Tepee

“ The snow, swept to and fro by the never-resting wind, blinded the eyes of the scouts and path finders.
Oh, that terrible march! In the gullies the horses floundered and fell to rise no more. There was no tree to shelter a tepee, no fuel for our fire. Women froze their arms and breasts, and little children died of cold and hunger. The camp grew each day more silent. The dogs were killed for food, and each night the lodge poles were cut down to make kindling, till each tepee became like a child’s toy. ”

“ This time he came back into the tepee a long man, with many green sticks. He said, “Grandfather, make me arrows of these.”
So the old man made him arrows, and he killed a great many buffaloes, and they made a large tepee, and built up a high sleeping place in the back part of the tepee, and were very rich in dried meat.
The old man said, “Old woman, I am glad we are well off; I will proclaim it abroad.” So when morning came, he went to the top of the tent, and sat, and said, “I, I have abundance laid up. I eat the fat of the animals.” ”

“ It had been a long heavy day's travel, and after our supper of bannocks and bacon and a pipe we turned in and slept as only those may sleep who travel on the wilderness trail.
Our tent has been spoken of, but it was more properly a tepee—not the tepee that you see in pictures of Indian life, made of skins neatly sewn together and perhaps ornamented with rude drawings—but a modern compromise, of the old Indian form but made of strong cotton. Some of the guides in the mountains much prefer the tepee to the tent in any of its familiar forms. Others will have none of it. ”

“ Presently Bending Willow returned to her tepee which stood on a point of high ground overlooking the river. From his lodge Slow Dog could see her slender form as she busied herself preparing food. Wild thoughts filled his mind. Some dark night it might be possible to seize her, place her in his canoe and glide down the river. He pictured her in the frail craft as he swiftly paddled downstream, past the tepees of the Warpeton Sioux. He knew every twist and turn of the river. ”

“ A noisy, gleeful group of children play with their dolls and their dogs—dogs that are made to serve as beasts of burden and instruments of torture. At night beds are made on the ground around the interior circle of the tepee and the chill of frost is driven out by a fire in the very centre—the most perfectly ventilated structure in the world—the air passing underneath the edge of the tepee in the loop where it is tied at the bottom of the poles, then passing on out through the opening at the top, carrying with it all dust and smoke. ”

“ The outside world was covered with snow. The branches of the trees bent low with its weight. The sides of the tepee were heavy with snow. All the tracks of the bear and the rabbit were hidden.
The old man shivered, and bent over his fire. He was clothed in furs, and furs covered the floor of the tepee. But they could not keep out the chill winds, for the fire was low. There was no more wood to replenish it. Snow covered all the fallen branches, and the chief was old and feeble.
Peboan had been a mighty hunter. He had killed the moose and the bear. The skins of many deer were about him. ”

“ Then when the little girl was big enough, her grandmother taught her how to make a tepee cover out of hide, and how to set it up with the tepee poles fixed together at the top just so; and how to set the smoke-flap at the peak to suit the wind and make a fire burn without smoking the people out; and how to take the tepee down quickly and put it on a pony-drag in a hurry, if there should be an attack and the women had to run away with the children and the ponies while the men were fighting. ”

“ The folds of the tent were open, and the cool winds came in from the Columbia, under the dim light of the moon and stars.
The tepee, or tent, was made of skins, and was adorned with picture-writing—Indian poetry (if so it might be called) . Overhead were clusters of beautiful feathers and wings of birds. The old chief loved to tell her stories of these strange and beautiful wings. There were the wings of the condor, of the bald and the golden eagle, of the duck-hawk, pigeon-hawk, squirrel-hawk, of the sap-sucker, of the eider duck, and a Zenaider-like dove. ”

“ The others laughed heartily at the sincerity of her shudder, and Curtis said:
"Well, now, you'd be surprised to know how comfortable they keep in their tepees. In the old skin tepee they were quite warm even on the coldest days. They always camp in sheltered places out of the wind, and where fuel is plenty." ”

