There were at least two forms of this ["women’s calling off"]. When the Crow were on the warpath and had reached the enemy’s territory, they might stop, and each man would take out some trinket presented to him by his mistress and call out her name. The more common method, described by several informants, was the following. When on the warpath, a party of Crow would kill a buffalo, cook its guts, and pass them about from one man to another. Each broke off a piece, saying, "I shall bring a horse for So-and-so," mentioning the name of some girl or woman whom he had lain with. Indeed, a warrior might openly announce the fact. After the declaration a man ate the piece of sausage. Sometimes four bark shelters were erected by the warriors, and then the inmates of one tent might bring a pipe to those of another and challenge them to proclaim who their mistresses were. This would oblige them to comply with the request. Once the challengers were surprised to have the other party call off the names of the challengers’ wives, and tried to put an end to the announcements. Ralph Saco states that this custom of breaking off pieces of sausage and calling off mistresses’ names was practiced the night before sighting an enemy’s camp and that only names of married women were mentioned on that occasion. However, he refers to another mode of calling off, when either single or married women might be named.

A young woman explained that the calling off rested on the principle that inasmuch as the warriors were liable to get killed they might as well divulge their secrets.

Deer-gets-up says the form employed in calling off was first to mention the woman’s and her husband’s name, and then to add, "I slept with her." It was believed that if all the members of a war party spoke the truth they would have good luck. According to one statement, a man naming his mistress said in substance, "I wish to perform such and such a deed as truly as this story I tell is true." Sometimes the woman thus charged with adultery denied her guilt. At times the husbands happened to be of the party and were present at the calling off of their wives’ names; some did not seem to care and caused no trouble on their return, while others might leave their faithless spouses.¹

¹Lowie, R.H.n/an/an/an/a, "Social Life of the Crow Indians," Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., Anth. Pap., 9: 224–225. See Wissler, C.n/an/an/an/an/a, "Ceremonial Bundles of the Blackfoot Indians," Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., Anth. Pap., 7: 267.