca. 1700. Many elements of the Illinois[...]nexperienced members remained with the baggage in a concealed location, while (7) experienced men made a dawn attack on the enemy camp to secure prisoners, (8) the raiding party made a speedy departure with their prisoners, marching two days and nights without stopping, (9) the capture o:f a prisoner was reckoned as a war honor of higher rank than the killing of an e[...]ding pattern may have been an old one, widespread a~ong Algonquian and perhaps other tribes as well, and known to the pre-horse Blackfoot Indians. Certain[...]of the 19th century as described by my informants and in the literature ( see pp. 177-189}. The pri[...]sire to obtain animals needed for hunting buffalo and transporting baggage. I believe the economic moti[...]ng most young men to engage in the hazardous time and energy-consuming enterprise of the horse raid. Wealthy Blackfoot comprised a small minority. They were generally men of middle[...]r families could spare them if they were to marry and raise families; while the sons of poor families,[...]ildren of the rich, were noted as the most active and in- veterate horse thieves. The fact that a captured horse counted as a war honor served as a secondary stimulus to horse raiding. But we must not overestimate the importance of that stimulus. This was a low-grade coup, an impressive assemblage of which alone would not qualify a man £or leadership in his band. |
| [...]raiding the most common form of Blackfoot warfare and tended to perpetuate this type of warfare. Once u[...]rage young man's surest road to economic security and social advancement as long as the nomadic life ba[...]e nature, to suggest that the Blackfoot ever made a practice of raiding neighboring tribes to secure[...], the individual lodge watch of picketed animals, and the corral, must have been developed after horses[...]g that could have been easily provided by placing a few armed men on watch each night. In the histori[...]ys was due to this animal's recognized usefulness and the fact that the supply of horses never equaled the demand for them. It is doubt- ful if any item played a role of such importance in the barter of the Pedestrian Culture Period. In those days dogs must have had a much greater value than they did after horses _relegated them to a place of secondary importance as burden bearers. A stronger than ·aver: age, tractable travois or pack dog must have demanded a good price. However, dogs could have been bred in[...]rses. Probably food, clothing, lodges, ornaments, and weapons were bartered by the early Blackfoot amon[...]for buffalo robes, articles of clothing, weapons, and ceremonial bundles, the relative values of these[...]d agreement between the two parties engaged as to a fair exchange. Qualitative differences in[...] |
| [...]NDIAN CULTURE 313 recognized. A good race horse or a buffalo runner was worth several common pack animals. Consequently the best horses had a premium value in trades involving items other tha[...]nes. These Indians seldom killed horses for food, and then only in cases of dire necessity. The hide, hair, teeth, and other horse products made into useful articles we[...]imitate the serious activities of their elders, and so differed from that of later children. When boys made and played with wood, stone, or mud toy horses, or pr[...]s equipped with miniature reproductions of riding and transport gear bearing miniature household equipment packaged and packed ac~ording to the custom of their culture, they were pleasantly and painlessly preparing themselves for more responsible participa- tion in a culture in which management and use of horses were im- portant aspects of daily l[...]lts. Buffalo hunting, interband communica- tions, and intertribal warfare in the Pedestrian Culture Period must have placed a premium upon physical stamina and speed of foot. The great Miniconjou chief, One Horn, bragged to Catlin of his former ability to run down a buffalo on foot and kill it with an arrow, as well as his record of h[...]841, vol. 1, p. 211). Yet the ability to run down a buffalo may have been fairly common in earlier ti[...]ury Denig (1930, p. 566) noted that next to being a good hunter and warrior men of the Upper Missouri tribes prized "the name of being a good runner (fast and long)." Foot racing survived among the historic B[...]cing sur- passed it in popular interest. Stamina, a quality necessary to the |
| [...]atest asset of the race horse, for the course, as a rule, was a lengthy one. No other horse was as-highly prized[...]ion of horse symbolism into the intersociety hoop and pole game. The common employment of valuable hors[...]ilities inhibited the accumula- tion of property and militated against social stratification based upo[...]acts of magic attained positions of distinction and leadership which ranked them above· the average[...]property, social status came to depend less upon a man's physical and mental qualities and more upon the number and quality of his possessions.. A class· ~ystem began to develop in which there were rich, middle-class, and poor families, distinguished primarily on the ba[...]. Wealth in horses permitted rich men to care for and use their animals so as to increase their numbers and enhance their value. Rich men owned the largest and best-furnished lodges, the ·finest clothing, and the most sacred and valuable medicine bundles. They also enjoyed cer[...]. They had the widest choice of mates in m~rriage and could take the most wives. They could even get a[...]xpected to assist the poor through gifts of food and horses and loans of horses for buffalo hunting and moving camp. He was expected to be generous in his hospitality and liberal in his barter with others. Probab[...] |
