Page:American Anthropologist NS vol. 22.djvu/317

 DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE

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��At daybreak the dancers rode with a great firing of guns to a large brush house that had been erected near the hogan of the sick man. They were met a little way out by a party of horsemen also firing guns. This appeared to be a sham battle. Soon all the Indians were assembled around the hogan of the sick man; I saw him rushing about, very busy with final preparation. He looked perfectly well but somewhat dishev- elled, as his hair was hanging loose. In the hogan of the sick man, two Indians, who were to enact the part of scouts, were being prepared with elaborate ceremonies that consumed nearly three hours. I was not able to gain entrance to the hogan but was told by Professor Cummings who was more fortunate that a good part of the time was spent in painting the bodies of these men, that frequently the attendants who did the painting paused, after using various pigments, to go through the motions

���FIG. 15. Upper left, dance circle; upper right, dance circle open to the east; lower left, painting wife of sick man; lower right, cleaning feathers to be worn by scouts.

of washing their hands in the sunlight that streamed through the smoke- hole.

At the same time that the "scouts" were being prepared, the wife of the sick man was receiving attention in a brush shelter just in front of the hogan. I was able to observe a part of this ceremony, as the shelter

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