Blackfoot

“ Do you choose to die by the hand of Taggarak, or shall he send you to the Spirit Circle? Let him choose!"
"Squaw of a Blackfoot! It shall be neither. The Shawanoe cares naught for the Spirit Circle, and will not go there. He has no fear of the Blackfoot who knows how to fight women but trembles when he stands before the Shawanoe! Has the Blackfoot brought some of his warriors to save him from the anger of the Shawanoe?"
And Deerfoot glanced around, as if looking for the help which he knew was not near. ”

“ The Blackfoot believes that his fathers have told him truly, when they told him that the people of his tribe, when released from the load of flesh, come to a steep mountain, up whose huge projecting sides they have to scramble. ”

“ The handle of his knife—the weapon that many a time had done frightful work—could be seen protruding from the girdle that encircled his waist.
With a dignified step the chief strode forward until within a dozen paces of Deerfoot, when he paused and scowled at him.
Following his policy of tantalism, Deerfoot made a mock bow and said:
"Blackfoot, the Shawanoe is glad to see you come at last. But why does the Blackfoot tremble when he finds himself in front of a warrior instead of a squaw who knows not how to fight?" ”

“ Will not the great chief of the Sioux let them come down?"
"If the Blackfoot Queen will go with Red Pine, and be his squaw, then her father and his people may come down. Red Pine will divide his meat with them, and the two tribes shall be at peace forever!"
"Snowdrop will go with the chief of the Sioux, and will be his wife—if there is no other way to save her father's life."
"There is no other way! The Blackfoot Queen has made Red Pine happy! He will now take his warriors away from the pass, and Gray Eagle may come down." ”

“ HOW THE BLACKFOOT LIVED 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. ”

“ The Blackfoot method, as described by Grinnell, in his Blackfoot Lodge Tales, was the same in all essentials as that of the Arapaho. He adds several details, which were probably common to both tribes and to others, but which my Arapaho informants failed to mention. While the hunter was away in the pit his wife or daughters at home must not use an awl for sewing or for other purposes, as, should they do so, the eagle might scratch the hunter. He took a human skull with him into the pit, in order that he might be as invisible to the eagle as the spirit of the former owner of the skull. ”

“ Mul-tal-la acted as if such a contingency was out of the question.
The sunlight was still in the air when the Blackfoot reined in his horse and dropped from his back. They were in a rough, broken section, filled with rocks, undergrowth, stunted pines, oaks and other varieties of trees, while a small brook brawled and splashed and tumbled some distance away in its eager hunt for a channel to the Platte.
“It looks as if we are done for the day,” said George, noting the action of their friend. “If we are, we have made better time than we expected.” ”

“ Men mourn by cutting a little of their hair, going without leggings, and for the loss of a son, sometimes scarify their legs. This last, however, is never done for the loss of a wife, daughter, or any relative except a son.
Many Blackfeet change their names every season. Whenever a Blackfoot counts a new coup, he is entitled to a new name. A Blackfoot will never tell his name if he can avoid it. ”

“ The warriors who had accepted the leadership for years of one of the greatest chiefs that ever swayed the destinies of the Blackfoot people now repudiated him. He upon whom they had relied so long to lead them in battle and of whose unquestioned bravery and prodigious prowess all knew, had become a woman! But they would remain true warriors and maintain the prestige of their tribe as among the most aggressive in the Northwest. ”

“ Little need be said of Mul-tal-la, the Blackfoot, who had come from the neighborhood of the Rocky Mountains on an exploring expedition of his own, and was now to return with the Shawanoe as his comrade. The sturdy, shaggy horse, which he had obtained through the help also of Simon Kenton, was accoutred like the one ridden by Deerfoot. The blanket strapped to his back was the one brought by the owner from that far-off region, and served him also as a saddle. The Blackfoot, like nearly all the Indians of the Northwest, was an excellent horseman. ”

“ The Blackfoot of to-day is a working man. He has a little property which he is trying to care for and wishes to add to. With a little help, with instruction, and with encouragement to persevere, he will become in the next few years self-supporting, and a good citizen. ”

