May, 1903. The Arapaho Sun Dance — Dorsey. 19 



and which protected it from the fork of its support, and holding it in 

 his right hand, he slowly passed it up the right side of Watdngaa's 

 body, beginning with his right foot, and ending with his head, when 

 he held it out in front of him at arms' length and gave it an outward, 

 jerking motion, as though he were endeavoring to cast off something 

 from the feathers of the Wheel. He then passed the Wheel behind 

 him to his left hand and went through the same performance, drawing 

 the feather appendages of the Wheel up the left side of Watdngaa's 

 body, and again cleansing the feathers. The same operation was 

 again repeated for the right side, and again for the left, passing the 

 Wheel behind his body as before, in transferring it from his right to 

 his left hand. The Wheel was then transferred from the left to the 

 right hand, passing it behind him, and was placed under the arm of 

 Watdngaa, who gathered the feathers up under his arm and pressed 

 them to his body. Debithe then passed the Wheel behind him to his 

 left hand and placed it under Watdngaa's left arm. This operation 

 was also repeated again under the right arm, and then under the left. 

 Debithe then passed the Wheel back to his right hand, and holding it 

 aloft, made a circular sunwise motion over Watdngaa's head four 

 times, and then placed the Wheel down over the latter's head, the 

 feathers hanging down over his breast. Watdngaa then clasped the 

 Wheel with both arms and prayed for several minutes. Debithe then 

 removed the Wheel from his head, held it to Watdngaa's mouth, who 

 placed his lips upon the beaded part four times. Watdngaa now 

 returned to his original position at the north of the door, passing, as 

 he did so, behind all those on the north side of the circle. 



Watdngaa's wife then took up a position similar to that occupied 

 recently by her husband at the south of the Wheel, when Debithe 

 performed the same movements over her. It is to be noted, however, 

 that in making the two passes over each side of her body, the move- 

 ment began at the head and terminated at the feet, instead of begin- 

 ning at the feet and terminating at the head, as in the case of Watdngaa 

 himself. 



Pipes were smoked on the north and south of the lodge, the pipe 

 on the south side starting at the east, and the pipe on the north side 

 of the lodge starting at the west, each pipe, while being smoked, 

 traveling in a sunwise circuit. The pipes made the circuit four times. 

 This ended the purification ceremony of Watdngaa and his wife. 



A man by the name of Nishnat^yana (Two-Babies), grandfather 

 of the Lodge-Maker of the present year, now entered the lodge with 

 his wife, Thiyeh (Shave-Head), bearing in his arms a sick child and 

 carrying in his hand a filled pipe and a piece of calico, similar to the 



