CROW - Robert H. Lowie - Religion of The Crow Indians
CROW - Robert H. Lowie - Religion of The Crow Indians
CROW - Robert H. Lowie - Religion of The Crow Indians
ROBERT H. .OW E
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III. (In preparation.)
OF NATURAL HISTORY
ROBERT H. LOWIE
NEW YORK
PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE TRUSTEES
1922
THE RELIGION OF THE CROW INDIANS.
BY ROBERT H. LOWIE.
309
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
PREFACE ..313
SUPERNATURAL BEINGS . .315
VISIONS AND DREAMS . .323
PAINLESS VISIONS. 325
UNSOUGHT STRESS VISIONS ..330
SOUGHT VISIONS ..332
SHAMANS . .344
CONTESTS 344
LEGERDEMAIN ..351
INVNERABILITY ..353
CHARMING GAME ..354
WAR SHAMANS . .359
WRAPS-UP-HIS-TAIL .368
MISCELLANEOUS ..372
THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE . .373
SOULS; GHOSTS; HEREAFTER ..380
SPECIAL MEDICINE OBJECTS ..385
MEDICINE RocKs ... .385
BuNDLES . .391
Hillside's Account of the Arrow Bundle . .391
Flat-head-woman's Arrow Bundle . .394
Flat-head-woman's Tale ..395
PAINTED TIPIS ..401
SHIEDS . .402
The Tale of Magpie's Shield ..409
VARIOUS MEDICINE OBJECTS ..418
MAGIC. .424
OFFERINGS AND PRAYERS . .426
TABOOS . .433
MISCELLANEOUS DATA . .434
APPENDIX . .438
T FIE BROTHERS ..438
311
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
TEXT FIGURES.
PAGE.
1. Medicine Rock with Offerings .. . . . 36
2. Medicine Rock with Offerings .. . . 387
3. Magpie's Shield. 405
4. Wolf-lies-down's Shield .. . .405
5. Shield Covers ... .405
6. Buffalo-hide Shield .. . .406
7. War Medicine ... .419
312
PREFACE.
Religious beliefs penetrate practically every phase of Crow culture,
and accordingly considerable information on this topic is sprinkled
through a number of previous publications dealing with this tribe,
notably those devoted to the description of ceremonial activities. In
the present paper, I attempt to expound those Crow conceptions that
would naturally be looked for under the caption of "Religion" and in
the interests of clearness, I have sometimes drawn on material already
in print.
How fruitful comparative researches in this field are likely to be, is
suggested by a preliminary essay on the guardian spirit and vision con-
cept of the area, by Mrs. Ruth Benedict, which is to appear in the
"American Anthropologist" and which I have had the pleasure of read-
ing in typescript. Naturally comparison cannot logically stop at the
more or less artificial boundaries involved in the delimitation of culture
areas. The student of the Plains is led imperceptibly to consider condi-
tions in the Woodland area as well, and it would be odd if the undoubted
ceremonial connections between the Plains and the Southwest were
wholly unaccompanied by corresponding resemblances in the subjective
counterpart of ritual. However, though keenly interested in comparative
investigations of this type, I have in the present paper confined myself
almost entirely to offering some additional raw data to my colleagues.
The material was not gathered during a single visit specially devoted
to the subject here dealt with, but at-various times during my Crow field-
trips, ranging from. 1907 to 1916. Probably more information was ob-
tained from Gray-bull than from any one other native authority, and
the sum-total of the statements attributed to him furnishes a fair
conception of the religious attitude of a Crow Indian ranking high,
though not among the very highest, in public esteem and entering fully
into the religious life of his people without functioning as a religious
leader. In that sense his career is more typical than that of personalities
like Medicine-crow, Big-ox, or Lone-tree, from and about whom, how-
ever, I have secured as much information as I could.
ROBERT H. LOWIE.
January, 1922.
313
SUPERNATURAL BEINGS.
The Siouan term that has become best known as an equivalent of
the Algonkian manito is the Dakota wakz. Variants of this stem, such
as wakanda, wakandagi, make,, have been reported from Southern
Siouan tribes. I know of no phonetic equivalent in Crow. On the other
hand, J. 0. Dorsey records another Omaha word for mysterious, viz.
qube, which is clearly related to the Winnebago qopine, Mandan xppini',
Hidatsa xup' or maxupi, Crow maxpe or maxpl. The initial ma in
Hidatsa and Crow is simply the generic nominal prefix, leaving xp as
the consonantal complex to be used for comparative purposes. The occur-
rence of Biloxi xi with the identical connotation is at least suggestive.2
Whether it represents a reduced Siouan stem or a radical form, is a
question to be decided by linguistic specialists. That the Biloxi form
should recall the Northern Siouan languages rather than those of the
Omaha group, is not remarkable since this tallies with Swanton's ob-
servations on the language generally.
It remains to elucidate the Crow concept by some concrete examples
of the application of its linguistic correlate. So far as I know, the Crow
never refer to the Supreme Being by a term corresponding to the Dakota
Wakl-tafika (Great Mystery). The concept of God with which they
have been familiarized by missionaries is rendered akt-bJt9t-d?i, He-who-
everything-made; and the aboriginal notion that most closely resembles
that of Christianity is covered by terms not involving the stem maxp6
at all, viz., by the words Isd'kawugte (Old-Man-Coyote) and Ax'act
(Sun). This, of course, does not mean that Old-Man-Coyote and the
Sun are not regarded as maxpg; I am convinced that they are. How-
ever, it indicates that the Crow are charier of using the term than the
Dakota. They apply it, so far as I can see, not to designate particular
individualized supernatural beings, but to convey the idea that a person
or object is possessed of those qualities transcending the ordinary which
are summarized by the generic word maxpe. This, then, is an abstract
notion to which concrete experiences are or are not assimilated. The
man who superintended the driving of deer into a corral is thus described
in a text: ak'di, batst rgk maxp'-tseruk, "The one who did it was a
maxpA man, it is said." In a myth a woman who has transformed herself
into a bear is pursuing her sister and brothers. A magical obstacle is
created to delay her. But: maxp$-racen ik uctsi'-tseruk, "She was maxpi,
'I also recorded a Mandan stem mdxana.
2J. 0. Dorsey, "A Study of Siouan Cults" (Eleventh Annual Report, Bureau of American Ethnology,
Washington, 1894), 366 f.; J. 0. Dorsey and John R. Swanton, "A Dictionary of the Biloxi and Ofo
Languages" (Bulletin 47, Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington, 1912), 221.
315
316 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXV,
prayed for a blessing to the Sun may receive a revelation from a quite
different being. For the same reason he differentiates between dream
experiences of two different types,-the ordinary dreams without religi-
ous significance, and the dreams that are reckoned the full equivalent of
visions. Evidently the difference can only rest on a difference in sub-
jective reaction; one experience thrills and thereby convinces the be-
holder that he is in communication with the supernatural, the other does
not.
Secondly, the application of the term maxpe suggests that it is
primarily an expression of power transcending the ordinary. The bear-
woman of the myth is maxpe because she has power to transform herself
into a bear, to extricate herself from difficult positions, etc. There is no
other way to account for such activities than to assume that she has some
of that supernatural attribute by which such results are effected. But
there is no suggestion that she ever acquired her powers from a definite
spirit. This, however, merely brings us to the question, "What is a
spirit?" And the only empirical answer possible seems to be that the
maxpe power is the generic principle of which spirits are the personified
concrete manifestations. What makes it possible to group together so
heterogeneous an assemblage of beings as the Sun, the Thunderbird, the
mythical Dwarf, and a hundred and one others who may appear in
visions is that they possess maxpe power and are able to transfer it:
this and this alone is the badge of their divinity.
Finally, the psychological processes assumed towards the same
tangible 'medicine' object must be supposed to vary with different
persons using it. The original visionary may invest it with an air of
sacredness because he has received it from a spiritual visitant. But to
his fellow-tribesmen who have not shared the experience demonstration of
its genuinely sacred character lies in success. If the medicine was given
to insure safety in battle and the owner emerges unscathed from hostile
encounters; if it was granted for the acquisition of wealth and the bene-
ficiary secures an abundance of horses: then others will seek participa-
tion in the benefits of the vision by purchase and will ordinarily obtain
copies of the medicine with instructions as to its use and relevant taboos.
Now it is inconceivable that in such cases, which were exceedingly
numerous, the ultimate medicine owner should retain the attitude of
mind of the original visionary. To all intents and purposes the medicine
becomes in his consciousness a charm or fetish devoid of definite spiritu-
ality. He may press his medicine to his breast and utter a prayer for
long life and happiness, but even if there be a transitory personification
318. Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXV,
of the object there is no individualization; the same prayer would be
mumbled to any one of a thousand other medicine objects. And as an
object originally bestowed in a vision may be completely divorced in
consciousness from its pristine animistic associations, so I am convinced
that objects, such as rocks (p. 385), are invested with the maxpe quality
without regard to their being the seat or transformed essence of a spirit.
At all events, the burden of the proof rests upon those who in the absence
of evidence insist on an animistic basis for the maxpe concept.
From the variability of individual visionary experiences it follows
that the number of supernatural beings is indefinite; and as pointed out
above, the character of these beings is frequently ill-defined. Never-
theless, certain natural phenomena and mythological personages lend at
least their names to the spirits that figure in religious belief and practice.
It would be vain to attempt an hierarchical systematization of these
'deities.' The Crow have no priestly caste and there has been little
attempt to standardize popular conceptions. Above all, we must
beware of identifying the results of such ratiocination with the spontane-
ous reactions of the individual's religious consciousness. In the latter the
feather granted in a vision and insuring to its possessor longevity or
wealth looms larger, I am convinced, than any of the cosmic forces, no
matter how important these may be in philosophic speculation. In
other words, the Crow seem to me. to be essentially individualists in
religion. Not that a common traditional basis of religious conceptions
is lacking; but the relative.value assigned to specific elements of this
chaotic complex varies with individual experiences.
A partial exception may be made in favor of the Sun. I do not mean
that a person who has received a revelation from the Thunder will sub-
ordinate his patron to the Sun in his own religious life. But probably
a majority of the Crow looked in the first instance for a revelation from
the Sun and certain important ritualistic phenomena are predominantly,
if not exclusively, associated with solar worship. Thus, the oaths sworn
to establish a claim to disputed war honors were addressed to the Sun;
to him were offered the skins of albino buffalo; and at least preferentially
the sweatlodge seems to have been conceived as a prayer to the Sun.
The Sun, then, approaches as closely as any Crow deity to our con-
cept of a Supreme Being. Nevertheless, his character is singularly ill-
defined, and if we have recourse to mythological evidence we merely
have confusion worse confounded. For one thing, there is marked dis-
crepancy of opinion as to the identity of the Sun and Old-Man-Coyote.
There is at least a strong tendency to regard them as one and the same,
1922.1 Lowie, Reigin of the Crow. 319
yet in his cosmogonic accounts Medicine-crow, one of my most conserva-
tive informants, constantly vacillated as to the identification.' On the
other hand, White-arm went so far as to say that the Sun was regularly
supplicated in prayer, while Old-Man-Coyote never was; While One-blue-
bead. regarded. Old-Man-Coyote as the creator of everything and the
equivalent of Ak'-btdtt-di9 (God), but said that the Sun was distinct
(cidr9k').
I am inclined to take the position that we are here confronted with
the coalescence of two originally distinct conceptions. The Sun, judging
from our knowledge of other tribes, must have been an ancient constitu-
ent of aboriginal religion. Similarly, the culture-hero and trickster
concept as exemplified in the character of Old-Man-Coyote is of great
antiquity but has rather literary and philosophical than religious sig-
nificance. He is the deus ex machina, to whom the Crow almost auto-
matically attribute the origin of most tribal institutions. This aspect of
his activities is at least not irreconcilable with the less definite notions the
Crow may be assumed to have had of the Sun. It may have been the
desire to give greater definiteness to their conceptions of the foremost of
their supernatural beings that led some Crow unconsciously to identify
the two characters by tacitly ignoring the less dignified phase of Old-Man-
Coyote. On the other hand, some individualities may be reluctant to
accept the mythical character as a religious being because of the part he
plays in folk-literature. It is true that the Sun does not uniformly
appear either as a benevolent or a superior being, for in the story of
"The Orphan's Contest with the Sun,"2 he maliciously keeps away game
from the Indians because of the hero's intimacy with his mistress and is
worsted in the ensuing conffict. However, in general, the Sun is pic-
tured as both powerful and benignant and certainly never as a trickster.
The Sun is always conceived as male and is often addressed as mdsa'-
ka, paternal uncle, father's clansman. Although the Sun is so frequently
prayed to, it is remarkable that he so rarely appears in visions. In-the-
mouth explained this by saying that he (as well as Cirap6 and Old-Man-
Coyote) sent the various animals that do appear, but his statement is
uncorroborated and seemed like an interpretation given at the spur of
the moment.
The manner of praying to .the Sun and making offerings to him will
be considered below. As to his creative functions, however, one point
had best be made in the present connection. Though he (or Old-Man-
1Lowie, this volume, 14 f.
'Lowie, this volume, 99.
320 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXV,.
and prayed to her. When he obtained his medicine he was told that the
Moon was an old woman; he says that Old-Man-Coyote when visiting
the Crow' told them the Moon was their grandmother. Gray-bull in a
dream once saw an old woman who gave him a song, and he identifies
her with the Moon. Old-dog told me about an old man who had a vision
of the New-Moon, cut out a crescent-shaped hide medicine for himself
and captured four hundred Dakota horses in consequence.
Of the stars the Morningstar (i'ge-rk9xe) and the Dipper have
religious significance. Mythologically Old-Woman's-Grandson is the
Sun's son, and after conquering various monsters infesting the earth he
returns to the sky to become the Morningstar.2 A fair number of Indians
stated that Grandson was regularly invoked by them. Thus, Little-
rump said that people prayed to him in time of war and erected sweat-
lodges in his honor. According to Old-dog, the Crow were still praying
to him in 1913. Others denied that Grandson was ever addressed in
supplication. This discrepancy is readily intelligible if we assume that
some informants simply looked upon Grandson as the hero of a folk-tale
without paying much attention to his ultimate actual transformation;
while with others the identification of the Morningstar with the ogre-
killer and his relationship to the Sun were in the foreground of conscious-
ness. Assuming the former attitude, they would see no more reason for
deifying Grandson than other mythic heroes; in the latter case, however,
he might actually acquire an important position in the religious domain.
On the other hand, the identification with stars of the twin heroes,
Spring-boy and Curtain-boy,3 in one version of their myth has remained
barren of any religious consequences.
In mythology the Morningstar also appears without any suggestion
of affinity with Old-Woman's-Grandson. It is further noteworthy that
in two of these tales he is worsted by human heroes who have received
assistance from other supernatural powers.4
As a characteristic sample of inconsistency may be cited the con-
ception of one informant that Sun, Moon, and Morningstar were enemies
and that if one of them adopted an Indian, the others would attempt to
get him and eat him. Morningstar and Sun, according to this authority,
once adopted a Crow and a Dakota, respectively. The latter went on
the warpath but was killed by the Crow, whereupon Morningstar ate
him. On another occasion Sun and Morningstar bet against each other,
'Lowie, this volume, 30 f.
2ihid., 57.
3ibid., 85.
4Lowie, this volume, 102 seq., 200 seq.
322 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXV,
having various animals play shinney for them with the sunrise and sunset
as their goals. Sun's players were on the east side and included the
silver fox, coyote, and jackrabbit; Morningstar's players were in the
west and included the elk, white-tail and black-tail deer, anrd another
deer species called uxkhce. During the game both Sun and Star caused
storms; Star made the snow very deep so that the little animals could
not run. At last the elk, being long-winded, won.
The sacred Tobacco about which center the performances of the
Tobacco society, is quite generally identified with the stars,-sometimes
it would seem with all of them collectively, then again more specifically
with the Morningstar.
The Dipper (i'g e-s4'pua= Seven Stars) is mythologically conceived
as a group of seven human brothers who had become displeased with their
terrestrial experiences and decided to change their shape into something
that should last forever. At the close of their discussion they decide to
transform themselves into the constellation.' The Dipper not infre-
quently blessed fasters with a vision: Lone-tree was among those adopted
by them.2 The Stars often appeared painted in a particular way, hold-
ing a pipe or with wreaths of medicines, which they turned over to the
visionary. As a result he would capture horses and become a chief.
One Crow said that one of the Seven Stars is blind and that he has the
greatest power of them all.
The Four Winds are mentioned as recipients of smoke offerings but
play a minor part. On the other hand, the Thunder (&4a) is important
both mythologically and religiously. As usual, he is identified with the
eagle (perhaps more commonly with the bald-headed eagle). In myth he
is represented as the enemy of a water-monster, which destroys his young
but is overcome with the aid of an expert hunter.3 Various Indians have
been adopted by the Thunder, among them Lone-tree and Big-ox, both
of whom were still alive in 1911.
Another mythic personage who appeared in visions is the uniformly
benevolent Dwarf, who, in spite of his diminutive stature is represented
as very powerful physically.4
In addition to the mainly cosmic beings described above there are
the host of spirits-mostly in beast or bird shape-who appear in visions
and whose characteristics will appear more clearly from the account in
the following section.
libid., 126, 210, 211.
'This series, vol. 16, 41.
'This volume, 144 seq.
4ibid., 165, 171 seq.
VISIONS AND DREAMS.
The importance of visions in the life of the Crow can hardly be
overestimated. Not only the general course of sacred ceremonies but
even such details as particular songs or specific methods of painting are
traced to visions. Through them it was possible to rise from abject
poverty to affluence and social prestige. Even war parties were, at
least in theory, wholly dependent on them, for a man organized one only
when prompted by a vision or when dispatched by another man who had
received such a supernatural communication.' Since success in life was
conceived as the result of these revelations, probably all men tried to
secure a vision, though many of them failed. Conversely, lack of success
was attributed to lack of visions. "All who had visions," said Little-
rump, "were well-to-do; I was to be poor (watscik ), that is why I had
no visions." However, through the transferability of medicine power it
became possible for people not blessed with visions to participate in the
benefits accruing from such experiences.
The native term for 'having a vision' is bactri, which also means 'to
dream.' One informant made a linguistic distinction to correspond to the
conceptual one. A common dream, he stated, is barg-rammactre; a
vision or dream with visionary import, bare-wacttre. Although I cannot
analyze the second portion of the former term, it is clearly for the most
part identical with the word for vision; and my impression is that in
ordinary intercourse no verbal differentiation occurs, though conceptu-
ally the distinction is rigidly maintained.
There were various methods of inducing visions. Gray-bull re-
counted the following:--
(1) Some went to the mountains and fasted there. These men
would generally dream of guns, coups, and horses.
(2) Some dreamt in their lodges. These usually became rich, ac-
quiring plenty of horses.
(3) Others, usually poor people, would fall asleep somewhere when
very tired and get a vision.
(4) Some fasted at the Tobacco garden.
(5) The Whistler got a vision at the Sun dance; so did those
participants in the ceremony who suspended themselves from poles.'
(6) A man might drag a buffalo or bear skull fastened to the pierced
skin of his back; or would lead around a horse similarly secured to his
body.
'Lowie, this series, vol. 9, 232.
'Lowie, this series, vol. 16, 44 f.
323
324 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXV,
Old-dog had never gone out to fast but had dreamt while sleeping
in his tent. He dreamt of the Tobacco. Another dream, however, is
indirectly derived from a vision. His brother had fasted and seen a
little axiaxlpe (kind of buzzard?), which appeared in human guise,
painted his face, and sang against the enemy. He gave Old-dog his
riedicine power with four feathers of this bird, and Old-dog subsequently
dreamt of taking a gun from the enemy and striking him. He attributes
the dream to his brother's medicine. Thereafter, when he saw the enemy,
my informant painted his face, tied the feathers to his head, sang towards
the enemy, and would take a gun or strike a first coup.
Young-crane told of a man named He-calls-fat (irdpiltsec) who had
been visited by the Dipper while awake and sitting down. He would
send out captains of war parties and bid them bring horses and other
booty. The Seven Stars told him they would take him back when he was
going to die. He told his people he had to die soon and it came true.
Bull-all-the-time, who secured a martial vision through torture and
fasting, was also blessed with another for doctoring while he was
asleep in his tipi. He saw a horse fastened to a rope, which was length-
ened up to him. He heard a person sing. The horse was a sign that my
informant would get horses as fees for his cures. He was told that if
anyone fell sick he was to doctor him. He saw an old man decorated
with red paint and holding a pipe in his hand. This man was standing
over the recumbent patient and blew through a pipestem over him. The
sick man rose and then sat down. Bull-all-the-time saw all the sickness
come out of the patient's blood and saw him get well. Bull-all-the-time
showed me the pipestem he had dreamt of; it had a horse's track incised
near one end.
Gray-bull recounted the following as an experience of his grand-
father's while awake in his tent:-
A white-headed bird sat at the door, looked round and hopped inside to the side
of the lodge opposite the visionary, whose wife was away at the time. My grandfather
Iooked at the bird, which merely sat there. He looked again, and it had turned into a
man with painted face and on his head was a bird of the kind seen before. He sang a
song and at its close he said, "I'll come tomorrow and see you again with my wife.
You have seen what I wanted you to see. I was going to let you see many things,
but your wife is coming." When he had said this, he was a bird once more and went
out. My grandfather went afier him and saw him flying up the river. His wife got
to the tent. She had seen the bird. When she had brought in the firewood, she asked
her husband, "What is that bird I saw coming out of the tent? What is it?" "I
don't know."
1922.1 Lowie, Religion of the Crow. 329
The next day he went for horses. When he returned, his wife was looking for
wood. The people were going to camp there for four days. The woman cooked. He
ate and told his wife to get three or four packs of wood so she might stay away longer.
She went for the wood. He lay on his bed and watch'ed the door. A bird came in and
hopped where he sat and another followed. Both sat on the other side of the tipi and
looked somewhere. One turned into a man, the other into a woman. The man said
to the woman: '"Give one song to my child." "All right." My grandfather sat up,
and the woman sang. When she had finished, the man said to my grandfather, "Look
at me." He did. His face was painted as before and a bird was tied to his head. "I
have given you one song already, that is my only song. Whenever I want to use this
bird on my head, I let a woman tie it and think at the same time that the enemy can-
not shoot me." The woman said: "I have plenty of things and horses, and whenever
I meet enemies they are easily captured. This is all." They changed into birds
again, hopped to the door and went out. Until then my grandfather had done nothing
in war and his joking relatives made fun of him. He had not even gone out with war
parties.
Some time after this my grandfather saw someone kill one of these birds and asked
the slayer to give him the body. He cut off its head and tail, also the wing bone for a
whistle, and took them home with him. He called in all the chiefs. When all were in,
his wife roasted some ribs and when they were through eating he made them smoke.
One asked what this was for. He asked them to tell him how they dreamt and got
medicines. All told how they had fasted and dreamt. When all had had their say7
he said he was going to make his medicine, but found out that it was not good, that is;
not like any they had told. The chiefs asked him to tell about it. He told them that
into his very tent two birds had come and shown him something, bidding him make
whatever he saw. He asked whether they knew anything like that to have been seen
by a Crow before. They told him to make his medicine, to sew together the head and
the tail of the bird. When he had done so, he sang the songs the bird-man had sung
for him, telling his wife to sit and sing with him. After they were through, he told his
visitors to see how it should turn out. He told all the chiefs he wa.5 going to take care
of the entire tribe thereafter, that was why he made medicine. He gave them more
to eat; they smoked and went out. The chiefs said to one another, "We'll see how
it comes out, it is great medicine that he has made."
It was in the fall of the year. There were about forty enemies in a trench that
fall. My grandfather came on a white horse, his face painted like that of the man ifi
the dream, and the medicine tied to his head. He asked the Crow fighters whether
anyone had struck a coup, then went to the-coul6e where were the enemy. He got to
the bank and went to one of the enemy, who shot my grandfather, singeing his hair.
He took away a gun from the enemy, laid it down, and went to the next man, who had
a bow. This one broke the string of his bow. My grandfather took the bow and
arrow away from him and went back. The people then knew his medicine to be true.
After that he kept on striking coups and became a chief. He made one bird medicine
for his son, who also became chief. The birds were real birds, and they themselves
gave the medicine. The Crow believe the birds themselves have medicine powers.
It will be seen later that the medicine was subsequently transmitted
to Gray-bull himself and determined one of his fasting visions (p.
336).
330 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXV,
SOUGHT VISIONS.
We may now turn to cases in which there was a deliberate quest of
a revelation. These were probably the most numerous, but by no means
all attempts to secure visions met with success, as has already been noted.
Little-rump, e.g., often tried to get a vision but invariably failed. Some-
times the quest was abandoned from exhaustion or fear. A female in-
formant, e.g., went out to fast for three days when mourning a deceased
relative, but left after the second day because she suddenly saw a grave
she had not previously noticed. Being afraid of the dead, she went off
kzefore the close of the period set by herself.
