May, 1905. The Cheyenne — Dorsey. 185 



black and those on the other side red, the sticks being collectively 

 typical of the seven periods of creation. The vegetation of the altar 

 is represented by the Cheyenne by plum and cottonwood boughs, and 

 small bushes set upright in the semi-circular ridge around the skull. 

 In the Arapaho altar they are represented by small bushes inserted 

 in each of the two circular pieces of sod and by seven boughs arranged 

 in a straight row, four on the right and three on the left of the skull. 

 Behind the Arapaho altar stands the wheel on its support and the 

 secret bundle; on the Cheyenne altar the secret bundle only is present, 

 and contains, in addition a black pipe similar in shape to the red pipe in 

 the Arapaho bundle, a buffalo chip. In the final dance the Arapaho 

 face the setting sun; the Cheyenne dance to the four directions, and are 

 led several times around the center-pole by the Chief Priest. The 

 manufacture of sweet or holy water in a bowl behind the altar is an 

 important rite in the Arapaho ceremony; it is not found in the 

 Cheyenne. The sacred pipe is smoked on the evening of the conclu- 

 sion of the performance by the Cheyenne ; on the following morning 

 by the Arapaho, preceded by a rite to the rising sun. On this 

 same morning the Arapaho place many offerings of cast-off garments 

 on the altar foliage and on the center-pole and uprights of the lodge ; the 

 Cheyenne made no such offerings. The paint of the Arapaho was com- 

 plicated by the introduction of so-called dream-paints. It was pro- 

 gressive, however, and led to what may be termed a medicine rain- 

 making paint; the paints of the Cheyenne were less complicated, and 

 led more logically to the same end. 



Thus it will be seen that though there are many minor differences, 

 none exist of fundamental importance. The conclusions already 

 reached may be repeated ; the two ceremonies seem to be morpho- 

 logically the same. 



It remains to consider the drama of the Sun Dance in con- 

 nection with the ritual. To do this for the Arapaho is extremely 

 difficult, as the connection between the drama and the ritual is never 

 so apparent as to be convincing. The connection in the Cheyenne 

 is much more striking and logical. The intimacy of this connection 

 is at once suggested by the difference in the meaning of the name 

 applied to the ceremony by the two tribes, the Arapaho calling it 

 "The Ceremony of the Offerings-Lodge," the Cheyenne " The Cere- 

 mony of Rebirth. " According to the Cheyenne ritual, the ceremony 

 owes its origin to the fact that during a time of famine a certain 

 man of the tribe, later known as Erect-Horns, and represented in 

 the actual ceremony of to-day by the Lodge-maker, left the camp 

 with a woman, not his wife, visited a medicine mountain, was re- 



