Morning journal and courier., 1891-09-25
SELLING BUFFALO HORNS.
A Method Invented by Indians

A Method Invented by Indians to
 Pick Up Precarious Living.
 At various stations along the Canadian Pacific road is Assiniboia and Alberta groups of Indians, chiefly women and children, are found on the platforms. Sometimes they are rather picturesque for the many colored rags which cover them. But as rule they are dirty, squalid, sickly looking lot, and are anything but attractive. A few men are among them, and they are all engaged in the not very lucrative occupation of selling buffalo horns to the tourists. On the plains they pick up the horns of the noble departed bison. Then they set to work "improv- ing" the horns in such way as to destroy all their value to any intelligent person; for what is the use of having buffalo horns as relics of that departed animal unless l they are something like the horns the buf- faloes used to wear
 First the Indians scrape the horns with | knife until the surface is comparatively | smooth. Then they file them for a long time, until they are smoother yet. Final ly they take stone and begin to polish, and keep up the process until the horns | are as smooth as glass and as black and | shiny as well polished boot. Some tray elers think the product is very pretty, and | so the Indians have an occasional custo- mer. Sometimes they make sort of hat | rack of several of the horns. A pair of fine horns brings from seventy-five cents to one dollars and half, and other speci- mems containing several horns are valued
 at from two to four dollars. Of course
 the Indians ask good deal more than they
 will take. During the bargaining usually
 not a word is said on either side. The In | dians pretend ignorance of English. 1 When asked the price they hold up one or
 more fingers. The tourist is sure, if the
 price is only two dollars, to offer only one
 and finally, after the tourist has shaken 6
 solitary finger in her face for few min
 utes, he decides to do little better. Sc
 he shakes one finger at her, and then
 crosses the finger with finger of the oth
 CT hand, which means that he will give one
 dollar and a half. After a good deal oi
 gesticulating on both sides bargain ii
 struck.
 At all the stations where the Indians
 gather at train time there is only one lo
 which can be called fairly good specimens of their race. That is remnant of Sit
 ting Bulls old band which lives at Moos, | Jaw. Inoro dro sIAby OI lueSS lnuldus
 and when Sitting Bull returned to the lant
 of his fathers they declined to cross thu
 border, and are settled down permanent.
 in Canada. A few other Sioux are alst
 found at Brandon. They are all engaged
 in the buffalo horn industry. One olt fellow at Moose Jaw was noble specimen , He had head that would not have dis graced philosopher or general, and mien that was eloquent in its statelines and dignity; and yet this old fellow wh' looked as though he was made to preserv l the best traditions of his race was havinl , a quarrel with tourist over 6 differenc of a quarter of a dollar in the price of pair of horns.
 Most-of the Indians along the route ar 3 Crees Some of the tourists the other da a were bewailing the fact that they hadn' seen a good-looking Indian girl on tn way. "The reason is, ," said dweller i 3 that land, "because the good-looking one
 are all down on the reservations. Ther
 are many good looking girls down there You see these Indians who hang aroun ? the stations are renegades, They gre