They were a well-disciplined people. Women were given a voice in council
but were most noted for their industry and skill. According to Warren A.
Ferris, Crow women were notoriously unfaithful, which, if true, was
measurably contrary to the general condition among Indians. Among the
men lust for fame was the end and purpose of life. Crow war psychology
was a blend of cruelty, vanity, greed, foolhardiness, and magnificent
courage. Old Sapsucker was the most famous Crow Chieftain. He won this
distinction by many years of fighting. Horses were at once their passion
and glory. Even infants of two years could ride, while older youths rode
horses that careened and dashed up and down among the most dangerous
places. The nation of 3,500 people owned some 10,000 horses. Adult Crow
horsemen were unexcelled. They combined agility and dignity to an
unusual degree. Mounted on fine-mettled animals, without saddle or
bridle, and bounding bare-bodied over the prairie in the panoply of
speed and power, they were fine pictures to behold!
Crows made free booty of everything that chanced in their way. Horses in
particular were the objects of their depredations. They developed
astonishing skill and audacity in capturing them. As horse thieves they
were world-beaters. “No legislative body on earth ever made an
appropriation with half the tact, facility, and success.” The following
represents the mature judgment of James Stuart:
One thing is certain: They can discount all the thieves I ever saw or
heard of; in short, they have to be seen to realize their superiority
over all thieves, either white, red, or black, in the world. They
would steal the world-renowned Arabs poor in a single hour.[75]
Other mountain Indians whose activities had less bearing upon the
Yellowstone area were the Herantsa or Gros Ventres. They referred to
themselves by the former name; whereas the latter was a French
designation. Of course, it was inappropriate because they did not have
large paunches. Their homeland was the Wind River range.
East of Wind River lies the Laramie Plains, and there lived a band named
Cheyennes. They were civil, well-behaved people, cleanly in their
persons and decorous in their habits. The men were tall and vigorous,
with aquiline noses and high cheek bones. Some were almost as naked as
ancient statues and might well have stood as models for that purpose.
East of the Crow and Cheyenne homelands ranged various divisions of the
great Siouan family. The Sioux of Dakota, Arapaho, Omaha, and Mandan
were the most distinct clans on the near-eastern slope of the Rockies.
These tribes were typical of the plains Indians and as mutually hostile
as any of the others.[76]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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