434 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



|t>Ec. 37, i«83. 



told. TllC first nnwv that was shot struck a buffalo in the 

 side, and hi.' cried out "Oh! my l.nitln -is. a great 11 v bites 

 mi- I ilii.';" and he fill to the ground and died. Aid the 

 people shot many more buffalo, and they cried onl "Great 

 flies bite through us," and they fell and died. 



The buffalo Vet alive Found thai the people were shooting 

 Ihnn. and. they said: "You people! you people! do not 

 kill IIS; W0 will never eat any more of you." Then the Old 

 jNIan, w ho was sitting on a. rock looking on, said to-them: 

 "lloiil on, hold on; wo will gamble to see which shall be 

 cal<n. ' So ljc i lied out to all the animals to eonie and help 

 the people gamble against the buffalo, and they all came— 

 ad the birds and animals eame. First, the elk .gambled with 

 the buffalo and lost, and the different animals in turn gam- 

 bled : tinsi the buffalo and each one lost. Now on the 

 third day all the animals bad lost except one which had not 



ik i 



,. i mi, HI. The lil 

 when be took the lion 

 "kill the bones'") all the 

 "Take courage little v 

 Then the Utile mouse tot 

 go so Fast thiii the buffal 

 the hone, and 'hey guease< 



people shouted loudly am 

 they shot a number, of Fat 

 animals, and the Old M 

 live in, Tp this daj n 



thev rewarded for savin 

 The Old Man, the ma 

 is not I he el: 



nouse 

 in his 

 nimals 



isc. tal; 



1 the 



1. quickly 



turn 



little paws (the 

 and the pcoph 

 ■ coiirase littl 



e and mad 



)t which oi 



gio 



3 the 



ni g 



shouted. 



mouse." 



lis little paws 



of them held 



hereupon the 



nging their bows, 



a a feast to all the 



be buffalo heads to 



homes in them; so are 



the best \ 

 translate th 

 known ame 



is .!■' Fi llo i 



thei 



ag the people. 



■iker of the people, is a god; but b 

 ic sun holds that position, Perhaps 

 • Blackfoot idea of the sun will be to 

 the origin of the O-kau, or what is 

 tietnienas the "medicine lodge." It 



accurately counted and reinemhcred. The head chief of the | comparatively open country, making a delightful piece of 

 tribe is the one who has counted the most "coups.'' When- | fishing ground, and a jov forever to one who is fond ol the 

 too old to go to war, the beautiful i 



ever he dies, or when he becomes 

 one who has counled I he most "e 

 the head chief. Thechiefof D ge 

 others belonging to the gens, ha 



ids 



in nature. Among the hills about its 



No 

 young 



arm 



led the most ' 



nd the 

 1 the t 



3 the 

 i old 



passed through them, t 

 and the young men rat 

 the slits in their backs, 

 ruu, be could not become a warr 

 nto the lodge, and they wore cloth' 



imps" had been counted, all I hi 

 in battfe for the first time wen 

 re Cut in their backs, and cord: 

 diieh were attached buffalo heads 

 long ways, dragging the heads bi 

 1 if any one cried or would no 

 r. 'Women, too. cami 

 like the one of 



•all 



„ . a man fell sick; for a long time he lay 

 in his bed because of his sickness, aud his wives and rela- 

 tive;. IBaid, "Mis sickness is of the regular kind; he will 

 surely die;" and they cried unceasingly. In the night a 

 spirit' eame to the sick man, when he slept, and it said to 

 him, "pome, let us go to the Sun and ask him to pity you, 

 and you may recover." So the soul of the sick man went 

 with ibe spirit to the Sun. And when they came to the 

 Butt's lodge they dare not enter, but sat down by the door- 

 way on t lie ground, and covered their heads with their robes. 

 At . night, when the Sun returned home he saw the .spirit and 

 the sick man sitting by the doorway of his lodge, aud be 

 said to them, "Rise aud enter, for the night is cold;" and 

 when they- were come in he said, "Why have you come?" 

 and the spirit said to him, "Oh, Sun, pity him! pity biro! 

 his body is sick; make him well." And the Sim for a long 

 time did not speak. Then he said, "Go back aud make a 

 lodge like mine. Ilave your head wife make the lodge, and 

 all the people shall help you. Yon shall call it O-kau" (his 

 sleep), and he told the so'ul of the sick man everv thing to do, 

 and the soul went back to its body. 