There was no limitation either as to age or sex, so far as seeking a
vision was concerned. Little boys sometimes fasted, not because their
parents had urged them but probably because they had listened to others
talking about visions and desired to try it for themselves. On the other
hand, middle-aged and even old men would go out fasting. Young girls
did not seek visions, but when older they might and did. Usually thip
happened when a relative had been killed by the enemy or even died a
natural death. Thus, Young-crane chopped off a finger joint when her
first husband':was killed and fasted for two days after her daughter's
decease, though without receiving a revelation. It is true, however, that
the number of would-be male visionaries was greater than that of the
women, and that' it was commonly adolescent men who were eager to
get a communication that should enable them to gain martial glory and
consequent prestige.
It is noteworthy that according to all informants there was no ex-
ternal prompting of the youth to undergo the rigors of fasting and
self-torture: he went out because of the tales heard about the camp-fire
and because he observed the success of those who had gone and obtained
revelations.
The principal methods of inducing a vision have already been enum-
erated. Doubtless the most usual was to fast and thirst for several days,
a procedure designated as biricisand1)d, (not 'drinking water). The
would-be visionary generally retired to a lonely peak, theoretically for
four days, in consonance with the mystic notions clustering about that
number, possibly in addition chopping off a finger-joint as an offering to
conciliate the spirits invoked. That these might differ as to identity,
has already been set forth, though the Sun or Old-Man-Coyote was
most frequently addressed. The faster was virtually naked, using a
buffalo skinforablanketatnight. Accordingto Flat-head-woman, he would
lie on his back with legs stretched out, the arms extended' at the sides and
facing east all night; his bedding was framed by rocks on both sides.
1922.] Lowie, Religion of the Crow. 333
blanket. Bear people when in a trance (kdxutuk) use isk (Joe Cooper says, wild
parsnip) incense, then they will come to. Strong men catch these entranced ones from
behind, for they try to bite and act like bears. They may go into a trance whenever
the sole of their feet or their face is struck.
Sometimes the Sun himself appeared to the visionary, but mostly animals came.
These I do not think are related to the Sun at all. When men are praying, the Sun is
first thought of, but generally other beings appear. After returning fronma quest, the
faster made a sweatlodge and all the famous people were called in; while they were
assembled in the sweatlodge the visionary told his vision, avid the audience afterwards
told the other people. Srake visionaries are mostly doctors, e.g., Flat-dog; the snake
tells theba how to treat the sick. Some would smell the incense in a vision and thus
know what weed to use for medicine.
Some are deceived by visions, go out on the warpath, and get killed, but not many
are fooled about doctoring. Wraps-up-his-tail slept near Sheridan, had visions, and
told everyone, yet he was killed. Sometimes everything told in a vision is false;
perhaps some animal plays the part of another. It never happened that old men
detected the deceit in a vision and warned the visionary when he told them. They only
find out from what happens later.
It is clear that White-arm's final remarks completely corroborate
Gray-bull's account as to the testing of a vision by the visionary's
subsequent success. The quasi-totemic attitude ascribed to snake vision-
aries was certainly not shared by other Indians, as already pointed out.
My informant's statement regarding the Sun is significant and agrees
with data secured from some of my most trustworthy authorities.
That is to say, the Sun as the most dominant single figure in the native
religious consciousness is supplicated in the first instance, but rarely
appears. Instead there come other beings "not related" to the Sun,
which presumably means not dispatched by him but independently
taking pity on the faster's distress.
From these general remarks we may now turn to some individual
accounts. I will begin with Lone-tree, who had other supernatural
revelations besides the one that came unsought from the Thunder.
Once I went on a high mountain and cut off a strip of my flesh with a knife.
When I had fasted for three days and nights I saw the Dipper. It was towards
morning. The Dipper gave me a little food, sitting down beside me as a man and
saying he had brought me some food because I was hungry. "What you are eating is
human flesh," said the Dipper after giving me the food. I did not know it was the
Dipper, but something at the back of my. head was whispering to me, "The man
giving you food is the Dipper." After he had told me that the food was human I
could not swallow it but vomited what I had eaten. Then the Dipper rose and
walked off. I looked and saw his long braided hair hanging down in the back, and
on the long queue were the Seven Stars. Then I believed that it was the Dipper.
The next morning I got home.
1922.] Lowie, Religion of the Crow. 335
During the winter I cut scars on my arms and went into the hills. There was a
clump of trees and on one of them there was a nest. Not knowing that it belonged
to the Bald-headed Eagle, I lay down. At night it stormed violently. I slept and
dreamt I was in a big lodge and saw the Bald-headed Eagle sitting there. I was told
that the Dakota were my only enemies and that I was to be a captain. It came true
and I defeated the Dakota about ten times. People said I was the best captain.
The Bald-headed Eagle of this vision is undoubtedly connected with
the Thunder (see above).
Big-ox, one of the most famous shamans of recent times (see p. 344),
had become feeble-minded when I knew him and only supplied a very
fragmentary account of his visions:-
I slept on a mountain and chopped off a joint of my little finger. I saw a bird,
which made me a chief. The birds sat round me; they had human heads. Five balls
of different color were in front of me, one of them pure white. I sat there and some of
the birds vanished without my knowing it until only one sat by me. This last one told
me I should be a great chief and that he would not forget-me. "We shall constantly
watch you." He repeated this twice. He flew away without my seeing him go.
I saw the No-drum (bira'xdete) dance in the daytime in the Wolf Mountains. A
white woman and a white man gave me the vision and a Crow spoke to me in Crow.
They gave me the stick I carry around, painted yellow and decorated with bells and
feathers.
Owing to his latter experience, dating from the period of his senility,
for which reason no one but himself took it seriously, Big-ox was nick-
named No-drum in the last years of his life. It is not clear whether he
underwent any suffering in this case or received his revelation unsought.
Flat-dog once went out to fast and get a vision. He had his back
pierced and a horse tied to it, while on the other side he attached a war-
bonnet to his pierced skin. Towards evening the horse got restless,
being thirsty, and jerked Flat-dog's skin. Then he pulled out the stick
to which the horse was tied and freed him. He fell asleep at night, tired
out with his exertions and as good as dead. He saw a man come to
him, who said, "Now you will remain alive a long time, you are poor
now, you will be a person. I'll keep you a person for a long time (diz
wiraxblke cfe-md-ui-mt'sik7)." Flat-dog added: "Today people speak
of me as old, then I think of this statement. My face was covered,
nevertheless I saw the person."
One of Gray-bull's experiences forms an interesting sequel to his
grandfather's vision (p. 329). Before dying the grandfather had given
his medicine to Gray-bull's mother, bidding her turn it over to her son
when he should be a young man. He still had the medicine at the time of
my interview with him. His narrative follows:-
336 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXV,
I fasted with this medicine and got a dream. I saw a bird flying over me in a
circle. It descended and went down into a canyon whistling. On both sides there
were rocks. The rocks began to shoot at the bird but failed to hit it, that it came
so
out unhurt. It had nothing tied to its head and when I heard shooting from the
rocks I did not see anything either. The bird had a white head and tail. I did not
know that I could not be shot till long afterwards. I was never shot. I kept my
dreams secret, for I was afraid if I told them I might get shot. Once many Piegan
were lying under a pine tree. One was some distance in front of us. We started out
toward the Piegan. He shot at me when I was just above him but did not hit me.
My horse went round as though dizzy and ran off. That night I dreamt and someone
said to me, "Don't you know that you cannot be shot?"
The conceptions involved in this vision recall corresponding Hidatsa
usages by which sacred objects descended from father to son and where
the blessing of a vision was expected from the spirits associated with the
paternal bundle. The tenor of the vision, i.e., the appearance of a
person shot at but remaining unscathed is very common and should be
compared with Scratches-face's as well as with some legendary experi-
ences.-
The same informant had another experience, which is described
below:-
I rose before sunrise, got my horse ready and went to Long-horse,2 my father's
clansman, and asked him to help me. So we went out before sunrise. I gave him
four presents. He, painted my body with white clay and sang a song, telling a few of
his warlike exploits, then he pierced my shoulder with an arrow, inserted a stick and
tied a horse to it; to the other shoulder he fastened a shield and some other medicine.
They moved camp that morning. I followed, leading the horse. During the day the
horse got continually more and more unruly, getting hungry and thirsty. After a
while I turned to look at him and saw a stripe on one of his legs; had I seen two
stripes I should have become a greater chief. I stopped there for the night and Long-
horse came to free the horse and remove the medicine. I did not go back to camp,
but stayed out and when I slept I dreamt. I saw a gray horse with a stripe on his leg
standing in the very spot where Long-horse had removed the medicine. Someone
talked behind me, saying, "This horse belongs to the Dakota." I did not see anyone.
After this I went to war and captured a gray horse. I struck coups, captured guns,
and achieved the other deeds of a chief, riding the gray horse. The stripe was a sign
for striking coups. I named my grandson 'Chief-with-the-gray-horse' (tsicd&bxi-
watsitsic).
The most interesting detail in the foregoing narrative is the mode of
self-torture employed, which exactly parallels one reported for the
Hidatsa at the time of the Sun dance.
when children bump against me, this tail will come out. So I always keep some
horse wart about me. If people with a batsiripe do not get proper incense in time, they
die.
I also got weasel medicine. My Weasel parents (in the Tobacco society) gave me
a weasel. There was an old man and his wife known as the Weasels; very few were in
their chapter. They took the weasel away from me after giving it to me. Then I
felt grieved, went out fasting, and had a vision of a weasel. I went to the mountains to
fast, and could not sleep all night. A cloud came up. I went to the rocks for shelter
and lay down to sleep. A weasel appeared and came on my neck, causing a queer
feeling. He went into my stomach. I heard the weasel whistling with all his might.
I woke up and looked round, but saw nothing. The weasel said: "This is what we
want to give you." Then he gave me a whistle. He sang a song. This is the main
part of the song:-
dute fk uctsfiruk'. 6pe tk'uctsfwa'tsewik'.
The weaselsarecoming out. The Tobacco I'll make come out.
Ever since I have had control of the Weasel chapter and through me it has become so
renowned. Once an old man told me to get up and dance, and I got up and sang the
song. The weasel warns me against having people strike my kidneys, lest I get into a
trance thereby.
Both a horse and a weasel are inside of my body. Only lately I dreamt I owned
some weasels and soon after a weasel was brought to me. People respect me and take
care lest something bumps against me. Sometimes I dream of a horse and afterwards
come to own it.
When I was out fasting, a gray horse came up to me and went into my stomach.
He told me he should enter me. After the batsirgpe once gets in, it does not go out. I
doctor horses if they can't make water. I chew something and put it in their mouth.
Then they can make water. I use chewing tobacco. Tobacco is one of my main
medicines, I always have plenty on hand to doctor with.
I was fasting on a mountain, having heard that a man' had slept there. I put
down new bedding. While I lay there, I saw bald-headed hawks (?) but the eagle got
ahead of them, jumped towards me, and shook one wing after the other, all in order
to scare me. He came up to me and scared me. He shook his wing and one feather
fell out. It was the Tobacco. I use Tobacco as one of my main medicines, as a lini-
ment; is is also used as a liniment; incense is made of it. I also doctor broken bones.
Some women chop off their fingers when seeking a vision; many women did it. Twice
I got a vision when staying out only one day; the other times I had to fast for three
days.
The Sun is the main thing I prayed to when I went out; but when I lay down to
sleep I prayed to the ground-cedar and the sagebrush. The ground-cedar is owned by
the Sun, I don't know who owns the sagebrush. I was fasting once and the Sun told'
me where to go to sleep. I went there and found many medicine-rocks (bac6ritsi'tse).
Thus I got plenty of property.' Red paint was given to me at the same time. The
Sun gave me power to make clouds. When a man leaves his wife, I can charm him
and make him live with her a long time.
As is pointed out in my paper on the Tobacco ceremony, the batsir6pe
motive was very prominent among the Crow Indians, and Muskrat's
account of the weasel vision is one of the clearest expositions of what the
1922.] Lowie, Religion of the Crow. 341
natives imagine to happen in such cases. Crazy-head, according to
Young-crane, had a frog for his batsir$pe, and in the winter it was heard
croaking in his throat. The general conception of the bat&irpe is ap-
parently found also among the Menomini.'
In studying the Tobacco society I obtained several descriptions of
revelations, which I will merely summarize here since they have already
appeared in full form.
Medicine-crow prayed to the Sun, cutting off a finger joint, and was
visited by a young man and a young woman, who were identical with the
Tobacco plant and gave him instructions for the foundation of the
Strawberry chapter. On another occasion when mourning a comrade
he saw a crane and was led to substitute a bird of this species for the
otter formerly carried in the Tobacco planting procession. The crane
showed him a scalp, and he subsequently killed a Dakota.
Big-shoulder-blade had a similar adventure with buffalo transformed
into young men wearing buffalo caps and promising vengeance for the
death of his brother. In consequence he founded the Buffalo chapter
and killed an enemy about as old as his brother.
Sore-tail was very poor and went out to fast. The Sun visited him
as he was lying on his blanket and said, "I'll send you my messenger."
He sent the Eagle, who showed him a special kind of lodge and taught
him a song. In consequence he founded the Eagle chapter and became
the very richest of all the Crow. Anyone who wanted to go on the war-
path would consult him and he sent them out with a blue feather on the
neck. He even sent out a woman with this medicine and she came back
victorious.
In 1910 Medicine-crow told me of a vision, which may be connected
in his mind with the Tobacco society since a strawberry appears, but he
did not explicitly state that he recognized such an association. His
account follows
I would pray during any season of the year. Fasting makes men of Indians. At
this season of the year (summer) I once fasted where there were plenty of skulls;
on the other side there was a high place. I spent four days and nights without drink-
ing anything. On the fourth morning I heard in the west a shout and a whistling
sound resembling that made by a railroad train. I heard it four times, then I heard a
voice say, "There is something coming to meet you from over there." I looked in
that direction and saw something coming. It approached and I beheld a white man,
a young man with the handsomest face, standing before me. Had he spoken to me in
English, I might be able to speak English, but he addressed me in Crow. Had I
been a white man and seen the vision, I think I should be wealthy today. The young
'Skinner, vol. XIII, this series, pp. 42, 45.
342 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXV,
man said, "You are poor and I have known this for a long time. All the people
around here will always know about you and hear about you; you will be a chief."
Having said this, he yawned as though from sleepiness, and I saw that his teeth were
all gold. He had something pinned on in front which smelled sweetly and turned out
to be a Atrawberry. He said, pointing east, "A great many whites are in that direction;
you will be taken there four times. The last time you will be an old man." Since
then I have been taken East once and still expect to be taken three times.
The foregoing data will suffice to bring out the main characteristics
of Crow visions. Since the vision concept enters into every aspect of
Crow life, additional illustrations will be found in other parts of this
paper and in publications on the whole devoted to other phases of culture.
Though I repeatedly attempted to get descriptions of ordinary
dreams, I never succeeded in securing a detailed narrative. Most com-
monly my informants spoke of seeing ripe berries and themselves eating
them; or the whole country covered with snow; or the ice floating down
the river. These are quite conventional ways of designating the seasons
of the year and the assumption always is that if a person has dreamt of a
particular season he will live until the next summer or whatever portion
of the year was suggested. It is dreams of this sort that are announced
in the sudatory. For example, a man will then say, "I saw the hay crop
being cut, may we all do the same."
Even in the last years of his life Gray-bull would dream of martial
experiences by night and by day. He would see a big battle and himself
capturing a white horse. Once he dreamt the enemy were leaving a girl
behind and on coming up to her the Crow braves found that she was a
woman now living in Lodge Grass. On the day Gray-bull told me about
his dreams he had taken a sweatbath and had said there, "Raise the door,
I have seen horses, may we all have them."
A Crow girl once dreamt that she was riding a mouse loaded with
lodge poles. Dreams of flying and of falling from a height occur.
If a person dreamt that some close relative of his had fallen ill, he
would cut off a lock of his hair on the following morning, take some
tobacco and meat, and cast all three into the water. If the relative
dreamt about is far away, the dreamer will build a sweatlodge and voice
wishes on behalf of the kinsman at each opening of the sudatory.
It is believed that a bug on the head makes people dream.
Bear-gets-up told me that in the spring of 1911 he had frequently
dreamt of deceased friends. At first he had not dreamt about getting
anything to eat, but later he dreamt of himself being feasted by an old
woman of his own clan. One day when I arrived at this informant's
1922.] Lowrie, Religion of the Crow. 343
lodge, he greeted me with the remark that he had dreamt last night of
himself engaged in conversation with me, hence I had to come:-
60tsiac bawaciProk hiMM batcfrirok bats-awAxpak bar!-wakA+uk.
Last night I dreatnt this white man mutually I with him we talked we continued.
hec hMi-mAtsik, ikI6t'k'.
Now he had to come, that is why.
Young-crane said she sometimes dreamt of the next winter, seeing
ice and snow. After her husband had been killed, she dreamt of him
lying down with her. This frightened her.
Dreams which definitely partake of the nature of visions have been
dealt with as such.
SHAMANS.
With reference to shamans Professor Kroeber's admirable formula-
tion of Arapaho conditions' applies in like measure to the Crow. There
were indeed men who had received revelations of so important a char-
acter and had shown their powers in so convincing a fashion that they
were designated as batsk maxp6. But they differed merely in degree,
not in kind, from others who had successfully sought visions, and it is
quite impossible to segregate them as a definite group from the rest of the
community. As Professor Kroeber felicitously puts it, to do so would be
as artificial as to recognize a distinct caste of warriors in a tribe where
every one strove to achieve martial fame. Shamanism in principle has
thus been sufficiently expounded in the section on Visions. It remains to
discuss certain characteristic manifestations of shamanistic competence
at its high-water mark.
CONTESTS.
The most dramatic exhibition of supernatural powers naturally took
the form of a contest between rival shamans. This might be waged in a
fairly amicable spirit, but was also carried on in grim earnest. Such con-
flicts are described by the term bats-dn-duhtlq, seizing one another's
arms;2 it represents an opponent seizing the other's arms and rendering
him helpless.
Perhaps the most serious shamanistic feud of the last half century
was that between Big-ox and White-thigh. It was repeatedly referred to
by various informants. Big-ox had had a revelation from the Thunder
and was greatly feared as a sorcerer. White-thigh was also a great
shaman, his principal charm being a medicine rock (bac6ritsi'tse). Big-
ox lay with the wife of Shows-wings, who had got his captain's medicine
from White-thigh and accordingly complained to his patron, asking that
he should do something against Big-ox. When Big-ox went on the war-
path, White-thigh caused him to meet a large hostile force, so that his
party was obliged to flee, losing many horses. Then Big-ox waited for his
rival to go out against the enemy, for both of them had the pipe (i.e.,
were captains). They were out several nights. Big-ox prayed to the
Thunder, asking that only the captain should meet with some disaster.
It raine4 continually and White-thigh's horse was struck by lightning,
so they had to turn back. Each worked against the other four times in
IA. L. Kroeber, "The Arapaho" (Bulletin, American Museum of Natural History, vol. 18, pt. 4,
1907), 419.
2bats, reciprocal prefix; dre, arm, dutfis, seizing.
344
1922.] Lowie, Religion of the Crow. 34,5
this fashion until neither ventured to go on the warpath. At last Big-ox
got angry. He drew a human image on the ground, made a hole in the
heart, blew smoke on it, and effaced the picture after saying, "You
shall be the poorest creature on earth; finally you shall be blind and have
to crawl on your hands and feet."' This came true and White-thigh
became so poor that he had no belt and had to use a rope in its place.
The blinded man smoked against Big-ox and said, "He shall be very
poor, roam from camp to camp, and end in feeble-mindedness." This
also came true, Big-ox lost all his family, and in his old age, when I knew
him, he had to wander from one stranger's camp to another and on
account of his dotage had lost all his former prestige. Although both
predictions were verified, Big-ox is generally regarded as the victor, for
the other man died, while Big-ox in spite of his sufferings never had to go
hungry.
Big-ox'spractices were evidently a compound of magic and animism.
On the one hand, he relied on the protection of Thunder, on the other he
resorted to what savors of pure imitative magic. It is said that he in-
dulged in sorcery a number of times, but suffered himself each time since
members of his family would die. Once he was found trying to smite a
woman with blindness, but was caught in the act and made to desist.
According to one statement, such practices were indulged in clandestinely
for fear of the victim's family. However, I have satisfied myself that the
notion of killing an evil shaman after the manner of some Shoshonean
tribes is quite foreign to the Crow. They would either try to pacify
their powerful enemy or have him combated by another medicineman.
Evil magic is called duCck uo (also applied to charming a person of
the opposite sex), and the act of smoking against some one is literally
defined by the term kus-6piu. The methods pursued are suggested above,
but accounts vary as to details. One Crow says that the picture of the
enemy is sometimes drawn near a river bank, with the head nearest the
water, whereupon the sorcerer smokes towards it and burns incense.
The water comes to wash the image away, and the sooner it does so, the
sooner the victim will die. Another informant says that a rock or bMxe
weed was placed on the picture and in order to blind his enemy the
shaman would put ashes or charcoal on the eye of his image. The injury
planned would, of course, vary: the shaman would paralyze his victim,
strike him with dumbness; deform him, have him killed on a warparty,
'Another informant states that he saw Bi-ox dig a little hole in the ground, put in charcoal and
ground-moss (awdkdtsirthe), smoke and blow the smoke into the hole, whereupon he covered up the pit
after saying that he was going to make his enemy poor.
346 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXV,
or cause him to lose his property. A common motive for the use of evil
magic seems to have been jealousy on account of a love affair with one's
wife.
I learned of one other shamanistic contest comparable to that of
White-thigh and Big-ox. The participants were Gros Ventre-horse and
Dung-face (fse-p&rec). Dung-face told his rival he would send him off
to another place; Gros Ventre- horse said he could not do it: "I am not a
child and will not depart." "You will not know whether you don't
go away," said Dung-face. Gros Ventre-horse answered, "You shall be
poor and shall have no horses or tipis." Dung-face said, "You will go
off and stay in another place, it will come true." Both had their wishes
fulfilled. Gros Ventre-horse went to the Gros Ventre (Hidatsa?) and
died there, Dung-face came to have no horses at all. This was an instance
of batsdndut 'W.
Dung-face had another encounter with Jackrabbit which was not
quite so serious. Jackrabbit had gone out to the enemy and brought
plenty of horses. He made a song in derision of Dung-face, who went
into his tent and bade his brother bring an old buffalo skull. On the
forehead he drew horsetracks and announced that these were the tracks
of the horses stolen by Jackrabbit, as well as those formerly owned by
him. He told his brother to take the head and throw it into the water,
saying, "These are Jackrabbit's horses." Dung-face said, "Then Jack-
rabbit will not have any horses." The Crow broke camp and ascended
the Little Horn. The enemy came and stole all of Jackrabbit's horses.
Dung-face followed their tracks, caught the enemy, killed two of them,
and recovered all the horses. Now he owned Jackrabbit's horses.
Jackrabbit paid him for four of them, but Dung-face kept the rest.
More commonly the rivalry of shamans assumed milder forms.
Three-wolves told of a case which was also mentioned by others. There
was one medicineman who would not permit. any visitors to touch the
fire in the center of his lodge. Another shaman heard of this and paid his
rival a visit. He found two or three men there, who were afraid to touch
the fire. He said to his host, "I too am a medicineman, but I don't
forbid my guests to touch the fire. Why do you?" The other replied,
"I fear they would get hurt." Thereupon the visitor seized the fire-
sticks and pulled them about, saying, "I'll see what will happen; give
me your pipe and I'll smoke." The other shaman began to cough and
spat out worms rapidly increasing in number and moving towards his
rival. The latter struck his sides with some mud, whereupon a little
bird came out and picked up the worms one after another. The host
Lowie, Religion of the Crow. 347
cried, "Don't let it eat up all my medicine; take your bird out and go
away." "I don't like your medicine." At last the visitor covered his
head with his robe and put the bird back into his stomach. Then he said,
"Let us have some more fun, get out some more of your worms." The
defeated shaman said, "No, you are no good. Go away with your bird, I
don't want my medicine to be eaten up." One-horn added that the host,
before acknowledging his defeat, spat out a big toad, but his rival again
made the bird appear, which killed the toad and then reentered the
shaman's mouth.
This episode was also briefly described by Little-rump, who says it
took place when he was young. The owner of the lodge, according to
him, was named Cherry-necklace, ot the xuxkaraxtse clan; he had mar-
ried an Hidatsa woman and had lived among her people. His neck was
tattooed all over. The other shaman was named Red-owl and belonged
to the lsawatsid clan. Cherry-necklace would not permit anyone to
expectorate in his lodge because if they did they would feel a worm in
their neck. Once a man who had expectorated had a worm sucked out
of his neck. The other taboo established by Cherry-necklace was the
one described above. Red-owl's bird was a woodpecker. Both the wood-
pecker and the worms reentered their respective owners' bodies.
