Page:American Anthropologist NS vol. 22.djvu/319

 DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 307

painted black. These men ran rapidly out to where the old man stood, per- formed some ceremony over the wand which he had placed on the ground, made motions to the sky with the hands raised palms upward, then ran back to the hogan. What happened after this I was unable to note, except that about this time gifts of cloth and other articles were thrown out through the smokehole of the hogan to be caught as they fell by a number of women who waited in line about the door. The remainder of the day was devoted to horse racing and other games.

The event closed with a girls' dance which started about 12 p.m. The belle of the ball was the bearer of the sacred war emblem which she still retained. The dance was performed thus: each girl selected a partner by force who must either dance or pay. Holding her partner by the arm or blanket she turned slowly backward with the man as a pivot, he exerting himself just enough to maintain their relative position and apparently requiring more or less urging for even this slight effort. Both wore all the time a bored expression, the man looking rather sheepish as well. How long this dance continued through the night I do not know, but I saw no change or pause in the three hours I watched it. The most exciting part of the entertainment was furnished by the horses which occasionally stampeded in bunches of a dozen or more and, blinded by the glare of the fires, ran over anything in their way.

There were six or seven hundred Indians present. A few formed a rather uninterested audience. The greater part, however, spent the the night eating or sleeping. From Mrs. John Wetherell I learned that the very old man who was led out on the flat was supposed to discover the enemy and give the alarm. The scouts then go out and locate the enemy, returning to guide a war party who surprise and drive them away, recovering at the same time a young woman who had been captured in a previous raid. The dance about the wand and lock of hair was a part of the rejoicing at the recovery and the success of the war party, though the sequence of these events do not seem quite in order. The young girl who carried the war emblem represented the rescued maiden.

These notes barely sketch the ceremony, a great many features of which I missed altogether. Others perhaps I misinterpreted from lack of knowledge.

I asked Mrs. Wetherell if the sacred war emblem might be obtained in any way but she said it would be considered a great affront to even suggest such a thing to the medicine-man. His wife however, allowed me to look at it and while I was thus engaged managed to steal my jackknife.

PEABODY MUSEUM, S - J- GUERNSEY

CAMBRIDGE, MASS.

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