Chapter II: Part 2

The Indian exercises much ingenuity in selecting a suitable camp site. The first essentials are water and fuel; next comes sanitation and drainage, protection from the elements and from ready discovery by possible foes; finally, beauty of situation.

In midsummer, when Indians camp together in great numbers, they invariably choose an extensive plateau, either on the secondary bank of a river or lake, or upon the level bottom lands of some large stream. At this time of the year the ground is dry, and there is no danger from floods. For the winter camp, they prefer a protected site in deep woods, near a large river or lake.

In the case of a small party or a solitary traveler, concealment is the first principle to be observed. Seclusion gives a sense of security, but one does not need to sacrifice to it his æsthetic sense. The Indian is adept in selecting a most beautiful spot which commands all approaches, or a hidden cove, guarded by curving shores, but very near a long-distance view which he keeps for his look-out.

In the heat of the summer he often pitches his teepee upon a high, rocky point, to get away from the mosquitoes, but takes care that he is protected by other heights in such a way that any one approaching must come very near before he discovers the camp. There are usually concealed approaches at the back and sides that afford a retreat in case of danger, and also serve as short cuts on his return from hunting or trapping.

In his forest life, it is a matter of course with him to leave the teepee poles just as they stand, removing only the covering. This is not only a matter of convenience, but it may cause the enemy to delay and maneuver when they first sight the camp, thus giving him more time to retreat. Often the war-party discovers its mistake only after its intended victims have been gone for some hours. In case of a hasty retreat, the tent is left standing undisturbed and the log fire burning within, so that the smoke may be maintained as long as possible after the departure of the inmates. This was a convenient ruse in the old days.

It is best in camping to build small fires. This rule is observed by all Indians. Smoke may be seen at a great distance, especially on a clear day, and may be scented by the ordinary Indian a long way off, if the wind is right. Only in cold weather or for special purposes does the Indian indulge in a huge fire, and in no case does he ever leave it without seeing that it is entirely extinguished. If possible, he builds it upon the rocks, so that the ashes may be removed by wind and rain, and the ground show no disfigurement.

When a party camp together, the tents are pitched in a circle. The entrance to the circle is always toward the watering-place, and the council lodge is placed opposite the entrance. If the party is a large one, there may be more than one circle, each band or clan having its own.

When a camp is to break up, it is decreed on the day before, the next camp site having already been explored and selected by men appointed for that purpose. One of these men may be named to guide the caravan to the chosen spot. The start is made before daybreak, and the packing done most expeditiously and in accordance with a well understood system, whether wagons, ponies, dogs, canoes, or men are used to transport belongings from place to place. There is nothing slovenly or haphazard about the Indian's domestic economy, and packing is an interesting and important feature of camp-craft.

In the first place, if you are to transport your own equipment, you must use the carrying strap, which consists of two strings, each four to five feet long, attached strongly to each end of the flat chest and head pieces, which are about two inches wide and long enough to encircle the head and shoulders. The goods are secured in a well-balanced roll or bundle, and this bundle should not be carried too low. Place it to suit your strength and comfort, and do not let it sway or swing. It may be advisable to drop it and rest now and then, if the load is heavy or the distance considerable. The Indians can easily carry in this manner all that is required for an outing.

If you have packhorses, your goods must be made into bundles of convenient size and shape to balance one another on the two sides of the animal, and well secured with strong straps. Before the Indian obtained horses from the Spanish colonists, he traveled but a short day's journey, and carried with him only absolute necessities. All household effects had to be transported on the back, or by means of the dog travois. In fact, the travois was his primitive vehicle for many years after the advent of the horse. It consists merely of the tent poles and an oval basket, netted from strips of rawhide, which is also used as a door for the teepee. One pony can carry at most eight poles, four on a side. These are bound to the saddle, the tips forming an angle above the horse's head, and the free ends drag on the ground below the basket, which contains all the household goods, and sometimes young children.

IX--HOW TO BUILD WIGWAMS AND SHELTERS

The Indian family almost always carry with them the necessary equipment for making camp, but hunters and solitary travelers must improvise something from the material at hand. The permanent village is composed of fairly substantial and rain-proof dwellings, called "teepees," "wigwams," and as many names as there are Indian languages. Slighter shelters are quickly put up in an emergency. You will enjoy copying some of these for your temporary or regular camp.

A substantial wigwam is built of poles and bark in either six-sided or octagonal form. In my day, we used six poles cut off at a fork about ten feet high. These are set two feet deep in the ground, eight to twelve feet apart, and joined by other poles resting on the forked ends. This forms the framework or hexagon. There are four more poles in the center, forming a square, and also connected at the top, and in the middle of this little court a shallow hole is dug for a fireplace and lined with flat stones.

