FEB. 10, 1906.] 

FORESHAAND STREAM. 

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AN ARKANSAS CYPRESS TREE. 
From photo by Judge Nicholas Longworth. 
“What hard heads these young men have,” Big 
Lake remarked. “How difficult it is to manage 
them.” 
“You speak truth,’ said Back-in-sight. “Were 
it not for you, your strong words, many dead 
would now be lying on this plain. We go now 
back to the mountains, it may be long ere we meet 
again.” 
“Yes,” agreed the Piegan, “it is best that we 
part. But the anger of our young men will soon 
die away. Next summer, somewhere hereabouts, 
let us meet again.” 
This was agreed upon, and with final hand- 
shakes all around, we left them. Arrived at our 
own camp. Big Lake gave orders that camp be 
struck at once, and the lodges began to come 
down in a hurry. He also instructed the Ai-in- 
as-kik-waks—seizers, holders—a band of the All 
Friends’ Societv which were, as one may say, po- 
lice, te allow none of the young men to leave us 
under any pretext whatever. He feared that if 
they did go from us they would yet attack the 
Kutenais, who were already stringing out in a 
long column, westward over the rolling plain. A 
little later we too pulled out, heading south; on 
.the afternoon of the second day we went into 
camp on the Marias River at the lower end of 
Medicine Rock bottom. right opposite the spot 
where, later, Fort Conrad was built, and where 
to-day the Great Falls & Canada Railroad crosses 
the stream. 
By courtesy of Dr. James A. Henshall. 
At the extreme lower end of this bottom, about 
100 yards from the river, and near the foot of the 
rising hill, unless the railroad vandals have taken 
them for construction work, lies a circle of large 
boulders partially embedded in the soil. The cir- 
cle is about sixty-five feet in diameter; some of 
the boulders will weigh at least a ton. Who 
placed them there, and why, I could never learn. 
The Blackfeet have no tradition concerning them, 
saying merely that ’twas “done by the ancient 
ones,’ ahk’-kai-tup-pi. This, by the way, is an 
interesting word; as it stands, with the accent 
on the first syllable, its exact meaning is long- 
ago-people; but if the second instead of the first 
syllable is accented it means many people. How- 
ever, in the first instance the word for time, sum- 
oh’, is entirely omitted, most likely for the sake 
of euphony. 
But if the Blackfeet know nothing of the boul- 
der circle, they have much to say regarding the 
medicine rock. This lies by the side of the old 
travois trail about three miles above, near the 
top of the hill at the extreme upper end of the 
bottom. In the “Blackfoot Lodge Tales” is given 
the story of a rock, which, to avenge an insult, 
chased Old Man, and but for the timely interfer- 
ence of a bull bat would have crushed him flat. 
To a certain extent the Blackfeet are pantheists, | 
attributing life to, and worshipping many inani- 
mate objects. This rock is one of several to 
which they sacrifice and pray, another one lying 
217 
ona hill of the Two Medicine River, near the old 
Inn River—Belly River trail. It is a red mottled 
quartz—the red itself a “medicine’’ or sacred 
color—a boulder of several tons weight lies on a 
very steep sandy slope exposed to the southwest 
winds. The wind gradually moving the sand un- 
dermines the rock, and as the fine sand and soil 
is blown away it settles little by little, moving 
farther and farther down the hill. But although 
the Blackfeet are well aware of the cause of this 
movement, to them the rock ts a sacred object. 
Passing it, they stop a moment and place on it 
a bracelet, a necklace, some beads or other offer- 
ing, and beg it to take pity on them, to guard 
them from all evil things and grant them long life 
and happiness. The last time I passed this rock 
there was at least a bushel of various small offer- 
ings lying upon, or around it. And there most 
likely they are to this day unless the white set- 
tlers have picked them up. Years after I last 
rode by the rock, Nat-ah’-ki and I crossed the bot- 
tom on a train of the new railway. We sat out 
on the platform of the rear sleeper, whence we 
could get a good view of the country. Oh, the 
dreariness and desolation of it all. Gone were 
the rich grasses, even the sages, which once grew 
thickly on flat and hillside. Gone, too, were the 
grand old cottonwoods, the clusters of willow, 
and cherry, and sarvis berry thickets which bor- 
dered the river. Nat-ah’-ki silently pressed my 
hand, and I saw tears in her eyes. I said noth- 
ing, asked no question; well I knew of what she 
was thinking, and I came near crying, too. What 
a—to us—terrible change had taken place; gone 
were our friends, extinct the herds of game; even 
the face of the country was changed. Do you 
wonder that we felt sad? 
WALTER B. ANDERSON. 
[TO BE CONTINUED. | 
Lost in the Woods. 
ReApinG the admirable series of articles on the 
above subject reminds me of an incident related 
to me some time ago. ys 
Incidentally I incline to the opinion, that some 
men are born with the ‘‘sense of direction, 
like others with the poetic instinct, or a talent 
for music, or kindred gifts. A very keen 
woodsman, who had spent the best part of his 
life in the woods, told me, in discussing this 
same question, that he wouldn't fear being 
dropped into any unknown country; he'd find 
his way out. He instances his own experience, 
when the railway was being located in this 
island; he was carried by train up north in a 
locality he had never before been 1n, and went 
ahead on the line, and brought mail from dif- 
ferent sea ports, ranged the territory in quest 
of meat, and never had the least difficulty in 
finding his way about. aia 
He also told me several incidents that oc- 
curred within his own knowledge, of men pos- 
sessing or lacking this sense. One was, that 
coming across the Peninsula of Avalon, on one 
occasion, he came upon a flock of ducks in a 
small pond he had never seen before. When he 
arrived home he was telling of the trip. One 
of his auditors, a teacher who was a_ great 
woods lover, asked him for directions. He told 
him the pond was about ten miles away, and 
described the route to him. There were no 
trails in this direction, as it was a country very 
little used by the inhabitants. The teacher 
started next morning at dawn, and in the even- 
ing arrived back with a fine bag of ducks, which 
he got where the guide saw them the previous 
day. When telling me about it, he was lost in 
admiration of the teacher, and said that he be- 
lieved there was not another man in the place 
who could have found the ducks from the direc- 
{ions given and then got back again. 
Another instance he cited just to the con- 

