53 [84] TRANS. ST. LOUIS ACAD. SCIENCE. 



referred to the calling of the snake, another to its coming ashore, 

 another to the removal of the horns, another to their placing into 

 the '' medicine "-bag, and the las^t to the starting oft' with them. 

 The refrain was "kiti weihi, ahayi," the first two words being 

 repeated several times before ''ahayi" was sung.-f 



WAR-FETISHES. 



Milfort states that commanders of the smaller war-parties 

 (paka'dsha) were obliged to carry upon them a small pouch con- 

 taining certain stones and a few shreds from the garments of the 

 "great warrior" obtained from him after the return from his last 

 expedition.! 



War-talismans or -fetishes of a similar character, as the lion's 

 bones and the snake-horns, were in use among the Cha'hta war- 

 riors of the eighteenth century, and are described by Capt. B. 

 Romans (Florida, p. 76) : 



On war expeditions they carry with them a certain thing which they 

 look on as the genius of the party; it is most commonly the stuffed skin 

 of an owl of a large kind; they are very careful of him, and ofter him a 

 part of their meat; should he fall, or any other ways be disordered in 

 position, the expedition is frustrated; they always set him with his head 

 towards the place of destination, and, if he should prove to be turned 

 directly contrary, they consider this as portending some very bad omen, 

 and an absolute order to return ; should therefore anyone's heart fail him, 

 he needs only watch his opportunity to do this, to save his character of a 

 brave or true man. There is also a species of Motacilla, or finch, whose 

 chirping near the camp will occasion their immediate return. 



The tnedicine-bundle of the Kaiii, a division of the Pcini Indi- 

 ans, contained the following articles : 



A buffalo robe ; skins of the beaver, mink, and otter ; the skull of a wild- 

 cat; stuffed skins of the sparrow-hawk (as a symbol of bravery) and of 

 the swallow-tailed fly-catcher, Milvulus forjicatus (a sacred bird); several 

 bundles of scalps and broken arrows taken from enemies; a small bundle 

 of Pani arrows; some ears of maize, the symbol of their agricultural in- 

 terests, and a few wads of buffalo-hair, as found in wallows. Each Pani 



hunter's charm only, not a "war-mecHcine." But among the participants of a war or raid- 

 ing party there were always a few who provided for the subsistence of the others by hunting 

 game, and this would account for its being regarded as a war-charm. 



f Chicote sang the refrain as follows: kitiwaihi, kitiwaihi — ya hayi. Cf. what is said 

 of the imissi. 



\ Milfort, Mtin., 243, 244. 



