A small stone, which is usually a fossil shell of some kind, is known by
the Blackfeet as I-nis'-kim, the buffalo stone. This object is strong
medicine, and, as indicated in some of these stories, gives its possessor
great power with buffalo. The stone is found on the prairie, and the
person who succeeds in obtaining one is regarded as very fortunate.
Sometimes a man, who is riding along on the prairie, will hear a peculiar
faint chirp, such as a little bird might utter. The sound he knows is made
by a buffalo rock. He stops and searches on the ground for the rock, and if
he cannot find it, marks the place and very likely returns next day, either
alone or with others from the camp, to look for it again. If it is found,
there is great rejoicing. How the first buffalo rock was obtained, and its
power made known, is told in the following story.
Long ago, in the winter time, the buffalo suddenly disappeared. The snow
was so deep that the people could not move in search of them, for in those
days they had no horses. So the hunters killed deer, elk, and other small
game along the river bottoms, and when these were all killed off or driven
away, the people began to starve.
One day, a young married man killed a jack-rabbit. He was so hungry that he
ran home as fast as he could, and told one of his wives to hurry and get
some water to cook it. While the young woman was going along the path to
the river, she heard a beautiful song. It sounded close by, but she looked
all around and could see no one. The song seemed to come from a cotton-wood
tree near the path. Looking closely at this tree she saw a queer rock
jammed in a fork, where the tree was split, and with it a few hairs from a
buffalo, which had rubbed there. The woman was frightened and dared not
pass the tree. Pretty soon the singing stopped, and the I-nis'-kim [buffalo
rock] spoke to the woman and said: "Take me to your lodge, and when it is
dark, call in the people and teach them the song you have just heard. Pray,
too, that you may not starve, and that the buffalo may come back. Do this,
and when day comes, your hearts will be glad."
The woman went on and got some water, and when she came back, took the rock
and gave it to her husband, telling him about the song and what the rock
had said. As soon as it was dark, the man called the chiefs and old men to
his lodge, and his wife taught them this song. They prayed, too, as the
rock had said should be done. Before long, they heard a noise far off. It
was the tramp of a great herd of buffalo coming. Then they knew that the
rock was very powerful, and, ever since that, the people have taken care of
it and prayed to it.
[NOTE.--I-nis'-kims are usually small _Ammonites_, or sections of
_Baculites,_ or sometimes merely oddly shaped nodules of flint. It is said
of them that if an I-nis'-kim is wrapped up and left undisturbed for a long
time, it will have young ones; two small stones similar in shape to the
original one will be found in the package with it.]