While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
The primitive clothing of the Blackfeet
was made of the dressed skins of certain
animals. Women seldom wore a head covering.
Men, however, in winter generally used a cap
made of the skin of some small animal, such
as the antelope, wolf, badger, or coyote. As
the skin from the head of these animals
often formed part of the cap, the ears being
left on, it made a very odd-looking
head-dress. Sometimes a cap was made of the
skin of some large bird, such as the
sage-hen, duck, owl, or swan.
The ancient dress of the women was a shirt of cow skin,
with long sleeves tied at the wrist, a skirt reaching half-way
from knees to ankles, and leggings tied above the knees, with
sometimes a supporting string running from the belt to the
leggings. In more modern times, this was modified, and a woman's
dress consisted of a gown or smock, reaching from the neck to
below the knees. There were no sleeves, the armholes being
provided with top coverings, a sort of cape or flap, which
reached to the elbows. Leggings were of course still worn. They
reached to the knee, and were generally made, as was the gown,
of the tanned skins of elk, deer, sheep, or antelope. Moccasins
for winter use were made of buffalo robe, and of tanned buffalo
cow skin for summer wear. The latter were always made with
parfleche soles, which greatly increased their durability, and
were often ornamented over the instep or toes with a
three-pronged figure, worked in porcupine quills or beads, the
three prongs representing, it is said, the three divisions or
tribes of the nation. The men wore a shirt, breech-clout,
leggings which reached to the thighs, and moccasins. In winter
both men and women wore a robe of tanned buffalo skin, and
sometimes of beaver. In summer a lighter robe was worn, made of
cow skin or buckskin, from which the hair had been removed. Both
sexes wore belts, which supported and confined the clothing, and
to which were attached knife-sheaths and other useful articles.
Necklaces and earrings were worn by all, and were made
of shells, bone, wood, and the teeth and claws of animals. Elk
tushes were highly prized, and were used for ornamenting women's
dresses. A gown profusely decorated with them was worth two good
horses. Eagle feathers were used by the men to make head-dresses
and to ornament shields and also weapons. Small bunches of owl
or grouse feathers were sometimes tied to the scalp locks. It is
doubtful if the women ever took particular care of their hair.
The men, however, spent a great deal of time brushing, braiding,
and ornamenting their scalp locks. Their hair was usually worn
in two braids, one on each side of the head. Less frequently,
four braids were made, one behind and in front of each ear.
Sometimes, the hair of the forehead was cut off square, and
brushed straight up; and not infrequently it was made into a
huge topknot and wound with otter fur. Often a slender lock,
wound with brass wire or braided, hung down from one side of the
forehead over the face.
As a rule, the men are tall, straight, and well formed.
Their features are regular, the eyes being large and well set,
and the nose generally moderately large, straight, and thin.
Their chests are splendidly developed. The women are quite tall
for their sex, but, as a rule, not so good-looking as the men.
Their hands are large, coarse, and knotted by hard labor; and
they early become wrinkled and careworn. They generally have
splendid constitutions. I have known them to resume work a day
after childbirth; and once, when traveling, I knew a woman to
halt, give birth to a child, and catch up with the camp inside
of four hours.
As a rule, children are hardy and vigorous. They are
allowed to do about as they please from the time they are able
to walk. I have often seen them playing in winter in the snow,
and spinning tops on the ice, barefooted and half-naked. Under
such conditions, those which have feeble constitutions soon die.
Only the hardiest reach maturity and old age.
It is said that very long ago the people made houses of
mud, sticks, and stones. It is not known what was their size or
shape, and no traces of them are known to have been found. For a
very long time, the lodge seems to have been their only
dwelling. In ancient times, before they had knives of metal,
stones were used to hold down the edges of the lodge, to keep it
from being blown away. These varied in size from six inches to a
foot or more in diameter. Everywhere on the prairie, one may now
see circles of these stones, and, within these circles, the
smaller ones, which surrounded the fireplace. Some of them have
lain so long that only the tops now project above the turf, and
undoubtedly many of them are buried out of sight.
