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Blackfeet Hunting Customs
The Blackfoot country probably
contained more game and in greater variety than any other part
of the continent. Theirs was a land whose physical
characteristics presented sharp contrasts. There were
far-stretching grassy prairies, affording rich pasturage for the
buffalo and the antelope; rough breaks and bad lands for the
climbing mountain sheep; wooded buttes, loved by the mule deer;
timbered river bottoms, where the white-tailed deer and the elk
could browse and hide; narrow, swampy valleys for the moose; and
snow-patched, glittering pinnacles of rock, over which the
sure-footed white goat took his deliberate way. The climate
varied from arid to humid; the game of the prairie, the timber,
and the rocks, found places suited to their habits. Fur-bearing
animals abounded. Noisy hordes of wild fowl passed north and
south in their migrations, and many stopped here to breed.
The Blackfoot country is especially favored by the warm
Chinook winds, which insure mild winters with but little snow;
and although on the plains there is usually little rain in
summer, the short prairie grasses are sweet and rich. All over
this vast domain, the buffalo were found in countless herds.
Elk, deer, antelope, mountain sheep, and bear without number
were there. In those days, sheep were to be found on every
ridge, and along the rough bad lands far from the mountains.
Now, except a few in the "breaks" of the Missouri, they occur
only on the highest and most inaccessible mountains, along with
the white goats, which, although pre-eminently mountain animals,
were in early days sometimes found far out on the prairie.
Buffalo
The Blackfeet were a race of
meat-eaters, and, while they killed large quantities of other
game, they still depended for subsistence on the buffalo. This
animal provided them with almost all that they needed in the way
of food, clothing, and shelter, and when they had an abundance
of the buffalo they lived in comfort.
Almost every part of the beast was utilized. The skin,
dressed with the hair on, protected them from the winter's cold;
freed from the hair, it was used for a summer sheet or blanket,
for moccasins, leggings, shirts, and women's dresses. The tanned
cow skins made their lodges, the warmest and most comfortable
portable shelters ever devised. From the rawhide, the hair
having been shaved off, were made parfleches, or trunks, in
which to pack small articles. The tough, thick hide of the
bull's neck, spread out and allowed to shrink smooth, made a
shield for war which would stop an arrow, and turn a lance
thrust or the ball from an old-fashioned, smooth-bore gun. The
green hide served as a kettle, in which to boil meat. The skin
of the hind leg, cut off above the pastern and again some
distance above the hock, was sometimes used as a moccasin or
boot, the lower opening being sewed up for the toe. A variety of
small articles, such as cradles, gun covers, whips, mittens,
quivers, bow cases, knife-sheaths, etc., were made from the
hide. Braided strands of hide furnished them with ropes and
lines. The hair was used to stuff cushions and, later, saddles,
and parts of the long black flowing beard to ornament wearing
apparel and implements of war, such as shields and quivers. The
horns gave them spoons and ladles sometimes used as small dishes
and ornamented their war bonnets. From the hoofs they made a
glue, which they used in fastening the heads and feathers on
their arrows, and the sinew backs on their bows. The sinews
which lie along the back and on the belly were used as thread
and string, and as backing for bows to give them elasticity and
strength. From the ribs were made scrapers used in dressing
hides, and runners for small sledges drawn by dogs; and they
were employed by the children in coasting down hill on snow or
ice. The shoulder-blades, lashed to a wooden handle, formed
axes, hoes, and fleshers. From the cannon bones (metatarsals and
metacarpals) were made scrapers for dressing hides. The skin of
the tail, fitted on a stick, was used as a fly brush. These are
but a few of the uses to which the product of the buffalo was
put. As has been said, almost every part of the flesh was eaten.
Now it must be remembered that in early days the
hunting weapons of this people consisted only of stone-pointed
arrows, and with such armament the capture of game of the larger
sorts must have been a matter of some uncertainty. To drive a
rude stone-headed arrow through the tough hide and into the
vitals of the buffalo, could not have been even under the most
favorable circumstances other than a difficult matter; and
although we may assume that, in those days, it was easy to steal
up to within a few yards of the unsuspicious animals, we can
readily conceive that many arrows must have been shot without
effect, for one that brought down the game.