In the morning the sick man arose and ate, and his rela- 

 tions were very glad to see him well again, and they told 

 him "vour recovery is very strange." "True, true," he 

 said, and he told them about his going to the Sun, and t hcy 

 began to make a lodge as the Sun-had directed them. The 

 man who had been sick and his head wife went up on a 

 bill and smoked and prayed to the Sun, and the young men, 

 all the hunters, killed many' buffalo and brought the tongues 

 to them, And all the women of the camp who had not 

 committed adultery came and helped to cut and dry the 

 tongues, and if any woman helped who had committed 

 aduheiy, and any man knew it, he cried out quickly, and 

 they immediately killed her, for so the Sun had said. No 

 in who had committed adultery was allowed to help 

 make the O-kan. JS r ow when many hundred tongues bad 



they would speak. Their hair was dressed the same and 

 they were painted like him, and they touched the Sun's 

 things and told wbat brave deed the one of whom they spoke 

 must do that they might always love and honor him." 



Now. when all these ceremonies had been done, generally 

 a! tin' close of the third day, the people returned to their 

 lodges and the medicine men only remained behind, to whom 

 came the sick that thev might survive. The medicine men 

 cured them. After that the O-kifu was left aud no one could 

 come near it. or take away the presents which hung iu it, for 

 everything belonged to the Sun. And after this, when a 

 man was very sick, anil even the •'medicine men" were not 

 sure they could save him, then would the head wife of the 

 sick man put ou a, garment of cswskin only, and barefooted, 

 she would walk all about among flic lodges saying loudly; 

 "Take pity Sun! very sick lies my husband. You have seen 

 my ways; you kuow that 1 am not guilty of any sin. 

 Pity take and make my husband well; I will build you a 

 lodge; I will make the O-kan. We all will build the 6-kari 

 ami "make you presents. Hear me, hear me, and give lis full 

 lives." So it happens that every .summer when the berries 

 are ripe that a lodge is built for the Sun. Sometimes only 

 me woman promises to build it. and again, many women 



The building of the O -kail and the attending ceremonies is 

 designed for three pro poses; first, any woman who has been 

 unfaithful to her husband is then pretty sure to be exposed 

 and killed, and in this way adultery is 'suppressed to a great 

 extent; second, the lodge i"s built for the Sun, the. wonderful 

 Above-People, and the.bld Man— if isau offering to the gods; 

 third, the public counting of the "coups" is designed to 

 stimulate the warriors to brave deeds, that they may receive 

 the plaudits of the people. A chieftainship is an enviable 

 position among the Blackfeet, and can only be obtained by 

 most indomitable courage in war. 



[to "be roxTiNrtco.] 



I so unmistakably 

 a- other way. Ear- 



bate n few months 



ere one day iu Scp- 

 pegged out." in front of bis 

 •S the same day. hut 

 ■ had meat enough Of 

 id-hcarled man and a 

 d a capital shot, and 

 s by his cowardly as- 

 led' another before l,e 

 isiou when I tell him 

 d with the old man. 



been dried and plenty of berries gathered, 

 to build the lodge. First they built a high ci 

 upright poles and then made a peaked roof of 

 and covered it with brush. When the lodge was built and 

 lunch firewood had been gathered, the sick man who re- 

 covered and his wives brought all the dried tongues and 

 berries, and much other food into it, and they slept there that 

 night. 

 The morrow was the first day of tl 



beL'an 

 ■all of 



wore their war shi 



Willi ihem their we 

 knives, shields, ant 

 deeds they brought 

 head chief, and aft 



is 

 ipoi 

 tilt 



will 



A- 1 



ind i 



s, th 



then 



var 1 

 eir h 

 iphie 

 a. F 



under chiefs and w 

 when all were come 



inf. 



the 



- , - r: 



lodg< 



week. All the men 

 dresses, and brought, 

 ows and arrows, spears, 

 s of war-; all their brave 

 Irst entered the lodge the 

 the "medicinemen," the 

 ■cording to their rank. Kow, 

 svho could be seated, the 

 "medicine men" took choice portions of the tongues and 

 lithcr food which had been prepared, and put it all iu a hole 

 iu the ground for the Sun, and they sung the "medicine 



. , lor so had the Sun said to do. 