The outer wall of the bark house is of split poles driven into the ground quite close together and neatly overlaid with the bark of the birch, elm, or basswood, in strips eight feet long by four to six feet wide. The trees should be peeled if possible when the sap flows in spring, and the strips spread one upon another on the ground and weighted with stones, so as to dry smooth and flat. Between every two inner posts is an outside post to support the crosspieces, light saplings which hold the bark in position. You can also tie these crosspieces to the split poles with strips of tough cedar bark.

The roof is made in the same way of split poles covered with bark, the latter overlapping like shingles, so that it is water-proof. Over the fireplace is left an adjustable opening, to let out the smoke and let in light and air. The doorway is an opening in the middle of the south side, three feet by six, closed by a movable door of bark or rawhide. A double row of posts with forked ends, about four feet long and the same distance apart, are driven two feet deep into the ground around three sides of the shack on the inside, connected with lighter poles and crosspieces, then covered with smooth bark firmly tied in place. Here are spread robes and blankets for beds by night and a lounging-place by day. There should be sufficient space to move about between the bunks and the fireplace.

This kind of shack may be thatched with coarse meadow grass, instead of bark, if it is more convenient to do so. Some tribes make them partly underground for warmth in winter, and when completely covered with sods or earth the hexagon becomes a "round house."

The greater number of Indians, however, built conical wigwams. If made of the materials I have described, it was customary to transport the rolls of bark from place to place; the poles were cut at each new camp or left in place at the old ones. Sometimes grass and rushes were braided into mats and used as coverings and carpets. The Plains Indians used buffalo hides, nicely tanned and sewed together in semicircular shape.

The skeleton of the conical teepee is made by tying three poles together near the top, and, when raised, separating them to form a tripod. Against this place in a circle as many poles as you think necessary to support your outer covering of cloth or thatch, usually twelve to fifteen. If of canvas, the covering is tied to a pole and then raised and wrapped about the framework and secured with wooden pins to within about three feet of the ground. This space is left for the entrance and covered by a movable door, which may be merely a small blanket. If you have nothing better, a quantity of dry grass will make you a warm bed.

Suppose an Indian brave starts out alone, or with one companion, to lay in a supply of meat or to trap for furs. All the outfit he really needs is his knife and hatchet, bow and arrows, with perhaps a canoe, according to the country he has to traverse. He proceeds on foot to a good camping-place, and there builds his shelter of whatever material is most abundant. If in the woods, he would probably make it a "lean-to," which is constructed thus:

In a dry and protected spot, find two trees the right distance apart and connect them by poles laid upon the forks of each at a height of about eight feet. This forms the support of your lean-to. Against this horizontal bar place small poles close together, driving their ends in the ground, and forming an angle with about the slant of an ordinary roof. You can close in both sides, or not, as you choose. If you leave one open, build your fire opposite the entrance, thus making a cheerful and airy "open-face camp." Thatch from the ground up with overlapping rows of flat and thick evergreen boughs, and spread several layers of the same for a springy and fragrant bed. You can make a similar shelter of grass or rushes, but in this case you must have the poles closer together.

The dome-shaped wigwam or "wicki-up" is made in a few minutes almost anywhere by sticking into the ground in a circle a sufficient number of limber poles, such as willow wands, to make it the size you need. Each pair of opposites is bent forward until they meet, and the ends interlocked and tied firmly. Use any convenient material for the covering; an extra blanket will do.

You can make any of these tent shelters with no tool save your hatchet or strong knife. The object is to protect yourself and your possessions from cold, wind, rain, and the encroachment of animals. As to the last, however, they are not likely to trouble you unless very hungry, and a fire is the best protection. He is the natural and true man who utilizes everything that comes in his way; a cave, a great hollow tree, even an overhanging rock serves for his temporary home, or he cheerfully spreads his bed under the starry night sky.

X--FIRE WITHOUT MATCHES AND COOKING WITHOUT POTS

It is often of interest to boys to make a fire in the primitive way: by friction; perhaps to produce the "new fire" for some ceremonial occasion, or it may be to win honors as a scout. If a boy is fond of wilderness camping, it is possible that such knowledge may prove of vital importance to him some day, for even the experienced woodsman may be caught out without matches, or may get his matches wet.

This is the way the Indians made fire before they obtained matches or flint and steel from the white man, and the way I have many times done it myself as a boy. For tools you need a block, a drill, a bow, a socket, and some tinder, dry punk, or cat-tail down, all of which you can make or find in the woods.

For the first, take a smooth piece of pine board, cedar, basswood, cottonwood, or any other wood, but these are soft and easy to work. It should be a foot long by two inches wide and about half an inch in thickness. Make a round hole or pit in the center half through the board. From this hole cut a notch or groove to the edge of the board.

For the drill, take a hard wood stick about a foot long, whittled down at both ends to fit the hole in block. A piece of wood two by six inches with a hole halfway through its thickness to fit the upper end of the drill forms the socket.