“ When Wunzh returned to the tepee of his father he was received with great rejoicing, and [Pg 54] given food. His new clothing was looked upon in wonder, but he did not tell its story.
Day by day he went to the little spot of ground where his own little tepee had been, and he kept the earth soft and moist and free from weeds.
And after many days had gone by, green plumes came up through the earth; and they grew, and became sturdy stalks.
And still they grew, and after many days and weeks the broad green leaves held ears of juicy grain.
Day by day the ears grew full and the grain ripened ”

“ When the riders dismounted in front of the council wigwam, Little Eagle turned toward the place where Clawing Bear’s tepee should stand. A few paces from the tepee, he jumped from his horse. He took the halter ropes of the three best horses belonging to him and stepped toward the tepee flap. ”

“ Many of the tepees in an Indian village are embellished with Indian paintings setting forth the heroic deeds of the warriors who abide in the lodge. The figures are often grotesque and without parallel in the realm of art. The medicine is given a conspicuous place in the lodge. No one sits or lies down on the side of the tepee where they have placed the medicine of the household, and when they pass it on entering or leaving the lodge all heads are bowed. The medicine tepee is distinct from all others. ”

“ An Indian tepee of this kind, properly made by a squaw, is beyond doubt the most comfortable of all hunting tents in any respectable climate; but in a climate of 40 degrees below zero it is an abomination. We used frequently to crawl into our sheep-skin sleeping bags, wrap several blankets around the bags and put the fire out, merely to get relief from the annoyance of the smoke. ”

“ There was the tepee that I had made for Alope, a tepee of buffalo hides. There were the bear robes, the lion skins, the other trophies of the chase that I had placed there for her. There were the little decorations of beads and drawn work on buckskin made by Alope’s own slender fingers. There were the many pictures that she had drawn upon the walls of our home, and there were the playthings of our little ones. ”

“ The tepee itself was quite thirty feet in diameter, and pitched above dry, brown, clean prairie sod, which, however, was completely concealed by skins of many animals—cinnamon bear, fox, prairie wolf, and badger. To the poles were suspended suit after suit of magnificent buckskin, leggings, shirts, moccasins, all beaded and embroidered in priceless richness, fire bags, tobacco pouches, beaded gun cases, and rabbit robes. Fully a dozen suits were fringed down the sleeves and leggings with numberless ermine tails. ”

“ Ten pegs eighteen inches long and two inches wide are cut from hard-wood as shown at Fig. 8 C. These are driven in the ground at an angle and ropes attached to the lower edges of the canvas sidings are lashed fast to them. This tepee is long enough to swing a hammock from pole to pole, and on a warm summer night makes an ideal place for sleeping out-of-doors. ”

“ You always have a smile for everyone wherever you go in the village. As you know, we must choose someone who is always cheerful to work on the smoke flaps for the new tepee. We are here to ask you, Little Bird, to work on the smoke flaps of the new tepee, so that your happy spirit will be woven into the flap and the smoke will depart from the tepee evenly and smoothly. ”

“ Gradually the symptoms of a great stir and activity were observable, and we saw men and horses running about at one side of the nomad settlement, as well as hundreds of human figures moving in the camp. Then a nearer view brought out the fact that the tepees, which were of many sizes, were apt to be white at the base, reddish half-way up, and dark brown at the top. The smoke of the fires within, and the rain and sun without, paint all the cotton or canvas tepees like that, and very pretty is the effect. ”

“ Then you make the beds around the circle, and build your camp fire in the middle. On a cold night, and particularly on a cold, rainy night, one blesses the Indian who first invented the tepee. Instead of shivering outside around a fire that will not burn, you have your fire with you in a large roomy tent, and can cook your meals and eat them in comfort. ”

“ Their growth is mostly upward—about the only direction possible for expansion—with moderate rapidity. In a few years they are tall but exceedingly slender, and they become poles in from twenty-five to fifty years. The trappers named this tree lodge-pole because of its common use by the Indians for lodge, or tepee, poles. ”

“ This made Little Bird very happy, for she knew that her husband, Big Red Bear, would be returning to the tepee and that there would be much celebrating in the tribe. Everything must be made ready to greet the hunters.
The women of the village began dashing around preparing for the arrival of the hunting party. There was much to be done and much work lay ahead, now that the buffalo had been killed. The meat must be stored and some of it smoked, and the hides must be turned into new tepee covers and robes. ”