Theie was a "medicine" pipe tilled aud held aloft to the 

 Sun, and a medicine man prayed, saying "0 Sun, take pity 

 Old Man! take pity, let us survive, let OS survive. Let our 

 lives (he) full; let lis survive, let us (be) old. Old men, 

 young men, women and little children, pity tkem all; let 

 their fives (he) full. Give us our eating, let us not starve. 

 We have built a lodge for you, a big lodge; let us survive. 

 Keep the ghosts away ; keep our enemies from coming upon 

 us; let us see them far off. Give TIB good heart-: give us 

 good lives, all you Above-People. O Sun, we have huilt I 

 lodge for yon aiid w T e give you (to) eat. Look at us, pity us 

 pity us."' (All the people) "Ah-h-h-h-h-h! pity take, 'pity 

 take." 



Every one who came to the O-ktlu brought presents and 

 inn g i ,!■:•: on the wails. F.ach person, even the little 6b.il- 

 dfen, gave (to) the Sun. Quiversuf bows and arrows were 

 iiiveii!" shields, war head-uresses, war shirts, spears, scalps. 

 bass of colored earth, line fins, eagle leathers, everything 

 buffalo, he I a'oughl 

 Sun, saying: "Here is your very 

 it even the tongue. 1 gave y r ou 

 iw is the robe, take it and pity 



(be) old." 



■nts had been given to the Sun, 

 ed his "coups"— that is, his sue- 

 j, one would say: "The sweet 

 eCrees. I kiUcd three 

 , Bear's-Paw and Heavy 

 Runner, saw me. I touk the scalps." Singularly enough, 

 oes not count a "coup," neither doct 

 . To count a "coup" the person must 

 weapon or the horse of an enemy, and musl have 

 sent to prove it. He must also bring with him 

 . by which he counts his "coups." Every time a 

 "coup" is counted the musicians— the drummers— beat theii 

 drums, and aU the people loudly shout the name of t he one 

 who counts it, The number of "coups" a person eounl.s are 



was given. If any one bad kill 

 the robe and gave it, (to) (he Bu 

 own; I ate not the meal, not i 

 the meal long ago, there now 

 me. give me full life, let 

 ,. when all the p 

 each warrior in turn co 

 cesses in war. For insti 

 grass hills, that pi 



iok. 



the taking of a scalp 

 thekillin' 

 take a b. 

 witnesses pr 



ought 

 My friends the 

 I took the 



live with dei 

 bears on its headwaters. 1 g 

 years ago. that was so ve. , 

 "fresh." that 1 made my tracks 

 ney Day (who was assassinated at 

 ago) killed three "grizzlies" (so 

 temlier, 1881. I saw the hide' 

 tent, ii nd h..- said he had seen : 

 diil not shoot at Ihein, as he thought la 

 that sort. Poor Barney! He was a kii 

 good citizen, a rattling sportsman an 

 although ambushed and taken untiwan 

 sailants, he killed one and fatally woun 

 fell. My reader wiU pardon this digtv 

 that i had hunted, trapped and campe 

 and had a thorough admiration, not only for his skill, but 

 also for his kindness of heart and his manly ways. Peace 

 to his ashes! and woe, unutterable woe! to those whoso 

 basely murdered him! 



About three miles down the creek from where our trail 

 crosses it there is a magnificent mineral spring, a spot where 

 a "lazy" hunter, who don't care to climb the hills and thread 

 the thickets, can sit down in the shadow of a great rock at 

 suusel aud take his pick of the numerous deer "that come to 

 "lick" about the spring and along the little rivulet that run-. 

 for fifty yards to join the roaring creek. We did not go out 

 of our way to rait it on this trip, put pushed on to' Fish 

 Creek, some live miles further, where we stopped anil "un- 

 saddled" to let the horses graze for an hour or two, and to 

 eat a bite of lunch aud smoke a pipe ourselves. A tti r spin 

 through this very comforting ceremony 1 put half a dozen 

 cartridges in my 'pocket and concluded" to take a stroll up 

 the stream. This is a liny creek, that reminds mc of man \ 

 of the little streams in w'hieh I have fished among the trim 

 farms of Connecticut, when 1 used to think I was having 

 famous sport if I got seven or eight four-ounce trout in an 

 afternoon. It is only about seven miles from source to 

 th, through a country varied bv irrassy meadows, low 



EGER1A PARK. 



TIIIHD rAFEH. 