If you have no bow with you, make one of any limber stick two feet long, with a loose buckskin or other thong.

Now put a little tinder--shredded birch-bark or dry pine-needles--along the groove in your block and especially at its upper end. Adjust your fire-maker, wind the bowstring once about the drill, place a foot on each end of the block while your left hand supports and presses down on the socket, and your right saws with the bowstring, causing the drill to revolve rapidly in the hole. This friction in time produces smoke and then sparks, which, when you blow upon them, ignite the tinder. It is then only a matter of sufficient dry bark and kindling to make a good fire. You cannot fail after a little practice, if you follow directions carefully. Mr. Seton's record time for making fire in this way is thirty-one seconds, but it will be more likely to take you from one to three minutes, even after you have experimented a little.

The Indian or expert woodsman is never at a loss for dry fire material in the wettest woods. He knows how to look for the _inside_ bark of the birch and the _inside_ of dead stumps and logs; and a good fire, once kindled, will burn on even under discouraging circumstances.

Indian methods of cookery are of interest in camp, more particularly if the common utensils have been dispensed with as too cumbersome to carry. Neither pots, pans, nor dishes are essential to a good meal in the woods. Berries, some roots, smoked or sun-dried meats may be eaten raw, also eggs, though the latter are preferred cooked by the Indian. He is especially fond of turtle eggs, which are buried in the sand along the lake shores and may be found by searching for them with a pole in the spring.

The simplest method of cooking thin pieces of meat is by broiling over a bed of live coals, upon a long-handled pronged stick or fork of green wood. The meat is turned as often as necessary and is perfectly done in a few minutes.

Roasting is done by spitting your haunch of venison or other large piece of meat upon a stick two to four feet long and sharpened at both ends. This may be thrust into the ground at the right distance from the blaze and turned occasionally, or suspended over the fire from a cross-bar of green wood by a hooked stick, or "planked" against a flat rock inclined toward a hot fire.

The only method of boiling known to the Indian before the white man came with iron and copper kettles was crude but very ingenious, and is known as "stone-boiling." We dug a hole in which we placed a dozen or more round stones of medium size, and over these we built a good fire. About the hole in a square we drove four forked sticks of green wood, and from these suspended a square piece of tripe or rawhide, cutting a small hole in each corner to admit the prong of the support. This bag-kettle was then half filled with water. The heat of the fire soon contracted it, and from time to time a red-hot stone was lifted from the fire and dropped into the water by means of two sticks. When the water boiled, we put in a small piece of meat, and by adding now and then another piece and a hot stone, and taking out the meat as fast as cooked, a savory boil was produced. We liked starchy roots or spicy leaves boiled with our meat, and of these we had a variety to choose from. We had also wild rice and hulled corn, but no bread.

When you wish to hunt or to leave camp for any length of time while your meal is cooking, none of these methods will do, and you had better resort to casing the food in wet clay and burying fairly deep in ashes or sand under a good fire. If you have birds it is only necessary to wet the feathers thoroughly before burying them, and they will come out juicy and delicious under a black coat that peels off like the skin of an onion. Fish cooks perfectly in this manner, as do potatoes, green corn, shell fish--in fact, almost anything. It should be done in two or three hours, but you may leave it all day if necessary without harm.

Every camper or Boy Scout should familiarize himself with all the edible roots, herbs, fruits, and fungi in his locality. Lives have been saved by this knowledge, especially in the north woods. Lichens and the inner bark of certain trees are "famine foods," eaten by Indian and white man when hunger presses and no other food is to be found.

The Indian method of preserving fresh meat in summer by "jerking," or cutting in thin strips and drying on poles in the sun (no salt being needed), is useful only on the high central plains where the air is dry. All kinds of berries and wild fruits are easily sun-dried for future use.

The "cache," an Indian custom extensively copied by white hunters and trappers, is the concealment of reserve stores of food, usually in a hole in the ground, protected by an inner wrapping of bark or rawhide. The mouth of the "cache" is well hidden by building a fire over it, or by covering with rocks, brush, dry leaves, or sand, according to the locality.

XI--HOW TO MAKE AND FOLLOW A BLAZED TRAIL

The blazed trail is especially designed for those who travel in the deep woods, where these simple guide-posts are necessary at times, if only for temporary use. The Indian hunter sometimes finds himself with a limited time in which to provide his winter's supply of meat, before the opening of the trapping season. In such an event, he would not take time to carry all his game home, but would blaze connecting trails to where he had killed and hung up the different animals, and a direct road home. There is also the trapper's trail, the regular path between established camps, and the concealed or secret blazed trail. We shall consider each of these varieties in order.

