Elk - A name popularly applied to the wapiti, a large deer of the western united States.  The elk provided the Indian with food and clothing.  The Crow Indians made excellent bows from elk horn.  Elk teeth were valued as ornaments, particularly necklaces.  Plains Indians used the antlers to fashion the framework of their saddles.

There was an Elk Society among some tribes.  At certain periods they performed the Elk mystery, a ceremony in which the Indians wore masks made of skins stretched on frames, to which were added boughs to represent antlers.  In their dance the Indians told the life story of the elk.
 

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