SIX o'clock next morning found us "in the saddle" aud 

 _ on the road, for we wanted to make the lowlands by 

 early camping time and try our luck on the antelope, of the 

 numbers and lameness of 'which John had given us wonder- 

 ful accounts. He. said he had often seen five hundred in a 

 "baud" iu the park, and that iu a single hour he aud some 

 thirty of his tribe had killed a hundred by a "surround." He 

 never tired ("Injun is very much like white man.'' in this 

 respect) of telling me what a mighty hunter he was, and as 

 we jogged along, there was scarcely a turn in the road, or a 

 prominent landmark in sight, that was not the scene or the 

 monument of one of his former deeds of daring aud slaughter. 

 Of course I could not allow a lite to "crow" over me, so I 

 completely and everlastingly silenced him by relating a few 

 of Cordon Cummiug's exploits among the elephants aud 

 gi miles of South Africa— making myself the hero. He sur- 

 rendered when I told him Cumming's story about killing live 

 lions iu one night, and said that was "heap too much lion ' 

 for him. I have often thought he meant another kind of 

 lyin', although he manifested no more intention of punning, 

 by his demeanor, than one of the rocks by the roadside. 



The first five miles of our way west from the Blaektail is 

 Over the Gore foothills and through pine and aspen forest, 

 up and dow n hill, and across a dozen nameless little brooks, 

 in every one of which our horses stopped and took a sip, as 

 though thev could not eel enough, and each of widen seemed 

 to me more sparkling, clear and more beautiful than the hist, 

 Thev are all lull of trout, durine the summer season, and 1 

 know of no place where a fisherman may enjoy himself 

 better, if he will be satisfied with fish that will average seven 

 or eight ounces. With such, a sixteen-pound basket may be 

 tilled within an hour. 



Just after crossing the third of these creeks, and its we 

 started up the wooded slope on the other side, there came 

 from the thicket on the right, and apparently not a hundred 

 yards away, the wailing, eat-like cry of some wild animal. 

 I thought at once of the mountain lion, whose exaggerated 

 caterwaul I had often heard described but had never liste-ned 

 to. John, who was riding beside me, simply said, "Link!" 

 (lynx) and, sliding from his horse, started for the woods, 

 beckoning me to i'oUow. Creeping cautiously for some forty 

 yards, ana guided by the incessant "mee-yow," snarl and 

 "spit" of the brute. I finally caught sight of him walking 

 back and forth on a log; stopping "now aud then he would 

 erect his "back bur," spring a couple of feet into the air. 

 and, ou alighting, would make the hark fly in all directions, 

 then, with a "yowl" equal to that or twenty domestic torn 

 eats, he would strike a sort of "bad-man-from-the-plaius" 

 attitude and wait for something to come aud be devoured, 

 [t was while he was thus inwardly admiring himself that 1 

 took a loOi 

 through his -.- 



utes, remarking that he was a "bad cat; kill heap little 

 buckskin" (little deer or fawns'). They are very destructive 

 of small eame, particularly the "snow-shoe" rabbits, which 

 abound in these mountains. I have found five of these 

 pretty creatures in a single day lying on the trail of a lynx, 

 with their throats torn open and their carcasses otherwise 

 untuangled, and more than once I have gone far out of rny 

 way to end the career of one of the ugly, bloodthirsty brutes 

 ou striking his fresh tiail in the sno 1 



Over the hill that 



liuil 



("'reek, famou; 



trying task to fish it. On it 



of deer aud elk ground, aud iu lS'/t 



killed here in three days, and wit 



twenty-three deer, one bull elk and 



mou. 'hear— my partner killing seven 



The next oreek— two miles— is "Rock 



carrying as much water as all the D! 



and 'containing plenty of big fish. We cross it just where it 



conies out of the hills, and for three miles it flows through a 



d is "Grindstone" 



bushy" that it is a 



iters there is the finest 



nth one companion, I 



i two miles of camp. 



mall brown, or cinua- 



deer in one morning. 



" a splendid stream, 



have crossed, 



ridges, finely timbered with 

 and then a rocky knoll adorned w 

 the hanks, and for only a. few va 

 diminutive kind of willow not n 

 thick as the "hair on a dog." Th 

 with trout, and wherever 1 appr 

 see a dozen balancing themselves 

 frantically to their hiding places. 



