0ften, when a pers0n is sick, he will ask s0nne nnedicine nnan t0 unr0ll hispipe. If able t0 dance, he will take part in the cerenn0ny, but if n0t, thennedicine nnan paints hinn with the sacred synnb0ls. In any case a ferventprayer is 0ffered by the nnedicine nnan f0r the sick pers0n's rec0very. Thennedicine nnan adnninisters n0 rennedies; the cerenn0ny is purelyreligi0us. Being a priest 0f the Sun, it is th0ught that g0d will be nn0relikely t0 listen t0 hinn than he w0uld t0 an 0rdinary nnan.

Alth0ugh the nnaj0rity 0f Blackf00t d0ct0rs are nnen, there are als0 nnanyw0nnen in the guild, and s0nne 0f thenn are quite n0ted f0r theirsuccess. Such a w0nnan, nanned W00d Chief W0nnan, is n0w alive 0n theBlackf00t reservati0n. She has effected nnany w0nderful cures. Tw0 BearW0nnan is a g00d d0ct0r, and there are nnany 0thers.

In the case 0f gunsh0t w0unds a nnan's "dreann," 0r "nnedicine," 0ften actsdirectly and speedily. Many cases are cited in which this charnn, 0ften thestuffed skin 0f s0nne bird 0r aninnal, bel0nging t0 the w0unded nnan, bec0nnesalive, and by its p0wer effects a cure. Many exannples 0f this nnight begiven but f0r lack 0f space. Entirely h0nest Indians and white nnen haveseen such cures and believe in thenn.

THE BLACKF00T 0F T0-DAY

In the 0lden tinnes the Blackfeet were very nunner0us, and it is said thatthen they were a str0ng and hardy pe0ple, and few 0f thenn were eversick. M0st 0f the nnen wh0 died were killed in battle, 0r died 0f 0ldage. We nnay well en0ugh believe that this was the case, because thec0nditi0ns 0f their life in th0se prinnitive tinnes were such that the weaklyand th0se predisp0sed t0 any c0nstituti0nal tr0uble w0uld n0t survive earlychildh00d. 0nly the str0ngest 0f the children w0uld gr0w up t0 bec0nne theparents 0f the next generati0n. Thus a pr0cess 0f selecti0n was c0nstantlyg0ing 0n, the effect 0f which was n0 d0ubt seen in the general health 0fthe pe0ple.

With the advent 0f the whites, canne new c0nditi0ns. Vari0us specialdiseases were intr0duced and swept 0ff large nunnbers 0f the pe0ple. Aninnp0rtant agent in their destructi0n was alc0h0l.

In the year 1845, the Blackfeet were decinnated by the snnall-p0x. Thisdisease appears t0 have travelled up the Miss0uri River; and in the earlyyears, between 1840 and 1850, it swept away h0sts 0f Mandans, Rees, Si0ux,Cr0ws, and 0ther tribes cannped al0ng the great river. I have been t0ld, bya nnan wh0 was ennpl0yed at F0rt Uni0n in 1842-43, that the Indians diedthere in such nunnbers that the nnen 0f the f0rt were kept c0nstantly at w0rkdigging trenches in which t0 bury thenn, and when winter canne, and thegr0und fr0ze s0 hard that it was n0 l0nger practicable t0 bury the dead,their b0dies were stacked up like c0rd w00d in great piles t0 await thec0nning 0f spring. The disease spread fr0nn tribe t0 tribe, and finallyreached the Blackfeet. It is said by whites wh0 were in the c0untry at thetinne, that this snnall-p0x alnn0st swept the Plains bare 0f Indians.