Sometimes a number of shamans would decide to have a contest and
assemlbled in a lodge where they ranged themselves on opposite sides,
while young men came in to sing. Then, Strikes-three-men says, one
might begin the performance by taking a blue bead and rubbing it, thus
transforming it into a bluebird's egg. Another would rub some buffalo
chips and produce chokecherry pemmican. A third would twist his
blanket, thereby causing the man opposite him to drop in a faint; then
by untwisting the robe he would restore his opponent. These performers
were known as ak-bakumbfre, which my first interpreter rendered, 'the
twisters,' but the more common meaning seems to be 'the transformers,'
'the jugglers.' The word without the prefix denoting the actor is applied
to a white man's circus performance. One shaman said to his adversary,
"I'll put a biwitse (flat rock used in pounding cherries) into your
stomach." His opponent arose screaming and his abdomen was seen to
protrude painfully. *The other shaman smoked some medicine for in-
cense and made the abdomen shrink to its normal dimensions. One
shaman said to his opponent, "Swallow this knife." When the man had
swallowed it, the shaman extracted it from his anus. Such shamans were
greatly feared by other people since they could cripple their enemies
through their power, 'seizing their victims' arms' (dnduthl, see above).
348 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXV,
At such contests there are sometimes two or three, very rarely as many
as four, shamans on each side. Sometimes a shaman is powerful enough
to withstand his opponent's attack.
Three-wolves recounted a shamanistic contest attended by him in
which four men took part. One side would say, "Try to prevent us
from doing something to you." They sent a burr against one of their
opponents, and he fainted. The singers continued singing, and the suc-
cessful shamans asked for tobacco and smoked. The man who had cast
the burr jumped over the 'dead' man and with his hand extracted the
burr from his body; other shamans use suction. An otterskin was tied
to a peg in front of a performer, who twisted it, thereby choking his
opponent and making him fall down. The first shaman leapt over him
and after smoking restored him to consciousness. "Now we'll go against
one of your men, try to help him." They sent a red-stone pipe-stopper
(?) against him. Some men cannot be choked this way. The injured
man's comrades fanned him with a blanket or jumped about. Another
shaman rolled up wolf hair into a ball and sent it into his adversary.
One man jumped into the fire, stamped on it, then climbed a tipi pole
and on getting down challenged them, saying "Now shoot at me."
His opponents tried every device, but he always caught their medicine
and flung it back at them. These performances take place in the evening.
Only those who have dreamt of this particular power are active partici-
pants. They are usually, but not always, old men. Once a young man
dreamt of a bird flying round in one direction and killing people thereby,
while when it flew the opposite way they all revived.
Little-rump mentioned tricks performed on two distinct occasions.
Once several old Indians had assembled in a lodge and divided into sides,
each striving to outdo the other. My informant saw one man put a leaf
into the palm of his hand, deposit some ashes on it, blow and rub; then
he showed a shell. Another time Little-rump and his comrade were
with some Indians, and there was mutual twitting about each party's
having no medicine. The others challenged Little-rump and his com-
panion to do something. His friend took a bunch of buffalo hair and
some dirt, began to rub them under his blanket, and threw the product
in front of the challengers, and it was a mole. Then he took buffalo
hair, ashes, and dirt, rubbed them between his palms, and in a little while
the onlookers saw that he had something big in his hand. When he
threw it down, it was a live rat.
Arm-round-the-neck witnessed a combat between two shamans,
one seated on each side of the lodge, where a big fire had been kindled.
1922.] Lowie, Religion of the Crow. 349
Both had painted themselves and used all their medicine. One of them
said he was going to blind his opponent. He was naked. While singing
his song, he jumped into the fire and got out again. "We did not know
what he did, but the other man became blind. The blinded one whistled,
sang his song and did what he could but failed to regain his sight'."
Then the shaman who had blinded him made him see again. The second
man in turn said he was going to try his medicine on the first and would
make him die. His medicine was a ghost; his body was painted white
and he had black paint round his eyes. He sang his song, went outside,
ran up the cover of the tipi and down again. His opponent went back-
wards and lay down stiff. When the man who had killed him saw that
he could not rise, he did not touch him, but made the motion of taking
something from his victim. He had a burr in his hand. The dead man
then got up. These medicinemen were named He-seeks (batstre) and
Enters-a-red-feather (ba+6c-birtre). He-seeks jumped into the fire
without getting hurt and Arm-round-the-neck thinks he had the stronger
medicine. One of the two shamans went up the inside of the lodge,
taking hold of the poles, went out of the smoke hole, and came down
again by the smoke hole; he made a noise like an owl.1
The foregoing was the only real bTkumbirio witnessed by Arm-round-
the-neck. He was present on another occasion when four shamans tried
to do something of the same sort, but without success. One of them
claimed having crow medicine and said he could take out people's eyes;
another tried to do something to my informant, but failed.
Another informant furnished the following account:-
It was getting dark when I heard a herald cry, "All who can make medicine shall
come together! Paint yourselves according to your visions and come to where I
am!" They were going to test one another's powers. They said, "We will test one
another and see who wiU leave." Those men who had visions of ground-squirrels and
ghosts always painted white. The door was opened and we all watched them. One
fellow who was painted white jumped into the middle of the lodge. "I'll kill one of
you," he said, and called one of the others, who immediately took his pipe to defend
himself. They danced. The ghost-visionary took a rope, while the other held his
pipe vertically, touching his neck. The performer tied a knot in his rope and his
opponent began to choke. Another man jumped into the middle and asked the per-
former to try his power on him. He protected himself by crossing and convulsively
twitching his arms, and the rope did not affect him at all.
All the medicinemen were singing separately. One shaman said, "You are all
medicinemen; I'll knock you all down by my power." He hopped round with peculiar
movements of his left hand and all fell over towards the right side. Then he made
LEGERDEMAIN.
Sleight-of-hand performances of this type were by no means con-
fined to the time of formal contests between medicinemen. One of the
most famous of shamans was Plenty-fingers, who is said to have been
contemporary with Medicine-crow's father; One-star's wife is one of his
granddaughters. He derived his power from a bear; at one time he was
very poor, but when a bear was killed in camp he had his back punctured
and dragged the skin about camp. He named all his seven children after
the bear,- Bear-stays-in-the-wood (naxpits&-warire-na'k "); Bear-
holds-up-his-arms (naxpitsi-wdre-wisdc); Bear-small-waist (naxpitsi-
tsikfpic); Bears-seek-food (naxpitse-mdrdc tstru); Bear-seeks-cherries
(naxpits-wUAtsuts4ric); Bear-ears (naxpitse-a&pdc); Where-bear-stays-it-
is-good (naxpitse-anna'k6 = itsic).
One winter one of these children wanted some berries. Plenty-
fingers told them to get him the limb of a cherry tree. When they had
brought it, he stuck it into the ground in front of himself, covered him-
self up and made medicine. When he had removed the blanket, the tree
was full of cherries, which the children ate. One of the boys wanted
plums and in similar fashion he produced plums. Some of the girls would
long for wild turnips in the winter time. He would dig in the ground with
his fingers, take some out, and give them to his children. He could also
produce sarvis-berries and other berries in the winter. When people had
no meat, they would go to Plenty-fingers and ask him for some. He
would order them to get the bark of a tree, cover himself and the bark
with a blanket, and when he was done the bark had turned into dry meat,
which was given to everyone to satisfy their hunger. He could similarly
transform driftwood into animal intestines.
Plenty-fingers was also able to treat illness. Once a man was on the
point of death, being just able to breathe. They said, "Call Plenty-
fingers." When he came, he bade the other people go outside. Then he
was heard singing a bear song. He sucked something out of the patient's
skull and something out of his neck and chest. While before the man had
merely been able to breathe, he now began to talk and look about and
was well. Then Plenty-fingers stuck one finger into the ground,
sang a song and pulled out a wild turnip, which he gave the man to eat.
He told the people to bring him a plum branch, planted it in front of him,
covered himself and the branch with a blanket, and began to growl like a
bear. When the blanket was removed, there were plums on the limb,
and he fed them to the sick man. Similarly he produced cherries and
plums for him. He also stuck his fingers into the ground and pulled out
wild carrots (bikd'satte) for the people he doctored.
352 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXV,
Plenty-fingers foretold what was going to happen. He said, "There
is a place where you are always going to run round in a circle." By this
he meant to prophesy that they were going to have fair-grounds. He
also predicted the kind of guns they were going to have, saying, "I have
a gun into which I always put six shells; I have a gun that shoots far
For a long time he was considered invulnerable. He felt safe and
accordingly acted as recklessly as a Crazy Dog. Once there was a big
fight on the Bighorn and one of the enemies had a gun and plenty of
arrows. The other Crow were afraid of him. Plenty-fingers asked
whether any of them had struck him. When they answered negatively,
he went straight toward him and was shot above the abdomen, but
growled like a bear and rubbed leaves over his abdomen with his hand
and got well again. Then he captured the enemy's gun. Four times he
was badly wounded, but merely spat on his hands and cured himself
forthwith. Once the enemy were entrenched and Plenty-fingers walked
toward the trench clad in his bear blanket. They shot at him four times.
Each time he fell down, but when he got back there was no hole in his
blanket. Once, however, there were six Shoshooni in a trench and when
Plenty-fingers started against them they shot at him and he fell down.
People said, "Though he falls, he gets up again." But he did not get
up; he had been shot square in'the forehead. Little-rump was a big boy
when this took place.
To return to tricks of legerdemain. Little-rump tells of one occa-
sion when he saw Hunts-the-enemy give a performance at the request
of those present. Taking a buffalo chip, he flattened and rounded it
between his palms, then rolled it. When it first left his hand it was a
round chip, but as it rolled farther it turned into a skunk. He took it
back under his blanket and threw out a buffalo chip. Another tale is
told of how a war party were without tobacco. One of the braves asked
his companions to whittle down a piece of bark to the size of tobacco,
then he put dirt on and began to rub it, blew on it, and when he showed it,
it was a piece of tobacco, which he smoked. Little-rump saw another
man put dirt and ashes into his palm, rub them, and produce four beads.
A similar trick was witnessed by Gray-bull. He had a comrade
named Wants-to-live (fm-bi'c). One night they were out looking for
girls and wished to smoke, but had no tobacco. Wants-to-live told
Gray-bull to get bark from a tree. He brought it to him. He took the
bark in his hand and shook it in the air for a while, then handed it to
Gray-bull, telling him to take it. It was a piece of tobacco and my
1922.] Lowie, Religion of the Crow. 353
informant smoked it. Another time this same man took mud, rolled it
into four balls in his hands, glued them to his hand, and gave them to
Gray-bull. They were four beads such as Gray-bull wore in his necklace.
Another man is mentioned who had like powers; his name was Old-
man-does-what-no-one-can-do (bar-uwahirisa-isd'ke). When his tobacco
was being consumed by himself, he managed to maintain his supply,
but not if someone else smoked At.
One man had the Sun for his medicine. He had seen the Sun
painting himself red all over, then taking charcoal and marking a black
oval round his face, which he exhibited to the visionary. The man was
able thereafter to paint his face in the same way by putting charcoal
towards the sun and merely making the motion of painting an oval.
The people knew about this medicine. Its owner gave the painting
medicine to various men, all of whom proved successful, some even be-
coming chiefs.
Three-wolves narrated the following as an instance of shamanistic
power he had witnessed. One winter when the snow was very deep some
youths were pursuing buffalo afoot; four men went along. One man
with a six-shooter said, "I'll take you where there is something to eat."
He took them towards the mountains, where they saw buffalo crossing a
canyon far away. "If we go there, it will take us all night." Their
leader said, "We'll go to the brush and get a rabbit." He and Three-
wolves went there and found a herd of buffalo lying down not far away.
"I'll see whether I can kill one," said the shaman, taking off his robe.
He told Three-wolves to ascend a hillock. Then he approached the
buffalo, took something, and made a movement as if throwing some ob-
ject. When the buffalo saw him, they rushed towards a hill, where one
of them fell down, so that the medicineman could easily dispatch him
with two shots. He butchered the buffalo and showed my informant a
little burr he had thrown into the buffalo's back where the sinews meet.
"That is what I crippled him with." He took back the burr, but Three-
wolves does not know what he did with it.
INV'ULNERABILITY.
Relative invulnerability or marvelous powers of recuperation are
credited to a number of medicinemen. Thus, within Little-rump's
lifetime a man named Hole-in-his-ear was shot through the collarbone
with an arrow but recovered. In another battle he was shot in the back
with a gun but was restored to health. People began to think that he
could not be killed, but at last the Piegan while pursuing a party of
354 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXV,
Crow horse-raiders shot him in the head and killed him. Bull-snake is
mentioned as a min bitten by a rattlesnake and apparently unable to
travel back to camp. His companion left him to notify his people, but
when they came to look for him he had started home by himself.' Another
man was shot through the knee, but was well enough to walk within ten
days. He was shot in the back subsequently, but not killed. At last he
died from illness. After his death the Crow got to where his body was
and found that his bones were all covered with iron. His name was
Badger-arm. He was very strong. Once he killed a buffalo and some
people said he ought to have killed it in the shade so that they could
butcher in comfort; he seized it by the tail and dragged it into the shade.
Another Crow named Black-elk was shot and killed by the Dakota.
People saw him fall on the snow with blood issuing from his nose and
mouth. The other Crow went on and stopped at the mouth of the Reno.
During the night the Crow who had been killed caught up with them.
They asked where he came from and he told them. It was the same man.
Later he stole some Cheyenne horses and the Cheyenne killed him for
good.
Miraculous powers are attributed to a legendary shaman Big-iron.2
He is believed to have aged, died, and come back to life three times
before living for the fourth and last time; thus his span of life covered
four generations. He was so powerful that he ventured to challenge
Thunder and succeeded in overcoming him and other supernatural
beings. What seems very remarkable is that according to both the tradi-
tion and an independent statement, he told the Crow to make offerings
and pray to him after he had died the fourth time and that he would then
grant their requests. He also prophesied as to the coming of the Whites
and his people's relations with them and what he foretold came true.
CHARMING GAME.
Calling buffalo or deer constituted a particular form of shamanistic
activity based on specific visions. Thus, a brother of Bear-crane's,
while watering horses, caught sight of some buffalo hair and a slice of fat
some four inches long on a rosebush on the other side of the creek. He
brought the hair and the fat home with him, wrapped them up, and tied
them to the top of the backrest. When he slept that night, he dreamt of a
man singing and shaking a rattle and a great many buffalo came to the
singer. When the dreamer looked at the man, the latter said, "Make a
1See Lowie, this volume, 281.
2This volume, 288-298.
1922.1 Louwie, Religion of the Crow. 355
rattle like this, putting a buffalo hoof on it, sing and shake the rattle,
and buffalo will come to you. The fat you picked up was myself; I am a
buffalo. Take a buffalo hide, paint it, take this rattle, wrap it up with
the hide, and hang it up." He went and carried out these directions.
At that time the Indians were starving for lack of game. The vision-
ary went and cleaned his lodge. Beside his bed he placed dirt, in which he
marked the tracks of big buffalo and of calves. He greased his lips with
the fat, also took out the rattle, smudged it with incense of sweetgrass,
and began to bellow like a bull. The next time he put the rattle on the
same place and bellowed like a cow. The third time he imitated little
calves, and the fourth time old buffalo. When the sun had gone down,
he gathered together all the men in his tent and asked, "Where do you
want the buffalo? "On that big level place on the other side of the hill."
He sang the song he had dreamt, shook his rattle and rolled it in the mud
as though it were a buffalo wallowing.
He bade all the men go home and go to bed that night. "Tomorrow
morning the buffalo will be here." The next morning he heard the bulls
bellowing on the other side of the hill. "Get up, the buffalo are here."
They got up, saddled horses, mounted, and went. The whole plain
was covered with buffalo and still more were coming. They were tired
and could not run fast. The last time Bear-crane's brother worked his
medicine my informant was a little boy of about five.
Big-ox is also credited with having had the power of luring game.
Once the people could not find any game. Big-ox bade them get a buffalo
skull and put its nose toward the camp. In the night they began to sing.
In the morning they saw six head of buffalo and killed them. The fol-
lowing morning they again found several head. When they had had
enough, Big-ox bade them turn the skull round, then they did not see
any more buffalo. Another old man painted buffalo tracks around the
camp, smoked incense and sang, "I want to get buffalo in." He went out
and cried, "Young men, get up-hill; I think I have seen some buffalo."
Early in the morning some young fellow got up and saw some buffalo
going up-hill. He went home to tell the rest and they killed some buffalo.
Every morning they repeated this until they had plenty of meat.
One-horn recollected several instances of buffalo-charming. Once
the Indians were hungry and could not find any buffalo. They called an
old man to charm the game. He told the heralds to bid a young man go
to a pond nearby and they would find some. A young man rose early,
went there, and discovered two big herds. He told the people, who went
,out to kill the buffalo. At another time the Crow were camped at the
356 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXV,
Little Bighorn confluence. Buffalo were scared off and the people asked
Big-shoulder, one of One-horn's friends, whether he could get the game
nearer to them. He had a bonnet made of a buffalo head with the horns
and hung it high up on a pole. Then he told the people that the buffalo
were going to come close to the camp. They sent out a scout, but he
could not find any. They told Big-shoulder, who bade them try again;
if none were espied this time he would give up. Big-shoulder asked the
same scout to go out again to Porcupine Valley, about eight or nine miles
away. This time he saw buffalo, returned, and told the Indians, who
went out and got plenty of meat. Another time a man told the Indians
to look for buffalo near a high mountain. They sent out a scout, who
espied a dozen and reported. The Indians killed them. The shaman
told them that every day they would find a few head there, but they
failed to find any after the first time and lost faith in his powers. Then
he no longer made meditine. He had a coyote skin and an eagle wing
for medicines to lure the buffalo.
One-horn also recounted one instance of buffalo charming in con-
nection with a shamanistic conflict. Yellow-buffalo and Jackrabbit-
head had quarreled about women. Jackrabbit-head got up a war party.
Yellow-buffalo knew about it and made medicine so that Jackrabbit-
head should fail to see any game on the warpath and starve in conse-
quence. The party were out for two days, when a young man told Jack-
rabbit-head about Yellow-buffalo's attempt to starve them. Then the
leader knew that he should not accomplish anything on the warpath.
All were afoot. On the third day they still saw no game. The wind
blew so that the deer scented the hunters. For three days they had had
nothing to eat. Jackrabbit-head said to one man, "Get one nice un-
broken buffalo chip." He brought it. Yellow-buffalo's medicine was the
wind, while Jackrabbit-head's was the Dipper. He said, "Yellow-buffalo
has been against me. I'll try to make it so we can get something to eat.
I have a good medicine; I think it is stronger than his, for it is the Seven
Stars." He smoothed the ground inside his tent and marked a buffalo
track on the smooth surface. He put the chip on the buffalo track and
took off a medicine-rock necklace he wore. This rock was covered with
buckskin and shaped like a person's face. He uncovered the rock and
rubbed some fat from a skin on its face; he also rubbed it with yellow paint.
Someone filled a pipe and passed it round till it got to Jackrabbit-head,
who did not have it passed in front of him -like the others, but over his
shoulder from the rear. This was a sign that he was going to stop the
famine. He put the rock on the chip; then, after smoking, he picked
1922.] Lowie, Religion of the Crow. 357
up the rock and put it over his head where he was sleeping. He left thb
chip where it was. They moved the next morning. Before sunrise
Jackrabbit-head sent men to Rosebud Creek to scout for buffalo. They
sighted from three to four hundred head there, and the party had buffalo
to eat all the way home. This showed that his medicine was better than
Yellow-buffalo's.
Some shamans called buffalo by dragging buffalo skins tied to their
backs and singing buffalo-bull songs on the way. Gray-bull's brother-
in-law was a buffalo-shaman; he had the wolf for his medicine.
Shamanistic practices were also combined with the two methods of
driving game over a cliff and into a pound. One informant says that
when he was a boy the Crow were roaming over the Basin. At the end of
a ridge there was a high rock pointing south and on both sides extended
rocks two to three hundred feet high to the distance of about two miles.
Before daybreak all the people went out. The shamans in charge sang
at night and selected a man for leadership in the morning. Starting
from the edge of the cliff and on each side men and women were placed
with an intervening space of about fifty feet; farther back the distance
between adjoining sentinels was considerably greater. Others formed an
'arc of a circle back of the buffalo herd, while at the edge of the rocks old
people and children were stationed. The buffalo were frightened down
the passageway formed by the two wings of Indians and driven down the
precipice so as to be killed. The old people sang praise songs in honor of
those working thus. The following day the same procedure was followed
in the same place with another herd, and on the next day it was done a
third time. Then the women tanned the hides. My informant knew of
another place where a buffalo drive had taken place, but he happened to
be on the warpath at the time, hence had only hearsay knowledge. This
time another shaman -directed the proceedings. The rocks in this case
were only about eight feet high and the buffalo were not killed in jumping
down but impounded in a corral of about the same height, which was
filled with from fifty to sixty head. A space was left in the structure by
which a buffalo could be dragged out to be butchered. This method of
hunting was generally followed in the fall. It was in vogue long before the
Crow had iron arrow-heads.
Deer were also charmed either in connection with the surround, the
corral or cliff method; the procedure is known as Aux-datuq (deer-catch-
ing). Bull-all-the-time recollected an occasion when Cloud lured the deer
without the use of a pound. He sang his song outside the camp, and the
people divided uito two sides each having one man mounted on a fast
358 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXV,
horse. They went far out and formed a circle round the deer. Possibly
it is the same enterprise that is more circumstantially recounted by
Bear-crane as follows. When the people were camping on the Powder
River, Cloud told them they were going to catch deer. He sang for four
nights, and on the fourth he cried out that in the morning the Indians
were to get their horses ready in order to catch the deer. All men
mounted, led by two men on fast horses. One of these held a foxskin in
his hand, the other wing feathers. They saw some deer about as far
as from Crow Agency to Hardin. All the men were painted as though on
a war party. One man led two fast horses for the two leaders so that they
could mount them as soon as theirs were exhausted. Cloud stayed
behind and the other people with the children were behind him. They
had all their dogs with them, leading them lest they should go ahead.
The people ranged themselves in a circle surrounding the deer and were
hallooing and singing. Cloud had a big pipe with a fox hide tied to it and
moved it toward the deer, which kept circling around. When all got
close to the deer, they turned their dogs loose. Thus they caught the
deer. They got so close to them that the deer could jump over their heads
and run away if not caught, but most of them were caught. The people
were so glad that they sang such songs about the deer as the following:
"A deer is coming running toward me; I am going to get a neck piece
and the hindquarters." Cloud always wore a white cloth round his
head and walked with a stoop at every step.
Another informant described the deer hunt as follows. A man while
fasting would see a vision of the deer hunt. In the spring, when the grass
was good, the young men and women were called with the cry: "It is
time to catch deer!" Then three kinds of men were sought,-those who
had medicine for speed, those having the fastest horses, and those who
had earned coups. All these men were assembled and divided into two
diverging semicircles, the women bringing up the rear. In this way they
would enclose a tract of several miles. Two men, one on each side, rode
the best-winded horses; they were carrying arrows and were called arrow-
runners, (ak-araute-was.). The shaman sang four songs, wearing a buffalo
robe dressed with the hair. In each hand he held a pipe and he made
motions with his hands. "When I close the fourth song, you shall begin
to run." Then they all began to run, the leaders taking the lead on their
respective sides and meeting in front. The people all followed along
semicircles so as to surround the deer and closed the circle. In those days
there were very few guns; they shot the deer with arrows. It was con-
sidered unlucky to let any deer escape. The deer- would circle round and
1922.] Lowie, Religion of the Crow. 359
round, finally gathering in a body when worn out and piling on top of
one another like sheep. The young men gave their mistresses a gift of
venison. The last deer hunt of this kind took place the spring after
Gray-bull was born, which would make the date approximately 1848.
Another method was to have two lines of rock piles leading to a cutbank,
with people strung out in the intervening spaces, equipped with blankets
to wave at the deer, which were driven from the rear between the two
rows of sentries and ultimately down the bank.
As to the corral method, the following data were secured. One night
there was singing, conducted by the headman and his four assistants,
while the herald ordered everyone else to keep still except that at certain
points in the song all had to knock against their lodges and express a wish
to get a buck or a doe. The pound was on level ground; no posts were
set up and there were no mountains there. Two men riding the best
horses were chosen to lead the drive and they encircled the country from
opposite directions, enclosing a much larger territory than in the buffalo
chase. The people kept on closing in and the deer were kept running all
the time. Sometimes some wolves would be enclosed with the deer. The
last time this was done at the Yellowstone River. One man named
Rawhide was a Crazy Dog; he followed the deer round acting like a dog
and chasing them away till the people stopped him. Cloud, who is
credited with having conducted the ceremonial side of the surround, is
also described as superintending a corral drive. He selected two swift
men, each holding an arrow, and told them to run as fast as possible
and then cross each other's path. They scared the deer, which were
impounded by the people. In another account only one of the young
runners is represented as holding an arrow, while the other is made to
carry a feather.
The use of sacred rocks in charming game is described under
another heading (p. 389).
WAR SHAMANS.