, scattered pines. 

 son each side, ca- 

 re than waist hig 

 waters fairly swr 

 clied the hank I 



i the 



Ho' 



dusky, grouse from tl 

 like that" of the ruffed 

 branches of a b:g g] 

 heavier than the ntf 

 and equally as dillic 

 abundant among these 

 grasshoppers and berr: 

 "pack" and go down 

 thickets along the Gn 

 head one of them as he sat ca< 

 he kept his head bobbing back 

 covy duck, 1 missed him slick 

 shot had not died when I bean 

 that I had startled a herd of 



jund a point of lim 

 quarter of 



I U" 

 Tl 



■.I 

 ight bin 



I now 

 Along 



OWS :l 



h, mil 



irmed 

 could 

 ting 



up the 



3 I S 



I sta: 

 , and with a flight exactly 

 plunged into the. thickest 

 y are 'fine birds, a pound 

 fully as finely flavored 

 in flight. They arc very 

 here thev get. rolii ng fat On 

 I the first ueavj snow ih.- v 

 ion groves and wildi-rosi 

 I tried to bi- 

 ll limb, but as 

 forth, like a mad mus- 

 elean. The echo of my 

 ampliug of hoofs, tellin 



S sort of wild cattle, and 



,-hereI could see straight 

 Ic I caught sigl 

 of five bison just disappearing over the 

 must have been more in the herd than 



I White 



for i hey made a tremeu' 

 eluded not to follow them, but. t 

 place, 

 night 

 to m\ 



I eon- 

 ck to our halting 

 port, and suggest to the boys to camp there for the 

 id take their trail next morning. "Pi-ah" listened 

 Iieme very patiently, and then remarked that the 

 bison would very 'likely uoi stop till they gpl about liuiber- 

 Une, where they could overlook the whole country;. He 

 said it was "no burns" (no good) to follow them iu Hie 

 mountains when they once got sight or scent of a human 

 being. I learned froin him that litis was Hie remnant of a 

 herd of several hundred, driven in hereby the Northern 

 Arupahoes several years before, out of which "bunch" the 

 tjtes had killed some each year, until there were less than a 

 bundled left. Two years after the lime at which I saw 

 the-,e, "Antelope's" baud of While River Utes "corraled" 

 the herd in a deep snow on the head of Muddy Greek, and 

 killed fifty-six out of sixty seven. I presume they are all 

 gone now" as I have heard of one or two being brought iu 



by white hunters each season since then. We endu 



discussion of the bison question by a quiet smoke, and 

 dling up, took the trail once more. 



The ride from Fish Creek, seven or eight miles, lo Kh.-f 

 View Summit, is the least picturesque part of the journey; 

 the trail passing through the young pine forest all the way, 

 so that the surrounding country is shut, out from view en 

 tirely, but wheu the summit is reached the prospeol look i 



westward, is worth travel ii 

 sta 



•ently level tr, 

 and there a 

 rase with 



dark 



The Park 



■ighiteu by 

 bc.r-frine-ed 

 md wavm.r 

 to the right 

 u land 

 01 m : 



line 

 and t 



the grandly beautiful Flat Tops 



thirty miles as level as a billiard tatile, sa e - tm uonie 



and Citadel Peaks raise their snow -crowned heads 3,000 feci 



above their mighty pedestal. In the foreground, like a sen 



tine! at the entrance to the Park, stands the Sphinx Rook (so 



^ called:, though I think the Indian name far more euphonious 



t him over my sun barrel and" put a .-bi-hullef* and appropriate. They etdl it Tum-bee-wa-na-ra. "the &ft>e> 



<art John had his hide off iu about two min- ing Lion," and indeed from where you first see it there is a 



' smiting resemblance to the lion coiichant, as we so often see 

 him pictured. The trail passes close by this queer moun- 

 tain, and as we near it we st-e thai it is a huge high column 

 of basaltic rock, 450 feet high, and ahoul 3ot.) feet broad at 



the base, that forms the face of one of tin- "'-pur- i 'I p 



down from the mountain into the Park. The Utes says it is 

 really a fierce beast in a dormant state, placed Iter 

 the sepulchre of the great and wise Chief ^e-va-va, who was 

 the first rider of the seven once mighty tribe;:- tl 

 guaches.Weeminnches, Munches, Capotes, Fintahs, fUing ill 

 , but so "bushy" that it is a and Grand Kh 

 eadwaters there is the finest Th 



carefully hide the graves of their dead, and 

 bheplaco ■-! -epuliiitcof their departed chief) a his are as 

 1 1 as was the tomb of Alarie. wiled H-l b 



-n in the Lie camps a dozeu times when one of 