Certain ingenious methods were therefore devised
to insure the taking of game in large numbers at one time. This
was especially the case with the buffalo, which were the food
and raiment of the people. One of these contrivances was called
pis'kun, deep-kettle; or, since the termination of the word
seems to indicate the last syllable of the word ah'-pun, blood,
it is more likely deep-blood-kettle. This was a large corral, or
enclosure, built out from the foot of a perpendicular cliff or
bluff, and formed of natural banks, rocks, and logs or brush,
anything in fact to make a close, high barrier. In some places
the enclosure might be only a fence of brush, but even here the
buffalo did not break it down, for they did not push against it,
but ran round and round within, looking for a clear space
through which they might pass. From the top of the bluff,
directly over the pis'kun, two long lines of rock piles and
brush extended far out on the prairie, ever diverging from each
other like the arms of the letter V, the opening over the
pis'kun being at the angle.
In the evening of the day preceding a drive of
buffalo into the pis'kun a medicine man, usually one who was the
possessor of a buffalo rock, In-is'-kim, unrolled his pipe, and
prayed to the Sun for success. Next morning the man who was to
call the buffalo arose very early, and told his wives that they
must not leave the lodge, nor even look out, until he returned;
that they should keep burning sweet grass, and should pray to
the Sun for his success and safety. Without eating or drinking,
he then went up on the prairie, and the people followed him, and
concealed themselves behind the rocks and bushes which formed
the V, or chute. The medicine man put on a head-dress made of
the head of a buffalo, and a robe, and then started out to
approach the animals. When he had come near to the herd, he
moved about until he had attracted the attention of some of the
buffalo, and when they began to look at him, he walked slowly
away toward the entrance of the chute. Usually the buffalo
followed, and, as they did so, he gradually increased his pace.
The buffalo followed more rapidly, and the man continually went
a little faster. Finally, when the buffalo were fairly within
the chute, the people began to rise up from behind the rock
piles which the herd had passed, and to shout and wave their
robes. This frightened the hinder-most buffalo, which pushed
forward on the others, and before long the whole herd was
running at headlong speed toward the precipice, the rock piles
directing them to the point over the enclosure. When they
reached it, most of the animals were pushed over, and usually
even the last of the band plunged blindly down into the pis'kun.
Many were killed outright by the fall; others had broken legs or
broken backs, while some perhaps were uninjured. The barricade,
however, prevented them from escaping, and all were soon killed
by the arrows of the Indians.
It is said that there was another way
to get the buffalo into this chute. A man who was very skilful
in arousing the buffalo's curiosity, might go out without
disguise, and by wheeling round and round in front of the herd,
appearing and disappearing, would induce them to move toward
him, when it was easy to entice them into the chute. Once there,
the people began to rise up behind them, shouting and waving
their robes, and the now terror-stricken animals rushed ahead,
and were driven over the cliff into the pis'kun, where all were
quickly killed and divided among the people, the chiefs and the
leading warrior getting the best and fattest animals.
The pis'kun was in use up to within thirty-five
or forty years, and many men are still living who have seen the
buffalo driven over the cliff. Such men even now speak with
enthusiasm of the plenty that successful drives brought to the
camp.
