Blackfoot medicine-pipe ceremony / Walter McClintock.

  • Walter McClintock
Date:
1948
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Blackfoot medicine-pipe ceremony / Walter McClintock. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Blackfoot Medicine-Pipe Ceremony By WaLTER McCLiINnTock FTER many years the Blackfoot circle-camp and its sur- roundings are still fresh in my mind.’ Never was the prairie lovelier than in the golden light of a July morning when I crossed the meadows on my way to Willow creek, Montana, —a trout stream of clear cold water lined with thickets of alder and willows, snowberry bushes in flower, and in marshy places blue flags and blue-eyed grasses. Prairie birds were sing- ing, horned-larks trilling and fluttering, hovering like butter- flies against a deep blue sky; willow thrushes in thickets; white- crowned sparrows with gentle and uplifted song; and lovely mountain bluebirds. Dim on the eastern horizon, where the sun was rising, were the hazy blue outlines of the Sweetgrass Hills; west, the snow- capped summits of the Rocky Mountains. I went through prairie grasses hung with sparkling lace and shining dew; and wild flowers up to my waist—blue larkspur, purple geranium, fleabane, scarlet Indian paintbrush, blue lupine, and large vel- low sunflowers. I saw a pair of graceful kit-foxes gliding swiftly through the long prairie grass, a killdeer with white chest-bands, and a long-billed curlew with brown streaked neck and head. After a dip in the cold creek, I returned to our lodge in the big circle-camp. My heart was light, and I felt happy, the world of white civilization easily forgotten; for with my horses, cameras, and Indian tipi to look after, I was free and independent, and had plenty to do. In the tribal camp morn- ing was the quietest time, for few Indians were stirring; after- noons and evenings were the most interesting. I wandered around the circle with my camera. The sun had set and the lodges were lighted by inside-fires revealing in soft colors the fanciful bird and wild-animal pictures on their covers—buffalo, elk, antelope, deer, otter, star constellations of the night skies. Fires were smouldering in some of the tipis, then fitful flashes would illuminate and suddenly fade. A fresh west wind from the Rockies whistled through the tops of the lodge-poles which extended above their tall conical structures, tinkling the small bells at the tips of the wings and rattling clusters of deer- and antelope-hoofs hanging over the doorways. A group of Indians on their way to a dance 1See McClintock, Walter, A Blackfoot Circle-camp, The Masterkey,
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