With a people of so martial a cast of thought as the Crow many
shamans naturally had special medicines for war. Their services were
eagerly sought by men desirous of distinguishing themselves, who would
ask to be equipped for an expedition or to be adopted by the shamans,
thus gaining part ownership of their medicine, though at times the
shaman himself took the initiative, offering to make the transfer. No-
horse gave the following generic statement on the subject:-
360 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXV,
'It is the shaman's soul that is supposed to have accompanied the warrior.
1922.] Lowie, Religion of the Crow. 361
will come flying toward you. If it looks backwards and seems restless,
turn back and run home. If it ffies with ease, not shaking its wings,
sing songs of joy and proceed; in that case you may depend on success.
This bird coming will be myself. When you know that you are near the
enemy, see that your lodge is without a hole and put out the fire after
you have eaten. When singing, look round and you'll see something.
You will find out whether any of your men is to be killed or whether you
are to have good luck. If the former is the case, come right back."
The warrior would obey these instructions, put out the fire, and sing.
He might see blankets and saddles scattered about with his men's
shirts and clothes. Then he would have the fire rekindled and say, "Let
us saddle up and flee." In that case he would return. Some might say,
"The leader is timid" and would advance toward the enemy. Such
men always met with disaster and the tribe could not hold the captain
responsible for their death since they had disobeyed him.
If the brave saw a black or white or some other horse, he sang songs
of joy. As soon as his companions heard these, they cried, "Thanks!"
Each one would say, "I want one like this," "I want one like that,"
"If I get a good gelding, I shall rejoice." A bird would appear from the
proper direction, possibly bearing in its beak a scalp or some hair string.
Then the captain said, "I was sent out for horses, but it seems they want
me to do some killing." His companions might say, "If I strike a coup,
I'll give you a horse"; or, "If I get a gun, I'll give you a horse." Some
possibly protested, "We have come for horses, we have not come to kill."
In a war party there are generally a lieutenant (1ptse-awuno, inside-the-
pipe), a scout, and a rear officer (hdkace, the last one), who is supposed to
be a long-distance runner and who pokes those in front in the back with
his gun lest they slacken their pace.' These officers discuss the plan of
action with the leader and if all three join against him he is helpless.
One of them might say, "When you set out, you spoke about horses, that
is why we came." Another would say, "I came to get a horse that I
might display, now I want you to do as I wish." Then the leader would
yield: "All right, tomorrow before daylight you will be on top of a certain
hill, sight the hostile camp and come back immediately. When on top,
stay till after sunrise and watch for the smoke. Look over the ground
and see how we shall have to run in fleeing. Find out what place we shall
'This officer may depose any of the other scouts for sleeping too long or on account of other delin-
quencies. He selects additional scouts. The leading scout carries a wolfskin, the lesser ones generally
do not, but may carry coyote skins. Sometimes the wolf hide is put on the scout's head when he is
spying from a cliff in order to prevent discovery. In cold weather the hide is used as a covering. Some
think to themselves, "If I happen to go astray, a wolf will help me out." The scout's hide is slung over
his back so the head will project over his left shoulder.
362 Anthropological Papers Amercan Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXV,
reach before it gets dark. If it is near by, tell us and we'll stay where we
are. Even if I have to move, we'll go slowly. If the camp is not very
far, send one of your men hack." If the scout sees the camp and judges
it to be far off, he so reports. The leader decides to move and tells the
scout, "We shall move slowly up to such and such a place. If none of
your men reaches me by that time, we shall move fast." If a runner came
back from the scouts, giving the coyote howl, the leader's party would
sing and gather up chips into a pile. The scout who gives the signal
circled round and repeated this when close to the party. At last he came
directly up to the heap of chips. The leader had a pipe filled and gave it
to the scout to smoke. The scout reported: "At a certain creek, as the
sun came up, I saw the enemy's camp; even those boys saw the smoke."
If he saw the camp at close range and distinguished horses and people
clearly, he sent men back to announce it to those in the rear. A single
howl indicated that the camp was seen at a great distance; two -howls,
that it was close. When the messenger shook his gun, the people inter-
preted it also as meaning that the camp was close. The messenger,
whether afoot or mounted, ran over the buffalo chips, scattering them.
"Our leader has given orders for you to come to yonder point. The camp
is close, you had better hide in the coul6e as much as possible. Throw all
your heavy stuff (blankets, etc.) away, look out for your guns, cinch
your saddles and have everything prepared." Then the main body
advanced toward the chief scout. "Where is the camp?" asked the
captain. The scout showed it to him and said, "Get out your medicines
and make incense. Get ready. Some of these men had better go back
to wait for the leader for four days on the way home. If I don't get there,
I shall have been chased another way. When at home, make a signal
fire at the ouitskirts; and if I am behind you I shall make a similar signal.
If you see my smoke, you'll know that I have had good luck and brought
horses. That is all.I have to say to you." Some member of this expedi-
tion probably has a blackbird for his medicine. The captain asks for
such a one, and whether he be a little boy or an older person he is put
in the lead. At night the party arrives at the enemy's camp and all seat
themselves at the outskirts. The captain now appoints a leading and a
rear scout, and his lieutenant likewise appoints two. They go to the
outside of the camp to find horses that are most easily taken. "Bring
them here directly. If all the horses are tied, we'll get in and try to cut
them. If any are grazing, they will capture them." Then the man get-
ting the kind of horse promised to the captain (either in his own or his
shaman's vision) gives it to the captain, who accepts it. After a while
1922.] Lowie, Religion of the Crow. 363
the captain says, "We have enough horses now, let us flee." They run
all night and the following day. Any horses that are exhausted are made
to drop behind. The party continue going for two days and two nights.
On the fourth day they halt to get to the body detached from the main
party, and each one of this smaller group gets a horse. They proceed till
they get to the Crow camp, where they halt. The leader goes to the
shaman and tells him, "My heart is good (I am glad), I have brought
many." Before sunrise all his companions come to camp, circle round,
and finally disperse. It does not matter how many horses are brought,
all are driven before the shaman's camp. "This is what I have brought;
I give them all to you." The shaman sings a song of rejoicing. "It is
well. You tired yourself out getting them; take them and keep them
yourself or distribute them among your relatives. I am the one that
gives them to you. I rejoice. You know that I have now given you all
that medicine. Go and do about it as you choose." Thus the captain
gets to own the medicine and uses it as he pleases.
make all the moccasins you intend to take along, the following day get
your horses, then report to me." He said three Dakota had already been
given to him in a dream. He bade all the people come out, including the
women, for a ceremony before the beginning of the expedition. A big
pile of buffalo chips was- heaped up. Sore-tail told people to watch him
at noon, to go round the camp singing, and report to him, then they would
proceed towards the pile of chips. As soon as Sore-tail was ready, he took
the three captains and made them sit down in front of him. He sang a
song, pointing at the sun, then at the informant's father, and the latter
was decorated with yellow paint there. Similarly he put red paint on
him. "I'll paint him with two colors, the rest of you with only one."
He put blue paint on the second captain. The fourth time he sang,
pointing at the sun and the female warrior, who was painted black. The
three captains cried, "Thanks!" Sore-tail, wearing a buffalo robe with a
whole eagle on it, sat down on the pile of chips. "Watch me closely,"
he said; "I shall sing four songs, then I shall rise from this pile. Watch
me when I rise." They all watched him. He rose and turned into an
eagle holding the scalp of an enemy in each claw. "In seven days you
shall be back here. The first one you kill will lack one hand. As soon
as you kill an enemy put a new-moon on your back." They sighted the
enemy on the Powder River on the fifth day; there were seventy in the
hostile party, so the Crow confined their attention to the three Dakota
scouts. They killed two of them; the third one evaded them for a long
time, but was finally also killed. It was found that his right hand lacked
a thumb, hence the Crow called the year "When the thumbless man was
killed."' On the sixth day Sore-tail told the Crow in camp to prepare
black paint. On the seventh day Sore-tail met the war party, took one
of the captured scalps; and went through camp exhibiting it. There was
great rejoicing in the camp and Sore-tail was acclaimed for sending out
the expedition.
Sore-tail on another occasion sent out the informant's father, bid-
ding him bring two Dakota scalps. This, too, turned out true. Another
time Sore-tail sent out the same person telling him to be gone for thirteen
days and bring a scalp; still another time he bade him get three enemies,
and he did so. Sore-tail kept a pet eagle, which would fly outdoors for a
while and then return. Sometimes the eagle would whistle, then the
owner looked up and saw plenty of birds, whereupon he warned the Crow
to tie up their horses near camp since the enemy was near. All the Crow
helped feed the eagle.
'Lowie, this series, vol. 9, 242.
1922.] Lowie, Religion of the Crow. 365
Red-bear had a gun for his medicine. Once the Dakota were very
near and about to charge the Crow. Bed-bear told the people to bring
their guns to him. He burned sweetgrass for incense and pointed his
gun towards it, asking it to break the enemies' backs, arms, and thighs.
Then he pointed the butt toward the incense and asked it to break the
enemies' heads. He told his followers to repeat his word. Then they all
imitated his motions and words, each with his own gun. They had their
gun drill. They cleaned their guns and pointed them at the Dakota.
While they were going through their rhythmic movements, Red-bear
sang. He ordered them not to bring arrows into his presence and told
them he was about to attack seventeen lodges. One-eye came at the end
of the procession with a bow and arrow, saying, "These are sharp enough,
I can smoke them with incense." He did so, pointing his arrow instead
of a gun at the enemy. The medicineman saw him but said nothing,
thinking he had given ample warning. They made a dash against the
Dakota and no one was hurt except the offender's brother, who was shot
in the kneecap. When enemies approached, he would shoot off a loaded
gun once, but thereafter he would shoot'it without powder, by mere
magic.
Some other shamans were renowned for their powers of prophecy and
divination. Thus, there was an old man who knew when the enemy were
approaching; he could tell in how many days and at what time they were
going to come and told the Crow when to watch for them and kill them.
Sometimes he prophesied that it would rain or snow on the following day.
He did not dream of these things; something told him. The Sun was
thought to be his medicine. He asked Indians to call him "He-sees-all-
over-the-earth." His medicine consisted of a hoQp to which a star was
tied; the hoop was wrapped with otterskin. Another man, who was
favored by the Dipper, acted in somewhat similar fashion. He would
dispatch war parties, telling them precisely where to go and what to get.
Though he stayed home, he knew exactly in how many days the warriors
would return and what they had accomplished.
Sweet-marrow (ddp-tsik' iac) had the special ability of locating the
enemy's camp. Once he went on the warpath with some others near the
mountains. At the canyon of the Tongue River one of them said to him,
"Make medicine tonight." He bade them make a shelter'without any
holes in it. They did so.' He sang a medicine song. It was dark inside
at night. He took his pipe and looked through it. He saw the hostile
camp near Cold Spring. Then he sang songs of rejoicing, and his com-
panions said, "Thanks, Sweet-marrow; when we get to the enemy.
366 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXV,
we'll cut a mule and a horse." They stole a horse and returned. The
rest of the Crow people were at the Agency. On the return of the party,
Sweet-marrow acquired a great reputation. A few days later he went
out again. After a while he had a dream and returned to camp while the
others in the party went on. Young-coyote, the captain, was asked to
make medicine one night. Then he did so and saw the camp, whereupon
he sang songs of joy. The others also rejoiced. The enemy was at the
site of Buffalo, Wyoming. In the evening they had a sham battle, then
they moved camp toward an old fort. Young-coyote's party watched
them from a high hill. Before setting out that night they made medicine.
Young-coyote told the young man to go to the camp and see about the
horses. They did so, but the enemy must have had dreams, for they had
rounded up their horses and put them into a corral. Young-coyote
sneaked into it nevertheless and captured a mule and a horse. He got
out and traveled some distance, then stole two more. Grandmother's-
knife said that Sweet-marrow was the only man who could find a camp by
looking through a pipestem. He used an ordinary pipestem on the war-
path, though he also had a special one. He would hold his medicine over
incense at night, clean his pipestem and look through it. He always saw
the camp in the proper place. He got his powers from his father, who
got them from Thunder.
A curious method of divination is attributed to Bear-tooth. At
one time the Crow.were all camped on the Missouri. The Piegan and
Assiniboin were in the Musselshell Valley and the Crow found out that
the enemy was coming toward them. Bear-tooth told the people to bring
a rifle; he would shoot it off without its being loaded. If it went off, it
would be a sign that the Crow were to be victorious. He asked all the
people to come and look at him. "You don't believe me, but I want all of
you to see me and each bring me a little sagebrush." He called the crier
to herald the performance. "If the gun goes off, we'll start against the
enemy tomorrow." The Indians got out. Bear-tooth said, "Leave
room for me where I can dress up in my war clothes. Some of the wise
men may examine my gun to see whether there is any cartridge in it."
He was wearing fur moccasins, canvas leggings smoked brown, and a
similarly smoked canvas shirt. His face was painted black up to the
forehead and he also blackened his chin. Around the head he wore the
mane of a buffalo. He carried his gun on his arm and went to the wise
men, who were smoking sweetgrass, pointed the gun at the fire, then
turned the butt toward it. He got into the center of the crowd, pulled
the trigger, showed that there were no cartridges there and bade the
1922.] .Lowie, Religion of the Crow. 367
crier keep still. When ready he said, "Before I shoot I shall sing a song.
If it does not go off the first time, don't worry. But if it does not go off
the second time we shall be badly defeated. If I succeed, we shall beat
the enemy." All were quiet and watched him. He stepped back to the
sweetgrass fire, cocked his gun and sang the first song, slowly dancing
towards and away from the fire. He pointed his gun at the air, but it
did not go off. The people all thought they were having bad luck. He
said he would try again. He sang a second song and repeated the same
procedure, as before, four times. He bent his head over, patted his right
ear and took something out.of his left ear, putting it into the gun. Then
he sang towards the fire, approached it, and shot off his gun, which went
off as though loaded with a cartridge. Then he spoke thus: "At the first
trial my gun did not go off, so they may kill four or five of us, but we shall
get the best of them since it went off the second time." Early the next
morning the Crow got ready, peeped at the enemy from over a hill, and
charged them at sunrise. They took many old women, adults and
children for captives. The following day they placed these in a row and
counted them: there were about three or four hundred. Later the Piegan
returned and recaptured some of their people. The captive girls grew
up and married Crow, hence there were a good many half-Piegan among
the Crow.
On another occasion there were about two hundred Crow on the
warpath. They were tired out. There were about six or seven shamans
in the party, including Spotted-horse, Gros-Ventre, Curses-the-whole-
camp, Bear-tooth, Smooth-rump, and Crazy-bear. They were pursuing
the Shoshoni, who had previously killed many of the Crow. After three
or four days' journey they got to one of the Shoshoni party's recent
campsites; they found fresh meat there and traces of seventeen lodges
that had recently been pitched there. Trailing the enemy they got to a
valley and riding at night came to camp a little above the Shoshoni.
They were ready to fight but decided to wait until early next morning.
Before sunrise they approached, put on their war dress and prepared for
the 'battle. Then the leader asked Spotted-horse to use all his medicine
against the enemy. They surrounded the Shoshoni camp, then Spotted-
horse bade the warriors find a spring. They looked for one till they found
one. Spotted-horse came up, dressed in his war regalia, and painted his
face and body yellow all over. All his hair was tied in the back with black
flannel. Then he pointed his finger at the Sun and drew an imaginary
lihe round his face with it. "If I look into the spring and see a picture of
the Sun there, it will be well and I shall know what is to happen, whether
368 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXV,
woman. Wraps-up-his-tail g3t t3 the spot where the old woman had been killed and
laying down his sword asked the Crow to kill him; but they refused. After a while
Fire-bear (Crow policeman) came up and asked where Wraps-up-his-tail wanted to
be shot. He said he wanted to be shot in the forehead. So Fire-bear shot and killed
him. Crazy-bear and some others were seized and imprisoned. There were only about
ten Crow who took part in the fight; the old men all advised against it, saying there
was no reason for fighting. Had all the Crow participated, they would have killed all
the soldiers. I have never heard why Wraps-up-his-tail wanted to fight.
I have heard that Wraps-up-his-tail had cut down pine trees with his sword. An
Indian said that he similarly tried to cut down the soldiers and that a noise was
heard overhead when he made the motion. Had he made it a little lower down, he
would have cut the soldiers down.
Wraps-up-his-tail received his name from his guardian, who had dreamt of a dog
calling another by that appellation.
Another informant presented the occurrence as follows:-
There was a complete circle of enemies round the Crow. Wraps-up-his-tail of the
Kicked-in-their-bellies clan, went out with a pipe,' brought back a great many horses,
and paraded through camp. He went through the Agency, where they were issuing
beef. He shot at the Agent's house, telling him he was not afraid of him. The Agent,
whose name was Armstrong, sent the (Indian) police after Wraps-up-his-tail, but he
refused to go with them. The police were afraid and would not touch him. He
said to them, "You are poor ones; I may kill all of you." He put on red leggings with
long fringes and wore a red fringed shirt. He put a whistle crosswise at the back of his
queue, together with a flying-squirrel (?). His hair was done up in a short pompadour
and decorated with white paint. He painted his face yellow and put a white oval
round it. He painted his horse's face with charcoal; from the shoulderblade and hip
joints to the hoofs he painted him black. His only weapon was a sword.
The whole Crow tribe was camped at the Agency. The Agent wanted Wraps-up-
his-tail killed and sent for the soldiers. Wraps-up-his-tail burned incense and placed
his sword over it. He said, "When all the soldiers are lined up, I shall wave my sword
and they will all die." The Agent came with all the soldiers and said, "Since you are
chief of all the Crow, make known your request and we'll agree to it." The Indian
policeman asked Wraps-up-his-tail to make a request on behalf of the Crow, but he
refused. He said, "You are Crow Indians, I don't call myself a chief. You have
treated your own people as prisoners. I want to die, that is why I shot at the Agent's
house." To the whites he said, "I want to destroy you all." They were camped by
the fair-grounds. The soldiers were ready to fight. The young Crow all supported
Wraps-up-his-tail, who said he would point his sword in the four cardinal directions
and kill the whites. He and his followers mounted horses. The Indian police took
their kin to the Agency, where they would be safe. The soldiers practised shooting at
effigies. We got tired. We heard they were trying to shoot Wraps-up-his-tail's
effigy.
In the morning a herald told all the Crow to mount their horses and get ready.
"They have your power, Wraps-up-his-tail." "No, I don't like you any more, I
want to die." There were about ten young men with him. Then others got tired of
it and left him. The soldiers extended from the hill back of the school to the Agency;
'The captain's emblem of office.
1922.] Lowie, Religion of the Crow. 371
they were all armed. Wraps-up-his-tail rode a few feet in front of their line. They all
shot at him. We were standing farther back looking on and thought he would fall
but he was never touched. Spotted-rabbit was accompanying him. Wraps-up-his-
tail waved his sword and all the soldiers seemed to fall, but straightened up again.
One soldier said they heard something whizzing by when the sword was moved past
them. When the horses got to the end of the line, all the soldiers formed a ring round
him and shot at him. One man tried to stop him, but he hit him across the head with
a sabre, knocking him down. Then ten Crow Indians went right among the soldiers.
At last Wraps-up-his-tail fled across the river and the soldiers gave up trying to kill
him. He talked across the stream, bidding them come and kill him, since they had
shot him in the arm. He advanced towards the soldiers and threw down his sword,
but they did not go toward him. The police ordered the Crow to go to the Agency.
Wraps-up-his-tail said to Spotted-rabbit, "Go alone and hide, I want to die." He
crossed the stream below the slaughter-house. On the other side Knows-his-coups
was lying in a little hole, popping up and down; the soldiers shot at him, then gave up
the pursuit.
Wraps-up-his-tail had surrendered to the soldiers, who would not seize him. The
Indian police arrived. He sat down, pointing at his breast. Then he said, "Point
at my forehead." Then Fire-bear shot and killed him. The soldiers killed an old
woman hiding in the woods. They shot Two-whistles in the arm, breaking his bones,
and after having the arm amputated they sent him home. Three-foretops was also
in the fray. All the Crow hated Fire-bear. Wraps-up-his-tail's brother tried to
catch him alone and kill him, but never succeeded. Crazy-head and Deaf-bull, both
Kicked-in-their-bellies chiefs, were blamed for the uprising by the Government and
imprisoned in the East.
Before this time Wraps-up-his-tail had never been recognized as a medicineman.
After his burial it was reported that there was a red flame above his grave. The Crow
still consider him medicine because the soldiers' volley did not kill him; also because
on his return from the war party he moved his sword before some pine trees and made
them fall down.
Still another informant said that Wraps-up-his-tail had gone to the
mountains three times in quest of a vision, staying from two to four days.
Gros-Ventre says he has seen him paint his face by pointing his finger
at the sun, and though he used no paint he would produce a red stripe.
There was usually a storm when he went through camp. It was said
that he chose the wrong season for fighting, hence his failure. He was
powerless in the winter time, but would have succeeded in the summer.
One-blue-bead also said that in his opinion the outcome was Wraps-
up-his-tail's own fault. His vision was to come true in the spring when it
thundered, but he waited until the fall. Half of his vision was true
(tsiusa k'5t'tuk'). In part he was fooled. "He claimed that he could not
be shot, that part was false. Our hearts tell us that part of what he said
was true. He had a sword, went up to the mountains, made a motion of
cutting the pines, and the trees fell down. But with the soldiers it did
not work. Muskrat saw the trees fall."
372 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXV,
MISCELLANEOUS.
When Fire-weasel was a boy he accompanied the Crow to the
Hidatsa; there was a shaman in the party. An Hidatsa stole one of the
shaman's horses. The shaman made medicine, calling for a good rain.
Then it rained every day and night. The Hidatsa gardens and their
earth-lodges were soaked, and the horses sank down in the mud. The
Hidatsa chiefs asked the thief to return the horse lest they be destroyed.
Accordingly, the horse was brought back at night and tied to the shaman's
tent, but the horse's mouth had been tied with corduroy and was badly
cut, so the owner was very angry. The chiefs made the thief give the
shaman another horse and some property, then the rain ceased. That
winter the Hidatsa were starving.
One informant told about a man named Hunts-the-spring, who gen-
erally traveled afoot and would sometimes walk up to the top of big tipi
poles, then down again. The same informant knew of a woman, said to
get out of her head (dCaciuk), who could tell who it was whenever any-
one peeped in through a little hole. She was a good runner.
THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE.
A person who administered roots and other medicines in our sense
of the term is known as ak' baria, a word extended to include white
physicians. As a special class of practitioners the Crow segregate the
wound-doctors, akUwacditu. Those, on the other hand, who are shamans,
i.e., derive their powers, whether relating to medical treatment or not,
from a supernatural source, are in a literal sense 'medicine (=holy)
men,' (batsi maxpe). But this classification cannot be rigidly maintained
in practice since many forms of treatment are traced to a vision, and the
method of healing wounds is probably uniformly so derived.
Apart from special medical assistance there are of course certain
remedies which are extensively used. Of these the isi root,
which is dug up in the mountains, is used in a variety of ways, but
especially as a liniment. This is the same substance that serves so
largely as incense on ceremonial occasions. It may be applied with
various other ingredients; for example, a mixture of isi and buffalo
chips is rubbed over a swelling. Once I observed Muskrat treating an
interpreter's little daughter for a swelling. Sitting at a distance I could
see her chew some root, very likely isk, which she rubbed on the girl's
leg. This root is said to be eaten by bears; the stem of the plant closely
resembles that of a carrot. Among other things, ise is also boiled with
tallow for a cough medicine. In Pryor I bought some 'sweet-sticks'
from Sharp-horn's wife; they are chewed, soaked in water, and drunk
as a remedy for diarrhoea. Henry Russel, oddly enough, said this medicine
also contained a cathartic principle and was used accordingly. Else-
where I heard of a plant called dtsirAxe, which the Indians pull out in
.order to chew the juice, which is good for the teeth and the health
generally. Certain river weeds are boiled into a tea (cucud).
The sweatlodge was not used primarily for medicinal purposes and
even in recent times seems to have had rather a ritualistic function or to
have assumed the character of a sport. It is true that in a myth Old-
Man-Coyote cures his companion Cirapi through a sweatlodge,l but the
circumstances admit of a different interpretation. CiropE's sickness
resulted from his having been offered to the Sun; hence danger is natur-
ally averted by substituting the sweatlodge as a Sun offering par eIr-
cellence.
1Lowie, this volume, 20.
373
374 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXV,
In cases of stomach trouble the Crow even today employ an imple-
ment called ;itsip6tsirua, stomach-kneader. It is a stick about 18 inches
long widening out at the bottom after the fashion of a darning-last.
The lower part is pushed against the stomach and upward. This device
is mythologically derived from the Dipper, who instructed a woman in
its application, telling her she should gain property thereby in the way of
,fees.' However, its use nowadays is quite devoid of any religious im-
plications. I saw Gray-bull knead a young man's stomach; he explained
that the Crow were careful not to press hard on the navel.
