Sam's Session Continued
Chapter 4 – The Burning Camp
Sam finds herself surveying the aftermath of a devastating attack on her village. As the losses become clear, she begins to realise the responsibility that now rests upon her shoulders.
F: Mm... but so are you.
S: Yes, we are.
F: So, just going back to where you are then. You're on the top of the mountain... or did you say hill?
S: Hill.
F: So what's happening now? What can you see?
S: People in the camp are trying to put out fires now that they've gone.
We are gathering again...
Seeing what our losses are.
Seeing what we can reclaim.
What we need to do.
Who we need to build tipis for...
F: And what about the horses? You said that Milly was next to you.
S: (whispering) She's brave.
F: Can you talk more about that?
S: I think I've lost Milly...
Horses are precious...
We have some who are wounded.
Some of them we'll have to put down.
We need our horses...
F: But Milly got an arrow through her, so can you still feel her at the side of you?
S: Yes.
F: Can you still communicate with her?
S: Yes.
F: Okay, so how long will she stay with you?
S: Forever.
F: What else can you see? What's happening now?
S: Wailing...
I hear the wailing.
F: It's very upsetting, isn't it?
Have you lost anybody else who's close to you?
S: Not sure yet...
I think we will have to have a new leader.
F: So the leader's gone?
S: I think we have lost our chief.
F: Yeah.
So is there anybody there that people are thinking should take over?
S: Me...
The son.
F: Ah, so you're the chief's son.
Do you know what your name is?
S: Taquahentae.
F: And are you going to take that role on?
S: I have to.
F: Do you feel strong enough to do that?
S: Yes.
F: Good.
Okay, so just moving away from that scene for a moment, I want you to go to the actual place where you live.
I know it's in that village, and I know you've got something that may have just been burnt down, but can you just go there?
I want you to look at it from the outside, the place where you live, and just describe it.
S: We are in a wide canyon...
A river runs through it.
It's on the left as I'm looking down.
In the middle we have the big tipis...
The chief's family.
It's surrounded by groups of other tipis.
We have the medicine man.
He's on the right.
We have a point that we normally come through to enter this camp.
It's not guarded, but because of the layout of the canyon, it's the way we normally come in.
And the chief's door opens towards that route.
F: So there's only one way in and one way out, is that what you're saying?
S: Off the canyon, yes.
F: Okay, so do you feel that might be a bit of a trap, or do you feel that's safe?
S: It wasn't guarded well enough.
They can't come down the hills.
They can't come down the sides.
But it can be a trap if it isn't guarded well enough.
F: So are you going to change that?
S: Yes.
F: So as you actually go into your tipi, I just want you to describe what's inside.
S: There are skins on the floor...
Warm skins.
There's a fire pit in the middle.
That's where the women...
We sit around.
We have logs.
We cover them with rugs, and we sit on them and talk around the fire.
Towards the edge we have piles of skins.
They're our beds.
F: Right, so how many of you live together in that tipi?
S: In that tipi we have six...
It's big.
F: So who do you live with?
S: My father.
My mother.
Me.
My brother.
My sister.
And we have...
There's a lady who helps my mother look after all of us.
F: Okay, good.
So is your mother alright?
Has she been hurt in the fighting?
S: My mother's alive.
F: Good.
What about your brother and your sister?
S: They're too young to fight...
She hid them.
My mother hid them.
F: Why did she hide them?
S: She hid them under rugs.
F: You've got the fire in there, but at night, when it goes dark, how do you light the tipi?
S: We have fabrics which have been knotted...
Rolled together...
Then burned in oil.
They burn in dishes.
They're rolled really tight, so they take a long time to burn.
They just sit in the dish.
F: Okay, so how do you spend the majority of your time during the day?
What do you do?
S: We tend the horses.
We sharpen the tools.
We hunt.
The women skin animals...
Tan the hides...
Dry the food...
Cook the food...
We tend to sick animals...
F: Okay, so when you actually hunt, I'd like to know more about that.
Can you go to a point where you're actually hunting and tell me what you see?
Are you there on your own?
S: No...
We hunt in groups.
It depends what we're hunting.
Some may fish.
We usually start the younger boys fishing.
F: Okay, so how do you teach them how to fish?
