_Ts[)i]-st[=i]ks'_, Little Birds, includes boys from
15 to 20 years old.
_K[)u]k-k[=u][=i]cks'_, Pigeons, men who have been to war
several times.
_T[)u]is-k[)i]s-t[=i]ks_, Mosquitoes, men who are constantly
going to war
_M[)u]t'-s[)i]ks_, Braves, tried warriors.
_Kn[)a]ts-o-mi'-ta_, All Crazy Dogs, about forty years old.
_Ma-stoh'-pa-ta-k[=i]ks_ Raven Bearers.
_E'-mi-taks_, Dogs, old men.
Dogs and Tails are
different societies,
_Is'-sui_, Tails, but they dress alike
and dance together
and alike.
_[)E]ts-[=a]i'-nah_, Horns, Bloods, obsolete among the
Piegans,
_Sin'-o-pah_, Kit-foxes, Piegans, but still exists
with Bloods.
_[)E]-[)i]n'-a-ke_, Catchers or Soldiers, obsolete for 25-30 years,
perhaps longer.
_St[)u]'m[=i]ks_, Bulls, obsolete for 50 years.
There may be other societies of the All Comrades, but these are the only
ones that I know of at present. The M[=u]t'-s[)i]ks, Braves, and the
Knats-o-mi'-ta, All Crazy Dogs, still exist, but many of the others are
being forgotten. Since the necessity for their existence has passed, they
are no longer kept up. They were a part of the old wild life, and when the
buffalo disappeared, and the Blackfeet came to live about an agency, and to
try to work for a subsistence, the societies soon lost their importance.
The societies known as Little Birds, Mosquitoes, and Doves are not really
bands of the All Comrades, but are societies among the boys and young men
in imitation of the _I-kun-uh'-kah-tsi_, but of comparatively recent
origin. Men not more than fifty years old can remember when these societies
came into existence. Of all the societies of the _I-kun-uh'-kah-tsi,_ the
Sin'-o-pah, or Kit-fox band, has the strongest medicine. This corresponds
to the Horns society among the Bloods. They are the same band with
different names. They have certain peculiar secret and sacred ceremonies,
not to be described here.
The society of the Stum'-[=i]ks, or Bulls, became obsolete more than fifty
years ago. Their dress was very fine,--bulls' heads and robes.
The members of the younger society purchased individually, from the next
older one, its rights and privileges, paying horses for them. For example,
each member of the Mosquitoes would purchase from some member of the Braves
his right of membership in the latter society. The man who has sold his
rights is then a member of no society, and if he wishes to belong to one,
must buy into the one next higher. Each of these societies kept some old
men as members, and these old men acted as messengers, orators, and so on.
The change of membership from one society to another was made in the
spring, after the grass had started. Two, three, or more lodge coverings
were stretched over poles, making one very large lodge, and in this the
ceremonies accompanying the changes took place.
In later times, the Braves were the most important and best known of any of
the All Comrades societies. The members of this band were soldiers or
police. They were the constables of the camp, and it was their duty to
preserve order, and to punish offenders. Sometimes young men would skylark
in camp at night, making a great noise when people wanted to sleep, and
would play rough practical jokes, that were not at all relished by those
who suffered from them. One of the forms which their high spirits took was
to lead and push a young colt up to the door of a lodge, after people were
asleep, and then, lifting the door, to shove the animal inside and close
the door again. Of course the colt, in its efforts to get out to its
mother, would run round and round the lodge, trampling over the sleepers
and roughly awakening them, knocking things down and creating the utmost
confusion, while the mare would be whinnying outside the lodge, and the
people within, bewildered and confused, did not know what the disturbance
was all about.
The Braves would punish the young men who did such things,--if they could
catch them,--tearing up their blankets, taking away their property, and
sometimes whipping them severely. They were the peace officers of the camp,
like the _lari p[=u]k'[=u]s_ among the Pawnees.
Among the property of the Brave society were two stone-pointed arrows, one
"shield you don't sit down with," and one rattle. The man who carried this
rattle was known as Brave Dog, and if it passed from one member of the
society to another, the new owner became known as Brave Dog. The man who
received the shield could not sit down for the next four days and four
nights, but for all that time was obliged to run about the camp, or over
the prairie, whistling like a rabbit.
The societies known as Soldiers and Bulls had passed out of existence
before the time of men now of middle age. The pipe of the Soldier society
is still in existence, in the hands of Double Runner. The bull's head war
bonnet, which was the insignia of the Bulls society, was formerly in the
possession of Young Bear Chief, at present chief of the Don't Laugh band of
the Piegans. He gave it to White Calf, who presented it to a recent agent.
In the old days, and, indeed, down to the time of the disappearance of the
buffalo, the camp was always arranged in the form of a circle, the lodges
standing at intervals around the circumference, and in the wide inner space
there was another circle of lodges occupied by the chief of certain bands
of the _I-kun-uh'-kah-tsi_. When all the gentes of the tribe were present,
each had its special position in the circle, and always occupied it. The
lodge of the chief of the gens stood just within the circle, and about it
his people camped. The order indicated in the accompanying diagram
represents the Piegan camp as it used to stand thirty-five or forty years
ago. A number of the gentes are now extinct, and it is not altogether
certain just what the position of those should be; for while all the older
men agree on the position to be assigned to certain of the gentes, there
are others about which there are differences of opinion or much
uncertainty. It is stated that the gentes known as Seldom Lonesome, Dried
Meat, and No Parfleche belong to that section of the tribe known as North
Piegans, which, at the time of the first treaty, separated from the
Pi-kun'-i, and elected to live under British rule.
The lodges of the chiefs of the _I-kun-uh'-kah-tsi_ which were within the
circle served as lounging and eating places for such members of the bands
as were on duty, and were council lodges or places for idling, as the
occasion demanded.
When the camp moved, the Blood gens moved first and was followed by the
White Breast gens, and so on around the circle to number 24. On camping,
the Bloods camped first, and the others after them in the order indicated,
number 24 camping last and closing up the circle. DIAGRAM OF OLD-TIME
PIEGAN CAMP, SAY 1850 TO 1855. TWENTY-FOUR LODGES OF CHIEFS OF THE GENTES
ABOUT THE OUTER CIRCLE.
The inner circle shows lodges of chiefs of certain bands of the
_I-kun-uh'-kah-tsi._
[Illustration]