6o Field Columbian Museum — Anthropology, Vol. IV, 



been brought in by Chanitoe, Hdwkan made a large object in a globu- 

 lar form at one end, by bending the blades of grass double, the ends 

 of which were cut off even at one end. This he now painted half black 

 and half red, and placed it in the nasal skeleton of the buffalo skull. 

 In the mean time, Chanitoe had made two similar objects, one of 

 which he painted black and the other red. The black one he placed 

 in the socket of the right eye of the skull, and the red one in the left. 

 Hdwkan, Chanitoe, Waakatani, and Debithe now proceeded to paint 

 the skull. A small black dot was painted on the right side of the skull 

 just in front of the eye-socket. In a corresponding position on the 

 left was painted in red a crescent-shaped design. Along the median 

 line of the skull they next proceeded to paint two lines, one black on 

 the right side, and a red parallel line on the left. The remaining por- 

 tion of the skull was then painted in rows of dots, those on the right 

 being black, while those on the left were red. The painting of the 

 skull was completed by their daubing black paint on the right horn, 

 and red paint on the left. The skull was now replaced in its position 

 west of the fireplace. 



THE BUFFALO SKULL DECORATED, 1902. 



This ceremony, as witnessed in 1902, followed the painting of the 

 buffalo robe in the forenoon of the third day. Watanah lifted the 

 Wheel from its support, which was then pulled up and thrust in 

 the ground north of the skull, when the Wheel was replaced. Debithe 

 took up the skull and sat down in the southwest corner of the lodge, 

 placing the skull in front of him. Hocheni then went through the 

 usual motions of touching the ground with his finger, then his tongue, 

 taking a bite of root, spitting five times, and making the usual cere- 

 monial passes with the pipe-stem. 



Hdwkan provided the usual spruce leaves, which he placed over 

 a live coal near the skull. Watdngaa and Chanitoe then mixed black 

 paint with tallow, given them by Watdnah, while Debithe and Watdnah 

 mixed tallow with red paint. The four made the five ceremonial 

 passes over the incense, having first thoroughly rubbed the palms of 

 their hands in the paint. The two men having the black paint then 

 proceeded to paint a slender line from the anterior part to the back of 

 the skull. Thus the line was said to have been given. The other two, 

 meantime, painted a parallel line in red, but began at the base of the 

 skull and painted toward the anterior end. By this movement the 

 paint was received. These two lines, traversing the entire length of 

 the skull, were on either side of the median suture, the red line being 

 on the left or north side of the suture. 