| [...]standard of living made possible by the ownership and use of horses. Generally their possessions were more modest in num- ber, size, and/or quality than those of rich people, but they were surely finer and more numerous than those of the average Blackfoot[...]m to participate :fully in the social, economic, and religious life of his band and tribe. On rare occasions he might need assistance[...]wearing of elaborately decorated dress clothing, and the manipulati .n of complex and powerful sacred bundles. Yet under the conditions of life prevailing in buffalo days the Black- foot class system did not become crystallized. H[...]dise~e might wipe out the rich man's herd quickly and without warnirig. Buffalo-Back-Fat's sage advice[...]ent for the poor young man who possessed ambition and courage. Through aggressive action, in repeated r[...]e the horses necessary to raise both his economic and social status. The rise of poor but ambitious you[...]id. omen's status was decidedly improved as a result of the acquisi- tion of horses. Women were[...]the toil of carrying heavy burdens in moving camp and from active participation in pro- longed hunts afoot. Some of the time and energy they saved may have been devoted to the perfection of arts and crafts for which there must have been an i[...] |
| [...][Bull.159 many changes of clothing and seek handsome gear to show off their |
| [...]planation. The Blackfoot looked upon the horse as a godsend. In their mythology it was represented as a gift of powerful sky or water spirits. Horses wer[...]ians that those animals possessed those powers to a very high degree. Some horses were believed to have appeared to their owners in dreams and conferred their powers upon them. Through such tr[...]their knowledge of the origin of their medicines and restricted their use by outsiders in such a way that their secrets would not be revealed. Members were :feared and respected by :fellow tribesmen to the extent that[...]le exceptions of the Horn Society among the Blood and the Tobacco Planters of the North Blackfoot. The[...]aded the fields o:f warfare, hunting, recreation, and curing, as well as the daily lives of their people. Their ritual practices were designed to heal sick and wounded horses and to cure humans, to revive exhausted horses, to as[...]horses from fall- ing in slippery winter weather and to retard the movements of buffalo in the hunt, to handicap race horses, to capture wild horses, and to prevent horses :from straying from their owner[...]rse medicine men also were distinctive. There was a close rela- tionship between the horse medicine men and owners of medicine pipes whom the horse specialis[...]r horses. In the two cas~s of self-to:ture during a Sun Dance that have been recorded in detail, the[...]ps to take horses. Finally the horse was given a role of prominenc? i~ ?urial and mourning rites. The favorite horses of a wealthy md1v1dual were |
| [...]eir spirits might accompany his to the afterworld and there continue to be of service. The family that could not afford to sacrifice a horse was content to cut the mane and tail of one or more horses belonging to the deceased. There is a tradi- tion to the effect that dogs were sometime[...]icated Blackfoot recognition of the greater value and usefulness of horses in the afterworld as well as in this one. THE HORSE AND THE FUR TRADE It has not been my intention t[...]hey were contemporary influences. • I ban been a student of the fur trade among the Blackfoot for more than a decade. |
| [...]It was_not until the American Fur Co. established a post on the Missouri ' (1831) in Blackfoot country, and that company began to accept buffalo robes in tr[...]rses. Only through the use of horses for killing and transporting buffalo could the great number of ro[...]ained. Only 'through the ex- ploitation of cheap and accessible land and water transportation could traders handle a sufficient volume of heavy, bulky, and rela- tively cheap buffalo hides to make trade in[...]continued to collect the furs of smaller mammals and to transport them overland, made as extensive use[...]is bulletin) equating wealth in horses, polygamy, and extensive trade at the posts clearly shows the co[...](which provided many female hands to dress robes and skins for market), and large-scale trade at the posts. It was the wealth[...]ew materials for use in their manufactures, arts, and crafts. Their use of horses influenced the form and