“ Blackfoot to-day. He must have seen me when I climbed up on a high rock to take a look at the surrounding country, and the very minute he saw me, that very minute he went to work to get my scalp. They are a strange people.”
The scarred face of Old Ruff expanded into a quaint smile, as he looked fondly down in the countenance of the lad, and listened to his words. ”

“ Forgetting in his ardor the somewhat formal manner of speaking, the Blackfoot earnestly said:
“If you are not good, then there never was a good man. Let my brother rest, for the Great Spirit will watch over him like a father.”
The Shawanoe walked to the place vacated by the other and lay down, while the Blackfoot took upon himself the duty of sentinel for the remainder of the night.
As Deerfoot stretched out he recalled the singular disturbance heard earlier in the evening, and he shifted the enveloping blanket so as to allow him to rest one ear against the cool, damp earth. ”

“ The young chief who led the party of Blackfeet accompanied by Snowdrop and Jehiel, now rode forward, leaving the Blackfeet in a body; while Gray Eagle and White Wolf rode out to meet them.
"Has the Blackfoot maiden a sister who looks just like herself?" asked the astonished Pawnee.
"No, Snowdrop has no sister," replied the girl. "I see you thought I was your prisoner. I was, but I did not stay so very long."
"How did you get away?" asked White Wolf.
"I rode away! Your warriors slept too sound, you see." ”

“ The Blackfeet sometimes cut to pieces an enemy killed in battle. If a Blackfoot had a relation killed by a member of another tribe, and afterward killed one of this tribe, he was likely to cut him all to pieces "to get even," that is, to gratify his spite—to obtain revenge. Sometimes, after they had killed an enemy, they dragged his body into camp, so as to give the children an opportunity to count coup on it. Often they cut the feet and hands off the dead, and took them away and danced over them for a long time. ”

“ He escaped into the underbrush and stood them off. When his arrows were all gone, he fought savagely with his knife. All the time he made a noise like a grizzly bear. He dared the Blackfoot to come into the thicket. He kept shouting: ‘Come on! I am not afraid. My power is very great.’
“After the Blackfoot had killed him, they found that he was a medicine man; his power came from the grizzly bear. [108] He wore the skin of a grizzly and had a necklace of big claws about his neck. They scalped the dead Gros Ventres warriors and had a scalp dance around a fire. ”

“ Gray Eagle never forgets! When the White Panther does all he promised, then the pale-faces can come and go when they please, among the Black Hills."
The scout felt the spirit of perverseness rising within him.
"I don't know as I care very much about it any more," he replied. "It is all the same to me if Red Pine keeps the Blackfoot queen, and starves her father to death—as it seems he can if he wants to. Jehiel told me all about it, chief, how you was going off home without making an effort to find me, after I had risked my life half a dozen times for you and your daughter!" ”

“ J.W. Schultz of Montana, who was then living in the Blackfoot camp, contributed to the columns of the Forest and Stream, under the title "Life among the Blackfeet," a series of sketches of that people. ”

“ The Blackfoot cosmology is imperfect and vague, and I have been able to obtain nothing like a complete account of it, for I have found no one who appeared to know the story of the beginning of all things. ”

“ When a Blackfoot dies, they do not bury him in the ground if they can avoid it, but sew him up in a buffalo robe, dressed in his best clothes, his face painted red, but without his {259} weapons, and lay him in some retired place, in ravines, rocks, forests, or on a high, steep bank, and often cover the body with wood or stones, that the wolves may not get at it. Frequently, when they cannot find a solitary spot, the corpse remains above ground in a kind of wooden shed, and they were often obliged to bury it, or to give it to the Whites as a desirable present, which cannot be refused. ”

“ There are some linguistic differences between the three tribes but these are chiefly in the choice of words and in current idioms. The Northern Blackfoot seem to differ more from the Piegan than the latter from the Blood.
Courtship. It seems proper to begin the discussion of our subject with those conventions directly associated with sexual activities. Among the Blackfoot, as everywhere, the male is usually the aggressor. He lies in wait outside the tipi at night or along the paths to the water and wood-gathering places to force his attentions. ”

