i82 Field Columbian Museum — Anthropology, Vol. IV. 



of our men howled like a coyote, which meant that we had spied the 

 enemy. They then put on their paint and war costumes and joined us. 

 One of our party told our companions the location of the enemy's 

 camp. Then we divided equally and charged for the enemy, a good 

 run of seven to ten miles. My pony gave out just before we reached 

 the enemy, and my companions warned me of a man in the bush. 

 "Well, friends, have you struck him?" said I. "No, he is a bad 

 one," came the voices. "Thanks! Thanks!" said I. Without listen- 

 ing to my companions, I rode into this bush, and just as this man (a 

 Pawnee) was in the act of pulling his trigger, I struck him [the sing- 

 ers here beat upon the ch-um as he says he struck the enemy] on his 

 head with the butt of my gun. Toward the last I got all his horses, 

 goods, and food. Brothers and sisters, this is a true story. ' 



"Black-Coyote then advances to the bed where the child is lying, 

 the parents holding the child so that he may fight. Black-Coyote takes 

 one ear at a time and pierces it with an awl belonging to Two-Babies, 

 and inserts a brass ring or stick. 



"After the piercing is done, Black-Coyote's wife takes the pony 

 with the bed out of the lodge. Thus the child is saved from delicate 

 health or from the enemy's weapon. (The ear-piercing is also a 

 token of love to the child on the part of the parents, and of good will 

 on the part of the child, to all other tribes of Indians.)" 



SACRIFICE OF HUMAN FLESH. 



Having even a more remote bearing on the descriptive account of 

 the Sun Dance are the two accounts which here follow, but both relate 

 to certain phases of sacrifice, which idea is prominent in the Sun 

 Dance and for this reason it has seemed not entirely inappropriate to 

 append them. Both accounts are given as obtained from the inter- 

 preter : 



When any member in the family is taken severely ill suddenly, 



one of his relatives makes a vow in the presence of the family. He 

 says to them: "In order that my brother may get well soon let it be 

 known to all spirits that early in the morning 1 shall cut seven pieces 

 from my skin, and in lieu of my brother I will bury them." 



This sick brother, in the mean time, is being attended to by one 

 or more medicine-men. He feels that his own brother thinks of him, 

 and takes courage. Those who heard the vow may express sympathy 

 for the stricken brother. The medicine-men work on the sick man 

 the remainder of the night. 



During the night the one who made the secret vow, goes to some 

 one and tells him the circumstances of the trouble and kindly asks 