function of many of the items made from these new[...]these articles were pri- marily saddles, harness, and transport luggage especially designed for use in[...]The fur trade supplied glass beads, cloth, metal, and shell for use in making and decorating arti- cles of clothing, as well as hor[...]possessed the most elaborately decorated costumes and riding and transport gear. Those who owned no horses had none of them. Both the horse and the gun influenced Indian warfare, encouraging th[...]in favor of mobile, spread formations. Both horse and_ gu~ encouraged _the abandonment of heavy, rawhid[...]f .firearms, the muzzle-loading flintlock created a paruc among their opponents out of all proportion to its true effectiveness as a fire weapon (Thompson, 1916, pp. 330- 332). But in later years, after both the Blackfoot and their neighbors were armed, the muzzle- |
| [...]because of the difficulty of reloading it on a running horse. The Blackfoot hunter and war- rior continued to employ the traditional bow and arrow as his prin- cipal fire weapon until the introduction of breech-loading rifles in 1870, a decade before the disappearance of the buffalo. One change in the material culture of the Blackfoot ( and other Plains Indians) that some writers have[...]d to fur-trade influence. That is the decline and disappearance of pottery making among the nom[...]could have been trans- ported just as safely and more easily on horseback or the horse-drawn tr[...]e for the native-made clay vessel (Ewers, 1945 a, p. 296). It is difficult to see that the fur trade materially influenced Black- foot social or political organization save t[...]rom-Afar. He was the son of the Blood head chief, and a man of ability, so recognized by his own peopl[...]its characteristic of the Horse Culture Period in Black- foot history were abandoned in the period 188[...]ertribal peace brought an end to horse raiding and the use of horses in warfare. In this period,[...]e Indians adopted the white man's stock saddle and bridle, his method of mounting, his wagon and harness, his names for horses, and his horse commands. Even the |
| [...]321 Indian pony gradually was replaced by larger and stronger animals resulting from the breeding of w[...]on that followed the disappearance of the buffalo and the abandonment of the nomadic, hunting ex- isten[...]·-- wealth, their recreation, social relations, and ideals. After the buffalo were gone the Blackf[...]r aptitude for farming, which involved techniques and procedures alien to their experience. In the 1940[...]r living by raising livestock, pri- marily cattle and sheep. This preference is traceable to the tribe'[...]s of accumulated experience in the care of horses and its la.ck of crop-growing traditions. I have p[...]atively little monetary value. This is definitely a survival from the days when individual wealth was[...]to the survival of interest in horse racing, long a favorite sport among the Blackfoot. In fact their[...]e religious life of these people in modern times. A number of bundle owners have neither the knowledg[...]ine cult, though limited in function, still holds a respected position in the religious life of the f[...]r relatives upon tribal members who have achieved a degree of economic success. This drain of[...] |
| [...]the white man's ideals of budg- eted expenditures and saving for a rainy day. · The intense[...]serv- ices to their country in two World Wars is a survival of the tradi- tional Blackfoot concept o[...]During World War II, when the Blackfoot furnished a much greater proportion of their able-bodied popu[...]the old adage of buffalo days, "It is better for a man to die in war than to die of old age or sickness." Finally, there survives among the Blackfoot a genuine love of horses that is the heritage of a people whose ancestors' admiration for hor[...] |
| [...]e factors of ownership, care, breeding, training, and use of horses, and beliefs regarding horses that collectively compri[...]ns in 19th-century buffalo days. In the footnotes and brief comparative sections of those pages I have[...]ong other horse-using tribes o:f the Great Plains and the Plateau. Let us now turn to this comparati[...]ains Indians. I should like to be able to present a graphic chart listing the elements of the horse c[...]parative material is too fragmentary to make such a detailed comparison of many elements possible. In[...]y noncontiguous tribes of the area were common to a greater number of Plains Indian tribes and may tentatively be considered part 0£ the basic[...]f the literature on the care, breeding, training, and use of horses among other Plains tribes was more precise and more voluminous this list of traits could have been extended. I am o:f the opinion that, with this study as a guide, reliable information on these aspects of t[...]can still be obtained from elderly :fullbloods of a number of Plains Indian tribes, and that such information would tend to increase the[...]Owner recognized bis horses by their appearance and actions (no Identifying marks placed[...] |
