12 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



Being an acknowledged adept his services are sought by the ordinary 

 Indian who may desire to perform some special act of religious devotion, 

 and who is usually quite willing to pay to have it conducted propierly. 



The adepts will here be called priests instead of " mjedicine men, " 

 because the latter term is too widely applied to have any special mean- 

 ing. 



Blackfoot priests are seldom doctors, and when a man is found 

 who plies both callings, the fact has no more significance than would 

 the case of a white man being equally learned in medicine and theology. 

 The term "medical priesthood" has been inaccurately applied to the 

 Blackfoot, years of careful observation having failed to reveal to the 

 writer the slightest indication of such an institution or class. 



A priest having been engaged and a number of guests invited, on 

 the morning of the appointed day, — sometimes during the preceding 

 night, — th^e vow maker or devotee, who will also be referred to as the 

 host and sacrificer, exposes his offering on the end of a long pole 

 at the outside of his own lodge after preparing it in the follow- 

 ing manner: — Two upper corners of the article are tied to a cross 

 stick of green willow about an inch in diameter ajid long enough to 

 spread out tlie offering to its greatest width. At each point where the 

 offering is tied to this stick a bunch of the broad, leaf wild sage is at- 

 tached. There are two varieties of Artemisia very plentiful in the 

 Blackfoot country, only one of which, Artemisia Ludovinca, is used for 

 ceremonial purposes. I'he other variety, the Artemisia frigida:, is con- 

 sidered improper for sacred uses. 



The devotee next makes a light willow hoop eight or nin^e inches 

 in diameter, and across it ties a number of willow sticks with th^eir 

 ends close together at one side of the circl,e but spread about two inches 

 apart on the opposite side. Each of these latter ends is surmounted by 

 a tail feather of the golden or war eagle (Aquila chiysœtus). The 

 circle is then attached to the top of the sacrifice, with the eagle feathers 

 uppermost. 



When a coat or shirt is offered, the cross stick is put through the 

 sleeves, which are extended upon it and tied with a bunch of Artemisia 

 in each wrist; the hoop and feathers being fastened to the collar of 

 the garment. 



The now properly prepared offering is elevated on tlie end of a 

 spare lodge pole to the top of the vow-maker's lodge, where it remains 

 fluttering in the wind, until it is taken down in the course of the 

 proceedings. 



The ceremony takes place in the ordinary Blackfoot lodge, which 

 stands with entrance to the east, and in which is the common central 



