BUSHNELL] VILLAGES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI 83 
Something of the manners and ways of life of these people may be 
gathered from another passage in Mackenzie’s narrative: “ In the fall 
of the year the natives meet the traders at the forts, where they barter 
the furs or provisions which they may have procured; then they ob- 
tain credit, and proceed to hunt the beavers, and do not return till the 
beginning of the year; when they are again fitted out in the same 
manner and come back the latter end of March, or the beginning of 
April. They are now unwilling to repair to the beaver hunt until the 
waters are clear of ice, that they may kill them with fire-arms, which 
the Chepewyans are averse to employ. The major part of the latter 
return to the barren grounds, and live during the summer with their 
relations and friends in the enjoyment of that plenty which is de- 
rived from numerous herds of deer. But those of that tribe who are 
most partial to these desarts, cannot remain there in winter, and they 
are obliged, with the deer, to take shelter in the woods during that 
rigorous season, when they contrive to kill a few beavers, and send 
them by young men, to exchange for iron utensils and ammunition.” 
(Mackenzie, (1), pp. xe—xci.) 
The large ceremonial lodges erected by the Blackfeet were among 
the most interesting structures reared by the tribes of the Northwest. 
A remarkable example was encountered by the Fisk party September 
1, 1862, near the banks of Milk River, a short distance from Fort 
Benton. As described in the journal: “ We passed this afternoon 
an abandoned camp of some three thousand or four thousand Black- 
feet Indians. A large ‘medicine lodge,’ in which they had cele- 
brated their superstitious rites, was left standing, although its cov- 
ering had been mostly stripped from its frame-work. It was cir- 
cular, and about one hundred feet in diameter and forty feet high 
in the centre, the roof poles running from the top down to and 
around a tree, which was erected for a centre pole. This, in time of 
occupancy, is covered with dressed buffalo skins, and constitutes the 
Indian’s highest achievement in the architectural line.” (Fisk, (1), 
p. 24.) The entire ceremony attending the selection of a site for 
the structure, the cutting of the poles, the erection of the associated 
sweat lodges, and the final raising of the medicine lodge, has been 
recorded by Grinnell, (3), pages 263-267, and is one of the most com- 
plete accounts of a native ceremony ever prepared. 
ARAPAHO. 
The ancient habitat of the Arapaho, according to tradition, was 
once far northeast of the country which they later occupied. It 
may have been among the forests of the region about the headwaters 
of the Mississippi, the present State of Minnesota, where their 
villages would have stood on the shores of lakes and streams. But 