| [...]learned to ride alone by 5th or 6th year. Ri ding and guiding traits: Verbal commands used to stop and start but not to turn horses. Well-trained ho[...]horse if thrown from the saddle. Use of a rawhide lashed, wood- or horn-handled whip. •Saddle making a woman's occupation. Use of stuffed-skin pad s[...]rawhide-covered saddle by women. Use of wood and horn frame saddle for packing. Small-sized fr[...]e for children's use. Horses commonly saddled and cinched from right side. Use of a buffaloskin saddle blanket. Use of a skin saddle housing. Use of a rawhide crupper. Spurs not in common use.[...]Horses' tails decorated with feathers. Tr(lll)ois and transport gear traits: Use of horse travois f[...]one each side of horse or mule) by means of a specialized hitch. Willow-frame sunshades use[...]n women's riding horses. Rawhide (rectangular and/or cylindrical) saddlebags carried on wome[...] |
| [...]Main body surrounded by mounted advance, side, and rear guards. Men rode saddle horses; women sa[...]ansported on horseback with mothers. Toddlers and aged or infirm carried on true or makeshift travo[...]o ride) tied on horseback. Lodge cover folded and carried on packhorse (less commonly on the travoi[...]d in parfleche. Women responsible for packing and moving household equipment. Men carried only arms and accouterments. Poor in horses borrowed horses[...]k animals. Hunting traits: The buffalo horse, a well-trained animal, used only for hunting, war, and dress parade. Employment of buffalo sur[...]equal start in the chase. Preference for bow and arrow, secondary use of lance in mounted buffalo[...]approached buffalo from left. Maximum kill in a single chase by mounted hunter, four or five buffalo. Taboo against packing meat on a buffalo horse. Women cared for buffalo horses[...]ant cause of lntertrlbal wars. The horse raid, a distinctive type of military operation. *Small[...]ing parties most common. Horse raiders drummed and sang war songs before departure. Individual wa[...]m successful raids. The scalp or revenge raid, a mllltary expedition distinct from the horse raid. The buffalo horse served as a war horse in battle. Scalp raiders comm[...] |
| [...]Warfare traits-Continued Preference for bow and arrow In mounted warfare (prior to introduction of breech-loading rifles). Lance and war club principal shock weapons of mounted warri[...]raiders. Capture of enemy horse recognized as a war honor. Trade traits: Horses common media of exchange in-intertribal and intratribal trade. Qualitative value distinct[...]n relative wealth in horses. Wealth in horses a virtual requirement for band chieftaincy. Siz[...]sitive correlation between number of horses owned and quality and quantity of other family possessions. Polygamy and wide selection of marriage mates positively corre[...]ndence of the poor in horses upon wealthy leaders a factor in band organization and fluidity of bands. Exchange of horses as gift[...]se toys used in children's play. Horse racing a popular sport. Race horses especially trained and highly valued. Horse races were tests of endu[...]Sham battles performed on horseback to amuse and impress visitors. Horses commonly employed as[...]s on death of prominent owners. Horses' tails and manes cut in mourning for dead owners. Belief[...]e data. Numerous traits are listed in the hunting and warfare categories because tho details of the hunting and war practices of many tribes are relatively well known. On the other hand, a single trait appears in the breeding categ[...] |
| [...]dian horse complex. It is subject to modification and ex- tension through future research. Asterisk[...]es themselves. The horticultural Mandan, Hidatsa, and -Arikara picketed their best horses inside their earth lodges at night and fed corn to horses. Among the marginal Chiricahua[...]er than women were the saddlemakers. The Comanche and Kiowa of the southern Plains not uncommonly orga[...]horse-raiding expeditions which rode into Mexico and carried off large numbers of stolen horses. The wealthy tribes of the southern Plains and the Plateau appear to have made much more use of[...]tainly oc- curred among the horse-poor Assiniboin and Cree, the horticultural tribes, and the wealthy Indians of the southern Plains and Plateau. ORIGINS OF THE PLAINS INDIAN H[...]diffused over the area from the Apache, Comanche and/or Kiowa in the south to the Assiniboin and/or Cree in the northeast and the Nez Perce and/or Flathead in the northwest. Why should there ha[...]m of the origin of elements in the horse complex, a problem made exceedingly difficult by the meagern[...]ins. Rather the complex appears to have comprised a |
