26 TRADITIONS OF THE ARIKARA. 
6. THE ORIGIN OF THE ARIKARA.* 
A long time ago, when I was about thirteen years old, we heard 
that smallpox was coming from the east, so that we all left our village 
and went north in order to get away from the smallpox. As we 
journeyed west we came to many buffalo. My father and I went to 
kill them. My father killed a buffalo cow. Then he called out, with a 
loud voice, that he had made a buffalo holy, and called a certain old 
man who was then the keeper of a bundle. r 
The old man came and sat down with us. He filled his pipe and 
smoked to the different gods in the heavens. After smoking ‘he pulled 
up some wild sage and waved it upon the buffalo. After this he took 
his knife and cut the skin of the buffalo. Then we all helped skin the 
buffalo. After we had skinned it, the old man took this knife and took 
the meat from the back. Then he took the tongue out and carefully 
cut the meat from the tongue, breast, heart, and lungs. He carefully 
laid the meat, heart, tongue, and lungs aside, and said, “These things 
are holy. The rest of the meat I will take home and divide among 
other old men. You take the meat, tongue, heart, and lungs and jerk 
it and dry it and when we get to our village we will have the cere- 
mony.” The holy meat was jerked and dried. My people took care 
of it, so that it was very fine. When we returned to the village this 
meat was put upon my back and some upon the back of my father, 
and we started for the priest’s lodge. 
The bundle had been taken down by the woman who had charge 
of the bundle and placed in the west of the lodge. The women had all 
left the lodge. We entered the lodge. We were then told to take 
seats by the priest. The tying of the bundle is peculiar, for it is not a 
common tie. The man who untied the bundle was told to notice the 
tie closely so that he could tie the bundle up again in the same way. 
The bundle was untied and the things inside were spread out, the 
priest being particular to place. the four animals that brought the 
people out from the earth. They were the bear, badger, mole, and a 
tiny mouse with a long nose. There were all kinds of birds in the 
bundle. There were also two pipes in it. One of the pipes was black, 
the bowl also being black. The bowl of the other pipe was red, the 
stem was white, and many bird feathers were tied along the pipe stem. 
The only thing tied upon the pipe was a white shell. The priest took 
the gourds, and told the errand man to invite four men and four women 
into the lodge. The women were placed according to the four world 

*Told by Bear’s-Tail. 
