10 PAWNEES. 



of the (lav. Listen and oatch tho sound. AVe cannot tell 

 what he says. It seems like one continued vowel sound : 

 A r-a-a, with no sense to us. It requires a lar<ie aeijuain- 

 tance with the lauiruaire to be a1>le to understan'd the erier. 

 But this is their daily paper, and all the news that concerns 

 them is made known by liis voice. 



They are always at Avar, and are eaiier for the war news. 

 If a war party of the enemy have been seen, or if one of 

 their own is returninir from a sueecssful or an unsueeessful 

 fora<re, it all has to be announced in public on the orders 

 of the chiefs which nuist be obeyed. But we have come to 

 the feast and arc seated with others. If a white man is 

 invited, he n)ust be honored with the hiii'hest seat beside 

 of the master of the feast. Feastinsf is a ^reat institution 

 with tliein and when they liave plenty, is indnli:-c(| in to 

 *rreat excess. A friend who had been with them several 

 years remarked, that he had been cMlled up after retii-ini; 

 for the niirht, and invited to attend a laiyc ninnbci- of 

 feasts. The food is dealt out uns})arinirly when it is plenty. 

 Dried meat of the bufialo is the most common entertain- 

 ment at these feasts ; it is dried without salt, and is eaten 

 without or sometimes with boiling. When eaten without 

 they (>enerally sup]dy a piece of lean and a piece of fat to 

 be eaten tocrether like bread and l)utter, and all the «:uests 

 are expected to eat or carry away all that is set before 

 them. If perchance any thinir is left behind it will ])e sent 

 after them to their home. At these feasts they are sociable, 

 and call for s])eakers as do more civilized men. They are 

 verv fond of teachins; stransfcrs the use of their lanofiiasre, 

 and will request them to speak and write out their names, 

 Avhich is a very diificult matter to do on account of the 

 lenc^h of their words. The longest word I learned to 

 speak readily was their name for a button, which to use 

 properly required the use of some ten or twelve syllal)les, 

 and they seemed to have no idea of dividing any word into 

 syllables, but pronounced it as hastily as possible for us to 

 write. 



But one needs to take a look at their village to estimate 



