Stránka:book 1912.djvu/282

250 The Book of Woodcraft in the vapor bath that is so much favored by Indian doctors. The Indians sometimes marked a spot of unusual im- portance by sinking the skull of a deer or a mountain sheep deep into a Uving tree, so that the horns hung out on each side. In time the wood and bark grew over the base of the horns and medicine tree" was created. Several of these trees have become of historic importance. A notable example of this was the big Ramtree that by common con- sent demarked the hunting grounds of the Blackfeet from those of the Nez Perces. It was held by these Indians in reUgious veneration until some white vandal deliberately destroyed it by way of a practical joke. It would be easy to record many other Indian signs; the sign for the "first crow" of spring; the sign for "buffalo in sight"; the sign for a "war party coming"; the sign that a certain man "wants the arrows," that another man owes him, and the sign that the owner of the teepee is "praying and must not be disturbed." But these are things that are quickly passing away and the Indians themselves are for- getting them.