| [...]new conditions resulting from the use of horses, and (3) Indian inventions following the ac- quisition[...]upon the use of animals obtained from Europeans, and that this culture developed within the Colonial Period on and beyond the frontiers of white settlement. Opportu[...]the early years of Indian experience with horses, and during those years which were but poorly covered[...]There is ample proof that branded Spanish horses and articles of Spanish riding gear were diffused as[...]before 1800. We must remem- ber also that English and French traders, who possessed extensive know ledg[...]e traders lived in close contact with the central and northern tribes. Through example or suggestion th[...]rature. Nevertheless, in spite of the numerous and in some cases pro- longed European contacts with[...]this complex was so subtle as to evade detection, and that this influence was greater than ever can be[...]n the basis of our present know ledge: ,Use of a rawhide-covered, wooden frame saddle. Use of short stirrups. Use of a crupper. Use of a martingale. Use of a double addlebag. Use of horse armor (li[...] |
| [...]se of mules primarily as pack animals. Use of a pad saddle. The use of a mountain-lion-skin saddle housing may have been a[...]of white influence are concerned with riding gear and transport equipment. Such articles could have bee[...]the lariat, gelding, color names, horse commands, and the surcingle method of breaking were borrowed fr[...]en learned through direct contacts with Europeans and close observation of their customs. On the other hand, the Plains Indians rejected a number of traits of European horse culture. These were: Branding as a means of ownership identification. Use of spur[...]iards. Spanish use of horse armor was imitated by a limited number of Plains Indian tribes. Obviously[...]se usages. They were selective in their borrowing and redesigned equipment or modified practices to suit their particular needs and their own tastes. By far the greater number of[...]to have borne the stamp of Indian in- genuity. A number of traits in this horse complex appear to[...]lains Indian culture rather than from outside it. A number of these traits, and the suggested source of inspiration for each, fol[...]medicines previously used in treating humans and probably dogs.) Use of the horse travois. (An adaptation of the dog travols for use with a larger and stronger animal.) |
| [...]ric buffalo surreund on foot.) Use of the bow and arrow and lance as weapons in bunting buffalo on horse-[...]in slave raids afoot.) Preference for the bow and arrow as fire weapons of mounted warriors. ( Previous use of the bow and arrow by warriors afoot.) Use of the lance and warclub as shock weapons by mounted warriors. (Pr[...]ons by footmen.) Use of the rawhide shield as a defensive weapon by mounted warriors. (Pre-[...]otmen.) Capture of enemy horses recognized as a war honor. ( Capture of slaves previously recognized as a war honor.) It is most probable that many trait[...]iated with the use of horses in hunting, warfare, and camp movement were continuations of or modificati[...]ity for devising measures for the care, training, and use of the new animals after these Indians acquir[...]used as packhorse luggage. The buffalo horse, a well-trained animal, used only for bunting, war, and dress parade. The buffalo chase on horseback. Taboo against packing meat on a buffalo runner. Use of horse as shield by moun[...]ren's play. Sham battles on horseback to amuse and impress visitors. Horses commonly emplo[...] |
| [...]ta- tion of the European horse to the service of a nomadic, buffalo- hunting people that gave to th[...]e role the new animal was to play in their life, and who were primarily responsible for developing th[...]INS INDIAN HISTORY THE NATURAL AND CULTURAL SETTING The vast herds of buffalo that roamed the grassy plains between |
| [...][Bull. 159 erous animals would thrive and increase in numbers with relatively 1. PERIOD OF DIFFUSION AND INTEGRATION (Frorn, the first acquisit-ion[...]city of Plains Indian methods of |
| [...]T INDIAN CULTURE 333 center and the horticultural tribes, while the Crow became active in acquiring horses at the Shoshonean center and trading them at con- siderable profit on the Missouri. Raiding for horses appears to have been a secondary avenue of diffu- sion, necessitated by[...]lains Indians-i. e., as riding animals in hunting and warfare and as burden bearers in moving camp. Whether the Ind[...]. In 1719 La Harpe (Margry, 1886, vol. 6, p. 279) and Valverde (Thomas, 1935, p. 131) noted that the Lipan and El Cuartelejo Apache transported their lodges by[...]Assiniboin used horses "for carrying the baggage and not to ride on" in 1755. Although these data are not sufficient to fully justify such a conclusion, they suggest the possibility that tho[...]h peoples may have adopted the horse initially as a riding animal, while some tribes remote from the[...]center preferred to employ their first horses as a replacement for dogs as beasts of burden. Yet Hen[...]t factor in the westward movement of Algon- quian and Siouan tribes from Minnesota and the eastern Dakotas toward the High Plains. However, once these tribes had become Plainsmen and had acquired horses their greater mobility enable[...]being footmen, they could get to windward of us, and set fire to the grass ; when we marched for the Woods, they would be there before us, dismount, and under cover fire on us. Until we have Horses like them, we must keep to the Woods, and leave the plains to them. Before 1800 the Arapaho, Gros Ventres, Crow, and Cheyenne, tra- ditionally horticultural tribes, had become nomadic hunters and all except the Gros Ventres had become act[...] |