Lodges were always made of tanned cow skin, nicely cut
and sewn together, so as to form an almost perfect cone. At the
top were two large flaps, called ears, which were kept extended
or closed, according to the direction and strength of the wind,
to create a draft and keep the lodge free from smoke. The lodge
covering was supported by light, straight pine or spruce poles,
about eighteen of which were required. Twelve cow skins made a
lodge about fourteen feet in diameter at the base, and ten feet
high. I have heard of a modern one which contained forty skins.
It was over thirty feet in diameter, and was so heavy that the
skins were sewn in two pieces which buttoned together.
An average-sized dwelling of this kind contained
eighteen skins and was about sixteen feet in diameter. The lower
edge of the lodge proper was fastened, by wooden pegs, to within
an inch or two of the ground. Inside, a lining, made of brightly
painted cow skin, reached from the ground to a height of five or
six feet. An air space of the thickness of the lodge poles two
or three inches was thus left between the lining and the lodge
covering, and the cold air, rushing up through it from the
outside, made a draft, which aided the ears in freeing the lodge
of smoke. The door was three or four feet high and was covered
by a flap of skin, which hung down on the outside. Thus made,
with plenty of buffalo robes for seats and bedding, and a good
stock of firewood, a lodge was very comfortable, even in the
coldest weather.
It was not uncommon to decorate the outside of the
lodge with buffalo tails and brightly painted pictures of
animals. Inside, the space around was partitioned off into
couches, or seats, each about six feet in length. At the foot
and head of every couch, a mat, made of straight, peeled willow
twigs, fastened side by side, was suspended on a tripod at an
angle of forty-five degrees, so that between the couches spaces
were left like an inverted V, making convenient places to store
articles which were not in use. The owner of the lodge always
occupied the seat or couch at the back of the lodge, directly
opposite the door-way, the places on his right being occupied by
his wives and daughters; though sometimes a Blackfoot had so
many wives that they occupied the whole lodge. The places on his
left were reserved for his sons and visitors. When a visitor
entered a lodge, he was assigned a seat according to his rank,
the nearer to the host, the greater the honor.
Bows were generally made of ash wood, which grows east
of the mountains toward the Sand Hills. When for any reason they
could not obtain ash, they used the wood of the choke-cherry
tree, but this had not strength nor spring enough to be of much
service. I have been told also that sometimes they used hazel
wood for bows.
Arrows were made of shoots of the servis berry wood,
which was straight, very heavy, and not brittle. They were
smoothed and straightened by a stone implement. The grooves were
made by pushing the shafts through a rib or other flat bone in
which had been made a hole, circular except for one or two
projections on the inside. These projections worked out the
groove. The object of these grooves is said to have been to
allow the blood to flow freely. Each man marked his arrows by
painting them, or by some special combination of colored
feathers. The arrow heads were of two kinds, barbed slender
points for war, and barb less for hunting. Knives were
originally made of stone, as were also war clubs, mauls, and
some of the scrapers for fleshing and graining hides. Some of
the flint knives were long, others short. A stick was fitted to
them, forming a wooden handle. The handles of mauls and war
clubs were usually made of green sticks fitted as closely as
possible into a groove made in the stone, the whole being bound
together by a covering of hide put on green, tightly fitted and
strongly sewed. This, as it shrunk in drying, bound the
different parts of the implement together in the strongest
possible manner. Short, heavy spears were used, the points being
of stone or bone, barbed.
I have heard no explanation among the Blackfeet of the
origin of fire. In ancient times, it was obtained by means of
fire sticks, as described elsewhere. The starting of the spark
with these sticks is said to have been hard work. At almost
their first meeting with the whites, they obtained flints and
steels, and learned how to use them.
