THE BUFFALO DANCE.
The buffalo being the main dependence of the Camanches for food, it
naturally follows that they are fully alive to the importance of
securing an abundant supply of meat during the season in which these
animals migrate to the southern prairies.
The superstition which forms so large a part of the Indian character is
especially noticeable in the ceremonies in which they engage every year
for the purpose of securing a successful hunt. This ceremony, although
not peculiar to any special tribe, is a very novel one, and may be of
interest to the reader. Like all other tribes, the Camanches lead lives
of idleness and leisure, and consequently devote a great deal of time to
their sports and amusements, of which they have a great variety.
Of these dancing is one of the principal, and may be seen in a variety
of forms.
Among these are the scalp dance, the boasting dance, the buffalo dance,
and a dozen other dances, all of which have their peculiar characters
and meanings or objects.
[Illustration: The Scalp Dance.]
These exercises are extremely grotesque in their appearance, and to the
looker-on, who knows not their meaning or importance, they are an
uncouth and frightful display of starts, jumps, and yelps, and jarring
gutturals, which to a stranger are truly terrifying.
But when one gives them a little attention, and becomes initiated into
their mysterious meaning, they become a subject of the most intense and
thrilling interest.
Each dance has its peculiar step, and every step has its meaning. Each
dance also has its peculiar song, and that is frequently so intricate
and mysterious, that not one in ten of the young men who are dancing and
singing it know the meaning of the song they are chanting over. None but
the medicine men are allowed to understand them; and even they are
generally only initiated into the secret on the payment of a liberal
stipend for their instruction, which requires much application and
study.
There is evidently a set song and sentiment for every dance, for the
songs are perfectly measured and sung in exact time with the beat of the
drum; and always with a uniform set of sounds and expressions, which
plainly indicate certain sentiments, which are expressed by the voice,
though sometimes not given in any language whatever. They have other
dances and songs which are not so intricate or mysterious, and which
are understood by every person in the tribe, being sung in their own
language.
Some of these have much poetry in them, being perfectly metred, but
without rhyme.
It is of the buffalo dance, however, that I propose to treat in this
chapter, and of which I will try to give the reader as clear an idea as
is possible from a mere description; but no words of mine can enable you
to fully realize the strange tumult, scampering, grunting and bellowing
with which my ears have been so often assailed.
The buffalo is essentially a wandering creature, congregating at times
in huge herds, and roaming from north to south or from east to west,
apparently without any directing impulse, but in reality in search of
forage. Although their movement to the southward usually takes place at
a stated season of the year, it varies greatly in the number who take
part in it. Hence it sometimes happens that the Camanches are unable to
procure their necessary supply of meat, and in some cases, when the
migration occurs at a later period than usual, the Indians find
themselves practically without food, and disastrous seasons of famine
ensue. This involves the sending forth of expeditions in search of the
tardy herds. These hunting parties, having to pass through the country
occupied by other tribes, are almost certain to be assailed and harassed
by them, and sometimes compelled to return with the loss of many of
their number, and without accomplishing the object of the expedition.
Hence the Indians are loth to undertake these hunts, and prefer to
depend upon the means which their superstition leads them to believe
will have the effect of bringing the buffaloes within their hunting
grounds.
This is nothing more than the buffalo dance, and when the emergency
arises, every Indian musters and brings out his mask (the skin of a
buffalo's head, with the horns on), which he is obliged to keep in
readiness for this occasion. Then commences the buffalo dance, which is
held for the purpose of making "buffalo come," as the Indians term it,
or, in other words, of inducing the buffalo herds to change their
feeding grounds, and direct their course towards the vast prairies to
the eastward of the Camanche villages, where the young braves can shoot
them down, and the tribe be enabled to procure an abundant supply of
food.
During the greater part of the year the hunters can find the buffaloes
within twenty miles of the village, and entirely within their own
territory; but in some seasons the young men range as far about the
country as they can safely venture on account of their enemies, without
finding meat. When this intelligence is brought back to the village, the
chiefs, medicine men and counselors sit in solemn council until they
have decided upon the most practicable expedient for overcoming the
difficulty, and they rarely fail to decide upon the old and only
expedient, which has never failed. The chief issues his orders to the
runners or criers, who quickly proclaim it throughout the village, and
in a few moments all are assembled to take part in the dance, which at
once begins. The place where this strange performance is carried on is
the public area in the center of the village, directly in front of the
temple.