| [...]-Gros Ventres may have begun to move westward as a result of pressures from the eastward before hors[...]s move- ment of tribes proceeded :from both east and west, into the High Plains. The powerful Dakota[...]Teton in the lead. Farther north the Assiniboin and Cree moved in the same direction. From the west, and probably somewhat earlier owing to their earlier[...]f horses, the Shoshoni, Flathead, Pend d'Oreille, and Nez Perce entered the High Plains only to be late[...]k by the southwestward movement of the aggressive Black- foot. Yet those tribes continued to make periodi[...]buffalo plains. "Within the High Plains there was a general southward movement of tribes toward the p[...]were pushed southward by the power- ful Comanche and the Kiowa and Kiowa-Apache followed, being in turn forced to mo[...]h century with the southward drift of the Arapaho and Cheyenne as well as the Blackfoot, it was set in[...]. Their meetings resulted in exchanges of objects and ideas among which were traits of the horse comple[...]ximity also caused conflicts over hunting grounds and horses. Ambitious young men, needing horses to gain economic and social status among their own people, stole them[...]t of horticulture by the Cheyenne on the Missouri a few years earlier as a direct result of their unfavorable competition wi[...]the enemy, who often knew not where to find them, and the Cheyennes, settled there were every day expos[...]n this disparity more, they abandoned agriculture and their hearths and became a nomadic people. |
| [...]335 Farther to the southwest a similar drama was being enacted, in which Apache tribes were forced to abandon their fields and flee south- ward to escape the pressure of the ag[...]h of crops had given to the horticultural tribes, and which in pre-horse times had made their way of life more secure than that of the nomadic hunters, had become a handicap. Their sedentary villages were surrounded by mobile horsemen who attacked and insulted them or made peace to obtain garden prod[...]suppose that ideas regarding the care, training, and use of horses and attitudes toward horses, as well as the animals t[...]es. ~- Ji'ERIOD o:r CRYSTALLIZATION AND MAXIMUM UTILIZATION (From about 180[...]tural limits of the Great Plains in the northeast and across |
| [...]in this period. It spread rapidly over the Plains and into the Plateau. There was a tendency during this period for horse raiding to[...]se tribes which were not poor in horses there was a tendency toward the abandonment of the buffalo drive and the surround in favor of the chase. It was probab[...]dvanced from poverty to wealth in horses, nor was a wealthy tribe reduced to poverty. In- dividuals were actively increasing their herds through breeding and capture of enemy horses. Their activities were offset by loss of horses stolen by the enemy and through deaths. The horticultural tribes of the Upper Missouri continued to decline in numbers and relative importance, offering little in the way of furs to the traders and limited opposition to the advancing frontier of w[...]s, the Teton Dakota, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Comanche, and Kiowa were the principal fighters of the Plains I[...]Indians in permanent dwellings upon reservations, and the end of intertribal warfare, the three primary[...]tional culture-their use in hunting, moving camp, and warfare-were rendered obsolete. In their adjustment to a new way of life, with the encouragement of the Go[...]Yet there remain among other tribes, as among the Black- foot, survivals of customs and attitudes which are remainders of their Horse Culture heritage. OLD THEORIES AND NEW INTERPRETATIONS Two opposing theories rega[...]Plains Indian culture have been presented by able and experienced |
| [...]the Sun Dance, the camp circle, men's societies, and the circumscribed range with summer and winter camps) were, or probably were known to the[...]rial or otherwise, were either dropped or added," and that "from a qualitative point of view the culture of the Plai[...]nts its strongest claim." Kroeber, in "Cultural and Natural Areas of Native North America'' (Kroeber[...]ently off the bison on the open plains while they and their dogs were dragging their dwellings, furniture, pro- visions, and children? How large a tepee could have been continuously moved in this[...]usand people have congregated in one spot to hold a four or eight days' Sun dance? By the standard of[...]tury Plains Indian would have been miserably poor and almost chronically hungry, if he had tried to fol[...]e bundle purchases, elaborate rituals, gratuitous and time-consuming warfare, all these be could have i[...]1939, pp. 76--77.] These views of both Wissler and Kroeber reflect the paucity of specific informati[...]which existed when they prepared their statements and still exists ( and which is a handicap under which any student of the problem must labor), as well as the lack of a careful analysis of the Plains Indian horse complex as a basis for their reasoning. Kroeber appears to hav[...]horse-using nomads, we have both archeologi- cal and early historical proof of its existence. From the[...]il the appearance of horticultural practices only a few centuries prior to the introduction of the ho[...]le skin lodges, movu1g camp with the aid of dogs, and impounding buffalo on the southern Plains,[...] |
