^ V\ ^ N*.-'^ ?M^'s-v-v\*-s; iSSS5i^ ^ ^?*^f?v\S^SS!\\ BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 159 PLATE 1 Blackfoot Indian pony. (Photographed by Thomas Magee, ante-1910. Courtesy Museumof the Plains Indian.) l^^ SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTIONBUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGYBULLETIN 159 THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOTINDIAN CULTUREWith Comparative Material From Other Western Tribes By JOHN C. EWERS UNITED STATESGOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICEWASHINGTON : 1955 LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL Smithsonian Institution,Bureau of American Ethnology,Washington^ D. C.^ January 18^ 195J^.Sir : I have the honor to transmit herewith a manuscript entitled "The Horse in Blackfoot Indian Culture, with Comparative Materialfrom Other Western Tribes," by John C. Ewers, and to recommendthat it be published as a bulletin of tlie Bureau of American Ethnology.Very respectfully yours, M. W. Stirling, Director.Dr. Leonard Carmichael,Secretary., Smithsonian Institution. II APR 4 1?55t/BRARi For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing OfficeWashington 25. D. C.?Price $2.75 CONTENTS PAGEForeword xiThe acquisition of the horse 1The northward spread of horses 2Sources of the horses of the Plains Indians 2Dating the northward spread of horses among the Indians 3The process of diffusion 7Acquisition of horses by the Blackfoot 15Wealth in horses 20Blackfoot tribal wealth in horses 20Wealth in horses of other Plains and Plateau tribes 22Horse wealth of individual Blackfoot Indians 28Horse wealth of individuals in other tribes 31Care of horses 33The Indian pony 33Fate of the Indian pony 34Means of identification 35Daily care of horses 37Hobbling 38Picketing 39Pasturage 40Winter care 42Rusthng 42Supplemental winter horse food 43Night care 44Winter losses of horses 44May storms 45Spring condition 46Common horse remedies 46Treatment of saddle sores 47Treatment of sore feet 47Treatment of colic and distemper 48Precautions against chills 49A general tonic 49Treatment of broken bones 49Treatment of unknown illnesses 50Losses of horses 50Losses from disease 50Losses from animal predators 51Losses from stock-poisoning plants 51Care of old horses 51Horse breeding 53Important role of horse breeding 53Selection of studs 53Maintenance of color lines 54Magical breeding formulas 55Care of gravid mares and colts 56Gelding 56 III IV BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159PAGETraining of horses and riders 59Capture of wild horses 59Breaking horses for riding 60Pond or stream breaking 61Boggy ground breaking 62Surcingle breaking 62Pad-saddle breaking 64Breaking horses for the travois 64Teaching children to ride 65Riding and guiding 68Mounting 68Horse commands 69Guiding "0Use of whip 70Use of short stirrups 70Ability as horsemen 71Riding gear --? 73Making of rawhide rope 73Hackamores 74Bridles 75Comparative data on bridles 78Lariats 79The dragging Hne 80Saddles 81Saddle making 81The pad saddle 81Distribution of the pad saddle 83Pad saddle variants among the Blackfoot 85The "wood saddle" 85Distribution of the "wood saddle" 89The "prairie chicken snare saddle" 91Distribution of the "prairie chicken snare saddle" 92Stirrups '-'"3Use of white men's saddles and accessories 93Saddle blankets 94Saddle housings 95Martingales and cruppers 95Whips 97Horse decoration 99Head ornaments 99Body paint 100Mane and tail ornaments 100Decoration of women's horses 101The travois and transport gear 102The horse travois 102Horse travois construction 103Travois accessories 105Travois adjustment and repair 105Care of the travois in camp lOGSurvival of the horse travois 106Thelodgepole hitch 107Distribution of the travois and methods of pole transport 108 CONTENTS V The travois and transport gear?Continued pagePrincipal items of luggage carried by pack animals 112The parfleche 112Antiquity of the parfleche 114The double-bag 116Principal items of luggage transported by riding horses 117The double saddlebag 117Rectangular rawhide saddlebags 119Cylindrical rawhide saddlebags 119The horse in camp movements _'. 121TJie Blackfoot Country . 121The Blackfoot yearly round 123The winter camp 124Spring hunting and collecting season 126Summer hunting and Sun Dance season 127Fall hunting and collecting season 128Movement of a Blackfoot band csunp 129Preparation for movement 129Packing up 130Packing the lodge 131Packing household furniture 134Packing food 135Clothing 130Household utensils 136Society and medicine paraphernalia 130Weapons 137Children 137Weights and loads 138Horse needs for the average family 138Moving camp on the part of a wealthy family 139Moving camp on the part of a poor family 140Comparative data on the poor in horses 141P'ormations on the march 143The noon stop for lunch 144Crossing streams en route 144Stops en route because of rain 145Arrival at night camp 145Making camp without wood or water 146Distances traveled per day 147The horse in hunting 148Buffalo in the Blackfoot Country 148Blackfoot uses of the buffalo 149Buffalo hunting seasons 152The buffalo horse 153Methods of buffalo hunting on horseback 154The buffalo chase on horseback 155Preparations 155Equipment 156The approach 157The run 157Number of buffalo killed in a single chase 158Boys' hunting of buffalo calves 159Hunting accidents 159Butchering and packing 160 VI BUREAU or AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 The horse in hunting?Continued pageLoaning of buffalo horses for hunting 161Feeding the poor 162Regulation of the summer buffalo hunt 163Early winter buffalo drives 164Winter hunting on horseback 166The winter hunting horse 166Winter hunting on foot 166Food rationing 167Meat consumption of the Blackfoot 168Improvident food habits of other Plains tribes 169Hunting of other mammals on horseback 170The horse in war 171Brief history of Blackfoot intertribal warfare 171The horse as a cause of intertribal conflicts 173The horse raid 176Tribal preferences of Blackfoot horse raiders _- 176Organization of the horse raid 177Preparations 177War medicines 178Clothing 181Weapons 183The pack 184Food 184The outward journey 184The attack 186The homeward journey 187Distribution of captured horses 188Return to camp 189Accustoming captured horses to one's herd 189Women on horse-raiding expeditions 190Boys on horse-raiding expeditions 190Frequency of horse raids 191White Quiver, the most successful Blackfoot horse raider 191The raid for scalps 194The riding big dance 196The war horse 196Equipment: clothing 197Tactics in mounted warfare 198Use of fire weapons 199Use of shock weapons 200The shield 202Early use of protective armor 203Use of the horse as a shield 205Postraid ceremonies 206Defensive warfare 207Defense of the camp 207The individual lodge watch 208The horse corral 209The ambush 210Ownership of horses recovered from the enemy 210Defensive warfare in the field 211Influence of warfare on Blackfoot population 212 CONTENTS VII The horse in war?Continued pageWar honors 212Pictographic representation of war honors 214The Blackfoot warrior ideal 214The horse in trade 216Intertribal trade 216Intratribal trade 217The horse as a standard of value 217Judgment of horses 218Examples of horse values in intratribal trade 218Horse values in buffalo robes 218Horse values in weapons 219Horse values in articles of men's clothing 219Horse values in articles of women's clothing 220Horse-pipe relative values 220Horse payments in transfer of ceremonial paraphernalia 220Blackfoot uses of horse materials 221The horse as food 222Use of horsehide 222Use of horsehair 223Horse-chestnut perfume 223Horse-tooth necklaces 223Use of horse hoofs 223Use of horse manure 224The horse in recreation 225The horse in children's play 225Horse racing 227Race horses 228Intratribal and intertribal horse races 228Intersociety races 229Horse races between Blackfoot tribes 233Other intertribal horse races in which Blackfoot participated 233Later history of Blackfoot horse racing 234Horse racing among other Plains and Plateau tribes 235Horse symbolism in intersociety hoop and pole games 236Sham battles 238Horses as stakes in gambling 239The horse as a factor in social relations 240Social status 240The rich 240The middle class 242The poor 243Changes in social status 244Political organization 245The band 245Tribal chieftaincy 248Marriage 249Polygamy 250The horse in punishment of civil and criminal offenses 251The horse in society organization and ceremonies 253Personal names 254Horses as gifts 255 VIII BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 PAGEThe horse in religion 257The horse medicine cult 257Origin and history of the Piegan horse medicine cult 258Transfer of horse medicine power 262The horse dance: ceremony of the horse medicine men 263Uses of horse medicine 270Taboos recognized by horse medicine men 274Identification of horse medicines 275Comparative data on horse-medicine identification 276Relationship of horse medicine to other Blackfoot medicines 277The South Piegan Black Horse Society 279Evidences of the horse medicine cult among other tribes 279Sacrifice of horses after the death of their owners 284Comparative data on horses as grave escorts 286Disposal of horses after the death of owner 287Secondary associations of the horse in Blackfoot religion 288In bimdle transfers 288In the Sun Dance ceremony 289Beliefs concerning the supernatural powers of horses 290Beliefs regarding the origin of horses ^_^ 291Thunder's gift of horses 291Water Spirit's gift of horses 294How Morning Star made the first horse 295The influence of the horse on Blackfoot culture ^_ 299The pre-horse Blackfoot Indians 299Horse acquisition as a stimulus to cultural innovation 300Influence on hunting 302Influence on camp movements and possessions 306Influence on warfare 309Influence on trade 312Influence on recreation 313Influence on social life 314Influence on religion 316The horse and the fur trade 318Survivals 320The Plains Indian horse complex 323Elements in the horse complex of the Plains Indians 323Origins of the Plains Indian horse complex 327The horse complex in Plains Indian historj^ 331The natural and cultural setting 3311. Period of diffusion and integration 3322. Period of crystallization and maximum utilization 3353. Period of disintegration 336Old theories and new interpretations 336Appendix. Use of mules 341Bibliography 343Index 359 ILLUSTKATIOXS (All plates except frontispiece follow page 358) 1. (Frontispiece.) Blackfoot Indian pony.2. a, Man's pad saddle, Blackfoot. b, Woman's "wood saddle," BloodIndians.3. a, "Prairie chicken snare saddle," Piegan. b, Wooden frame packsaddle, Sioux.4. "The Bloods Come in Council."5. a, Piegan lodges, b, Travois used as a litter. Crow Indians.6. a, Cheyenne travois ^vith domed, willow superstructure, b, Travoiswith paunch water container attached.7. Neighborhood of Willow Rounds.8. Encampment of Piegan Indians near Fort McKenzie, summer 1833.9. a, Two-quart, brass trade kettle with its buckskin traveling case, CrowIndians, b, Buffalohide double-bag, Blackfoot.10. Method of crossing a stream with camp equipment, Flathead Indians.11 . a. The Arapaho pipe, source of White Quiver's war medicine, b, WhiteQuiver.12. a, Child's toy horse of bent willow, b, Piegan boys playing calf ropingat Heart Butte Sun Dance Encampinent, summer 1944.13. a, Beaded wheel and arrows used in the hoop and pole game, NorthPiegan. b, Blackfoot horse race, June 1, 1848.14. Piegan Indians chasing buffalo near the Sweetgrass Hills in September1853.15. A, Wallace Night Gun (ca. 1872-1950), leader of the Piegan HorseMedicine Cult. B, Portion of Wallace Night Gun's horse medi-cine bundle in the United States National Museum.16. Portions of Wallace Night Gun's horse medicine bundle.17. a, Makes-Cold-Weather, aged Piegan warrior, h, A Blood Indianhorse raider expiating his vow to undergo self-torture in the SunDance lodge, 1892. FIGURES PAGE1. Map showing trade in horses to the northern Plains before 1805 112. A simple rawhide hobble, Blackfoot 393. Methods of picketing 404. Rawhide horseshoes similar to Blackfoot type, Arapaho 485. Method of tying a stallion for castrating, Blackfoot 576. Breaking a bronco by riding it in a pond or stream, Blackfoot 617. Breaking a bronco by riding it with a surcingle, Blackfoot 638. Breaking a horse to the travois by training it to drag a weighted buffalohide, Blackfoot 659. Teaching a child to ride by tying him in a woman's saddle on a gentlehorse, Blackfoot 6610. A simple rawhide hackamore, Blackfoot 7411. Rider using a rawhide war bridle with the end of one rein coiled underhis belt, Blackfoot 7612. Use of the war bridle as a halter, Blackfoot 7713. Construction of a woman's "wood saddle," Blackfoot 86IX X BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 PAGE14. Rigging of a woman's saddle, Blackfoot 8815. Construction of a "prairie chicken snare saddle," Blackfoot 0216. a, Simple rawhide martingale; b, simple rawhide crupper; c, detail ofcrupper tail pad, Blackfoot 9617. Methods of whip construction, Blackfoot 9818. Construction of a Blackfoot horse travois 10419. The Blackfoot lodgepole hitch 10720. The Blackfoot parfleche 11321. a, Buffalo calfskin berry bags, Blackfoot 11722. Double saddlebag thrown over a woman's saddle for transportation,Blackfoot 11823. Rawhide cases transported on a woman's horse 12024. Map showing the Blackfoot and their neighbors in 1850 12225. A common method of folding a lodge cover for transportation by packhorse, Blackfoot 13226. a, Placement of a willow backrest on the bottom of a travois load; b,method of transporting water in a paunch container 13527. Blackfoot horse raiders in warm-weather dress 18228. Blackfoot horse raider in winter dress 18329. Method of wielding the lance by a mounted warrior, Blackfoot 20130. Objects made of horse materials, Blackfoot 22431. Blackfoot girl playing "moving camp" 22532. Construction and use of a child's hobbyhorse, Blackfoot 22733. Altar for the South Piegan horse dance ceremony 267 FOREWORDThe problem of the influence of the horse on Plains Indian culturehas intrigued white men for more than a century. On April 6, 1848,Nathaniel J. Wyeth, an intelligent fur trader, wrote to Henry R.Schoolcraft, "I regret not being able to supply more facts to supporta view, very strongly impressed on my mind, that the condition of theIndian of this continent has been much influenced by the introduc-tion of Horses" (Wyeth, 1851, vol. 1, p. 208).Modern anthropologists have recognized the acquisition and useof the European horse by the Plains Indians as a classic example ofcultural diffusion. Ralph Linton (1940, p, 478), in a general dis-cussion of processes of acculturation, mentioned the rapid changesthat have taken place in Western Civilization in recent years and thenadded, "However, we have at least one example of almost equallyrapid acceptance of a whole new complex of culture elements by aseries of 'primitive' groups. This case is that of the horse among thePlains Indians. The speed M-ith which this novelty was taken overis the more surprising in view of the revolutionary effects on manyaspects of native life." Generalizations such as this are common inthe anthropological literature. Yet, upon close examination, they giveno hint of having been based upon a detailed factual analysis of thePlains Indian horse complex. We must conclude that these gen-eralizations were, at best, intuitive interpretations.For the entire Plains area there has been an appalling lack ofdetailed analysis of the horse complex. The nearest approach to astudy of the facts relating to the functions of horses in a tribal cul-ture is Gilbert L. Wilson's "The Horse and Dog in Hidatsa Culture"(Wilson, 1924). Some portions of that study "approach ideal com-pleteness," as Clark Wissler, who edited it, has observed (ibid., p. 127) . But this study had definite limitations. It dealt almost exclusivelywith the role of the horse in Hidatsa material culture. It describedthe use of horses by a semisedentary, horticultural tribe which wasrelatively poor in horses and relied heavily upon dogs for transporta-tion of camp equipment in buffalo-hunting days. The fact remainsthat no analytical study of the horse complex of any nomadic PlainsIndian tribe has appeared in print.The present study was undertaken in an effort to "supply morefacts" (as Wyeth stated the problem) regarding the role of the horseXI XII BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY f^""- ^^'-^ in a nomadic, buffalo-hunting, horse-using Phiins Indian tribe, on thebasis of which conchisions might be drawn regarding the importantfunctions of the hoi-se in the tribal culture. Selection of the Blackfootas the Indians to be studied was an expedient one. I was stationeden tlie Blackfeet Reservation in Montana for a period of 3I/2 years,1941-1944, under conditions which were nearly ideal for field workwith elderly Indian informants. During that period I served as thefirst curator of the new Museum of the Plains Indian near Browning.The Indians of that reservation as well as culturally related Bloodand Piegan Indians of Alberta were intensely interested in this newmuseum. They visited it repeatedly. Many older Indians broughttheir family heirlooms to be added to the collections. As a museumman and as a year-round member of the local community I first cameto know most of the elderly Indians who later served as my in-formants. The museum M'as open to the public from late spring untilearly fall, permitting me to devote a considerable portion of my timeduring the long winter period to research. Field research on thisproblem was inaugurated in December 1941, nine months after myarrival on the Blackfeet Reservation. It was continued until thespring of 1944, under the auspices of the Division of Education ofthe Office of Indian Affaii-s. I am grateful to Willard R. Beatty, for-merly director of Indian education in Washington, to the late FrealMcBride, superintendent of the Blackfeet Reservation, to WilliamHemsing, Reservation School Superintendent, and to his colleagueson the Blackfeet Agency staff for their active encouragement of thisproject. Research was interrupted by 2 years of military service,after which I transferred to the United States National Museum. TheOffice of Indian Affairs kindly permitted the transfer of my fieldnotes from the Museum of the Plains Indian to the National Museumin 1946, so that I might be able to complete the project. My field in-vestigations were completed during a summer's residence on theBlood Reserve, Alberta, and the Blackfeet Reservation, Mont., in 1947,financed by the Smithsonian Institution.Much of the factual information on which this study is based wassupplied by elderly, fullblood Piegan and Blood Indian informants,whose knowledge of the functions of horses in the late years of buffalodays was solidly grounded in personal experiences. These old peoplereally loved horses and enjoyed talking about them. They were uni-formly cooperative and interested in getting the record straight. Dif-ferences of opinion naturally arose among informants, but it waspossible to iron out a number of these differences through group dis-cussions following individual interrogations. I am indebted to thefollowing elderly Indians for their friendly and sincere cooperation,which made this study possible. Women are indicated by asterisks. k?M FOREWORD XIII Name:*Double-Victory-Calf-Robe-Lazy BoyWeasel TailIronGreen-Grass-BullWeasel HeadRides-at-the-DoorMakes-Cold-WeatherRichard Sander villeScraping WhileThree Calf*Elk-Hollering-in-the-Water-Bear-ChiefChewing-Black-Bones*Deathly -Woman - Cree-MedicineHeavy HeadMike-Day-RiderShort FaceWallace Night Gun Tribe Ldfe spanBlood Ca. 1849-1951Piegan Ca. 1855-1948Blood Ca. 1859-1950Blood-Piegan Ca. 1859-Piegan Ca. 1862-1951Piegan Ca. 1863-1943Piegan Ca. 1864-1953Piegan Ca. 1866-1951Mixblood Piegan. __ 1866-1951Blood. Ca. 1866-1948Blood-Piegan Ca. 1866-1948Blood-Piegan Ca. 1867-ante-1951 Piegan Ca. 1867-Piegan Ca. 1868-1952 Blood Ca. 1869-1951Piegan Ca. 1870-Piegan Ca. 1870-1952Piegan Ca. 1872-1950With the exception of Richard Sanderville, all the informants listedabove are or were putative fullbloods who spoke little English. Thedates of birth of Piegan and some Blood informants were computedon the basis of Blackfeet Agency census records for 1901 and 1908.I am greatly indebted to Reuben and Cecile Black Boy for theirfaithful services as interpreters on the Blackfeet Reservation, Mont.,where all the Piegan informants and the able Blood informant WeaselTail were interviewed. Reuben's and Cecile's participating member-ship in the fullblood community, their outstanding skill in arts andcrafts, their thorough knowledge of horses, and their previous ex-perience in collecting and interpreting Blackfoot myths and storiesfor the Federal Writers' Project of Montana from older fullbloodsmade them exceptionally well prepared for their exacting task. Onthe Blood Reserve, Chief Percy Creighton kindly served as my in-terpreter.It is not possible to mention all the English-speaking BlackfootIndians, born since buffalo days, who provided information regardingBlackfoot horse usages in more recent times. George Bull Child,Henry Magee, John Old Chief, Jim Stingy, Jim Walters, and MaeWilliamson were especially helpful members of this group.I am indebted to Frank and Joseph Sherburne, Browning mer-chants, for helpful observations on Piegan horse usages based on theirresidence on the Blackfeet Reservation, Mont., for more than half acentury ; to Archdeacon Samuel K. Middleton, principal of St. Paul'sResidential School, Blood Reserve, for nmnerous kindnesses in facili-tating my field research on the Blood Reserve; and to Dr. Claude XIV BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 Schaeffer, curator of the Museum of the Plains Indian since 1947, forchecking a number of specific points with Piegan informants as ques-tions arose during the writing of this work. Dr. Schaeifer also madeavailable to me manuscript materials in the Blackfeet AgencyArchives, now in the Museum of the Plains Indian.Most of the text figures reproduced in this study are based onpencil drawings carefully prepared by Calvin Boy, a young Piegan artist. To insure their accuracy, special precautions were taken. Aselderly informants described objects and/or activities I desired tohave illustrated Reuben Black Boy and I made rough sketches. Weshowed these to Calvin Boy and explained to him the content of thedesired illustrations. He then drew pictures at a very large scale sothat they could be seen readily by elderly informants, many of whomhad poor eyesight. The informants examined the drawings and inthe presence of the artist made suggestions for any changes in detailthat might be necessary. Then Calvin Boy prepared the final pencilor pen-and-ink drawings. The minority of the line illustrations wereprepared by the author from his field notes and sketches.I am indebted to the following institutions for permission to repro-duce photographs of objects and scenes in this bulletin: AmericanMuseum of Natural History, New York ; Brooklyn Museum ; ChicagoMuseum of Natural History ; Glacier Studio, Browning, Mont. ; GreatNorthern Railway ; Montana Historical Society, Helena ; Museum ofthe Plains Indian; Royal Ontario Museum of Archaeology; Smith-sonian Institution ; and Geological Survey, United States Departmentof the Interior.Throughout the period of this investigation (1941-52) I was mind-ful of its broader implications. I endeavored to read widely in thescattered and largely unindexed literature on the Blackfoot and otherhorse-using tribes of the Great Plains and Plateau. In quest of datedmaterials and comparative data, I examined numerous collections ofspecimens in museums as well as collections of early drawings, paint-ings, and photographs. I sought to obtain comparative data directlyfrom elderly infonnants among the Flathead (1947), Oglala Dakota(1947), and Kiowa (1949) tribes as my limited opportunities for fieldwork on their respective reservations permitted. Alice Marriottgraciously supplied, through coiTespondence, information on Kiowahorse usages, obtained in the course of her own field work. EugeneBarrett, forester, Rosebud Reservation, S. Dak., kindly furnished somecomparative data on Brule Dakota horse usages. Edith V. A. Murphyof Covelo, Calif., formerly field botanist. Office of Indian Affairs, sentme valuable comparative data on horse medicines.In this study I approached the larger problem of the definition,origin, and history of the Plains Indian horse complex through an FOREWORD XV analysis of the Blackfoot complex and the inclusion of comparativedata indicative of geographically and tribally more widespread oc-currences of specific traits. The comparative data appear as foot-notes or as distinct subsections of the text in pages 1-298. Thesedata, together with my Blackfoot findings (summarized in pp.299-322), serve as the factual basis for the conclusions set forth in thesection entitled "The Plains Indian Horse Complex" (pp. 323-340). THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTUREWITH COMPARATIVE MATERIAL FROM OTHER WESTERN TRIBES By John C. Ewers THE ACQUISITION OF THE HORSE Clark Wissler (1927, p. 154) has named the period 1540 to 1880 inthe history of the Indian tribes of the Great Plains "the Horse CulturePeriod." This period can be defined more accurately and meaning-fully in cultural than in temporal terms. Among all the tribes ofthe area it began much later than 1540. With some tribes it endedbefore 1880. Yet for each Plains Indian tribe the Horse CulturePeriod spanned the years between the acquisition and first use ofhorses and the extermination of the economically important buffalo inthe region in which that tribe lived.Anthropologists and historians have been intrigued by the problemof the diffusion of the European horse among the Plains Indians. Itis well known that many tribes began to acquire horses before theirfirst recorded contacts with white men. Paucity of documentationhas given rise to much speculation as to the sources of the horses dif-fused to these tribes, the date when the first Plains Indians acquiredhorses, the rate of diffusion from tribe to tribe, and the conditionsunder which the spread took place.The three Blackfoot tribes of the northwestern Plains, the Piegan,Blood, and North Blackfoot, were among those tribes that possessedhorses when first met by literate white men. To view their acquisi-tion in proper historical and cultural perspective it is necessary to con-sider the larger problem of the diffusion of horses to the northernPlains and Plateau tribas. Critical study of this problem dates fromWissler's paper, entitled "The Influence of the Horse in the Develop-ment of Plains Culture," published in the American Anthropologist(Wissler, 1914). That stimulating, pioneer effort encouraged fur-ther study of the problem. Of the more recent contributions twopapers by Francis Haines (1938, a and b), based to a considerableextent upon data unavailable to Wissler a quarter of a century earlier,have been most influential in revising the thinking of students of thisproblem.287944?55 2 1 2 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159THE NORTHWARD SPREAD OF HORSESSOURCES OF THE HORSES OF THE PLAINS INDIANS Haines' major contributions were to point out that the PlainsIndians acquired their first horses from a different source and at aconsiderably later date than Wissler had considered probable.Wissler gave credence to the theory that the first horses obtained byPlains Indians were animals lost or abandoned by the Spanish explor-ing expeditions led by De Soto and Coronado in 1541 (Wissler, 1914,pp. 9-10) . The historian Walter P. Webb, in "The Great Plains," animportant regional history published 17 years later, acknowledgedhis debt to Wissler in his acceptance of this theory (Webb, 1931, p. 57) . However, another historian, Morris Bishop, who had made a criticalstudy of early Spanish explorations, termed this theory, "a prettylegend" (Bishop, 1933, p. 31) . Haines virtually laid the old theoryto rest. After a careful review of the evidence he concluded that "the chances of strays from the horse herds of either De Soto orCoronado having furnished the horses of the Plains Indians is soremote that it should be discarded" (Haines, 1938 a, p. 117).This conclusion has been supported by more recent scholarship.John R. Swanton, who has been a thorough student of the De SotoExpedition over a period of years, concurred in Haines' interpretationof the De Soto evidence (Swanton, 1939, pp. 170-171). Arthur S.Aiton, in publishing Coronado's Compostela muster roll, commentedsignificantly, "Five hundred and fifty-eight horses, two of them,mares, are accounted for in the muster. The presence and separatelisting of only two mares suggests that we may have been credulous inthe belief that stray horses from the Coronado expedition stocked thewestern plains with their first horses." Furthermore, he found norecord of the loss of either mare during Coronado's expedition tothe Plains (Aiton, 1939, pp. 556-570) . Herbert E. Bolton, profoundstudent of early Spanish explorations in the Southwest, has pointedout that even though Coronado may have taken some mares to thePlains which had not been listed in the Compostela roll, the biologicalpossibility of strays from this expedition having stocked the Plainswith Spanish horses was slight. He also noted the lack of any men-tion of encounters with stray horses or mounted Indians in theaccounts of Spanish expeditions to the Great Plains in the later yearsof the 16th and early years of the I7th century (Bolton, 1949, pp.68-69,400).Exploring the alternatives, Haines found that the early 17th-centurySpanish stock-raising settlements of the Southwest, particularly thosein the neighborhood of Santa Fe, furnished "just the items necessary Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 3 to encourage the adoption of horses by the Indians to the east ? friendly contact through trade, ample supply of horses, and examplesof the advantages of the new servants" (Haines, 1938 a, p. 117). DATING THE NORTHWARD SPREAD OF HORSES AMONG THE INDIANS Different concepts of the sources of the horses of the Plains Indiansled to very different interpretations of the rate of their diffusionamong these tribes. Wissler's assumption that horses were availableto the Plains Indians as early as 1541, caused him to consider it pos- sil le that they might have spread northward during the remainder ofthat century so rapidly that they could have reached the Crow andBlackfoot on the headwaters of the Missouri as early as 1600 ( Wissler,1914, p. 10) , Haines, however, found "the available evidence indicatesthat the Plains Indians began acquiring horses some time after 1600,the center of distribution being Santa Fe. This development pro-ceeded rather slowly ; none of the tribes becoming horse Indians before1630, and probably not until 1650" (Haines, 1938 a, p. 117). Thelogical and historical soundness of Haines' position has been acknowl-edged by more recent students of the problem (Wyman, 1945, pp.53-55 ; Mishkin, 1940, pp. 5-6 ; Denhardt, 1947, p. 103. Acceptance ofthis position is also implied in Bolton, 1949, p. 400) . In tracing the northward spread of horses from the Southwest tothe Plains and Plateau tribes we must acknowledge the meagernessof the historical data bearing on this movement. Wissler logicallyassumed that "those to get them first would be the Ute, Comanche,Apache, Kiowa and Caddo" (Wissler, 1914, p. 2). If we excludethe Comanche, this assumption seems to be in accord with morerecent findings. Horses were first diffused northward and eastwardto those tribes on the peripherj^ of the Spanish settlements of theSouthwest. Marvin Opler found in Southern Ute traditions a sug-gestion that those Indians acquired horses from the Spanish "probablyaround 1640" (Linton, 1940, pp. 156-157, 171). Spanish records,dated 1659, reported Apache raids on the ranch stock of the settlementswhich continued into the next decade. The Apache carried off as manyas 300 head of livestock in a single raid. At the same time the Apacheengaged in an intermittent exchange of slaves for horses with thePueblo Indians (Scholes, 1937, pp. 150, 163, 398-399). The Frenchexplorer La Salle heard that the Gattacka (Kiowa-Apache) andManrhoat (Kiowa) were trading horses to the Wichita or Pawnee in1682. He believed the animals had been stolen from the Spaniards ofNew Mexico (Margry, 1876-86, vol. 2, pp. 201-202). In 1690, Tontifound the Cadodaquis on Red River in possession of about 30 horses,which the Indians called cavalis, an apparent derivation from the 4 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159Spanish "caballos." While among the Naouadiche, another Caddoantribe, fartlier south, lie found horses "veiy common," stating "there isnot a cabin which has not four or five" (Cox, 1905, pp. 44r-50).Data on the spread of the horse northward over the Plains in thelate years of the I7th century are sparse. In 1680, Oto Indians whovisited La Salle at Fort Crevecoeur (near present Peoria, 111.) broughtwith them a piebald horse taken from some Spaniards they had killed(Pease and Werner, 1934 a, p. 4) . Deliette i*eported that prior to 1700the Pawnee and Wichita obtained branded Spanish horses "of whichthey make use sometimes to pursue the buffalo in the hunt" (Peaseand Werner, 1934 b, p. 388). In the summer of 1700, Father GabrielMarest included Missouri, Kansa, and Ponca, along with the Pawneeand Wichita, as possessors of Spanish horses (Garraghan, 1927, p.312) . These brief references suggest that by the end of the centurymost and probably all Plains Indian tribes living south of the PlatteRiver had gained some familiarity with horses. Nevertheless, testi-mony, of the French explorers La Harpe, Du Tisne, and Bourgmont(Margry, 1886, vol. 6) in the first quarter of the 18th century indicatesthat horses still were scarce among the tribes living eastward of theApache and northward of the Caddo.In 1705, the Comanche, an offshoot of the Wyoming Shoshoni, fii*stwere seen on the New Mexican frontier. In company with linquisti-cally related Ute, they came to beg for peace, but on their departurestole horses from the settlements (Thomas, 1935, p. 105) . In succeed-ing years they launched repeated bold attacks upon New Mexico,riding off with horses and with goods intended by the Spanish fortrade with the Apache living northeastward of the Rio GrandePueblos. Comanche thefts were extended to the Apache villages aswell. Specific mention was made in Spanish records of one raid inwhich 3 Comanche and Ute Indians ran off 20 horses and a colt froman Apache rancheria in 1719. At that very time Governor Valverdewas leading a punitive expedition against the troublesome Comanche(ibid., pp. 105-109,122).Plains tribes northeast of the Black Hills were met by white tradersbefore they acquired horses. When La Verendrye accompanied anAssiniboin trading party to the Mandan villages on the Missouri in1738, those Assiniboin had no horses. La Verendrye made no mentionof any horses among the Mandan. However, he was told that theArikara, northernmost of the Caddoan-speaking peoples, living southof the Mandan on the Missouri, owned horses, as did nomadic tribesliving southwestward toward and beyond the Black Hills (La Veren-drye, 1927, pp. 108, 337). Two Frenchmen, left by La Verendrye atthe Mandan villages through the summer of 1739, witnessed the visitof horse-using tribes to the Mandan for trading purposes (ibid., pp. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 5366-368 ) . These tribes cannot be identified with certainty. However,the two Frenchmen learned that they feared the "Snake" Indians.Therefore, it seems improbable these people were Shoshoni or theirComanche kinsmen. They may have been the Kiowa and KiowaApache, who were mentioned by La Salle as actively engaged in thenorthward diffusion of horses a half century earlier, and who Avereknown to have traded horses to the horticultural peoples on theMissouri in later years.In 1741, La Verendrye's son took two horses with him on his returnfrom the Mandan villages (ibid., p. 108, 387). This event seems tohave marked the beginning of the trade in horses from nomadic tribessouthwest of the Missouri, through the Mandan to the peoples northand east of them. Hendry (1907, pp. 334-335) traveled with an As-siniboin trading party in 1754, which employed horses for packing butnot for riding. Twelve years later the elder Henry (1809, pp. 275-289) saw horses in some numbers among the Assiniboin and mentionedtheir use in mounted warfare. Umfreville reported (in 1789) "it isbut lately that they [liorses] have become common among the Nehe-thawa [Cree] Indians" (Umfreville, 1790, p. 189) . The French traderJacques d'Eglise, in 1792, saw horses equipped with Mexican saddlesand bridles among the Mandan in the first description of that tribeafter the visits of the La Verendryes a half century earlier (Nasitir,1927, p. 58). It is most probable that a trickle of trade in Spanishhorses through the Mandan to the Assiniboin and Plains Cree existedthroughout the last half of the 18th century.The third quarter of the century witnessed a rapid expansion of thehorse frontier among tribes living to the eastward of the Missouri.In 1768 Carver (1838, p. 188) found no horses among the Dakota of theUpper Mississippi, and placed the frontier of horse-using tribes somedistance to the westward of them. Yet by 1773 Peter Pond sawSpanish horses among the Sauk on the Wisconsin River. Two yearslater he observed that the Yankton Dakota had "a Grate Number ofHorses" which they used for hunting buffalo and carrying baggage(Pond, 1908, pp. 335, 353). Since the Yankton probably obtainedtheir horses from the Teton, Hyde's 1760 estimate of the date of TetonDakota acquisition of horses appears reasonable (Hyde, 1937, pp. IG,18, 68) . According to Teton tradition, they acquired their first horsesfrom the Arikara on the Missouri. It was probably during the thirdquarter of the 18th century that the Cheyenne began to acquire horsesalso (Jablow, 1951, p. 10).At the close of the 18th century the Red River marked the north-eastern boundary of Plains Indian horse culture. In 1798, DavidThompson noted that the Ojibwa east of that river had no horses(Thompson, 1916, p. 246). Two years thereafter Alexander Henry 6 BUREAU OF AMP:RICAN ethnology [Bull. 15y the younger purchased two horses from visiting Indians who lived onthe Assiniboin River to the west, and commented significantly, "Thosewere the first and only two horses we had on Red river ; the Saulteurshad none, but always used canoes" (Henry and Thompson, 1897, vol.1, p. 47) . In January, 1806, Zebulon Pike observed that traders at theNorthwest Company post on Lac de Sable, near the Mississippi, had "horses they procured from Red river of the Indians" (Pike, 1810, p.60). In the summer of that year Henry encountered nine lodges ofcanoe-using Ojibwa at the forks of Scratching River in present south-eastern Manitoba, hunting buffalo. They owned some horses and wereplanning to go to the JSIissouri to purchase more (Henry and Thomp-son, 1897, vol. 1, p. 286) . These were the Plains Ojibwa in process oftransition from woodland canoemen to Plains Indian horsemen.By 1805 horses had also been diffused far to the northwest in largernumbers'. The Lewis and Clark Expedition established first recordedwhite contact with the Plateau tribes in 1805-06, On their returnfrom the Pacific coast they were able to purchase four horses fromSkilloot Indians at the Dalles, paying twice as much for them as theyhad paid for horses obtained from Shoshoni and Flathead on theiroutward journey (Coues, 1893, vol. 2, pp. 954-955). As they movedeastward they found horses more plentiful, indicating that the DallesAvas near the northwestern limit of horse diffusion at that time. Lewisand Clark were impressed with the large numbers of horses owned bymany Plateau tribes. Yet the Lemhi Shoshoni told them of relatedpeoples living to the southwest of them (probably Ute) "where horsesare much more abundant than they are here" (Coues, 1893, vol. 2, p.569). The explorers found Spanish riding gear and branded mulesamong the Shoshoni. They believed these animals came from theSpanish settlements, which the Indians reported to be but 8 to 10 days'journey southward (Coues, 1893, vol. 2, p. 559; Ordway, 1916, p. 288).Northern Shoshoni tradition claims that their kinsmen, the Co-manche, furnished them their first horses (Clark, 1885, p. 338; Shim-kin, 1938, p. 415). If we may credit this tradition, it seems possiblethese Shoshoni may have begun to acquire horses a few years afterComanche raids were launched on the New Mexican settlements in1705. It is probable, too, that the Ute of western Colorado served asintermediaries through whom Spanish horses passed northward tothe Shoshoni during the 18th century (Steward, 1938, p. 201). How-ever, these movements cannot be historically documented.Nevertheless, the sizable herds of horses seen among the LemhiShoshoni and their neighbors by Lewis and Clark in 1805, presupposean extended })eriod of horse diffusion on a considerable scale towardthe Northwest prior to that date. Haines (1938 b, p. 436) has postu-lated a route of diffusion west of tlie Continental Divide from Santa Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 7Fe to the Snake River by way of the headwaters of the Colorado, tlieGrand, and Green Rivers. This was the most direct route to theNorthwest from New Mexico. We may note, also, that it passedthrough the country of Shoshonean tribes offering a peaceful highwayfor Comanche and Ute such as was unavailable on the western Plains,infested as that region was with hostile Apache and Kiowa. Therewas little incentive to divert horses westward from that route, as theGreat Basin afforded inadequate pasturage for horses.Through the Northern Shoshoni, horses were distributed to thePlateau tribes. Tribal traditions of the Flathead and Nez Percecredit the Shoshoni with furnishing them their first mounts (Turney-High, 1937, p. 106; Haines, 1939, p. 19). The Coeur d'Alene, Pendd'Orielle, Kalispel, Spokan, Colville, and Cayuse tribes of the north-western Plateau obtained their first horses either directly from theShoshoni or indirectly from tribes previously supplied by Shoshoni(Teit, 1930, p. 351) . Although a Crow tradition recorded by Bradley(1923, p. 298) refers to their acquisition of horses from tlie Nez Perce,it seems more probable that the first horses obtained by the Crow camefrom the Comanche (Morgan, MS., bk. 9, p. 12) . THE PROCESS OF DIFFUSIONPrevious writers have been more concerned with the historical prob-lem of when the Plains Indians obtained horses than with the culturalproblem of how horses were diffused. Certainly the paucity of 18thcentury documentation sheds little light on the diffusion process. How-ever, when we add to this documentation the information in the litera-ture of the first decade of the 19th century, we find much that is helpfulin seeking an explanation of this process.At the beginning of the 19th century tv^o main routes for the diffu-sion of horses to the tribes of the northern Plains were observable.One route led from the Upper Yellowstone eastward to the Hidatsaand Mandan villages on the Missouri. The Crow Indians of theMiddle Yellowstone served as intermediaries in a flourishing trade inhorses and mules, securing large numbers of these animals from theFlathead, Shoshoni, and probably also the Nez Perce on the UpperYellowstone in exchange for objects of European manufacture. Atthe Mandan and Hidatsa villages they disposed of some of thesehorses and mules, at double their purchase value, in exchange forthe European-made objects desired for their own use and eagerlysought by the far-off' Flathead and Shoshoni. Thus tribes of theUpper Yellowstone and Plateau began to receive supplies of knives,axes, brass kettles, metal awls, bracelets of iron and brass, a few but-tons worn as hair ornaments, some long metal lance heads, arrowheadsof iron and brass, and a few fusils of Northwest Company trade type. 8 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159before their first direct coiitsicts with Avhite traders in their own terri-tories. Thus also, horn bows and possibly other products of thewestern Indians reached the village tribes on the Missouri, and bridlebits and trade blankets of Spanish origin arrived at the Mandan andHidatsa villages by a long and circuitous route. On their summertrading visits to the Mandan and Hidatsa the Crow also exchangedproducts of the chase (dried meat, robes, leggings, shirts, and skinlodges) for corn, pumpkins, and tobacco of the villagers. In 1805, theNorthwest Company trader Larocque, the first white man to spend aseason with the Crow, reported that this trade was well-organized(Larocque, 1910, pp. 22, 64, 66, 71-72). This trade was also noted byLewis and Clark (Coues, 1893, vol. 1, pp. 198-199; vol. 2, pp. 498, 554,563), Henry (Henry and Thompson, 1897, vol. 1, pp. 398-399),Mackenzie (1889, p. 346), and Tabeau (1939, pp. 160-161). ^ We cannot be sure how long this trade was in existence before theopening of the 19th century. However, the experienced fur traderRobert Meldrum, who probably knew the Crow Indians better thanany other white man of his time, told Lewis Henry Morgan that whenhe first went among the Crow (1827) old people of that tribe told himthey "saw the first horses ever brought into their country," and thatthey obtained these horses from the Comanche. Morgan estimated, "This would make it about 100 years ago that they first obtained thehorse," i. e. ca. 1762 (Morgan, MS., bk. 9, p. 12). Denig (1953, p. 19)and Bradley (1896, p. 179) independently dated the separation of theCrow from the Hidatsa about the year 1776 or a few years earlier. It isprobable that the Crow Indians did not become actively engaged inthis trade until they had acquired enough horses to make it practicalfor them to leave the Hidatsa and become nomadic hunters.The other major route by which horses were diffused northward tothe tribes of the northern Plains at the beginning of the 19th centuryI assume to have been an older one, and probably the route followedby the Comanche themselves in supplying the Crow with their firsthorses. It led from the Spanish settlements of New Mexico and Texasto the vicinity of the Black Hills in South Dakota via the westernHigh Plains, thence eastward and northeastward to the Arikara,Hidatsa, and Mandan villages on the Missouri. The important middle-men in this trade at the beginning of the 19th century were thenomadic Kiowa, Kiowa-Apache, Comanche, Arapaho, and Cheyenne.Antoine Tabeau, a French trader from St. Louis, who was amongthe Arikara in 1803-4, was told that prior to that time the Arikarawere accustomed to transport tobacco, maize, and goods of European 1 Mackenzie (1889, p. 346), reported that 250 horses and 200 guus with 100 rounds ofammunition for each were exchanged in the Crow-Hidatsa trade of June, 1805. Twelvelodges of Shoshoni, comprising the remnant of a tribe that had been destroyed, accom-panied the Crow trading party that summer (Larocque, 1910, pp. 22, 7'3). Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 9 manufacture "to the foot of the Black Hills" where they met theKiowa, Kiowa-Apache, Comanche, Arapaho, and Cheyenne in atrading fair. There they secured dressed deerskins, porcupine-quill-decorated shirts of antelopeskin, moccasins, quantities of dried meat,and prairie turnip flour in exchange for their wares. Coincident withthat trade was the barter of European firearms for horses, whichTabeau described:The horse is the most important article of their trade with the Eicaras. Mostfrequently it is given as a present: but, according to their manner, that is tosay, it is recalled when the tender in exchange does not please. This is anunderstood restriction. This present is paid ordinarily with a gun, a hundredcharges of powder and balls, a knife and other trifles. [Tabeau, 1939, p. 158.]Tabeau was told that the nomadic traders obtained their horsesdirectly from the Spaniards at "St. Antonio or Santa Fe," either buy-ing them at low prices or stealing them, at their discretion (ibid., pp.154-158).Lewis and Clark made brief mention of Kiowa, Kiowa-Apache, andpossibly some Comanche as wandering tribes who "raise a great num-ber of horses, which they barter to the Ricaras, Mandans &c. forarticles of European manufactory" (Coues, 1803, vol. 1, pp. 58-59).In the summer of 1806, Henry accompanied the Hidatsa on a visit tofhe Cheyenne to trade guns and ammunition (then scarce among theCheyenne) for fine horses (Henry and Thompson, 1897, vol. 1, pp.367-393).Although this north-south trade route may have been employed forthe northward diffusion of horses for several decades before the west-oast trade route (previously described) was opened, it is most probablethat the Arapaho and Cheyenne were not involved in it as inter-mediaries before their abandonment of the sedentary horticulturallife in favor of a nomadic existence. Cheyenne conversion to nomad-ism probably began no earlier than 1750, and some villages of thattribe clung to the horticultural life until after 1790 (Strong, 1940,pp. 359, 371; Trudeau, 1921, pp. 165-167). According to Arapahotradition that tribe also made the transition from sedentary to nomadiclife (Elkin in Linton, 1940, p. 207) . Presumably Arapaho conversionto nomadism did not long antedate that of the Cheyenne. Of thenomadic tribes actively engaged in supplying horses to the villagetribes on the Missouri by the northward route in 1804, this leaves onlythe Kiowa-Apache, Kiowa, and Comanche as probable initiators ofthis trade. Since the Comanche are credited with supplying horsesto their kinsmen, the Northern Shoshoni, in the 18th century, it ismost probable that the Kiowa-Apache and Kiowa played more im-portant roles in the early trade in horses with the village tribes of theMissouri. 10 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159The Arikara, Mandan, and Hidatsa villages served as foci for thefurther diffusion of horses to the tribes dwelling east and north ofthat river at the beginning of the 19th century. In late summer thenomadic Teton Dakota obtained horses, mules, corn, beans, pumpkins,and tobacco from the Arikara in exchange for products and byproductsof the hunt and European trade goods. Each spring the Teton mettheir Dakota relatives, the Yankton, Yanktonai, and Eastern Dakotaat a great trading fair on the James River in present South Dakota,where they bartered some of the horses received from the Arikara, to-gether with buffaloskin lodges, buffalo robes, and shirts and leggingsof antelopeskin, with other Dakota tribes for the materials of the lat-ter's country (walnut bows and red stone pipes are specifically men-tioned), and European manufactured goods (guns and kettles arenamed) which those tribes obtained from white traders on the St.Peters (Minnesota) and Des Moines Rivers. Tabeau (1939, pp. 121,131) reported that this Sioux trading fair sometimes attracted as manyas 1,000 to 1,200 tents, housing about 3,000 men bearing arms. Lewisand Clark made repeated mention of this trade (Coues, 1893, vol. 1,pp. 95, 99, 100, 144, 217). They regarded it of special significancebecause it made the powerful Teton Dakota independent of whitetraders on the Missouri and hostile to the extension of the trade fromSt. Louis up the Missouri which would serve only to place deadly fire-arms in the hands of their enemies.From the Mandan and Hidatsa villages horses passed to the Assini-boin, Plains Cree, and Plains Ojibwa of northern North Dakota andsouthern Canada. The actual trading took place at the villages ofthe horticultural tribes, during periodic visits from the nomadic ones.Trudeau, in 1796, told of the Assiniboin obtaining horses, corn, andtobacco from the Mandan and Hidatsa for guns and other merchandise(Tmdeau, 1921, p. 173). Tabeau (1939, p. 161) and Lewis and Clark(Coues, 1893, vol. 1, p. 195) referred to the exchange of horses andagricultural products of the Mandan and Hidatsa for the "merchan-dise" (arms and ammunition were named) of the Assiniboin andPlains Cree.The Mandan and Hidatsa also served as bases for the horse supplyof white traders operating in the country north and east of them.Lewis and Clark's statement that Mr. Henderson of the Hudson's BayCompany came to the Hidatsa villages in December 1804, with tobacco,beads, and other merchandise to trade for furs, and "a few guns whichare to be exchanged for horses" is significant of the preferred positiongiven to both guns and horses in this trade (Coues, 1893, vol. 1, p. 207) . On the map (fig. 1) I have summarized graphically the foregoingdata on trade routes employed in the diffusion of horses northward tothe majority of the Plains Indian tribes dwelling north of the PlatteRiver at the beginning of the 19th century. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 11A study of this map in conjunction with the preceding text seems tojustify some conclusions relative to the pattern of this diffusion.First, I am impressed with the fact that the trade in horses on thenorthern Plains at that time was almost without exception a trade be- FiGUKE 1.?Map showing trade in horses to the northernPlains before 1805. tween nomadic and horticultural peoples, and that this horse tradewas coincident with the exchange of products of the hunt for agri-cultural produce on the part of these same tribes. This barterbetween hunting and gardening peoples enabled each group to supple-ment its own economy with the products of the other's labors. There 12 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 15!) was little incentive for trade between two horticultural tribes or be-tween two hunting peoples, as neither possessed an abundance ofdesirable products which the other did not have. However, the naturalenvironment of the western Plateau yielded wild foods and othernatural resources which were not found on the Plains. Therefore, thenomadic Plateau tribes stood in much the same desirable trading rela-tionship to the Plains Indian nomads as did the gardening peoples ofJie Plains. So we find that horses Avere diffused from the Flathead tothe nomadic Crow, to the horticultural Hidatsa and Mandan, to thenomadic Assiniboin, Plains Cree, and Plains Ojibwa, with the samealternate rhythm as occurred in the northward progression of horsesfrom the Spanish settlements to the nomadic Kiowa, Kiowa-Apache,Comanche, Arapaho, and Cheyenne, to the horticultural Arikara, tothe nomadic Teton Dakota, to the horticultural Eastern Dakota.There is good evidence that the pattern of trade in the respectiveproducts of their different economies between gardening and nomadictribes was an old one in the Plains, and that it antedated the introduc-tion of the horse into the area. Definite references to the trade ofPlains Indians in pre-horse days reveal the pattern.The Coronado expedition in 1541 observed that the nomadicQuerechos and Teyas of the southwestern Plains ? . . . follow the cows, hunting them and tanning the skins to take to the settle-ments in the winter to sell, since they go there to pass the winter, each companygoing to those which are nearest, some to the settlement of Cicuye, others towardQuivera, and others to the settlements situated in the direction of Florida ....They have no other settlement or location than comes from travelling aroundwith the cows . . . They exchange some cloaks with the natives of the river forcorn. [Winship, 1896, pp. 527-528.]In the fall of 1599, Vicente de Saldivar Mendoca met a roving bandof Plains Indians not far from the Canadian River ? . . . coming from trading with the Picuries and Taos, populous pueblos of thisNew Mexico, where they sell meat, hides, tallow, suet, and salt in exchange forcotton blankets, pottery, maize, and some small green stones which they use.[Bolton, 1916, p. 226.]The two Frenchmen left at the Mandan villages by La Verendrye in1739, reported the existence of a similar trade in words suggestingthat it had been active for a period of years : . . . every year, in the beginning of June, there arrive at the great fort on thebank of the river of the Mandan, several savage tribes which use horses andcarry on trade with them ; that they bring dressed skins trimmed and orna-mented with plumage and porcupine quills, painted in various colors, also whitebuffalo skins, and that the Mandan give them in exchange grain and beans, ofwhich they have ample supply.Last spring two hundred lodges of them came ; sometimes even more come ; they are not all of the same tribe but som'^ of them are only allies. [LaVerendrye, 1927, pp. 366-367.] Kwors] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 13Undoubtedly some of the articles received by the Mandan in thistrade were passed along to the Assiniboin. In 1738, La Verendryehimself had found that the Mandan offered not only grains andtobacco, but also colored buffalo robes, deerskins and buckskins care-fully dressed and ornamented with fur and feathers, painted feathersand furs, worked garters, headbands, and girdles to the Assiniboinin return for guns, powder, balls, axes, knives, kettles, and awls ofEuropean manufacture (ibid., pp. 323, 332). Horses do not appearto have been articles of trade at the Mandan villages at that time, butit is clear that the Assiniboin middlemen, operating far in advanceof white traders, were offering to the Mandan firearms and ammuni-tion as well as other trade goods obtained from Wliites.It is necessary to consider the diffusion of firearms to the PlainsIndians as a factor related to and influencing the routes of trade fol-lowed in the northward diffusion of horses. If there was any pos-session as keenly sought by the historic Plains Indians as was thehorse, it was the gun. As much as these Indians wanted the rapidmobility afforded by the horse, they sought the deadly firepower pro-vided by the gun. Any tribe possessing either without the other wasat a distinct disadvantage in opposition to an enemy owning both.British and French traders approaching the Plains from the northand east supplied guns to Indians. However, Spanish policy strictlyprohibited the trading of firearms and ammunition to the natives.This placed those tribes in enrlj contact with the British and Frenchtraders in an advantageous trading position. Having obtained fire-arms and ammunition directly from Europeans they were able to actas middlemen in bartering some of these highly desirable weaponswith distant tribes that had as yet no direct contacts with whitetraders.In the middle of the I'Sth century the village tribes of the UpperMissouri (Arikara, Mandan, and Hidatsa) were situated in a mostadmirable position for trading both to the northeast and the south-west. It was at those villages that the northeastward-moving frontierof the horse met the southwestward-moving frontier of the gun.Indians learned to equate guns and horses as standards of value, anda mutually profitable trade ensued by which the armed tribes of theNortheast secured mounts and the mounted tribes of the South and ^Vest secured firearms. Undoubtedlv the demand for both firearmsand horses far exceeded the supply. The need on the part of thoseIndians who received firearms for ammunition, which they could notmake themselves, also helped to perpetuate this trade. At the be-ginning of the 19th century (as indicated by the data quoted fromTabeau) firearms still were the most desired articles sought in ex-change for horses by those tiibes which had access to considerable 14 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 numbers of the latter, although canny horse traders then insisted thatammunition and some other articles be thrown into the scale to sealthe bargain.So it was that during the 18th century a trade in Spanish horsesfor French and British firearms grew up alongside the earlier pat-tern of exchange of products between horticultural and nomadichunting tribes of the region. The trade in horses, therefore, appearsto have been an historic elaboration of a prehistoric trade patternamong the Plains Indians.Another aspect of this trade is worthy of note as a factor determin-ing the direction of flow in the diffusion of horses. All other factorsbeing equal, the nomadic tribes preferred to trade with horticulturalpeoples with whom they were closely related linguistically, if not bio-logically as well. Thus Crow traded primarily with Hidatsa, Tetonwith other Dakota groups, and Comanche and Ute with the North-ern Shoshoni. It may well have been the attraction of European fire-arms that caused the Comanche to divert their trade to the unrelatedhorticultural peoples of the Missouri several decades after they had be-gun supplying horses to the Shoshoni.Recently Denhardt has made a further significant observation : . . , that the natives obtained their original horses, and always by far thegreatest number, from the Spaniards or neighboring tribes and not from thewild herds. The Indians had mounts by the time the wild herds dotted theplains, and always preferred domesticated animals to the mestenos. Mustangswere hard to catch, and once caught, harder to tame. [Denhardt, 1947, pp. 103-104.]Certainly the lack of references to the capture of wild horses by theIndians of the northern Plains in the literature prior to 1800, serves tosupport this observation and to suggest that the wild herds furnisheda negligible source of horses for those tribes prior to that time.But what of theft as a factor in the northward spread of horses ?Certainly a considerable number of the horses that reached the north-ern tribes prior to 1800 were animals stolen from Spanish, Pueblo, orApache settlements by intermediary nomads. It is also true that in-tertribal theft of horses among the northern tribes occurred prior tothat time. Nevertheless, and some native traditions to the contrary, itis hardly credible that any northern tribes obtained their -first horsesby stealing the mounts of neighboring tribes who had acquired horsesat a somewhat earlier date. I believe peaceful contact was a neces-sary condition of initial horse diffusion, in order that some membersof the pedestrian tribe might learn to overcome their initial fear ofhorses and learn to ride and manage those lively animals. The pre-existing pattern of trade furnished the most important medium ofpeaceful contacts and of initial diffusion of horses. The fact thatsuch trade supplied inadequate numbers of horses to meet the needs Ewers] THE HOrxSK IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 15 of Indians who had gained some knowledge of handling them and arealization of the superiority of their use over foot travel and trans-port of canq) equipment, encouraged intertribal theft. Actually thereneed not have been any prolonged interval between a tribe's firstacquisition of horses and its initiation of horse-raiding operations.Some tribes may have begun raiding for horses within a decade afterthey acquired their first animals by peaceful means.ACQUISITION OF HORSES BY THE BLACKFOOTWith this background let us consider the acquisition of the horse bythe Blackfoot tribes. I have omitted these tribes from the previousdiscussion in order to point out the unique factors involved in Black-foot acquisition in greater detail.Prior to the publication of "David Thompson's Narrative" in 1916,it was the practice for students to estimate the date of Blackfoot horseacquisition. These estimates ranged from Wissler's previously men-tioned and impossibly early "1600" to Grinnell's impossibly late "aboutthe year 1800" (Hodge, 1907, pt. 1, p. 570). Burpee split the dif-ference in his estimate of "probably the earliest years of the eighteenthcentury" (Hendry, 1907, p. 318). This approximated another esti-mate by Wissler in 1910, of "about two hundred years ago" (Wissler,1910, p. 19).More recent estimates have been based upon interpretations of a mostremarkable account of some important events in the history of theBlackfoot during the lifetime of an aged Cree Indian, Saukamaupee(Boy) by name, who had been living wdth the Piegan for many yearsbefore David Thompson, Hudson's Bay Company trader, spent thewinter of 1787-88 in his lodge. Thompson (1916, pp. 328-334)reckoned the old man's age at that time at "at least 75 to 80 years."Using Thompson's conservative estimate, we may consider thatSaukamaupee was born no later than between 1707 and 1712. Indating the first episode of his story the old man pointed to a "ladof about sixteen years" in the camp and said that he had been aboutthat boy's age when he went with a small group of Cree to aid thePiegan in a battle with the Snakes in wdiich neither of the opposingforces used either guns or horses. On the basis of the above computa-tion this must have been no later than 1723-28. Saukamaupee re-turned to his own people, "grew to be a man, became a skillful andfortunate hunter, and . . . procured ... a wife." Thompson notedthat Piegan "young men seldom married before tliey are full grown,about the age of 22 years or more." If the Cree, more than half acentury earlier, followed that same custom, we may estimate thatSaukamaupee was married no later than 1729-34. Saukamaupee ex-plained that during the interval between his assistance to the Piegan 16 BUREAU OF AJMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 and his marriage the Snakes had made use of a few horses in battlewith the Piegan, "on which they dashed at the Peeagans, and withtheir stone Pnkamoggin knocked them on the licad." After liis mar-riage he again went to tlie aid of the Piegan, Another battle wasfought with the Snakes, but this time the enemy used no horses whilethe PiejTfin and their Cree and Assiniboin allies were armed with 10guns. Terrified by the noise and deadly effect of this new secretweapon, the closely formed Snake battle line broke and its membersfled in confusion.Saukamaupee said that after that battle : We pitched away in large camps with the women and children on the frontierof the Snake Indian country, hunting bison and red deer which were numerous,and we were anxious to see a horse of which we liad heard so much. At last,as the leaves were falling we heard that one was killed by an arrow shot intohis belly, but the Snake Indian that rode him, got away ; numbers of us wentto see him, and we all admired him, he put us in mind of a stag that had losthis horns ; and we did not know what name to give him. But as he was aslave to Man, like the dog, which carried our things, he was named the BigDog. [Thompson, 1916, p. 334.]In spite of the indefiniteness of the dating of the incidents of Sauka-maupee's recollections, I see no adequate reason to doubt the factshe cited. Fragments of this story have been preserved in the tradi-tions of the Blackfoot tribes to the present time.- However, I do ques-tion the conclusions that have been drawn from this account byhistorians and ethnologists as to the date of acquisition of horses bythe Blackfoot tribes.Although Saukamaupee's description of his first sight of a deadhorse is clear enough, nowhere in his account does he tell of the fii"stacquisition of live horses by the Blackfoot. Yet J. B. Tyrrell, editorof Thompson's "Narrative," draws from the dead horse episode theunwarranted conclusion that the Blackfoot obtained their first horsesfrom the Snake Indians in 1730. Lewis (1942, pp. 11, 60) followed ='Wissler (1910. p. 17) reported the Blackfoot tradition that before white men domi-nated the region the Shoshoni occupied much of the later Blackfoot country as far northas Two Medicine River. M.v informants of the 1940's claimed that the area of the presentBlackfeet Reservation in Montana was formerly occupied by Shoshoni. Wissler (1912 a,p. 286) recorded the Piegan tradition that they received their first guns from the Cree,who taught them how to use them, and that "while some Piegan were out on the warpaththey were attacked by a large number of Snake Indians. The Piegan fired on them andas they had never before seen guns they retreated." Weasel Tail, who seems to havepossessed a strong interest in the historical traditions of his people, told me he under-stood that the Blackfoot obtained their first guns from the Cree ; that the Cree joinedthem in a war party against the Shoshoni and Crow (?) in which the noise of the Black-foot guns frightened the enemy so that they fled southward from their location at thattime, which was near present Calgary, Alberta.Weasel Tail volunteered that his grandfather. Talks Around, had told him the Blackfootcalled the first horses they saw "big dogs." Later, because horses were about the size ofelks, they began to call them "elk dogs." The change in name must have taken placebefore 1790, as Umfreville (1790, p. 202) recorded "Pin-ne-cho-me-tar," as the name forthe horse in the first published Blackfoot vocabulary. This was certainly an attempt torender "ponokomita" (elk dog), the name still given the horse by the Blackfoot tribes. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 17 suit with the statement "the Bhickfoot received tlieir first horses fromthe Shoshone in 1730," Haines ( 1938 b, p. 435) interpreted the Sauka-niaupee testimony as proof that the Blackfoot acquired their firsthorses between 1732 and 1737. His error in interpretation may be themore serious because he employed these Bhickfoot dates as bases forbackdating the prior acquisition of horses by Shoshoni and Fhithead.It seems to me that literal acceptance of Thompson's dating willjustify only two proper conclusions from the Saukamaupee story : (1) that ca. 1729-34 the Northern Shoshoni, who w^ere in conflictwith the Piegan on the Canadian Plains, possessed some horses;(2) that the Piegan had no horses at that time. If we choose to bemore critical of Thompson's dating, probably the most we can concludeis that the Blackfoot possessed no horses in the first cj[uarter of the18th century.Wissler (1914, pp. 3-4) attributed to Saint-Pierre (1751) the firsthistoric mention of horses among the Blackfoot. The Saint-Pierretestimony is tantalizingly indefinite. He does mention horses receivedin trade from Europeans (wdiom he termed French, but who probablywere Spanish) by Indians living on the Plains beyond the Frenchposts on the lower Saskatchewan. He did not identify these Indiansby tribe (Saint-Pierre, 1886, p. clxiii.) As Roe (1939, pp. 241-242)has pointed out, it is impossible to identify these horse Indians asBlackfoot on the basis of Saint-Pierre's confused statement.In the fall of 1754, Anthony Hendry (or Henday) of the Hudson'sBay Company journeyed westward with Cree and Assiniboin guidesto seek to open trade with Indians west of those tribes, known to theCree as "Archithinue." On the Saskatchewan Plains in October ofthat year he visited a camp of 200 lodges of Archithinue, and again inspring met several small bands of these Indians during his return east-ward. Hendry was impressed with the fact that these Indians pos-sessed horses and employed them skillfully in hunting buftalo. Al-though he gave no estimate of the number of horses owned by theArchithinue. he left the definite impression that they were better suj:)-plied than his Cree and Assiniboin companions who used horses onlyas pack animals. Hendry did not identify the "Archithinue natives"whom he met by any other name (Hendry, 1907, pp. 307-354) . How-ever, Mathew Cocking, sent by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1772 totry again to open trade with the Archithinue was more s]3ecific. x\l-though he met only one small band of 22 lodges at a buffalo poundwest of the Eagle Hills in present Saskatchewan, he definitely identi-fied that band as "Waterfall Indians" (the Gros Ventres), and hestated that the general term "Archithinue" also included the Blood,Piegan, and Blackfoot (the three Blackfoot tribes) as well as theSarsi. Furthermore, he stated that these tribes were "all Equestrian287944?55 3 Ig BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 150 Indians" (Cocking, 1908, pp. 110-111). This is the earliest, definitestatement to the effect that the Blackfoot tribes possessed horses.Who, then, were the Archithinue Indians met by Hendry 18 yearsearlier? Wissler (1936, p. 5) was reasonably certain that they alsowere Gros Ventres, I believe we may infer with reason that the Black-foot tribes, allies of the Gros Ventres, also ]^ossessed some horses in1754, although they may not have been as well supplied with them aswere the Gros Ventres. On the basis of the information now available,the most definite conclusion that can be drawn in dating Blackfoothorse acquisition, places this event in the interval between Sauka-maupee's first sight of a dead horee and Hendry's contact with theArchithinue in 1754, or within the second quarter of the 18th century.So it would appear that horses were acquired by the Blackfoot ofthe northwestern Plains at about the same time these animals reachedthe Mandan villages on the Missouri or very shortly thereafter. Con-sequently it was possible for horses to have been diffused from theBlackfoot and Gros Ventres to the Assiniboin and Plains Cree duringthe latter half of the 18th century. Certainly tlie nomadic Apache,Kiowa, Kiowa-xVpache, Ute, Comanche, Shoshoni, and Flathead re-ceived horses before they reached the Blackfoot. Probably the Arikaraand all of the horticultural Plains Indians south of them possessedhorses before the Blackfoot obtained them. It seems most probablethat the Crow, Cheyenne, and Teton Dakota obtained their first horsesafter the Blackfoot began to acquire them. We know so little of theearly history of the Arapaho that it is impossible to estimate theperiod of their acquisition of horses other than to suggest that sincetheir kinsmen the Gros Ventres possessed horses before 1754, it ismost probable the Arapaho did also.Since Blackfoot horse acquisition preceded first white contacts withthese three tribes, we must rely rather heavily upon an evaluation oftraditional data in determining the source of their horses. Wissler(1910, p. 19) heard Blackfoot traditions to the effect that their firsthorses were received from the Shoshoni and Flathead. One traditiontold me stated that a Blackfoot, Shaved Head by name, went west andobtained the first horses known to his people from the Nez Perce,who told him they had taken them out of the water, xinother traditiontold of Sits-in-the-Night, who lived a generation later, having led awar party southward to about the location of the present BlackfeetReservation, Mont., where they stole a number of horses from aShoshoni or Crow camp. "When the warriors mounted these horsesand the animals began to walk, the riders became frightened andjumped off. They led the horses home. The people surrounded thenew animals and gazed at them in wonder. If the horses began tojump about, they became frightened. After a time a woman said. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 19 "Let's put a travois on one of these big dogs just like we do on oursmall dogs." They made a large travois and attached it to one of thehorses. The horse did not jump or kick as it was led around camp.It seemed gentle. Later a woman mounted the horse and rode it withtravois attached. According to this tradition the Blackfoot did notemploy horses for riding, to hunt buffalo, or to war until after theywere adapted to transport use with the travois.^Interesting as this second story may be, I doubt its historicity. Aspreviously stated, I doubt that any Plains Indian tribe learned toride and care for horses without the advantage of the example andinstruction of other Indians who had some knowledge of horses. Itis improbable that the Blackfoot obtained their first horses from theShoshoni, with whom they were at war. It is more probable thatthey received these animals as gifts from or in trade with the Flat-head, Kutenai, Nez Perce, or Gros Ventres. Teit has reported Flat-head traditions of early, peaceful trade with the Blackfoot (Teit,1930, p. 358).However, we can be certain that by the late years of the 18thcentury, theft, not trade, was the primary medium of horse acquisi-tion exploited by the Blackfoot. Contemporary accounts of theBlackfoot during that period indicate that they were at war withtheir neighbors to the south and west. David Thompson observed thatthe Blackfoot tribes raided the Shoshoni, Flathead, and Kutenaifor horses in 1787 (Thompson, 1916, p. 367) . Umfreville briefly char-acterized the Blackfoot tribes in 1790, as "the most numerous andpowerful nation we are acquainted with. War is more familiar tothem than to other nations ... In their inroads into the enemiescountr}^, they frequently bring off a number of horses, which is theirprincipal inducement in going to war" (Umfreville, 1790, p. 200).Thus, during the 18th century the Blackfoot developed the patternof acquisition through capture which remained their primary methodof obtaining horses from neighboring tribes throughout the first 80years of the 19th century and until the buffalo were exterminatedfrom their country. ^ Tlie majority of my aged Blackfoot informants when questioned reifarding Blackfootacquisition of the horse either frankly admitted they were not informed on the subject oroffered a legendary explanation in reply. These mythological interpretations of a his-toric event which must have taken place little more than 200 years ago are given onpages 201-298. WEALTH IN HORSESContemporary observers of the Plains Indians in buffalo days notedthat these people reckoned their wealth in horses. Some tribes ap-peared to be rich in horses. Others were obviously poor. "Withineach tribe there were individuals who were relatively wealthy inhorses. Others were desperately poor. The individual's status as anowner of horses conditioned his use of these animals and helped todetermine both the nature and degree of his participation in manyaspects of the life of the people of his tribe. Before proceeding withdetailed consideration of the functions of horses in Blackfoot cul-ture, it is desirable to determine as precisely as possible not only thetribal horse holdings but also the range of individual wealth in horsesamong the Blackfoot, and to compare Blackfoot wealth in horses withthat of other horse-using tribes of the Great Plains and Plateau inorder to indicate their relative standing as horse-owning people.BLACKFOOT TRIBAL WEALTH IN HORSES I have found no statistics on the total number of horses owned bythe Blackfoot tribes prior to 183.0. Three quarters of a century ago,Lt. James Bradley, who obtained much of his information on theBlackfoot from the trader, Alexander Culbertson, and other whitemen who had known these Indians since the 1830's, stated that "theBlackfeet had possessed horses as far back as their traditions extendedbut never in considerable numbers in early times, and even as lateas 1833 they were poorly mounted." He estimated that "about theyear 1830" the Piegan owned an average of 10 horses per lodge, whilethe Blood and North Blackfoot averaged but 5 horses per lodge(Bradley, 1923, pp. 256, 288).In 185G Blackfoot Agent Hatch estimated that the Piegan andBlood owned at least 10 horses per lodge, but the North Blackfoot hadfewer horses owing to frequent raids on their herds by Cree andAssiniboin (U. S. Comm. Ind. Affairs, 1856, p. 627) . Four years later.Agent Vaughan made a more detailed estimate of Blackfoot horseownership. The ratios in the last two columns of table 1 are compiledon the basis of Vaughan's figures in the first three columns (U. S.Comm. Ind. Affairs, 1860, p. 308) . 20 Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 21 Table 1. ? Agent Vaiighcuis estimate of Blackfoot liaise oronership in 1860 Tribe 22 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 tioii should support approximately 6,000 more cattle or 24,000 moresheep than are now grazed. Very few horses have been sold from thisjurisdiction during the past three years although some changes inownership have taken place."WEALTH IN HORSES OF OTHER PLAINS AND PLATEAU TRIBES I have searched the literature for comparable estimates of the num-ber of horses owned by other Plains and Plateau Indian tribes inbuffalo days. These estimates are summarized in table 2.^ In table 3I have summarized the information on populations and horse numbersappearing in the annual report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairsfor 1874, the first year for which adequate comparative figures areavailable. This was a full decade before the buffalo were extermi-nated from the Blackfoot Country and prior to the time the majorityof other tribes listed had settled down to a sedentary, Reservationexistence.In sj)ite of the fact that the estimates appearing in tables 2 and 3are rough calculations made by many individuals under varied cir-cumstances, they appear, on the whole, to present remarkably con-sistent figures within each tribal grouping. The listing of as manyestimates as could be found for each group enables us to discount someerroneous ones.^ Furthermore, the relative Avealth in horses indicatedin table 2, appears to be confirmed by the data in table 3 for nearlyevery tribe.These data appear to justify the conclusion that in the last half-century of buffalo days those tribes richest in horses occupied geo-graphically marginal areas. One group of wealthy tribes (the Kiowa,Comanche, Kiowa-Apache, and Osage) lived on the southern Plains,Avhere winters were relatively mild, in close proximity to Mexican,Texan, and later American settlements from which they could re-plenish their horse stock through periodic raiding. The other groupof relatively wealthy tribes (Cayuse, Walla Walla, Umatilla, NezPerce, Yakima, Paloos, Flathead, Pend d'Oreille, Northern Shoshoniand some Ute) lived west of the Rockies where they were relativelyimmune from the horse raids of the Plains Indians and where winterswere milder and forage more plentiful than on the northern Plains.Some of this last group were noted for their attention to and skill rnbreeding horses. * Such statements as "have many horses" frequently occur in early accounts of someof the Plains Indians. However, I judge these statements are not sufficiently definite to bemeaningful to this study.5 Obviously erroneous is Catlin's claim that the Cheyenne were "richest in horses of anytribe on the Continent," Maximilian's statement that the Blackfoot had nvire horses thanShoshoni, and the 1871 estimate of Osage horse wealth. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 23The only wealthy Upper Missouri tribe was the Crow, southernnei>;? C5ao .a -< ^ irt CCco -00 ? . oo > 113 esZ-a 05 -?s o2 I** c to=0 03 ja CO -4-3o 03 .a?D, jao _?? > ? gl ??a| ? ao c03J3 1 vi? I '75 oo ^ .a S I .g oao03i-03 .5 a o w dS.2d . o ^ill - >>h3 J >>o3r2 ^ O o 'r? -^-3 -^" OT ?ja; oo oo o&4(X 1 ^fcS> ? ?a n'. o 03O ? rt f-'iw 5 fdES .s'ix'S -a "So; tn d o-?^ d ?d?- ai ? S d 08 ? dou d-o ttc3 _g|oj 03 <:d, '-3'^ ca 03 _ ?03 c^ od j= oDM O Eft 03 ?2 9 ? 03O ' a w OJ 0)0 o 73 ?T3? -33OTCDjaod03aoO d".?KgCO OTdJ303 ^a S"^ =0 ^ 2 d ? ? bsd'>oa -d o>>d03:Sd . aM 1' S oo ^ ?a*"W W- ow C8 do fL, 03o bo13oJ 4>Q ?a-< ?* o S i-" *1^ CD (M CO ^ r^ uri00 00 00 to d 00 r^00 00 o oc^^^f^^ >oo occOOgtjOO 00 00 00 GO 00 CO <*** CD00 00 ^00a>o6-*-3 1? I d oC3a oJ203aca C3M Od t?jdO aoO .9 Ewers] THE HORSE IX BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 25 w a a ?200 > 8 0.00 >D.c^ - 03 "i ?6a COCOW5 <1 oag? C3 6X) 05 .?C fj" - '^ S00 - -= ,03< xia O PQ M t3 '^ "S "3 'k ,^ 85 CM aSSS6 -I o . od aCO 00 ^ -H (?3 .2 ?d.?-a 00 0305^Bc 3 -io PO . ^a ? wW 4)a- ? ? 9 ?- H ?O *^ ? 03 Ph ? g a.aS*"B ? ^ .*^ . ? O o OaaC3 Oa >,aaaC3JS ftw., - 0-. a) >> bio? ca ^ cs 'o ^ .a JO a ft 3g 03 ;? 5 a a ?.??:" O O ^? a 05SftS'^d S^ w "a^-S?.a "t; ca? a ^(si I.- .a a? o ca !3,za^^ -t^ oj o a"-? a) a aj aoft ft a: I a . ? g >ftO:" O <1 .a303 ? >>u om ags "^ -^ j^ -S c?'?1 rvC-H oft.a-e o3=_,PQ >. O a ft toac ^ i03ft .HS3 tuO .s oftudft. .2 & o:.o2 C3a ?? ^ C 3 w ? .2 .2S9^|5W M W 3 3 26 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 BOO S cs: ?S 8 o 8 e ee a H P P ^St) So 7 c o ?3 5to a.2 .2 -o <* D."2 . '-"Sda .o to *;< ?^- O ft <= .O aO ft 00 00SP P P rt <" r! OO fe 03 ^fe ^ ^i-gs 10 ?aa03co ." ? t3^ d "r" ft trt? ? g ^ ^ ? a a v^ ? o ? S tH5 ^-.2 ft is^a5?t|^ S w to c?^ C3c C bnO!? aa 03 C m t? ?S Bi3 m TO ^ O *J^a I'csoo<; o ^ 33 ftO a >? .2 o fti-^ tf ja.S (B to CO esr O I 1^1 Im C O *!>si -I??n a?ooO rt t^ oo QOoo ooO O ?0 kTS00 >-coooo 05o MC^ f-HCO ao to t? 88 8 oo"5 f-< lO F-H CS beoh-) S3Q OM ?-H aCO CO lO t^ .-H00 00 00 00 00 ^H o o t-t o ^H to00000000 00 00 ^'00 o1>^ --0000 00 06 gjoo tJOOO?"' ^^ '^ nr ^^ ri tHM 00' 0> ? 09aBo ?I o ao?Eh ? .2 lis!??; Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 27 .J399 3 dttJ ? ? ? r" '.to CO t6 ^^ J5 CD ^ ^ t-H r1 ?g .OCOtO H ftOft- ? -Oft^ ~ a ft a^ . or cT' CO oo 00 eP ?ai fte Ji; o c ! d03 aa >>uO(NBOXIeafttS c o CO 0)ao -Oaa oamaoO oft 28 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 Table 3. ? Comparative data on tribal wealth in horses, 1874 Tribe Cajmse, Walla Walla, and Umatilla ---Nez Perc6Osage (Great and Little)Yakima, Paloos, etcWichita, Caddo, Waco, Tawaconi, Kichai, Pena-teka Comanche, and Pawnee.Kiowa, Comanche, Apache, and Delaware ?UteCrowUteCheyenne, Arapaho, and ApacheFlathead, Pend d'Oreille, and KutenaiWind River ShoshoniBannock and ShoshoniColville, Okanagon, etcPiegan, Blood, and Blackfoot -Lower Yanktonai and Lower BruleUte -NavahoOto and MissouriOglalla and Miniconjou Sioux, North Cheyenne,and North Arapaho.Bannock and ShoshoniBrule SiouxYankton SiouxOmahaIowa, Sac, and FoxJicarilla, Apache, etcTwo Kettle, Miniconjou, Sans Arc, and BlackfeetSioux.Upper and Lower Yanktonai, Hunkpapa, andBlackfeet Sioux.KansaMoache and Jicarilla ApacheAssiniboin, and Santee, Sisseton, Yanktonai,Hunkpapa, and Huncpatina Sioux.Santee SiouxAssiniboin and Gros VentresPawneeMescalero Apache.Sisseton, Wahpeton, and Upper Yanktonai Sioux.Sisseton and Wahpeton SiouxArikara, Hidatsa, and Maudan Agency UmatillaNez PerceOsageYakimaWichitaKiowaLos PLnosCrowWhite RiverCheyenne andArapaho.FlatheadShoshoneFort LemhiColvilleBlackfeetUpper Missouri-^..UintahNavahoOtoeRed Cloud _..Fort HallSpotted TaUYanktonOmaha-Great NemahaAbiquiCheyenne River. . Grand RiverOsageCimarronFort PeckSanteeFort BelknapPawnee.Mescalero ApachePevil's LakeSisseton.. _.Fort Bcrthold Population Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 29 specially trained war, Imnting, and race horses were the property ofmen, women generally owned the animals they used for riding andtransport duty. Women received gifts of horses, inherited them fromrelatives, or obtained them in barter. These horses belonged to them,and they were free to give them away, trade them, or loan them asthey saw fit. Children also owned riding horses or colts which werenot disposed of without their consent.As early as 1809, a few individuals owned large herds of horses.Alexander Henry reported that "some of the Blackfeet own 40 or50 horses. But the Piegans have by far the greatest numbers ; I heardof one man who had 300" (Henry and Thompson, 1897, p. 526) . How-ever, Maximilian's reference (1833) to a chief who owned between4,000 and 5,000 horses appears to have been exaggerated. ( See Ewers,1943.) Indian Agent Hatch told of the visit of a Blood chief, "ChiefBird," who owned 100 horses, to Fort Benton in the fall of 185G(Hatch MS.). Bradley described the Blood head chief, "Seen FromAfar," who died in 1870, aged about 60 : "He was the greatest chiefMajor Culbertson ever saw amongst the Blackfeet?having 10 wivesand 100 horses" (Bradley, 1900, p. 258). Culbertson's appraisal ofthis man may have been influenced by the fact that Seen From Afar(or Far Seeing) was his brother-in-law. Nevertheless, some of myBlood informants remembered this head chief of their tribe as thewealthiest Blood Indian of his period.The trader Charles Larpenteur, wrote of the period 1860 : "Itis a fine sight to see one of those big men among the Blackfeet, whohas two or three lodges, five or six wives, twenty or thirty children,and fifty to a hundred horses; for his trade amounts to upward of$2,000 a year" (Larpenteur, 1898, vol. 2, p. 401). Obviously thattrader was describing an important headman or chief. Schultz (1907,p. 152) told of the Piegan in the late 1870's : "Horses were the tribalwealth, and one who owned a large herd of them held a position onlyto be compared to that of our multi-millionaires. There were indi-viduals who owned from one hundred to three and four hundred."My informants agreed that the wealthiest Blackfoot Indian inbuffalo days was Many Horses (Heavy Shield, Middle Sitter), prin-cipal chief of the Piegan for a short time before his death in 1866.Although my eldest informants w^ere mere children when ManyHorses died, several of them were related to him, and all had heardof him through their parents and other older Indians. Their esti-mates of the number of his horses ranged from "about 500" to "lessthan 1,000." I believe the lower figure is the more accurate one.Three Calf claimed Many Horses tried to prevent other Indians fromcounting his horses. If he saw someone trying to count them hebrought out his medicine bag filled with deer hoofs and rattled the 30 BUREAU OF AlUKRICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 hoofs, causing his horses to mill around so as to make further enumer-ation impossible. Yet Many Horses is credited with knowing everyanimal in his herd. He is said to have employed 10 or more boys tocare for them. When camp was moved those of his horses that werenot loaned to less fortunate individuals to transport their belong-ings were driven in three to five large herds.Bull Shoe (Lone Man) was the wealthiest Piegan after the deathof Many Horses. He may have owned nearly 500 horses in latebuifalo days. Stingy, a blind Piegan, who died in 1918, aged about78 years, then owned between 200 and 300 horses. Many-White-Horses (ca. 1834-1905) also owned more than 100 horses at that time.Informants claimed that a man who possessed 40 or 50 horses in buffalodays was considered wealthy by his fellow tribesmen.^ It is probablethat less than a score of Piegan were entitled to that distinction atany period during buffalo days.Certainly less than 5 percent of Piegan men were wealthy in horsesin buffalo days. Probably the proportion of rich men to the totaladult male populations was smaller among the Blood and North Black-foot. The majority of the Blackfoot had a difficult time meeting theneeds of their nomadic existence with a limited number of horses.A fairly large proportion of Blackfoot families, possibly as many as25 percent, owned less than a half dozen horses in buffalo days.?The traditional belief that wealth should be reckoned in horses wasdifficult for these Indians to forget even after horses became so plenti-ful in the Northwest that they could be purchased for from $2 to $5 ahead (Denny, 1939, pp. 259-260). Frank Sherburne recalled withamusement that some 50 years ago, Owl Child, a Piegan who ownedabout 500 head of fine cattle and a great many horses, liked to bragabout the size of his horse herd. His cattle had many times themonetary value of his horses, but he never mentioned them in hisboasting. During the period of my residence on the Blackfeet Reser-vation in Montana (1941-44) there were still several older fullbloodswho owned sizable horse herds. Although most of these animals wereunbroken and unused, their owners had no desire to sell them. Pos-session of horses made those Indians feel both wealthy and important. ^ Piegan remembered as wealthy horse owners in buffalo days were Water-Bull-Mountain-Chief, Big Nose (also known as Three Suns, who died in 1896, a prominent chief), CrowFeathers, Big Plume (born ca. 1826), Wolf Calf (noted leader of the horse medicine cult,born before 1800), Wolf-Comes-Over-the-Hill, Many Strikes, Wolf TaU (born ca. 1853),Middle Calf, Owl Child (born ca. 1855), Horn, Tearing Lodge (born ca. 1834), and CurlewWoman (born ca. 1823). The last named was a woman. * It is important to qualify these statements with the phrase "in buffalo days," becausehorses became much more plentiful among the Blackfoot tribes after they settled down onreservations following the extermination of the buffalo. Not only did Stingy, Bull Shoe,Many-White-Horses, Owl Child, and other former owners of many horses greatly increasethe sizes of their herds, but a number of other Indians, who had previously owned smallerherds, became rich in horses. By 1900 there were several Piegan owners of 500 to 1^000or more horses on the Montana Reservation. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 31HOUSE WEALTH OF INDIVIDUALS IN OTHER TRIBESAmong other horse-using tribes of the Plains and Plateau, indi-vidual ownership of horses also seems to have been the rule. Definitestatements to that effect have been made regarding the Crow (Denig,3953, p. 34) and Omaha (Fletcher and La Flesche, 1911, p. 363). Intable 4 I have summarized comparative data on individual horseownership among other Plains and Plateau tribes gleaned from theliterature. Except for Henry's claim that oiiany Hidatsa owned 20to 30 horses, the data in table 4 correlates closely with those in tables2 and 3. In the poorer tribes individual wealth in horses was reckonedin terms of relatively few horses, while among the wealthy tribes someowners possessed horses in hundreds. Compared with the TetonDakota, another middle-class tribe, the Blackfoot exhibited greaterextremes in horse ownership.These data show that unequal distribution of horses among tribalmembers was the rule in the Great Plains and Plateau in buffalo days.The conception of wealth in horses differed among the tribes. Whilea Plains Cree owner of five horses would have been considered wealthyby his fellow tribesmen, a Crow, Nez Perce, or Comanche owner offive times that number of animals would merit no such distinctionamong his people. Yet even the wealth}'^ tribes, such as the Kiowa,had members who owned very few or no horses. There must havebeen a greater proportion of wealthy owners among the Plateau andsouthern Plains tribes than among the Blackfoot. On the other hand,there were Piegan individuals who possessed more horses than theentire Hidatsa or Mandan tribes. Table 4. ? Data on indwidtial horse otvnership in other Plains and Plateau tribes Tribe Assiniboin.Cheyenne- - Comanche. Plains Cree Crow Date Statement 18511806 1819 18521840-60Ca. 1880Ca. 1880 1805 1856 In a large Assiniboin camp "at least one third ofthe men have no horses they can catch.""... some families had twenty or thirty horses." " . . . Industrious and enterprising individualswill sometimes own from one to three hundredhead of horses and mules."Most successful Comanche horse thieves owned50 to 200 horse-s." ... it was only an occasional Cree who had ahorse."It was rare for a Cree to own more than a half dozenhorses."Most of the Cree and Assiniboin who came tovisit the Piegan ca. 1880 owned no horses." "He is reckoned a poor man who has not 10 horsesIn the spring before the trade at the Missouritakes place and many have 30 or 40, everybodyrides, men, women & children." "It is not uncommon for a single family to be theowners of an hundred animals. Most middleaged men have from thirty to sl.xty, and an indi-vidual is said to be poor when he does not possessat least twenty." References Denlg, 1930, p. 456.Henry in Henry andThompson, 1897,vol. 1, p. 377.Burnet, 1851, p. 232. Marcy, 1937, p. 158.Mandelbaum, 1940,p. 195.Schultz, 1907, p. 385.Informant, RichardSandervlUe (Pie-gan).Larocque, 1910, p. 64. Denlg, 1953, p. 25. 32 BUREAU OF AIMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 150Table 4. ? Data on individual horse ownership in other Plains and Plateautribes?Continued Tribe CARE OF HORSES The horses owned by the Bhickfoot Indians in buffalo days wereof smaller size and different type from those commonly seen on theseveral Blackfoot Reservations today. If, as Vernon (1941, p. 512)avers, any horse under 14.2 hands high at the withers is a pony, Black-foot horses were properly ponies. Today the Indian pony is nearingextinction along with the traits of culture typical of the Blackfootin buffalo days. THE INDIAN PONYNo scientific study of the Indian pony based upon observation ofthe living animal or of skeletal materials has been made by a com-petent zoologist. Angel Cabrera's chapter on the Indian pony inhis work "Caballos de America" (1945), is based primarily on earlierobservations of that animal by 19th century traders, travelers, andArmy personnel stationed in the Indian Country. These are still ourbest sources of information on this subject. (See Clark, 1885, p. 396 ; Remington, 1889, pp. 339-340 ; Wyman, 1945, p. 287.)The Indian pony was close to being a type. Anthony Hendry, firstto describe the horses of the Indians of the northwestern Plains in1754, called them "fine tractible animals, about 14 hands high; livelyand clean made" (Hendry, 1907, p. 338). Mathew Cocking, 48 yearslater, termed them "lively and clean made, generally about 14 handshigh and of different colors" (Cocking, 1908, p. 106). From descrip-tions of contemj^orary observers, corroborated by the testimony ofelderly informants, we gain a composite picture of the type. Theadult male Indian pony averaged a little under 14 hands in height,weighed about 700 pounds, possessed a large head in proportion toits body, good eyes, "neck and head joined like the two parts of ahammer," large, round barrel, relatively heavy shoulders and hips;small, fine, strong limbs and small feet. Indian ponies exhibited awide range of solid and mixed colors. (See photograph of Indian])ony in frontispiece. ) Robert Denhardt (1947, pp. 20-22) has traced the ancestry of theIndian pony to Barb horses introduced into Spain in the invasion ofthe Moors from North Africa in the 8th century. In Spain thesehorses were crossed with native stock. The first horses brought toAmerica were animals collected in the southern Spanish provinces ofCordoba and Andalusia which retained the primary characteristicsof the Barb horse. Introduced into the New World by Columbus in287944?55 4 33 34 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 1493, and first carried to the mainland by Cortez's expedition to Mex-ico in 1519, they spread northward in succeeding centuries to furnishthe basic stock of tlie herds of the Indians of the Southwest, the GreatPlains, and the northwestern Plateau.Capt. W. P. Clark, as a cavalry officer stationed at various posts onthe western frontier, had an ample opportunity to observe Indianliorses. He was of the opinion that through hard usage, close inbreed-ing, and change in climate the Indian pony had become somewhatreduced in size from that of its Barb ancestors of North Africa (Clark,1885, p. 306).The Indian pony was no beautiful animal, but it "was a tough,sturdy, long-winded beast that possessed great powers of endurance.My older informants stressed these (qualities of Blackfoot horses inbuifalo days. They were sure those small horses were fleeter of footthan the large "white man's horses" entered in the races in Browningin recent years. Frank Sherburne's statement that the fastest horsehe had owned was an Indian cayuse that had been successful in com-petition with larger horses on the local race tracks supports the Indiancontention.The horses of the Blackfoot were of the same type as those ownedby other tribes of the Great Plains and the majority of the Plateautribes. These horses were sometimes termed "cayuses" or "squawhorses" by white residents of the Indian Country. Colonel de Tro-briand, in 1867, Avas impressed by the superiority of the Indian ponyover the horses used by the United States Army on the Plains. "TheIndian pony without stopping can cover a distance of from sixty toeighty miles between sunrise and sunset, while most of our horsesare tired out at the end of thirty or forty miles." He found that "themovement of Indian horsemen is lighter, swifter and longer rangethan that of our cavalry, which means that they always get awayfrom us" (De Trobriand, 1951, p. 64) . The Nez Perce Appaloosa, is a larger, heavier, characteristicallyspotted-rump animal (Denhardt, 1947, pp. 191-193). Elderly Black-foot informants said their people obtained a very few Appaloosahorses before the end of the Nez Perce war of 1877. FATE or THE INDIAN PONYAfter the Blackfoot settled on reservations, Indian Service authori-ties recognized that their small Indian ponies would be of limited useas farm animals. As early as 1884, the Blackfoot agent in Montanareported, "Strong teams should be provided to break up the ground,for the Indian ponies are unable to do it" (U. S. Comm. Ind. Affairs,1884, p. 152) . After the land cession of 1888, the Blackfoot of Montana Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 35 requested the Government to use part of the money they were to receivefor this land to purchase horses for Indian use. According to ShortFace, "the Blackfoot delegation to Washington was asked whetherthey wished heavy draught horses, medium-sized horses, or lightthoroughbreds. Running Crane, who replied for the Indians, saidthey wanted heavy horses. That is what they got." A few largemares and a number of stallions were distributed before 1890, pri-marily to Indian owners of sizable herds, to breed with their Indianponies. In 1892 the agent reported issuance of 60 more high-bredstallions, stating, "The stallions with their native mares, will soongive them a good grade of horses, instead of the small ponies they haveformerly raised" (ibid., 1892, p. 172) . Many of the introduced horseswere Morgans. There were some Percherons and other large, heavybreeds. As a result of interbreeding, the disposal of Indian ponies, andcontinued replacement by larger animals, the little Indian pony hasnow completely disappeared from the Blackfeet Reservation in Mon-tana. It was the opinion of both Indian Service Agricultural Exten-sion Agents and white stock raisers on the reservation with whom I dis-cussed this problem in the early 1940's, that no Indian ponies remainedon the reservation. Some older Indians were reluctant to acknowledgethe fact.A similar replacement of Indian ponies by heavier breeds took placeon the Blackfoot Reserves in Alberta. The Klondike Gold Rush of1896 offered those Indians a good opportunity to sell many of theirsmall horses at from 10 to 20 dollars a head, and to replace them withlarger animals (Maclnnes, 1930, p. 172). Blood informants statedthe Canadian Government also furnished larger stallions to breed witlithe Indian ponies. Within the present century the usual fate of theIndian pony on the Blood Reserve has been sale to canneries in theUnited States, there to be made into dog meat. Nevertheless asrecently as 1947, a few Indian ponies were said to be living on theBlood Reserve.Whether the Indian pony has survived on any of the reservations inthe United States is doubtful. Enoch Smoky, a Kiowa, said therewere none left among the Kiowa and their neighbors of southwesternOklahoma. MEANS OF IDENTIFICATIONAbout 1790, horses with Spanish brands were seen among the In-dians of the northwestern Plains (Mackenzie, 1927, p. 78). In spiteof their early familiarity with branded horses the northern Plainstribes did not adopt this method of identifying these animals. Wissler(1910, p. 97) wrote of the Blackfoot, "No system of branding was used,but each person knew the individualities of his horses so that he couldrecognize them." This was no mean accomplishment in a Sun Dance 36 BUREAU OF AMERICAX ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 15!) encampment around wliich tliousaiirls of liorses <^razed. Yet in-formants said qnarrels between owners due to inability to distinguishtheir respective horses were very rare.The Blackfoot knew their horses by color, conformation, physicaland action peculiarities. The wealthy Many Horses was said to haveknown every animal in his herd so well that he could describe a miss-ing animal in detail to the young man he sent to search for it. Stingy,the wealthy blind man, was credited with the ability to identify manyof his horses by the sound of their hoofbeats, and to know all of themby feel. Brings-Down-the-Sun, chief of the North Piegan, claimedhis father could tell a horse's age by its whinny (McClintock, 1910, 1). 422). These feats of recognition were exceptional. However, asa people who spent their lives in the company of horses, the Blackfootwere keenly aware of the individual peculiarities of these valuablepossessions.Owners of large herds named only those animals that were brokenand in daily use in addition to a few good mares and stallions in theirrange herds maintained for breeding purposes. The name of eachanimal usually was selected to describe the horse's appearance, morerarely its peculiarities of action. As several informants recalled, "wenamed them by the looks of them."Color names were most common. Common color names for horsesrecalled by the old people were : White Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 37 speak little English, apply English names to their horses. Plowever,Percy Creighton said that on the Blood Reserve the old, picturesque,color names were still in vogue (1947), except for horses purchasedfrom Whites that had been previously named.^DAILY CARE OF HORSESAmong the Blackfoot daily care of family horse herds was gen-erally entrusted to boys 8 to 12 or more years of age, except duringthe most inclement winter months when men of the household assumedresponsibility for the task. If there Avere several boys in a familythe father usually delegated care of the horses to the most dependableand ambitious lad. Sometimes a younger brother cared for the horsesof a young married man. Otherwise the latter looked after his ownhorses. Owners of large herds, or owners of small herds who weresonless, commonly adopted orphan boys to care for their horses. Ifa young, single man went on a raiding party to steal horses from theenemy, he chose a poor but reliable and ambitious boy to look afterhis horses while he was away from camp, rewarding the lad with acolt for his labors. If the young warrior had elderly parents whocould not obtain food for themselves, he selected a youth in his lateteens to care for his horses, rustle food for his parents in the hunt, andkeep them well supplied with firewood. Some poor boys got theirstarts as horse owners through this service.Duties of the young herder required that he be up before daybreakeach morning to go after the horses where they had been pastured theprevious night and drive them to a nearby lake or stream for water.Then he drove them to good pasturage near camp and returned to hislodge for breakfast. The owner generally returned to the herd withhim after the morning meal, selected the horse or horses he wished touse during the day, perhaps petted his horses a while, and gave instruc-tions to the boy regarding pasturage for the day. At noon the laddrove the horses to water again. Toward evening he watered thehorses a third time and drove them to their night pasturage, where 'The published lists of names for horses employed by the Flathead (Turney-High, 1937,p. 110); Kutenai (Turney-HlKh, 1941. p. 71): Cree (Mandelhaum, 1040, p. 197), andHidatsa (Wilson, 1924, pp. 194-195) show a similar preference for color names amongthose tribes. Eagle Bird, Oglala, and Smoky, Kiowa, told me those tribes generally namedliorses after their appearances. Denhart (1947, p. 232) has pointed out that it was afavorite Spanish custom to name a horse according to the impression received on firstseeing the animal. Whether the Plains Indian system of descriptive horse naming wasadopted from the Spanish cannot be determied from the facts available. Certainly thecoincidence is most intriguing.No Plains Indian tribe is known to have practiced branding in buffalo days. The chron-icler of the Long expedition noted that the Pawnee (met in 1819), had no method ofaffixing distinctive marks to their horses. The many branded horses seen among thePawnee were either stolen or traded from the Spanish (James, 1823, vol. 1, p. 439). 38 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 15!?he hobbled the lead mare to prevent the herd's straying. When campwas not on the move the Blackfoot generally watered their horsesthrice daily.^'*At night the herd might be pastured in a coulee or valley at somedistance from camp, where the animals would be concealed from pos-sible enemy raiders. Normally, and unless clear signs of enemy raidersin the vicinity had been discovered, there was no night herding. Afterthe boy guided his herd to night pasture he returned to camp. If itwas thought an enemy party might be near, the horses were not drivento pasture until after dark. Wise herders watched their herds closelythat night. Families that neglected this precaution, after they hadbeen forewarned, sometimes awoke the next morning to find theirhorses gone, while those of the cautious ownei'S remained. (A moredetailed account of measures for the defense of horses appears onpp. 207-210.)It was not the responsibility of the band or village chief to supervisedaih^ care of the horses of his people. He selected a camp site afford-ing good pasturage nearby, but each family looked after its own herd.During the daytime the horses of different owners frequently werepastured close together, but at night, in order to prevent the enemyfrom running off all the loose horses of the village, the individualherds were scattered widely 11HOBBLING "When a Blackfoot herd was driven to a sheltered place at nighthobbles were attached to the forelegs of the lead mare to prevent theherd from wandering to high ground where thej might be seen easilyby prowling enemies. When moving camp in small groups, or when afew hunters spent the night away from camp on a winter buffalo hunt,horses were night hobbled. There was no winter hobbling by thehind legs, which was a Cree practice (Mandelbaum, 1940, p. 196) . Thelead mare was generally an older animal of gentle disposition, and Avashobbled with feet wide apart allowing freedom of movement in walk- >? Teton Dakota (Dorsey, 1891, p. 335) and Kiowa (informants) herders generallywatered their horses three times each day. This was also Hidatsa practice throughoutmost of the year. In winter they watered their horses only twice, about noon and at sun-down (Wilson, 1924, p. 178). Kroeber (1902-7, p. 148) noted that the Gros Ventres bandcalled "Those-who-water-their-horses-once-a-day are said to have followed this practice sothat their horses would gain flesh more quickly."" Most other Plains tribes also entrusted the daily care of horses to boys. This was tnioof the Mandan and Hidatsa, relatively poor in horses. (Maximilian, 1906, vol. 24, p. 24 ;Wilson, 1924, pp. 155-172.) It was also true of the horticultural Osage (Tixier, 1940, p.160), as well as the nomadic Cheyenne (Grinnell, 1923, vol. 1, pp. 64 flf., 117), Kiowa(informants' testimony), and Teton Dakota (Dorsey, 1891, p. 335) ; and the northwesternmarginal Wind River Shoshoni (Shirakin, 1947 b, p. 294), and Flathead (Turney-High,1937, p. 109). However, Jeuness (1938, p. 28) wrote of "young warriors" caring forSarsi horses, and Mandelbaum (1940, p. 196) reported the care of Plains Cree horses wasentirely the work of men. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 39 ing. A more lively animal was close-hobbled so that it had to jumpto move around. The hobble generally was simply constructed of alength of soft-tanned buffalo skin or rawhide. Weasel Tail demon-strated a clever hobble that would neither tighten nor slip (fig. 2) . As Figure 2.?A simple rawhide hobble, Blackfoot. a rule hobbles were fastened loose enough to prevent chafing of thehorse's legs but tight enough to prevent their slipping over the feet.In lieu of a second hobble, hunting parties sometimes tied a secondhorse to the leg of a hobbled animal.