What do you use?
S: Spears.
They have to wade into the river and learn to be still.
F: So it's just the spear actually going down onto the fish and spearing them?
S: Yes.
They need to learn how to use a spear.
It's our primary tool when hunting.
F: Alright.
Can you give me an example of when you're hunting something really big?
Just tell me what you're seeing.
S: Buffalo.
F: How do you hunt those?
S: We try to tire them.
We've got to split the herd...
Separate one...
Then we all use our spears to bring it down.
We need strong, brave horses for this.
F: When you've actually brought it down, how do you get it back to the camp?
S: We drag it.
F: What do you drag it on?
S: Ropes made from hide.
F: When you actually hunt the buffalo, or any animal, do you give thanks to it or anything like that?
Do you communicate with it?
S: Always...
When we bring the animal down, we have a song.
It's a chant...
A song to give thanks that this animal has given up its life to keep us alive.
We give thanks when we bring it down.
We chant before we take it away.
The buffalo is so big we have to drag it...
Or put it on a pallet if we have one.
Other animals we can mount on some of the horses.
They're thanked again once they come to camp.
The women sing and chant as they skin the animals.
F: Mm.
Does the animal know that it's been chosen before you actually hunt it down?
Do you communicate with it?
S: Yes.
F: Do you ask if it can be brought down and eaten?
S: It's not so much an asking...
It's more of a telling.
Because we always tell them we will honour them.
F: Do they communicate back to you?
S: Some give up easier than others.
Some will fight.
Some will take arrows and run back.
It's not their time.
They won't give in.
But if there's a couple of arrows and spears...
They'll drop.
F: And they're happy to do that?
S: Yes...
It is their time.
F: I want you to go back to the camp now.
Tell me what you're seeing.
S: Busyness...
Busy.
Even in the grief there are people being busy.
I see the medicine man has come out.
He's out by his hut.
He's ready.
He's waiting.
He knows he's going to be busy.
He has his fire...
And his herbs.
F: Can you give me an example of him treating somebody?
If you can pick somebody you know who's going to be treated, just run through it and describe what he does.
S: He has many leaves and dried herbs that he makes a poultice from.
Sometimes he chews these...
Then spits them out and puts the poultice on their skin.
Then he puts a simple bandage on.
That might be for a knife wound.
Other times, if he has to remove something from their body, he has them in the hut.
He burns herbs...
And he takes their minds to another level so he can do what he needs to do.
And we hear the screams if he does it.
F: How does he take them to another level?
S: The herbs.
F: Right, I see.
Do you know what the herbs are?
S: I don't know their names.
There are some with pods...
With seeds in.
I can see a long green pod.
It has black seeds inside.
He uses some of those seeds.
There are others that are spiky.
Some that look like men's hands...
They're green.
He uses certain berries as well.
Sometimes he disappears for a couple of days collecting them.
F: So he takes them to a different level...
A different state...
And what does he do then?
Does it just heal naturally?
S: No.
He uses them like an anaesthetic...
So he can lessen their pain and their awareness.
If he has to remove a limb...
Or the limb is partially severed and he has to take the rest.
F: How does he do that?
Does he have really sharp knives?
S: Yes.
He has many knives.
Some big knives like tomahawks.
And he has some very small knives...
Really fine knives...
Like needles.
F: Okay, so if he had to do that, how would he seal the leg if he had to cut part of it off?
S: Fire...
He cauterises it.
He heats what is like a plate...
Then binds it.
Packs it with weeds...
Wet herbs...
And wheat...
Then binds it to let it heal.
F: What I want you to do now is leave that scene.
I'm going to move you forward to another important day.
Go there now and tell me what you see.
S: Everybody...
The whole tribe is here.
Everybody.
The warriors are all dressed with their feathers...
Their braids...
They're dressed as though they're going to war...
But they're not.
They're celebrating.
F: Okay, so what's happened?
S: I'm being made chief.
F: Oh, okay.
How old are you now?
S: I'm twenty-five.
F: So it's a big celebration then?
S: Yes...
Much food is cooking.
F: Good.
What are you wearing?
S: I have a very big headdress on my head.
F: Can you describe that?
S: Yes...
It's leather around my head.
Attached to it are black feathers.