The blazed trail meant for general use--the public highway, as it were--may not always be the shortest road, but it will be the easiest and most convenient. You may blaze such a trail to the mountain-top for the finest view, or to your cabin in the woods. The blazes on the trees will be obvious and near together, about three inches long and three feet from the ground. At every turn a sapling is felled, at the same height as the blaze, the felled top hanging on its stump and pointing in the desired direction.

The game trail differs from the above in several respects. The blazes are smaller and are about five feet high; they are also further apart--about twenty to twenty-five paces. At each turn the hack is deeper, and if to the left, it is made on the left side of the tree, if to the right, on the right side. The blazes are more open to view when coming from the camp, as when the scout has gone over it once, he can always follow it back home. An Indian game trail is very indistinct to one who is not looking for it, and even then it requires training to follow it readily. To one who is a thoroughly competent woodsman, each mark is a real blaze of light, quite unmistakable.

If you wish to blaze a trail correctly, you must place your mark accurately on the right tree and on the right side of the tree. You should not disfigure the trees, and you will not, if you do your work as well as the Indian. If you go about gashing them indiscriminately, your work will be an eyesore, and besides, everybody will know your trail. It should be just enough guide for your friends, neatly done, and courting no unnecessary publicity.

The trapper's trail is one more degree nearer a concealed blaze. It is blazed on each noteworthy tree, twenty to thirty paces apart, and even higher than the game trail. At a point opposite the first trap, there is a peculiar hack, a double hack, or a twig clipped, varying with the code of the individual. In any case, you are directed toward the lake shore or river bank, where you find an upright stick broken off two feet from the ground and bent over until it touches the water. This means the trap is in the water. If the broken part does not reach the water, it means look for it on shore, and if a birch-bark ring is added, it means the trap is in a hole. At each point a certain sign leads you approximately near the trap, where you get a hint as to its closer whereabouts.

This kind of trail does not begin at the camp, but at a point which may be orally described, in case the trapper is unable to visit his traps and must send his wife or some member of his family. He then entrusts the messenger with his personal code, which sometimes includes the sign for the animal he is trapping.

The concealed blaze is used by a party on the war-path, so that another war-party of the same tribe may overtake them or discover their camp. It was not usual to blaze a war-path unless another party was likely to follow. In such a contingency, the first party leaves an occasional blaze high up on the tree and pointing in the direction in which they are traveling. Such blazes are only made at well-known points and are looked for by those who come after. When the high blaze is found, other information is sought for, which may be given by means of signs or hieroglyphics in a concealed place.

If a party of boys are out for a hike over roads which are not well known, and there are stragglers, the leader may indicate the trail by Indian signs. At the cross-roads he may tie a bunch of grass to a low branch on the right side of the road he takes. If he leaves the path entirely, he must stick up a rod with a knot of grass tied to the top, bending it in the right direction. If at any point he desires to return and meet the others, he breaks two opposite twigs toward one another, as a sign in case he misses them. If he wishes his party to camp there, he draws a circle on the ground. This system is used a great deal by the Indians when two or three families are roving together in the deep woods, hunting or trapping game. When there is only one family, and they are within the danger-line from tribal enemies, the hunter uses a concealed blaze for his wife to follow, and he may adopt a special code whose meaning is known to no one but the two. When he wishes to be particularly obscure, he makes his blaze inside a group of trees. It is a right-angled gash pointing straight to the next blaze.

I remember that I was once instructed to follow a hunter's trail, together with several other boys. We were in the country of the Crees, who were at war with us; but game was abundant, and there was no better location, therefore our hunters took extra chances of danger. However, every precaution was observed.

One of our men had killed a moose late in the afternoon, and on the next morning we boys were instructed to find it and bring home the meat. The first blaze was perhaps half a mile from our camp, on the inside of one of four large birch trees. Above the blaze were two hacks, and above this the mark of an arrow-head. This meant to follow the blaze two hundred paces in the direction of the arrow, and then search for another mark. The next arrow pointed diagonally toward the lake, and two hundred paces further we came out upon the lake shore. We followed the shore to a conspicuous tree, upon the bark of which we discovered a small blaze and the figure of an animal. About fifty paces from this last blaze, we found the moose.

In a prairie country, where there are no trees, stones are piled upon the hills or buttes in a manner to give information to those who come after. Many of these large boulders or cone-shaped heaps of stones were discovered in the prairie states when settlement was made, and some well-known ones have been preserved for many years as historic landmarks.

We Indians never stand boldly out upon a hilltop without having first lain flat and surveyed the country from a concealed position to see that no danger is in sight. We then place the stones so as to convey intelligence to our friends. One is placed with the apex pointing in the direction in which the traveler is going, and several more behind the main pile show from whence he came. If he has seen signs of the enemy, he places two small stones on either side of the central stone. If he cannot go further, he puts these in front of the central one, meaning an obstacle in the path, or reverses the three on the opposite side, meaning that he will return. An old stone pile may be used again and again by slightly displacing the stones. This is the prairie "blazed trail."

