368 



CROWS 



[b. a. e. 



Powder, Wind, and Bighorn r.*., on the 

 s. side of the Yellowstone, as far as Lara- 

 mie fork on the Platte r. They are also 

 often found on the w. and n. side of that 



CROW MAN 



river, as far as the source of the Mussel- 

 shell and as low down as the mouth of 

 the Yellowstone." 



According to Maximilian (1843) the 

 tipis of the Crows were exactly like those 

 of the Sioux, set up without any regular 

 order, and on the poles, instead of scalps 

 were small i)ieces of colored cloth, chietiy 

 red, tioating like streamers in the wind. 

 The camp he visited swarmed with wolf- 

 like dogs. They were a wandering tribe 

 of hunters, making no plantations except 

 a few small patches of tobacco. They 

 lived at that time in some 400 tents and 

 are said to have possessed 1)etween 9,000 

 and 10,000 horses. Maximilian consid- 

 ered them the proudest of Indians, de- 

 spising the whites; "they do not, how- 

 ever, kill them, but often plunder them." 

 In stature and dress they corresponded 

 with the Hidatsa, and were proud of their 

 long hair. The women have been de- 

 scribed as skilful in various kinds of 

 work, and their shirts and dresses of big- 

 horn leather, as well as ther buffalo robes, 

 embroidered and ornamented with dyed 

 porcupine quills, as particularly hand- 

 some. The men made their weapons 

 very well and with much taste, especially 

 their large bows, covered with liorn of 



the elk or bighorn and often with rattle- 

 snake skin. The Crows have been de- 

 scribed as extremely superstitious, very 

 dissolute, and nmcli given to unnatural 

 practices; they are skilful horsemen, 

 throwing themselves on one side in their 

 attacks, as is done by many Asiatic tribes. 

 Their dead were usually placed on stages 

 elevated on poles in the jjrairie. 



The population was estimated bv Lewis 

 and Clark (1804) at 350 lodges and 3,500 

 individuals; in 1829 and 1834, at 4,500; 

 Maximilian (1843) counted 400 tipis; 

 Hayden (1862) said there were formerly 

 about 800 lodges or families, in 1862 re- 

 duced to 460 lodges. Their number in 

 1890 was 2,287; in 1904, 1,826. Lewis 

 (Stat. View, 1807) said they were divided 

 into four Ijands, called by themselves 

 Ahaharopirnopa, Ehartsar, Noota, and 

 Pareescar. Culbertson (Smithson. Rep. 

 1850, 144, 1851) divides the tribe into (1) 

 Crow People, and (2) Minesetperi, or 

 Sapsuckers. These two divisions he sub- 

 divides into 12 bands, giving as the names 

 only the English equivalents. Morgan 

 (Anc. Soc, 159, 1877) gives the following 

 bands: Acheiial^echa, Ahachik, Ashina- 

 dea, Ashbochiah, Ashkanena, Booadasha, 

 Esachkabuk, Esekepkabuk, Hokarutcha, 

 Ohotdusha, Oosal )otsee, Petchaleruhpaka, 

 and Shiptetza. 



The Crows have been officially classified 

 as Mountain Crows and River Crows, the 

 former so called because of their custom 



CROW WOMAN 



of hunting and roaming near the moun- 

 tains away from Missouri r., the latter 

 from the fact that they left the mountain 

 section about 1859 and occupied the 



