BUFFALO

The Blackfeet were a race of meat-eaters, and, while they killed large

quantities of other game, they still depended for subsistence on the

buffalo. This animal provided them with almost all that they needed in the

way of food, clothing, and shelter, and when they had an abundance of the

buffalo they lived in comfort.

Almost every part of the beast was utilized. The skin, dressed with the

hair on, protected them from the winter's cold; freed from the hair, it was

used for a summer sheet or blanket, for moccasins, leggings, shirts, and

women's dresses. The tanned cowskins made their lodges, the warmest and

most comfortable portable shelters ever devised. From the rawhide, the hair

having been shaved off, were made parfleches, or trunks, in which to pack

small articles. The tough, thick hide of the bull's neck, spread out and

allowed to shrink smooth, made a shield for war which would stop an arrow,

and turn a lance thrust or the ball from an old-fashioned, smooth-bore

gun. The green hide served as a kettle, in which to boil meat. The skin of

the hind leg, cut off above the pastern and again some distance above the

hock, was sometimes used as a moccasin or boot, the lower opening being

sewed up for the toe. A variety of small articles, such as cradles, gun

covers, whips, mittens, quivers, bow cases, knife-sheaths, etc., were made

from the hide. Braided strands of hide furnished them with ropes and

lines. The hair was used to stuff cushions and, later, saddles, and parts

of the long black flowing beard to ornament wearing apparel and implements

of war, such as shields and quivers. The horns gave them spoons and

ladles--sometimes used as small dishes--and ornamented their war

bonnets. From the hoofs they made a glue, which they used in fastening the

heads and feathers on their arrows, and the sinew backs on their bows. The

sinews which lie along the back and on the belly were used as thread and

string, and as backing for bows to give them elasticity and strength. From

the ribs were made scrapers used in dressing hides, and runners for small

sledges drawn by dogs; and they were employed by the children in coasting

down hill on snow or ice. The shoulder-blades, lashed to a wooden handle,

formed axes, hoes, and fleshers. From the cannon bones (metatarsals and

metacarpals) were made scrapers for dressing hides. The skin of the tail,

fitted on a stick, was used as a fly brush. These are but a few of the uses

to which the product of the buffalo was put. As has been said, almost every

part of the flesh was eaten.

Now it must be remembered that in early days the hunting weapons of this

people consisted only of stone-pointed arrows, and with such armament the

capture of game of the larger sorts must have been a matter of some

uncertainty. To drive a rude stone-headed arrow through the tough hide and

into the vitals of the buffalo, could not have been--even under the most

favorable circumstances--other than a difficult matter; and although we may

assume that, in those days, it was easy to steal up to within a few yards

of the unsuspicious animals, we can readily conceive that many arrows must

have been shot without effect, for one that brought down the game.

Certain ingenious methods were therefore devised to insure the taking of

game in large numbers at one time. This was especially the case with the

buffalo, which were the food and raiment of the people. One of these

contrivances was called pis'kun, deep-kettle; or, since the termination of

the word seems to indicate the last syllable of the word _ah'-pun,_ blood,

it is more likely deep-blood-kettle. This was a large corral, or enclosure,

built out from the foot of a perpendicular cliff or bluff, and formed of

natural banks, rocks, and logs or brush,--anything in fact to make a close,

high barrier. In some places the enclosure might be only a fence of brush,

but even here the buffalo did not break it down, for they did not push

against it, but ran round and round within, looking for a clear space

through which they might pass. From the top of the bluff, directly over

the pis'kun, two long lines of rock piles and brush extended far out on the

prairie, ever diverging from each other like the arms of the letter V, the

opening over the pis'kun being at the angle.

In the evening of the day preceding a drive of buffalo into the pis'kun a

medicine man, usually one who was the possessor of a buffalo rock,

In-is'-kim, unrolled his pipe, and prayed to the Sun for success. Next

morning the man who was to call the buffalo arose very early, and told his

wives that they must not leave the lodge, nor even look out, until he

returned; that they should keep burning sweet grass, and should pray to the

Sun for his success and safety. Without eating or drinking, he then went up

on the prairie, and the people followed him, and concealed themselves

behind the rocks and bushes which formed the V, or chute. The medicine man

put on a head-dress made of the head of a buffalo, and a robe, and then

started out to approach the animals. When he had come near to the herd, he

moved about until he had attracted the attention of some of the buffalo,

and when they began to look at him, he walked slowly away toward the

entrance of the chute. Usually the buffalo followed, and, as they did so,

he gradually increased his pace. The buffalo followed more rapidly, and the

man continually went a little faster. Finally, when the buffalo were fairly

within the chute, the people began to rise up from behind the rock piles

which the herd had passed, and to shout and wave their robes. This

frightened the hinder-most buffalo, which pushed forward on the others, and

before long the whole herd was running at headlong speed toward the

precipice, the rock piles directing them to the point over the

enclosure. When they reached it, most of the animals were pushed over, and

usually even the last of the band plunged blindly down into the

pis'kun. Many were killed outright by the fall; others had broken legs or

broken backs, while some perhaps were uninjured. The barricade, however,

prevented them from escaping, and all were soon killed by the arrows of the

Indians.