Muskrat, as shown elsewhere (p. 340), derived some of her methods
of treatment from her own supernatural experiences, and Bull-all-the-
time made a corresponding claim (p. 328). Since visions differ and are of
specific character, it follows that most practitioners are specialists con-
versant only with the mode of treatment to be followed for particular
kinds of disease. Thus, a man bitten by a snake, but surviving the
effects, would regard the snake as his medicine and would treat people
who suffered from snake bites. Wounded men, on the other hand,
were treated by men having a buffalo vision. Again, Gray-bull's wife
was an obstetrician, having obtained instructions from a man who had
dreamt of a certain mode of treatment in confinement cases.
Crow theory of disease is not affected by the belief in sorcery to
nearly the same extent as that of many other primitive peoples. Of
course evil magic is practised (p. 345) but it does not pervade the entire
intellectual atmosphere. On the whole, far greater significance must be
attached to the taboo concept. Illness is often ascribed to the trans-
gression of a rule laid down in a vision or associated with some sacred
object. For example, a person may be forbidden to eat chokecherries or
a special part of the buffalo, and disobedience will lead to dire conse-
quences. Others are afraid to come into close contact with menstruating
women lest they bleed from the nose or contract a headache; if such men
went into battle after contact with a woman in this condition, they would
probably be killed. Tangible pathogenic agents are also reckoned with.
Sometimes the soul of a deceased individual puts a tooth or lock of hair
belonging to the corpse into a person's body, producing insanity. Persons
afraid of corpses seen in battle are said to be liable to this affliction.
Oray-bull ascribes his temporary deafness at one time to a stone put into
his ear by the hand of a slain enemy (see below).
a while, got out, and repeated this procedure. Then the patient was as
well as before.
Dap'fc acquired his power by fasting at the hot springs of what is
now Thermopolis, Wyoming. One informant says he swam out to a little
island in a pond, sat there for three days and observed the underground
spirits treating wounded men. Others narrated that some being took
him into the spring, sang medicine songs for him, and gave him his own
name, the one by which he has been known since, and the springs are
called Daptic iru'pxe (father of Dap'tc). After his return to camp, Dap'tc
went on the warpath and was shot. He told his comrade that he was a
medicineman. His friend answered, "You are a medicineman and you
have forgotten that you are half dead." "I am going to doctor myself."
"If the people see you cure yourself, they will wait to have you cure them
and will give you plenty of property." Many people looked on as he
treated himself. The bullet had not gone through him, but was in his
body. He held an otter in his hands, showing its teeth. He was going
to dive into the river and have the otter remove the bullet. He sang
before entering the water, then dived into it. After four breaths he came
out again and the otter had the bullet in its mouth. Then all the people
knew about it. There was another battle and a man was shot with
an arrow; the shaft was pulled out, but the head remained sticking in the
wound. People asked the doctor to cure him. He told his patient he
would dive with him and have the arrow point extracted by the otter.
He sang and painted himself, as well as the patient, then dived with him,
and when he came out the otter had the arrow-head in its mouth. The
man was cured. On another occasion an old man was shot in the fore-
head and the doctor took out the bullet. Once in the Wolf Mountains a
Crow was shot below the navel in a fight with the Dakota. There was a
watercourse nearby and after damming it up to make it deep enough they
laid the patient in there. Dap'fc used the water-bull (bimuin tslrupe)
and the long-otter for his special guardian spirits. He sang over the
patient, hopped over him, and rode to camp with him, singing on the
way. In the morning the people formed two lines of spectators. They
made the patient rest on a high pillow and several men sang for him.
No person or dog was permitted to pass in front of him. The doctor had
his wife and daughter wear a robe and with them he approached the door
of the lodge, where the singing was going on continually. Dap'tc trans-
formed himself into a bull and made a snorting noise over the patient,
who rolled over. Then he bade the wounded man seize his tail and forth-
with he was able to stand up as though well. Dap'fc led him to the water,
378 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXV,
re-assuming human shape on the way. He took him where the water
reached up to his chest and then dived down alone. Before so doing, he
whistled upstream, then downstream. The patient's blood flowed down-
stream, and he stood there for a long time awaiting the leech's return.
His wound healed. Only the wounded man saw the doctor in buffalo
shape. Later in life Dap'fc became blind because he had transgressed
one of his spiritual patron's rules.
According to one informant the legendary shaman who recovered a
drowned Crow's necklace' became a wound-doctor when he had returned
from his diving expedition.
Gray-bull remembered two famous wound-doctors; one was Bull-
does-not-fall-down's mother, who also treated other afflictions (see p.
375), the other was named One-eye. Neither permitted dogs about while
administering his treatment; it was said that if a dog crossed their path
at that time the patient would die. My informant saw One-eye at
work on three occasions. When he treated Crazy-head, who. had been
shot from side to side, he painted white rings round the patient's eyes
and touched all his body with the tip of his hand, which had white clay
on it. He painted his own forehead with white clay, wore a buffalo robe,
and tied a plume to the back of the patient's head. He stood at the door
of the lodge, singing his song. The singers, including Gray-bull, were
indoors. The relatives of a wounded man always got as many young men
as possible to act as singers during the performance, and they would
sing the physician's song. One-eye danced at the door, first with one
foot, and rubbed a buffalo tail, which had a plume tied to it, against
the ground so that the dust flew. Everyone cheered him. He went to
the patient, blew on his abdominal wound, stood back, extended his
arms and bent his body. Crazy-head imitated these movements. lPus
and blood came pouring out of his wound. When all had come out, the
people in camp were told to stand in two rows extending from the lodge
to the river. Gray-bull did not see the procedure in the river since he was
one of the singers and thus obliged to remain in the lodge and continue
singing. Young-crane, Crazy-head's one-time wife, said that according
to her husband he was not cured by the doctor. Some time after that,
however, he went out to ease himself and in the morning there were
masses of blood there; from that time on his health improved.
Another informant mentions seeing four or five women take part in
the singing in company with the male drummers. He says the doctor
'This volume, 231.
1922.] Lowie, Religion of the Crow. 379
pawed the ground like a bull and licked the patient's wounds, drawing
out blood and pus from both sides. He made the sick man walk toward
the creek in the usual fashion,-making four stops and each time causing
water and blood to run out. He waded into the river to the depth of the
patient's wound and made the blood and water flow out of it. Then the'
man got well.
Arm-round-the-neck added only a few details on the basis Qf one
performance he had witnessed. In this case the physician blew into the
wound and ran back to the lodge, followed by the wounded man., This
informant said that some doctors had seen buffalo treating one another's
wounds in a vision and imitated what they had been shown. Others
might see, other animals (otters?) and would then use an otterskin and
whistle instead of the buffalo tail. The wound doctors might purchase
their medicines.
The association of wound doctoring with the buffalo is of compara-
tive interest since it occurs elsewhere, e.g., among the Omaha, where a
whole fraternity of buffalo visionaries treat cases of this type.1
The treatment of a woman in labor has already been sketched else-
where.2 Sometimes no physician was called because there was no time.
In ancient times, according to Gray-bull, only women were obstetricians
(bia4nde ak-dia) but now there are also some men who act in this capac-
ity. A man was certainly not normally permitted to attend during his
wife's travail, and it seems no other males, not even boys, were allowed
in the lodge since their presence was believed to protract -the period of
delivery. Otherwise the husband was not subject to any taboo.
Gray-bull's wife had obtained her obstetrical knowledge from a
visionary, to whom she paid a horse. She regarded the information as a
secret. The medicine was a combination of a horned toad and a root;
she would rub it down the patient's back. The woman in labor clung to a
post planted by her bed and assumed a kneeling posture. Not the doctor,
but anyone present, cut the navel cord (ict6'pe). After the delivery the
mother received a portion of taxciwe, a kind of fatty food (probably pem-
mican) which she ate just once. For several days she abstained from
cooked meat and was not allowed to stoop.
There were no special beliefs as to twins (ddtsg e) and Gray-bull
did not know of any case of triplets.
'Alice C. Fletcher and Francis La Flesche, "The Omaha Tribe" (Twenty-seventh Annual Report,
Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington, 1911), 487.
2This series, vol. 9, 218.
SOULS; GHOSTS; HEREAFTER.
The metaphysical tendency is very moderately developed among the
Crow. There are no profound theories as to the soul and such reflec-
tions as may occasionally be garnered on this and related topics are not
infrequently mutually contradictory.
The word for soul is ird'xe (my soul, bardaxe; souls, irdax?1a). It
is used in speaking of a person's will power and is clearly connected with
the word for 'shadow,' ir&xaxe. Gray-bull said that all animals (blxuam-
bice) have souls, that is why the Crow do not kill dogs. The sacred stones
taken along on war expeditions also had souls. Another informant,
however, denied that animals were believed to have souls. Sometimes
the soul of a dead person will put a tooth or a lock of hair of its own into
a person's body and cause him to go insane. The soul is believed to stay
by the burial and sometimes an owl-like cry is heard there. In this last
statement there is probably a confusion between 'soul' and 'ghost,' for
below we shall find that the deceased live in camps of their own, while
hooting like an owl is generally described as an attribute of ghosts.
The word for ghost is a'pardaxe, which is also sometimes used to
render 'devil.' It seems to be etymologically connected with that for
soul, but I am unable to explain the first part of the word. Another
word recorded for 'ghost' is maxutrete which denotes lack of body.
Ghosts are feared and to compare a person to a ghost is to offer a grave
insult. In a myth a woman at once leaves her husband when he likens
her to a ghost.' The whirlwind is taken for a ghost and an approaching
one will be thus addressed:-
an-dart kawfk', df-tvat' da!
Where you are going it is bad, you alone go (imperative)!
Ghosts are not regarded as uniformly malevolent, however. I heard
of a woman named Gun, who had had a vision of a ghost. She would
invite a crowd of people, darken her room, and make everyone sing and
listen. Then something came and the people could not make out what
the being had said. Gun would interpret its words and prophesy what
was going to happen. The gift of detecting lost property and of determin-
ing the fate of lost individuals seems to be preeminently derived from
ghosts. In the most recent times an old couple had lost money and asked
an Indian policeman for assistance. The latter, being a great wag,
pretended to recover the money by means of his medicine,-a whirl-
wind ghost. He smoked incense, made the sign of a whirlwind in front of
his face, and after chanting a song hooted like a ghost.
This volume, 118.
380
1922.1 Lowie, Religion of the Crow. 381
Once the Crow were on the Musselshell, while the Dakota were near
Sheridan. A Crow party went out and captured some Dakota horses.
Two of the braves did not come back; even after ten days they had not
returned. Their brother went to an old man who had ghost medicine,
gave him horses and property, and asked him to find out where the two
men were and whether dead or alive. That night the old man told every-
one in his lodge to go outside. All the relatives of the two missing men
came and stayed outside the tipi. The old man put out his fire and began
to sing, shaking his rattle. He made a noise like an owl, went out of the
smoke hole, and returned to the tent. The whole lodge shook when he
came back. The spectators heard people talking but could not under-
stand them. Then the medicineman called the outsiders and lit up his
fire. He told them the two young men had not been killed, but were in
camp at that very moment and bade them look for them. That very
night one of the two missing men came back to his tipi. The old man
had seen the two in camp and told the other people. They were there
looking on while their tribesmen were looking for them.
A sister of Horn's wife once went to St. Xavier for a visit. On the
same day Gray-bull and others went there too. The following day they
got to the Bighorn, where a Fourth of July celebration was being held.
The Lodge Grass people stayed for the festivities, but the woman did not
appear. They looked for her all over the district, but failed to find her.
Her horse returned to Gray-bull's herd without a saddle. Then a ghost
medicine woman, Stops's mother, was called. They gave her two, horses
and other property and asked her to find the lost woman. That night she
did not tell the people to leave, but put out the fire and closed up the
smoke hole. She began to sing and hooted like an owl and the whole
tent began to shake as though from a whirlwind. The audience heard
talking but could not understand what was being said. They also heard
the medicine woman, but could not understand her either. When a child
who was with Gray-bull began to cry, all the noise ceased. The medicine
woman kindled the fire and told the people that if the child had not cried
she should have learned about the woman's whereabouts; she had been
told that she was close but the exact place was not revealed. More pres-
ents were offered to the shaman to make her try once more, but she re-
fused and the woman was never found. The Indians thought she might
have been killed by some white man or turned insane, for she had gone
crazy several times before.
The following curious tale was recounted by Gray-bull as a personal
adventure.
382 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXV,
I went on the warpath toward the Missouri River. Right above the mouth of
Plum River I came to a square-tent camp of about a thousand tents. There was a
little house there, and a tall white man, who talked Crow, took us all to this house,
and told us to look inside. In this house there were bunks covered with gray blankets.
The white man told us to take off the covers and then we saw under all of them the
skeletons of men, about thirty of them. The joints were fastened together with wire.
When we got out, we stopped there for the night. The Indians began to sing. The
white man told us to keep quiet for they were going to make the skeletons alive again
and if we wanted to see it we might. We told him we had never known of any one
dead coming to life. He said they were going to raise the skeletons to live in four
nights. That night we heard a band-drum and cheers from the whites all night. We
stayed there for two nights, consumed our food, and told the white man we were going
to leave. He told us to stay and killed a beef for us. For four nights we always heard
the band. After the fourth night the white man came and told us the skeletons had
risen to life. He took all of us to the house, opened the door and told our captain to
look, but he was afraid. One man was very brave and said, "I'll go and see," for he
doubted it. His comrade said he would go in also and a third likewise said he would
do so. Wolf-head was the first man who wanted to go in. Wolf-head asked me what I
was going to do and I said I would do it. Wolf-head told the captain to keep quiet. When
all four of us were inside, the white man closed the door. It was early in the morning.
The white man took the cover off one, and then we saw a white man lying there very
thin. He looked at all four of us. Wolf-head shook hands with him and said: "Ho!"
The other just shook his hand and while he was holding his hand Wolf-head asked,
"Are there people yet over there in the ghost land?" The white man answered,
"Ho!" The Indian said: "Whenever I become a chief and people honor me, I'll see
your people." The next Crow shook hands and said, "When I've given horses to
all my relatives and captured picketed horses, I'll see your people." The third one
shook hands and said: "Are there people on the other side?" "Ho!" "I want to see
your people soon." I shook hands with him myself and told him I did not want to
be afraid, but wanted to be an old man and a big chief. The white man said, "Ho!"
We shook hands with the other whites in the bunks and repeated our conversation,
then we went outside. The rest of our party asked, "How is it?" "They are living."
Then the white man who spoke Crow told our captain if he doubted he should
stay till the next day and see the people come out of the house. We stayed ttll the
next morning, when we dressed and painted up and came to the place. We saw all the
white men seated outside on a bench. One white man had a hole in his cheek where
he had been shot and matter was running out of it. This man asked us whether any
of us could speak Dakota. Our captain said he could talk Assiniboin. The white
man with the hole said he was also an Assiniboin. He said he was going to talk and
wished the Indian to listen. He talked in Assiniboin and asked the captain where he
was going. The captain answered that he was on the warpath. The white man said,
"When you get to camp, don't be afraid; go to the camp, take a picketed horse and
kill some of the enemy; don't be afraid, for you are to be people twice. Don't be
afraid of anything. The Crow who died are living in a camp. I myself can't help
myself and have to stay with the whites." The other Indians told the captain to ask
what was the matter with the man's face. He asked him. "The Piegan killed an
Assiniboin on top of a hill, where there were rocks and trenches. While the Piegan
were in the trenches, I went up and struck at them, shouting that I was the first to
1922.] Lowuie, Religion of the Crow. 383
strike a coup. The women and men said I did not strike a coup, but only rocks. I
tried again, sang a song and made medicine. I went to the trench. One man was
pointing a gun at me. As I was going to stab him, he shot me in the face. From that
day I knew nothing until the day I saw you Crow." The Indian asked the white
whether he was going to die again, but he answered he did not know.
We got back to the Crow camp. The one who said he wanted to see the other side
soon died about two seasons later. What he wanted came true: he died soon after.
Wolf-head, who had said he was going to see the other people when the Crow all liked
him, was killed some years later. What he had said came true. The Crow honored
him very much. The third man who said he would give horses to all his relatives did
what he said; he was killed on the Bighorn. What I said is coming true: I am a chief
and pretty old. I believe those men were ghosts. At first I did not believe in it but
after seeing that it came true for the others I believed in it. Since then I have
never seen any ghosts.
This last narrative, whatever experiences it may be based on, con-
nects beliefs as to ghosts with the conceptions entertained of the here-
after. This subject seems to have exercised the Crow imagination to a
very limited extent. So far as there is any standard belief it is to the
effect that the dead live in camps like those of the Crow and have a
superior way of living. This might be used as an encouragement to the
warriors, as in Gray-bull's mysterious story. Sometimes before a battle
the heralds would cry out: kuk6 asgk'! "Over there there are (also)
lodges!" A number of informants declared they knew nothing about
life after death and none seemed to exhibit any particular interest in the
matter. Those who had any conceptions based them on the reports of
tribesmen who are believed to have died and returned to consciousness.
These accounts, such as they are, follow.
The dead go to an Indian camp. Once a Crow died. He got to two rivers and
beyond there was a large camp of buffalo skin tipis. He was invited into one lodge.
Indoors everything was furnished after the old style, with buffalo robes on the ground
to sit on. The owner looked at the visitor and said, "I see something about you I
don't like. I don't like otters. Your people are down below." The visitor said,
"Then I'll go back home." He came to and told what had happened to him. He
was eager to go back to the dead again and died once more soon after.
There was a Crow who was shot and was brought back to camp. He died of his
wound. The next morning he got up again, went round, and told the people that all
the dead were camped together and had a better way of living than the Crow; hence
he said, "Don't be afraid to die." When I was seriously sick, I was eager to see my
parents,.who were already dead. I remembered what the old man had told me. If it
was so, I thought, I might be happy with my relatives since all the dead camped
together.
Two men went west to the coast, where there were no more white men. The
Crow believe the dead are living over there. The two travelers met a man without
moccasins who knew their names without their telling him, and he sent them back.
They set out in the summer and came back in the fall.
384 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXV,
There was a man who died and came to life again. He said that all who had died
were still living and that they were better people than the Crow. The Crow believed
it.
One of my (Old-dog's) own brothers got sick and weak and ready to die. He took
a knife and tried to stab himself but was too feeble. Then he lay on the ground with
his body on the knife and thus killed himself. He lay there for a while, then woke up
and told his story. His younger brother, who had owned a fine gray horse, had died
before him. This younger brother took him on his horse riding towards the camp of
the dead. "I could hear the singing of praise songs over there; also loud talking.
They were singin4g, 'Is that person coming already?' As we proceeded, he said, 'My
horse is fast, but we have brought him.' Then my brother angrily struck me in the
chest, saying, 'You are stingy and think too much of your horse. If so, go back.'
He jumped off and I came back to life." This man told us he had found that the dead
had a camp like ours and a good way of living. After this experience he did not die
again until relatively recently (since the Crow have been on their present reservation).
SPECIAL MEDICINE OBJECTS.
Since most objects derive their sacred character from a vision, the
number of medicines is theoretically unlimited. However, they can
usually be classified in certain categories. The relative paucity of medi-
cine bundlesis remarkable considering their prominent place among the
Hidatsa and the Blackfoot. Similarly the notion of painted tipis plays a
very subordinate part. Altogether it seems fair to say that while prob-
ably no important class of sacred objects characteristic of the Plains is
wholly unrepresented, the Crow differ in a decided shifting of emphasis.
MEDICINE RocKs.
The medicine rocks (bacTlritsi'tse) occupy an important position in
Crow religious thought. In some respects they correspond to the Black-
foot iniskim, but the notion that their prototype is the oldest part of the
*earth and a being independent of all others, the Sun (Old-Man-Coyote)
included,1 rather suggests Dakota metaphysics.
A bac6ritsiltse is primarily characterized by its appearance, which
suggests that of some part of an animal's body, perhaps most frequently
of the head (Figs. 1, 2). These stones were not as a rule bestowed in
visions, but were found accidentally by anyone and then adopted as the
finder's medicine. They were wrapped up with numerous offerings,
such as beads or decorative strips of skin, greased with castoreum, and
supplicated for long life and wealth. More particularly were they taken
to a performance of the Singing the Cooked Meat festival, at which each
guest owning such a rock pressed it to his breast, kissed it, and addressed
prayers to it. According to In-the-mouth, the bac6ritsiltse are found by
the odor they emit, which also indicates what kind of incense they de-
mand, e.g., whether isi or sweetgrass. All Indians agree that bac6ritsi'-
tse have a tendency to multiply like living beings. According to one
informant it was customary to unwrap them when the first thunder was
heard in the spring.
In 1910 I purchased several of these medicine rocks, generally from
young Indians who had inherited them and no longer used them. I
recollect paying as much as ten dollars for one; another was offered to
me at the price of thirty dollars.
Gray-bull owned several bac6ritsi'tse. He showed me one resembling
a mule hoof. Soon after finding it, he had obtained three mules and had
come to own a hundred and twenty head of horses. This stone he never
'This volume, 15.
385
Fig. 1 (50.1-4008a). Medicine Rock with Offerings.
386
Fig. 2 (50.1-4010). Medicine Rock with Offerings.
387
388 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXV,
owner made hoop medicine' for Medicine-crow and bade him go on the
warpath and bring a pinto from camps on the Rosebud. His son went
there and brought a herd including a buckskin pinto. Looks-at-a-bull's-
penis made medicine for Two-leggings, asking him to choose between
killing a person and capturing horses. Two-leggings chose the latter and
brought two horses, one of them a buckskin. The owner dreamt about
Takes-it-back-twice and gave him the bac6ritsi'tse to take on the war-
path, but on the way one of the horns of the stone broke off and he was
not successful. The next time, however, he captured a white horse and
gave him to Looks-at-a-bull's-penis.
The bac6ritsi7tse always told this man where the Crow should go so
as to avoid a bad winter and have plenty to eat. Whenever he received
such instructions, he had a crier proclaim them. Thus they avoided
hard times. According to my informant, this medicine stone descended
to Little-nest, Looks-at-a-bull's-penis' own son, who unwrapped it
last spring (1915).
Charges-camp told me about an old woman named Otter-woman,
who discove&ed a bac6ritsittse that brought her good luck. The owner
was always fortunate in getting property. When the camp was moved,
this rock was always taken to lead the people to the right hunting-
grounds. War leaders would go to Otter-woman, pay her a fee, and get
her medicine with whatever dreams she had had about it.
which alighted by the Crow camp. Then the visionary heard the In-
dians crying for joy and saw a big herd of horses. This was the song:-
awk c6ndat hiriace.
Land in any say this.
He threw the arrow as in the arrow-game. The one who sang had a red
arrow, which I have now. Four of the seven visitants had arrows. The
second took a black arrow. He sang a song with the same words, then
threw the arrow, which went toward the Dakota and struck their land.
Then the Crow were heard shouting and praying for first-coups, and
.people were seen entangled in a fight; The Crow were heard saying:
aho! (Thank you!) The third arrow was green, this now belongs to
Flat-head-woman. Another star held it and sang:-
huts6 hiwa' tsewik'; huts6 hi wik .
The wind to come I'll make; the wind is coming.
He threw the arrow. It struck the Dakota country. The visionary
heard horses making a noise and the Crow shouting 'thanks,' and saw
many dead enemies. The fourth arrow was white. The fourth star
picked it up. The first star said to him, "That arrow is no good, don't
throw it." Nevertheless, he sang and threw it, but it wiggled and came
back. The first three stars must have made it come back.
I was about ten years old when among the River Crow. At about
eighteen I came to the Ac'arah6 band to visit my brother. I had heard
about his going out on war parties as captain and being successful. I
joined his party. He gave me a black wolf and sent me out as scout. I
was not sleepy, but a good runner, an early riser, and a good marksman.
Whenever I caught horses on my trips I always gave one or two to my
brother. I had a reason for so doing. The wolf was the first thing he
gave me. When I had proved a good shot, my brother said, "You are all
right now, you may be a war captain."
I made several trips to the Dakota, but came back empty-handed
three or four times. Then I went out with a magpie my brother gave me.
On one trip in the Wolf mountains the Dakota tracked me. I got scared,
but made my escape, though they followed me. I was tired out and fell
asleep. I had felt badly before falling asleep, saying, "That medicine
of mine is bad, I have no medicine." In my sleep the owner of the arrow
visited me. My brother had never told me about his vision, but in my
sleep I saw an arrow thrown toward where he had fasted. It alighted on
an island there. There were plenty of horses, the best of them a bay
with feathers on his forehead, and I heard the Crow shouting for joy.
I woke up and bade my followers be ready when the snow should melt
and make their way to me wherever they might be. It was the beginning
1922.] Lowie, Religion of the Crow. 393
of winter then. "I'll go out and bring a big herd of horses. In all my
troubles so far I have done no leading at all, but now I'll take you out in
a different way, I'll take the medicine arrow with me." I did not know
yet whether the owner would give it to me or not.
When it was time for me to start, I said to my brother, "I shall go
out on the warpath." Then he asked of his own accord, "Do you wish
to take the arrow?"' "Yes." "Very well." When men made their
first expedition as captains, their following was composed of poor young
fellows. Of the men whom I had offered to lead with the arrow, the
majority did not trust me and said they would not go with me. Only
Spotted-horse had confidence and accompanied me, otherwise I had new
followers. Where I had seen the arrow, there I came upon the enemy.