The pis'kuns of the Sik'-si-kau, or Blackfoot
tribe, differed in some particulars from those constructed by
the Bloods and the Piegans, who live further to the south,
nearer to the mountains, and so in a country which is rougher
and more broken. The Sik'-si-kau built their pis'kuns like the
Crees, on level ground and usually near timber. A large pen or
corral was made of heavy logs about eight feet high. On the side
where the wings of the chute come together, a bridge, or
causeway, was built, sloping gently up from the prairie to the
walls of the corral, which at this point were cut away to the
height of the bridge above the ground, here about four feet, so
that the animals running up the causeway could jump down into
the corral. The causeway was fenced in on either side by logs,
so that the buffalo could not run off it. After they had been
lured within the wings of the chute, they were driven toward the
corral as already described. When they reached the end of the,
they ran up the bridge, and jumped down into the pen. When it
was full, or all had entered, Indians, who had lain hidden near
by, ran upon the bridge, and placed poles, prepared beforehand,
across the opening through which the animals had entered, and
over these poles hung robes, so as entirely to close the
opening. The buffalo will not dash themselves against a barrier
which is entirely closed, even though it be very frail; but if
they can see through it to the outside, they will rush against
it, and their great weight and strength make it easy for them to
break down any but a heavy wall. Mr. Hugh Monroe tells me that
he has seen a pis'kun built of willow brush; and the Cheyennes
have stated to me that their buffalo corrals were often built of
brush. Sometimes, if the walls of the pis'kun were not high, the
buffalo tried to jump or climb over them, and, in doing this,
might break them down, and some or all escape. As soon, however,
as the animals were in the corral, the people women and children
included ran up and showed themselves all about the walls, and
by their cries kept the buffalo from pressing against the walls.
The animals ran round and round within, and the men standing on
the walls shot them down as they passed. The butchering was done
in the pis'kun, and after this was over, the place was cleaned
out, the heads, feet, and least perishable offal being removed.
Wolves, foxes, badgers, and other small carnivorous animals
visited the pis'kun, and soon made away with the entrails.
In winter, when the snow was on the ground, and
the buffalo were to be led to the pis'kun, the following method
was adopted to keep the herd traveling in the desired direction
after they had got between the wings of the chute. A line of
buffalo chips, each one supported on three small sticks, so that
it stood a few inches above the snow, was carried from the mouth
of the pis'kun straight out toward the prairie. The chips were
about thirty feet apart, and ran midway between the wings of the
chute. This line was, of course, conspicuous against the white
snow, and when the buffalo were running down the chute, they
always followed it, never turning to the right nor to the left.
In the latter days of the pis'kun, the man who led the buffalo
was often mounted on a white horse.
Often, when they drove the buffalo over a high
vertical cliff, no corral was built beneath. Most of those
driven over were killed or disabled by the fall, and only a few
got away. The pis'kuns, as a rule, were built under low-cut
bluffs, and sometimes the buffalo were driven in by moonlight.
In connection with the subject of leading or
decoying the buffalo, another matter not generally known may be
mentioned. Sometimes, as a matter of convenience, a herd was
brought from a long distance close up to the camp. This was
usually done in the spring of the year, when the horses were
thin in flesh and not in condition to stand a long chase. I
myself have never seen this; but my friend, William Jackson, was
once present at such a drive by the Red River half-breeds, and
has described to me the way in which it was done.
The camp was on Box Elder Creek near the
Musselshell River. It was in the spring of 1881, and the horses
were all pretty well run down and thin, so that their owners
wished to spare them as much as possible. The buffalo were seven
or eight miles distant, and two men were sent out to bring them
to the camp. Other men, leading fresh horses, went with them,
and hid themselves among the hills at different points along the
course that the buffalo were expected to take, at intervals of a
mile and a half. They watched the herd, and were on hand to
supply the fresh horses to the men who were bringing it.
The buffalo were on a wide flat, and the men rode
over the hill and advanced toward the herd at a walk. At length
the buffalo noticed them, and began to huddle up together and to
walk about, and at length to walk away. Then the men turned, and
rode along parallel to the buffalo's course, and at the same
gait that these were taking. When the buffalo began to trot, the
men trotted, and when the herd began to lope, the men loped, and
at length they were all running pretty fast. The men kept about
half a mile from the herd, and up even with the leaders. As they
ran, the herd kept constantly edging a little toward the riders,
as if trying to cross in front of them. This inclination toward
the men was least when they were far off, and greatest when they
drew nearer to them. At no time were the men nearer to the herd
than four hundred yards. If the buffalo edged too much toward
the riders, so that the course they were taking would lead them
away from camp, the men would drop back and cross over behind
the herd to the other side, and then, pushing their horses hard,
would come up with the leaders, but still at a distance from
them, and then the buffalo would begin to edge toward them, and
the herd would be brought back again to the desired course. If
necessary, this was repeated, and so the buffalo were kept
traveling in a course approximately straight.
