May, 1905. 



The Cheyenne — Dorsey. 



145 



feathers; the third bow he painted yellow and gave it a coat of 

 yellow painted downy feathers; the fourth, or upper and outermost 

 bow, he painted white and gave it a coat of white painted downy 

 feathers. The bows now are symbolic of the rainbow or of rain; 

 if these sticks were not put up a flood would come. 



The Men Sticks. 



The assistant Chief Priest took up the nine* so-called "man 

 sticks," the lower two-thirds of which had 

 been decorticated, and inserted them in a row 

 at equal distances apart, near the southern 

 border of the excavation. (See Fig. 78.) 

 Galloping in the mean time erected seven 

 completely decorticated sticks on the north 

 side. The assistant Chief Priest then painted 

 the decorticated surface of the sticks on the 

 south side red and the upper surface black, 

 and attached red and black downy feathers 

 to them, while Galloping painted the seven 

 on the north side white and attached white 

 downy feathers. (See Fig. 79.) The white 

 sticks are symbolic of the same tribe as the 

 human effigy in the center-pole, i. e., the 



♦These sticks may varv from seven to nine. The red and black sticks are symbolic of a human 

 body with black hair, and represent the bands of Cheyenne 



Fig. 78. Decorticating the 

 men sticks. 