In ancient times, in the days of fire sticks and even
later, within the memory of men now living, fire used to be
carried from place to place in a "fire horn." This was a buffalo
horn slung by a string over the shoulder like a powder horn. The
horn was lined with moist, rotten wood, and the open end had a
wooden stopper or plug fitted to it. On leaving camp in the
morning, the man who carried the horn took from the fire a small
live coal and put it in the horn, and on this coal placed a
piece of punk, and then plugged up the horn with the stopper.
The punk smoldered in this almost air-tight chamber, and, in the
course of two or three hours, the man looked at it, and if it
was nearly consumed, put another piece of punk in the horn. The
first young men who reached the appointed camping ground would
gather two or three large piles of wood in different places, and
as soon as some one who carried a fire horn reached camp, he
turned out his spark at one of these piles of wood, and a little
blowing and nursing gave a blaze which started the fire. The
other fires were kindled from this first one, and when the women
reached camp and had put the lodges up, they went to these
fires, and got coals with which to start those in their lodges.
This custom of borrowing coals persisted up to the last days of
the buffalo, and indeed may even be noticed still.
The punk here mentioned is a fungus, which grows on the
birch tree. The Indians used to gather this in large quantities
and dry it. It was very abundant at the Touchwood Hills (whence
the name) on Beaver Creek, a tributary of the Saskatchewan from
the south.
The Blackfeet made buckets, cups, basins, and dishes
from the lining of the buffalo's paunch. This was torn off in
large pieces, and was stretched over a flattened willow or
cherry hoop at the bottom and top. These hoops were sometimes
inside and sometimes outside the bucket or dish. In the latter
case, the hoop at the bottom was often sewed to the paunch,
which came down over it, double on the outside, the needle holes
being pitched with gum or tallow. The hoop at the upper edge was
also sewed to the paunch, and a rawhide bail passed under it, to
carry it by. These buckets were shaped somewhat like our wooden
ones, and were of different sizes, some of them holding four or
five gallons. They were more or less flexible, and when carried
in a pack, they could be flattened down like a crush hat, and so
took up but little room. If set on the ground when full, they
would stand up for a while, but as they soon softened and fell
down, they were usually hung up by the bail on a little tripod.
Cups were made in the same way as buckets, but on a smaller
scale and without the bail. Of course, nothing hot could be
placed in these vessels.
It is doubtful if the Blackfeet ever made any pottery
or basket ware. They, however, made bowls and kettles of stone.
There is an ancient children's song which consists of a series
of questions asked an elk, and its replies to the same. In one
place, the questioner sings, "Elk, what is your bowl (or dish)?"
and the elk answers, "Ok-wi-tok-so-ka," stone bowl. On this
point, Wolf Calf, a very old man, states that in early days the
Blackfeet sometimes boiled their meat in a stone bowl made out
of a hard clayey rock.1
Choosing a fragment of the right size and shape, they would
pound it with another heavier rock, dealing light blows until a
hollow had been made in the top. This hollow was made deeper by
pounding and grinding; and when it was deep enough, they put
water in it, and set it on the fire, and the water would boil.
These pots were strong and would last a long time. I do not
remember that any other tribe of Plains Indians made such stone
bowls or mortars, though, of course, they were commonly made,
and in singular perfection, by the Pacific Coast tribes; and I
have known of rare cases in which basalt mortars and small
soapstone ollas have been found on the central plateau of the
continent in southern Wyoming. These articles, however, had no
doubt been obtained by trade from Western tribes.
Serviceable ladles and spoons were made of wood and of
buffalo and mountain sheep horn. Basins or flat dishes were
sometimes made of mountain sheep horn, boiled, split, and
flattened, and also of split buffalo horn, fitted and sewn
together with sinew, making a flaring, saucer-shaped dish. These
were used as plates or eating dishes. Of course, they leaked a
little, for the joints were not tight. Wooden bowls and dishes
were made from knots and protuberances of trees, dug out and
smoothed by fire and the knife or by the latter alone.
It is not known that these people ever made spears,
hooks, or other implements for capturing fish. They appear never
to have used boats of any kind, not even "bull boats." Their
highest idea of navigation was to lash together a few sticks or
logs, on which to transport their possessions across a river.
