icine is
given a conspicuous place in the lodge. No one sits or lies down on the
side of the tepee where they have placed the medicine of the household,
and when they pass it on entering or leaving the lodge all heads are
bowed. The medicine tepee is distinct from all others. It is painted a
maroon, with a moon in green surrounded by a yellow circle. The medicine
of the ordinary Indian family is hung over the entrance of the doorway or
suspended on a pole, and may consist of a wolf skin or a dark blanket
rolled in oblong fashion containing the sacred tokens of the family.
Every Indian family takes pride in the ownership of a bevy of dogs. They
are rich in dogs. In our camp of about thirty tepees a reliable Indian
estimated that there were over three hundred dogs. These canines have
free run of the lodge, and at night they crawl in under the edge of the
canvas and sleep by their Indian master. Let an intruder enter the camp
during the hours of darkness and they rush out simultaneously, howling
like a pack of wolves until one might think the bowels of the earth had
given forth an eruption of dogs. The Indian warrior makes a companion of
his dog, and he can show no greater hospitality to a guest than to kill
his favourite friend and serve his visitor with dog soup. To refuse this
diet is an insult most vital.

[An Indian Burden Bearer]

An Indian Burden Bearer

The Indian woman is master of the lodge. She carries the purse. Any
money that comes into the hands of the husband is immediately handed over.
The servile tasks of the camp are performed by the women. Herein we have
an expression of the law of equality. The husband has to perform the
exhausting and dangerous task of hunting wild game for food and the skins
for clothing. He had to protect the camp against hostile attacks, and the
woman felt that her task was easy in comparison. The Indian child rules
the family. They are rarely, if ever, corrected. No Indian mother was
ever known to strike her child. If they want anything they cry until they
get it--and they know how to cry. In play they are as mirthful and
boisterous as any white child. They ride mock horses, and play mud ball.
The Indian boy prepares willow sticks, peels off the bark, then rolls the
wet clay into balls, and, sticking the ball on the end of the twig, he
throws it at a mark with great speed and accuracy. Perhaps the most
popul