Pun'-[)o]-ts[)i]-hyo)_. The cold and snow are brought by Cold Maker
_(Ai'-so-yim-stan_). He is a man, white in color, with white hair, and clad
in white apparel, who rides on a white horse. He brings the storm with
him. They pray to him to bring, or not to bring, the storm.

Many of the animals are regarded as typifying some form of wisdom or
craft. They are not gods, yet they have power, which, perhaps, is given
them by the Sun or by Old Man. Examples of this are shown in some of the
stories.

Among the animals especially respected and supposed to have great power,
are the buffalo, the bear, the raven, the wolf, the beaver, and the
kit-fox. Geese too, are credited with great wisdom and with foreknowledge
of the weather. They are led by chiefs. As is quite natural among a people
like the Blackfeet, the buffalo stood very high among the animals which
they reverenced. It symbolized food and shelter, and was _Nato'y[)e]_ (of
the Sun), sacred. Not a few considered it a medicine animal, and had it for
their dream, or secret helper. It was the most powerful of all the animal
helpers. Its importance is indicated by the fact that buffalo skulls were
placed on the sweat houses built in connection with the Medicine Lodge. A
similar respect for the buffalo exists among many Plains tribes, which were
formerly dependent on it for food and raiment. A reverence for the bear
appears to be common to all North American tribes, and is based not upon
anything that the animal's body yields, but perhaps on the fact that it is
the largest carnivorous mammal of the continent, the most difficult to kill
and extremely keen in all its senses. The Blackfeet believe it to be part
brute and part human, portions of its body, particularly the ribs and feet,
being like those of a man. The raven is cunning. The wolf has great
endurance and much craft. He can steal close to one without being seen. In
the stories given in the earlier pages of this book, many of the attributes
of the different animals are clearly set forth.

There were various powers and signs connected with these animals so held in
high esteem by the Blackfeet, to which the people gave strict heed. Thus
the raven has the power of giving people far sight. It was also useful in
another way. Often, in going to war, a man would get a raven's skin and
stuff the head and neck, and tie it to the hair of the head behind. If a
man wearing such a skin got near the enemy without knowing it, the skin