XII--INDIAN SIGNALS IN CAMP AND FIELD

In the early and free life of the North American Indian, he was constantly in motion, the various bands of each tribe covering a large area during the year. The hunters, travelers, and war-parties of these widely scattered bands had their well-known codes of signals in the field and on the trail, by means of which it was possible to communicate from a distance. The methods in common use were the smoke, mirror, and blanket signals, all of which could be more readily practiced by the Plains Indians than by those of the woods, for obvious reasons.

There are three distinct kinds of intelligence given in this manner, which may be thus described: First, warning of danger; second, sighting of game; third, general news of importance from another tribe or village. Any person who happens to be in the field and discovers the approach of danger must instantly signal a warning by any means in his power. If he is in full view of the camp or of the individual whom he desires to reach, the blanket method is used.

A blanket or other article of clothing tightly rolled and held with outstretched arms so as to form, with the body, a cross or a capital T, is the primary danger-signal. If the person signaling runs to and fro, it means that the danger is approaching, and if, in addition to these, the blanket is thrown horizontally, it is a call for rescue or signal of immediate distress.

When game is sighted, the game scout runs to and fro; that means a small herd of game, especially buffalo. If he runs in a circle, tossing up his blanket, it denotes a large herd. If he runs back and forth with blanket trailing behind, it indicates bad news. The blanket held straight above the head signifies important tidings from a distance.

Since the mirror came into use among us, each warrior carries with him a small round reflector. With this it is easy to flash a signal into the camp or toward the surrounding hills, upon which it is customary to keep a continual lookout. One long flash is the signal for attention, and as soon as it is answered, you may give the message to be transmitted. One short flash means that game is in sight. Two short flashes means the enemy is in sight. Two short flashes followed by one long one is a call for rescue. Two short flashes and one long followed by two more short flashes means the danger is over. Four short flashes signifies a meeting with a stranger or news from a distance.

The smoke signal is resorted to when no other could be employed, on account of distance or obstacles in the way, such as hills or forest. As this is a long-distance signal, the codes vary among different tribes, so that the intelligence conveyed may not be of equal advantage to the foe. Among the Sioux, it was often used by war-parties, announcing their return and giving news of success or failure; the number of scalps or horses taken might also be indicated.

To make this signal, you must build a brisk fire upon some convenient knoll, and as soon as it is burning freely, smother it with coarse green grass, also heap earth around it so that the smoke may be dense and closely confined. When it has burned long enough to gain attention, check the smoke for an instant by holding a blanket over the fire and then withdrawing it, causing a succession of short puffs, with intervals between. To avoid confusion, it will be well to adopt the code given above for mirror flashes. At night, a signal fire is sometimes kindled. Since fire is not always easy to control single-handed, the Indian is careful to turn up the earth before he builds his fire, and to have an abundance of green grass at hand, not only to produce a sufficient volume of smoke, but to put the fire out if necessary.

The drum is used for home communications. When four measured blows are struck, followed by many short ones, it is a call to the council. If every warrior is not present at the second signal, given a few minutes after the first, the Indian "soldiers" or police will come after the absentees. At all dances, the drum is used to call the dancers together, the third call being accompanied by yelps and the fourth by a real burst of war-whoops. There is a curious variation in the call to the scalp dance, which is something like skipping a stone on new ice. It begins in slow time, with each successive beat shorter, and ending in a mere roll.

There are also many signal calls executed by the voice alone, such as the call to war, the journey and hunting halloos, the good deed calls, and other yodels or musical shouts which are very effective and may be heard at a considerable distance.

XIII--AN INDIAN BOY'S SPORTS

Games with arrows are the most popular Indian sports. If you are camping in the woods, you may like to play the "Tree Game."

About a dozen blunt or knob-headed arrows are shot up into the branches of a large, wide-spreading tree, in such a manner that they are all caught and hang there in many different positions. Then, at a given signal, the boys begin to shoot them down. Every arrow that a boy brings down is his; each one of his own that gets lodged becomes a "prize arrow" for the others to shoot at. Now and then an arrow hugs the limb so closely that it can hardly be seen; eventually all the boys aim at this one, and if they are so unlucky as to lose their own arrows without bringing it down, the "tree wins."

Wand games are very simple and are played by the younger boys. The wands are from four to six feet long and as big round as a man's little finger. They are merely peeled switches of any kind of shrub, usually the common red willow. To decorate in Indian fashion, you must take off with a sharp knife a long strip of bark; then, having scraped off all the rest, wind your ribbon of bark spirally round the peeled wand. After fastening each end securely, hold it over a smudge fire until it is well smoked. Then remove the strip and you will find a spiral of white against the deep yellow of the uncovered wood. Sometimes two strips are wound in opposite directions, leaving yellow diamonds bordered with white.