| [...]as" type of life in 1541 was already rather old, and furthermore that it was very similar to, if not a direct continuation of, cultural habits deduced[...]far been intensively worked in western Nebraska and northern Colorado." 00 It does not seem probable that the nu- merous buffalo drive sites in Montana and southern Alberta were used entirely by horse-usi[...]hat the reason European explorers failed to find a pedestrian buffalo-hunting people on the norther[...]contention that the horse complex was adapted to a pre- existing pedestrian buffalo-hunting economy[...]ncluded such elements as the daily care, breeding and training of horses, the teaching of children to ride, the chase, specialized riding and transport gear adapted to the use of horses, new methods of packing and transporting camp equipment, frequent horse raiding and mobile scalp raiding, extensive trade in horses,[...]e -0f the horse in children's play, horse racing, and the horse medicine ~ult, did not differ qualitati[...]abits of daily life, served to develop new manual and motor skills, changed their concepts of their physical environment and the social relationships of individuals. Proba[...]horses to the Plains Indian economy brought about a change from a relatively dassless society to a society composed of three classes, which graded a lmost imperceptibly into one another, and in which membership was determined largely upon the basis of horse ownership-a privileged but responsible upper class, a relatively independent middle class, and an underprivileged and dependent lower class. The influence of this class system not only was apparent in Indian care and use of horses, but it was active in trade relatio[...]n individuals, in mar- riage, in legal procedures and religious practices. Failure to recog- w Dr. Wed el confirmed and expanclt'd this thought in hls article entitled "Some As pects |
| [...]dian culture based primarily upon the activities and attributes of the wealthy. I find closest anal[...]ions based upon wealth or mili- tary prowess" as a distinctive characteristic of the horse-using nom[...]can pampean area. Does it not seem probable that a tendency toward a class system based upon ownership of property (p[...]s characteristic of horse-using nomadic peoples, and that this characteristic distinguished their cult[...]s to me that the influence of the horse permeated and modi- fied to a greater or lesser degree every major aspect of Pl[...]dering the rapidity of its adaptation, the number and diversity of the horse's associations in Plains I[...]"Time Perspective in Aborginal American Culture, a Study of Method" (1916, p. 21), has proposed as[...]erroneous conclusion that these Indians had known and used horses for a longer period than they had employed dogs. In the case of the horse, the remarkable number and diversity of its associations must have been due[...]with which these Indians accepted this new animal and the remarkable adaptability of the culture and the horse to one another. My studies of the influence and functions of the horse in Plains Indian culture have impressed me with the need for further research on a number of aspects of the problem. To gain a better understand- ing of the influence of the ho[...]e should have additional historical, descriptive, and comparative studies. There is a need for a careful analysis of the Spanish-Mexican horse complex of the Colonial Period which will afford us a detailed, factual basis for comparison wit[...] |
| [...]ETHNOLOGY [Bull.159 and early American for traders operating in and near the Great Plains. the South Plains," by Ernest Wallace and E. Adamson Hoebel, has appeared (Norman, |
| [...]arcy (1859, p. 112) as "square-built, big-bellied and short-legged" in comparison with the larger Amer[...]4 (Hendry, 1907, p. 339). David Thompson wrote of a Piegan raid on a Spanish party far to the southward, which may hav[...]oni in 1787, during which the raiders took horses and 15 mules (Thompson, 1916, pp. 370, 341-342). Buff[...]ny as 60 mules at one time. His younger relatives and friends gave him any mules they captured from enemy camps. He kept his mules in a separate herd. The Blackfoot tribes continued[...]iving to the south of the Blackfoot. Weasel Head, a Piegan informant, claimed to have stolen six mule[...]rce how these hybrids were bred from the union of a mare and a donkey. Inform- ants stated that the Blackfoot valued mules highly because of their strength and smartness. In my informants' youth the Blackfo[...]primarily for hauling lodgepoles in moving camp. A strong mule could haul at least a third more poles than could the av- erage Indian pony. Some mules also served for packing meat and camp equipment. Weasel Tail said that in h[...] |