Flat-head-woman was with me. We saw the smoke from the enemy's
camp. The snow was ankle-deep. We packed ropes. In my dream I
had seen horses on an island feeding on cottonwood bark, and we cap-
tured fifty head of horses. Flat-head-woman got the bay. We got away
that night. We got near the site of Billings, where the Nez Perc6 were
camped. The Crow had left. I got to the Nez Perc6 camp next morning.
Flat.-head-woman captured a bay and a gray horse. I gave him the gray.
I took pity on Flat-head-woman and thought I'd make him a war
captain. So when I returned I asked my brother, "Is this the only
medicine arrow?" He asked in return, "Have you seen any?" "Yes,
a blue and a black one; I want to make one for Flat-head-woman." "He
is no relative of ours." "That does not matter. He was my younger
brother's comrade, and I want to give it to him."
The next time I went to the same place as before with a larger fol-
lowing. The people began to believe in me. This time the camp was
below the first place. I had dogs and children with me. I took my party
to the edge of the camp, brought back horses, and gave them to the young
boys. Then I sent the rest to get all the unpicketed horses, and came
home with a hundred head.
The next time I went with a large party. Long-horse had been
killed and I went to avenge him. At Tallick's (?) Fork there were seven
Dakota in a camp. I was on a good horse, killed one, took his gun, struck
a first-coup, and scalped him. We killed all the Dakota but one.
The Crow were camped on a creek above Billings. The Dakota were
there and stole some of our horses. I trailed them, stole thirty of theirs
and got home with them.
When Long-horse was killed, the Dakota had stolen some of our
horses. The Crow were on Trout Creek. The Dakota came to kill the
394 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXV,
Whites, instead they had to flee, and the Whites told the Crow about it.
The enemy got to the Musselshell, into a clump of pines. No one fol-
lowed them except me, who killed one, scalped and struck him.
I thought I was using my medicine all alone and decided to give
part of it to Flat-head-woman. So I gave him all my power and ceased
using it myself,- not going on the warpath thereafter.
The medicine arrow was taken out only on the warpath when the
enemy was seen, and early in the spring. Now it is taken out only once
a year. When we saw the enemy, we took it out and prayed to it. Now
we pray for horses and property. This spring, when Flat-head-woman
seemed to be dying, they opened it for him and prayed on his behalf.
In a tipi where the arrow is kept no one is supposed to throw any-
thing; further, no menstruating women are allowed there.
My arrow -is red; Flat-head-woman's, made by me, is blue; Fire-
bear had the black one. Old-tail has a red one patterned on mine, and
Bushy-tail had a black one in imitation of Four-bear's.
When my brother gave me the arrow, he gave up his right to the
medicine. When I thought I had enough, I passed it on to Flat-head-
woman. Nd' pa-kurutc (Takes-back-a-woman-twice) was the nickname
of my elder brother, given on account of one father's clansman;' his
real name was Bear-in-the-water. My brother gave me the name
Woman-with-plenty-of-horses (mf isAcg'e ah6c).
The stone arrow-head (about 2% inches long) worn round my neck is
the head of my medicine arrow.
* * *
are not related to us, you are a different person altogether." Then Hill-
side, his brother, said, "He was the comrade of my younger brother who is
dead. They loved each other, that's why I wish to give it to him. Don't
say any more about it (dirtsa!)." So the owner said: "Tell him to fetch
four birch (?) sticks." I went to look for four good ones, found them and
brought them to him. The owner peeled them, trimmed them, and put
them up to dry. There were about seven lodges of the owner's relatives
who camped together. I took buffalo meat and put some in front of
every one of these lodges, thus the owner became well-disposed toward
me and willing to give me the medicine. After the sticks were dried, they
were turned over to me. Nothing was said about the feathering of the
arrow till spring, when word was sent that they were ready to feather the
stick for me. The snow was melting. The owner called all his brothers
and me to his lodge. A buffalo hide with its tanned white side up was
used to put the stick on. Then they tried to find out. who was a good
arrow-maker. One man was named, but the others did not consider
him suited for the purpose. Finally I was sent to an old man, who hap-
pened to be related to me. I said to him, "Brother, they want to give
me the arrow." So the old man came, smoothed the arrow between two
rocks and notched it. Then the owner told me the red plume on the
shaft represented the fire. "If you are in battle, carrying this bundle,
don't be afraid of the enemy, they can't hit you with their arrows.
Since we have made this one, we'll take the Dakota by their bangs and
have their foreheads to the ground." The owner said that he had seen
his arrow crossing that of the Cheyenne, i.e., the Crow arrow was
superior. (At this point Flat-head-woman offered smoke to his arrow.)
The owner said, "The day before yesterday, as I came out of my
tent, there were seven cranes flying in the air. Go and bring one of
those seven. Get one of your friends who is a good shot to go with you."
I thought it was impossible: the cranes must be far off and were possibly
already in some foreign land by that time. I felt badly, still I went out,
and told my comrade what was to be done. He laughed. "How can we
see them? We can't see them; it is impossible." Still he went along to
please me. We pretended then to go out hunting, went up-stream, and
looked about in the marshes. We kept going. There was a sleety snow-
storm. Suddenly the clouds were gone, and my comrade, pointing at
the prairie, said: "Look at the white-tail deer there." When I looked, it
was the seven cranes making their pr pr pr sounds. There
happened to be a coul6e leading up to them, so we got about as close as
Jack's tent from here (about fifty feet). Then I told my comrade,
1922.] Louie, Religion of the Crow. 397
"You are a good marksman, kill the biggest one." So he aimed, shot,
and missed. The cranes went straight up. I was down-hearted. Only
black spots could be seen where the cranes were flying on high. "You
pretend to be a good shot, you have caused my downfall," I said to my
comrade. As I looked up, the birds began to come down and alighted
again in the spot where they had been shot at. When they alighted, my
comrade again wanted to shoot, but I took the gun away from him,
aimed at the big one, fired, and missed him. The birds went up. I was
down-hearted, but looked up and thought the birds would come down
again. They came back to their old place. Then my comrade took the
gun, shot, and missed again. They went up straight in the air. We lay
on our backs and watched. They came down again. My comrade took
the gun, made medicine, and -fired. We heard a dull sound as if the shot
had struck something. The birds all flew straight up into the air,-small
specks hardly to be seen, but we could hear the noise they made. I
scolded my companion, but he said, "Only six of them are gone, there's
one coming now." The seventh alighted in the same place whence they
had flown up before. I was going to shoot it, but my comrade would not
let me, ran after the crane, threw his blanket over it, and caught it.
(Here smoke was again offered).
The owner, in sending me out, had told me he should wait for me in
a certain place. I took the bird, and we ran back to camp. The bird
had a long neck, and I had its neck hanging out. When I approached the
lodge I was laughing and full of joy; those inside were all astonished. The
owner called for the bird, and had it sitting in front of him. I expected
that he would pull out the long feathers, but he only took two long ones,
one from each side of the wing, and one from the middle. These three
he put down. The two long ones are on the arrow now. The old arrow-
maker was to do the fixing up.
Now the owner said to Hillside: "You, too, claim to have had a
vision of it. Do you make half of it, and I'li make half of it. You'll give
him some of your power, and I'll give him some of mine." Hillside said,
"Very well, we'll make it all green. We'll make the plumes green that
are to go on. We'll have the enemies' horses for its plumes, and I'll
make a covering from the skin of a young buffalo calf. That is all for
me; now do you start yours." The owner said: "I will make a red
plume to represent fire. We'll shape an arrow-head of rawhide. If
(to Flat-head-woman) in your vision you see the rawhide paint gone,
open the bundle, and if it is gone, then make a stone head." That is
what happened, and so I have a stone point. "If either you or Hillside,
398 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXV,
or I, should see the arrow point of rawhide gone in our visions," said the
owner, "we'll replace it with stone. Get the hide of a four-year-old
buffalo, we'll use that for a cover." I went, killed a buffalo, and brought
the hide. When it was not yet dry, the owner painted the rawhide.
"This represents the painting on your blanket when you return from an
expedition on which an enemy has been killed. Such and such a cloth
shall be used for a wrapping. Put a plug of tobacco at the bottom for
the arrow to smoke." I was about thirty years old when this bundle
was made, and the tobacco is still there.
The arrow-maker was told how to put the different paints and other
decorations on the arrow. He covered it with green paint. He was
instructed by the owner and Hillside. When it was completed, they laid
it down and told me to get all kinds of feathers for the arrow to rest on.
Then the bird was given back to me, and they told me to send it home.
I went out some distance and set it down. It began to run and dis-
appeared. It was not dead.
Everything looked common to me till the sacks were made, then it
began to look like real medicine to me. It was wrapped and tied. I
took it up. After a while the owner came to tell me to tie two eagle
wing-feathers to each end of the bundle. After several years he came to
me and said, "Open your medicine, I had a vision last night that it
(the arrow-head) was gone; let us see whether it is true." I do not know
how it happened, but the arrow point was gone. The owner put on a
stone head then, and ever since it has been there.
Everyone heard that I owned one of the medicine arrows and talked
about it. I would be at home when Hillside or the owner would visit me
and tell me to go to the Dakota in some region they had seen the night
before and to fetch such and such a horse. They would tell me they had
seen an arrow thrown and alighting in a certain place, and had heard a
rumbling noise and the whinnying of a herd of horses. Thus they sent
me out. That is how they started. After a while they no longer sent me
out. Then after a while they said, "We see you are well posted, now go
out of your own accord." I was now to have visions of my own. I did
not see an arrow as they did, but a long species of grass. I would see the
stalk flying like an arrow and follow it with my eyes till it alighted some-
where, then I would go thither. From now on everything depended on
myself. I had visions of different things. I made a little notched stick
about four inches long myself, because I had a vision to that effect.
If the enemy had stolen our horses and I put this on their tracks, they
would sleep too long or be otherwise delayed, so we would catch up if I
led the party.
1922.] Lowie, Religion of the Crow. 399
At the Old Agency one time the Piegan stole some of our horses.
All the young men were out, and I came late with the arrow. They were
glad to see me and wished me to take the lead. I got to the tracks,
planted my stick there, and we did not have to go far. They had over-
slept. We got all our horses back, killed some, brought back the hair,
and none of us got hurt. When I got home I put this medicine back
into the bundle again. I did this two or three times.
When Dakota were sighted, young men would come to me with
calicoes, pray to the arrow and say, "I wish not to be hit and to come
back alive (bdmbi)." There came to be a big bundle of these cloth
offerings.
Once I went out in the dead of winter. When a considerable distance
out, I had a vision. I heard a voice say: "Keep going, when you get to a
certain land you will see a snake. This will be a sign that you are to
get horses and will rejoice on your way back." The other men laughed at
me because there are no snakes in the winter. About noon we came to a
little creek, and there was a snake there. Then they believed that what
I had said was true. My old comrade stayed with me, we changed
direction and brought back some horses.
The arrow in a vision forbids me to do certain things. It told me
not to throw anything and not to let anyone else throw anything where
the arrow is. It told me: "If that is done in your lodge, it will be the
same as throwing away some of your property." It forbade me to strike
the tipi harboring the arrow in order to knock off the snow. It said,
"If you want to remove the snow, take a long willow and gently scrape
off the snow without hitting it." It forbade me to cook the fat above the
paunch or to throw ashes out of a tipi. "If you don't keep the rule, the
owner of the arrow will be blind."
Once I went on the warpath. The buffalo scared our horses away. I
took my little arrow and planted it in the horses' track. They heard a
horse whinnying and found a gray with a rope on it, wrapped round a
bush. It was my horse; the others could not be found.
The owner came to me once and said: "You must have visions of
your own. If a young man should ask you for it, it is your place now to
make a bundle for him." I spoke to Hillside about this, but he would
not allow it. He said, "If it were not for me, you would not own it; I
gave it to you because you were my brother's comrade, otherwise I
should not have done so. Do not make it for anyone else. When you
have children, give it to them." My eldest daughter (Jim Carpenter's
wife) owns it now.
400 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXV,
In giving me the arrow the owner said, "When you go out on the
warpath, you'll see a white buffalo and kill it." It came true, and this
proved to me the truth of the medicine.
Before the Custer massacre another general (Terry?), named Three-
stars (I' ge rawic), was helped by the Crow. Two young men both wished
to carry my arrow and had a dispute over it. I and Medicine-crow took
the lead in this fight on account of our medicines. When Three-stars
went away, Custer came. The Dakota tried to kill off all the Crow,
but on account of the arrow they could not do it. They lost plenty of
property and horses. Custer was unlucky; he was destroyed. The
Three-stars fight belongs to the arrow. It always protected me. Custer
heard of it.
PAINTED Tipis.
Painted tipis did not play the important part they did among other
Plains tribes. In 1907 on a short visit to the Northern Blackfoot of
Gleichen, Alberta, I saw a fair number of painted tipis pitched at the
time of their annual festivities; but though I have repeatedly visited
the Crow on like occasions I recall but a single painted tipi, which was
decorated with the figure of the Thunderbird. Nevertheless, there were
a number of painted tipis in the old days and their owners were esteemed
as medicinemen and took precedence in moving the camp. Enemies'
scalps were always taken to such tents and subsequently given to women
who had lost brothers in battle; sometimes they kept the lock for a while
and would then throw it away.
Painted tipis were of course revealed in visions. Returning from
his experience, the visionary would have some men gather, had the
buffalo-skin cover spread out and the paint lying about ready for use.
Then he would say, "I saw this when fasting on a mountain," and would
give a full description of his vision. He would close with some such
words as, "I am painting this tent on behalf of the Crow. You will
fare well, horses and scalps will come into our camp from everywhere."
The most noted owner of a painted tipi recalled by Gray-bull was
White-lip. He chopped off a joint of one of his fingers and burnt it up
with a buffalo chip. He had a trance. When he regained consciousness,
he was in a tipi with two black stripes by the door and another stripe
in the center of the rear. Someone said, "Walk round, look, this is your
tent." They gave him a pipe. When he got home, he went on the war-
path and the Crow met five Dakota. White-lip asked his companions,
"Why did you let the Dakota escape?" He pursued them on horseback,
402 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXV,
jumped off in front of one of them, shot him and took his gun. He shot
and killed a second man. The third fled but was also killed by him. He
did this very soon after his vision. No one ever achieved what he did,-
killing three enemies single-handed.
White-lip wore a necklace with plumes, hanging down; in the
center there was a red clam shell, which Gray-bull thinks symbolized
the morningstar, possibly the sun or moon. He also wore a shell above
the point of attachment of his switch in the back. He had weasel-skin
trimmings in the back.
White-lip was leading the camp as chief. The people were on a
buffalo hunt and there was a strong wind blowing so as to throw the
scent to the game. White-lip pointed his pipe in all directions, drawing a
circle. The wind forthwith blew from the opposite direction. Plenty
of buffalo were killed. White-lip was never shot in battle. He lived to
be about 110 years of age; his skin would tear when he moved.
The manner of decorating the sacred tipis varied. Some had the
picture of a moon on them, sometimes the whole lodge was painted red
or with some other color according to the revelation.
No Crow, according to one informant, put up a lodge of twenty or
more buffalo hides unless he had dreamt to that effect. Otherwise, the
Indians believed; he or one of his close relatives would die.
SHIELDS.
Shields (minnatse) were sacred objects inasmuch as their decoration
was revealed in visions; plain shields for ordinary use were not con-
sidered medicine. The protective quality of the former type was
naturally attributed to the supernatural experience and men going into
an important battle desired to carry one of them. Consequently they
would approach the owner and ask for his shield, saying, "If I achieve
such and such a deed, I will give you a horse" (or some other property). If
successful, they would then fulfil their promise.
Shields were made from the hide of a buffalo and White-arm says
that the ventral-thoracic part was utilized. According to this in-
formant most shields were decorated on the rawhide itself, but my im-
pression is that in the majority of cases the painting appeared on the
buckskin cover.
In moving camp the owners would entrust their shields to their
*wives, who fastened them on one side of the pommel while to the other
side was secured a stick about four feet long and wrapped with otter-
skin; the cantle had a cylindrical bag attached on the left side and the
1922.1 Louie, Religion of the Crow. 403
spear-holder with erect spear or sabre on the right. If a man had two
wives and only one shield, they would sometimes quarrel as to who
should carry it, for the one doing so was regarded as the husband's
favorite. Usually the owner took no part in the dispute, letting the
women settle the matter between them, but sometimes he assigned it to
the one he loved more.
In going on the warpath the owner of a shield had it carried by a
young man, who took the lead. Whenever the party halted for smoking
or resting, the bearer would put the shield on some sagebrush, for it
must not touch the ground; further he was not allowed to carry any
weapons. When in sight of the enemy's camp, the captain owning a
shield took it himself, as was the custom with other medicines too.
Sometimes shields were taken from and by the enemy; such capture
was mentioned at dances in the recital of coups, though it was not
reckoned on a par with that of a gun. White-arm recollected the case of
Long-piegan, a Crow, taking a Dakota shield, but said the Piegan
Indians excelled all other tribes in getting into a hostile camp and stealing
shields or other medicines.
When a man was about to die, he would will his shield to his son or
otherwise to a younger brother. It was never inherited by a woman. If
the owner had made no disposition of it, a man he had adopted as his son
in selling him some medicine might mourn in conspicuous fashion and
subsequently announce, "I have done this for that shield." Then the
family of the deceased felt that he deserved to own it and gave it to him.
White-arm knew of no case where a man had been buried with his
shield, but my interpreter thought Ten-bear had been and Medicine-
crow told me he would under no conditions sell his shield at any price
since he wanted to be buried with it.
As already noted, no shield was supposed to touch the ground. A
shield-bearer carried his shield on the left arm and horsemen charging
the enemy did not pass on his left side, otherwise their horses would fall
down. In other respects the notions associated with shields varied.
When in my presence uncovering his shield, which had two covers,
Medicine-crow followed a procedure which may or may not have been
typical. He took a few live coals and burned ise for incense, then held
his shield above the fire and raised it a little distance, lowered it and
raised it a little higher than before, and repeated this performance till
the fourth time, when he raised the shield high above his head. Then he
removed the buckskin covers.
404 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXV,
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I
I
'i .11
FLi-. I.
1 4
Jig. :3. i , - -.
a
Fig. 5.
405
406 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXV,
clouds. This shield was owned by Bd;atac (Coyote). In the rear of the
lodge where it was kept people were prohibited to put any moccasins
for fear of some stroke of misfortune.
Another shield said in 1916 to be kept in Sheridan, Wyoming, had a
buckskin cover painted with the figure of a buffalo, over which was tied
a buffalo tail. The painted cover was in turn enclosed in a second cover.
A shield in the possession of the Museum before my purchase seems to
belong to the same category (Fig. 6).
One of the most noted shields because of the fame it brought its
owners was called minnatse cfpewac-bic8, shield having a short intestine.
It was painted white all over, except for a red spiral, which represented
the intestine.
A shield so highly prized that it was never exposed in sham battles
and accordingly never seen by White-arm is or was owned by Two-white-
birds of Pryor. -It was abundantly ornamented with feathers and other
decoration. Unlike other shields, it was not tied to a woman's saddle in
traveling but carried on her back.
1922.1 Lowie, Religion of the Crow. 407
One shield was known as minnats ittsine hawatec, shield supported
on only one pole. White-arm thought it had a bear painted on it and
might be identical with Flat-head-woman's shield.
Bull-weasel's mother was said to own a shield covered with white
paint and having real bear's ears tied to the middle; between the ears
was the tail of a sage-hen and at the bottom there was some beadwork.
This shield is called minnats tsi'tsf isewice, shield having a big sage-hen.
A shield known as minnats i'g e sadpuswice, shield with the Dipper,
was painted all over with a light yellow. The seven stars were put on at
distances of from five to six inches from one another.
White-arm himself made a shield, though a small one, which he had
seen before becoming Christianized. He cut four horsetracks on one leg
and three on the other, also cutting his arms and dragging horses' heads.
He placed the cut flesh on buffalo chips as an offering to the Sun. The
cuts on his arm represented coups he was paying for, the dragging of the
skulls any gift that might be made. My informant did not describe
what decoration was on his shield.
Each shield had distinctive taboos. In some instances no person
was permitted to borrow coals from the owner's fire; in others, visitors
to his lodge were obliged to sit down immediately on entering; still other
shield-owners insisted that no one must strike their tipi with any object.
Charges-camp was said to have owned a shield decorated with the
figure of a man in black; this man was shown with open mouth, exhibit-
ing teeth resembling a dog's. Once the Flathead stole Charges-camp's
horses and also his shield. Another Crow then dreamt of it and made it,
my informant's brother paid, the visionary for it and my informant in-
herited it from his brother.
I saw a shield with several buckskin covers, of which the outermost
was decorated with parallel vertical lines in red. Across the center of
the shield from top to bottom and beyond it there was an otterskin; on
each side there was a bunch of feathers, which was tucked under the skin
in wrapping up the shield.
Tattooed-face was said to own a shield painted all over with a light
red color and with a decoration resembling a buffalo's guts. The owner's
horse was never shot in battle.
Grandmother's-knife told me of a shield owned by a chief named
Rotten-belly (era-p19c). A man named Hanging-foot had separated
from the main camp and he and all his male followers were killed by the
Cheyenne, who captured the women and children.' Some of the captives
lCf. this volume, 185.
408 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXV,
escaped to the main camp and offered the pipe to the two chiefs, Red-
plume-on-the-forehead and Rotten-belly, in order to have them under-
take an expedition to revenge the death of their kinsfolk. Rotten-belly
smoked the pipe and bade the young men get ready. The military
societies got together and danced in the afternoon. Rotten-belly asked
the warriors to get ready early in the morning and saddle their horses.
They did so and proceeded to the top of a hill. There he ordered them to
dismount and gather buffalo chips, which were then piled up. The sun
had just risen. Rotten-belly said, "I'll sing and walk upon this pile of
chips and it will stay exactly as it is. When I get up on top of the chips,
I'll sing again. Then I'll roll my shield, and if the painted side falls next
to the ground, we'll turn back. If the other side falls to the ground, you
must all cheer." The picture on the shield was that of a man in black
with his ears disproportionately large. Rotten-belly sang and walked
up the pile of chips with his shield in his hands. He made the painted
side face toward the sun and began to sing. When done, he threw the
shield, which rolled away and fell with the painted side up. All the men
cheered. He descended from the pile, picked up the shield and sang a
praise song. He said, "Don't kill any birds on this trip." They set out.
Young birds began to fly and one flew over a woman. She struck it with
her hand and it fell to the ground; she picked it up, but it died. They
reached the enemy's camp and attacked them, killing many of the enemy.
Only one Crow was killed,-a brother of the woman who struck the bird.
The shield was noted for its medicine power and was in constant use until
reservation times. It ought to be at Pryor.
In 1910 I was approached by Yellow-brow, who offered to drive me
to his house and sell some valuable specimens. I accompanied him and
found that he and his father Magpie really had a veritable treasure-trove
of ethnographically interesting material. I noticed a shield and wanted
to see it, but Yellow-trow at first refused to unwrap it, saying that he
had no desire to sell it. After I had bought a number of medicine ob-
jects, he relented in response to my importunity so far as to uncover it,
still insisting that he would not sell it. When I saw the shield, I made
him an offer and after considerable parleying he agreed to sell it for $75.
In driving me back with my acquisitions, Yellow-brow handed the
shield to his father, who clasped it in his arms and with great display of
emotion recited a prayer to it. My interpreter, Jim Carpenter, told me
that if any accident should befall the seller, the Indians would ascribe
it to his selling the shield. The shield (Fig. 3) has a buckskin cover
decorated with two vertical zigzag lines, one on each side; to the center
1922.1 Lowie, Religion of the Crow. 409
so on till there shall be no more fighting. I have given you this medicine.
That plume is the body of your horse (meaning that it could not be
shot). When a person is shot, he is considered a man. I have placed you
among the Crow. Henceforth you shall not be driven back by the enemy.
I have given you everything that makes a man. This is all. Give the
medicine only to your brothers (dak-ipe) and your children (dar4ke)."
After his vision Humped-wolf went homeward. It was still snowing
but he no longer suffered from the cold. About daylight he saw a person
coming up in front of him. He' told Humped-wolf that he had forgotten
something and began to sing. Humped-wolf saw another person coming,
whom he recognized as a Dakota. The first man sang against the
Dakota, who was armed with bow and arrow, a knife, and a tomahawk
at his belt. When he had done singing, he went towards the Dakota and
held his shield in front of him. The Dakota was ready to shoot his arrows
and let one fly. It struck the shield, broke, and fell to the ground. He
dropped his bow and arrows, took his tomahawk, came up to the Crow,
and struck at the edge of the shield. His tomahawk broke. He took out
his knife. The shield-bearer stepped back, then started towards him
again. When the Dakota made a motion as if to stab him, he threw the
shield in front of him, and the knife touching the shield was broken.
Then the Crow jumped aside, stabbed the enemy's breast with a lance,
and killed him. Then Humped-wolf looked and saw that it was a
coyote. "You shall be the same," said the visitant.