Red, brown, yellow, and white paints were made by
burning clays of these colors, which were then pulverized and
mixed with a little grease. Black paint was made of charred
wood.
Bags and sacks were made of parfleche, usually
ornamented with buckskin fringe, and painted with various
designs in bright colors. Figures having sharp angles are most
common.
The diet of the Blackfeet was more
varied than one would think. Large quantities of servis berries
(Amelanchier alnifolia) were gathered whenever there was a crop
(which occurs every other year), dried, and stored for future
use. These were gathered by women, who collected the branches
laden with ripe fruit, and beat them over a robe spread upon the
ground. Choke-cherries were also gathered when ripe, and pounded
up, stones and all. A bushel of the fruit, after being pounded
up and dried, was reduced to a very small quantity. This food
was sometimes eaten by itself, but more often was used to flavor
soups and to mix with pemmican. Bull berries (Shepherdia
argentea) were a favorite fruit, and were gathered in large
quantities, as was also the white berry of the red willow. This
last is an exceedingly bitter, acrid fruit, and to the taste of
most white men wholly unpleasant and repugnant. The Blackfeet,
however, are very fond of it; perhaps because it contains some
property necessary to the nourishment of the body, which is
lacking in their every-day food.
The camas root, which grows abundantly in certain
localities on the east slope of the Rockies, was also dug,
cooked, and dried. The bulbs were roasted in pits, as by the
Indians on the west side of the Rocky Mountains, the Kalispel,
and others. It is gathered while in the bloom June 15 to July
15. A large pit is dug in which a hot fire is built, the bottom
being first lined with flat stones. After keeping up this fire
for several hours, until the stones and earth are thoroughly
heated, the coals and ashes are removed. The pit is then lined
with grass, and is filled almost to the top with camas bulbs.
Over these, grass is laid, then twigs, and then earth to a depth
of four inches. On this a fire is built, which is kept up for
from one to three days, according to the quantity of the bulbs
in the pit.
When the pit is opened, the small children gather about
it to suck the syrup, which has collected on the twigs and
grass, and which is very sweet. The fresh-roasted camas tastes
something like a roasted chestnut, with a little of the flavor
of the sweet potato. After being cooked, the roots are spread
out in the sun to dry, and are then put in sacks to be stored
away. Sometimes a few are pounded up with sarvis berries, and
dried.
Bitter-root is gathered, dried, and boiled with a
little sugar. It is a slender root, an inch or two long and as
thick as a goose quill, white in color, and looking like short
lengths of spaghetti. It is very starchy.
In the spring, a certain root called mats was eaten in
great quantities. This plant was known to the early French
employees of the Hudson's Bay and American Fur Companies as
pomme blanche (Psoralea esculenta).
All parts of such animals as the
buffalo, elk, deer, etc., were eaten, save only the lungs, gall,
and one or two other organs. A favorite way of eating the paunch
or stomach was in the raw state. Liver, too, was sometimes eaten
raw. The unborn calf of a fresh-killed animal, especially
buffalo, was considered a great delicacy. The meat of this, when
boiled, is white, tasteless, and insipid. The small intestines
of the buffalo were sometimes dried, but more often were stuffed
with long, thin strips of meat. During the stuffing process, the
entrail was turned inside out, thus confining with the meat the
sweet white fat that covers the intestine. The next step was to
roast it a little, after which the ends were tied to prevent the
escape of the juices, and it was thoroughly boiled in water.
This is a very great delicacy, and when properly prepared is
equally appreciated by whites and Indians.
As a rule, there were but two ways of cooking meat,
boiling and roasting. If roasted, it was thoroughly cooked; but
if boiled, it was only left in the water long enough to lose the
red color, say five or ten minutes. Before they got kettles from
the whites, the Blackfeet often boiled meat in a green hide. A
hole was dug in the ground, and the skin, flesh side up, was
laid in it, being supported about the edges of the hole by pegs.