| [...]AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 a mule to bring in the center pole for the medicine[...]poles across those poles at the usual position of a travois loading plat- |
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| [...]BULLETIN 159 PLATE 2 a, fan's pad saddle, Blackfoot. (Collected b[...] |
| [...]TE 3 6 |
| [...]BULLETIN 159 PLATE 5 a, P iegan lodges, showing methods of storing horse[...]y Montana Historical Society.) b, Travois used as a litter, |
| [...]B U LLETIN 159 PLATE 6 a, Cheyenne travois with domed, willow superstructu[...]paunch water container attached. |
| [...]a,[...]...., Neighborhood of Willow Rounds, a favorite Piegan winter campsite (from U. :[...] |
| [...]'° a, Two-quart, brass trade kettle with its buckskin[...]Buffalohide double-bag, used in transporting food and small household articles on a packhorse, Blackfoot. (American Museum[...] |
| [...]a,[...]a,[...]0 Method of crossing a stream with camp equipment, Flathead India[...] |
| [...]fT1 a, The Arapaho pipe bundle, source of Whi te[...] |
| [...]q a Child 's tov horse of bent willow. Ma de i[...] |
| [...]CJ a, Beaded wheel and arrows used in the hoop and pole game, North Piegan.(Collected by[...] |
| [...]B A, Wallace Night Gun (ca. 1872- 1950), leader of th[...]nited States National Museum (No. 387744): Pouch (a) contains beaded horse fetish (b) and pouches of secret horse medicines (c and d). |
| [...]B ~ A, Portions of Wallace ight Gun's horse medicine bundle: a, in vitation feath_e rs; b, altar plumes ; c, fire tongs; d, packets of red and black |
| [...]BULLETIN 159 PLATE 17 a, \lakes-Cold-Weather, aged Piegan warrior, counti[...]4. (Courtesy Museum of the Plains Indian.) |
| [...]s horses social customs, 284, 335 and armor, 2, 205 treatment of[...], 275 Antelope, 121, 166, 170 A.rtemisia sp., medicinal use of, 275 Apache[...] |
| [...]e-, 116,117 (fig.), 135,136 mounting and guiding horses, 68, G9, Gros Ventres, 114,[...]281, 284 Bear knife, ceremony of transfer of, 263 social o[...]by, 51 trade with, 218 black, 121 tradition[...]80 Bishop, Morris, 2 Black Horse Society, 279 Bit, Spanish, 79[...]Indian informants, list of, xm Blackfoot Indians, a cquisi tion of horses Blood Indians, x[...] |
| [...]nued Buffalo, butchering and packing, 160- raids by, 175, 190, 194[...]04, 306 seasons, 152 Bow and arrows, u sed by Indians, 70, Buffalo[...]n, 116 Buffalo scr a pings, used like flour, 136 Bows, horn, traded fo[...]ttons, metal, traded for horses, 7 Brackett, Col. A. G., quotation from , 109 Bradley, Lt. James H.,[...]hide, 42 British tra ders, r elations w ith Indi a ns , Carleton, Lt. J. H., quotation from, 185,[...]s, treatmen t for, 49 Carver, Jon a thon, 5, 202 Bronco, see Horses, wild.[...], 56, 57 (fig.), 58, 282, 2 3 Brule Dakota, see D a ko ta India ns. Catlin, George,[...] |
| [...]332, 333 Colic and distemper, treatment for, 48- hunting metho[...]Commissioner of Indian Affairs, report Civil and criminal offenses, punishment[...] |
| [...]formation, 144 Dancing society, Black Horse, 279 movements of, 123,130,146,[...] |
| [...]139, 140, 141, 243, 248, 291, 300, Fletcher, A. C., and La Flesche, F., quo- 306,308,312,331,333,3[...]quisetum sp., medicinal plant, 276 hoop and pole, 229, 236-238, 239,[...]Girls, duties of, 227 Ferris, W. A., quotations from, 67, 71, toys used[...] |
| [...]Horse-chestnut perfume, making of, 223 Hatch, E. A. C., Indian agent, 20, 29,175, Horse collars, b[...]I, 8, 13, 14 Horse 1n society organization and cere- enemies of Black.foot, 178 monies, 253[...] |
| [...]naming of, 36, 37,323,329 origin and history, 258-262, 283, 284 nightcare,44,21[...]falo-running, 138, 139, 153-154, riding and guiding, 68-72, 324 156, 157, 158, 1[...] |
| [...]origin of horse complex, 327 Hunting and collecting season, 126--127 raids b[...] |
| [...]transportation gear, 110 Lewis and Clark expedition, reports treatment of[...]e protection, individual, 208 Martingales and cruppers, 95, 96 (fig.), Lodges, buffalosk[...] |
| [...]riding gear, 97, 99 Murphy, Edith V. A., information from, status of wume[...] |
| [...]treatment of horses by, 47, 49 Pipe and tobacco, carried on raids, 184 wealth[...] |
| [...]Sherburne, Frank and Jo eph, observa- Sac and Fox Indians, riding gear, 99[...] |
| [...]213, 279, 334, 385 Society organization and ceremonies, Taboos recognized by horse med[...] |
| [...]ors, 212-213, 310,311,326,330 Travois, adjustment and repair, 105-106 representations of[...]Water spirits, mythical, 317 Travois and transport gear, 102-120, "Wate[...] |
| [...]Woman's saddle, see Saddle, woman's. Weights and loads, 138 Women, belt w[...]burden bearers, 142, 308 Whipple, A. W., quotations from, 79, 85[...] |
MD | |
| [...]ply more facts regarding the role of the horse in a nomadic, buffalo-hunting, horse-using Plai[...] | |
| Digitized using a Bookeye 3 scanner at 400 PPI, 8 bit graysc[...] |
The horse in Blackfoot Indian culture : with comparative material from other western tribes (1956). Montana History Portal, accessed 13/03/2025, https://www.mtmemory.org/nodes/view/5626