By the time the buffalo had got pretty near to
the camp, they were pretty well winded, and the tongues of many
of them were hanging out. This herd was led up among the rolling
hills about a mile from the camp, and there the people were
waiting for them, and charged them, when the herd broke up, the
animals running in every direction.
Occasionally it would happen that for a long time
the buffalo would not be found in a place favorable for driving
over the cliff or into a pen. In such cases, the Indians would
steal out on foot, and, on a day when there was no wind, would
stealthily surround the herd. Then they would startle the
buffalo, and yet would keep them from breaking through the
circle. The buffalo would "mill" around until exhausted, and at
length, when worn out, would be shot down by the Indians. This
corresponds almost exactly with one of the methods employed in
killing buffalo by the Pawnees in early days before they had
horses.1 In those days the Pi-k[)u]n'-i were very
numerous, and sometimes when a lot of buffalo were found in a
favorable position, and there was no wind, the people would
surround them, and set up their lodges about them, thus
practically building a corral of lodges. After all preparations
had been made, they would frighten the buffalo, which, being
afraid to pass through between the lodges, would run round and
round in a great circle, and when they were exhausted the people
would kill them.
Then they always had plenty of buffalo if not fresh
meat, that which they had dried. For in winter they would kill
large numbers of buffalo, and would prepare great stores of
dried meat. As spring opened, the buffalo would move down to the
more flat prairie country away from the pis'kuns. Then the
Blackfeet would also move away. As winter drew near, the buffalo
would again move up close to the mountains, and the Indians, as
food began to become scarce, would follow them toward the
pis'kuns. In the last of the summer and early autumn, they
always had runners out, looking for the buffalo, to find where
they were, and which way they were moving. In the early autumn,
all the pis'kuns were repaired and strengthened, so as to be in
good order for winter.
In the days before they had horses, and even in
later times when the ground was of such a character as to
prevent running the buffalo, an ingenious method of
still-hunting them was practiced. A story told by Hugh Monroe
illustrates it. He said: "I was often detailed by the Hudson's
Bay Company to go out in charge of a number of men, to kill meat
for the fort. When the ground was full of holes and wash-outs,
so that running was dangerous, I used to put on a big timber
wolf's skin, which I carried for the purpose, tying it at my
neck and waist, and then to sneak up to the buffalo. I used a
bow and arrows, and generally shot a number without alarming
them. If one looked suspiciously at me, I would howl like a
wolf. Sometimes the smell of the blood from the wounded and
dying would set the bulls crazy. They would run up and lick the
blood, and sometimes toss the dead ones clear from the ground.
Then they would bellow and fight each other, sometimes goring
one another so badly that they died. The great bulls, their
tongues covered with blood, their eyes flashing, and tails
sticking out straight, roaring and fighting, were terrible to
see; and it was a little dangerous for me, because the commotion
would attract buffalo from all directions to see what was going
on. At such times, I would signal to my men, and they would ride
up and scare the buffalo away."
In more modern times, the height of pleasure to a
Blackfoot was to ride a good horse and run buffalo. When bows
and arrows, and, later, muzzle-loading "fukes" were the only
weapons, no more buffalo were killed than could actually be
utilized. But after the Winchester repeater came in use, it
seemed as if the different tribes vied with each other in wanton
slaughter. Provided with one of these weapons and a couple of
belts of cartridges, the hunters would run as long as their
horses could keep up with the band, and literally cover the
prairie with carcasses, many of which were never even skinned.
Antelope
It is said that
once in early times the men determined that they would use
antelope skins for their women's dresses, instead of cow skins.
So they found a place where antelope were plenty, and set up on
the prairie long lines of rock piles, or of bushes, so as to
form a chute like a . Near the point where the lines joined,
they dug deep pits, which they roofed with slender poles, and
covered these with grass and a little dirt. Then the people
scattered out, and while most of them hid behind the rock piles
and bushes, a few started the antelope toward the mouth of the
chute. As they ran by them, the people showed themselves and
yelled, and the antelope ran down the chute and finally reached
the pits, and falling into them were taken, when they were
killed and divided among the hunters. Afterward, this was the
common method of securing antelopes up to the coming of the
whites.