The wand is pitched and made to strike at the start upon an inclined mound or a low horizontal bar, from which it should bound with much force and sail through the air like an arrow, sometimes as far as fifty yards. A simple way to give it momentum is to raise the left foot as high as the right knee, rest the side of the wand against the left instep and propel it vigorously.

From two to a dozen boys choose sides. The side winning the toss sends the first wand, and the other side follows, each boy playing in turn for as long as they fail to pass the first. When they succeed in passing it, the first party tries again, and the game continues until one side has spent all its wands, which are gathered up by the winners. Enthusiastic partisans indulge in cheering, dancing and singing to encourage their friends and confuse and dishearten the opposite party, but are not allowed to interfere in any way with the players.

Wand games are played properly in the summer-time; their winter substitutes are the "snow-snake" and "ground arrow." The former is used only on fresh snow. It is a flat stick five feet long and about an inch and a half wide at the widest point, gradually tapering to half that width at the "tail" end. The head and neck curve slightly upward and are painted to look as much like those of a snake as possible; the body of the wand is polished and hardened by fire. The Indian boy hurls this mimic serpent into the loose, light snow, where it disappears, to appear again some distance off; again it dives beneath the surface only to come up again, somewhat like skipping a stone on water. The winner is he who can make it travel farthest.

Ground arrows are of two kinds. One kind, called "mechá," is made of the short ribs of buffalo or beef cattle. The rib is cut off four inches from the free end, and two small holes bored, into which sticks, the size of a lead-pencil and about a foot in length, are tightly inserted. The end of each is feathered like an arrow, and they spread out so that the feathered shafts are perhaps nine inches apart. The whole looks much like the white boy's shuttlecock.

This "mechá" is grasped firmly between the projecting shafts, and thrown against a little mound the size of a pillow, made of snow dampened and packed solidly. From this it rebounds, sails off like a bird, strikes the hard crust to bound up again and again, and finally crawls along like a wounded animal. The goal, which is called the "blanket goal," is an oblong about six by ten paces in size, drawn on the snow at some fifty yards' distance. Lengthwise of this oblong are drawn six lines, with seven spaces between. The outer spaces count two, the next four, the next eight, and the center space counts sixteen, if your "mechá" hits it in one throw. Any number may play the game.

The other kind of ground arrow, called "matká," is shaped like an arrow. It is made of hard wood in one piece, and is about two feet long with a cone-shaped head, burnt and polished to look like horn. The shaft must be limber, and carries a small tuft of feathers to guide it in its flight. Another arrow shows an attached head of elk or buffalo horn, which is better than wood.

The boys throw this in the same manner as the "mechá," but the course is laid out more elaborately, with obstacles, such as ravines and small hillocks, and a series of five rings each ten feet in diameter, composed of five concentric circles with a "bull's-eye" in the center. Beside each ring there is a snow mound from which to propel the arrow.

The game is in some ways like golf, and may be played individually or by sides, each player having two strokes in which to reach the next ring, the first a distance throw and the second a push or shove in the direction of the ring. The outer circle counts one, and each inner circle doubles the count, the bull's-eye counting thirty-two. All the players play in turn, starting from the snow mound nearest the ring where their arrows lie at the beginning of each round. The score is added at the close of the game, the boy or team with the highest number of points being the winner.

This is perhaps the most popular and exciting winter sport for Indian boys ten years of age and upward. Sometimes they send the arrow flying a hundred yards before touching the ground, and half as far again at the first rebound, after which it continues for several shorter flights. The rings are two hundred to three hundred yards apart for young men, or half that distance for small boys; the game may be played on snow-covered lakes or rivers as well as in the open country.

XIV--A WINTER MASQUE

Among the really absorbing amusements of Indian boys, none surpass the games played with tops, which with us are in season in the winter only. The mere spinning of a top would soon become tiresome; it is the various and ingenious stunts that keep the interest alive.

Then, too, each boy makes his own top of every available kind of wood, as well as of horn and bone, and studies its peculiar defects or advantages for the work in hand, so thoroughly that it comes to have for him a kind of personality. He whittles it to a nicety in the regular top shape or any variation of it that he chooses, so long as he can coax and whip it into spinning and humming and singing. He has a stick about a foot long and as big as your thumb; sometimes one end is grooved so that he can pick up the top while spinning. To this stick he ties two or three deer-skin thongs of equal length, making a top whip with which he performs some interesting stunts and plays many amusing games.

There is much artistic taste among our people. Some decorate their tops in stripes, much like a barber's pole; others with totem paintings; but perhaps the cleverest boy is he who can carve as well as paint. One will carve a tiny toad sitting atop his spinner; another a turtle; but the boy who is quick enough to copy the bumblebee--hum and all--he is a hero! When he proudly whips his black buffalo-horn spinner, he holds the center of the stage, while every other boy must pause for a minute to regard him with envy.