^-PICKETING Wissler (1910, p. 97) wrote of the Blackfoot, "At night the bestliorses were brought into camp and picketed near the tipis of theirowners." This was a precautionary measure to prevent the theft ?2 In 1754, Hendry (1907, p. 338) noted that the horses of the "Arohithinue" of theSaskatchewan Plains were "turned out to grass, their legs being fettered." The Osage, ontheir summer hunt in 1S40, unloaded their horses each night and set them free "after theirforelegs had been fastened with enferges or horse locks" (Tixier, 1940, p. 159). Flathead(Turney-High, 1937, p. 109) and Plains Cree (Mandelbaum, 1940, p. 196) use of hidehobbles have been reported. Wilson (1924, pp. 155, 189-190) gives a detailed descriptionand illustration of Hidatsa rawhide hobbles. W. B. Parker (1856, p. 125) noted that theDelaware Indian guides and interpreters, attached to Capt. Marcy's expedition to westernTexas in 1854, hobbled their horses at night "by fastening a short loop of rawhide aroundboth forelegs, below the knees, so that the horse could only move by a succession ofjumps." He also stated that some years earlier the Army tried the experiment of "hobblingdragoon horses?when on the Plains?with iron hobbles, but had to abandon it, as theIndians Invariably killed the horse when they could not get him off." 40 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 of the owners' best buffalo and war horses, and race horses (if theyowned any ) . Women aided the men in picketing the horses. Men ex-pected their wives to keep alert during the night for the slightestsound that might indicate a clever enemy had slipped into camp andwas trying to cut loose these valuable mounts. The preferred picketpin was a forked length of serviceberry about 2 inches in diameterand 22 inches long. One end was driven about a foot into the ground.The line was tied below the fork at the upper end to prevent its slippingoff should the horse become restive or frightened. A mild-manneredhorse was picketed with a raw^liide line tied to one foreleg. A shortline with neck fastening was used for picketing a lively animal (fig.3)." FiGUEE 3.?Methods of picketing : a, Picketing a gentle horse ;6. picketing a lively horse.PASTURAGEBefore the introduction of horses the two most important requisitesfor campsites were adequate supplies of firew^ood and drinking w^ater.The Blackfoot had knowledge of the locations of all running streams,clear lakes, and springs in and near their hunting grounds that affordedclean drinking water for themselves and their dogs. After the acquisi-tion of horses another factor became a prime consideration in selec-tion of campsites?adequate grass for horse feed. This did not meanthick grass. The Blackfoot were aware that horses preferred to graze "In his description of the "Archithiniie" camp in 1754, Hendry (1907, p. 338) wrote, "their horses . . . when wanted are fastened to a line of Buffalo skin that stretchesalong & is fastened to stakes in the ground." Lewis and Clark noted that each LemhiShoshoni warrior "has one or two (horses) tied to a stake near his hut both night andday, so as to be always prepared for action" (Coues, 1893, vol. 2, p. 558). Picketing oftheir best horses near their lodges at night has also been reported for the Crow (Denig,1930, p. 547). Flathead. Pend d'Orielle. and Nez Perc# (Irving, 1851, p. 119; Turney-High,1937. pp. 108-109), Plains Cree (Mandelbaum. 1940, p. 196), Arapaho (Liuderman, 1930,p. 127), and Osage (Tixier, 1940, p. 162). Arapaho, Cree, and Flathead owner.s sometimestook the extra precaution of sleeping with the tether of their favorite horses tied to oneof their wrists. Both Blackfoot and Kutenai denied that practice. The Mandan andHidatsa kept their best horses inside their earth lodges at night to protect them from theftby enemy raiders (Wilson, 1924, pp. 159-161). Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 41 on thinly covered side hills rather than on the luxuriant stands of thevalleys. They were concerned, however, that there be sufficient grassin the neighborhood of campsites to support their herds. They alsorecognized that horses preferred some grasses to others.Present-day agricultural extension agents regard the BlackfootReservation in Montana as one of the finest livestock ranges in theUnited States. However, the old-time Blackfoot preferred the areaeastward of the present reservation for fall and winter pasturage.The vicinity of the Sweetgrass Hills, described by Stanley (1855, p.447) as the favorite fall pasturage for buffalo a century ago, was asection in which the grass remained green until late fall and in whichclear lakes were plentiful. In the late decades of buffalo days afavorite wintering locality of the Piegan was the valley of the MariasRiver from the present Shelby-Great Falls Railway crossing eastward.Elderly informants named several range plants common along theMarias which their people regarded as excellent fall and Avinter forageof horses. These are: ''jointed Avater grass*' {Equisetum arvense),the common horsetail; "weasel grass'' {Artemisia cana), the silversagebrush; "blue stick grass" (probably Chrysothannus naiu^eosus)^the rabbit brush; "real grass" (buft'alograss, Buchloe dactyloides) \and "jingle grass" (unidentified).^''On the Marias River also was found a white clay streaked w^ithyellow that "tasted like nuts." Horses were fond of it. Some peopleate it also. In fall and winter the earth around alkali sinks was peeled off, broken up, and fed to animals. Indians believed it had the samebeneficial effect as salt on livestock.Throughout the greater part of the year Blackfoot horses kept incondition on no other feed than the wild range grasses. CaptainMarcy (1859, pp. 111-112) observed that "for prairie service, horseswhich have been raised exclusively upon grass, and never have beenfed on grain, or 'range horses,' as they are called in the West, aredecidedly the best, and will perform more hard labor than those thathave been stabled and groomed." The Blackfoot, in buffalo days, madeno efforts to put up wild hay for winter feed. Their efforts to providegrass for their horses were limited largely to the expedient of selectingcamping places where the best grasses could be found.When the grass in the vicinity of a Avinter camp Avas consumed, itwas necessary to moA^e camp. Only the severest Aveather conditionsAvhich made the movements of horses impossible avouIcI prevent thischange of location. Some bands, whose members owned large horse " I am indebted to Claude Scliaeffer, curator, Museum of the Plains Indian, for the col-lection of specimens of some of these plants, and to Ellsworth P. Killip, formerly of theDepartment of Botany, U. S. National Museum, for the identification of these specimens. 42 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 herds, had to move camp several times in the course of each winter forno other reason than to secure adequate pasturage. This did notnecessarily entail movement of any great distance. A few miles, ashort day's journey, might bring them to good pasturage.^^WINTER CAREThe Blackfoot regarded certain actions of wild birds and animalsas winter signs. If owls screamed at night, if geese flew high, if crowsshifted their wings sideways in flight, or if the pelage of otter, mink,and beaver appeared heavier than usual, they knew a hard winter wasapproaching, and were careful to establish winter camps in the vicin-ity of extensive growths of cottonAvood to gain protection from thecold and high winds and supplemental food for their horses.In winter cautious owners no longer delegated care of their horsesto adolescent boys. They cared for the animals themselves. In thecoldest weather men donned buffalohide caps with ear flaps, buffalorobes or Hudson's Bay blanket coats, hair-lined mittens, and moc-casins when leaving their lodges to tend tlie horses. Although theydid not watch their horses all day in winter, owners watered the ani-mals thrice daily as they did in summer. A winter camp near a springthat did not freeze was a choice location. If a spring was not handy,men chopped waterholes in the river ice near their lodges. Each manwho used the waterhole broke open any new-formed ice so the holewould not freeze solid.^^ RUSTLINGWhen there was snow on the ground the Blackfoot did not hobbletheir horses. Their front feet were left free to paw away the snowto the dry grass below. At this practice, commonly known as "rust-ling," Indian ponies were remarkably adept. Unless the snow wastoo deep to prevent them from raising their legs (i. e. over ca. 2 feet)they generally could rustle enough food in this way to gain a meagersubsistence. Denny (1939, p. 53), recalled that the Canadian North-west Mounted Police, during their first winter in Alberta, employedIndian ponies which "were hardy, serviceable animals, and would findtheir own food under the snow by pawing in the coldest weather."Later experience of that efficient force proved to them that eastern, ^ My Kiowa informants also recalled that their winter camps had to be moved when theneighboring grass supply became inadequate for their horses. Dunbar (1880. p. 332) re-ported Pawnee winter camp movements due to exhaustion of grass for horses. Undoubtedly,this factor conditioned winter movements of all the nomadic Plains Indians and thosehorticultural tribes who spent the winter season on prolonged hunting excursions awayfrom their more permanent villages. " The Cree practice of placing alkali earth around waterholes to kei-p horses fromstraying was not mentioned by Blackfuot informants (Mandelbaum, 1940, p. 196). Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 43 stable-bred, gi'ain-fed horses could not endure the rigors of Albertawinters as well as could western-bred, range horses (ibid., pp. 132-133) ^' SUPPLEMENTAL WINTER HORSE FOOD Blackfoot belief that "a horse will starve to death if it doesn't getfood for four days"' sharpened their watch over their horses in pe-riods of intense cold and heavy snows. If the snow was too deep topermit rustling, the people tried to clear away an area from whichthey could collect grass for the horses. However, the most commorisupplemental feed was the inner bark of the round-leafed cotton-wood. This tree was common in the valley of the Marias as well asin other river valleys in the Blackfoot Country at some distance eastof tlie Rockies. Some owners made a practice of feeding this bark totheir best mounts (buffalo runners and race horses) in winter. Othersemployed cottonwood bark as an emergency ration to be relied ononly when grass was insufficient or unobtainable by rustling horses.Some horses "chewed like beavers" on cottonwood branches withoutwaiting for their owners to cut them. Generally women cut cotton-wood trees and limbs into sections 2 or 3 feet long, or peeled off irregu-lar strips of the bark and gave them to the horses. For use as horsefeed quantities of this bark were carried by pack horses accompany-ing small Avinter hunting parties. Older informants spoke of cot-tonwood bark as "better than oats." Children, too, liked to chew thebark for its sweet taste. Logs of cottonwood, from which the barkhad been stripped during the winter, made a soft, easily chopped fire-wood for camp use the following fall.Short Face claimed the Piegan discovered the value of cottonwoodbark as winter horse feed by accident. He cited a tradition to the effectthat "one winter a bridled horse was lost. Its owner, believing it hadfound nothing to eat, feared the horse was dead. He found it severaldays later with its reins caught around the trunk of a cottonwood.The horse had thrived by eating the bark of that tree. After theowner observed this he decided to feed cottonwood bark to all hishorses. Soon all the Piegan who owned horses began to cut cotton-wood and offer the bark to their horses." We know, however, that thepractice of feeding this bark to horses in winter was both old andwidespread among the Plains Indians.^? " The earliest reference to Plains Indian horses rustling for their winter food by paw-ing away the snow occurs in Henry's observations among the Assiniboin in February, 1776(Henry, 1809, p. 289). "Hendry (1907, p. 345) noted that the horses of his Cree and Assiniboin companionswere "feeding on willow tops" in the winter of 1755. Lewis and Clark observed that theMandan fed cottonwood bark to their horses in the winter of 1804-5 (Cones, 1893, vol. 1,pp. 232-233). This practice was common among the Arikara (Bradbury, 1817, p. 105)and Pawnee (Dunbar, 1880, p. 332). Capt. W. P. Clark wrote of the winter feeding ofcottonwood bark to horses as a common practice among the tribes of the northern Plains(Clark, 18S5, p. 307). In 1852, Capt. Marcy observed that the old winter camp sites ofthe Kiowa and Comanche on the Red River and its tributaries were thickly strewn withcottonwoods the bark of which had been fed to their horses (Marcy, 1937, pp. 60-61,141-142, 168). 44 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 150The St. Louis trader, William IT. Ashley, in 182(), ])raisc(l cotton-wood bark as a winter horse feed. "When the round leaf or sweetbark cottonwood can be had abundantly, horses may be wintered withbut little inconvenience. They are fond of this bark, and, judging bythe effect produced from feeding it to my horses last winter, I supposeit almost, if not quite as nutritious as timothy hay (Dale, 1918, pp.138-139) . The practice of the horticultural tribes of feeding maize to theirhorses, lirst observed among the Mandan by David Thompson (191G,p. 230) in the winter of 1797-98, was unknown to the nomadic Black-foot who had no access to maize. NIGHT CAREThe Blackfoot were aware that the horticultural tribes farther downthe Missouri provided stables for their horses on cold nights by takingthem into compartments inside their earth-lodge dwellings.^^ Never-theless, the Blackfoot made no effort to build covered structures tohouse their horses in cold weather. On very cold nights, however,Blackfoot owners drove their horses in among the trees and thicketsof the river bottoms to take advantage of these natural grow^ths asprotection from wind and cold. The same precaution was taken whenblizzards sw^ept down on the camps in daytime. Often, however, thelead mare of a herd led the other animals to shelter in the timberwithout assistance from the owner. If the weather remained very cold,owners kept their horses in sheltered river bottoms day and night.More as a protection against enemy raiders than against the elementsthe Blackfoot built night corrals within the wooded areas of the valleyfloor. A man who owned a large herd constructed his own corral.Owners of few horses worked together to build a corral for their ani-mals. These generally were jerry-built, temporary fences of hori-zontal poles lashed with rawliide ropes to standing trees and up-endedhorse travois. W^INTER LOSSES OF HORSESUnder date of February 16, 1773, while on the Saskatchewan Plains,Mathew Cocking (1908, p. 114) wrote of the death of several horses "which they say is the case at this time of the year." In February, 1832,John W^ork noted the death from cold of several horses belonging tohis hunting party in the Blackfoot Country of present Montana(Work, 1923, pp. 131-132) . These early references illustrate the ever- " David Thompson (1916. p. 230) observed this custom among the Mandaii in winterof 1797-98. It was also a practice of the Hidatsa and Arikara. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 45 present threat of disaster to horse herds in the area of severe wintersinhabited by the Blackfoot. Informants stated, however, that horselosses in most winters were light. It was only in occasional years thatdeep snows combined with low (20? to 40? below zero) temperaturesto kill off large numbers of horses. In those years horses starved andfroze to death in spite of all their owners could do for them. Present-day stockmen of the Blackfeet Reservation claim severe livestocklosses ma}^ be expected, even under modern conditions, at least once adecade. There is no reason to believe winter losses were less severeor less frequent in buffalo days.We have no complete record of winters in which large numbers ofBlackfoot horses perished. McClintock (1010, p. 444; Ewers, 1943,p. 605) was told that the year 1842 brought a "hard winter whensnov/s lay so deep that many of our horses perished." Informantsremembered the winter of 1875-YG, as one during which the Blood tribeand the Grease JNIelters Band of Piegan suffered heavy losses in horses(Ewers, 1943, pp. 605-606). The winter of 1886-87, known to theIndians as "many cattle died winter," killed so many Piegan horsesthat many families were forced to use dogs to travel to Old Agencyfor rations. More recently, severe winters were recorded in 1906-7,1919-20, and 1949-50. In the winter of 1919-20 no less than 600 horseswere lost on the Blood Reserve (Wilson, 1921, pp. 16, 18). Lossesgenerally were heaviest in the months of January and February andin May storms.^" MAY STORMSA weather peculiarity of the Blackfoot Country is the annual "Maystorm," usually a single storm, striking suddenly after a prolongedperiod of balmy spring weather, bringing a rapid and severe dropin temperature and usually heavy snow. Usually this late springstorm occurs in May. However, one year during my residence inBrowning this storm arrived on June 2, bringing over a foot of snow-overnight, which melted and disappeared in 2 or 3 days. These Maystorms struck after horses had shed their heavy, winter hair and werepoorly protected from cold. The storms sometimes were fatal to ^ Teton Dakota winter counts have listed a number of years during the 19th century inwhich many horses perished (Ewers, 1943, p. 606). Although we have no record of lossesby the Assiniboln and Plains Cree, living in the notorious Red River Valley storm belt,their winter losses must have been heavy, and must have played a role of importancein keeping those tribes poor in horses. Undoubtedly milder winters favored the acquisitionand maintenance of large herds by the southern Plains tribes. As early as 1820, theLong expedition noted the influence of the weather on relative tribal wealth in horses.The Kiowa and Arapaho were then trading horses to the Cheyenne. The former wereable to "rear (horses), with much less difficulty than the Shiennes, whose country is coldand barren" (James, 1823, vol. 1, p. .'502). 46 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 15!) horses, especially to newborn colts. Careful owners covered theirbest mounts with buffalo robes or blankets made from the tops of old,skin lodge covers, when May storms struck. Tops of old lodge coversalso were stretched over poles to protect mares which gave birth tocolts during these storms.^^ SPRING CONDITIONEven though few horses were lost in the average winter, thatseason was an ordeal for the best of them. They grew thin and weakon the food they could rustle. By spring they were a cadaverous lot.Yet most of them fattened within a month on the rich, green, springgrasses. The horses of the rich man recovered rapidly. He couldafford to alternate his mounts and pack animals so as to give all ofthem sufficient rest to enable them to regain weight and strength.But the few horses of the poor man could not be pampered. He hadto use them regularly. Consequently their chances of recovery werepoor. Many of them remained thin and weak through most of theyear.In the Blackfoot Country the domesticated horse reached thenorthern limit of its distribution on the Plains east of the Kockiesprior to white contact. The problem of maintaining horses throughthe winters in this region of high altitude, strong winds, heavy snows,and rapid, treacherous changes in temperature taxed Indian ingenuity.As has been shown, Indian solutions of this problem were little morethan simple expedients and could not prevent heavy losses in the mostsevere winters. It is more of a tribute to the hardiness of the Indianpony than to the forethought of its Indian owner that this animalwas able to become acclimated to the northern country in the earlyyears of its northward migration from the more temperate climate ofthe Spanish settlements of the Southwest.COMMON HORSE REMEDIESAlthough there Avas a Blackfoot cult of specialists in the treat-ment of sick and injured horses, most owners Avere able to treat themore common horse ailments themselves, using a variety of vegetableand animal medicines. ^ Maximiliau, in 1833, noted a phenomenon similar to the May storm, occurring some-what earlier in spring, in the country of the Mandan. '"March and April are called by theIndians the Horse's winter, because, when the weather is warm, the horses are oftendriven to pasture, and then violent storms of snow sometimes occur suddenly, and destroymany of the animals" (Maximilian, 1906, vol. 23, p. 238). Lowie (1922 a, p. 435) reportedthe Crow practice of blanketing- newborn colts in a spring storm. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 47TREATMENT OF SADDLE SORESSaddle sores were a seasonal problem to the wealthy horse owner.In the spring of the year his saddle and pack horses, that had beenrested during- the winter months, sometimes got saddle sores from ill-fitting, improperly padded saddles used on them. Kich men couldrest their afflicted mounts until they recovered. Poor men could notspare their riding horses and of necessity overloaded their pack ani-mals. Consequently they were plagued with sore-backed horses theyear round. If a wealthy man saw a likely looking but sore-backedhorse belonging to a poor felloAv, he might trade one of his soundhorses for it.The Blackfoot had several common remedies for saddle sores. "Snake weed" (Ytccca sp.), if available, was boiled and applied to thesore with grass or a rag. "Dry root" {Heuchera sp., alumroot) mixedwith buffalo fat and boiled in water, also was applied. Anotherremedy made use of a mixture of boiled tobacco, a bitter gi^ass, animalfat, and commercial salt, which was rubbed on the sore and "in amonth's time the sore would be healed and hair standing on it." ABlood informant said his family preferred to prick the swelling witha new arrowhead until the blood ran, then apply herb medicine.'- TREATMENT OF SORE FEETTo repair a worn foot that caused a horse to limp with pain, theBlackfoot owner made a rawhide protective shoe from a piece ofthick hide from a freshly killed buffalo bull. He broke up horsemanure and placed it in the shoe before he slipped it over the horse'sfoot. The shoe extended to the pastern and was held in place by arawhide drawstring around the top. Periodically the shoe was re- -2 Several observers testified to the commonness of saddle sores among Indian-ownedhorses of the Plains in the first decade of the 19th century. All of them attributed thisto the poorly fitting saddles used by the Indians. Henry (Henry and Thompson. 1897,vol. 1, p. 47) commented upon this situation among the Cree ; Tabeau (1939, pp. 88-90)among the Arikara, some of whom "more through interest than pity, cover the sores witha piece of leather or with a buffalo paunch sprinkled with ashes" to prevent magpies frompicking at the raw fiesh ; and Lewis and Clark regarding the Lemhi Shoshoni and WallaWalla horses their expedition obtained from the Indians (Coues, 1893, vol. 2, pp. 574-575 ;vol. 3, p. 979). The chronicler of the Long expedition wrote of the Omaha (1S19), "thebacks of their horses are very often sore and ulcerated from the friction of the rudesaddle . . . resting on rude saddle cloths without padding" (James, 1823, vol. 1, p. 292).Larocque (1910, p. 64) observed the care Crow owners gave their horses, stating "as soonas a horse has a sore back he is not used until he is healed." Such treatment, of course,was possible only among a people who were relatively rich in horses. Undoubtedly thegreat majority of Plains Indians owned too few horses to afford to rest their sore-backedanimals for extended periods.Gilmore (1919, p. 133) described Pawnee use of plant medicines in treating saddlesores. The Thompson Indians of British Columbia first washed the sore with humanurine, then applied plant medicines (Teit, 1930, pp. 513-514). 48 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bun. 159 Figure 4.?Rawhide horseshoes similar to Blackfoot type, Arapaho.No. 58036, Chicago Museum of Natural History.) (After moved, the lioof examined, and fresh mannre inserted. When thehoof grew out, the shoe was discarded.23TREATMENT OF COmC AND DISTEMPERThe Blackfoot treated colic and distemper by the same means, i. e.by pouring plant medicine down the mouth or nose of the ailinghorse. If the horse was a lively one it was held down and the medi-cine administered forcibly ; if it was a mild-mannered animal its head =* Use of rawhide shoes to protect the feet of horses was widespread amongr horse-usingtribes. In the middle of the 18th century Pfefferkorn (1949, p. 147) noted of the Apache inSonora, "For want of horseshoes, they cover their horse's hoofs with thicls horse or oxhideto protect them."' In the summer of 1832, Captain Bonneville observed that members ofa Crow war party had covered the hoofs of their horses "with shoes of buffalo hide" toprotect them from the "sharp and jagged rocks among which they had to pass" (Irving,1851, p. 53). The Plains Cree used a manure-lined shoe like that employed by theBlackfoot to cure sore-footed horses. A pair of Arapaho rawhide horseshoes, catalog No.58,036, Chicago Museum of Natural History, collected by George Dorsey in 1905 fromthe Wind River Reservation, is reproduced as figure 4. This specimen is identical withdescriptions of Blackfoot horseshoes. An elderly Kiowa told me his people formerly usedrawhide shoes in the treatment of sore-footed horses. Chiracahua Apache employed raw-hide "horse moccasins" for the same purpose (Opler, 1941, p. 396). Kutenai are said tohave laughed at Flathead for making little boots to protect their dog's feet. However,the reference (Turney-High, 1941, p. 70) does not mention Flathead employment of "boots" for horses.White traders and explorers in the northern Plains on some occasions adopted theIndian's practice of providing rawhide shoes to protect their horses" feet. Larocque usedthem on his journey from the Crow encampment on the Yellowstone River back to theIlidatsa villages in the fall of 1805 (Larocque, 1910, p. 49). Capt. Wm. Clark's party,eastbound down the Yellowstone Valley in July 1806, made "a sort of moccasin of greenbuffalo skin" to relieve their horses' worn feet (Coues, 1893, vol. 3, p. 1137). CaptainBonneville, in the fall of 1832, made buffalohide shoes for his foot-worn horses whiletraveling through rocky country ne:ir the Wind River Mountains (Irving, 1851, p. 234).In the summer of 1854, Parker (1856, p. 203) saw the wife of a Southern Comanchechief "leading a horse and mule slowly backwards and forwards through a slow fire"which was "the process of hardening the hoofs by exposing them to the smoke and vapourof the wild rosemai-y-artemisia." I have found no other reference to this practice amongPlains Indians. Ewers] THE HORSE EST BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 49 was raised and the medicine poured into its mouth. A great manyconcoctions were tried by different individuals in this treatment.Boiled "snake weed" {Yucca sp.), "big turnip" (Lcptotaenia rrmlti-fida, carrotleaf) , "smell foot" {Valeriana sp.) , and bitterroot {Lewisiarediviva) were employed separately or in combination with still otherboiled plant medicines to treat these disorders. There appears to havebeen much experimentation by horse owners in the concoction of foul-smelling liquids. Lazy Boy claimed none of the old-time remedieswas as effective as the coal oil the Piegan used to treat colic afterthey settled down on the reservation.'^^ PRECAUTIONS AGAINST CHILLSA sweaty horse that had been hard-ridden in winter was lead aroundfor a time, then covered with a blanket made from an old lodge cover ; or it was permitted to roll in snow to dry the perspiration quickly. Agood horse that had been ridden hard in warmer weather was led toa lake or stream and water splashed over it. It was then allowed torun and roll in the grass." A GENERAL TONICShort Face said that a root having a strong odor that grows nearthe mountains, called "strong root" by the Indians (possibly bane-berry), was smashed and fed to horses at any time of year to keepthem healthy. TREATMENT OF BROKEN BONESA good horse with a broken leg was not shot. If the horse hadbeen a buffalo runner, it would be no longer useful for that purpose,but it could serve as a pack animal. A wealthy owner of a prizedbuffalo runner which suffered a broken leg, might keep that horseas a pet. If a mare broke a leg it was kept for breeding purposes.Some owners tried to treat broken legs themselves. The leg was lancedso that the blood would flow. A splint was made of rawhide-wrappedsticks. After a long time the bones healed. But there would alwaysbe a lump where the break occurred, and the horse would always limp.Other owners called in a horse medicine man or a specialist in thetreatment of broken bones. Bear-Goes-East, a Piegan of the Bloodband, was remembered as a well-known specialist. He was creditedwith the power to heal broken bones of animals or humans, by rubbingthem with mud. The horse owner paid him well, sometimes another **The Dakota, Omaha, Ponca, and Pawnee used the narrow-leaved comb flower {Echi-nacea angustifolia) In their treatment of distemper (Gilmore, 1919, p. 131). ""The Plains Cree employed these same methods for cooling off overheated horses(Mandelbaum, 1940, p. 196). Information from other tribes is lacking.287944^-55 5 50 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 horse, for his services. Bear-Goes-East was considered a powerfuldoctor, but not a horse medicine man. Lazy Boy recalled that once,while on a war party, Bear-Goes-East's partner fell over a cliff andbroke his leg. The Crow Indians were chasing them. Bear-Goes-Eastcollected some mud from a nearby lake, applied it to his partner's leg,and "healed it right there." '^TREATMENT OF UNKNOWN ILLNESSESIn buffalo days if a horse suffered from an illness the owner wasunable to diagnose, he might load a musket with powder only and fireit at the side of the horse. The horse might get well.^^ If the ownerwas wealthy or the horse was a valuable buffalo runner or racer theBlackfoot owner generally preferred to take no chances. He calledupon one of the powerful horse medicine men to treat his mount. Thehorse medicine man was paid well for his services. (See pp. 270-271.)LOSSES OF HORSES LOSSES FROM DISEASEAlthough we have no complete record of the incidence of diseaseamong the horses of the Blackfoot in 19th century buffalo days, thereare references to two epidemics during that period that caused seriouslosses.On April 15, 1857, Father Adrian Hoecken wrote to Father De Smetfrom the Pend d'Oreille Mission : I am distressed at learning that an epidemic is making terrible ravages amongthe Blackfeet. According to the last news, about 150 Indians have perished inone camp alone, near Fort Benton. When the malady had ceased scourgingmen it fell upon the horses. Many are dead already and many dying. We havelost five. Our hunters are forced to go to the chase on foot; for according totheir account all the horses are sick. If the Nez Percys lose their horses in thewar with the Government, horses will be very dear here." [De Smet, 1905, vol. 4,p. 1248.]Well remembered by elderly informants was the epidemic of1881-82, identified by some as mange. Their horse medicine menwere powerless to cure the afflicted animals. John Young, IndianAgent for the Blackfoot stated in his Annual Report of August 11,1882 : The wealth of these Indians lies in their ponies. During the winter theysuffered serious loss. A cutaneous disease appeared among the horses for which *?A Kiowa informant stated that his people used to treat horses with broken legs byapplying a rawhide-wrapped splint to the member. Crow Indians are said to have useda mud treatment for horses bitten by rattlesnakes. They bound "mud on the wound,and when the poultice dries, fresh ones are applied until all the swelling recedes" (Phlnney,n. d., p. 81).?This treatment was also employed by the Kutenal (Turney-High, 1941, p. 72). Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 51 no remedy could be procured, and because of it about half of the horses theseIndians owned died. One chief lost sixty out of a band of eighty. The diseaseis again making its appearance, and by next spring most of the few horses leftwill probably succumb to it. [U. S. Comm. Ind. Affairs, 1882, p. 100.]Informants' testimony indicates that Agent Young may have over-stated the case. Nevertheless, losses were severe. It came at a timewhen the Blackfoot had not recovered their losses of the hard winterof the mid-70's, and at a time when buffalo were becoming very scarce.It worked a great hardship on the Indians, who needed good horses asnever before to locate and kill buffalo for their subsistence. Manyowners, set afoot by the epidemic, redoubled their efforts to securebadly needed mounts through raiding forays on enemy tribes. At atime when horse raiding should have been an anachronism in the or-ganized Territory of Montana, there was a resurgence of raidingactivity, motivated by need rather than greed. LOSSES FROM ANIMAL PREDATORSAnimal predators killed colts and occasionally some adult horsesowned by the Blackfoot in buffalo days. Wolves were the most com-mon colt killers. Bears and mountain lions destroyed both colts andadult animals. These losses were most common when Indian campswere pitched near the mountains. Blackfoot raiding parties return-ing across the Rockies with horses stolen from the Flathead or neigh-boring tribes also lost horses from night attacks by mountain lions.Dogs also killed colts on those rare occasions when meat was scarcein camp, and dogs were forced to rustle for their food. Some ownersprotected their colts by tying dried hoofs around their necks. Therattling hoofs frightened the dogs and kept them at a distance. Innormal times dogs were well fed and did not bother colts. LOSSES FROM STOCK-POISONING PLANTSAlthough my informants made no mention of horse losses fromeating poisonous plants, it is probable that some horses died from thiscause in buffalo days, as they have in more recent times. Stock-poisoning plants most destructive to horses on Montana ranges in 1900were lupine and loco weed. However, the number of deaths was verysmall in proportion to the number of horses poisoned (Chesnut andWilcox, 1901, p. 34). CARE OF OLD HORSESAn old horse that had given faithful service in war, buffalo hunt-ing, or racing was not destroyed by its grateful owner. It was caredfor after its useful days were over, until it fell behind when camp 52 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 moved or dropped dead in camp. A horse that died in camp wasdragged away by two horses, one pulling a line tied around the deadanimal's neck, the other a line attached to its tail. If the camp wasa temporary one the dead horse was dragged only a short distancefrom the lodges. If the camp was to remain in one place for a num-ber of weeks the dead horse was dragged a half mile or farther fromthe lodges and left on the prairie. Dead horses were not buried. Thevillage chief gave the order for the removal of the dead animal anddetermined how far it should be dragged. 1 HORSE BREEDINGIMPORTANT ROLE OF HORSE BREEDINGSo much emphasis has been given in the literature to the moreexciting topic of horse raiding as a source of Plains Indian wealthin horses that the subject of breeding horses has been neglected.In reality animals bred from their own herds comprised a goodlyproportion of the horses owned by the Blackfoot in 19th-century buf-falo days. If the increase of the Indians' herds through breedingwas not as great as that achieved by modern stockmen, we must remem-ber that their herds were periodically reduced by destructive winterstorms, diseases, animal predators, and other causes, as well as bytheft on the part of enemy raiders. Had it not been for the breedingof their own herds, Blackfoot horse population surely would haveshown a steady decrease during 19th-century buffalo days.Blackfoot men differed markedly in the attention they gave tohorse breeding and in the success they achieved in building up theirherds thereby. It is noteworthy that those Piegan who were namedby my informants as owners of the largest herds were also rememberedas men who were especially successful in breeding horses. Stingy,the blind man, could not participate in horse raids, but he became oneof the wealthiest Piegan horse owners through his skill in raisinghorses. Many Horses and Many-White-Horses were mentioned fre-quently in informants' discussions of breeding practices. The Black-foot believed that those men who were very successful in raising horsespossessed a secret power that insured their success in that enterprise.Blackfoot efforts in breeding generally were directed toward pro-ducing one or more of three qualities in colts. These were (1) a cer-tain color, (2) large size, and (3) swiftness of foot. Although manyof their methods hardly can be considered scientific, they bear evidenceof Blackfoot concern with problems of horse breeding.SELECTION OF STUDSThere was little or no effort to mate certain stallions with selectedmares. The studs were permitted to mate with any mare in a man'sherd. However, the most successful breeders were careful in thechoice of their stallions. A man who desired to raise colts of a certaincolor chose a stallion of that color for a stud. If he wished large coltshe selected a stallion of greater than average size. If he wanted fast53 54 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 animals above all else, he employed a stallion of demonstrated swift-ness. Generally men with small herds possessed a single stallion.Owners of large herds kept four or more stallions. Usually all othermales were castrated. The Blackfoot recognized that some stallionswere poor breeders. If, after a period of trial, a stallion failed toproduce colts in the number or quality desired, a man who could affordto do so replaced that stud with another one.Three Calf, whose father owned a fine herd of 40 pinto horses, saidhis father had but one stallion, a large, black pinto, bred from his ownlierd. Many Horses owned a number of stallions, pintos of severalvarieties, which he used for no other purpose than breeding and onwhich he lavished great care. His stallions were never broken to thesaddle. Stingy, who bred for size, used a large horse for a stud. Herode it, and kept it picketed at night in the spring breeding season toprevent other Indians from making use of it. When colts dropped, heherded them with the mares and colts. The Piegan sometimes calledStingy, "White Man," because he raised such large horses. Otherbreeders selected their stallions for swiftness regardless of their sizeor coloring. All careful breeders took pains to obtain the best horsesthey could get of the type they most desired for studs. However, mostmen were too poor or too careless to devote much thought to stallionselection. They were happy just to possess a stallion. "That is whythere were so many scrub, no good horses around."If a man owned one or more mares but no stallion he might go tohis neighbor's herd at night and "borrow" his stud to mate with hisown mare, without the knowledge of the stallion's owner. This is saidto have been a rather common practice.Careful breeders also took pains to prevent old, broken-down stal-lions of their neighbors from mingling with their mares. Where somany horse herds were pastured in the neighborhood of a camp thiswas a difficult task. However, boys caring for the herds of cautiousowners were instructed to keep their herds separate in breeding seasonand to drive away midesirable stallions that came near them. If apoor old stallion was found bothering their mares, the boys caughthim, threw him down, and tied a large buffalo rib or hip bone to hisforelock. The frightened animal left on the run. If a stray stallionpersisted in bothering a man's herd, the herd owner told the stallion'sowner to take better care of his horses thereafter.MAINTENANCE OF COLOR LINESSome men tried to build up herds of a single color. Three Calf saidthat after his father possessed 40 pintos he made no attempt to add tohis herd except by breeding. He gave away any horses given him, anddisposed of any colts bred to his herd that were not pintos. Many- Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 55 White-Horses, so named because all the horses in his herd were whitesor grays, traded any dark-colored horses he obtained for white ones.Nevertheless, his horses were said to have been of rather poor quality.They were small, tender-hoofed animals. Wlien the Government furn-ished large stallions to Piegan owners, Many-White-Horses refused toaccept them. He feared the stallions would injure his small mares.So he continued to raise large numbers of little horses. They had moreprestige than practical value.Joseph Sherburne recalled that when he traveled the BlackfeetReservation (in the first decade of the 20th century) making collec-tions for his father's store, some Indian owners of large herds stillspecialized in horses of a particular color or conformation. He learnedto recognize the peculiarities of the horses of different owners so thathe could tell from a distance the ownei*ship of many range horses bytheir appearance. There were 10 or 12 owners on the Blackfeet Res-ervation in Montana at that time whose horses were readily distin-guishable by their physical appearance. Mr. Sherburne said the imi-formity of these herds was maintained both by selection of studs andby swapping of horses which failed to exhibit the desired character-istics. JIAGICAL BREEDING FORMULASSome Blackfoot horsemen placed faith in magical formulas forinsuring the birth of colts exhibiting desired qualities. If a manwanted a pinto colt he killed a magpie and tied its black and whitefeathered body around the neck of his mare with a buckskin string inthe fall of the year, saying, "Now, I want you to have a pinto coltnext spring." The magpie was worn on the mare's neck until it fell off.One informant said, "When spring came that mare would surely havea pinto colt, and thereafter all her colts would be pintos."No other color of horse was as popular with the old-time Black-foot as was that of the pinto. Many men were proud to be seen riding atwo-colored horse.^^In order to get "a big colt," the Piegan Stingy is said to have madea practice of roasting a "big turnip" {Leptotaenia innlti-fida^ carrot-leaf) , slicing it with a knife, punching holes through t lie slices, string-ing them on a buckskin cord, and tying the cord around a mare's neck.The odor of the big turnip kept the mare in fine condition all winter.In spring she would bear a "big colt." Stingy is said to have employed ^^This Is in contrast to the Kiowa tendency to consider pintos "women's horses" (com-munication from Alice Marriott). The Nez Perc6 (Ross, 1855, vol. 1, p. 307) preferredwhite and speckled (Appaloosa) horses, which they valued at two or tliree times the worthof other horses. Kroeber (1907, p. 424) reported Arapaho use of colored bean medicinesto cause mares to produce colts of desired colors. Spotted beans produced pintos, redbeans roans or bays, and white beans white or buckskin colts. My Kiowa Informants hadno knowledge of the use of magical breeding formulas by members of their tribe. 56 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Boll. 169 this formula in producing Flop Ears, considered the fastest Piegan-owned race horse of its time.To insure the birth of a fast colt a man killed a jackrabbit, cut offits front feet and strung them with sliced "big turnip" on a buckskincord, which he tied around his mare's neck. "That mare would havea fast colt" (color and size undetermined) . CARE OF GRAVID MARES AND COLTSAlthough more colts were born in spring than in any other time ofyear, there were "a lot of fall colts" and some early ones. The Indiansthought that it would make mares good breeders if they were used forriding or transport duty until their udders began to swell about a weekbefore foaling. No assistance was given a mare in labor unless theweather was stormy. Then it was given the protection of an old lodgecover, if the owner possessed one.A smart horseman paid close attention to the colt after birth. Herubbed and straightened the colt's legs and shaped its ears with hishands. If the colt appeared to him to show possibilities of becominga valuable horse, he continued to work its legs with his hands to be surethe bones would be straight and well formed.Most mares were put to work a few days after the birth of their colts. Poor people, who owned few horses, had no choice in the matter.Wealthier owners, however, could rest their mares for months afterfoaling. They might not work a mare that had foaled in spring untilthe following fall. Many mares owned by wealthy owners were keptsolely for breeding purposes. They were neither broken to the saddlenor used as pack animals. 2^9 GELDINGAlthough the Blackfoot practice of gelding most male horses inevi-tably influenced breeding by reducing the male breeding stock, "keep-ing them from bothering mares" was only one of three major reasonsfor castrating. The Blackfoot also considered gelding made theirhorses more tractable and fleeter of foot. In theory all males notreserved for stud purposes were castrated at between 1 and 3 yearsof age. Actually there were many exceptions. Some owners werenegligent about having their horses gelded, which helped to account for *The 18th-century literature on other Plains Indian tribes contains two referencesthat suggest the Plains Indians may have been slow to learn the importance of the careof gravid mares, and that neglect of such care resulted in heavy losses of colts andlimited Increases in their herds through breeding. Bourgmont (in Margry, 1886, vol.6, p. 445) observed that the Paduca (Apache), in 1724, were unable to raise colts becausetheir mares miscarried while chasing buffalo. The Increase of the herds of the littleOsage was said (in 1785) to have been "entirely prevented because they load the marestoo heavily and make them run too much" (Miro, 1946, p. 164). It is possible that whitemen, who noted these conditions, may have been influential in helping the Indians tocorrect them. Bwersl THE HORSE EST BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 57 the number of poor quality stallions around the camps. However,Buffalo Back Fat, head chief of the Blood tribe, a keen student ofhorses, is known to have advised members of his family, " Don't cutyour stallion too young. Wait until he is four years old. Let him havea chance to chase mares. He will be a good runner, a good feeder, andan easily managed, fancy horse."Usually a number of horses were castrated the same day. The oper-ation was performed by specialists. Piegan informants mentioned thenames of a half dozen men of their tribe who were expert gelders.Among them were the wealthy horse owners, Stingy, Many-White-Horses, and Bull Shoe. The specialists were paid for their services.If a man had several horses castrated, he might give the surgeon ahorse. If he had one or two horses gelded he made payment in lessvaluable articles, such as robes, blankets, saddle blankets, plain skin orcloth shirts, or arrows.A corral was not deemed necessary for castrating. The operationwas performed in the open near the lodges of the camp. The horseto be gelded was thrown down. One hind leg was drawn between thetwo front ones and the three legs tied securely with a rawhide rope.The other hind leg was trussed up and held by a second rope. Detailsof one common method of trussing are shown in figure 5. Without FiQUBE 5.?Method of tying a stallion for castrating, Blackfoot. prayer or ceremony of any kind the surgeon set to work. With a sharpbutcher knife he cut a hole in the scrotum, squeezed out the testicles,wrapped and tied the cords by which they were suspended, then severedthe testicles and threw them away. It was customary for the surgeonto ask the horse owner what material he wished used for tying, beforethe operation was begun. Some men insisted on the use of deer orantelope sinew, which they thought would make their horses fleet.After the operation some men picked up a testicle and tried to roll italong the horse's back, saying, "This will surely be a fast buffalohorse." This was the closest approach to ritual connected with theoperation. 58 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 158When the hoi-se was untied, and rose to its feet, the castrater toldthe owner to whip him and make him run. The horse was watchedclosely for several days. If a large number of horses were gelded inthe course of a few days, the band planned to remain in one placeuntil the castrated animals were completely healed.Gelding failures were uncommon. Short Face recalled that somemen once complained that their horses swelled after Stingy had geldedthem. After hearing their complaints, Stingy replied, "I shall cas-trate three horses. Two of them will not swell. Those horses will beno good. One horse will swell. It will be a very fast animal.'' It hap-pened as he predicted, and his demonstration silenced his detractors.Lazy Boy claimed that Black-Comes-Over-the-Hill was the mostprominent and proficient castrater in late buffalo days. None of thehorses he castrated died as a result of the operation. The animals hegelded never swelled. He always tied with antelope sinew. The horseshe gelded were always fast horses. People said that Black-ComesOver-the-Hill possessed secret power wliich made him uniformly suc-cessful in his specialty. Lazy Boy could recall no other castrateramong the Piegan of whom this was believed.Informants differed in their opinions regarding the origin of thepractice of gelding among the Blackfoot. Some believed that Indians,even Blackfoot Indians, originated it. Others were sure that it waslearned from white men. I am inclined to agree with Wissler andHaines that the practice of gelding horses by the Plains and Plateautribes probably was learned directly or indirectly from the Whites.30 ??M'Gllllvray (1929, p. 29) writing of the Indians in the vicinity of Fort George on theNorth Saskatchewan in 1794, stated, "The operation of gelding is seldom performed by theIndians as it generally diminishes the strength and vigour of the Horse, he is therefore fullof fire and can with ease outrun most of the large animals on which they depend forsubsistence." Possibly he was referring to the Cree Indians, who, my informants claimed,castrated their horses less commonly than did the Blackfoot. Lazy Boy cited cases ofCree stallions captured by the Piegan whose testicles had been whipped or burned but notremoved. He said the Piegan gelded some of these animals successfully. However,Mandelbaum (1940, p. 196) described Plains Cree gelding practice in terms indicating thattheir technique was similar to that of the Blackfoot, but that "some colts died as a resultof the operation," suggesting that they were not skilled surgeons. An excellent account ofHidatsa gelding practice appears in Wilson (1924, pp. 146-149, and fig. 2). That tribegelded horses for the same reasons as did the Blackfoot. The choice of animal sinew usedin tying was determined by the type of speed the owner wished for his horse. Details oftrussing the animal and of the surgical operation varied from the Blackfoot proceduresremembered by my informants. Usually the Hidatsa operated on 2-year-old stallions andwithout religious ritual. Opler (1941, pp. 259, 299) did not describe the ChiracahuaApache operation, but Implied that they regarded it as a ceremony, whereas in theNorthern Plains it seems to have been a secular act.Lewis and Clark's brief account of the gelding of some of their horses by Nez Perc6 andby Whites stressed the fact that the animals gelded by the Nez Perc6 recovered quicker andsuffered less than those castrated by members of their party (Cones, 1893, vol. 3, p. 1012).Haines has conjectured that the Nez Perc^ may have obtained a few gelded animals fromthe Spanish at an early date, which stimulated their curiosity, or that an Indian, who hadserved on one of the Spanish ranches in New Mexico, and had drifted northward as acaptive or fugitive, taught the Nez Perc<5 how to castrate (Haines, 1939, p. 23). Wissler(1910, p. 91) doubted that the practice of castrating dogs by the Blackfoot was an aborig-inal custom. On the other hand Dobie (1941, p. 4) has maintained that it was Spanishcustom in the Colonial Period to leave most of their male horses and cattle uncastrated.Therefore, if the Indians learned the operation from the Spanish, the former must haveproceeded to make more common use of it than did the latter. TRAINING OF HORSES AND RIDERSCAPTURE OF WILD HORSESThe earliest reference to wild horses in or near the Blackfoot Coun-try is an entry in Anthony Hendry's Journal for September 22, 1754, "Saw several Wild Horses" (Hendry, 1907, p. 335). At that time hewas near the present Alberta-Saskatchewan border. At the beginningof the 19th century, David Thompson noted the existence of severalwild herds near the Rockies, especially on the west side, and told oftheir horses being caught by Kutenai Indians. He also reported theescape of one of his own pack animals, which was found among aherd of wild horses. "This dull Horse took to himself all the gesturesof the wild Horses, his Nostrils distended, mane erect, and tail straight ; we dashed into the herd and flogged him out" (Thompson, 1916, pp.377-378,401).Reconnoitering parties of the Pacific Railway Survey in 1853, sawwild horses near Milk River (Stevens, 1860, p. 91). Denny wrote ofbands of wild horses ranging near the foothills toward Belly and BowRivers in Alberta in the eighties, which were materially augmented bystrays from the ranches. He lost nearly a hundred head of his ownhorses to the wild herds. The best horsemen were unable to rope thewild ones. They were finally shot as nuisances (Denny, 1939, pp.258-259).My informants recalled that there were herds of wild horses in theBlackfoot Country in their youth. Lazy Boy attributed their originto strays from Indian camps, domesticated horses that ran oif andbecame wild after large numbers of Indians died in the early smallpoxepidemics. In the light of the data in the preceding paragraph, thisexplanation appears reasonable.Informants said that very few wild horses were caught by the Black-foot. Most captured adults died after they reached camp. Weasel-Head claimed they could not endure the smoke from lodge fires. Somecolts and yearlings were captured and raised successfully. Howeverthe taking of wild horses was confined largely to horse medicine menwho had the power to attract those animals with the secret medicines59 60 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bnll. 159 rubbed on their ropes. (A description of their methods appears onp. 274.) 8^ BREAKING HORSES FOR RIDINGThe great majority of horses owned by the Blackfoot were put touse as riding or transport animals. Most families owned too fewhorses to permit the reservation of more than one stallion and young,unbroken colts as nonworking range stock. Wealthy men could affordto keep numbers of animals solely for breeding and future tradingpurposes. However, even those owners possessed many more welltrained animals than were needed to provide an adequate supply ofriding and transport horses for their immediate families, for it wascommon practice for rich men to loan trained horses to the less for-tunate for the latter's use in hunting and moving camp. Unbrokenbroncos sometimes were given as presents. However, if the recipientwas a poor person, a child, or an older man or woman the gift horsesgenerally were trained ones.Light boys in their teens broke yearling colts for their own use.Most horses broken for riding purposes were trained during theirsecond or third year.^^ Mares as well as male horses were broken forriding. In fact some mares were used as buffalo ruimers and racehorses.Although it was customary for a young single or married man tobreak his own horses, teen-aged boys broke those belonging to the oldermembers of their families. Boys with plenty of nerve began break-ing horses at 12 or 13 years of age. Others did not try it until they " The Plains Cree also had little success in capturing wild horses, or in keeping themalive once caught (Mandelbaum, 1940, p. 196). The apparent Ineptness of the Cree andBlackfoot In this undertaking is in striking contrast to the skill of some central andsouthern Plains tribes. Descriptions of their well-organized horse-capturing expeditionsare numerous in the literature. Two methods seem to have been much used: (1) lassoingwith a running loop and (2) approaching the wild horse with the open lasso loop fixed toa long, forked stick, and dropping the noose over the running animal's head and neck.The Long expedition found that the Kaskaia (Kiowa Apache) were expert in "throwingthe rope" in taking wild horses In 1820 (James, 1823, vol. 2, p. 114). Catlin fullydescribed and pictured Comanche use of the lasso for this purpose in 1834 (Catlin, 1841,vol. 2, p. 58). Smith met members of a Cheyenne party who had successfully lassoed 200wild horses, In 1840 (Smith, 1913, p. 273). Denig described Brule Dakota lassoing ofwild horses on organized expeditions in the second quarter of the 19th century (Denig,1951, p. 198). However, Barrett's data from Rosebud Reservation in the I940's, indicatedthat the Brule employed the forked-stick method, and Grinnell (1923, vol. 1, pp. 291-295)also attributed use of that method to the Cheyenne. Perhaps some tribes employed bothtechniques. Dorsey (1896, p. 281) wrote of the forked-stick method in use among theOmaha. " Limited comparative data suggest that it was usual Plains Indian practice to breakhorses for riding at an early age. The Hidatsa broke them at 1 to 2 years old (Wilson,1924, p. 150). The Oglala, according to Eagle Bird, broke them before they were 3 yearsold. Enoch Smoky said the Kiowa broke their horses in their first to third years. Incontrast, the Spanish-Mexicans in California in the middle 19th century allowed theirhorses to run wild until they were 4 or 5 years old before breaking them to the saddle.They seldom broke mares, and considered it a disgrace for a man to ride one (Denhardt,1937, p. 13). Bwers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 61 were in their middle or late teens. A few fellows were afraid tobreak horses, and never did.^ The Blackfoot-owned horses usu-ally were halter or hackamore broken before they were broken to ride.Four methods of horse breaking were employed by the Blackfoottribes. Each method was described by four or more informants. FiQUBE 6.?Breaking a bronco by riding it in a pond or stream, Blackfoot.POND OR STREAM BREAKING(FIO. 6)Sometimes a group of boys went to an owner of a large herd andasked him if they could break some of his colts in the water of anearby pond, lake, or stream. If the owner consented, he pointed outthe animals they might break and warned them he would not beresponsible if any of the boys were hurt. Sometimes boys took coltsfrom a man's herd without his permission and broke them in the water.When the owner learned what they had done he gave them a goodtongue lashing.Weasel Tail described this method : I have broken horses in a stream. It was an easy way to break them. Twoboys rode double on a trained horse, leading the bronc by a rope or halter into ? Among the Hidatsa "colts were broken by boys fourteen to seventeen years of age"(Wilson, 1924, p. 151). Tixier, In 1840, reported that the Comanche compelled their maleprisoners to train those horses that were reputed untamable (Tixier, 1940, p. 270). Ofcourse, many Comanche prisoners were Mexicans, who were expert horsemen. 62 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BuU. 159 the stream. The fellow who was to ride the bronc rode behind the other one.When the bronc was in the water up to his shoulders, the front rider took holdof the lead rope near the bronc's chin, while the other boy quickly jumped onthe bronc's back. As soon as the rider was seated the boy on the trained horselet go of the rope. The bronc tried to jump and buck, but as soon as his headbecame wet he quieted down. He tired quickly. Then the rider rode him outof the water.At other times the technique of riding double into the water wasnot employed. A single boy, riding a trained horse, led the bronco.Wlien the water came up to the top of the bronco's legs or higher herode alongside and changed mounts, allowing the trained animal toshift for himself. Many horses were played out by the time theyreached shore and could be ridden on land without fear of bucking.When a group of boys took part in breaking a high spirited horse inthe water some of them roped the bronco before it reached shore andheld it so that it could not get to land before it was completely tired.Horses that showed a lot of spirit after one water treatment weretaken back into the pond or stream for another session. Usually onetrip into the water was sufficient. After the horse came out of thewater its rider rode it bareback on land for several days before itwas considered ready for the saddle. BOGGY GROUND BREAKINGThis method was a variant of the pond and stream method. Itcould be employed when no pond, lake, or suitable stream was inthe neighborhood of camp. Informants said it was less commonlyused than the first method, although five of them either had employedthis method themselves or had seen it used.The bronco was led to a muddy or swampy area, and the riderjumped on its bare back. Wlien the horse tried to buck, its feet wouldsink in the mire. If the rider was thrown he would not be hurt. Thehorse's spirit was broken before it could get out of the boggy ground.It could be led back into the area any number of times until its riderwas satisfied that it would buck no more.Lazy Boy said he went on a horse raid to the Flathead duringwhich Morning Eagle took a fine looking colt that had never beenbroken. On their return journey the party came to a muddy place.Morning Eagle rode his newly acquired prize in the mud until it wasplayed out. When he finished with it, it could be ridden on dry soilwithout difficulty. SURCINGLE BREAKING(FIG. 7)Before a bronco could be broken on dry soil, it had to be held so asto permit the rider to mount. There were several methods of doingthis. Sometimes the bronco was roped, and the lasso pulled tight Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 63 around its neck while another man slipped a war bridle in his mouth,and the rider (a third person) jumped on his back. At other times thebronco was "front-footed" (both front feet roped with rawhide lasso) , and the horse was thrown down. The rider took his place as the horsestarted to rise and the rope was loosened. Still another method wasto "front-foot" the bronco, lasso one hind leg and pull it slightlyforward so the horse could not kick while the rider mounted, thenloosen the ropes. A fourth method called for first "front-footing" FiGTiBE 7.?Breaking a bronco by riding it with a surcingle, Blackfoot. the beast, then wrapping a rope around all four legs and blindfoldingthe horse with a piece of robe until the rider took his seat. Then theropes were released and the blindfold removed.In employing the surcingle method of breaking, the rider carried along band of rawhide or soft buffalo skin. As he mounted the broncohe pulled this strap around the horse's belly, enclosing his own kneesand shanks, and quickly tied the band in a common knot in front ofhim. The surcingle was tied tight enough so that by exerting pres-sure with his knees against the band he could keep from falling, yetloose enough so that he could extricate his legs quickly if the horseshould fall. It often took three days of breaking by the surcinglemethod before the horse was ready for the saddle. Each day therider stayed on the horse until it was played out. 64 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BuU. 159PAD-SADDLE BREAKINGThe horse was held as for the surcingle method, and a pad saddlewas girthed quickly on its back, well forward. The rider mountedbehind the saddle and held onto it to steady himself as the horsemaneuvered in his attempts to throw him. Three Calf claimed hehad seen a blind man break a bronco by riding it in this way.My elderly Blackfoot informants were of the opinion that thepond or stream method and the boggy-ground method were the oldestways of breaking horses known to their people. They based theiropinions upon traditions as well as the belief that since these were theleast dangerous methods they likely would have been the ones employedby people who had little experience in training horses. Several mensaid their first experiences in breaking horses were gained throughuse of those methods. The same men said they had employed thesurcingle or pad-saddle method after they became more adept athandling unbroken horses. 3^4BREAKING HORSES TOR THE TRAVOISPoor people could not be choosy in selecting a horse for travois serv-ice. Wealthier families preferred to employ older, gentler horses forthis work. The ideal travois horse was a large, heavily built, strong, ?* Considering the bulk of Plains Indian literature and the Importance many writershave attributed to the horse in the culture of those Indians, it is remarkable how littlecomparative material has been published on their methods of breaking horses. Wilson'selderly Hidatsa Informant employed a combination of the water and boggy-groundmethods in his youth (Wilson, 1924, p. 151). An Oglala informant told me the watermethod was an old one In his tribe. An Assiniboin, who visited the U. S. NationalMuseum in 1950, claimed his tribe formerly employed this method. Two elderly KiowaIndians told me they broke their first horses by this method. One said the Comanchealso used it. Smoky described a Kiowa method of breaking horses in soft, muddy ground,after a hard rain, under conditions that would make bucking difficult and minimize damageto the rider if he should be thrown.All comparative data on the surcingle method refer to peoples living west of the Rockies.George Glbbs noted and described Klikitat and Yakima use of this method in breakinghorses in 1854 (Gibbs, 1855, p. 405). It Is the only method mentioned for the Kutenai(Turney-mgh, 1941, pp. 71-72). In the mid-19th century Bartlett (1854, vol. 2, p. 237)observed Pima Indians of the southwestern desert riding bareback using a "broad girthwhich is passed quite loosely around the body of the horse. Into this one foot is inserted."Of still greater interest is the fact that the Spanish-Mexicans of California at that timeused a surcingle in breaking horses. Although the horse was saddled, a leather girthwas strapped over the saddle so as to confine the rider's knees loosely enough that hecould release himself by pressing his knees to the sides of the horse (Denhardt, 1937,p. 13). This suggests the possibility of Spanish influence on this method of horse breaking,although the principle was relatively simple, and may have been Independently invented bythe Indians. I have found no reference to employment of the pad-saddle method by anytribe other than the Blackfoot.My Oglala and Kiowa informants had no knowledge of the use of either the surcingleor pad-saddle methods by their respective tribes. However, they asserted that ridersof those tribes broke horses on dry ground merely by riding them bareback, holding ontothe mane with their hands, and maintaining a precarious toehold under the elbows of thehorses' forelegs.Both Kiowa and Blackfoot men said their people did not ride saddles in breaking horsesuntil they obtained strong, stock saddles from the Whites In the Reservation Period. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 05 mare over 4 years of age. Some people preferred a former saddlehorse 8 or 9 years old to draw the travois.An unbroken horse would not haul a travois. The horse had to bespecially trained for this task. One common method of trainingemployed in buffalo days was to make a simple harness, consisting of arawhide rope around the horse's neck with a long rawhide line at-tached to it at each side extending backward and tied to a dry buffalohide on the ground a few feet back of the horse's hind legs. Somepeople preferred a single rawhide rope tied to the horse's tail and thebuffalo hide. The rope was always long enough so that the horsecould not kick the hide. Wliile one or more men led the horse by ahalter, one to three men or boys rode on the hide over a selected plotof ground relatively smooth and free from stones. The horse mightjump and kick at first. It might even break away from the leaders and Figure 8.?Breaking a horse to the travois by training it to drag a weightedbuffalo hide, Blackfoot. spill the riders. But in time it became used to being led and to theweight drawn behind it, and quieted down. Then it would submit tothe travois. (See fig. 8.)Other Blackfoot Indians preferred to train travois horses by makingthem pull tipi poles crossed over their heads, as in the horse travois,or two heavy cottonwood poles similarly arranged. This makeshifttravois was placed on the horse for short periods on several successivedays until the horse became accustomed to the weight. Then the realtravois was substituted. A horse trained to the travois readily learnedto carry the additional weight of a person riding on its back. How-ever, unless it had previously been used for riding, it would not makea good saddle horse.TEACHING CHILDREN TO RIDEBlackfoot children were accustomed to horses from infancy. Asbabies they were carried on their mother's backs on horseback when287944?55 6 66 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 camp was moved. When they were able to sit up they rode on thetravois or behind their mothers on horseback. They became familiarwith the motion of a walking horse, so that by the time they were oldenough to learn to ride alone their fear of horses was partially over-come. Training involved primarily teaching children to maintaintheir balance on horseback and to use the reins, and the proper horsecommands to control the actions of their mounts.Riding lessons were given children T)y their fathers or mothers nearthe lodges in the camp of their band. No effort was made to clear thecamp of other riders or children when a child took his first lesson. Figure 9.?Teaching a child to ride by tying him in a woman's saddleon a gentle horse, Blackfoot. In fact, other children watched and sometimes made fun of the awk-ward efforts of the learners. The gentlest riding horse owned by thefamily was employed in teaching children to ride. If the horse wasgentle, the mother usually served as teacher, regardless of the sex of thechild. If the familj'^ owned no gentle horse, the father took charge.My eldest informants said they learned to ride in this manner : Thechild was lifted into a high-horned woman's saddle and rawhideropes were passed back and forth between the pommel and cantle oneach side, and tied securely to prevent the child's falling. If afraid,the child could also hold onto the saddle horn. The parent, afoot orastride another horse, led the child's horse about camp by a hackamore.(See fig. 9.) At first the horse was led at a slow walk. As the childgained in experience and confidence, the horse was led at a swifter Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 67 pace, and the child was taught to use the reins and control his mount.When camp was moved, the child was tied in the saddle and the horseon which he rode was led by an adult.About the year 1869, a fatal accident caused the Piegan to changetheir method of teaching children to ride. Woman Shoe was leadinghis little son tied in the saddle when the horse became frightened,pulled the lead rope from Woman Shoe's grasp, and ran off. Thesaddle girth loosened, the saddle slipped, and the child was kicked todeath. Thereafter most Piegan placed their children in high-hornedsaddles as before, but relied upon them to keep their balance by holdingthe pommel, without the aid of ties.In some families a girl was taught to ride a travois horse. A travois,unencumbered by baggage, was attached to a travois horse and thechild placed on the horse's back in a woman's saddle. The mother led Ihe horse,^Informants claimed a Blackfoot child usually learned to ride alonein his fifth year. Children of other Plains Indian tribes seem to havelearned to ride at an equally early age.^^At the age of 6 or 7 most Blackfoot boys and girls were good riders.Some youngsters rode little saddles, of the "prairie chicken snare" orpack-saddle type, which their fond mothers or grandmothers madefor them. A small boy sometimes tied a short rawhide rope to hishorse's mane. He employed a handhold on this rope as an aid in climb-ing onto his horse's back. ^ In spite of the demonstrated danger of the early Blackfoot method of teaching childrento ride, it was employed by many other tribes of the Plains and Plateau. Two KiowaInformants told me they had learned to ride at 4 or 5 years of age by being tied In high-horned saddles on gentle horses, led by their fathers or mothers. Numerous referencesIn the literature to children tied in the saddle when camp was moved suggest the samemethod of teaching on the part of other tribes. In 1805, Larocque and Mackenzie sawthat Crow children, too young to ride alone, were tied in the saddle when camp was moved(Larocque, 1910, p. 64; Mackenzie, 1889, p. 345). Gordon (Chardon, 1932. p. 347; andDenig, 1933, p. 36) also reported this Crow practice. Ferris (1940, p. 301), in his generaldescription of Indians of the northern Rockies (period 1830-1835), noted, "Their childrenof three or four years of age are lashed firmly on top of their packs, and are often en-dangered by the horses running away with them, though I never saw one severely injuredin consequence." In 1839, Farnham (1906, p. 329) saw a little Cayuse boy "but threeyears old" who rode alone "lashed to the horse he rode." Members of the Long Expedi-tion (1820) observed that Kiowa-Apache children "too young to be able by their ownstrength to sit on a horse (were) lashed by their legs to the saddle" (James, 1823, vol. 2,p. 103). This method was reported for the Comanche in 1865 (U. S. Comm. Ind.Affairs, 1867, p. 38). Although these data would suggest that this practice was Plains-wide, Eagle Bird, an aged Oglala, told me it was not the custom of his tribe, stating thatIt was too dangerous. "Mackenzie (1889, p. 345), In 1805, noted that Crow children above the age of 6 couldmanage a horse. While Gordon (Chardon, 1932, p. 347) wrote of the same tribe (period1820), "At four or five years of age they will ride alone and guide the horse." Tixier(1940, p. 167) marveled at Osage boys who, in 1840, "were riding alone bareback, andmanaged their horses with skill" although they "could not have been more than five orsix years old." A Southern Cheyenne woman claimed her mother told her she learned toride at the age of 4 (Michelson, 1932, p. 1). 68 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BalL 159RIDING AND GUIDINGMOUNTINGContrary to European practice, most Blackfoot Indians mountedfrom the right side and saddled their horses from that side. Oldermen insisted this was the "natural" way for a right-handed man tomount a barebacked horse or a horse wearing a light, weak, Indiansaddle. In mounting, a man relied heavily on the pressure gained byfixing a strong right-hand grip on the horse's mane. He placed hisleft hand on the center of the horse's back as he jumped on to help himthrow his left leg over. Lazy Boy seemed to clinch the argument forthe "naturalness" of right-hand mounting when he said that in theold days a left-handed man mounted from the left side because thatwas easier for him. The importance of a strong saddle, which wouldsupport a man's weight in the stirrup, as a factor in mounting is indi-cated by the fact that after the Blackfoot obtained "white men'ssaddles" in the early Keservation Period, they readily changed toleft-side mounting. Today all Blackfoot mount from the left side.^^Blackfoot women always rode astride, as did women of otherPlains and Plateau Indian tribes. A Blackfoot woman mounted byplacing her right foot in the stirrup and thrusting her left legthrough the center of the opening between the saddle horns. She didnot attempt to swing her leg over the high cantle.^^ Women's skirtswere made full to permit freedom of movement afoot as well as easein mounting and to provide a covering for the legs when mountedastride. Three Calf said that in his youth pregnant women wore anundecorated belt of rawhide, 6 inches or more in width, as a supportfor the abdomen in riding. It was laced in front so that it could be " Right-side mounting formerly was the general rule among Plains Indians. Parker(1856, p. 239) observed that tribes of the southern Plains mounted from that side. YetOpler (1941, p. 396) claimed the Chiracahua Apache mounted from the left side. Perhapsthis was due to their prolonged contacts with Spanish-Mexican settlements of the South-west. Carlos Rincon Gallardo, Duque de Regla, an authority on Mexican equitation, hasInformed me through Dr. Pablo Martinez Del Rio, that Mexican riders of the ColonialPeriod mounted from the left as a general rule. In respect to mounting, the Plains Indiansseem to have followed their own conception of the easiest method, rather than Spanish-Mexican example. It is noteworthy that the Choctaw of the Southeast, ante-1775,mounted from the right side, claiming It was the more natural one from which to geton a horse (Adair, 1775, p. 426). ** Parlser's description of Southern Comanche women's method of mounting (observedby him in 1854), shows their method was identical to that of Blackfoot women. "Drawingthe left foot up, after placing the right in the stirrup, they extended it over the saddleat right angles to the right, instead of describing the arc of a circle" (Parker, 1856, p.203. In riding astride. Plains Indian women adopted a custom that was not Spanish-Mexican practice. Carlos Rincon Gallardo, Duque de Regla, has informed me that Mexicanwomen of the Colonial Period never rode astride. Serrano's remarks on the riding postureof Mexican women of California during the Spanish Period also indicates their preferencefor the side saddle. "As the saddles on which they ride have the saddle-bow and stirrupstaken off, they use as a stirrup for one foot a silk band, one end being made fast at thepommel, the other at the cantle" (Bancroft, 1888, p. 447). Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 69 let out as pregnancy advanced. This belt was worn for about a monthafter the birth of a child. Then it was thrown away, and the motherresumed wearing the narrower, decorated woman's belt. HORSE COMMANDSTo start his horse the Blackfoot rider repeated the sound "sh" (madewith the mouth open) several times. To slow down or stop the horsehe called "ka" a number of times. Both commands were nonsensesounds, having no meaning except as horse commands. "Ka" was alsothe command given by men to keep their horses nearby and quiet afterthey dismounted in war or under other conditions when it was impera-tive for the horse to remain still. Women trained their best mares tostand still and submit to the bridle when their owners called "ka."Elderly men, who had stolen horses from the Cree, Crow, and Flat-head in their youth, said those tribes did not use the same commands.They did not recall the commands used by those tribes, but remem-bered that horses stolen from them by Blackfoot warriors had to betaught to respond to Blackfoot verbal commands. They said thecommands "sh" and "ka" were employed by the three Blackfoot tribesand the Gros Ventres.Today all Blackfoot, whether or not they speak much English,employ the commands "whoa" and "giddap" to stop and start theirhorses. They began to make use of these commands shortly after theysettled on reservations after the buffalo were gone. The old commandsare remembered only by members of the oldest generation. Accord-ing to one Blackfoot legend, Morning Star, who made the first horse,used the commands "sh" and "ka" to control its action. ( See p. 296.) ^^The Piegan employed one other verbal horse command. A mancould get his horse to drink by making a rapid clicking noise (tongueagainst upper teeth and release) in imitation of a drinking horse. Ifthe horse refused to drink, but moved his head from side to side in orover the water, the rider knew the water was not good for drinkingand that he must find a better watering place. ?I asked a number of middle-aged Flathead, Wind River Sboshoni, and Cree Indians,who visited the Museum of the Plains Indian In the early 1940's, about the horse com-mands formerly employed by their tribes. They were unfamiliar with commands usedbefore their people adopted "whoa" and "giddap." However, elderly Oglala and Brulemen recalled that members of their tribes formerly made a clicking sound (tongue againstthe roof of the mouth or front teeth and release) to start a horse, and the sound, "huh,"repeated several times, to slow dov.n or stop the animal. Kiowa informants claimedtheir people used the click and "huh" to start and stop horses in the old days. Undoubt-edly Kiowa and Western Dakota use of the same nonsense sounds as horse commands wasdue to diffusion rather than Independent invention. Perhaps if we had more completeInformation on the horse commands of the different Plains and Plateau Indian tribesthese data would be of some significance in tracing routes of diffusion of the horse complexIn this region. H. C. Bolton (1897, p. 80) found that the hiss sound "ss" was used inMexico by halfbreed Spaniards to start a horse, while Mexicans in the Southwest usedthe command "check-a" to stop a horse. This soggests historic connection betweenSpanish and Blackfoot horse commands. 70 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Ball. 159Three Calf recalled that some Crow Indians could get their horsesto roll in grass after they had finished drinking by slapping the frontsof their own thighs with their hands. However, that was not a Black-foot practice. GUIDINGThe Blackfoot employed no verbal commands to turn a horse to theright or left. The best trained buffalo and war horses, and the racerswere so sensitive that they would turn to either side by pressure fromthe rider's knee or from his shifting weight to one side or the other.These horses could be ridden without a bridle, but they nearly alwayswere bridled.'**The majority of Blackfoot riding horses were not so intelligent orso well trained. They had to be handled through use of a two-reinedbridle. The rider slackened both reins in getting the horse on the run ; pulled both reins in stopping it ; and pulled one rein to turn the horseto the side. (Bridle types and their uses are described on pp. 75-77.) USE OF WHIPThe Blackfoot Indians made no spurs and relatively few men em-ployed metal spurs obtained through the fur trade in buffalo days.The best trained horses needed neither spurs nor whips to urge themto exert themselves. However, whips were commonly carried byBlackfoot riders of both sexes. A woman riding a travois struck thewhip handle against one of the travois shafts as she gave the oralcommand to start her horse. In riding a poor or old horse manyIndians kept the whip constantly in motion, raising and lowering thewhip arm in time with the movement of the horse, touching the horse'srump lightly with the whip lash each time the arm descended. FrankSherburne recalled that at the turn of the century it was a commonsight to see an old Indian riding into the town of Browning, rhyth-mically raising and lowering his whip "every other jump of the horse."(Whip types are described on pp. 97-99.) USE OF SHORT STIRRUPSBoth men and women among the Blackfoot tribes rode with bentknees and short stirrups when riding in the saddle. Short stirrupsgave the active rider the necessary leverage to move from side to sideand to rise and turn in the saddle as the need required. They enabledhim to use the lance and bow and arrow more effectively when mounted, ??In 1805, Larocque (1910, p. 64) wrote of the training of Crow horses, "Most of theirhorses can be guided to any place without a bridle, only by leaning to one side or theother they turn immediately to the side on which you lean, and will not return until yonresume a direct posture." The same sensitivity has been attributed to the best trainedhorses of other tribes of the Plains and Plateau by later writers. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 71 and made it easier for him to weave his body from side to side whenimder fire in battle/^ ABILITY AS HORSEMEN It was to be expected that people who learned to ride in early child-hood and who spent much of their time on horseback would becomeexpert riders. Blackfoot boys learned to ride double at a fast pace,to throw their bodies on one side of a running horse using it as ashield, and to shoot arrows from the bow rapidly and accurately fromhoi-seback. Girls also became excellent riders, although they had lessopportunity to show their skill in dangerous or complicated maneu-vers. The greatest individual feat of horsemanship remembered byPiegan informants was that of breaking a bronco while holding a babyin his arms, attributed to Dog Child, one of their fearless riders.Blood informants recalled the accomplislunent of Owner-of-a-Sacred-Wliite-Horse, a horse medicine man, who was said to have jumped hishorse over a coulee more than 10 feet wide to avoid being overtaken bythe enemy.From the time of Anthony Hendry (1754) contemporary whiteobservers have marveled at the skill of Plains Indian horsemen. Cer-tainly no tribe or group of tribes had a monopoly on expert riders.Nevertheless, Captain Clark stated "the Comanches and Utes are con-sidered by many Indians the best horsemen" (Clark, 1885, p. 319).This contention is supported by the writings of other competent ob-servers. Ferris, who possessed wide, first-hand knowledge of the tribesof the northern Rockies in the 1830's, considered the Ute, " by far themost expert horsemen in the mountains, and course down their steepsides in pursuit of deer and elk at full speed, over places where a whiteman would dismount and lead his horse" (Ferris, 1940, p. 312) . Cap-tain Marcy, in 1852, termed the Comanche "the most expert horsemenin the world" (Marcy, 1937, p. 158). This judgment was made ofComanche horsemanship by other observers (Burnet, 1851, p. 236;Neighbors, 1852, p. 132). We need not take this praise literally to beimpressed with the high regard competent American horsemen had forthe riding ability of the Comanche. 4^2 ** The Frenchman, Tixler, was Impressed by the fact that the Osage "stirrup leathers arevery short" In 1840 (Tixier, 1940, p. 168). Both Captain Clark (1885, p. 319) and JamesMellne (1868, pp. 103, 246) reported the use of the short stirrup as characteristic ofPlains Indian riders. Denhardt (1947, pp. 15-17) traced the introduction of the use ofshort stirrups Into Spain by the Moors. The Spanish adopted the Moorish method inpreference to the prevailing European practice of riding straight-legged. Spanish con-quistadores brought the Moorish method of riding to America along with the horse.Probably Plains Indian use of the short stirrup was patterned after its usage by theSpanish-Mexicans. Being well suited to fast riding and ease of movement In the saddle,the short stirrup was retained by the Indians. ^^^Zebulon Pike (1810, appendix, part 3, p. 42) employed the same phrase ("the mostexpert horsemen in the world") In his description of the mounted Spanish troops of NewMexico, whose horsemanship he observed in 1806. 72 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 It is noteworthy that both Ute and Comanche were richer in horsesin buffalo days than were the Blackfoot. Wealthy tribes had a greaterselection of riding animals, and hence generally rode better mounts.If the Comanche and Ute were better riders than the Blackfoot atleast part of the credit should be given to their superior horses.*^ Asshown elsewhere in this study, the Blackfoot tribes were inept atcapturing wild horses and at killing animals of the deer family fromhorseback, while the Comanche were skilled in both these difficultundertakings. This appears to me to be concrete proof of Blackfootinferiority to the Comanche as horsemen. ** Charles Mackenzie, In 1805, observed that the Missouri Indians (Mandan and Hidatsa) "were inferior In the management of their horses" to the nomadic Crow, who, of course,not only had more and better horses but made much more common use of these animalsin their daily life (Mackenzie, 1889, p. 845). RIDING GEARMAKING OF RAWHIDE ROPERawhide rope had many uses in Blackfoot horse culture. Thestrength, flexibility, and durability of buffalo rawhide made it pre-ferred material for lariats, hackamores, bridles, picket lines, hobbles,saddle rigging straps, stirrup straps, travois ropes, and cords used forwrapping bundles and tying them on pack animals or the travois.Women were the skilled leatherworkers among the Blackfoot. Al-though some men made rawhide rope, our older male informantsacknowledged that in their youth women usually fashioned the bestropes. The tough, heavy hide of the buffalo bull was preferred ma-terial.Three Calf recalled that his grandmother and mother, both con-sidered clever workers in rawhide, made rawhide rope in this manner : The woman first cut one long, continuous strip from the green hideof a buffalo bull. Beginning at the outer edge, she cut a strip about 4fingers wide all around the hide, including the leg and head projec-tions, working in a concentric spiral, ending at the center of the hide.Then she cut a slit near one end of the strip and drove a lodge pegthrough this slit into the ground. She stretched the rope as tight aspossible and drove another peg into the ground through a similar slitat the other end of the line. Later she pulled up one peg, stretchedthe strip farther, and pegged it to the ground again. After the raw-hide dried, she took it off her simple stretcher and began softening itby rubbing the inner (meat side) surface of the hide with a rock.Then she doubled the strip lengthwise, hair side out, and bit it withher teeth to hold the crease. She passed one end of the strip throughthe eye sockets of a buffalo skull, and standing with one foot on theskull to steady it, she used both hands to saw the strip back and forththrough these eye holes to rub off the hair and further soften the hide.She knocked off any hair that remained with a rock. Taking her knifeagain she cut the strip down the center lengthwise, dividing it intotwo ropes each 2 fingers wide. If these ropes were intended for bridlesshe allowed for a short distance of rope 4 fingers wide at each end,one end for one rope, the other for the second rope, to serve as ahonda for each. She trimmed each rope very carefully to be surethat it was an even width throughout its length, except for the ex-panded honda end. Any short pieces trimmed off were saved for whip73 74 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY IBuU. 159 lashes. After cutting she oiled the ropes with back fat. One buffalo-hide thus made two ropes of equal length, 17 or more feet long.Other ropemakers employed somewhat different methods. Somecut the entire buffalo hide in a strip 2 fingers wide. They could cutone very long rope or two shorter ones this width from a hide. Somedid not use a buffalo skull for dehairing, but removed all the hair witha rock. Some insisted on using coyote or badger fat to oil their ropes.Others dragged the ropes on the ground behind a horse for a time tomake them soft and slick.*^ LEAO END Figure 10.?A simple rawhide hackamore, Blackfoot.HACKAMORESThe Blackfoot used a simple hackamore for halter breaking horses,breaking them to ride, and leading horses when moving camp. Thehackamore was generally of a single rawhide strand 2 fingers wide.A common Blackfoot hackamore is shown in figure 10. ** Descriptions of ropemaking by the Gros Ventres, Hidatsa, and Kutenai mention minordifferences in process (Kroeber, 1907, p. 150; Wilson, 1924, pp. 186-187; Turney-mgh,1941, pp. 75-76). We cannot be sure if these were tribal or merely individual differencesin method. Kiowa informants stated that w omen did most of their ropemaking. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 75BRIDLES Blackfoot bridles were of rawhide or buffalo-hair rope. AnthonyHendry, in the earliest description of Northwestern Plains horse cul-ture (1754), mentioned Indian use of "hair halters" (Hendry, 1907,p. 338). Maximilian (1833) described only buffalo-hair rope in useamong the Blackfoot (Maximilian, 1906, vol. 23, p. 107) . Yet neitherBradley (1870's) nor Wissler mentioned buffalo-hair bridles as typi-cal of the Blackfoot (Bradley, 1923, p. 263 ; Wissler, 1910, p. 95) . Ourinformants considered the buffalo-hair bridle an old-style Blackfootone which was little used in the time of their youth. Three Calfsaid his mother made ropes from the forehead and foreleg hairof the buffalo. She twisted the hair around a stick, pressed it underher bed for several nights, then retrieved it and braided it in 4 strands.This rope would not get stiff or heavy in water. It made a good bridle,but it was too light for use as a lasso on windy days. Ropes of braidedhorsehair were said to have been uncommon among the Blackfootbefore white cowboys taught them how to make them.Most Blackfoot bridles in use during the youth of my informantswere of rawhide, single strand or braided. Single-strand rawhidebridles, usually 2 fingers wide, would not wear as long as the braidedones. Some people made a chainstitch rope of a single strand no widerthan a man's little finger. After it was pounded and rolled betweentwo flat rocks it looked much like a braided rope. When finished ithad a diameter of about three-quarters of an inch. Although some-times used for bridles, rope of this type was most commonly employedfor wrapping medicine pipes and other sacred bundles.The most popular Blackfoot bridle in those days was of tliree-strand braided rawhide. This rope was strong and flexible. In dailyuse it would last many years. Some makers braided them around ahonda ring tied to the trunk of a tree. A four-strand rope was braidedof green rawhide 2 fingers wide looped around a peg in the ground.All of the rope except for the short section that passed around the pegwas cut in two lengthwise before braiding. After braiding it wasstretched between two pegs, then the unbraided section that had beenlooped around the first peg was cut off. The four-strand rope was saidto have been a white man's invention, first employed by the Pieganwhen the Blackfoot Agency was at Old Agency in the early 1880's.The Piegan then made them for themselves and sold them to cowboysfor roping cattle. Some are said to have brought as much as $50 each.The Blackfoot regarded tliis as the best rope for lariats. It was notcommonly used for bridles.The most common form of Blackfoot bridle was that known to theIndians as "war bridle." This name probably was derived from itscommon use on horse-stealing raids. The Blackfoot also used it in 76 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BnlL 189hunting buffalo and for general riding purposes. It was a two-reinbridle formed of a single length of rope with a honda (fixed loop atthe end of one rein through which the other rein passes). The endwith the honda served as one rein, at the foreward part of which twohalf hitches were taken, placed in the horse's mouth, and tightenedaround his lower jaw. (Some men tied a knot in the rope below thehalf hitches to keep them from slipping.) The rope continued aroundthe other side of the horse's neck (serving as a second rein), passedthrough the honda, and the long end remaining was carefully foldedor coiled and placed under the rider's belt at one side. (See fig. 11.) njFiGTJBE 11.?Rider using a rawhide war bridle with the end of one rein coiledunder his belt, Blackfoot. Since these ropes were from 16 to 30 feet long, their greatest portionremained tucked under the belt. If the rider was tlirown from hishorse he could catch hold of the end of this rope as it payed out alongthe ground. There was always the danger, however, that the rope Ewers] THE HORSE EST BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 77 might become tangled or knotted under the belt so that when the riderwas thrown or forced to dismount hurriedly from a moving horse hemight be injured or killed.Although two half hitches were most commonly used for the jawfastening, three half hitches were employed to control a spirited horsethat was difficult to handle. Wlien the rider pulled hard on the reinsthe rawhide swelled in the horse's mouth and made it uncomfortablefor him. For race horses a single half hitch was preferred. It leftthe horse's mouth freer and made him less likely to become winded.The honda was made in several ways. Some men simply piercedthe rope near the end and strengthened the loop by wrapping sinewaround it. Others used a ring made from a narrow cross section of abuffalo horn. Much preferred was a small metal ring obtained fromwhite traders. If a ring was employed, the end of the rope was passedthrough the ring, doubled back and securely sewn with sinew. Thehonda served another useful purpose. When the rider dismounted hecould pass the short rein over the horse's neck, pull on the long rein,and hold his mount halter fashion. (See fig. 12.) Wissler also noted FiGUBE 12.?Use of the war bridle as a halter, Blackfoot. this practice (Wissler, 1910, p. 96). In riding, the reins were heldat the honda or slightly forward of it.To keep a horse's head high when on parade, a long loop of the bridlerope was left pendent under the jaw. This loop would swing as thehorse moved and would strike the animal on the nose if he did not keephis head up. Members of returning war parties sometimes tied scalpsto the bridle under the horse's jaw for the same purpose. 78 " BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bnll. 159COMPARATIVE DATA ON BRIDLESAlthough mentions of bridles employed by other Plains and Plateautribes are numerous in the literature, many descriptions are too frag-mentary to enable us to determine exactly what the author had inmind. For example, Penicaut's description of the Caddo bridle, seenin 1714, i. e. "They have no other bit to their bridle than a hair cordwhich passes into the horse's mouth," may refer to a bridle of the "warbridle" type, but we cannot be sure (Penicaut in Swanton, 1942, p.147) . Hair bridles seem to have been in common use among the tribesof the northern Plains and Plateau in the early years of the 19thcentury. Lewis and Clark (Coues, 1893, vol. 2, p. 562) observed thatthe Lemhi Shoshoni used both a six- or seven-strand buffalo-hair ropeand a rawhide rope but much preferred the hair one. Ross Cox (1832,pp. 84-85) said Nez Perce "bridles are merely ropes made out of hairof the horse's tail and are tied round the jaw." Maximilian (1833)noted that Assiniboin used a rope "of buffalo hair, which is fastenedto the lower jaw as a bridle," and that it was like the Hidatsa bridle(Maximilian, 1906, vol. 22, p. 391). Later writers tell of the preva-lence of braided horsehair ropes among the tribes of the Plateau westof the Flathead and Kutenai (Teit, 1900, p. 258 ; 1909, p. 535 ; 1930, p.Ill) . Perhaps their distance from the buffalo range encouraged theiradoption of horsehair bridles. Yet Flathead and Kutenai used therawhide variety, and the latter claimed both horsehair and buffalohair bridle were recent introductions by way of the Nez Perce(Turney-High, 1937, p. 73; 1941, p. 108). The Comanche bridle ca.1850 was "a simple rawhide noose" (Whipple, 1856, p. 28). Kiowainformants said their bridle was a two-reined buffalo rawhide ropelooped around the horse's lower jaw.The Indian "war bridle" differed markedly from the metal-bittedbridles commonly termed "vSpanish bridles" by early writers. ThePlains Indians became familiar with "Spanish bridles" early throughcapture and trade in Spanish horses. The two Frenchmen of LaVerendrye's party, who remained with the Mandan through the sum-mer of 1739, were shown "Bridles of which the bit and curb are ofone piece with very long branches, the whole finely polished," byhorse-using tribes who visited the Mandan to trade (La Verendrye,1927, p. 371) . Jacques d'Eglise observed that the Mandan had "bridlesin Mexican style" in 1792 (Nasitir, 1927, p. 58). Lewis and Clarkmade frequent mention of "Spanish bridles" in use among the LemhiShoshoni in 1805, and noted that those Indians preferred them to theirown simple hair or rawhide bridles when they could get them (Coues,1893, vol. 2, pp. 559, 563, 569). Sergeant Ordway of that party sawthat the Nez Perce used "Spanish bridles" as stakes in gambling in1806. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 79David Thompson, in 1787, described the return of a Piegan warparty from a raid far to the south, on which they had stolen directlyfrom the Spaniards horses which still bore their Spanish trappings. "The bridles and snaffle bits, heavy and coarse as if made by a black-smith with only his hammer. The weight and coarseness of the bitshad made the Indians throw most of them away" (Thompson, 1916,pp. 371). Nevertheless, the Plains and Plateau tribes, Blackfoot in-cluded, used "Spanish bridles" when they could get them throughtheft or trade in the 19th century. Spanish bits were seen among theOsage in 1840 (Tixier, 1940, p. 168). In 1853, Whipple observed thatthe Comanche "are not averse to using both saddle and bridle, when-ever in their marauding expeditions they can obtain possession ofthem" (Whipple, 1856, p. 28). Boiler (1868, p. 65) wrote of theMandan-Hidatsa in 1858, "Those who are so fortunate as to possessone use the heavy Spanish bit with its long iron fringes, jinglingwith the slightest movement of the horse." However, the simplerawhide "war bridle," with modifications to adapt it to special uses,well described by Wilson, survived in common use among the Hidatsauntil the end of buffalo days (Wilson, 1924, pp. 182-185) . In thepaintings of George Catlin, Alfred Miller, and Rudolph Kurz thegreat majority of Indians pictured on horseback are shown using the "war bridle." Among the Blackfoot the metal-bitted bridle was aluxury item. The simple "war bridle" remained in common use untilafter buffalo were gone. LARIATSThe long rawhide bridle served the Blackfoot as a lariat as well.Buffalo hair ropes, because of their light weight, had limited useful-ness as lassos in the windy Blackfoot Country. Informants claimedthe Blackfoot used lariats long before there were any American cow-boys in Montana. The fixed loop was standard. Men used the lariatprimarily for roping horses which they wished to cut out of theirherds, for roping unpicketed horses of the enemy when on horse-steal-ing raids, and for roping horses for gelding or breaking to the saddle.I gained the impression that little use of the lariat was made bymounted men. Women did not use the lariat as a general rule. Theytrained their gentle horses to stand still when they threw one endof the long bridle line over their backs or necks and called "ka-ka-ka".^^ ** Early descriptions of the use of the lariat by northern tribes appear In the literature.Lewis and Clark (Coues, 1893, vol. 2, pp. 562-563) observed that the Lemhi Shoshoni wereexperts in lassoiug running horses. Alfred Jacob Miller painted two watercolors of Indianslassoing wild horses (Walters Art Gallery Collection, Baltimore, Md., Nos. 80 and 137).The latter depicts a Shoshoni woman lassoing from horseback. (See also De Voto, 1947, pi.53.) Other early references to the use of the lasso in catching wild horses by PlainsIndians appear on p. 60. Pike (1810, Appendix, p. 42) marveled at the skill of Spanishcavalrymen of New Mexico in lassoing horses. There can be little doubt that the PlainsIndians learned the use of the lariat from the Spanish, as Wyman (1945, p. 85) hasclaimed. 80 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BuU. 109THE DRAGGING LINEGeorge Catlin described the use of a long, dragging line tied aroundthe horse's neck, by Plains Indians in the 1830's : The laso is a long thong of rawhide, of ten or fifteen yards in length, made ofseveral braids or twists, and used chiefly to catch the wild horse ... In run-ning the buffaloes, or in time of war, the laso drags on the ground at thehorse's feet, and sometimes several rods behind, so that if a man is dismounted,which is often the case, by the tripping or stumbling of the horse, he has thepower of grasping to the laso, and by stubbornly holding on to it, of stopping andsecuring his horse, on whose back he is Instantly replaced, and continuing onin the chase. [Catlin, 1841, vol. 1, p. 253.]In his description of this item Catlin does not refer to its use by anyspecific tribes, but seems to infer that it was in general use among thebuffalo-hunting tribes of the Plains in his time. He shows this drag-ging line in many of his paintings of Indians hunting buffalo onhorseback.The Blackfoot bridle, one end of which was coiled under the rider'sbelt, served the same purpose. This poses the question of whether thedevice described by Catlin might not be older than the Blackfoot onedescribed by informants as that employed in their youth. I am in-clined to believe that there were several devices employed by theIndians for the same purpose, that may have had different distri-butions. This is suggested by Lewis and Clark's description of theLemhi Shoshoni halter employed in 1805 ? One end of it is first tied round the neck in a knot and then brought down to theunder jaw, round which it is formed into a simple noose, passing through themouth ; it is then drawn up on the right side and held by the rider in his left hand,while the rest trails after him to some distance. At other times the knot is formedat a little distance from one of the ends, so as to let that end serve as a bridlewhile the other trails on the ground. [Coues, 1893, vol. 2, p. 562.]The second Shoshoni variant is the typical Blackfoot war bridle, ex-cept that the long end of one rein is allowed to drag the ground ratherthan tucked under the belt. Tixier, in 1840, told of Osage buffalohunters employing a long horsehair tether, tied around the horse'sneck, coiled and "passed around the rider's belt," for the same purpose(Tixier, 1940, pp. 167-168) . This seems to be still another variant. "Wilson's description of the Hidatsa bridle indicates clearly thatit was like that of the Blackfoot, and served the same dual purpose(Wilson, 1924, p. 183). The limited data at our disposal shows thatthe Blackfoot variant of the dragging line was known to the Shoshoniin 1805. There is no reason to believe that the separate line, tiedaround the horse's neck, is an older device. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 81SADDLESSADDLE MAKINGSaddle making was women's work among the Blackfoot. It was asomewhat specialized craft. Some older women who were especiallyskilled saddlemakers not only manufactured them for the membersof their own families but also made them for trade, while other womennever attempted to make saddles.*^Saddle making was not strictly a seasonal occupation, but Blackfootwomen generally preferred to fashion them in warmer weather becauseof the inconvenience of working wet rawhide in winter. To a limitedextent saddles were tailor-made. If the person for whom the saddlewas intended was a large, heavy man or woman, the pommel and cantlewere spaced a greater distance apart than was usual in frame saddles.Saddles made for children were proportionately smaller than those foradults.^^Saddles were highly valued, private property. A good horse waspaid for with a fancy pad saddle or a high-horned woman's saddle.Wlien a couple married their parents might give them saddles. How-ever, some poor families owned no saddles. If a young man was am-bitious, wanted to hunt and go to war, his father or another closerelative had a saddle made for him. A lazy young man of poor familymight never own a saddle.At night, or in the daytime when not in use, saddles were storedinside the owner's lodge behind the beds. If a man had several wivesit generally was the duty of the one who slept nearest the door to carefor his saddle and other riding gear left in the lodge.The several types of pad and frame saddles used by the Blackfootin buffalo days were as follows : THE PAD SADDLEAn active man's saddle, which was little more than a soft, skin pillowstuffed with hair, was known as "pad saddle." To make a pad saddletwo pieces of soft tanned buffalo, deer, elk or antelope skin were cutto the same size, roughly hourglass-shaped in outline. Buffalo bullskin made the longest wearing pad saddle. Although a man might cutthe pattern to suit his desire, he turned the skins over to a woman to as- *? Women were also the saddlemakers among the Wind River Shoshoni and Kiowa (Shim-kin, 1947 b, p. 294; communication from Alice Marriott). Some Kiowa women werespecialists to the extent that they made and traded saddles for lodge covers, dried meat,and other articles. However, Opler (1941, p. 395) found that men made the saddles of theChiracahua Apache. *'' The collections of the U. S. National Museum contain several small frame saddles fromdifferent Plains Indian tribes, documented as children's saddles. Kiowa Informants saidolder women of that tribe made saddles for boys and girls.287944?55 7 82 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 semble the saddle. She placed one skin on top of the other so thattheir edges were in contact, then sewed the skins together in two nearlyparallel lines of soft skin or rawhide cord extending lengthwise of thecenter. She then began to sew the edges of the top and bottom skinstogether with sinew thread, leaving sufficient openings at each side tostuff the saddle before completely closing the edges. Buffalo or deerhair were preferred for stuffing, although some women used grass forthat purpose.The pad saddle illustrated in plate 2, a^ shows the basic pattern anddecoration. This specimen (U. S. N. M. No. 2656) was collectedby Capt. Howard Stansbury in 1849, and labeled "Black Feet Indiansof the Rocky Mountains." It measures 16% inches long and 14 incheswide through the center and weighs 1 pound 5 ounces. In 1947, Ishowed photographs of this specimen to elderly Blackfoot Indians.They pronounced it typical of pad saddles used by Blood and Pieganmen in their youth. This specimen is decorated with porcupine-quillrosettes and quilled lozenges in each corner. Pendent from the lowerborder of the saddle near each corner are two quilled skin pieces sepa-rated by quill-wrapped skin thongs. The edge seam joining thebottom and top skins is covered with quillwork. Informants recog-nized this as the usual pattern of decoration of old Blackfoot padsaddles. However, in their youth the same pattern was worked outmore frequently in beadwork. **From the center of each side extend U-shaped tabs used for fas-tening the girth to the saddle. The most common girth was a raw-hide strap 2 to 4 fingers wide, doubled over the tab on the left sideof the saddle and sewn with sinew, passed under the barrel of thehorse and secured to the tab on the right side of the saddle with arawhide latigo strap. Less common girthing was obtained by sus-pending soft skin straps from each tab and tying them under thehorse's belly. Informants believed the saddle illustrated was eitherridden without stirrups or the stirrups were suspended from thesame tabs as the girth. In their youth most pad saddle riders usedstirrups. Some Blackfoot pad saddles were equipped with a secondpair of small tabs, located forward of the girth tabs, from which thestirrup straps were suspended. Many pad saddles had a rectangular,transverse piece of rawhide 4 inches or more in width across the centerof the saddle and sewn to the skin base. This piece hung down atthe sides far enough to conceal the girth tabs. In some cases holes ? A Piegan "sattel mit quill." collected by Maximilian in 1833, formerly in tlie Museumfiir Volkerkunde, Berlin (No. IV B 110) may have been of the pad-saddle type. EdwardHarris, who accompanied Audubon to the Upper Missouri in 1843, collected a Blackfootpad saddle, which is now in the Museum of the Alabama State Department of Archivesand History, Montgomery, Ala. It is similar in pattern and decoration to the specimencollected by Captain Stansbury. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 83 were made near the ends of these rawhide strips from which thestirrup straps were hung.Fully rigged, with stirrups and girth, the pad saddle weighed lessthan 3 pounds. It was no heavier than a modern American racingsaddle. The experienced Indian trader, W. T. Hamilton, claimed ahorse could travel 20 miles farther in a day under a pad than undera frame saddle (Hamilton, 1905, p. 37). The pad saddle provided alight, elastic, soft seat. It was used primarily by active young menin buffalo hunting, fighting on horseback, horse racing, and generalriding. Its specialized use in breaking broncos has been described(p. 64). Children, older men, and women rarely rode pad saddles,unless they did not have access to a frame saddle. DISTKIBUTION OF THE PAD SADDLEThe pad saddle is an old type among the Blackfoot and theirneighbors. In his tantalizingly brief description of "Archithinue"riding gear seen in 1754, Hendry stated, "They have . . . Buffaloskin pads, & stirrups of the same" (Hendry, 1907, p. 338). Presum-ably he referred to the pad saddle described above. Certainly Alex-ander Henry described the use of the pad saddle by the Blackfoot,Assiniboin, and Cree prior to 1809 (Henry and Thompson, 1897, vol.2, pp. 526-527). The artists Paul Kane (1847) and Frederich Kurz(1852) pictured Blackfoot ponies bearing pad saddles (Bushnell, 1940,fig. 8; Kurz, 1937, pi. 22). Elderly Blackfoot said the pad saddlewent out of use soon after they settled on reservations and obtainedample numbers of white men's stock saddles which were sturdier andwere equipped with pommels needed for working cattle. ReubenBlack Boy (born 1883) recalled having seen but one pad saddle in useamong the Piegan. That was before the Agency was moved to Brown-ing in the mid-90's.West of the Blackfoot the pad saddle was ridden by younger men inbuffalo days. Lewis and Clark saw young Lemhi Shoshoni menriding pad saddles without stirrups in 1805 (Coues, 1893, vol. 2, p.562). In 1812, Eoss Cox noted Nez Perce use of the pad saddle withstirrups (Cox, 1832, p. 84). Later writers reported the use of thissaddle by the Klikatat, Yakima, Shuswap, Thompson, Couer d'Alene,Flathead, and Sanpoil (U. S. Comm. Ind. Affairs, 1854, p. 227; Teit,1909, p. 534; 1930, pp. 110, 353; Ray, 1932, p. 117). Pierre Pichettetold me the Flathead seldom used stirrups with the pad saddle. Avariant of the pad saddle from the Klamath of Oregon is in the UnitedStates National Museum. This specimen (U. S. N. M. No. 24108)was collected in 1876.The fur trader, Daniel Harmon, described the pad saddle of theAssiniboin, Atsina, Blackfoot, and Mandan and their neighbors in 84 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 the first quarter of the 19th century, "On the back of the horse, theyput a dressed buffalo skin, on the top of which they place a pad, fromwhich are suspended stirrups, made of wood and covered with the skinof the testicles of the buffalo" (Harmon, 1903, p. 291). Kurz ob-served and illustrated Crow pad saddles in midcentury (Kurz, 1937,p. 260, pi. 9) . Later writers described pad saddle use by Hidatsa andMandan (Mathews, 1877, p. 19; Boiler, 1868, p. 225; Wilson, 1924, p.190), and Cheyenne (Grinnell, 1923, vol. 1, pp. 206, 208; vol. 2, p. 17).There are four Teton Dakota pad saddles in the collections of theUnited States National Museum. These collections also contain apad saddle from the Yanktonai (No. 8415) collected in 1869, andone from the Sisseton (No. 9062) received that same year. TwoWinnebago pad saddles have been illustrated (Radin, 1923, p. 29).The pad saddle is well represented in the works of white artistswho pictured the life of the Indians of the northern Plains in buffalodays. Probably the first published illustration of this saddle typewas Peter Kindisbacher's "Sioux Warrior Charging," which appearedin the "American Turf Register and Sporting Magazine" for Octo-ber 1829 (opp. p. 73). Sketchy renderings of pad saddles appearin several of George Catlin's tribally unidentified hunting scenes andin his painting of a grizzly bear hunt on horseback. Bodmer's litho-graph of a buffalo hunt on horseback (1833) shows the pad saddlein use. Kurz drew a number of fine sketches of pad-saddled horsesseen among the Upper Missouri tribes in 1851-52. Charles Wimar'soriginal sketch books from the period of his trip up the Missouri andYellowstone in 1858 (now in the City Art Museum, St. Louis) con-tain drawings of pad saddles. Study of the most detailed of theseearly illustrations and of museum specimens indicates that tribaldifferences in construction and decoration of the pad saddle amongthe Upper Missouri tribes were negligible.I have seen a single pad saddle specimen from a southern Plainstribe. It was collected by Jarvis prior to September 1848, and waslabeled "Comanche" in Jarvis' own hand (Ace. No. 1848, 67, NewYork Hist. Soc, now in the Brooklyn Museum) . This specimen isidentical with northern Plains pad saddles. Tliree Kiowa informantsclaimed men of their tribe did not use pad saddles in the late years ofbuffalo hunting. Tixier's description of the equipment of Osagebuffalo hunters seen in 1840 mentions only the frame saddle (Tixier,1940, p. 168). Nevertheless, fragmentary descriptions indicate thatthe pad saddle may have been in general use in that region in earliertimes. Penicaut described Caddo riding gear in 1714, "their stirrupsare suspended by a cord ... of hair which is fastened to doe skindoubled into four thicknesses and serving them as a saddle"(Swanton, 1942, p. 147). Apache warriors, in 1744, were said to Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 85have ridden with a "skin serving them for a saddle" (Whipple, 1856,p. 117).These early references, in addition to those referring to the north-ern tribes, suggest that the pad saddle may have been virtually Plains-wide in its distribution in the 18th century. As Wissler (1915, p. 36)has suggested, the pad saddle, of basically simple construction, mayhave been diffused over the Plains with the horse, while the morecomplex frame saddle passed northward at a slower rate. Althoughthe origin of the pad saddle cannot be determined with certainty onthe basis of data available, it is possible that it was derived fromthe Spanish-Mexican pack saddle. Pfefferkorn (1949, p. 95), whosaw that saddle in use in Sonora in the middle 18th century, describedit as two cushions of tamied cowhide, four-cornered and stuffed withhny, attached to one another in the middle. This may have beenthe prototype of the active young man's saddle of the Plains Indians. PAD-SADDLE VARIANTS AMONG THE BLACKFOOTTwo variants of the pad saddle were described by aged Blackfootinformants. A very simple saddle was made from a single thicknessof hide from a buffalo bull's neck. The hide was placed on the horse,hair side down, and held in place by straps pendent from each side,tied under the horse's belly. A rawhide cord, sewn together at theends to make a continuous belt was suspended over the top of the padso that the loop ends served as stirrups. Men returning from horseraids sometimes made saddles of this type if they had time and oppor-tunity to kill buffalo en route. The saddle could be quickly fashionedfrom untanned buffalo hide. Its use was preferred to riding bare-back for days over rough country. This type also served the pooror lazy fellow who could afford no better saddle.The second variant of the pad saddle was composed of a pair ofhorizontal, cottonwood sideboards, like those used for frame saddles,joined by flexible skin pads stuffed with grass in front and back inlieu of pommel and cantle. This made a light saddle that could befolded easily and carried under the owner's arm when not in use. Itwas an uncommon saddle type.THE "wood saddle"The typical woman's saddle was a frame of cottonwood coveredwith rawhide, known to the Blackfoot as "wood saddle." The typeis illustrated by a Blood Indian specimen in the Chicago Museum ofNatural History, collected by K. N. Wilson prior to 1897 (cat. No.51,752). Sideboards measure 19 inches long. The cantle rises to aheight of 12.8 inches. (PI. 2, b.) This type was described by Alex-ander Henry in 1809, as "made of wood well joined, and covered with 86 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 raw buffalo liide, which in drying binds every part tight. This framerises about ten inches before and behind ; the tops are bent over hori-zontally and spread out, forming a flat piece about six inches in di-ameter." He believed this saddle type was older than the pad saddle(Henry and Thompson, 1897, vol. 2, p. 527) . In 1833, Maximilian ob-served this saddle and noted that both pommel and cantle "frequentlyhas a leather fringe hanging from it" (Maximilian, 1906, vol. 23, p,107) . Gustavus Sohon shows this type of saddle ridden by the twowomen in the left background of his field sketch, "The Bloods Comein Council," drawn in 1855. The men in the foreground appear to beriding pad saddles. (PI. 4.)In making a wood saddle a woman split a green cottonwood logand trimmed two pieces to equal size about one-half inch thick, 16 to Figure 13.?Construction of a woman's "wood saddle," Blackfoot. ?, Woodenpommel and cantle ready for assembly ; ft, rawhide-covered assembled saddle. 20 inches long, and 3 or 4 inches wide, for the sideboards. ThreeCalf said his mother bent the sideboards slightly by pressure over theshaft of a travois while the wood was still green. Two forks of greencottonwood were carefully selected for pommel and cantle. Care wastaken that they should be approximately the same size and that bothprongs of each fork should be of equal thickness. The top of each forkwas bent and trimmed with a knife to a flat disk shape and the ends ofthe prongs were curved. A small hole was burned in the front of thepiece to be used for the pommel just above the junction of the prongsand a straight wooden spike tightly fitted into the hole. With a red-hot iron rod two pairs of holes were burned in the sideboards at bothsides of each prong, the outer surfaces of the lower portions of theprongs were grooved, and were tied to the sideboards by buckskinthongs passed through the grooves and the sideboard holes. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 87The buffalo rawhide used for covering the frame was first soaked ina pond or stream for several days until it became green and foul smell-ing. It was then stretched on the ground, hair side up, boiling waterwas thrown upon it, and the hair was taken off with a rock. Thewoman then turned the hide over and scraped the flesh from the under-side with a hide scraper. The hair side was not scraped, as that wouldliave made the hide too thin. The hide was then stretched over the sad-dle frame, fitted, cut and finally sewn with rawhide cord. The stitcheswere placed on the inside of the saddle where they would not be seenwhen the saddle was in use. (Fig. 13.)Care had to be taken that the saddle did not warp as the tough raw-hide dried and shrunk. Two methods of preventing warpingwere described. Three Calf said his grandmother placed a newlysewn saddle over a log about the size of a horse's back and tied it downuntil the rawhide dried. Lazy Boy's mother rolled up an old lodgecover tightly and forced it between the side bars of the saddle, thenshe wrapped a cord around the saddle and cover to bind them securelyimtil the rawhide saddle covering dried.^^After the saddle cover dried, two holes were burned near each endof both sideboards used for tying: (1) the grass-stuffed soft skin padswhich ran parallel and underneath the sideboards and (2) the raw-hide rigging straps fastened to the outside of the sideboards. A fullyrigged saddle is shown in figure 14. The rigging straps on the leftside of the saddle looped about the cinch ring, which was commonlyof rawhide. The ring shown in figure 14 was considered a very strongone. It was made by coiling narrow rawhide cord, wrapping the coilswith more rawhide cord, and covering the circle thus formed with atubing of rawhide. Another type of ring was of two rawhide disksof the same size sewn together. It was not considered as strong as thefirst type. Informants regarded this as the most important link inthe girthing. It had to be as strong as possible. Lazy Boy said thatabout the year 1860 (i. e. "when the first steamboat came to Fort Ben-ton") the Piegan began to obtain metal girth rings from traders. Ametal girth ring was expensive, being worth, at that time, a coyote orfox skin in trade. Only rich people could afford them. But the Black-foot recognized their superior strength. Before the buffalo disap-peared the metal rings declined in value and most Blackfoot womenprocured them for their saddles. About the time these metal girth ^* George Catlin's Illustration of a Crow lodge shows a saddle drying beside the lodge.The saddle is staked to the ground to hold it in shape (Catlin, 1S41, vol. 1, pi. 20). An-other Catlin illustration (reproduced in Wissler, 1915, fig. 1) shows this same dryingmethod. A Kiowa informant said women of his tribe staked their frame saddles out todry. However, Blackfoot informants, when told of that method, thought It would be avery good way to dry saddles, but said they had never heard of Blackfoot women makinguse of It. 88 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 rings were introduced smaller metal rings useful for hondas also beganto be offered in trade.The cinch was a band of rawhide about 4 inches wide. One endwas doubled and tied around the girth ring on the left side of thesaddle. The band passed under the horse's belly and was fastenedto the rawhide or metal ring suspended from the rigging straps onthe right side of the saddle. Several methods of fastening were Figure 14.?Rigging of a woman's saddle, Blackfoot. a. View, left side;6, detail of latigo tie on right side. employed. The simplest method was to punch a hole near the looseend of the girth, pass a rawhide latigo cord through it and tie thecord to the right-side ring. Some people preferred to fold the endof the girth and sew it to give the added strength of two thicknessesof rawhide at the point of strain. Another common method of secur-ing the girth was to sew a rawhide or metal ring in the end of thegirth band, and tie this ring to the right-side ring suspended fromthe rigging straps with a rawhide cord. Some people used a half Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 89 hitch to make this tie, leaving the end tucked back so that it could bepulled out quickly in taking off the saddle. Horses always weresaddled from the right side.^A feature of the wood saddle that puzzled some informants wasthe spike in the front of the pommel. Double-Victory-Calf-Robe saidthis spike was "Crow style" taken over by the Blackfoot. She hadheard that Blackfoot women's saddle^ of the early 19th century didnot have this feature. Mrs. Cree Medicine claimed the spike servedsolely as a hook on which to hang the whip. Three Calf thoughtits main purpose was to indicate which end was the front of thesaddle. Wissler has explained the use of the hook for the suspensionof a rawhide seat which was attached at the back of the cantle by awooden pin passed through a loop in the rawhide cover. He said "thehook has apparently become conventional, because it is found onsaddles where the support is not used and the eye is wanting, thoughthese are said to be degenerate forms" (Wissler, 1910, p. 94) . Judgingfrom the differences of opinion among my older informants regardingthe function of the hook and the absence of any mention of theeye or seat, it would appear that the suspended seat was unconmionamong the Blackfoot in the last two decades of buffalo days.^^Wood saddles were decorated with buckskin fringes pendent fromthe disks of both pommel and cantle, or with long, triangular beadedor quilled flaps suspended from the outer margins of these disks.Some women decorated their saddles by driving round-headed brasstacks into the pommel and cantle.Blackfoot and Blood informants regarded the wood saddle as awoman's saddle. It was used on the travois, and sometimes on packhorses, as well as on riding horses. However, men did not ride thewood saddle, unless they had no pad or "prairie chicken snare" saddle. DISTElBUnON OF THE "WOOD SADDLE"The distinguishing characteristics of the "wood saddle" arefound in the pommel and cantle. They are of carved wood, and areof the same design, the cantle being the same form as the pommel inreverse. A characteristic of the Blackfoot "wood saddle," the large,flattened disk-shaped, horizontal projections of the pommel andcantle, is also found in the "wood saddles" of other northern Plains "An examination of the Plains Indian saddles In the collections of the TJ. S. NationalMuseum to which the rigging is attached shows that this was a widespread Plains Indiancustom. *? With this feature in mind, I have examined the saddles In the collections of the U. S.National Museum known to have been made and collected before the buffalo disappeared.The majority of these Plains Indian saddles have neither suspended seats nor provisionsfor the pins in the backs of the cantles necessary for their use, although nearly all thewood saddles have hook projections on the pommels. Since Indian women generally placeda buffalo robe over their saddles before mounting, the need for a suspended rawhide seatseems questionable. 90 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 and Plateau tribes. Lewis and Clark's description of Lemhi Shoshoniwomen's saddles seen in 1805, mentioned the high pommels and cantlesas "ending sometimes in a flat point extending outward" (Coues,1893, vol. 2, p. 562). Miller's illustrations of Shoshoni women's sad-dles in the 1830's, show that characteristic. Gustavus Sohon picturedthe "wood saddle" type in use among the Flathead in the 1850's(pi. 4), In the United States National Museum is a fine old ex-ample of this type marked "Columbia River" collected prior to 1867(No. 2541). These collections also include examples of this typefrom the Ute (Nos. 11035 and 11036, collected by Powell in 1872),and Paiute in southern Utah (No. 14637, collected by Powell in1874) . The earliest dated specimen of this type I have seen from thePlains, is the Sioux saddle collected by Jarvis, probably in the period1833-36. This saddle, termed a "pack saddle" in the collector's hand-writing, is now in the Brooklyn Museum (Ace. No. 50-67-52) (seepi. 3, &). There are two Crow saddles of this type in the UnitedStates National Museum collected prior to 1870 (Nos. 6468 and 8521).Women's saddles from the southern Plains tribes are of somewhatdifferent design. Their pommels and cantles curve outward near thetops, which are concave in section. A Comanche saddle of that typewas collected by Dr. E. Palmer in 1868 (U. S. N. M. No. 6916).Mooney obtained a number of saddles of this type from the Kiowain 1891. I have also seen Cheyenne and Osage saddles of this type inmuseum collections. An elderly Kiowa Apache woman told me thiswas the traditional woman's saddle of her tribe.This appears to have been a southern Plains variant of the woodsaddle. It would appear proper to distinguish the Blackfoot type asa northwestern one in view of its distribution in the northern Plainsand Plateau.The origin of the "wood saddle" is difficult to determine. Wissler(1915, p. 33) has pointed out the difficulty of tracing Indian saddlesto Mexican or Spanish prototypes because "while we have a fine seriesof specimens from the Indians we have very little of the kind fromthe period of Spanish colonization." Perhaps he should have addedthat we have no really early Plains Indian saddles either. The oldestdated "wood saddle" (the Sioux saddle, pi. 3, &) was collected in the1830's, nearly two centuries after the Plains Indians began to obtainhorses. By that time the Plains tribes had been subjected to French,English, and American influences, through the fur trade, as well asto influences from Mexico. It is significant also that Mexican saddlerychanged after the period of the conquistadores. In fact Mexican his-torians have claimed that by the period of the second Viceroy of NewSpain, Don Luis de Velasco (1550-64), the "silla mexicana," a saddledistinct from that introduced by Cortez, was already in use in Mexico Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 91(Rangel, 1924, pp. 13 ff . ; Villar, 1941, p. 278) . Yet I have seen nospecimen or illustration of a specimen of a well-docmnented Mexicanframe saddle dating prior to the third decade of the 19th century.I have found no reference to a Mexican saddle exhibiting the distinc-tive characteristic of the Plains and Plateau Indian woman's saddle(i. e. pommel and cantle of like shape, reversed). Unless and untilproof can be found that this general feature of Indian women's sad-dles was also characteristic of some of the saddles ridden by Mexicans,French, English, or Americans prior to 1800, 1 shall be of the opinionthat the design of the Indian "wood saddle" was not copied directlyfrom Whites, but was a remodeled adaptation of the white man'swooden frame saddle in the construction of which the Indians exer-cised considerable ingenuity.THE "prairie chicken SNARE SADDLE"A frame saddle with low-arched horn pommel and cantle was knownto the Blackfoot as a "prairie chicken snare saddle." The sideboardsand girthing of this saddle were like those of the "wood saddle." Itdiffered only in the material and form of the pommel and cantle.Plate 3, ?, illustrates a "prairie chicken snare saddle" of Blackfootorigin from the collections of the Museum of the Plains Indian ( Cat.No. 1871). The sideboards measure 19 inches long. The pommel is81/2 inches high, and cantle 8i/4 inches.In the manufacture of the "prairie chicken snare saddle" two sec-tions of fresh-killed elk or black-tailed deer antler were softened inwarm water to make them pliable. Then they were bent and cutto the desired shape. One piece served for the cantle, the other, oflike size and shape, for the pommel. In tying the antlers to the side-boards some women burned holes through the antlers near their endsfor the buckskin tie strings. Others grooved the antlers horizontallyand passed the tie strings through these grooves and holes burned inthe sideboards at the ends of the grooves (fig. 15). Mi-s. Cree Medi-cine considered the second method the stronger one. The saddle wasthen covered with green rawhide and protected from warping whilethe rawhide dried and set by the same methods employed in the makingof "wood saddles."In my older informants' youth the "prairie chicken snare saddle"was the nearest approach to an all-purpose saddle known to the Black-foot. Older men, children, and some women used it for a ridingsaddle. Young men preferred it to the pad saddle for riding on longjourneys. It was used on the travois and as a pack saddle in movingcamp. It was the favorite saddle employed in packing butcheredbuffalo. When used for packing, some people sewed V-shaped raw- 92 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 Figure 15.?Construction of a "prairie chicken snare saddle," Blackfoot. hide flaps to the centers of pommel and cantle. Holes were punchedin the flaps and, after the load was in place, a rawhide line was passedback and forth over the pack and through these holes and tied to holdthe load securely and prevent its shifting. This saddle was neverdecorated. It could be made with less time and effort than eitherthe pad or wood saddle. Thus it was less valuable. These factorsundoubtedly encouraged its wide use. DISTMBXn'ION OF THE "PRAIEIE CHICKEN SNAKE SADDLE"There is every reason to believe that the "prairie chicken snaresaddle" is not an old type among the Plains Indians. AlexanderHenry made no mention of it in his description of Blackfoot saddlesin 1809. Bradley, writing in the 1870's, was the first to mention theuse of elkhorn in Blackfoot saddle construction. This saddle typedoes not appear in the works of artists who interpreted the PlainsIndians from personal observations in the field prior to 1850. Kurzdid not illustrate it in his many representations of saddles seen by himamong the Upper Missouri tribes in 1851-52. In his description ofthe Cheyenne use of this saddle type, Grinnell (1923, vol. 1, p. 207)termed it a comparatively modern invention of the Kiowa, from whomthe Cheyenne learned how to make it.If we may credit this explanation of the origin of the "prairiechicken snare saddle," we must recognize that the type spread rapidlyover the Plains and deep into the Plateau as far as the Sanpoil andThompson (Ray, 1932, p. 118; Wissler, 1915, fig. 20). Its use byCoeur d'Alene, Plains Cree, and Teton Dakota has been reported Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 93(Teit, 1930, p. 110; Mandelbaum, 1940, p. 196; Densmore, 1948, p.204) . The collections of the United States National Museum containexamples of this saddle type from the Crow, Northern and SouthernCheyenne, and Kiowa. Kiowa informants spoke of its use by thattribe both as a man's riding saddle and pack saddle. Pierre Pichettesaid the Flathead commonly used this type as a pack saddle.Certainly the type differed markedly from the pack saddle withcrossed wooden pommel and cantle commonly employed by Americanfur traders on the Plains and in the Rockies in the period 1837-51(see Miller's sketch, pi. 85, Ross, 1951; Kurz, 1937, pi. 32). STIRRUPS All types of Blackfoot saddles were equipped with stirrups whenused for riding. In 1809, Alexander Henry observed that the Black-foot "stirrup attached to the frame by a leather thong, is a piece ofbent wood, over which is stretched raw buffalo hide, making it firmand strong" (Henry and Thompson, 1897, vol. 2, p. 527) . Informantssaid stirrups were made of green, flat strips of cottonwood or poplarthat could be bent without heating. They were covered with wetbuffalo rawhide or scrotum sewn with rawhide cord. Stirrup strapswere of rawhide about 1 finger wide, looped over the side bars offrame saddles and through the centre openings in the stirrups. Gen-erally these straps were simply tied at the ends to the desired length.The use of toggle or buckle fastenings was not common. USE OF WHITE MEn's SADDLES AND ACCESSORIESAged Blackfoot informants readily admitted that "white men'ssaddles" were stronger and better fitting than the ones the Indiansmade themselves. Apparently their ancestors held the same belief.We know the Piegan were familiar with Spanish saddles at least asearly as 1787, when David Thompson saw a number of saddles aPiegan war party had brought back from a raid on a Spanish partyfar to the south (Thompson, 1916, p. 371). In 1856, Denig (1952,p. 148) reported "the Blackfoot and Crow Nations perceive at once theconvenience and utility of European articles, especially portions ofclothing, horse gears and other things . . . [they] will pay well fora good saddle." In 1858, the Blackfoot requested Agent Hatch fora few strong saddles, at least enough for their chiefs, to be includedin their annuity goods received under the terms of their 1855 treatywith the United States (U. S. Comm. Ind. Affairs, 1858, p. 438).Lazy Boy said that some wealthy Piegan purchased saddles from JoeKipp's trading post on the Marias before 1880. However, the ma- 94 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159jority of the members of the tribe continued to use native-made sad-dles until stock saddles were issued to them by the Government in theearly Reservation Period.52SADDLE BLANKETS Blackfoot riders placed blankets of skin under all types of saddlesto prevent their saddles from chafing the horses' backs. In 1809,Alexander Henry reported, "Under each kind of saddle are placedtwo or three folds of soft dressed buffalo skin, to keep the horsefrom getting a sore back" (Henry and Thompson, 1897, vol. 2, p. 527).In my informants' youth the Blackfoot preferred a saddle blanketmade from the shoulders of a buffalo where the hair was long, or thebreast where the hide was thickest. Most people used an undecoratedhide with the hair on, rectangular in shape. The blanket was eitherdoubled, hair side out, with the fold at the front of the saddle, orsingle thickness with the hair side next to the horse. Usually theblanket extended 2 or 3 inches beyond the saddle at front and back.Blankets placed under pack saddles were longer, in order to preventthe horse's back from being rubbed by any part of the load. The dou-bled blanket sometimes was ridden without a saddle. Some saddleblankets of single thickness were decorated with red-flannel edging allaround, or a double edging comprising an outer border of red flannelabout 3 fingers wide and an inner border of white cloth 1 finger wide.^^ 6^ other Plains and Plateau tribes appear to have followed the practice of using Spanishor American saddles whenever they could procure them. Lewis and Clark found someSpanish saddles among the Lemhi Shoshoni in 1805 (Coues, 1893, vol. 2, pp. 520, 569).Jacques d'Eglise reported "saddles ... in Mexican style" used by the Mandan in 1792(Nasitir, 1927, p. 58). Scattered through the records of the American Fur Co. (papers inthe N. Y. Historical Society) are listings of saddles bought by Pratte, Chouteau & Co. ofSt. Louis. Sufficient quantities are listed to indicate that the saddles were purchased forthe Indian trade and not merely for the use of field employees of the company. Maximilian(1833) said that the Mandan "sometimes obtain saddles from the whites, which they lineand ornament with red and blue cloth" (Maximilian, 1906, vol. 23, p. 345). These mayhave been of the California saddle type, which Marcy termed the favorite of the mountainmen (Marcy, 1850, pp. 118-120), and which seems to have been pictured in a number ofKurz' drawings of fur traders and a few Indians of the Upper Missouri in 1851-52 (Kurz,1937). One of the most interesting saddles in the collections of the U. S. NationalMuseum is a U. S. Cavalry saddle reported to have been taken from Indians who hadparticipated in the Custer Massacre, 2 weeks after that event. The Indians had strippedit of its commercial leather rigging and equipped it with Indian-made stirrup straps,stirrups, and cinch (Cat. No. 59,741). However, many Plains Indian saddles obtained Inthe field before the end of buffalo days have parts (rigging straps, stirrup straps, and/orgirths) of commercial leather or cloth, in addition to metal girth rings, obtained fromWhites. Some of the saddles bearing the earliest dates of collecton have the most commer-cial leather used in their rigging. It seems apparent that Indians tried to adopt as muchof the white man's saddlery as they could afford. If they had not the means to obtain atrade saddle, perhaps they could at least acquire, strong, long wearing, trade materials forrigging their native saddles. In view of these circumstances it is impossible to dateIndian saddles on the basis of the degree of acculturation shown by their rigging. Some ofthe specimens employing only native materials probably are of more recent manufacturethan many specimens using trade materials in their construction.^ The Blackfoot did not make the fancy saddle cloth of soft skin or canvas with heavilybeaded borders such as were used by the Teton Dakota, Crow, Cheyenne, Ute, and Shoshoni Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 95SADDLE HOUSINGS "When an Indian is going to mount he throws his buffalo robeover the saddle, and rides on it," wrote Alexander Henry of the Black-foot in 1809 (Henry and Thompson, 1897, vol. 2, p. 526) . This practicewas continued until the end of buffalo days. A buffalo robe was foldedand placed over the center of the "prairie chicken snare saddle" orthe "wood saddle" before the rider mounted. By the time this thickpadding was added to the wood saddle the lofty pommel and cantle didnot appear so high. The buffalo robe seems to have been the mostcommon housing for frame saddles among the Plains tribes. In recentyears Blackfoot women riding the wood saddle or even the stock saddlein Fourth of July parades have thrown a large, trade blanket over thesaddle and modestly tucked the pendent ends around their legs toconceal them.In my informants' youth young men liked to drape a mountain-lion skin over their pad saddles as a housing. This showy skin wasarranged so that the animal head fell over one side, the tail the other.Maximilian (1833) observed Blackfoot fondness for mountain-lionskin saddle housings. He noted that the skin was edged with a broadband of scarlet cloth, and that the Blackfoot valued it at a good horseor seldom less than $60. Bodmer's excellent lithograph of a Blackfootman on horseback illustrates the use of the mountain-lion skin housingat that time (Maximilian, 1906, vol. 23, p. 107, and Atlas, pi. 19)."MARTINGALES AND CRUPPERSMartingales and cruppers had both practical and ostentatious valuefor the Blackfoot. They were used on the travois or pack horse tokeep the load from slipping. Men generally used cruppers on ridinghorses only when traveling in mountainous country to hold the saddlein place. When moving camp or when on parade the favorite wivesof wealthy men liked to dress up their horses with showy martingalesand cruppers. The prevalence of elaborately decorated martingalesand cruppers in the Fourth of July parade at Browning and at theCalgary Stampede in recent years is no indication of their com- (Wissler, 1915, fig. 18, p. 17). However, I have found no description of the use of suchcloths in the early accounts of those tribes. Those elaborately decorated cloths probablywere late 19th century developments. The buffalo-skin saddle blanket seems to have beenthe most common type among the Plains tribes. However, the Plateau tribes, who hadless access to buffalo, used saddle blankets of deer, bear, or mountain goat skin, or of wovenmatting (Teit, 1900, p. 258; 1909, p. 534; 1930, p. Ill ; Ray, 1932, p. 118; Turney-High,1941, p. 72). "Maximilian said the Crow followed the same custom (ibid., vol. 22, p. 349). Opler(1941, p. 396) was told that the Chiricahua Apache liked to drape a mountain-lion skinover the saddle bag to make it look nice, and that they followed Mexican example In thispractice. Whether the Mexican custom goes back to the Colonial Period has not beendetermined. 96 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 monness in buffalo days. In former times those objects were indicesof their owner's wealth and status.Bodmer illustrated a fancy crupper on a Blackfoot man's horsein 1833 (Maximilian, 1906, Atlas, pi. 19) . However, the earliest pic-torial representation of the elaborately decorated martingale and crup-per combination I have seen appears in Sohon's 1855 field sketch, "TheBloods Come in Council" (pi. 4). In size and shape the pieces por-trayed by Bodmer and Sohon resemble specimens collected in morerecent years. Bradley (1870's) stated that the Blackfoot woman'sornamental crupper had a fringe of horsehair to the lower ends ofwhich little bells were attached. In my informants' youth cut buck-skin fringes were also used. The ornamental crupper had a soft skinor trade flannel base. It was decorated with beadwork or (if of skin)in angular painted designs "something like a parfleche design." Inmore recent times (since ca. 1875) floral designs, combined with thedouble-curve have been employed commonly. Martingales were simi-larly ornamented (Wissler, 1915, fig. 15 ; Ewers, 1945 b, figs. 61-63).Much more common in buffalo days were martingales and cruppersof narrow bands of rawhide, used on the riding horses of both sexesand on pack animals. The martingale was a rawhide band about 3fingers wide, tied to the prongs of the pommel of the wood saddle byrawhide cords. The crupper was a single or double strip about thesame width throughout most of its length, extended by means of agrass-padded loop, strengthened with soft skin binding, under thehorse's tail. It was tied to the front or rear horn prongs of the framesaddle with buckskin cord (fig. 16). Some women painted the sur- FiGTJBE 16. ? a, Simple rawhide martingale ; b, simple rawhide crupper ; c, detailof crupper tail pad, Blackfoot. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 97 faces of these rawhide martingales and cruppers in geometric designs.Weasel Tail said the first crupper he used as a young man (ca. 1875)was a white man's harness crupper obtained in trade/55WHIPSMaximilian (1833) observed, "In general every Blackfoot carriesa whip as well as weapons in his hand" (Maximilian, 1906, vol. 23, p.103). Bradley (1870's) wrote, "They were unacquainted with spurs,but used a whip consisting of a wood, bone or horn handle, some fifteeninches long, and a double lash of rawhide, from twenty to twenty-fourinches long. A loop of skin was attached to the handle of the whip,by which it was suspended to the wrist" (Bradley, 1923, p. 263).These measurements agree closely with Wissler's measurements ofBlackfoot handles and lashes on specimens collected a half centuryago (Wissler, 1910, p. 96) . Informants pointed out that whips were kept in the possession ofmounted Indians at all times. They might serve as weapons in a fight.Men also found their whips useful implements for beating their wivesif they misbehaved.Generally men and women made their own whips. Thoughtfulmakers permitted the leather of the wrist hanger to extend farther ^ The elaborately beaded horse collar made by the Crow and some Plateau tribes in thelate years of the 19th century (Douglas, 1937 ; Lowie, 1922 b, p. 314, fig. 12 ; Teit, 1930,p. 354, fig. 37) probably was a late development. Catlin's illustration of a Crow manmounted for participation in a sham battle at the Hidatsa villages in 1832, portrays afancy martingale similar to the Blackfoot type. The same illustration shows an elaboratecrupper, which the author described as "embossed and fringed with rows of beautiful shellsand porcupine quills of various colors (Catlin, 1841, vol. 1, pi. 76, p. 192). Alfred JacobMiller depicted a fancy crupper decorated with quills and beadwork in his illustration of aSioux woman on horseback in 1837 (Ross, 1951, pi. 72). He portrayed elaborately fringedcruppers on women's horses in other illustrations of the same year (ibid., pis. 9, 96, 131,188). In 1851, Kurz (1937) drew decorated cruppers on horses belonging to Potawatoml,Omaha, Iowa, and Crow. Hillers' 1873 photograph of a Uintah Ute woman on horsebackshows an elaborate crupper and martingale similar to ones used by Blackfoot women(Steward, 1939, pi. 30). An Omaha decorated crupper of the period 1855, is illustratedIn Fletcher and La Flesche, 1911, pi. 48. Mooney collected a painted and beaded skincrupper from the Kiowa (Cat. No. 152,829, U. S. N. M.). However, my Kiowa informantssaid the most common crupper in their tribe was of rawhide 2 inches wide.Undoubtedly the greater attractiveness of decorated cruppers of elaborate design causedcollectors to secure them in preference to the simple rawhide ones for museum collections.Fortunately, however, the series of Plains Indian saddles In the U. S. National Museumincludes many cruppers that were attached to saddles obtained prior to 1880. The majorityof these cruppers are of rawhide, painted or unpainted, much like the common form ofBlackfoot crupper described above. A few are of commercial leather. Including a TetonDakota specimen obtained after the Slim Buttes Battle in 1876, which is obviously a whiteman's harness crupper complete with metal buckles (Cat. No. 276,607).It seems unlikely that the use of martingales and cruppers was an Indian invention.The elaborate ones may be adaptations of Spanish-Mexican pieces such as the ones illus-trated in the Codex Baranda (Wissler, 1915, p. 33). The more simple, rawhide ones mayhave been adapted from those in use among the fur traders in the Plains and Rockies inthe second quarter of the 19th century. Miller's (1837) illustrations show the simplecrupper in place on the horses of many fur traders as well as a few Indian-owned horses(Ross, 1951). Kurz (1937, pi. 32) shows the simple crupper on a trader's horse sketchedAugust 28, 19'51.287944?55 8 98 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159than necessary so that if the front of the handle cracked they couldturn the whip around and use the hanger end for the lash until theyhad an opportunity to make a new whip. Women generally madewhip handles of serviceberry. A hole was burned through the handleabout 2 inches from the lash end, and shallow channels were cut ineach side leading from this hole to the lash end of the handle. A nar-row rawhide lash was pushed through the hole and passed through alongitudinal slit in the rawhide at the end of the handle. The twoends were then braided a few times. The remainder of the lashinghung loose. One or two inches from the other end of the handleanother hole was burned through which the rawhide wrist hanger waspassed.Elkhorn-handled whips were made while tlie horn was green.The honeycomb center at the front end of the handle was burned outwith a hot wire. A small hole was then burned at one side of the han-dle about 2 inches from the front. The rawhide lashing was thendoubled and tlie folded end pushed into the front hole far enough sothat a wooden or antler plug could be driven into the side hole to holdthe rawhide in place. The wrist hanger was attached as was that ofthe wooden-handled whip. Some wooden-handled ones also used theplug method of lash attachment (fig. 17). ?MW\ The Blackfoot experience with Government issue wagons was paralleled on the CrowReservation. Although they began to receive wagons as early as 1874, the Crow had littleuse for the light-weight, narrow-gage vehicles. They traded them to white men for moreuseful articles until the Indian Service forbade Whites to accept these ID-marked vehicles.Meanwhile the Crow continued to use "lodgepole transports" (Marquis, 19'28, pp. 147,126-127). Enoch Smoky claimed the Kiowa made little use of wagons before ca. 1890. 108 BUREAU OF AlVIERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 ferring to let the poles joggle with the movement of the horse as campmoved. Short Face said it was important that the holes bored inthe poles should be of small diameter, as wear during transport en-larged them. If the owner made the holes too large the poles wouldcrack at those points. At best, lodgepoles lasted but 1 year owingto wear of the butt ends trailed on the ground as well as the frictionat the holes.Poor people, who owned few horses and small lodges with short,light poles, sometimes tied their poles in two bundles to the loadingplatform of travois, one bundle at each side, secured by rawhide cords.An improvised travois was also easily constructed by tying two ormore crosspieces, similar to the primary struts of the travois loadingplatform, to the bundles of poles dragged by a horse. These cross-pieces were placed in the approximate position of the loading plat-form of the true travois. Buffalo robes and bedding generally weretransported on this makeshift travois, but children, the aged, and mis-cellaneous camp equipment also could be carried upon it. Too heavya load, however, would spring the poles and render them useless asfoundation supports for lodge covers. DISTRIBUTION OF THE TRAVOIS AND METHODS OF POLE TRANSPORT It is well to consider these methods of transportation together indiscussing the distribution of the travois, as the two have been con-fused in the literature, even in the writings of professional ethnolo-gists. For example, Bushnell (1922, fig. 3, p. 66) reproduces an oldwoodcut portraying a Dakota horse dragging lodgepoles after thefashion described above for the Blackfoot. The caption under theillustration reads "Horse Travois."In reality the true travois, which can be defined as an A-shapeddrag, comprising two shafts, a loading platform which is an integralpart of the whole structure, and a hitch for attachment of the travoisto the horse, had a relatively limited use among many tribes of thePlains and Plateau. The improvised travois made by tying a tem-porary loading platform between dragging bundles of lodgepoles wasmore common. While the method of dragging lodgepoles in movingcamp, erroneously labeled "travois" by Bushnell, was virtually uni-versal among these tribes.Undoubtedly all of the tribes of the Plains were familiar with thetrue travois. It seems to have been most widely used as a litter fortransporting the sick and injured rather than as a means of carryingcamp equipment. Blackfoot informants mentioned use of the travoisin moving those handicapped persons. In the 1830's Ferris observedthat the Flathead conveyed the wounded "on litters consisting of twolodgepoles fastened on either side of a packhorse with skins stretched Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 109 on cross bars so as to form a bed for each of the sufferers" (Ferris,1940, p. 334). In 1854, W. B. Parker (1856, p. 193) saw a SouthernComanche chief, crippled with rheumatism and disease of the spine,transported in the same manner. The Wind River Shoshoni andCrow used the travois for transporting wounded (Lowie, 1922 a, p.220, 1924 b, p. 249). A photograph, believed to have been taken be-fore 1900, illustrates the Crow method of transporting an injured manon a travios (pi. 5, b). This specialized use of the travois penetratednorthwestward as far as the Sanpoil of northeastern Oregon (Ray,1932, p. 117).The use of the true travois for transporting household goods inmoving camp seems to have had a more limited distribution. Becauseof lack of detail in most early descriptions it is diflScult to trace thisdistribution with certainty. The travois was little used by the Plateautribes. Teit (1930, p. 112) reported that the travois was well knownto the Coeur d'Alene but they did not use it, deeming packing betteradapted to rough mountainous country than hauling. He said theFlathead seldom used the travois even when hunting on the Plainsfor prolonged periods (ibid., p. 354) . Turney-High ( 1937, p. 105) andmy Flathead informant, Pierre Pichette, claimed that tribe neverused the travois. Spinden said it was unknown to the Nez Perce(Spinden, 1908, p. 224). Wind River Shoshoni, according to Lowie(1924 b, p. 249) rarely used the travois. Colonel Brackett's briefmention of Washakie's band seen by him on the move, June 15, 1869, "dragging their property with them on lodge poles which are strappedto the saddles of their ponies in a manner peculiar to themselves" mayrefer to the improvised rather than the true travois (Brackett, 1917,p. 338).Crow use of the travois for moving camp equipment has beenvigorously denied by both Lowie (1922 a, p. 220) and Curtis (1909,vol. 4, p. 21). That they did use a makeshift "drag" of lodgepoles "on which they place their furniture" was observed by the traderZenas Leonard (1904, p. 258) who spent 6 months among the Crowin 1834-35. Le Forge, who lived with the Crow in the 1870's, used theword "travois" in describing the Crow vehicle familiar to him (Mar-quis, 1928, pp. 127, 147) . The Crow case must remain questionable.Judging from modern examples of the Sarsi travois seen by thewriter in the parade preceding the Calgary Stampede in 1941, thattribe's travois was like that of the Blackfoot. The Plains Cree horsetravois varied in details of construction. Although the shafts crossedat the front and were tied together with thongs and sinew, and theloading platform had primary struts of transverse "sticks," leatherthongs took the place of secondary wooden struts. A rawhide linearound the horse's belly tied to the shafts served as a hitch (Mandel- 110 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159baum, 1940, p. 197). Henry (1897, vol. 2, p. 518) in 1808, called theAssiniboin horse travois like their dog travois, which he said had anetted hoop loading platform.Haupt's drawing of a Dakota horse travois (reproduced in Win-chell, 1911, p. 434) shows the shafts crossed and tied, a loading plat-form of five primary struts only, while the hitch is made simply bywrapping and tying the shafts to the base of the saddle pommel withskin cord. There is no shaft wrapping such as was typical of theBlackfoot hitch. A photograph of a Teton travois in the Bureau ofAmerican Ethnology (neg. No. 3, 711-K) portrays long shafts and aplatform of the netted hoop type, similar to that of the Blackfootdog travois illustrated in Wissler (1910, fig. 56a). Another Tetonphotograph in the same collections (neg. No. 3, 169-6-13) shows still another variant. The shafts are short and do not cross. Theplatform is like the one in Haupt's drawing. Seth Eastman's paint-ing, "Sioux Breaking Camp," in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts,shows an Eastern Dakota horse travois which combines short shaftswith a netted hoop-type platform. These examples show a consider-able range of variation in the details of Dakota horse travois con-struction. There are brief contemporary descriptions of Teton Da-kota horse travois used in buffalo days (Stansbury, 1852, p. 46;Boiler, 1868, p. 30; Prince Paul in Butscher, 1942, p. 209.)Probably the best comparative description of a horse travois is thatof the Hidatsa by Wilson (1924, pp. 275-276, figs. 98-101). Thisis a much simpler contrivance than that of the Blackfoot. Theshafts are short, extending only 8 inches forward of the hitch, whichis simply a rawhide line wrapped around one shaft, carried over theanimal's back and tied to the other shaft. The platform is an ovalhoop. This type of travois is also credited to the Mandan (ibid., p.283).Kroeber mentioned but did not describe the Arapaho horse travois(Kroeber, 1902-7, pp. 23-24), Journalist Evans of Colonel Dodge'sexpedition of 1835, observed that the Arapaho travois was made "bytying their lodge poles together, one on each side of a horse with crosspieces" (Evans, 1927, p. 210) . A photograph entitled "Arapaho Ra-tion Issue 1870" (Bureau of American Ethnology neg. No. 49-b) showsa number of true travois with platforms of the netted hoop type. Theexcellent old photograph of a Cheyemie true travois reproducedon plate 6, a, shows short shafts and netted hoop platform. The hitchis hidden by the rider of the travois horse. This type of travois ap-pears also in the native Cheyenne drawing, plate 6, h.My Kiowa informants explained that the Kiowa made relativelylittle use of the travois for carrying camp equipment. The shaftswere short and did not cross in front. They were made of cottonwood Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE HI or cedar. The platform was composed of primary struts only laidtransversely of the shafts and parallel to one another. The hitchwas two rawhide cords. Each was passed through a hole burned in ashaft, similar to the holes burned in Blackfoot lodgepoles, and tiedto the saddle pommel.Positive information on the occurrence of the true travois amongother Plains tribes is lacking. The scattered data mentioned above,however, are sufficient to show clearly that this vehicle was not stand-ardized throughout the area. Variants in shafts, hitch, and loadingplatform occurred. Even among related Dakota tribes several vari-ants were present. The simplest construction involved the use of afew primary struts for a loading platform and a hitch achievedby tying the shafts to the prongs of the saddle pommel. The Black-foot type gives the impression of being the strongest and most care-fully plamied travois. Its hitch and loading platform were relativelycomplex. Its use apparently was shared by the Sarsi. Curiouslyenough a photograph of a Gros Ventres horse travois, taken by DanDutro on Milk River in 1890 (in Montana Historical Society Library)resembles the Hidatsa type in its short shafts and netted hoop plat-form, although its pole wrappings suggest the use of the Blackfoottype hitch. In the light of the wider distribution of the simplervariants of the travois the Blackfoot type appears to have been aspecialized one, presumably of later development. It is possible thatthe Blackfoot themselves may have used a simpler form of travoisprior to the middle of the 19th century.The simplest form of true travois seems to have been only slightlymore specialized as a transport vehicle than the improvised travoiscomposed of a temporary platform tied between bundles of lodgepoleson which children and/or camp equipment were carried. Catlin'spainting of a Teton Dakota camp on the move, executed in 1832, showsthe improvised type in use (U. S. N. M. No. 386460). It also appearsin his painting of a Comanche camp on the move, done 2 years later(U. S. N. M. No. 386447). Lieutenant Albert apparently saw the im-provised travois with a "basket" fixed between the lodgepoles in use byan Apache camp seen near Fort Bent in the summer of 1845 (Abert,1846, p. 10). In the next year Garrard observed Southern Cheyennemoving camp near Fort Bent. A "tray shaped basket or hoop, lat-ticed with hide thongs" was tied between the two bundles of trailinglodgepoles for carrying children and household articles (Garrard,1927, p. 52). Although Skinner (1926, p. 280) claimed the Iowa hadthe travois, his description of their vehicle as a means of moving "tipis bundled on their own poles" suggests that it was of the im-provised variety. Wilson (1924, p. 197) described the use of theimprovised travois among the Hidatsa and pointed out the danger of 112 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 springing the lodgepoles if too heavy loads were carried on them.These data indicate that the improvised travois probably had a widerdistribution than the true travois, and that a nmnber of tribes usedboth, just as the Blackfoot did.The dome-shaped, willow frame, sunshade placed on the platformof either the true or improvised travois had a wide distribution. Itis shown in the illustrations of Cheyenne and Dakota travois pre-viously mentioned. It was mentioned in Parker's description of thelitter employed in transporting the Comanche chief. Maximilian, in1833, saw these "semi-globular, transparent wickerpanniers" in useamong the Yankton Dakota (Maximilian, 1906, vol. 22, p. 309).Stansbury saw this "Light wicker canopy" on Teton Dakota travoisin 1849 (Stansbury, 1852, p. 46). Kiowa informants said women oftheir tribe made these frames of dogwood. Apparently this accessorywas almost as widely used as was the improvised travois.The practice of dragging lodgepoles, divided into equal bundlessuspended at the sides of a horse or mule, their butt ends draggingon the ground, appears to have been universal among tipi-using tribesof the Plains. My limited field data suggest that even the hitch wassimilar to that of the Blackfoot. Both Oglala and Kiowa informantsstated that their tribes burned holes near the small ends of the poles,through which they were strung with rawhide lines. The Hidatsaused a red-hot iron about the size of a lead pencil to burn the holesabout 2 feet from the ends of the poles (Wilson, 1924, pp. 193, 278-279,figs. 35, 105, 108) .?^PRINCIPAL ITEMS OF LUGGAGE CARRIED BY PACK ANIMALSTHE PARFLECHEThe parfleche was much used as a container for carrying possessionson packhorses. This folded envelope of tough, long-wearing, water-proof rawhide was capable of considerable expansion when packed.Its construction and decoration by the Blackfoot have been describedin detail (Wissler, 1910, pp. 79-82; Ewers, 1945 b, pp. 16-18). Itsgeneral form and method of folding is shown in figure 20.Although some parfleches were carried on the travois when campwas moved they were most commonly transported in matched pairs,one each side of a packhorse. Hence they were generally made in " A number of early illustrations have been published showing horses or mules dragginglodgepoles in this general manner. (See Bushnell, 1922, fig. 3, for Teton; Ross, 1951, pi.66 for Pawnee, and pi. 128 for Shoshonl ; and Whipple, 1856, p. 21, for Kiowa.) An oldstereopticon view in the flies of the Division of Ethnology, U. S. National Museum, depictsOmaha use of this method. The picture is corroborated by the description in Fletcherand La Flesche (1911, p. 275). Curtis (1909, vol. 4, p, 226) described this method oftransport as used by the Cheyenne. Pierre Pichette said the Flathead moved their lodge-poles in this manner while on prolonged winter hunts east of the Rockies. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 113 5u 114 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Hull, 159 pairs, identical in size and decoration. Wissler (1910, p. 81) foundthat the average size of Blackfoot parfleches in the collections of theAmerican Museum of Natural History at that time was 60 cm. inlength by 38 cm. in width. Probably the great majority of those speci-mens were made since the days when parfleches were in general usein moving camp. However, there is no indication that the sizes orproportions of Blackfoot parfleches changed materially after theseIndians settled on reservations. Parfleches were painted only on theflaps, the only portions visible when they were transported by pack-horse. Thus use served to determine the field of decoration.Blackfoot informants declared that there were two methods ofattaching the parfleche to the horse in use among their people. Theyare illustrated in figure 20. The method claimed to have been theoldest among the Blackfoot is shown at the left (&, V). Two holeswere burned with a hot iron near the center of each long side of eachpai-fleche, through which short cords of rawhide were passed and tied.A band of rawhide about 1 inch broad was passed around the horse'sbelly outside the parfleches and through these loops to bind the casestight to the sides of the animal. Then the topmost cord loops of thetwo parfleches were tied together to prevent the cases from slipping.The other method was one that Weasel Tail said was adopted fromthe Crow, although he could not give the time of its adoption. In thismethod two sets of holes were burned in one long side of the parfleche,longer rawhide cords were passed through them and over the horn ofthe saddle (fig. 20, I have seen no Blackfoot kettle cases ; however, there Is a Crow specimen In theU. S. National Museum, which is illustrated in plate 9, a. Denig (1953, p. 36) reportedthat in the mid-19th century the Crow carried kettles, pots, pans, etc. In Individual sackswith cords attached by which they were tied to a horse's pack. Frank Bosin said theKiowa wrapped their kettles in soft buckskin, then tied them to packhorse loads whenmoving camp. ** In 1846, Garrard (1927, p. 52) saw Southern Cheyenne transporting stone hammers,skin-dressing tools, wooden bowls, and horn spoons in "square" rawhide bags slung on eachHide of pack mules. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 137 over the saddle horn of a wife's saddle. Drums usually were wrappedin the bedding on the travois to prevent damage to them.War bonnets and small medicine bundles were carried in cylindricalrawhide cases (p. 119 and fig. 23, a), over the rear horn of a woman'ssaddle by the wife of the owner.*^ Larger bundles, such as the natoasand beaver bundles were carried on the travois, led by the principalwife of the owner. The medicine pipe bundle, according to tradition,was carried in its special, fringed rawhide case over the back of themedicine pipe man. However, in my informant's youth it was carriedon a separate horse led by the pipe owner, or even on the travois, ontop of bedding, led by the owner's wife. ^VEAP0NSWomen carried knives in rawhide sheaths at their belts while mov-ing camp. These were their only defensive weapons. Men, unencum-bered by any baggage, carried their fighting weapons and ammuni-tion, ready to meet any unexpected attack.*^CHILDRENThe elaborately decorated cradle was a luxury item among theBlackfoot in buffalo days. Women who were lucky enough to ownthem carried their infants in cradles hung from the front horns oftheir saddles. Most women carried their babies on their backs,wrapped in part of an old lodge cover and inside the mother's buffalorobe. Toddlers often rode on the travois. A family with severalchildren might fold a large buffalo hide like a box, its sides heldupright by parfleches, and place the children in the center. Whentired of riding the children got off the travois and ran for a while.The willow sunshade also was employed on the travois to transportchildren and puppies. Boys and girls 5 years of age or older rodehorseback alone, the less experienced riders tied in the saddle toprevent their falling. If a family owned few horses the childrenmight ride double, or even triple on a single horse.^^ ^ Frank Bosin said the Kiowa used tubular rawhide cases for holding war bonnets only.They preferred rawhide cases of the rectangular type for other sacred objects. "?< Denig (1953, p. 36) said the Crow wife carried her husband's medicine bag and shield,as well as his sword, if he owned one. Her husband carried his gun and accouterments.Grinnell (1923, vol. 1, p. 128) reported that Cheyenne men carried only their arms whencamp was on the move. La V6rendrye (1927, p. 317) observed that when the horselesHAssiniboln moved camp in 1738, the men carried "only their arms." *? All of these methods of transporting children were used by other tribes. Their prac-tice of tying young children in the saddle or on a packhorse's load has been cited (p. 67).Miller in 1S37, depicted a cradle hung to the saddle bow of a woman's horse. The water-color is not trlbally identified (Ross, 1951, pi. 9, and description on opposite page).Garrard (1927, p. 52) did not mention use of baby cradles by the Southern Cheyenne campwhose movement he witnessed in 1546. Rather he said mothers carried their infants ontheir backs, inside their robes. The travois (true or makeshift) was used for transportingchildren by the Eastern Apache (Abert, 1846, p. 10), Hidatsa-Mandan (Boiler, 1868, p.177), Iowa (Skinner, 1926, p. 280), Teton (Prince Paul in Butscher, 1942, p. 209), Yankton(Maximilian, 1906, vol. 21, pp. 309-310), Southern Arapaho (Michelson, 1933, p. 597), andSouthern Cheyenne (Garrard, 1927, p. 52). 138 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159The travois also served the Blackfoot as a vehicle for transportingthe aged, too feeble to ride horseback, as well as the sick and wounded.^WEIGHTS AND LOADSIn 1908, H. W. Daly, chief packer. Office of the Quartermaster-General, recommended a load of 250 pounds for an Army pack muleweighing not less than 850 pounds, traveling 20 to 25 miles a day underordinary conditions or 10 to 15 miles a day over rough and moun-tainous country (Daly, 1908, pp. 134, 136) . I estimate that a fair loadfor an Indian pony, weighing approximately 700 pounds, would havebeen about 200 pounds under similar conditions.Boiler (1868, p. 30), an experienced trader, said the Teton Dakotacarried "from 250 to 300 pounds" on the travois. Stanley (1855, p.449) observed that the Piegan transported "often three hundredpounds" on their travois. The limit for the travois load dragged bythe small Indian pony must have been about 300 pounds. I estimatethat the lodgepole-dragging horse could pull a load of poles weighinga little more than that of the packhorse but less than that of thetravois load. The awkwardness of the load and the friction of themany dragging poles combined to restrict the transport capacity of thepole-dragging animal. HORSE NEEDS FOR THE AVERAGE FAMHiTWe are now in a position to estimate the number of horses requiredby an average Blackfoot family in the mid-19th century. Our hypo-thetical average family would number 2 grown males, 3 grown females,and 3 children.?^After discussing the horse needs for a family of this size with a halfdozen elderly informants (separately), I concluded that a family "should have had" 12 horses, as follows: 1 horse to carry the lodgecover and its accessories ; 2 horses to drag the lodgepoles ; 2 horses forpacking meat, miscellaneous foods, and equipment ; 3 horses to carrythe women and infants (at least 2 of which would pull travois) ; 2common riding horses for the men ; and 2 trained buffalo runners forthe men. None of these horses would then have to pull or carry heavierloads than those indicated above as fair loads for Indian ponies.However, this estimate makes no allowance for additional horses to ^ Probably this was widespread Plains Indian practice. Prince Paul (in Butscher,1942, p. 209) noted Teton Daliota use of the travois to transport "ancient squaws" acentury ago. Comparative data on travois use in carrying sick and wounded have beencited (p. 108). ** I have derived these figures from Indian Agent Vaughan's estimate of an average of8 persons to the lodge among the three Blackfoot tribes in 1860. His figures also estimatedthat women somewhat outnumbered men, and children comprised roughly 40 percent of theBlackfoot population at that time (U. S. Comm. Ind. Affairs, 1860, p. 808). Ewers] THE HORSE EN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 139 replace any of the active animals in case of their death, injury, ortheft. A well-balanced herd would require 4 or 5 additional animals,which could be pressed into service to replace future losses, in order togive the family a sense of security.?^When we compare the number of horses informants thought theaverage family of 8 "should have" with the best estimates of thenumber of horses per lodge among the Blackfoot tribes in the mid-J9th century (see p. 21), we find a noticeable discrepancy. In theyear 1860 the person-horse ratio was nearer 1 : 1 rather than the 1 : 1^an average family "should have had." Consequently the averagefamily had to cut corners to get by with a smaller number of horses.This was done in a number of ways : (1) by overloading a smaller num-ber of pack animals (2) by employing a smaller number of commonriding horses (3) by making use of a single buffalo horse, and/or (4:)utilizing dog travois to carry meat and light equipment. By employ-ing a smaller number of transport and buffalo hunting horses thefamily restricted its possibilities of obtaining meat and of transport-ing food surpluses, something of special importance in the fall ofthe year in the period preceding the establishment of winter camp.Informants indicated that a young married couple with a baby orno children could make out with as few as 5 horses : 1 common saddlehorse and 1 buffalo runner for the husband, 2 pack horses to transportthe cover, poles, and accessories of a small lodge, and 1 travois horsefor the wife.^*However, a large family, comprising more than 5 adults and grow-ing children "should have had" 15 to 20 or more horses.My information indicates that in the average family all horses ex-cept buffalo rumiers were pressed into service when camp was moved.In the well-regulated household animals used for transporting thelodge and pack and travois horses were regularly assigned to thoseduties each time camp was moved. MOVING CAMP ON THE PART OF A WEALTHY FAMILYA wealthy family of average size owning 30, 50, or more horsesencountered little diflSculty in moving camp. The favorite wife di-rected packing of the household equipment. She generally rode asaddle horse carrying her husband's toilet articles, feather bonnetand/or other small medicine bundles over the horns of her fancy 8'Mishkln (1940, p. 20) estimated that a "well balanced herd of ideal size" for a Kiowafamily of five adults would comprise 10 pack animals, 5 riding animals, and 2 to 5 bufifalohorses. Differences between his figures and my Blackfoot estimates are apparent intransport, riding, and buffalo horse categories. Perhaps the relatively wealthy Kiowathought 5 buffalo horses were desirable. It is doubtful if they were necessary.*8Elkin (1940, p. 208) regarded "four or five horses" as "the indispensible minimumfor a man and wife ; two for riding and the rest for packing," among the Northern Arapaho. 140 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 15t) saddle. His dress clothing was packed in her double saddlebag. Herhorse was richly decorated with fine crupper and martingale. If thefamily possessed a large or important medicine bundle she transportedit on a travois, leading the travois horse behind her. Each of theother wives had a travois which she rode or led behind her from asaddle horse. Packhorses were available to transj^ort large quantitiesof meat and plant foods when moving to winter camp. Horses as-signed to lodge transport duties needed not to be heavily loaded.Additional horses were available to relieve sick or injured horses oftheir duties.The loose horses not needed for transport duty were driven byboys in the rear of the family group. Informants said the loose horsesof a wealthy man sometimes were "spread out as wide as the town ofBrowning" when camp was on the move. If the owner had no boysof his own or had not adopted a young man to lielp him with his horseshe would give boys of other families colts in return for their assistancein driving his horses when camp moved.*^ MOVING CAMP ON THE PART OF A POOR PAMILYWeasel Tail cited the case of a poor Blood Indian who owned butone horse. His lodge cover was the upper part of a rich man's dis-carded cover. His lodge was so small there was no room to hang atripod and kettle inside it. When camp moved he and his wife walked.She led the horse with a travois attached to it, on which were packedthe lodge cover and scanty family baggage. Their children rode onthe back of the travois horse on top of other baggage. The small,short lodgepoles of the dwelling were dragged by dogs. The familyowned no willow backrests, no dress clothing, and transported verylittle food. Informants indicated that this case was not unique.How^ever, most poor families tried to borrow horses from wealthyrelatives, chiefs, or men ambitious of becoming leaders and interestedin adding to the number of their supporters in return for favorsgranted. If the prospective borrower was known to be a lazy fellow,who remained in camp and would not join horse raids or attempt tobetter his condition through his own efforts, his request might berefused with some such comment as "Let him walk." The rebuke wasintended to shock him out of his laziness. Those who were poorthrough misfortune rather than inertia (because their horses had beenstolen by the enemy or lost through diseases or winter storms, or be-cause of the death or injury of a hunter) generally could get a loan '"The Nez Perc6 (Haines, 1939, p. 288) and Southern Cheyenne (Garrard, 1927, p. 53)also drove the loose horses of each family in a separate band when camp moved. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 141 of horses for moving camp. Wealthy horse owners among the Piegan,such as Many Horses and Sting}', were well remembered for theirgenerosity in loaning hoi-ses to the poor. According to a family tradi-tion, Buffalo Back Fat, head chief of the Blood Indians, sometimestold those who had borrowed horses from him to keep them when theysought to return the animals.?"^In the period of the serious mange epidemic among the Piegan (ca.1881) the loss of horses was so great that camp movements were seri-ously handicapped. Short Face said that the chief and other wealthymen of his band then went ahead with some other families of thecamp and, about noon, sent their horses back to transport the posses-sions of those left behind. In those difficult days dogs were exten-sively used for transport duties and many people walked.?^ COMPARATIVE DATA ON THE POOE IN HOKSESThe early literature contains several striking descriptions of themethods employed by the poor in horses among other tribes in movingcamp.Lewis and Clark wrote of the Lemhi Shoshoni in 1805 : . . . were he [the husband] so poor as to possess only two horses, he wouldride the best of them, and leave the other for his wives and children and theirbaggage ; if he had too many wives or too much baggage for the horse, the wiveswould have no other alternative but to follow him on foot ; they are not, however,often reduced to these extremities, for the stock of horses is very ample. [Coueir;.1893, vol. 2, p. 558.]Ferris described in greater detail the lot of the poor among theRocky Mountain Indians in general in 1832 :Those who are not so fortunate or wealthy as to possess the number of horsesrequisite, are obliged to walk or put enormous loads upon such as they mayown. In one instance, in the year 1832, I saw a mare loaded with, first?twolarge bales containing meat, skins, etc., on opposite sides of the animal, attachedsecurely to the saddle by strong cords ; secondly?a lodge, with the necessarypoles dragging on each side of her; thirdly?a kettle, axe, and sundry otherarticles of domestic economy ; fourthly?a colt too young to bear the fatigue oftravelling was lashed to one side; and finally?this enormous load was sur-mounted by a woman with three young children ; making in all sufficient to havefully loaded three horses, in the ordinary manner. Though this rather exceedsanything of the kind I ever saw, yet large loads, in like manner surmountedby women and children, colts and puppies, are often observed on their movingjaunts. [Ferris, 1940, p. 299.] ** Frank Bosin said the loaning of horses to the poor for use In moving camp was acommon practice among weaUhy Kiowa. ?* In 1819 the Long expedition reported a similar procedure among the Omaha, a triberelatively poor in horses. "They are sometimes so successful ... In the accumulationof meat, as to be obliged to make double trips, returning after midday for half the wholequantity, which was left in the morning" (James, 1823, vol. 1, p. 212). 142 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 Boiler (1868, pp. 124-125) was a member of a camp of Hidatsawhich traveled on a visit to the Assiniboin in the sixties. He observedthat one of the party was an old, lame Assiniboin returning to hispeople. He "had one horse and a travee, upon which his three chil-dren and all his worldly goods were transported. His squaw led thewretched animal" while the old man walked in the rear. They werefinally left behind the rest of the moving camp and did not catch upuntil the day after the others had reached their destination. Boilernoted that a squaw with three small children was also left ; she carriedone on her back and another in her arms, while the eldest trotted alongby her side. Some time after, a young Indian who had loitered be-hind came up and reported that the squaw had just killed the youngest "because it was too small to travel."Abandonment of the aged poor was common practice among manyof the nomadic tribes of the Upper Missouri (Denig, 1930, pp.576-577). However, both Denig (1953, p. 38) and Larocque (1910,p. 57) claimed the Crow were a notable exception to this rule. Bothwritei's credited the Crow custom of transporting the aged when campwas moved to their relative wealth in horses. Among the Pawnee(Dunbar, 1880, p. 328), Osage (Tixier, 1940, p. 140), and Sauk andFox (Forsyth in Blair, 1912, vol. 2, pp. 233-234), the aged and thepoor were left behind when the great majority of their tribesmen em-barked on prolonged buffalo hunts on horseback. Of the PlainsIndian tribes in general it may be safely stated that the aged werethe first to suffer from a shortage of horses.Next to suffer were the women. There can be no doubt that thehorse proved a great boon to women. The transport horse replacedthe pedestrian woman burden bearer as well as the dog travois. Thestatements quoted below support and underscore Phillip St. GeorgeCooke's generalization regarding the Plains Indians. "The husbandstrives to obtain wealth in horses to relieve his family of travellingon foot and carrying burdens" (Cooke, 1857, p. 117) .9^2 ^2 La V^rendrye noted that "the women and dogs carry all the baggage" among thehorseless Assiniboin whom he accompanied to visit the Mandan in 1738 (La V^rendrye.1927, p. 317). Later traders who met horse-using tribes of the western Plains commentedon the improvement in the status of women due to possession of horses. In 1772 Cocking(1908, p. Ill) stated that the Gros Ventres "use pacli-Horses, which give their Women agreat advantage over other Women who are either carrying or hauling sledges every dayin the year." Of the Crow, in 1805, Larocque (1910, p. 59) said, "The women are Indebtedsolely to their having horses for the ease they enjoy more than their neighbors."Bourgmont, in 1724, noted the heavy loads carried by Kansa women as well as their dogsand said they had difficulty marching because of the weight of their baggage. At thePadouca (Apache) village a Skidi Pawnee chief told Bourgmont he was eager to make peacewith the Padouca "to obtain horses which will help us to carry our belongings when wemove to our winter grounds, because our wives and children die under the burden when Ewers] THE HORSE IK BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 143 FORMATIONS ON THE MARCHJohn Mix Stanley (1855, pp. 448-449) observed that Low Horn'sPiegan village of 90 lodges en route to Fort Benton in September1853, was "drawn out in two parallel lines on the plains." The "chiefsand braves rode in front, flank and rear, ever ready for the chase ordefense against the foe." Informants claimed the use of advanceguards scouting for signs of game and the enemy, and of side andrear pickets was common in the movement of tribal and band campsamong Blackfoot tribes in their youth. Scouts sometimes traveledas far as 3 miles ahead of the main body, and flanking and rear guardssometimes were nearly as far distant from it. Scouts ascended hillsand rising ground the better to look out for game and foes. The mainbody was led by the medicine pipe man and the chief or chiefs withtheir families. Other camp members fell in behind them in familygroups (including travois, pack animals, riding animals, and loosehorses) . Sometimes the main body moved in single file, at other timeswith two or more families abreast, depending to some extent on thecharacter of the country traversed. Men not assigned to guard dutytraveled with their families and assisted the women in retrieving anybaggage that might become untied and fall to the ground. Not in-frequently lodgepoles wore through their suspension holes and hadto be retied.However, Weasel Tail stated that the ideal formation was not al-ways employed in band movements. Sometimes, when the band feltsecure from enemy attack, the side pickets were eliminated. The his-tory of Blackfoot warfare, however, suggests that it was at such timesthe enemy sometimes attacked with disastrous losses to the defenders.Brings-Down-the-Sun, the North Piegan chief, told McClintock(1910, p. 473 ff.) of a case when the camp was protected by frontand rear guards only while passing through hilly country. The CrowIndians attacked on the unprotected flanks and killed or capturedmany Piegan. On another occasion the Crow suffered a serious defeat we return" (Margry, 1876-86, vol. 6, pp. 414, 425). Forsyth (in Blair, vol. 2, p. 236)said of the Sauk and Fox in 1827, "if any carrying is obligpd to be done for want of horses,the women have to shoulder it." Omaha women (in 1819) loaded their horses and dogs,then took "as great a weight upon their own backs as they can conveniently transport."Among the horse-poor Omaha at that time "the greater portion of the young men andsquaws were necessarily pedestrian" (James, 1823, vol. 1, p. 205). In 1834 Zenas Leonardvisited a horseless "Bannock" village which journeyed to the Plains once a year to huntbuflfalo, where they remained "until they jerk as much meat as their females can lug homeon their backs" (Leonard, 1904, p. 148). Miller's watercolor of Pawnee Indians movingcamp (1837) portrays a number of women carrying heavy loads on their backs, as well asloaded horses and dog travois (Ross, 1951, p. 66). The Pawnee, of course, were poor Inhorses. 144 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull, 159 at the hands of the Blackfoot as a result of neglect of adequate scout-ing precautions (Denig, 1953, p. 48).^^THE NOON STOP FOR LUNCHOn days when camp was to move the Blackfoot usually were up atdawn, packed, and on the march before 8 o'clock. They breakfastedbefore getting underway. At noon the chief called a stop for a shortrest and lunch. Lunch generally was not a cooked meal but consistedof prepared meat, pemmican, or dried plant foods carried in rawhidecases by the women, suspended from the horns of their saddles. Ifpossible, the stop was made near water. Otherwise drinking waterwas carried along in paunch containers. The flanking guard partiescarried their own lunches and stopped to eat, holding their repectivepositions in relation to the main body. However, it was customaryfor the leader of each guard group to ride in to the main body toconsult with the chief during the noon stop. 9^4 CROSSING STREAMS EN ROUTE Blackfoot bands carried no bull boats or other watercraft for usein crossing rivers and deep streams while on the march. In the ISTO'sBradley (1923, p. 257) described their method of crossing streams: . . . they made a kind of float from the skin covering of the lodges, upon orwithin which their effects were placed, men, women, and children swimming,the warrioi-s towing the floats by a cord held in the mouth. Such horses as werefit for that service were also made to do duty in transporting their riders. Bythese means a village of 500 lodges would cross a considerable stream withinan hour's time. '^ The guarding of a moving camp by advance scouts, side pickets, and rear guard seemsto have antedated the acquisition of horses by the northern Plains tribes. La V^rendryewrote of the formation employed by the horseless Assiniboin with whom he journeyedto the Mandan villages in 1738, "The marching order of the Assiniboin villagers, especiallywhen they are numerous, is in three columns, the scouts in front, the wings (extendingback) to a good rearguard ; the old and disabled march in the main body which is In themiddle" (La V^rendrye, 1927, p. 317). The elder Henry's description of an Assiniboinmovement in 1776, involving a camp of about 200 lodges and over 500 dog travois, however,makes no mention of side pickets (Henry, 1809, p. 309). Larocque's earliest descriptionof the Crow (1805) mentioned their employment of advance scouts and rear guard, butno side pickets. Possibly the use of flanking pickets became more necessary after theintroduction of horses increased the mobility of potential attackers. In earlier times,when enemies of necessity approached more slowly on foot, there may have been less needfor flank protection. Nevertheless, flankers were employed to protect large camps on themove, even in La V^rendrye's time.In the 19th century, use of side, advance, and rear guards was common to both nomadicand horticultural Plains tribes as well as to the Plateau peoples when moving camp onbuffalo-hunting expeditions. The younger Henry (Henry and Thompson, 1897, vol. 1,pp. 369, 393) noted that the Hidatsa-Mandan employed this formation en route to andreturning from their visit to the Cheyenne in the summer of 1806. This formation hasalso been reported as characteristic of the Crow (Marquis, 1928, p. 144), Pawnee (Dunbar,1880, p. 328), Osage (Tixier, 1940, p. 166), Kiowa (Battey, 1875, pp. 185-186), andFlathead (Turney-HIgh, 1937, p. 117). ** Larocque's excellent description of Crow camp movement in 1805, points out that theCrow usually made a midday stop for lunch (Larocque, J 910). Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT ESTDIAN CULTURE 145 Informality added details to this description by stating that the lodgecovers were rolled up at the sides, baggage and children placed inthem, and the women swam along behind pushing the covers whilemen towed them from in front by ropes. The lodgepoles were placedunder the travois and bound to them to form crude rafts on whichbackrests and other luggage were transported over the water. Horsestowed these improvised rafts. Crossing a wide river, such as theMissouri, provided the Indians a noisy time. Horses whinnied, dogsyelped, people shouted. When the camp safely reached the otherside its members generally stopped for the day to dry their clothesand gear and to feast. In the absence of any contemporary drawingof Blackfoot methods of stream crossing I have reproduced Sohon'soriginal sketch of Flathead Indians traversing a stream as plate 10,The Flathead method was essentially the same as that employed bythe Blackfoot.^5The problem of management of horses in water must have con-fronted the Indians soon after they acquired their first horses. Hen-dry (1907, p. 351) observed that the "Archithinue" of the Saskatche-wan Plains were adept in the employment of horses in "swimmingbroad and deep rivers," in 1755. Yet Weasel Tail stated that in hisyouth a man was careful to choose a horse known to behave well inwater, if he attempted to ride across a stream. Otherwise he preferredto swim or to let his horse tow him across by holding on to the ani-mal's tail. Kane (1925, p. 76) observed this method of river crossingemployed by Blackfoot in 1848.*^ STOPS EN ROUTE BECAUSE OF BAIN If the moving camp was overtaken by a hard, sudden rainstorm enroute, they sought shelter in brush if any was near, built makeshiftshelters of a few bent willow branches in the generalized sweat-lodgepattern, covered them with buffalo robes, and remained inside untilthe storm moved on. If, however, the rain continued through the daythey would be forced to set up their lodges at or near that place. ARRIVAL AT NIGHT CAMPUsually the site for the night's camp was determined in advance bythe band chief on the basis of its known distance from the previous *? Father Mengarini (1938, pp. 16-17), and Major Owen (1927, vol. 1, p. 37) describedFlathead methods of crossing streams as employed In the mld-lSth century. Mandelbaum(1940, p. 196) found that Plains Cree horses were trained to pull "rafts" tied to theirtails, but he did not describe the rafts. Lowie (1922 a, p. 219) said the Crow made raftsof parallel tipl poles, spread hides over them, and placed the cargo on top. ** In 1806 the younger Henry (Henry and Thompson, 1897, vol. 1, p. 331) observedMandan young men swimming horses across the Missouri. "They fastened a line to thehorse's mouth, the end of which one of them took in his teeth, and swam ahead, whilstothers swam on e.nch side and in the rear, driving the animal very expeditiously."287944?55?11 146 BUREAU OF AJVIERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 150day's camp, and availability of wood, water, and wild grass. Whenthe chief reached this locality he selected a spot for his lodge or lodges.His women folk began unpacking and setting up his lodge.^^ Otherfamilies pitched their lodges around his, being careful not to scattertoo widely because of the danger of attack. Lodges in a band campwere not aligned in a circle, but were placed within a distance of about10 to 12 feet of one another in an otherwise unplanned cluster.The medicine pipe man placed his bundle on its tripod behind hislodge. The men smoked and conversed as the women unpacked, setup the lodges and prepared the evening meal. Boys who cared forthe horses were given their instructions by family heads. If therewere signs of the enemy a horse corral was built for their protectionat night. Generally the day's march ended in the middle or lateafternoon so that there was ample time before dark to erect the lodgesand make preparations for the night.MAKING OAMP WITHOUT WOOD OR WATERSometimes it was known in advance that night camp would haveto be made without wood or water. If no wood was available driedbuffalo chips were substituted for firewood. Buck brush or dried grasswere employed to start the chips burning.If a dry camp was anticipated water was carried along in buffalopaunches, about the necks of which willow sticks were woven to keepthe vessels round. Each vessel was closed at the top by tie strings orby a fitted rawhide cover. These vessels were transported tied tothe outer ends of travois platforms where the primary struts crossedthe shafts (fig. 26, h). Each family carried four or more paunchesdepending upon its size and the number of dogs and horses ownedHorses and dogs were watered by pouring the liquid into basin-shapedtroughs of rawhide. In the spring of the year large ponds of water,formed from melting snows, appeared in depressions in the Blackfootcountry, affording a ready supply of water in localities normally drythrough the summer and fall months. Little difficulty was experiencedin obtaining water in spring. 98 ?^Larocque's (1910, p. 61) description of Crow movements states that the principalchief "pitches his tent the first, all the others encamp about him." Frank Bosin said thiswas also Kiowa practice. *' Use of buffalo-paunch containers for carrying water on the march was common amongthe Plains Indians. In 1820, the Kiowa Apache were seen carrying water In buffalopaunches of 6 to 8 gallons capacity, closed at the tops by sticks passed through theirmargins. In camp the paunches were suspended from tripods of light poles (James, 1823,vol. 2, pp. 103, 108). The Hidatsa carried water for dogs in wood-skewered buffalopaunches, on dog travois (Wilson, 1924, p. 225, fig. 58). A Kiowa buffalo-paunch watervessel Is on exhibition in the Southern Plains Indian Museum, Anadarko, Okla. Specimensfrom the Gros Ventres and Mandan are on exhibition In the American Museum of NaturalHistory, New York City. A drawing by a Southern Cheyenne artist, showing a paunchvessel tied to a travois for transport in the manner employed by the Blackfoot Is repro-duced on plate 6, 5. This drawing (U. S. N. M, No. 166,032) was collected by H. R. Vothin 1889. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 147 DISTANCES TRAVELED PER DAYMany factors determined the distance of the day's march. Weatherconditions, the terrain traversed (whether hilly or relatively level,and the number and sizes of watercourses to be crossed), availabilityof game, relative fear of enemies in the neighborhood, as well as theIndians' relative desire for hurry, all influenced the speed of move-ment and distance covered. Informants said that on some daysband camps made no more than 5 miles, stopping for the day at noon.A normal day's march was about 10 to 15 miles. Yet in the springof the year, when the Indians were eager to leave their winter campson the Marias to obtain fresh buffalo meat, they made as far as theSweetgrass Hills in a day, a distance of at least 18 miles. Mrs.Cree Medicine recalled that her band, in a hurry to obtain rations atOld Agency, traveled from the site of the earlier Agency north ofChoteau to Old Agency on Badger Creek in 1 day and about 6 hours.The country traversed is hilly and crossed by several small streams.Yet they made this journey of nearly 50 miles in less than 2 days.If a band believed there was danger from the enemy they traveledrapidly, continued after dark, and made 25 or more miles a day.^^ 99 Although Turney-High (1937, p. 116) reported that the Flathead traveled 30 milesa day, average estimates for the Crow (Denig, 1953, p. 36), Nez Perc6 (Haines, 1939, p. 68),and Kiowa (informants) were given as 10 to 15 miles in a day's travel. Dunbar (1880,pp. 328-329) estimated the daily marches of the Pawnee on their buffalo hunts at "fromeight to twenty miles," explaining that in winter they did not begin their march as earlyas in warmer weather, when they set out at dawn, or sooner. They ended the day's marchbetween noon and nightfall "as circumstances dictated." By comparison it is noteworthythat Coronado, in his final march to Quivera with 30 picked men, averaged 10 miles perday (Bolton. 1949, p. 286). White muleteers on the old Santa Fe Trail considered ajornado (day's march) about 12 to 15 miles (Inman, 18&9, p. 57).The most valuable comparative description of camp movements by a nomadic PlainsIndian tribe is contained in Laroque's journal of his 2% months' travels with the Crowfrom the Hidatsa villages on the Missouri, via the eastern base of the Big Horns, to theirmedicine lodge site on the Yellowstone near present Billings, Mont., June to September,1805. In 76 days camp was moved 47 times (roughly 2 of every 3 days). The greatestdaily distance recorded was 24 miles, the smallest 3 miles. The median distance traversedon days camp moved was 9% miles. On most travel days the Crow started early In themorning and traveled until afternoon, stopping at noon for lunch. Night camps weremade beside streams, and most of the days' travels were along or between watercourses.With one or two exceptions the Crow did not move camp during rain. On several daysrain either delayed the start or caused an early stop. Delays of a day or more en routewere caused by inclement weather (rain), serious illness in camp, stops to hunt (althoughparties of men frequently hunted at a distance while the main body moved), to dry meat,to tan hides after a hunt, and to dry tongues for the medicine lodge ; to rest in securitywhile scouts reconnoitered ahead fearing the presence of enemies ; to cut ash whips ; andto settle a disagreement among leaders as to the route to be followed. Another day's stopwas made to rest the horses as soon as they reached a locality offering good pasture after2 days' march across barren country. Laroque's journal probably affords a better under-standing of the day-to-day rhythm of camp movement and the factors conditioning thismovement than any other known document on the nomadic tribes of the Plains (Larocque,1910). THE HORSE IN HUNTINGBUFFALO IN THE BLACKFOOT COUNTRYFrom the time of the first explorations of the Blackfoot Countryby Whites until the decade of the 1870's this region was abundantlystocked with buffalo. Anthony Hendry, the first white man knownto have visited the Saskatchewan Plains, made frequent mention ofthe "Great Plenty of Buffalo" he saw there in the fall of 1754(Hendry, 1907, pp. 329-337). Lewis and Clark, the first Americanexplorers of the Blackfoot Country, marveled at the "vast quantitiesof buffalo" seen by them on their westward journey from the GreatFalls of the Missouri to the Gates of the Mountains in June and July,1805 (Coues, 1893, vol. 2, pp. 364-418). Captain Lewis passed "suchimmense quantities of buffalo that the whole seemed a single herd"on his quick trip northward to the vicinity of the present BlackfeetReservation in July 1806. A few days earlier he had seen buffalo onSun River "in such numbers that there could not have been fewerthan 10,000 within a circuit of two miles" (ibid., vol. 3, pp. 1081,1088). In 1855 Governor Stevens claimed "the quantity of buffalo"between Fort Union and the Rockies was "almost inconceivable"(Stevens, 1860, p. 239) . In September of that year Lieutenant Mullensreported that "innumerable herds of buffalo" were feeding in theJudith Basin, while at the same time John Mix Stanley saw "numer-ous herds" grazing near the Sweetgrass Hills and northward to MilkRiver (Stevens, 1860, p. 123; Stanley, 1855, p. 447). While travelingfrom the Musselshell River to Fort Browning on Milk River inMarch, 1870, Peter Koch noted that "for a distance of forty miles Ido not think we were ever out of easy rifle shot of buffalo" (Koch,1896, p. 302) . In the summer of 1874, W. J. Twining, chief astrono-mer and surveyor for the International Boundary Survey, observedthat the Plains between the Sweetgrass Hills and the Rockies andsouthward to Fort Benton was "literally black" with buffalo. Heconsidered the Sweetgrass Hills to have been the center of the feedingground of the great northern buffalo herd at that time. He believedthis great herd then ranged from the Missouri River north to theSaskatchewan (Twining, 1878, pp. 63-64, 282).Yet by the fall of 1879, only 5 years later, the buffalo had been ex-terminated in the Canadian portion of the Blackfoot Country exceptfor a few small bands of stragglers (Denny, 1939, pp. 130-131, 142-143) . That winter the Blackfoot made their last great buffalo hunt148 Ewers) THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 149 south of the Missouri in the Judith Basin. The next winter's huntwas unsuccessful. Richard Sanderville claimed the last wild buffaloin the Blackfoot Country were killed by a party of Piegan huntersnear the Sweetgrass Hills in 1884.The contemporary observations (quoted above) confirm the claimsof my aged informants that buffalo were plentiful in the BlackfootCountry in their youth (the late 1860's and early 1870's). As Horna-day's historical map of the extermination of the buffalo graphicallyillustrates, the Blackfoot Country was the last buffalo hunting groundof the Plains Indians (Hornaday, 1889).BLACKFOOT USES OF THE BUFFALONearly a century ago Indian Agent Vaughan wrote that the buffalowas "the staff' of life" of the Blackfoot (U. S. Comm. Ind. Affairs,1858, p. 435). Frequent repetition of this phrase has not dulled itsessential truth. Throughout their known history the Blackfoot haveshown a striking preference for the meat of a single animal. Theircurrent desire for beef, almost to the exclusion of any other meat,probably is a survival from the days when the buffalo was their com-mon food. Not only did they consume it in great quantities but anumber of the parts were avidly devoured during butchering, withoutbenefit of cookery. These were the liver, brains, kidneys, the softgristle of the nose, the blood, and the marrow from hg bones. Oldermen ate the testicles raw, claiming they made them healthy and virile.The contents of the intestines of newborn calves were considered deli-cacies for the aged of both sexes. An informant spoke of this foodas "the Indians' cheese." All fleshy parts of the buffalo were cooked,although the Blackfoot showed a decided preference for the tongueand ribs. Buffalo figured prominently in the diet of Blackfoot In-dians of all ages. As Maximilian (1906, vol. 23, p. 133) noted in 1833,Blackfoot mothers gave infants choice pieces of buffalo meat to suck.Toothless old people sucked the juices in the same way. Quantitiesof dried meat and pemmican were pounded for winter use. In timesof food scarcity even the grease-soaked bags which had contained fator pemmican were eaten to stave off' starvation.The nonfood uses of the buffalo in Blackfoot material culture weremore numerous than any previously published list of the many usesof this animal by Indians of the Plains would indicate. Therefore,I have listed these uses below. This list includes only items men-tioned by informants in the course of my specialized field studies ofaspects of Blackfoot material culture. A more exhaustive search forrare usages probably would increase this list of some 87 items to morethan 100. This list serves to illustrate not only Blackfoot dependenceupon the buffalo but also their ingenuity in utilizing buffalo products. 150 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159In a sense many of the materials employed were byproducts of thechase. The Blackfoot hunted buffalo primarily for food and hides.Animals killed for those purposes offered ample amounts of the otherbodily parts utilized. Considerable ingenuity was employed in re-using old lodge covers (especially the upper portions that had becomesoftened and rendered rain resistant from the smoke of lodge fires). Nonfood uses of the buffalo in Blackfoot material cultureClothing : Winter robes, for both sexes (hair lined).Winter caps, with earlaps, for both sexes (hide with the hair).Winter moccasins, for both sexes ( hair lined ) . Winter leggings, for both sexes (skin, tops of old lodges).Winter mittens, for both sexes (hair lined).Winter shirts, for boys and men (skin, tops of old lodges) . Winter coats, for boys and men (hide with the hair).Winter dress, girls and women (skin, tops of old lodges).Short winter cape, for girls and women (hair inside).Winter "underpants" for girls and women (calfskin).Spring moccasins, for both sexes (tops of old lodges).Hock moccasins (from rear legs, worn by war party members whose sup-ply of moccasins were worn out).Moccasin soles, both sexes (rawhide, used especially for repairing soft-soled moccasins).Belts, both sexes (rawhide).Breechclothes, males (tops of old lodges).Headdress ornaments (hair and horns).Lodge and furnishings : Lodge covers (cowskin).Lodge doors (cowskin).Lodge linings (cowskins).Bed covers (robes, with the hair).Lodge ornaments (hair and tail).Weajwns : Shields (rawhide, from bull's neck).Bow backings (twisted bull sinew).Bow strings (twisted bull sinew).Arrowhead and feather wrappings (sinew).Powder flasks (horn).Cover and hafting of stone-headed warclubs (rawhide).Ornaments for clubs (hair or beard).Knife sheaths (rawhide).Tools, utensils, and crafts media : Arrow straighteners (boss rib).Fleshing tools (tibia and part of femur).Meat and berry pounders' hafting (rawhide).Mauls' hafting (rawhide).Emergency kettles (rawhide).Water buckets (paunch).Spoons (horn).Cups (horn).Ladles (horn). Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 151 Tools, utensils, and crafts media?ContinuedFuel (dung).Fly brushes (tail on stick).Glue, used in arrow making (boiled phallus).Skin softening agents (brains, fat, and liver).Thread (sinew, occasionally rawhide).Pipe-polishing medium (fat).Paint-mixing medium (fat).Paint brushes (hip bone or shoulder blade) . Quill flattener (horn).Tool for dehairing rope, (skull).Riding and transport gear :Frame-saddle covering (rawhide).Pad-saddle covering (soft skin).Pad-saddle stuffing (hair).Saddle-rigging straps (rawhide).Stirrup coverings (scrotum or rawhide).Martingales, simple form (rawhide).Cruppers, simple form (rawhide).Parfleches (rawhide).Rectangular saddlebags (rawhide).Cylindrical saddlebags (rawhide).Dougle-bags ( rawhide ) . "Gros Ventres bags" (soft skin).Tobacco pouches (calfskin).Berry bags (unborn calfskin).Bi-idles (rawhide or hair).Honda ring (horn).Hackamores (rawhide).Lariats (rawhide).Picket ropes (rawhide).Hobbles (rawhide).Saddle blankets (skin or robe).Saddle housings (robe).Travois hitches (rawhide).Pole hitches (rawhide).Miscellaneous tie strings (rawhide).Horse blankets (robe, or top of old lodge).Horse-watering troughs (rawhide).Horseshoes (rawhide).Recreational equipment : Boys' sleds (rib runners, skin seat).Girls' sleds (large pieces rawhide).Ball stuffing (hair).Hoop and pole game hoop netting (i-awhide).Ceremonial and religious paraphernalia : Sun Dance altars (skull).Bindings for Sun Dance lodge rafters (strips of hide with hair).Rattles (hoofs and rawhide).Horse masks (skin and horn).Winding sheets for dead (skin or robe).Beaver bundle headdress (hide with hair).Matoki (Woman's Society) headdresses (hide with hair). 152 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 15S>BUFFALO HUNTING SEASONSAlthough buffalo were considered fair game by the Blackfootthroughout the year, these Indians recognized seasonal differences inthe quality of meat and the utility of hides. Throughout most of theyear the meat of bulls was tough and unpalatable compared with thatof cows. For that reason the Indians showed a marked preference forkilling cows save in the early summer when bulls were prime. Theyrecognized the approach of the bull hunting season when they sawthe yellow flowers of so-called "tooth grass" (probably Thermopsixmontana^ the mountain-goldenpea). In the warm sunmier months,when buffalo hair was short, skins were taken for lodge covers andthe numerous other articles made from soft-dressed skins or rawhide.Cows were at their best in fall, when "spear grass" (probably Stiyacomata^ needle-and-thread) was spread out. This was the period ofintensive hunting to secure winter meat supplies, ending in the im-pounding of buffalo at sites near winter camps shortly before theapproach of heavy winter (i. e., in November and December). Itwas only during the cold months, November throngli February, thatbuffalo hair was long. That was the season for killing buffalo toobtain robes for the fur trade and for Indian use in making coldweather garments and bedding. Calves, generally born in May, werehunted shortly thereafter.Attention was partially diverted from hunting for two short periodsin spring and fall. In spring and early summer roots were dug; infall berries were collected. These seasons coincided with the onesduring which the horticultural tribes of the Plains also were con-cerned primarily with plant foods. During the winter months thehorticultural Oto, Omaha, Pawnee, Kansa, Osage, and Sauk and Foxof the 19th century were absent from their permanent villages, hunt-ing buffalo as did the nomadic tribes. In spring they returned totheir semipermanent villages to plant their crops. In summer theyagain resorted to the chase, returning to their villages in fall toharvest their crops and again set out on the long winter hunt. Thesetribes' practice of agriculture and seasonal occupation of semiperma-nent villages distinguished them from the nomadic tribes of thePlains. Nevertheless, throughout the greater part of the year theylived in portable dwellings as nomadic buffalo hunters like their non-horticultural neighbors.^ * The following sources describe the seasonal movements of these tribes: Oto (Dodge,1836, p. 5 ; Wliitmau, 1937, p. 7) ; Omaha (James, 1823, vol. 1, pp. 201-202 ; Fletcher andLa Flesche, 1911, pp. 270-271) ; Pawnee (James, 1823, vol. 1, pp. 445-446; Dunbar, 1880,pp. 276-277) ; Kansa (Wedel, 1946, p. 18), Osage (Morse, 1822, p. 205; Cooke, 1857, pp.121-122) ; Sauk and Fox (Morse, 1822, pp. 126-127; Forsyth in Blair, 1912, vol. 2, pp. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 153THE BUFFALO HORSEGreat care was taken by the Blackfoot in selecting and traininga buffalo hunting horse. This animal was the man's primary charger,ridden only in hunting, to war, and on dress occasions. Informantsnamed five qualities sought in a buffalo runner: (1) enduring speed(the ability to retain speed over a distance of several miles) ; (2) intel-ligence (the ability to respond instantly to commands or to act prop-erly on its own initiative) ; (3) agility (ability to move quickly along-side a buffalo, to avoid contact with the larger animal, and to keep clearof its horns) ; (4) sure-footedness (ability to run swiftly over unevenground without stumbling) ; and (5) courage (lack of fear of buffalo).Usually a man selected the horse he wished to train as a buffalo hunteron the basis of its demonstrated swiftness and alertness. A 4-year-oldwas preferred, but a man who owned few horses might select a horsea year younger. The horse's courage could be determined onlythrough experience in chasing buffalo. Some horses never overcametheir fear of those large, shaggy beasts, and could not be trained ashunters. It took patient practice and use of the whip to train a horseto run close beside a buffalo.- The courageous horse, through experi-ence, learned to follow the buffalo, move in close and "do its work" withlittle urging from its owner, so that the latter could concentrate uponmaking his kill. A well-trained buffalo horse would turn as the ridershifted his weight to one side, or in response to pressure from therider's knee. Most buffalo runners were males, although some maresmade good hunting horses.Many Blackfoot men regarded their buffalo horses as priceless pos-sessions. They would not trade them or give them away. In trade abuffalo runner of known ability would bring several common riding 233-234). It is most probable that this seasonal hunting-cuUivating rhythm of thehorticultural tribes of the Plains antedated their acquisition of horses. Before 1700Nicholas Perrot (Blair, 1912, vol. 1, p. 119) reported that the tribes of the northernPrairies set out on buffalo-hunting expeditious each autumn after they had harvestedtheir crops, returaed to their villages in March to plant "the grain," then embarked on ahunting trip. The De Cannes Memoir (Pease and Werner, 1934 b, p. 339-344) describedthe same seasonal rhythm among the horticultural Illinois in 16S8.The Mandan of the Upper Missouri were more sedentary, not because they did notobserve the same seasonal rhythm, but because buffalo were numerous near their wintervillages making prolonged hunting trips at that season unnecessary (Maximilian, 1906,vol. 23, p. 345). " In writing of the Coronado expedition to the Plains in 1541, Castenada noted, "therewas not one of the horses that did not take fright when he saw them (buffalo) first"(Winship, 1896, p. 542). Yet M'Gillivray (1929, p. 29) wrote of the Indian-trained buffalohorse of the North Saskatchewan in 1794, "he delights in the pleasure of the chace, andis so animated at the sight of a Band of animals that he can scarcely he restrained frompursuing them." During Captain Clark's journey down the Yellowstone in the fall of1805, the loose horses driven by Sergeant Pryor sighted a herd of buffalo, and "havingbeen trained by the Indians to hunt, immediately set off in pursuit of them, and surroundedthe herd with almost as much skill as their riders could have done" (Coue.", 1893, vol. 3,p. 1148). 154 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 horses or transport animals. Only a race horse of tested speed wouldhave greater value than a well-trained buffalo horse.^Buffalo runners of the Blackfoot were given special care. ThreeCalf recalled that his father, who owned several buffalo horses, wouldnot permit boys to catch, ride, or play with any of them. After achase a buffalo horse was taken to a stream, w^ater was thrown on it,and it was rubbed down. Some men made a practice of throwing wateron their buffalo horses every morning and evening to toughen them andprepare them for hard winters. Before setting out on a chase thehunter's wife carefully prepared his mount for him. She met him onhis return, took his horse from him and cared for it.*METHODS OF BUFFALO HUNTING ON HORSEBACKTwo general methods of hunting buffalo on horseback were em-ployed by the Blackfoot; the surround, and the chase (referred to insome accounts as "running buffalo").The surround method employed a considerable number of horse-men to encircle a herd of buffalo, start them milling in a circle, andshoot down the frightened and confused animals as they rode aroundthem. Wissler (1910, p. 37) reported Blackfoot use of the surround.The classic description and illustration of this method are from thehand of George Catlin (Catlin, 1841, vol. 1, pp. 199-201, and pi. 79).His original painting of a Hidatsa surround is in the United StatesNational Museum (No. 386,394).'^The chase was a straightaway rush by mounted men, each huntersingling out an animal from the herd, riding alongside it and killingit at close quarters, then moving on to another animal and killing itm like manner. The Blackfoot seem to have virtually abandoned thesurround in favor of the chase around the middle of the 19th century.During the last two decades of buffalo hunting (i. e. in the youth ofmy older informants) the chase alone was employed as a method of * In 1806 Henry wrote that among the Hidatsa "first-rate horses, such as are trainedfor war, or noted for running, can hardly be had for any quantity of goods. The onlyarticle that will induce them to part with a horse of this Itind is a white buffalo hide"(Henry and Thompson, 1897, vol. 1, p. 353). Marcy (1937, pp. 156, 158) found theComanche refused to part with their buffalo horses. Frank Bosin told me the Kiowararely would trade a buffalo horse. He stressed the point that such horses were necessaryto their livelihood and pointed out that horses not specially trained for buffalo huntingwere incapable of that activity. * This seems to have been common Plains Indian practice. It was reported of theCrow as early as 1S05 (Larocque, 1910, p. 59), of the Hldatsa-Mandan (Boiler. 