Eagles
Before the whites came
to the Blackfoot country, the Indian standard of value was eagle
tail-feathers. They were used to make war head-dresses, to tie
on the head, and to ornament shields, lances, and other weapons.
Besides this, the wings were used for fans, and the body
feathers for arrow-making. Always a wary bird, the eagle could
seldom be approached near enough for killing with the bow and
arrow; and, in fact, it seems as if it was considered improper
to kill it in that way. The capture of these birds appears to
have had about it something of a sacred nature, and, as was
always the case among wild Indians when anything important was
to be undertaken, it was invariably preceded by earnest prayers
to the Deity for help and for success.
There are still living many men who have caught
eagles in the ancient method, and, from several of these,
accounts have been received, which, while essentially similar,
yet differ in certain particulars, especially in the
explanations of certain features of the ceremony.
Wolf Calf's account of this ceremony is as
follows:
"A man who started out to catch eagles moved his
lodge and his family away from the main camp, to some place
where the birds were abundant. A spot was chosen on top of a
mound or butte within a few miles of his lodge, and here he dug
a pit in the ground as long as his body and somewhat deeper. The
earth removed was carried away to a distance, and scattered
about so as to make no show. When the pit had been made large
enough, it was roofed over with small willow sticks, on which
grass was scattered, and over the grass a little earth and
stones were laid, so as to give the place a natural look, like
the prairie all about it.
"The bait was a piece of bloody neck of a
buffalo. This, of course, could be seen a long way off, and by
the meat a stuffed wolf skin was often placed, standing up, as
if the animal were eating. To the piece of neck was tied a rope,
which passed down through the roof of the pit and was held in
the watcher's hand.
"After all had been made ready, the next day the
man rose very early, before it was light, and, after smoking and
praying, left his camp, telling his wives and children not to
use an awl while he was gone. He endeavored to reach the pit
early in the morning, before it became light, and lay down in
it, taking with him a slender stick about six feet long, a human
skull, and a little pemmican. Then he waited.
"When the morning came, and the eagles were
flying, one of them would see the meat and descend to take it
away from the wolf. Finding it held fast by the rope, the bird
began to feed on it; and while it was pecking at the bait, the
watcher seized it by the legs, and drew it into the pit, where
he killed it, either by twisting its neck, or by crushing it
with his knees. Then he laid it to one side, first opening the
bill and putting a little piece of pemmican in its mouth. This
was done to make the other eagles hungry. While he was in the
pit, the man neither ate, drank, nor slept. He had a
sleeping-place not far off, to which he repaired each night
after dark, and there he ate and drank.
"The reason for taking the skull into the hole
with the catcher was, in part, for his protection. It was
believed that the ghost of the person to whom the skull had
belonged would protect the watcher against harm from the eagle,
and besides that, the skull, or ghost, would make the watcher
invisible, like a ghost. The eagle would not see him.
"The stick was used to poke or drive away smaller
birds, such as magpies, crows, and ravens, which might alight on
the roof of the pit, and try to feed on the bait. It was used,
also, to drive away the white-headed eagle, which they did not
care to catch. These are powerful birds; they could almost kill
a person.
"There are two sacred things connected with the
catching of eagles, two things which must be observed if the
eagle-catcher is to have good luck. The man who is watching must
not eat rosebuds. If he does, the eagle, when he comes down and
alights by the bait, will begin to scratch himself and will not
attack the bait. The rosebuds will make him itch. Neither the
man nor his wife must use an awl while he is absent from his
lodge, and is trying to catch the birds. If this is done, the
eagles will scratch the catcher. Sometimes one man would catch a
great many eagles."
In his day, John Monroe was a famous
eagle-catcher, and he has given me the following account of the
method as he has practiced it. The pit is dug, six feet long,
three wide, and four deep, on top of the highest knoll that can
be found near a stream. The earth taken out is carried a long
way off. Over the pit they put two long poles, one on each side,
running lengthwise of the pit, and other smaller sticks are laid
across, resting on the poles. The smaller sticks are covered
with juniper twigs and long grass. The skin of a wolf, coyote,
or fox, is stuffed with grass, and made to look as natural as
possible. A hole is cut in the wolf skin and a rope is passed
through it, one end being tied to a large piece of meat which
lies by the skin, and the other passing through the roof down
into the pit. The bait is now covered with grass, and the man
returns to his lodge for the night.
