May, 1903. The Arapaho Sun Dance — Dorsev. 17 



and then to the tip of his tongue. He then bit off a small portion of 

 root, upon which he chewed for a few moments. Then, holding the 

 palms of his two hands together in front of him, he spat five times, 

 first at the base of the thumb of his right hand, then at the base of the 

 thumb uf his left hand, then in the upper and outer corner of his right 

 and of his left hand, and at the junction of the base of the two little 

 fingers. This action of ejecting spittle into the hands, which is to be 

 mentioned many times during the following pages of this paper, is said 

 to be in imitation of the movements of a skiink while charging a bear. 

 He then rubbed the palms of his hands together, drew them down 

 each side of his head and body and over his body. He then spat 

 toward the food bowl four times. He then took up a piece of meat, 

 first motioning toward the bowl five times, which he cut into five 

 pieces. 



Watdngaa now arose from his position and received the pieces 

 from the hands of Debithe, and standing in the southeast corner of 

 the lodge, he lifted one piece aloof with his right hand and then 

 deposited it on the ground at his feet. This was repeated at the 

 bouthwest, northwest, and northeast corners of the lodge, and then, 

 passing on arOund the fireplace, in a sunwise circuit, he stepped in 

 front of the buffalo skull and Wheel and. rubbed the remaining pieCe 

 between the palms of his hands, which he now passed up over the 

 skull, toward the Wheel, four times, and then deposited the offering 

 under the jaw of the skull. He then resumed his position by the door. 



Bech^aye divided the food into as many portions as there were 

 persons present, and passed it to them. In doing this, she was care- 

 ful to follow the sun circle, beginning with the individual next the 

 door on the south and terminating with the individual seated just back 

 of the Wheel. As it was not allowable to pass food in front of the 

 skull, and as it would have been inconvenient to have passed food 

 behind the skull to those sitting on the north side of the tipi, she passed 

 food for the remainder, across the door, first, however, giving the 

 vessel a circular motion from right to left, thus imitating the sun 

 circle. The remainder of the feast, together with the empty vessels, 

 was now passed to the attendants awaiting on the outside of the lodge. 



Debithe now took up the pipe, which had been brought in by 

 Watangaa, and gave it to Nishchanakati (White-Eye-Antelope). The 

 latter, holding the pipe in his left hand, touched the tip of the first 

 finger of his right hand to the ground and then to his mouth ; then, 

 with the thumb and first finger of this hand, he sacrificed a pinch of 

 the tobacco upon the ground in front of him. He now held the pipe 

 in both hands, so that the bowl was uppermost, and pointed the stem 



