FINE-FEATHERED CROWS
ig men from a rather small Plains tribe, Crow warriors inherently understood the idiom “clothes make the man” and were famed for their elegance. Edwin Thompson Denig, a mid–19th century fur trader and ethnographer, said a Crow camp on the march “presents a gay and lively appearance, more so perhaps than any other [tribe].” Fellow fur trader Charles Larpenteur concurred and offered a roundabout reason for their resplendence. A moderate drinker whose first two wives were Assiniboine, Larpenteur cited the Crows’ abstention from alcohol in pre-reservation days as one reason for his marital preference. “As they do