About ten or fifteen Indians join in the dance at a time, each with the
skin of the buffalo head, with the horns on, placed on his head, and
armed with his lance or bow, with which he is accustomed to kill these
animals. I have said that this dance always has the desired effect of
making "buffalo come." It never fails, from the simple reason that when
it is once begun it cannot be stopped, but is kept up incessantly night
and day until the welcome herds are descried by the watchful look-outs.
Drums are beaten and rattles shaken, songs and yells are continually
shouted, and lookers on stand ready, with masks on their heads and
weapons in their hands, to take the place of each dancer who becomes
fatigued and falls out of the ring.
A chain of look-outs is established connecting the hills surrounding the
village with those to the eastward, and the moment buffaloes are
discovered by the distant watchers, they speedily pass the signal from
one to anther until it reaches the village. It is instantly understood
by the whole tribe, and the joyful intelligence is received with shouts
of thanks to their strange god and to mystery men and the dancers, who
have been the immediate cause of the successful result.
During my residence in the Camanche village, these dances were sometimes
kept up for two or three weeks without intermission, until the buffaloes
made their appearance.
Hence the buffalo dance can never fail, and the Indians consider it an
infallible means of bringing the herds into their country. Every man in
the tribe is obliged to be provided with the mask of the buffalo, which
he can use whenever he is called upon to dance to make "buffalo come."
The mask is put on over the head, and has a strip of the skin hanging to
it of the whole length of the animal, with the tail attached to it,
which passes down over the back of the wearer and drags on the ground.
When one of the dancers becomes wearied of the exercise, he indicates it
by leaning forward and sinking his body to the ground. One of the
lookers-on then draws a bow upon him and hits him with a blunt arrow,
and he falls like a buffalo and is immediately dragged out of the ring
by the bystanders, who brandish their knives about him, and, having gone
through the motions of skinning him and cutting him up, they release
him, and his place is at once supplied by another who dances into the
ring with his mask on. By thus relieving one another the dance is kept
up day and night until they reach the desired end, and make the "buffalo
come."
When the signal is given that the buffaloes have made their appearance,
the dance is discontinued at once, and a scene of great excitement
ensues. The masks are quickly thrown aside; the Indians prepare for the
hunt with marvelous rapidity, and mounting their horses, gallop wildly
down the valley to pass the eastern entrance.
In the village, where all had been enduring the utmost privation, with
starvation staring them in the face, a scene of feasting and carousal
would follow. Each would bring out their private stores, and the
provisions that might in an emergency have lasted for several weeks
would be consumed in a day. Even the dogs were not forgotten, but
received a liberal share of the refuse portions of the feast.
The usual games and amusements followed, and from the deepest gloom and
despondency all seemed to pass at once to the other extreme, and joy and
exultation to reign supreme.
From the distance required to be traversed, the hunting parties would
usually not return until the third day after their departure. Then came
another scene of feasting, but this time on a far larger scale. The
choicest pieces are sacrificed to appease their mysterious god, without
which ceremony the Indians believe that all their future hunts would be
unsuccessful. The largest portion of the meat is cured and made into
tasajo, so that the proceeds of one successful hunt will often provide
the entire community with food for many weeks.
[Illustration: The Buffalo Dance.]
When I first saw the buffalo dance, I viewed it with much interest, but
when continued for days and weeks, it becomes excessively wearisome from
the perpetual howling din and clamor kept up, keeping the village in a
continual uproar, and usually causing me to offer up most fervent
prayers that the buffalo would "come," if it was only to be relieved
from the noise and confusion which are occasioned by this curious
ceremony.
Unlike the northern Indians, the Camanches resort to the buffalo dance
only on rare occasions, but when they do undertake it, their persistence
is admirable; and for this reason, the other tribes have a saying, or
sort of proverb, that when the Camanches dance for "buffalo" it is a
good moon to hunt, but a bad moon on the war-path. Their meaning
probably is, that the buffalo are sure to "come," when the Camanches
dance for them, but that the Camanches are equally sure to "go for" any
other tribe who encroach upon their hunting grounds at such times.
Such is the buffalo dance; one of the most curious of the many strange
customs of the prairie Indians.