1868,p. 232), Osage (Tixier, 1940, p. 170), and Comanche (Marcy, 1937, p. 157). Assiniboinwomen rubbed down the returning buffalo horse with sage before it was allowed to graze(Long, 1942, p. 171). "As early as 1750, Father Vivier briefly described the Pawnee surround on horseback. "They hunt on horseback with arrows and spears ; they surround a herd of cattle, and butfew escape" (Jesuit Relations, vol. 69, p. 227). Wissler reported the use of the surroundby the Mandan, Arikara, Arapaho, Omaha, and Cheyenne also (Wissler, 1910, p. 50). Hesaid it was employed by "the southern tribes generally." Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 155 killing buffalo from horseback. The tendency toward the abandon-ment of the surround may have been plainswide. Certainly the bestcontemporary descriptions of that method are found in writings ofthe period ante-1850.?The chase had definite advantages over the surround. It wascertainly less dangerous. It made it easier for the hunter to singleout a buffalo for the kill and to get an unobstructed shot at thatanimal. It could also be practiced by any number of hunters, from asingle rider to the able male population of a large village. Apparentlythe chase was practiced at an early date in the northwestern Plains.Anthony Hendry, while visiting the "Archithinue" (probably GrosVentres) village of 200 lodges, entered in his diary under the dateOctober 16, 1754, "with the Leader's permission, I rode a hunting withtwenty of his young men. They killed 8 Buffalo, excellent sport.They are so expert that with one or two arrows they will drop a Buffalo.As for me I had sufficient employ to manage my horse" (Hendry, 1907,p. 350) . This earliest description of buffalo hunting on horseback bynorthwestern Plains Indians suggests the employment of the chase.Since my Blackfoot informants stated that it frequently required threeor more arrows to kill a buffalo in their time, we may judge that the "Archithinue" were very skilled in killing buffalo from horseback atthat early date. By the period of the 1830's the chase seems to havebeen the preferred method of buffalo hunting throughout the Plains.'^A detailed description of the chase, the favored Blackfoot method ofhunting buffalo in the youth of my informants, follows.THE BUFFALO CHASE ON HORSEBACKPREPARATIONSBefore a chase the principal chief (of a tribal smnmer camp) or thechief (of a band camp) invited all the chiefs or leading men of hisvillage to his lodge to discuss plans for the hunt. Often this meetingtook place the night before a large hunt. Then the chief (through hisannouncer) told the people to catch their buffalo horses and extra packanimals to be used to bring in the meat. If the camp was a tribal one,the chief at that time proclaimed that the prohibition against indi-vidual hunting was in force. I gained the impression that this regula-tion was less common in the smaller band camps. Women who were ? Dunbar, writing of Pawnee culture of the period of the 1830's, stated, "The Pawneesseldom resorted to a surround, attacking from all sides at once. This method was moretedious and dangerous, and was regarded as less huntsmanlike" (than the chase) (Dunbar,1880, p. 330). ^ With the exception of the single surround mentioned, all of George Catlin's numerouspaintings of Indian buffalo hunts on horseback by tribes of both the northern and southernPlains depict the chase. Contemporary descriptions of Plains Indian employment of thechase are legion. 156 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 not to accompany the hunters to aid in butchering and packing meatback to camp were left in camp. Sometimes they were instructed tomove camp while the hunt was in progress. EQUIPMENT In leaving camp for the hunt each hunter rode a common horse(to be later used for packing meat, if his horses were few) and led hisbuffalo horse in order to save its strength for the chase.^ Women andboys followed with the pack animals.Although some Blackfoot preferred to ride bareback in huntingbuffalo, many used the pad saddle. Weasel Tail said he always rode apad saddle when hunting buffalo because it added little weight to hismount while providing him with a fii-m seat with feet braced in thestirrups to permit a steadier aim. A few hunters rode "prairie chickensnare saddles."Generally hunters wore leggings, a breechcloth and moccasins, anda shirt with short sleeves which would not get in their way or becomebloodied in butchering. These were either skin or old cloth garmentswithout any decoration. Old clothes were desirable for the bloodybusiness of killing and especially of butchering.Before the introduction of the breechloader among the Blackfootin 1870, firearms were rarely employed in the buffalo chase. It wastoo difficult to reload a muzzle-loading musket on a fast-moving horseto make its use practical. Most men would have had to stop theirhorses each time they reloaded, thus losing ground on the runningherd. Kurz (1937, p. 195) described the use of muzzle-loaders bywhite hunters attached to Fort Union in 1851, who were skilled inreloading on the run. However, the very great majority of Black-foot Indian hunters preferred the bow and arrow for the buffalochase. This bow was short, often not more than 3 feet in length,so as to be easily managed on horseback. It was of ash, chokecherryor sarvis berry. The quiver, slung at the rider's back, contained 20to 30 iron-headed arrows. The stone-headed arrow went out of useamong the Blackfoot long before the time of my informants. Somemen preferred to use a short, metal-headed, ash-poled lance. How-ever, the use of the lance in buffalo hunting was on the wane amongthe Blackfoot even before the introduction of breech-loading rifles.Lazy Boy, my eldest Piegan informant, could not recall ever havingseen the lance carried by a buffalo hunter of his tribe. Even as earlyas 1833, Maximilian (1906, vol. 23, p. 119) remarked, "I saw few ' This seems to have been a common Plains Indian practice, reported for the Cheyenne(HamUton, 1905, p. 28), Plains Cree (Mandelbaum, 1940, p. 191), Plains Ojibwa(Skinner, 1914, p. 494), and Hidatsa-Mandan (Boiler, 1868, p. 77). I Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 157 lances among the Blackfeet." ^ As soon as Blackfoot Indians couldacquire breecliloading firearms they discarded the bow and arrow asa buffalo-hunting weapon. However, the new guns were expensive,and poor people of necessity continued to employ the bow and arrow.Among all the buffalo-hunting tribes the bow and arrow seems toliave been the favorite hunting weapon in use before ca. 1870.THE APPROACHThrough scouts the location of the buffalo herd which was to bethe object of attack became well known in advance. The huntingparty moved cautiously, trying to keep out of sight of the buffalo,and always approaching from down wind of the herd to prevent themfrom catching human scent. If the terrain permitted, the approachwas from behind a hill or from the mouth of a coulee where thehuntei'S could be concealed from sight of the buffalo until they werenearly upon them. Wlien the hunting party got as close to the buffaloas they could approach without alarming their prey the hunters dis-mounted, mounted their buffalo horses, and left their common ridinganimals in the hands of the women and boys who remained withthe pack animals in concealment. The leader of the hunters linedthem up to give them all an equal chance.^" At a signal from him,they whipped their buffalo runners into a run, each hunter being eagerto be the first to make a kill. Sometimes they approached the gamein two groups according to preconceived plan, some of the men rid-ing along the right of the herd, others (including the lancers andleft-handed bowmen) riding on the left. This approach may havebeen understood by some writers as an employment of the surround.Actually it was not. It was running the buffalo by two parallel groupsof hunters." THE RUN(PL. 14)No time could be lost once the buffalo became aware of the approach-ing hunters and started to run in the opposite direction. Healthycows could run faster than bulls. In a small running herd the cowsgenerally took the lead, followed by the bulls, which were in turntrailed by the calves. Except in the summer season when bulls wereprime, Blackfoot hunters, confident of the speed and ability of their ? The former use of the lance in buffalo hunting has been reported for the Nez Perc6(Spinden, 1908, p. 213), Cheyenne (Grinnell, 1923, vol. 1, p. 263), Osage (Tixier, 1940.p. 192), and Kansa (Farnham, 1906, p. 85).>?This practice of lining up the hunters to give them an equal opportunity has beenreported as common among the Plains Cree (Mandelbaum, 1940, p. 191), Osage (Tixier,1940, p. 191), Pawnee (Dunbar, 18S0, vol. 5, p. 330)."Hamilton (1905, pp. 28-30) witnessed the employment of this approach in twodivisions of hunters by the Cheyenne in the 1840's. 158 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 horses, generally by-passed the running bulls to get to the cows. Un-less he was left-handed, the bowman approached the buffalo he hadsingled out for slaughter from the right side, brought his horse closealongside, fixed an arrow to his bow and aimed at the fatal spot,which Hornaday (1889, p. 471) described as "from 12 to 18 inches incircumference, and lies immediately back of the foreleg with its lowestpoint on a line with the elbow." The arrow was shot without sighting,generally with the bow held a little off vertical, the top tilted to theright. However, each hunter used the position easiest for him. In-formants insisted that all Blackfoot hunters did not learn to shoot inthe same way, nor did they all employ the same method of arrow re-lease. As the arrow left the bow the trained buffalo horse swervedaway from its quarry, running in close again to permit additionalshots if required.Informants were familiar with the common stories of men who hadshot arrows completely through buffalo. Weasel Tail claimed he hadtwice done this in killing young cows. Nevertheless, they stated thatit usually required three or more arrows to bring down a runningcow. The quiver was carried on the back with the opening behindthe hunter's left shoulder (if he was right-handed), so he could easilyand quickly take another arrow from it with his right hand, fit it tothe bow held in his left hand, and shoot rapidly.On the run the hunter carried the long end of his bridle rope coiledand tucked under his belt (fig. 11), so that should he be thrown butnot hurt or badly shaken up, he could grab the free end of this lineas it paid out and retrieve his horse, possibly in time to mount andcontinue the chase (p. 76).Blackfoot lancers usually approached buffalo from the left side.^^They delivered their blows in powerful overhand chops.The run usually continued until the herd outdistanced the pursuinghunters. NUMBER OF BUFFALO KILLED IN A SINGLE CHASETestimony of my Blackfoot informants supported the generaliza-tion of Tixier (1940, p. 191) , written more than a century ago, that inthe buffalo chase the "best beast belongs to the best horse, and for thisreason they say on the prairie 'My horse has killed many buffalo.' " Boiler (1868, p. 232) told of an expert Hidatsa hunter. The Last Stone,of whom it was said, "He could kill on any kind of horse," a hightribute to his ability as a marksman to bring down his game at a longdistance. However, the very great majority of the Blackfoot, and ofthe Hidatsa as well, relied upon the speed and courage of their mountsto bring them close beside the buffalo before shooting. 1^ Osage lancers also killed buflfalo from the left side of that animal (Tixier, 1940, p. 192). Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 159Four or five buffalo cows were the most informants could recallhaving been killed on a single chase by the best Blackfoot marksmanwith the best horse under him. Most hunters rarely killed more thanone or two buffalo at a chase. Men with inferior buffalo horses had tobe satisfied with killing the slower running bulls. The owner of apoorly trained or short-winded horse could not hope to kill any buffalovia the chase." boys' hunting of BUFFALO CALVESBoys 10 years of age or older gained their first experience in buffalohunting on the fair weather hunts from spring through fall. Afterthe men started a herd and rode after it the boys, on 1- or 2-year-old colts, followed after the calves left in the wake of the running herd.They imitated the actions of their elders, riding in close and shootingthe calves with bows and arrows. In this way they gained skill andconfidence so that in their middle teens they could begin hunting adultbuffalo.^* Nearly all my elderly, male Blackfoot informants hadchased buffalo calves. Only the oldest of them had had opportunitiesto kill adult buffalo before these animals were exterminated from theBlackfoot Country.Three Calf said that as a boy he helped hunters pack meat to campand was also given the task of cleaning buffalo intestines. Boys werenot taken on winter hunts on horseback.HUNTING ACCIDENTS Accidents were not infrequent in hunting buffalo. Horses stumbledon uneven ground, stepped in badger holes, or were gored by woundedbulls. Eiders were thrown and injured or killed. Lazy Boy recalledthat Lame Bull, the Piegaii head chief at the time of the 1855 treaty,was killed while nmning buffalo 3 years later. Amid the dust of thechase Lame Bull's horse did not move adroitly enough to avoid an oldbull that attacked him. The horse fell on Lame Bull breaking hisneck and crushing his ribs. Generally the less intelligent and well-trained the horse, the greater was the chance of serious accident inthe chase.^? 1* Contemporary statements regarding other tribes give similar maximum figures. Tixier(1940, p. 193) among the Osage found that "a good horse can overtake three or four cowsin one hunt." Boiler (1868, p. 227) noted that among the Mandan-Hidatsa "the moreexpert hunters will kill from three to five cows in a chase." "Grinnell (1923, vol. 1, p. 118) reported Cheyenne boys' practice of hunting buffalocalves. He wrote that "if on his first chase a boy killed a calf, his father was greatlypleased, and if a well-to-do man, he might present a good horse to some poor man, and inaddition might give a feast and invite poor people to come and eat with him."? Writers on the Cheyenne (Hamilton, 1905, p. 29), Hidatsa-Mandan (Boiler, 1868,p. 234), and Pawnee (Dunbar, 1880, p. 331) have mentioned the frequency and seriousnessof accidents that occurred among those tribes while running buffalo. 160 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159BUTCHERING AND PACKINGWlien the men had finished their killing their leader waved to thewomen to come out with the pack animals. Meanwhile the men lo-cated the buffalo they had killed by the marks on their arrows in thefallen beasts. A woman who was not lazy would help her husbandin butchering. Together they could complete the task of butcher-ing a buffalo in about an hour. Wissler (1910, p. 42) was told ofBlackfoot men who could butcher 5 to 12 animals in a day. A com-mon butcher knife was used, and a hind leg was cut off to employ asa hatchet in breaking the ribs.Wissler (1910, p. 41-42) has properly distinguished two types ofbutchering, "heavy butchering," and "light butchering." In theformer the animal was utilized to the fullest extent. In the latteronly the best parts of the animal were taken. "Light butchering"was common when meat was relatively plentiful and/or killing wasfar from camp and few pack animals were available. In times ofscarcity "heavy butchering" was the rule.Informants claimed it required two pack animals to carry the meatof a buffalo cow that had been subjected to "heavy butchering." Mrs.Cree Medicine described the method of packing employed by mem-bers of her family. One pack animal carried only the four quartersof the animal. The tendons of the forequarters were tied togetherwith a piece of rawhide and they were thrown over the pack saddle sothat one quarter fell at each side of the pack animal. The hindquarters were slung in the same way. The hide was thrown over theback of a second pack horse, the two slabs of back fat were foldedover this, and the ribs were tied with rawhide cord and added tothe load. Then the two flanks were tied together and placed on thehorse. A hole was punched in the boss ribs through which a cord waspassed and tied to the pack. Next the hipbones were packed, andthe neck was cut away from the head, split open from the bottom,and spread out over the top of the load. Finally the edges of therobe (at the bottom of the pack) were raised and tied together to holdthe pack securely. The woman generally wrapped the entrails in aseparate bundle and carried it herself. A buffalo cow averaged 400pounds of meat produce. Thus it would have been too great a burdento consign this entire weight to a single Indian pony. However,informants said that when "light butchering" was resorted to a singlepacldiorse could carry the load. Thus the number of pack animalsavailable to the hunter often was the determining factor in the choiceof method of butchering and the total amount of food that he couldsalvage from a single chase.^* "The literature contains a number of references to Indian horses belonging to othertribes packing the meat of an entire buffalo, and Alexander Henry wrote of a returning Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 161The Blackfoot hunter returned to camp riding his buffalo horsewhile his wife took charge of the pack animals. There was a strongbelief among the Blackfoot that the buffalo horse should never havemeat packed on it. However, poor people sometimes had little choice.The Blackfoot never packed meat on a race horse.^^LOANING OF BUFFALO HORSES FOR HUNTINGOwners of few horses among the Blackfoot rarely possessed a goodbuffalo runner. They tried to borrow trained buffalo horses fromwealthy relatives or band chiefs. The loan of buffalo horses not onlyimproved the opportunities of the poor but enhanced the prestige ofthe loaner and proved his right to leadership. Some wealthy menowned as many as 10 or more trained buffalo horses, some of whichthey loaned the poor for hunting. Some men of wealth gave theirwives buffalo horses, which they might loan to poor relatives. How-ever, if a man found that his wife had loaned one of his buffalorunners without his knowledge, he might give her a sound beating.Horses were loaned for the duration of a chase. If the hunt was nearcamp they would be returned within the day.Three Calf said his father loaned horses for buffalo hunting in thisway : A man asked my father for the loan of a horse. Father told him, "Yes, getthat pinto (pointing out a buffalo runner in his herd), and another horse topacli with if you need it." There was no agreement in advance for any pay-ment to be made on the loan. If the borrower was appreciative he gave a lotof the best meat from the buffalo he killed to my father. If the man wasselfish and offered my father no meat, the next time he wished to borrowhorses, father told him, "No."If the buffalo runner met with an accident (suffered a broken leg or a rupture)while hunting on loan, and the borrower was known to be a reliable, earnestfellow, father told him, "That was nothing to be ashamed of. It was an acci-dent. Young man, your body is worth more than the horse. Let's have no hardfeelings." But if the borrower was an irresponsible fellow, father gave him arough talking to, and made him replace the lost horse.Informants agreed that there were no standardized repayments forthe loan of buffalo horses. Payments depended upon a number offactors, including (1) whether meat was plentiful or scarce in the party of Mandan hunters seen by him in 1806 in which each horse was loaded with abouthalf a buffalo plus the weight of a rider (Henry and Thompson, 1897, vol. 1, p. 336).Either such references referred to instances of "light butchering" or the pack animals musthave been greatly overloaded. In the Mandan case just cited the latter certainly wasthe case." Other Plains Indian tribes seem to have shared the taboo against carrying meat on abuffalo horse. James (1823, vol. 1, p. 210) wrote that the Omaha (in 1819) "rarely sub-jected" buffalo runners "to the drudgery of carrying burdens." Tixier (1940, p. 19S)observed among the Osage that "when a pack animal follows the hunter, the hunting horsereturns to camp without any other burden but its rider." Turney-High (1937, p. 117)speciflcally mentioned the Flathead taboo against packing meat on a buffalo horse.28794-1?55 12 162 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159home of the horse owner at the time of the hunt, (2) whether the ownerhimself hunted and whether he was successful in this particular hunt,(3) the size and food needs of both the owner's and borrower's families,and (4) the generosity of owner and borrower. Some owners werethemselves able hunters and generally would not accept meat or hidesfrom the borrower. On the other hand, men who were too old to huntor were physically handicapped (such as the wealthy Piegan blindman. Stingy), were forced to rely upon the buffalo killed by othermen while riding their horses. If game was scarce the loaner ex-pected a share of the meat killed by riders of his horses. However, itusually was not necessary for the borrower to give him as much as halfthe kill.The loaning of buffalo horses was a widespread Plains Indiancustom.^* FEEDING THE POORPoor families which either were unable to borrow buffalo horses orpossessed no able-bodied hunter in their lodges were forced to relyupon the charity of the wealthy for their buffalo meat. Some poorpeople took their dogs or poor horses out where buffalo were butchered,when the animals were killed near camp. There they could gen-erally find successful hunters who would give them meat to carryhome for their consumption. However, Weasel Tail recalled thathunters were loathe to give away the meat of fat cows. They gen-erally preferred to give lean meat to the poor.Mrs. Cree Medicine told the story of a young man who was foundlying beside a partly butchered buffalo by an old couple who had goneout from camp hoping to receive some meat from the kill. The oldcouple thought he was dead. They threw water on him and he did notmove. Then they started back to camp to tell the people of his death.When they had gone a short distance they turned around and saw " Tixler (1940, p. 184) wrote of the Osage, "The more horses that are owned by a savage,the more hunters he can send to the buffalo hunt." Llewellyn and Hoebel (1941, p. 229')told of a Cheyenne woman who loaned a horse to young men for hunting and received ahide or two in exchange. Kiowa men of wealth loaned horses for hunting, but FrankBosin claimed the lender generally did not expect payment in meat. Elkin (1940, p. 224)described the Northern Arapaho practice in words that indicate that payments varied muchas they did among the Blackfoot. Boiler noted that a wealthy Hidatsa-Mandan "couldalways command the services of a good hunter." He also observed that a man who hadlost his horses "will usually act as a hunter for some relative rich in horses, who by givinghim a few robes now and then, in payment as it were for his services, affords him anopportunity to regain his former position" (Boiler, 1868, pp. 52, 195). Mandelbaum (1940,p. 195) reported that among the Plains Cree, notoriously poor in horses, only about 1 lodgein 10 owned a good buffalo horse. "A number of families would attach themselves to theowner of such a horse and followed him wherever he moved his camp. They shared in thebuffalo he was able to secure by means of his horse. Since these families were dependenton the horse owner for food, they were naturally quick to carry out his wishes or orders."This is an extreme example of the correlation between buffalo horse ownership and leader-ship among Plains Indians. Yet even among the wealthier tribes the rich man's generoususe of horses to benefit the poor served to pave his way to social and political distinctionand helped him to maintain that position once attained. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 163 the young man, standing up, butchering the buffalo. After he re-turned to camp they told him they had brought him back to life. Hethen reluctantly gave them some of the best parts of his meat. Otherpeople claimed the young man had deliberately played dead to avoidgiving any of his meat to the aged couple. He became known by thename Playing-Dead-beside-the-Buffalo. As David Thompson ob-served a century and a half ago, stinginess was a trait detested by theBlackfoot. He noted that the "tent of a sick man is well supplied"after a chase, and that deaths from hunger were very rare (Thompson,1916, pp. 355-356). One of the recognized responsibilities of bandleadership among the Blackfoot was that of feeding the poor.REGULATION OF THE SUMMER BUFFALO HUNTIn summer, when all of the bands of a tribe gathered prior to theSun Dance encampment, the head chief, through his announcer, de-clared the hunting regulation in force. All tribal members under-stood this meant that anyone who sought to kill buffalo on liis ownbefore the tribal hunt was organized would be severely punished bysociety members selected to act as policemen. A century ago Mitchell(1855, pp. 686-687) explained, "This policy is obvious, as one indi-vidual might frighten off a herd of buffalo sufficient to feed the wholecamp." Piegan regulation of buffalo hunting was observed by DavidThompson (1916, pp. 358-359) prior to 1800:The same evening a Chief walked through the camp informing them thatas the Bisons were too far ofE for hunting they had given orders to the Soldiersto allow no person to hunt until further notice. Such an order is sure to findsome tents ill provided. While we were there, hunting was forbidden on thisaccount. Two tents which had gambled away their things, even to dried pro-visions, had to steal a march on the Soldiers under pretence of looking aftertheir horses; but finding they did not return were watched. In the eveningof the second day, they approached the camp, with their horses loaded withmeat which the Soldiers seized, and the owners quickly gave up; the formerdistributed the Meat to the tents that had many women and children, and leftnothing to the owners ; but those that had received the Meat, in the night sentthem a portion of it. Not a murmur was heard, every one said they had actedright.The punishment in that instance was much less severe than thatdescribed by Mountain Chief as Piegan punishment about 1850.The culprit's weapons were broken, his clothes torn, his saddle brokento pieces, his rope and whip cut into small bits, and his horse's tailbobbed (Dixon, 1913, pp. 109-110) . Informants recalled that in theiryouth the disobedient man's meat was taken from him, his weaponswere broken, and his clothing was torn by the police. My data sug-gest that the punishment was not standardized, but varied in pro-portion to the disturbance to the buffalo herd on the part of the cul-prit and the supply of meat in the camp. 164 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY (Bull. 159 Strict regulation of the tribal buffalo limit by society policemenwas customary among other Plains Indian tribes. In table 5, Ihave summarized the punishments exacted by different tribes as re-ported in the literature. In all probability, however, their punish-ments were no more standardized than among the Blackfoot. Phys-ical punishment by flogging the offender seems to have been widelyemployed. The principal object of all punishments for this offenseseems to have been to teach the culprit a lesson that would discouragehis repetition of the antisocial act. By and large, punishment seemsto have been lightest among the wealthy Comanche and most severeamong the poor Ponca and Plains Cree. The wholesale destructionof the culprit's property by Ponca and Plains Cree policemen, andthe later restitution of his losses seems to have been a prodigal wasteof limited tribal resources. Undoubtedly, the offense was more harm-ful to the welfare of a tribe poor in horses that would have difficultyin catching up with the disturbed herd than to a tribe possessinglarger numbers of horses and much greater mobility .^'^ Table 5. ? Penalties for premature hunting in tribal buffalo hunts Tribe Plains CreePlains OjlbwaCrowCheyenne Wind River ShoshoniFlathead-.OmahaPoncaPawneeKansaOsageKiowaComanche Penalty Offender's lodge and all possessions destroyed; gener-ally given gifts to compensate his losses at later date.Offender flogged. His shirt cut to shredsOffender beaten; arms broken or lodge cut to pieces. - . Offender whipped. If persisted in disobedience, hislodge cover and poles destroyed, and perhaps hishorses killed.Offender's horse whipped over the head; all hidestaken destroyed.Offender received severe whip lashing at hands of chiefOffender knocked down and floggedOffender beaten, his horses and dogs destroyed. Nextday presents given him to restore his losses.Offender given merciless floggingOffender severely whipped, but property not de-stroyed.Offender flogged with whipsOffender's horse shot.."Only punislmient meted out to offenders was to re-prove them." Reference Mandelbaum, 1940, p.227.Skinner, 1914, p. 494.Larocque, 1910, p. 60.Qrinnell, 1923, vol. 1, p.262.Lowie, 1915, p. 819.Tuniey-High, 1937, p.118.James, 1823, vol. 1, p. 208.Skinner, 1915, pp. 796-797.Dunbar, 1880, p. 330.Skinner, 1915, p. 819. Tixier, 1940, p. 189.Battey, 1875, pp. 185-186.Lowie, 1915, p. 812. EARLY WINTER BUFFALO DRIVESAlthough the earliest description of the impounding of buffalo inor near the Blackfoot Country appears in Cocking's account of his visitto a Gros Ventres pound in November and December, 1772, it is prob-able that the communal bufi'alo hunt by means of pounds was emploj^edby the Blackfoot before they obtained horses (Cocking, 1908, pp. 109- 18 The Red River halfbreeds on their organized buffalo hunts adopted a prohibition ofindividual hunting like that of the Plains Indians. Sibley noted that "when the halfbreedshave no acknowledged leader, those possessed of fleet horses advance at full speed, leavingthe others no chance to secure a portion of the prey, there arise discord, quarrels, hatred,and all their train of evils" (Sibley, 1854, p. 104). Kwers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 165 113). Three types of buffalo drives were employed by the Blackfootwithin the historic period : (1) driving buffalo into corrals on the levelPlains, (2) driving buffalo down steep slopes or over relatively lowembankments into corrals, and (3) driving them over high cliffs sothat the animals would be killed or maimed by their fall. No corralswere needed at the bases of these cliffs to prevent the animals' escape.Probably all three Blackfoot tribes employed the first method in pre-historic times. In the historic period it w^as used only by the NorthBlackfoot. The second and third methods were then employed bythe Blood and Piegan. Blackfoot drives have been described byHenry (Henry and Thompson, 1897, pp. 576-577) ; Maximilian (1906,vol. 23, p. 108) ; Bradley (1923, p. 256) ; Grinnell (1892, pp. 228-232) ;Wissler (1910, pp. 3^38); and Barrett (1922, pp. 22-27). Thesewriters considered the drive a winter method of buffalo hunting amongthe Blackfoot. As Barrett (1922, p. 23) stated, the drives were em-ployed most frequently in the early winter period immediately fol-lowing the establishment of Avinter camps (i. e., in November andDecember) . In historic times the Blackfoot employed mounted men to drivebuffalo toward the V-shaped approaches to the pounds (Bradley, 1923,p. 256 ; Wissler, 1910, p. 37 ; Ewers, 1949, p. 359) . Wissler claimed thatBlackfoot use of horses and guns caused the drives to fall into disuse(Wissler, 1910, p. 37). Inasmuch as firearms were little used by theBlackfoot in buffalo hunting, I suggest that the popularity of thechase on horseback was the primary cause of the abandonment of thetraditional drives. The last Piegan drive occurred in the early 1850's,while the North Blackfoot used this technique as late as ca. 1872(Ewers, 1949, pp. 358-360) . However, it is probable that drives wereuncommon among both those tribes for some years prior to their lastrecorded employment.The relationship between poverty in horse ownership and continueduse of buffalo drives is borne out by the fact that the only tribes ofthe northern Plains to make extensive use of this hunting tecliniqueafter about 1850 were the horse-poor Assiniboin and Plains Cree.^The midwinter season, comprising the months of January and Feb-ruary, provided the most severe test of Blackfoot ability to keep theirfood supply abreast of their needs. Indian ingenuity devised a num-ber of methods of hunting under cold weather conditions which, incombination, Avere usually adequate to supply necessary subsistence. ^ Denig wrote in 1854, "We know of no nation now except the Assiniboin and Cree wbopractice it [tlie drive], because aU the rest are well supplied with horses that can catchthe buffalo, therefore, they are not compelled to resort to these means to entrap them"(Denig, 1930, p. 532). The Plains Cree even employed the drive in the summer months inthe mid-19th century (Kane. 1925. pp. 80-82; Hind, 1860, vol. 1, pp. 355-359). TheSarsi, poor allies of the Blaclifoot, are also reported to have made summer drives(.Tenness. 1938, p. 17). 166 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159WINTER HUNTING ON HORSEBACKIn open winters, with little snow or heavy ice, it was possible tosend out hunting parties on horseback. When buffalo were not foundnear the band camp, a few lodges of men, sometimes accompanied bya woman or two to do the cooking, went out on short hunting expedi-tions of less than a week's duration, or until they located and killedas many buffalo as they could pack back to camp. Possibility of thesesmall groups being overtaken and massacred by enemy war partiesmade prosecution of these expeditions dangerous. Schultz ( 1907, pp.62-63) witnessed these small winter hunting excursions during hisresidence among the Piegan prior to 1880.THE WINTER HUNTING HORSESome Blackfoot Indians owned horses which were specially valuedas winter hunting animals. The ideal winter buffalo runner was amale, at least 8 years of age, fully developed, solidly built, broadbacked, long winded, and sure footed. It had to be a horse that didnot mind the strong, cold, west wind, as the hunting approach wasalways against the wind. Many horses tended to duck their headswhen running against the fierce winter blasts and so were of littlevalue for hunting at that season. A colt that would break the ice ofa stream and go into the water to drink was thought to be one thatwould later become a good winter hunting horse.Winter hunting horses generally were fed on Cottonwood bark andreceived special care during the cold months. In spring, when mostother horses were weak and thin, these horses were strong. As soonas other buffalo runners fattened, the owner of a winter hunter letthat horse run. It was not commonly ridden or used for hunting insummer or fall. I gained the impression that good winter huntinghorses were rare and that they were owned by wealthy Indians only.WINTER HUNTING ON FOOTIn some years the snow was so deep for extended periods it wasimpossible to use horses in hunting. Lazy Boy said that if the snowwas over 4 inches deep it was useless to try to hunt buffalo on horse-back. He recalled one winter when a rapid thaw was followed by aquick freeze. "Everything was ice. The only way we could hunt buf-falo was to sneak up on them on foot."There were a number of methods of stalking buffalo in winter. Atthat season the cold winds sweeping over the Plains drove wild gameto shelter in timbered river valleys. Buffalo, deer, or antelope oftencould be found in the river bottoms near winter camps and killed Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 167 without difficulty with bows and arrows or guns. Firearms were veryuseful to the Blackfoot in hunting buffalo on foot in winter.^^Hunters sometimes covered their heads and bodies with buffalo-skins or wolfskins in stalking buffalo afoot. Paul Kane (1925, p. 267)saw both skins worn by Indian buffalo hunters near Fort Edmonton inthe severe winter of 1847-48. Weasel Tail recalled a Blood Indianmethod in which two men inside a buffalo robe shaped much likea buffalo in form moved close to a herd. When they came withinarrow range a third man, who had followed close behind them, hiddenfrom view of the grazing herd, stepped quickly aside and shot the buf-falo. Paul Kane both observed and practiced a more fatiguingmethod of winter hunting at Fort Edmonton. A group of hunterscrawled on their bellies, one behind another, in a winding course sim-ulating the movement of a great snake. Approaching from leeward,they got within a few yards of a buffalo herd before rising and open-ing fire (ibid., p. 268). FOOD RATIONINGEven the ingenious methods of hunting just described were of noavail if the buffalo drifted away from camp and beyond range offootmen during weather unfavorable to hunting on horseback. Ifgame disappeared in an open winter the Indians could move camp,but under heavy snow conditions their horses w^ere a handicap. YetLazy Boy, my eldest Piegan informant, could recall only one winterwhen buffalo disappeared at a time when the weather was too badto use horses. His band, the Skunks, remembered that year as "whenwe ate dogs winter." A number of dogs were killed for food beforebuffalo drifted in from the north and meat again could be obtained.Mrs. Cree Medicine, of the Lone Eaters Band, could also rememberbut a single winter when members of her band were forced to eatdogs to avert starvation.However, periods of reduced food consumption due to lack of gamewere more common. The poor people were the first to suffer. Thenthe wealthy, who had put up extensive winter supplies the previousfall, had to share their food with the poor. Meals were reduced toone a day to conserve the dwindling supply. Then, if a hunter orgroup of hunters managed to kill one or two buffalo and/or severalsmaller animals, they brought the meat to the band chief. He had itcut up and divided so that each family head in the camp receivednearly the same amount, regardless of the number of persons in hisfamily. Wlien game became more plentiful this primitive form of =1 Denig (1953, p. 37) reported that the Crow seldom used guns in hunting "except onfoot when the snow is too deep for horses to catch the buffalos." 168 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [HuU. 1">0food rationing was discontinued. The chief relinquished his authorityin food distribution. Each family again procurc^d its meat accordingto its ability and its needs.^^MEAT CONSUMPTION OF THE BLACKFOOTIn 1881, the United States Government allowed the Indians ofBlackfeet Agency li^ pounds of beef per person per day in rations.Smaller quantities of other foods were included in the ration issuesat that time (Ewers, 1944 c, p. 77) . Informants claimed that in buffalodays the Indians "needed" more meat than that. An average dailyconsumption of 3 pounds per person in those days appears to be aconservative estimate.In 1806, the fur trader, Alexander Henry (Henry and Thompson,1897, vol. 2, p. 446) weighed 150 buffalo cows, killed from September1 to February 1, and found they averaged 400 pounds exclusive of theoffals. Bulls in the same period averaged 550 pounds exclusive ofAvaste. The total eatable meat of one full-grown bull weighed asmuch as 800 pounds. Since the Blackfoot showed a decided prefer-ence for cow meat except during the early summer when bulls wereprime, we may conservatively estimate the meat furnished by theaverage buffalo killed by them the year round at 400 pounds.On the basis of the figures presented in the two paragraphs abovewe can estimate that one buffalo would furnish enough meat to feedour hypothetical average Blackfoot family for a period of 16 days,jjrovided none of the meat was wasted, and the meat could be trans-ported until it was all consumed. Carrying this line of reasoningfurther, it would appear, on purely mathematical grounds, that twodozen buffalo would have adequately supplied the meat needs of thefamily for a wliole j^ear.However, such neat mathematical formulas bear little relationshipto actual Blackfoot buffalo consumption. The abundance of buffaloin the Blackfoot Country, the relative ease with which they couldbe killed by mounted hunters, the limited facilities of the averagefamily for transporting meat surpluses, and the demands of the furtrade for buffalo robes encouraged the wasteful slaughter of theseanimals during the 19th century. ^^ "The tendency to share equally the limited food returns of difficult periods has beenuoted among other Plains Indian tribes. Lewis and Clark observed that nearly one-half theMandan passed down river in the dead of winter 1805-6, to hunt for several days. Ontheir return "the game was equally divided among the families of the tribe" (Coues, 1893,vol. 1, p. 224). Boiler (1868, p. 298) visited a camp of Arikara, a large part of whosehorses had been stolen, which was reduced to sharing the limited proceeds of the hunt atthe rate of one meal per person per day.^ That the fur trade encouraged the slaughter of many more animals than the Blackfootneeded for food can be illustrated with some precision. In 1857, 23,000 buffalo robes weretraded by Indians at Fort Benton (Bradley, 1910, p. 156). The Indians trading there Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 169Abundance of buffalo, coupled with the efficient method of huntingthem provided by the use of horses, encouraged prodigal waste ofmeat. As early as 1754, Anthony Hendry observed that when buffalowere plentiful the "Archithinue"' of the Saskatchewan Plains tookonly the tongues and other choice pieces, leaving the rest to the wolves(Hendry, 1907, pp. 334, 336, 338). Two Blackfoot hunters on horse-back could kill enough buffalo to provide over a ton of meat in amatter of minutes on a single chase. Yet the average family pos-sessed only enough pack animals to transport about a quarter of thatweight in meat, in addition to household equipment, when campmoved. These factors encouraged "Light butchering" and use of onlythe choice parts of the buffalo in good times. Then feasting and theconsumption of enormous quantities of meat within a short periodof time were common. Then there was plenty of meat for rich andpoor alike. Yet at other times, especially in late winter, when bufl'alowere scarce the Indians were reduced to strict rationing of limitedfood supplies on the basis of one meal a day.IMPROVIDENT FOOD HABITS OF OTHER PLAINS TRIBESExamples of the wastefulness of buffalo resources by other Plainstribes are numerous in the literature. A few selected observationsfrom fur traders' accounts show that such improvidence was commonto wealthy and poor tribes alike. Larocque (1910, p. CO) wrote ofthe wealthy Crow, with whom he traveled in the summer of 1805 :They are the most improvident with regard to provision. It is amazing whatnumbers of Buffaloes or other quadrupeds they destroy?yet 2 or 3 days aftera successful hunt the beef is gone. When Iiuuting they talie the fattest andcut part of an animal tuid leave the x"em:iinder; but it is no wonder that in acountry abounding so much in Deer of all kind and Buffaloes and where theinhabitants kill it with so much ease to themselves, being always on horseback,that their love of good eating should expose them to the danger of a temporaryfast.In 1804, Tabeau (1939, p. 208) said the Arikara "would alwayshave more provisions than would be needed to sustain them, if theywere not prodigal in times of abundance.'' Yet the Arikara wererelatively poor in horses. Tabeau cited the consumption of more than100 boned cows, providing in excess of 30,000 pounds of meat, by anArikara village of about 200 people in 4 da^^s. This would averagea buffalo a day for a family of 8 Arikara during the period of this were the Blackfoot tribes and the Gios Veutres, having a combined population of about9,400 (Vaughau In U. S. Comm. Ind. Affairs, 1858, p. 432). Probably the robes were alltaken during the 4 cold months when buffalo hair was long, making their robes acceptableto the traders. We may compute that the meat of the animals killed to supply the robestraded would have furnished a daily average of over 8 pounds per person over the 4-mouthperiod. In addition, the Indians killed buffalo to obtain robes for their own use as bedding,winter garments, etc. necessitating a still greater slaughter of buffalo. 170 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 feast. Even allowing for the voracious appetites of the Arikara theremust have been much more meat wasted than eaten.Boiler (1868, p. 229) observed of the relatively poor Hidatsa-Man-dan, "When there is plenty of meat, the large bones and coarse piecesare always thrown aside, but in times of scarcity there is absolutelynothing left but the head."This feast or famine economy quite likely existed among the PlainsIndians before the introduction of horses. Nevertheless, their em-ployment of horses, by making buffalo much easier to kill, encouragedgreater squandering of buffalo resources, hastened the exterminationof the buffalo, and thus contributed to the disintegration of their tradi-tional culture based upon buffalo hunting.HUNTING OF OTHER MAMMALS ON HORSEBACKThe hides of deer, elk, and antelope were very useful to the Black-foot in the manufacture of summer and dress clothing. These animalswere fomierly numerous in the Blackfoot country. Although DavidThompson (1916, p. 359) wrote of Piegan "bets between individualsupon hunting in running down animals, and the Red and JumpingDeer" from horseback in the period ca. 1800, both the more recentliterature and the testimony of my informants claim that these animalswere hunted by footmen. Denig (1930, pp. 535-537) said it was thegeneral practice of all the Upper Missouri tribes to hunt deer, elk, andantleope on foot.^* My Blackfoot informants said that not only wasthere no communal hunting of deer, elk, or antelope by mounted men,but it was rare for a lone horseman to ride one of those animals down.Weasel Tail said few Blackfoot-owned horses were swift enough tochase them. Lazy Boy referred to a colt, born from a mare stolen fromthe Shoshoni, that was able to catch up with an antelope herd as arare and unusually speedy horse.Nevertheless the literature indicates that deer and antelope huntingby mounted Indians of the southern Plains and Plateau was not un-common.^^ Their skill and ability in this activity may be consideredproof of the greater speed of their horses as well as their superiorityas horsemen over the Blackfoot and other Upper Missouri tribes. "However, Raynolds (186S, p. 62) witnessed two Crow Indians chase an elk on horse-back and bring it down, in the fall of 1859. '' The Nez Perc6 preferred to hunt deer from horseback "wherever the ground wouldpermit," in Lewis and Clark's time (Coues, 1893, vol. 3, p. 1013). Teit (1930, p. 103)credited Coeur d'Alene horsemen with running down antelope on open ground, although "this kind of hunting was not always successful." In 1840, Tixier (1940, p. 169) wit-nessed an Osage deer hunt by relays of mounted men. Twelve years later Marcy (1937,p. 156) saw two young Comanche women ride after antelope, and rope them. EnochSmoky told me the Kiowa formerly hunted deer, elk, and antelope from horseback. THE HORSE IN WARBRIEF HISTORY OF BLACKFOOT INTERTRIBAL WARFAREAmerican fur traders recognized the Blackfoot as the most potentand aggressive military power in the northwestern Plains in the 19thcentury. Collectively the three Blackfoot tribes comprised one of thethree strongest military powers of the Great Plains. The other twogreat powers of the Plains were the Teton Dakota (allied with theNorthern Arapaho and Northern Cheyenne), and the Comanche(allied with the Kiowa and Kiowa-Apache). Allies of the Blackfootwere the Sarsi and (until 1861) the Gros Ventres.Blackfoot war parties operated in a vast theater of warfare extend-ing far beyond the limits of the area over which they hunted (fig. 24) . In 1787, David Thompson reported a Piegan raid from the vicinityof present Edmonton, Alberta, southward as far as "about 32 degreesnorth latitude." Members of that party returned with spoils in horsesand riding gear captured directly from the Spanish (Thompson, 1916,pp. 370-371). That was by all odds the most distant Blackfoot raidthat has been reported. Against the Assiniboin and Cree the Black-foot raided eastward beyond the South Saskatchewan and beyond FortUnion at the mouth of the Yellowstone. They raided westward as faras Sand Point, in present Idaho, against the Salishan tribes (Teit,1930, p. 364). They repeatedly attacked the Flathead in their Bitter-root Valley homeland west of the Rockies, and frequently warred uponthe Kutenai of Tobacco Plains (Hamilton, 1900, p. 103). Their raidsagainst Shoshonean enemies carried them westward to Fort Hall andthe Boise Valley on Snake River and as far southwestward as UtahLake, in present Utah (Stuart, 1896, p. 119; Steward, 1938, p. 208).Gregg (1905, vol. 19, pp. 221-239) reported "Blackfeet" parties raid-ing along the Santa Fe Trail in the southern Plains in 1829-31.These were members of a group of "Blackfeet" and Gros Ventres whojoined the Cheyenne and Arapaho near the Black Hills some timeprior to 1826, and moved south of the Platte River with them (Grin-nel, 1923, vol. 1, pp. 39-40). Colonel Dodge found "a small band ofBlackfeet proper, consisting of about fifty" living with the Cheyennein the fall of 1835 (Dodge, 1836, p. 25). Some of these Blackfoot maynot have returned to their own people, for Major Culbertson met 10lodges of Blood Indians living with the Arapaho at the LaramieTreaty Council 16 years later (Bradley MS., bk. A, p. 184). 171 172 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY tBull. 139 Blackfoot traditions claim that the Shoshoni were their only ene-mies in pre-horse times. According to Saukamappee's account someCree and Assiniboin warriors aided the Piegan in fighting the Sho-shoni in the period preceding Blackfoot acquisition of horses (Thomp-son, 1916, pp. 328-338). This indicates that those eastern neighborsof the Blackfoot were friendly at that time. Yet James Isham, in1743, reported that "the Sinne-poets and other Indians" were goingto war against the "Earchethinues" (perhaps both Gros Ventres andBlackfoot), while Graham recorded Assiniboin raiding of "Archi-thenue" horses in 1775 (Isham, 1949, pp. 113, 311). Probably Blaek-foot-Cree warfare also was initiated soon after the Blackfootacquired horses. Assiniboin and Cree, well armed by white tradersand covetous of Blackfoot horses and hunting grounds, continued toexert pressure on the Blackfoot from the northeast. Those tribes con-tinued at war with the Blackfoot until the middle 1880's, althoughoccasional short-lived periods of peace interrupted the prolongedhostility.After the Blackfoot tribes acquired both horses and firearms tlieypushed the Shoshoni southward and westward and forced the Flat-head and Kutenai from their hunting grounds on the Plains im-mediately east of the Kockies to sanctuary in the wooded valleys westof the mountains (Ferris, 1940, pp. 90-92; Thompson, 1916, pp. 304,327-44, 463; Teit, 1930, pp. 316-321). Lacking firearms the Shoshoniand Salishan tribes were inadequately equipped to oppose the aggres-sive and numerous Blackfoot. By the end of the first decade of the19th century the Salishan tribes and the Nez Perce began to acquirefirearms. They united in buffalo-hunting expeditions onto the Plainswhich were strongly opposed by the Blackfoot (Ewers, 1948, pp.14-17) . The Salishan tribes and the Shoshoni remained enemies ofthe Blackfoot until the end of buffalo days. Blackfoot-Xez Perceconflicts were rare after about 1855.Contemporary white observers of the Blackfoot did not mentionany conflicts with the Crow Indians prior to 1800. It is probable thesetribes seldom met prior to that date. Yet, in 1811 Henry (Henry andThompson, 1897, vol. 2, p. 726) found that the Crow were the onlytribe to venture northward against the Blackfoot. Blackfoot-Crowhostility continued, with few brief peaceful intervals, until 1885.In the middle of the 19th century the Blackfoot were at the heightof their power. Their frequent raids over the Kockies endangeredthe Catholic Mission to the Flathead and were an important cause ofits abandonment in 1850. Three years later they forced the temporaryabandonment of John Owen's trading post among the Flathead. Onthe south, Blackfoot raids forced the American Fur Co. to abandonits post among the Crow in 1855. Midcentury also witnessed the re- Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 173 treat of the Cree from their eastern borders. In 1845, De Smet re-ported that the Cree were continually encroaching on Blackfootterritory (De Smet, 1905, vol. 2, p. 519). But before 1865 the regionaround Fort Edmonton, once the scene of many battles, became peace-ful, due to Cree withdrawal eastward (Mandelbaum, 1940, p. 185).So successful were the Blackfoot in their wars on all fronts that in1861 the Piegan did not hesitate to accept the challenge of their oldfriends the Gros Ventres, and added them to their list of enemies.A number of the more distant tribes which came in less frequentcontact with the Blackfoot than those mentioned above, consideredthe Blackfoot enemies. Maximilian found the Hidatsa, Mandan, andArikara referred to the Blackfoot as enemies in 1833 (Maximilian,1906, vol. 23, pp. 383, 553; vol. 24, p. 15). Teton Dakota hostilitytoward the Blackfoot increased as the extermination of buffalo eastof the Missouri forced them to move westward in the middle of thecentury. Wlien Sitting Bull and his followers fled to Canada in thespring of 1877, their nearness to the Blackfoot increased the incidenceof small-scale conflicts between Teton and Blackfoot until those Siouxreturned to the United States in 1881. Blackfoot relations wdth theCheyenne and Arapaho were generally friendly during the first halfof the 19th century. However, Blackfoot raids on Cheyenne andArapaho horse herds were reported in 1858 (U. S. Comm. Ind. Affairs,1858, p. 447).In the youth and young manhood of my informants (ca. 1865-85)the Blackfoot tribes raided the Flathead, Pend crOreille, and Kutenaiwest of the Eockies, the Cree, Assiniboin, Gros Ventres, and TetonDakota on the east, and the Crow on the south. Raids against theShoshoni and other more distant tribes were infrequent. The Piegan,Mountain Chief (born ca. 1846), claimed to have counted coup onmembers of seven or eight different tribes: Cree, Sioux (perhaps in-cluding both Assiniboin and Teton), Plains Ojibwa, Gro? Ventres,Flathead, Nez Perce, and Crow. The last great battle, involving largeforces on both sides, was fought with the Cree near present Leth-bridge. Alberta, in 1870. However, raiding for horses continued until1885-86.THE HORSE AS A CAUSE OF INTERTRIBAL CONFLICTSThe Blackfoot and neighboring tribes regarded the horse raidas an overt warlike act and a proper and important part of theirwar complex. It is true the ideal horse raid was aimed at thecapture of enemy horses by stealth, without the knowledge of theirowners and without bloodshed. It w^as not directed toward the con-quest of enemy territory nor toward the extermination of the fightingforce of an enemy tribe. Nevertheless, a horse raid consituted an 174 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 intertribal incident recognized by the Indians as an act of aggression.Warriors were expected to respect the property rights in horses of indi-viduals of other tribes with whom their own tribe was at peace. Ahorse raid directed against a tribe previously at peace with that ofthe raiders was recognized as a legitimate cause for retaliation inkind or in force against the aggressors' tribe. If the raid was carriedout against a tribe previously hostile, the raid tended to prolong warbetween the tribes involved and to nullify any peace negotiationsthat might be planned or in progress between chiefs of those tribes.Indians who lost horses through capture by a small party of raidersinvariably blamed not only the members of that party but their entiretribe.The causes of intertribal wars in which the Blackfoot engaged, andwhich were initiated prior to 1810, cannot be specifically documentedfrom historical records. Nevertheless, the prominent part played byhorse raiding in the intertribal warfare of the late 18th and early19th century as emphasized in fur traders' accounts suggests that theIndians' need for horses to use in hunting buffalo and transportingfood and domestic articles furnished a major motive for that earlywarfare. Our knowledge of the direction of flow in the distributionof horses among the tribes of this region in the 18th century and ofthe relative wealth in horses of these tribes at a somewhat later datewould suggest that the Blackfoot were the aggressors in their earlywars with the tribes to the south and west, while the horse-poorCree and Assiniboin were the aggressors in their conflicts with theBlackfoot.The origin of only one intertribal war involving the Blackfoot hasbeen adequately documented. Its cause can be traced directly to thepractice of raiding for horses. Prior to 1861 the Blackfoot and GrosVentres had been allies. In the fall of that year a Pend d'Oreilleraiding party stole horses from the Gros Ventres on the Missouri belowFort Benton. To throw their pursuers off their track the clever Pendd'Oreille left some of the stolen horses in the vicinity of a Piegancamp on the Marias. The Gros Ventres, in hot pursuit, found someof their horses near the Piegan, concluded that a party of that tribehad stolen them, and attacked the Piegan camp. In this action aPiegan chief is said to have been killed, and the Piegan were rousedto retaliation against the Gros Ventres. Thereafter, despite a recordof more than a century of peaceful relations prior to the misunder-standing, the Piegan and Gros Ventres were at war. Their warfarecontinued sporadically, with considerable loss of life on both sides,until the middle 1880's, in spite of repeated Government attempts tonegotiate a peace between these former allies (Bradley, 1923, pp.313-315; Curtis, 1928, vol. 18, p. 177; and informants). Ewers] THE PIORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 175The influence of horse raiding as an obstacle to the making andmaintenance of peace between warring tribes can be documented fromthe literature. Accounts of the Blackfoot written in the 19tli centurytell of at least a dozen truces negotiated between Blackfoot tribes andone or more of the neighboring tribes with whom they had been atwar. The longest peaceful period was the Kutenai-Piegan peace notedby Thompson (191G, pp. 389-382). He claimed it endured for 10years prior to 1808. In the spring of 1808, a Piegan war party crossedthe Rockies, stole 35 Kutenai horses and killed a Kutenai in theaction. Thompson (ibid., p. 389) commented significantly, "thus iswar continued for want of the old Men being able to govern the youngMen." The shortest recorded peace was that between the Crow andBlackfoot attested at the 1855 Blackfoot Treaty Council. AgentHatch reported that a Blood Indian war party went against the Crowless than 10 days after that treaty was signed (U. S. Comin. Ind.Affairs, 1856, p. 626) . That same treaty proclaimed peace between theBlackfoot tribes and Flathead by common agreement among the chiefsin attendance. Apparently that peace was effective for more than 18months. Father Hoecken, writing from the Flathead country inApril 1857, expressed fear that it would not last (De Smet, 1905,vol. 4, pp. 1247-1248). In the early summer of 1860, Major Owen,trader among the Flathead, stated flatly, "since the treaty of '55the Blackfoot have made frequent predatory excursions to the dif-ferent Camps from (on) this Side and have run off many horses''(Owen, 1927, vol. 2, p. 215) . In 1858 Cree and Blackfoot leaders triedto arrange a truce in their long warfare. Their efforts were nippedin the bud by Cree young men who could not resist the temptation torun off Blackfoot horses (Hind, 1860, pp. 253-262).Throughout the century prior to 1885, peace between the Black-foot tribes and their neighbors (other than Sarsi and Gros Ventres)was the exception, war the rule. Peaceful periods were brief inter-ludes between hostilities. They were always of uncertain durationand usually short lived. Older and wiser men, tired of continual war-fare, sought peace in good faith. But ambitious young men, needinghorses to gain a degree of economic security, social prestige, and politi-cal recognition, negated the best efforts of their peace-minded chiefsthrough resumption of raiding. Enduring peace with neighboringtribes was impossible until after the Blackfoot passed from a mobile,buffalo-hunting economy to a sedentary life based primarily upon theissuance of Government rations and secondarily upon the raising oflivestock other than horses. This change did not take place untilafter the buffalo was exterminated. 176 BUREAU OF AR'IERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159THE HORSE RAID TRIBAL PREFERENCES OF BLACKFOOT HORSE RAIDERSMaximilian (1906, vol. 23, pp. 06, 112) claimed that the Blackfootwere "all great adepts at stealing horses" and that "horse stealing is aneminent art among them." Their skill in capturing horses wasacknowledged by their bitterest enemies, the Crow and the Flathead(Marquis, 1928, p. 205 ; Teit, 1930, p. 326).These skilled horse thieves possessed knowledge of the quality of thehorses of their enemies which encouraged them to be selective intheir thievery. Informants agreed that most horses owned by the As-siniboin and Cree were relatively poor. Consequently many raidsagainst those tribes were made in retaliation for their raids on theBlackfoot rather than for the purpose of obtaining fine mounts. TheGros Ventres, they said, owned some fine and some poor horses, as didthe Piegan themselves. Their nearness to the Piegan made GrosVentres camps a frequent target of Piegan horse raiders after 1861.The Teton Dakota were said to have owned horses of relatively highquality before the Government took most of their best ones from themin 1877. However, the distance between Blackfoot and Teton vil-lages tended to make raiding of the latter's camps less tempting to theBlackfoot than would have been the case had the tribes lived nearereach other. Informants considered that the best horses were ownedby enemy tribes living south and west of the Piegan. Most of themcredited the tribes west of the Kockies?the Flathead, Kutenai, Pendd'Oreille, Nez Perce, and Shoshoni?with ownership of the best horses.A century ago a Blackfoot Indian told Governor Stevens, "he stole thefirst Flathead horse he came across?it was sure to be a good one"(Stevens, 1860, p. 148). My informants said the Crow Indians hadbetter horses than any other Plains tribe, known to them, althoughtheir horses generally were not as fleet as those of the over-the-moun-tain tribes. Leforge, who lived many years among the Crow, alsoregarded the horses of tribes to the westward as swifter ones (Marquis,1928, pp. 48-49).In the youth and young manhood of mj'^ informants the tribes of theRockies and the Crow, possessing both more and better horses thanneighboring tribes to the east, were the principal targets of Blackfootraiding parties. Horse raids across the mountains by means of thepasses favored by Blackfoot war parties (Cadotte's Pass, Marias Pass,and Crow's Nest Pass) necessitated strenuous and prolonged expedi-tions, rarel3' undertaken except during the warmer months when themountains were relatively free from snow. However, travel over thePlains to the Crow was both easier and quicker. There was no closedseason on raiding the Crow horse herds. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 177ORGANIZATION OF THE HORSE RAIDMembers of Blackfoot raiding parties always were volunteers.Some young men were lazy, cowardly fellows who never joined theseparties. Some favored sons of wealthy families were discouragedfrom joining these expeditions. But the horse raid offered youngmen of poor parents their best opportunity for economic security andsocial advancement. Consequently many of the most active raiderswere poor fellows. Most participants in horse raids were youngmen in their upper teens and early twenties. On rare occasions menin their forties led these expeditions. Weasel Tail said he had no recol-lection of any man over 50 years of age participating in this activity.Most commonly raiding parties comprised from 4 to 12 men. Oc-casional expeditions of 50 or more members were reported, and daringthefts of enemy horses by a lone Blackfoot also occurred. But theywere rare.^*The key figure in any Blackfoot horse-raiding party was the leader,an experienced man whose past successes inspired confidence in hisability to lead a group to the enemy, capture horses, and return with-out loss of party members. Often the leader himself organized araiding party, inviting certain of his young friends to join him. Atother times young men desirous of making up a party requested anacknowledged leader to lead it. It was common practice for membersof a horse-raiding party to drum on a piece of buffalo rawhide inaccompaniment to their war songs the night before setting out. Otheryoung men of the camp, upon hearing their performance and wish-ing to volunteer to accompany them, would join in the singing. Therewere many war songs appropriate for this occasion. A song especiallyliked by Weasel Tail had the words, "Girl I love don't worry aboutme. I'll be eating berries coming home." As the singers moved aboutcamp, friends and relatives gave them presents of food and moccasinsfor their journey. The members might disperse to meet at a spotagreed upon outside the camp and set out that night, or they mightdecide to wait until the following morning to get under way.^^ PREPARATIONSA war party plight have been plamied for several days or it mighthave been organized within a few hours. In either case it required 2? The small horse-raiding party seems to have been preferred by the Upper Missouritribes. Opler (1936, p. 209) stated that Jicarllla Apache horse-raiding expeditions seldomnumbered more than 10 men. However, Comanche and Kiowa raids against Mexicansettlements frequently were large-scale operations. '" The custom of horse-raiding party members drumming and singing war songs beforeembarking on a raid has been reported as typical of the Kiowa, Comanche, Lemhi and WindRiver Shoshoni, Nez Perc6, and Crow (Lowie, 1916, pp. 811, 820; 1916, p. 851).287944?55 18 178 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 preparations involving the assembling of necessary sacred and secularequipment for the journey.WAR MEDICINESNot only the leader but each participant carried his own sacredwar medicine to protect him from harm and bring him luck in hisundertaking. These medicines were obtained through the dreams ofthe individuals themselves in which they received instructions forthe preparation and ritual manipulation of these medicines, or theywere received from older men who had been successful in war andwhose medicines were highly respected by their juniors. In myinformants' youth the first type was uncommon. Weasel Tail aloneof my informants claimed to have used a war medicine originating inhis own dream. He had a vision of a wolf cap and wolf robe and asong having the words, "I am a wolf. I am going to eat a person." Healways wore the cap and robe and sang this song before he went intoan enemy camp to take horses. He was but 15 years old when hedreamed this medicine.It was much more common for a young man to go to an old manbefore he embarked on his first raid and ask him for some of his power.Usually, but not always, the older man was a relative of the youngerone. The request was preceded by the offering of a pipe and gifts.Usually the young man also made a sweat bath for the older one.Some Blackfoot elders were frequently called upon for assistancebecause of their known success in war and/or because younger menvrho had obtained their help had achieved remarkable success. ThePiegan elders On-Lucky-Trail and Under Bull were such men. Theformer was also considered to possess the power to tell young men ofthe location of fine horses owned by enemy tribes. The latter possessedthe Arapaho medicine pipe bundle. Feathers from that bundlebrought success to many raiders. The elder man commonly prayedfor the young warrior who sought his aid and gave him a war song anda medicine object to carry on his expedition. It was common practicefor the recipient of a war medicine to give the donor one or more horsesafter a safe return from a successful raid. Some young men wereeclectic in assembling their war medicines, obtaining sacred objectsfrom two or more older men in whose powers they had great faith.I have knowledge of some 40 Blackfoot war medicines. Fourteenhave been described in the literature : 11 by Wissler (1912 a, pp. 92-95) , 2 by McClintock (1930, pp. 12, 29), and 1 by Uhlenbeck (1911, p. 67).From informants I obtained the information on 21 war medicines sum-marized in table 6. Although in theory there were no limitations uponthe types of objects that could be used as war medicines, an analysisof these 40 medicines reveals that variety was limited and the great Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 179 majority of them tended to follow a definite pattern. The majorityof war medicines consisted simply of a feather or bunch of feathersworn in the hair. Undoubtedly the lightness and compactness offeathers made them practical objects for carrying on long journeysafoot into enemy country. The data in the table also indicate the con-servatism of the Blackfoot in placing their trust in tried and provedmedicines obtained from successful elderly warriors in preference tooriginating new medicines. Table 6. ? Some tear medichics of Blackfoot warriors Owner 180 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159Medicine songs also were intended to protect their possessors aswell as to bring them luck in taking horses. Uhlenback (1911, pp.66-67) mentioned three songs employed by the Piegan, Bear Chief.One, known as "the song of the horse-stealing" was actually a prayerto the sun, "Sun look at us, have pity on us, help us." Another, sungwhile in sight of the enemy camp, was intended to pacify the enemies'dogs, "In the night I am not seen, the dogs are my partners." A thirdsong, rendered when the sound of enemy firing was heard, had thewords, "The guns can see me, I can see the bullets, they are like birds,they curve."Kides-at-the-Door explained the use of his own war medicine:When I went to the enemy to steal horses I carried my war medicine in a small,cylindrical rawhide case. This medicine could never be put down. In a lodgeit always had to be hung up. When my party got near the enemy camp, I madea little fire, took charcoal and sweetgrass and made a smudge. I sang the songgiven me with my medicine and prayed before donning my medicine plume. Inmy prayers I asked Sun for horses, to get away safely and not to have to returnon foot. Sometimes I prayed to the sun, "See me. The rain is holy and thewind is holy." Then it was bound to blow, and the sleeping enemy would nothear us when we went into their camp and took their horses.It was not uncommon for an inexperienced young man, doubtfulof the potency of his own war medicine to "call a help" on an olderman of the war party just prior to the rush for enemy horses. Themore experienced man would give him a feather from his own medicineor other token of his own medicine power. A fearful young warriormight make a vow before the other men of his party to feast the ownerof some powerful medicine bundle on his return home, should he pullthrough safely. Vows to undergo self-torture at the next tribalSun Dance were also made before entering the enemy camp to takehorses (Ewers, 1948 b, pp. 167-168). These last-minute petitions forsupernatural aid helped to bolster the wavering courage of inexperi-enced raiders.Informants' testimony revealed the Blackfoot belief that relianceupon the protective power of war medicine was no justification forreckless exposure in battle. Lazy Boy cited the case of Calf Shield,whose power came from Big Lake, a noted Piegan chief. On the wayto take horses from the Sioux, Calf Shield's entire party was wipedout. Although no one survived to tell of that action the Piegan gen-erally claimed the party must have taken too great chances. "It wasnot the fault of the medicine or its giver if the recipient took too greata risk." Thus repeated losses of possessors of renowned war medicinesin combat failed to shake Blackfoot faith in the power of these medi-cines. There were always a number of brave warriors able to testifyto the potency of their medicines in preserving them from almost cer-tain death on the warpath. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 181Some men were credited with the power to predict the outcomeof horse raids. Weasel Tail said Takes-a-Gun, a Piegan, had a for-mula for such prediction. When he joined a raiding party he calledupon the sun, "Sun, tell us if we are going to get horses." Then heexplained to others of the party, "If you see sun dogs on both sidesof the sun we shall get many horses. If there are sun dogs on one sideonly, we shall get only a few." In dreams any member of an outgoingparty might be warned of disaster ahead. When he told his fears tothe others, some or all of them might turn back. There was no stigmaattached to desertion of a raiding party as a result of supernaturalwarning. Indeed should some of the men persist in the enterpriseand meet loss of personnel or failure to capture horses, the medicineof the man who had turned back in response to liis warning was rec-ognized as powerful by his fellow tribesmen.^CLOTHINGDuring the warmer months members of horse-raiding parties gen-erally wore undecorated, soft-soled moccasins, leggings, breechclouts,and shirts. Shirts were needed even in summer to protect theirwearers from sunburn by day and chill by night. In winter, raiderswore Hudson's Bay Company's blanket coats with capotes, as over-coats. These coats were predominantly white, which served as acamouflage against a background of snow and overcast sky. Blanketshad black, red, or yellow stripes. Makes-Cold-AVeather said he usedto prefer red or yellow stripes, as they could be seen less easily froma distance than black ones. Other specialized winter garments weremittens of buffalo hide, hair inside, which were tied together by askin cord passing from wrist to wrist over the wearer's shouldersand underneath his blanket coat; and a pair of soft-soled, hair-lined, buffalohide moccasins. The moccasins sometimes were stuffed ** The Blackfoot concept of war medicine had Its counterpart among other Plains Indiantribes. Larocque (1910, p. 66) wrote of the Crow in 1805: "When they go to war theytake their medicine bags, at least the Chief of the party does, when they have found outtheir enemies and on the point of beginning the attack the bag of medicine Is opened,they sing a few airs but very shortly smoke and then attack." Zenas Leonard (1904,p. 256) briefly described Crow war medicines of which he learned during 6 months' resi-dence among that tribe in 1934-35; Boiler (1868, p. 324) told of an HIdatsa chief whogave a young Crow warrior half his medicine, after which the young man was very suc-cessful In stealing horses. It was common practice among the Plains Cree for a youngman to obtain his war medicine with accompanying songs and ritual from an older success-ful warrior (Mandelbaum, 1940, pp. 258-259). Grinnell (1923, vol. 2, pp. 108-125)stressed the use of bird feathers and skins as war medicines by the Cheyenne. CertainCheyennes were also credited with the power to prophesy the outcome of war adventures.Enoch Smoky told me of a Kiowa who, by the screeching of owls, could predict the successor failure of horse raids. On one occasion he predicted that several members of his partywould be killed, but none wounded. The party suffered just as he said it would. Smokyclaimed the Kiowa did not carry war medicines on horse-raiding expeditions, limiting theiruse to raids for enemy scalps. 182 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 with grass to give greater warmth to the feet. Figures 27 and 28illustrate the summer and winter costumes of Blackfoot horse raiders.^^Sunmier or winter, horse-raiding parties setting out on foot werecareful to carry along supplies of extra moccasins. Each man wasresponsible for his own footgear. Blackfoot moccasins of buffalodays were of the soft-soled variety, which usually withstood but 2 P'iguee 27.?Blackfoot horse raiders in warm-weather dress. days of walking over rough country before they needed repair or re-placement. Female relatives generally gave each warrior severalextra pairs of moccasins, as well as awls, sinew thread, and extrapieces of skin with which to make repairs en route. ^ The blanket coat was a favorite winter garment of warriors among neighboring UpperMissouri tribes. Boiler (1868, p. 299) mentioned Hidatsa-Mandan preference for whiteblanket coats. Kurz (1937, pi. 34 lower, and pi. 46 lower) illustrated the blanket coatworn by Assiniboin and Chippewa (?). The original sketchbooks of Charles Wimar, inthe City Art Museum, St. Louis, include several good representations of this garment, asseen by that artist among Indians of the Upper Missouri in 1858. EwersJ THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 183 ^'-?''^^ Figure 28.?Blackfoot horse raider in winter dress.WEAPONSMembers of horse-raiding parties carried no shields, lances, or warclubs. Their weapons were boAvs and arrows, guns, and knives. Theknives, carried at the waist in rawhide sheaths, were sharp and heavy-enough to cut firewood and timber for temporary shelters. Theyserved as axes as well as knives, useful in skinning and cutting upanimals for food, cutting loose picketed horses from the enemy camp,and as weapons for hand-to-hand fighting if necessity required. 184 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 169 TEGB PACKEach Blackfoot warrior carried a pack containing: (1) extramoccasins, an awl, and sinew for moccasin repair; (2) one or tworawhide ropes, each about 20 feet or longer, with a honda in one end,for use in catching, riding, and leading enemy horses; (3) a smallpipe and tobacco; and (4) the man's personal war medicine. Somemen also carried whips in their packs. Scouts carried wolfskins intheir packs or wore them over their other clothing. The contents ofthe pack were wrapped in the top of an old lodge cover, a large pieceof rawhide, or a trade blanket, rolled like a blanket roll, tied withrawhide rope and carried on the owner's back by a rawhide strap overhis upper arms and chest. (See fig. 27.) Pieces of rawhide wrap-ping could be cut off for use in moccasin repair as the need arose.^ FOOD Blackfoot raiders generally carried their food in separate con-tainers rather than in the pack. Many men favored a rectangular,unfringed, rawhide case, carried by a strap over one shoulder or ontop of the main pack on the back. Dried meat and pemmican werethe favored foods.^^ THE OUTWARD JOURNEYW. T. Hamilton (1905, p. 52) writing of the Blackfoot of the pe-riod ca. 1842, said they "almost always went to war on foot." In-formants said that in their young manhood there were both foot andmounted horse-raiding expeditions. They acknowledged that it waseasier for men to conceal themselves from the enemy when afoot thanwhen mounted. However, in the last decade of horse raiding the *? Horse-raldlng parties of other tribes carried their equipment in similar packs. Catlln'spainting of a foot war party of an unidentified Upper Missouri tribe (U. S. N. M. No.386352) shows each member carrying a pack on his back. In the summer of 1833, Maxi-milian (1906, vol. 23, p. 204) met an Assiniboin war party at Fort Union, the members ofwhich carried "small bundles" on their backs containing meat, moccasins, and tobacco.Mead (1908, p. 106) described the equipment of Pawnee horse raiders of the period ca.1860 : "They went lightly armed, each had a very serviceable bow and quiver of arrowsand a knife, a few carried a light gun. Each Indian carried tucked under his belt, fromfour to six extra pairs of new moccasins and one or more lariats ; a pack weighing twentypounds or more containing dried meat, both fat and lean ; some pieces and straps of tannedskins to repair their moccasins and clothing and useful for bridles. The above mentionedarticles, with a pipe and tobacco, an occasional light squaw axe, and a few trifles, comprisedall that was necessary for a thousand mile journey." Informants stated that Blackfootraiders not infrequently carried extra moccasins tucked under the belt rather than in thepack. Some Blackfoot men carried 1 or 2 pairs of moccasins under the belt or sewn to theshirt at the back of the shoulders In addition to those in the pack, as a precautionarymeasure in case their pack might become lost in a surprise attack by the enemy en route." Catlln's portrait of Red Thunder, son of a Hldatsa chief, "in the costume of awarrior" depicts a rawhide case like that used by Blackfoot horse raiders hanging at hisside from a strap over his shoulder (U. S. N. M. No. 386172). Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 185 mounted party gained in popularity, especially in expeditions di-rected against the Crow, The mounted party could travel muchfaster and could more easily evade white authorities who at that timewere seeking to put an end to intertribal horse raiding. It required16 to 28 days' travel afoot from the vicinity of the Piegan Old Agencyon Badger Creek to the Crow camps south of the Yellowstone;whereas a mounted party could make the journey in 8 to 12 days.Weasel Tail said, "Usually on the eighth day our scouts saw the Crowcamp. On the ninth day we took their horses." While foot warparties averaged about 25 miles a day in good weather, mountedparties traveled more than twice that distance in the same time.^^In the initial stages of the outward journey, when danger of en-countering the enemy was at a minimum, raiding parties usuallytraveled by day, moving at a steady pace, in no particular order, andstopping occasionally to rest and smoke. But as they neared theenemy country they moved more cautiously, traveling at night andhiding out during the daylight hours. A party nearing enemycountry halted to kill game for food enough to subsist them for theremainder of their journey. They built one or more war lodges ina heavily timbered bottom or on a thickly wooded height. The warlodge usually had a framework of fallen or cut timbers covered withbrush or bark, set in a conical form with an angular covered entrance-way. (See Ewers, 19M a, pp. 183-186 and plate.) It served a five-fold purpose, as a protection against the enemy (concealing the firefrom view and serving as a fort in case of surprise attack) , as pro-tection from the weather (especially in winter or rainy weather) , asa base for scouting oj)erations, as a suj)ply base, and as an informationcenter to which members of homeward-bound parties could returnand leave pictographic messages to others of their party telling oftheir actions and movements (ibid., pp. 189-190) .^^From the war lodge the leader sent ahead a small number of pickedmen as scouts to locate the enemy camp. Wearing wolfskins, theymoved cautiously, fearful of encountering enemy war or huntingparties. From high ground they surveyed the surrounding territory,concealed by their wolfskins, before advancing. They were suspi-cious of any sudden movements of game, and they examined burned- *" Lieutenant Carleton (1943, p. 276) reported that Teton Dakota parties cuetomarilywent on foot against the Crow and Blackfoot In 1845. Denig (1930, p. 545) claimed Itwas usual for horse raiders of all the Upper Missouri tribes to leave camp afoot In theperiod ante-1854. This was the common practice among the Cheyenne (Grlnnell, 1923,vol. 2, p. 7), Pawnee (Dunbar, 1880, p. 335), and Jicarilla Apache (Opler, 1936, p. 210).However, the Comanche even as early as 1820, appear to have preferred mounted raids forhorses (Burnet, 1851, p. 236). Alice Marriott has informed me that Kiowa partiesfrequently rode in quest of enemy horses, but if the group was composed largely of pooryoung men seeking to obtain animals to start their own herds, they walked. ?? War lodges also were constructed by Plains Cree, Crow, Teton, Gros Ventres, Asslnl-boin, and Cheyenne horae raiders (ibid., p. 190). 186 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 out fires and tracks made by horses, travois, and footmen and notedtheir relative recency and direction of movement.Wliile the scouts were gone members of the party left at the warlodge hunted for buffalo, deer, elk, or other game, killing only enoughto provide dried meat for the remainder of their journey. Theydried the meat and filled the provision bags. Sometimes they madeup additional packets of meat for each member. These were small,skin or rawhide containers that could be carried at the belt holdingquantities of meat sufficient only for an occasional quick lunch onhorseback while hastening homeward with captured horses.When the scouts located the enemy camp they watched it from aconcealed position long and closely enough to determine its size, andnumbers of men, horses, etc. Then they returned to the war lodge asrapidly as possible. As they came in sight of their fellows they ap-proached in a zigzag course, indicating they had found the enemy.While their leader went out to meet the scouts, the other members ofthe party set up a pile of sticks near the war lodge. Keturning withthe scouts the leader kicked over the pile of sticks and all party mem-bers scrambled for them. Each stick a member retrieved was anaugury of a horse he would take from the enemy.Guided by the scotits, the whole party moved cautiously, travelingonly by night and hiding out by day, until they reached a well con-cealed position overlooking or in sight of the enemy camp. Afterthe leader had an opportunity to observe the camp, he outlined hisplan of attack to the other members of his party.THE ATTACK Shortly before the time of attack arrived, the party members openedtheir packs, took out their personal war medicines, sang their sacredwar songs, prayed for success, painted and donned their medicinegear. Usually the rush for horses was made at daybreak. Gen-erally the leader selected only a few of the bravest and most experi-enced men to enter the enemy camp with him, and cut loose thepicketed horses and lead them out. Usually they carried no weaponsother than their knives as they stealthily entered the enemy village.They sought out the picketed horses previously spotted as the mostlikely looking ones. When each man cut picket lines and led horsesaway he was careful to stay close to the horse he believed to be thefastest so he could jump on it and make a quick getaway should some-one in the camp become aware of the theft and rouse the enemy.Sometimes these men left picketed horses with the younger, inex-perienced party members outside the camp and returned again formore of the choice animals. At other times the men outside the campdrove off some of the range herds while the leader and his assistants Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 187 took the picketed animals. It was a common practice for men whowent after the picketed horses to rub cottonwood sap on their bodiesand hands. The cottonwood odor would tend to quiet the horses andmake them willing to follow the strangers who led them away.THE HOMEWARD JOURNEYWhether or not the enemy became aware of the actions of the raid-ing party, a quick getaway was important in order to get as muchhead start on their pursuers as possible. It was not unusual for asuccessful Blackfoot raiding party to take as many as 40 to 60 horses ona single raid. However, the great majority of my informants who hadparticipated in horse raids denied that any Blackfoot party returnedhome with as many as 100 animals. They acknowledged that over100 horses had been run off on raids known to them, but stated thatthe difficulty of driving that number of animals homeward at a fastpace, over uneven country, through timber and across streams forhundreds of miles resulted in the loss through straying or abandon-ment of some of the animals. It was unsafe to be too greedy. Theenemy might overtake the captors of many horses, whose homewardprogress was slowed by the necessity for driving an unwieldy herd infront of them.^*On the first portion of the homeward journey the raiders generallyrode without breechcloths, to prevent blistering of their skin fromthe steady friction of their horses' backs in riding over rough, un-even ground at a fast clip. Yet sometimes men became so sore andblistered during this part of the journey they had to dismount andwalk. This not only slowed their progress but increased the dangerof being overtaken by the enemy.The return journey was made at a much faster pace than the out-ward one. Rides-at-the-Door said that 4 days and nights after hetook horses from the Crow south of the Yellowstone he was home(i. e., in the vicinity of the present Blackfeet Reservation, Montana).For the first 2 or 3 days and nights raiders rode steadily, switchingfrom one mount to another as their horses tired. If a horse playedout so that it could not keep up with the rest, it was usually turnedloose. If it was a very good horse, the raiders might shoot it, to pre-vent the enemy from retaking it. Usually a party returning from theCrow reached the vicinity of present Belt, Mont., 200 miles north ofthe Yellowstone River, on the second night or third day. There they ** The literature mentions raids by southern Plains tribes resulting in the theft of fargreater numbers of horses. Gregg (1941, pp. 337-338) told of about 500 Comanche, who,according to Mexican papers of 1841, "were then driving off about 28,000 head of stock ? horses, mules and cattle." This may have referred to a series of carefully organized raidsIn which the number of Indian participants far exceeded the numbers commonly active liiindividual raids by the Blackfoot and neighboring Upper Missouri tribes. 188 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 stopped to rest, overnight, and continued homeward at a more lei-surely pace. DISTRIBUTION OF CAPTURED HORSESAt the first resting place after leaving the enemy camp the horsestaken on the raid were distributed among party members. This dis-tribution was a sore test of the character of the leader and his moreexperienced men. It was the leaders' responsibility to supervise dis-tribution. Yet the Blackfoot recognized the right of each individualto any picketed horses he had taken from the enemy camp. They alsorecognized the right of the man or men to range horses they had run off. It often happened that there were party members who had nei-ther captured picketed horses nor run off range stock. Those who hadrecognized claims to horses were then expected to give up some ofthem to the less fortunate. After pointing out the animals theywished to retain (usually the best ones), they called upon membersof the party who could claim no horses to divide the remaining ani-mals. There was a strong element of enlightened self-interest inthis practice. Raiders who had taken horses knew that if they werenot liberally inclined toward those who had taken none, the latterwould desert the party and would leave them the task of driving allthe horses home. It was still more important that the leader of theparty should act generously. If he was unfair or stingy in distrib-uting horses, warriors would not follow him in the future.Nevertheless, informants who had been on numerous raids said thatarguments over possession of horses were common, especially amonggroups of men who had jointly run off range horses. A man mighthave his heart set on possessing a certain animal that appealed to him.He became angry if another man received that horse in the distribu-tion. The story was told of two men who argued over the possessionof a captured horse. In the end the man who did not receive it drewhis knife, plunged it into the disputed horse and killed it, saying, "If I can't have that horse, no one will enjoy it."The system of distribution just described brought the greatest re-wards to the men who had taken the greatest risks. They receivedboth the most and the best horses. To avoid trouble and ill-feeling atthe time of distribution, party members sometimes agreed in advanceupon an equal division of the captured animals. In that case theleader took first choice, then called upon each man in turn to makehis selection. If the number of captured horses was not equally di-visible by the number of party members the leader decided what wasto be done with the horses remaining after each man had made hischoice.^' *^Denlg (1&30, p. 475) described the frequent quarrels among Assiniboin horse raidersover division of their spoUs, eometimes resulting in the killing or running off in the night Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 189RETUBN TO CAMPUpon Hearing the home village, members of a successful Blackfootraiding party halted, painted themselves just as they were when theyraided the enemy camp, decorated their horses, and moved towardcamp shooting in the air to notify their tribesmen of their return. Allthe people of the camp came out to greet them. If an old woman cameto a successful raider and told him she had prayed for him during hisabsence he might give her a horse, whether or not she was a relative.It was common practice to give horses to relatives, especially to fathers-in-law or brothers-in-law, after a raid. Then the raider would tell hiswife to bring to his lodge the old man who had given him war medi-cine and prayed for his welfare. He fed the old man and gave him oneor more of the horses captured on the recent raid.Generous giving of horses, secured at great risk from enemy camps,was regarded as a praiseworthy act. He who, in the intoxication ofsuccess, gave away all the horses he had taken without thought forhimself, was remembered for his generosity long after the gifts weredistributed. Action of that kind served as a steppingstone to leader-ship. It was customary for a person who had received a capturedhorse as a gift to aid the donor in preparing for future raids throughpresents of moccasins, food, ammunition, or even a gun, if the youngman did not possess one.^? ACCUSTOMING CAPTURED HORSES TO ONe's HERDTo prevent a captured horse from straying from its new herd theBlackfoot owner tied it neck and neck with a gentle mare in liis herd.After 4 or 5 nights of this treatment the new horse could be releasedwithout fear of straying. If the stolen horse was the only one ownedby an individual he initiated it into the herd of one of his relativesby the same method. Some men tried to hasten the process by trim-ming off pieces of the hocks of the two animals necked together, mixing of horses in dispute by men who received few horses. He claimed men of large familiesor of "force in camp," able to back up their claims received the most horses. Accordingto Llewellyn and Hoebel (1941, p. 223) the Cheyenne often agreed upon equal distributionof horses talsen on a raid, although their usual system recognized the claim of each manto the horse or horses he was first to count coup upon. Smoky claimed the Kiowa com-monly followed the system of equal distribution. The leader called upon each man In turn,beginning with his closest friend or relative. If a man chose a mare any colts that followedthat mare were his also. The leader was the last to make a selection. If a few animalswere left after each man had a like number the leader drove them home and gave themaway. The Kiowa also recognized a man's right to make his selection and then describeanother horse In the herd not previously claimed, stating, "Don't pick that horse. I amgoing to give it to [name], a poor old man [or woman] when I get back." That horse wasreserved for the gift indicated. "? Other writers have reported liberal giving of horses by members of returning raidingparties among the Mandan (Maximilian, 1906, vol. 23, pp. 352-353) ; Cheyenne (Grinnell,1923, vol. 2, p. 15) ; and Crow (Marquis, 1928, pp. 175-176). The motivation for andhonor accorded such gifts were the same as among the Blackfoot. 190 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 the trimming with dirt and water, and rubbing the strong-odored con-coction on the noses of both animals. Other owners mixed somemanure of the gentle mare with grass and rubbed it on the nose of thenew horse. Then in a couple of days the two animals would stay to-gether without tying. This treatment also was employed to accustoma horse obtained as a gift or in trade to the new owner's herd.^^WOMEN ON HORSE-RAIDINO EXPEDITIONS It was not uncommon for a childless young woman to accompanyher husband on a horse raid. Weasel Tail explained, "My wife saidshe loved me, and if I was to be killed on a war party she wanted tobe killed too. I took her with me on five raids. Some of them I led,and my wife was not required to perform the cooking or other chores.She carried a six-shooter. On one occasion she stole a horse with asaddle, ammunition bag and war club." He recalled three marriedwomen who had taken guns from the enemy while on war parties withtheir husbands. Two of these women were Piegan, one Blood. Elk-Hollering-in-the-Water, a short woman of very slight build, told meshe had taken objects from the enemy while on raiding parties withher husband. Bear Chief, a Piegan. The most famous Piegan womanwarrior of the 19th century was Running Eagle, subject of J. WillardSchultz' book, ''Running Eagle the Warrior Girl" (1919). She wasknown to some of my informants as a leader of many successful horseraids who was killed while attempting to take horses from theFlathead.^^ BOYS ON HORSE-RAIDING EXPEDITIONSJames Doty (1854, p. 7), in a brief description of Blackfoot horseraiding, written a century ago, stated, "In one of these parties aregenerally found 3 or 4 young men, or mere boys, who are apprentices.They go without the expectation of receiving a horse, carry extra moc-casins and tobacco for the party, do all the camp drudgery, and con-sider themselves amply paid in being permitted to learn the scienceof horse stealing from such experienced hands." According to in-formants these boys were 14 or 15 years of age. Younger boys wereconsidered too great a risk. They might, through carelessness, en-danger the lives of the entire party. The boys performed the duties ^ The Puyallup-Nisqually introduced a new horse Into a herd by dampening "scales fromabove the first joint of its leg" and rubbing on the leg of a horse to which it was tied forthe night. "After that the new horse would not wander" (Smith, 1940, p. 30). I havefound no comparative data on this point from other tribes.5' Denig (1953, pp. 64-68) has recorded the biography of Woman Chief, the outstandingwoman warrior of the Upper Missouri. Gros Ventres by birth, she was captured by theCrow as a child. She led a number of successful Crow war parties before she was killedwhile on a visit to her own people, the Gros Ventres, In the early 1850's. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 191 of cooking, carrying wood and water, and carrying the men's (or atleast the leaders') packs. Sometimes they were permitted to holdthe horses cut loose from pickets when the warriors brought them outof camp. Sometimes they assisted in running off grazing horses out-side the camp. Experienced men took pains to point out to themhow the raids should be conducted and why they employed the tacticsfollowed on these expeditions. The boys gained much valuable in-formation by watching the skilled actions of their elders. If a raidwas successful the older men might give a horse to a boy who accom-panied them. Through this on-the-job training boys learned the artsof war. rREQUENCY OF HORSE RAIDS All evidence from the literature and informants indicates that thehorse raid was by far the most common type of Blackfoot war ex-pedition. Father De Smet claimed the Blackfoot made 20 horse raidsagainst the Flathead alone in the year preceding February 1842 (DeSmet, 1905, vol. 1, p. 363) . There may have been years in which thethree Blackfoot tribes sent out more than 50 horse-raiding parties.As a rule horse raids were less common during the cold, snowy, wintermonths. However, Weasel Tail said he used to prefer raiding inwinter. If the attack on an enemy camp was made before or duringa snow storm the tracks of the fleeing raiders would become covered,making it impossible for them to be closely followed by the enemy.Participation in these raids differed markedly on the part of indi-viduals. Some young men never joined them. Others made repeatedraids. Of my elderly, fuUblood, male informants there was none whohad not been on several raids, but only one. Weasel Tail, known as ayouth of poor family, participated in more than a dozen horse raids.In the generation of the fathers of my elderly informants his recordwould not have been remarkable. The late White Quiver, of WeaselTail's own generation, was regarded by my informants as the mostactive and successful horse raider of whom they had knowledge.White Quiver was the Blackfoot horse thief par excellence.WHITE QUIVER, THE MOST SUCCESSFUL BLACKFOOT HORSE RAIDERIn 1921 Superintendent Campbell of the Blackfeet Keservation,Mont., wrote, "White Quiver was formerly considered the most suc-cessful horse thief among all these Indians" (Campbell, MS., 1921).Not only did my Piegan informants unanimously endorse this state-ment, but all elderly Blood Indians questioned on the point said theirtribe possessed no member whose record as a horse raider comparedwith that of Wliite Quiver, the Piegan. (See pi. 11, h.)White Quiver, of the Bugs Band, was born about the year 1858.When he was a small boy his father, Trails War Bonnet, was killed by 192 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 the Crow. White Quiver vowed vengeance against that tribe. In lateryears he led many raids on their horse herds. White Quiver startedgoing on war parties while still a boy. He grew to be a tall, strongman of remarkable physical stamina, who could ride 3 days and nightswithout food while driving captured horses homeward from an enemycamp. Eides-at-the-Door, who went on eight horse raids under WhiteQuiver's leadership, remembered him as a generous, easy-going, fun-loving man. He described White Quiver's appearance as "tall, verydark, and ugly." The Crow Indians, who suffered most from histhievery, dubbed him "the big Negro." Crow mothers are said tohave disciplined their crying children by saying, "Keep quiet. Thebig Negro is out there. He will get you if you don't stop crying." "Wliite Quiver told Rides-at-the-Door he had gone to the enemy 40times to steal horses, yet his career as a horse raider ended before hewas 30 years of age. He raided the Crow more than any other tribe.Superintendent Campbell claimed White Quiver had made 11 trips tothe Crow and each time came home with horses. He also took horsesfrom the Gros Ventres, Cree, Assiniboin, and Sioux. White Quiverconsidered the Flathead his friends. Informants could recall 15 dis-tinct raids led by "W^iite Quiver.White Quiver's war medicine was a plume from the medicine pipebundle owned by Under Bull, and known as the Arapaho pipe. In the1940's this medicine pipe bundle was owned by my interpreter, ReubenBlack Boy (pi. 11, a, right). When White Quiver returned withhorses he usually gave one or more of them to Under Bull.White Quiver's tactics were unorthodox but extremely successful.Usually he traveled to the enemy on horseback rather than on foot.(Rides-at-the-Door said every time he accompanied Wliite Quiver ona raid he went mounted.) White Quiver was always the party leaderand insisted on taking the greatest risks himself. Often he left theothers of his party in a secluded spot some distance from the enemycamp, entered the camp alone, and brought horses out to them. Ratherthan follow the usual Piegan practice of taking horses at night or atdaybreak, White Quiver preferred to boldly walk into the enemy campat dusk, just as the people were settling down for the night. Wlien hebrought horses out he told each member of the party to take a good oneto ride. When a stop was made on the return journey, he told eachman he might keep the horse he was riding. Then he distributed thedriven horses equally among the party members.White Quiver's war parties generally were small ones. Informantscould recall only 2 parties led by him which numbered more than 11men. One of these raids was against the Sioux, on which 30 men killedall the enemy of 5 lodges and took all their horses. The other, com-prising 17 men, was a raid on the Gros Ventres during which the Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 193 enemy discovered their presence and only White Quiver got away witha horse. Among his successful raids against the Crow were : 38 horsesand 6 mules taken by 11 men ; 80 horses taken by 10 men ; 48 horsescaptured by 6 men ; 34 horses taken by 4 men ; and about 20 horsescaptured by 4 men. No less than 62 men were named who had been onhorse raids under White Quiver's leadership. Several of them accom-panied him four or more times. White Quiver's last raid was made ata time when white authorities in both Montana and Alberta wereactively trying to put an end to intertribal horse raiding. Leading aparty of 8 men to the Crow, White Quiver made off with over 50 horses.On the return journey authorities from Fort Benton apprehended theparty and took the stolen horses from them. White Quiver restole thehorses from the authorities and drove them to Canada. There theMounted Police again took the horses from him. But White Quivermanaged to recapture at least a part of the herd and succeeded inbringing them to the Blackfeet Keservation in Montana. This was awhirlwind finish to an extraordinary raiding career.White Quiver preferred the excitment of raiding to the businessof building up and managing a large herd of his own. Many of thehorses received as his share of the loot he gave away to relatives or poorpeople after his party reached the home camp. He never became awealthy horse owner. In the spring of 1921, not long before his death,White Quiver owned but 7 horses. There were many Indians thenliving in his section of the Blackfeet Reservation, the Heart Buttedistrict, who owned much larger herds.A complex of factors help to explain White Quiver's preeminenceas a horse raider. His father's murder gave him an initial motivationof the strongest kind. His physical strength and stamina enabledhim to lead the hyperactive and strenuous life of almost continuousraiding. His unorthodox dusk attacks seem to have caught the enemy off guard time after time. His willingness to perform the most dang-erous tasks himself, coupled with his reputation for success and gen-erosity in distribution of captured horses, made him a popular warparty leader who never wanted for followers. Finally, his generosityin giving away horses, and his lack of either social or political ambi-tion, made him a popular hero whose deeds have been remembered bythe many beneficiaries of his liberality and by their relatives. 3^9 ** If there were Blackfoot men of earlier generations whose achievements as horse raidersequaled or surpassed those of White Quiver, their deeds have been forgotten. However,Thaddeus Culbertson, (1851, p. 122) met a halfbreed Crow Indian at Fort Union In thesummer of 1850, whose record approached that of White Quiver. Although not yet 80years of age this man, Horse Guard, was said to have "engaged in about thirty expeditions,always returning with hair (scalps) or horses, and getting his party back safely." In1855 Horse Guard was chief of a band of some 50 lodges (McDonnell, 1940, p. 113). In1874 "Horseguard" was "the head chief of the River Crows," one of the two major divisionsof the Crow Indians (Koch, 1944, p. 422).287944?55 14 194 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159THE RAID FOR SCALPSDenig (1930, pp. 548-551) and Wissler (1910, p. 155) have properlydistinguished another type of raiding party from that of the horseraid. Denig described the "war parties for battle" of the Upper Mis-souri tribes in general. Wissler referred to Blackfoot "expeditionsfor scalps and revenge." Since these expeditions were directed to-ward killing the enemy and taking scalps rather than horses, I shallterm them "scalp raids." Scalp raids differed markedly from horseraids in motivation, organization (size and leadership), preliminaryceremonies, equipment, tactics, and postraid ceremonies.The scalp raid most commonly was motivated by desire for revengeagainst an enemy who had (1) recently defeated a portion of theBlackfoot in battle or (2) killed a Blackfoot chief or several promi-nent warriors. Scalp raids generally were prosecuted by relativelylarge forces, often recruited from several of the Blackfoot and alliedtribes and led by one or more prominent chiefs. David Thompson(1916, p. 347) observed (ca. 1800) that Kootenae Appe, the Pieganwar chief, "was utterly averse to small parties, except for horse steal-ing . . . He seldom took the field with less than two hundred warriorsbut frequently with many more." In the summer of 1848, Paul Kane(1925, p. 303) met an expedition moving against the Cree comprisingwarriors of the North Blackfoot, Blood, Piegan, Gros Ventres, andSarsi, which he claimed numbered 1,500 men. This is the largestBlackfoot war expedition that has been reported. Its numbers mayhave been somewhat exaggerated. A review of the contemporaryliterature on the Blackfoot covering the period 1800-70 reveals nu-merous references to war parties of more than 100 members, and tobattles involving several hundred warriors.Table 7 lists 17 intertribal battles in which relatively large forcesof Blackfoot Indians engaged during the period 1808-70, which havebeen reported by reputable authorities. Undoubtedly the Blackfootwere involved in other battles of equal or greater size during thatperiod which were not reported. The estimates of the numbers andcasualties in some of these conflicts may be exaggerated. Most of thecontemporary writers had direct contact with only one of the tribesengaged, and Indians notoriously exaggerated both the total numbersand the losses of their enemies. Nevertheless, I believe the data of thistable give a relatively accurate idea of the frequency, the scale, andthe heavy casualties resulting from the major intertribal conflicts inwhich the Blackfoot participated in the 19th century.My information indicates that scalp raiding was more commonamong the Blackfoot and their enemies of the Upper Missouri priorto 1855 than after that year, even though two of the greatest Blackfootvictories occurred as late as 1866 and 1870, respectively. Prior to Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 193 a a.a eg o CO ? CD r-H . O '^ " S IN " .