These are from my father's headdress.
They're big plumes...
They radiate from ear to ear.
I have his collar.
This belongs to our tribe.
It passes through our tribe.
Every leader has this.
It sits around my neck, covering my chest.
The back is leather.
It has woven braids of leather looping from one side to the other.
It has stones that have been pierced.
They're beautiful stones, sharpened like teeth.
They're attached to the leather pieces that go from side to side.
They fill the collar.
They're a very dark rock...
Almost black.
F: Right, what about your wrists?
Anything on there?
S: Yes.
I have similar plates which go from my wrists almost to my elbows.
They're leather with bindings.
The rocks don't dangle on these, though.
The rocks are only on the front part of my forearm.
The lacings are at the back.
F: What about your feet and your legs?
Anything on there?
S: No.
I have my knife on a similar belt.
It's like a small version of my collar.
It's on the front, and I have a scabbard which was my father's.
This is the chief's scabbard.
F: How are you feeling?
S: Proud...
Happy...
Sad...
It's my tribe now.
F: Have you got another horse now?
S: I do.
A good horse.
I still have Milly.
She still walks with me.
Not as wise as Milly.
Not as good.
Not as brave with the buffalo.
F: But you can train it, can't you?
S: Yes.
F: So where did you get that horse from?
What happened?
Was it passed to you?
S: No.
I took this one on a raid.
I took it because it looks like Milly.
F: Okay...
And is Milly happy about that?
S: Yes.
F: Did she help you pick it?
S: Yes.
F: Yeah...
Okay, I thought so.
Alright, let's move away from that celebration now and leave that vision behind you.
I want you to go to another important day...
An important day where something really significant is happening.
Go there now and tell me what you see.
S: We're having a meeting.
F: Whereabouts are you?
S: We're out on the open plains.
We wouldn't have it anywhere else.
We're with my tribe.
It's taken us two years to fully recover, but we are meeting with the tribe that we warred with.
We have to agree boundaries...
Otherwise there will be another war.
F: So how's it going?
What's happening?
S: We are there.
We all have our best warriors...
Best horses...
All of our spears...
Shining...
Dazzling in the sun.
We look fierce...
As do they.
F: Okay, how many are there of you?
S: We have two hundred and fifty men.
F: Right, so they're all there with you?
S: Yes...
There are some at the camp.
The younger boys...
The ones who aren't yet fit for war.
They're with some of the older warriors.
They're guarding the camp.
F: The tribe that you're meeting with...
How many are there of them?
S: They are similar in number.
F: Okay, so is it you that's talking to the chief?
S: Yes.
F: So what's happening?
S: Our formation is a "V".
Theirs is a "V" also.
We stop about eight hundred yards from each other...
Then we go forward.
I have four men with me...
As does he.
F: Is that two at each side?
S: Yes.
I walk forward...
We make a little circle.
We sit around, and we'll guard the horses.
I will have one on either side and one behind me.
He also.
And we will agree.
F: So I want to move you a little further forward now...
To when you've actually agreed the terms.
Tell me what's been agreed.
S: We both have the river.
We have the river to one point.
He has it from then onwards.
We both need the river.
We will remain in our canyon.
We have the hunting fields, which are to the south of us and to the east of us.
We have the river to the west.
They are our lands.
The land where we met is the land dividing us.
He will have the area that is north of us.
F: And the hunting fields?
S: His hunting fields are to the east, on the other side of the river.
F: Okay.
Are you both happy with the agreement?
S: Yes.
F: Okay.
So how old are you now?
S: Twenty-five.
F: So it's more or less straight away from when you became chief?
S: Yes.
F: What's happening now?
S: We hope to trust them.
We drink beer.
We toast.
We draw the map in the ground.
We have our men go out and put stone markers on the boundary lines.
F: On the territory...
Yeah, okay.
S: So we can see where they are.
These should not be crossed without invitation.
F: Do you think you will actually communicate with them again?
Will you get together?
S: We have to trade.
We have more buffalo.
They like our buffalo.
Everyone likes buffalo.
They have other things they can trade with us.
Their fishing is better, and they're also upriver.
They have lots of stones which the women like for jewellery.
F: Okay.
So it's a nice balance, really.