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THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



enough to accommodate an average -sized person in a sitting 

 posture. At one side of the shelter were the remains of an offer- 

 ing to the Sun, consisting of clothing and eagle feathers. On 

 such lonely hilltops men often fast and pray for several days and 

 nights seeking a vision or other signs from the supernatural power. 

 The strong belief that the ghosts of the dead frequent the hill- 



'^^ 



SECRET FASTING PLACE ON A LONELY HILL. BLACKFEET INDIAN RESERVATION, MONTANA, 1906 



tops, and set their marks upon all living persons found there, 

 creates a fear in the mind of the lone faster that can be overcome 

 only b}'^ the greatest courage. 



Like many other people the Blackfeet speak of the immaterial 

 part of themselves as the shadow. When a man is near death, 

 they say that his shadow is about to depart, etc. After death 

 these shadows are supposed to make frequent visits to their old 



