Under various names Old Man is known to the Crees, Chippeways, and other Algonquins, and many of the stories that are current among the Blackfeet are told of him among those tribes.  The more southern of these tribes do not venerate him as of old, but the Plains and Timber Crees of the north, and the north Chippeways, are said still to be firm believers in Old Man.  He was their Creator, and is still their chief god.  He is believed in less by the younger generation than the older.  The Crees are regarded by the Indians of the Northwest as having very powerful medicine, and this all comes from Old Man.

Old Man can never die.  Long ago he left the Blackfeet and went away to the West, disappearing in the mountains.  Before his departure he told them that he would always take care of them, and some day would return.  Even now, many of the old people believe that he spoke the truth, and that some day he will come back, and will bring with him the buffalo, which they believe the white men have hidden.  It is sometimes said, however, that when he left them he told them also that, when he returned, he would find them changed—­a different people and living in a different way from that which they practised when he went away.  Sometimes, also, it is said that when he disappeared he went to the East.

It is generally believed that Old Man is no longer the principal god of the Blackfeet, that the Sun has taken his place.  There is some reason to suspect, however, that the Sun and Old Man are one, that N[=a]t[=o]s’ is only another name for Na’pi, for I have been told by two or three old men that “the Sun is the person whom we call Old Man.”  However this may be, it is certain that Na’pi—­even if he no longer occupies the chief place in the Blackfoot religious system—­is still reverenced, and is still addressed in prayer.  Now, however, every good thing, success in war, in the chase, health, long life, all happiness, come by the special favor of the Sun.

The Sun is a man, the supreme chief of the world.  The flat, circular earth in fact is his home, the floor of his lodge, and the over-arching sky is its covering.  The moon, K[=o]-k[=o]-mik’-[=e]-[)i]s, night light, is the Sun’s wife.  The pair have had a number of children, all but one of whom were killed by pelicans.  The survivor is the morning star, A-pi-su-ahts—­early riser.

In attributes the Sun is very unlike Old Man.  He is a beneficent person, of great wisdom and kindness, good to those who do right.  As a special means of obtaining his favor, sacrifices must be made.  These are often presents of clothing, fine robes, or furs, and in extreme cases, when the prayer is for life itself, the offering of a finger, or—­still dearer—­a lock of hair.  If a white buffalo was killed, the robe was always given to the Sun.  It belonged to him.  Of the buffalo, the tongue—­regarded as the greatest delicacy of the whole animal—­was especially sacred