<; _? ? _r.j TO ,- - - aS t aMl ::3 o t3 ?? is ?83*^ a> ? o o oC3 ,S fQ"o asSrrt 3O jai O fl-op '^ o oOS: B3 c-5 C3 oAho2CO MO oo a _o -1 -2 taSo.S> O) 03 C8 o 4<)uC3x>w!-?Oxtao t> o '^.^ ? ? O C5 ^,2 m" fl "S^c c S ?3 OJ ra wo >!! tjfiO 'JTo "l- c3? '^'^i 5^ ??? a 3 i- .2 ^^ So ? OT3 03 .5 CO t>> ?2J2? PM iJ *-?S3&a:*?OO03bjoOl a;O -?^o u pq pqa^> "^ ? fl o ^03"" aO 12 t"o ?PQgg ?-toSo.-c3 at>>??a^|SoCO oS3 o03XIOlwo 196 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 1855, Blackfoot scalp raids may have averaged one every 2 years overa half-century period. Although horse raiding continued unabatedfor three decades after 1855, scalp raiding was not pursued with thesame frequency or fury as in earlier years. None of my elderly in-formants had fought in a large-scale intertribal battle. In discussingscalp raiding they relied heavily on what they had been told ratherthan on their personal experiences.THE RIDING BIG DANCEAn impressive preliminary to the departure of a scalp-raiding partywas the riding big dance, referred to by Wissler (1913, pp. 456-458)as the "horseback dance or big dance." The warriors who volunteeredto join the party first rode out of camp for some distance. Therethey changed to their war clothes, painted themselves in their warpaint, painted pictographic representations of their coups on theirwar horses and decorated them with masks, bells, martingales, andfeathers in their tails. Then they mounted and converged upon thecamp from the four cardinal directions, carrying their weapons. Asa number of old men and women stood in the center of the campbeating drums and singing a song with a lively rhythm, the warriorscircled the camp on horseback. Then they shouted, dismounted, anddanced on foot, imitating the prancing of their horses, which steppedalong beside them to the beating of their drums.Informants said there were no leaders in this dance. All warriorsplanning to embark on the expedition took part. The "riding bigdance" was also given in former times at the Sun Dance encampment.Thus it survived as a spectacle after its discontinuance as a prelude toa war party. Informants said the Piegan had not observed the ridingbig dance since about 1900. Two of them expressed the wish that thispicturesque and exciting dance might be revived that younger Indiansmight learn of the splendor of their tribal past. In buffalo days,however, the riding big dance had as its "chief function . . . thearrousal of courage and enthusiasm for war," as Wissler (ibid., p. 456)has reported. THE WAR HORSEWhile the Blackfoot horse raider usually started for the enemy campafoot, the scalp raider uniformly rode to war. Warriors generallyemployed their best buffalo horses as war horses. The same qualitiesof speed and endurance, intelligence, sure-footedness and courage re-quired of the buffalo runner were demanded of the war horse. Thewinter hunting horse was a favorite mount for war when snow wason the ground. Through experience in hunting a rapport was estab-lished between man and mount that enabled the rider to know the Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 197 peculiarities and capabilities of his mount and the horse to under-stand the wishes of his rider under trying conditions that requiredtheir close cooperation.*"Buffalo runners used in war were trained to run at a steady pacewhile the rider slipped to one side using the horse as a shield. Theywere trained to stop quickly, to carry men riding double, and to stayclose to their masters when the latter dismounted. Both Weasel Tailand Chewing Black Bones stressed the importance of the last attribute.If the horse became panicky and ran away when the rider dismountedone or both might be killed. In training a horse to stand still near itsmaster the rider stopped his running horse, jumped off, holding aslack line tied to the horse's neck, and when the horse started to moveaway be gave the line a violent jerk. After repeated experiences withthis treatment the horse learned to stand still when its master dis-mounted without use of the line.In order to spare the valuable war horse as much as possible andto save its strength for the action in which it was most needed, theBlackfoot warrior rode a common saddle horse to the field of battle,leading the war horse.^ equipment: clothingThe clothing carried by scalp raiders in the 19th century differedfrom that taken by horse raiders, although there was great disparitybetween the clothing of individual members. All generally set outwearing their undecorated, everyday clothes, but carried bundles tiedto their saddles or suspended over their shoulders containing theirwar medicines and any articles of war costume they possessed. Menof wealth and distinction as warriors carried elaborately worked warshirts and leggings. Some owned straight-up feather bonnets deco-rated with strips of winter weaselskin which they carried in cylindri-cal rawhide cases.When the enemy was sighted the war medicines and war costumeswere donned before attacking, if time permitted. Sometimes theenemy attacked before this could be done. In that case the warriorscarried their fine clothing into battle, for those articles also were ^Opler (1936, pp. 210-211) distinguished between the Jicarllla Apache horse raidstarting out afoot and the scalp raid proceeding mounted. Even among the relativelywealthy Comanche, Marcy (1937, p. 157) found that the war horse was ridden in thebuffalo chase as well as for "going into battle" and "on state occasions." The Flatheadwar horse was also "used exclusively for bison hunting and fighting" (Turney-Hlgh, 1937,p. 109).? Hamilton (1905, p. 36) who accompanied a Teton Dakota party against the Pawnee In1842, noted that the Teton led their war horses and did not mount them until they wereready to charge the enemy. Smoky told me it was Kiovra custom to ride to war on a lessvaluable horse and save the war horse for the charge. This was also Cheyenne practice(Grinnell, 1923, vol. 2, p. 17). 198 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159thought to possess protective powers or powers to bring success inbattle. Weasel Tail said that since neighboring tribes with whomthe Blackfoot fought had the same attitude toward war medicines,both sides often stopped to dress for the fight before going into ac-tion.The majority of Blackfoot warriors, however, did not possess suffi-cient wealth to afford fancy war costumes. They went into battlewearing only their war medicine feathers, bandoliers or necklaces,face and body paint, breechcloth, and moccasins. Maximilian, whowitnessed the battle between the Piegan and a large Assiniboin-Creeforce outside Fort McKenzie in the summer of 1833, "saw the Black-feet ride into battle half naked, but some, too in their fine dresses,with the beautifully ornamented shield obtained from the Crows, andtheir splendid crown of feathers, and on these occasions they all havetheir medicines or amulets open and hung about them" (Maximilian,1906, vol. 23, p. 118). Maximilian did not comment on the wealthfactor as a determinant of war costume, although his description por-trays it very well. TACTICS IN MOUNTED WARFAREThe Blackfoot were deficient in the employment of planned andcoordinated cavalry tactics under fire. They seemed capable oforganizing an initial charge in force. If it was not successful, fightingusually disintegrated into a large number of contests between indi-vidual Indians at close range. If the first charge was repulsed theBlackfoot rarely regrouped for another assault on horseback. In theirmost successful recorded battle, that against the combined GrosVentres and Crow in the summer of 1866, the Blackfoot, maddenedby the murder of their great chief Many Horses, charged with suchferocity that the enemy became demoralized, broke and ran. TheBlackfoot followed and cut them down man by man in an extendedseries of individual actions. In the Piegan fight with the Flatheadin the summer of 1810, the former charged the latter, who were pro-tected by a rude rampart composed of their baggage. Failing tobreak through the Flathead rampart, the Piegan retreated. Two moremounted charges were made "but in a weak manner," after whichthe Piegan dismounted and advanced in a series of ineffective assaultson foot until evening put an end to the battle (Thompson, 1916, pp.423-425) . Father INIengarini witnessed a fight between the Flathead and theBlackfoot in the spring of 1846. He described the action : Firing liad already begun on both sides, and the plain was covered with horse-men curvetting and striving to get a chance to kill some one of the enemy. AnIndian battle consists of a multitude of single combats. There are no ranks, Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 199 no battalions, no unified efforts. "Every man for himself" is the ruling principle,and victory depends upon personal bravery and good horsemanship. There isno random shooting, every Flathead always aims for the waist. [Mengarini,1938, p. 17.]Blackfoot informants also mentioned their practice of aiming at themounted enemy's waist as the surest target, because mounted men con-stantly wove their bodies from side to side to confuse the enemy andprevent his taking accurate aim.^^Wissler (1910, p. 155) was informed that the Blackfoot charge onhorseback was a "rush in a compact body, scattering along the frontof the enemy as they passed, in order to deliver their fire." Inform-ants claimed the charging force sometimes formed a line scatteredover a considerable distance. The riders bent low over their horses'necks. If the enemy were afoot they tried to ride them down. LazyBoy claimed some Piegan were expert at somersaulting backward overtheir horses' tails, landing on both feet, weapons in hand ready to fighta hand-to-hand combat. Upon overtaking a mounted enemy theBlackfoot tried to unhorse him with his shock weapon. Then, ifthe enemy was still active, the Blackfoot dismounted and sought tofinish him off afoot.I asked Lazy Boy why the Piegan did so much hand-to-hand fight-ing when they possessed weapons that would effectively dispose of anenemy from a distance. He made the expected reply, "A man madea name for himself as a brave warrior by killing his enemy close upwhere everyone could see it."Sometimes the Blackfoot attack was directed at the enemy's herdsof loose horses, in an attempt to run them off and throw the enemyinto a panic. The Flathead chief Pelchimo won a signal honor in abattle with the Blackfoot in 1840, while saving the Flathead horsesfrom capture by the enemy (De Smet, 1905, vol. 1, pp. 319-320).Again in an attack upon a Kutenai village on the move, October 27,1858, the Blackfoot attempted to stampede the defenders' horses, butwithout success (Hamilton, 1900, p. 83) . USE or FIBE WEAPONSThe fire weapons employed by scalp-raiding parties were those usedby horse raiders?the gun and bow and arrows. Even in my inform-ants' youth many Indians did not own guns. Certainly, prior to theirtime the bow and arrow was the most common fire weapon.Rifles were uncommon among the Blackfoot prior to the introduc-tion of the breech-loading, repeating rifle in 1870. The typical fire- **Llnderman (1930, pp. 145, 155) told of the Crow practice of aiming at a mountedenemy's body "where it sits on his horse" and of a Teton horseman throwing his bodyfrom side to side in a running fight. These data suggest these two practices were commonIn the mounted warfare of the northern Plains. 200 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 arm in use before 1870 was the Northwest Gun, a light smooth-bore,flintlock of %-inch bore firing a lead ball. Most Northwest Guns weremade in England (some in Pennsylvania) and were traded to theIndians by both American and Canadian companies. They were gen-erally supplied with a barrel length of 2 feet 6 inches to 3 feet 6 inches,but the Indians commonly filed off a piece of the barrel to shortenthe gun and make it easier to use on horseback. Governor Stevens, in1854, termed this weapon "an inferior kind of shot gun." He said thisgun and the bow and arrow were the "principal arms of the Blackfeet"at that time (U. S. Comm. Ind. Affairs, 1854, p. 205).Difficulty of loading the flintlock while in action on horseback madeit of limited usefulness in mounted warfare. It seems to have beenused primarily in firing at a distance of 100 yards or more beforeclosing with the enemy for combat with shock weapons. It was morevaluable as a foot soldier's weapon. This was a factor in causingmany battles to be fought on foot. Thus, when the Flathead andPiegan fought an engagement on the Plains in the summer of 1812,horses were used only to watch each other's movements. The Flat-head took their position on a grassy ridge with sloping ground behindit. The Piegan advanced on foot in a single line, members of theparty about 3 feet apart, until they came within about 150 yards (i. e.,within gun range) . Then they rushed forward rapidly to make con-tact with the enemy (Thompson, 1916, pp. 551-552).Both Thompson (ibid., p. 411) and Maximilian (1906, vol. 23, p.109) said the Blackfoot were not good marksmen with the gun. Thelatter acknowledged, however, that they were "expert in the use of thebow." This greater skill in marksmanship, plus greater ease in re-loading, encouraged the retention of the bow and arrow as the principalfire weapon employed by the Blackfoot in mounted warfare until theintroduction of breech-loading firearms. Only one large-scale battlewas fought by the Blackfoot after the acquisition of breechloaders.That was against the Cree, who at that time did not have the advan-tage of the new weapons. In earlier times it was not uncommon for aBlackfoot warrior to carry both gun and bow and arrows. USE OF SHOCK WEAPONSThe three principal shock weapons employed by Blackfoot scalpraiders in the 19th century were the lance, war club, and knife. Ofthese the war club and knife were almost standard equipment.Neither the lance nor war club was carried by horse-raiding parties.The lance was less favored by the Blackfoot as a shock weapon thanwas the war club. That it is of ancient use as a weapon cannot bedoubted. Informants cited traditions of its employment before theacquisition of horses. In the fall of 1754, Hendry (1907, p. 335) met Ewers] THE HORSE EST BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 201 a small party of "Architliinue" warriors with "Bows and Arrows, &bone spears and darts.'' Informants described the war lance as 5 ormore feet in length, consisting of an iron head 6 inches to 12 incheslong, bound to the end of a wooden shaft. At intervals the shaft waswrapped with otter fur to serve as grips, and pendent feathers wereattached to the end of the pole. Warriors criticized others who usedlong lances, saying they were cowards.*^ By grasping the shaft withboth hands the warrior brought it down with a quick, oblique down-ward stroke, which combined thrusting and swinging. The weaponcould kill or cripple an opponent if skillfully used (fig. 29). Inform- ^^^^53. Figure 29.?Method of wielding the lance by a mounted warrior, Blackfoot. ants said the lance was last used in warfare by the Piegan in theirbattle with the Gros Ventres and Crow in 1866."War clubs, generally carried under the warrior's belt at one sidewhen not in use, were of several types. Although both wooden andelkhorn clubs were used by the Blackfoot in my informants' youth, ** Weasel Tall was told the Crow had a similar attitude. He cited the instance of abrave Crow warrior taking the long lance of a fellow tribesman, breaking it In two andreturning It to him, saying that half that lance was sufficient for a courageous man. ** The literature reveals that southern Plains tribes made more extensive use of lancesin mounted warfare than did the Blackfoot. Direct contacts with Spanish-Mexicansoldiers, who were trained and skilled lancers, may have encouraged greater use of thisweapon by those tribes. Pfefferkorn (1949, p. 146) observed that the Apache, who raidedinto Sonora In the middle 19th century, used many lances taken from slain or capturedSpaniards. He noted the Apache could "guide the spear more skillfully when they are onfoot than when they are mounted, for, because they are not practiced in delivering thethrust except with both hands and raised arms, they cannot manage the reins of the horseat the same time, and hence often miss the mark." Yet Pike (1810, pp. 10-11), writingof the Apache use of the lance a half century later, observed "they charge with both handsover their heads, managing their horses principally with their knees. With this weaponthey are considered an overmatch for the Spanish dragoons single handed, but, for want ofa knowledge of tactics, they can never stand the charge of a body which acts in concert."These descriptions show that the Apache employed the lance as did the Blackfoot, using atwo-handed, overhand thrust that probably was a survival from the Indian method oflancing in pre-horse times. It Is apparent the Indians did not derive their technique ofwielding the lance on horseback from the Spaniards. Burnet (1851, p. 236) claimed theComanche used the "javelin" with great dexterity on horseback ca. 1820. Emory (1857,vol. 1, p. 89) noted that Comanche and Bllowa, raiding into Mexico in mldcentary, lefttheir guns behind and depended "alone upon the lance." 202 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 the most common club was one consisting of a round stone sewn in askin cover, an extension of the cover forming the sheathing of awooden handle. The type is figured in Wissler (1910, p. 164) . Untilthe introduction of breechloaders the war club was in common use forfighting both on foot and horseback. Warriors tried first to cripplethe enemy with the club, then proceeded to kill him with another well-aimed blow or with the knife. Weasel Tail described the use of theclub in fighting on foot, "If an enemy tries to stab you with a knife,hit him on the arm or wrist and make him drop it. Then hit him overthe head with your club." ''^Both single and double-edged knives were employed in hand-to-hand combat. The broad, sharp, double-edged knife, known to theBlackfoot as a "stabber" or "beaver tail knife" was a favorite of manywarriors for hand-to-hand fighting. The warrior grasped the handleso that the metal blade protruded from the heel of his fist. He useda powerful downward chopping motion to penetrate the opponent'sbody above the clavicle or a sidewise sweep to strike him between theribs or in the stomach. It was a deadly weapon for close infightingafoot, of little use in opposition to a mounted enemy armed with warclub or lance. It was a favorite weapon for finishing off a wounded ordisabled enemy and served as the scalping tool.*^THE SHIELDThe principal defensive weapon used by scalp raiders in historictimes was the shield. Shields were never taken on horse raids by theBlackfoot. Their use in warfare by the Piegan goes back to pre-horsetimes. Saukamappee told Thompson (1916, pp. 328-329 ; 330-332) ofthe use of shields by both sides in two large-scale battles between the ** The most common Blackfoot war club type was observed among the Lemhi Shoshoniby Lewis and Clark in 1805 (Coues, 1897, vol. 2, p. 561), and among the Crow by CharlesMcKenzie in the same year (Larocqne, 1910, footnote p. 22). However, the elder Henry(1809, p. 298) described a quite different stone-headed weapon in use among mountedAssinlboin in 1776. "In using it the stone is whirled round the handle, by a warriorsetting on horseback, and attacking at full speed. Every stroke which takes effect bringsdown a man, or horse." Carver (1838, p. 18S)i was told of a handleless shock weaponsimilarly employed by mounted warriors of the northeastern Plains a decade earlier. Hecalled it "a stone of middling size curiously wrought, which they fasten by a string, abouta yard and a half long, to their right arms, a little above the elbow. These stones theyconveniently carry in their hands till they reach their enemies, then swinging them withgreat dexterity, as they ride full speed, never fail of doing execution." Whether themounted Shoshoni who "dashed at the Peeagans, and with their stone Pukamoggan knockedthem on the head," in the earliest encounters of the Blackfoot with a mounted enemy, useda weapon of this kind or a true war club cannot be determined from this brief statementin Thompson (1916, p. 330). The weapon variantly described by Henry and Carver,appears to have resembled the bola perdida of the mounted Tehuelche of Patagonia moreclosely than the war clubs employed in later warfare on the northern Plains. I have foundno indication of its survival among the 19th century Plains Indians.? Informants claimed that these knives were first traded to the Blackfoot by Canadiantraders. An excellent example of the type, obtained from the Blackfoot by George Gibbsprior to 1862, is in the U. S. National Museum (Cat. No. 729), Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 203 Piegan and Shoshoni before the former obtained horses. He men-tioned that the Shoshoni shields were fully 3 feet across, and those ofthe Piegan, similarly employed to hide the entire seated warrior fromthe enemy, must have been of about the same size. However, theshields used for the Blackfoot in the period of mounted warfare werenearer half that size, suggesting that the use of horses in war influencedthe reduction in shield size. My informants said Blackfoot shieldswere made from the thick rawhide of the neck of the buffalo bull,shrunken over a fire to a thickness of a half inch or more, trimmed intocircular form, and ornamented with painted protective designs and aborder of eagle feathers. In native belief the shield's power residedprimarily in the medicine paintings and the blessings bestowed uponthe shield by medicine men when it was made. However, it wassturdy enough to stop an arrow and to deaden or deflect the force of aball from a muzzle-loading flintlock. The horseman carried the shieldon his left arm (if he was right-handed) in such a way as to coverhis vital parts, leaving his left hand and right arm free to handle hisoffensive weapons.Although Bradley ( 1923, p. 258) termed the shield "an indispensablepart of every warrior's equipment," informants said that poor mendid not possess them. It cost at least a horse to obtain a shield,ceremonially blessed by medicine men. In lieu of a shield the poorman sometimes carried a buffalo robe (with the hair) folded severaltimes, over his left arm. Bradley (ibid., p. 258) learned that theAmerican Fur Co. at one time attempted to introduce polished metalshields among the Blackfoot. This action "was opposed by the medi-cine men, who would thus have been deprived of an important sourceof revenue, and the superstitious feelings of the Indians induced themto prefer their own which alone could undergo religious dedicationand enjoy the favor of the Great Spirit." ^^ EARLY USE OF PROTECTIVE ARMORShimkin (1947 a, p. 251) found that the modern Wind River Sho-shoni referred to the Blackfoot as "Hard-clothes (armor) people."Wissler reported Blackfoot traditions "implying that buckskin shirtsof two or more thicknesses were worn as protection against stone andbone points" (Wissler, 1910, p. 163). Weasel Tail cited a traditionregarding Blackfoot use of long shirts, reaching below the knees, madeof three thicknesses of buckskin in fighting battles during the pre- " The use of a rawhide shield by the Spanish horsemen of old Mexico may have encour-aged Plains Indians to employ the shield as a weapon for mounted men. However, therecan be no doubt that the Indians were familiar with the rawhide shield before contact withSpaniards. Pfefferkorn (1949, p. 291) described the Spanish soldier's shield of the period1756-67 as "egg-shaped" and made of three or four layers of rawhide riveted together.The Plains Indian shield was circular, of a single thickness of shrunken buffalo rawhide. 204 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159horse period. He claimed this armor was adequate protection againstarrows but was unable to ward off bullets from early firearms. Con-sequently the Blackfoot abandoned its use after their enemies becamearmed with guns.There are no contemporary descriptions of the use of this leatherbody armor by the Blackfoot specifically, although there are descrip-tions implying its general use in the theater of warfare in which theBlackfoot participated in the 18th century. In December 1772, Cock-ing (1908, p. Ill) saw several horsemen in the Gros Ventres campwearing "Jackets of Moose leather six fold, quilted, & without sleeves."He was also shown "a Coat without sleeves six fold leather quilted,used by the Snake tribe to defend them against the arrows of their ad-versaries." Umfreville (1790, pp. 188-189) stated that the Cree andtheir enemies (who certainly would have included the Blackfoot)wore "coats of mail, made of many folds of drest leather, which areimpenetrable to the force of arrows" in their intertribal battles ofthe period ca. 1775.There is no indication in either traditions or early contemporarywritings that the Blackfoot used horse armor in the warfare of thatperiod or in later years. The only reference to horse armor used byany of the common enemies of the Blackfoot appears in Lewis andClark's description of the Lemhi Shoshoni in 1805, "they have a kindof armor like a coat of mail, which is formed of a great many foldsof dressed antelope-skins, united by means of a mixture of glue andsand. With this they cover their own bodies and those of theirhorses, and find it impervious to arrows" (Coues, 1893, vol. 2, p. 561) .** *^ The earliest known description of the use of armor by any Plains Indian tribe refers toboth body and horse types. In 1690, Tonty (Cox, 1905, p. 55) found the Caddo on RedRiver wore "body-coverings of several skins, one over the other, as a protection fromarrows. They arm the breasts of their horses with the same material, a proof that they arenot very far from the Spaniards." The French explorers Du Tisne and La Harpe found theWichita and their neighbors on the Arkansas wore hide body armor and decked their horseswith breastplates of tanned hide in 1719 (Margry, 1886, vol. 6, pp. 294, 312). Five yearslater Bourgmont (ibid., vol. 6, p. 446) remarked that the Paduca (Apache) went to wardressed in "specially tanned buffalo skins with which they protect themselves. They alsohang them around their horses to protect them against arrows." A Ponca tradition refersto their fights with mounted Comanche, before the Ponca themselves obtained horses, inwhich the Comanche employed horse armor "of thick rawhide cut In round pieces and madeto overlap like the scales of a fish. Over the surface was sand held on by glue. Thiscovering made the Ponca arrows glance off and do no damage." Some Comanche men alsowore "breastplates made like those on their horses" (Fletcher and La Flesche, 1911, p. 79).Joseph La Flesche had no knowledge of Omaha use of armor, but he credited the Pawneewith former use of body armor comprising a coat of elkskins, two skins forming the frontand two the back, with sand between each pair of skins (Dorsey, 1896, pp. 287-288). In1775 Peter Pond (1908, p. 354) reported that Yankton Dakota warriors, both mountedand afoot, wore a "Garment Like an Outside Vest with Sieves that Cum down to thareElboes Made of Soft Skins and Several thicknesses what will turn an arrow at a distans."In the Southwest, the Navaho were reported to have employed two types of buckskin bodyarmor of several thicknesses, one of which was specially designed for use on horseback.It reached to the knees and "was slit at the bottom both in front and behind, in orderthat the horse might be straddled" (Hill, 1936, p. 9). Teit recorded traditions among Ewers] THE HORSE EST BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 205 USE OF THE HORSE AS A SHIELD Wissler (1910, p. 155) reported that the Blackfoot, when fightingmounted "protected their bodies by hanging on the sides of thehorses." My informants said boys learned this difficult feat in prep-aration for their careers as warriors, but that it was rarely employedin actual combat. The rider slipped to one side of his running horse,leaving only one leg over the back of the animal with which to takea heel hold over the horse's hipbone. With one hand the rider heldhis shield and reins and at the same time firmly grasped his horse'smane. With the other hand he fired his gun under the horse's neck.Both Weasel Tail and Lazy Boy pointed out the danger of thismaneuver under combat conditions. It exposed the full side of thehorse to the enemy, affording him a very sizable target which, if hit,might result in the horse's fall and death or serious injury to therider. Only if the enemy possessed a stronger desire to capture therider's horse than to destroy it would they be deterred from shootingat it. If the enemy were hard pressed, fighting defensively for theirlives, they would have no qualms about shooting their opponents'horses.A survey of the use of this maneuver by other Plains Indian tribesconfirms my informants' testimony as to its impracticality as an the Coeur d'Alene, Okanagon, and Flathead of the wearing of elkhlde body armor bywarriors of those tribes. He found the Flathead discarded this armor "after the Intro-duction of the horse as cumbersome and Inconvenient In mounting and riding" (Telt, 1930,pp. 117, 256, 359).The foregoing data testify that the wearing of body armor of several thicknesses of skinwas virtually Plains-wide in the 18th century, and was customary among some if not aUof the neighboring horse-using tribes farther west at that time. There can be little doubtthat this armor was of native origin and was not adapted from the Spanish. As earlyas 1540 Spanish members of the Coronado expedition adopted native armor In preferenceto the heavy metal armor of European design. Alton (1939, pp. 558-559) concluded hisstudy of the equipment of that expedition with the statement, "The great majority worenative buckskin suits of armor, cueras de anta, which were much more comfortable on themarch and quite effective against Indian weapons." Two centuries later (ca. 1760) theSpanish soldiers of Sonora still wore knee-length, sleeveless jackets of six or eight layersof well-cured deerskins as armor against the arrows of their Apache enemies (Pfefferkom,1949, p. 155).Horse armor, however, had a much more restricted distribution among the horse-usingIndian tribes. Contemporary sources tell of its use only by Indians of the SouthernPlains and the Shoshoneans (ShoshonI and Comanche). Most probably its use was sug-gested by Spanish example. Horse armor did not spread far beyond those tribes whichwere in direct contact with the Spanish in the late 17th and early 18th centuries.The Plains Indians appear to have abandoned the use of leather armor before the closeof the 18th century. Lewis and Clark's account of the Lemhi ShoshonI in 1805 providesthe last contemporary mention of the use of horse and body armor by any horse-usingwestern tribe. Probably the ineffectiveness of this armor as protection against gunfirewas the primary cause of Its abandonment. However, the need for greater mobility andfreer use of arms and legs both afoot and on horseback may also have encouraged Indianwarriors to discard their bulky and weighty skin armor. The Indians must have noticedalso that the English and French traders who supplied them with guns during the 18thcentury wore no armor. Their example may have been a third influence on the abandon-ment of armor by the Plains Indians. 206 BURKAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Hull. 3 59 offensive tactic. It was a display of horsemanship, tremendouslyimpressive in sham battles to entertain visiting white men, but reck-lessly ineffective under fire/^ POSTRAID CEREMONIESThe ceremonies following the return of a successful scalp raid alsodiffered materially from those that followed the return of a party thathad been successful in stealing enemy horses. In 1833, Maximilian(1906, vol. 23, p. 119) described the return of a Blackfoot war partywith enemy scalps : When the warriors come near their camp, after a battle, they sing; and onerides or runs before, often in serpentine lines, backwards and forwards aboutthe tents, holding up and shaking the scalp, and displaying it at a distance.If any one has taken a weapon, he displays it in the same manner, loudly pro-claiming his name as having taken it. After a successful engagement, themen sing the song which they call aninay, that is "they are painted black."On these occasions, they assemble in the op?n air about their tents, with theirfaces painted black, and then sing, without the accompaniment of an instru-ment, nor are the scalps displayed. There are no words to this song, whichconsists only of the usual notes. ^' George Catlin, who witnessed this tactic in a Comanche sham battle in 1834, left botha description and a drawing of it that helped to make this practice well known to his manyreaders (Catlin, 1841, vol. 2, pp. 65-66 and pi. 167). However, numerous other writers,both before and since Catlin's publication reported its wide use among the Plains Indians.In 1805, Larocque wrote of the Crow, "In their wheelings and evolutions they often are notseen, having one leg on the horse back and clasping the horse with their arms around hisneck, on the side opposite to where the enemy is" (Larocque, 1910, p. 64) ; Lewis and Clark,that same year, noted Lemhi Shoshoni use of this tactic (Coues, 1893, vol. 2, p. 568).Leforge (Marquis, 1928, p. 92) cited an example of its use by the Teton Dakota; Hamiltonmentioned its employment by the Cheyenne (Hamilton, 1905, p. 83) ; Wilson (1924, p. 154)by Hidatsa: Kendall (1844, pp. 212-214) by Kiowa; and Tixier (1940, p. 167) by Osage.Captain Marcy (1937, p. 156) confirmed Catlin's description of Comanche employment ofthis tactic. However, Tixier (1940, p. 268), whose information on the Comanche wasderived from the experienced trader, Eduard Chouteau, wrote, "They knew better than theothers how to hide behind their horse's body, but they scorn this method ; they charge uponthe enemy with their chest exposed and their arms outstretched, shouting a war cry."The use of the horse as a shield was a trick riding act that greatly impressed whitetraders, explorers, and military men who saw it demonstrated by Indians at frontier fortsor under peaceful conditions in Indian camps. The great majority of the writers whodescribed this "war tactic" saw it employed only in sham battles, as had Catlin. WilliamHamilton (1905, p. 83), the old Indian fighter, said he had never seen this tactic employedin Indian warfare. My extensive readings in the literature on intertribal battles betweenPlains Indians, written by observers of these conflicts, have revealed just two descriptionsof the employment of this tactic in actual warfare. Leforge (Marquis, 1928, p. 92) told ofa fight between the Teton Dakota and Crow. As a prelude to the battle daring Crow andTeton riders took turns riding In this fashion at some distance from and parallel to theenemy line while their respective enemies vainly fired at them. It was an act of bravadoon the part of these men that in no way affected the later course or outcome of the battle.On November 21, 18S4, the trader Zenas Leonard, witnessed a battle between the Crow andBlackfoot. The latter and numerically inferior force occupied a fortified position on thebrow of a hill. Crow riders rode in single file along the top of the hill. As each riderapproached the Blackfoot breastwork he fired, then threw himself on the side of his horseleaving only one leg exposed, until he rode out of range of enemy fire. The Blackfoot shotand killed so many of their horses and men that the Crow were forced to abandon thisunsuccessful maneuver. They made a direct, frontal assault, took the enemy position, andkilled every Blackfoot defender (Leonard, 1904, pp. 263-264). Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 207The highlight of the postraid celebration was the scalp dance whichBradley has described : When scalps were taken they were turned over to the squaws upon the arrivalof the war party at the village, to be prepared for the scalp dance. This wasdone by stretching each scalp upon a hoop, the hoop being attached to a smallpole, six or eight feet long, a separate pole for each scalp. Each pole is borneby a squaw, usually a relative of the warrior who took it, who leads in thedance, the warriors and squaws all arrayed in their best attire following herin single tile in a circle of a size proportioned to the number of dancers. Thestep of the dance is little more than a march in quick time, to the music of asong peculiar to the dance. Where the number of dancers is considerable severalrings are formed in different parts of the tent and the dance is frequentlykept up with intervals of rest for twelve or fourteen days. [Bradley, 1923, pp.269-270.] '"If a member of a raiding party had had a brother, a son, or otherclose relative killed by the enemy tribe engaged, he mutilated the bodyof any enemy he killed on the raid, as part of his revenge. Informantssaid it was common for such a man to cut off the hand of the enemy,pierce a hole in it, pass a cord through the hole and tie the trophyto the bridle of his horse. Thus he carried it back to camp. The handwas carried in the scalp dance as a symbol implying that revenge hadbeen taken for the loss of his relative. After the scalp dance thehand was buried or thrown away. It had served its purpose.DEFENSIVE WARFAREDEFENSE OF THE CAMP Blackfoot camp defenses ordinarily were woefully inadequate. Thecompetent military observer, Lt. James Bradley, has said of them:Like most nomadic tribes, the Blackfeet never fortified their camps, and it wasrare that they chose them with any reference to their possibilities of defense . . .It was not their custom to maintain a guard about the camp either day or night,so that, contrary to popular belief, the surprise of a village was not difficult . . .When no danger was apprehended, bands of horses were sometimes driven to asecluded place and left for days together without a guard. It is thus seen whya daring war party could successfully approach within the vicinity of a villageand drive off the outlying bands of horses which were ever such a temptation tothe enterprising and adventurous bra-^e. [Bradley, 1923, pp. 286-287.]With Bradley's criticism in mind, I discussed Blackfoot camp de-fenses with my two eldest male informants, Lazy Boy and Weasel Tail.They acknowledged that neither the Piegan nor Blood tribes normallyposted night guards. They did picket their best horses nightly infront of their lodges. They also relied heavily upon their dogs tobark and waken them if enemy raiders entered the camp at night. "Both Maximilian (1906, vol. 23, 115) and Schultz (1S07, p. 223) have written accountsof the Blackfoot scalp dance based upon their personal observations. 208 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159Weasel Tail said the Indians could distinguish between a dog's snort-ing at night (which the people termed "barking at spirits") and itsbarkino- at approaching strangers. The Blood Indians also knewthat Cree raiders had a custom of signaling to each other by coyotehowls on approaching their camps at night. He claimed clever BloodIndians could distinguish the imitation coyote howl from the real one.Blackfoot reliance upon dogs for protection appears remarkable inview of the fact that their warriors were well aware of the ineffective-ness of dogs in enemy camps as obstacles to their own raids. WeaselTail said that if the enemy dogs started barking when a Blackfoothorse-raiding party approached the camp, the raiders backtracked,circled the camp and approached from another direction after the dogshad quieted down. They thi-ew bits of meat to the dogs to quiet them.He said he had never heard of any man of his tribe having been bit-ten by a dog while attempting to take horses from an enemy village.^^If young men had been out scouting for game during the day andfound signs suggesting that an enemy war party might be near, theBlackfoot were more careful. Some band chiefs made a practice ofsending out scouts in winter to look for enemy signs. They reportedany suspicious signs observed to the chief, who announced them tothe people. One or more of three precautionary measures could thenbe taken: (1) the setting of an individual lodge watch, (2) construc-tion of a corral or corrals for horses, and (3) organization of an am-bush. THE INDIVIDUAL LODGE WATCH This was a guard, organized on a family basis, usually employed ifthe danger of attack was felt to be relatively slight. The men andwomen of each lodge owning picketed horses took turns staying awakeand listening for any unusual movement on the part of the horsespicketed close by or any noise that might indicate the presence of theenemy. If any suspicious noise was heard the men of the lodge wereroused and they rushed out guns in hand. This precaution was onlyeffective in guarding the picketed horses and would not, of course,prevent the enemy from running off the range herds grazing at a dis-tance. Yet enemies were killed as a result of these watches. " My InformantB claimed that the camps of the enemy tribes from which they capturedhorses were normally no more closely guarded at night than were their own. WeaselTail said the Crow habitually drove their horses a long distance from camp before dusk,which made it easy for a Blacljfoot raiding party, watching from a hill or other secludedspot, to go directly to those horses after nightfall. The Omaha were reported (1819) tohave used no "regular sentinels" at night (James, 1823, p. 292). Captain Bonneville, who,camped on the Plains with a large, combined village of Flathead, Nez Perc6 and Fendd'Oreille In the winter of 1832-33, was impressed by tlie lack of provision made by thosetribes for night protection of their horses and the camp. "They merely drive them(horses) at nightfall to some sequestered dell, and leave them there, at perfect liberty,until morning . . . Even In situations of danger, the Indians rarely set guards over theircamp at night. Intrusting that office entirely to their vigilant and well-trained dogs"(Irving, 1851, p. 119), Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 209THE HORSE CORRAL Bradley (1923, p. 287) wrote of the Blackfoot: "Horse corrals weresometimes made of small poles by the united labors of the squaws ofthe village within which the horses of the whole village were nightlyassembled." Maximilian (1906, vol. 23, p. 123) saw a horse corral inthe Piegan camp near Fort McKenzie in August 1833, which he de-scribed as "a kind of fence of boughs of trees, which contained part ofthe tents and was designed to confine the horses during the night."Informants said horse corrals were most commonly built in winter.In summer they were constructed only when the chief was convincedthat the possibility of a raid was great. Often corrals were made ofposts set in the ground to a height of about 6 feet, lashed or nailed tocrossrails and provided with a crude gate. Two guards were stationedat the corral during the night. Sometimes other guards were placedat a little distance from the corral. The guards were ordered to askthe name of any man who approached the corral at night. If herefused to answer they were to shoot him. Lazy Boy recalled thatWoman Shoe, while guarding a corral in the camp of his band nearpresent Choteau, saw a man approach, take down a gate pole, andrope a horse inside the corral. Woman Shoe challenged him, but theman made no reply. Woman Shoe shot and killed him. Upon closeexamination the intruder was found to be a Flathead bent on captur-ing Piegan horses. Lazy Boy believed the Blackfoot obtained the ideaof horse corrals from Wliites. Indeed the whole procedure of guard-ing these corrals is suggestive of white influence. Nevertheless theuse of horse corrals by Plains Indians was widespread and can betraced back to the early years of the 19th century.^- "^Denlg (1930, pp. 546-547) claimed horse corrals were built by all the Upper Missouritribes during the second quarter of the 19th century. Kroeber (1907, p. 147) mentionedthe winter horse corrals of the Gros Ventres. Marquis (1928, p. 149) wrote of Crowcorrals made of brush piled between the lodges to enclose the center of the camp. Lowie'sstatement that the Northern Shoshoni kept their horses inside their camp circles wouldImply some form of corral (Lowie, 1908, p. 208). Although Mandan and Hidatsa custo-marily stabled horses Inside their lodges as protection against theft, those owners who hadtoo many horses to keep in the lodge built corrals of posts and poles under the drying stagebeside the lodge, to hold their excess horses (Wilson, 1924, p. 156). In 1840 Tixler (1940,p. 238) noted that the Osage buffalo hunting party built horse corrals when fearing nightattacks by the Pawnee. In 1821, Capt. Bell observed the "large, circular pen" adjacent toeach lodge, in which the Loup Pawnee placed their horses for safety during the night(Morse, 1822, p. 240). In 1844 Carleton (1943, p. 70) described the corrals of the GrandPawnee as "made by planting pickets in the ground, the same as we do la building astockade ; are circular, with a hole on one side for the ingress and egress of the animals,which is securely fastened by bars tied by thongs." At the Republican village known asthe Hill site and believed to have been the village visited by Pike in 1806, the post moldpattern of a probable horse corral was found by archeologists (Wedel, 1936, pp. 56-57,fig. 6). Near the end of the year 1821, Fowler (1898, p. 60) observed that enemies stolebetween 400 and 500 horses from "pens" in the center of the village of more than 700 lodgesof Kiowa, Comanche, Arapaho, and Cheyenne on the Arkansas, indicating the early employ-ment of horse corrals by the Southern Plains Indians.287944?55 15 210 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159THE AMBUSH "In times of apprehended danger the young men would lie in con-cealment upon the outskirts of the camp, and were vigilant and ef-fective sentinels" (Bradley, 1923, p. 287) . Weasel Tail told of youngmen taking positions in the tall grass surrounding the camp whenthey believed an enemy raid was imminent. They remained motion-less, flat on their stomachs, concealed from view by the tall grass,with their lotided guns beside them. When the unsuspecting enemyapproached they jumped up and opened fire at close range. Some-times the men in ambush went so far as to picket a fine-looking horsenear them to lure some horse-crazy enemy into their trap. (Schultz(1907, pp. 218-222) described in detail a Piegan ambush of a Crowraiding party which resulted in the killing of 7 Crow warriors.*^Weasel Tail said it was customary for the chief of a Blood band,on hearing a gun shot near camp, to order a count of all members ofthe camp to deteiTnine if anyone was missing. If all were presenthe ordered the horses to be brought in close and a guard set in antici-pation of a possible attack."*OWNERSHIP OF HORSES RECOVERED FROM THE ENEMYWlien the Blackfoot discovered some of their horses had beenstolen, hastily organized parties of volunteers usually set out afterthe raiders. They traveled mounted as rapidly as possible in thetracks of the enemy. Sometimes they were succesful in overtakingthe culprits and recovering the captured horses. A horse retaken " Schulta (1907, p. 30) described a similar Gros Ventres ambush witnessed by him ca.1880. Tlxler (1940, p. 204) told of an Osage ambush prepared for expected Pawneeraiders who withdrew before entering the trap set for them. Possibly James referred tothis type of ambush when he wrote of the Omaha In 1819, "If the nation have reason tobelieve that the enemy is near at hand, or that there is a probability of an attack, theyare necessarily vigilant ; young warriors volunteer to look out at different points, or arerequested to do so by the chiefs" (James, 1823, vol. 1, p. 292)." Several references in the literature refer to a more cautious employment of sentinelsamong other tribes than was customary among the Blackfoot. However, the referencesmay not refer to the normal procedure in those camps but to iieriods of feared attack, whenthe Blackfoot also took greater precautions. Hendry (1907, p. 339) observed that thechief of the "Archithinue" camp in 1754 ordered "a party of Horsemen Evening andMorning to reconitre." Larocque (1910, p. 65) noted that the Crow in the summer of1805, "Keep an excellent look out and have always Young men night and day at 2 or 3miles from Camp upon the watch, besides they often send parties of young men on a twoor three days scout on the road they intend to take." Yet part of the time Larocquetraveled with the Crow they were in daily fear of an attack by Gros Ventres known tohave been in the neighborhood. One night their fear reached such a pitch that 2 hoursbefore daybreak they saddled their horses, tied their small children in the saddles, loadedpack horses with their most valuable property, and sat arms ready in their lodges awaitingan attack that did not materialize (ibid., p. 40). Captain Marcy (1937, p. 164) claimedthe Comanche guarded their horses "both day and night" and "even In times of profoundpeace." If Marcy's observation is correct, it indicates a greater recognition of the impor-tance of constant guard than was found among the tribes of the northwestera Plains.The usual laxness of security provisions among the Blackfoot and their neighbors certainlyencouraged horse thievery and increased the Incidence of successful raids In that theaterof warfare. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 211from the enemy was considered the property of the man who recap-tured it, for he had risked his life to reclaim the animal. He mightgenerously return the animal to its former owner, but he was notobliged to do that. If the owner was a close friend or relative hewould be more likely to return the horse to him. In some cases theowner bought his horse from the man who had retaken it. DEFENSIVE WARFARE IN THE FIELD It is not possible to estimate the number of relatively small-scaleactions involving horse-raiding parties which were inadvertentlyconfronted with enemy parties while en route to capture horses, orwere overtaken by the enemy on their return journey. The literatureand many accounts of horse raids told by Blackfoot informants indi-cate clearly that such actions were relatively frequent. Over theyears the casualties resulting from these encounters must have greatlyexceeded those suffered in the much less frequent battles involvingsizable forces.Defensive measures taken by small parties surprised by the enemydiffered according to the relative numbers of the opposing forces andthe terrain. The first impulse of the members of a small party onsighting a superior force seems to have been to run for shelter intimber or thickets if such localities were near. In woods or thickbrush they could hold off a superior enemy force and escape whendarkness came on. Informants' testimony included nmnerous ref-erences to successful defenses under these conditions. The enemy wasloath to pursue a smaller force into wooded areas where the mencould not be clearly seen. In heavy timber the defending force some-times threw up hastily built breastworks of logs and brush to fur-ther strengthen their position.If the smaller force was overtaken on the open Plains at a distancefrom timber it hastily dug shallow pits in the ground using knivesfor excavating. If there were only a few men in the party they madeonly a single pit. If forced to defend themselves in open, rocky coun-try, rock fortifications were prepared.?^The larger force usually took the offensive. In approaching a for-tified position on foot the members of the attacking party movedforward, keeping constantly in motion, jumping from side to side toprevent their enemy from taking careful aim. Generally each mem- * None of these defensive measures were peculiar to the Blackfoot. They were commonlyemployed by the neighboring tribes with whom the Blackfoot were at war. Mention of logforts made by Indians on the Arkansas River appears in Jacob Fowler's Journal of 1821(Fowler, 1898, pp. 28-29). In the summer of 1820 the Long Expedition saw numerousIndian forts of logs in the central and southern Plains (James, 1823, vol. 2, p. 122). Thesame source (vol. 1, p. 304) mentions the Omaha practice of digging pits for defense. Onthe prairies of the Upper Mississippi in 1805, Pike saw round holes In the ground about10 feet In diameter, dug by the Sioux for defense against attack (Pike, 1&32, voL 2, p. 9). 212 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159ber of the attacking force acted on his own. Men who had the great-est confidence in the protective powers of their war medicines led theattack. Losses in these assaults were heavy considering the smallnumbers of men engaged. Sometimes the attacking force managedto storm the fortification and wipe out the defenders, but not withoutconsiderable loss to their own party.INFLUENCE OF WARFARE ON BLACKFOOT POPULATIONThroughout the historic period prior to 1885, warfare caused aheavy drain on Blackfoot population. Although the numbers killedin single actions usually were small, the ratio of losses to tribal popu-lations was high compared with the ratios between casualties in mod-ern warfare and national populations. There must have been anumber of years in which more than 1 percent of the total Pieganpopulation died in battles large and small.The demonstrable effect of war losses was to unbalance the propor-tions between the sexes. David Thompson (1916, p. 352) noted ofthe Piegan ca. 1800, "The grown up population of these people appearto be about three men to every five women, and yet the births appearin favour of the boys." In 1847, Father Point reckoned the womenin the Blackfoot tribes outnumbered the men two or three to one,and attributed this disproportion to war losses (De Smet, 1905, vol.3, p. 952). Eleven years later Agent Vaughan estimated 2,060 menand 3,100 women in the four Blackfoot tribes (including the GrosVentres). He attributed this disproportion between the sexes tolosses of men in war and hunting accidents, and added, "This differ-ence in the number of the male and the female doubtless suggested andsustained the prevailing custom of polygamy among them, many ofthe men having more wives than one, the number reaching to five ormore, according to the caprice or wealth of the man" (U. S. Comm,Ind. Affairs, 1858, pp. 432-433) . Thus warfare, which was to a largeextent initiated and perpetuated through raiding for horses, in-fluenced both population trends and family organization among theBlackfoot.^? WAR HONORSIn the 1870's, Lieutenant Bradley wrote of the Blackfoot : The various exploits of war are denominated coups and reflect honor upontheir performers according to a certain fixed scale of merit. To capture anenemy's arms is a coup of the first class ; to touch him alive, of the second ; totouch his dead body or secure his scalp, of the third ; to make a successful theftof an enemy's horses, of the fourth. [Bradley, 1923, p. 267.] ^ Population losses due to warfare were proportionately greater among some of theenemies of the powerful and aggressive Blackfoot. The small Flathead tribe was greatlyreduced by 1855 (Ewers, 1948 a, p. 23). The Crow, attacked by the more numerous TetonDakota from the east as well as by the Blackfoot from the north, suffered such losses thatfur traders who knew them feared the Crow would be exterminated (Denlg, 1953, p. 71). Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 213My older informants agreed that the taking of a weapon, especiallya gun, from the enemy was the highest Blackfoot war honor. Theywere inclined to omit Bradley's second honor, claiming that to take anenemy scalp was the honor of second rank, and to capture a horse fromthe enemy was one of the third rank. Some Indians claimed the kill-ing of an enemy warrior should rank ahead of taking the scalp, othersdid not mention killing as a recognized honor.The Blackfoot system of grading war honors appears to have beenbased upon both the degree of daring displayed by the warrior andupon the relative commonness of performance of the several classes ofdeeds. This is borne out by the fact that in the early 1940's there wasno man living on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana who had takena gun from an enemy in a hand-to-hand combat. There were threeveterans of the intertribal wars who had taken scalps. More than adozen elderly men had captured enemy horses.Whether the taking of an enemy's weapon ranked as the highestwar honor before the introduction of firearms is not known. How-ever, the Saukamappee account of early Blackfoot warfare showsclearly that the scalp was regarded as a valuable war trophy beforethe introduction of firearms or horses (Thompson, 1916, p. 333) . Theaddition of horse capture to the hierarchy of war honors was a historicinnovation. Possibly it replaced the capture of an enemy woman orchild in the series.While the capture of articles other than weapons from the enemywas considered of sufficient significance to be memorialized in thepainting of a warrior's robe, their capture was not ranked in im-portance with the deeds above mentioned. It was considered only aminor honor for a man to be wounded in battle. Nevertheless, amaimed or disabled warrior was well cared for by his people. LazyBoy told of a young Piegan who was shot in the leg in a fight withthe Crow. An Army surgeon at Fort Benton found it necessary toamputate the leg. Wlien the amputee returned to camp his friendsgave him horses and a lodge. Fellow members of his band broughtfood to him when they returned from hunts thereafter.^^ 6^ Capture of enemy horses received recognition as a war honor among other PlainsIndian tribes in the first half of the 19th century, although the relative ranking of this actas a war honor differed from tribe to tribe. Tabeau (1939, pp. 204-206) observed that theArikara, in 1803, considered the theft of horses an act of sufficient importance to admitthe perpetrator to the ranks of braves. He was permitted to wear hair on his leggingsand a string on his arm symbolic of his achievement. Lewis and Clark (Coues, 1893,vol. 2, p. 559) understood that the Lemhi Shoshoni regarded "stealing individually thehorses of the enemy" of nearly equal honor to leading a successful war party or scalping anenemy. The Omaha, in 1819, considered horse capture an honor of the fourth rank,preceded by the capture of a prisoner, striking a live enemy, and striking a dead or dis-abled opponent (James, 1823, vol. 1, p. 295). Maximilian (1906, vol. 22, p. 310) claimedthe Teton Dakota regarded the theft of an enemy horse "as an exploit, and as much, naymore honored than the killing of an enemy." Tixier (1940, p. 138) observed that the Osage(1840) limited the wearing of eagle feathers "to those who have stolen at least a horsefrom the enemy." 214 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 PIOrOGRAPHIC REPRESENTATTION OF WAR HONORS Successful warriors were privileged to picture their war honors ontheir buffalo robes, lodge linings, or lodge covers. A warrior mightcall upon another man more skilled in painting than himself to exe-cute the pictures. On the whole the Blackfoot were much less inter-ested in the aesthetic than in the symbolic qualities of their record-ings. As Wissler has noted, the taking of a picketed horse was some-times illustrated merely by a representation of a picket pin, whilehorses taken in an open fight were portrayed by geometric symbolsof horse hoofs (Wissler, 1911, p. 41, figs. 4, 5). When horses wereportrayed in the old days they were crude, stiff figures, which LazyBoy aptly likened to the forms of the bent willow horses made aschildren's toys (pi. 12). They were always painted in profile, andgenerally in solid colors without outlines. The color was that of thecaptured horse depicted. Red paint signified a bay or sorrel, yellowa buckskin, blue a blue horse, black a black, etc. Pintos were firstpainted black, then white spots were added. The figures were exe-cuted in earth paints. Willow sticks about 4 inches long, "pointed atone end like a pencil" served for brushes. Informants believed themore detailed horse figures painted on skins in the 1880's and later3'ears at the request of white men were the work of Indian artists-whose styles had been influenced by the art of white men.58THE BLACKFOOT WARRIOR IDEAL Individual participation in either horse or scalp raids was alwaysvoluntary. Yet so great was the value placed upon warlike deeds inBlackfoot culture, and so obvious were the rewards of successful theftof enemy horses, that few able-bodied young men refrained fromparticipation.When a boy was born it was customary for his father to hold himup toward the sun, and pray, "Oh Sun ! Make this boy strong andbrave. May he die in battle rather than from old age or sickness."As he grew older the boy's father and other male relatives pointed outto him the most distinguished warriore at the Sun Dance encampmentsand recited their deeds of valor to him as an encouragement to the ladto emulate their worthy actions. Ambition to distinguish themselvesserved to minimize young men's fears of the hazards of warfare.Certainly the warpath offered the surest road to fame. As oneelderly informant said, "A young man's best way to get his name upwas through war." "? Blackfoot paintings of horses never evidenced the lively action and decorative qualityof the outlined, polychrome figures rendered by Teton Dakota and Cheyenne artists (Ewers,1939, pp. 32-35). In recent years Victor Peplon, a Blackfoot artist, painter of the muralsIn the Museum of the Plains Indian at Browning, has been recognized among the numberof capable young Plains Indian painters. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 215Few young men could resist this strong cultural compulsion to-ward participation in warfare. Only the physically handicapped,the craven, and some favorite sons of wealthy men whose parents triedto spare them the dangers of the warpath, never took part in raids.But young men of wealth who were ambitious to maintain the familyprestige and to follow in the footsteps of courageous forebears, joinedthe sons of poor and middle-class families in raiding the enemy. THE HORSE IN TRADE Let us examine the frequently repeated generality that the horsewas the standard of value in the barter of the Plains Indians in his-toric times, as it applied to the Blackfoot tribes.INTERTRIBAL TRADE References to Blackfoot trade in horses with alien tribes are ex-ceedingly rare in the literature. Teit (1930, p. 358) obtained tradi-tions from the Flathead to the effect that "long ago" they tradedwatertight baskets, shells, pipes, pipestone, flat wallets, and horses,and probably bows and saddles to the Blackfoot. In the fall of 1846,Father De Smet made a peace between the Flathead and Piegan.During the brief period this peace was in effect there apparently wasconsiderable trade between the two tribes. Father Nicholas Point,who remained with the Blackfoot for several months after conclusionof the peace, made a drawing of Blackfoot-Flathead trading opera-tions, the original of which is in the collections of the Jesuit Pro-vincial House, St. Louis, Mo. In October 1858, the River Crow,temporaril}^ at peace with the Piegan, visited the Piegan camp totrade (Hamilton, 1900, pp. 63-64). Doubtless horses were exchangedat that time.However, it is certain that the Blackfoot engaged in no extensive,annual intertribal horse-trading activities such as were typical of theCrow and village tribes on the Upper Missouri in the early years ofthe 19th century. (See pp. 7-8.) Blackfoot hostility to nearly allneighboring tribes made regular, large-scale trading operationsimpossible.Nevertheless, fractions of the Piegan appear to have traded fairlyregularly with the Flathead from at least as early as the 1840's, whenthe visits of "Blackfeet" Indians to the Flathead were noted by Catho-lic missionaries at St. Mary's, on the Bitterroot. These Piegan wereprimarily members of the Small Robes band, a group traditionallyfriendly to the Flathead, despite the hostility of other Piegan bandstoward that tribe (Ewers, 1946, pp. 398-401) . Individuals from otherPiegan bands, some of whom had intermarried with Flathead, joinedthem on their journeys over the mountains. The friendly Piegan,informants said, had scouts out ahead to inform the Flathead of theapproach of friendly Indians. Sometimes the Flathead repaid the216 EwerB] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 217 friendly visits of the Small Kobes at their village, generally locatedsouth of the other Piegan bands, near the Musselshell Kiver. JimBridger noted that there were several Flathead Indians living withthe Small Kobes when he visited them near the Judith Mountains inJuly 1860 (Kaynolds, 1868, pp. 163-164).Informants claimed these Piegan got Flathead horses in exchangefor skin lodges, gmis, Hudson's Bay blankets, and quilled or beaded,weaselskin fringed suits. The Piegan gave a 12- or 14-skin lodge forthe best Flathead horse. Usually they received by preference un-broken, 1- or 2-year-old horses, which the Piegan trained themselves.There was also some trade between Piegan and Nez Perce in thelast decade of buflFalo days, during which those tribes were at peace.The Nez Perce were reluctant to trade their fine Appaloosas, but didpart with a few for buffalo products. They were in need of buffalorobes and gave a horse for as few as four robes. They gave 5 or 6horses for a buffaloskin lodge, and 1 horse for a braided rawhide rope,or for 2 parfleches filled with dried meat plus a buffalo calfskin.INTRATRIBAL TRADETrade with surrounding tribes was limited compared with thelively exchange of horses between individuals of the three Blackfoottribes. THE HORSE AS A STANDARD OF VALUE Actually the horse was a very flexible standard of value. The worthof each animal was determined by its individual qualities and its par-ticular usefulness. A fine racer or buffalo runner was worth severalpack animals. Weasel Tail recalled an exchange of seven good horses,one a race horse, for one swift, handsome, long-winded buffalo horse.Weasel Head recalled the trade of a stud horse for another good horseand a pipe.^^Horse values also varied over the years because of changes in therelative commonness of horses and of articles offered in exchange forthem. In 1809, Alexander Henry (Henry and Thompson, 1897, vol.2, p. 526) found "a common horse can be got for a carrot of tobacco,which weighs about three pounds, and costs in Canada four shillings."Later, as trade goods became increasingly more common, their valuedecreased. Still later, after buffalo were gone and the Blackfoot set- * Undoubtedly all other horse-using tribes of the Plains and Plateau made similarqualitative distinctions in horse trading. In 1790 Mackenzie (1927, p. 78) reported thatan Assiniboin packhorse could be purchased for a guu costing no more than 21 shillings inGreat Britain, but a fine buflFalo runner could not be obtained for as many as 10 guns.In 1856, Major Owen told of an outstanding race horse purchased by a Pend d'Orellle fromthe Spokan for 6 horses. This animal was so fast its owner could get no other Indiansto race against it (Owen, 1927, vol. 1, pp. 125-126). 218 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 189 tied down to reservation life, horse values decreased markedly in com-parison with other items.A third factor encouraged flexibility in horse values. Rich men,as a rule, were expected to pay more dearly for what they receivedin trade than were men of average or little wealth. Thus, while theaverage Blackfoot might give no more than 2 horses for a dress shirtand leggings in the youth of my informants, a rich man would beexpected to show his generosity by offering 3 to 9 horses for the same outfit. JUDGMENT or HORSESThe Blackfoot were keen and careful horse traders. In many in-stances they were well aware of the capabilities and past performancesof animals offered by their fellow tribesmen. In purchasing an un-tried colt or an adult animal unknown to them, they examined itclosely. Some Indians claimed to be able to select a potential buffalorunner by examination before it was 3 years old. A horse with a long,thin tail bone and fine, small veins was thought to be a fast andvaluable one. The horse with a broad-boned tail and large, open veinswas considered of little value as a runner. Straight legs and thin hockswere other criteria of value. In watching a horse ridden prospectivetraders noted its actions. A good, vigorous horse held its head high,threw its legs out as it walked and SAvimg its tail. Some men thoughta horse with white spots in the iris of its eyes was a good, tough animal.Most Blackfoot shied away from the horse with light-colored hoofs,believing it to be a tender-hoofed animal. Short Face said that whenthere was sufficient light for horse raiders to distinguish the colors ofhorses' hoofs, they tried to take dark-hoofed horses from the enemy.**EXAMPLES OP HORSE VALUES IN INTRATRIBAL TRADEFrom aged informants I obtained detailed information regardingthe exchange value of horses in the period of their youth, and priorto the depreciation of horse values that took place after the extermina-tion of the buffalo and settlement on reservations. In view of the flexi-bility of the value of horses themselves, we should consider thefollowing data as examples of transactions known to have taken placeduring the period, rather than as standards of exchange.HORSE VALUE IN BUFFALO ROBESLike the horse, the Indian tanned buffalo robe was extensively em-ployed by the Blackfoot as a medium of exchange in the historic ??In 1797 David Thompson (1916, p. 214) observed of the northern Plains Indians Ingeneral, "As the Horses of this country have no shoes, the colour of the hoof Is muchregarded ; the yellow hoof with white hair is a brittle hoof, and soon wears away ; for thisreason, as much as possible, the Natives take only black hoofed Horses on their Warexpeditions." Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 219 period. It was the principal unit of value in trade with fur traders inthe United States and was employed in intratribal transactions aswell. Lazy Boy recalled that his father obtained 2 good horses inexchange for 16 head and tail buffalo robes. Several informantsregarded the value of 8 robes for 1 horse as fairly common in the latesixties and seventies. Yet Weasel Head remembered a trade of twolarge thin, well-tanned robes for a "good horse." ^'^ HORSE VALUE IN WEAPONSChewing Black Bones claimed a ''good horse" was exchanged fora "good bow, 20 or more arrows, and a quiver" in his youth. YetMaximilian, in 1833, reported the Blackfoot valued a cougarskinquiver at a horse (Maximilian, 1906, vol. 23, p. 119) . I have mentioned the equation of the horse and flintlock gun inthe early historic intertribal trade of the Plains Indians. (See pp.13-14.) Among the Blackfoot, in my informants' youth, some evenexchanges of Northwest Guns for horses were made. However, in-formants said a good horse was worth more than a flintlock. Anexchange of "a colt that seemed to have the makings of a buffalo run-ner" for "a muzzle-loading gun, a filled powder horn, and a shot bag"was mentioned. Another trade involved the exchange of a "muzzleloader, powder horn, and breechclout" for "a good, well-formed, livelyhorse." ^^ A heavy rawhide shield could be obtained by ceremonialtransfer for as little as a single horse or as much as several horses,depending upon the reputed power of the shield and the interests ofthe negotiators. HORSE VALUES IN ARTICLES OF MEN's CLOTHINGIn my informants' youth the Piegan gave a horse for a horned bon-net obtained in ceremonial transfer, while three sets of eagle tail ?^The great Padouca chief told Bourgmont, In 1724, his people received a horse for 3buffalo robes in their trade with the Spaniards (Margry, 1886, vol. 6, p. 440). In 1786Governor Anza of New Mexico set the value of a "horse of ordinary quality" at 13 buffalorobes in the trade with the Comanche and Ute at Pecos (Thomas, 1932, p. 306). In theCree and Assiniboin trade of the mid-19th century a horse was valued at 10 robes (Hayden,1SG2, p. 247 ; Denig, 1930, pp. 421, 589). ?" A Kiowa informant told me that in his youth a muzzle-loading gun was valued at ahorse among his people. Among tribes poorly supplied with horses guns had relativelyless value. In 1719 Du Tisne gave three guns, powder, axes, and several Ijnives to theOsage for 2 horses and a mule marked with a Spanish brand (Margry, 1886, vol. 6, p. 314).In 1805 Lewis and Clark gave a pistol, 100 balls, some powder, and a knife for one Shoshonihorse, and exchanged a musket for another, at a time when the Shoshoni were suffering atemporary scarcity of horses due to recent thefts by the enemy (Coues, 1893, vol. 2, p.574). Alexander Henry, at the Hidatsa villages In 1806, found It "impossible to purchasea common packhorse for less than a new gun, a fathom of H. B. red strouds, and 200 ballsand powder" (Henry and Thompson, 1897, vol. 1, p. 353). A horse was valued at twoNorthwest Guns among the horse-poor Cree in 1854 (Hayden, 1862, p. 247). 220 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 feathers, enough to make a feather bonnet, were worth "the bestbuffalo horse," or several common horses."^A man's dress shirt and leggings of skin, decorated with hair fringesor weaselskin strips was worth two or more horses to the Piegan inthe period 1865-80.^* The Piegan then valued a striped, blanket-cloth breechclout obtained in trade from the Nez Perce at one horse.A very good horse was paid for a well-tanned, painted buffalo robe. HOKSE VALUES IN ARTICLES OF WOMEN 's CLOTHING Grinnell stated that the Blackfoot valued a woman's dress profuselydecorated with elk teeth at two good horses (Grinnell, 1892, p. 197).This value was expressed by my informants as "the best buffalo horse"or "the best horse you have." The elk teeth alone were very highlyvalued.^^Lazy Boy said that a beaded woman's dress of buckskin or elkskinwas considerably less valuable. Some Piegan paid as much as a horsefor this type of dress, others as little as five robes. He said a womanmight be given two robes to bead a plain woman's dress. HORSE-PIPE RELATIVE VALUESWeasel Head and others claimed the Piegan sometimes exchanged ahorse for a handsomely carved, evenly blackened pipe bowl and ashstem. However, pipes frequently were obtained at lower prices. 6^6 HORSE PAYMENTS IN TRANSFER OF CEREMONIAL PARAPHERNALIAUndoubtedly considerable misunderstanding has arisen regardingthe value of Blackfoot medicine bundles in terms of horses because of ?Tabeau (1939, p. 90) reported that the Mandan gave a horse for the plumage of aneagle in 1804. Three decades later Maximilian (1906, vol. 23, p. 289) found the Mandanfrequently gave "one or two horses for a feather cap." In midcentury Hayden (1862, p.430) quoted the value of two eagle tails at one horse among the Mandan. In the 1870'sthe Hidatsa valued a single set of eagle tail feathers at "a buffalo horse" in their tradewith neighboring tribes (Mathews, 1877, p. 27). However, Denig (1930, p. 589), writingof the Upper Missouri tribes in general in 1854, stated "Usually the value of the tailfeathers of this bird among any of the tribes of whom we write is $2 each in merchandiseof this country, or 15 feathers for a horse." But when made into a bonnet "two tails of12 feathers each would be worth two horses." Kurz (1937, p. 269) reckoned a Crow head-dress of 36 eagle feathers at three packhorses in 1S51. *? Denig (1930, p. 589) said that 10 weaselskins alone would "bring a horse" among theCi'ow ca. 1854. He reported a skin shirt and leggings garnished with human hair andporcupine quills was then worth one horse, while a suit trimmed with weaselskins was ?worth two horses (ibid., p. 589).?*In 1805 Laroque (1910, p. 71) observed that the Flathead exchanged a horse for 70or 80 elk teeth. In 1833 Maximilian (1906, vol. 2.''., pp. 289, 262) reported Mandan tradeof a horse for 100 to 150 elk teeth. Kurz (1937, p. 80) found the Crow valued 100 elkteeth at the price of a packhorse. Denig gave the same Crow evaluation and listed aCrow woman's dress of "fine bighorn skin cotillion adorned with 300 elk teeth" at 25robes, or a little less than three horses in value (Denig, 1930, pp. 587, 589). ?* Kurtz claimed the Crow exchanged a packhorse for a catlinite pipe bowl in 1851 (Kurtz,1937, p. 275). Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 221 the very inflated prices paid for these bundles in the early EeservationPeriod when horses were much more plentiful and much less valuablethan in buffalo days. Prolonged discussion of these purchases withinformants revealed that the fabulously high prices paid for thesebundles were almost without exception confined to the ReservationPeriod. Even the wealthiest purchasers did not pay such prices inbuffalo days. In recent years medicine bundles have been kept in thefamilies of their owners or have been transferred at more modestprices.The three most highly valued Blackfoot medicine bundles were and still are the medicine pipe, the natoas (or Sun Dance) bundle, and thebeaver bundle. Bradley (in the 1870's) stated that medicine pipeswere valued at "about nine horses" (Bradley, 1923, p. 265). Thisfigure is in line with payments for medicine pipes in the youth of myinformants. They recalled medicine pipe transfers involving pay-ments of as little as 1 horse and a number of buffalo robes and as muchas 10 horses. Green Grass Bull claimed the owner of one medicinepipe had been told in a dream to ask no more than 7 horses for it.However, at the turn of the century it was not uncommon for a Pieganto give 30 or more horses to gain possession of a medicine pipe bundle.Informants' testimony corroborated Wissler's statement of three dec-ades earlier, "whereas . . . medicine pipes formerly required but twoor three horses, they now often go for thirty head" (Wissler, 1912 a, p.277) . Thirty-nine horses was remembered as the top price paid for amedicine pipe bundle by a Piegan. However, Goldfrank (1945, pp.29, 45) was told that the Long Time Pipe of the Blood sold severaltimes for 100 horses during the period 1894-1910, although it wastransferred for 20 horses and other goods in 1939.Lazy Boy claimed there were but two beaver bundles owned byPiegan Indians in his youth. These bundles had nearly the samevalue as medicine pij^es at that time. In the Reservation Period thePiegan have purchased beaver bundles from the Canadian Blackfoot.Shorty White Grass was said to have paid 20 horses for one of them.The natoas bundle was valued at 4 or 5 horses in buffalo days. Afterthe Blackfoot tribes settled down it rose in value to over 30 horses.Goldfrank (1945, p. 45) reported a payment of 10 horses, 1 heifer, aset of harness and a saddle for the Blood natoas bundle in 1929.BLACKFOOT USES OF HORSE MATERIALSThe horse, unlike the buffalo, was of much greater value to Indiansalive than dead. The Blackfoot rarely killed horses for food andvirtually never killed them to obtain materials for the manufactureof utilitarian or ceremonial objects. Dead horses furnished somematerials utilized by the Blackfoot. The list is meager compared withthe list of buffalo uses given on pages 150-151. 222 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159THE HORSE AS FOODMost aged informants at first denied the Blackfoot ate horse meat,although they were not averse to attributing that practice to theneighboring Gros Ventres and Cree. They claimed their people lovedhorses too much to kill them for food. Further investigation revealedlimited eating of horse meat under conditions of food scarcity. WeaselTail recalled that Blood raiding parties returning from successfulhorse raids west of the Kockies sometimes strangled a captured coltand ate it rather than risk being overtaken by the enemy while hunt-ing game or giving away their location by the noise of gunfire in shoot-ing it. Short Face also recalled instances of hungry Piegan raiderskilling and eating colts under similar circumstances. During thestarvation winter of 1879, the Canadian Blackfoot are said to haveeaten horses (Hughes, 1911, p. 246). Some Piegan informants men-tioned the eating of dogs in their camps during rare periods of ex-treme food scarcity in buffalo days, but they denied that horses werekilled for food at such times.*" USE OF HORSEHIDE Deerhides and horsehides were favored by the Blackfoot formaking drumheads. Both materials were tough and would notsoften through use or stretch out of shape to the same extent as the ?^ other Upper Missouri tribes resorted to horse meat more or less reluctantly in emer-gencies conditioned by scarcity of their usual animal foods. The Cree ate horse meat "although horses were never purposely killed for food" (Mandelbaum, 1940, p. 196). TheAssiniboin, also poor in horses, ate both horses and dogs in times of food scarcity, and asa last resort turned to cannibalism to avert starvation. Denig (1930, p. 583) reportedcannibalism in but one season during the 21 years of his knowledge of that tribe. Twocontemporary accounts tell of Teton Dakota eating of horses in the mid-19th century toprevent starvation (Kurz, 1937, p. 332; Boiler, 18G8, p. 209). The Cheyenne preferredother meat to horseflesh (Grinnell, 1923, vol. 1, p. 256). Maximilian (1906, vol. 23,p. 277) claimed the Mandan ate "all kinds of animals . . . except the horse."The relatively wealthy southern Plains tribes, who could better afCord to kill horses forfood, were less averse to eating horse meat. Pfefferkorn (1949, pp. 144-145) claimed theLipan Apache, in the mld-18th century, liked nothing better to eat than the fleshy upperneck of a horse, mule, or burro. A century later Bartlett (1854, vol. 1, p. 327) mentionedApache fondness for mule meat. Tixier (1940, p. 266) reported that the Comanche atesome of their horses when buffalo were scarce or war prevented their hunting. Marcy(1937, p. 174) said the Comanche "often make use of (horses and mules) for food whengame Is scarce." Mooney reported that the Kiowa had "to eat their ponies to keep them-selves from starving, for lack of buffalo" in the summer of 1879 (Mooney, 1898, p. 344).Orlnnell (1923, vol. 1, pp. 256-257) claimed the Kiowa preferred fat colt to fat cow. AKiowa informant told me his people sometimes killed and barbecued an 8- or 10-month-oldcolt. They regarded its meat as a light, easily digested food.Attitudes of the horse-using tribes of the Plateau toward eating horse meat variedgreatly. The Ute, who had "quite a number of good horses and mules" In 1854, "fre-quently, when hard pressed, kill(ed) them for food." Oklnagon claimed their ancestorsmade considerable use of horse flesh for food (Teit, 1930, pp. 237, 249). However, Lowie(1924 b, p. 216) reported that Wind River Shoshoni ate horses only to avert starvation.Haines (1939, p. 38) marveled that the Nez Perc6, who excelled as horse breeders,failed to use their poorer animals for food, even in time of famine. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 223 hide of the buffalo calf. The belly of the horse furnished the pre-ferred drumhead substance.^^ j^ jjjy informants' youth older peopleskinned and tanned the hide of a year old colt that had died for useas a medicine bundle wrapping. They believed this wrapping wouldbring them luck in acquiring horses. USE OF HORSEHAIRMaxmilian (1833) observed Blackfoot use of horsehair "dyed ofvarious colors," as well as human hair, for decorative fringes of men'sdress suits (Maximilian, 1906, vol. 23, p. 101). Short Face said thehair of the mane was preferred for these trimmings. The aspergerused for shaking water on hot rocks to produce steam in the Black-foot sweat lodge was made of a horse's tail bound to a wooden handle(fig. 30, a). Horse tails served as tipi decorations only if the owner "dreamed" of them as part of the ornament of his lodge. Informantsclaimed that horsehair ropes were late introductions among theBlackfoot, although they were common among the Plateau tribes inearlier times (p. 75). HORSE-CHESTNUT PERFUMEThe callosity from the inside of the horse's leg, known as the chest-nut, was cut away, powdered, and mixed with powdered plant ma-terials to make a perfume which was rubbed on clothing to give it apleasant odor.?? HORSE-TOOTH NECKLACESMaximilian (1906, vol. 23, p. 100) observed Blackfoot use of horseteeth as necklaces. Short Face said some men believed it would bringthem luck and good health to wear a necklace of horse or elk teeth. USE OF HORSE HOOFSThe Blackfoot did not make glue from horses' hoofs. Theirfavorite glue, much used in making bows and arrows, came from theboiled phallus of a buffalo bull. In the collections of the Museum ofthe Plains Indian is a horse hoof, painted, and strung as a neckpendant worn by a weather dancer in the Piegan medicine lodge (fig.30, &). This, however, was an uncommon Blackfoot usage. ^ Use of horsehide for drumheads has been reported for the Plains Cree (Mandelbaum,1940, p. 216) and Cheyenne (Grinnell, 1923, vol. 1, p. 203). The latter preferred horse-hide to other materials for drumheads. "Kroeber (1907, p. 227) mentioned the use of this perfume by the neighboring GrosVentres. 224 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 169 FiGUEB 30.?Objects made of horse materials, Blackfoot. a. Horsetail aspergerused in sweat-lodge ceremonies ; ft, horsehoof necklace worn by a weatherdancer in the Piegan Sun Dance. USE OF HORSE MANUREThe manure of a newborn colt was used as a yellow paint rubbedover the smew back of a bow or on arrow shafts. It dried hard andshiny, like glue, and would take a high polish.^" ? Wilson (1924, p. 146) reported the use of this substance as an arrow paint byHidatsa boys. THE HORSE IN RECREATIONThe horse played a prominent role in the leisure time activitiesof Blackfoot children and adults in 19th century buffalo days.THE HORSE IN CHILDREN'S PLAYSome of the toys of Blackfoot children were designed to help themimitate the daily activities of their elders in their play. Bradley(1923, p. 275) reported that girls "built miniature lodges, collectedbundles of wood and made travails." The little lodges, travois andother small-scale reproductions of camp equipment were packed ontoy horses in playing "moving camp." The conventionalized horse wasa forked stick, the basal end of which was pushed into the ground tosupport the travois and equipment when not being moved (fig. 31).Girls aged about 6 to 9 years engaged in this play, as recently as ca.1910. Figure 31.?Blackfoot girl playing "moving camp," with a conventionalized stickhorse, doll, and miniature lodge and household equipment.287944?55 16 225 226 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159Lazy Boy recalled that when he was a small boy he and his sisterplayed with little willow horses. Each was simply but cleverlyfashioned by splitting one end of a willow branch and bending thesplit portion to make the head and forelegs, and splitting the otherend of the same piece and bending them to form the tail and hindlegs of the horse. Boys about 8 to 12 years of age made and playedwith these crude horse toys. Indians born since buffalo days werefamiliar with the pattern. They had played with these toys them-selves. In 1942, a middle-aged Piegan woman made two of thesewillow horses for my small daughter. One of them is shown on plate12. It measures I414 inches long by lOi^ inches high. The saddleis not typical of the woman's saddle of buffalo days.Wissler (1911, p. 54) was informed that "small boys often playedat owning, stealing and tending horses, using rude images of mudor selected stones of appropriate form." Informants recalled thatboys 8 to 12 years of age, made miniature hoi*ses of clay from a riverbank in summer. They would place sticks in the end of each legwhile the clay was soft. Wlien the clay dried they could stand thehorses in the earth by means of these sticks. Some of the clay horseswere as much as a foot long. Boys who had been in swimming insmnmer sometimes collected flat stones and set them up in the sandbeside the river, pretending the stones were horses. They wouldmove them about, make little corrals of sticks for these horses, etc.An ingenious hobbyhorse, known as "crooked buttocks shape," wasmade from a fairly heavy tree having a double bend in it. Adults pro-cured these pieces, peeled off the bark, and placed the heavy end in ahole in the ground. The small boy or girl would mount astride it andpretend to ride it. Sometimes a carved wooden horse head wasattached to the front of it and a stick or bundle of horsehair tied to therear to make it look more like a horse. The child might throw a pieceof buffalo hide or an old saddle on it and tie reins of rawhide to theupward projection. Sometimes an adult presented one of these hobby-horses to a favored child of a prominent man and received property inreturn (fig. 32) . Wissler (1911, p. 53) apparently referred to this typeof hobbyhorse, although his description is lacking in detail.'^^ '* Similar types of cbildren's play were common among other Plains Indian tribes.Cheyenne and Arapaho girls played moving camp with miniature horses made of forkedsticks (MIchelson, 1932, p. 3; 1933, p. 598). In 1840, Tixler (1940, p. 235) was amusedby the play of little Osage girls. "One walked on all fours like a horse loaded with luggage ;after unloading her, her friends helped her to build a small lodge with stakes and a blanket ; then all together, horses and horsewomen, going in laughing. On other occasions theydrove some pegs in the ground, making a sort of horse with it, and practiced climbing onIts back." Teton Dakota boys rode wooden hobbyhorses. Sometimes they placed a saddleon a fallen tree and pretended to ride It. Teton boys and girls pretended to be horses andcarried packs, while boys of those tribes carried one another on all fours (1. e., "horse-back") (Dorsey, 1891, pp. 329, 343). Both Teton and Cheyenne boys played with mudimages of horses (Dorsey, 1891, p. 335; Grinnell, 1923, vol. 1, p. 65). Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 227 Figure 32.?Construction and use of a child's hobbyhorse, Blackfoot.Lazy Boy said that by the time Blackfoot boys were 10 or moreyears of age they abandoned play with toy horses for the more seriousand responsible activity of tending their families' horse herds. Girlsalso had little time for such play after they were called upon to helptheir mothers with household chores.At the Heart Butte Sun Dance encampment on the Blackfeet Eeser-vation, Mont., in the summer of 1944, 1 watched three small boys, agedabout 10 years, playing at bull dozing and calf roping in imitationof these modern rodeo events. In the game of calf roping one boyplayed the part of the calf, another the horse, and the third the rider.Tlie horse carried the rider after the "calf." When the rider ropedthe "calf" he jumped off and bound the "calf's" hands and feettogether with a small rope (pi. 12, 5). In the game of bull dozing thei-ider attempted to grab the "steer" around the neck and shoulders andwrestle him to the ground. Such play is of recent origin, of course.However, in spirit it is akin to the "horse play" of Blackfoot childrenin bii ffalo days. HORSE RACINGDavid Thompson wrote of the Piegan ca. 1800, "They have alsosometimes horse racing, but not in the regular manner; but betsbetween individuals in running down animals, as the Red and Jump-ing Deer, or the killing of so many Cow Bisons at a single race"(Thompson, 1916, p. 359). It is possible Thompson had not been inBlackfoot encampments in late summer, the traditional horse racing 228 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 season. Lazy Boy claimed the Piegan began racing horses in hisgreat-grandfather's time, soon after they acquired their first horses.The earliest description of a Blackfoot horse race refers to one heldin the combined Blackfoot, Blood, Piegan, Sarsi, and Gros Ventrescamp, seen by Paul Kane on June 1, 1848 (Kane, 1925, pp. 295-296) . Kane's painting of that race, now in the Koyal Ontario Museum ofArcheology, is reproduced as plate 13, h. The trader William T. Ham-ilton briefly described a match race between horses of the Crow andPiegan witnessed by him in 1858 (Hamilton, 1900, pp. 66-68) . J. Wil-lard Schultz described a match race between horses owned by Pieganand Kutenai ca. 1878 (Schultz, 1907, pp. 134-136). These descrip-tions are exceedingly fragmentary compared with the wealth ofdetailed information on old-time Blackfoot horse racing supplied bymy informants. RACE HORSESA winning race horse was the most valuable horse a BlackfootIndian could own. In trade a fast race horse would bring several othergood horses. Nearly all racers were males, either stallions or geldings.Because courses were generally long, horses were not raced until theirthird or fourth year. Eacers were considered in their prime fromtheir fourth to ninth year. After that they would serve as buffalorunners for a number of years. The ideal race horse was an animal ofsmall size and unprepossessing appearance, whose speed and endur-ance belied its looks. Indians liked to match a horse of this descrip-tion, whose ability was not generally known, against a large, finerappearing animal, in the hope of encouraging their rivals to betheavily and to win large stakes for themselves.Men carefully watched boys riding j'^ear-old colts chasing buffalocalves. If they saw a colt that seemed to outdistance the others theyexamined it carefully. If they thought it had possibilities of becominga good racer they trained it until it was ready to race at 3 or 4 years.The potential racer was allowed to run with the range herd much ofthe time. It was not used for general riding or packing. There was adecided taboo against packing meat or getting blood on a race horse. INTRATRIBAL AND INTERTRIBAL HORSE RACESAlthough the Blackfoot participated in both intratribal and inter-tribal horse races in buffalo days those races best remembered, andprobably most common, were the ones between two societies of thesame tribe. Generally men of the same society did not race againsteach other, even though several men of a society might own fast horses.Intertribal races were held between the Blackfoot tribes (such asPiegan contra Blood) , or between the fastest Blackfoot-owned racerand the swiftest horse owned by a neighboring non-Blackfoot tribe. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 229 INTERSOCIETY RACESAt the Sun Dance encampment in late summer there was keen com-petition between the various Blackfoot men's societies in games andsports. These inckided the hoop and pole game, the hand or stickgame, foot racing, and horse racing. Although there was no estab-lished order for these competitions the horse race generally came latein the series. If, for example, members of one society lost to anotherin a hand game one evening, they might challenge the winning societyto a horse race the following day. Detailed descriptions by five in-formants (both Piegan and Blood) revealed that the challenge wasissued according to a set procedure. The society wishing to make thechallenge selected one of its members who had been successful in war.He dressed just as he had dressed when he counted coup on anenemy and decorated his horse as it had appeared at that time. Hemade a round of the camp on horseback, rode up to the lodge of theleader of the rival society, sang his personal war song, lifted hisgun and fired at the lodgepoles just above their crossing. Thenhe shouted his society's challenge to a horse race. The rival society'sleader, upon hearing the challenge, rushed out of his lodge, gun inhand, and fired his weapon in the air, shouting his acceptance of thechallenge with some such boast as, "I killed an enemy, knocked himdown and scalped him. You are not going to scalp me." The chal-lenger then circled the camp again, stopping at the lodge of the leaderof his society to formally report the acceptance of his challenge.The challenge generally was issued early in the morning. Laterthat day the leader of the challenged society called a meeting of itsmembers. They chose a delegation to visit the leader of the challeng-ing society in his lodge. At this meeting between leaders of the twosocieties there generally was a great deal of joking and banteringback and forth before they settled down to the business of discussingdetailed plans for the race. Then they decided upon the location anddistance of the course, time of the race, the horses to be run, andthe starters and judges.Intersociety races were almost always match races, one horse enteredby each society. Weasel Tail recalled one race in which each societyagreed to enter two horses with the understanding that the winninghorse would win all the bets. The course usually was a fairly levelstretch of plain near the encampment, permitting the running of therace on a straightway. However, occasions were remembered whenno straight course was convenient to the camp, in which case the racewas run from the starting point around a low distant hill and backto the starting point again. In that case two judges, one man fromeach competing society, were stationed on top of the hill to see thatneither jockey took an unfair advantage of the other while rounding 230 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 the hill out of sight of the crowd at the start and finish mark. Thedistance to be run always was measured by eye. The most frequentlymentioned straightway distance was "about as far as you could barelysee a horse on the open plain." Some courses were longer. Races wererecalled in which the horses at the starting point could be seen fromthe finish only through a spy glass. Generally the distance was from2 to 4 miles, very rarely shorter. Informants' statements thus talliedclosely with Bradley's reckoning (in the 1870's) that Blackfoot horseraces generally were run over a course of "three or four miles" (Brad-ley, 1923, p. 276).There was a strict rule requiring each horse entered by a society tobe the property of a member of that society. Usually each societyhad held trials some time prior to the race in which the fastest horseswere run to determine the intersociety race entrant for that year.These trials were held in secret at some distance from the encamp-ment. On the day of the race the two horses entered were watchedcarefully by members of the respective societies who were warned tokeep other people away from the competing horses. The greatestprecaution was taken to prevent a horse medicine man from comingnear the race horses for fear that he might use his secret power tomake one of the horses tire or falter in the stretch. (See p. 272,on the powers of Blackfoot horse medicine men.)Informants did not agree on the method of selection of the jockeys.Some said a jockey was selected by the owner of the race horse.Others claimed the society as a body chose the jockey. However, itis clear that jockeys usually were relatives of the horse owners. Theywere light, thin, adolescent boys or young men who knew how to handlehorses in races. Jockeys usually wore only breechclouts and tied theirhair behind their heads to keep it from blowing in their faces. Gen-erally they rode bareback with only a war bridle (a two-reined raw-hide rope looped once about the horse's lower jaw) and a whip tocontrol the horse.The finish line of the race was sometimes just a furrow scraped inthe earth across the course. At other times it was marked by twopiles of rocks, each about 3 feet high, erected some 60 feet apart. Eachpile was set up by members of one of the competing societies. Theywere men who had used rock fortifications in the defense against theenemy.Shortly before the race the two competing horses were brought tothe finish line where the crowd gathered to view them and place betson their favorites. Betting usually was heavy, by nonmembers aswell as members of the rival societies. Horses were commonlywagered, the horses bet against each other were tied together and heldby some lad. Guns, robes, blankets, and food were common stakes.A man might wager his pad saddle against another's bow, arrows, and Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 231 quiver. Even painted lodges, together with all their sacred para-phernalia, were bet on the outcome of races. However, the winnerof a painted lodge was required to submit to the ceremony of transferbefore he could gain possession of that lodge. Even though he wonthe lodge, he was expected to give the former owner a horse at thetime of formal transfer. On the other hand, if it was discovered thatthe loser of a painted lodge attempted to hold back any sacred articlebelonging to that lodge, the winner might rub his face in manure andthe loser would have no cause for anger. Before race time great pilesof articles wagered stood near the finish. A man might risk any or all of his material possessions. Although Wilson (1887, p. 192)claimed the Blackfoot wagered their wives on horse races, bothBradley (1923, p. 276) and my informants denied this was ever done.My informants claimed a man did not bet any of his wife's personalproperty. Women, of course, bet among themselves.As the jockeys walked their horses toward the starting point (as-suming the race was to be run on a straightaway) members of thecompeting societies drummed, sang their society songs, and engagedin good-natured horse play, pretending to reinact their coups againstmembers of the rival society. A man who had taken a scalp in warwould run up to a member of the rival society, knock him down, andpretend to scalp him. If a man had stolen a horse of the same colorand appearance as one entered in the race by the rival society he mightcry out, "I stole a horse like that one of yours ; I had complete powerover it. This horse of yours will be tamed too."Two leading men, one selected by each society, served as starters.As the jockeys neared the starting point on their way down the course,they walked their horses in a wide circle, side by side, around thestarters. As they came abreast of the latter, facing the finish, thestarters gave the verbal signal "Ok'i" (now) , and the jockeys whippedtheir horses into a run. Lazy Boy said races sometimes were startedby a shot from a gun instead of a verbal signal. The starter, in thatcase, must have been a man who had shot an enemy in warfare. If thestarter lied in his claim to that distinction, it was believed one of thehorses in that race would fall.In order to let the spectators, gathered around the finish, know howthe race was progressing, two horsemen, one on a dark- and one on alight-colored horse, each representing one of the competing societies,were stationed at one side of the course about midway of its length.As the racers came abreast of them the horseman representing thesociety whose horse was in the lead at that point would weave hishorse back and forth.There w^ere two judges at the finish, one representing each society.Usually, however, there was nothing to judge, for the winning horsewas a hundred yards or more in the lead. Not infrequently one horse 232 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159played out and was unable to finish. Rarely was it a close race all theway. Then it was the judge's duty to determine the winner. Theymight agree upon a winner, disagree and start an argument, or de-clare the race a tie. In the last instance, the leaders of the twosocieties decided whether or not they would re-run the race that dayafter the horses had rested for a while, or whether the race would bere-run at some later date.After the race was ended the gleeful winners claimed the articlesthey won in the betting. If a loser became angry because he thoughtthe race had not been honest, men of the winning society knocked himdown and rubbed dirt or manure on him. With the winning horsein the lead, members of the winning society formed a procession backto camp. They proceeded once around the camp circle to the lodge ofthat society's leader. There the winning horse was entrusted to thecare of an old man, who tied it outside the lodge and sang to it. Thatnight members of the winning society sang, danced, and rejoiced untila late hour. When all returned to their lodges after this post-racecelebration the performance was over.The losing society might challenge the winning one to a foot race orother contest. That challenge was less formal than the horse-racechallenge. Members of a society who had just lost a horse race con-sidered it a good time to organize a raiding party in quest of a betterhorse in an enemy camp?one that would enable them to turn the tableson their rivals the next year. Chewing Black Bones told of the per-sistent attempts of one society to capture a fast race horse. The ac-tion occurred in his youth.A member of a Piegan society that had been beaten in a horse race told hisfriends, "I am going to get a horse from the enemy that will beat that winner."He took a big, fast bay from the Crow. But it was beaten the next year. Thenlie went to the Gros Ventres and captured a little gray horse. When the re-turning party was far enough from the Gros Ventres camp to rest and dividethe horses, they raced the horses they had captured. The little gray easily out-distanced all the others. It was small but very fast. Next summer in the secrettrials to select that society's race horse, the little gray horse finished far aheadof all his competitors.At the sun dance encampment this society challenged the one that had beatenthem the two preceding years. When members of the rival society saw thelittle gray they made fun of it. Arrangements for the race were soon made.The society entering the little gray suggested, "Last year you beat us. You setthe distance." Their rivals, thinking a long course would tire the little grayhorse, proposed a longer distance than was usually run. Most Piegan thought thecourse was too long for the little gray. Betting was heavy against it. Butone old man said, "Don't make fun of that little horse. It is small but it mayhave great power." The race started. At about the half-way point the jockeyon the little gray horse was still holding him back, while his rival on a bigbay was whipping his mount hard. Then the rider on the little gray horse gavehim the whip. He won by a long distance. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 233HORSE RACES BETWEEN BLACKFOOT TRIBESLazy Boy described a race between horses owned by a Piegan and aBlood Indian which was run in his youth : A Blood Indian who owned a fast race horse named Almost Baldy wanted tochallenge Bumt-a-Tree-Down, a Piegan owner of a fast racer, Little Buckskin.The Blood rode up to Burnt-a-Tree-Down's lodge and fired at the lodgepoles abovethe crossing. Burnt-a-Tree-Down told Big Snake, the camp announcer, to tellthe Blood Indian he would race next day. The following morning Big Snakeannounced the race to the whole camp, which at that time included both Pieganand visiting Bloods. Two men were assigned to arrange the bets. As they weremade, the announcer called them out. All bets were between individuals.Horses, guns, robes, and other articles were wagered. Then the contestantsagreed upon the course and distance. They raced beside a big lake. Aboutthe center of the length of the course were stationed a Blood and a Pieganhorseman on a hill. Each had a gun. As the riders passed them the Blood firedhis gun as a signal to the watchers that the Blood horse. Almost Baldy, was inthe lead. As soon as the gun was fired the Piegan jockey, who had been holdinghis horse in check, let Little Buckskin go. There were one Blood and one Pieganjudge at the finish. But there was nothing to judge. Little Buckskin wasfar ahead. We Piegans took everything from the Bloods. We were sure happyafter that race.This description indicates that in the intertribal horse races involv-ing only Blackfoot tribes the procedure was like that of the inter-society races, previously described, and with which members of allBlackfoot tribes were familiar.OTHER INTERTRIBAL HORSE RACES IN WHICH BLACKFOOT PARTICIPATEDHorse races pitting the best Blackfoot-owned horse against the bestracer of a neighboring non-Blackfoot tribe were not common in buffalodays, due primarily to the traditional hostility of the Blackfoot towardtheir neighbors. No detailed descriptions of these races were ob-tained from informants. Lazy Boy mentioned a race between a horseowned by visiting Nez Perce and the best Piegan racer in which thelatter was beaten handily. He thought the Nez Perce horse was theswiftest one he had ever seen.The two contemporary descriptions of intertribal races in which theBlackfoot participated are brief. Hamilton (1900, pp. 66-68) wit-nessed a race between Crow and Piegan in 1858. Betting was heavyin ponies and robes. The course was about a half mile in length.Horses were held at the head by men on the ground until the startingsignal was given. Jockeys were boys "stripped naked." Little Dog,the Piegan Chief and a Crow chief were the judges. The Piegan wonthe race and the Crow "departed soon after the race, sullen and silent.All the young Piegans had a great time dancing and singing thatnight until a late hour." 234 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 Schultz (1907, pp. 134-136) described a match race between aPiegan-owned horse and one belonging to a Kutenai in the summer ca. 1878. The betting was excessive, horses bet against each otherbeing held by some nonbetting boy. The course was a level stretch ofabout 500 yards. The youthful jockeys, naked except for the breech-clout, raced from a standing start across a finish line marked by afurrow scraped across the dusty course. The horses finished in a deadheat and precipitated a fight, both Piegan and Kutenai claiming theyhad won.These two cases suggest that intertribal horse races were not con-ducive to friendly relations between the tribes involved. In mostrespects the race procedure appears to have been similar to that ofthe intratribal Blackfoot races. However, the standing start was nottypical of the latter races, and the distances run appear to have beenshorter than was usual in intratribal races. LATER HISTORY OF BLACKFOOT HORSE RACINGThe popular intersociety horse races ended with the breakdown ofthe Blackfoot men's societies in the 1870's. Curtis (1911, vol. 6, pp.20-29) reported that with the exception of the Raven Bearers andthe Brave (or Crazy) Dogs all Piegan societies became ceremoniallyinactive before 1880. In 1894, Captain Cooke, Acting Agent, Black-feet Reservation, Mont., reported that he had proliibited gamblingamong the Indians in his charge and had discouraged "other perniciouspractices, such as horse racing" (U. S. Comm. Ind. Affairs, 1894, p.159). However, this did not put a stop to Blackfoot horse racing.Informants remembered a number of exciting match races in the earlyyears of this century, and McClintock witnessed horse races in theSun Dance encampment of the Piegan prior to 1910 (McClintock, 1910,p. 278).In recent years horse races have appeared on the program of theBlackfeet Rodeo at Browning each July. In the summer of 1941,during my residence at Browning, a new oval track was built at therodeo grounds immediately west of the Museum property. Horse raceswere held each day of the rodeo. So popular were these races thatin succeeding years race meets were held on the same grounds onMemorial Day and again on Labor Day, as well as during the Julyrodeo period. The spring and fall races were attended primarily byIndians, who showed marked enthusiasm for them. However, theolder men among my informants opined that the horses were not asfast as they used to be in their youth. Frank Red Crow had the sameopinion of race horses on the Blood Reserve in recent years. "Theyare too big. Their legs are too heavy." Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 235HORSE RACING AMONG OTHER PLAINS AND PLATEAU TRIBESAlthough horse racing was an exceedingly popular sport amongthe horse-using tribes of the West, the literature affords very fragmen-tary information on this topic.George Catlin witnessed a Mandan horse race in the summer of1832. He termed horse racing "one of the most exciting amusements,and one of the most extravagent modes of gambling" of that tribe.His description is barren of factual details, closing with the erroneousthought that "a horse race is the same all over the world" (Catlin,1841, vol. 1, p 143) . His painting of the Mandan horse race (TJ. S. N.M. No. 38G416) shows that it was a match race, with two lances setin the ground to mark the finish, beside which stood two judges.Maximilian's treatment of Mandan horse racing was still briefer.He stated simply, they "often practice riding on horseback withouta saddle, and very swift horse-racing" (Maximilian, 1906, vol. 23, p.291). These comments are fairly typical of the slight assistanceoffered by the literature in attempting a comparative study of PlainsIndian horse racing.There is sufficient data in other sources to suggest that Blackfoothorse races had features in common with those of other tribes. Mem-bers of Crow societies vied with each other in horse racing and athleticcontests (Marquis, 1928, p. 196). In the Northern Shoshoni racecourse "riders often return to the starting point after going around astick marking the half goal" (Lowie, 1908, p. 197) . Kiowa informants'brief descriptions of the horse races of that tribe revealed that thecourse usually was on level ground, well over a mile in length, eitherin a straightaway or circling two men at the half-way mark and returnto the finish. Kiowa horse races were usually match races. OneKiowa was remembered who possessed the power of the horse medicineman to cause one of the horses to fall or falter and thus lose the race.Everywhere heavy betting seemed to have accompanied Indian horseraces.In respect to the distance of the course, Blackfoot horse racinghad more in common with early horse racing in Europe and in theAmerican Colonies than with modern horse racing in this countiy.In 1740 English races were over a distance of 4 miles and the racingof 2-year-olds was unknown. In the American Colonies 4 miles wasthe approved racing distance (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1944 ed., vol.11, pp. 763, 768) . It is of interest also that the Tehuelche Indians ofPatagonia raced their horses "for long distances, four miles or aleague being the average" (Musters, 1871, p. 131). This naturallysuggests the possibility of Spanish influence on the distances favoredin both Tehuelche and Plains Indian horse races. However, it is not 236 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 necessary to infer such influence to explain the Indians' preferencefor long races. Endurance was a quality the Plains Indians requiredof their war and hunting horses. It should not seem strange that theyexpected the same attribute of their race horses. Consequently PlainsIndian horse races were tests of the competing horses' endurancerather than their sprinting ability. As Ferris noted of Flatheadhorse races, they "generally terminate[d] in favor of bottom ratherthan speed" (Ferris, 1940, pp. 95-96).HORSE SYMBOLISM IN INTERSOCIETY HOOP AND POLE GAMESThe series of competitions between rival Blackfoot men's societiesduring the Sun Dance encampment included hoop and pole games inwhich horse symbolism played a prominent role. One society chal-lenged another by sending tobacco to its leader. If the challengedsociety feared the prowess of the other at this game their leader sentthe tobacco back and the challengers presented it as a gift to thesun. If the tobacco was accepted the challenge was also.The game was played on a level stretch of ground about 30 feetlong, across each end of which a log was placed at right angles to thelength of the course. Before game time members of one society gath-ered around the log at one end of the course and sang their cerermonial songs. Men of the other society sang around the other log.Each society selected a member with a brilliant war record who wasespecially adept at this game to represent it.The hoop used in intersociety contests was fashioned of the neckcord of a buffalo, burnt and shrunk to make it hard. It was about3 inches in diameter, with 5 or more spokes and an open center.Each spoke was strung with a different color of large necklace beads.Each color represented a different-colored horse. A red bead sym-bolized a sorrel, white a white, black a black, copper a bay, yellowa buckskin, etc. The poles were of arrow form with metal headsand feathering, but considerably longer than the war or huntingarrow shot from a bow. On plate 13, a, is shown a North Pieganhoop (3.2 inches in diameter) and two poles (34.2 inches long), col-lected in 1901 (cat. No. 69351, Chicago Mus. Nat. History). MyBlood informant. Heavy Head, owned a similar set, made ca. 1907.The spectators, many of whom had bet on the outcome of the play,lined the sides of the course. They were silent as the two playersstepped upon the course. Each competitor (usually one man repre-sented each society, although by mutual agreement each society mightenter two men) in turn raised his pole toward the sun and offered ashort prayer in such words as, "See me. See this arrow. See howit is painted. That is how my arrow was painted when I killed aCrow. I shall shoot to win because what I say is true." Each con- Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 237 testant then verbally declared his target on the hoop in terms ofhis own past war deeds. One might call out, "I took a white horsefrom the Flathead. I shall shoot for the white beads." The othermight declare, "I took a sorrel horse from the Crow. I shoot for thered beads." It was thought that if a player lied in declaring his couphe would surely lose.Generally the players agreed upon which of them was to roll thehoop. Some men preferred to roll it so they would have a betterknowledge of its speed and course. Others preferred to let theiropponent roll the hoop and concentrated their attention upon throwingthe pole with accuracy. If the players couldn't agree upon whichwas to roll the hoop, the one with the better war record was givenhis choice. Before rolling, each man spat upon the head of his arrow.Then the roller lifted the hoop to the sun and rolled it toward thelog at the far end of the course. Both men ran after it and casttheir poles before the hoop struck the log. If the pole of one playerpierced the center of the ring he won. If neither pole passed intothe hoop center that man won whose pole was in contact with thecolored beads of his choice when the hoop stopped after reboundingfrom the log barrier. The game continued until one man eitherpierced the center hole with his pole or scored his declared point.Usually it was not necessary to roll the hoop more than twice beforethe winning point was scored. Each society had a judge stationedat each end of the course, to determine the winner.Curtis (1928, vol. 18, p. 187) briefly mentioned the horse symbolismof beads in the hoop and pole games played between Blackfoot so- cieties. He also claimed the beads might have represented guns orother objects taken from the enemy. If objects other than horses weresymbolized, the several informants (both Piegan and Blood) who de-scribed this game to me did not know of that fact. Blackfoot tradi-tions claim that the hoop and pole game was known to these Indianslong before the introduction of horses. Elderly informants told thestory of the game between Napi, the Blackfoot trickster and creator,and a Kutenai on the Oldman River in the dateless past. They playedfor control of the buffalo. Napi won, and "that is why there were nobuffalo west of the Rockies." Certainly Thompson (1916, p. 359) re-ported the playing of the hoop and pole game by the Piegan before1800, although he made no mention of horse symbolism in the hoopor of intersociety competitions. In my informants' youth manyyoung men played hoop and pole simply as a gambling game. Suchgames were less formal than the intersociety contests. There wasno counting of coups prior to play, and the contestants simply denotedtheir targets by the color names of the beads. It would appear thatthe introduction of horse symbolism into the intersociety hoop and 238 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 pole game was a historic modification of a game played by the Black-foot before the introduction of horses."SHAM BATTLESIn buffalo days Blackfoot warriors on horseback performed shambattles as entertainment for visiting Indians and important Whites.Sir Cecil Denny described the sham battle that followed the makingof the Blackfoot Treaty in Canada in 1877, which was so realisticas to cause considerable trepidation among the white officials present.The Indians had been in a state of excitement all the morning, and whilewe were atendlng to our duties five or six hundred mounted warriors, strippedwith the exception of a blanket round the loins and in war paint and featherheaddresses, staged a mounted war-dance round our camp. These men armedwith loaded Winchesters and on the dead run, circled the tents, their riflesexploding and the bullets whistling over our heads. The blood-curdling whoopsaccentuated the unpleasantness.They were only half in fun, and had fear been shown by us it is hard to tellwhat would have occurred ; the sham battle might easily have become one ofgrim earnestness. [Denny, 1939, p. 117-118.]Capt. W. P. Clark (1885, p. 68) witnessed a Piegan sham battle inthe summer of 1881, which "consisted in circling, charging, shouting,firing of guns etc." Sham battles survived as spectacles in the summerSun Dance encampments of the Piegan after the end of intertribalwarfare. McClintock (1910, pp. 277-278) observed and describedthis mock warfare in the first decade of the present century.Undoubtedly these dramatic displays afforded active warriorsconsiderable personal satisfaction in showing off their best horsesand their own skill as horsemen as well as their fine costumes andathletic ability. Sham battles were common to many, if not all of thePlains tribes as means of entertaining and impressing visiting Indiansand Whites in buffalo days. 73 "Culin (1907, pp. 420-527) has indicated the very wide distribution of the hoop andpole game among the North American Indians, another suggestion of Its antiquity. Hedoes not mention horse symbolism in this game. Ferris (1940, pp. 94-95) said the Flat-head employed a small hoop "two or three Inches In diameter, having beads of variouscolors fastened to the inside" in their hoop and pole game prior to 1835. He did notmention the significance of the colored beads. 's The earliest reference I have found to a Plains Indian sham battle appears in AlexanderHenry's account of his visit to the Mandan in the summer of 1806. "The Mandanesassembled In great numbers on horseback, and rode about three miles below the village,where all mustered. They set out in a body, pell-mell, whipping and kicking their horses,directing their courses along the foot of the hills, and made a long circuit at full speedaround the village. . . . On their arrival they performed their warlike maneuvers onhorseback, feigning their different attacks upon the enemy, giving their strokes of thebattle axe and thrusts of the spear, and defending themselves In turn by parrying blowsand covering themselves with their shields" (Henry and Thompson, 1897, vol. 1., pp. 362-363). George Catlin was much Impressed by the sham battles he witnessed during histravels among the Plains Indians. He described a sham battle executed by Crow warriorson their visit to the Hidatsa in the summer of 1832, and made a sketch of one of theparticipants In full dress mounted on a richly decorated horse. Two years later he saw asimilar performance in the Comanche village visited by Col. Dodge's dragoons (Catlin,1841, vol. 1, pp. 191-193, pi. 76 ; vol. 2, pp. 65-66). Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 239HORSES AS STAKES IN GAMBLINGGames and gambling were almost synonymous among the Black-foot. Participants and/or spectators bet on the outcome of nearly allgames of skill or chance. Small boys wagered their arrows andwooden tops in their games. As they grew older and acquired morevaluable possessions they bet more heavily. In describing the gam-bling of Piegan men ca. 1800, David Thompson (1916, p. 361) wrote: "The stakes are Bison Kobes, clothing, their tents, horses, and Arms,until they have nothing to cover them but some old robe fit for saddlecloths. They have some things they never gamble, as all that belongsto their wives and children, and in this the tent is frequently included ; and always the Kettle, as it cooks the meat of the children, and the Axeas it cuts wood to warm them. The dogs and horses of the women arealso exempt."In my informants' youth horses were common stakes in gamblingon horse races, foot races, the hoop and pole game, and the stick orhand game. Some young men were both luckless and inveterate gam-blers, who lost all their horses and were forced to return again andagain to enemy camps to recoup their losses. Their love of gamblingkept them poor and at the same time kept them active as horse raiders.'^* "Boiler (1868, p. 160) mentioned Hidatsa-Mandan betting of horses on hoop and polegames ca. 1860. He added "I have frequently seen Indians play until they had losteverything." Denig (1930, pp. 567-569) wrote that gambling of horses was common amongall the Upper Missouri tribes, saying "There are some who invariably lose and are poor alltheir lives." Even the Flathead, whose numerous "Christian virtues" were recognized byfur traders, missionaries, and Government officials, loved to gamble and employed horsesas common stakes (Ewers, 1948 a, pp. 18-19). Certainly gambling was one of the commonmedia by which horses changed bauds among the horse-using tribes of the West. THE HORSE AS A FACTOR IN SOCIAL RELATIONSSOCIAL STATUSA century and a half ago David Thompson (1916, p. 363) observedthat the Piegan possessed "an inherent sense of the rights of individ-uals to their rights of property, whether given them, or acquired byindustry, or in hunting. All these belong to the person who is inpossession of them; and which gives him the right to defend anyattempt to take them from him." Individual ownership of all prop-erty other than land was the rule among the tlu'ee Blackfoot tribes.Even sacred bundles, such as the natoas or Sun Dance bundle, thebeaver bundle, and the medicine pipe bundle, which were manipulatedfor the good of the whole community, were individually owned andwere transferred from one individual to another through elaborateceremonies. Individual ownership of horses followed the Blackfootpattern of ownership of other property.^^Blackfoot social stratification was grounded in respect for the rightof the individual to own and to accumulate property. In historictimes social stratification followed the economic status of the familyhead, whose wealth was determined primarily in terms of horse owner-ship. Three Calf stated that in his youth there were three classesamong the Blackfoot : the rich, the poor, and the "in between" (middleclass). Other informants frequently mentioned the two extremeswithout naming the middle class specifically. The classes may bebriefly characterized as follows.THE RICHA man who owned some 40 or more horses was considered wealthy.This number of animals was more than ample to meet his normalfamily needs for horses to move his possessions and obtain foodthrough hunting. His horses provided the means of acquiring a plen-tiful food supply, either through his own efforts or through those ofother men to whom he loaned horses for buffalo hunting. Moreover,he obtained sufficient food surplus to enable him to entertain throughfeasts following a successful hunt and still permit his women folk toprepare extensive supplies of pemmican and dried meat in the fall " Goldfrank's (1945, p. 6) Informant who spoke of "band horses," either was misin-formed or did not mean what he was reported to have said. The concept of communityownership of horses was foreign to Blackfoot economic theory and practice.240 Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 241 for winter subsistence. His many horses were the means of transport-ing surplus foods, one or more large lodges, and many other bulkypossessions. His surplus of robes were exchanged at the trading postsfor the most improved weapons, metal tools and household utensils,ornaments and trade cloth. He and members of his family dressedwell. They owned several changes of clothing including expensiveand elaborately decorated dress outfits. Their saddles and riding gearwere well made and showy. He possessed the means to purchasemembership in men's societies, to obtain important sacred bundlesthrough ceremonial transfers, and to pay leading medicine men tocare for sick members of his family. If his favorite wife had themoral qualifications she could reasonably anticipate an opportunityto play the role of medicine woman in the Sun Dance of the tribe. Heand his sons could marry well, could have a large choice of mates andcould support several wives. Before he died he could make a verbalwill dividing his wealth among his children to provide for their con-tinued enjoyment of his many advantages.Through careful management of his breeding stock he could increasehis horse herds and hence his wealth. Yet he lived in constant fearof losing his horses from an enemy raid. Three Calf told of hisfather's loss of his entire herd through capture by an enemy raidingparty. His father died not long afterward and friends said his deathwas due to his grief over the loss of his horses. Whether the grief wasdue primarily to his love for the stolen animals or to his feeling ofloss of status and lowered standard of living after the horses weregone, is not clear. Probably both factors were involved.There is evidence that wiser heads saw the folly of storing uptreasure in horses alone. Buffalo Back Fat, head chief of the Bloodtribe at the time of George Catlin's visit to Fort Union in 1832,handed down this sage advice to members of his family. It was re-membered by Three Calf, a descendant of that chief : Don't put all your wealth in horses. If all your horses are taken from youone night by the enemy, they won't come back to you. You will be destitute.So be prepared. Build up supplies of fine, clean clothing, good weapons, sacredbundles and other valuable goods. Then, if some enemy takes all your horses,you can use your other possessions to obtain the horses you need.Call in the son of a man who owns a lot of fine horses. Offer the lad some-thing valuable?a shield, a beautiful suit of clothes or some sacred object. Theboy may not want it for himself but he will tell his father. When his fatherhears of your offer he will bring fine horses to obtain transfer of title to theproffered object. You can continue in this way to rebuild your herd by dis-posing of other valuable possessions.Furthermore, you will be sure of acquiring horses of the very best qualitywith which to start your herd anew. You know that when a man seeks to ob-tain a bundle or other valuable object every one in camp, his rivals as well ashis relatives, knows about it and watches to see what he is offering in exchange.287944?55- 17 242 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 So he will make a show of liberality by offering the best horses he has. Anyother property he may offer along with the horses will be of the best quality ? blankets, robes, guns or other articles.Wissler (1912 a, p. 276) found that the prestige gained from owner-ship of sacred bundles was never lost, "Even though one may falla victim to utter poverty, he may still, if the ex-owner of many bundles,be spoken of as wealthy and powerful." Tlie wealthy man who wasalso kind and generous need never fear reduction to abject povertythrough loss of his horses. His many friends and relatives wouldgive him horses to care for the needs of his household.'^' However,the wealthy man who was stingy was genuinely disliked by his fellowmen. Generosity was felt to be a responsibility of the wealthy.They were expected to loan horses to the poor for hunting and mov-ing camp, to give food to the poor, and to give away horses occasion-ally. They were expected to pay more in intratribal barter thanwere Indians who were not well to do. If the man of wealth hadpolitical ambitions it was particularly important that he be lavishwith his gifts in order to gain a large number of followers to supporthis candidacy.In numbers the wealthy comprised by far the smallest of the threeBlackfoot social classes. It is doubtful if they totaled 5 percentof the Blackfoot population in buffalo days.THE MTDDIiE CLASSThe middle-class Blackfoot owned from 5 to less than 40 horses.He was economically independent, possessing enough horses to huntbuffalo and move camp. Generally he could obtain adequate meat forhis family, although many middle-class families could prepare andtransport little winter reserve. He lived in a smaller lodge and en-tertained much less frequently or lavishly than the rich man. Hehad fewer robes to trade and consequently received less of the trader'sdesirable goods. Yet he tried, to the best of his ability to follow thestyles set by people of wealth in clothing, ornaments, weapons, tools,household utensils, riding, and transport gear. But his possessionswere fewer and, unless his wife or wives were expert and industriouscraftswomen, his possessions usually were less elaborate than thoseof wealthy men. With the help of relatives he could muster horsesand other costly items necessary to purchase a valuable sacred bundle.But, as Wissler (1912 a, p. 277) has stated, it was only the wealthy whocould purchase large or important bundles without help.In numbers the middle class comprised the largest of the threeBlackfoot classes, and the majority of the population. This class '? Denig said of the Crow, "If a man has all his horses stolen or killed, he can generallyfind friends to give him others, tho the giver expects payment when the receiver shall haveretrieved his horses or be able to pay in some way" (Denig, 1953, p. 32). Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 243graded almost imperceptibly into the wealthy class at the top andthe poor class at the bottom. Loss of a portion of their herd from anenemy raid could reduce many a middle-class family to poverty.THE POORAt the bottom of the economically determined social scale were thepoor. They were far more numerous than the wealthy, but less nu-merous than the middle class. At times they may have numbered25 percent of the total population. Poor families were dependentupon their relatives or band leaders for even the economic essentials.They borrowed horses to move camp or used dogs for transport ani-mals. They borrowed horses to hunt or received food from the morefortunate. Even their small homes often were the tops of old lodgesdiscarded by wealthy owners, cut down to a size the poor people couldtransport. The poor family, owning less than 5 horses, had few otherpossessions. This family was easily recognized by the smallness of itslodge and the shabby appearance of its clothing, transport gear,household utensils, and weapons. Generally the poor owned no fancydress clothing. Their parfleches were old, worn, and greasy; theirrectangular rawhide bags unfringed. The poor man's gun, if heowned one, was generally an old muzzle-loader, broken and tied to-gether with buckskin cord.Undoubtedly, if the poor man had pride or ambition, he sujfferedgreater mental anguish than physical discomfort. Fellow tribesmensaw to it that he did not starve. Yet he realized that he made a poorappearance among his people and that he owned none of the desirablepossessions of members of the upper and middle classes. His self-respect suffered through inability to participate actively in manyfacets of Blackfoot life. He could not purchase important sacredbundles or membership in a society. His desires and opinions carriedno weight in decisions involving band and tribal movements. Hismarriage prospects were very limited. The aged poor were sometimesleft behind when camp was moved owing to lack of adequate transportfacilities.Yet the lot of the poor in horses was no worse among the Blackfootthan among the majority of other nomadic tribes and the horticul-tural tribes as well.^^Ferris (1940, p. 300) writing of the Indians of the northern Rockiesprior to 1835, stated: " Dorsey and Murle (1940, p. 115) estimated that the poor among the Skidi Pawneecomprised "less than one-half the members." They were "without influence or power,their lodges were smaller and not so completely furnished, they had few or no ponies,and were often the objects of charity." In 1840, Tixier (1940, p. 135) observed thatamong the Osage "there are poor people ; and those who are poor have no horses, no meansof hunting the bison in order to secure meat. They own neither huts nor blankets ; theylive, so to speak, at the expense of the community." 244 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159Some of the poorer classes, who do not possess horses, and are consequentlyunable to follow the buffalo In the prairies, ascend the mountains where deer, andsheep are numerous, and pass their lives in single families?are never visitedby the horsemen of the plains, but sometimes descend to them, and exchangethe skins of those animals for robes, and other articles of use and ornament.Probably Ferris was referring to horseless Shoshoneans. Neverthe-less, Alexander Henry (Henry and Thompson, 1897, vol. 2, p. 723)in describing the Piegan in 1811, observed:There are 30 or 40 tents who seldom resort to the plains, either in summer orwinter, unless scarcity of animals or some other circumstance obliges them tojoin their countrymen. This small band generally inhabit the thick, woodycountry along the foot of the mountains, where they kill a few beavers, andbeing industrious, they are of course better provided for than those Piegan swho dwell on the plains.My informant, Kichard Sanderville, believed these were the ancestorsof the North Piegan who now reside on a separate reserve west ofMacleod, Alberta. The "North Piedgans" were named as a distinctband in 1850 (Culbertson, 1851, p. 144). In late buffalo days they still held their own Sun Dance and were recognized as skilled huntersand trappers of small game. Although by Henry's time these Indianswere profiting from the fur trade and no longer appeared poor incomparison with the other Piegan, it is possible that their semisepa-ration from the main Piegan tribe may have been caused by povertyin horses at an earlier date, which made it difficult for them to liveby hunting buffalo on the Plains in competition with other Pieganbands better supplied with horses.CHANGES IN SOCIAL STATUSIn so far as the individual was concerned the Blackfoot system ofsocial status was not crystallized. It offered no positive security tothe wealthy. Overnight, as result of an enemy raid or a severe winterstorm the rich man might lose his wealth in horses. There was alwaysopportunity for the poor boy, who was also courageous and ambitious,to better his status. As Wissler (1912, pp. 28S-289) observed, "therich young dandies" did "not always turn out the greatest war chiefs,for it has often happened that poor young men have gone on thewarpath, captured horses, bought fine clothes, and medicine bundlesand become leaders among their people." Informants said ambitiousboys of poor families generally started to war at an early age, werefrequent participants in horse raids, and were inclined to take themost desperate chances. A few of these men became wealthy, manybecame respected members of the middle class, some never were suc-cessful in acquiring many horses, and others lost their lives in skir-mishes with the enemy. The road from rags to riches via the horse-capture route was a long and perilous one. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BIACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 245 Another avenue of advancement for the poor boy was throughservice to a wealthy man, in caring for his horses, and helping himin hunting in return for his own food and care. Orphans commonlywere taken into this service (Grinnell, 1892, p. 219).Adoption into a family of wealth and distinction offered anothermeans of advancement for the poor boy. Three Calf cited the caseof a little boy found by Boy, a chief of the Small Robes band ofPiegan, in an abandoned Gros Ventres camp. Although Boy hadchildren of his own, he adopted the homeless waif. When the ladgrew older he cared for Boy's horses. Later he helped in hunting andwent on horse-raiding parties. He was successful in taking enemyhorses and once took a gun from an enemy. He began to raise a herdof his own. He married a girl of good family, set up a medium-sizedlodge, and raised fine pinto horses. He began to acquire the best ofclothing and horse gear. Finally, after he had acquired 2 wives andsome 30 or more horses, he became a subchief of the Small Robes band.As an old man he took the name of his Piegan benefactor. Boy.The practice of medicine offered a specialized medium of advance-ment for young women as well as men. A number of highly respectedwomen practitioners were remembered by informants. Through theirown visions and/or the teachings of established doctors young peoplelearned the use of various medicinal plants and techniques of theiradministration. The person who could cure the sick or foresee thefuture was able to demand payments for his services in horses andother valuables.Some men and women were able to better their condition throughtheir skill as craftsmen. No individual was remembered who attainedwealth solely on the basis of his or her skill in crafts. However, therewere men and women of the middle class whose incomes were materi-ally enhanced through their ability to manufacture bows and arrows orpipes of high quality (in the case of men), or lodges, clothing, ridingand transport gear (in the case of women). Many fine craftsmenwere older men whose age prevented their active participation inhunting or horse raids.POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONTHE BAND Wissler (1911, p. 22) properly considered the band "the social andpolitical unit" among the Blackfoot. In 1856, Blackfoot Agent Hatchstated, "Each tribe is divided into bands, which are governed or ledby either a chief or a band-leader, the former office is hereditary,the latter depends upon the bravery of the individual and his successin war" (U. S. Comm. of Ind. Affairs, 1856, p. 625). Bradley's ex- 246 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 planation of the Blackfoot chieftancy in the 1870's, is more exactand detailed : The position of a chief was neither hereditary nor elective, but wholly self-creative. The young man ambitious of this distinction sought to be conspicuousfor energy and daring in war, intelligence in council, and liberality in givingfeasts and providing tobacco for the guests of his lodge. The exhibition ofthese qualities in more than ordinary degree would win him the respect andconfidence of one after another of his band, who were ready to follow his guidanceand accept his council. When this point was reached he began to have in-fluence and be regarded as a leader or chief. Practice in obtaining popularitywas usually productive of skill in retaining it, and once a chief the distinctionwas pretty certain to attach for life. The greatness or authority of a chiefdepended wholly upon his popularity, upon the proportion of the tribe whoseconfidence could be won and adhesion secured. The number of chiefs that mightbe in a band was dependent simply upon the number who could secure thisfollowing. This system did not necessarily array the members of a band intoopposing factions, for several chiefs might enjoy the equal consideration of all.But besides the general respect in which a chief was held he had his purelypersonal followers, consisting usually of his relatives and nearer friends. [Brad-ley, 1923, pp. 280-281.]Discussions of the band chieftaincy by later investigators among theBlackfoot, Grinnell (1892, p. 219) and Wissler (1911, pp. 22-23), con-firm Bradley's keen analysis, as does the testimony of my informants.The latter insisted that the major requirements for band leadershipwere (1) an outstanding, proved war record and (2) a reputation forgenerosity. Some contended that no man was recognized as a bandchief unless he had taken a gun from the enemy in hand-to-handcombat, the highest war honor. Lazy Boy could recall a single excep-tion to this requirement among the Piegan. Night Shoot was anexperienced horse raider, although his record of coups was not out-standing. He brought home many horses and distributed them lib-erally among the members of his band. He was very generous andwell liked, and became a band chief by popular demand.It is certain that the requirement of outstanding war achievementfor band leadership had social value. It insured that men who roseto power in the band were brave and experienced warriors qualifiedto lead in the formulation of plans for the protection of the band andrevenge of enemy action against it. In an atmosphere of almost con-stant warfare with neighboring tribes it was necessary that politicalleaders be warriors of proved mettle.Informants insisted that the requirement of generosity was by nomeans of secondary importance in the selection of a band chief. Astingy warrior was not recognized in spite of his war record. Indiscussing the loaning of horses to the poor, Lazy Boy volunteered, Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 247 "That is how you get your leadership. Wlien people want a chief theyselect a good hearted man." ^^To dispense patronage the ambitious man required a degree ofwealth. Probably this helps to explain why some early writers foundthat the chieftaincy appeared to run in families. Provided a memberof a chief's family had a good war record he possessed a distinctadvantage in the reputation of his family for past favors granted tomembers of his band. Other band members had confidence in hisability to use his inherited wealth to maintain the standard of gen-erosity toward them set by his father or elder brother.The Blackfoot band, the social and political unit throughout thegreater part of the year, was a fluid organization. Both the numberof bands and the membership of each was subject to almost continualchange. Father Point, who spent the winter of 1846-47 with thePiegan claimed there were only "seven or eight fractions of thePiegan tribe" (De Smet, 1905, vol. 3, p. 952). Yet Wissler (1911, p.21) listed 23 Piegan bands. Wliile it is possible Point may havemissed some Piegan bands in his calculation it is more probable thatthe bands named by Wissler were not all contemporaneous. Heavylosses attendant upon war casualties and severe epidemics necessitatedcombinations and regroupings of bands, to provide camps of sufficientstrength to withstand and revenge enemy attacks. Population growthtended to encourage division of larger bands into smaller units re-quiring less buffalo for subsistence. Grinnell believed the existenceof bands bearing the same name among two Blackfoot tribes wasdue to persons leaving one tribe to live with another who chose topreserve the name of their former band rather than unite with anexisting band in their new tribe. He also claimed that "within tlielast forty or fifty years (i. e. since ca. 1840-50) it has become notuncommon for a man and his family, or even two or three families, onaccount of some quarrel or some personal dislike of the chief of theirown gens (band) , to leave it and join another band. Thus the gentes(bands) often received outsiders" (Grinnell, 1892, p. 210). AlthoughBlackfoot bands may originally have been composed of groups ofblood relatives, it is certain that, by processes such as described above,they became mixed long ago. In my informant's youth band exogamywas preferred but not obligatory. Both parents of some of my olderinformants were of families of the same band affiliation.Informants indicated that poor people were the most migratory intheir band affiliations. They became camp followers of the leader ^* Opler Indicated the situation was similar among the Southern Ute, "A man would bewanted for chief if he gave away horses to all those poor people" (Opler, 1940, p. 165). 248 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 who seemed to bo most able and willing to supply them with theirbasic needs, food and/or horses for hunting and moving camp. Some-times these mendicants became so numerous that their demands weretoo great a drain upon the resources of the band chief. Should he failto provide for them he would surely lose some of his followers, whowould either champion the candidacy of another leader within theband or find residence in another band led by a man who appeared tobe more affluent. Care of the poor was a recognized responsibility ofthe band chief. Should he fail in this his leadership was seriouslythreatened.^^In the fall of 1855, James Doty (MS., p. 23) met a Blood chief, "The Man who sits by the Eagle's Tail," on Bow Kiver. He waschief of a small band of 18 lodges which was at that time so poor "theyhad only dogs to move with and could not go so far" as to the Councilat the mouth of the Judith, where the 1855 treaty was made. Dotydoes not mention the cause of this band's poverty. It is noteworthythat the chief commanded relatively few followers. TRIBAL CHIEFrATNCTAs Wissler (1911, p. 25) stated, each of the three Blackfoot tribes,Piegan, Blood, and North Blackfoot, possessed a head chief. In theI780's, according to David Thompson (1916, pp. 346-347), the Pieganhad a civil chief whose office appeared to Thompson to be "hereditaryin his family, as his father had been civil Chief, and his eldest son wasto take his place at his death and occasionally acted for him." Theyalso had a war chief who "acquired his present station and influencefrom his conduct in war." Later the functions of civil and war chiefstended to be combined in one man. The tendency for the head chief-taincy to be handed down in families seemed to persist among thePiegan in the first half of the 19th century. De Smet, in 1846, foundthat the aged head chief had resigned his office in favor of his youngerbrother, Big Lake (De Smet, 1905, vol. 2, p. 595). I find no substan-tiation for Wissler's claim that "most of" the Piegan head chiefs "havebeen members of the Fat-roasters" band (Wissler, 1911, p. 25). ThePiegan head chieftaincj'^ changed hands many times in the period1855-1903. The office tended to shift from one band to another. Fur-thermore there were intervals during this period when the head chief-taincy was in doubt because of competition for this office by rivals, eachbacked by powerful band factions. "" Fluidltj' iu baiul niejiibersbip was cbaracteristlc of liorse-uslng tribes as widely sep-arated as the Plains Cree (Mandelbaum, 1940, \>. 221), Assiniboln (Rodnick, 1937,pp. 408, 410), Northern Shoshoui (Steward, 1938, p. 251), and Kiowa (Mishkin, 1940, pp.2C>-27). Mishkin attributed frequent changes iu composition of Kiowa bands to the intro-duction of horses. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 249The tendency for the head chieftaincy to run in families has beenmore marked among the Blood Indians. Since ante-1869 the tribalhead chieftaincy has descended in the family of Seen-from-Afar andRed Crow to the j^resent (1951) chief, Shot-on-Both-Sides. WeaselTail claimed that Buffalo Back Fat, head chief of the Blood Indiansin 1832, fathered another tribal head chief who bore the same name.It is certain that the head chief rose to office through distinctiongained as a prominent band chief. The basic requirements of out-standing war record and generosity, therefore, were essential to hisadvancement.Blackfoot recognition of social status upon the basis of horse owner-ship served indirectly to limit the power of both tribal and bandchiefs in intertribal relations. Older chiefs, who had amassed con-siderable wealth, and who no longer went to war themselves, wouldlose more than they could gain through continued warfare. Oftenthey looked with favor upon peace with some neighboring tribe. Buttheir desires were thwarted by ambitious young men who could notbe deterred from horse raids against the neighboring tribes in orderto gain status for themselves. Father Point (in 1847) found Pieganyoung men willing to listen to his exhortations to cease stealing fromneighboring tribes only if he "could immediately make 'Great Men' ofthem" (De Smet, 1905, vol. 3, p. 954) . MARRIAGEThe institution of marriage among the Blackfoot offered men ofwealth opportunities for wide selection of women for wives, while themarital opportunities of the poor were restricted. A boy of a poorfamily, who was not very ambitious, had little chance of marriageexcept to a girl of his own social class. However, the father of a girlof rather loose morals, "who chased around with one fellow after an-other," might tell her, "You marry that poor fellow, and settle down."There were also orphan girls in camp, some of whom were flighty intheir affections, available to marry poor boys. On the whole mar-riages tended to be contracted between persons of nearly equal status.A poor young man who had been successful in amassing a herd of 8 or10 horses might be recognized as a young man with a future and mightmarry into a family of higher status. On the other hand, a wealthyman was besieged with offers of the daughters of ambitious parents oflower status.Informants resented any implication of bride purchase in the Black-foot marriage ceremony, insisting there was an exchange of giftsbetween the families of the bride and groom. This exchange of giftshas been mentioned in accounts of Blackfoot marriage by Bradley 250 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159(1923, pp. 272-273) and Grinnell (1892, pp. 211-216). The initialproposal could be made by parents of either the young man or woman.In either case it was a matter of pride for the family receiving thefirst gifts to return gifts of greater value than those received. Horseswere virtually always among the valuable gifts exchanged. Bradley(1923, p. 272) wrote that "two or three horses or their equivalent inother goods constitute the customary offering in cases of intendedmarriage." Green Grass Bull recalled one marriage in which thegroom's folks received over 40 horses from the bride's relatives. Yethe said that he gave his wife's father only one horse when he married,although later, when he returned from horse raids, he presentedhorses to her father and her two brothers. Three Calf recalled a rareinstance of a father's offer of his daughter to a young man in returnfor a certain horse that man owned which he coveted.*"POLYGAMYIn buffalo days the number of Blackfoot women far exceeded thatof men due primarily to heavy male war losses. (See p. 212.) Atthe same time many hands were needed by successful hunters to pre-pare their robes and skins for the fur trade and to manage theirhouseholds on the move and in camp. It was usual for wealthy mento have several wives. Men of the middle class, in many instances,were polygamous. Poor men generally were monogamous. Therewere notable exceptions to this rule. One Piegan was known to havepossessed three wives and but one horse. He and his family had avery difficult time moving their few belongings. On the other hand,the wealthy Stingy had one wife. Many parents offered him theirdaughters, but he refused, saying that more than one wife meanttrouble.There seems to have been a common belief that the practice ofthe sororate reduced the possibilities of jealousy and friction in poly-gamous marriages. Double Victory Calf Robe, an aged Blood woman,told me she was a wife in a polygamous union. Her two older sisterswere married to Iron Horn. One day her father told her, "My son-in-law is very good to us. You better marry him and be with yoursisters." Her parents outfitted a horse and travois and she rode overto Iron Horn's lodge. He accepted her, and gave horses to her father.The exchange of gifts in this marriage of a third daughter to a son- ** Early references to the exchange of gifts, primarily of horses, in tlie marriage cere-monies of other Plains and Plateau tribes appear in the literature. Lewis and Clark notedthis procedure among the Lemhi Shoshoni in 1805 (Coues, 1893, vol. 2, p. 557). Sayreported gift exchanges In the Kansas marriage ceremony in 1819 (James, 1823, vol. 1,pp. 123-124) ; and Maximilian found them customary among the Mandan in 1834 (Maxi-milian, 1906, vol. 23, pp. 279-280). Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 251in-law followed the procedure customary in monogamous or firstmarriages among the Blackfoot.^^THE HORSE IN PUNISHMENT OF CIVIL AND CRIMINAL OFFENSESBradley (1870's) reported that with the exception of punishmentsmeted out by the police for disobedience of the restriction againstpremature hunting of the buffalo by individuals ? all crimes of whatever grade were purely private wrongs for whicli the Black-foot code provided no penalty but such as the injured party, himself, or hisfriends, was able to inflict. And if we accept as crimes only those offenses forwhich custom had in some degree regulated the penalty, we find ourselves re-duced to a list of ridiculously small proportions, comprehending in fact onlylarceny, adultery, and homicide. There were other wrongs which the individualmight sustain as assault and battery, or slander, but the injured party was leftto inflict upon the offender such punishment as he chose or was able to inflict."[Bradley, 1923, pp. 286-287.]Cases of larceny were generally settled by restoring to the ownerthe stolen goods, whether horses or other possessions (ibid., p. 287).In cases of homicide and adultery, the two major offenses against theindividual, exaction of fines in horses was common. The relatives ofa murdered man generally felt duty bound to revenge his death bykilling the murderer. However, that might in turn lead to an extendedblood feud between the families of the two dead men, resulting in aseries of deaths on both sides. As an alternative the killer's relativesmight be able to satisfy the family of the murdered man through pay-ment of a heavy fine in horses and/or other valuables. Informantsstated that this alternative was resorted to most commonly if themurderer was of a higher social status than the murdered man, or if themurderer was a member of a large family whose vengeance wouldsurely fall upon his killers. Maximilian told of the resort to thisalternative in a case involving the killing of a nephew of a Piegan chiefby a Blood Indian in the summer of 1833. After some shots were ex-changed between Piegan and Blood the murder was commuted throughpresents (Maximilian, 1906, vol. 23, p. 159). In 1838, traders at FortBenton killed a troublesome Blood Indian who had threatened theirlives. The Blood in council agreed that the case could be settledby presents of a horse to each of the dead man's brothers (Bradley,1900, pp. 227-230).At the Blackfeet Agency in Montana, Indian Agent John S. Wood,in council with the chiefs of the Blackfoot. Blood, and Piegan, adopted ^ Tixier's comment on the Osage, "Any man may marry as many wives as he can takecare of," may be regarded as typical of Plains Indian tribes in general (Tixler, 1940,p, 183). Plural marriages probably were more common among wealthier tribes than Inpoorer ones. Of the wealthy Crow, prior to 1856, Denig (1953, p. 34) wrote, "About onehalf the nation have a plurality of wives, the rest one each." My Blaclifoot data suggeststhe proportion of plural marriages was smaller among them. 252 BUREAU OF AlvIERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 150 a written code of laws, April 23, 1875. A copy of this code is in theNational Archives. It provides that "If any Indian shall kill another,he shall be arrested and tried, and if found guilty of murder, shall behanged by the neck until dead." This represented an imposition ofthe white man's punishment upon the Indians. No provision wasmade for the alternative of payment of horses and goods to the familyof the deceased sometimes exacted by the Blackfoot prior to that date.However, it is noteworthy that the Mounted Police continued to recog-nize the alternative in their dealings with the Canadian Blackfoot aslate as 1881. In that year Denny (1939, p. 155) was sent to settle adispute resulting from the killing of a Cree by a North Blackfoot. "Following a solemn smoke all round I advised the Blackfeet to settlewith the family of the slain Cree by payment of so many horses."The Blackfoot did not recognize adultery on the part of a husbandas a crime. However, the punishment of an adulterous woman wassevere. In a fit of rage her husband might kill her, or he mightpermanently disfigure her by cutting off her nose. Maximilian (1906, vol. 23, p. 136) had observed "a great many women with their nosescut ofl*" in the Blackfoot camps near Fort McKenzie in the summerof 1833. Bradley (1923, p. 271) claimed that women with cut noseswere common among the Blackfoot in 1833, but gradually this punish-ment was discontinued. As late as ca. 1920 there was a Piegan womanliving on the Montana Reservation whose face had been disfigured asa punishment for adultery. Informants claimed that if the adultresshad children the husband, in pity for them, might prefer cutting offhis wife's nose to killing her. The adultress might be turned over tothe members of her husband's society for their common sexual gratifi-cation also (Maximilian, 1906, vol. 23, p. 100, also mentioned thatpunishment) . From his adulterous wife's partner the husband generally soughtredress by dispossessing him of his horses and other property (Maxi-milian, ibid., p. 100; Bradley, 1923, pp. 271-272). This punishmentwas reported among other Plains Indian tribes as early as ca. 1800.^^The 1875 code of laws for the Blackfoot (mentioned above) specifiedno penalty for adultery. The offenses specifically listed along withtheir punishments reflect strongly the imposition of the white man'smoral code upon the Indian in other respects. The practice ofpolygamy, previously sanctioned by the Blackfoot, was forbidden. 8? Thompson (1910, p. 236) noted of the Hidatsa In 179S, "adultery is punishahle withdeath to both parties ; though the woman escapes this penalty more often than the man ; ?who can save his life by absconding which, If the woman does not do, she suffers a severebeating, and becomes the drudge of the family. But those living in the villages I wasgiven to understand have relaxed this law to the man in favor of a present of a Horse,and whatever else can be got from him." Lewis and Clark (Coues. 1893, vol. 1, p. 243)reported Mandan and mdatsa employment of the less severe punishment of horse paymentsseven years later. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 253 Rape, selling of a daughter, wife, mother, sister or other woman toanother Indian or white man ; beating one's wife, assault, threat to killanother Indian ; theft or sale of horses stolen from a white man ; andthe buying, selling, or keeping of intoxicating liquors were listed asoffenses punishable by fine or imprisonment in this first written codeof laws for the Blackfoot. For some offenses (theft, assault, threat tokill) payment of the fine in "horses, robes and peltries" was specified.These were the Indian possessions that had the greatest monetaryvalue in the white man's culture. Probably that fact, rather thandesire to follow Indian tradition in the payment of fines, influenced theGovernment in spelling out its punishments in that revolutionary legaldocument.THE HORSE IN SOCIETY ORGANIZATION AND CEREMONIESGreen Grass Bull cited a Piegan tradition to the effect that thecustom of purchasing membership in a society originated shortlyafter the organization of the first men's society in that tribe, whenanother group of men sought to obtain this society from its organ-izers. Of Blackfoot societies Maximilian (1906, vol. 23, p. 117) wrotein 1833, "New members are chosen into all these unions who areobliged to pay entrance; medicine men, and the most distinguishedmen, have to pay more than other people."Green Grass Bull gave a generalized description of society pur-chase, minor details of which differed from society to society.A group of men all about the same age, decided to join a society. Theyselected a wealthy young man for a leader. Each man took a pipe filled withtobacco. The leader gave his pipe to the leader of the society into which thegroup wished to buy. Other young men of the group each offered a pipe toa member of the society. If accepted, each society member also receivedpresents from the petitioner who offered him his pipe. Sometimes these giftswere horses, but they might be something else.The Blood Indian women's society, Matold, formerly erected alodge, open at the top and surrounded by horse travois implanted inthe ground with their upper extremities tied to the lodge framework.Scraping White said that he had been told the Matoki used dogtravois around their lodge in the same way prior to the acquisitionof horses. He was unaware of the symbolism. However, if theMatoki ceremony of driving buffalo into the park (lodge) seen byMaximilian in 1833 (Maximilian, 1906, vol. 23, pp. 112-115) datesback to pre-horse days, the symbolism is clear. It was a ceremonialenactment of the driving of buffalo into a pound surrounded withupended dog travois, reported by Weasel Tail as traditional huntingprocedure in pre-horse days. In the course of its history the MatokiSociety apparently substituted the more recent horse travois for theolder dog travois in the construction of their lodge. 254 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159PERSONAL NAMES McClintock (1910, p. 396) in an extended discussion of Blackfootpersonal names, stated, "The use of horses and the capture of horsesfrom other tribes having been a prominent feature of their life, itwas but natural that the word horse was used in a great variety ofname combinations." Actually a study of two extended lists ofnames of male signers of important documents reveals a limited useof personal names including the word "horse" or with horseconnotations.The list of Blackfoot Indians of the Montana Eeservation (largelyPiegan) who signed the Land Agreement of 1895, includes the namesof some 80 percent of the adult male population of the Reservation atthat time. Of the 305 names listed only 11 appear to have horseassociations. They are : Albert-Buffalo-Horse First RiderBlaclc-Horse-Rider Many-White-HorsesBobtail Horse Ride-in-the-MiddleFast-Buffalo-Horse Rides-at-the-DoorDay Rider Rupert RiderDouble RiderThe same list includes 94 names referring to birds and animalsother than the horse, including 22 buffalo names and 17 bear names.Bird names alone totaled 33. Eighteen names referred to gunsand/or their use (Agreement etc., 1896, pp. 23-27).Of the 200 male residents of the Blood Reserve who signed thememorial presented to the Canadian Government by R. N. Wilson,May 31, 1920, only 9 bore names with horse associations. They were : Many-White-Horses Bob-Riding-Black-HorsesRiding-in-the-Door Day RiderOwns-Different-Horses Black HorsesCharles Goodrider Mike-Mountain-HorseMany MulesPercentagewise the horse names in this list are but little commonerthan those of the Piegan list, comprising 4.5 percent of the totalcompared with 3 percent in the Piegan list. The Blood list includes70 names referring to birds and animals other than the horse, including16 buffalo names, 12 wolf, and 11 eagle names (Wilson, 1921, pp.38-40).Both of the lists of names mentioned above were recorded afterAgency rolls were established and family surnames were fixed in theearly Reservation Period. Doubtless in buffalo days, when many menpossessed several names in the course of their active lives, the totalnumber of names associated with horses was greater. Nevertheless,the Blackfoot preference for reemployment of names of family mem- Ewers] THE HORSE EST BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 255 bers of earlier generations was a check upon the coining of new namesand tended to perpetuate the old ones from generation to generation( Wissler, 1911, p. 17) . One name, Boy, can be traced back to the 18thcentury. It was the name of David Thompson's principal informantamong the Piegan in 1787, an aged Cree who had lived among thePiegan since his young manhood. The name was borne by one ofthe Piegan chiefs whom Maximilian (1906, vol. 23, p. 157) met atFort McKenzie in the summer of 1833. It was the name of a bandchief in the mid-19th century, and was assumed by the Gros Ventresboy whom that chief adopted. The latter was the paternal grand-father of the young artist, Calvin Boy, who executed a number ofthe illustrations in this publication.There is evidence that some wealthy horse owners received namesdenoting that fact. Examples were Many Horses and Many "WhiteHorses, prominent Piegan. It appears certain, however, that Black-foot acquisition and use of horses did not strongly influence their pat-tern of name selection. Names referring to wild animals and birdsof the Blackfoot Country have continued to predominate over horsenames among the full-blood population to the present day.HORSES AS GIFTSBecause of its value and usefulness the Blackfoot considered a horseone of the most desirable of gifts, bringing satisfaction to the re-cipient and honor to the donor for his generosity. One of the surestways for a man to "get his name up," to rise to a position of leader-ship in his band, was through frequent and liberal gifts of horsesto needy band members. Poor people sometimes took advantage ofthis custom by offering a wealthy man's child a present of little valueor praising the man loudly in public in the hope of obtaining thegift of a horse in return. A poor woman owning nothing but a littlepemmican or dried meat might take it to the lodge of a wealthy manand offer it to his child. The man, touched by her apparent generosity,might give her a horse a hundred times more valuable than her gift. ^^More formal give-aways took place at the annual Sun Danceencampment. Visitors usually were present from friendly tribes(primarily other Blackfoot tribes). They were called upon by nameand given gifts of horses, blankets, weapons, parfleches, or articles ofclothing by the wealthy men and warriors who danced in the medicinelodge. The give-away has survived among the Indians of the Black-feet Reservation, Mont. In the period of my residence on that reserva- **Tixler (1940, p. 200) observed a similar action among the Osage In 1840. When avisiting Kansa noticed a number of excellent horses in front of an Osage lodge he foundout the owner's name then went about the village proclaiming the virtues of that man untilhe gave him one of his horses. 256 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 150 tion it was customary for the people of one commimity (Starr School,Old Agency, Browning, etc.) to give a social dance periodically towhich those of other communities were invited. Presents were madeto visitors. Gifts included small amounts of money as well as usefularticles. The reservation social worker was perturbed by the factthat some of the donors were from families on relief. Yet thosepeople had received gifts when visiting other communities and feltduty-bound to make presents in return. ^It was customary among the Blackfoot to make gifts at statedoccasions. Horses commonly were given at these times by wealthyand many middle-class men. Relatives presented gifts to the firstchild of a marriage. Presents were given to the man or woman whonamed the child. Wealthy men gave away horses when their sonskilled their first buffalo. The man who first called the rich father'sattention to the fact that his son had learned to ride was the recipientof a horse, a robe, or other gifts. It was customary for warriors afterreturning from successful horse raids to give away some of the ani-mals captured. A warrior whose name was changed following asuccessful scalp raid commonly gave a horse to the older man whoperformed the naming ceremony in his honor. A specialized form ofgive-away by relatives of a deceased man is described on page 288.^"'Payments to medicine men were made in the form of advance giftsto secure the doctors' services. Grinnell (1892, pp. 283-284) describedthe Blackfoot procedure in some detail, indicating that in cases ofprolonged illness virtually all the family's possessions might pass tothe doctor or doctors who attended its sick member. Green Grass Bullrecalled that payments of one to three horses for the services ofIndian doctors were not uncommon in his youth. A stingy man whohad paid for the treatment of a relative might demand his horsesback if the patient died.^ ** The give-away was a widespread Plaius Indian custom. Tixier (1940, p. 203) wit-nessed one among the Osage in 1840; Kroeber (1902-7, p. 18) remarked that the Arapahoconsidered it a greater honor to present a horse to a stranger than to another Arapaho. *? Grinnell (1923, vol. 1, p. 118) mentioned Cheyenne rich men's gifts of horses to thepoor in celebration of their sons' killing of their 15rst buffalo. Kroeber mentioned Arapahopresents of a horse to the man who pierced a child's ears (Kroeber, 1902-7, pp. 18-19). ** Le Forge, who lived among the Crow In the 1870's, claimed men of that tribe boastedof liberal payments they had made to Indian doctors. This liberality was encouraged byCrow belief that should a person be niggardly in his pnyments the patient would linger inill health or die (Marquis, 1928, p. 187). THE HORSE IN RELIGIONTHE HORSE MEDICINE CULT Horse medicine (ponokamita saam) was and still is considered themost secret and one of the most powerful medicines of the Blackfoot.Wissler (1912 a, pp. 107-111) included a brief description of horsemedicine and its uses in his study of Blackfoot ceremonial bundles.That description was based upon information obtained from the agedPiegan, Red Plume, by D. C. Duvall, Wissler's mixblood assistant.All my older informants had great respect for the power of horsemedicine. Some of them were afraid to discuss it. One man claimedthat if he were to talk of horse medicine he would become paralyzed.Another said if he told me what he knew of horse medicine harmsurely would come to both of us. Nevertheless eight of my older in-formants, including both Piegan and Blood Indians, were willing todiscuss this subject with me. In addition, Wallace Night Gun, leaderof the horse medicine cult on the Blackfeet Reservation, Mont., duringthe 1940's, proved a willing and exceedingly helpful infonuant. Hisportrait appears on plate 15, A. Wallace Night Gun died in the fallof 1950, aged ca. 78 years. In December of that year his horse medi-cine bundle was purchased by the Smithsonian Institution. It iscatalog No. 887744 in the United States National Museum collections.Wissler (1912 a, p. 110) was informed that there were "less thantwenty horse medicine men." My informants named 21 Piegan, 8Blood, and 3 North Blackfoot Indians who possessed objects sacredto the horse medicine cult. All were not horse medicine practitioners.Judging from the frequency of their mention by informants the fol-lowing seem to have been the most prominent and/or most activehorse medicine doctors in buffalo days : the Piegan Indians Wolf Calf,Fish Child, Wliite Antelope, Boy, and Generous Woman ; the BloodIndians Water-Old-Man, Owner-of-Sacred-'White-Horse, Many-Spot-ted-Horses, and Ghost Woman; and the North Blackfoot Indian,Yellow Lodge. Ghost Woman was the only female known to havepossessed horse medicine powers.Among the South Piegan, at least, the horse medicine men com-prised an organized cult, the members of which attended the cultceremony, the horse dance, in a body, interchanged secrets of the usesof specific medicines, and throughout much if not all of the cult'sknown historv had a recognized leader. In the middle and late 19th287944?55 18 257 258 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 century Wolf Calf was the leader. In recent years, and until hisdeath, Wallace Night Gun held that position. ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE PIEGAN HORSE MEDICINE CULTWallace Night Gun and most older informants regarded Wolf Calf,Wallace's maternal grandfather, as the originator of the horse medi-cine cult among the Piegan. Wolf Calf, also known as PemmicanMaker, died shortly before 1900. He was a friend and informant ofGeorge Bird Grinnell, who was inclined to credit Wolf Calf's claimto membership in the Piegan party that met and fought Capt. Meri-wether Lewis' small force on or near the present Blackfeet Reservationin 1806. Grinnell reckoned Wolf Calf's age at 102 in 1895 (Wheeler1904, vol. 2, pp. 311-312 ; Grinnell's photograph of Wolf Calf, p. 313) . Wallace Night Gun said Wolf Calf was a young man when hebegan to dream of horse medicine. As Night Gun recalled WolfCalf's explanation of the origin of horse medicine, it happened inthis way : In Wolf Calf's youth the Piegan owned horses and had lost all fear of theseanimals. Nevertheless, they had never been able to capture any of the wildhorses with long manes and shaggy tails which they saw in their country. When-ever they got close to the wild horses they ran away. One day, while Wolf Calf'sband was moving camp, members saw some wild horses in the distance. A partyof men (including Wolf Calf) rode after them and chased them for miles. Theycaught up with one of the wild ones, roped it and threw it. They put a warbridle on it and led it back to camp. When it was tied, all the people gatheredaround it. The horse was quiet. It stood still and looked around. Membersof the group who had captured the animal agreed to give it to Wolf Calf to keepwith his herd. Wolf Calf necked the horse with one of his mares. For 3 daysthe wild horse was well behaved and remained beside the mare. On the fourthday Wolf Calf decided to let it run with his herd. That night the wild horsedisappeared and did not come back.Later Wolf Calf had a troublesome stallion in his herd named Gone-in-Different-Brush. It had a habit of leaving the herd, mixing with the hoi'ses of otherowners and biting them. One day a man came to Wolf Calf and told him, "Takethat stallion, throw him and cut him, so he won't bother our herds." Wolf Calfasked his boy to get the horse. "We shall halter break him, throw him and I'llcastrate him." The boy went after the horse but it got away from him andagain bothered the other man's herd. Then that man told his boys, "I'll fix him."He roped the stallion, threw him, and tied bones to his foi*elock and around hisneck. After the stallion was untied he ran away bucking and jumping as fastas he could go. "Now," said the man, "he will never come back." But after awhile he saw the horse returning. The bones were gone from its forelock andneck. Again and again the man tried to keep the bothersome bones on thestallion, but without success. Finally, in desperation, the man threw the horsedown, reached his mane, cut his tail short, and tied rawhide tightly in his shorttail. Again he released the stallion, saying, "Now he will never come back."But next morning the man found Wolf Calf's stallion back in his herd. His tailand mane had grown long. On his head was paint?red and white clay. Thenthe man told his boys, "Let that horse alone. We can do nothing with him." Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 259 All this time Wolf Calf didn't know how his stallion had been treated by hisneighbor. One night his stallion, Gone-in-Different-Brush, appeared to him inhis dream, and said, "Father, tell that man to let me alone. Don't let him abuseme any more. Help me and I shall give you great power that you can use allyour life." Wolf Calf then told his neighbor, "Don't harm that horse any more.I'll catch him and brealc him." Wolf Calf broke the stallion and always wascareful to treat him well, petting him and giving him special attention.About a year later the stallion again appeared to Wolf Calf in a dream. "Father," he said, "I am grateful for your kindness to me. I want to repay you.You will always have a lot of horses. Wherever you are I shall be with you tohelp you. Now I shall give you the sacred dance of the horses. We dance it.It will be your secret. Let your people keep it from generation to generation."Each time Wolf Calf caught his stallion after that he saw paint on it. Thehorse grew old and Wolf Calf continued to dream of it. It became so old grassdropped from its mouth when it fed. Finally it died. Then Wolf Calf cut someof the dead horse's mane and the soft chestnut from one leg and kept them in abundle in his lodge as a remembrance of his favorite horse.Wolf Calf felt badly and continued to think of that horse. A few months laterhe had a dream in which the wild horse he had kept in his herd for 4 days someyears before appeared to him. The wild horse said, "I know you miss yourfavorite horse. I want you to know I appreciate what you did for me too. Youdidn't kill me, but let me go. Father, I am Sitting-on-a-Hill. I shall give youmy power. I'll give you all the roots that grow in the ground that we horses liketo eat. They will be your medicine."Later Wolf Calf, in another dream, saw people dancing the horse dance. Theywere arguing. One said, "What shall we do?" Another said, "We shall givehim secret power to cure the people?" The first one said, "No, we shall give himsecret power to cure horses." Finally they agreed, "Let us throw these powerstogether. Let us give him power to do both."Then Wolf Calf told his friends of his dreams for the first time. "I havedreamed of this power a long time. Through my horses and these men I wasgiven secret power. I am going to dance the dance just as I saw it. I shallcall it the horse dance." The people gathered to watch Wolf Calf dance thehorse dance.Some time later Wolf Calf was watching horses grazing beside a river.As he approached he saw them pawing with their forefeet, digging up roots.He found a root partly unearthed and picked it up. It was about 6 incheslong. When he started home with it the horses followed him. That night hewas told in another dream, "This root you found will be good for many things.If a horse is sick take some of this root, grind it into a powder and mix itwith sage. Then give it to the sick horse. Put it in water, throw the horsedown and let him drink it. The horse will be able to eat and you will save it."Then Wolf Calf gave another dance and gathered the people around. He toldthem of his new power. They agreed, "This is a very powerful dance."Wolf Calf tried all the medicines he was told of in dreams. Some werefor sickness. If a man couldn't eat, a certain root would restore his appetite.If someone felt lazy a little powdered medicine would make him feel energeticagain. There was also a medicine to turn a fine day into a raging blizzard orto make rain come on a dry day.Then Wolf Calf told the people, "If anyone is sick we shall give the secrethorse dance. It will pull him through. If a war party is surrounded by theenemy and one of that party vows to give me a feast and invite me to dance,that man will escape vmharmed." 260 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY IBull. 159Night Gun said Wolf Calf transferred some of his horse medicinepower to his son-in-law, Fish Child. Fish Child then began to havedreams of horse medicine. He and "Wolf Calf decided to pool theirknowledge. Lazy Boy claimed Fish Child's primary contributionwas his discovery of a medicine for stimulating an exhausted horse.Lazy Boy credited Wolf Calf with originating the use of horse medi-cine for influencing the actions of race horses. Fish Child trans-ferred horse medicine to Boy (born ca. 1848) , the Gros Ventres broughtup by a Piegan chief. Boy dreamed of a whip and a rope. Thesesacred articles were added to the leader's bundle and have been em-ployed in the horse dance ceremony ever since.Night Gun mentioned no other Piegan who made any significantcontribution to the elaboration of the sacred paraphernalia, ritual,or medicinal practices of Piegan horse medicine men. He was fa-miliar with the history of some of the transfers of this power amongthe Piegan. Fish Child transferred some of his power to Stingy, theblind man renowned as a breeder of horses, who in turn transferredat least a part of his paraphernalia, "the double whip," to Eagle Child,who died near Starr School in 1941. Fish Child also transferredsome of his power to White Grass, a band chief. In his last illnessFish Child gave his power to his son. Black Coyote (born ca. 1831).Weasel Head (who died in 1943) received some horse medicine fromBoy.Tracing the transfers from Wolf Calf since the time of his exchangeof medicines with Fish Child, Night Gun told of at least one occasionon which Wolf Calf aided White Quiver, the most successful of allPiegan horse raiders, by giving him one of the plumes from his bundleand explaining how it could be used to bring stormy weather whenWhite Quiver approached an enemy camp to capture horses. WolfCalf also gave some medicine and a plume to Iron Shield. LittlePlume received some of Wolf Calf's medicine, and shortly before hisdeath gave it to his brother, Yellow Kidney (still living). The giftincluded two horse medicine songs.Night Gun said his grandfather. Wolf Calf, carefully taught himthe songs and ritual of the horse dance and the uses of some horsemedicines. Wolf Calf intended for Night Gun to be his successoras leader of the cult. However, when Wolf Calf died, his son WhiteAntelope (born ca. 1860) claimed the sacred horse medicine bundle.There was an argument and Jilike Short Man and Wliite Antelopesplit the bundle. White Antelope lost interest in horse medicine, butnoted that Phillip Arrowtop was becoming interested in it. On hisdeath White Antelope left the bundle to Wallace Night Gun with theprovision that Phillip Arrowtop (still living) should be given someof the paraphernalia and medicines. This was done. When Mike- Bwersl THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 261Short-Man was near death he offered his horse medicine to NightGun, but the latter requested that it be transferred to Herman DustyBull, who wanted it. On Herman's death, his brother, Charles DustyBull (still living) acquired this bundle, said to contain paints,feathers, and some horse medicines.These data indicate that the Piegan horse medicine cult originatedin the visions of one man, Wolf Calf, and was elaborated by the con-tributions of at least two others, who willingly pooled their knowledgewith Wolf Calf. Since their time nothing has been added to theritual, materia medica, or medicinal practices of the cult. Horsemedicine powers were transferred to many other men. There was atendency for them to be transferred in fullblood families from brotherto brother or father to son. In the process much knowledge of theemployment of horse medicines was lost. In recent years the posses-sion of horse medicine songs and paraphernalia, entitling the ownerat attend and participate in the horse dance, has been coveted, whilethere has been little interest in the use of horse medicine to cure or in-fluence the actions of horses. It is certain that the uses of many spe- cific medicines are no longer known. In the early 1940's, only Wal-lace Night Gun and Phillip Arrowtop were thought to be capable ofusing horse medicines. In recent years the primary function of thecult has been the observance of the traditional horse dance for thepurpose of curing sick humans.That this is not a comprehensive history of the Piegan horse medi-cine cult is apparent from the fact that elderly informants namedother horse medicine men active in that tribe in buffalo days. Whileit is probable these men obtained their powers from Wolf Calf theymay have made some independent discoveries.My eldest male informants. Lazy Boy and Weasel Tail, claimedthat Water-Old-Man, a Blood Indian, older than Wolf Calf, possessedand used horse medicine before Wolf Calf originated the cult amongthe Piegan. If that is true. Wolf Calf's dreams may have been con-ditioned by his knowledge of Water-Old-Man's practices. In theBlood tribe, as among the Piegan, there was a tendency for horsemedicine power to be transferred within families. However, WeaselTail could not recall two members of the same family possessing thispower at the same time. No one now living on the Blood Reservehas knowledge of the use of horse medicine in the opinion of all Bloodinformants questioned on this point. The bundles of the best-remem-bered practitioners in that tribe, Water-Old-Man and Owner-of-a-Sacred-White-Horse, were said to have been buried with them. GhostWoman, the last Blood Indian known to have made extensive use ofhorse medicine, died about 1925. Kjiowledge of its use was lost onher death although her bundle remained in her family. Although 262 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159my informants had knowledge of the existence of the horse medicinecult among the North Blackfoot, I obtained no history of that cult.Older informants said that in their youth some horse medicine menwere regarded by laymen of that tribe as possessors of much greaterpowers than others. Some horse medicine men also were recognizedas specialists in the use of horse medicines for specific purposes.There was rivalry between horse medicine men of the three Blackfoottribes.Scraping Wliite told of a contest between Water-Old-Man, thenoted Blood practitioner, and Berry Eater, a leading North Black-foot horse medicine man, which took place in his father's time (i. e.probably before 1860) . They decided to test their respective powersby racing on horseback over the ice of a frozen river. Members ofboth tribes placed bets on the outcome of the race. Water-Old-Manrode a buckskin, Berry Eater a sorrel. Neither horse was an ex-perienced racer. Before they started each rider invoked the aid ofhis medicine. They ran their horses at full speed over the slipperyriver ice. As they neared the opposite shore. Berry Eater's horseslipped just enough to throw it off stride. Water-Old-Man's horsefinished strong, won the race, and the Blood Indians collected theirwinnings. Probably this was the contest referred to by Wissler(1912, a, p. 111). TRANSFER OF HORSE MEDICINE POWERThe common procedure for obtaining horse medicine, in the life-time of my informants (both Blood and Piegan) , was for a personseeking this power to go to a recognized horse medicine man andoffer him gifts of horses, robes, blankets, money or other valuables,along with a pipe, saying, "I want some of your horse medicine,"and naming the use the seeker wished to make of it. If the horsemedicine man did not wish to grant the request, either because thepayment did not appear adequate or for any other reason, he re-fused to accept the pipe. Then he sang some of his horse medicinesongs to avoid bad Itick coming his way because of his refusal. Ifthe horse medicine man accepted the pipe he called all the other mem-bers of his village who possessed horse medicine power to a horsedance for the purpose of making the transfer and explaining to theneophyte how to make use of the medicine. If, after receiving themedicine, the recipient should still be doubtful regarding any detailof its use, he returned to the man from whom he had secured thepower, made an additional payment and requested further instruc-tion.Weasel Tail recalled his own failure to obtain horse medicine. Hisexperience furnishes a first-hand account of the transfer procedure : Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 263When I was a boy about 17 years of age, I met an old Blood Indian namedRain Maker one day while I was returning to camp with two buffalo I hadkilled. I told the old man to take them both. Rain Maker prayed for me,then he said, "My boy, you will live to be an old man like I am." He then toldme to kill two more buffalo so that he might have four tongues. I killed thebuffalo and took him the tongues. The old man, who was known as a horsemedicine man, then invited me to a feast at which other horse medicine menwere present. During the ceremony Rain Maker got down on all fours in frontof me singing. He held his fists tightly clenched and moved his hands backand forth in imitation of a horse pawing with his forefeet. When Rain Makerfinished his singing and pawing the ground in front of me he said, "Now, myboy, you are foolish. I have just offered you this medicine and you didn't takeit. I wanted to help you. The medicine in my right hand is for doctoring horses.The one in my left hand is for horse racing. They are very powerful." Thenthe old man told me that since I had not grasped one of his hands while he waspawing and singing I could not have any of his medicine." I realized then thatI had made a great mistake. But before that I knew no better. Never again didI seek horse medicine.In former times the horse medicine man did not relinquish his ownright to make use of medicines after transferring the right to another.However, in recent years Indians have transferred horse medicinesongs and paraphernalia, relinquishing all title to them, but retainingthe right to attend the horse dance. Perhaps the recent concept oftransfer of title has been applied only since the Indians became thor-oughly familiar with the white man's concept of property rights inreservation days, and since the decadence of the employment of horsemedicines as means of influencing the actions of horses.THE HORSE DANCE : CEREMONY OF THE HORSE MEDICINE MENWallace Night Gun said the ceremony of the horse medicine cultwas properly termed "the horse dance." In the old days it was heldprimarily on occasions of transfer of horse medicine powers. Onoccasion Wolf Calf employed the ceremony as a means of testing theknowledge of other horse medicine men. After he had assembled thehorse medicine men, he took one of his medicines from his bundle,for example, a certain root used in his practice. He chewed it, rubbedsome dirt on it, then called upon any other man who possessed thepower to make use of that root to prove it. The medicine was passedamong the assembled horse medicine men until it reached one whohad knowledge of its use. He drummed and sang the songs ap-propriate to its use, threw the medicine on his body, and caused it todisappear. He then removed it from some other part of his bodyand threw the root back to Wolf Calf. In a gathering of horse medi- ^ A parallel procedure occurred In the Blackfoot ceremony of transfer of the bear knife.Informants said that near the close of that ceremony the owner, after imitating the anticsof the bear, threw this dangerous weapon at the prospective owner. If he failed to catchthe knife he did not gain possession of this sacred object. 2G4 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 150 cine men there might have been as many as three or four who possessedthe secret of the use of the designated medicine. Each in turn gaveproof of his power by singing the songs of that medicine and thesleight-of-hand performance just described. In recent years, how-ever, the horse dance has served primarily as a ceremony for curingsick humans.Invitations to attend the horse dance were extended to recognizedhorse medicine men and to medicine pipe men who possessed horsemedicine songs by presenting each with a feather from the leader'sbundle (pi. 16, A, a). The person who requested the ceremony wasresponsible for delivery of the feathers. Before the leader handed thefeathers to him for distribution he chewed some of his horse medi-cine and blew some of it on the feathers, then toward the messenger.Then he told him who was to receive each feather and reminded himthat on presenting the feather he was to tell the recipient only theplace and time of meeting. If a man failed to attend after receivinga feather, he must, on the next day, tie a rock to it and throw it into alake or stream to avoid bad luck. The leader later added a new featherto the bundle to replace the one thus destroyed. Each man who at-tended the ceremony gave his feather to the leader as he entered thelodge. The leader returned the feathers to his bundle.Wallace Night Gun claimed he observed the horse dance just asWolf Calf, who taught it to him, had practiced it. As leader of thecult on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana he kindly invited meto attend one of the ceremonies. The description of this ceremonythat follows is based upon my own observations of the horse danceplus interpretations of the esoteric aspects of the ritual furnished byWallace Night Gun a few days later.^The horse dance was performed on that occasion in the combinedliving room and kitchen of the frame home of my interpreters, Reubenand Cecile Black Boy, in the Moccasin Flat section of Browning onthe evening of March 29, 1943. Neither Reuben nor Cecile attended,stating that they were not cult members and hence did not think itproper that they should attend the ritual. Night Gun told me, how-ever, there was no prohibition against nonmembers witnessing theceremony, but children were excluded for fear they might later tryto imitate some of the songs or gestures employed in the ritual. Itwas considered very bad luck to employ these songs or gestures outsidetheir proper ceremonial context.There were less than a dozen witnesses other than the participants.Among them was a young woman who had been in poor health all ** This description may be compared with Clarlc Wissler's short paragraph on the cere-mony published iu 1912 (Wissler, 1912 a, pp. 109-110). My informants said that RedPlume, Wissler's informant, was not a member of the horse medicine cult. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 265 winter, in whose honor the ceremony was given. Nearly all theother witnesses were relatives of this woman or of the two male assist-ants to the cult leader, both of whom had also been sickly that winter.I was the only white person present.The room in which the ceremony was held was roughly 12 feet wideby 25 feet long, extending in a general north-south direction, Wal-lace Night Gun, the cult leader, sat on the floor in the center ofthe south end of the room. He was flanked by members of the cult,6 in number, and one medicine-pipe owner who had been invited toattend. They formed a wide arc facing north. In the center ofthe west wall stood the wood stove, and opposite it on the floor in frontof the east wall sat the wives of the cult members. Witnesses wereprovided with chairs ranged in two rows at the north end of the room.The horse dance ritual consumed more than 7 hours, beginning at9 : 30 p. m. While the leader began to open his medicine bundle onthe floor in front of him, one of his two assistants, both of whomwere middle-aged men learning the ceremony, began the constructionof the ceremonial altar on the floor about 3 feet in front of Night Gun.The assistant first spread a square piece of cloth on the floor andemptied a sack of fine gray earth upon it. Following the leader'sinstructions he smoothed the earth into a flat circular area about 30inches in diameter with a cylindrical red-painted stick, 7 inches inlength, from the leader's bundle (pi. 16, A, /). Ho then carefullypicked out all the bits of stone remaining in the earth. Next,the leader told him to draw the outline of a square in the earth withthe stick. He marked out a square a little over a foot on a side andran a line in a north-south direction down the center of the squaredividing it into two equal rectangles. He then extended from eachcorner of the square a zigzag furrow in the earth more than 6 incheslong. Next he made a small depression in the earth about 4 inchesnorth of the square. Night Gun requested the second assistant to takea live coal from the fire in the wood stove and place it in the depression.This he did with the wooden fire tongs shown on plate 16, A , a. Thenhe placed sweetgrass on the coal to make a sweet-smelling smudge.Night Gun then handed the first helper a packet of charcoal which hesprinkled evenly over the rectangle comprising the west half of thesquare so as to blacken it completely, and extended black lines in thetwo zigzag furrows on the west side. Similarly he colored the eastrectangle and the two zigzag furrows on that side with red earthpaint. Next Night Gun handed the assistant two red and two blackplumes, and he inserted them upright in the four corners of the square,beginning with the northwest corner (black) and continued in a clock-wise order, i. e., northeast (red), southeast (red), and southwest(black). 266 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BulH59 Construction of this ceremonial altar was slow and deliberate.Wallace Night Gun told me Wolf Calf had explained to him that hehad been told how to make the altar in one of his dreams. It wasimportant that it should be made in just that way for every horsedance ceremony. Night Gun said the red rectangle symbolized dayand the black one night. The zigzag furrows represented "the thun-der's lightning." The plumes were also required by Wolf Calf'sdream. Wolf Calf used to give them to persons who requested hishelp. Hence they were renewed from time to time (pi. 16, A,h). Thecompleted altar appeared as sketched in figure 33.While the men rested, the wife of one of the cult members began tocut up three beef tongues on the floor near the center of the room.In front of her was a smudge in a tin pan. She made two passes withone hand toward the smudge before drawing longitudinal black lineswith charcoal on each tongue, followed by the drawing of similarlines in red paint on each. Then she cut each tongue into small pieceseach about 2 inches square. Wallace explained that only a womanwho had been given this power could cut the tongues. If no suchwoman was in attendance at a horse dance, the leader would paint theface of one of the cult member's wives and instruct her in the ritualof tongue cutting. At any later ceremony that woman would be priv-ileged to cut the tongues.While this woman was at work, Night Gun called the young womanwho had been in poor health, and for whose benefit the ceremonywas given, to come to him. She knelt before him, as he uttered aprayer for her welfare. Then he painted her entire face anda band about one-half inch wide around each of her wrists withred paint, applying the paint with his thumbs. Next he prayed forand painted each of his two assistants and the ovmer of the medicinepipe bundle who was present. All of them I knew had been sicklythat winter. The aged medicine pipe owner had been treated by sev-eral white doctors. (He died in the fall of 1947.)Night Gun later told me it was customary for those who were blessedand painted to give him presents either before the ceremony or justprior to the painting. Unless the leader was satisfied that he was wellpaid he would not proceed with the ceremony. If satisfied, he in-structed the other cult members present to remember these givers intheir ritual prayers. The leader might also call upon any other wit-ness, not a member of the cult, to come forward to be blessed. Thatwitness need not pay for the privilege unless he was so disposed.Painting gave him the right to attend future horse dance ceremonies.Through witnessing the ceremony, listening to the songs, and studyingthe ritual he might eventually desire to buy into the cult. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 267 FiGtTEE 33.?Altar for the South Piegan horse dance ceremony. Before the painting was finished the leader's second helper, seatedon the floor northwest of the altar, began preparing tobacco for thecult members. He placed his knife on the smudge near the altar, thenshaved a plug of commercial tobacco and mixed it with dried bear-berry leaves (a common Blackfoot smoking mixture) . The cult mem-bers then passed a pipe, consisting of a plain stem and a small black- 2G8 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 stone bowl from the leader's bundle (pi. 16, B^ c). Meanwhile thewoman who had cut the tongues painted three stripes of red paint onthe inside of a large kettle and placed the tongues in it, making twofeints toward the kettle with the first handful of meat before drop-ping it in the kettle. Water was added and tlie kettle was placed onthe stove to boil.The leader then drew from his bundle a little rawhide cutout fig-ure of a horse in profile, 6i/^ inches long (pi. 16, B. a). He placed iton the earth south of the rectangular altar. He gave his second as-sistant a red-painted rock about the size of a fist, which the man car-ried to the front door of the house, made two passes at the door frame,then hit it with a resounding rap with the rock, and returned to hisplace. Night Gun said this was a caution to the horse medicine mennever to fall over or bump a rock.There followed praying, singing, and drumming by the horse medi-cine men. This was the most prolonged poi-tion of the ritual. Firstthe leader offered a prayer to the spirit of the rawhide horse, thensang three of his ritual songs, accompanied by the beating of threedrums held by himself and the two members of the cult nearest himon the left. Wlien he had finished he passed his drum to the man onhis left who in turn gave a prayer and sang three medicine songsowned by him. This combination of praying, drumming, and sing-ing was continued until each cult member had performed individually.Then the entire cycle was continued twice more, until each memberhad sung his three songs three times. Night Gun said that if one ofthe singers was a new member who possessed only one song he wasprivileged to sing it three times each cycle. Meanwhile he tried tolearn another song, which he might later purchase, by listening care-fully to the others. The leader might loan a fellow member one of hissongs for a particular ceremony, but it "went back to the bundle" whenthe ceremony ended. Men who had owned the same song as one be-ing sung by another w-ere permitted to join in the singing. The wivesof some of the male singers also joined their husbands, singing softlyfrom their stations near the center of the floor. The songs were word-less tunes in which the same stanzas were repeated many times. Somesingers inserted a prayer between each song.At the conclusion of this ritual a meal was served to all personspresent. It consisted of bread, crackers, boiled ribs, and coffee. Itwas then well past midnight. There followed a second session ofsinging, by the cult members, and after a brief rest, a third session.These were exact duplicates of the session described in detail above.In each of the three sessions each member sang three songs on eachof three passings of the drums. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 269Then came the ceremonial climax. Wallace Night Gun, the leader,covered his head with a blanket and sang three songs. Then, pipein hand, he praj^ed to the spirits of Wolf Calf's horses, Sitting-on-a-Hill and Gone-in-Different-Brush, the horses that had given WolfCalf his secret power. Night Gun then took from his bundle themane and chestnut of Wolf Calf's sacred stallion and prayed for thesick who had requested the ceremony. Then, as other cult membersdrummed, he rose and danced, holding a braided rawhide rope, noosedat one end, and a whip over his wrist. Both were taken from hisbundle (pi. 16, 5, &, e). Three times as he danced he made gesturestoward the little rawhide horse in front of the altar as if to rope it,holding the rope in his right hand. Then he repeated these gestureswith his left hand, and again with his right hand extended. NightGun danced in place, always facing the altar.The leader then sat down and called upon the tongue cutter to askif the tongue soup was ready to serve. Receiving an affirmative replyhe began to dismantle the altar. First he picked up the rawhidehorse and wrapped it. Then his first assistant removed the plumesfrom the altar, one at a time, handed them to him, and he wrappedthem. Finally he asked for volunteers to destroy the remainder of thealtar. His first assistant and one of the cult members stepped for-ward with blankets wrapped about their waists. Night Gun gave eachof tliem a bit of horse medicine which they chewed and rubbed on thesoles of their moccasins. The leader told them, "Now, dance up tothe painting three times ; on the third time step on it and smash it downflat." In accompaniment to the beating of drums, the two men dancedside by side toward the altar. Twice they retreated, rearing back-ward like skittish horses. Then they boldly advanced with pawingsteps, stepped upon the altar, turned their feet upon it and destroyedthe painting.Next the leader addressed the women sitting on the floor oppositethe stove. Two women rose, each with a cup in hand, and danced to-ward the kettle on the stove, which had been boiling for hours.Twice they retreated. The third time they placed their cups in thekettle. The leader then told them to place three pieces of the tongue ina cup and to set it in front of him. With a stick covered with redpaint he speared a piece of tongue, prayed for the sick woman, andgave her the first piece. In succession he removed the other pieces andgave one to each of his assistants.The leader then instructed the women to take the earth that hadcomposed the altar and the remains of the smudge outside, pray tothem, and bury them where people would not step. Next he pickedup the painted rock, prayed no one would be hurt by stepping on a rock 270 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 on the way home and that none of their horse's feet would be harmedby rocks. He gave it to one of the sick men and told him to take it toa stream on leaving the house, pray to it, and throw it into deep water.Then the tongue soup was distributed to all those present. Havingconsumed it, they went home.In many resjDects the horse dance may be regarded as a typicalBlackfoot ceremony, Wissler (1912 a, pp. 248-271) has pointed outthat singing, drumming, dancing with sacred paraphernalia, pray-ing, the passing of the pipe, face painting, the recognition of taboos,and the following of strictly formalized and prolonged ritual pat-terns were common characteristics of Blackfoot bundle ceremonies.Even the employment of dry-painted altars appeared in other im-portant bundle ceremonies (ibid., pp. 255-257). K. N. Wilson (1909,pp. 16-20) in his detailed description of the use of a dry-painted altarin the Sun Dance ritual, noted that this altar was destroyed before themedicine woman's party left her lodge. In that painting black sym-bolized night, and yellow day.^Aside from the horse symbolism characteristic of the horse dance,the most distinctive feature appears to be the repeated and consistentemployment of the ritual number 3. To my knowledge this is theonly Blackfoot ceremony in which that ritual number occurs. In factWissler regarded 4 as the ritual number of all Blackfoot ceremonies,including the horse dance (Wissler, 1912 a, pp. 110, 247). In thisdetail his account of the ceremony is in error. USES OF HORSE MEDICINEThe powers of Blackfoot horse medicine men, as explained by in-formants, were many and varied. Not only were they credited withthe ability to control the health and actions of horses but they werethought to have been able to influence the movements of buffalo andto cure and aid the activities of humans.Horse medicine was most commonly employed in the treatment ofsick, injured, wounded, or exhausted horses. Curing of sick horsesgenerally involved the administration of medicine by nose or mouthas a part of the ritual. Owners of valuable horses generally entrustedtheir treatment to experienced horse medicine men when these animalswere ill. The medicine men were paid for their services.Three Calf recalled that Wolf Calf frequently was called uponto doctor horses that were staggering and near death. Wolf Calfrubbed his medicine on the horse's nose, back, and kidneys, then shookits tail four (three?) times. If the horse made no move Wolf Calftold the owner there was no hope for it. If it moved it would get well. * Wissler (1912 a, p. 257)i has pointed out the occurrence of dry painting among theDakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho of the Plains, as well as among the Southwestern tribes. Bwers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 271 Wallace Night Gun said Wolf Calf mixed his medicine with sage foruse in doctoring horses. Lazy Boy recalled that Wolf Calf was es-pecially successful in treating horses with colic or distemper. ThreeCalf had observed Wolf Calf's methods in treating distemper. Hefirst told a young man to throw the afflicted horse down. Then theold man placed a slim wire in a fire until it became red hotand touched it to the horse's nose. Meanwhile his medicine was boil-ing. He threw the horse's head back and poured the medicine down itsnose. When the horse was turned loose it sneezed, pus ran from itsnose, and it recovered.Wolf Calf did not attempt to treat horses with broken bones. How-ever, Calf Tail, a Blood horse medicine man was a specialist in thattreatment. Weasel Tail recalled that Calf Tail once was called uponto doctor a fine horse with a broken leg. He asked the owner to bringhim the shank of a buffalo or horse. After receiving the shank. CalfTail sang a song and rubbed dirt on it. Then he tied the shank to thehorse's broken leg and told the boy not to bother it for four (three?)days. At the end of that period Calf Tail washed the horse's leg andthe bone tied to it. He untied the bone and rubbed dirt on it. Thehorse rose and walked away "without even a limp."Weasel Tail recalled two instances of the curing of battle wounds byhorse medicine men : Yellow Lodge, a North Blackfoot horse medicine man, rode his horse throughthe lines of the Cree enemy three times. The Cree shot and wounded the horsein the chest. After the battle Yellow Lodge dismounted, burned some sage, mak-ing a great deal of smoke, rubbed some horse medicine on the horse's mouth,then rubbed some on both sides of the wound where the bullet had entered andleft the horse's body. Then he rubbed medicine on his hands and slowly tappedthe horse on the kidneys four (three?) times. Each time the animal appearedto improve. The last time it pulled away from its rope and began eating grass.The horse recovered completely.Many-Spotted-Horses had a fine animal, Double-Blue-Horse, shot above thekidneys in a battle with the Gros Ventres. Many-Spotted-Horses got the horsehome alive. His old father went to the horse and said to it, "You are a finehorse, but I am more powerful than you. It looks like you are going to die,but you will not die. I shall doctor you." The old man painted the horse'sbreast with red earth paint. He tied a plume to the horse's forehead and arabbit's tail to its tail. Then he rubbed his horse medicine on the horse's nose.Next he rubbed the medicine on his hands and tapped the horse four (three?)times on the back. The horse was cured and lived many years longer.Despite the miraculous powers credited to horse medicine men, in-formants agreed they were powerless to avert the disastrous mangeepidemic of 1881-82. Horse medicine men did not employ their secretpowers to facilitate or condition the breeding of horses.Probably the second most common use of horse medicine was indoctoring humans. The procedure employed has been described inmy detailed account of the horse dance (pp. 264-270). 272 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159Horse medicine was employed by some specialists to influence theoutcome of horse races. The medicine was always used to handicapone of the competing horses, never to give a favored horse unusualspeed or stamina. This use of horse medicine was always dangerousto the horse medicine man. If the owner of a horse that had lost arace learned that horse medicine had been used against his animalhe might punish the medicine man severely if he learned his identity.Yet Wolf Calf, Generous Woman, Ghost Woman, and Head Carrier,the latter a North Piegan, were well known as persons who werenotably successful in handicapping race horses through their horsemedicine powers. Night Gun said that if the owner of a race horsecame to Wolf Calf and asked him to use his medicine against hisopponent's horse. Wolf Calf painted a rock with his medicine, pre-pared the ceremonial altar and placed his rawhide horse upon it. Heasked the man, "What do you want to happen to the other horse?Do you want it to fly the track, buck, or kick up ?" If the man wishedthe horse to fly the track. Wolf Calf placed the rock on the rawhidehorse's head before continuing his ritual. If he wished it to buck,he placed it on the horse's shoulders ; if he wanted it to run a shortdistance, kick up, and refuse to run, he put the rock on the horse'shind legs. Wolf Calf might also give the jockey of the horse belong-ing to the man he was helping a willow stick with horse medicineon it, with instructions to touch the other horse with this stick whenhe was alongside it in the race to make that horse drop behind. Ifthe other horse gained the lead the jockey was to drop the stick inits tracks and that horse would surely falter. Informants creditedboth Head Carrier and Ghost Woman with use of the medicine-cov-ered-stick method of influencing horse races.Wolf Calf also was able to assist contestants in other sports. If ayoung man came to him for help in playing the hoop and pole game.Wolf Calf told him to shout a certain phrase when he cast his pole.His opponent's pole would be sure to strike the ground and break.Wolf Calf gave a foot racer who sought his aid some of his medicineand told him to chew it, rub it on his feet just before the race, alwaysrun to the right of his opponent, and he surely would win.Horse medicine had a number of important uses in war. WolfCalf sometimes was petitioned to help a young w^arrior in horse raid-ing. If Wolf Calf accepted the man's pipe and gift when offered,he gave him a plume from the ceremonial altar and explained, "Ifyou can't get near the enemies' horses take this dirt (from the ceremo-nial altar) and mix it with water. Dip the plume in the mixture. Itwill rain, the enemy will stay inside their lodges and you will haveno trouble taking their horses." Or he would give the man some plantmedicine and tell him to rub it on his rope just before entering the Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 273 enemy camp. "The enemy's horse will come right up to you andyou can rope it." He might offer further help, stating, '"'If the horseyou have taken plays out on the way back, or the horse of someoneelse in your party plays out, dismount, sing these songs I give you,take some of this medicine I give you and rub it on the horse's nose orteeth or place it in its mouth. Then go around to the rear of thehorse, tap it on the tail bone three times, with the medicine rubbedon your hand. The exhausted horse will perk up and move along."Wolf Calf expected that the recipient of such favors would give himthe best horse he stole from the enemy on his return. If the man didnot use all the medicine he received. Wolf Calf told him to keep itand use it as long as any remained.In a running fight, a man who possessed horse medicine might rubsome of it on his whip, point the whip at his enemy, and drop it inthe tracks of the enemy's horse. "That horse was sure to falter orfall."Fish Child, Calf Tail, and Ghost Woman also were said to haveemployed horse medicine for war purposes. Ghost Woman gave it toher son to rub on his rope and body when on horse raids. She isalso credited with having escaped capture by the enemy through theuse of her medicine. One day she was traveling alone when an enemyparty surprised her. She sang a song, took some medicine from apouch at the side of her dress, threw it on the ground, and the enemywas unable to overtake her. However, the most miraculous escape iscredited to the Blood horse medicine man, Owner-of-a-Sacred-White-Horse. Once he was chased by the enemy. He employed his medicineto enable his mount to leap a wide, washed out coulee (estimated byvarious informants at from 10 to 40 feet across) and escaped deathat the hands of a superior force.Some men were credited with power to use liorse medicine in hunt-ing buffalo. Short Face cited the case of Black Plume, a member ofa hunting party which sighted a white buffalo but could not catchit. He asked the party to stop while he took a piece of black root,laid it on a rock, and placed the rock on one of the footprints of thewhite buffalo. That buffalo slackened its speed. Black Plume re-mounted, caught up with the buffalo, and killed it. The white robewas dressed and given to the sun. Black Plume was a medicine pipeman rather than a horse medicine man. Wissler's informant mayhave had this case in mind when he stated that medicine pipe mencould use liorse medicine in hunting buffalo (Wissler, 1912 a, p. 111).In winter, when the footing was snowy or icy so as to make buffalohunting on horseback treacherous, one who had the power sang hismedicine songs and prayed that the horses of his party would notfall. He took a black root, chewed it, and sprinkled it on the horses287944?55 19 274 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 of his party. Then they could chase buffalo without mishap, no matterhow bad the footing.A man who possessed horse medicine for use in catching wild horsesrubbed it on his hands, feet, and rope. Then he circled the wild horseup wind so that the odor of the medicine would be carried to thenostrils of the wild one. Wlien the wild horse smelled the medicine itcame to him. He roped it by the front feet and threw it down. Onlyhorse medicine men were said to have had success in capturing wildhorses. Apparently few of them exercised this power.To keep a horse that had a tendency to stray in its proper herd, onewho possessed horse medicine might neck it together with a gentlehorse, and rub horse medicine on its nose. After a time it was untiedand permitted to graze unfettered. "It would never stray again."Lazy Boy mentioned one more use of horse medicine. If a horsemedicine man became jealous of another Indian's fine horse he mightemploy his medicine to render that horse "no good for buffalo hunting,war or anything else." ^? TABOOS RECOGNIZED BY HORSE MEDICINE MENWallace Night Gun said that Wolf Calf had been warned in hisdreams of a number of actions he should avoid and which should beavoided in his presence. These taboos have been recognized by Pieganhorse medicine men since Wolf Calf's time.Eibbones or shinbones must not be broken in the horse medicineman's lodge or home. Any one who ignored this taboo would suffera broken leg or rib.If anyone places a knife or other sharp object upright in the groundinside a lodge when a horse medicine man is present he will surelyget a sliver in one of his feet or one of his horses will suffer a footinjury.No child should play at riding a wooden stick horse in a lodge whilea horse medicine man is present, or the child will suffer misfortune.If a horse medicine man should go into any home and see a childcarelessly throwing a feather around, he must tell him to stop it atonce or the family will surely have bad luck.For anyone to sing any of the horse dance songs or to imitate thegestures of the horse dance except in their proper ceremonial contextwould bring misfortune to him. The only exception to this rule ap-plied to owners of medicine pipe bundles who had been given horsemedicine songs which could be sung in the medicine pipe ritual. TheBlackfoot considered some horse medicine songs very attractive. ^Wissler (1912 a, pp. 108'-111) mentioned Blackfoot use of horse luediclne to cureLorses of the colic, revive exhausted horses, cause a horse to lose a horse race, captureenemy horses, catch wild horses and to hunt buffalo. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 275They were tempted to sing them for pleasure at times when they wereforbidden to do so. They believed that if one who had not the horsemedicine power should sing a horse dance song while on horsebackhis horse would fall.?^ IDENTIFICATION OF HORSE IMEDICINES Identification of the substances employed by the Blackfoot as horsemedicines poses a difficult problem. It is certain that some of themedicines formerly employed by noted horse medicine men were notknown to the Piegan or Blood Indians of the early 1940's. WallaceNight Gun acknowledged that he knew neither the substances northe specific uses of some of the medicines in the bmidle he inheritedfrom Wolf Calf. In deference to his desire to keep those medicinessecret which he did employ, I did not question him as to their identity.Nevertheless, his voluntary recital of the origin and use of WolfCalf's horse medicines (related above) makes general mention ofbotanical medicines, primarily roots.Dr. V. E. Kudd, division of botany, United States National Mu-seum, compared the fragments in the seven skin pouches in WallaceNight Gmi's horse medicine bundle (pi. 15, B) with herbarium speci-mens. She found that the large, single pouch contained gi-ound firneedles, probably Abies lasiocarpa. McClintock (1910, p. 524) re-ported Blackfoot use of sweet pine in poultices for fevers and coldsin the chest in the treatment of humans. One of the small poucheson the buckskin cord contained rootstocks of baneberry {Actaeaeburnia) . McClintock (1910, p. 526) stated that the root of this plantwas boiled as a Blackfoot medicine for coughs and colds. Each ofthe other five pouches contained bracts of flower heads of sagebrue^h{Artemisia sp.). However, each of these pouches was marked witha different-colored bead. It is possible that some of the finely pow-dered material in these pouches comprised bits of other plants usedin conjunction with the sagebrush. McClintock (1910, p. 526) listedArtemisia frigida tops as a Blackfoot remedy for heartburn andmountain fever.A century and a half ago David Thompson (1916, p. 365) observedthat the Indians of the Plains collected "scented grasses, and the gumsthat exude from the shrubs that bear berries and a part of these isfor giving to their horses to make them long winded in the chase."Presumably he had reference to botanical medicines administered bylaymen rather than by horse medicine men. Short Face, who was nota member of the horse medicine cult, believed some of the secret medi-cines used by horse medicine men were the same ones administered to " Wissler (1912 a, pp. 108, 111) cited the taboos against breaking a shinbone in tlie lodgeand singing of horse medicine songs out of context. 276 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 150 horses by laymen. One of these was the root of Townsendia excapa-,which laymen boiled and poured into the mouths or noses of tiredhorses to revive them. He believed a root similar to baneberry, andknown to the Blackfoot as "strong root," which laymen smashed andfed to horses at any time of year to make them hardy, was anotherhorse medicine ingredient. He claimed (and as we have seen above,correctly) that the root of the baneberry, frequently found in medi-cine pipe bundles, was one of the secret horse medicines.Other informants who did not possess horse medicine power, butwho had carefully observed the grazing habits of horses, made con-jectures as to the identification of some horse medicines. Three Calfunderstood that the roots of a plant that grew around alkali lakes andof which horses were very fond (possibly the mat muhly, MuhZen-hergia squarrosa) (U. S. Forest Service, 1937) was a horse medicinoingredient. Weasel Tail thought a weed that grew on the Plainswhich horses often pawed up while grazing was ground to a powderand mixed with the ground heart and feet of a beaver to form a horsemedicine. Another informant knew of a medicine used by the Kutenaifor attracting wild horses, which he believed was employed by Black-foot horse medicine men for the same purpose. It was prepared fromthe lachrymal glands of the elk, which have a strong odor, especiallyif the animal is taken in rutting season.These are the only suggestions of possible use of animal materialsin Blackfoot horse medicines. Certainly the bulk of the evidencepoints to the employment of plant materials in these medicines. WhenI discussed horse medicine with E. C. Moran of Stanford, Mont., acollector of Montana drug plants for commercial uses, he suggestedthat the locality furnished two plants, known for their drug proper-ties. Clematis and Equisetum^ which would be likely ingredients inBlackfoot horse medicines. Clematis has been reported as a horsemedicine among both the Nez Perce and Teton Dakota, but I have noevidence of its use as such by the Blackfoot. COMPARATIVE DATA ON HORSE-MEDICINE IDENTIFICATIONTable 8 summarizes information on plant medicines known to havebeen used as horse stimulants by other horse-using tribes of the West.I am indebted to Edith V. A. Murphy, botanist, employed by theUnited States Indian Bureau, for field data on Arapaho, Xez Perce,and Ute usages. Eugene Barrett, forester, Eosebud Reservation,kindly supplied the Teton Dakota data. It is noteworthy that Thalic-trum sp., which grows in the Blackfoot habitat, was employed as ahorse stimulant by more than one other tribe. Paeonia hrotvnii,though not reported from the Blackfoot country, was available inWyoming and Idaho, at no great distance from the Blackfoot range. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 277Data regarding horse medicines used as depressants are scarce.Mrs. Murphy informed me that Ute medicine men placed a root (un-identified) in the mouth of an opponent's race horse to make it logy.She also reported that the Ute formerly fed sleepy grass to a horse asa depressant, although details of this usage were not obtainable.The Montana ranges contain a number of stock-poisoning plants in-jurious to horses, including larkspur, locoweed, lupines, and deathcamass. However, we have no proof that Indian horse medicine menemployed any of these plants in concocting depressant medicines. Table 8. ? Plant medicines used as horse stimulants by other tribes Tribe Plant Use Arapaho... Cheyenne. Gros Ventres.Nez Perc5 Omaha Pawnee Sarsi- ,Teton Dakota Ute "Hiwaxuhaxhiwaxu" (nativename). Probably wild peony(Paeonia hrownii).Avaphalis margaritacea var. sub-alpina. Thalictrum sparsiflormn (?) - Niitsican (native name), "hollowroot." Unidentified.Clematis douglassii Paeonia brownii, wild^peony Laciniaria scariosa lonoialis violacea, sheep sorrel;and Xanthoxalis stricta, yellowwood sorrel.(?)Clematis douglassii "Ewuhigare" (native name). Un-identified.Paeonia brownii, wild peony Root rubbed on nose of tired horse to refresh it(Kroeber, 1902-7, p. 424). Probable identificationby Mrs. E. V. A. Miu-phy.Dried and powdered flowers placed on sole of eachhoof and blown between horse's ears to make itlong-winded and untirhig (Grinnell, 1923, vol. 2,pp. 187-188).Dried and ground to fine powder, administered bymouth to make horse spirited, long winded, andenduring (ibid., pp. 141, 173-174).Unidentified root obtained from Kiowa-Apache,administered by mouth to make horse longwinded and stimulate a tired horse (ibid., p. 139).Given horses to strengthen and refresh them(Kroeber, 1908, p. 226).Scraped end of root held in nostrils of a fallen horse.Immediate stimulating eflect. (U. S. ForestService, 1937, p. B58.)Chewed root placed in horse's month and mouthheld shut until horse swallowed to stimulateexliausted horse (Mrs. E. V. A. Murphy).Corm chewed and blown into horse's nostrils tomake it long winded. Flower heads mixed withshelled corn fed to horses to make them swift(Gilmore, 1919, pp. 133-34).Bulbs pounded and fed to horses to make themfleet (Gilmore, 1919, p. 98).An herb or root administered to give horse sur-passing speed (Jenness, 1938, p. 74).Dried and powdered root administered by nostrilsto stimulate tired horses when hard pressed byenemy (Eugene Barrett).Pounded and rolled with grass and administeredto revive an exhausted horse (Lowie, 1924 b, p. 311).Root chewed and placed in horse's mouth to give itlong wind (Mrs. E. V. A. Murphy). RELATIONSHIP OF HORSE MEDICINE TO OIHER BLACKFOOT MEDICINES Wissler (1912 a, pp. 107-108) pictured and described an attachmentknown as "a thing to tie on the halter" as a Blackfoot ceremonialbundle. My informants referred to this object as "horse bridle."Three Calf recalled that Generous Woman, a prominent Piegan horsemedicine man, made one of these bridles of a thin stick about 18 incheslong, covered with red flannel, with feathers pendent at the ends andsmall bags of horse medicine tied to the stick. Other "horse bridles"were similar save that they were trimmed with strips of white weasel-skin. Although these objects were made and used primarily by horse 278 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 medicine men they were wrapped in separate bundles when not in use. Wallace Night Gun said that men who were not horse medicinecult members were known to have dreamed of one of these bundles.If the lay dreamer wished to make a bundle like the one seen in hisdream he went to a horse medicine man and asked for help. The latterthen told him to make the bridle just as it appeared in his dream andto bring it to him to give it power. Upon payment the horse medicineman gave the owner several little packages of horse medicine to tieto the "horse bridle," together with instructions for the use of thesemedicines. The owner attached this "horse bridle" to his horse whenhe rode to war or rode in the riding big dance. It was believed tomake the horse lively, to keep it from falling, and to keep enemybullets from hitting it. Night Gun said men who dreamed of thesebridles also received songs in their dreams which were added to thecollection of horse medicine cult songs. He claimed there were fewof these bridles among the Piegan in buffalo days. The only one Isaw on the Blackfeet Reservation was owned by a cult member.Wissler (1912 a, p. Ill) noted the introduction of horse medicineritual into the medicine pipe ceremony of the Blackfoot. Night Gunsaid it was common practice for a medicine-pipe owner to ask a horsemedicine man to insure that the horse used to carry the medicine pipewould not fall or be harmed while camp was on the move. The horsemedicine man used his sacred rope and whip in the ceremony of bless-ing the horse of the medicine pipe man. He sang and transferredthree horse medicine songs to the pipe owner. He also transferredsome of his power to the whip and rope of that man. It is noteworthythat a whip and rope are among the objects in the typical Blackfootmedicine pipe bundle, and that horse medicine songs appear in thatceremonial ritual. McClintock (1948, pp. 56-60) described a medicinepipe transfer he witnessed in which not only the whip and rope butalso the saddle, bridle, and horse used to transport the pipe were trans-ferred. In that transfer ceremony four (three?) horse songs weresung with great care "lest misfortune befall their horses." Therewere restrictions that the horse employed to carry the medicine pipemust be used only by its owner "lest some of his horse-herd sickenand die," and that the medicine pipe owner "must not strike a dog orhorse, nor cut a horse's tail." The medicine-pipe owner who hadpurchased three horse medicine cult songs was privileged to attend thehorse dance and to sing those three songs during the ceremony.Less certain is the relationship between horse medicine and thehorse-painted lodge formerly found among the Piegan. Wissler andDuvall (1908, p. 94) have published Head Carrier's version of theorigin legend of the horse-painted lodge. It is noteworthy that HeadCarrier was a North Piegan horse medicine man. John Old Chief Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 279 claimed Wolf Call formerly owned the horse-painted lodge and trans-ferred it to a North Blackfoot medicine man before he died. Otherinformants denied this. One man claimed the horse-painted lodgeof the Piegan was of Gros Ventres origin.THE SOUTH PIEGAN BLACK HORSE SOCIETYJim Walters said that Mountain Chief (who died in 1942) orig-inated a dancing society known as the Black Horse Society. Moun-tain Chief preserved the head of a black horse he had stolen fromthe enemy. During his dance he carried this head on a stick, andgave away horses. Jim's father obtained the horsehead from Moun-tain Chief and gave the dance, giving away good horses and re-ceiving poor ones in return. Jim told his father it wasn't worthkeeping. His father gave the head to John Two Guns, who keptit for a while, then gave it to someone else, who probably threw itaway. At the Christmas dance at Starr School in 1942, a dance bymembers of the Black Horse Society was requested. Only one mancame out to dance. There seems to have been no direct connectionbetween this short-lived society and the horse dance of the horsemedicine men, although the existence of the powerful horse medicinecult may have inspired the organization of the Black Horse Society. E^^DENCES OF THE HORSE MEDICINE CULT AMONG OTHER TRIBES Respect for the supernatural powers of horse medicine men waswidespread among the Plains Indians. Although most comparativedata on this subject relate to the nomadic tribes, the earliest ref-erence to the existence of the cult appears in an account of the horti-cultural Arikara written bv the fur trader Tabeau in 1803-04. Tabeauregarded Kakawita, chief of the Male Crow division of the Arikara, inwhose lodge the trader resided, as the most influential and highly re-spected man in the tribe. Kakawita possessed a medicine bundle con-taining a little whip "which makes a famous courser out of a draughthorse, and, when he hangs it on his wrist, while singing a certain song, all the horsemen who accompany him fall from their horses." Amongthe chief's taboos was the belief that his "powder [sic] was weakenedif some one broke a bone in his lodge" (Tabeau, 1939, pp. 185-186).Tlu-ee decades later Maximilian (1906, vol. 23, p. 394) noted an Arikarataboo against breaking a marrow bone in a hut. "If they neglect thisprecaution, their horses will break their legs in the prairie." Skinner(1914, p. 532) heard of the Plains Cree horse dance but was unable toobtain detailed information regarding it. He believed, perhaps er-roneously, that it was "presumably ... a mimetic dance to obtain in-crease of the herds." The anthropological literature lacks informa- 280 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 tion on Kutenai, Flathead, and Nez Perce horse medicine conceptsand procedures.Informants claimed the Cree, Sarsi, Gros Ventres, Kutenai, NezPerce, and Flathead, neighbors of the Blackfoot, all had horsemedicine men in buffalo days. Jenness briefly described the Sarsi con-cept and practice of horse medicine. The spirit of a horse that hadbeen treated particularly well might appear to its owner in a vision andreveal to him an herb or root that would give horses great speed or curehorses, together with appropriate songs. Among the standard para-phernalia of the Sarsi practitioner were a whip and a rope (Jenness,1938, p. 74) . These are all factors in Blackfoot belief and practice.Although Jenness claimed the Sarsi obtained horse medicines fromthe Cree, Mandelbaum (1940, pp. 195-196, 277) reported that the oneCree ceremony in which the horse figured prominently, the horse dance,was as much for weasel spirit as for horse. His description of theovert actions in this dance fails to reveal their underlying significance.Lowie (1924 a, p. 329) found that the Assiniboin horse danceranked "on a par with the Sim Dance," but was unable to obtain anadequate account of it because of "its esoteric character." However,Rodnick (1938, pp. 50-52) obtained a description of the Horse DanceSociety from Medicine Boy, an elderly Assiniboin, residing on FortBelknap Reservation, who had been a cult member. Rodnick termedthis society's ceremony "second in secretness to the Sun-Dance." Itwas performed at the time of initiation of new members about onceevery 2 years. All members were invited and the neophyte gavepresents to them before and during his initiation. Although the totalceremonial complex contained many elements foreign to the Black-foot cult, some elements resembled those of the Piegan ceremony.The leaders (two in number) made long prayers, which includedprayers to the spirit of the horse, sang, and drummed. Membersdanced in imitation of horses and demonstrated their individualsupernatural powers. They traced "figures on the ground," sangceremonial songs, and finally covered the traced figures with dirt.Members observed the taboo against breaking a marrow bone andone against burning feathers. The powers of Assiniboin cult mem-bers, as described by Rodnick, included those of freshening a tiredhorse, curing horses with broken legs and other afflictions, makinga horse gentle, and setting broken bones of humans. Rodnick foundthe Assiniboin society was no longer active in 1935.Lowie (1924 a, pp. 329-334) published a detailed account of theCrow horse dance. He was told the River Crow derived their cere-mony from the Assiniboin witliin the lifetime of his informants andthat the Assiniboin in turn attributed its introduction to the North-ern Blackfoot. Crow horse dancers formed a loose association of Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 281 less than 6 to more than 30 men with their wives. Members of thisgroup owned powerful medicines whose ingredients were secret, usedfor reviving tired horses and curing sick horses and humans. Informer times the horse medicine bundle was opened only when out-siders gave a feast in honor of the medicine. An account of Crowacquisition of this ceremony from the Assiniboin mentioned the ne-cessity for the Crow to seize the medicines of the Assiniboin dancersbefore the conclusion of the singing or they would not be able to securethe rites. (Note the similar Blood Indian custom described byWeasel Tail on p. 263.) Important points of resemblance betweenthe Crow and Blackfoot cults appear to confirm Lowie's traditionalinformation on the historical relationship of the horse medicine cultsof these tribes. Analysis of available information on Assiniboin andCrow horse medicine cults indicate that the former was more closelyrelated to the Blackfoot cult than was the latter.Wissler (1912 b, pp. 95-98) described the horse medicine cult ofthe Oglala Dakota, which was composed of persons who had dreamedof horse medicines and who held ceremonies in a tipi followed bya spectacular parade around camp. One of Wissler's informantsclaimed his great-grandfather originated the cult among the Oglalaand recited the origin tale. The Oglala ceremony included the ele-ment of dancing in imitation of horses. Oglala used horse medicineto make horses swift, to cure sick and wounded horses, to revive ex-hausted horses, to calm a balky horse, and to influence the outcomeof horse races. Brood mares were also treated to produce fine colts.My Oglala informants (1947) recalled the Use of horse medicineto handicap an opponent's race horse. Lone Man, brother of oneaged informant, was said to have possessed power to doctor bothhorses and people. Eugene Barrett (letter of Sept. 21, 1943) wroteme that he was told a Nez Perce Indian, who formerly lived with theBrule Dakota, employed horse medicine to assist in breaking wildhorses. He built a fire and placed some of his secret herbs in it toproduce a smoke that had a soothing effect upon the horse to bebroken. Densmore (1948, p. 181) reported that a Teton named Jawcarried little bags of horse medicine attached to his war whistle. Heemployed his medicine in curing sick horses and tied one bag to hishorse's bridle before going in battle. On horse-stealing raids hechewed horse medicine, approached the horses from windward, andcaused them to prick up their ears and be attracted to him. Theavailable evidence on Teton Dakota uses of horse medicine is sufficientto indicate both its extensive employment and its many similaritiesto Blackfoot concepts and usages.Kroeber (1902-7, pp. 424, 431-432, 436) does not mention any cere-monial organization of horse medicine men among the Arapaho. 282 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 "An old man who had horse-medicine taught it to his son and severalother young men. In teaching it to them, he drew on the ground,with red paint, another horse or mule, somewhat smaller, facing thenorth. Wliile this medicine was in the tent no peg or other part ofthe tent might be removed, lest there be a storm." The Arapahoused horse medicine to cause mares to have colts of certain desiredcolors, as well as to cure sick horses and to revive exhausted ones.Other medicines were used to rub on the body of a man who was aboutto break a horse, or to moderate the swelling caused from being kickedby a horse. Perhaps if we had more detailed data on Arapaho horse-medicine practices their relationship to those of the Blackfoot cultwould appear more numerous.Mooney (1907, p. 414) learned that the Cheyenne had "several setsof 'horse medicine' doctors, each set having its own special secret forthe treatment of ailing horses, together with special taboos, and spe-cial costume, face paint, and songs for use during treatment." Un-fortunately Mooney did not elaborate upon this general statement.Grinnell (1923, vol. 2, pp. 139-143) denied there was a guild of horsedoctors among the Cheyenne, claiming that men who possessed pow-ers to heal men also had powers to cure horses. He found thatCheyenne doctors recognized a number of taboos, including the oneagainst breaking a bone in their lodge (unless upon arising the womanof the lodge first struck the important lodgepole four times). TheCheyenne employed horse medicine to revive exhausted horses, tomake horses long winded, to cure sick horses, to prevent men or horsesfrom being hurt in war or in the buffalo hunt, to treat persons thrownfrom horses, and to handicap an opponent's race horse. Grinnell'sdescription of the treatment of sick horses recalls Blackfoot methodspreviously described. Although the Cheyenne procedure involvedritual rubbing, blowing, and moving about the horse, medicine wasadministered by mouth and/or nose in the course of the ceremony.Grinnell stated that Gland, a very old medicine man in 1862, claimedto possess the original medicine of Minhik, a celebrated Cheyennemedicine man of an earlier period. This suggests that the practiceof horse medicine among the Cheyenne originated well before themiddle of the 19th century.Grinnell also claimed the Cheyemie method of employing horsemedicine in influencing horse races was adopted by the Kiowa,Comanche, and Apache. Two Kiowa informants told me of the for-mer use of horse medicine by certain Kiowa men to handicap racehorses. Alice Marriott has informed me that Kiowa horse shamansdid not form a society. Each acted in obedience to his own dreams.They possessed a wide variety of paraphernalia and songs. She saidthat among the Kiowa only horse medicine men castrated horses. Ewers] THE HORSE EST BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 283Mooney (1898, p. 253) laconically reported that the Kiowa-Apache ''have a 'horse medicine' of their own of considerable repute." MissMarriott learned that a famous Kiowa-Apache horse medicine manwas active during the period of Mooney's field work among the Kiowa(early 1890's).The Chiricahua Apache believed a mistreated horse had super-natural power to cause the owner siclmess which could be cured onlyby a doctor who specialized in the horse ceremony (Opler, 1941, pp.239-240). The same source (pp. 294-300) cites examples of horsepower transmitted to humans who were able to cure sick horses as wellas persons hurt in falls from horses. The ceremony also was conductedto bring luck to horse raiders. Songs and prayers were included inthe ceremony. Horse doctors also were called upon to perform ritesto make horses run fast in races. This is the only reference I havefound to the use of horse medicine to assist rather than to handicapa race horse. As among the Kiowa, these Apache brought their horsesto the horse medicine men to be castrated.Far to the northwest, among the Puyallup-Nisqually of north-western Washington, Marion Smith (1940, p. 68) found vestiges of ahorse medicine cult. The man possessing horse power "was good withhorses. They liked him. He doctored them and made saddles for abusiness."In view of the geographically widespread, scattered evidence ofbelief in and practice of horse medicine among the horse-using tribesof the Plains and Plateau summarized above, it would be strangeindeed if such beliefs and usages were not known to other tribes of thePlains and to many Plateau tribes concerning whose practice of horsemedicine no reports are available. I am inclined to believe that lack ofinformation from these tribes is probably due to incomplete reportingrather than to absence of the horse-medicine complex in the cultures ofthose tribes. The fact that horse medicine tended to be veiled insecrecy probably discouraged Indian informants from volmiteeringinformation about it to ethnologists who were not well known to themor who showed no marked interest in the function of horses in theircultures. It appears certain that the horse-medicine cult was muchmore widely diffused among the Indian tribes of western North Amer-ica than was the much studied and much better known Sun Dance. Itmay not be too late to obtain valuable data regarding its occurrenceamong some of the tribes of the Plains and Northwest, from whichreports of horse medicine are not available, through field work withaged informants.The assembled comparative data indicate that tribal differences inthe nature and degree of organization of practitioners, in ceremonialI'ituals, in associated taboos, and in specific uses of horse medicines 284 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 existed. Nevertheless the available data from the Blackfoot, Sarsi,Assiniboin, Crow, Arikara, Teton Dakota, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Kiowa,and Chiricahua Apache indicate a common substratum of beliefs andusages which strongly suggests that the horse medicine cults of thesetribes were historically related. Native testimony to the effect thatthe Assiniboin and Crow derived their horse-medicine cults from theBlackfoot suggests that the Blackfoot were at least a secondary centerof diffusion of the cult. However, native traditions also suggest thatthe Oglala and Cheyenne as well as the Blackfoot possessed activehorse-medicine cults early in the 19th century. I have cited proof oftiie existence of the cult among the Arikara as early as 1803-4. It isprobable that some tribes of the Great Plains possessed horse medicinecults in the 18th century, although the evidence is insufficient to enableme to name them.The horse-medicine cult certainly appears to have been a nativeinvention. Possibly it began to develop shortly after the acquisitionof horses in response to the need for the services of veterinarians tocare for these precious possessions. Their actions clothed in secrecy,blessed with supernatural sanctions, and embellished with elaborateritual, their powers feared by their fellow tribesmen, these primitivehorse doctors may have extended their activities to include the controlof the actions of horses in the hunt, in war, and in horse races, andadded some of the functions of the earlier cult of healers of sickhumans. On the other hand, the first horse medicine men may havebeen persons who had previously treated humans and/or dogs, andvrho already possessed considerable knowledge of the medicinal plantsof tlieir tribal habitats. Through processes of trial and error they mayhave discovered additional medicines which proved efficacious in thetreatment of horses. Although ritual and magical factors playedprominent roles in the use of horse medicines, there was an empiricalelement in the selection of plant materials administered in the curingrituals.SACRIFICE OF HORSES AFTER THE DEATH OF THEIR OWNERSA Blackfoot Indian felt a strong attachment for his favorite horse,his trusted companion on the buffalo hunt and scalp raid. If this ani-mal died it was not unusual for his proud owner to weep publicly.The owner might request his family to have his favorite horse killedbeside his own burial place, if that horse survived him. Thus the closecompanionship between man and horse might continue in the spiritworld. However, poor families, who could not afford to sacrifice ahorse, more commonly cut short the mane and tail of the deceasedowner's favorite mount. Green Grass Bull explained that the horsewas then considered to be in mourning for its owner in much the Ewersl THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 285 same way as was the mourning wife who cut the hair of her head.Sometimes the mane and tail of a woman's favorite pack or travoishorse were cut after her death. Horses so treated could be used withoutany period of delay after the owner's death.Maximilian (1906, vol. 23, p. 121) was told of instances when "twelve or fifteen horses were killed ... at the funeral of a celebratedchief." However, his mention of 150 horses killed following the deathof "Sacomapoh" j)robably is an exaggeration. Weasel Tail said thegreatest number of horses he had seen killed at one burial was 10. ThePiegan continued the custom of killing horses as grave escorts untilabout the year 1895. Among the Canadian Blackfoot the custom wasfollowed sporadically for several years after that date.Upon the death of an important leader the sacrifice of horses wascoupled with an elaborate ceremony of burial in a death lodge.Among the great chiefs honored with death-lodge burial were LameBull, first signer of the 1855 treaty with the United States Government(who died in 1858) and Many Horses, the wealthiest Piegan (whodied in 1866). Lesser chiefs and prominent warriors received thishonorary burial on a less grandiose scale.When one of these leaders died his lodge was arranged on the insidejust as it had been when he was alive, with beds and backrests in placeand his favorite equipment displayed as it had been when he used toentertain prominent guests in his lodge. His body was dressed inhis finest clothing and laid on a bed in the lodge, or preferably ona pole platform erected in the center of the lodge, built high enoughto prevent predatory animals from molesting the body. The bodywas laid upon the platform with feet facing the doorway (east) . Thenthe deceased's close relatives prepared the horses to be killed, decorat-ing them with elaborate and costly riding gear. The dead man'sfavorite horse was painted with pictographs representing the owner'scouj)s. That horse's tail was braided and tied in a ball, and a featherpendant was tied in it. His mane was braided and feathers were tiedin it also.Everyone in camp attended the funeral. The horses to be sac-rificed were led to the door of the death lodge. Each horse in turnwas shot with a gun, pressed against its head and fired by a relativeof the deceased. After all the horses were killed the riding gear ofthe dead man's favorite horse sometimes was stripped off and placedinside the death lodge. At other times the people of the camp wereprivileged to strip the dead horses of their gear for their own use.Green Grass Bull explained the Blackfoot belief that the spirit ofthe horse joined that of its owner, wearing the gear it bore at thetime it was killed. After the horse's spirit had departed the actualtrappings had no more value to the dead Indian than did the carcassof the sacrificed horse itself. 286 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 After the horses were killed in front of the lodge, rocks were piledin lines extending outward from the death lodge in the four cardinaldirections. Each pile of rocks represented one of the departed leader'scoups. Usually these death lodges were erected in out of the way lo-calities at some distance from camp. Occasionally the lodges werelooted by passing enemy war parties. But none of the valuable arti-cles in the death lodge were disturbed by membei-s of his camp forfear the dead man's spirit would haunt them. The bodies of the deadhorses were left to decay where they fell.^^ COMPARATIVE DATA ON HORSES AS GRAVE ESCORTSThe literature reveals that the custom of killing horses after theowner's death was followed by other Plains and Plateau Indian tribes.The destruction of horses appears to have been greatest after thedeath of a wealthy member of a tribe that was relatively rich in horses.Thus over 70 horses were said to have been killed after the death of aleading Kiowa chief (Yarrow, 1881, p. 143). On the other hand, thePlains Cree, notoriously poor in horses, were content to clip the manesand tails of the horses of the deceased (Mandelbaum, 1940, p. 250).Some Central Plains tribes killed the horses by strangling them(Omaha?Fletcher and La Flesche, 1911, p. 83; Kansa?Bushnell,1927, p. 53; Oto and Missouri?Yarrow, 1881, p. 96). ChiricahuaApache either stabbed or shot the horses (Opler, 1941, p. 474) . Whilethe Assiniboin, Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Teton Dakota shot them, asdid the Blackfoot (Denig, 1930, p. 572; Grinnell, 1923, vol. 2, p. 160;Michelson, 1933, p. 606; Bushnell, 1927, p. 40; Yarrow, 1881, p. 180),most tribes simply left the dead bodies under the burial scaffold ortree, or beside the grave. Hovv^ever, the Coeur d'Alene skinned thedead horses and hung the skins at the grave. If the skins were neededthey suspended only the horse's hoofs (Teit, 1930, pp. 173-174). Onoccasion the Nez Perce skinned and stuffed the horses and set them upas grave monuments (Spinden, 1908, p. 252).Other tribes reported to have killed horses as grave escorts werethe Sarsi (Jenness, 1938, p. 39), Crow (Denig, 1930, p. 479; Lowie,1912, p. 227), Arapaho (Kroeber, 1902-7, p. 17), Sisseton Dakota(Yarrow, 1881, p. 109) , Wichita (ibid., p. 103) , Comanche (Neighbors,1852, vol. 2, p. 133 ; Yarrow, 1881, p. 99) , Wind River and Lemhi Sho-shoni (Lowie, 1909, p. 215; 1924 b, p. 282), Bannock (Marquis, 1928,p. 105) , and Flathead (Mengarini, 1871-72, p. 82) . This custom of thePlains Indians appears to have been an expression of the widespread 9' Denig (1930, p. 573) wrote that very brave and renowned Assiniboin warriors some-times requested that their bodies be placed inside their lodges after their death. The-Iron-Arrow-Point, noted chief of the Rock Band of Assiniboin, received a death-lodge burialante-18oO. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 287 primitive custom of providing the dead with objects thought to beuseful to them in the afterlife.Cropping the mane and tail of a dead man's horse or horses pro-vided a method of honoring the dead without sacrificing valuableproperty. Probably it was much more common among Plains andPlateau tribes than the few, scattered references in the literature indi-cate. The wealthy Comanche and the Chiricahua Apache cut themanes and tails of those horses of the deceased man which had notbeen killed at the grave (Parker, 1855, p. 685; Opler, 1940, p. 474).Sarsi clipped the hair of horses that belonged to a warrior killed inbattle (Jenness, 1938, p. 39). Flathead considered their mourningperiod for the dead ended when the clipped mane and tail of the deadman's horse grew out (Turney-High, 1937, p. 146) . Other tribes re-ported to have cut the manes and tails of dead men's horses were thePlains Cree (Mandelbaum, 1940, p. 250), Assiniboin (Lowie, 1909,p. 42), Crow (Leonard, 1904, p. 271), Teton Dakota (Dorsey, 1894,p. 487) , and Lemhi Shoshoni (Lowie, 1909, p. 215) . DISPOSAL OF HORSES AFTER THE DEATH OF OWNER If the head of a Blackfoot family knew he was about to die hecalled his relatives together and told them how he wished his horsesand other property divided among them, designating which itemswere to be received by each relative. If a man died without a verbalwill procedures differed. His eldest son, or other close relativemight take charge of the distribution of the property. However, adistant relative, angered at being left out of consideration, might helphimself to a horse without its being reclaimed by the one to whom itwas allotted.I asked particularly about the distribution of the great herd ofMany Horses, wealthiest of Blackfoot horse owners, after he and hisfavorite wife were murdered by the Gros Ventres in the summer of1866. Lazy Boy said that after the battle between the Piegan andGros Ventres, which followed shortly after the discovery of ManyHorses' body, the Piegan erected a death lodge for Many Horses, andhis eldest daughters selected more than 10 of his favorite horses tobe killed before the burial lodge. Later Lazy Boy's father. CalfLooking, a band chief in the Piegan camp, took charge of the dis-tribution of Many Horses' herd. Many Horses* eldest daughter in-structed him to divide the horses among the three surviving wives,the several daughters, and one son of the deceased chief. After eachreceived a sizable herd, she asked that the rest of the horses be givento the people. Every member of Many Horses' band received a horseand some persons outside the band also got one. 288 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 This orderly distribution of horses following a death intestate waspossible only in cases where the deceased was a man of prominencewho had been well liked and highly respected by his people duringhis life. In many instances of death intestate members of the camp,whether or not they were related to the deceased, made a run for hisproperty as soon as they learned of his death through the loud weepingand wailing of his close relatives. Men of the camp ran for his horses,while women went to get his household furnishings. The men mighttake all the good horses in his herd and leave the poor ones for thewidow. Close relatives of the deceased, preoccupied with their mourn-ing, did not attempt to prevent this raid, and custom decreed thatthey should not do so. The raiders were not permitted to take horsesor other property belonging to the dead man's wife or other membersof his family before his death, even though horses belonging to thosepeople ran with the dead man's herd. On a woman's death peoplemight raid her horses and other property. Informants recalled thatthese raids were made with particular relish upon the property ofa man of some wealth who had had a reputation for stinginess. Asone informant stated, "Even his wife would be glad to be rid of liim,and she would remarry shortly after his death."Wissler (1911, pp. 26-27) claimed these raids were limited to rela-tives of the deceased. However, our informants' contentions that any-one in the village might share in the raid were based upon personalobservations. They are corroborated by the brief description of Cul-bertson (1851, p. 126), penned a century ago.^^SECONDARY ASSOCIATIONS OP THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT RELIGIONIN BUNDLE TRANSrERSWissler (1912 a, pp. 253-254) expressed the opinion that the associa-tion of horse payments with the transfer of Blackfoot medicine bun- " Recognition of the legality of a verbal will made before death seems to have beenwidespread in the Plains. Kiowa informants spoke of this custom in their tribe. Chey-enne also recognized it (Llewellyn and Hoebel, 1941, pp. 214-215). Inheritance customsin cases of death intestate varied widely, with preference given to different relatives bydifferent tribes. Tixier (1940, p. 184) found that the Osage recognized a form of primo-geniture by which the eldest son Inherited all his father's horses, while the eldest daughterbecame owner of the lodge. The Plains Cree father's horses were distributed by theeldest son among his brothers and sisters, reserving one horse for the widow (Mandel-baum, 1940, p. 251);. The Cheyenne widow's right to her husband's horses was "law"(Llewellyn and Hoebel, 1941, p. 216), while the Gros Ventres' wife inherited nothingfrom her husband, his property generally being divided among his father, mother, brothers,sisters, and children (Kroeber, 1908, pp. 180-181). Kroeber found no fixed customs ofinheritance among the Arapaho. The death of a wealthy man resulted in considerablecompetition among his relatives, although his brothers and sisters generally acquired muchof his property (Kroeber, 1902-7, p. 11). I have the distinct Impression from reviewing theliterature that inheritance patterns in other Plains Indian tribes may have been no morestandardized than they were among the Blackfoot. However, I have found no descriptionIn the literature of the raid on property by nonrelatives of the deceased among tribes otherthan the Blackfoot. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 289 dies was "so fixed that one must suspect the present system of trans-ferring bundles to have developed in its present form since the intro-duction of the horse." Lack of information on the occurrence andtransfer of bundles in early times makes it impossible to check Wiss-ler's hypothesis. Native tradition claims the Sun Dance and beaverbundle originated before the introduction of horses. There is also atradition that the Blood Indians' Long Time Pipe was transferredthrough dog payments before horses were known to these Indians.It is possible that horses may have replaced slaves, dogs, robes, orwhatever other valuables may have been given to insure the transferof sacred objects in pre-horse times. The fact that horses, after theirintroduction, wwe recognized as valuable media of exchange in sec-ular transactions probably would have encouraged their use as pay-ments for medicine bundles as well. Whatever the origin of the closeassociation of horse payments with bundle transfers, it is certain thatit existed in 19th-century buffalo days. The owner of an importantsacred bundle received the petitioner who wished to obtain title to itwith mixed feelings. He weighed his loss of sacred power throughthe relinquishment of his bundle against his gain through the acquisi-tion of a number of fine horses offered in payment. IN THE SUN DANCE CEREMONYThe influence of the horse made itself apparent at various stages ofthe Sun Dance, the most unportant Blackfoot tribal religious cere-mony. I have described (p, 128) the care given to the transport ofthe medicine woman's sacred paraphernalia to the Sun Dance encamp-ment on a horse travois. War honors, most commonly acquired onhorse raids, were required of both the cutter of the tree to be used forthe center pole, and by men who cut the thongs to bind the rafters tothe posts in the construction of the lodge. The latter rite was trans-ferred through payment of a horse and other property. Before cut-ting the hide the cutter was required to raise his knife and publiclydeclare four personal coups, which commonly included the capture ofenemy horses. In recent years older men who have counted coupshave stood as sponsors for younger men or women who paid to cutthQ hide. Plate 17, a, portrays Makes-Cold-Weather (ca. 1866-1950),one of the last of the Piegan veterans of intertribal horse raids, count-ing his coups before his protege cut the hide in the Sun Dance nearBrowning in 1943.Men who underwent the excruciating self-torture in the Sun Dancelodge (pi. 17, h), did so in fulfillment of vows, made before going intodangerous action, to submit to the torture if they came through safely.The two accounts of personal experiences in self-torture, which I ob-287944?55 20 290 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 tained from elderly Blood Indians, indicate that the vows of both menwere made shortly before they entered enemy camps to steal horses.There is a possibility that the Blackfoot tribes borrowed the SunDance torture from the Arapaho in the historic period, and hence sincethe introduction of horses (Ewers, 1948 b, pp. 167-168, 171-172).Three quarters of a century ago Bradley (1923, pp. 267-268) wroteof the warriors who entered the Blackfoot Sun Dance to count theircoups during the closing days of the ceremony.Those who desire the privilege of recounting their coups must first present ahorse to someone at the door of the medicine lodge (an irrevocable gift), whenhe may enter the lodge and in his turn relate his fjxploits, illustrating them bygestures indicating the manner of their performance.The horse stealers, however, are not required to make the gift of a horse atthe door but bring with them a bundle of sticks, and casting one into a firekept burning in the lodge, say : "At such a time I stole so many horses at sucha place, from some enemies." Then casting in another stick describe anotheroccasion.If the Blackfoot observed the Sim Dance before they obtainedhorses, as was uniformly claimed by informants, it was none the lessinfluenced by the presence of the horse in historic times. The datacited above show that even the details of this most sacred tribal ritualwere colored by Indian regard for and preoccupation with horses.BELIEFS CONCERNING THE SUPERNATURAL POWERS OF HORSESThere was a general belief among the Blackfoot that horses pos-sessed supernatural powers. Just as they believed some humans pos-sessed stronger supernatural powers than others, so they thought thesacred powers of some horses were more potent than those of ordinaryhorses. I have referred (p. 259) to the two horses which werecredited with having bestowed horse medicine powers upon theirowner, Wolf Calf, in his dreams. Horses that performed deeds ofunusual strength or endurance, that miraculously escaped from battlewithout a scratch, or received wounds thought to have been mortalyet recovered, were spoken of by informants as animals possessingpotent "secret power." Their remarkable deeds were proof to theIndians of their possession of that power.Weasel Tail cited a case which will prove this point.Heavenly Colt was a strong, gray horse born of a mare stolen from the Flat-head by a Blood Indian. He was broken for riding at 3 years of age and provedto be an excellent war horse. After Heavenly Colt gained a wide reputationamong the Indians, the Gros Ventres stole him. In the battle between the Pieganand Gros Ventres in the summer of 1866, Heavenly Colt was ridden by SittingWoman, Gros Ventres head chief. During the action the horse was shot throughthe neck. Three Suns, a Piegan chief, ran to the horse and said, "It is too badsuch a fine horse must die. I shall claim him until he dies." Then the horsedropped. But the next morning the Piegan saw a gray horse on a distant hill. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 291 Tliey went after him and found he was Heavenly Colt. He was alive and ingood condition. Heavenly Colt was returned to his rightful Blood owner. Thathorse had great secret power.Like humans, horses were believed to survive death as spirits pos-sessing the power to return and make their spirit presences known tothe living. Weasel Tail illustrated his own strong belief in horsespirits by relating a personal experience.About 50 years ago I visited the lodge of Steel, a Blood Indian. I knew Steelthought his father's spirit was near him at all times. I asked Steel, "Where isyour father, Many 'Spotted Horses?" While I talked I heard a horse whinnyfar away. Then I heard a horse at the back of the lodge shaking and its stirrupsrattling. Then I heard someone talking behind Steel. I could see no one there.It was Steel's father's spirit, come to visit him on his spirit horse.*^BELIEFS REGARDING THE ORIGIN OF HORSESThe beliefs of the great majority of aged, fullblood Blackfoot In-dians regarding the origin of horses are embodied in their mythology.In the course of my field work on the Blackfeet Reservation, Mont.,elderly Piegan informants recited three different myths explainingthe origin of horses. One was told by Short Face, recognized by hisfellows as the most accomplished storyteller on the reservation, in thefall of 1943. In the summer of 1947, my interpreters, Keuben andCecile Black Boy, said that during the intervening years Dog Child,a North Piegan, had told them another version of this myth.Short Face's version, which I have given a title to, follows. thunder's gift of horsesMany years ago, when people used dogs for moving camp, there lived a Piegannamed Wise Man. He and his wife were a handsome couple, but they wore veryplain buckskin clothes. One day Wise Man said to his wife, "I have been thinkingabout something. If my plans work out we shall have very fine clothes. Let'smove away from here and make camp in the woods. I'll collect all the woodyou need, but you must not break any of the sticks I bring in."Wise Man and his wife moved to the woods. After he had brought in wood,he told his wife, "Now I shall go up the hill and catch some eagles." He ascendedthe hill, dug a pit, found a dead coyote and cut it open, placed a roof of sticksover the pit after he had climbed into it, and tied the coyote on the roof. Wheneagles saw the coyote they swooped down and began pecking at the carcass.Wise Man grabbed each eagle in turn as it ate, pulled it into the pit and wrungits neck. He caught eight eagles. Then he returned to camp and told his wife, "I shall make myself a bonnet from these feathers." He made his bonnet ? ?* Wilson (1924, pp. 144-145) reported Hldatsa belief tliat all horses had supernaturalpowers, and that if horses were not properly cared for they would not increase in numbersand might leave their negligent ow)iers. A Hidatsa informant also claimed the Assiniboinconsidered their horses sacred and sang sacred songs to them (ibid., p. 142). Dorsey(1894, p. 499) mentioned the Daljota custom of praying to horses. The existence of theirhorse medicine cults is evidence of belief in the supernatural powers of horses among otherPlains and Plateau tribes. 292 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 a circle of feathers standing straight up, with a feather trailer down the back.Then he fashioned some weasel snares and went about the countrj'side snaringweasels. He took them to his wife and said, "Now, tan these." She replied, "But what are you going to do with them?" "I shall use them to decorate mysuit," said Wise Man. She tanned the weaselskins and sewed them on his plainbuckskin suit as a fringe, just as he requested. Then he donned his new cos-tume and asked her, "How do I look? Take a good look at me." She lookedhim up and down admiringly and replied, "You are very handsome looking man."Wise Man then said, "I am completely dressed. Now I shall show you howto dress."He went into the woods and found an elk lick with many elk around it. Withbow and arrows he killed a large number of them. From each he took only twoteeth. He carried them to camp and drilled a hole near the base of each tooth.Then he showed the elk teeth to his wife and told her how to sew these teethon her plain elkskin dress. When she had done that, she put on her dress, stoodbefore her husband and asked him, "Now, how do I look?" Wise Man replied, "You are certainly a very beautiful woman. That is how I want you to lookwhen you have occasion to wear your best clothes."The couple then returned to the camp of their people. When the others sawtheir fine clothes, all the young men and women wanted their garments. Theyoffered to barter their most valuable possessions for them. But Wise Manrefused, saying. "I will not sell these clothes. You must hunt and make themfor yourselves just as we have done. But I am going back to the woods andI shall make up another outfit which I shall trade you."So Wise Man and his wife returned to their former camping place in thewoods. There he met a man. The stranger said to him, "I shall help you.You haven't fixed that bonnet right. You should have quills on the feathers.You should have quills on your leggings and shirt too." Wise Man had neverheard of quills and he asked, "But how shall I get these things you call quills?How shall I learn to fix them on my bonnet and shirt?" "Thunder will showyou how to do that," the man replied. "But I have never seen Thunder,"said Wise Man. "Where is he?" The stranger explained, "He lives above.You follow along the mountains to the end of the earth. There you will finda way to go to him."Wise Man went to his wife and told her of his talk with the stranger. "Aman came to me who told me how I can make my clothes even prettier by puttingquills on them. He named someone who could help me to do this. I don'tknow who that is, but he told me how to find him." His wife answered, "Allright, go look for him."So Wise Man loaded his dog and went away, following the foot of the moun-tains. He passed mountain lions, bears and other large animals but they didnot harm him. Some of them turned into persons. Finally he reached the endof the mountains. Ahead was nothing but water. The shore was thick withbrush. Wise Man climbed a clifC and looked down. In the brush he saw alodge. He descended and entered the lodge. It was empty. After a long timea man entered and spoke to him. "Where are you going? You can't go anyfarther." Wise Man replied, "I am going to find Thunder." The man said, "He is in the sky. You can't go there. But I shall help you, my boy. Climbthis cliff and you will find some goats. Kill one, cut off the ends of his hornsand bring them back here."Wise Man did as he was told. When he returned with the pieces of hornthe man told him, "I will give you my moccasins. Fasten these goat hornsto them and they will help to hold you up. I shall help you. Follow me." They Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 293began to ascend, Wise Man following in the footsteps of the stranger, who hadtold him to look only ahead. After they had climbed a long time they reacheda level place. It was another world.Then the stranger turned to Wise Man and said, "This is Thunder's home.After you have walked a way you will be surrounded by horses. They aredangerous animals, but they will not hurt you. I shall leave you here. Goon to Thunder's camp. The first animals you meet will be Thunder's horses."Wise Man walked on until he saw the horses. One of them spied him, andall came toward him and surrounded him. At first Wise Man was afraid. Butthe strange animals did not harm him. He soon lost his fear and began topet them. They were so thick around him he could not proceed. But whennight came they all lay down and went to sleep. Then Wise Man crawledaway from them and walked on toward the lights of two camps in the distance.When he came near them he saw that they were beautifully painted lodges,each with a medicine pipe in front of it. He walked inside one of them. Thunderwas there.When Thunder saw Wise Man he told him to sit down. Then Thunder madea smudge and began to show Wise Man the ritual of the medicine pipe. WiseMan told him, "I came here to find out how to look good in my clothes. I wantyou to tell me what to do and how to do it. That is what is on my mind."Thunder replied, "My boy, come with me and I shall show you." Outside thelodge Thunder pointed to a porcupine and told Wise Man, "Kill it." This WiseMan did. Then Thunder showed him how to remove the quills, how to flattenthem, to dye them different colors and to sew them on garments. When hehad finished, Thunder said, "My boy, you have been good. You didn't frightenmy horses. They didn't hurt you. They are the animals I ride. Because youdid not frighten my horses and they were not afraid of you I shall give yousome of them. I'll show you the songs of my pipe and my painted lodges andgive them to you also. I'll show you how to pack the pipe on a horse's back. Butbefore I give you all these things you must pay me." Wise Man asked, "Whatshall I give you?" Thunder said, "Give me a woman from your people, andgive me a white buffalo robe." Wise Man asked, "How are you to get thewoman?" Thunder replied, "My boy, I can do it with your help." Wise Manthen said, "I shall get you a woman. But the white buffalo is very fast. I'lltry to get you a white buffalo robe, but it will be very diflicult."Then Thunder went to his herd and selected 10 head of horses, and gave themto Wise Man saying, "Now, my boy, take these. They will raise colts for youand increase. I shall put a porcupine on earth. It too will increase. You cankill porcupines, eat them, and use their quills. Generation after generation ofyour people will use these things. There will be no end to them. I want youto take the medicine pipe, and in the spring of the year when the leaves begin tocome out you will hear me rumbling. Gather your friends quickly and dance tr>the medicine pipe as I have shown you. I shall see you then and know thatyou have heard my call. Until the end of the world you will have these things.Not until then shall I take them back."Thunder then said, "Now, my boy, I'll take you down. Tie the tails of twoold mares together. When you have done that you will be on earth again. To-night there will be a strong wind. If your lodges fall down or if your horsesbecome frightened, I'll take them back. Otherwise you may keep them. Infuture times many of your old people, to whom I shall give the power, will dreamof animal-painted lodges and sacred pipes."The night after Wise Man's return to earth there was a storm and a very highwind. But the horses were not frightened and the lodges did ijot fall. Wise 294 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159Man kept the things Thunder gave him. Until this day the Indians haveporcupines, painted lodges, medicine pipes, and horses.In March 1943, Chewing-Black-Bones recited another myth ex-plaining the origin of horses. He claimed that Head Carrier, whodied half a century earlier, told him the following story, which I havenamed. WATER spirit's GIFT OF HORSESA long time ago there was a poor boy who tried to obtain secret power sothat he might be able to get some of the things he wanted but did not have.He went out from his camp and slept alone on mountains, near great rocks,beside rivers. He wandered until he came to a large lake northeast of theSweetgrass Hills (Lake Pakowki). By the side of that lake he broke down andcried. The powerful man who lived in that lake heard him and toldhis son to go to the boy and find out why he was crying. The son went to thesorrowing boy and told him that his father wished to see him. "But how canI go to him?" the lad asked. The son replied, "Hold onto my shoulders andclose your eyes. Don't look until I tell you to do so."They started into the water. As they moved along the son told the boy, "Myfather will offer you your choice of the animals in this lake. Be sure to choosethe old mallard and its little ones."When they reached his father's lodge, the son told the boy to open his eyes.He did so and was taken into the father's lodge. The old man said to him, "Son, come sit over here." Then he asked, "My boy, why did you come here?"The boy explained, "I have been a very poor boy. I left my camp to look forsecret power so that I may be able to start out for myself." The old man thensaid, "Now, son, you are going to become the leader of your tribe. You willhave plenty of everything. Do you see all the animals in this lake? They areall mine." The boy, remembering the son's advice, said, "I should thank youfor giving me as many of them as you can." Then the old man offered him hischoice. The boy asked for the mallard and its young. The old man replied, "Don't take that one. It is old and of no value." But the boy insisted. Fourtimes he asked for the mallard. Then the old man said, "You are a wise boy.When you leave my lodge my son will take you to the edge of the lake. Whenit is dark he will catch the mallard for you. When you leave the lake don't lookIrnck."The boy did as he was told. At the margin of the lake the water spirit's soncollected some marsh grass and braided it into a rope. With the rope he caughtthe old mallard and led it ashore. He placed the rope in the boy's hand andtold him to walk on, but not to look back until daybreak. As the boy walkedalong he heard the duck's feathers flapping on the ground. Later he could nolonger hear that sound. As he proceeded he heard the sound of heavy feetl)ehind him, and a strange noise, the cry of an animal. The braided marshgrassturned into a rawhide roi^e in his hand. But he did not look back until dawn.At daybreak he turned around and saw a sti-ange animal at the end of theline, a horse. He mounted it and, using the rawhide rope as a bridle, rode backto camp. Then he found that many horses had followed him.The people of the camp were afraid of the strange animals. But the boysigned to them not to fear. He dismounted and tied a knot in the tail of hishorse. Then he gave everybody horses from those that had followed him.There were plenty for everyone and be had quite a herd left over for himself. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 295 Five of the older men in camp gave their daughters to him in return for thehorses he had given them. They gave him a fine lodge also.Until that time the people had had only dogs. But the boy told them how tohandle the strange horses. He showed them how to use them for packing, howto break them for riding and for the travois, and he gave the horse its name,elk dog. One day the men asked him, "These elk dogs, would they be of anyuse in hunting buffalo?" The boy replied, "They are fine for that. Let meshow you." Vvliereupon he showed his people how to chase buffalo on horseback.He also showed them how to make whips and other gear for their horses. Oncewhen they came to a river the boy's friends asked him, "These elk dogs, arethey of any use to us in water?" He replied, "That is where they are best. Igot them from the water." So he showed them how to use horses in crossingstreams.The boy grew older and became a great chief, a leader of his people. Sincethat time every chief has owned a lot of horses.The tliird horse origin myth was told by Mrs. Cecile Cree Medicinein July 1947. She explained that her father, Running Crane, chiefof the Lone Eater's Band of the Piegan, had told it to her. Thismyth I have also named.HOW MORNING STAR MADE THE FIRST HORSE Before the I'iegan had horses they had dogs. Then everything was flint.There was no iron.One night a Piegan invited all the chiefs to his lodge. He told his wife, "Yousit outside with the baby." Her sister saw her sitting there and asked herwhat she was doing outside alone. She replied, "My husband does not want meto be in the lodge with the chiefs." She was very unhappy. Later she lookedinto the sky and saw the bright morning star. She said, "I vrish I could bemarried to that pretty star up there."Next morning she went to pick up buffalo chips for fuel. She saw a young manapproaching her. He said, "Now I have come for you." But she replied, "I willhave nothing to do with you. Why do you want me to go away with you? I'mmarried." Then the young man reminded her, "Last night when you were sittingoutside your lodge you said you wanted to marry me, the bright star. I heardyou and now I have come for you." She replied, "Yes, that's right. Let's go."The young man said, "Take hold of my back. Follow me, but keep your eyesshut." She did as she was told. After a time the young man told her to openher eyes. When she did she saw that the country was strange to her. YoungMorning Star then asked her into his lodge where an old man was sitting. Hewas Sun, Morning Star's father. Sun said, "My son, why did you bring thisgirl here?" The young man answered, "It was the girl's wish. So I went afterher."After a time Morning Star and this woman had a little boy. Old grandfatherSun said, "I shall give the boy something to play with." He gave him a crookedtree which was every bit the shape of a little horse, and said, "Now, my boy,play with this." When Morning Star saw his son playing with the wooden toyhe said to his wife, "Wouldn't it look better if this plaything had fur like adeer?" She agreed. So they put fur on it. Then Morning Star said, "Anotherthing it should have is a tail." So he put a black tail on it and added some earsas well. Then he said, "Now let's take some black dirt and rub its hoofs so theywill shine." So it was done. 296 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY iBuU. 150Then his wife said to the Moruing Star, "Now you are finished. Are yousatisfied?" "No," replied Morning Star, "Put the boy on the animal's back. Lethim ride it." When the boy was astride the toy, Morning Star said, "Now I shallmake it go. I shall call sh-sh-sh-sh four times. The fourth time it will startlike an animal." The first time Morning Star called, the horse began to moveits legs. The second time, the horse began to move its tail. The third time itmoved its ears. When he called sh-sh-sh-sh the fourth time the horse shied.Then Morning Star called "ka-ka-ka-ka," and the horse stood still. MorningStar cut a piece of rawhide for a bridle. The boy had great fun with his littlehorse.Later, when the boy's brothers and sisters went to dig wild turnips, his motherasked Morning Star, "Why can't I do that?" He told her she might go with theothers, but she must not dig the turnip with the big leaves. So she joined theparty. She saw the big-leafed turnip and began to dig around it. At last shedug it up. Dust came up through the hole. When the dust cleared away shelooked into the hole and way below she saw her own camp and her parents. Shebegan to cry.When she returned to Morning Star's lodge he saw her swollen eyes and knewwhat had happened. He asked her, "Why are you crying?" She told him thatshe was lonesome for her parents. Morning Star then told her she could returnto them. He instructed his people to cut rawhide rope. They made a greatpile of it. Then he told his wife,"I'll take you down the rope first. Then I'll takethe horse down by my own power." He wrapped his wife and son in buffalorobes, tied them to the rope, and lowered tliem through the turnip hole.Two young fellows lying on their backs near the camp of the woman's parentssaw a strange object descending from the sky. They were frightened and startedto run away when the bundle reached the earth. But the woman called to them, "Untie me." They untied her and went to camp to tell the woman's husbandthat she was back. When her husband saw the little boy he told his wife, "Idon't want him here. Don't feed that boy. Don't give him any bedding. Lethim sleep by the door." The woman was watched so closely she couldn't helpher son. A half-brother took pity on the little boy. He hid some of his own foodand gave it to the little boy to keep him from starving.Morning Star saw how badly his son was treated on earth. One day when thehalf-brother took the boy into the brush hunting they saw a strange man. Theywere afraid and started to run when the man called, "Stop !" They halted andsat down beside the man. He told the little boy, "You are my son. I know yourbrother loves you and has fed you. But I have come after you because you havebeen abused." The little boy began to cry, "No, I want to stay with my brother."Then Morning Star explained, "Three of us cannot go. I can only take you. ButI promise you I'll give your brother some great power here on earth."Before he departed Morning Star told the older boy, "Go to that lake yonder.Sleep beside it for four nights. I'll give you power. The man in that lake willhelp you too. But I warn you that before sunrise, while you are sleeping, animalslike I gave your little brother will come out of the lake. When you wake, payno attention to the other horses. Just try to catch the little, shaggy, buckskincolt. If you catch that colt all of the other horses will stop beside him. If youdon't catch him. all will run back into the water."The morning after the older brother's first night by the lake he tried to catchone of the pretty colts rather than the ugly little buckskin Morning Star hadtold him to get. All of the horses ran back into the lake. The second morningthe older brother tried again and failed. The third morning all of the horsesgot away once more. During the fourth night Morning Star came to the boy in Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 297 his dream and said, "Now, my boy, I told you to catch that shaggy buckskin colt.If you don't catch him tomorrow you will not have my power."Next morning, when the boy awoke he saw the horses again. This time hesingled out the little colt and roped him with a rawhide line. All the otherhorses stampeded toward the lake. As the leading ones reached the shore thelittle buckskin whinnied. They all turned and ran back toward him. On thefifth night Morning Star again appeared to the boy in his dream, saying, "Now,my boy, when you return home with those horses give everyone but your fathera horse. Because he abused you, he shouldn't have any."When the boy returned to camp and distributed the horses, his father becamevery angry. "Why didn't you give me one of them?" he raved. The boy, withMorning Star's power, struck his father and killed him.Morning Star then told the boy, "From now on your people will have horses.You will no longer need to use dogs. In time you will have many horses.Your horses will never disappear. You need never walk any more."The principal chief of the camp sent word to the boy that he wanted him fora son-in-law. He gave the boy his two daughters and oiTered him his place ashead chief.More than 40 years ago Duvall obtained a condensed version of thisthird myth, which was said to have been told by Head Carrier manyyears before. As published (Wissler, 1912, pp. 285-286), this storylinks the origin of horses with the woman-who-married-a-star episode,although details of the creation of horses by the star differ fromMrs. Cree Medicine's version, and the episode explaining the lateracquisition of horses by the older brother is lacking.Two other Blackfoot myths explaining the acquisition of the firsthorse from the waters of a lake have been published. One accountwas told to George Bird Grinnell by Almost-a-Dog, a Piegan. Itmost nearly approximates the episode of the acquisition of horsesfrom a lake by the elder brother contained in Mrs. Cree Medicine'sversion (Grinnell, 1805, pp. 166-168). The other myth, told Kev.Edward F. Wilson by the North Blackfoot chief. Big Phime, purportsto explain how the Shoslioni first obtained horses from the waters ofa large, salt water lake "away south" (Wilson, 1887, p. 185).The number and variety of Blackfoot myths explaining the originof horses may be due to the tendency for each narrator to elaboratethe basic theme as he sees fit and to link the story of the origin ofhorses with portions of other myths. It is significant that the fiverecorded Blackfoot mythological accounts of the origin of horsescredit the first horses either to sky spirits or to underwater spirits.In this respect the horse origin myths follow the tribal pattern ofimputing the origin of their most sacred possessions to one or the otherof these spirit sources. The Sun Dance and medicine pipe are repre-sented in Blackfoot mythology as gifts of Sun and Thunder, twoof the most feared and revered sky spirits. The beaver bundle andbuffalo painted lodges are represented as gifts of the underwaterpeople, also held in great awe by the Blackfoot. These myths con- 298 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 stitute evidence that to the native mind the horse was a godsend ofimportance comparable to that of their most sacred ceremonies, createdby the same supernatural powers who gave the Indians their tradi-tional ceremonial institutions.^" "? In the 1870*8 Lieutenant Bradley recorded a Crow myth to the effect that their firsthorses came out of the water (Bradley, 1923, pp. 298-299). Possibly Crow and Pieganmyths relating to the water origin of horses developed from a common source. In 1947,Enoch Smoky recited to me a Kiowa myth, which he claimed his grandfather had told him. "It used to be that the Kiowa used only dogs for pack animals. Then one time an oldmedicine man had a dream in which he saw a strange animal. He began thinking abouthow he could make it. He took some mud and made a body, covered it with the hair of aprairie dog, gave it the eyes of an eagle, hoofs made from a turtle shell and ^\ ings to makeit travel faster. But the horse flew away up into the air and did not return. There itremained to bring cyclones. Later the old man made another animal just like the first,but without wings. It was successful. From that time on the Kiowa have had horses." THE INFLUENCE OF THE HORSE ON BLACKFOOTCULTURETHE PRE-HORSE BLACKFOOT INDIANSIn the preceding pages I have described the many functions of thehorse in Blackfoot Indian life of the Horse Culture Period. Toevaluate properly the influence of the horse on Blackfoot life greaterhistorical perspective is needed. We must try to characterize theculture of these tribes in the period immediately preceding theiracquisition and use of horses, a period which, for purposes of con-trast with the Horse Culture Period, I shall term the PedestrianCulture Period. No European is known to have visited the Black-foot during that period. Therefore, the literature contains no first-hand observations of Blackfoot life at that time. We must inferthe conditions of that life from other sources.It seems to me there are four types of source materials which mayprove helpful in this reconstruction. These are: (1) the testimonyof aged Piegan and a Cree Indian living among the Piegan regardingconditions and events of the Pedestrian Culture Period, in the lateyears of which they had lived, as recorded by David Thompson in1787; (2) the traditions regarding life in the Pedestrian CulturePeriod surviving among aged Blackfoot Indians as reported in theliterature or obtained by word of mouth in the field ; (3) contemporarydescriptions of the life of other buffalo-hunting tribes in the Pedes-trian Culture Period written by white observers of those tribes ; and(4) apparent survivals of Pedestrian Culture traits among theBlackfoot, and/or neighboring tribes to the eastward, who wererelatively poor in horses in 19th-century buffalo days, as reportedby 19th-century observers and more recent ethnologists. Our pictureof Blackfoot life before the acquisition of horses must be a compositebased upon a careful and logical weighting of the information derivedfrom these four sources. At best this is an interpretation, not an exactportrayal.Before we consider specific changes wrought in the culture of theBlackfoot as a result of their acquisition and use of horses, we mustlocate them and characterize their Pedestrian Culture economy ingeneral terms. We need not concern ourselves here with the problemof the remote origins of the Blackfoot. Our interest lies in theirgeographical and cultural position in the years immediately preced-ing their acquisition of horses. 299 300 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159Kroeber (1939, p. 82) regarded the Blackfoot as "ancient occupantsof the northern tnie plains or rather of the foothills of the Rockiesand the plains tributary thereto." However, David Thompson, in1787, found that the testimony of elderly Piegan (born and raised inthe Pedestrian Culture Period) clearly pointed to that tribe's resi-dence on the Saskatchewan Plains, near the Eagle Hills, some 400miles east of the Rockies, in the early 18th century. It was not untilafter the Blackfoot tribes obtained both horses and guns that theypushed southwestward to the foothills of the mountains and the areathat became their historic homeland (Thompson, 1916, pp. 327-329,348).Blackfoot traditions support this interpretation of the southwest-ward movement of these people in early historic times. This move-ment is also attested by traditions of the Flathead and Kutenai,whom the Blackfoot drove from the eastern foothills of the Rockiesin present Alberta and Montana (Ferris, 1940, pp. 90-92; Thomp-son, 1916, pp. 304, 327-344, 463; Teit, 1930, pp. 316-321).Assuming that the Piegan lived near the Eagle Hills and the Bloodand North Blackfoot resided at no great distance from them to thenorthward or eastward in the period immediately preceding theiracquisition of horses, it follows that the Blackfoot tribes were on thegrassy plains well within the range of the buffalo at that time. Thislocality was north of the known limits of aboriginal maize cultiva-tion in the Great Plains. Although the Blackfoot probably grewsmall plots of tobacco, it is improbable that they raised food crops.They were hunters of buffalo and smaller game and collectors ofwild plant foods in season.Thompson also found that elderly Piegan had "no tradition thatthey ever made use of canoes" (Thompson, 1916, p. 348). It appearsclear, then, that the pre-horse Blackfoot of the early 18th centurywere pedestrians. Presumably they walked over the Plains, carry-ing their possessions by dog transport and on their own backs, inquest of buffalo, in warmer weather and retreated to timbered rivervalleys or to marginal forested areas in winter. The basic economyof the historic Blackfoot, characterized by dependence upon thebuffalo for food, some clothing, and shelter (lodge covers), antedatedthe Horse Culture Period.HORSE ACQUISITION AS A STIMULUS TO CULTURAL INNOVATIONThe horse differed both physically and behaviorly from the dog,which had been the Indian's only domesticated animal and only beastof burden in the Pedestrian Culture period. This fact alone requiredextensive adjustments in the daily habits of Indians who undertookto acquire, breed, care for, and use horses. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 301The fact that the horse was a grass- rather than a meat-eater (aswas the dog) compelled the Indians to pay close attention to pas-turage requirements. Good grass for the horses became a determin-ing factor in the selection of campsites and the duration of occupa-tion of those sites. "When horses consumed the grass in the neighbor-hood of a camp, that camp had to be moved. Eventually the Indiansgained practical knowledge of the grasses and tree bark affordingthe best horse feed. They endeavored to locate their more settledwinter camps in places where the best winter forage could be found.Thus the feeding habits of horses conditioned Blackfoot nomadism.In addition, the need to protect farflung grazing herds of horses in-creased the area of camps to be defended against enemy attacks.The fact that the horse was too large to keep inside the skin lodgewith the family, that it habitually strayed if not restrained or care-fully watched, and that it did not bark (as did the dog) in the pres-ence of strangers, presented problems in the care and protection ofdomesticated animals such as were unknown to Indians of the Pedes-trian Culture Period. Methods of herding, hobbling, picketing, cor-ralling, and specialized winter care were developed in attempting tosolve these problems posed by the very nature of the horse itself. Thedaily care and breeding of sizable herds of horses gave to the old hunt-ing culture something of a pastoral quality unknown to the cultures ofmost primitive hunting peoples.The fact that the horse was larger and stronger than the dog andthat it could be taught quickly to drag or bear heavy burdens or tocarry a grown man on its back served to condition its functions inIndian culture. Methods of training horses and of teaching Indiansto ride and manage these lively animals had to be perfected. Thesemethods necessitated the learning of new motor habits on the part ofthe Indians. The manufacture of riding and transport gear becamea new home industry requiring specialized manual skills. Adaptinghorses to the three primary uses of hunting, moving camp, and warfarepresented numerous problems of varying complexity which challengedIndian ingenuity &nd stimulated thought. "V\Tiether the Blackfootfound answers to these problems for themselves or whether they bor-rowed the methods and techniques of other horse-using tribes, it iscertain that every Blackfoot born and raised in the Horse CulturePeriod was required to learn motor and manual habits, owing to thepresence of the horse in his cultural environment, of which Indiansof the Pedestrian Culture Period were entirely ignorant.Through careful observation of horses, while living in daily con-tact with them, the Blackfoot Indians gained remarkable understand-ing of these animals. Their knowledge is illustrated by their abilityto distinguish their own horses from those of other owners on sight. 302 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 without recourse to brands or other identifying marks ; by their keenjudgment of the relative values and merits of horses; and by theirdiscrimination of some 10 types of horses on the basis of their abilityand/or training to perform specialized services, i. e. : (1) the primarycharger (buffalo hunting and war horse), (2) the winter huntinghorse, (3) the common saddle horse, (4) the travois horse, (5) thepack horse, (6) the pole-dragging horse, (7) the race horse, (8) thestud, (9) the brood mare, and (10) the lead mare of a gi-azing herd.That the horse, which literally lifted the Indian off his feet, broad-ened his concepts of area and distance, shortened his concepts of traveltime, altered his opinions of the difficulties of moving camp andmaking a living, and that it quickened the tempo of his life and madethat life more exciting, cannot be denied, even though we lack precisetechniques for evaluating the psychological influences of the acquisi-tion and use of horses upon the Indians.INFLUENCE ON HUNTINGBlackfoot traditions point to the surround on foot as the favoritemethod of hunting buffalo before their ancestors acquired horses,(irinnell (1892, p. 234) obtained a tradition to that effect more than 60years ago. Weasel Tail described a method of surrounding the buffalowhich he had been told was employed by the Blood Indians beforethey had horses : After swift-running men located a herd of buffalo, the chief told all thewomen to get their dog travois. Men and women went out together, approach-ing the herd from down wind so the animals would not get their scent and runoff. The women were told to place their travois upright in the earth, small(front) ends up. The travois were spaced so that they could be tied together,forming a semicircular fence. Women and dogs hid behind them while twofast-running men circled the buffalo herd, approached them from up wind, anddrove them toward the travois fence. Other men took their positions alongthe sides of the route and closed in as the buffalo neared the travois enclosure.Barking dogs and shouting women kept the buffalo back. The men rushed inand killed the buffalo with arrows and lances.After the buffalo were killed the chief went into the centre of the enclosure,counted the dead animals, and divided the meat equally among the participatingfamilies. He also distributed the hides to the families for making lodge covers.The women hauled the meat to camp on their dog travois. This was called sur-round of the buffalo.It is certain that Blackfoot traditions of the surround on foot arein keeping with similar traditions among the Cheyenne (Grinnell,1923, vol. 1, pp. 264 ff.) and Kiowa (Mishkin, 1940, p. 20). Further-more, contemporary writers furnished definite proof of the employ-ment of the surround by pedestrian tribes farther east in huntingbuffalo prior to 1700. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 303 Sieur Pierre Deliette, who accompanied a village of the Illinois ona buffalo hnnt in 1688, not only described their surround of the buffaloon foot, but observed that guards prevented the disruption of thecommunal effort by attempts to hunt alone in advance of the village.These guards punished offenders through destruction of their property "without the man or woman saying a single word" (Pease andWerner, 1934 b, pp. 307-311).Henry Kelsey, the first white man known to have met Indians onthe northern Plains, described the buffalo surround on foot of theAssiniboin or Cree in 1691 : Now ye manner of their hunting these Beasts on ye Barren ground is whenthey seek a great parcel of them together they surround them with men whichdone they gather themselves into a smaller Compass Keeping ye Beasts still inye middle and so shooting ym till they brealJ out at some place or other and soget away from ym. [Kelsey, 1929, p. 13,]Nicholas Perrot noted that some of the eastern marginal tribes firedthe prairie grass to prevent the surrounded buffalo from escaping thepedestrian hunters (Blair, 1912, vol. 1, pp. 120-122).Blackfoot traditions also refer to the impounding of buffalo anddriving them over cliffs. They credit the mythological character.Blood Clot, with the initiation of the buffalo fall. We know thatimpounding buffalo was practiced on the Plains before the Indiansacquired horses, for Spanish explorers witnessed the construction anduse of a Cottonwood corral by a village of 50 lodges of foot Indiansnear the Canadian River in 1599 (Bolton, 1916, pp. 227-228). Thesurvival of impounding among the Assiniboin and Cree, eastern neigh-bors of the Blackfoot, until the end of buffalo days was due primarilyto their relative poverty in horses.Granted that the Blackfoot employed one or more methods of com-munal buffalo hunting before they acquired horses, we then havea clue to their community organization at that time. Surrounding orimpounding of buffalo by footmen could not have been successfullyaccomplished by camps composed of relatively small family groups.The cooperative hunt necessitated a band or village organization of10 or preferably more lodges. Saukamaupee told David Thompsonof "small camps of ten to thirty tents" of Piegan which were obligedto separate for hunting in pre-horse times, as well as a large gatheringof some 350 warriors who feasted and danced for several days beforestarting to battle against the Shoshoni ca. 1723 (Thompson, 1916, pp.328-329). This suggests that pre-horse buffalo-hunting techniqueswere efficient enough to permit seasonal convocations of several bandsor whole tribes. That, of course, was the seasonal pattern in the 19thcentury. Alexander Henry, in 1811, noted that the Piegan dispersedinto small camps of 10 to 20 lodges in winter and united in large 304 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 camps of 100 to 200 lodges in summer (Henry and Thompson, 1897, vol. 2, p. 723) . Apparently the basic pattern of the Blackfoot yearlyround was established before the introduction of horses in response tothe requirements of buffalo hunting and ceremonial practices.^Nevertheless, buffalo hunting on foot in the Pedestrian CulturePeriod must have been exceedingly dangerous, arduous, time consum-ing, and sometimes unsuccessful. Early historic accounts of impound-ing and falling buffalo told of repeated failures to lure the game intothe traps prepared for them (Bolton, 1916, pp. 227-228; Cocking,1908, pp. 109-112; Henry and Thompson, 1897, vol. 2, pp. 576-577).If buffalo were nearly as plentiful on the Saskatchewan Plains inpre-horse times as they were known to have been in 1754 and lateryears, the early hunters occasionally must have slaughtered many moreanimals than their immediate needs required. This must have encour-aged feasting on choice morsels and waste of considerable quantitiesof less desirable meat after a very successful hunt. On the other hand,the migratory habits of the buffalo and the limited mobility of thepedestrian Indians must have caused periods of food scarcity, reducedrations, and occasionally, perhaps, starvation. Probably famine wasmost common in winter in those days, just as periods of relative scar-city were experienced in later years when deep snows or icy groundprevented the use of horses in hunting. In the severest winter weatherhistoric Blackfoot buffalo hunters enjoyed no advantage over theirprehistoric ancestors. They were forced to revert to methods ofstalking buffalo on foot which must have been practiced by theirforebears long before horses reached the Blackfoot country.In the matter of food supply the greatest advantage horse usersenjoyed over their pedestrian ancestors lay in their ability to transportquantities of dried provisions to their winter camps in the fall ofthe year as insurance against hunger and starvation during the mostinclement winter months. Not only could horsemen follow the buffalomore closely and keep within striking range of fresh meat throughoutmost of the year, but they could save a portion of their fair weathersurplus for consumption during periods of foul weather scarcity.Probably horses were first adapted to hunting buffalo in the com-munal hunt. In the mounted surround the Indians simply took ad-vantage of the horse's greater mobility to expedite the kill. Horsemenalso replaced footmen in driving and luring buffalo into pounds orover cliffs. The buffalo drive with the aid of horses survived untilafter the middle of the 19th century among the Blackfoot. Probablyit was retained longest by those bands who were relatively poor inhorses. "^ La V^rendrye's (1927, pp. 311, 313) observations of the pedestrian, buffalo-liuntingAssiniboin in 1738, mention their organization Into sizable bands. In the fall of thatyear he met a village of 40 lodges, and visited another of 102 lodges. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 305 It was the chase on horseback that fully exploited the horse'sability to run faster than the swiftest buffalo. This new huntingtechnique was more efficient and adaptable than any method previ-ously employed. Not only did it require a fraction of the time andenergy but it was less dangerous and more certain of success thanother methods. It could be employed by a single hunter or the menof an entire village. Within a few minutes a skilled hunter, mountedon a fleet, intelligent, buffalo horse could kill at close range enoughbuffalo to supply his family with meat for months. Yet the chaserequired no new weapon. The bow and arrow, and lance, both cer-tainly known to their pedestrian ancestors, remained the favoriteweapons of Blackfoot buffalo hunters until the introduction of breech-loading rifles, barely a decade before the extermination of the buffalo.The effectiveness of the chase on horseback was due primarily to theemployment of carefully selected, trained, long-winded, buffalo horses.Consequently these horses were prized possessions. Their selectionand training became important men's activities.Once a considerable number of tribal members acquired buffalohunting horses, hunting on foot became obsolete as a warmer weathertechnique. As the trader, Nathaniel J. Wyeth, shrewdly observeda century ago, "It is a well-established fact that men on foot cannotlive even in the best game countries, in the same camp with thosewho have horses. The latter reach the game, secure what they want,and drive it beyond the reach of the former" (Wyeth, 1851, vol. 1, p.208). Police regulation of the tribal summer hunt, which we havenoted was a characteristic of pre-horse communal buffalo hunt-ing, preserved the fiction of equal opportunity for all. Actually itenabled the owner of the fastest running horse to get first chanceat the herd. It deprived the poor man, who owned no buffalohorse, of the right to hunt. It is obvious that under such condi-tions the poor would have been much worse off than they would havebeen under pre-horse conditions, when every family in the camp par-ticipated actively in the hunt and shared of its spoils, unless specialprovisions were made for their benefit. The Blackfoot adopted twomeasures necessary for the welfare of the poor: (1) the loaning ofbuffalo horses to the poor by the wealthy, and (2) the presentation ofoutright gifts of meat to the poor by successful hunters.Undoubtedly the quickness and ease with which buffalo could bedispatched by mounted hunters released active men's time and con-served their energies for other activities such as warfare, feasting,and ceremonies. A relatively small number of hunters could supplymeat for a band while other young men of the camp journeyed on pro-longed horse raids. Certainly the ease with which mounted hunters287944?55 21 306 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 could kill buffalo encouraged the slaughter of many more animalsthan the Indians needed for subsistence and hastened buffalo ex-termination.INFLUENCE ON CAMP MOVEMENTS AND POSSESSIONS "In the old days, before the Blackfoot had horses, they weremoving camp with dog-travois." So reads the start of a Blackfoottale describing the origin of the Bear Lodge (Wissler and Duvall,1908, p. 92). Many Blackfoot origin tales begin with references tothe use of dogs as beasts of burden in the days before these Indiansacquired horses. (See pp. 291, 295, this bulletin.) There can be noserious doubt of the historical validity of such initial statements.Probably use of dogs as beasts of burden was common to all PlainsIndian tribes in pre-horse times. We know that Spanish explorerssaw southern Plains tribes moving camp via dog transport in the16th century (Winship, 1896, pp. 504-527; Onate in Bolton, 1916,pp. 226-227) ; that Bourgmont saw pedestrian Kansas traveling withloaded dogs in 1724 (Margry, 1886, vol. 6, p. 414) ; and that LaVerendrye witnessed the use of dog travois by horseless Assiniboin,near neighbors of the Blackfoot, in 1738 (La Verendrye, 1927, pp.317-318).Both dog packing and the dog travois survived among the Black-foot in historic times. William Gordon (in Chardon, 1932, p. 342)and John Work (1923, p. 129), fur traders, saw Blackfoot war partiespacking moccasins, ammunition, and provisions on the backs of dogsin the early 19th century. In March, 1824, Alexander Ross (1913,p. 373) met "eight Piegan and a drove of dogs in train with pro-visions and robes for trade at the Flathead post." My aged in-formants recalled that even in their youth, in the waning years ofbuffalo hunting, families poor in horses made extensive use of dogtravois, while heavy winter snows sometimes rendered horses uselessfor carrying or dragging loads, causing whole bands to revert tem-porarily to the use of dog transport.Compared with the horse the dog was a bearer of relatively lightburdens. Assuming that the dog employed by the Indians in pre-horse times was the same size and strength as the Indian dog of the19th century, described by Bradley (1923, p. 278) as "very similarin appearance to the large gray wolf," I estimate a strong dog wascapable of packing a load of approximately 50 pounds or of dragging75 pounds on the travois.^^ Although early descriptions of the num-ber of dogs seen under load in moving camps of Plains Indians men-tion as many as several hundred animals, the proportion of dogs to "" These estimates are based upon a survey of numerous estimates of the weight of dogloadg appearing In the Plains Indian literature, as well as testimony of older informants. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 307 families, when given in the literature, does not exceed 6 to 12. Thenecessity for feeding dogs (which were meat eaters like their mas-ters) must have placed practical limits upon the number of dogsowned in pre-horse days. Difficulties of managing dogs on the movemust have been other factors limiting their numbers as burdenbearers. Informants frequently mentioned the penchant of travoisdogs for chasing rabbits or female dogs, for fighting among them-selves, and for running into streams to drink while in harness. Toprevent dog fights travois had to be spaced some distance apartwhile on the move. To supplement the services of the dogs, womenof the camps had to carry heavy burdens on their backs. I havepointed out the survival of this custom among horse-poor tribes inhistoric times (pp. 142-143). Dog transport was wholly inadequatefor conveying the aged, sick, or infirm adults. Informants esti-mated that a train of heavily loaded dogs would travel no more than5 or 6 miles a day.Limited transport facilities inevitably restricted the weight ofbaggage that could be carried by the pre-horse nomads, and thuslimited their possessions. In 1599, Onate observed that the lodgecovers of the southern Plains Indians met by his expedition weretransported by medium-sized dogs and weighed less than "two ar-robas" (50 pounds) (Bolton, 1916, p. 227). Unless the buffalo-cow-skins of which those covers were made were dressed thinner, andtherefore were lighter in weight than the buffaloskins used for lodgecovers in later years, the covers seen by Onate must have comprisedno more than six or seven skins. Six or seven skin lodges are at-tributed to the Blackfoot of the Pedestrian Culture Period in tribaltraditions. Larger covers could have been used if they were madein two pieces, each transported on the back or travois of a singledog. But the necessity for dragging the lodgepoles, which increasedin length and weight with the size of the lodge, must have encouragedthe use of small lodges in the years before horses were availablefor pole dragging services.One aged Blackfoot informant had heard a tradition to the effectthat some of his pre-horse ancestors did not use a tipi at all butstretclied buffaloskins over upended dog travois to form a shelter.The use of such a shelter would have eliminated the necessity oftransporting tipi poles when camp moved. Grinnell (1923, vol. 1,p. 50) reported Cheyenne traditions of their former use of this typeof shelter. Wilson (1924, pp. 223-224, figs. 51-55) described andpictured this type of structure as employed by Hidatsa in the thirdquarter of the 19th century when suitable tipi poles were not avail-able. It provided sleeping quarters for as many as 11 people.Maximilian (1906, vol. 23, p. 16) actually saw horse-poor Assiniboin 308 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 erecting temporaiy traveling huts of poles, dog travois, and brushnear Fort Union in 1833. There is, therefore, ample proof of theuse of a dog travois foundation shelter by northern Plains Indians.HoAvever, I am inclined to believe that the tipi probably was theprimary dwelling of the Blackfoot of the Pedestrian Culture Period.All available information, both traditional and comparative, pointsto the relative smallness of the homes of the pre-horse Blackfoot.Nevertheless, it is possible that two or more families may haveshared a single lodge in order to minimize the load to be transported.In 1700, Le Sueur (1902, p. 187) noted that "two or three men withtheir families" lived in one buffaloskin lodge among the pedestrianSioux near present Mankato, Minn. Three quarters of a centurylater the elder Henry (1809, p. 309) observed that two to four fam-ilies resided in a lodge among the horse-poor Assiniboin.The baggage that could be carried by dogs and women, over andabove the lodge itself, must have been very limited. Elaborate lodgefurnishings, numerous changes of clothing, extensive supplies of freshor dried meat, wild fruits and vegetables would have been excess bag-o-aoe to the pre-horse Blackfoot. So probably would have been largeand bulky medicine bundles, such as the natoas, medicine pipe, andbeaver bundles of the late 19th century represented in museum col-lections today. If such bundles existed they probably were of lesscomplex, more rudimentary form. The great bulk of the baggagemust have consisted of articles essential to daily living. In the mea-gerness of its possessions the average Blackfoot family of the Pedes-trian Culture Period must have resembled the poor family of 19thcentury buffalo days, and for the same basic reason?lack of facilitiesfor transporting heavy loads when camp was moved.The application of horse power to camp movement enabled theBlackfoot to move farther and faster with heavier loads. The horse,packing 200 pounds on its back or hauling 300 pounds on the travois,could move four times the load of a heavily burdened dog twice asfar in a day's march. Thus, animal for animal the horse was eighttimes as efficient as the dog as a burden bearer. Horse transportpermitted the manufacture, use, and movement of lodges with largerand heavier covers and longer poles?larger Indian homes. Not onlycould the family of average means have a home of its own, but thewealthy family often possessed more than one lodge. Not only couldessential possessions be moved, but bulky or heavy articles of onlyoccasional use could be taken along. Women no longer were com-pelled to carry backbreaking burdens, but rode horseback and con-served their energies for other tasks. The aged and the physicallyhandicapped could be carried on travois, and were no longer in dangerof abandonment on the Plains by their able-bodied fellows. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 309 Possession of a herd of horses was the prime requisite of the familythat would enjoy these advantages of a higher standard of living.In historic Blackfoot culture that meant families of wealth and ofthe middle class. Poor families not only lacked these advantagesbut were handicaps to the more fortunate. When camp was movedthe latter were faced with the problem of slackening their pace tothat of the poor pedestrians, of leaving the poor families behind,cr of furnishing the poor with enough horses to move their meagerpossessions at a more rapid rate. Enlightened self-interest motivatedwealthy families in loaning some of their surplus horses to the poorfor moving camp.It is noteworthy that the dog travois did not become entirely out-moded after the acquisition of horses. The dog travois remained auseful contrivance for gathering wood near camp and for auxiliarytransport in carrying light articles when camp moved. Lightly bur-dened dogs could keep pace with the more heavily burdened horses.Finally, possession of a number of dogs trained for travois duty servedas insurance against some evil day when a family horse herd mightbe stolen by enemy raiders or lost through disease or winter storms,as well as against the hard winter when dogs might travel overcrusted snows in which burdened horses would have bogged down.INFLUENCE ON WARFARESaukamappee told David Thompson (1916, pp. 328-332) of large-scale battles between the Piegan and Shoshoni in pre-horse times, inwhich the opposing forces, although ostensibly seeking enemy scalps,were content to form lines facing each other, barely within arrowrange, protecting themselves behind large rawhide shields (3 feet indiameter), while shooting arrows at their opponents from their longbows (the length of which came to their chins). This was a fire fightwhich continued until darkness put an end to the battle. Casualtieswere few and there was no close contact if the numbers of the com-peting forces were nearly equal. Although the warriors carried lances,knives, and battle axes, they apparently made no use of these shockweapons unless there was sufficient disparity in numbers between theforces to encourage the larger one to close with the enemy.The acquisition of guns and horses rendered that old, static, pri-marily defensive, pitched battle obsolete. No longer could a warriorhide behind his shield in safety. Accent shifted to offensive mobility.Defensive weapons, the 3-foot shield and body armor, which impededmovement on horseback, were discarded. Only a small, rawhideshield, just large enough to cover the vital organs of a mounted war-rior, was used for protection. Even muzzle-loading firearms were oflimited service to the mounted warrior, who found difficulty in reload- 310 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159ing them on a running horse. The old reliable bow and arrows (thebow shortened to facilitate its use on horseback) remained the pri-mary lire weapons, while the lance, war club, and knife continued incommon use as shock weapons. The mounted charge brought com-batants into close contact affording them opportunities for wieldingtheir favorite shock weapons in hand-to-hand conflicts in which the skill, strength, agility, and courage of the individual were of vitalimportance. Although this man-to-man fighting tended to increasecasualties greatly, it also offered much greater opportunities forIndians to achieve individual coups or war honors, which were scaledaccording to the degree of courage required to win them.Saukamappee also informed Thompson (ibid., p. 329) that thegreatest damage in the scalp raids of the pre-horse period occurredwhen a larger force surprised, attacked, and massacred a small campof 10 to 30 lodges, which was obliged to separate for hunting. Prob-ably that type of action was much more common in pre-horse warfarethan the indecisive pitched battle between forces of nearly equal size.It also occurred with some frequency in historic times, with the samedisastrous results.The precursor of the horse raid in Blackfoot warfare must have beenthe slave raid. Girls or young women from neighboring tribes werecaptured for economic reasons as well as for purposes of sexual grati-fication. They provided needed assistance in the communal hunt,performed laborious household chores, and carried burdens whencamp was moved. The early literature of the northern Plains tellsof the practice of slave raiding in the middle of the 18th century. Infact, it was an "Earchethune" (Blackfoot or Gros Ventres) slave,taken to Fort York by her Assiniboin or Cree captors some time priorto 1743, who inspired James Isham to send Anthony Hendry to seekto open trade with the distant tribes of the Upper Saskatchewan in1754 (Isham, 1949, pp. 113-15) . At the "Archithinue" village of 200lodges Hendry "saw many fine girls who were captives," proving thatthose people also took female slaves (Hendry, 1907, p. 339). The 50or more slaves seen by Bougainville (1908, pp. 187-189) at the Frenchposts in present ]\Ianitoba and Saskatchewan in 1757, probably in-cluded some Blackfoot women. As late as the first decade of the 19fchcentury neighboring Cree still referred to the Blackfoot as "slaves,"although by that time horse raiding had largely supplanted slaveraiding in the warfare of the area (Henry and Thompson, 1897, vol.2, p. 523) . It seems fair to assume that the capture of female slaves,prominently mentioned by mid-18th-century observers, was a survi-val from pre-horse times and did not originate in the few years be-tween the acquisition of horses and the first historic mention of slaveraiding in and near the Blackfoot country. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 311We have no detailed description of northern Plains slave-raidingprocedures, but the De Gannes memoir (Pease and "Werner, 1934 b,pp. 375-388) gives a very clear account of Illinois slave raids againstthe Pawnee and Quapaw ca. 1700. Many elements of the Illinoisslave raid closely resembled those of Blackfoot horse raids of historictimes. Particularly noteworthy are the following: (1) the slave raidwas distinguished in procedure from that of the large war party seek-ing scalps, (2) slave-raiding parties were small, not ordinarily ex-ceeding 20 persons, (3) members carried birdskin war medicines, (4)youngest members performed menial tasks for experienced raiders,(5) scouts were sent ahead of the outgoing party to reconnoiter theenemy, (6) inexperienced members remained with the baggage in aconcealed location, while (7) experienced men made a dawn attackon the enemy camp to secure prisoners, (8) the raiding party made aspeedy departure with their prisoners, marching two days and nightswithout stopping, (9) the capture of a prisoner was reckoned as awar honor of higher rank than the killing of an enemy.This slave-raiding pattern may have been an old one, widespreadamong Algonquian and perhaps other tribes as well, and known to thepre-horse Blackfoot Indians. Certainly, elements of this raid areclearly observable in the pattern of the Blackfoot horse raid of the19th century as described by my informants and in the literature (seepp. 