May, 1905. The Cheyenne — Dorsey. 91 



The Buffalo Skull. 



By the time the priests had returned in the afternoon for the 

 continuation of the secret rites, certain material had been provided 

 by members of the warrior society and placed at the back of the lodge. 

 An old buffalo skull had also been placed upside down in front of the 

 tipi, facing it and at a distance of about fifty feet. 



The skull had been brought to the camp by Bushy-Head, a promi- 

 nent medicine-man of the Kingfisher district. When the Lone-tipi 

 was erected, the Lodge-maker's wife had taken it from Bushy-Head's 

 tipi and carried it west of the Lone-tipi, where she placed it on the 

 ground upside down. There it had remained until Little Hawk, at 

 noon on this day, carried it in front of the Lone-tipi, where he mo- 

 tioned it toward the ground four times, then rested it on the ground 

 on its side and moved it back and forth four times and left it. 



The assistant Chief Priest went up to the skull, rubbed both hands 

 four times over the north half of the skull from the east toward the 

 west, putting his hands on the ground in front of the skull after each 

 movement.* Thus he ceremonially cleaned off the element of age 

 from the skull. He made a prayer. He then made four passes 

 toward the skull with his hands and grasped it at the base of the 

 horns, lifted it up, pausing while lifting four times, and turned it 

 toward the south. Stooping well over it, he lifted it up and carried 

 it slowly toward the tipi. Having approached the entrance he halted 

 and motioned the skull toward the tipi four times, thus drawing four 

 herds of buffalo. Within, he proceeded by way of the south to the 

 west, and moving the skull four times he placed it so that the anterior 

 half rested on the cleared space, and faced the center of the tipi. 



The Fifth Earth. 



The assistant Chief Priest sat down on the south side of the skull 

 and just in front and at the south side of the jaw formed a new 

 "earth," representing a buffalo wallow. The Chief Priest handed the 

 sacred bundle to the assistant Chief Priest, who placed it to the south 

 of him, while the Chief Priest placed the buffalo chip behind the skull. 

 The latter sat down behind the bundle, unfastened the tie strings, and 

 removed the pipe which had been tied up in buffalo hair and calico. 

 He then untied the bundle proper, and from a calico wrapper, inside 

 of which was a large quantity of buffalo hair, he took out a sack 

 made of the pericardium of a buffalo heart. He made four passes 



* Formerly the lofj bone of a buffalo was actually rubbed over the skull to ceremonially 

 purify it. 



