1920.] Lowie, Crow Tobacco Society. 187 



the paimch, and he kept on planting the Tobacco till he got very old and died. He 

 had a son and gave him the paunch in turn, and he continued planting till he got so 

 old that this skin tore and he died. His son planted Tobacco also. He had a yellow 

 meadowlark tied to his heart. Then they began to adopt. They believe this came 

 from the stars, that the stars gave it to the Crow. Thus we became people. 1 Some 

 dreamt and saw it themselves and added the Mixer and other officers, and the adop- 

 tion lodge, one person buying these rights from another. The Crow adopted some 

 Piegan, then the Piegan also began it. In the spring when the sage begins to grow 

 they plant Tobacco. In the old days after harvesting they had a dance with the seeds 

 on returning to camp. This is not done now any more. In the old days there were 

 not many members; no children were adopted then, but mostly old people. 



As to the origin of the Piegan ceremony Bear-gets-up was more 

 specific : . 



A war party of Piegan came to the Crow and found them inspecting their 

 Tobacco, which was coming up fine so that all the Crow were satisfied. The Piegan, 

 to the number of about twenty, came to the garden after the Crow had departed and 

 pulled out the Tobacco. One of them, however, said, "You have no right to pluck 

 these out, these are dangerous. We are trying to have good luck." He picked them 

 up again, wrapped them up in a bag, carried them with him, and kept them under his 

 pillow. He dreamt that someone was talking in the garden, saying, "We shall get 

 even with these." When he awoke, he arose, roused his nearest relatives, and fled 

 with them. They went some distance at daybreak, then they heard some shooting. 

 They got home in safety, the rest were all killed for destroying the garden. The 

 Piegan took his Tobacco home and repeatedly dreamt about it. Now a good many 

 Piegan are in the Tobacco dance; one Crow adopted a Piegan. 



To return to the Crow origin traditions. Pretty-enemy gave the 

 following account: , ; 



Some men were on the warpath. On the way home one member of the party 

 had a sore leg, and they had to leave him behind with a hut and provisions. His leg 

 got well and he approached the camp. He was traveling slowly with the aid of a cane. 

 On his way he slept and heard a voice saying, "A whole camp is coming." He looked 

 and saw a group of small people lined up as in a Tobacco procession. Everyone had a 

 buckskin suit and all were painted red; on the forehead they had strips of the back 

 skin of buffalo, which are now represented by juniper crowns. All the people wore 

 these, and each was carrying a Tobacco sack. The dreamer heard a voice say, "Do 

 you know what is in this bag? What is on the back of these people they are going to 

 plant. They will let you see it. I'll tell you how they mix it. All those people are 

 very old". In ancient times only old people were in the Tobacco ceremony. The 

 voice added, "In the bags are prairie-onion, mole-dirt, bear's root, 'prairie-dog's coal' 

 (a vine)." Tobacco was not mentioned. I think bear's root is the real seed. Lately, 

 combining the three substances, the Crow have called the mixture 'Tobacco'. 2 The 

 visionary made a vow: "If I live, I'll do what I saw in the vision." He got well and 

 began to plant bear's root. Afterwards buffalo or elk manure and other ingredients 

 were added. 



1 \ favorite expression, evidently meaning "peopl 

 2 This of course is an erroneous view. 



IP of ponsequenee. 