Humped-wolf went toward his camp. The rest of the survivors
of his war part1y had returned to camp and told the Crow that Humped-
wolf had been shot in the leg and left behind. The people mourned for
him. When he arrived, he summoned all the older men to his tipi and
told them his vision. He described it and told them he liked it. "Make
it," they said. One of them asked, "Have you any songs (dicd-vici)?"
"Yes." "Sing." He sang the following:-
bap' hird at bicit, bik' barAwarawik'. artlut
Whenever there is any trouble, I shall not die but get through. Arrows
aht'ta, b6wik,. barask bats&1C.
many though there be, I shall arrive. My heart is manly.
The man who asked for the songs had no faith in Humped-wolf's vision
and said, "You had better look for safety."
Humped-wolf made what he had seen. Riding a dark bay horse, he
accompanied a war party. On the day they set out from camp the
enemy attacked them. Making the rest of the company lie in a coulde,
IThis is the visitant.
1922.] Lowie, Religion of the Crow. 411
he alone fought the enemy and killed several of them. He was shot by
the enemy, so were some of those who hid. The Dakota ceased fighting
and thus spoke to Humped-wolf: "Go home, you are no good, have your
will of the women and rejoice." They meant that he was a man. They
did not pursue the Crow, who came back with none of them slain. Some
of the enemy had been killed and scalped. Then the Crow liked this
man and the whole camp knew about him. Whenever he went with a
war party, the enemv always attacked them. He always fought alone
and was always shot, but sometimes some of the party were killed in-
cidentally. When the Crow discovered that parties he accompanied
were attacked by the enemy, captains did not like him to go along. They
recollected his song and said, "He was to fight, he is always giving
trouble."
A man- was setting out as captain for the first time. He had many
brothers; they were not good people but were always looking for a fight.
WhenHumped-wolf tried to accompany them as before, they turned back,
saying he was no good. When they had been out four days, he overtook
them, thinking they would not turn back after having traveled for four
days. They said, "What are you coming for? You are no good. We
are not very good captains, we are just going to try. Turn back, or we
shall beat you. We give you only this choice: turn back, or if you don't
we shall beat you." They went on. He asked them to beat him once
and he would go with them. All surrounded him and beat him till one
of the party who was not a brother of the captain asked them to desist.
Humped-wolf was covered with blood. He rose to a sitting posture and
said, "If you achieve something good, I'll be in it; if you are all killed,
I too shall be killed." They bade him turn back lest they kill him and
went on.
Humped-wolf sat there, thinking of the man who had adopted him,
though his medicine was worthless, and cried, "If it had not been for
my medicine, I should have gone with the party." After they were all
out of sight, he considered whether to turn back or follow the party, not
knowing what to do. While he was sitting there crying, he heard hooting
and whooping and someone was saying, "Humped-wolf is nearby."
The party ran towards him and said, "The enemy came and drove us
back." He said, "You did not like me. I could have joined the enemy,
but because I am a Crow I did not do it." He put up his blanket in a
heap and ran around. He bade the war party get behind him. The
enemy surrounded him. They fought from early in the morning till
sunset. He made gestures to the Dakota. "Bring me some water; I
412 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXV,
am very thirsty. If you don't do it, I'II go for water myself and follow
you to your main camp, fighting you all summer until winter." The
Dakota brought some water and left it at a distance for him to take it.
They told him to go home, that he was no good and should have his will
of women. "Quam maxime penem insere," aiunt. They returned to
the rest of the party, who had hidden in a coul6e. They now liked him
and treated him well. He was shot all over and was not feeling very well;
some of his teeth had been knocked out. They got to a river on the way
home. His wounds smarted. The captain asked, "Why did you turn
back?" "My leg smarts, that is why." The captain told the warriors
to carry him across the water. He refused to be carried. "We'll do it
nevertheless." He remembered the time they had beaten him and asked
the captain, "How many times did you strike me?" "I did not count,
but it was many times." "About how many?" "About ten times."
There were large stones in the creek and the water was flowing very
swiftly. He asked the captain to carry him across, and the captain alone
lifted him on his back. When he got to the middle of the creek, the water
was almost up to his waist. He slipped on a stone, fell, and both floated
downstream. There was a whirlpool just below and they could not get
out, but the captain was pulled out by his brothers; they left Humped-
wolf in there and proceeded homeward. He had been shot in the arms,
so he could not swim but climbed a log and floated on it till night,
crying continually. About dawn he saw a black object approaching. He
wished it were an enemy coming to kill him. It was singing medicine
songs. It said, "Child, I am coming to see you, we'll do it again." It
was the man he had seen coming from the east in his vision. "I made a
mistake," said the visitant. "I asked you before why you were grieving;
you answered that you had been chased and shot by the enemy. That is
what I have given you, that they should never chase you. The Dakota
have bidden you go home and have your will of the women, they always
bade you go to camp. Henceforth give no help to war parties, help the
camp. The Dakota and Cheyenne have driven you away and captured
your people." He was still floating on the log. "Get up, come." He
thought to himself, "How can I rise and walk?" "Get up and come."
He made an effort to rise and the water was hard, so he stood up. He
walked on it and got to this man. He told him to go home. "Make this
medicine for your children and brothers, your having it alone is bad."
Humped-wolf proceeded without pains of any sort. The rest of the party
had returned and reported him drowned. The people had been mourning
for him. Henceforth he stayed in camp. He must have been about forty
1922.] Lowie, Religion of the Crow. 413
years of age then and had owned the medicine for a long time and
achieved great deeds. This was about 173 or 174 years ago (sic!) The
people were staying between Powder River and the site of Columbus,
Montana.
Humped-wolf had three sons, and his two sisters had two sons each.
Early one morning he told his wife to take everything out of his tipi.
He sent for his four nephews (itsake, younger brothers or a man's sister's
sons'), who sat down beside him, while his three sons were on the opposite
side. To the one next to him Humped-wolf said, "I'll give you a name,
White-young-buffalo (tstpkaricta-tsAqc)." To the next one he said, "I'll
name you Full-mouth-buffalo." To the third he said, "I'll call you Bull-
always-living (tstrup-dawtc)." To the fourth he said, "I'll call you
"Buffalo-walks-to-the-river." Of his sons he named the first Colored-
fur, referring to the yellowish or reddish color some calves are born with;
the second, Buffalo-with-high-withers; the third, Small-backed-bull.
He asked them all whether they were satisfied with their names and they
said, "Yes." "Don't go out on war parties. The rest of the Crow are
men; they can go out and look out for themselves. Look after the
children and women in camp. The camp has been attacked, and women
and children have been captured by the enemy. When you are there,
this will happen no more." Then he told them all about his medicine
and told them to go out and seek some medicine of their own.
They went out. The first nephew was looking for something on a
hill at the junction of the Rotten Grass and the Bighorn. He did not get
what his uncle had wanted. He reported as follows: "A jack-rabbit came
to me and told me not to take the medicine because you have always
been shot. He said to me, "You shall be a chief without trouble; old
people are poor; you shall grow up and die without trouble or sorrow."
Humped-wolf replied, "You have erred. A person wants to get enough of
life. I will not make this medicine for you." The second nephew re-
ported: "I did not get anything. While I was seeking medicine, a bob-
cat and two different kinds of hawk came to me. They said, 'The animal
that gave him the medicine is heavy, we are more powerful, don't take its
medicine. You will be liked by all the Crow and shall die without trouble
or sorrow. Old age is bad, old people have no teeth or eyes.' I do not
want your medicine." Humped-wolf answered, "Not all the people on
this earth desire- to die forthwith." The third nephew reported as fol-
lows: "While I was seeking a vision, a hawk came to me on a cliff and
said, 'I'll make you help your people. The owner of the medicine you
are about to take has always been shot. Old age is not good. He has had
to suffer a great deal of trouble. When you are shot, your body shall not
be penetrated. You shall do whatever you please in battle."' Humped-
wolf spoke to his three nephews thus: "I wanted to live with you a long
time, but you will not."
The fourth nephew, Full-mouth-buffalo, said that he had brought
the medicine: "I am like (?) the rest of these, but have a different way.
I don't know what it is, but I saw a vision and was told to fight. It was
the sacred Tobacco (i'tsi'ts^i). On the return trip I was caught by a bear.
He lifted me up so that I could see all the earth. He made me touch his
teeth; he had none at all. 'You may jump among high cliffs or do what
you please,' said he, 'you cannot die. When you have no more teeth and
all your hair is white, you shall fall asleep without awaking. You'll
have a good death, so don't be afraid of anything. When we are in
trouble, that is what makes men of us."' Humped-wolf replied: "You
have done well. Those three are like the plants. They will grow up a
while and then wither. Had I been in their place, I should have taken
the medicine you obtained and also the one I am about to give you."
His three sons all brought what he had asked them to bring. He made
the medicine for them. The first three nephews did not get either Full-
mouth's or Humped-wolf's medicine, but only what they had themselves
seen.
When Humped-wolf had made the medicine for his three sons and
the last of his nephews, he bade them sit down. The camp had separated
into distinct bands in the wintertime. He said, "When the whole camp is
engaged in a fight, help the tribe and keep the enemy from taking cap-
tives." "Yes, we'll do this." "I am slow (ah6katdk), I am heavy; no
matter what happens, I have no place to run to. When you wish to flee,
remember this and you'll remain stroing and brave." "Yes," they
answered. "When all the people are hungry and you bring buffalo, give
meat to the poor. Look out and scout for the camp, look for buffalo,
move the camp to where there are buffalo. Treat your people well, die
for them. Be men for your people, don't fight with them. If they dis-
pute with you, don't mind it, treat them well. If they strike you, do
not hit them back. Have you heard what I said?" "Yes."
One of the bands that had separated was almost completely de-
stroyed by the enemy. All the Crow got together in a camp circle.
Full-mouth's father had two wives, and each of them had a son.with a
month's difference in their ages. These boys had grown up and loved
1922.] Louie, Religion of the Crow. 415
each other. Thus there was an eighth man to go out. This brother of
Full-mouth was called Wants-to-die (cdce), though his real name was
Owl-head. Full-mouth had a horse nicknamed Face-on-both-sides,
which name was subsequently transferred to himself. Bull-always-
living frequently changed the painting on his face, for which reason he
was called Plays-with-his-face. Buffalo-walks-to-the-river, while look-
ing for some woman, passed a bevy and looked for a woman where there
were none; hence he was called Passes-the-woman.
The enemy had killed a man and his child; the mother was alive.
Wants-to-die and Face-on-both-sides were camping in the middle of the
circle. The Crow liked these two, knowing that they could get help
from them; that is why they were camped in the center. The mourning
woman went round the camp crying and saying, "The Dakota have
killed my husband and child, who is going to kill one of them for me?"
After a while she got to the two central lodges and walked round them.
"Who is going to kill a Dakota for me? If no one will kill one, I'll be
miserable." She went to Face-on-both-sides' lodge, saying, "You have a
body and you are still here. I wish you would kill a Dakota for me, no
one else can kill one, you are the only one who can do it." She went and
pressed his head, as was the custom then. His father said, "You have
done wrong, you are going to make my son die. You ought to have stayed
outside wailing." She went outside. Face-on-both-sides said to his
father, "Don't worry. I shall not die during your lifetime. I'll die as a
very old man, don't worry about me." He called Wants-to-die, who was
in the next tent. "At this very moment we have a good thing. There are
plenty of men but she has come to us, and it is well. Bring six others,
bring the old man (Humped-wolf) also." The old woman prepared good
food for the visitors. "Why have you sent for us?" asked the old man.
"You told us not to go on war parties, but a woman has asked us to kill
one of the Dakota. Will you let us go?" "How are you going to kill
Dakota without going anywhere? I told you to help the children and
women. A child has been killed, a woman has asked you for help, that is
why I want you to help." The Dakota camp was close, and it was large.
Of the other tribes they were not afraid. Face-on-both-sides said to
Humped-wolf, "We'll start this evening, I'll go with you." It was in
the morning. "Go home now and get your horses, we'll go with any-
one who wants to join. Go out and herald that we are going to sing
(acd-wawardxbokk).''l The old man heralded. Face-on-both-sides
was very anxious, he did not eat. He sent for the old man, who entered
his tipi. "What is the matter, Face-on-both-sides?" "I feel like crying,
yet I also feel like singing Big Dog and medicine songs." "Your medicine
is anxious too, that is why." "Paint me up." He did so, also painting
his horse. Face-on-both-sides used all the medicine he had as he was
riding his horse. He cried, "A woman and children, who are timid,
have been killed by the Dakota, who have captured some. They alone
want to be men; they do not consider us, the Crow, men. Sun, if I die to-
day, it will be well. Whenever they have killed children and women, I
always grieve. If I die for my people, it will be well." He went round
the circle and returned to his own tipi. Everyone cried as he went round
crying. He went round again, singing the Big Dog songs. The women
cheered him. He got back to his own tipi, then went round again, sing-
ing the medicine songs. "There is only oine man, Face-on-both-sides;
I am he. I am among the Crow. There is none among the Dakota. I
am your helper. Remember me when you have a hard time. Tomorrow
I'll kill an enemy, from now on I'll keep on kiling them." When he
got back to his tipi, all his brothers and the old man were there. The old
man said, ,"This is what I have brought you up for, for the time when
the Crow tribe would come to you for aid."
That night they sang and then set out. A great many went along,
there must have been about a thousand. They traveled on till they
saw the Dakota camp. They stayed there all night. A Dakota captive
escaped from the Crow to the Dakota camp and warned them, so no
Dakota ventured out. The following day the old man spoke as follows:
"This is a fine day. Your mother must have been waiting for you,
thinking you were going to bring a Dakota scalp. When a woman gives
birth, it takes her a long time and she does not know whether she will
live or not. You have it easy, the camp is right there. Mount your
horses and go, there is nothing to hold you back. When you get there,
you will either be killed or will kill an enemy. Let me know how your
heart is (what you think)." Face-on-both-sides rose and said: "My
people, I am going to speak. Listen to me. Now you are miserable, you
are weak. Go home and wait for me on a high hill this side of the Crow
camp. When you have been gone a long time, then I'll kill an enemy;
otherwise the enemy might overtake you too." They did what he told
them to do. Then he spoke to the old man: "Where are your nephews
and your sons today? To all of us you spoke, where are the rest? Have
they heard or not? You ought to have spoken to me alone that time,
there was no use speaking to the others. This is all." Wants-to-die
1922.] Lowie, Religion of the Crow. 417
said, "I am going to speak; listen. I heard what this old man said when
he spoke to his nephews and sons. He wanted to make men of his
nephews and sons. I am going to excel them. Let us all mount our
horses. When I am old, I shall die. I will die at any time; I want to find
out how it is. It is like going up over a divide." He sang this song:-
bak'6tsi'te awdxe awerak; baxaria kawA+uk'. batsirfreta.
Eternal (are) the heavens and the earth; old people are bad. Do not be afraid.
All mounted their horses. One man named Tears-the-tipi said,
"They are not the only men, I am a man too, I'll be the one to kill an
enemy." The old man answered, "Thanks, you are doing well. I was
wishing that some of the other men might help my nephews and sons.
You have done it and I want you to keep it up." All, including this man,
stood in line and Humped-wolf behind. The bulk of the people had
departed long ago. The old man said, "Full-mouth,' what you have
shown me I will do today. Wherever you are, you will know. Give
your power to Face-on-both-sides, I want him to get through in safety.
I will go, I am old and shall be tired." Then he left them. They bade
him go faster; they were going to kill the enemy when he had gone far
away.
When he had departed, Young-white-buffalo proposed a plan.
"When we kill, do not take a scalp. They won't believe us, they'll
think we did not kill anyone if they see no scalp. The one who scalps
shall be the first, to strike. If we only strike the Dakota, we shall not
have it."2 "All right," they said, "you have a gopd plan." They
mounted and set out towards the camp. There were nine of them. A
coulee extended to the camp. They proceeded without halting till
Tears-the-tipi bade them stop. "I thought you were going to kill. If
you act as now, they will chase you and kill you all. I don't want to be
in it." "We'll go right into the camp." Tears-the-tipi said he would
turn back. "You may go." He turned and went. Near the camp he
halted and sang his medicine song. The coul6e ran through the camp.
They went right up to the edge of the camp. There on top of the bank a
woman was dressing a hide. Face-on-both-sides said, "No one has
left the camp, so we'll kill that one." Plays-with-his-face said, "You are
no persons, I'll be the one to scalp." Passes-the-woman answered, "You
are not of much account, I'll be the one to scalp." Face-on-both-sides
said, "Thank you. I thought I should be the one to scalp, I did not know
you two were." When 300 yards within camp, they saw a man coming
'This refers to his visitant.
2This paragraph is obscurely worded.
418 Anthropoloical Papers Ameican Museum of Natural History. . [Vol. XXV,
out wearing a blanket. They said, "There is a man coming, we'll kill
him." He went some distance to ease himself. The eight men ran
towards him. He rose and started back to camp without cleaning him-
self. At the door of his tipi they were upon him, but instead of entering
he went toward the center of the circle. They shot and killed him and
fell upon him. The Dakota had been expecting the Crow and were
already shooting at them. Plays-with-his-face scalped the man, his
companions ran away, and his horse with them. Thus he was left all
alone in the camp circle. Everything looked high to him, and it seemed
to him as though he were standing in a hollow. He did not know whether
he was walking or running, but followed in the direction of his friends.
The fugitives saw his horse and looking back saw him alone in the
center of the hostile camp with the enemy surrounding him and shooting
at him.
Wants-to-die caught Plays-with-his-face's horse and took it to him.
He passed him and threw him the reins so that they hung over his
shoulder. All this time the enemy were shooting at him. He seized the
reins and jumped on the horse. They ran through the camp. The
Dakota were in pursuit. When they got out of the camp they turned
and drove the enemy back, then they ran back. There were two parallel
coul6es. They ran along one, then turned off to the other and went in the
reverse direction, so that the enemy were going the opposite way. The
Crow said, "They have killed a child, so we'll kill one of their children."
"All right." They ran into camp. A boy was running from one lodge to
another. Wants-to-die struck him in the temple with an ax and Plays-
with-his-face dismounted and scalped him; then they fled. They gal-
loped till night. When they returned to the rest of their party, these said,
"We thought you had been killed by this time and were going to mourn."
The old man rejoiced and sang praise songs. The next morning they
returned to the Crow camp.
Thereafter the Crow were never driven back by the Dakota, since
that medicine was with them, but they repelled the Dakota. These men
each had one shield of the same kind, but those who had visions of their
own dressed a little differently.
and other property for it. The same kinsman gave him a necklace con-
sisting of beads and bird claws. This was supposed to be connected
with the Moon, and subsequently Gray-bull had a dream in which the
Moon appeared and gave him a song (p. 321). His uncle had not given
him a song with the necklace because he himself had not had a vision of
the Moon. Gray-bull was a young man and a scout at the time of this
experience. It happened sometimes that a man would dream about a
medicine after receiving it; sometimes men would take a medicine
after acquiring it and fast with it, so as to get a revelation. For this
medicine Gray-bull did not pay anything.
A crescent-shaped brass breast ornament, though apparently also
connected with the Moon and received from the same uncle, is regarded
as a distinct medicine. Gray-bull lost the original and made three
copies. It did not matter since the Moon knew him. He was the third
man to own this medicine. Old-crow had a brass full-moon for his medi-
cine; when he went out as captain, he would dream the position of the
enemy but did not see the Moon herself.
Several informants mentioned a war medicine carried on the back
that was called tria, after the dart used in the hoop game (battkisua). It
was wrapped in black cloth, had feathers at the end, and lacked the white
clay painted at intervals on the tria used in playing the game. White-
arm described it as a stick of some wood resembling the masdpudte
and about three feet long. At the center was a sea-shell (maxdxe) orna-
ment; between it and either tip there was this succession of decorative
appendages: red plumes (ma+ 6ce), magpie tail feathers, red plumes, and
at the end a weaselskin fringe.
According to White-arm this tria was discovered by Long-otter when
he was mourning the death of a daughter on a peak on the other side of
Bozeman. Some being had seen him before he fell asleep; it was seated
under a pine tree with this medicine over it. The man rose, took the
trig, laid it on the ground, unwrapped it, sang a song, and threw the
stick, naming some country. It fell there, and Long-otter heard praise-
songs and words of thanks. Then the visitant sang a praise-song and
walked to the mountain top. Long-otter returned to camp, not knowing
whether he had been sleeping or not. Everything he saw came true. His
visitant was an eagle. Long-otter made three or four copies after his
vision.
Looks-at-a-bull's-penis is also credited with a vision of the iria.
He once went out fasting, but could not endure the hardships for more
422 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXV,
than three days, when he returned. Then Cunning-man' gave him in-
structions. He told him to put on new clothes, also to make a sweatlodge
before sunrise and to leave camp as soon as possible when he wanted to
go for a vision. Whenever he returned from a quest thereafter, Cunning-
marn went to him and asked whether he had seen anything, but he had
nothing to tell. Once he went again, going up the same hill as before,
and stayed three days and nights. Then at sunEet he saw an tria, and
returned on the fourth evening. Cunning-man again visited him and
asked, "Has anything happened yet?" He told what he had seen. At
that time he was so poor that he was obliged to walk. Cunning-man said,
"What you have seen is a great thing."
The people moved to the site of Yellow-crane's present dwelling
place and camped there. Several men went up the mountains. Looks-
at-a-bull's-penis went lower down, fasting two days.. In a dream he was
told to come this way. When the would-be visionaries returned, all
built sudatories, sweated themselves, and told what they had experienced.
Looks-at-a-bull's-penis said that nothing had happened to him except
that he had been told to go in a certain direction. He went and stayed
there for three days. He was shown a place where there was light. He
came home and saw another vision. He saw a spot up the creek near
Lodge Grass canyon and a child-woman there. Returning after a few
days he came near Black Canyon. His first vision had been antria but he
had not understood it. Now he stayed for three days, dreamt, and under-
stood the trig. He saw the child-woman again. He returned and after a
few days set out with five men for another revelation. He said to him-
self, "Now I will try to stay four days." He stayed four days and was
always on the point of starvation. A hawk (ma+lpxdixe) adopted him,
then he returned home. He walked slowly from Weakness. A bear
jumped up and caught him. He thought he was being killed, but the
bear held him up and asked whether he could see all the world. "Yes."
Then the bear said, "Put your fingers into my mouth." The bear had no
teeth.
The woman he had seen in a vision was married by one of Looks-at-a-
bull's-penis's brothers, who was killed the following year. His widow
was with child and gave birth to Medicine-crow. Looks-at-a-bull's-
penis married the widow. The light he had seenY in his vision was a
bac6rit8i'tse (see p. 385).
i
'This volume, 256 seq.
1922.1 Lowie, Religion of the Crow. 423
Looks-at-a-bull's-penis. made an tria and called all the children to
make them touch it and pray to it. He built a sweatlodge, bade the
children bring firewood, and made them sweat. Then none of them died
young and they grew up increasing the population. When he saw big
birds up in the air, he would make medicine and they would come down
to him forthwith. He had frogs for his batsird$pe. He had medicine to
make horses run fast. People with race horses would give him four
presents so that he might make their horses swift. He made hawk-
medicine for Medicine-crow, who subsequently also adopted by a
was
When leading war parties Gray-bull took with him the skin of a bur-
rowing animal, decorated with numerous woodpecker feathers. A piece
of wood was attached to the back, and on the ventral side there was a ring
of beads representing a hoop. Two strings served to tie the medicine
round the neck. Hawk-bells and an elk tooth below formed additional
decorative features. During horse raids Gray-bull used another medi-
cine, which he showed me. It consisted of a buffalo-skin representation
of a horse, supplied with strings so it could be tied round the neck.
MAGIC.
With a people who stress to so great an extent as the Crow the im-
portance of visions and the aid supplied by the supernatural guardians
appearing on such occasions it is difficult to divorce magical from ani-
mistic practices. That is to say, a certain procedure resembling the
magical performance of other peoples may ultimately derive its efficacy
from the revelations of a spirit. Nevertheless, there is little doubt that
to some extent imitative magic is used without a clear-cut spiritual asso-
ciation. Thus, at the close of the Tobacco adoption ceremony all spec-
tators raise aloft whatever they are holding in their hands and this sym-
bolizes the growth of the Tobacco. So, in the account of sorcery under
the head of shamanism (p. 345) the employment of imitative magic in
conjunction with reliance on animistic aid4has already been pointed out.
Altogether, however, it may safely be statbd that pure magic occupies a
very subordinate position in Crow life as contrasted with activities
based on visionary experiences. Such performances of weather magic as
are attributed to Lone-tree and Big-ox (p. 344) are explicitly or implicitly
derived from their guardian spirits. Perhaps the bac6ritsittse form the
most important case of a group of objects not ordinarily revealed in
visions and possessing powers independently of spirits.
Bull-tongue showed me a stick used to attract women. It was over
a foot long and was decorated with buffalo hair twice that length; near
the bottom of the stick there was a dewclaw on each side. The owner
carried this implement in dances, using it as a fan. Unfortunately I did
not ascertain whence the stick derived its power, but from all I have
learned concerning Crow notions I feel convinced that it must have been
revealed in a vision.
