190 EBPOBT — 1887. 



things are not done by the professional 'medicine men,' but by any man 

 or woman in the camp who is clever enough. The ' medicine men ' resort 

 only to witchcraft in attempting their cures. 



Dwellings, Occupations, &c. 



While sitting in ' Old Sun's ' teepee I mentally took its dimensions 

 and noted down its contents. It was about sixteen feet in diameter on 

 the floor and about eighteen feet high in the centre, formed by fifteen 

 poles, their feet on the line of the circle and their upper ends meeting in 

 a bunch at the top, the framework covei-ed over with white tent canvas, 

 yellowed and browned with the smoke. In the centre was a circlet of 

 smooth stones, two and a half feet in diameter, forming the fireplace, and 

 over the fire was a tin pot, suspended by three sticks — gipsy fashion. 

 Overhead hung some pieces of dried beef on a string. The interior of 

 the teepee, unlike those of the Crees and Sioux, was divided iuto four 

 partitions by sloping back-resters, called ' stopistakiska,' and made of 

 wickerwork ; their basis, about twenty inches wide, rested on the ground, 

 and theii' tops, which tapered to three or four inches in breadth, were 

 secured to the sloping poles which supported the tent about four feet from 

 the ground. The teepee also had its sides lined with quilts and blankets 

 to a height of four feet from the ground, which gave it a warm, comfort- 

 able appearance. Back in the angle made by the sloping sides of the 

 tent were packed away all the valuables which the family possessed — 

 blankets, packsaddles, guns, &c. — and on the front of these partitions, 

 towards the fire, a neat finish was made to each couch by a clean-shaved 

 pole lying on the gi'ound. The teepee had no floor, only the grass of the 

 prairie, but the couches between the partitions were carpeted with skins 

 and blankets. All the feather ornaments, headdi'esses, shields, buckskin 

 dresses, &c., were neatly folded up and packed away in skin cases made 

 to contain them. There was an air of neatness and cleanliness about the 

 whole arrangement. ' Old Sun ' exhibited to us some of his valuables. 

 There was a circular shield, twenty inches in diameter, made of skin 

 stretched over a wooden frame and ornamented with red cloth and crim- 

 son-dyed feathers. On the face of the shield was a rude picture of a 



buffalo and some marks like this j-T which we were told represented 



the buffalo trail. We were also shown a skin helmet, mounted at the top 

 with a buffalo horn studded with brass nails. The helmet was one mass 

 of weasel tails, hanging in every direction, and the point of the horn, 

 which pointed backwards and downwards, had a tuft of crimson feathers. 

 There was also a very elaborate headgear for a horse to wear when going 

 to battle. One part of it covered the head like a mask, holes being left 

 for the eyes, and was fitted with a pair of horns ; the other part was a 

 sort of banner, to be suspended to the lower jaw ; both parts were profusely 

 decorated with red, yellow, and blue feathers. We were told that such a 

 headdress as this was, in Indian estimation, worth a couple of ponies. 



These Blackfeet seem to live in teepees such as I have described in the 

 summer, but in the winter it is now their custom to dwell in little log 

 huts plastered over with mud, which they have learnt to construct, in 

 imitation, it is thought, of the lumberer's shanty. It seems to me, how- 

 ever, after seeing models of the Moqui and Pueblo Indians' houses at the 

 Smithsonian Institute, that it is quite as likely that they had this style 