It is said that there was another way to get the buffalo into this chute. A

man who was very skilful in arousing the buffalo's curiosity, might go out

without disguise, and by wheeling round and round in front of the herd,

appearing and disappearing, would induce them to move toward him, when it

was easy to entice them into the chute. Once there, the people began to

rise up behind them, shouting and waving their robes, and the now

terror-stricken animals rushed ahead, and were driven over the cliff into

the pis'kun, where all were quickly killed and divided among the people,

the chiefs and the leading warrior getting the best and fattest animals.

The pis'kun was in use up to within thirty-five or forty years, and many

men are still living who have seen the buffalo driven over the cliff. Such

men even now speak with enthusiasm of the plenty that successful drives

brought to the camp.

The pis'kuns of the Sik'-si-kau, or Blackfoot tribe, differed in some

particulars from those constructed by the Bloods and the Piegans, who live

further to the south, nearer to the mountains, and so in a country which is

rougher and more broken. The Sik'-si-kau built their pis'kuns like the

Crees, on level ground and usually near timber. A large pen or corral was

made of heavy logs about eight feet high. On the side where the wings of

the chute come together, a bridge, or causeway, was built, sloping gently

up from the prairie to the walls of the corral, which at this point were

cut away to the height of the bridge above the ground,--here about

four feet,--so that the animals running up the causeway could jump down into

the corral. The causeway was fenced in on either side by logs, so that the

buffalo could not run off it. After they had been lured within the wings of

the chute, they were driven toward the corral as already described. When

they reached the end of the >, they ran up the bridge, and jumped down into

the pen. When it was full, or all had entered, Indians, who had lain hidden

near by, ran upon the bridge, and placed poles, prepared beforehand, across

the opening through which the animals had entered, and over these poles

hung robes, so as entirely to close the opening. The buffalo will not dash

themselves against a barrier which is entirely closed, even though it be

very frail; but if they can see through it to the outside, they will rush

against it, and their great weight and strength make it easy for them to

break down any but a heavy wall. Mr. Hugh Monroe tells me that he has seen

a pis'kun built of willow brush; and the Cheyennes have stated to me that

their buffalo corrals were often built of brush. Sometimes, if the walls of

the pis'kun were not high, the buffalo tried to jump or climb over them,

and, in doing this, might break them down, and some or all escape. As soon,

however, as the animals were in the corral, the people--women and children

included--ran up and showed themselves all about the walls, and by their

cries kept the buffalo from pressing against the walls. The animals ran

round and round within, and the men standing on the walls shot them down as

they passed. The butchering was done in the pis'kun, and after this was

over, the place was cleaned out, the heads, feet, and least perishable

offal being removed. Wolves, foxes, badgers, and other small carnivorous

animals visited the pis'kun, and soon made away with the entrails.

In winter, when the snow was on the ground, and the buffalo were to be led

to the pis'kun, the following method was adopted to keep the herd

travelling in the desired direction after they had got between the wings of

the chute. A line of buffalo chips, each one supported on three small

sticks, so that it stood a few inches above the snow, was carried from the

mouth of the pis'kun straight out toward the prairie. The chips were about

thirty feet apart, and ran midway between the wings of the chute. This line

was, of course, conspicuous against the white snow, and when the buffalo

were running down the chute, they always followed it, never turning to the

right nor to the left. In the latter days of the pis'kun, the man who led

the buffalo was often mounted on a white horse.

Often, when they drove the buffalo over a high vertical cliff, no corral

was built beneath. Most of those driven over were killed or disabled by the

fall, and only a few got away. The pis'kuns, as a rule, were built under

low-cut bluffs, and sometimes the buffalo were driven in by moonlight.

In connection with the subject of leading or decoying the buffalo, another

matter not generally known may be mentioned. Sometimes, as a matter of

convenience, a herd was brought from a long distance close up to the

camp. This was usually done in the spring of the year, when the horses were

thin in flesh and not in condition to stand a long chase. I myself have

never seen this; but my friend, William Jackson, was once present at such a

drive by the Red River half-breeds, and has described to me the way in

which it was done.

The camp was on Box Elder Creek near the Musselshell River. It was in the

spring of 1881, and the horses were all pretty well run down and thin, so

that their owners wished to spare them as much as possible. The buffalo

were seven or eight miles distant, and two men were sent out to bring them

to the camp. Other men, leading fresh horses, went with them, and hid

themselves among the hills at different points along the course that the

buffalo were expected to take, at intervals of a mile and a half. They

watched the herd, and were on hand to supply the fresh horses to the men

who were bringing it.