Sometimes a boy will playfully address his top, telling it to sing the bear song, or imitate the lowing of the buffalo bull, at the same time whipping it so vigorously and in such fashion that it seems really to give a semblance of the required imitation! But it is no ordinary bashful boy who does these things; it is the roguish young humorist and actor of the tribe.

When the chiefs selected for our field-day on the ice announce the date, every boy is ready. The chief of each side brings his forces together for a final test of skill, and there is no lack of spectators. In the first place, each displays his peculiar manufactures, priding himself much upon originality of design and careful workmanship. Then there are trials of speed, and trials of duration, and finally the more difficult stunts, such as transferring the top in the spoon end of the whip without interrupting its dance, or whipping it under a light covering of snow, or along an obstacle course. Perhaps no one save an Indian could make a bear cub whip a spinning-top, holding the whip handle in his mouth, as I have seen it done on these field-days. Some of the boys impersonate old men, and some genuine grandfathers are admitted to add to the fun. There is a particular song of the top, and its spinning is said by us to be symbolic of the dance of life.

A white boy feels himself unfortunate when Santa Claus fails to leave at his home a pair of club skates or a swift "flexible flyer." Still more unfortunate is he who has no hill or pond or river near for coasting and skating. In my day we were independent of all save natural features; no policeman to interfere with our fun, no fences or trespass signs--and no shops or indulgent fathers to purchase our equipment! The trees might be snapping, even bursting open with the severe cold, the ice on the lakes thundering like the cannonade of a distant battle, but, nothing daunted, we boys would sally forth in our warm buffalo calf-skin robes, well belted around the middle, and moccasins stuffed with hair, defying the weather. Our coasters were made of the longest and largest ribs of the buffalo bull, tightly bound together with strong rawhide thongs, and held in position with three flat sticks an inch or two wide and a little longer than the width of the sled. The shape was something like the body of a cutter; it was lined neatly with buffalo hide, and lariats were tied to the curved end as you tie your ropes. We generally coasted standing erect, and the narrower ones were used as skees, with a pole to balance, upon which we sped like lightning down the steep hills amid a din of yells, whoops, and laughter. Other skees were made of basswood or elm bark, stiffened with rawhide or doubled, always with the slippery inner side against the snow. In the very old days there were a kind of skates of peculiar workmanship, made of bones and tusks of animals.

The winter pageant or winter masque on the ice was the crowning event, and here the older people came to realize how closely they had been watched and studied by their children. Your Indian boy is a born mimic and impersonator, and this was his day. The first intimation of the festivity was given by their crier or herald, who entered the camp picturesquely attired, riding on a tame buffalo calf or a big Esquimo dog, announcing the coming of the "old folks" or the "first people."

When the whole village had poured forth from their wigwams in eager expectation, the head of the procession emerged from the forest upon the field of ice. It was an imposing sight. The first clan, perhaps, would be led by a buffalo bull walking upright and holding his pipe in his hands like a man. Immediately behind him were twelve wise men walking abreast, each wearing a buffalo headdress and carrying a long staff with a buffalo-tail tassel. They were followed by the people of the clan, all clad in hairy skins, some accompanied by tame coyotes, or dragging old-time travois. Here and there, boys in groups were playing their favorite games or fluting and yodeling, while the groups of pretty girls walked more demurely.

The wolf, elk, and bear clans were similarly represented, and the odd characters of ancient legend were all present: Unktómee the tricky one with his many aliases; Heyóka the contrary one, who always says the reverse of what he means, and paints a face or mask on the back of his head so that he seems to be walking backward. Even his dog wears the head of a calf at his rear end, and a tail fixed on the end of his nose. One figure is dressed all in white and moves with a whirling motion, all the time imitating the humming of a top. Even the wild pets join in the fun, and I have heard a tame crow, which had been taught a few simple words, crying out quite naturally as he hopped along: "Wachée po! wachée po!" (Dance, friends, dance!)

XV--AN INDIAN GIRL'S SPORTS

Contrary to the popular opinion, our Indian girls and women are not mere drudges, but true feminine athletes, almost as alert as the men, and frequently even more muscular.

The favorite outdoor sport of the plains-women from remote times is called by them "tap-káp-see-cha," the original form of "field hockey." Any level prairie ground is suited to the game, which is especially exciting when it is engaged in by two neighboring camps. The goals are usually two hundred yards apart, and the width of the ground about twenty feet. Twenty-five to fifty or more contestants may play on each side, but not all at once. They are placed in groups or relays, each group not to go beyond its allotted field. When a ball crosses the line, it belongs to the next group. Thus, if there are fifty players on a side, each group of ten runs only forty yards.