The meat and water having been placed in this hollow, red-hot
stones were dropped in the water until it became hot and the
meat was cooked.
In time of plenty, great quantities of
dried meat were prepared for use when fresh meat could not be
obtained. In making dried meat, the thicker parts of an animal
were cut in large, thin sheets and hung in the sun to dry. If
the weather was not fine, the meat was often hung up on lines or
scaffolds in the upper part of the lodge. When properly cured
and if of good quality, the sheets were about one-fourth of an
inch thick and very brittle.
The back fat of the buffalo was also dried, and eaten
with the meat as we eat butter with bread. Pemmican was made of
the flesh of the buffalo. The meat was dried in the usual way;
and, for this use, only lean meat, such as the hams, loin, and
shoulders, was chosen. When the time came for making the
pemmican, two large fires were built of dry quaking aspen wood,
and these were allowed to burn down to red coals. The old women
brought the dried meat to these fires, and the sheets of meat
were thrown on the coals of one of them, allowed to heat
through, turned to keep them from burning, and then thrown on
the flesh side of a dry hide, that lay on the ground near by.
After a time, the roasting of this dried meat caused a smoke to
rise from the fire in use, which gave the meat a bitter taste,
if cooked in it. They then turned to the other fire, and used
that until the first one had burned clear again. After enough of
the roasted meat had been thrown on the hide, it was flailed out
with sticks, and being very brittle was easily broken up, and
made small. It was constantly stirred and pounded until it was
all fine. Meantime, the tallow of the buffalo had been melted in
a large kettle, and the pemmican bags prepared. These were made
of bull's hide, and were in two pieces, cut oblong, and with the
corners rounded off. Two such pieces sewed together made a bag
which would hold one hundred pounds. The pounded meat and tallow
the latter just beginning to cool were put in a trough made of
bull's hide, a wooden spade being used to stir the mixture.
After it was thoroughly mixed, it was shoveled into one of the
sacks, held open, and rammed down and packed tight with a big
stick, every effort being made to expel all the air. When the
bag was full and packed as tight as possible, it was sewn up. It
was then put on the ground, and the women jumped on it to make
it still more tight and solid. It was then laid away in the sun
to cool and dry. It usually took the meat of two cows to make a
bag of one hundred pounds; a very large bull might make a sack
of from eighty to one hundred pounds.
A much finer grade of pemmican was made from the
choicest parts of the buffalo with marrow fat. To this dried
berries and pounded choke-cherries were added, making a
delicious food, which was extremely nutritious. Pemmican was
eaten either dry as it came from the sack, or stewed with water.
In the spring, the people had great feasts of the eggs
of ducks and other water-fowl. A large quantity having been
gathered, a hole was dug in the ground, and a little water put
in it. At short intervals above the water, platforms of sticks
were built, on which the eggs were laid. A smaller hole was dug
at one side of the large hole, slanting into the bottom of it.
When all was ready, the top of the larger hole was covered with
mud, laid upon cross sticks, and red-hot stones were dropped
into the slant, when they rolled down into the water, heating
it, and so cooking the eggs by steam.
Fish were seldom eaten by these people in early days,
but now they seem very fond of them. Turtles, frogs, and lizards
are considered creatures of evil, and are never eaten. Dogs,
considered a great delicacy by the Crees, Gros Ventres, Sioux,
Assinaboines, and other surrounding tribes, were never eaten by
the Blackfeet. No religious motive is assigned for this
abstinence. I once heard a Piegan say that it was wrong to eat
dogs. "They are our true friends," he said. "Men say they are
our friends and then turn against us, but our dogs are always
true. They mourn when we are absent, and are always glad when we
return. They keep watch for us in the night when we sleep. So
pity the poor dogs."
Snakes, grasshoppers, worms, and other insects were
never eaten. Salt was an unknown condiment. Many are now very
fond of it, but I know a number, especially old people, who
never eat it.