The buffalo were on a wide flat, and the men rode over the hill and

advanced toward the herd at a walk. At length the buffalo noticed them, and

began to huddle up together and to walk about, and at length to walk

away. Then the men turned, and rode along parallel to the buffalo's course,

and at the same gait that these were taking. When the buffalo began to

trot, the men trotted, and when the herd began to lope, the men loped, and

at length they were all running pretty fast. The men kept about half a mile

from the herd, and up even with the leaders. As they ran, the herd kept

constantly edging a little toward the riders, as if trying to cross in

front of them. This inclination toward the men was least when they were far

off, and greatest when they drew nearer to them. At no time were the men

nearer to the herd than four hundred yards. If the buffalo edged too much

toward the riders, so that the course they were taking would lead them away

from camp, the men would drop back and cross over behind the herd to the

other side, and then, pushing their horses hard, would come up with the

leaders,--but still at a distance from them,--and then the buffalo would

begin to edge toward them, and the herd would be brought back again to the

desired course. If necessary, this was repeated, and so the buffalo were

kept travelling in a course approximately straight.

By the time the buffalo had got pretty near to the camp, they were pretty

well winded, and the tongues of many of them were hanging out. This herd

was led up among the rolling hills about a mile from the camp, and there

the people were waiting for them, and charged them, when the herd broke up,

the animals running in every direction.

Occasionally it would happen that for a long time the buffalo would not be

found in a place favorable for driving over the cliff or into a pen. In

such cases, the Indians would steal out on foot, and, on a day when there

was no wind, would stealthily surround the herd. Then they would startle

the buffalo, and yet would keep them from breaking through the circle. The

buffalo would "mill" around until exhausted, and at length, when worn out,

would be shot down by the Indians. This corresponds almost exactly with one

of the methods employed in killing buffalo by the Pawnees in early days

before they had horses.[1] In those days the Pi-k[)u]n'-i were very

numerous, and sometimes when a lot of buffalo were found in a favorable

position, and there was no wind, the people would surround them, and set up

their lodges about them, thus practically building a corral of

lodges. After all preparations had been made, they would frighten the

buffalo, which, being afraid to pass through between the lodges, would run

round and round in a great circle, and when they were exhausted the people

would kill them.

[Footnote 1: Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk-Tales, p. 250.]

Then they always had plenty of buffalo--if not fresh meat, that which they

had dried. For in winter they would kill large numbers of buffalo, and

would prepare great stores of dried meat. As spring opened, the buffalo

would move down to the more flat prairie country away from the

pis'kuns. Then the Blackfeet would also move away. As winter drew near, the

buffalo would again move up close to the mountains, and the Indians, as

food began to become scarce, would follow them toward the pis'kuns. In the

last of the summer and early autumn, they always had runners out, looking

for the buffalo, to find where they were, and which way they were

moving. In the early autumn, all the pis'kuns were repaired and

strengthened, so as to be in good order for winter.

In the days before they had horses, and even in later times when the ground

was of such a character as to prevent running the buffalo, an ingenious

method of still-hunting them was practised. A story told by Hugh Monroe

illustrates it. He said: "I was often detailed by the Hudson's Bay Company

to go out in charge of a number of men, to kill meat for the fort. When the

ground was full of holes and wash-outs, so that running was dangerous, I

used to put on a big timber wolf's skin, which I carried for the purpose,

tying it at my neck and waist, and then to sneak up to the buffalo. I used

a bow and arrows, and generally shot a number without alarming them. If one

looked suspiciously at me, I would howl like a wolf. Sometimes the smell of

the blood from the wounded and dying would set the bulls crazy. They would

run up and lick the blood, and sometimes toss the dead ones clear from the

ground. Then they would bellow and fight each other, sometimes goring one

another so badly that they died. The great bulls, their tongues covered

with blood, their eyes flashing, and tails sticking out straight, roaring

and fighting, were terrible to see; and it was a little dangerous for me,

because the commotion would attract buffalo from all directions to see what

was going on. At such times, I would signal to my men, and they would ride

up and scare the buffalo away."

In more modern times, the height of pleasure to a Blackfoot was to ride a

good horse and run buffalo. When bows and arrows, and, later,

muzzle-loading "fukes" were the only weapons, no more buffalo were killed

than could actually be utilized. But after the Winchester repeater came in

use, it seemed as if the different tribes vied with each other in wanton

slaughter. Provided with one of these weapons and a couple of belts of

cartridges, the hunters would run as long as their horses could keep up

with the band, and literally cover the prairie with carcasses, many of

which were never even skinned.