them it promises nothing desirable. It is a
monotonous, never ending, and altogether unsatisfying existence,--a life as
barren and desolate as the country which the ghosts inhabit. These people
are as much attached to life as we are. Notwithstanding the unhappy days
which have befallen them of late years,--days of privation and
hunger,--they cling to life. Yet they seem to have no fear of death. When
their time comes, they accept their fate without a murmur, and tranquilly,
quietly pass away.

MEDICINE PIPES AND HEALING

The person whom the whites term "medicine man" is called by the Blackfeet
_Ni-namp'-skan_. Mr. Schultz believes this word to be compounded of
_nin'nah_, man, and _namp'-ski_, horned toad (_Phrynosoma_), and in this he
is supported by Mr. Thomas Bird, a very intelligent half-breed, who has
translated a part of the Bible into the Blackfoot language for the
Rev. S. Trivett, a Church of England missionary. These gentlemen conclude
that the word means "all-face man." The horned toad is called _namp'-ski_,
all-face; and as the medicine man, with his hair done up in a huge topknot,
bore a certain resemblance to this creature, he was so named. No one among
the Blackfeet appears to have any idea as to what the word means.

The medicine pipes are really only pipe stems, very long, and beautifully
decorated with bright-colored feathers and the fur of the weasel and other
animals. It is claimed that these stems were given to the people long, long
ago, by the Sun, and that those who own them are regarded by him with
special favor.

Formerly these stems were valued at from fifteen to thirty head of horses,
and were bought and sold like any other property. When not in use, they
were kept rolled up in many thicknesses of fine tanned fur, and with them
were invariably a quantity of tobacco, a sacred whistle, two sacred
rattles, and some dried sweet grass, and sweet pine needles.

In the daytime, in pleasant weather, these sacred bundles were hung out of
doors behind the owners' lodges, on tripods. At night they were suspended
within, above the owners' seat It was said that if at any time a person
should walk completely around the lodge of a medicine man, some bad luck
would befall him. Inside the lodge, no one was allowed to pass between the
fireplace and the pipe stem. No one but a medicine man and his head wife
could move or unroll the bundle. The man and his wife were obliged always
to keep their faces, ha