“ Let him come with me, and he shall share my lodge, and shall be my brother.”
“Perhaps we had better wait a little before going so far. I am not quite so ready to join hands with a man who has just sought my life. You are a Blackfoot, I should say, judging from your paint. What name do you go by?”
“My brother has guessed well. I am a Blackfoot, and am a great brave among my people, who have named me White Shield. What is my brother called?”
“My name is Fred Wilder, and the red-skins call me Silverspur, because, I suppose, I have always worn one of those articles among them.” ”

“ Yet on—with tattered shoes and blistering feet—
To find the savage foe he longs to meet!
At last, to wearied eyes that search in vain,
The far-off meeting-place of sky and plain,
A fleck of dazzling whiteness doth appear.
The youth exclaims, "My enemy is near!"
Toward that white gleam his cautious steps are bent,
Surely some roving Blackfoot's lonely tent.
Nearer and nearer creeps, with cat-like tread,
The watchful Sioux. Above his lowered head
The plumy grasses rear a swaying crest ”

“ Thus, in a general way, the Blackfoot fall into an ill-defined group comprising tribes on the head-waters of the Missouri and Columbia Rivers. They seem on the whole, to incline more toward the Plateau and Shoshone area than to the Siouan or Algonkin. Of greater interest, perhaps, is our failure to find any game associated with the stalking of buffalo or any other ceremony. So far as we can see, all games are to the Blackfoot either amusement or gambling and a résumé of our account will show that many of the former also reflect the gambling conception. ”

“ She could ride as fast as they wished to ride, and they need not be afraid that she would hinder them.
“There is but one thing to do,” said the Blackfoot. “The pass is a difficult one, and there is a place at which one man can defend it against a hundred. We will stop there, my brother, and will fight.”
“Let us make haste, then, and reach it.”
The lapse of an hour found them in a narrow defile in the heart of the mountains. With difficulty they forced their horses up a steep incline, to the summit of the declivity, beyond which the trail was broad and easy. ”

“ The duty of our friends, therefore, was plain: they must lose no time in hurrying beyond danger. When Mul-tal-la was asked what the result would have been had the apparently honest invitation of Black Elk been accepted, the Blackfoot smiled.
“My brothers would have been treated well for a time, but they would not have lived long.”
“How would it have been with you?” asked George.
“Mul-tal-la did not hurt Young Elk or the Antelope; his skin is of the same color as Black Elk’s. They are brothers.”
This was another way of saying the Blackfoot had nothing to fear from the Shoshones. ”

“ And Gray Eagle did not need a spy-glass to show him that the prisoner was his daughter.
Red Pine did not care, now, for the lives that had been lost. He forgot for the moment his habitual stoicism, and danced for joy.
"Waugh! the Blackfoot squaw has bad luck!" he said. "The warriors of Red Pine have killed the Pawnees, and there is now no help for her. The Queen of the Blackfeet shall yet sit in the lodge of a Sioux chief."
"Never!" exclaimed Snowdrop. "My people are near, and they will sweep the Sioux from the earth." ”

“ The Northern Shoshone seem not to have the formal bands of the Blackfoot and other tribes but to have recognized simple family groups. [6] The clan-like organizations of the Ojibway, Winnebago and some other Siouan groups and also the Caddoan groups on the eastern and southern borders of our area serve to sharpen the differentiation.
The names of Blackfoot bands are not animal terms but characterizations in no wise different from tribal names. Those of the Assiniboine, Gros Ventre, Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Teton-Dakota are, so far as reported, essentially of the same class. ”

“ The two white men walked into the Blackfoot camp and seating themselves beside the fire, entered into conversation with the chief.
"Red Pine, the Sioux, has taken the daughter of Gray Eagle once more," he said. "Can White Panther tell who is to rescue her?"
"It is as much your business as anybody's, I should say," replied the scout, who had heard what Gray Eagle had said about him to Jehiel and Snowdrop. ”

“ Young men will not follow him as a leader, and he is obliged to go as a servant or scout under another leader. He is likely never again to lead a war party, having learned to distrust his luck.
If a war party meets the enemy, and kills several of them, losing in the battle one of its own number, it is likely, as the phrase is, to "cover" the slain Blackfoot with all the dead enemies save one, and to have a scalp dance over that remaining one. If a party had killed six of the enemy and lost a man, it might "cover" the slain Blackfoot with five of the enemy. ”