the buffalo horses, and get ready for the hunt. Four
Bear then told the people not to get a meal but to get a little lunch, and
get ready for the hunt. Then the chiefs started out for the buffalo, the
hunters following. They stopped halfway before they got to the herd, and
told all the hunters not to start for the buffalo until they were all
ready and everybody had a fair chance. In the meantime one of the Indians
sneaked away to crawl up toward the buffalo. Then this fellow chased the
buffalo, and the crazy dogs took after him. When they got him, they broke
his gun, his arrows and bow, broke his knife, cut his horse's tail off,
tore off his clothes, broke his saddle in pieces, tore his robe in pieces,
cut his rope into small bits, also his whip. Then they sent him off
afoot. About that time the buffalo had stopped again, then the main body
got on their horses, and started the chase. If a hunter hit a buffalo
with one arrow, he gave a scream, and that indicated that he had hit him
just once. There were very few guns in those days and those were
flint-locks. Sometimes when a hunter rode side by side with a buffalo,
and shot the animal, the arrow would go clear through. The Indians were
very proud and careful of their arrows. They did not wish to break them.
That is the reason why they shot them on the side, so that when the
buffalo fell the arrow would not be broken. Lots of the buffalo fell on
their knees, and would begin to move from side to side. Then the Indian,
for fear that the arrow would be broken, jumped off his horse and pulled
it out. The hunter then tied his horse to the horns of the buffalo for
fear that he might be attacked by enemies at any moment. After this they
took out their knives and sharpened them on hard steel, like the flint
with which they made fire. All the time they were sharpening their knives
they were looking around for the approach of the enemy. The fire steel
was scarce, we had to use rocks most of the time. The knives we procured
from the Hudson Bay Company. When we killed a buffalo bull, we placed him
on his knees, then we began to skin him down the back of the neck, down
the backbone, splitting it on each side. The cows we laid on their backs,
and cut down the middle. We used the buffalo cowhide for buffalo robes;
the buffalo bulls' hides were split down the back because from this hide
we made war shields, parflesche bags, and saddle blankets. The husbands
would te