“ A deep pit was dug in the ground and stout poles were placed leaning together like a tepee, with a hole at the centre. The earth was heaped up around and upon the top, very much as eastern farmers cover their potato pits. ”

“ The tepees themselves are wooden-floored and each is equipped with two single cot beds and bedding. At all of the tepee camps the charge for lodging is fifty cents per bed per night; the use of the range and cooking utensils is free. ”

“ The great rolls of birch bark to cover the pointed tepees are easily transported in the bottoms of canoes, and the poles are quickly cut and put in place. As a consequence, the Ojibway family is always on the move. It searches out new trapping-grounds, new fisheries, it pays visits, it seems even to enjoy travel for the sake of exploration. In winter a tepee of double wall is built, whose hollow is stuffed with moss to keep out the cold ”

“ There is no more comfortable habitation than the Sioux tepee to be found among the dwellers in tents anywhere. A fire is made in the center for either warmth or cooking purposes. The camp kettle is suspended over it, making cooking easy and cleanly. In the winter, when the Indian family settles down to remain any considerable time, they select a river bottom where there is timber or chaparral, and set up the tepee ”

“ And burn ourselves up," objected Emma.181
"There should be no danger unless we roll into the fire in our sleep," answered Miss Briggs.
A small fire was kindled in the tepee, and, for a long time after they had gone in for the night, the Overland girls sat with feet doubled under them, enjoying the novel sensation of having for their use a real Indian tepee, and listening to Joe Shafto relate some of her experiences in the Big North Woods. ”

“ Our people never came down into the valleys, but always lived among the clouds, eating the mountain sheep and the goats, and sometimes the elk when they came high on the mountains. Our tepees were made of the cedar, thatched with grey moss and [Pg 16] cemented with the gum from the pines, carpeted with the mountain sheep-skins, soft as down. ”

“ Others have grown so slowly that only with a microscope can the annual rings be counted. I fancy my patriarch as belonging to their lodge, nor would I be surprised to learn that when its first plume appeared above the ledges Indian tepees were the only human habitations of the region.
The red cedar seems to have a power to fix itself on a rough ledge and grow there year after year and indeed century after century, that is far greater than that of any other tree. ”

“ The mountaineer’s face looked puzzled for a moment. “I reckon that’s the bunch that’s holed up in that cove to the south o’ here. I caught sight of their tepees a few days back when I was out prospectin’ fer beaver. I can’t quite make out why they’re hidin’ thar; looks like some deviltry to me; and what makes me think it more is that bunch I seen sneakin’ up the creek a little while back—’bout a dozen young bucks. There was a half-breed, or a dirty white with ’em. They didn’t see me, but I watched ’em as they skulked along through the willows. Had their ponies loaded with meat. ”

“ As far along the bog front as the tepees go there are everywhere big white air-bubbles. From the tepees out into the pond they show in many places for a distance of a hundred feet or more, and then cease. Nowhere else in the pond are these bubbles and I believe the muskrats have stored them here in their various excursions as relays, providing against just such folk as myself, who might come along, force them from their homes, and drown them beneath the thick ice covering. ”

“ But a few moments later when a number of tepees grew slowly out of the landscape he saw that they were approaching what appeared to be an Indian village, and his heart sank within him.
CHAPTER XXIII IN THE HOME OF THE BLACKFEET Their coming was greeted by the loud barking of dogs, while from the tepees appeared as if by magic, women and children, together with innumerable braves and boys.
They fairly swarmed out into the open space in front of the camp, setting up a shout as they recognized the newcomers.
"They seem to be mighty glad to see us," growled Tad. ”

“ They preferred tents, rather than houses like those of the Mandans, of frame-work covered with earth because they liked to move from place to place and they could thus carry their homes with them. Yet their tepees were warm and comfortable because the covering of strong, thick buffalo skins was generally double. Fires were kept burning on their hearths in winter and supplies of food and clothing were easy to obtain from the wild creatures of the woods and prairies. What more could any red people wish? ”