This was certainly true of the majority of love-charming methods.
The term dftck'iAo, also used for casting an evil spell in other connections
(p. 345), is specifically employed for love-charming. Charming a woman
is called big-ruckk'uo and a woman who charms a man is designated as
1922.1 Lowie, Religion of the Crow. 425
ak-batse-ruick ua. Both in legend and in every-day life the elk is credited
with taking pity on a man spurned by a woman and endowing him with
irresistible powers of fascination.1 Sometimes a tangible substance is
given to the visionary to attract his mistress, e.g., different kinds of
perfume or moss and an eagle plume, or elk dewelaws strung together
and attached to a little sweetgrass. In revenge for his mistress's cruelty
the legendary lover is represented as repudiating her after having gained
his ends. At Pryor I saw a robe of elk hide on which was depicted a female
elk in front of a male. This blanket, I was told, had been dreamt by a
man eager to possess a woman who had spurned him. After going to the
mountains and praying, he saw the robe in a vision and subsequently
captivated the girl with it.
A woman deserted by her husband might go in quest of a vision and
receive instructions. She might be told to burn incense and smoke her
clothing with it; also to use certain songs and then walk toward her
husband. These words were given as typical of such songs:-
frak bats&c hbrOm, awAka ht\reke.
That man is coming, I see him coming.
According to one informant the woman receives a special weed-medicine
to be incensed and it is its odor that compels the husband to come to her.
Then other women will come to her when in similar difficulties and ask
for doses of the same medicine.
'Maximilian, Prinz zu Wied, Reise in das innere Nord-America in den Jahren 1832 bis 1834
(Coblenz, 1841), vol. 1, 401.
2This is confirmed by all other informants.
426
1922.1 Lowie, Religion of the Crow. 427
Gray-bull recollected an albino buffalo that was killed near Hardin,
Montana; it was the fastest buffalo in the herd and when a hunter
crossed its tracks, his horse would be exhausted. On this occasion the
man who usually made Sun offerings was not of the party, hence the
leader himself made the offering. The hunters counted coup on the white
buffalo and the four coup-strikers ate the kidney, no other part of the
flesh being touched. Gray-bull struck the second coup and got a piece
of the kidney; holding both hind legs he wished that he might capture a
gun, get an enemy's body, and strike a second coup. That autumn the
Crow killed some Piegan, and Gray-bull struck a coup, got an enemy's
body and gun, and also captured a medicine pipe; the last-mentioned he
got without having prayed for it.
Gray-bull distinguishes an albino buffalo, bice+ictse', and a yellow
buffalo with a black spot on the back, nrkawate; instead of having the
black circle, the latter sometimes was black from the sides down. The
ndkawate were usually calves. The ceremonies for white and yellow
buffaloes were alike. The songs used with them differed from those sung
in offering red cloth.
One informant said that the killer of an albino buffalo rode home
with the skin in front of him, singing praise songs, and presented the
hide to the chief, who painted pictures of the sun and the rainbow on
the back and tied a plume to the tail. At daybreak he sang a song, telling
the Sun of the offering, attached it to a high pole, and placed it on a hill,
where it was left to fall; no one would touch it thereafter.
Sitting-elk said that only a medicineman was permitted to skin an
albino buffalo. The skin was suspended from an ash or cottonwood pole.
I secured two versions of the prayer uttered at the formal presenta-
tion of an albino skin to the Sun:-
1.
ax'ac6, disAace dfiawak'. bar&ambir9xbAk'e Itsi. bak'Ate,
Sun your robe I make. Our way of living good (may it be). The children,
biraxbAk'e ftsik'Ate 'tsipAre ahdi-mAtsik-.
the people peacefully (may they) multiply and be plentiful.
2..
kahi, mAsa'ka, kan-dis.ace diawAhik. kam-barf'k'u,
Greeting, father's clansman, now your robe I have just made. Now I give it to you,
k'ok'. ambtbirixbAke ftsia mak'd. bac-birax blk'e ftse awfrupe
this is it. My way of living good give me. My people (object) safely the next year
awAwi. bac-bak"Ite A'tsipAri, barAk' ddxirek'Ate
I phall reach with them. My children may they increase, my sons when on the warpath
itsfrik'Ate arAo, barAk' ddxire fse cipiti
horses (may they) bring, my son when on the warpath (with) face black'
'Indicating victory.
428 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXV,
k't¶i.
may he return.
amarire
When I am on the move,
huts6
the wind
bifc-k-oi,
to my face may come,
bice
the buffalo
bfs 9xi4. hinn6 biawakee bac-baipare Itsi, bAtsurak
towards me (may) gather. This summer my plants (may they be) good, the cherries
ahii. bare ftsi, ba+isande bi hf-sai. bf9wakce
plenty. The winter (may it be) good, illness me shall not reach. Summer
bikd - raracti awikawi, gape arakdxke hI'irak awikawi. A'lpe
grass new may I see, leaves full-sized when they come may I see. Leaves
dioxe awAkawi. bfi'pe basAkace awAkawi. ambfawakus6 awAkawi,
leaves yeuow may I see. Snowfall the very first may I see. Spring may I see,
bacbirnxbakWe xaxfi Itsik-ate awAwi.
my people all in safety may I reach it (the season) with them.
From various statements it appears that making a ritualistic offering
to the Sun, whether in the form of an albino buffalo skin or of red cloth,
was viewed like other ceremonial privileges, i.e., was vested in individuals
who directly or indirectly derived their authority from a vision. The
Hardin offering was made by someone else avowedly as a makeshift;
Medicine-crow's father and grandfather are mentioned as preeminently
persons who presented the Sun with red cloth; and so forth.
Offerings are not restricted to the Sun, but may be made to any
supernatural agency. Pryor Creek derives its name, ar0t-d'ce i.e.,
Arrow-stream, from the injunction of a mythic dwarf who decreed that all
the Indians passing a certain spot should shoot arrows into a cleft as an
offering to him. The legendary incident reacted on actual practice for
within the lifetime of my informants the rule was followed by the Crow.'
Offerings were sometimes made to the fire, to water, or some curiously
shaped rock, accompanied with some such utterance as, "Eat this, Water,
so that I may live long." Beads were presented to the medicine rocks
(bac6ritsi8tse). Of course, the cutting of one's flesh in the quest of a
vision is also regarded as a form of offering.
Offerings tended to ensure longevity. An old woman volunteered
the information that she had made many offerings in her day; hence she
had lived until her hair had turned .gray.
The sweatlodge (awu'sua) is a form of offering that plays an im-
portant part in the life of the Crow Indians and has already been
described in connection with the Tobacco ceremony. It is clear from the
best accounts that primarily it was a distinctly ritualistic institution and
was not indulged in without some definite religious purpose. Nowadays
anyone may put up a sudatory and sweat, and there are men who have a
passion for frequent indulgence in sweat-bathing which an interpreter
compared to that of white people addicted to the cigarette-smoking
'This volume, 169 f.
1922.] Lowie, Religion of the Crow. 429
habit. Anciently a sweatlodge was held sacred and might not be erected
except by one who had acquired the title thereto either by personal vision
or by purchase. Even those who had the privilege would only sweat,
according to Bull-all-the-time, when prompted by a dream. Gray-bull
and Bull-all-the-time agree that formerly only or mostly old people
went into sudatories. Gray-bull stated that their use for medicinal
purposes is relatively recent; they were formerly built when going on a
war party, when returning from a successful raid with a horse or after
striking a coup, and in connection with the Tobacco society. Bull-all-
the-time says people would make conditional pledges to put up a suda-
tory. "If I get well, I'll erect a sweatlodge." "If I live till the fall, I
shall make a sweatlodge." According to him the original use of the lodge
was for old people, later the Crow came to use it for medicines (the
Tobacco?) and in going on war parties, and finally anyone came to use it
without particular reason.
Bull-all-the-time declared that the Moon originated the sweatlodge,
that formerly sweatlodges were put up in Moon's honor in the evening
and in Sun's in the mornirfg. Only lately this informant has taken to
putting up sudatories at noon. The sweatlodge had been his adopted
father's medicine. According to Gray-bull, the sweatlodge was put up
in honor of the Sun, who was regarded as the owner. This he remarked,
appeared from the formula used in making the vow of erection, viz.:
mAsa'ka, b&+ftsem ace awA-rak, awisua dfawAwik'.
My father's clansman, something good camp if I bring to, sweatlodge I shall make.
The point of this argument is that the stem for father's clansman is
used in vocative form only when praying to the Sun. Little-rump says
that in going to war the sweatlodge was erected in honor of Old-woman's-
Grandson.
Today the same sweathouse frame may be used repeatedly, but in
the old days when the people were constantly on the move and sweat-
lodges were much more rarely employed there was little chance to use a
frame a second time. The number of willows used for the frame varies
from twelve to one hundred. Medicine-crow, in describing the Tobacco
ritual, said the number might be one hundred or any number with four
in the units' place, from fourteen to ninety-four. Three-wolves asserted
that twelve-willow frames were reckoned less sacred than others and had
the fireplace on the side instead of in the center. Others did not associate
the latter detail with the number of sticks but declared that the fashion
of shifting the fireplace to the side was a recent innovation borrowed
from the Nez Perc&
430 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXV,
434
1922.1 Lowie, Religion of the Crow. 435
Scolds-the-bear was about fourteen years old when the Crow were
camped fifteen miles above the site of Forsyth on the Yellowstone River.
A boy about sixteen years old, being the oldest of the boys, had the rest
gather round him for a leader. They played being on a war party and
imitated warriors. They took bark and used it as a scalp. This boy's
father saw them and said, "Two days from now I'll send my boy on a
war party and all of you shall go with him." He was roused by the boy's
playing and had this announced by the crier. After the boys had started
and gone some distance they waited. Scolds-the-bear was in the party.
The boy's father also went along, but his son was leader; he had two
center tail feathers of a magpie tied to the back of his head and at the
bottom there were red-dyed plumes. This was his medicine. Only one
white man's hut was standing where we camped in the day. In the eve-
ning the boy's father had disappeared. At night he returned. "All you
boys, saddle up, there's one enemy there whom we'll fight." In this basin
they came upon a man in an Indian coat with a knife in his hand. This
man ran after the boy. They could not kill him. The smallest boys got
scared and merely watched. He chased one boy, when another ran be-
hind him and shot him in the back. One boy hit him first, thus gaining
a first coup. It was a long-haired man of about forty; they stripped off his
clothing and scalped him. "All you boys, I'll give you a chance to look
at it tomorrow; don't turn back to look at it," said the leader's father.
They went home and after eating went to bed. The next morning they
brought horses, which happened to go to the place of the killing. Scolds-
the-bear chanced to go for horses. Though told not to look, he dis-
obeyed. What they had killed was only a rotten piece of wood shaped
like a man. The arms and legs were only of ground-cedar. The knife
was a real knife, which like the clothing belonged to the man who made
it. The scalp they took off was that of a former enemy and had been
placed on the head of the manikin. When they scalped, the blood looked
as if fresh; the next day it was dry like an old scalp. The leader of that
boys' party is living still. There are many other witnesses to this
bakumMriu (p. 347).
Long ago the Crow suffered from a heavy storm in the early part of
the spring; when the grass came up and colts were born, they had to fix
blankets for the colts so as to protect them against dying from the cold.
The people called the storm Dog's-vulva (micg e'-circ). One spring the
storm was especially violent and blankets were provided for all the new-
born colts. One man coming home through the storm caught sight of a
man wearing a hat, overcoat, and gloves. Putting down his load, the
436 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXV,
Crow took his gun and killed the stranger. After returning he told the
people he had killed Dog's-vulva. They would not believe it. He said he
would prove it. All the people came out to see what he had killed, being
very anxious about it. When they arrived, they found an old piece of
wood. Since that time they never suffered from that storm.
Mr. Simms has described and figured a peculiar stone monument
situated in the Big Horn range in Wyoming just across the Montana
boundary. From a stone 'hub' about 3 feet high he found 27 spokes,
i.e., lines of stones, radiating to a stone circle about 245 feet in diameter;
at or near the periphery there were seven smaller stone structures.'
According to Flat-dog this monument was regarded by the Crow as the
Sun's lodge, i.e., as a lodge made for the Sun and used by him as a camp-
ing-place. As a boy Flat-dog walked through it, counting fifty steps.
Many of the Crow would go there to fast; the structure has been there
as long back as any period alluded to by previous generations. Those
who fasted there would sometimes, hear steps of some one walking, but
looking up would see nothing. Of such a one the other people were wont
to say, "He is a coward, that is why he did not see a vision." This meant
that he had been terrified by the sound and had looked round, thus los-
ing the vision he would otherwise have secured.
The High Lodge dance (ac-hdtsg i-ris8us) was never performed by the
Crow until about twenty-five years ago (in 1914), when they saw the
Nez Perce dance it. A member of that tribe told Old-dog the following
story. One very cold winter evening a young man fell sick and died as
the darkness was setting in. The people cried all night. They said,
"We'll dig a hole and bury him tomorrow." In the morning they built a
fire. The dead man rose and said, "Cook, I want to eat." They cooked
breakfast and he ate. He called for the Nez Perc6 chief and said to him,
"I wish to talk with you." "All right." "I am talking with you now,
but at noon my father will take me back. Bid all the young men in your
tribe prepare a feast and bring it in." They did so. "Let all men come
into the tent." When all were there and had sat down, he continued: "I
am going to sing; learn my song." He had a bell in his hand, which he
shook, singing his song till all inside the lodge knew it. "All shall sing it
now." When he felt sure that all knew it, he rose and danced, singing
at the same time. He told them he should die and was not to be buried at
once. All were to stand in two rows facing each other and were to sing and
dance to the song. During this performance he was to be washed and laid
1S. C. Simms, A Wheel-shaped Stone Monument in Wyoming, (American Anthropologist, N. S.,
vol. 5, 1903), 107 seq.
1922.] Lowie, Religion of the Crow. 437
'This tale was found among my notes after the publication of other myths.
438
1922.] Lowie, Religion of the Crow. 439
free itself and died.' The toad cut it open, and the little ones came out
still alive. All the toads went where the parents had come from. The
visionary as a result of his experience became a doctor.
The boy who was fasting on a point seated himself and looked down.
He saw a light, but in the morning he could not find it. On the fourth
morning he planted a stake in the spot where he thought the light might
be. At night he saw the light and the stake a little above it. He went
there and found a black bac6ritsittse on top of some buffalo chips. This
was the source of the light. The third boy saw a vision making him a
good shot; he had four arrows. The two youngest boys did not fast but
stayed at home.
A young man who had killed two deer passed the fasters. He said,
"You must be hungry, pick out what you want to eat." They selected
the hindquarters, front legs, and paunch, and asked him to build a fire
for them. He did so;' they cooked, ate, and went home. When they got
home, the boy who had seen the sacred rock hung it up above his pillow.
His brother-in-law was out hunting and killed a buffalo. His wife was
going to make a parfleche but the boy said, "Make me a medicine bag
(bdcuce')." They went to the river and painted the bag, dug up sweet-
grass, dried it, smoked it and put it into the container on top of the medi-
cine rock.
The boy who had seen the snake asked his brother-in-law, "What is a
weasel-necklace (4uta-ware-4pia)?'' They did not know and sent for
the older people, who said, "Our chief's son has one round his neck."
It was made of the darkest part of an otter's skin decorated with weasel-
skin and shells (maxdxia); only well-to-do children wore it. The follow-
ing morning the chief said, "Let us move camp to where there are buffalo."
They moved. The boys left. The doctor could hear what was said at a
great distance. He heard his brother-in-law say, "I wish my brother-in-
law were here to go with the hunters." The buffalo were chased and
killed. The two younger boys got a man (?) and he gave them a buffalo
to choose from, saying, "I'll carry it over to your grandmothers."' The
three older boys killed a fat buffalo with their medicine arrows. The
young man took the two boys home. The three older boys butchered and
divided their buffalo and got back late at night. They heard that the
chief's son had been thrown from his horse and that his head was cracked.
All night one could hear drums beating and the doctors' singing.
'Among the Paviotso of Nevada I discovered a strong belief in the power of the horned-toad to
overcome a rattlesnake.
440 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [yol. XXV,
The young man said to the two boys, "You may keep the horse and
saddle or bring it back as you please." The woman said, "Bring the
horse back." They brought it back. The two boys told their three older
brothers about it; and they said, '"',That is right, don't take what those
people give you, we are orphans. We'll pay them back some time. The
only ones we have anything to do with are our sister and our brother-in-
law."
The doctor said to his brother-in-law, "Brother-in-law, tell the chief
that we will doctor his boy." They wanted to get his necklace. Their
sister said, "No, you are too young." Then they did not say anything.
Their brother-in-law wanted to tell the chiefs, but his wife would not let
,him. He slipped out and told Cunning-man.' Cunning-man went to
the chief and said, "Put all your presents together and go outside. The five
boys over there want to doctor your son. Let no one pass in front of
them. Have the door face the boys' tipi." Then it was announced that
no one should cross the doctor's path. The five boys were glad. Four of
them went ahead and the doctor came last. The two little ones sat down
by their mother, the two older ones went to the foot of the bed, and the
doctor stoodb by the door and stamped on the ground. The sick boy had
been unconscious ard was bleeding from the nose. When the doctor
stamped on the ground, the patient groaned. The doctor came closer and
stamped on the ground again. The boy sat up. A third time he did it,
and the boy braced himself up. He went nearer and stamped the ground
in front of the boy like a buffalo, turned back and ran for the door. The
boy rose, followed him round and out of the tipi and came back again
panting. He sat down and said, "Mother, I am hungry, give me some-
thing to eat." The chief was glad and gave them all presents and invited
them to stay, but they would not do so. The boys said to their brother-
in-law, "This is the first good thing we can do for you. You may keep
'these presents. The chief heard about the necklace and brought it to
them. "That is what we wanted." They told their brother-in-law,
"We are going on the warpath; do not tell anyone. If anyone asks, say
'They left me; I don't kn-ow where they have gone."'
They started. The rock-visionary was leader. They had been gone
two days when their brother-in-law was summoned to the council.
"Where are your brothers-in-law?" "I don't know, they have left me."
One man said in mockery, "If they should bring a big herd of horses, we
should laugh." The doctor heard this from where they were and told
on the warpath. They brought back seven head of horses, which they
gave to the father-in-law. The three older ones were named Medicine-
stone, What-he-makes-is-medicine (the doctor), and Medicine-shot.
Some time after this the young woman invited them all to her tipi.
The boys consulted with their sister, who said, "Yes, but don't go with
him, he is married now." They went after buffalo, the people being short
of meat. They shared the game and turned over the meat to the young
woman's mother, who said to her daughter, "That is what I want. You
refused your suitors but you met the right one."
The people moved. In the winter they camped. It snowed so
*they could not go hunting, and all their meat supply was consumed.
If anyone killed a deer, his meat was soon gone. All the Crow were
starving, so that they ate roseberries and boiled hair or deer hide for
food. The mother-in-law spoke to her daughter. "Talk to your hus-
band about this; see whether he can help us." She spoke to him, but he
said nothing in reply. He saw his sister, returned and said, "I will get
meat but they must get a beaver's castoreum." The girl told her
father and the crier announced it. Men asked to see the performance.
"You may come in, but don't touch the door and don't go out." He got
his medicine, which was hanging up, and they brought the castoreum.
When all were in the tipi, the medicine rock was exposed; some of its
sweetgrass covering was chopped fine and was smoked for incense. The
stone was greased all over with the beaver musk, then it got smoky and
foggy inside. All the smoke passed out of the smoke-hole and as it did
so the clouds outside began to part, the snowfall abated and it cleared
up. When all the smoke had passed out of the lodge, there were no more
clouds. The whole camp rejoiced and asked the young man to help them
get meat. "I have done enough, the buffalo will come." He told the
women not to chop wood. The men hunted buffalo for three days, killing
plenty of them. They were told not to break any buffalo backbones.
They killed so many that each family had two rows of jerked nfeat about
twenty feet long.
The shaman's wife told her father to tell the Indians to blacken their
faces since some of the enemy were coming. It was in the spring of the
year. The enemies came; the Crow killed two Piegan and had a big
round dance. The young men assembled and sang a song throughout
the camp: "What I said is coming true, I am going." There was no
more sickness, all people lived well since the coming of the boys. The
doctor had his wife decorated with elk teeth.
1922.1, Lowie, Religion of the Crow. 443
The three older brothers were married, only the two younger ones
were still single. The rock-owner said, "I have been told to go over to
One-tree (mare-tUt)' and live there." He was leader of the camp and
everything was done in accordance with his commands. He went to the
Yellowstone. All the country was covered with buffalo. The Crow
kept in the woods out of sight of the game. They continued hunting
buffalo, making two trips a day, and had an abundance of meat. This
was in the winter time. It was so cold that the grease froze into solid
condition in the morning. The rock-owner told his wife not to break any
stones in their tipi. One day he went to his sister to sleep. Hle was told
that his mother-in-law had cracked bones in the tipi. He told his wife
about it. She went to her mother. "You broke a rock in here." "No,
I never did." "How can my husband lie? Let me look." She saw that
a rock had been cracked. She scolded her mother, "That's the worst
thing you could have done." The mother went out crying. The herald
announced that the enemy were stealing horses. "Get your best horses,
we'll pursue them." They took the best horses. Four young men went
along. One young man had no horse left and asked the shaman to help
him recover his horses. "No, I did not go along because my mother-in-
law broke the stone in my lodge." The young man went away. Another
man whose son had been killed by the Piegan came to the shaman and
asked him to help him get revenge, saying, "I have been mourning for a
long time." But the shaman refused, giving the same reasons. This
man cried. The war party was waiting for this shaman, but he sent a
message that he was not going. However, when he heard the old man
cry, he decided to go. He got two horses. "If I get killed, it will be well;
you may have my horses." He followed and caught up with the party.
He made medicine in the enemy's tracks. "I was not going to come, but
since you asked me so hard, I came." He filled a pipe with tobacco and
smoked on the buffalo chips lying on the tracks.
They started and sent scouts, who reported, "They are moving in a
coul4e." AThe warriors asked the rock-owner what to do. He told them
to run immediately, not waiting for himself. His two young brothers
were far in the lead, the elder one struck first-coup, the other dismounted
and captured the enemy's gun. The Piegan ran into a wash, dug a pit
and fought there. The rock-owner was far away, smoking. The man
who had sought revenge said to him, "I asked for revenge. What are
you doing here?" "I see I shall have to go no matter what comes of it."
He ran into the thickest part of the fight and was wounded in the chest
so that he was nearly dead when he was picked up. His four brothers
IA little above the site of Miles City.
444 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXV,
were furious; they were going to kill the man who had asked him to go
out. "It is as though you had killed him yourself; we'll kill you if he
dies." He did not answer. They returned down-hearted because their
leader was shot. He willed his rock to the brother who was a doctor.
This one said, "I'll try to help you first, I don't know whether I can."
He treated him and he improved, then he began to have faith again.
In the camp the people were down-hearted. The next day the doctor
made them all stand toward the middle. There was no water to be seen
in the river on account of the ice covering it. He went toward the river.
A herald proclaimed that no one was to cross his tracks. The doctor
made his patient dive into the water up to his neck four times. The river
was covered with blood. He brought him back to the tipi, heated a
stone, put cloth over it, and rubbed it over the sore part. Then the
shaman was cured, and the people had a big dance.
The youngest of the brothers said, "As soon as the snow has dis-
appeared, I am going to hunt medicine for myself." The oldest one
answered: "You had better not go, you have all you want." "Some-
thing has always troubled me, I want to find out for myself." The boy
left. The boys were the wealthiest people in camp and had everything
they wished for. When this young boy left, he told his brother-in-law
not to worry. He made his own arrows and killed meadowlarks, taking
the first wing feathers to feather his arrows. He traveled about, trying
to find out something. While walking he saw some cherry trees and
among them some smoke. He sneaked up towards it and carefully
approached. He saw a tipi with holes in it, and through one of them he
saw a woman cutting lodge pegs (1 k'ace). This woman was Hfcictawla.
She had a kettle on the fire. He entered. "Well, well, my child, I am
all alone. Where do you come from? Do you know me? Is that the
reason you have come?" "I was traveling and saw the smoke, so I
thought I should get something to eat." She had her tipi by the spring
and she was sitting on one side. "Child, sit here." She spread some-
thing for him. She took out a parfleche of young buffalo skin and opened
it. There were nice lumps of fat and pemmican in it. The boy ate the
meal, then went and cut more cherry trees, got shafts for arrows, bit
them with his teeth and stuck them all around. "Son, I'll tell you some-
thing. For a long time I have given you visions. You have not a
strong will (irdaxe), that is why it has taken so long a time. I have been
looking for you for a long time, but everything is the same to you (di
xdxik). Now I warn you not to go over there where the point of the hill
is." (The tale here merges into a recital of Old-Woman's-Grandchild's
adventures1 with the snakes and the sucking monster.)
'This volume, 52 seq.
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