uth.

The _I-k[)u]n-[)u]h'-kah-tsi_ contributed not a little to the entertainment
of every-day life. Frequent dances were held by the different bands of the
society, and the whole camp always turned out to see them. The animal-head
masks, brightly painted bodies, and queer performances were dear to the
Indian heart.

Such was the every-day life of the Blackfeet in the buffalo days. When the
camp moved, the women packed up their possessions, tore down the lodges,
and loaded everything on the backs of the ponies or on the
travois. Meantime the chiefs had started on, and the soldiers--the Brave
band of the _I-kun-uh'-kah-tsi_--followed after them. After these leaders
had gone a short distance, a halt was made to allow the column to close
up. The women, children, horses, and dogs of the camp marched in a
disorderly, straggling fashion, often strung out in a line a mile or two
long. Many of the men rode at a considerable distance ahead, and on each
side of the marching column, hunting for any game that might be found, or
looking over the country for signs of enemies.

Before the Blackfeet obtained horses in the very first years of the present
century, and when their only beasts of burden were dogs, their possessions
were transported by these animals or on men's backs. We may imagine that
in those days the journeys made were short ones, the camp travelling but a
few miles.

In moving the camp in ancient days, the heaviest and bulkiest things to be
transported were the lodges. These were sometimes very large, often
consisting of thirty cow-skins, and, when set up, containing two or three
fires like this [Illustration:] or in ground plan like this
[Illustration:]. The skins of these large lodges were sewn together in
strips, of which there would be sometimes as many as four; and, when the
lodge was set up, these strips were pinned together as the front of a
common lodge is pinned to-day. The dogs carried the provisions, tools, and
utensils, sometimes the lodge strips, if these were small enough, or
anything that was heavy, and yet could be packed in small compass; for
since dogs are small animals, and low standing, they cannot carry bulky
burdens. Still, some of the dogs were large enough to carry a load of one
hundred pounds. Dogs also hauled the travois, on which were bundles and
sometimes babies. This was not always a safe means of transportation for
infants, as is indicated by an incident related by John Monroe's mother