During the night, he sings his eagle songs and
burns sweet grass for the eagles, rubbing the smoke over his own
body to purify himself, so that on the morrow he will give out
no scent. Before day he leaves his lodge without eating or
drinking, goes to the pit and lies down in it. He uncovers the
bait, arranges the roof, and sits there all day holding the
rope. Crows and other birds alight by the bait and peck at it,
but he pays no attention to them.
The eagle, sailing about high in air, sees the
bait, and settles down slowly. It takes it a long time to make
up its mind to come to the bait. In the pit, the man can hear
the sound of the eagle coming. When the bird settles on the
ground, it does not alight on the bait, but at one side of it,
striking the ground with a thud heavily. The man never mistakes
anything else for that sound. The eagle walks toward the bait,
and all the other birds fly away. It walks on to the roof; and,
through the crevices that have been left between the sticks, the
man can see in which direction the bird's head is. He carefully
pushes the stick aside and, reaching out, grasps the eagle by
the two feet. The bird does not struggle much. It is drawn down
into the pit, and the man wrings its neck. Then the opening is
closed, and the roof arranged as before. So the man waits and
catches the eagles that come through the day. Sometimes he sits
all day and gets nothing; again he may get eight or ten in a
day.
When darkness comes, the man leaves his
hiding-place, takes his eagles, and goes home. He carries the
birds to a special lodge, prepared outside of the camp, which is
called the eagles' lodge. He places them on the ground in a row,
and raises their heads, resting them on a stick laid in front of
the row. In the mouth of each one is put a piece of pemmican, so
that they may not be afraid of the people. The object of feeding
the eagles is that their spirits may tell other eagles how they
are being treated that they are being fed by the people. In the
lodge is a human skull, and they pray to it, asking the ghost to
help them get the eagles.
It is said that in one pit, once, forty eagles
were killed in a day. The larger hawks were caught, as well as
eagles, though the latter were the most highly valued. Five
eagles used to be worth a good horse, a valuation which shows
that, in the Blackfoot country, eagles were more plenty, or
horses more valuable, than farther south, where, in old times,
two eagles would purchase a horse.
Other Game
They had no
special means of capturing deer in any numbers. These were
usually killed singly. The hunters used to creep up on elk and
deer in the brush, and when they had come close to them, they
could drive even their stone-pointed arrows deep in the flesh.
Often their game was killed dead on the spot, but if not, they
left it alone until the next day, when, on going back to the
place, it was usually found near by, either dead or so
desperately wounded that they could secure it.
Deadfalls were used to catch wolves, foxes, and
other fur animals, and small apertures in the pis'kun walls were
provided with nooses and snares for the same purpose.
Another way to catch wolves and coyotes was to
set heavy stakes in the ground in a circle, about the carcasses
of one or two dead buffalo. The stakes were placed at an angle
of about forty-five degrees, a few inches apart, and all
pointing toward the centre of the circle. At one place, dirt was
piled up against the stakes from the outside, and the wolves,
climbing up on this, jumped down into the enclosure, but were
unable to jump out. Hugh Monroe tells me that, about thirty
years ago, he and his sons made a trap like this, and in one
night caught eighty-three wolves and coyotes.
In early times, beaver were very abundant and
very tame, and were shot with bows and arrows.
The Blackfeet were splendid prairie hunters. They
had no superiors in the art of stalking and killing such wary
animals as the antelope. Sometimes they wore hats made of the
skin and horns of an antelope head, which were very useful when
approaching the game. Although the prairie was pre-eminently
their hunting-ground, they were also skilful in climbing
mountains and killing sheep and goats. On the other hand, the
northern Crees, who also are a prairie people, are poor mountain
hunters.
1. [Footnote 1: Pawnee Hero Stories and
Folk-Tales, p. 250.]
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Handbook
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