177-189).The primary motive for Blackfoot horse raiding in the 18th century,when horses were new to the Blackfoot country, must have been eco-nomic?the desire to obtain animals needed for hunting buffalo andtransporting baggage. I believe the economic motive remained domi-nant until the end of buffalo days. Need, not greed or glory, was themajor stimulus impelling most young men to engage in the hazardoustime and energy-consuming enterprise of the horse raid. WealthyBlackfoot comprised a small minority. They were generally men ofmiddle or advanced years, many of whom were unusually successful asbreeders of horses. The average Blackfoot family found it difficult tomeet the needs of its nomadic existence with the number of horses itpossessed. There were few young men who did not need more horsesthan their families could spare them if they were to marry and raisefamilies; while the sons of poor families, who far outnumbered thefavored children of the rich, were noted as the most active and in-veterate horse thieves. The fact that a captured horse counted as awar honor served as a secondary stimulus to horse raiding. But wemust not overestimate the importance of that stimulus. This was alow-grade coup, an impressive assemblage of which alone would notqualify a man for leadership in his band. 312 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 It was the continuing economic need for horses, periodicallyheightened by serious losses of horses from enemy raids, destruction byplagues or severe winter storms, that made horse raiding the mostcommon form of Blackfoot warfare and tended to perpetuate thistype of warfare. Once undertaken, horse raiding continued, since itsbasic cause, an inadequate supply of horses to meet the needs of dailyliving, persisted. The horse raid remained the average young man'ssurest road to economic security and social advancement as longas the nomadic life based upon buffalo hunting persisted.I have found no evidence whatsoever, of either traditional or com-parative nature, to suggest that the Blackfoot ever made a practiceof raiding neighboring tribes to secure dogs or were forced to defendtheir camps from attacks by enemy dog thieves. The defensive meas-ures adopted against alien horse raiders, the individual lodge watchof picketed animals, and the corral, must have been developed afterhorses were acquired in response to the obvious need for their protec-tion. Yet neither the Blackfoot nor their neighbors perfected anadequate, organized, nightly defense against enemy horse-raidingparties, something that could have been easily provided by placing afew armed men on watch each night. In the historic horse raid, as inthe scalp raid, emphasis was placed upon offensive operations.INFLUENCE ON TRADEThe important role of the horse in Blackfoot trade in historic buffalodays was due to this animal's recognized usefulness and the fact thatthe supply of horses never equaled the demand for them. It is doubt-ful if any item played a role of such importance in the barter of thePedestrian Culture Period. In those days dogs must have had a muchgreater value than they did after horses relegated them to a placeof secondary importance as burden bearers. A stronger than aver-age, tractable travois or pack dog must have demanded a good price.However, dogs could have been bred in litters too rapidly for themto have been in short supply. Perhaps female captives (slaves) werethe most valuable items of barter in those times. But the demand forthem must have been limited compared with the later demand forhorses. Probably food, clothing, lodges, ornaments, and weaponswere bartered by the early Blackfoot among themselves if not inintertribal trade as well.Although the historic Blackfoot commonly exchanged horses forbuffalo robes, articles of clothing, weapons, and ceremonial bundles, therelative values of these articles in comparison with horses were notfixed. Trading generally involved agreement between the two partiesengaged as to a fair exchange. Qualitative differences in horses were Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 313 recognized. A good race horse or a buffalo runner was worth severalcommon pack animals. Consequently the best horses had a premiumvalue in trades involving items other than horses. Even more subtledistinctions were made between the worth of two race horses or twobuffalo horses. Wealthy men were expected to pay more dearly thanwere people of modest means.Live horses were always more valuable to the Blackfoot than weredead ones. These Indians seldom killed horses for food, and thenonly in cases of dire necessity. The hide, hair, teeth, and other horseproducts made into useful articles were derived from animals whichhad died of accidental or natural causes. The number of these itemswas very restricted in comparison with the great variety of usefularticles derived from buffalo.INFLUENCE ON RECREATIONThe prominent role of the horse in Blackfoot children's play duringthe Horse Culture Period mirrored the importance of that animal inthe life of their parents at that time. Children's play of the PedestrianCulture Period probably tended to imitate the serious activities of theirelders, and so differed from that of later children. When boys madeand played with wood, stone, or mud toy horses, or pretended to rideboldly on hobbyhorses ; when girls "moved camp" with conventional-ized stick horses equipped with miniature reproductions of riding andtransport gear bearing miniature household equipment packaged andpacked according to the custom of their culture, they were pleasantlyand painlessly preparing themselves for more responsible participa-tion in a culture in which management and use of horses were im-portant aspects of daily life.Horse racing probably replaced foot racing as the most popularsport of Blackfoot adults. Buffalo hunting, interband communica-tions, and intertribal warfare in the Pedestrian Culture Period musthave placed a premium upon physical stamina and speed of foot.The great Miniconjou chief, One Horn, bragged to Catlin of hisformer ability to run down a buffalo on foot and kill it with an arrow,as well as his record of having won every foot race he had entered(Catlin, 1841, vol. 1, p. 211). Yet the ability to run down a buffalomay have been fairly common in earlier times, when everyone huntedon foot. As late as the middle of the 19th century Denig ( 1930, p. 566)noted that next to being a good hunter and warrior men of the UpperMissouri tribes prized "the name of being a good runner (fast andlong)." Foot racing survived among the historic Blackfoot in inter-society contests at the Sun Dance encampment, but horse racing sur-passed it in popular interest. Stamina, a quality necessary to the 314 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 buffalo horse, was the greatest asset of the race horse, for the course,as a rule, was a lengthy one. No other horse was as highly prized bythe Blackfoot as was the winning racer.Indirectly the horse influenced other forms of Blackfoot recreation.I have described (pp. 236-238) the introduction of horse symbolisminto the intersociety hoop and pole game. The common employmentof valuable horses as stakes in gambling must have encouraged interestin other games of chance even though the games themselves may havebeen known to the Blackfoot in earlier times.INFLUENCE ON SOCIAL LIFEDuring the Pedestrian Culture Period, when men literally stoodon an equal footing, class distinctions must have been less marked thanin historic times. The cooperative hunt was an organization of nearequals in which the kill was equally divided among participatingfamilies. Limited transportation facilities inhibited the accumula-tion of property and militated against social stratification based uponwealth. Undoubtedly individuals who achieved outstanding war rec-ords or possessed supernatural powers to call the buffalo (beaverbundle owners), to cure the sick, or to perform acts of magic attainedpositions of distinction and leadership which ranked them above theaverage man.After the introduction of horses permitted the accumulation ofproperty, social status came to depend less upon a man's physicaland mental qualities and more upon the number and quality of hispossessions. A class system began to develop in which there wererich, middle-class, and poor families, distinguished primarily on thebasis of their relative wealth or poverty in horses.The rich man owned not only the most horses but generally the bestones as well. Wealth in horses permitted rich men to care for anduse their animals so as to increase their numbers and enhance theirvalue. Rich men owned the largest and best-furnished lodges, thefinest clothing, and the most sacred and valuable medicine bundles.They also enjoyed certain privileges denied the other classes. Theyhad the widest choice of mates in marriage and could take the mostwives. They could even get away with murder by presenting horsesto relatives of the deceased man. On the other hand, the rich manwas expected to accept responsibilities which men of the other classesdid not shoulder. He was expected to assist the poor through giftsof food and horses and loans of horses for buffalo hunting and movingcamp. He was expected to be generous in his hospitality and liberalin his barter with others. Probably no one was more genuinely dis-liked by the majority of the Blackfoot than the stingy man of wealth. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 315 Blackfoot Indians of the middle class shared the advantages ofthat higher standard of living made possible by the ownership anduse of horses. Generally their possessions were more modest in num-ber, size, and/or quality than those of rich people, but they were surelyfiner and more numerous than those of the average Blackfoot in pre-horse times. The middle-class man possessed the means to enable himto participate fully in the social, economic, and religious life of hisband and tribe. On rare occasions he might need assistance from hisrelatives in assembling horses for gifts or purchases.It is questionable, however, whether the poor were not worse offthan they would have been in the Pedestrian Culture Period. Theirpossessions actually may have been no more meager than were those ofthe average family in earlier times. But during the Horse CulturePeriod their lodges, clothing, weapons, etc. were so inferior as tomake their living definitely substandard. Lack of horses alone pre-vented them from hunting buffalo or moving camp with their fellowsunless they received assistance through loans of horses by wealthyrelatives or band leaders. They became dependent followers of theleader who offered them most in economic security. Their povertydenied them participation in many activities which previous writershave considered typical of Blackfoot culture in general, such as thecompanionship of polygamous marriage, membership in societies, thewearing of elaborately decorated dress clothing, and the manipulationof complex and powerful sacred bundles.Yet under the conditions of life prevailing in buffalo days the Black-foot class system did not become crystallized. Hazards beyond theircontrol prevented members of the wealthy class from becoming per-manently entrenched. Enemy horse raiders, winter storms, or diseasemight wipe out the rich man's herd quickly and without warning.Buffalo-Back-Fat's sage advice to members of his family (pp. 241-242)to invest heavily in valuable other than horses, might have counter-acted the damaging effects of such losses upon social status had it beenmore widely followed. If wealth might be short-lived, poverty neednot be permanent for the poor young man who possessed ambition andcourage. Through aggressive action, in repeated raids upon enemycamps, he might acquire the horses necessary to raise both his economicand social status. The rise of poor but ambitious young men as wellas the fall of unfortunate wealthy families kept the class system fluid.Women's status was decidedly improved as a result of the acquisi-tion of horses. Women were emancipated from the toil of carryingheavy burdens in moving camp and from active participation in pro-longed hunts afoot. Some of the time and energy they saved mayhave been devoted to the perfection of arts and crafts for which theremust have been an increased demand, now that people could transport 316 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 many changes of clothing and seek handsome gear to show off theirhorses. The decadence of shxve raiding decreased women's fears ofbeing taken captive by alien peoples.The coming of the horse offered greater security to the aged and thephysically handicapped. Whereas their lives were formerly sacrificedbecause they could not be taken along with the moving camp, thesepeople could live well in the Horse Culture Period if they owned horseswhich others might use to kill buffalo and move camp for them.Stingy, the wealthy, blind, influential Piegan (frequently mentionedin previous pages) , probably would have died in infancy had he beenborn during the Pedestrian Culture Period.The band, basic political and residential unit among the Blackfoot,probably was a stable, exogamic organization of blood relatives, ledby the most able, mature man in the group in the Pedestrian CulturePeriod. By the waning decades of buffalo days the Blackfoot bandhad become a fluid organization, composed both of related and unre-lated families, within which marriage was permitted. Necessity forextensive reorganization of bands following serious plagues and warlosses in historic times undoubtedly contributed to this change in thecharacter of Blackfoot bands. Dependence of the poor in horses uponthe charity of wealthy leaders helped to keep the bands fluid. Thepoor followed the leader who was able and willing to offer them thegreatest security through dispensing gifts of food and gifts or loansof horses. They readily shifted their band allegiance if they thoughtthey could improve their condition thereby.It is doubtful whether the ability to dispense individually ownedproperty to other band members was a factor of any importance inthe selection of a band chief in the Pedestrian Culture Period when,presumably, there were no marked extremes of wealth and poverty.However, in the Horse Culture Period requirements for band leader-ship came to include considerable wealth and a willingness to employit for the alleviation of the poor.INFLUENCE ON RELIGION If the Blackfoot Indians looked upon dogs as sacred animals inthe days when dogs were their only domesticated animals, theirdescendants appear to have no traditions regarding that attitude. Ihave found no trace in Blackfoot culture of a dog cult organized forthe express purpose of appealing to dog spirits for aid in doctoringor influencing the actions of dogs.On the other hand, the horse came to occupy a position of consider-able prominence in Blackfoot religious beliefs and rituals. The sud-den appearance of this animal, whose services did so much to lightenthe daily tasks of the Indians and to raise their standard of living, Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 317demanded an explanation. The Blackfoot looked upon the horse as agodsend. In their mythology it was represented as a gift of powerfulsky or water spirits. Horses were thought to possess supernaturalpowers. The ability of certain horses to perform feats of unusualstrength or endurance was proof to the Indians that those animalspossessed those powers to a very high degree.Some horses were believed to have appeared to their owners indreams and conferred their powers upon them. Through such trans-ference of powers the secret horse medicine cult was believed to haveoriginated. The relatively few members of this cult carefullyguarded their knowledge of the origin of their medicines and restrictedtheir use by outsiders in such a way that their secrets would not berevealed. Members were feared and respected by fellow tribesmento the extent that many aged Indians still fear to discuss the cult.There are no other Blackfoot ceremonial organizations whose secretshave been so closely guarded, with the possible exceptions of the HornSociety among the Blood and the Tobacco Planters of the NorthBlackfoot. The influence of horse medicine men's activities pervadedthe fields of warfare, hunting, recreation, and curing, as well as thedaily lives of their people. Their ritual practices were designed toheal sick and wounded horses and to cure humans, to revive exhaustedhorses, to assist individuals in capturing horses from the enemy or inhandicapping enemy war horses, to prevent hunting horses from fall-ing in slippery winter weather and to retard the movements ofbujffalo in the hunt, to handicap race horses, to capture wild horses,and to prevent horses from straying from their owner's herds. Theirceremony, the horse dance, followed the generalized Blackfoot cere-monial bundle pattern but had distinctive features. Taboos observedby horse medicine men also were distinctive. There was a close rela-tionship between the horse medicine men and owners of medicinepipes whom the horse specialists customarily aided. These specialistsalso aided other Indians in the preparation of protective "horsebridles" worn under the heads of war horses on scalp raids.Indirectly the influence of the horse affected other Blackfoot re-ligious rituals. Horse payments were invariably made as inducementsto owners of ceremonial bundles to transfer their power to prospectivepurchasers. At intervals throughout the tribal Sun Dance ceremonyparticipants were required to recite their coups, most commonly ac-quired through raiding for horses. In the two cases of self-tortureduring a Sun Dance that have been recorded in detail, the suppliantsare known to have vowed to undergo the torture just before enteringenemy camps to take horses.Finally the horse was given a role of prominence in burial andmourning rites. The favorite horses of a wealthy individual were 318 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 killed near his grave so that their spirits might accompany his to theafterworld and there continue to be of service. The family thatcould not afford to sacrifice a horse was content to cut the mane andtail of one or more horses belonging to the deceased. There is a tradi-tion to the effect that dogs were sometimes killed at the graves oftheir owners before the Blackfoot acquired horses. If such was thecase, the substitution of horses for dogs simply indicated Blackfootrecognition of the greater value and usefulness of horses in theafterworld as well as in this one.THE HORSE AND THE FUR TRADE It has not been my intention to argue the influence of the horse inBlackfoot Indian culture at the expense of minimizing the influenceof the fur trade.^^ Both were powerful catalytic agents which con-tributed to the reshaping of Plains Indian culture in the historicperiod. Among the Blackfoot they were contemporary influences.Both the horse and trade goods began to reach the Blackfoot be-fore the middle of the 18th century and remained potent influencesuntil the end of buffalo days. However, it is not easy to isolate theinfluence of one as opposed to the other. The two influences comple-mented one another in bringing about radical changes in the tribalway of life. For example, both the horse and the fur trade encouragedIndian destruction of buffalo resources and contributed toward theextermination of the buffalo in the Blackfoot country. Use of horsesmade it easy for Indians to kill many more buffalo than were requiredfor their subsistence. The fur trade, offering ready markets for ex-cess hides and pemmican, made it profitable for them to do so.Looking at the question historically, we must recognize that theBlackfoot played a relatively insignificant part in the fur trade priorto 1831. Both Anthony Hendry and Mathew Cocking dejectedlyreported the "Archithinue" Indians' lack of interest in traveling totlie British posts to trade in the third quarter of the 18th century.Known movements of the Blackfoot during the 18th century wereaway from the British and French posts on the lower Saskatchewanto the eastward of them, southwestward toward the tribes from whomthey captured horses. After British posts were established in theircountry, on the Upper Saskatchewan, in the late years of that cen-tury and early years of the following one, the Blackfoot showed littleinterest in trapping small and valuable fur-bearing mammals forthe trade. They preferred to hunt buffalo on horseback and to re-main relatively independent of the traders. They traded primarilyhorses and pemmican at the forts. ** I have been a student of the fur trade among the Blackfoot for more than a decade.I am well avare of the influence of that trade on Blackfoot material culture. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 319 It was not until the American Fur Co. established a post on theMissouri (1831) in Blackfoot country, and that company began toaccept buffalo robes in trade, that the Blackfoot became importantprocurers of animal skins for the fur trade. Long before that timethe Blackfoot had become experienced in the use of horses. Onlythrough the use of horses for killing and transporting buffalo couldthe great number of robes supplied the traders by the Blackfoot inthe period ca. 1835-80 have been obtained. Only through the ex-ploitation of cheap and accessible land and water transportationcould traders handle a sufficient volume of heavy, bulky, and rela-tively cheap buffalo hides to make trade in them profitable. Themountain men, who continued to collect the furs of smaller mammalsand to transport them overland, made as extensive use of horses intheir operations as did the Blackfoot, whom they tried to avoid.Larpenteur's statement (p. 29, this bulletin) equating wealth inhorses, polygamy, and extensive trade at the posts clearly shows thecorrelation between Indian wealth in horses (which permitted the kill-ing of many buffalo), the polygamous union (which provided manyfemale hands to dress robes and skins for market), and large-scaletrade at the posts. It was the wealthy Indian who was the primarypatron of the trading posts. Poor men had few robes to offer.The fur trade furnished to the Indians new materials for use intheir manufactures, arts, and crafts. Their use of horses influencedthe form and function of many of the items made from these newmaterials. Metal knives obtained in trade greatly facilitated themanufacture of articles of rawhide. But these articles were pri-marily saddles, harness, and transport luggage especially designedfor use in moving camp with horses. The fur trade supplied glassbeads, cloth, metal, and shell for use in making and decorating arti-cles of clothing, as well as horse gear. Yet in designing these articlesthe Indians were mindful of the enhancement of their appearanceon horseback. Generally it was the wealthy family that possessed themost elaborately decorated costumes and riding and transport gear.Those who owned no horses had none of them.Both the horse and the gun influenced Indian warfare, encouragingthe abandonment of fighting in closely grouped, static lines, in favorof mobile, spread formations. Both horse and gun encouraged theabandonment of heavy, rawhide body armor which impeded physicalmovement without providing adequate protection from gunfire.When first employed by the Blackfoot against enemies unfamiliarwith the use of firearms, the muzzle-loading flintlock created a panicamong their opponents out of all proportion to its true effectivenessas a fire weapon (Thompson, 1916, pp. 330-332). But in later years,after both the Blackfoot and their neighbors were armed, the muzzle- 320 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159loader proved an ineffective cavalry weapon, because of the difficultyof reloading it on a running horse. Tlie Blackfoot hunter and war-rior continued to employ the traditional bow and arrow as his prin-cipal fire weapon until the introduction of breech-loading rifles in1870, a decade before the disappearance of the buffalo.One change in the material culture of the Blackfoot (and otherPlains Indians) that some writers have attributed to the influenceof the horse should properly be credited to fur-trade influence. Thatis the decline and disappearance of pottery making among thenomadic tribes. I do not believe the introduction of horses had any-thing to do with that change. The earthen pot could have been trans-ported just as safely and more easily on horseback or the horse-drawntravois as on the dog travois. The disappearance of pottery was dueto the substitution of the metal trade kettle for the native-made clayvessel (Ewers, 1945 a, p. 296) . It is difficult to see that the fur trade materially influenced Black-foot social or political organization save through the disastrous epi-demics introduced by way of its river craft, which compelled bandreorganization after the plagues were spent. Those chiefs whogained in prestige through their close association with the tradersgenerally were men of outstanding accomplishment by Indian stand-ards. Lesser traders who married Indian women may have helpedto raise the status of these women's families thereby. However, itis doubtful if the marriage of Alexander Culbertson, the most in-fluential trader in the Blackfoot Country, to the Blood woman, Nata-wista Iksana, greatly strengthened the position of her brother, Seen-From-Afar. He was the son of the Blood head chief, and a man ofability, so recognized by his own people. He is still remembered as "the great cliief" who owned more horses tlian any other BloodIndian. SURVIVALSMany traits characteristic of the Horse Culture Period in Black-foot history were abandoned in the period 1880-1905. Exterminationof the buffalo eliminated the horse's important functions in hunting.Settlement in permanent log houses eliminated the horse's functionsin moving camp. Enforcement of intertribal peace brought an endto horse raiding and the use of horses in warfare. In this period,when local authority passed from the native chiefs to the IndianAgent, who attempted to carry out the national Indian policy of thetime, i. e., encouragement of Indians to adopt white men's ways, someof the traits most intimately associated with Indian use of horseswere drastically modified. The Indians adopted the white man'sstock saddle and bridle, his method of mounting, his wagon andharness, his names for horses, and his horse commands. Even the Ewers] THE HORSE EST BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 321 Indian pony gradually Avas replaced by larger and stronger animalsresulting from the breeding of white men's work horses with theIndians' stock.Nevertheless, the continuity of Blackfoot culture was not entirelybroken by the cultural revolution that followed the disappearanceof the buffalo and the abandonment of the nomadic, hunting ex-istence. In the 1940's, six decades after the buffalo were gone, theinfluence of the Horse Culture Period of buffalo days survived. Sur-vivals were noticeable in Blackfoot work habits, their concepts ofwealth, their recreation, social relations, and ideals.After the buffalo were gone the Blackfoot took readily to cattleraising but showed little interest in or aptitude for farming, whichirivolved techniques and procedures alien to their experience. In the1940's Agricultural Extension Agents on the Blackfeet Reservationin Montana recognized that the successful Indian farmers were per-sons of considerable white admixture. The fullblood group showedlittle interest in settling on the irrigated projects to grow crops. Full-bloods still preferred to make their living by raising livestock, pri-marily cattle and sheep. This preference is traceable to the tribe'sgenerations of accumulated experience in the care of horses and itslack of crop-growing traditions.I have pointed out (p. 30) the survival of the concept ofwealth in terms of horse ownership among the older fullbloods onthis reservation, even though horses in the 1940's had relatively littlemonetary value. This is definitely a survival from the days whenindividual wealth was determined primarily in terms of horse owner-ship.I have also (p. 234) referred to the survival of interest in horseracing, long a favorite sport among the Blackfoot. In fact theirready acceptance of the entire rodeo complex may be attributed totheir background of appreciation of skill in the handling of horses.There remains an appreciation of the value of ceremonial bundlesamong the Blackfoot which is out of all proportion to the functionof those bundles in the religious life of these people in modern times.A number of bundle owners have neither the knowledge nor the desireto use these sacred bundles ceremonially. Yet they are reluctant topart with them, mindful of the fact that their former owners prizedthem as equivalent in value to many horses. The horse medicine cult,though limited in function, still holds a respected position in thereligious life of the fullbloods.Blackfoot social relations are still marked by the dependence ofpoor relatives upon tribal members who have achieved a degree ofeconomic success. This drain of the "have-nots" upon the "haves"has the effect of limiting the economic progress of ambitious indi-287944?55 22 322 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 viduals, if not actually of inhibiting the desire of fullbloods of ex-tensive family connections to achieve material success. Along withthat traditional custom of sharing, the traditional ideal of generositysurvives to inhibit the adaptation of the white man's ideals of budg-eted expenditures and saving for a rainy day.The intense patriotism of the Blackfoot in volunteering their serv-ices to their country in two World Wars is a survival of the tradi-tional Blackfoot concept of the warrior ideal. During World WarII, when the Blackfoot furnished a much greater proportion of theirable-bodied population for military service than was required ofthem, one still heard fuUblood parents comforted by the old adage ofbujffalo days, "It is better for a man to die in war than to die of oldage or sickness."Finally, there survives among the Blackfoot a genuine love ofhorses that is the heritage of a people whose ancestors' admirationfor horses amounted to veneration. THE PLAINS INDIAN HORSE COMPLEXELEMENTS IN THE HORSE COMPLEX OF THE PLAINS INDIANSIn pages 20 through 298 of this work I have described the factorsof ownership, care, breeding, training, and use of horses, and beliefsregarding horses that collectively comprised the horse complex ofthe Blackfoot Indians in 19th-century buffalo days. In the footnotesand brief comparative sections of those pages I have presented com-parative data regarding the existence of the same traits among otherhorse-using tribes of the Great Plains and the Plateau.Let us now turn to this comparative material in an effort to defineas precisely as possible the elements in the basic horse complex of thehistoric Plains Indians. I should like to be able to present a graphicchart listing the elements of the horse complex for each tribe. How-ever, the comparative material is too fragmentary to make such adetailed comparison of many elements possible. In the absence ofmore complete comparative data I believe it is legitimate to infer thatany traits in the horse complex of the Blackfoot which have been re-ported for two or more other, geographically noncontiguous tribesof the area were common to a greater number of Plains Indian tribesand may tentatively be considered part of the basic horse complex ofthe Plains Indians.I have endeavored to itemize the traits of this basic horse complexas specifically as existing data permit. Undoubtedly, if the literatureon the care, breeding, training, and use of horses among other Plainstribes was more precise and more voluminous this list of traits couldhave been extended. I am of the opinion that, with this study asa guide, reliable information on these aspects of the horse complex can still be obtained from elderly fuUbloods of a number of Plains Indiantribes, and that such information would tend to increase the total num-ber of traits listed below (asterisks indicate local variations) :Ownership traits:Horses individually owned, private property.Wide range in numbers of horses owned by individual tribal members.Owner recognized his horses by their appearance and actions (no identifyingmarks placed upon the animal).Care traits:Color names given to horses.Boys responsible for daily care of family herds.Wild grass primary horse feed.Horses watered thrice daily. 323 324 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BuU. 169 Care traits?ContinuedHorses left to rustle for food in winter snows.Supplemental feeding of cottonwood bark in winter.Picketing choice horses near lodges at night.Losses of horses in severe winters common {especially among northernnomadic tribes).Plant medicines used to treat common horse ailments.Rawhide shoes used to protect sore-footed horses.Breeding traits:Many male animals gelded.Training traits:Lariat used for capturing wild horses.Horses broken for riding at an early age (commonly 1 to 3 years).Horses broken for riding in water (plus other methods).Children taught to ride by tying them in the saddle.Children learned to ride alone by 5th or 6th year.Riding and guiding traits : Verbal commands used to stop and start but not to turn horses.Well-trained horses guided without use of reins.Right side mounting customary for right-handed riders.Both sexes rode astride.Use of short stirrups.Riding-gear traits:War bridle most common form (2-reined, continuous line, looped aroundhorse's lower jaw).Use of some form of trailing line to permit rider to recover horse if thrownfrom the saddle.Use of a rawhide lashed, wood- or horn-handled whip.Saddle making a woman's occupation.Use of stuffed-skin pad saddle by active young men.Use of wood frame, rawhide-covered saddle by women.Use of wood and horn frame saddle for packing.Small-sized frame saddles made for children's use.Horses commonly saddled and cinched from right side.Use of a buffaloskin saddle blanket.Use of a skin saddle housing.Use of a rawhide crupper.Spurs not in common use.Horses painted to represent valorous acts of owner.Horses' tails decorated with feathers.Travois and transport gear traits:Use of horse travois for transporting infirm.Makeshift travois of lodgepoles sometimes used for transporting householdequipment.Lodgepoles dragged in two bundles (one each side of horse or mule) bymeans of a specialized hitch.Willow-frame sunshades used on true or makeshift travois.Parfleche (made in pairs) used as packhorse luggage.Double saddlebag carried on women's riding horses.Rawhide (rectangular and/or cylindrical) saddlebags carried on women'sriding horses. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 325Camp movement traits:Main body surrounded by mounted advance, side, and rear guards.Men rode saddle horses ; women saddle or travels horses.Babies transported on horseback with mothers.Toddlers and aged or infirm carried on true or makeshift travois.Small children (learning to ride) tied on horseback.Lodge cover folded and carried on packhorse (less commonly on the travois).Meat transported in parfleche.Women responsible for packing and moving household equipment.Men carried only arms and accouterments.Poor in horses borrowed horses to transport possessions, or walked usingdog travois.Drinking water required on march carried in paunch containers.Winter camp moved when grass inadequate for horse feed.Average distance of normal day's march, using horses for transport, 10 to15 miles.Mules used primarily as pack animals.Hunting traits:The buffalo horse, a well-trained animal, used only for hunting, war, anddress parade.Employment of buffalo surround on horseback.The chase on horseback favored method of buffalo hunting.Buffalo horse led to hunting ground to conserve its energy.Mounted hunters lined up to give them an equal start in the chase.Preference for bow and arrow, secondary use of lance in mounted buffalohunting (prior to introduction of breech-loading rifles).Right-handed bowmen approached buffalo from right.Right-handed lancers approached buffalo from left.Maximum kill in a single chase by mounted hunter, four or five bu&'alo.Taboo against packing meat on a buffalo horse.Women cared for buffalo horses after return of hunters.Loaning of buffalo horses to the poor for hunting.Strict regulation of summer, tribal hunt by men's societies.Hunting of buffalo on foot when snow or ice prevented use of horses inwinter.Mammals other than buffalo rarely hunted from horseback.Warfare traits:Need for horses an important cause of intertribal wars.The horse raid, a distinctive type of military operation.Small horse-raiding parties most common.Horse raiders drummed and sang war songs before departure.Individual war medicines carried by members of horse-raiding parties.Packs of equipment carried by horse raiders relatively standardized.Horse raiders commonly went to the enemy on foot.Horse raiders constructed temporary lodges for their protection on out-ward journeys.Captured horses distributed among members during return journey.Raiders encouraged to give away horses on return fi*om successful raids.The scalp or revenge raid, a military expedition distinct from the horse raid.The buffalo horse served as a war horse in battle.Scalp raiders commonly rode common horses, saving their primary horsesfor battle service. 326 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 Warfare traits?ContinuedPreference for bow and arrow in mounted warfare (prior to introductionof breech-loading rifles).Lance and war club principal shock weapons of mounted warriors.Corrals built to protect horses from capture by enemy raiders.General laxness in night guarding of horse herds against enemy raids.Ambushes set to counter expected attacks by enemy raiders.Capture of enemy horse recognized as a war honor.Trade traits:Horses common media of exchange in intertribal and intratribal trade.Qualitative value distinctions recognized in horse trading.*Horse not commonly killed for food.Use of horsehide for drumheads.Social relations traits:Social stratification based upon relative wealth in horses.Wealth in horses a virtual requirement for band chieftaincy.Size of the portable lodge largely determined by relative wealth in horses.Positive correlation between number of horses owned and quality andquantity of other family possessions.Polygamy and wide selection of marriage mates positively correlated withwealth in horses.Dependence of the poor in horses upon wealthy leaders a factor in bandorganization and fluidity of bands.Exchange of horses as gifts in marriage.Horse payments made in retribution for offenses committed.Give-away of horses to enhance social prestige of donor.Recreational traits:Horse toys used in children's play.Horse racing a popular sport.Race horses especially trained and highly valued.Horse races were tests of endurance rather than sprinting speed.Sham battles performed on horseback to amuse and impress visitors.Horses commonly employed as stakes in gambling.Religious traits:Secret, powerful horse medicine cult, members of which were believed tohave derived their powers from horses.Use of plant medicines as horse stimulants.Horses killed as grave escorts on death of prominent owners.Horses' tails and manes cut in mourning for dead owners.Belief in the supernatural powers of horses.Myths explaining the supernatural origin of the first horse or horses obtainedby the tribe.This list of 119 traits in the horse complex of the Plains Indiansreflects the unevenness of the available comparative data. Numeroustraits are listed in the hunting and warfare categories because thedetails of the hunting and war practices of many tribes are relativelywell known. On the other hand, a single trait appears in the breedingcategory. Undoubtedly, if we knew more about the horse-breeding Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 327 customs of other tribes, other entries might be added in this category.But the subject of horse breeding has been neglected to the point thatcomparative data cannot be found in the literature. This list oftraits reflects the current state of our knowledge of the details of thePlains Indian horse complex. It is subject to modification and ex-tension through future research.Asterisks placed beside several of the traits listed above indicate, asmentioned, that there were local variations in these traits. Thus,while the majority of the Plains Indians seem to have entrusted careof horses to boys, the horse-poor Cree men are reported to have caredfor their horses themselves. The horticultural Mandan, Hidatsa, andArikara picketed their best horses inside their earth lodges at nightand fed corn to horses. Among the marginal Chiricahua Apache, menrather than women were the saddlemakers. The Comanche andKiowa of the southern Plains not uncommonly organized large-scalehorse-raiding expeditions which rode into Mexico and carried off largenumbers of stolen horses. The wealthy tribes of the southern Plainsand the Plateau appear to have made much more use of horses in hunt-ing animals of the deer family than did the great majority of thePlains Indians. The Blackfoot themselves probably were atypicalin their relatively weak development of intertribal trade in horses.The list as presented appears to define most precisely the horse com-plex of those tribes which, like the Blackfoot, were middle class interms of horse ownership. Variants from this norm certainly oc-curred among the horse-poor Assiniboin and Cree, the horticulturaltribes, and the wealthy Indians of the southern Plains and Plateau.ORIGINS OF THE PLAINS INDIAN HORSE COMPLEX ' Although comparative data on the distribution of elements in thePlains Indian horse complex are far from complete, existing datado show that many traits in this complex were widely diffused overthe area from the Apache, Comanche and/or Kiowa in the southto the Assiniboin and/or Cree in the northeast and the Nez Perceand/or Flathead in the northwest. Why should there have been suchwidespread uniformity ?This brings us to the problem of the origin of elements in the horsecomplex, a problem made exceedingly diflScult by the meagernessof historical information on the early years of horse use in the GreatPlains. Certainly no one would suggest that each tribe of this vastregion independently invented all the traits in its horse complex. Itis equally certain that this complex, which was so well integrated intothe buffalo-hunting economy of the Plains Indians, was not borrowedin its entirety from some nonbuffalo-hunting people living outsidethe Great Plains. Rather the complex appears to have comprised a 328 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 fusion of traits originating in different sources. It appears that eachtrait in the complex was derived from one or another of three majorsources of origin: (1) customs of horse-using white men which wereborrowed by the Plains Indians, with or without modification, (2)adaptations of preexisting Indian traits to new conditions resultingfrom the use of horses, and (3) Indian inventions following the ac-quisition of horses in response to specific needs created by the problemof efficient use of the new animals in their native culture.In considering the diffusion of traits from horse-using Whites Iam mindful of the facts that Plains Indian Horse Culture was basedupon the use of animals obtained from Europeans, and that thisculture developed within the Colonial Period on and beyond thefrontiers of white settlement. Opportunities for white influence onthe development of the Plains Indian horse complex were numerousin the early years of Indian experience with horses, and during thoseyears which were but poorly covered by contemporary literature. In-itial stimulus came from the Spanish of the Southwest, from whom thehorses themselves were obtained. There is ample proof that brandedSpanish horses and articles of Spanish riding gear were diffused asfar north as the Saskatchewan Valley before 1800. We must remem-ber also that English and French traders, who possessed extensiveknowledge of European horse usages, were among the Plains Indiansin the 18th century. Some of those traders lived in close contact withthe central and northern tribes. Through example or suggestionthese traders may have contributed to the formulation of the horsecomplex of the Plains Indians years before many of the traits of thiscomplex were specifically mentioned in the literature.Nevertheless, in spite of the numerous and in some cases pro-longed European contacts with the Plains Indians before 1800, rela-tively few traits in the horse complex of these tribes in the thirdquarter of the 19th century can be traced to European influenceswith any degree of probability. It is possible that the influence ofindividual white traders on this complex was so subtle as to evadedetection, and that this influence was greater than ever can be demon-strated. However, only the following traits can be listed as probablyof European origin, on the basis of our present knowledge: ?Use of a rawhide-covered, wooden frame saddle.Use of short stirrups.Use of a crupper.Use of a martingale.Use of a double saddlebag.Use of horse armor (limited among the Indians).Use of the lariat.Use of horse corrals.Gelding of male horses. Ewersl THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 329The following additional traits in the Plains Indian horse complexmay be of European origin : Color names for horses.One or more Spanish horse commands.Use of surcingle method of breaking horses for riding.Use of mules primarily as pack animals.Use of a pad saddle.The use of a mountain-lion-skin saddle housing may have beenadopted from Spanish-Mexican practice of the Colonial Period.It is noteworthy that the majority of the traits suggestive of whiteinfluence are concerned with riding gear and transport equipment.Such articles could have been copied or adapted from specimens thatfell into the hands of Indians who had no direct contacts with Wliites.However, if such traits as use of the lariat, gelding, color names, horsecommands, and the surcingle method of breaking were borrowed fromWhites, they must have been learned through direct contacts withEuropeans and close observation of their customs.On the other hand, the Plains Indians rejected a number of traitsof European horse culture. These were : Branding as a means of ownership identification.Use of spurs.Use of bitted bridles.Left side mounting.Use of the sidesaddle by women.Spanish method of using the lance by horsemen.Spanish men's preference for riding male animals.We know also that Indians customarily broke their horses for ridingat an earlier age than did the Spaniards. Spanish use of horse armorwas imitated by a limited number of Plains Indian tribes. Obviouslythe Indians were not slavish imitators of European horse usages.They were selective in their borrowing and redesigned equipment ormodified practices to suit their particular needs and their own tastes.By far the greater number of items in the Plains Indians' horsecomplex inventory appear to have borne the stamp of Indian in-genuity.A number of traits in this horse complex appear to have been adap-tations of customs in common practice among these tribes before theintroduction of horses. The inspiration for the adoption of thesetraits must have come from within Plains Indian culture rather thanfrom outside it. A number of these traits, and the suggested sourceof inspiration for each, follows : Use of plant medicines in doctoring horses. (Plant medicines previouslyused in treating humans and probably dogs.)Use of the horse travois. (An adaptation of the dog travels for use witha larger and stronger animal.) 330 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 Employment of the buffalo surround on horseback. (An adaptation fromthe prehistoric buffalo surround on foot.)Use of the bow and arrow and lance as weapons in hunting buffalo on horse-bacl?. (Previous use of these weapons in hunting buffalo afoot.)Regulation of the summer, tribal hunt by men's societies. (Previous regu-lation of communal hunts afoot.)Horse raid procedures. (Adaptations from procedures in slave raids afoot.)Preference for the bow and arrow as fire weapons of mounted warriors.(Previous use of the bow and arrow by warriors afoot.)Use of the lance and warclub as shock weapons by mounted warriors. (Pre-vious use of these shock weapons by footmen.)Use of the rawhide shield as a defensive weapon by mounted warriors. (Pre-vious use of the shield by footmen.)Capture of enemy horses recognized as a war honor. (Capture of slavespreviously recognized as a war honor.)It is most probable that many traits in the horse complex associatedwith the use of horses in hunting, warfare, and camp movement werecontinuations of or modifications from similar Plains Indian traits ofthe Pedestrian Culture Period.Numerous traits in the Plains Indian horse complex must have beendeveloped by the Indians in response to the necessity for devisingmeasures for the care, training, and use of the new animals after theseIndians acquired horses. Others reflect the Indians' peculiar attitudetoward the new animal. Perhaps the most distinctive of those traitsthat appear to have originated de novo among the Plains tribes, with-out influence from foreign sources or suggestions from any of theirown practices of the Pedestrian Culture Period, were : Boys responsible for daily care of family herds.Supplemental feeding of cottonwood bark in winter.Picketing choice horses near lodges at night.Children taught to ride by tying them in the saddle.Eight side mounting customary for right-handed riders.Use of the war bridle.Use of the trailing line.Parfleche used as packhorse luggage.The buffalo horse, a well-trained animal, used only for hunting, war, anddress parade.The buffalo chase on horseback.Taboo against packing meat on a buffalo runner.Use of horse as shield by mounted warriors.Horse toys used in children's play.Sham battles on horseback to amuse and impress visitors.Horses commonly employed as stakes in gambling.Social stratification based upon relative wealth in horses.Secret, powerful horse medicine cult, members of which were believed tohave derived their powers from horses.It seems apparent that even though the Plains Indians derived theirhorses from Europeans within the Colonial Period, their own con-tributions to the development of specific traits in their horse complex Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 331 were much greater than were those of outsiders. It was the adapta-tion of the European horse to the service of a nomadic, buffalo-hunting people that gave to the Plains Indian horse complex itsdistinctive character. It was the Plains Indians, who had huntedbuffalo long before the appearance of the horse, who determined therole the new animal was to play in their life, and who were primarilyresponsible for developing the details of their own horse complex.THE HORSE COMPLEX IN PLAINS INDIAN HISTORYTHE NATURAL AND CULTURAL SETTINGThe vast herds of buffalo that roamed the grassy plains betweenthe Mississippi Eiver and the Eocky Mountains made that area oneof the finest natural hunting grounds in the world. From the timeof Folsom Man, some 10,000 or more years ago, until the exterminationof the buffalo ca. 1880, dependence upon the buffalo was a characteris-tic of the Indian cultures of this area. In the period immediatelypreceding the spread of the Spanish horse over the Great Plains thedominant culture of the area was shared by those tribes living alongthe fertile river valleys, in semisedentary villages, growing crops ofcorn, beans, and squash. Undoubtedly, these tribes relied heavily uponbuffalo meat to supplement their vegetable diet. Presumably theyhunted buffalo extensively during those periods of the year when theywere not actively engaged in planting, cultivating, or harvesting theircrops. The distances traveled in these hunts must have dependedupon the relative scarcity or availability of buffalo near their villages.The Mandan in the north, the Pawnee in the Central Plains, and theWichita in the south were the westermnost of these horticultural tribes.Westward of them, on the High Plains, lived several tribes who werenomads, depending upon the wandering buffalo herds for their liveli-hood, which they followed on foot carrying their portable lodges andmeager possessions with them on dog travois and on their own backs.It seems most probable that these tribes included the Blackfoot in thenorth, the Shoshoni-Comanche in the Montana-Wyoming area, andthe Kiowa, and Apache (Coronado's "Querechos and Teyas") farthersouth. There may have been other tribes that have since disappearedor were absorbed by known tribes. Compared with the toil and uncer-tainty of the nomad's life, that of the gardening tribes must haveappeared relatively easy and secure to the Indians of the time.Their experience with dogs as transport animals prepared the PlainsIndians for acceptance of the horse as a stronger and more useful "bigdog," which would relieve them of carrying heavy burdens and ex-pedite buffalo hunting. The Indians were fortunate also that theirgrasslands afforded excellent range for horses on which these herbiv- 332 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 erous animals would thrive and increase in numbers with relativelylittle care. Cultural and natural conditions greatly encouraged theready acceptance of the horse by the Plains tribes and their rapidconversion from pedestrians to horsemen.I believe the role of the horse complex in the history of the PlainsIndians can best be comprehended in terms of three periods, as follows. 1. PERIOD or DIFFUSION AND INTEGRATION{From the first acquisition of horses by Plains Indians to about 1800)In view of the elemental simplicity of Plains Indian methods ofbreaking horses and teaching individuals to ride, I see no reason tobelieve that any prolonged period was required for the conversion ofpedestrian Indians to horsemen. I believe that the most importantdeterminant of the rate of diffusion of horses from tribe to tribe wasthe number of animals available, and that the number of horses tradedor captured from Spanish or Pueblo Indian sources increased as the18th century progressed. This increase, combined with the naturalincrease in the herds possessed by Indians, made possible wider dis-tribution of horses over broader areas. Although tribes on theperiphery of the Spanish Southwest may have begun to acquire themas early as 1640, horses were a novelty to the majority of the northernPlains tribes a century later. The great period of horse diffusion inthe northern portion of the Great Plains was from ca. 1740 to 1800.A Blackfoot Indian, born ca. 1725, could have witnessed the acquisitionof the first horse by his people and lived to see the relative stabilizationof tribal horse holdings among them by ca. 1800.In the northward spread of horses trade appears to have been themost important avenue of diffusion. The primary center of diffusionwas the Spanish Southwest from which horses were traded or stolenand driven northward to secondary diffusion centers among the Sho-shoni in western Wyoming or Montana, and at or near the horticulturalvillages on the Missouri. From these secondary centers horses weretraded to other tribes of the northern Plains, sometimes passingthrough tertiary centers of diffusion such as the annual trading fairon the James Eiver where horses obtained by the Teton from theArikara were traded to other Dakota tribes. The number of tribesengaged as primary intermediaries in supplying the secondary centersgives a clue to the expanding nature of this trade. Presmnably theUte were the earliest suppliers of the Shoshoni center, while the Co-manche entered this trade after 1705. The Kiowa and Kiowa Apacheseem to have been the earliest suppliers of the horticultural tribes onthe Upper Missouri. Sometime after 1750 the Comanche appear tohave shifted their trade to the horticultural tribes. Prior to 1800 theCheyenne and Arapaho had entered the trade between the primary Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 333 center and the horticultural tribes, while the Crow became active inacquiring horses at the Shoshonean center and trading them at con-siderable profit on the Missouri.Raiding for horses appears to have been a secondary avenue of diffu-sion, necessitated by the inability of Indians to purchase needed horsesat prices they could afford to pay for them. Certainly horse raidingwas common throughout the area from the Spanish frontier to theSaskatchewan Plains in the last quarter of the 18th century.The 18th century witnessed the widespread adaptation of horses totheir three primary uses among the Plains Indians?i. e., as ridinganimals in hunting and warfare and as burden bearers in movingcamp. Whether the Indians preferred to use horses for riding or fortransporting equipment in the early years of their experience withthese animals, when their horse holdings were limited, is an inter-esting question. In 1719 La Harpe (Margry, 1886, vol. 6, p. 279) andValverde (Thomas, 1935, p. 131) noted that the Lipan and ElCuartelejo Apache transported their lodges by dog traction, whilethey employed horses in warfare. On the other hand, Hendry (1907,p. 351) observed that the Eagle Hills Assiniboin used horses "forcarrying the baggage and not to ride on" in 1755. Although thesedata are not sufficient to fully justify such a conclusion, they suggestthe possibility that those tribes in direct contact with horse-usingSpanish peoples may have adopted the horse initially as a ridinganimal, while some tribes remote from the primary diffusion centerpreferred to employ their first horses as a replacement for dogs asbeasts of burden. Yet Hendry witnessed "Arthithinue" Indians rid-ing horses in the buffalo chase on the Saskatchewan Plains in 1754.We know that the Pawnee of the Central Plains hunted buffalo onhorseback before 1700.Undoubtedly, the hostile pressure from Ojibwa, armed with fire-arms, was an important factor in the westward movement of Algon-quian and Siouan tribes from Minnesota and the eastern Dakotastoward the High Plains. However, once these tribes had becomePlainsmen and had acquired horses their greater mobility enabledthem to halt the westward movement of their pedestrian enemies atthe forest margin. In 1798, an Ojibwa chief explained to DavidThompson (1916, p. 264) : While they (Sioux) keep to the Plains with their Horses we are no matchfor them ; for we being footmen, they could get to windward of us, and set fireto the grass ; when we marched for the Woods, they would be there before us,dismount, and under cover fire on us. Until we have Horses like them, we mustkeep to the Woods, and leave the plains to them.Before 1800 the Arapaho, Gros Ventres, Crow, and Cheyenne, tra-ditionally horticultural tribes, had become nomadic hunters and allexcept the Gros Ventres had become actively engaged in supplying 334 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 horses to the secondary diffusion centers on the Upper Missouri. Al-though the Arapaho-Gros Ventres may have begun to move westwardas a result of pressures from the eastward before horses reached theMissouri River area, it appears most probable that they did not re-linquish horticultural practices until they became aware of the ad-vantages of hunting buffalo on horseback. I should prefer to lookupon the conversion of all those formerly horticultural tribes to no-madism as part of the great movement leading to the concentrationof many hunting tribes in the formerly lightly populated High Plains,where buffalo were most numerous, in the 18tli century. This move-ment of tribes proceeded from both east and west, into the HighPlains. The poAverful Dakota tribes moved westward, with the Tetonin the lead. Farther north the Assiniboin and Cree moved in thesame direction. From the west, and probably somewhat earlier owingto their earlier acquisition of horses, the Shoshoni, Flathead, Pendd'Oreille, and Nez Perce entered the High Plains only to be laterdriven back by the southwestward movement of the aggressive Black-foot. Yet those tribes continued to make periodic hunting excursionsin force to the buffalo plains. Within the High Plains there was ageneral southward movement of tribes toward the primary diffusioncenter for horses. The Apache were pushed southward by the power-ful Comanche and the Kiowa and Kiowa-Apache followed, being inturn forced to move by the advancing Teton. Wliile this movementcontinued in the 19th century with the southward drift of the Arapahoand Cheyenne as well as the Blackfoot, it was set in motion longbefore 1800.Once strange peoples then came into frequent contact on the HighPlains. Their meetings resulted in exchanges of objects and ideasamong which were traits of the horse complex itself. As might beexpected, this close proximity also caused conflicts over huntinggrounds and horses. Ambitious young men, needing horses to gaineconomic and social status among their own people, stole them fromneighboring tribes. Horse raiding not only engendered intertribalwars but tended to perpetuate them.During the 18th century the culture of the nomadic horse-usingbuffalo hunters became the dominant culture of the Great Plains.Tabeau (1939, pp. 151-153) in 1803, explained the abandonment ofhorticulture by the Cheyenne on the Missouri a few years earlier as adirect result of their unfavorable competition with the nomadic Sioux.The Sioux always wandering, left little for capture to the enemy, who oftenknew not where to find them, and the Cheyennes, settled there were every dayexposed, in spite of their superior courage, to some particular catastrophe. Tolessen this disparity more, they abandoned agriculture and their hearths andbecame a nomadic people. Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 335 Farther to the southwest a similar drama was being enacted, in ?which Apache tribes were forced to abandon their fields and flee south-ward to escape the pressure of the aggressive, better armed Comanche(Thomas, 1940, pp. 58-59).Before 1800, the stability which the growth of crops had given tothe horticultural tribes, and which in pre-horse times had made theirway of life more secure than that of the nomadic hunters, had becomea handicap. Their sedentary villages were surrounded by mobilehorsemen who attacked and insulted them or made peace to obtaingarden produce in exchange for surplus products of the chase, at will.Penned up in their compact villages, the horticultural tribes on theMissouri suffered heavy losses from the white man's plagues, begin-ning with the smallpox epidemic of 1781.Even though many of the traits in the Plains Indian horse complexwere not specifically mentioned in the literature until after 1800, itappears most probable that the great majority of the traits in thiscomplex were widely diffused over the area before that date. Even thedistinctive horse medicine cult, first mentioned in Tabeau's descriptionof the Arikara in 1803, was probably an 18th-century innovation.Whether or not the horse complex was sufficiently well formulatedin the minds of members of some of the tribes engaged in supplyinghorses to the secondary diffusion centers in the middle of the 18thcentury to permit its being borrowed almost in toto by some of thenorthern tribes is questionable. However, it does seem reasonable tosuppose that ideas regarding the care, training, and use of horses andattitudes toward horses, as well as the animals themselves were ex-changed at those primitive market places. Certainly extensive bor-rowing must have taken place long before the establishment of whitemen's trading posts on the Upper Missouri or the inauguration ofwhite traders' rendezvous in the Wyoming country. We may evenquestion whether the fur traders' rendezvous itself was not an adapta-tion of the Indian horse traders' fair in the same general region inprotohistoric times. 2. PERIOD OF CRYSTALLIZATION AND MAXIMUM UTILIZATION(From about 1800 until the extermination of the buffalo)Before 1800 the use of horses had spread among the Indian tribesto the natural limits of the Great Plains in the northeast and acrossthe Eockies beyond the Plains in the northwest. The first eightdecades of the 19th century constituted the heyday of Plains IndianHorse Culture. By and large, traits of the horse complex observedat or near the beginning of the century persisted until the extermina-tion of the buffalo. The horn pommel and cantle pack saddle appears 336 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 to have been the only material culture trait in the complex inventedwithin this period. It spread rapidly over the Plains and into thePlateau. There was a tendency during this period for horse raidingto replace trading as the most common means of acquiring horses.Among those tribes which were not poor in horses there was a tendencytoward the abandonment of the buffalo drive and the surround infavor of the chase. It was probably during this period, after memoriesof the first acquisition of horses had become dim, that the beautifulmythological explanations of the origin of horses became popular.The relative wealth in horses of the tribes of the area changed littleduring this period. No tribe is known to have advanced from povertyto wealth in horses, nor was a wealthy tribe reduced to poverty. In-dividuals were actively increasing their herds tlirough breeding andcapture of enemy horses. Their activities were offset by loss of horsesstolen by the enemy and through deaths.The horticultural tribes of the Upper Missouri continued to declinein numbers and relative importance, offering little in the way of fursto the traders and limited opposition to the advancing frontier ofwhite settlement. The powerful, nomadic, buffalo-hunting tribes, theTeton Dakota, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Comanche, and Kiowa were theprincipal fighters of the Plains Indian wars aimed at preventing whiteinvasion of their beloved hunting grounds. 3. PERIOD OF DISINTEGRATION(From the extermination of the huftalo to the present)With the extermination of the buffalo, settlement of the Indians inpermanent dwellings upon reservations, and the end of intertribalwarfare, the three primary functions of horses in their traditionalculture?their use in hunting, moving camp, and warfare?wererendered obsolete. In their adjustment to a new way of life, withthe encouragement of the Government, Indians adopted white men'shorse usages. Even the Indian pony has become nearly or entirelyextinct. Yet there remain among other tribes, as among the Black-foot, survivals of customs and attitudes which are remainders of theirHorse Culture heritage.OLD THEORIES AND NEW INTERPRETATIONSTwo opposing theories regarding the influence of the horse uponPlains Indian culture have been presented by able and experiencedstudents of Plains Indian life.Clark Wissler, in his pioneer study entitled, "The Influence of theHorse in the Development of Plains Culture" (Wissler, 1914), ex-pressed the belief that the traits which he regarded as most charac- Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 337 teristic of Plains Indian culture of the historic period (the tipi, thetravois, the foot war party, the coup, the Sun Dance, the camp circle,men's societies, and the circumscribed range with summer and wintercamps) were, or probably were known to the Plains Indians beforethey acquired horses. He concluded that "There is no good evidenceat hand to support the view that the horse led to the development ofthe important traits," that "no important traits, material or otherwise,were either dropped or added," and that "from a qualitative point ofview the culture of the Plains would have been much the same withoutthe horse." He believed that "as an intensifier of original Plainstraits, the horse presents its strongest claim."Kroeber, in "Cultural and Natural Areas of Native North America"(Kroeber, 1939, pp. 76-77), warned against such an "essentially staticconception" of Plains Indian culture history.Could any good-sized group have lived permanently off the bison on the openplains while they and their dogs were dragging their dwellings, furniture, pro-visions, and children? How large a tepee could have been continuously movedin this way, how much apparatus could it have contained, how close were itsinmates huddled, how large the camp circle? How often could several thousandpeople have congref,^ated in one spot to hold a four or eight days' Sun dance?By the standard of the nineteenth century, the sixteenth-century Plains Indianwould have been miserably poor and almost chronically hungry, if he had triedto follow the same life. Showy clothing, embroidered footgear, medicine bundlepurchases, elaborate rituals, gratuitous and time-consuming warfare, all thesehe could have indulged in but little?not much more than the tribes of theintermountain or southern Texas regions. [Kroeber, 1939, pp. 76-77.]These views of both Wissler and Kroeber reflect the paucity ofspecific information on the details of the pre-hoi"se culture of thePlains Indians which existed when they prepared their statementsand still exists (and which is a handicap under which any student ofthe problem must labor), as well as the lack of a careful analysis ofthe Plains Indian horse complex as a basis for their reasoning.Kroeber appears to have been unduly skeptical of the possibility ofgroups of communal bison hunters existing on the Great Plains beforethe introduction of horses. Kugged as their life may have been com-pared with that of later horse-using nomads, we have both archeologi-cal and early historical proof of its existence. From the time ofFolsom Man until the appearance of horticultural practices only afew centuries prior to the introduction of the horse into the area, theinhabitants of the Great Plains were hunting peoples. Spanish ex-plorers in the 16th century met sizable villages of pedestrian huntersdwelling in portable skin lodges, moving camp with the aid of dogs,and impounding buffalo on the southern Plains, whose sustenance "comes entirely from the cows, because they neither sow nor reapcorn." The archeologist Waldo E. Wedel (1940, p. 327) cautiously287944?55 23 338 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 observed, "It does seem possible, though, that the "Querecho-Teyas"type of life in 1541 was already rather old, and furthermore that itwas very similar to, if not a direct continuation of, cultural habitsdeduced by the prehistorian from remains at the few geologically oldsites which have thus far been intensively worked in western Nebraskaand northern Colorado." ?^ It does not seem probable that the nu-merous buffalo drive sites in Montana and southern Alberta were usedentirely by horse-using peoples. I am of the opinion that the reasonEuropean explorers failed to find a pedestrian buffalo-hunting peopleon the northern High Plains was that horses had already been intro-duced to that region before white men reached it.It is my contention that the horse complex was adapted to a pre-existing pedestrian buffalo-hunting economy the bearers of whichreadily recognized that horses would be of great advantage to theirway of life. The culture of the pedestrian hunters may have includedmost if not all of the traits Wissler has ascribed to it as well as othertraits which survived with little modification in the Horse CulturePeriod. Nevertheless, I cannot believe that Plains Indian life in theHorse Culture Period, which included such elements as the daily care,breeding and training of horses, the teaching of children to ride, thechase, specialized riding and transport gear adapted to the use ofhorses, new methods of packing and transporting camp equipment,frequent horse raiding and mobile scalp raiding, extensive trade inhorses, social status based upon property ownership, important roleof the horse in children's play, horse racing, and the horse medicinecult, did not differ qualitatively as well as quantitativelj'' from PlainsIndian life in the Pedestrian Culture Period. The use of horses notonly enriched the material culture of the tribes who acquired them butit altered their habits of daily life, served to develop new manual andmotor skills, changed their concepts of their physical environmentand the social relationships of individuals.Probably the most distinctive new trait of the Horse Culture Periodwas social rather than material in nature. The adaptation of horsesto the Plains Indian economy brought about a change from a relativelyclassless society to a society composed of three classes, which gradedalmost imperceptibly into one another, and in which membership wasdetermined largely upon the basis of horse ownership?a privilegedbut responsible upper class, a relatively independent middle class, andan underprivileged and dependent lower class. The influence of thisclass system not only was apparent in Indian care and use of horses,but it was active in trade relationships between individuals, in mar-riage, in legal procedures and religious practices. Failure to recog- ** Dr. Wedel confirmed and expanded this thought in his article entitled "Some Aspectsof Human Ecology in the Central Plains" (Amer. Anthrop., vol. 55, pp. 504-505, 1953). Ewers] THE HORSE IN BLACKFOOT INDIAN CULTURE 339 nize the existence of these chisses has, in the past, resulted in an ideal-ized portrayal of Plains Indian culture based primarily upon theactivities and attributes of the wealthy.I find closest analogies to this class system not among the pre-horsecultures of the Great Plains, but among horse-using nomadic peoplesof other continents. Patai (1951, p. 410) has briefly described thethree-class system, based upon relative wealth in horses within thelocal groups among the nomads of Central Asia. Murdock (1951,pp. 421-422) recognized "social gradations based upon wealth or mili-tary prowess" as a distinctive characteristic of the horse-using nomadsof the South American pampean area. Does it not seem probable thata tendency toward a class system based upon ownership of property(particularly in horses) was characteristic of horse-using nomadicpeoples, and that this characteristic distinguished their cultures quali-tatively from that of pedestrian nomads ?It appears to me that the influence of the horse permeated and modi-fied to a greater or lesser degree every major aspect of Plains Indianlife. Considering the rapidity of its adaptation, the number anddiversity of the horse's associations in Plains Indian culture was trulyremarkable. Edward Sapir, in his brilliant work entitled "TimePerspective in Aborginal American Culture, a Study of Method"(1916, p. 21), has proposed as one test for inferring the relative age ofan element in culture that, "The more frequently an element is asso-ciated with others, the older, generally speaking, it will be felt tobe. . . . One feels that it takes considerable time for an elementof culture to become so thoroughly ramified in the cultural whole asto meet us at every step." The application of this test to the case ofthe horse in Plains Indian culture of the third quarter of the 19tlicentury, when horse associations in the culture greatly outnumbereddog associations, would lead to the totally erroneous conclusion thatthese Indians had known and used horses for a longer period thanthey had employed dogs. In the case of the horse, the remarkablenumber and diversity of its associations must have been due to thereadiness with which these Indians accepted this new animal and theremarkable adaptability of the culture and the horse to one another.My studies of the influence and functions of the horse in PlainsIndian culture have impressed me with the need for further researchon a number of aspects of the problem. To gain a better understand-ing of the influence of the horse among these Indians we should haveadditional historical, descriptive, and comparative studies. Thereis a need for a careful analysis of the Spanish-Mexican horse complexof the Colonial Period which will afford us a detailed, factual basisfor comparison with the horse complex of the Plains Indians. Weshould have similar studies of the horse usages of English, French, 340 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 and early American fur traders operating in and near the Great Plains.The search for manuscript materials which may shed additional lighton Plains Indian horse usages during the important period of diffusionand integration of the horse complex prior to 1800 should beencouraged. At the same time there is a need for careful analysis ofthe horse complexes in buffalo days of several additional tribes, basedupon field studies with elderly informants as well as published andmanuscript materials. When and if such studies are made among oneof the southern Plains tribes which was formerly wealthy in horses(Kiowa or Comanche) , among one or more of the Plateau tribes whichwas formerly wealthy also, and among one of the northern nomadictribes which was poor in horses (Assiniboin or Plains Cree), weshould have a much better basis for recognition of the common elementsand local variations in the horse complex of the Plains Indians thanwe have now.^ Furthermore, detailed comparison of the Plains Indianhorse complex with the horse complexes of nomadic groups ofsouthern South America, Central Asia, and the Near East shouldprovide a better understanding of horse nomadism as a way of life. ^ Since the present work was written, the volume entitled "The Comanches, Lords ofthe South Plains," by Ernest Wallace and E. Adamson Hoebel, has appeared (Norman,Okla., 1952). Although this book contains a chapter entitled "The Horse and theBuffalo," it does not provide the detailed information on Comanche horse culture neededfor comparative study. APPENDIXUSB OF MULESThe Mexican mule, described by Captain Marcy (1859, p. 112) as "square-built, big-bellied and sliort-legged" in comparison with thelarger American mule, reached the Blackfoot country little if at alllater than did the horse. Anthony Hendry saw "four Asses" in the "Archithinue" camp on the Saskatchewan Plains which he visited inOctober 1754 (Hendry, 1907, p. 339). David Thompson wrote of aPiegan raid on a Spanish party far to the southward, which may haveoccurred as early as 1787, in which these Indians captured many mulesas well as horses. He also described another raid by the Piegan onthe Slioshoni in 1787, during which the raiders took horses and 15mules (Thompson, 1916, pp. 370, 341-342). Buffalo-Back-Fat, notedBlood head chief prior to 1850, is said to have been especially fondof mules. He is reputed to have owned as many as 60 mules at onetime. His younger relatives and friends gave him any mules theycaptured from enemy camps. He kept his mules in a separate herd.The Blackfoot tribes continued to take mules from their enemiesuntil the end of intertribal horse raiding in 1887. Before mid-centurythey began to obtain the larger American mules which had beenstolen or traded from overland emigrants or the United States Armyby tribes living to the south of the Blackfoot. Weasel Head, a Pieganinformant, claimed to have stolen six mules from the Crow in thedays of intertribal warfare.The Blackfoot tribes never bred mules. Wissler found that "muleswere highly prized" by the Blackfoot "as they were thought to havesuperior powers of various kinds. Their origin was regarded asmysterious" (Wissler, 1910, p. 97). However, Weasel Tail claimedthat Blood Indians early learned from the Nez Perce how thesehybrids were bred from the union of a mare and a donkey. Inform-ants stated that the Blackfoot valued mules highly because of theirstrength and smartness.In my informants' youth the Blackfoot tribes used mules primarilyas transport animals. Weasel Head claimed mules' necks were toostrong to permit their use as tractable riding animals. They wereemployed primarily for hauling lodgepoles in moving camp. Astrong mule could haul at least a third more poles than could the av-erage Indian pony. Some mules also served for packing meat andcamp equipment. Weasel Tail said that in his youth the Blood used341 342 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159 a mule to bring in the center pole for the medicine lodge. Theylashed two stout lodgepoles to each side of the mule, tied two shorterpoles across those poles at the usual position of a travois loading plat-form, and lashed the butt end of the center pole securely to thesecross poles with a broad rawhide rope. The upper end of the centerpole dragged along the ground as the mule pulled the load. Pieganinformants had no knowledge of their tribe's use of mules for thispurpose.Because of their superior strength mules had a greater trade valuethan packhorses in intratribal trade among the Blackfoot. A muleowner could ask two horses for his mule and receive them in exchange.CotTi'parative data on use of mules.?In 1805, Lewis and Clark sawmules with Spanish brands among the Shoshoni which were "the finestanimals of that kind we have ever seen .... The worst are consideredas worth the price of two horses, and a good mule cannot be obtainedfor less than three and sometimes four horses" (Coues, 1893, vol. 2,p. 559) . In the 1870's the Crow Indians stole mules from the Sioux, manyof which bore the United States brand, indicating that the Sioux inturn had taken them from the Army. The Crow "liked to get theseanimals for dragging lodge poles" (Marquis, 1928, p. 101). 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BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 159 PLATE 4 ^:v. ^^^-^.^T:''^'^^^-^^ 'The Bloods Come in Council." Pencil sketch by Gustavus Sohon in 1855, showing horseequipment of the period. (U. S. National Museum.) BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 159 PLATE 5 V, ^\w/ "^. a, Piegan lodges, showing methods of storing horse travois in camp. (Photograph takenprior to 1890. Courtesy Montana Historical Society.) b, Travois used as a litter,Crow Indians. (Photograph laken prior to 1900.) BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 159 PLATE 6 \\3i V J a, Cheyenne travois with domed, willow superstructure. (Early photograph. Courtesy-Bureau of American Ethnology.) b, Travois with paunch water container attached.(Drawing bv a Southern Cheyenne Indian, collected by H. R. Voth in 1889. U. S. N. M.No. 166O320 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY y BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 159 PLATE 8 -aoCQ C C[SoO ?bDO^3 o OS 2 -5 w BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 159 PLATE 9 c BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 159 PLATE 10 00 O >^! ^%\k '^ >3Um ^. BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 159 PLATE 11 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 159 PLATE 12 ^ J a. Child's toy horse of bent willow. Made in 1942 after an old Piegaii pattern. (CourtesyMiss Jane Ewers.) i, Piegan boys playing calf roping at Heart Butte Sun DanceEncampment, summer 1944. (Courtesy Museum of the Plains Indian.) BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 159 PLATE 13 a, Beaded wlieel and arrows used in the hoop and pole game. North Piegan. (Collected byR. N. Wilson in 1901. Chicago Museum of Natural History No. 69351.) b. Blackfoothorse race, June 1, 1848. (Painting by Paul Kane. Courtesy Royal Ontario Museumof Archaeology.) BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 159 PLATE 14 Co co c os Q.0!SOo c<-i BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 159 PLATE 15 tV A, Wallace Night Gun (ca. 1872-1950), leader of the Piegan Horse Medicine Cult. (Cour-tesy Great Northern Railway.) B, Portion of Wallace Night Gun's horse medicinebundle in the United States National Museum (No. 387744): Pouch {a) contains beadedhorse fetish {b) and pouches of secret horse medicines {c and d). BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 159 PLATE 16 ^ ^- CQ ^ BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 159 PLATE 17 a, Makes-Cold-Weather, aged P!c,L.-aii wairRn, cuuiuin^' luur liurse-raiding coups beforecutting the hide in the Sun Dance, 1944. (Courtesy Museum of the Plains Indian.)b, A Blood Indian horse raider expiating his vow to undergo self-torture in the SunDance lodge, 1892. (Photograph by R. N. Wilson. Courtesy American Museum ofNatural History.) INDEX Abert, James William, quotation from,111Abies lasiocarpa, 275Actaea eburnia, medicinal use of, 275Adultery, punishment for, 251, 252Aged, abandonment of, 142, 243, 308Agricultural products, traded for horses,10, 11 (map)Agriculture, lack of, 122Alton, Arthur S., on Coronado's horsesand armor, 2, 205Algonquian tribes, 333Ambush, war method, 210American Fur Co., 125, 203, 319Ammunition, exchanged for horses, 8, 9,13, 219Amulets, 198Anaphalis margaritacea subalpina, me-dicinal plant, 277Animal predators, attacks on horses, 51Antelope, 121, 166, 170Apache Indians, 3, 4, 7, 831eating habits, 222horse raids by, 3horses received by, IS, 333origin of horse complex, 327raids by, 177, 185, 197raids on, 4, 14, 334, 335riding gear, 84-85social customs, 282transportation gear. 111, 137treatment of horses by, 48, 56wealth in horses, 24 (table)weapons used by, 201See also Chiracahua ApacheArapaho Indians, 9, 23, 139, 171, 270,276, 336conversion to nomadism, 9death customs, 286, 288games by, 226horses obtained by, 18, 332, 333hunting methods, 154, 162medical plants used, 277moves by, 334relations with Blackfoot, 173religious rites, 290role in horse trading, 8, 12, 45social customs, 256, 281, 282, 284transportation gear, 110, 119, 137treatment of horses by, 40, 48, 55wealth in horses, 24 (table) "Archithinue Indians," 145, 154, 169,201, 210, 310, 318horses possessed by, 17, 18, 39, 40,333raids on, 172riding gear, 83 Arikara Indians (northernmost Cad-doan-speaking people), 4, 8, 23,279enemies of Blackfoot, 173food consumption, 168, 169, 170horses obtained by, 9, 12, 18, 213horses obtained from, 5, 10, 332hunting methods, 154role in trading, 13social customs, 284, 335treatment of horses by, 43, 44, 47,327wealth in horses, 24 (table)Armor, protective, 203-204, 309Arrowheads, metal, traded for horses, 7Arrowmaking tools, 136Arrows, iron-headed, 156stone-headed, 156Artemisia cana, range grass, 41Artemisia frigida, medicinal use of, 275Artemisia sp., medicinal use of, 275Ashley, William H., trader, quotationsfrom, 44Asperger, ceremonial, 223, 224 (fig.)Assiniboin Indians, 23, 43, 45, 78, 154clothes, 182death customs, 286, 287eating habits, 222guns owned by, 16horses acquired by, 5, 10, 12, 17, 18horses distributed among, 188hunting methods, 303, 304lack of horses by, 4, 134, 137, 142,144, 165, 307, 308, 327, 340living conditions, 307-308movements of, 123, 130, 142. 144, 334origin of horse complex, 327packs carried by, 184raids by, 172, 174, 185raids on, 20, 171, 173, 176, 192religious beliefs, 291riding gear, 83, 99social customs, 280, 284social organization, 248trade with, 217, 219trade with Mandan, 13transportation gear, 102, 110, 119,137treatment of horses by, 64wealth in horses, 24 (table), 31(table)weapons used by, 202Atsina Indians, see Gros Ventres.Awls, 182, 184metal, traded for horses, 7, 13Axes, 184battle, 309, 310 359 360 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159] Axes?Continuedtraded for horses, 7, 13 Backrests, willow, 134, 135 (fig.)Badger skins, used in medicine bag, 128Badgers, 121Bag, berry, 116, 117 (fig.)buffalo callsliin, 116, 116 (fig.), 135double-, 116, 117 (fig.) , 135, 136Gros Ventres, 114, 115saddle-, 117, 135Band, political organization, 245-248,316Baneberry, medicinal use of, 276Bannnock Indians, death customs, 286Barrett, Eugene, forester, informationfrom, XIV, 165, 276, 281Bartlett, John Russell, quotation from,222Baskets, trade objects, 216Battle axes, use of, 309Battles, 195 (list)Beads, trade goods, 10, 319Bearberry leaves, used with tobacco,136Bear knife, ceremony of transfer of, 263Bears, attacks on horses by, 51black, 121grizzly, 121Beatty, Willard R., xnBeaver bundle owners, 314Beaver bundles, 106, 126, 137, 221, 240,289, 308Beaver ceremony, 126Beavers, 121, 244Bedding, buffalo robe, 134Berries, dried, 128, 135, 136See also Buffaloberry, Bullberry,Dogfootberry, Serviceberry.Berry cakes, 136Berry gathering, 152Betting, among Indians, 230-231, 233,234, 235, 236Bibliography, 343-358.Bighorn, 121, 125Birds, game, 121Birdskin war medicine, 311Bishop, Morris, 2Bit, Spanish, 79Bitterroot, 121, 122, 127Blackfeet Reservation iu Montana, siteof study, XII, 30, 35, 41, 55Blackfoot Country, 121, 122 (map)buffalo in, 148-149Blackfoot Indians, acquisition of horsesby, 15-19attacks by, 143, 144band movements, 129-147battles, 195 (list)buffalo drives, 164-165clothing, protective, 204code of laws, 252, 253death customs, 285, 288defensive wai'fare, 207 Blackfoot Indians?Continuedeating of horsemeat, rare occur-rence, 222horee commands used by, 60horse decorations, 99, 100, 101horses obtained by, 300horses stolen by, 19, 69hunting methods, 154, 303mounting and guiding horses, 68, 69,70, 71movements of, 123-129, 334North, 1, 20, 21, 23, 123movements of, 125, 126wealth in horses, 20, 21(table), 30pack carried by raiders, 184personal names, 254 (list), 255pictographs by, 214raids by, 171, 194, 198, 199, 341reUgion, 228-290, 316-318riding ability, 72, 206riding gear, 83, 85, 87, 89, 91, 93,95, 9G, 97, 98 (fig.), 100selection of for study, xiisocial customs, 251, 252, 255-256,281, 284social organization, 249, 251trade with, 218traditions, 303transportation gear, 102, 103, 104(fig.), 106, 108, 111, 112, 113 (fig.),114, 115, 116, 117 (fig.), 118 (fig.),119treatment of horses, 38, 44uses of buffalo, 149, 150-151 (list)war effect on population, 212war honors, 212-213warrior ideal, 214-215wealth by individuals, 2&-30, 131wealth in horses, 20-22, 30, 72Blackfoot tribes, hunting grounds, 122(map), 123hunting season, 127-128names of, 1, 17wealth in horses, 21 (table)winter camps, 124-126yearly round, 123-129Blackfoot warriors, war medicine of,179 (list), 180Black Horse Society, 279Blanket coats, Hudson's Bay Company,181, 182Blankets, saddle, 94trade, obtained by Indians, 8, 12, 217use of, 46, 95Blood Clot, mythological figure, 303Blood Indian informants, list of, xniBlood Indians, xn, 1, 17, 23, 29, 35, 45,114, 123, 140, 141, 171, 191, 208,222, 275, 341amusements, 228, 233, 236buffalo drives, 165defensive warfare, 207, 210hunting methods, 167, 302movements of, 125, 126personal names, 254 (list) INDEX 361 Blood Indians?Continuedraids by, 175, 190, 194religious rites, 289, 290, 317riding ability, 71riding gear, 82, 89social customs, 251social organization, 249, 250wealth in horses, 20, 21 (table) , 30Blood-Piegan Indian informants, xiii(list)Blood Reserve, Alberta, xii, xiii, 35, 37Bodmer, Carl, artist, 95, 96, 115Body armor, leather, 204Body paint, use on horses, 100Boiler, Henry, quotation from, 130, 134,142, 158, 159, 162, 16S, 170, 181,182, 239Bola perdida, South American weapon,202Bolton, Herbert E., on Spanish horses,2,69Bonnets, feather, 119, 139, 219, 238horned, 219war, 137, 197, 198Bosin, Frank, statement by, 136, 137.141, 146, 154, 162Bourgmont, Etienne V. de, quotationfrom, 142, 204, 306Bow and arrows, used by Indians, 70,156, 157, 167, 183, 184, 199, 200,201, 305, 309, 310, 320, 325, 326,330Bowl, wooden, 116Bows, horn, traded for horses, 8, 216hunting, 156walnut, trade in, 10Boy, Calvin, Piegan artist, xiv, 255Boys, duties of, 37-38, 60-62, 190-191,227, 323, 330hunting by, 159part in horse-raiding trips, 190-191toys of, 226Bracelets, metal, traded for horses, 7Brackett, Col. A. G., quotation from, 109Bradley, Lt. James H., 20, 29, 92, 96, 97,126, 131, 144, 165, 168, 203, 207,209, 210, 212, 221, 225, 230, 231,245-246, 249, 250, 251, 252, 290,298, 306Branding, not used, 329Breechcloth, 156, 181, 187, 198, 220Breechloaders, use of, 15G, 157, 187, 200Breeding formulas, magical, 55-56Bridle bits, trade in, 8Bridles, hair, 78, 80metal-bitteer, Alfred L., quotations from, 38,110, 209, 223, 256, 281, 288, 300,337Kurz, Frederich, artist, 83, 84, 92, 94, 97,156, 182, 220Kurz, Rudolph, paintings by, 79Kutenai Indians, 37, 48, 74, 176, 276, 300amusements of, 228, 234, 237horses obtained from, 19horses stolen from, 19raids on, 171, 172, 173, 175, 199riding equipment, 78social customs, 280transportation gear, 119treatment of horses by, 40, 50, 64wild horses captured by, 59La Flesche, Joseph, quotation from, 204La Salle, French explorer, 3, 5La V^rendrye, explorer, 4, 5, 12, 78, 137,142, 144, 304, 306Laciniaria scariosa, medicinal plant, 277Lance heads, metal, 201traded for horses, 7Lances, used by Indians, 70, 156, 200,201 (fig.), 202, 305, 309, 310, 325,326, 329, 330Larceny, punishment for, 251 368 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159] Lariats, rawhide, 73, 75, 79use of, 79, 324, 328, 329Larkspur, poisonous plant, 277Larocque, Frangois, trader, 8, 47, 48, 67,70, 99, 130, 142, 144, 146, 147, 169,181, 206, 210, 220Larpenteur, Charles, trader, 29, 119, 319Lasso, use of, 60, 63, 80Leggings, 156, 181decorated war, 197deerskin, trade in, 10, 220Lemhi Shoshoni, sec Shoshoni Indians.Leonard, Zenas, trader, 109, 143, 181,206Leptotaenia multiflda, medicinal use of,49,55Lewis and Clark expedition, reportsfrom, 6, 8, 9, 10, 40, 43, 47, 58, 78,79, 80, 83, 90, 94, 100, 101, 141, 148,153, 168, 170, 202, 204, 205, 206,213, 219, 250, 252, 342Lewisia redivwa, medicinal use of, 49Linton, Ralph, on Indian culture, xiLocoweed, poisonous plant, 277Lodge, sweat, 223Lodge cover, buffaloskin, 116, 131, 132(fig.), 133, 150 (list)packing of, 132 (fig.) , 133, 325painted, 134, 231renewal of, 132re-using of, 150Lodgepole drag, use of, 109, 112hitch, 107 (fig.), 133, 324Lodgepoles, 108, 131moving of, 133, 143, 324Lodge protection, individual, 208Lodges, buffaloskin, trade in, 10canvas, 131circular arrangement of, 128death. 285-286, 287hunting, 134, 337packing up, 131-132 (fig.), 133, 134trade goods, 217war, 185, 186Long Expedition, quotations from 60, 67,141, 211Long Time Pipe ritual, 289Lowie, Robert H., quotations from, 109,209, 222, 280Luggage, items carried, 112-120trade in, 319Lunch on march, 144Lupines, poisonous plants, 277McBride, Freal, xiiMcClintock, Walter, quotation from, 106,238, 254, 275, 278M'Gillivray, Duncan, quotation from,58Mackenzie, Charles, reports from, 8, 67,72, 202Maize, fed to horses, 44Mandan-Hidatsa Indians, hunting abil-ity, 159riding equipment, 79 Mandan Indians, 4, 5, 8, 12, 23, 38, 153,209, 331amusements of, 235, 238eating habits, 222enemies of Blackfoot, 173food consumption, 168horses distributed among, 189horses obtained by, 7, 9, 12, 18horses traded by, 5, 10hunting methods, 154, 160-161movements of, 130, 145riding ability, 72riding equipment, 78, 83, 84, 94, 99role as traders, 13, 78, 220social customs, 250, 252transportation gear, 110treatment of horses by, 40, 43, 44,46, 327wealth in horses, 25 (table), 31, 32(table)Mandelbaum, David G., quotations from,58, 110, 162, 223, 248, 280, 286Marching formation, 143-144Marcy, Capt. Randolph B., on Indianhorses, 41, 43, 71, 170, 206, 210,222, 341Mares, brood, 302care of gravid, 56lead, 302Mai'est, Father Gabriel, 4Marriage, 249-251gifts exchanged, 326polygamous, 212, 250-251, 252, 315,319Marriott, Alice, information from, xrv,282, 283Martingales and cruppers, 95, 96 (fig.),97, 105, 140, 328Masks, use on horses, 99, 100Matoki, Blood v/omen's society, 253Maximilian, Alexander Philip, 29, 75, 78,82, 86, 94, 95, 97, 99, 112, 116, 132,134, 149, 156, 165, 173, 176, 184,19S. 200, 206, 207, 209, 213, 218,220, 222, 223, 235, 250, 251, 252,253, 255, 279, 285, 307May storms, effect on horses, 45-46Mead, James R., quotation from, 184Meat, dried, 128, 135, 149, 240transportation, 135, 325Meat packets, carried on raids, 186Medicine, practice of, 245Medicine, war, 178, 179 (list), 180-181,184, 186, 189, 192, 197, 198, 212Medicine Bag, use in Sun Dance cere-mony, 128use for scaring horses, 29Medicine bundles, 136, 137, 139, 140, 221,223, 240, 242, 244, 257, 259, 260,261, 264, 270, 277, 278, 279, 281,308, 317, 321transfers, 288-289Medicine cult, horse, 257-284, 317, 321Medicine men, 203, 230, 241horse, 59, 71, 99, 235, 257 (list), 262,264, 268, 272, 274-275, 278, 279,281, 282, 284, 317 INDEX 369 Medicine men?Continuedpayment to, 256Medicine paraphernalia, transporting,136-137Medicine pipe, duties of owner, 130, 317Medicine pipe bundles, 106, 128, 137, 146,178, 192, 221, 240, 278, 208Medicine pipe ceremony, 126, 278Medicine pipe man, 137, 143, 146, 264,278Medicine women, 98. 106, 127, 128, 241,270, 289Meldrum, Robert, fur trader, 8Meline, James F., quotation from, 71Mendoca, Vicente de Saldivar, reportsfrom, 12Mengarini, Father Gregory, quotationfrom, 198-199Men's societies, duties of, 129Metal, trade in, 319Middleton, Archdeacon Samuel K., xiiiMiller, Alfred, paintings by, 79, 97, 137.143Mink, 121Mishkin, Bernard, quotation from, 139,248Missouri Indians, death customs, 286horses possessed by, 4Mitchell, D. D., quotation from, 163Mittens, buffalohide, 181Moccasins, 156, 181, 182, 184, 198, 306exchange goods, 9Monogamy, 250Mooney, James, quotation from, 222, 282Morgan, Lewis Henry, reports from, 8Morning Star, legends about, 69, 295-297Mountain lion, attacks on horses, 51skin, use of, 95, 329Mourning customs, 326Moving, distances traveled by day, 147packing up, 130-131stops en route, 145-146, 147Muhleribergia squarrosa, medicinal useof, 276Mules, loads carried by, 138, 325trade in. 10, 342use of, 133, 136, 329, 341-342Murphy, Edith V. A., information from,XIV, 276, 277Museum of the Plains Indian, xii, xivMusket, muzzle-loading, 156Muskrat, 121Myths, 290, 291, 292-298, 326NaouadichS Indians, Caddoan tribe, 4horses possessed by, 4Napi, Blackfoot god, 237Natoas bundle, 137, 221, 240, 308Navaho Indians, protective clothing,204wealth in horses, 25 (table)Necklaces, 198horse-tooth, 223Nez Perc6 Indians, 22, 55, 109, 176, 276,341 Nez Pere^ Indians?Continuedamusements of, 233death customs, 286eating habits, 222fights with Blackfoot, 172horses obtained from, 19liorses obtained from Shoshoni, 7.18hunting methods, 157, 170medical plants used, 277 (list)moving by, 147, 334origin of liorse complex, 327raids by, 177riding equipment, 78, 83social customs, 280, 281trade with, 217, 220tradition regarding horses, 18transportation gear, 119treatment of horses by, 40, 58wealth in horses, 26 (table), 31, 32(table)Nomadic peoples, cultures of, 339, 340Oglala Indians, 37, 67horse commands used by, 69moving of, 133social customs, 281transportation gear, 112, 114treatment of horses by, 60, 64See also Dakota Indians, Oglala.Ojibwa Indians, lacked horses in 1798,5obtained horses, 1806, 6Plains, horses obtained by, 10, 12hunting methods, 156relations with Blackfoot, 173transition period of, 6pressure by, 333( (kinagou Indians, eating habits, 222protective clothing, 205transportation gear, 114, 115, 133transportation of, 138, 308, 324, 325Omaha Indians, death customs, 286defensive warfare, 208, 210, 211horse ornamentation, 100, 101hunting season, 152, 154, 161medicinal plants used, 277riding gear, 97, 99status of women, 143transportation gear, 112, 114, 133treatment of aged, 142treatment of horses by, 47, 49war honors, 213wealth in horses, 26 (table), 31, 82(table)Omens, belief in, 186Opler, Marvin, quotations from, 3, 197,247Osage Indians, 22, 23, 38, 39, 154, 209death customs, 288games of, 226hunting methods, 152, 157, 158, 159,161, 162, 170movements of, 130riding ability, 206riding equipment, 79, 80, 90social classes, 243 370 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159] Osage Indians?Continuedsocial customs, 251, 255, 256trade with, 219treatment of horses by, 56wealth in horses, 26 (table)Oto Indians, death customs, 286horses owned by, 4hunting season, 152Otter, 121Owen, John, quotation from, 175Pack, carried in horse raiding, 184Padouca Indians, 142, 204, 219Paeonia brownii, medicinal plant, 276,277Paint brushes, willow, 214Paiute Indians, riding gear, 90Palmer, Dr. E., collector, 90Paloos Indians, 22Parfleche, attachment method, 114luggage, 112, 113 (fig.), 119, 135,137, 243, 324, 330trade in, 217Parker, W. B., quotations from, 89, 109,112Pasturage, importance of, 40-42Pawnee Indians, 42, 109, 331horses possessed by, 4, 37, 333hunting season, 152, 154, 157, 159medicinal plants used, 277 (list)moving of, 133, 143, 147packs carried by, 184protective clothing, 204raiding parties, 185social classes, 243trading with, 3treatment of aged, 142treatment of horses by, 47, 49wealth in horses, 26 (table), 32(table)Pedestrian culture period, 299-300. 304,312, 313, 314, 315, 316, 330, 338Pemmican, making of, 128, 149, 240transporting, 135Pend d'Orielle Indians, 22, 176hox'ses obtained from Shoshoni, 7moves by, 334raids by, 174relations with Blackfoot, 173trade with, 217treatment of horses by, 40, 50wealth in horses, 26 (table), 32(table)Peony, wild, medicinal plant, 277Personal names, relation to horses, 254-255Pfefferkoru, Ignaz, quotations from, 85,201, 203, 205, 222, 342Pichette, Pierre, statement by, 83, 93,112, 134Pictographs, 214Picurie Indians, trade with, 12Piegan Indian informants, xiii (list)Piegan Indians, xn, 1, 15, 16, 17, 36, 41,45, 75, 79, 106, 123, 132, 141, 159,167, 190, 191, 196, 200, 213, 222,244, 275, 287, 342 Piegan Indians?Continuedamusements of, 228, 233, 234, 236,237, 238attacks on, 143, 174, 202buffalo drive, 165death customs, 285defensive warfare, 207, 209, 210horse commands used by, 69horse hgends, 258-262horse ornamentation, 101horse-painted lodge, 278, 279horses lacked by, 17hunting methods, 156, 163, 165, 166,303movements of, 125, 126, 127, 128,143personal names, 254 (list), 255population, effects of war on, 212raids by, 171, 172, 173, 176, 190, 194,198, 199, 203, 232, 341religion, 289riding ability, 71riding gear, 82, 83, 87, 93, 100social classes, 244, 246, 248, 249social customs, 2.50, 251, 252, 280trade among, 216-217, 219, 220, 221training of children by, 67treatment of horses by, 43, 49, 53,54, 55, 58transportation by, 138war medicine, 180, 181wealth in horses, 17, 20, 21 (table),23, 29, 30, 31weapons used by, 201Pike, Zebulon, quotations from, 6, 71,201, 211Pima Indians, breaking of horses by, 64Pipe and tobacco, carried on raids, 184Pipe-making tools, 136Pipes, ceremonial, 130, 262, 267-268, 269red stone, trade in, 10trade objects, 216, 220Pipestone, trade in, 216Plants, food, 121, 127, 152gathering of, 152medical, 47, 49, 276, 277 (list), 324,326, 329stock-poisoning, 51Plateau tribes, 3, 6, 7, 12, 20, 31, 33, 58,67, 68, 78, 79, 90, 109, 340hunting methods, 170riding gear, 94social customs, 283transportation gear, 115wealth in horses, 22-27Plates, tin, 116, 136Pole transport, 107, 108Policemen, functions of, 163, 164Political organization, 245-249Polygamy, practice of, 212, 250-251, 252,315, 319, 326Ponca Indians, 204horses possessed by, 4treatment of horses by, 49Pond, Peter, explorer, 5, 204Pony, Indian, 33-34fate of, 34-35, 321, 336weight carried by, 138 INDEX 371 Poor, feeding of, 162-163, 305Population, effect of war on, 212Porcupine-quill decorations, 82Potawatomi Indians, riding gear, 97Pottery, disappearance of, 320trade in, 12Pre-hoise days, 114, 115, 172, 201, 253,289, 299-300, 305, 306, 307, 309,310, 311, 315, 335, 337Pueblo Indians, Apache exchangeswith, 3raids on, 14Punishments, 163, 164 (table)horse in relation to, 251-253Puyallup-Nisqually Indians, 190, 283Querechos Indians, roles in trading, 12Quivers, 156 Rabbits, 121Racing, between tribes, 233-234challenge to, 229intersociety, 229-232intertribal, 228, 235-236later history, 234Rafts, improvised, 145Raiding parties, 184-188, 325-326return from, 187-188, 189Rattles, ceremonial, 136Rawhide, preparation of, 74uses of, 73, 103Raynolds, W. F., quotation from, 170Recreational equipment, 151 (list), 326(Ust)Religious paraphernalia, 151 (list), 326(list)Remedies, horse, 46, 47-50, 324Remington, Frederic, artist, quotationsfrom, 100Reservation Period, 21, 64, 94, 221, 254Ricara Indians, see Arikara.Rich, responsibilities of, 242Riding Big Dance, 196Riding gear, 73-99, 151 (list), 324 (list)Spanish, 328Rifles, breech-loading, 305, 325, 326rare among Indians, 199Rindisbacher, Peter, painting by, 84Robes, bufealo, trade in, 10, 13, 169, 217,218, 220, 318, 319use of, 42, 46, 95, 107, 137, 169,239Rodnick, David, quotation from, 280Ropes, buffalo hair, 75, 78, 79horsehair, 75, 78, 223rawhide, 73, 78, 184, 278, 280, 324making of, 73, 74 ( fig. ) , 75trade in, 217Ross, Alexander, quotation from, 306Rudd, V. E., on horse medicines, 275Sac and Fox Indians, riding gear, 99Saddlebags, 117cylindrical rawhide, 119, 120 (fig.),324double, 117, 118 (fig.) , 119, 135, 136,140, 324, 328 Saddlebags?Continuedrectangular rawhide, 119, 120(fig.), 324Saddle blankets, 94, 95, 324Saddle housing, 95, 324Saddle making, 81-82, 86-87, 91-92, 324,327Saddle rigging, rawhide, 73Saddles, American fur traders', 93care of, 81decorated, 82frame, 83, 84, 85, 91man's riding, 93obtained from Whites, 64, 83pack, 67, 85, 90, 93, 132, 324pad, 64, 81-85, 86, 156, 324, 329variants on, 85 "prairie chicken snare," 91, 92(fig.),93,95, 105, 156Spanish, 93, 94, 328stock, 83, 94, 320trade in, 210, 319woman's ("wood"), 66, 67, 85, 86(fig), 88 (fig.), 89-91, 95, 105, 118,132 (fig.), 133, 136,324Saddle sores, treatment for, 47Saint-Pierre, Legardeur de, 17Salishan tribes, raids on, 171, 172Sanpoil Indians, riding gear, 83, 92transportation gear, 109Santa Fe, center of horse distribution, 3Sapir, Edward, quotation from, 339Sarsi Indians, 17, 38, 165, 171, 277amusements of, 228country occupied by, 123death customs, 286, 287movements of, 129raids by, 194social customs, 280, 284transportation gear, 109, 111, 119Sarvisberry, see Serviceberry.Sauk Indians, horses owned by, 5hunting season, 152treatment of aged, 142treatment of women by, 143Saulteurs, horses lacked by, 6Scalps, preparation of, 207raids for, 194-196, 206, 213, 312, 325,338Schaeffer, Claude, xiv, 41Schoolcraft, Henry R., xiSchultz, J. Willard, quotations from, 29,125, 133, 166, 190, 207, 210, 228,234Scouts, use of, 143, 144, 147, 185-186, 311Sentinels, use of, 210Serviceberry, 98, 122, 128, 135Sham battles, 238, 326, 330Sheep, 244Shells, trade objects, 216, 319Sherburne, Frank and Joseph, observa-tions from, xni, 30, 34, 55, 70, 106Shields, 137, 198, 202-203, 309, 330construction of, 203exchange value, 219Shimkin, D. B., quotation from, 203 372 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159] Shirts, 181decorated deerskin, trade in, 9, 10,220decorated war, 197hunting, 156Shoshoni Indians, 38, 80, 81, 176, 203,209, 331, 342amusements, 235death customs, 286, 287eating habits, 222horses acquired by, 17, 18, 332horses purchased from, 6, 7, 17, 333horses stolen from, 19Lemhi, reports on horses by, 6, 40,47, 78, 79, 80, 83, 90, 94, 100, 141,204, 213, 250movements of, 334Northern, 22horses distributed by, 7, 14horses possessed by, 17tradition on horses, 6, 9wealth in horses, 26 (table)protective clothing, 205raids on, 171, 172, 173, 177, 203, 303,341riding ability, 206riding gear, 94social classes, 244, 248trade with, 219transportation gear, 109, 115weapons used by, 202, 203Shuswap Indians, riding gear, 83Sidesaddles, not used, 329Sioux Indians, defensive warfare, 211raids by, 333, 334, 342raids on, 192, 342relations with Blackfoot, 173riding gear, 90, 97Sisseton Indians, riding gear, 84, 90Skilloot Indians, horses purchased from,6Skin-dressing tools, 136Skinner, Allanson, quotation from, 111,279Skins, dressed, trade in, 12, 13Sky Spirits, mythical, 317Slave raids, 310, 311, 316, 330Slaves, capture of, 330Smallpox epidemics, effects of, 335Smet, Pierre Jean de, quotation from,248Smith, Marion, quotation from, 283Snake Indians, 5, 15, 16protective clothing, 204See also Shoshoni.Social relations traits, 326 (list)Social status, changes in, 244-245, 326Societies, men's, 337Society, payment into, 253leader, 136Society organization and ceremonies,253Society paraphernalia, transporting,136-137Sohon, Gustavus, drawings by, 86, 90,96, 102, 145Sore feet, treatment for, 47-48 (fig.) Sororate, practice of, 250Sorrell, sheep, medicinal plant, 277yellow wood, medicinal plant, 277Spanish, horses acquired from, 3, 9, 14,171, 332Spanish-Americans, treatment of horsesby, 60, 64Spanish period, 68Spanish policy regarding firearms, 13Spanish riding gear, used by Indians, 6,71,79Spanish settlements, horses from, 6, 12,14, 79Spanish stock-raising settlements, 2Spears, bone, 201Spier, Leslie, on parfleche, 115Spokan Indians, horses obtained fromShoshoni, 7trade with, 217Spoons, metal, 136Spurs, rarely used, 70, 324, 329Stallions, breeding, 53-54castrated, 54, 56-58, 324Stanley, John Mix, on Piegan Indians,41, 130, 138, 143, 148Stansbury, Capt. Howard, 82, 112Stevens, Gov. Isaac I., on BlackfootIndians, 124, 125, 148, 200Stick, digging, 116, 127Stipa comata, 152Stii'rups, construction of, 93short, use of, 70-71, 82, 324, 328Stirrup straps, rawhide, 73Streams, crossing of, 144Stuart, Granville, quotation from, 114Studs, selection of, 53-54See also Stallions.Suits, ornamented, trade in, 217Sun, mythical being, 297Sun Dance, 98, 99, 106, 127, 129, 244, 289,317, 337encampment, 128, 129, 131, 163, 196,214, 227, 232, 234, 236, 238, 255,289 313ritual, 270, 280, 283, 289-290, 317season, 127-128Sun Dance bundle, see Natoas bundle.Sunshade, used on travois, 112, 137, 324Surcingle, use of, 63, 329Surround, hunting method, 154, 155, 302,304, 325, 330Swanton, John R., 2Sweat lodge, 223Sweet pine, medicinal use of, 275Swords, 137Tabeau, Pierre-Antoine, on horse trad-ing, 9, 220quotations from, 8, 10, 13, 47, 169,213, 279, 334, 335Taboos recognized by horse medicinemen, 274-275, 279, 282, 317Taboos regarding race horses, 228, 325,330Tallow, transporting, 135Taos Indians, trade with, 12Tehuelche Indians, amusements, 235 INDEX 373 Teit, James, quotations from, 119, 170,204, 216Tents, 239Teton Dakota, see Dakota Indians.Teyas Indians, roles in trade, 12 'Thalictrum sp., medicinal plant, 276Thalictrum sparsifiorum, medicinalplant, 277Thermopsis montana, 152Thread, sinew, 182, 184Thompson, David, quotations from, 5,8, 15, 19, 44, 59, 79, 93, 163, 170,171, 175, 194, 200, 202, 212, 218,227, 237, 239, 240, 248, 252, 255,275, 299, 300, 303, 309, 310, 333,341Thompson Indians, riding gear, 83, 92transportation gear, 119Thunder, mythical being, 297Tipis, 134, 307, 308, 337Tixier, Victor, quotations from, 67, 71,80, 84, 130, 158, 159, 161, 162, 170,206, 209, 210, 222, 225, 243, 251,255, 256, 288Tobacco, 136, 184ceremonial use of, 267-268trade in, 9, 10used in challenging, 236Tobacco planters. North Blackfoot cult,317Toilet articles, transporting of, 136, 139Tools, buffalo used for, 150 (list)skin-dressing, 136Townsendia excapa, medicinal use of,276Toys, boys', 226, 227 (fig.), 313girls', 225 (fig.), 313Trade, intertribal, 216-217intratribal, 217, 312Trade objects, exchange in, 7-8, 10, 216,241, 312, 326Trading fair, several tribes associatedin, 9, 10, 27Transfer ceremony, 278Transfer of sacred objects, paymentsfor, 289Transportation gear, 151 (list), 324(li.st)Travois, adjustment and repair, 105-106construction, 103, 104 (fig.), 105,324distribution of, 108-112survival of, 106-107use of, on dogs, 102, 103, 106, 110,115, 134, 136, 139, 142, 302, 306,308, 309, 320, 325, 329, 331use of, on horses, 19, 65, 66, 67, 90,95, 102-112, 133, 134, 136, 137, 138,140, 309, 320, 325, 329Travois accessories, 105Travois and transport gear, 102-120,253Travois ropes, rawhide, 73Tribal wealth in horses, comparative, 28(table)Tribes, horticultural, 153Trobriand, Philippe Regis de, on Indianhorses, 34 Trudeau, Jean-Baptiste, reports from,10Turney-High, Harry H., quotation from,109Turnip, prairie, 121, 127Twining, W. J., quotation from, 148 Uintah Indians, wealth in horses, 27(table)Umatilla Indians, 22wealth in horses, 26 (table)Umfreville, Edward, 5, 19, 204Ute Indians, 3, 4, 6, 7, 22, 276, 277, 332eating habits, 222horses received by, ISmedicinal plants used, 277 (list)riding ability, 71riding gear, 90, 94Southern, 3, 247trade with, 14transportation gear, 119wealth in horses, 27 (table), 72 Valeriana sp., medical use of, 49Valverde, Governor, expedition againstIndians led by, 4Vaughan, Indian Agent, 20, 21 (table),149, 212Velasco, Don Luis de. Viceroy of NewSpain, 90Vernon, Arthur, on the horse, 33 Wagons, Government issue, 106, 107Walla Walla Indians, 22treatment of horses by, 47wealth in horses, 26 (table)Wallets, trade in, 216War bonnets, 137, 197, 198War clothes, 196, 197, 198War clubs, 200, 201-202, 326, 330Warfare, defensive, 207-212influence of horses on, 30i>-312, 319intertribal, 171-173, 313, 336mounted, 198-199, 310surprise attacks, 310traits, 325 (list), 326War honors, 212-213, 310, 311, 326, 330representations of, 214War horses, 196-197War lodges, use of, 185, 186War medicines, 178, 179 (list), 180-181,184, 189, 192, 197, 198, 212, 311War paint, 196, 198War parties, equipment of, 197-198mounted, 185, 196-197, 337on foot, 184, 185War songs, 186Water, transportation of, 135 (fig.), 144Water spirits, mythical, 317 "Waterfall Indians," 17Wealth, effect of on social status, 326Weapons, buffaloskin used for making,150 (list)capture of, 213fire, 199-200shock, 200transporting of, 137 374 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 159]Weapons?Continuedused in hors^e raiding, 183value in trade, 218, 219Weasels, 121, 220Weather, signs of, 42, 126Weather dancer, 224Webb, Walter P., 2Wedel, Waldo R., opinions of, 337-338Weights and loads, 138Western Dakota, see Dakota Indians,Teton.Whip lashes, rawhide, 74Whipple, A. W., quotations from, 79, 85Whips, trade, 99use of, 70, 97, 98 (fig.), 99, 184, 230,278, 280, 324White men, effect on Indian culture, 328(list)White Quiver, Blackfoot horse raider,191-193Wichita Indians, 331burial customs, 286horses possessed by, 4horse trading with, 3protective clothing, 204wealth in horses, 27 (table)Wife, beating of, 161favorite, 95, 101, 120, 130, 134, 139,241Wills, verbal, 241, 287, 288Wilson, Rev. Edward F., quotation from,297Wilson, Gilbert L., on Hidatsa Indians,SI, 38, 39, 58, 60, 79, 80, 99, 110.Ill, 115, 116, 133, 206, 231, 254,291, 307, 342Wilson, R. N., collector, 85, 224, 270Wimar, Charles, drawings by, 84, 102,182Winnebago Indians, riding gear, 84Winter camps, 124-126Wissler, Clark, quotations from, 1, 2,3, 15, 16, 17, 18, 35, 39, 58, 77, 89.90, 97, 100, 102, 106, 110, 112, 114,115, 116, 119, 131, 154, 160, 165,194, 196, 199, 202, 203, 205, 214, Wisler, Clark, quotations from?Con.221, 226, 242, 244, 245, 246, 247,248, 255, 257, 262, 264, 270, 273,274, 275, 277, 278, 281, 288, 289,297, 336, 337, 338, 341Wolfskins, use of, 167, 184, 185Wolves, 121Woman's saddle, see Saddle, woman's.Women, belt worn during pregnancy,68-69betting among, 231burden bearers, 142, 308capture of, 213, 310, 312duties of, 40, 73, 81, 86, 98, 1.30, 154,155, 160, 207, 209, 310, 324, 325ownership of horses by, 29part in horse-raiding trips, 190saddlebags used by, 118, 119status improved by horse, 142, 315travois owned by, 103Women's clothing, value in horses, 220Women warriors, 190Work, John, quotations from, 44, 306Wounded, transportation of, 108-109,325Wyeth, Nathaniel .T., fur trader, xi, 305Wyoming Shoshoni, 4Xanthoxalis stricta, medicinal plant,277Yakima Indians, 22, 64riding gear, 88transportation gear, 119Yampa Indians, wealth in horses, 27(table)Yankton Indians, trade with Dakotas,10transportation methods, 137wealth in horses, 27 (table)See also Dakota Indians, Yankton.Yanktonai Indians, riding gear, 84trade with Teton, 10wealth in horses, 27 (table)Young, John, Indian agent, quotationfrom, 50-51Yucca, sp., medicinal use of, 47, 49o SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION LlBnAHIES 3 9088 01421 9083 m\\\\\\\^