The review. [volume] (High Point, N.C.) 1908-19??, 1913-04-03
SuperstitionS of the Grow
Indians
(Wm. L. Chenery in Chicago Even
in6 POSt.)

offered was too great ana the lnOldu
handed over the relic.
The white man took the worn buf
falo hide in his hands and began t.
. examine it. First he noticed tn
rope which bound the package. l
was woven from buffalo hair, pro
cess of passed generations. Their
with care he united the rope
unwound the buffalo hide and tool
the old shield, torn, punctured with
arrow tips, painted and adorned
with medicine skins" and began t.
examine the prize. Suddenly pos
sessed by the desire to make an
immediate payment, he placed the
shield on the ground and reached
foE his pocket
Instantly an angry shout arose
from all the bucks assembled Men
and women then began to use their
most evil curses on the unfortunate
visitor.
Baffied and at a loss to understand
the sudden uproar, the white man
grabbed the shield and insisted on
his right to it. Finally the hubbub
Quoted down and Carlisle student,
who was acting as interpreter, said
Eexcitedly:
Doctor, you have done wrong;
you have not acted right to these
people. They say terrible storm
will come to them. You put the
medicine shield on the ground. Mis-
fortune will come"
| DR.. S. Chapman Simms, assistant
curator of anthropology at the Field
Museum, the white trader of the
incident, continues the story:
"Fknew many of the Crow taboos
and naturally | had tried to observe
them. This one was strange to me.
The Indians had used the old shield
to produce rain when their crops
needed it. They touched the rim
only to the gre und.
After much disputing they let
me have the relic, and | started
away toward the agency. In about
three hours after the uproar, as the
weather would have it, the worst
storm of years did visit the reserva-
ton. What was worse, earlier in
the day the sky had been cloudless.
That storm blew down every tipi for
miles; it broke every window in the
GOV eminent agency. The shield was
the last | ever obtained from the
Crows.
In all | had collected about 1000
shields the Field museum has the
most extensive collection in the
world-but never again could I in
duce them to part with Shields.
Such are the difficulties which
arise when men of different civiliza-
ton attempt to trade.
DR.. Limms made his first visit to
the Crows on the Big Horn and Little
Big Horn and on the Yellowstone
river during the summer and winter
of 1901, and since then he has visit
ed the people numerous times in
the continuation of its work. A
remarkable collection of costumes
and weapons at the Field museum
represent his efforts among them.
The Crows uame is the subject of
several stories. Their enemies tell
one version of how they came to
get the appellation, while they them
selves give another more compli-
mentary. A Cheyenne Indian is the
authority for this one:
When the Cheyennes first met
the Crows, pet medicine crow
was the subject of much attention
from the tribe. So they were called
the Crows. The Grosventres have
another explanation less pleasing.
During a battle between the Sioux
and the Crows, they say some of
the Crows sat on a hill near the
action and would not come down.
A war1ir called out to them, ask
ing why they sat there like a bunch
of Crows" Afterward, according to
this tale, the tribe Was called Crows.
The explanation given by them
selves is that their name was origin
ally Sparrow Hawk, bird of good
fighting qualities. Later this was
changed 20 the present form.
While DR.. .Simms was among the
Crows one of his interpreters was
Robert Medium, white factor of
the American Fur company, but
chief of the Indians, with whom he
had lived for forty years. Medium
was so much an Indian in habit that
he thought in the Crow language
rather than in his original English.
Of his experiences DR.. Simms say:
AS a rule the men are tall and
we'll formed, many being over SIX
feet in height. They wear their hair
long because it would be unfair to
their adversaries to cut it short.
Short hair uOIlld indiooto +bo+ +.o