The ball, which is of buckskin, about as large as a baseball, but softer, is tossed up with a war-whoop, midway between the goals. Each side then strives to send it on with their hooked sticks toward the opposing goal. It may either be kept rolling along the ground, or driven through the air; and the battle continues until one side or the other succeeds in sending it over the enemy's goal. The distinctive features of the Indian game are the apportionment of the field to designated groups of players, and the large number taking part, thus reducing the confusion and chances of accident while ensuring an exceedingly picturesque and lively spectacle.

"Pas-ló-han" is played in smaller groups with a wand about eight feet long, heavy at the forward end, which is shaped somewhat like the head of a snake, and tapering gently to about the size of a man's finger. Sometimes the head is made of buffalo, elk, or deer's horn. The girls hold it between the thumb, middle, and ring fingers, while the index finger presses against the end. The arm is closely bent at the elbow and held at right angles to the body, bringing the half-opened hand directly over the shoulder, and the wand is then hurled with all the strength of the player's arm, two or three forward steps being taken at the same time. The head hits the ground slantwise, and the body slides and wriggles after it much like a fleeing snake. The immediate object of the girls, who throw in turn, is to see who can make it go furthest, but grace and swiftness of flight are also points to be considered.

This simple sport brings into use practically all the muscles that are required to throw a baseball, and helps much to make the girls supple and agile. It is easier to play in winter and late fall, as the wands travel much faster over crusty snow or hard-trampled ground.

The Minnesota Sioux used to play a very pretty aquatic game when their homes were in that beautiful lake country. It was really the original Indian game of lacrosse played in birch-bark canoes, and might be christened "water lacrosse" or "canoe ball."

The ball was twice as large as the one the men used on land; I should say a little larger than a baseball, but much lighter in weight. The sticks used by the Sioux women were about like the ordinary lacrosse stick, only a foot longer and with twice as large a pocket. This pocket is made of vegetable fiber so that the wet does not stretch it, and when the ball is in it, barely one-third shows above the rim.

Ten to twenty girls may play on a side, two to each canoe. We will designate them "ball-player" and "canoeist." The latter must devote herself entirely to her canoe and that of her opponent. She may not touch the ball nor interfere with the opposing ball-player, but she may use all her skill to obstruct the opposing canoe, and if her partner secures the ball, it is her duty to guard against being thus obstructed. In a skirmish she must be skilful and alert to balance her craft. No canoeist may ram her opponent head on, and if she does so, the game is given to the other side.

The ball-player must throw the ball to one of her own side if possible. Here again special skill is required, for it is nearly as difficult as making a successful "forward pass." However, she has the privilege of passing it in any direction to one of her own players. It is not allowable to hit the ball while in the water. Each player may carry it on toward her opponent's goal so long as her canoe is not obstructed, but as soon as her bows are crossed, she must pass it on. Thus the struggle continues until the ball either goes out of bounds, or passes over one of the goals. The field is about a hundred yards long by fifty wide. If the ball goes out of bounds, the referee must toss it up as at the beginning, in the middle of the field between two opposing canoes, the canoeists placing the canoes parallel to each other, while the players struggle for the possession of the ball. Meanwhile, the other players occupy strategic points and hold themselves ready to receive it.

In this feminine game, it is forbidden to throw the ball with a full arm swing; it must be lobbed or tossed with the forearm only, to avoid risk of injury to the players. It develops much nicety of physical equilibrium, and might be successfully revived in a summer camp by girls who are good swimmers. They would do well to wear bathing-suits and be fully prepared for the chances of an upset. In our day, the winners were entertained by the conquered side at a simple feast.

XVI--INDIAN NAMES AND THEIR SIGNIFICANCE

As you all know, we Indians had no books; our history and traditions were orally preserved. The pictograph cut into a rock or tree, or painted upon a buffalo-skin tent, was our only record of current or past events. Moreover, we had no family names, so that a boy's name did not indicate his parentage. Under such circumstances, one should have a striking cognomen in order to be readily identified.

The Sioux had three classes of names; first, birth names; second, honor or public names; third, nicknames. The first indicated the order in which children were born into the family; as "Chaskáy," first-born son, "Wenónah," first-born daughter, and so on to the fifth child, who was presumed to be the last. There were a few who carried this childhood name through life.

The nickname usually records some humorous act or odd characteristic of the boy or man. It is seldom a flattering one. There is an imaginary Indian personage called "Wink'tah," who is supposed to be ever on the watch for an excuse to coin a ridiculous or insinuating name, and such a one will travel like a prairie fire before its owner is aware of it.

It has been written by white men that an Indian child is called after the first noticeable thing its mother sees after its birth. This is not so as a rule, though it is possible such cases may have occurred. Again, it has been declared that some event occurring near the child's birth establishes its name. This occasionally happens, but only when the event is of unusual importance.