On the north side of the valley was a high cliff, over which Indians of
long ago drove herds of buffalo, in the days before they had horses or
firearms. From the top of the precipice a level plain stretched away to
the grass-land of open prairies, with two ancient and overgrown fences
of stones, which had been used by the Indians as guides in buffalo
drives. Near by were signs of an ancient camp—eight circles of large
stones, deeply imbedded in the soil and overgrown with grass, where
eight skin lodges once stood.
That night we sat by our tiny camp-fire and talked about those ancient
hunters and how they chased the buffalo. Onesta said:
“In those days of long ago, summer was the time of plenty. Then our
people used flint knives and arrow-points instead of guns. They had
pots of stone, and bone-scrapers for tanning skins. Dogs were their
beasts of burden instead of horses, and people carried things on their
backs. They killed buffalo in great numbers by driving them over
cliffs. When the herds moved in from the grass-land, they followed our
stone fences; they ran over a cliff and were killed; the wounded were
caught in a corral at the bottom.
“The chief picked a strong runner to lead the buffalo. On the day of
the run, that man rose early and went forth before sunrise. He covered
himself with a robe and wore horns on his head. He kept moving about
until the buffalo herd saw him and stood looking. Then he led them
between the stone piles; and Indians lying hidden rose up; they waved
their robes and shouted; they stampeded the buffalo, which ran over the
cliff and were killed.
“Then the women came to cut up the carcasses. They used the skins of
old animals for lodges and those of young ones for robes. They carried
the meat on dog travois back to their tepees, spreading it on poles to
dry in the sun; making pemmican and mixing it with marrowfat and dried
berries, which they kept in rawhide cases for use in winter.”
Thus Onesta talked that night.
We stayed in Two Medicine Valley, until our horses were through
shedding their hair and became fat on the new grass. Then we broke camp
and moved up towards the Rocky Mountains. It was an Indian custom to go
every spring to the forests on the mountains, to cut new lodge-poles
for their summer camps and to gather roots and wild vegetables for both
eating and healing.
We followed the valley westward, riding through grassy meadows with
gardens of wild flowers. Masses of loco weed were in bloom, growing in
dense spikes of brilliant pink, purple and blue, clusters of gaillardia
with radiant yellow blossoms, and fields of phacelia, a rich carpet of
white and blue, flaming Indian paint-brush, drooping bluebells, and
shooting stars.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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