Blackfoot news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1891-1902, 1898-01-15

large tribes, among whom the Fran
ciscan missionaries from Spain and the
Mediterranean islands came on a mis-
Sion OF civilization and Christianity in
the two last decades of the eighteenth
century, and who. for thirty or forty
years, were under the fostering care
~ the monks. A century ago the
IdiEsion Indians numbered about u 900
Tut, like all other aborigines in contact
with the white mans ways, they have
become rapidly less populous and have
weakened in physical and mental Prov
ess. The total number OF Mission In
dams is now 1000. Once year the
Mission Indians come together for
nesta season as their ancestors did.
al the end of the harvest, and in the
last days of long, warm summer.
The celebration lasts from FIVE days to
Two weeks. but in the last few years of
general adversely among tillers of the
SOIL, even poor Lo has felt scarcity
OF dimes and nickels, and the fiesta
has been cut down to five days. The
locality OF the fiesta is changed each
year for the convenience of all the IN
dams This year the fiesta took place
on broad mesa, close by the Santa
Rosa and Rincon mountains. An oval
enclosure was made in the mesa, of
brush, palm leaves and poles deity
woven together by party of young
Indian bucks. The walls of the en-
closure were seven feet high, and the
area enclosed was about an acre. Along
the walls of the stockade were built
huts of palm branches, brush and tall
corn stalks, and here were stalls for
gambling games and the sale of gew-
gaws and mild drinks There were
fat old bucks, glistening with perspira-
ton and red and white paints, with
long black hair that hung over their
pudgy arms and chests, riding agtride
| OF decrepit horses, while s4uawfi
trudged alongside on foot, bearing a
ponderous load, like Atlas. of cooking
utensile and savage household stores.
There were children on foot and in
crazy old weather beaten wagons.
There were young squaws in lumber
wagons, fastened together by rope and
wire, and drawn by spawned burros.
There were troops of detected ponies
laden with big rolls of blankets, can
vas and lot of clanking. grimy skill
let's, pots and kettles. There were sui
kies, to which gaunt mules were har-
messed with rope, and in which were
squeezed four and five children. wher7
two white children would be upcopa-
Portable. And then the dogs. There
seemed no end to them. Several
squaws balancing huge ball of family
outfit and provisions on their heads
were each followed by five and six
painting ours of all degrees. Several
squaws had the household goats along
The most thrilling feature of the fiesta
was the fire dance that took place on
one of the last nights of the fiesta. The
dance is a relic of the aboriginal day;
OF the savages when stoicism was j
cardinal virtue. Over 100 ranchmen
and others went miles to witness II.
The central idea of the fire dance s
/ to extinguish bonfire with bare arms
/ feet and other parts of the body, ~
CARELESS of burns, to prove indifference
I to pain ard to exhibit physical
strength. The dance took place in tbs
4 oval enclosure. During the afternoon
pepper boughs and eucalyptus trun.
| cheons were hauled from the canon and
heaped into the middle of the enclos,
ure. Dry leaves and straw were pr